Chapter 3

‘How?’

Was last night so memorable that she was dreaming about him?

Brody blinked as she looked at the frosty Northern Duke with a cold expression.

“You’re going back.”

The voice, low and calm, cut through the silence, sending shivers down Brody’s arms. It was a realization of reality.

Without giving Brody a chance to react, the Duke lifted her swiftly. Brody’s slender body hung like laundry on the Duke’s broad shoulders.

‘Is he here to capture me? A mere prisoner? Why? And how? ’

Brody briefly considered using her abilities to escape, but she realized that she was in a very disadvantageous position. Even though she had escaped so well, she had been tracked down not long after.

Moreover, there was no sign of anyone around him. He came alone.

Brody harbored reasonable suspicions that the Duke might not be an ordinary person with no special abilities. The Duke was an extra who died as soon as he appeared in the novel, so there was no information about him.

So, instead of attempting another escape, Brody thought it might be safer to be captured and then plan her escape, just as before.

Without any further explanation, the Duke carried Brody down into the forest.

Could a human be so fast?

He came down the mountain like the wind, like a nimble deer.

She was swaying from side to side, her face upside down on the ground, and she was bleeding to death.

‘No, I saved your life, and you repay me with enmity?! ’

Brody wants to spit the words out of her mouth at the Ice Duke’s aura.
‘Well, I came to kill you, but I didn’t.’ She couldn’t say it, not that she would ever be able to anyway.

After running for about two hours, the Duke returned to the camp, carrying the escaped prisoner like a hunted beast. Seeing the Duke bring in the captive like this, his servants and soldiers stared at him with puzzled expressions.

Upon reaching the Duke’s place, he carefully set Brody down.

‘Finally being careful now that he brought me all the way here.’

Unable to stand, Brody collapsed on the ground, worrying about where to focus her attention amidst her tingling head and stomach doing somersaults.

But her stomach soon declared a strike, and Brody put an end to her worries. She regurgitated the sweet potatoes she had eaten that day.

Seeing this, the Duke, in a state of confusion, patted Brody on the back. However, unable to control his strength, his touch made Brody’s shaky body waver even more, and the Duke became more flustered.

Brody looked at the Duke with an inexplicable resentment in her eyes. Tears welled up in her eyes as she retched.

“Call for Mrs. Murphy!”

The Duke, sweating profusely, looked at his aide, and the aide, with an amused look as if finding the situation interesting, chuckled, nodded, and went outside.

Soon, a woman with a seemingly well-groomed appearance came in. She seemed to be one of those who had washed Brody yesterday.

Supported by the woman, Brody, after being roughly washed with a towel, laid down on the Duke’s bed.

‘What? You’re not going to kill me, are you? Then, if you’re going to send me to the gallows, drag it out, or burn me alive, do as you please. I can’t even take a single step! ’

With the thought of wanting to express this sentiment, Brody closed her eyes.

So this is what it’s like to die of exhaustion.

***

What happened that morning:

After Brody escaped, the Duke had a good night’s sleep and woke up in the morning.

“Where is the woman?”

At the chief of staff’s question, only the Northern Duke, Aidan Mason, felt sure that what happened last night was not a dream.

“Did she run away?”

“What? Escape? But the guard in front of the tent never left his post!”

“But she’s not here. Unless it was a dream or someone stole her.”

“Huh, so His Lordship didn’t notice the woman running away; what on earth happened last night?”

The chief of staff asked in a puzzled voice.

For now, the Duke’s assumption that someone had stolen her was rejected by the general’s mind. Anyway, the Duke usually lets the female prisoner who came in the morning the day before leave as she was.

The chief of staff thought the woman had escaped and was more surprised that the Duke didn’t know than the fact that she had escaped.

Moreover, from the moment she entered the Duke’s place and came face to face with him, she felt a strange sense of discomfort.

As he pondered what it was, he suddenly heard the Duke’s voice muttering.

“It’s gone.”

“What?”

“Believe it, River. The headache is gone.”

The chief of staff’s eyes widened at the unexpected words from the Duke’s mouth.

Now that he thought about it, the Duke’s forehead, which had always been deeply furrowed by headaches, looked relaxed.

He had never seen that before, and he mentally slapped his forehead, realizing that this was the source of his strange discomfort.

“We must find her.”

The Duke jerked to his feet.

“Yes……. What? You want to find the woman who ran away?”

The general doubted his ears. Until now, the Duke had always let the prisoners, including a woman who had come the night before, go without a single touch.

The situation in the north was not good, and the Duke was a man of excessive responsibility.

The general was worried that he might go mad from the war and the headaches.

“If he embraces a woman, he will be relieved.”
　
With that in mind, he planned, persuaded, and executed a plan to let a woman in every day.

The Duke, tired of his persistence, allowed him to do so, but he consistently let those women out of his room without touching a single hair.

‘Either he isn’t interested, or he is the epitome of patience.
　
Just when the general was about to weaken, this strange incident occurred.

“I’ll be back today.”

With that, Aidan left the barracks.

“My Lord! What about today’s affairs?”

“You’ll manage on your own.”

Whooshhh. The Duke disappeared like the wind.

Watching his back, the Duke involuntarily opened his mouth wide.

“No, did the Duke just disappear like that, neglecting all his work? Does that make any sense? ”

He glanced at the sky to see if the sun was rising in the west, then sighed and shook his head.

***
“No! You cannot have a woman of unknown identity by your side! Think of your safety!”

“Isn’t it you who let her in? And now, suddenly, you’re saying she’s no longer allowed?”

“Is spending one night the same as keeping her by your side every day? Besides, she is the one who succeeded in running away. You need to find out who she is and what her purpose is.”

“You’re the one who let the woman in, and I’m the one who brought her back. If she had a purpose, she wouldn’t run away or she would have killed me already. You doubt someone who didn’t kill you when they had the chance?”

“That’s…”

“And regardless, my headache is gone, whether I knew about it or not. If this result is due to something the woman did, we need to find out that method.”

The chief of staff, who had been urging the Duke on, fell silent in agreement. He knew better than anyone how terrible his headaches were.

“All right. Just don’t inform the woman about the headache. It won’t do you any good, and I’ll take care of her identity.”

The Duke nodded.

***

At the sound of a slight commotion, Brody slowly opened her eyes.

Instead of the familiar ceiling, a strange tent ceiling caught Brody’s eye.

“Oh no…”

Her eyes were open, but her entire body was sore, and Brody couldn’t get up.

As she looked around with only her head and eyes, she soon saw a familiar face in her eyes.

“The Ice Duke!”

Brody turned to face the Duke, her heart racing.

“Are you awake?”

“Yes, uh, yes.”

“Sorry about last night. I didn’t realize that position would be so uncomfortable.”

“…”

What is he saying? If possible, Brody wanted to say the opposite, but it was a hopeless wish. How could the slender Brody carry the sturdy Duke on her shoulders for over two hours?

With a frowning face, Brody asked, “Why did you bring me here?”

After listening to his chief of staff’s explanation, Aidan didn’t mention the ‘headache’.’

“I want to drink the tea I had last night.”

“Huh? Tea?”

Could it be that the tea was so delicious that he brought me back? No, that can’t be. The tea leaves are here. If he wants to drink it, he can brew it himself or ask someone else to do it.

Then maybe he likes that night so much.

“Hmm. That’s…”

But that was awkward.

“Let’s eat first.”

Although the Duke said so, Brody was just lying there.

“Don’t you have an appetite?”

“No, I can’t get up.”

Her expression omitted the words ‘because of whom.’

The Duke sat on the bed with an embarrassed expression. He put his hand behind her neck and lifted her.

He supported her.

When he approached suddenly, the events of last night came to her mind. She was startled, and her face turned red.

Whether he realized it or not, the Duke approached her with a tray on the table.

“Given the circumstances, I’m afraid I can’t offer you anything fancy. Please forgive me.”

It was a steaming bowl of soup. Brody’s mouth watered at the sight of the cooked food.

After a long day of mental and physical exertion and throwing up all the food he’d eaten yesterday, she was hungry.

Brody welcomed the food with open arms, thinking that maybe it was because she hadn’t eaten in a while.

With shaky hands, Brody cleaned up the food, and as she regained her strength, she caught the Duke’s eye.

It was a look that told her to get back to her work.

“Um, did you bring me here for tea?

Well, the same tea leaves taste differently to different people.

Few people are as skilled with plants as Brody, so it’s possible he’s never had a tea this good.

‘Is the Rand Duke a gourmet? ‘

Brody brought the tea with a puzzled feeling.

Aidan received the tea cup with an expectant look.

However, that evening, expectations turned into disappointment.

“I don’t think this is it.”

The Duke said it in a somewhat gentle manner.

Looking at his wrinkled forehead, Brody felt a sense of dread.

‘Is he asking for the same ‘Meshu’ again…? ’

Meshu was an ingredient for treating insomnia that did not burden the body when the amount was well-adjusted. However, even if it is stable, is it a good choice to mix Meshu philanthropically and feed it?

Brody hesitated, but looking at the deep shadow cast by the icy Duke, she didn’t hesitate twice.

‘He asked for this. Besides, he sure as hell slept well, and when he woke up, he looked relaxed and had a nice complexion!’

And so Brody served him an equal amount of Meshu.

The Grand Duke drank the tea happily, and his eyes relaxed.

This time, he didn’t fall asleep but staggered awake, rubbing his eyes.

‘Oh, no! This is driving me crazy.’

Brody wondered what the hell he was supposed to do with Aidan, who was just as shaken as he had been the night before.

But this time, the Duke dragged Brody to bed himself.

‘What, are we going to do it again? ‘

‘Of course, the tea was an excuse. Did he like what happened last night so much? ‘

The Duke, who was said to change women every day, would come after someone who ran away.

Aidan shuffled Brody into bed.