With his chin tilted at an appropriate angle and his gaze coldly lowered, Edan made Smith take a step back.

Especially careful with one leg that had been hit last time.

“Did you forget I said this was a no-confession zone?”

Edan under the bright sunlight was not shining only in my eyes.

Smith also stared blankly at the flowing golden hair for a moment before coming to his senses.

“J-just because you’re handsome? Where in the world is there such a thing as a no-confession zone!”

“You seem to have gotten quite clever. Listen well, Smoothy. This is my land and I am the law here. And being handsome is everything.”

“Ugh.”

“Latieana likes my face, you know.”

As Edan ran his hand through his hair and smirked, Smith’s face darkened like ashes.

Smith slowly turned his stiffened head towards me.

“Is, is that true?”

No. Well, it is true. I glanced at Edan cautiously.

He had just smiled, but now a cold chill was flowing from his eyes as if something terrible would happen if I answered wrong.

“It’s true that he’s handsome…”

“Young lady Latieana, I hate you!”

Bang-!

Smith ran away vigorously outside the castle gates again.

“…”

Wow, really. What exactly did I do wrong? Why are you mad at me? Smith, you don’t know this, but I just saved you!

Edan, who had secured victory, seemed to be in a good mood and lightly stroked my head as if praising me.

“What’s that?”

“It’s a wedding invitation.”

“Are you going?”

I looked down at the invitation I was holding.

“I’d like to go to the eve of the ceremony, but… never mind.”

I want to see the villagers after a long time, and I’d like to congratulate them too.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have the energy for that right now.

Because I was making plans to find the hidden space in this castle to uncover Ivy’s secret.

“Why aren’t you going?”

“Just, well. I’ve never been to one before, so I’m a bit awkward about how to behave…”

“What’s awkward? It should be similar to a festival.”

“I’ve never been to a festival.”

As I gave an evasive answer while entering the castle, Edan whirled me around.

“You’ve never been to a festival?”

“No.”

Is that such a strange thing?

“Why?”

“Just, I never had the chance?”

“What on earth have you been doing all this time?”

Tch. You’re not one to talk! I know everything about how you’ve lived, man. You’ve never properly enjoyed something like a festival either.

And, well. Is it so strange that I might not have been able to go to a wedding or festival?

I didn’t think it was a big deal, but Edan seemed to look at me a bit pitifully.

‘Great magician! You damn old man!’

A few days later, I was roaring in my mind, imagining I had become a giant bear.

I had intended to find the castle’s floor plan first in order to search for the secret space, but no matter how much I searched, it didn’t appear.

Another wasted effort today.

I slumped over the desk for official business, staring at the square magician’s emblem.

‘Now that I’m saying it again, this really was the castle of an eccentric. Leaving traces here and there so discreetly.’

Just as I was about to reach for the square emblem, click. The library door opened.

“Lati.”

Edan, who had been leaving me alone for the past few days as if busy with a hectic schedule again, approached.

“I’m going to the North tonight.”

Huh? You go to the North every day. Why are you reporting to me?

I tilted my head quizzically.

“Have a safe trip…?”

“You’re coming too.”

…Pardon? All of a sudden?

And so, a bit early in the evening, as the sun was setting, we used a portal to cross over to the front of the castle in the North where a chilly wind was blowing.

“Lati, this way.”

As I was blankly staring at the pointed iron tower of the castle, Edan called me.

A carriage was parked nearby. It was much larger and more luxurious than the one I had ridden last time. A black carriage designed with splendid golden patterns, even though it was black, it was mixed with gold and red colors appropriately, making it simple yet eye-catching.

The not excessive colors, weighty yet gorgeous, were similar to Edan’s coloring.

Edan’s hair was tinged with the orange of the sunset as he stood in front of the carriage door, extending his hand to me.

The carriage headed in the opposite direction from the castle.

In the spacious carriage, Edan was examining documents for a while, which looked a bit unfamiliar.

I thought he only did physical work, but he’s diligently doing the work of a grand duke too.

To avoid disturbing him, I quietly gazed out the window by myself.

Then, lost in the scenery outside, I unconsciously let out an exclamation.

“Wow…!”

It seemed that even if the world’s best painter drew it at the perfect angle, it couldn’t be better than this.

Although the temperature was chilly, thanks to the clear weather without a speck of dust, the ice mountain range could be seen in the distance.

The Empire’s last mountain range covered in snow-white snow.

Tall and pointed mountains spread out endlessly like a folding screen.

And beneath them, faintly visible gray stone walls. The unbreakable castle walls.

It was of such enormous size that it was noticeable even from afar.

“What are you looking at so intently?”

“Edan. I’ve never seen such a beautiful sight before.”

“You think the North is beautiful?”

“Yes! It’s really pretty! Don’t you think so?”

Edan seemed to glance out the window at my words, then focused back on his documents.

“Well. I’ve never thought about it that way.”

I hesitated for a moment at those words.

Come to think of it, Edan came here because of the magical beasts. In fact, he was pushed out by the political fight between his mother and the empress.

Although he’s doing well in the role of grand duke that he suddenly took on, I guess he still has no affection for the North…

Meanwhile, the carriage that had been traveling along a deserted road for a while entered a village road paved with stones and lit with lights.

That’s when the fundamental question occurred to me.

“Where are we going?”

“A festival.”

Excuse me. Did I hear that wrong?

“We’re going to the lantern festival held by the river.”

Could it be that he’s taking me because I said I’ve never been to a festival?

But why are we dressed like this?

A bit late, but I noticed that Edan’s clothes were strange.

Edan was wearing a pitch-black shirt with a harness belt diagonally across his chest and had even properly put on a black combat cloak.

He always dressed like this at night, but that was when going to the unbreakable wall, and for a festival, it would normally be proper to come in comfortable attire.

I was perplexedly watching his attire when I inadvertently turned to the window and discovered knights in similar attire lined up outside.

At a festival, knights are spread out like that? As the situation became more and more puzzling, I finally couldn’t suppress my curiosity and asked while observing the outside situation.

“Those people are knights with special abilities, right?”

Edan, who had briefly shifted his gaze from the documents to look outside, nodded lightly and put the papers down to the side.

“You said it’s a festival. Why is everyone gathered here?”

As I tilted my head in confusion, Edan flung open the opposite window of the carriage that had been covered by curtains.

In the brief moment of exchanging a few words, red lights were occasionally surging up from the mountain range that had quickly darkened.

“I was debating whether to bring you or not, but since today is the North’s once-a-year festival day. I thought it wouldn’t be bad to show you.”

Edan paused for a moment and nodded his head to indicate the mountain range beyond the window.

“At the center crossing the North, there’s a huge river formed by water flowing down from the mountain range. It’s called the Great River.”

I recalled the river I had seen when I first went to the unbreakable wall. The river had been flowing down from there.

The beauty of the clear and peaceful river, which seemed to reflect the Milky Way of the night sky directly, was still vivid in my mind even now. I was in the plains I had been looking at then.

“The water streams that branch out from the Great River, formed by the vast melting ice, bear fruit to the crops and are also used as drinking water. It’s also a resource of the North.”

“Resource?”

“The ice water in the upper reaches of the river, right below the mountain range, is extremely clean and precious, so nobles buy it saying it’s good for the skin. The North is a chilly place even in midsummer, so when winter comes, severe cold arrives, that’s why they release sky lanterns to make wishes. That’s today. They pray that this extremely cold river won’t freeze and that they can spend the winter well.”

A sky lantern festival over that beautiful river. It sounded unbelievably amazing.

“But why the knights?”

“We’ve set up traps, but magical beasts sometimes fly in, mesmerized by the bright lights.”

“Then shouldn’t we be guarding the unbreakable wall more instead of here?”

“It’s not that they appear without fail. We’re preparing for any possibility. And if they do appear, we need to deal with them as quickly as possible to prevent damage.”

I see. The unbreakable wall is originally a place for subjugation, so it’s fine, but if magical beasts appear at the festival, they need to be suppressed quickly. Here.

The strongest Edan was guarding the place that might be the most dangerous.

I finally understood.

I looked at the faint mountain range in the distance. Even though it was an unimaginably far distance, magical beasts were truly monsters beyond imagination.

“Are you scared?”

“A little.”

I recalled the sight of Edan and the knights fighting in the gaps of the unbreakable wall.

The knights who fought covered in the blood of magical beasts were burning with bravery and will from battle.

“Don’t worry. My subordinates are strong and the North is my land. You just need to hide behind me. Just enjoy your first festival enthusiastically.”

Somehow, those words pricked my heart.

It was a kind statement as if he would bear all the bad things in the world.

Just as we seemed to be passing over a bumpy road, the carriage suddenly came to a stop.

Edan opened the window slightly and gestured something with his outstretched hand.

Following that, with a knock-knock sound, the carriage door opened. Edan, who got out of the carriage first, extended his hand, and I grasped it as I got off.