Chapter 7

When I opened my eyes, it was morning.

There was no one beside me.

It seemed Aiden had gotten up early and already started his day.

The bed had been a little cramped because the two of us had shared it, but I had slept surprisingly well. The mattress must have been quite good.

I woke up feeling refreshed, stretched, and placed my feet on the floor as I prepared to get out of bed.

“?”

Something was under both of my feet.

It was a blue piece of fabric with a curved shape—a knight’s cloak.

But then it moved.

“Eek!”

“Ugh…”

I screamed in surprise, and a groan came from underneath the bed.

“G-Grand Duke Wolverlake?”

The person who emerged from beneath the blue knight’s cloak was, unsurprisingly, Aiden.

The situation was so absurd that I couldn’t understand it.

Before going to sleep, we had clearly settled down at opposite ends of the bed.

“W-Were you sleeping there?”

Strands of hair had fallen out of place, his expression was completely defenseless, and his lips were chapped and stained with dried blood, as though he had been struck somewhere.

Was it because he slept on the floor?

It was a side of him I had never seen before.

Aiden rubbed his eyes once and smiled faintly, still looking half-asleep.

He looked incredibly attractive in such a relaxed state.

But what he said next made my face turn bright red.

“Someone has rather violent sleeping habits.”

“Y-Yes… what?”

Aiden brushed his disheveled hair back with one hand and turned his still-drowsy eyes toward the window.

“Your elbow strikes were quite impressive. I didn’t realize it before because I was holding you while we slept.”

The mention of what had happened in the past made my heart pound like crazy.

At the same time, I realized why his lips were split.

I did that.

There was no choice but to apologize.

“I-I was very inconsiderate. I-I’m sorry, Grand Duke Wolverlake.”

Aiden stood up and stretched his body.

The muscles beneath his thin shirt became prominently defined before disappearing again as he moved.

“It is fine. However… in case something like this happens again, I think we should agree on an alternative.”

I looked at the bed.

It was spacious enough for one person, but cramped for two.

“Again? You think this situation is going to happen again?”

“It will.”

“What? How does that make any sense?”

I was aghast, but Aiden clicked his tongue as though I were ignorant of something obvious.

“My lady, the farther north we go, the colder it gets.”

“Well… yes, I suppose that’s true.”

“The farther north we go, the less certain it becomes that we will be able to sleep inside a mansion like this—or even indoors at all.”

“…What?”

“We are crossing the mountain range to reach the lands where the demons are, aren’t we?”

“Yes.”

“There are no ordinary residences in the mountains.”

“…I know.”

“There is also a limit to how much luggage we can carry.”

“Yes.”

“The farther north we go, the more likely it is that we will have to share a small tent.”

“……”

When I thought about it carefully, that did seem plausible.

Aiden glanced at the bed.

“A tent will be even narrower than that bed. Even if we sleep as far apart as possible, won’t I spend the entire night being kicked by your violent sleeping habits again?”

Aiden slowly brushed back the strands of hair that had fallen out of place as he continued.

“If that happens again, it will be rather difficult for us to maintain our condition.”

According to him, I was apparently destined to cause him all sorts of trouble.

But he had clearly mentioned agreeing on an alternative.

Although my face felt like it was on fire, I forced myself to calm down.

“I understand the problem. Then what do you think we should do?”

Aiden beckoned with his hand as though telling me to come closer.

I looked down at my feet.

There were only two steps between us.

In other words, we were already very close.

So how could he possibly be asking me to come even closer?

When I stared at him in confusion, Aiden spoke with an indifferent expression.

“Please do not misunderstand what I am about to do.”

Aiden took a large step toward me.

His arms wrapped around me and pulled me closer.

His broad, solid chest pressed against my face.

He smelled good.

My heart began pounding on its own.

But that lasted only a moment.

Aiden immediately stepped back and released me.

“I think we should sleep in the position we were just in.”

I couldn’t believe my ears.

“This… is the alternative?”

Aiden nodded as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“We were fine when we spent the night embracing each other.”

“……”

“Your tossing and turning should cause less fatigue that way.”

“……”

“And if we sleep while embracing each other, we will also be able to retain our body heat in the cold northern mountains.”

I looked at Aiden’s face, then at his chest.

The night we had spent together suddenly came back to me.

He wants us to sleep like that again?

My heart pounded, and my face grew hot.

“B-But still… that’s a little… And I-I don’t really understand what you mean about retaining body heat…”

I should have given him a clear answer, but I was so flustered that the words wouldn’t come out properly.

Aiden looked at me calmly.

“You are from the south, my lady. Have you ever visited the north?”

“No.”

“Then I assume you’ve never actually seen snow?”

“…Hmm? That’s not true.”

Suspicion appeared in Aiden’s eyes.

“You just said you had never been to the north.”

“……”

Oops.

Only then did I realize there was a flaw in my answer.

Before possessing this body, I had seen snow more than twenty years ago in my original world.

In this world, however, I had never even seen snow, much less experienced truly cold weather.

“Ah. I saw it in a dream once. White snow covered the entire world. It was so vivid…”

Only then did Aiden nod as though he understood.

“Then you do not know how cold the north is.”

“No.”

“When we enter the northern mountain range…”

Aiden touched his chin for a moment as he thought.

Then he compared our situation in the northern mountains to toppings on a bowl of patbingsu.

He said we would become like a small pudding buried inside the shaved ice.

“So if we’re in the snow, we’ll become stiff like a pudding inside patbingsu?”

The metaphor was rather…

“Yes. In any case, since you don’t know how cold the northern mountains are, my suggestion must sound strange to you. But please do not misunderstand.”

Aiden picked up the knight’s cloak lying on the floor and shook it vigorously toward the window twice.

“I am only suggesting it as an alternative to protect us from your sleeping habits and the cold.”

I felt my face grow hot again.

“Ah, I know.”

It was just that the first night I had spent with him had been far too memorable for me to accept his proposal so easily.

I stared at Aiden for a moment.

Even though he was suggesting that we sleep while embracing each other, his eyes remained calm and cold.

At least, he seemed confident that nothing romantic would happen to him even if we did that.

But I wasn’t the same.

Aiden was an attractive man.

Even last night, I had found myself imagining strange things while staring at his back.

What would happen if I were actually embracing him?

There was no guarantee that I wouldn’t develop deeper feelings for him.

And besides, if he had been an extra, perhaps I wouldn’t have needed to worry so much.

But since he was a supporting character, it was better to be even more careful.

“Still, that’s a rather difficult proposal. I haven’t even felt the cold yet. I think it would be better for me to consider it carefully before making a decision.”

Aiden nodded as though he had no attachment to the proposal whatsoever.

“I understand. Once you have considered it and actually experience the cold, give me your answer. Or suggest another alternative.”

Apparently, I was the only one bothered by this.

“All right. I’ll think about it carefully until then.”

We sent a travel report to the Imperial Palace by carrier pigeon and continued along the route, staying at the accommodations marked on the map.

When we reached the gate leading to the next territory, the soldier checking our identification cards smiled and asked,

“Are you heading to the Wildflower Fields?”

It was the same soldier who had recently asked me about our destination.

I could only give him a bitter smile.

“We’ll be passing through that gate, but unfortunately, we won’t be able to visit the fields.”

“…Pardon?”

“We have a mission.”

“Ah, you were looking forward to seeing the scenery… It’s truly unfortunate, as you said. Then perhaps you could at least have some grilled conch skewers…”

“I can’t help it. I’ll just have to look forward to another opportunity.”

The soldier looked genuinely disappointed on my behalf.

“Oh dear. I hope your mission ends quickly.”

“Thank you.”

Once we left the gate, Aiden urged his horse closer to mine.

“What are the Wildflower Fields?”

I explained to Aiden about the wildflower fields located nearby.

“Hmm. So there was a place like that. Apparently, you might even see spirits if you’re lucky…”

“Yes. I was looking forward to it, so it’s really unfortunate.”

“Do you want to see it?”

“What?”

Aiden unfolded the map.

After studying it for a while, he soon nodded.

“Let’s stop there.”

“…What?”

“I said let’s go see the Wildflower Fields before continuing.”

I couldn’t understand Aiden at all.

The northern mountains are supposedly crawling with demons, and he wants us to leisurely go sightseeing?

I began wondering whether this man was actually sane.

“What exactly do you mean?”

“I mean exactly what I said.”

“No, we’re heading toward a battlefield, aren’t we?”

“We are, but looking at the map…”

Aiden spoke as though it were nothing important.

“If we make good use of the gaps in the imperial command, it seems we might even be able to enjoy some culinary sightseeing along the way.”

“?”

“It will be a good opportunity to broaden our horizons.”

I couldn’t understand him.

“No, wouldn’t it be better to reach our destination as quickly as possible?”

“Why?”

“What if the demons invade while we’re taking our time?”

“I doubt that will happen. But even if it does, the soldiers who were conscripted ahead of us will fight them.”

“?”

“We are envoys. As long as we follow the imperial command, that’s all that matters, isn’t it?”

“What?”

I was so shocked that I pulled on the reins and brought my horse to a stop.

Aiden stopped his horse as well.

“Think back to His Majesty’s command. We are to determine why the demons have taken up their positions and whether there is any way to make them withdraw their army.”

Following Aiden’s words, I went over the imperial command in my head again.

Become imperial envoys, meet the enemy commander, determine what they want, and negotiate a peace treaty.

That was the imperial command.

The Emperor had said he believed we could accomplish it by combining the brains and strength of the academy’s top two graduates.

“If the demons have any demands, His Majesty said they would be considered positively, and that they only need to wait until the envoys arrive…”

Aiden nodded at my words.

“And the demons have agreed to wait until we arrive.”

“……Huh?”

Thinking about it, that really was the case.

Then wouldn’t arriving later mean I get to live at least one more day?