“Isn’t Duke Bellion acting really strange these days?”

Wyatt vented his dissatisfaction, his eyebrows furrowing like caterpillars.

The snow that was falling made Wyatt’s eyebrows stand out more than usual today, as the snowflakes continued to land on them.

Without Lakrahan, Timothy, who was patrolling the outskirts of the castle with Wyatt, gently brushed Wyatt’s eyebrows with his wrinkled hand.

The two looked somewhat like a dutiful son and father.

“You’re right, Captain. Lately, I have noticed some changes in Duke Bellion that I haven’t seen before.”

“See? You know what they say, when a person changes suddenly, it means their time has come.”

“Heh. Still, sending Duke Bellion away would be a bit too extreme.”

“Isn’t it? It’s not me who’s extreme; it’s Duke Bellion. Otherwise, why would the princess leave for the palace in the middle of the night without saying a word?”

When the princess and her entourage didn’t appear at mealtime, Lady Morgan went out to find Kelita herself.

When she caught up to the departing maids and their entourage, she was told that Kelita had already left Duke Lakrahan’s castle.

“Don’t you know what Duke Bellion has been most concerned about until now?”

“I do.”

Because Lakrahan had maintained a reasonable distance with the royal family, the North had been peaceful—it was an undeniable fact.

Though they had suffered due to natural disasters, at least there had been no trouble caused by human beings.
The mere fact that Bercheria appeared in the north was enough to turn the royal family upside down, and now she’s getting married to the Duke? Isn’t this almost like the north declaring war on the royal family?”

Timothy looked toward the eastern castle where Lakrahan’s room was located.

Of course, Wyatt’s words weren’t wrong.

But when considering a broader future, he thought Lakrahan’s decision was the right one.

If they handed Bercheria over due to fear of a clash with Gerard, then divine protection would never return to Feriat in this century.

The people would again be left defenseless against the unannounced natural disasters, an outcome as clear as day.

“But, Commander. Right now, the Duke’s choice is indeed the best one. By marrying Bercheria, Emperor Gerard will lose the justification to arbitrarily take the Goddess of Weather.”

“Ah, exactly. That’s what I’m saying! Why do all this when it would be easier just to hand her over?”

Timothy reached out to catch the snowflakes falling from the sky, ignoring the agitated Wyatt.

“We still need the Goddess of Weather, regardless.”

He folded his wrinkled eyes in a smile and patted Wyatt’s back firmly.

“You should go inside now. The Duke should be waking up around this time.”

Wyatt aimlessly glared at the sky, where the sun had already begun to set.

“If he has a conscience, he certainly should be waking up. Yes.”

Waking up at the same time regardless of when he fell asleep had long been a habit of Lakrahan.
Ever since he was very young, his father had emphasized the importance of managing time.

You have to know how to handle your own time to truly be prepared to become an adult, he’d said.

Waking up at the usual time today as well, Lakrahan was lost in thought as he looked at Bercheria, who was deeply asleep.

Whether to go on with his usual routine, or to wake her up.

Or simply let her sleep longer.

“She did overexert herself.”

Her fragile body must have found it hard to handle the power of the goddess.

Lakrahan tucked Bercheria in with a blanket and added some more fuel to the fireplace.

Then he picked up a book and sat on the couch, waiting for her to wake up.

A full eight hours passed.

“If you’d woken up a bit later, we could’ve gone straight to dinner.”

Lakrahan stood, stretching his cramped body.

The reading, which he had intended to be just one book, was already into its third volume.

He was almost in danger of becoming the north’s reading king.

“Were you waiting for me here all this time?”

Lakrahan put down the book he had been holding and straightened his back.

“Yeah. I thought you’d be anxious if you woke up and no one was around.”

“Do you think I’m a child?”

“If you were a child, I wouldn’t have worried.”

Although Lakrahan’s words didn’t seem to have much meaning, for some reason they made her fingertips tingle, and she tucked them into the blanket.

The view outside the window was peaceful, and the plush blanket was neither too hot nor too cold.
Mornings waking up alone in the tower when she was young were shiveringly cold.

She’d start her day huddled up, revisiting the memories left by the previous Awakeners.

Although recalling those sporadically fragmented memories wasn’t easy, it wasn’t a big problem since there was nothing else to do.

What she had envied the most back then was someone to greet her in the morning.

If there was such a person, it felt as though there would be nothing in the world to fear.

If there existed even one person concerned for her, she thought she’d not be afraid, no matter what happened.