“Let’s get you out of those clothes first. We don’t have much time.”

Rachel had grown up taking it for granted that someone would always help her.

Count Flynn had always surrounded her with capable maids and attendants.

Yet somehow…

This felt embarrassing.

Perhaps it was because everything here was unfamiliar.

The place.

The people.

“S-Sophia.”

“Yes, Your Grace?”

“Are there any other maids? It feels a little…”

Rachel hesitated.

“…too much to have the head maid attending to me personally.”

“Does it make you uncomfortable?”

“It does.”

When Rachel nodded, Sophia smiled kindly.

“I’m only called the head maid. I work in the kitchen, change the bedding, and do plenty of other chores too. There are a few girls working under me, but they’ve all gone into town to buy supplies. As you know, every shopping trip requires at least a dozen men and takes three or four days.”

“I see…”

“Everything else is manageable. It’s meat that’s the problem. It’s incredibly difficult to get any.”

“Is meat really that scarce?”

Sophia thought for a moment before leading Rachel to the window.

“Take a look.”

A light snowstorm swept across the vast white plains.

There wasn’t a single house in sight.

“The only people living here……are the ones inside this castle.”

Rachel stared in surprise.

“Then there aren’t any farmers? Or anyone raising livestock?”

“No. Even the smallest thing has to be brought all the way from the capital. Even a single stalk of green onion.”

Only then did Rachel fully understand why the castle felt so barren.

‘If people are going to survive here…The first priority has to be creating a place that can sustain itself.’

“More importantly, Your Grace.”

Sophia’s voice pulled Rachel back from her thoughts.

“If I’m making you uncomfortable… I’ll help only as much as you’re comfortable with and then leave.”

Standing with both hands folded politely before her, Sophia looked less like a head maid…

And more like a gentle grandmother.

Rachel suddenly felt guilty.

Perhaps she’d been putting up too many walls.

Life here was completely different from life in the capital.

Naturally, people would have their own way of doing things.

“Sophia…Then… may I ask for your help?”

“Of course.”

Sophia approached with a warm smile.

“Please don’t hesitate to ask me for anything. And you don’t have to be so formal with me. Just speak comfortably. From now on…I’ll be serving you. Thank you.”

“…No. Thank you, Sophia.”

Sophia carefully helped Rachel out of her travel clothes.

Following her into the warm bath, Rachel finally felt as though she could breathe again.

While attending to her bath, Sophia told her several things.

She had once served under the former Duke Graham.

Only recently had she happened to reunite with Reiner and followed him north.

“The late Duke Graham died during the plague. But people blamed the young master. They said everything happened because of him.”

They had even tried to bury Reiner alive beside his father’s grave.

“Wasn’t it unimaginably cruel? He was only a baby whose eye color happened to be different. In the end, his nanny fled with him to a small island. Her husband was a fisherman.”

Sophia gently washed Rachel from head to toe.

Knowing Rachel had spent days riding on horseback, she even prepared a simple dinner made with light ingredients so her stomach wouldn’t be upset.

After tidying the room, Sophia was about to leave.

Rachel suddenly called after her.

“Sophia. Do you happen to know today’s date?”

Sophia smiled knowingly, as though she understood why Rachel was asking.

“The journey to the castle is so long and exhausting that it dulls your sense of time. When I first came here, I thought I’d been traveling for an entire week.”

She counted on her fingers before answering.

“Today is the third day of the eighth month.”

“…What?”

Rachel frowned.

“Sophia…Could you be mistaken? It felt like at least three days passed while we were traveling.”

Sophia chuckled.

“It was only a day and a half. From the capital, over the mountains, all the way to Graham Castle.”

“…Really?”

“Yes.”

“Most men need two full days. But when His Grace is leading the way, he shortens the journey by nearly half a day. I’ve heard the men grumble about it more times than I can count.”

Rachel sat there in stunned silence.

She had assumed her lunar birthday had already passed while traveling with Reiner.

‘Then… once midnight arrives tonight…It’ll be my birthday according to the lunar calendar…’

“Sleep well, Your Grace.”

Barely registering Sophia’s unfamiliar form of address, Rachel simply watched her leave the room.

“This is bad.”

Rubbing her now-cold fingertips together, Rachel paced anxiously beside the bed.

‘Once your birthday on the lunar calendar passes, the power of the imprint will begin to erupt beyond your control..As time passes, it’ll only grow stronger. Some elves even lose consciousness because of it.’

Rachel remembered the vial of medicine Lucius had given her when he’d said those words.

‘If only I’d known this would happen…I would’ve brought that medicine with me.’

Rachel had nothing with her now.

‘Should I warn Reiner? Tell him to be careful because I might end up pouncing on him?’

Barefoot, Rachel paced anxiously around the room.

Her slender feet never stayed in one place for long.

The thought that Reiner would be arriving soon had her nerves stretched to their limit.

“Haa…”

Even before seeing him, her heart pounded wildly, and she could feel the pulse throbbing in her head.

She remembered what he’d said when they arrived at the castle.

‘Keep the clothes simple. I’ll be taking them all off tonight anyway.’

“Oh, heavens.”

Rachel covered her mouth.

The wedding night…

He’s going to undress me anyway…

She pressed a hand over her racing heart.

“It’s okay.”

She had already prepared herself for her wedding night.

The only difference…

Was that the man waiting for her had changed from Emperor Felix to Reiner.

Because Reiner had been at the banquet, she had escaped what would have been a nightmarish night.

She feared her own overwhelming strength.

But now…

At least she no longer had to worry about snapping her partner’s neck or breaking his wrist on their wedding night.

Because it wasn’t Felix.

It was Reiner.

Touching him didn’t feel revolting.

It didn’t terrify her.

The real problem…

Was what the imprint would do to her body.

“Haa…”

And that was a very serious problem.

Rachel slowly looked around the room.

If Reiner ended up in danger…

She wanted to be able to call someone for help.

Yet there wasn’t a single servant’s bell cord anywhere.

‘Why isn’t there one? Does Reiner never summon servants?’

She searched everywhere besides the bed.

Still nothing.

Wondering if perhaps it had been installed in the hallway instead, Rachel cautiously opened the door.

The instant she peeked outside—

The door was suddenly pulled open from the other side.

“Huh?”

Startled, Rachel froze.

Reiner was standing right in front of her.

Her heart dropped.

His black hair was still damp from a bath, falling messily across his forehead.

He wore nothing more than a loose-fitting shirt.

***

“W-What is it?”

Reiner raised one eyebrow as he looked down at her.

“What do you mean?”

The look in his eyes made her dizzy.

Without his formal uniform and dressed so casually, the sharpness surrounding him had softened considerably.

Looking at him now…

Reiner wasn’t merely handsome.

He was breathtakingly handsome.

His smooth forehead was flawless.

Below it rested thick, well-shaped eyebrows.

The faint double eyelids that only appeared when he fully opened his eyes somehow made him even more attractive.

Even the elegant bridge of his nose looked too perfect to have been sculpted by human hands.

And his lips—

Neither too pale nor too dark—

‘Oh no… What’s wrong with me? The imprint must be making me see him through rose-colored glasses.’

Rachel quickly covered both eyes with her hands.

If she let herself keep looking…

She felt as though she could spend the entire night admiring nothing but Reiner’s face.

She’d never imagined the imprint could be this frightening.

It felt as though it completely stole away a person’s reason.

Seeing her standing there with both hands over her face, Reiner asked,

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Were you going somewhere?”

“No.”

Rachel bit her lip tightly and shook her head.

Then she simply turned around and walked back into the room.

Each barefoot step across the floor sent tingles through her entire body.

If seeing him affected her like this every single time…

She was in serious trouble.

No…Let’s just get the wedding night over with as quickly as possible.

Even Lucius had told her the same thing.

Once you’ve spent your first night together, it’ll get better.

Avoiding Reiner’s gaze as much as she could, Rachel climbed onto the bed.

The clothes she wore would probably come off easily beneath his hands anyway…

Even so, she carefully lay down with perfect posture so they wouldn’t become disheveled.

She had never shared a bed with a man before.

She had no idea what she was supposed to do.

But Reiner, who had traveled the world by sea…

Surely he knew.

He had probably met plenty of women.

At this moment…

She almost hoped that was true.

Folding both hands neatly over her chest, Rachel squeezed her eyes shut.

Even with her eyes closed, she could still sense the light filtering through her eyelids.

“Reiner.”

In a gentle voice, she made a small request.

“Could you turn off the light over there?”