It was undoubtedly Lili’s back view.

‘What is she doing over there?’

A middle-aged woman was sitting in front of Lili. She raised her trembling hands to touch her own cheeks. Beside her, a small child about as tall as my waist was crying, clinging to her arm with tears and snot running down. I immediately ran over to them.

“What’s going on here, Lili.”

Lili, who had been glaring at them, suddenly frowned deeply. And that arrow turned towards me.

“Can’t the new elder sister even manage the castle properly? Why do you let filthy Kursians wander around the castle!”

Though she corrected her form of address to “new elder sister”, her tone was still unpleasant to hear.

“Don’t jump to conclusions. Explain the situation properly.”

My words didn’t come out gently either. Lili glared at me and then shouted:

“This woman is living with a man from our enemy country, Kursia. When this child saw me, he kept pestering me for food without reason. Do you know how scared I was? And the so-called mother, instead of stopping the child, is just begging. How sloppy must the security be for this to happen even inside the castle!”

The Kursian Empire.

It was the empire that had swallowed up the Kingdom of Ophir a few years ago. It was natural for the people of Requies to consider Kursia, which had caused the downfall of the once-brotherly Kingdom of Ophir, as an enemy nation.

‘I’ve never seen Kursian people directly since I’ve only been in the capital.’

Since the northern part of Blandice territory borders the Kursian Empire, it seems some minority groups had crossed over.

“No. We are not Kursians……”

At that moment, words mixed with sobs escaped from the middle-aged woman’s mouth. I turned my gaze to her.

“I am an imperial citizen to the bone.”

“What do you mean you’re not!”

“We are not. We are imperial citizens accepted by His Grace Duke Kaliks……”

At the woman’s tearful reply, Lili could not contain her anger and snapped:

“No matter how much you deny it, the fact that this child’s father is Kursian doesn’t change. It’s already filthy enough that Kursians live in the duke’s territory, but now you freely enter and exit the duke’s castle to beg? I’m going to tell Hertian right away to have you expelled.”

At those crushing words, the woman crawled on the snowy ground and grabbed the hem of Lili’s dress.

“How dare you touch me, you filth!”

Lili’s beautiful face contorted as if she had been covered in filth.

“Please, young lady. We won’t come to the duke’s castle again, so please don’t expel us. Even if we go back to Kursia, it would be difficult for us to survive…… Please.”

Lili roughly kicked the woman away. Black snow from Lili’s shoes splattered onto her swollen cheek. Tears mixed with black water dripped down her cheeks.

“New elder sister, what are you doing? Why aren’t you going to Hertian?”

Lili’s malicious attitude had gone too far.

Even if she lost her parents at a young age, it doesn’t mean she didn’t receive any education. Where did such an ill-mannered child come from?

To kick someone much older than herself and treat them like vermin.

It was enough to make even onlookers angry.

“If you’re not going, then don’t. I’ll go first.”

Watching Lili stomp through the snow, venting all sorts of frustration as she went ahead, I came to a conclusion.

This was not something that could be fixed with words.

I quietly crouched down on the ground and gathered some snow into a ball. A fairly solid snowball was formed. Then I threw it hard enough to make a thud sound.

“Ah!”

The snowball found its target accurately. Lili irritably turned around, shaking off the clumps of snow stuck in her hair.

“What are you doing! Did you just throw snow at me?”

“Yes, I did.”

I retorted back, not intimidated by her demeanor.

“My lady……”

A maid who had followed behind tried to stop me. It seemed that all the maids here knew that messing with her would cause trouble.

Then I couldn’t just leave it alone.

“Are you saying you want to have a snowball fight with me?”

She asked with an incredulous look on her face. She didn’t seem to realize her own fault at all. There was no choice but to explain everything to her one by one.

“Lili. Apologize to them. Right now.”

“Why should I?”

“You hit a citizen of the territory recklessly.”

“I’m a noble and they’re commoners. And did I hit them without reason? A Kursian came into the castle on their own and begged!”

She only pleaded her own innocence. Hitting someone was wrong behavior no matter what the situation.

“How desperate must they have been to come all the way to the castle to beg? Can’t you understand that?”

“Do I have to understand every single one of their circumstances? I’m already so annoyed I could die!”

“That’s tyranny.”

She let out an incredulous laugh.

“Tyranny……? Who are you to say I’m being tyrannical?”

“From now on, I’m your guardian. And the owner of this castle is not you, but me.”

“You sound like a guardian. Even though we’re not that far apart in age, are you trying to act like a parent now?”

“If you need a guardian, I have to be one.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Even if you’re the duchess, I lived here longer than you. And do you think I don’t know?”

Lili came closer to me.

“You and Hertian have a fake marriage, don’t you?”

“What?”

I stumbled for a moment in surprise.

“You thought I wouldn’t know? If you don’t want your secret exposed, don’t tell me what to do.”

Lili looked me up and down, then snorted and turned away. I froze in place.

‘Did Hertian tell Lili?’

I had noticed that even Osen, his closest aide, knew about it.

But for Lili to know as well…….

“Lili!”

I first helped the fallen woman up and sent her away, then chased after Lili. But I couldn’t make it into Lili’s room. As soon as I entered the castle, my body swayed and collapsed.

When I opened my eyes, Hertian was there.

He was sitting by the bedside, holding my hand tightly and seemed to be praying.

‘I collapsed again.’

I must have strained my body by continuously breathing in the cold air outside the castle. This cursed body couldn’t even endure that much.

“I’m healthy.”

I said out of habit.

Hearing my voice, he inhaled sharply and raised his head. Shadows fell across his pale face beneath his disheveled hair. He looked like a child who had gotten hurt while playing against his parents’ wishes. I carefully watched his expression as I continued speaking.

“I didn’t know the north would be this cold, and got carried away enjoying the snow……”

So I made up an unnecessary excuse.

It would be better not to talk about Lili. If he knew that there was friction between family members, he would only worry more.

“It’s frustrating.”

Those were the words he uttered in a cracked voice.

It was understandable for him to be frustrated, given that I had caused this trouble by wandering around recklessly despite my weak body.

“After going to all the trouble of making it warm, you immediately collapsed. I’m at a loss for words.”

“It’s frustrating that there’s nothing I can do for you.”

It seems I had misunderstood his meaning again. He added further explanation.

“I heard that your body doesn’t respond to herbs, magic, or divine power. It’s frustrating that I can’t help when you’re sick and have to keep watching you collapse.”

His voice was heavy with emotion. If even I find myself frustrating, how much more so for him to speak so openly about it?

“I’ll be careful.”

I took his words as a caution to me.

If rumors spread that the newly married bride kept fainting, it would harm him as well.

So that’s why he was worried about me.

Hertian briefly rubbed his face dry and changed the subject.

“I heard you met Lili.”

I had intended to keep it secret until it was resolved.

But it seems it had already reached his ears.

“I want to get along well, but it’s difficult.”

“I’ll try to persuade her.”

I nodded slightly and asked in a lowered voice.

“Hertian. Does Lili know about our contract?”

“She doesn’t.”

“But Lili believes our marriage is fake.”

If he hadn’t told Lili, the most likely possibility was…

‘She must have noticed that Hertian is asexual.’

Since she had lived in this castle with Hertian since childhood, she probably knew that much.

It would be suspicious for someone at the peak of youth to show no interest in the opposite sex.

“I’ll caution Lili. So please don’t overexert yourself. I feel like my arrhythmia is getting worse.”

“I understand.”

“Come here. Your body is cold.”

Seeing Hertian finally relax his serious expression, I also let go of my tension and snuggled into his arms.

Despite Hertian’s words not to overexert myself, as soon as the new year dawned, I hurriedly went looking for someone.

“Jackson!”

Jackson, the administrator of Blandice.

He was to be my counterpart today.

“My lady?”

But he was not in his seat.

“Where is Jackson?”

“Mr. Jackson has gone on a business trip to the capital and is away from his post.”

Instead, another man with fluffy whiskers was sitting in that seat.

“Then are you in charge of managing the budget in Jackson’s place?”

“Yes. My name is Gilta.”

Gilta glanced at me furtively, then belatedly offered me a seat.

“From today, I must fulfill my duties as the duchess. I look forward to working with you.”

“Are you saying you will personally manage the budget?”

“Yes, the duke is already so busy with public and private affairs, I can’t let him shoulder my burdens as well.”

He slowly scratched his head and said with a troubled expression:

“But the master said that until you’ve adjusted to the castle……”

“Let me take charge. No matter what.”

There was a reason for my insistence.

“We need to renovate the entire ducal castle.”

“Are you not satisfied with the castle?”

“It’s not that, but various parts of the castle interior are broken and rusted. While it might have been difficult to maintain when the duke was absent due to war, now that there’s even a duchess, if the castle is kept in this state, people will whisper about negligent management.”

Of course, this was just an excuse.

‘The castle is too cold to live in!’

This was my real inner thought.

It would be good for both sides, as plugging the holes would also reduce unnecessary heating costs from a budget perspective.

“First, please give me the budget document.”

Gilta handed me the budget document without further comment.

The annual budget for the Blandice territory was about 3 billion gold. Even after deducting the funds needed for the ducal territory, it was an amount that would be more than enough to repair the entire castle.

“Gilta. By tomorrow, please check all the areas of the castle that need repair and estimate the repair costs.”

“That will not do.”

Just as I thought I could proceed without any obstacles, Gilta blocked me.

“What do you mean it won’t do?”

“The castle’s budget is insufficient.”

“Even if we set aside funds for a big event, there should easily be 500 million gold left over. How can this be insufficient? Even if it’s tight, the compensation His Grace brought back from the war this time should amount to hundreds of millions. Or is the castle so old that it needs to be rebuilt entirely?”

“Repairs alone would be sufficient for the castle, but if we do that, it will be difficult to operate the territory.”

It was a strange story. Despite being a large amount compared to other territories, he says it’s not enough.

“That means there are other expenses, right?”