The Central Furnace. To be precise, it wasn't a furnace at all. It was easier to think of it as a massive black pillar, like an enormous chimney. Mastones were fed into it in a continuous stream. Mages handled the black-gleaming mastones, which breathed fire as they disappeared into the pillar's interior.
When the great turbines churning at the pillar's base began to turn, the city filled with warmth before you even noticed. The point where my knowledge and the world's settings from the novel aligned perfectly.
That was the Central Furnace — or, in other words, a mastone-based reactor. A reactor generates electricity, but ours melted the frozen ground, produced iron, and spread fertility through the soil so that crops could grow.
"The design is hideous, though."
That was its greatest flaw. Smoke billowed from the towering chimney.
"Well? The Empire wouldn't need anything like this, I suppose."
"Oh — it's incredible. It's so tall, and so... long."
"Ah — ahem. It is quite a remarkable pillar, yes."
We were outside. There wasn't much occasion to leave Winter Castle, but I'd used the guest as an excuse to escape. Away from Alfredo, Dorgon, and the various House de Wintergard people. The paperwork would pile up into a mountain again and torment me, of course — but that was tomorrow's problem for tomorrow's me to handle.
"In the Empire, you don't need anything like this to stay warm in winter."
"That pillar is what keeps this whole area warm? If we had something like that back home..."
She circled the furnace with the wide-eyed wonder of a child. Mages came over to greet me. Had something gone wrong with the work? I couldn't understand why they kept finding me. I returned their greetings while watching Daniela, who was practically glowing with excitement. Before we'd set out for the walk, she had still been dark.
A change of scenery, I'd thought. After breakfast, I'd decided to take her outside to see the city. Daniela had said:
"I'm quite all right. I'll simply remain inside the castle—"
"I want to show off the North to my guest. Indulge me, Daniela. I'd rather have a southerner to brag to, if I'm being honest."
I had watched her eat breakfast.
"Do you have any separate engagements today?"
"No, Your Highness. Ah — there is a special performance at the North Arts Hall this evening."
"Oh, at last. That day has come."
There was reason enough. I had drawn up and discarded countless plans in my head. I paused to ask myself why I was thinking so deeply about this — then looked at Daniela eating her meal with quiet, careful propriety, and let the question go. A guest had come. That was reason enough.
Probably.
"It seems you have nothing scheduled this morning or afternoon."
"Ah — yes, that's right."
"Then I'd like to show my guest a bit of the North. What do you say?"
My heart gave a small lurch. I wiped my mouth with a white cloth and asked the question with practiced composure. Was this a date? The thought surfaced suddenly, and I felt a flicker of nerves.
Alfredo looked as though something didn't sit well with him, but I made a point of ignoring it.
Daniela set her utensils down neatly, as proper etiquette demanded. It was somewhat at odds with what I'd heard about her.
I had once been told that Imperial nobles were so steeped in empty formality that genuine manners were nowhere to be found among them — and that this was doubly true in the North, which they called the Kingdom of Exiles.
"Thank you, Your Grace. But I worry I would only be disrupting your work."
A refusal? I glanced back at Alfredo, who was standing behind me. He gave a slight, almost imperceptible shake of his head. Was that not yet, or keep going?
"There must be much you haven't seen in the South, so having someone beside you will make it easier to take it all in. Besides, you are my guest — I ought to do my best."
How's that? Is that all right? Alfredo gave a nod. Not an obvious one, but it seemed this was sufficient. He'd apparently become my personal consultant at some point.
"Even so, I worry I would be imposing on Your Grace's time."
"It's fine. Wintergard puts its guests first."
"Yes — then, may I go and prepare?"
"Please do. Take your time — we're in no rush."
I found myself wondering whether there were suitable clothes for her. Winter Castle lacked for nothing in its wardrobes, so it would probably be fine — but I worried all the same. I quietly pulled Alfredo aside and gave him instructions. As elegant as possible. Befitting a noblewoman.
But Alfredo already knew.
"This is a first, Your Grace. An order like this."
"Propriety must be observed. Wouldn't you agree?"
"Ha ha ha — we shall do our very best. Then—"
The moment Daniela rose from her seat, Alfredo followed after her. He was likely escorting her to the dressing room.
The other nobles had apparently stripped her of her clothes and her dowry alike, so she likely had nothing left to her name. This could be passed off as Wintergard's custom of properly attending to its guests.
Come to think of it, I needed to prepare as well.
"I — I should get ready too—"
"Right this way, Your Grace."
The maids descended on me at once. It wasn't long before I was dressed. I was fitted with a black cloak over a clean, well-tailored suit. This sort of outfit would stand out in the city, of course, but the maids were unyielding.
"Even so — this ensemble is far too conspicuous for the streets."
"Your Grace. This is precisely the manner of dress that captures the hearts of women. The northern cloak, with a blazer and shirt beneath — the cut is southern in style, but layered over it is the northern—"
"All right. I understand."
I waited for Daniela at the front gate of Winter Castle. Before long, a woman came walking slowly toward me, a flowing cloak draped over her shoulders. Northern women alternated freely between skirts and trousers — there were no restrictions on the matter.
Daniela held the hem of her trousers with an awkward self-consciousness, and tried to hide her legs beneath the cloak. But the black trousers, slightly loose in the fit, only showed their color all the more for it.
"How does she look, Your Grace?"
It was Alfredo who spoke first. He really was a nobleman through and through. Ah — no, wait.
"Isn't it too northern? Are you comfortable?"
"It's my first time wearing trousers, so my gait is a little..."
"The fit is generous, so you'll be fine. Northern women don't wear skirts in winter."
Alfredo had moved behind me and was doing something with my arm. Daniela glanced back at him. He was forcing my arm into a bent position. What on earth — all right, all right, I understand.
"Ah — ahem. Shall we be off, then."
I turned and stepped up to the gate. The great and exalted lord departs the castle! The gatekeepers began bellowing at the top of their lungs.
It was a bit much at times, but it bought enough of a moment. I slipped my hand into my pocket and let my elbow open slightly outward.
"Oh—"
Daniela startled, flustered by Alfredo's maneuvering. But her fingers found their way into the crook of my arm. Alfredo, satisfied, stepped backward into the castle. He clapped once at our retreating figures and bowed his head.
"We'll be off, then."
Thump — thump —
I had wanted to walk naturally, but that wasn't going quite as planned. Easy now. I matched my pace to Daniela's. The gatekeepers bowed their heads low as we passed.
The gate closed behind us, and I decided where to go first. There was time before the evening's performance, so I thought I should show her something she couldn't see in the South.
The Central Furnace, naturally.
And so here we were.
"I should have thought to take a carriage and see it that way."
"I've never seen anything like this, even in the Imperial capital."
"They have no need for it there. But in the North, the moment the fire goes out, the temperature drops immediately."
Daniela came back to my side. Just as she had when we left the castle, she rested her hand in the crook of my arm. I felt the light, gentle weight of her hand settling there.
"Your Grace! What brings you all the way out here!"
The director of the Central Furnace management office came sprinting over, breathless. There was a note of alarm in his manner — had something gone wrong? — but the moment he caught sight of Daniela beside me, his expression transformed entirely.
"I was showing my guest the Central Furnace."
"And to think this was all made possible because Your Grace is such a magnificent and enlightened ruler!"
"That's too much flattery, really. Ha ha ha!"
I watched Daniela's expression.
Good. Very good.
The furnace truly showed its worth at night, but the sun was still high overhead. What mattered now was keeping things natural. We'd walked a fair distance, so it was time to show her another part of the city.
"I was thinking of taking my guest to see the central boulevard — what does the director think?"
"An excellent choice, Your Grace! Just head straight down this way. Ha ha!"
I knew the way perfectly well, of course, but a natural sense of being guided mattered. Or perhaps it didn't. Daniela's gaze was still lingering on the Central Furnace.
The Central Furnace stood at the very heart of the city. Winter Castle, by contrast, sat closer to the city's outer edge — a deliberate choice made during the city's development, when the castle had been pushed outward. The positioning worked well enough, all things considered.
"The central boulevard will be the liveliest part. Hold on."
"Yes — yes."
We stepped onto the central boulevard. The street was flooded with brilliant light, and all manner of people moved through it with energy and purpose. The paving stones were laid with perfect evenness. Vendors called out their wares at the tops of their voices.
Two men drew a crowd by arm-wrestling in the middle of the street, while elderly residents of the surrounding buildings threw open their windows to bask in the sunlight.
The northern winter had been hell.
At least, it had been — until I became Grand Duke of the North.