Chapter 1

Prologue

"Your Excellency, Lady Karina Leopold, your fiancée, has come to visit."

"…What? What day is it? We still have a year before the wedding."

"Yes, but… it is definitely Lady Karina Leopold."

The man, who had been busy processing documents, sharply raised his eyes and looked up.

He clicked his tongue and stood up from his seat. What could have happened for her to come all the way from the south to the north without a word?

His red eyes, already sensitive from the disruption, flashed angrily.

"Does she even have a mind? Even if we are engaged, how can she visit without sending a letter?"

The man, Duke Millian Festerlio, whose sensitivity had reached its limit due to the recent increase in the number of monsters in the north, spoke sharply.

The butler, Pang, who followed him closely, had a look of defeat on his face.

"Tsk, I wonder what my father was thinking when he arranged such an absurd political marriage and passed away. I wish I could hear his excuses from beyond the grave."

Though it was a disrespectful statement, Pang could not say anything.

Honestly, Millian was so buried in work and the war against the monsters that he had no time to deal with women.

Moreover, it was a busy time preparing for the approaching winter, managing the estate.

And now, out of the blue, news of his fiancée's visit.

Apart from the brief engagement ceremony, he could swear he had never seen her before.

She seemed uninterested in him, and he, of course, had no interest in her.

"Is it too late to break the engagement now?"

"…."

Pang, who usually answered promptly, remained silent.

'She's really getting on my nerves.'

Just as Millian, who was more sensitive than a person who hadn't eaten for five days, glared and turned his head, he noticed Pang's gaze fixed on the entrance.

'Tsk, she must have heard everything.'

He clicked his tongue inwardly. At the end of Pang's gaze was his fiancée.

She was looking at him with a paler expression than the last time he saw her.

Millian, thinking to explain, opened his mouth.

"The words I just said…"

"Breaking the engagement, that's fine."

"…What?"

"Your Excellency, our wedding is scheduled for about a year from now, right?"

Millian, with his arms crossed, listened to Karina in a slightly annoyed manner.

He was very sensitive, having just set a record of working three nights in a row. Dark circles were clearly visible under his eyes.

"To be straightforward, I want to stay here for about six to ten months."

"…Are you crazy, Lady?"

Millian asked sincerely.

It was a vulgar term that a noble would not normally use, but he had no choice.

Karina's rough brown hair swayed at her waist. Her deep blue eyes stared directly at Millian.

"In return, I'll break the engagement when I leave."

"…You're not telling me you ran away from home at your age, are you?"

"At my age, it's natural to leave home. It's less than a year, after all. Six months at the shortest, ten months at the longest. There seems to be a separate wing here, so it's fine even if it's not this mansion. As you can see, I didn't bring anything. Oh, I brought the engagement-breaking papers."

She showed a piece of paper from a shabby cloth bag with her white, red-tinted hand.

Millian's face twisted.

Where did she get that bag that looked like it could end up in a trash can at any moment?

"…Is the viscount's family in financial trouble?"

"Excuse me?"

Karina asked.

Realizing his gaze was on the cloth bag in her hand, she shook her head. This was just something she bought cheaply from someone who was about to throw it away.

"I wouldn't want to carry an expensive bag and get into trouble on such a long journey."

"Exactly how did you come such a long distance?"

"I paid for a carriage and got off at a suitable place, then walked, and hitched rides on carriages and caravans."

The Leopold viscounty is at the southern end. Since the viscount rarely came to the capital, it meant she had traveled from the viscounty to the northern end of the duchy where he was.

Even with a private carriage, it would take at least a month without stopping. Millian frowned.

"Exactly when did you leave?"

"I left two months ago."

"No, did you even contact anyone… No, wait. How could a noble lady who doesn't know the world come alone on such a dangerous journey?"

"…This is probably my first and last trip."

Karina said meaningfully.

A cold wind blew through the open entrance of the mansion. She looked silently at the colorful fallen leaves and spoke.

"I wanted to do something once, on my own, with my own steps."

The trip was the first thing. The first thing she decided to do on her own.

In the remaining time, she planned to spend it doing what she wanted.

'Her last trip?'

Millian's expression became strange.

Well, a noble lady couldn't make such a reckless trip twice. He shook his head.

It was fortunate that nothing happened; otherwise, she would have really been in trouble.

"Is it not possible?"

"If I say no?"

"I have a backup plan. I could join a caravan as a low-level worker and travel around…"

She had thought about it, but her physical condition was not good.

Perhaps due to the cold wind, she often lost consciousness after entering the north.

She planned to stay quietly here, draw, take short trips to nearby places, and prepare for the end.

"Ha!"

Millian was speechless.

Not only was her bold talk surprising, but her demeanor was so different from the last time he saw her that he doubted it was the same person.

Seeing his reaction, Karina shrugged.

"Actually, I didn't think Your Excellency would refuse, so the backup plan was just a thought."

"Why?"

"You dislike me. Ever since we first met at the engagement ceremony, you've always looked at me with dissatisfaction."

Millian looked bewildered, and she added proudly.

"I can tell these things. So I didn't think I would miss this opportunity."

Karina waved the paper in front of him again.

Millian glanced at her red fingertips and then at Karina. He couldn't keep a guest standing at the entrance forever.

"Come in."

"Yes, thank you. I'll live as if I'm not there. One day, when I'm gone, just think I've left. It's like a troublesome wart has fallen off."

Millian sighed at Karina's words.

Seeing her pale skin, he felt a sense of guilt, though he had no reason to.

Feeling a bit wronged, he glared at Karina again.

Though she didn't show it, she was shivering from the cold. Millian swallowed the words he was about to say.

"Pang, give her a usable empty room immediately. And tell the maid to prepare a bath for her."

"Understood."

"Take a bath first, Lady."

Karina, following the neatly dressed Pang, left, leaving Millian glaring behind her.

Millian glanced at her retreating figure and headed straight for his study.

There was a mountain of work he hadn't finished.