Why the Northern Duke Wanders the Snowfields - Chapter 46

“This just got interesting.”

At Eloise’s cynical remark, Dorian stepped behind her and looked down. Below, a man and a woman were tightly embracing each other.

“So the duke has finally appeared. And with his mistress, no less.”

“Hmph.”

Eloise let out a low scoff and waved her white feathered fan.

“Yes, Madam.”

“Go and tell Kaeloc. Say I’d like to have dinner together.”

As the maid bowed her head and disappeared, Dorian bent at the waist, picked up the teacup to inspect it, then wiped it again with a clean napkin.

“Did you send the letter to Aileen?”

“Yes. It was sent urgently.”

As the clear tea streamed down with a soft trickle, a fragrant aroma spread.

“I’ve prepared a new batch of tea leaves this time.”

“New?”

“Leaves from the Noble Land.”

The Noble Land referred to the sacred ground located in the capital of the Kingdom of Blanc, a land of the goddess where rare plants and animals existed.

Leaves harvested from a place only royalty could enter. Moreover, the Kingdom of Blanc was currently in turmoil due to a civil war sparked by the conflict between the seventh prince Azel, who had rebelled, and the crown prince Lloyd.

Eloise tilted her head. “How did you obtain such leaves?”

Dorian raised a hand, brushed his hair back, and grinned. “Even amid the civil war, the Noble Land has remained preserved, untouched by destruction due to its sanctity.”

He poured a little warmed milk into the teacup.

“In truth, the royal family doesn’t personally engage in the labor of cultivating herbs.”

That was only natural. The Kingdom of Blanc was a nation with strong royal authority, and the royal family had long enjoyed power, calling themselves descendants of the goddess.

Eloise herself had been born the daughter of a count and had never once dirtied her hands with soil, so if it were Blanc royalty, even more so.

“Actually, my mother’s hometown is the royal capital of Blanc. Among my relatives, there’s a priest who works in the land of the goddess, and he was the one who gave it to me.”

“A relative? The borders have been closed for over ten years, haven’t they?”

Having been born and raised in the North, Eloise knew well even before becoming the duchess how sensitive and delicate the border regions were.

Even if they were closed, since people lived there, she had expected there to be quiet exchanges, but receiving goods directly from the Kingdom of Blanc like this was unexpected.

“Don’t you know why the Kingdom of Blanc closed its borders with our kingdom?”

The Kingdom of Trilan had long been mountainous, making farming difficult, so livestock farming, raising sheep and goats, had developed instead.

Over time, technology for mining minerals from the mountains advanced, and they traded various goods made from those minerals with neighboring countries. But after conflicts with the Carnu tribe intensified, various weapons had developed.

Amid all that, the neighboring country’s civil war became a good opportunity for the Kingdom of Trilan.

The wealthy Kingdom of Blanc showed no hesitation in spending generously to purchase weapons needed for their civil war.

However, the problem was that they sold without distinguishing between buyers.

It was discovered that the weapons officially purchased by Crown Prince Lloyd after requesting aid had been bought in double the quantity by Prince Azel, who had rebelled, offering three times the price.

Crown Prince Lloyd, the official regent of the King of Blanc, who died during the civil war, condemned the unscrupulous actions of the Kingdom of Trilan and went so far as to close the borders.

“There’s no need to worry too much, my lady. It seems my relative somehow heard that I serve a noble person and insisted on sending these tea leaves.”

Holding the teacup with an uneasy expression, Eloise looked back at Dorian.

With dark brown hair and black eyes, Dorian was a strikingly handsome man. He had appeared out of nowhere a few years ago, and with his perfect manners and conversation, he had won Eloise’s favor and come to serve as her attendant.

‘So he’s of mixed blood with someone from the Kingdom of Blanc….’

Though it was a neighboring country, the Kingdom of Blanc was full of people who all believed in the goddess and thought themselves chosen, always carrying a sense of superiority.

Dorian gave a small smile as if urging her to drink the tea.

‘He felt different from the blunt Northerners. Was that why?’

Eloise inhaled the scent of the tea once more. It was fresh, yet elegant like a flower.

“Try it. It’s good for your health, and they say it makes you as beautiful as the goddess, so it’s also called the Goddess’s Tea.”

Could it really be that good? With a doubtful expression, Eloise took a sip.

Gulp.

As she swallowed the tea, Eloise blinked.

“How is it, Madam?”

As Dorian had assured, the taste was truly excellent.

“It’s good.”

As she drank one after another, the teacup was empty in no time.

“Shall I pour you another?”

With a softened expression, Eloise nodded. “Please.”

Dorian poured the tea with a neat and refined posture.

Eloise looked at him anew. “Where did you learn such manners?”

Dorian said with a small smile, “Ah! My mother…. She was actually a noble in the Kingdom of Blanc.”

Eloise’s eyes widened at the unexpected fact. “A noble? Why didn’t you say so?”

“Well. My mother has already passed away, and in the Kingdom of Blanc, a woman who marries is defined by her husband’s status, so she was no longer a noble.”

Dorian finished with a bitter remark as he filled the cup.

“Please have more, my lady. There are still plenty of tea leaves.”

Eloise nodded blankly.

After drinking the tea, her body felt drowsy and languid. But it felt good.

“Dorian?”

“Yes, my lady.”

“Come here.”

Dorian set down the teapot, approached, and knelt in front of Eloise.

Normally, Eloise would have left him as he was. She liked it when attendants or maids stayed low at her feet and looked up at her.

But that day was different. Eloise reached out, placed her hand on Dorian’s shoulder, and patted the seat beside her.

“Come sit here.”

Her tongue felt slightly loosened, but Eloise was still conscious.

“Yes, my lady.”

Dorian curled his lips upward and sat close beside her.

At the sudden feel of a man’s solid body, Eloise forgot the dignity of a duchess and unconsciously parted her lips.

“Mm.”

Startled by the sound that slipped out, Eloise raised a hand to cover her mouth.

“What’s wrong?”

“…I don’t know.”

Married to the duke at twenty and widowed at a young age, Eloise didn’t have strong sexual desire. Even during her nights with the duke, it was only to produce an heir, and unless necessary, they did not share a bed.

Why was this happening?

The attendant Dorian, whom she had seen for years, suddenly felt like a man.

Without realizing it, she stroked the shoulder her hand still rested on. She had thought his body was thin, but she felt unexpectedly firm muscles, and she looked at Dorian again in surprise.

“Do you like it?”

“Y-Yes.”

A large hand slowly rose. Even when the man’s hand touched the back of her exposed neck and twisted a strand of her silvery hair around his fingers, Eloise remained still.

“I’ve always thought you were beautiful.”

“…Me?”

“Yes. You’re my type.”

A vivid blue vein showed faintly beneath her gently closed pale eyelids, and her long eyelashes trembled.

‘Your fastidiousness and your vanity, too.’

The tea the duchess drank merely helped relax her. It didn’t have any particular effect beyond that.

Dorian let out a small chuckle. In the Kingdom of Trilan, women of the North were especially known for their pale skin, but this duchess was exceptionally white, like freshly fallen snow.

Her hair, her skin, even her nails were all impossibly white.

‘At this point, isn’t it only natural to be curious about other places too?’

Concealing his true identity, Dorian began to covet the duchess.

***

The people were still in a state of excitement due to Kaeloc’s sudden appearance.

Still holding Aubrianna in his arms, Kaeloc turned his body to face the crowd.

“I, Kaeloc Tennant, swear here. I declare that this woman is absolutely not a witch.”

The people murmured, voicing suspicion that he might have been bewitched after all.

“Aubrianna, worried sick over my disappearance, searched for me herself across the winter snowfields where no one else came looking for me. Moved by her sincerity, the goddess led her to me, who had lost my memory and was living alone.”

As he emphasized it in a firm tone, the murmuring of the crowd subsided.

“She is the one who brought me back into the world. If not for her, I might have spent my entire life in those snowfields.”

Sion, who had wandered the snowfields leading the search party, choked up and tried to speak, but he froze at Kaeloc’s sharp gaze.

“Then let me ask my loyal aide. When the search party found my cabin, who was in that cabin?”

If the rumors were true and she had imprisoned him, then naturally he should have been inside the cabin.

The people waited, expecting Sion to speak, anticipating the tale of how the search party had heroically rescued the duke.

“Say it. Was I there?”

Sion looked at his lord. As always, he stood strong and beautiful, glaring at him.

Feeling that hostility directed at him, Sion felt his heart shatter into pieces. It felt as if the ground beneath his feet had vanished from the sense of betrayal and confusion.

“Do you really have to go this far?” Sion muttered under his breath so that no one else could hear.