“Is it difficult? This is quite simple.”

His cold gaze and mocking voice scratched Blair as they passed by. Blair’s eyes wavered as she looked at him.

‘…You don’t trust me.’

His true feelings came across more clearly than ever before.

She had been mistaken.

Taking her side in Lina’s matter was merely because he couldn’t tolerate the servants’ impudence. Insulting her, his wife, was no different from insulting him.

She felt foolish for having had expectations.

Blair lowered her eyes, avoiding his gaze. Her eyelashes trembled as she slowly closed and opened her eyes.

Blair pushed against his chest and escaped from his embrace.

“…I’m sorry. I had a dream.”

Her voice, barely audible, was trembling uncontrollably. Blair turned around and left the room.

Herdin, watching her retreating figure through the closing door, drained the remaining whiskey in his glass.

The alcohol poured into his empty stomach felt as hot as swallowing a ball of fire.

* * *

The sound of horse hooves echoed through the quiet winter forest.

Startled birds took flight. Even that small disturbance caused the heavy white snow piled on the trees to fall with a thud.

This year’s winter hunt was progressing smoothly as well.

The first event of the New Year’s ritual was for each family to catch their first live sacrifice to offer to the gods in the imperial hunting grounds.

Unlike other hunting festivals, the winter hunt was conducted by individual families rather than as a collective effort.

It was said that the more precious the sacrifice, the more pleased the gods would be, so the nobles who set out on the hunt subtly competed to catch better game. It was an event that put family pride on the line.

As it was a family competition event, even noble ladies and young misses exceptionally rode horses alongside their husbands and families. Blair was one of them.

Herdin, who had been scanning the snow-white field for prey, turned his gaze to Blair following behind him. Seeing her face flushed from the cold, he was suddenly reminded of yesterday.

‘Tomorrow, beasts will appear in the hunting grounds.’

If that was true, it meant that beasts would appear here today. It was strange that she, knowing this fact, had willingly followed him to this dangerous place.

‘What on earth is she thinking?’

Herdin let out a quiet sigh and called for the captain of the Delmark knights who had been following behind him.

“Kyle.”

The knight who heard his call urged his horse closer to him.

“Take utmost care in guarding the Duchess.”

“I obey your command.”

The captain of the knights conveyed Herdin’s order to his subordinates with a nod, gesturing towards Blair. Understanding the meaning, the knights approached Blair’s side.

A small coughing sound came from behind Herdin’s back. Hearing this, Herdin’s brow furrowed. His gaze searching for prey on the snow-white field became more urgent.

It was then that the cry of a beast was heard from afar.

Kwee-eek!

It sounded like the cry of a wild boar.

Along with the sound of birds taking flight, the sound of Blair drawing in a startled breath was heard.

But the boar’s cry didn’t stop at once, continuing repeatedly. It was the sound of someone repeatedly shooting arrows, unable to take down the prey with one shot. The noise was grating.

Stupid fool. How many arrows are they wasting, unable to catch just one?

As Herdin was mocking the unknown incompetent archer, one of the knights suddenly shouted urgently.

“Your Grace, there’s a white marten over there!”

In the direction the knight was pointing, a marten could be seen wandering in the snow-white field.

Marten fur is expensive. Among them, white marten fur is the most valuable. That would be suitable as an offering to the gods.

Herdin immediately drew his bow and shot at the marten.

The arrow flew true, piercing the marten, and its blood spattered on the white snow.

As Herdin was about to turn his horse back after confirming the marten was no longer moving, a hollow tree trunk caught his eye.

As he dismounted and approached, he saw a baby marten, its eyes not yet open, inside the hollow.

‘…There was a baby.’

Herdin drew a dagger from his breast. At that moment, Blair’s voice came from behind him.

“Herdin. What… are you doing?”

“Without a mother to care for it, it will soon become prey for predators. Rather than that, it would be better for this little one to die now with its mother.”

“No!”

Blair hurriedly dismounted and grabbed his hand holding the dagger. Herdin’s brow furrowed.

“What are you doing?”

“It might survive, you know.”

“A suckling that hasn’t even opened its eyes yet, in this winter when it’s hard to find food?”

“Even if it’s destined to die soon as you say, you can’t call that mercy. It’s better to live even one more day.”

Herdin scoffed. Was it baseless optimism, or hypocrisy? Either way, it was the kind of thing he despised.

“Do you think it would feel the same while being chewed alive by wolves?”

Herdin deliberately chose raw words to provoke her. To break either her optimism or hypocrisy. But…

“I’ll raise it.”

The woman who always seemed to yield to his will was now standing up to him without backing down. With eyes sharper than ever before.

She looked like a mother protecting her young. He found the sight distasteful.

All this fuss over such a lowly creature.

“Well, I wonder if that creature would want to be taken in by someone who stood by and watched its mother die.”

Herdin retorted sarcastically, reminding Blair of her position.

If even such a lowly creature had thoughts and feelings, it would rather die than be taken in by the hands of its enemy. Just as he loathed the imperial family and his fake wife who was a member of it.

Blair’s expression twisted slightly as she caught the meaning of his words, but she still didn’t back down.

Blair looked at the mother marten’s corpse being collected by the knights with sunken eyes and said,

“…Still, this child’s mother would want it to survive, even like that.”

At that moment, one of the knights who had been watching the tense argument between his lord and lady with a troubled expression cautiously interjected.

“Um… Your Grace. I think raising it as the lady suggests might not be a bad idea. Since it’s a white marten, we could take it home, raise it, and use its fur…”

The knight who had been trying to take her side in his own way only then realized he had misspoken when he received Blair’s contemptuous glance, and closed his mouth.

Herdin let out a quiet sigh and withdrew his hand from Blair’s grasp, turning away.

Understanding his meaning, Blair carefully took the baby marten out of its nest. Even from this small creature no bigger than her palm, she could feel a distinct warmth.

The baby, unable to open its eyes yet, cried pitifully as if looking for its mother. Seeing this, her throat tightened.

‘What happened to Asiel after I died?’

Only then did she think of Asiel, who would have been left alone after her death.

The assailant might have killed the child afterward. Even if he had been lucky enough to survive, he would have been a thorn in Herdin’s side, who loved Miela.

Either way, it was clear it wouldn’t have been a happy ending for the child.

Belatedly, she felt hatred for him.

Blair, who had been staring at Herdin’s retreating back, snapped back to reality at the sound of the marten’s cry. She took off her glove and put the marten inside it.

A knight watching this scene held out his hand.

“My lady, I’ll take this little one. Please mount your horse first.”

“No, I’ll take it.”

“But it will be difficult for you to ride in that state. It’s dangerous too…”

“I’ll walk.”

Blair remained adamant despite the knight’s concerned words.

As the knight hesitated, unable to decide what to do, Herdin, who had been listening to their conversation, approached leading his horse.

He strode over and lightly lifted Blair, seating her on his horse.

“Herdin…?”

Blair blinked in surprise at his sudden action.

Herdin immediately mounted behind her and ordered the knight.

“Take care of the lady’s horse.”

He supported Blair’s waist with one arm in place of her occupied hands. With his other arm, he took the reins and slowly began to guide the horse.

His cold eyes were fixed straight ahead, not on her, but the arm holding her was firm, as if determined not to let her go.

Blair, looking at him as he avoided her gaze, lowered her head.

She should probably be grateful to him for willingly taking on this inconvenience for her sake, but hearing the pitiful cries of the baby marten, she couldn’t find the words.

Even in this situation, she found it ironic that she instinctively felt safe in this cold man’s embrace, which was warm.

The winter forest wind brushed past the two people shrouded in silence. As Blair coughed at the chill, Herdin pulled up the fur hood attached to her cloak.

“You said beasts would appear, so why did you come here? You could have stayed behind.”

Rather than sarcasm, he seemed displeased that she had come along on the hunt at all.

‘Come to think of it…’

The beasts hadn’t appeared yet. Occasional sounds of birds taking flight could be heard from other directions, but there were no screams.

‘Perhaps the future has changed since my participation in today’s hunt is already different from the past?’

If so, it would be better to pass it off as a dream and avoid further suspicion.

As Blair was about to answer Herdin’s question, having made this judgment, she saw something through the coniferous forest.

Blair’s eyes began to shake violently as she spotted it.

What she saw between the trees was a giant eye.

At that moment, the pupil moved and met Blair’s gaze. A chill ran down her spine.