“Justin! That ice dragon bastard!”

Thinking of Plama, I couldn’t help but recall his beautiful yet detestable face.

And my pitiful body, which had become a spectacle for people passing through the city gates while hanging on the imperial city walls.

Head separate, body separate.

Whether out of consideration or mockery, they had polished and put on the helmet and armor I usually wore.

While a bald eagle perched on my severed neck, flapping its wings and pecking at my hardened flesh. Sitting on the splendid throne deep in the imperial palace, Your Majesty Justin, what nonsense were you spouting with that pretty face of yours to bewitch people?

If only I hadn’t been caught up in that sudden green wind, my vengeful spirit could have at least flown to your cozy bed and tormented you with nightmares all night.

Without realizing it, I unclenched my tightly balled fists, and the green aura I had borrowed from Aerie rippled softly over my small, slender fingers.

After possessing Yuriella’s body, whenever I gathered this green aura Aerie lent me at the tip of a silver needle and blew it into patients’ affected areas, it immediately showed remarkable healing effects in every case.

Did Frost also survive thanks to my acupuncture?

Or did he wake up on his own due to his monstrous constitution?

“How much of Frost’s lifespan is left? Shouldn’t that impressive body of his last at least ten times longer than others? His muscles were so hard that the needles kept bouncing off. Does the holy sword Ielo have a muscle-building function too? Or is Frost taking some kind of muscle-enhancing drug? That’s illegal, you know.”

In my own way, I had extended an olive branch because Aerie’s back, crouched on the ice rock, looked pitiful.

Before I could finish speaking, Aerie trembled and vanished with the wind.

“Hey! You should at least answer before leaving!”

It seems she pretended to be angry and slipped away since she didn’t have enough strength to take me along, as it was unbearably cold. Heartless one.

As I curled up into a tighter ball to keep the heat from escaping my frozen body, my teeth chattering…

“According to the priest, three months at shortest. Six months at longest.”

A voice answered from behind me. Huh? This voice…!

Startled, I whirled around to see Frost leaping down from his horse.

Ah, that Aerie. She hadn’t disappeared because she was upset, but had swiftly fled after sensing Frost’s presence.

“I don’t know if you’ve run away or come to find your deathbed. It’s remarkable you haven’t frozen to death yet.”

Frost frowned, looking back and forth between the frozen ice mountain and my thin chiffon dress.

“No, I didn’t run away…”

“If not running away? Do you mean to say you were kidnapped by Aerie?”

“Pardon…?”

Did you just say Aerie? How did you…?

Ah, right. The owner of a holy sword can read the aura of other holy swords. So he must have followed the traces Aerie left behind to find me.

Then, did he notice that I used the holy sword’s power for healing?

What should I say to cover it up?

Ah! I’ll say I dozed off while eating macarons and was surprised to find myself here when I woke up.

“If you say you dozed off and ended up here, I’ll behead you on the spot.”

Frost summoned the holy sword Ielo with a ‘shing’, and it didn’t seem like a joke.

“W-wait. Just a moment-”

As I cautiously backed away on legs stiff as icicles…

– Neigh!

The large, glossy black horse recognized me and approached before Frost, rearing up and whinnying.

‘Oh! It’s Mars!’

I tried to use Mars as a shield to hide my body. But the beast rolled around on the frozen snow with a thump! thump! Shaking its muzzle and snorting steam.

Ah, right. Mars didn’t like me.

Or more accurately, he became mortal enemies with my mount Blanca and ended up hating me as collateral.

But why did you two become such irreconcilable enemies? You got along so well at first. Did Blanca reject you or something?

Sensitive as he was, Mars seemed to read my gaze immediately and came up close, presenting his large rear to me. That’s the prelude to an attack, signaling he’s very upset and about to kick me with his hind legs.

As if confirming my guess, Mars’ rear end and hind leg muscles tensed up, twitching.

“Mars. Enough.”

At his master’s command, the horse froze, then glared at me with a snort. The contemptuous look was quite evident.

Is this a challenge? To me, who you used to be so wary and submissive towards in my past life?

I gathered all my remaining energy into my eyes and glared back at him fiercely.

“My lady, that’s enough as well.”

The transparent ice sword’s blade reflected the sunlight on the snow-white field, emitting an even more dazzling light. The biting cold of the blade wind penetrated deep into my bones.

“Don’t you have more urgent matters than having a staring contest with my horse?”

“How is the area where you received acupuncture?”

I approached politely and tried to unbutton his shirt, but was immediately stopped.

Frost grabbed my wrist and pulled me towards him, bending his head down close to me.

“Was undressing me the most urgent matter?”

I just wanted to check if the wound had healed well, that was the most pressing issue…

“Try to hold back your disappointment. I’ll give you plenty of opportunities to admire my impressive body.”

An arrogant gaze, cold despite its superficial depth, looked down at me.

“For your information, my Ielo doesn’t have any special function to create rock-hard muscles that repel needles. I certainly don’t take illegal muscle enhancers either. This is all natural. Feel free to look forward to the parts you didn’t see last night too. Is that a sufficient answer?”

Frost lifted my chin with one finger, meeting my gaze.

“I have no interest in Your Grace’s impressive body. I just want to see how much the wound has healed.”

“Oh. You want a reward for waking me up?”

“No, that’s not it-”

“Tell me what you want. Anything. You saved my life, so even the Grand Duchess position you so desperately want would be an appropriate reward.”

“That sounds more like a punishment than a reward. I’ll pass on a husband who draws his sword at the slightest provocation.”

“I’ll give you one more chance. Think carefully this time.”

Though my head was frozen solid, I thought hard to answer the opportunity Frost had given me.

“Take me somewhere with fire. And keep Mars from kicking me.”

“What?”

“You said you’d give me a reward. I’m hungry. Feed me. Beef, if possible.”

“…”

Deep wrinkles formed on Frost’s forehead. How stingy. Didn’t he say I could ask for anything?

I quickly lowered my demands.

“Pork!”

“…”

“Duck?”

“…”

Even as I kept going for cheaper options, Frost’s expression only worsened.

“Then two chickens? No, one chicken…?”

What’s with this reaction? Is even one chicken too much for someone who saved his life?

“I heard you ate all the cake my chef made today?”

What? Was he upset about the cake? But Grand Duke, you don’t even like sweets.

Ah. Was he annoyed that I disappeared without thanking him for the meal, thinking it was rude?

“Thank you, Your Highness. It was delicious enough to believe it was made by a former imperial chef!”

I raised my voice an octave to show how grateful I was. Politely.

“He is a former imperial chef. I scouted him last year.”

“Really? His Majesty has lost out. He’s much more skilled than the current chef.”

I’m not sure which part of my words offended him again. Frost frowned, lowering his eyes and pressing his lips tightly together.

The temperature of the already cold ice mountain seemed to drop sharply. A biting chill emanated from Frost.

My frozen body began to shiver uncontrollably. My head felt fuzzy and my nose was stuffy – I think I’m catching a cold. Yuriella is originally weak, so once she catches a cold, she has to be bedridden for three or four days…

“Grand Duke. Shall we head back now? You’ll fall ill if you stay out in this cold for too long.”

“Ill? I’m already terminally ill, my lady.”

Frost tapped his chest lightly with his long fingers, exhaling a soft sigh with a sarcastic expression. The cold emanating from him intensified.

“Six months at most, three months at least. Pay more attention if your head isn’t working well.”

The superficially profound gaze was gone, replaced by one as sharp and prickly as a cactus from the western desert region.

Was this guy always this prickly?

We were always too busy covering each other’s backs, slashing monsters and barbarians, so I can’t remember if we ever properly talked face to face.

“Is a mere chicken more urgent than the Grand Duchess position? Is something wrong with your head?”

Frost snorted, furrowing his silver eyebrows.

This is really my limit now. My mouth is about to freeze shut from the cold. All I can focus on is Frost’s fox fur-lined cloak. It looks so warm… He probably won’t give it to me if I ask, right? He thought even one chicken was too much.

Perhaps he read the desperation in my eyes. Frost let out a shallow sigh, then…

Whoosh~

Suddenly, my body was enveloped inside Frost’s fur cloak. Frost’s body pressed against mine was warm.

“Your body is like ice.”

Frost frowned at how cold my body was, then tucked my head into the cloak as well, wrapping it tightly around me. His cool, refreshing scent wafted over me.

“Ah, it’s oka-”

Oof! Frost’s thick arms pulled me into his embrace as I tried to escape from the fur cloak.

“Just think of me as a heater. I’ll think of you as a mountain hare covered in icicles.”

I hesitantly hugged him tightly. Right. I’m a mountain hare covered in icicles. What I’m hugging is just a big heater.

“Mmm.”

A pained sound escaped from Frost’s lips as he stiffened.

“Oh! Did I press on your wound?”

“No. It’s fine.”

“Your neck is red. Are you getting a fever? Let me see the wound-”

“If you touch my wound with those frozen, chapped hands, I’ll cut them off.”

Frost frowned as he grabbed my fidgeting hands and put his gloves on me.

“Can I touch it when my hands are thawed? Can I treat you then?”

“I’ll cut them off if you try to treat me without a license certified by the Imperial Medical Association.”

“The licensed doctors couldn’t save you either, Your Grace.”

It was me who saved Frost, not the licensed doctors. If I freeze to death on this snowy mountain, no one will be able to save him if he becomes critically ill again.

So this is no time to worry about shame. I clung to Frost’s thick torso like a baby animal snuggling into its mother’s embrace.

“Mmm.”

Another pained sound escaped Frost’s lips, but I pressed even closer. Quickly warming up the body is the proper attitude for a healer.

‘Ah. This really is a warm heater.’

I buried my face in Frost’s chest, rubbing my cheeks against it as I burrowed into the warmth melting my frozen body.

An urgent voice calling his mount resonated from the chest I was pressed against.

“Mars! Mars!”

Frost scooped me up and placed me on Mars’ back.

In the brief moment our bodies separated, cold wind rushed in. I quickly adjusted my position to sit sideways and tightly hugged my warm, large heater to my chest.

My eyes began to droop as warmth spread through me.

I had only ever thought of him as a reliable comrade I could trust to watch my back even on the harshest battlefields. I may have let out a silly laugh at discovering this unexpected use for him.

*

That night. The Grand Duke, who had boldly set out to find his prey, returned to the Grand Ducal residence long after the bright sunlight had given way to a crimson sunset.

Dark shadows lay under the eyes of the Grand Duke, who rode his horse slowly so as not to wake his “prey”. He dismounted with an utterly exhausted expression, as if his soul had escaped, while readjusting his hold on the woman who desperately clung to him the more he tried to detach her.

The Grand Duke’s mount, excited to go hunting with its master after a long time, took out its stress from not being able to run freely by kicking the stable hands with its hind legs.

Regardless, the preciously brought back prey slept soundly, sprawled out in the cozy bedroom once used by the previous Grand Duchess, until dawn broke the next day.

The Grand Ducal Knight Commander and servants thought the hunter and prey seemed to have switched roles, but wisely refrained from mentioning it to their lord.

The Grand Duke, who only managed to escape from his prey’s embrace after giving her a cushion as big as his torso, tossed and turned for a long time unable to sleep despite retiring late.

The more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed.

[His Grace the Grand Duke detests sweets, so neutralize it with sour lemon. You might mistakenly think saltiness counteracts sweetness, but it’s actually sourness that neutralizes it…]

She spoke to the head maid as if she knew his tastes intimately.

[His Majesty has lost out. He’s much more skilled than the current chef.]

She spoke as if she had tasted the current imperial chef’s cooking.

The spirit of Aerie, the holy sword that had vanished for 500 years, appears and she secretly spirits it away.

When he put her on the horse, she adjusted her posture nimbly as if she rode warhorses daily. On top of Mars, whom even his Knight Commander is afraid to ride…!

“Irritating.”

Most irritating of all were those vivid red eyes.

Those eyes that sometimes sparkled mischievously like a child’s, and sometimes grew cold and indifferent as if having weathered all of life’s storms, were exceedingly irritating.