The road leading to the Northeast.
He had opposed the idea that, as the Grand Duke of the North, he must travel with an enormous retinue.
Part of it was that he had no desire to assert any kind of authority in the Northeast, which he hadn't visited in some time.
The journey to the Northeast had to depart the very day after next, just as Hexon had demanded.
The castle was already in an uproar to begin with. Wedding preparations — they're starting those already?
"I've sent word ahead to the Northeast. You may depart whenever you're ready."
"Right. Let's do that."
"Please come out now."
"Everyone seems rather pleased that I'm taking a holiday?"
"We are devastated beyond measure, Your Grace."
"Then shall I not go?"
"That's..."
"I know. I'm going."
He dressed himself in his traveling clothes.
He pulled on a coat made of saber-tooth hide and walked slowly outside. The servants were bustling about noisily.
Daniela said she would change into different clothes and hurried off to another dressing room.
That'll take a while.
He went ahead and passed through the castle gate, waiting at the small parade ground in front.
"A black carriage."
"Ah, you've noticed, Your Grace?"
"Looks expensive. How long did it take to make?"
"The late Grand Duke had it made, saying it would be needed someday."
"That means it's over twenty years old — it's in remarkably good condition."
"It has been maintained continuously, Your Grace."
The black carriage. The carriage adorned entirely in black drew to a stop directly before him.
Daniela emerged slowly through the castle gate.
Not a dress — she wore something that looked like the clothing of a Northerner.
It resembled a uniform, all in black. She wore trousers, with a belt fastened at her waist.
Her short golden hair made her look all the more like someone of the hardy North.
"You look completely like a Northerner today."
"Well, I am a Northerner?"
"I suppose that was obvious. You look beautiful today. Truly."
"Thank you, Grand Duke."
They boarded the black carriage, and it set off toward the Northeast.
The Grand Duke's Banner descended slowly from the castle, and beside it, the Grand Duchess's Banner came down as well.
A sign that the Grand Duke was not in residence.
It hadn't been long since he'd returned from the South,
and already the banners were coming down from Winter Castle.
The people of the North are going to think their Grand Duke is having a very, very leisurely time of it.
"What are you thinking about so deeply?"
"Oh — just wondering whether the people of the North might think their Grand Duke is playing around too much. Something like that."
"Not at all, Grand Duke. They already know how much you've done for the North."
"I suppose."
As they traveled toward the Northeast, he watched the faces of the people outside.
Through the carriage window, the city surrounding Winter Castle came into view.
Winter was drawing to a close.
Passing by the Central Furnace, he watched people hurrying about their business.
People who had to farm, people straining to sell their goods. The past flickered through his mind.
"In the old days, if you came this far outside the castle walls, you'd find quite a few people who had frozen to death."
"Really?"
"Yes. People with nowhere to go, who froze to death."
"You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone like that now, wouldn't you?"
"I hope so."
Clatter — clatter —
The Northerners who heard the carriage passing waved their hands.
It's a relief that things seem better than before.
The soil's fertility had been replenished enormously,
and when the farming season came, it would be a good harvest.
The harsher the winter, the better the crops would grow in spring and summer.
"What plans have been made for the spring famine season?"
"Your Grace. The food supply plan has already been arranged on a month-by-month basis."
"Even if we have to dip into the military rations, make sure no one goes hungry."
"Please do not worry. We have already prepared estimates and set aside more than enough to see us through."
"Come to think of it, there's a great deal to be done in spring as well."
"Your Grace. We will attend to your concerns with greater care, so please enjoy your holiday for now."
He had nothing to say to that.
Somehow, the staff had stopped discussing work matters with him.
No matter what question he tried to raise,
they would immediately cut him off with,
"Please enjoy your holiday, Your Grace."
That left him rather bored.
"It's beautiful outside, Grand Duke."
"What do you think? The North's countryside?"
"It looks like a painting. A little cold, though."
Winter had not yet passed.
Spring would come soon enough, but until then, the cold days would simply have to continue.
Yet this was when it was most beautiful.
The North's frost settling quietly over everything,
and the droplets that formed as it melted away.
The mountain ranges visible through the window as the carriage rolled along the unfrozen road.
"It is beautiful. Though it's even more beautiful at harvest time."
"I think I prefer this to the warmth of the South."
"I'm only grateful — to you, Daniela."
"Not at all. If anything, I'm the more grateful one."
He took Daniela's hand and gazed quietly out at the scenery.
The North that had been cold, wretched, and starving — that was over now.
"Your Grace. A moment — I'll just have a look at the carriage wheels."
"Is something wrong?"
"We have quite a long way to go, so I'd like to check them briefly. Please wait just a moment."
The attendant stepped outside the carriage.
In the suddenly empty carriage, only he and Daniela remained.
It was then that he finally found the courage.
A question about the past. Even now that they knew each other well enough,
asking someone a question like this still mattered.
"Daniela — do you truly want to become Grand Duchess?"
"Come now, Grand Duke. It's already been decided, hasn't it?"
"You never know. Being Grand Duchess of Wintergard is no ordinary position — it could be a burden."
Daniela looked at him quietly.
As though gazing at the scenery outside, she seemed to be turning something over carefully in her mind.
It felt as though she were studying him.
"I think I understand your heart a little now, Grand Duke."
"My heart?"
"Yes. Why you've put off marriage for so long."
Me?
In truth, in a society where nothing was more important than marriage and producing an heir, he was probably the only ruler who had delayed it this long.
He knew, at least, that things were not like this in the South.
Of course, many people in the North had felt the same way.
Just look at Leona — or James, for that matter.
"It's because you love the North, Grand Duke."
"Well — yes. It's as good as my homeland."
"And you love the people of the North, and the land of the North."
"I'm their duke. I have to do right by them."
"That's exactly why, Grand Duke."
What did she mean?
He asked Daniela again. She was saying he had put off marriage because he loved the North?
"The Grand Duke I've come to know has been carrying an enormous weight. Because you love the North, you want everyone to be happy."
"That's a duke's duty."
"And that's precisely why you understand that weight so well. You don't want to place it on anyone else."
That struck a nerve.
It felt like being pricked in the heart.
What Daniela was saying seemed to fit perfectly.
She was right.
He had always tried to bear it alone.
Because he knew all too well how difficult a life the people of the North had to endure.
He had wanted to change that.
He had wanted to let them live past forty, at least.
He hadn't wanted to see them lose their families to war, or despair in the ruins of their homes.
So if he worked harder,
if the Grand Duke fulfilled his role as a Grand Duke ought to — perhaps the people of the North could live more happily.
That had been his thinking.
"I'm afraid this might make you jealous, Grand Duke."
"What is it?"
"I always tried to guide the Crown Prince down the right path."
He already disliked where this was going.
The more he thought of Daniela catering to the Crown Prince's whims, the more it repulsed him — a visceral, crawling dislike.
Like coming face to face with a loathsome insect.
"At the academy too, whenever I met the Crown Prince, I always tried to lead him toward the right path."
"That didn't go so well."
"You're right. In the end, that's how it turned out. Whatever loyal retainers might have been at the Crown Prince's side — they're probably gone by now..."
He had fortified himself.
House de Bosch was slowly consuming the imperial family.
And the interior, already rotten to the core, looked as though it had nothing left to do but collapse.
Going back — to his grandfather's grandfather's time —
the Empire would have had its own measure of strength.
But now, it seemed as though only conflict remained.
"When I went south the other day and saw the Crown Prince, I realized something."
"What?"
"Even if I had been in Kartina's place, it would have been irreversible. I could not have changed that person."
"No. Daniela — you would have managed it."
Daniela took his hand.
The eyes of the Daniela beside him seemed to burn a vivid blue.
The hottest part of a flame.
Not red, but blazing a brilliant, piercing blue.
"No. I could not have changed the Crown Prince. Because I would have given up on him."
"Daniela..."
"But after meeting you, Grand Duke, I realized — I will not give up on you. No — I won't be able to give up on you."
Daniela's face drew close.
Outside, there was noise from the wheels, but inside the carriage, a quiet stillness hung in the air.
It was sweet. He wished this atmosphere itself could go on forever.
"Do you know why?"
"Why?"
"Because I love you that much, Grand Duke."
His heart leapt.
Perhaps he had been thinking of the role of Grand Duchess in far too political a manner.
Someone's partner.
The person who would walk beside him.
"Is that so?"
"Of course. I will not give up on you, Grand Duke."
"Because you love me?"
"Yes."
He had been patient long enough.
Before he knew it, he had pressed his lips to Daniela's.
For a very long time. A very long time.
Huu —
When he finally drew breath again,
he and Daniela found themselves pressed together as though in an embrace.
"Your Grace! We are ready to depart!"
"Ah — yes. Right."
The carriage slowly set off.
"Daniela."
"Yes, Grand Duke?"
"Not 'His Grace the Crown Prince.' Just 'the Crown Prince.'"
"So you were jealous."
"...He ranks below me."
Well, some things simply had to be done.