It was quite a distance from the capital to the Send Plateau. Even by carriage, it took a full four days.

Even with changing horses along the way, they were only able to pass through the Muhalar Mountains, said to be the entrance to the plateau, when night had fallen.

The carriage, which had intended to continue through the night without rest, was trapped in the thick mountain fog and could no longer advance.

Judging it could be dangerous, Aden chose to stop and camp at a location half a day away from the Send Plateau. As a result, dozens of people moving to Habertz territory were busy on the mountainside.

Unlike the capital, it was a warm region even in midwinter, but it was still a winter night.

The wind coming down from the peak was quite cold. Even with clothes tightly fastened, everyone clicked their tongues at the biting wind and sat in front of the lit bonfire, sipping warm tea.

Ludmila Perez Erdi also took a seat alone by the bonfire.

She couldn’t take her eyes off the fire until her pale cheeks turned red as if scorched by the heat.

Aden, who was explaining tomorrow’s schedule to his aide while conveying plans for camp sentries and night watch, caught sight of her.

He remembered how she had been observing a rather ordinary tree as if it were a masterpiece.

Aden bit his lip, rolled his eyes, then dismissed his aide and turned around.

Aden picked up a teacup from the bonfire where tea was brewing and casually approached Ludmila Perez Erdi, holding it out.

As if just noticing his approach, a momentary bewilderment crossed Ludmila Perez Erdi’s face.

“I’m sorry. When did you come?”

“Just now.”

Aden handed her one of the teacups he was holding with a light smile, saying “You must be cold, drink this,” as he took a seat beside her.

Ludmila Perez Erdi, caressing the warmth that had seeped into the surface of the rough earthenware cup with both hands, glanced at Aden once before carefully tilting the cup.

“This is…”

“Cocoa. Why, don’t you like it?”

Aden tilted his head sideways at her surprised reaction, eyes widening.

Ludmila Perez Erdi shook her head briefly as if to say no.

“No. I just couldn’t imagine it would be cocoa.”

“Even barbarians don’t just guzzle alcohol on cold winter nights.”

Ludmila Perez Erdi glanced sidelong at Aden, who let out a sardonic laugh, and she too wore a small smile.

Suddenly, Aden recalled how many times Ludmila Perez Erdi had smiled in front of him. How long had it been since they left the capital?

Although it had only been a few days, Ludmila Perez Erdi’s lips curled into smiles surprisingly often. It was a natural and gentle expression, hard to believe it was the same woman who used to smile as if stamped from a mold every time.

Aden, who had been staring intently at Ludmila Perez Erdi’s profile while tilting his teacup, shifted his gaze forward.

Like her, he faced the burning bonfire. As if by unspoken agreement, they both fell silent and the silence deepened.

The quiet that densely infiltrated between the two was only occasionally filled by the sound of busy chatter from afar, but its density thickened.

Aden, who had been silently drinking the cocoa in his cup while staring at the bonfire, exhaled slowly.

“Why is your back like that?”

“…”

Ludmila Perez Erdi’s gaze rolled at the sudden question.

“There was a long scar drawn on it. Don’t tell me, did your husband beat you to cause that?”

Aden, who had turned his head to meet her red eyes while breathing out a white mist, briefly jerked his chin as if to say, answer me.

It would have been a shameful question if someone else had asked it.

Showing her back was probably a memory she wanted to forget, let alone being asked about the reason for the scars embedded there. It wouldn’t have been strange to feel insulted.

But strangely, when Aden asked, she felt no particular emotion.

Ludmila Perez Erdi, staring blankly at the half-empty cocoa, shook her head horizontally.

“Then?”

His voice followed immediately, probing. Ludmila Perez Erdi let out a long breath.

A white mist puffed out and scattered into the night mountains. Ludmila Perez Erdi, taking in the spectacular starry sky beautifully embroidered above, slowly smiled.

“It’s a scar from when I was in the Imperial Palace.”

They were memories she didn’t particularly want to recall. An illegitimate child living in an abandoned palace, receiving no protection.

Her half-siblings who always tormented Ludmila Perez Erdi, whose only companion was a single nursemaid.

Ludmila Perez Erdi slowly pulled up the corners of her mouth as she placed a hand on her shoulder.

“When my brothers played with me, I was the dog that had to run away, and they were the hunters. Every time I was caught, my back was hit with a switch. These are the scars from that time.”

“They certainly engaged in childish antics.”

Aden muttered self-deprecatingly, tilting his teacup with an expressionless face.

“As I grew older, such bullying disappeared, but the scars remained. My nursemaid applied medicine to the wounds every day, but new wounds would form on top of them again and again. That’s how they were engraved. When you look at it that way, Kedilen Erdi was quite a rational man.”

“Are you suddenly defending your husband?”

“Rather than defense, it’s a judgment based on facts. At least he wasn’t a man who would do anything to lower the value of the goods I had to sell. He was quite different from my brothers who tormented me, treating me like useless trash. Perhaps, that’s why I continued to stay by that man’s side.”

Ludmila Perez Erdi, who had been lightly biting her wind-dried lips, emptied her teacup.

“I thought that if I gained Kedilen Erdi’s approval, there would be no safer place than by his side.”

“Would it be rude to say that was a tragic judgment?”

“Not at all. It’s a very rational and reasonable assessment.”

Ludmila Perez Erdi smiled faintly and stood up from her seat.

As if trying to stretch her stiff body, she straightened her back and tilted her head back to look up at the sky.

It was a sky she had seen hundreds and thousands of times in the capital, but the sky here, where darkness had settled deeply, was unlike any other scenery.

The trees, the flowers, the wind, the scents, the insects… and the people.

“I thought my life would be the same no matter where I went. But, just by leaving the capital, the world I see is so different.”

“You’re more sentimental than I thought.”

“I just realized it myself. It feels strange to be saying such things.”

Ludmila Perez Erdi lightly brushed off her clothes, straightened her back gently while looking at Aden.

“I’ll go to bed first. Then, have a good night.”

It seemed they had grown closer with their brief conversation, but her farewell drew the line again.

It was newly admirable how Ludmila Perez Erdi maintained her dignity, not showing any disheveled appearance even while camping in such rugged mountains.

Ludmila Perez Erdi turned and entered the carriage. As the door closed and silence fell, a sigh escaped Aden’s lips before disappearing.

Shaking his head and rolling his eyes, Aden silently watched the fire weakening due to lack of firewood.

Even inside the carriage, it was deep in the mountains. The cold would seep in.

Staring intently at the dying flames in the silence, he sat down and pushed more firewood into the fire.

The rising heat passed him and reached the carriage. Aden, who had been quietly stirring the embers, chuckled and shook his head.

It seemed to be a night unfit for sleep.

The carriage that had spent the dawn, rushed from the morning.

As Aden had said they would arrive in half a day, the carriage that departed early in the morning soon crossed the Muhalar Mountains and reached Sender, the last gateway.

From the moment they crossed the Muhalar Mountains, the Habertz family flag attached to the front of the carriage fluttered.

Unlike other gateways where they had to waste time with bribes to persuade annoying guards and identity checks, the Sender gateway opened its entrance as soon as they saw the flag.

Thanks to this, they were able to reach Habertz territory before noon ended.

“This is…”

Ludmila Perez Erdi’s eyes widened at the scenery quite different from what she had read in books.

The Kan people were known to live in a bleak and desolate plateau.

It was said that because not a single blade of grass grew and water was scarce, they had constantly been crossing the empire’s borders to plunder.

But the Habertz territory she actually saw was not much different from the ordinary imperial territories.

Befitting a territory built on a plateau, there was a vast land base and a thick river stream crossing the center.

The farmlands, commercial districts, and residential areas divided along that river stream did not match at all with the description of freemen living in a single hut.

Rather, it exuded a strong feeling of a well-developed territory. Aden, who had been glancing at Ludmila Perez Erdi’s expression of pure admiration, burst into a small laugh.

The reactions of people coming here for the first time were exactly the same, a hundred out of a hundred. A land of barbarians built on a desolate plateau.

They come thinking that, but when they see rivers and mountains, it’s no wonder they’re surprised.

Aden smiled slightly, finding it unfamiliar to see Ludmila Perez Erdi showing an ordinary reaction no different from others.

In the meantime, the carriage rushed on without hesitation and arrived in front of the ‘Black Rampart’, the castle where the lord of the barbarians lived.

As the carriage stopped, Aden, who stood up first, got out of the carriage.

Ludmila Perez Erdi graciously accepted his offer, extending his hand to escort her as she got out first.

Though she had shed the pretense of being a marchioness, she wanted to maintain at least a minimum level of dignity. It was her last remaining pride.

“Aden−!”

It was just as Ludmila Perez Erdi’s foot was about to touch the ground after stepping on the stairs.

Along with a high-pitched voice ringing from afar, a rose-colored blur rippled.

As Ludmila Perez Erdi’s gaze, which had been directed towards the ground, rose up, Aden’s body in front of her was pulled backwards.

“I missed you!”

A woman was clinging to Aden.

A tall woman with beautiful red hair as if dyed by the sunset. The woman with a beautiful smile blooming on her face looked at the hands of Ludmila Perez Erdi and Aden holding each other, and her expression hardened.

At that moment, Ludmila Perez Erdi smiled faintly.

It seems I’ve stirred up a hornet’s nest.