Chapter 1 – The Uninvited Guest at the Ducal Castle 

A frigid snowstorm raged so fiercely it seemed it would bury the world itself. At the sound of the wind shaking the windows, the man warming himself before the fireplace knit his brows.

“What dreadful weather.”

“Indeed it is, Your Grace.”

The large-built man quickly chimed in.

“With a snowstorm like this, we’ll be trapped for fifteen days at the very least.”

“We’d be lucky if it’s only fifteen days.”

The man replied as he turned his gaze toward the window. Frost had formed over the glass, making the view outside almost impossible to see.

“Is there enough food?”

“We’ve stocked up for two months.”

“Keep a close watch on the food storage, Logan. We don’t know when the Sikun might come charging in.”

“No need to worry. In weather like this, even the Sikun will be holed up in their caves.”

“I suppose that’s true.”

Unless someone had gone mad wanting to die, there was no way any lunatic would roam around in weather like this.

Astan von Schultzmeyer, the master of the Schultzmeyer Duchy located at the northernmost edge of the continent, let out a bitter smile.

The Schultzmeyer Duchy, also called the ‘end of the world’ and the ‘to the underworld’, was covered in snow and ice all year round.

There were only three months when snow did not fall. Those three months were also when the duchy’s borders were under the heaviest guard. It was the season when the Sikun were most active.

The Sikun were monsters that inhabited the snowy mountains, large and powerful yet agile, so most people would not survive an encounter with one.

The reason Schultzmeyer ducal castle had been built on a high and steep hill was also to stand against Sikun. Of course, in weather like today’s, even the fiercest Sikun wouldn’t dare roam around.

Thinking that there were still two more months before the harsh winter season would end, Astan soon cast aside his unnecessary worries and decided instead to think about how to clear away all that snow well enough to be praised for it.

Just as he came to the satisfying conclusion that the best answer was to make Logan, who loafed around all day every day, do the work, the butler knocked on the study door.

“Your Grace, you should come out for a moment.”

“What is it?”

“A guest has arrived.”

“A guest in this weather?”

It seemed there really was someone who had gone mad wanting to die.

* * *

Wrapped in a thick cloak, Astan left the castle, pushing his way through the snowstorm. He had not even taken a few steps before his body quickly stiffened with cold.

A guest in weather like this—had Colin seen something that was not there?

Certain he would find nothing, Astan arrived before the castle gate and involuntarily sucked in a breath.

“……”

It was a woman. Beautiful enough to leave him speechless.

Covered from head to toe in snow, the woman looked up at him with a pale complexion. Astan stared intently at the woman, whose small frame did not even reach his shoulder.

Seeing her breath mist every time she exhaled, she was neither a ghost nor a hallucination. But considering she had made it all the way here through this dreadful snowstorm, she clearly could not be human either.

Then what was she?

While he was scanning the unidentified woman with suspicious eyes, she spoke first.

“Are you Duke Schultzmeyer?”

“I am.”

“How do you do? My name is Gloria McCain.”

“Gloria McCain?”

A list of noble families swept through his mind, but no house named McCain came to him.

Maintaining his wariness, Astan asked,

“How did you get here?”

“I walked. At first, the coachman said he would take me as far as the hill, but the snowstorm was so severe that the horses refused to move.”

“That’s not what I meant—”

“Oh, you’re asking why I came.”

Having grasped the point of his question, Gloria looked around awkwardly before continuing.

“I’m sorry, but may I tell you once we go inside?”

Her frost-covered white eyelashes trembled pitifully. Wrapped in a single cloak like a blanket against the bitter cold, the woman had gone so blue with chill that it would not have been strange if she collapsed at once.

Astan looked at the woman buried in snow up to her ankles, then clicked his tongue. A thin cloak no one who knew the cold of the duchy would ever choose, a shabby autumn dress, boots with the soles coming loose and flapping, and even a handbag that looked like a child’s toy.

‘She came determined to die.’

He had no desire to bring an unknown woman into the castle, but if he sent her away in this weather, he would likely have to deal with a frozen corpse tomorrow morning. Even if she harbored ill intent, what could such a small and frail woman possibly do?

“Let’s go inside first.”

At his reluctant permission, Gloria’s face brightened. Feeling a slight pang of guilt, Astan took the lead. The woman limped after him as though she had gotten frostbite. He slowed his pace to match Gloria’s steps and silently headed for the castle.

Astan, hurrying to go inside, stopped before the unmoving door. As if they thought the Duke had been bewitched by some apparition and might bring a ghost in with him, the door had been locked in the meantime.

‘Damned fools.’

Casting an irritated sidelong glance at the woman trembling like an aspen leaf, Astan kicked the door.

“Logan! Open this door at once!”

He heard murmuring from inside the door, and then a young man opened the peephole and poked his face out.

“Your Grace, are you safe?”

“I’m not sure about myself, but I can guarantee you won’t be if you don’t open this door right now.”

“Ahaha, must you say such hurtful things?”

Laughing awkwardly, Logan hurriedly opened the locked door. News must already have spread, because the servants who had been in bed were lined up in a row in front of the entrance hall. The butler who had announced the uninvited guest’s arrival pointed at Gloria and asked,

“Your Grace, who is this lady?”

“You don’t need to know.”

“Could she perhaps be your lover, secretly hidden from us—”

“Stop talking nonsense, and if you’re sleepy, go back and sleep.”

Astan cut the butler off firmly. By now they should have dispersed, but the servants, stirred by the appearance of a rare beauty, showed no sign of backing away.

This won’t do.

“There are too many nosy people here, so let’s go to the drawing room.”

“The drawing room? For someone who looks as though she could collapse at this very moment?”

The head maid, who was Astan’s nursemaid and effectively acted as the lady of the ducal castle, sprang forward and scolded him.

“I did not teach you to treat a lady that way.”

With eyes blazing, the head maid swiftly snatched away Gloria’s handbag.

“Goodness, it’s completely soaked. You must warm yourself first. Please follow me.”

“Thank you.”

The woman smiled brightly and followed after the head maid. Her staggering steps looked so unsteady she might fall at any moment.

“Tsk.”

Astan watched her retreating figure for a moment before turning away.

* * *

“Quickly, quickly, come inside.”

The place Gloria arrived at after following the head maid was a small but cozy little room. The room, with the fire already lit, was pleasantly warm.

“When morning comes, I’ll move you to a larger room. Right now this is the only room with a fire lit.”

“This room is warm and nice too.”

Answering neatly, Gloria settled herself in front of the fireplace and removed her wet gloves. Her fingers were frozen numb. As she kept rubbing her stiff hands, the head maid held out a teacup.

“Hold this, at least.”

“Thank you.”

Warming her hands with the heat, she took a sip of tea. The hot tea slid down her throat, thawing her body that had been frozen stiff.

“Haa……”

At her sigh of relief, the head maid said with a sympathetic face,

“You must be tired, but please wash up and change clothes first. If you stay like that, you’ll catch a cold in no time.”

Then, looking at the shabby handbag Gloria had brought, she added,

“I’ll place your change of clothes in the bath.”

“Thank you. I don’t know what to do, receiving such kindness from a stranger on our first meeting.”

“Kindness? Not at all. You are a guest in our castle.”

The head maid continued kindly.

“My name is Elizabeth Meriwether. I’m the head maid of this castle.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Gloria McCain.”

Gloria replied with a smile at the corners of her eyes. After arranging the bedding, the head maid poured more hot water into the empty teacup.

“I’ll let you know when the bathwater is ready, so please rest for a while.”

“All right.”

After carefully asking whether she needed anything else, the head maid left the room. Only then did Gloria’s tension finally ease, and she leaned back in her chair. Her whole body throbbed as though she had been thoroughly beaten.