The paper was written in a language he couldn’t understand.

‘Who is this woman…’

Fascinated, Aidan looked down at her sleeping face again.

Relaxed eyebrows sketching arcs. A flat forehead and a nose stretching thinly and softly. Next to it were her eyes, usually showing languid eyelids, now closed loosely, flaunting her lush light-brown lashes.

Her slightly thick lips, usually shut in a scholarly manner, were parted just a bit, letting out a steady breath.

He could smell her unique body scent mixed with the sharp fragrance of the aromatic oils she had applied in the evening.

Could it be because she was a herbalist? The simple smell of wood and the refreshing scent of the forest lingered faintly. It was a scent that drove him wild.

Aidan almost absentmindedly reached out to her face but stopped abruptly.

Pulling back his outstretched right hand with his left, he glanced around before biting his lips.

He carefully lifted Brody, who was lying uncomfortably on the table.

Brody let out an indistinct moan, ‘Hmm,’ but didn’t wake up.

Carefully, Aidan laid her on the bed and covered her with a blanket.

‘Sigh…’

For a moment, Aidan looked at the empty space next to her, took a deep breath inwardly, and finally turned away.

He gathered his papers and took special care to keep the one written by Brody.

It would be troublesome if someone saw the paper written in an unknown language.

‘Leaving something like this lying around…’

It couldn’t be taken lightly.

Was it a sign of trust?

‘Trust, huh…’

Frowning, he folded his large body into a chair much smaller in comparison.

He crossed his arms and bowed his head, intending to catch a few winks.

Morning broke soon after.

After a few more hours of sleep, Brody opened her eyes to the dim morning light.

The outside was becoming bright enough to know it was morning, but the gloomy light indicated cloudy weather.

The humid climate of this place, where winter was wetter than summer, signaled the day’s beginning with thick fog.

Struggling to rise from the bed, Brody found, as always, that her spot next to her was empty.

It was not just empty but completely untouched, arousing rational suspicion.

As she turned her eyes toward the table, Aidan was staring out the window with an indifferent expression.
“If you’ve lost interest in me, fine, but why can’t you sleep properly? Don’t want to be near me? Am I some kind of germ? Or are you scared I’ll jump you?”

Although she felt a surge of anger, Brody managed to lower her voice and speak.

“Didn’t sleep?”

“Nope, I did.”

Upon hearing a noise from the bed, Aidan turned his gaze.

Despite his robust constitution, his eyes seemed deeply fatigued.

“If it bothers you so much, we can book a twin room. Beyond the fort, we can stay in separate rooms.” Brody hesitated as he faintly smiled, and closed her mouth.

He looked somehow deeply troubled and appeared momentarily pitiable.

“He’s my partner, after all. If he feels at ease, so do I.”

Thus, calming herself, Brody handed him a breakfast laced with fatigue-fighting herbs.

Aidan hesitated momentarily at the sight of the plants she had cooked up but soon thanked her and ate.

The journey north resumed.

“We’ll be inside the fortress before sundown.”

“Yes.”

He replied briefly, but Brody began to feel tense.

Now they were in the north. Now was when the real slog began.

“I should prepare myself for criticism first.”

The femme fatale who blinded the northern duke after the war and led him on a wild goose chase through the south.

That would be the first judgment she would have to bear.

“It’s the duke’s fault for being blinded, not the fault of the woman who ran away. No, it’s not even running away; I was a commoner who was promised freedom.”

But the northern people who needed the duke wouldn’t see it that way.

Ready to accept whatever hostility came her way, she mounted her horse, ignoring the muscle pain that rushed over her. She gently stroked the mane of her horse.

“Please take care of me today, Creambrony.”

“Creambrony? Is that the horse’s name?”

As Brody greeted her horse, Teddy cheerfully interjected.

“Yes, thought the color matched, so I named her.”

“The name is nice. Bri, Brony. Seems like it’s taken from your name.”

“Ah, haha.”

Brody awkwardly laughed, thinking, ‘I guess I have no knack for naming.’ Brody, Bri, Creambrony. She couldn’t escape this level.

Aidan’s horse was shortened from Black Ice to Kais. She too had tried to name her horse after its color.

“Your owner naming you must be nice, you should serve them well, Creambrony.”

Aidan nudged Kais closer to Creambrony and spoke to the horse.

Creambrony neighed as if responding, at an uncanny timing.

“Haha, that one’s quite extraordinary. Neil, hang in there too.”

Teddy encouraged his gray horse, Neil.

Taking that encouragement as a signal, Aidan made Kais set off.

“Go!”

The three horses began to gallop energetically.

Now heading toward Ferdan Fortress, the gateway to the north.

The northern winter sun was short-lived.

Before even reaching evening, the sun was about to set.

They could see the grand, white Ferdan Fortress from afar.

It was overwhelming when they saw it before, and it still felt overwhelming. Its grandeur was immense.

Unlike when they were coming from the north, the sunset was to their left, dyeing the white fortress in beautiful hues of pink and orange.

“Teddy, you’ve prepared everything well, right?”

Aidan, considering that Brody might feel burdened, had planned to proceed quietly throughout the journey.

Not revealing that he was a duke, just traveling like an ordinary person.

“Yes, of course. We’ll accommodate you quietly and comfortably.”

Teddy gave a sly smile as he looked at the two.

Aidan and Brody were unaware. They did not know what that smile meant.