Why the Northern Duke Wanders the Snowfields - Chapter 33

“Sir Sion has arrived!”

The guards who recognized them hurried over and flung open the massive iron gates. Through them, a search party made up of about twenty elite soldiers trudged inside.

Harrick, the head attendant who had rushed out, looked surprised when he saw Sion getting off his horse.

“Are you injured?”

“What about the Duke?”

“Pardon?”

The search party that had gone to find the duke was asking about the duke, and Harrick asked back with a bewildered face.

“He hasn’t arrived yet?”

“I’m not sure what you mean…. Ah! Did you find the duke? Did he set off ahead?”

Harrick’s face, which had brightened, turned pale again at Sion’s words.

“He’s lost his memories. Even so, he’ll come to the castle soon.”

What was this supposed to mean? The duke who had gone missing had amnesia?

“Then who is he returning with? What on earth, Sir Sion!”

Sion, having said only what he needed to, headed toward the duke’s office with steady steps, and Harrick, who remained behind, called out his name before stopping.

Dorian, the duchess’s attendant, was watching them from a distance.

“Ahem.”

Harrick cleared his throat, straightened his appearance, and approached him.

“Any news?” Dorian asked in a composed voice.

“Well….”

Harrick stroked his impressive beard, his pride, and hesitated. He wondered whether he should relay Sion’s words as they were.

“The search party has brought back somewhat hopeful news.”

“Is that so?” Dorian asked back and glanced around.

The garden was crowded with servants tending to the horses the search party had ridden and trainees taking care of the exhausted knights.

“What about the Duke?”

“Ah! He is said to be arriving soon.”

Since it was what he had heard from Sion, this at least should be true. Harrick gave a light bow and took his leave.

After him, Dorian’s suspicious gaze lingered.

***

“They found him?”

Eloise, in a manner unlike her usual self, sprang up before pausing and gracefully correcting her posture as she sat back down.

At that movement, the transparent jewels meticulously set into her silver dress caught the afternoon sunlight and shone dazzlingly.

“Yes, it seemed so. He is said to be arriving soon.”

“What?”

This time truly startled, Eloise removed the rings on her fingers and placed them into the jewelry box the maid was holding, then signaled with her eyes.

When the maid bowed and disappeared with the box, Dorian asked in a satisfied tone, “Do you like the new ring we acquired this time?”

They were rings crafted by setting rare and precious gems brought from Alandor, together with gold and crystal, as soon as carriages began running again after winter.

“That’s not what matters right now.”

The duchess, regaining her composure, fanned herself as if her temper was rising, and a maid in the room quickly brought a fan.

“You’ve been feeling warmer lately. Shall I call a doctor? Or at least an apothecary?”

“Dorian. Do you think that’s what I should be concerned about right now?”

The duchess was not someone who usually spoke in a raised voice. Eloise took pride in always speaking in a low, elegant tone, but now she could not manage her usual composure.

She took a sip of the cool water another maid had brought and put on the silver gloves woven from silk that had been on the desk.

“Find out where Cedric is. I need to see him at once.”

“Yes, my lady.”

After Dorian disappeared, Eloise straightened her back again, idly touching her necklace as she fell into thought.

‘He didn’t show up all winter, so I thought he froze to death somewhere, but he’s come back alive, stubbornly so.’

Eloise recalled the time when she first came to the ducal castle at a young age to marry the much older duke.

“So you’re Kaeloc.”

She’d heard that he greatly resembled the previous duchess who died giving birth, so she had expected a delicate and youthful boy, but the child was a head taller than his peers and had a sturdy, robust build.

The duke was old, and Kaeloc was a child he had late in life.

Even so, since a strong son had been born, Eloise thought she might have a chance as well.

Fortunately, the duke was vigorous for his age, so their nights were not unsatisfactory.

“Just a little more. Ahhh.”

Eloise, who had a tendency toward cleanliness, found the man’s caresses and the wetness of her pussy after he finished unpleasantly sticky, but she could endure it at the thought of being able to bear a healthy son.

But….

‘In the end, I never conceived.’

Without realizing it, she bit the tip of her glove, then quickly pulled her lips away. A reddish lip mark had stained the pearl-tinted glove unpleasantly.

With an irritated motion, she pulled off the glove and threw it onto the floor. At a signal from the lady-in-waiting behind her, a maid rushed over, picked up the glove, and swiftly wiped the spot.

Putting on an identical glove handed to her by the lady-in-waiting, Eloise spun the pearl bracelet around her wrist.

‘Just one, just one was all I asked for….’

While the goddess turned away from her earnest prayers, Kaeloc grew rapidly, excelling in strength and in study alike, becoming the praised heir to the duke.

“My lady.”

As Eloise brushed back her silver hair, she looked at Dorian, who had just entered the reception room.

At the sight of the duchess shining entirely in silver, Dorian gazed at her as if dazzled, then lowered his head.

“Lord Cedric is not in the ducal castle at the moment.”

“What? Where has he gone this time?”

“Well, he went out alone without even a servant….”

Nothing was going right. Without realizing it, Eloise bit the tip of her glove again.

“My lady.”

When the lady-in-waiting offered another glove in advance, Eloise stood up with an angry expression, tore off the glove, threw it, and shouted in a low voice.

“Everyone, leave.”

Once the lady-in-waiting and the waiting maids all disappeared, only Dorian remained.

“Speak.”

“He is at a brothel again.”

“Haah.”

Letting out a long sigh, Eloise felt her throat tighten and removed the pink-tinted pearl necklace, tossing it onto the sofa.

“So?”

“He is… beating them again….”

Turning away from Dorian, who couldn’t finish his sentence, Eloise now bit at her fingertips.

“Dorian. How long am I supposed to tolerate that wretch?”

It was a question, but she wasn’t expecting an answer. With Kaeloc missing, Eloise had chosen Cedric as the card to maintain her wealth and power.

The problem was that she thought he was foolish and dull, someone she could take in hand and control, but he was gradually slipping out of her grasp.

At this rate, rather than obtaining the ducal position under the name of Coville, it looked like they would only accumulate flaws.

“Bring him here at once.”

“I’ve already sent only tight-lipped attendants.”

“Ha, it would be better if you became the interim head of the house instead, Dorian.”

As she shook her head, her silver hair swayed.

“By the way, Aubrianna and the child really did disappear, didn’t they?”

Dorian nodded.

Since their tracks vanished in the snowfield, there was no chance they had survived. And besides….

Dorian had never told the duchess what he had seen in the snowfield that day.

‘I should have at least one card I keep hidden as well.’

He smiled slyly as he covertly took in the graceful figure of the duchess.

***

“This place looks a bit expensive.”

Kaeloc looked around as he stepped into the inn.

Perhaps because it hadn’t been long since it was built, there wasn’t a single scratch on the painted wooden walls. Clean paintings hung on every wall, and a chandelier was fixed to the ceiling.

“Don’t worry.”

She walked up to the counter and called for an attendant.

“I’d like to send a telegram to the ducal castle. Do you have a reliable child?”

“Of course. If you write it here, we’ll send it right away.”

Aubrianna wrote something on the paper, folded it in half, then called Kaeloc.

“What is it?”

“Sign here.”

“Sign?”

Aubrianna looked at the man’s hand as he picked up the pen, then spoke, “If you don’t remember….”

But contrary to her concern, the man’s hand quickly finished the signature and set the pen down with a tap.

“Oh!”

Then, startled, he looked down at the signature he had written.

“That’s surprising. My hand just moved on its own.”

“Did your memory come back?”

Aubrianna narrowed her eyes slightly as she looked up at him.

“Who knows?”

The man also narrowed his eyes and curled his lips into a thin smile.

“Anyway, I did what you wanted, so I’d like to put this little one down now.”

Watching the man’s back as he walked to the sofa carrying the baby, Aubrianna’s expression shifted subtly.

‘No way, his memory couldn’t have returned already.’

If his memory had returned, he wouldn’t be acting like this. The previous Kaeloc knew Cedric well, so he would never have tolerated that man acting as interim head of the house.

Aubrianna watched the man playing with the baby, carefully observing whether there was anything different from before, then turned her body at the presence of someone approaching from behind.

“You said you needed a quick-footed child?”

A boy holding his cap in his hands asked politely.

“Yes. Take this note to the ducal castle and find Sion Valian to deliver it. I’ve asked for two coins as payment, so make sure you receive them.”

At her smiling request, the boy bowed his head and quickly disappeared.

Aubrianna rose to her feet and, still smiling, asked the attendant, “I’d like to have a meal. Where should we go?”