Chapter 2

Grand Duke of the North

The discomfort caused by Varas’s presence behind her continued to build layer upon layer.

Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—a small growl came from Selen’s stomach.

A low, cold voice sounded near her ear.

“Eat.”

Then Varas turned and strode out of the room.

As the faint warmth of his presence faded, Selen felt as though she could smell the blood again.

The bedding had been removed, but the scent seemed to linger.

She immediately threw open every window in the bedroom.

The moment she did, she was reminded that this truly was the North.

Although spring had already begun, the air was still bitterly cold.

More than that, the snow outside remained piled high, not yet melted.

Selen slowly surveyed the bedroom again.

As befitted a northern castle, the walls were decorated with various fur hangings, and thick carpets covered the floor without a single gap.

Suddenly, she remembered the dull thudding sound of Varas’s footsteps the previous night.

She felt as though she could run across these carpets without making a sound.

How hard did one have to step to produce footsteps like that?

Then her gaze landed on the now-bare bed.

The image of Varas scattering blood across it with an expressionless face resurfaced immediately.

Should I run away?

In the original story, Selen fainted before even spending her wedding night with him, and her imprisonment began shortly afterward.

The Grand Duke had returned to his territory after announcing his retirement from warfare and proclaiming that he would no longer set foot on a battlefield.

He publicly claimed he intended to spend the rest of his days farming.

Of course, the idea of making a living through farming in the North was ridiculous to begin with.

As befitted a dark novel centered on confinement and coercion, he was the worst kind of beast—one who had no intention of considering the feelings of a twenty-year-old girl who could barely look him in the eye.

Selen had a strong feeling that her future held very little hope.

What dreams or happiness could possibly exist in a story where a woman sold for money and a beast were brought together?

She had read countless sweet romances filled with innocent love and fairy-tale endings.

If she had known she would end up inside the one dark, miserable novel she had ever read, she would never have picked it up.

Still, it was fortunate that her imprisonment hadn’t begun immediately.

At least she had some time to prepare herself.

Then she remembered Varas’s cold gaze and blunt voice.

And she couldn’t help worrying about their first night together.

She sat down to eat.

But in the end, she couldn’t manage a single bite.

Instead, she remained seated by the window, staring endlessly outside.

Selen, now the Grand Duchess, didn’t possess the courage to run away from this strange world into which she had suddenly been thrown.

She had no idea where she would go or how she would survive.

And if she stepped outside right now, she’d probably freeze to death before getting very far.

Back when she had lived as Yumi, she had once come dangerously close to dying from cold and hunger.

Because of that experience, the thought of fleeing with nothing terrified her even more.

Yet trying to win over that giant of a man seemed even more impossible.

No matter how she thought about it, there was no answer.

As she sat there by the window, Anna came in and replaced the bedding with fresh linens.

She even encouraged Selen to eat lunch.

But Selen had no appetite.

The thought that she might never again see freedom after tomorrow made the gradually setting sun seem cruel.

For a moment, she found herself thinking about her life as Yumi.

Like Selen, Yumi had been an orphan.

Since her school days, she had dreamed of becoming an actress.

She joined a small theater troupe, honed her skills, and even appeared as an extra in several successful productions.

Her career had finally begun moving in the right direction.

Real roles were starting to come her way.

But now that dream had become nothing more than scattered fragments of memory.

The northern daylight was short.

Outside, darkness quickly began to gather, and the wind entering through the window grew colder.

A cough sounded from outside the door.

Then came a knock.

“I’ll come in.”

The moment Varas entered and the door shut behind him with a thud, Selen felt her heart sink.

The sensation of being observed returned immediately.

When Varas entered the Grand Duchess’s room, the first thing that caught his attention wasn’t Selen.

It was the open window.

She had come from the southwestern regions.

She must be cold.

Still, the northern air could feel refreshing.

Perhaps she liked it.

Wondering if that was why she had left the window open, he studied her face.

Anna had told him she had refused lunch.

She certainly looked listless.

Yet she showed none of the signs of someone suffering from the cold.

Even he found it somewhat ridiculous how often he caught himself watching her.

A dry laugh nearly escaped him.

Then Selen suddenly met his gaze.

She had spent so long staring out the window that he assumed she disliked his presence.

Not that the assumption was entirely wrong.

Still…

He liked the fact that she looked directly into his eyes.

She didn’t avoid him.

She didn’t shrink away.

There was no disgust in her expression.

Her calm and straightforward gaze felt pleasant.

More than anything, she didn’t seem afraid of him.

And that pleased him the most.

Meanwhile, Selen could barely think over the frantic pounding of her heart.

Years of training as an actress allowed her to hide her emotions from her face.

At least, she hoped so.

Objectively speaking, Varas was exactly her type.

His enormous, powerful build.

His sharp features.

The untouchable aura surrounding him.

It reminded her of the presence possessed by a top actor she had once seen.

The kind of person who overwhelmed others simply by existing.

And somehow, that man was now her husband.

Can excitement and fear really exist in the same heart at the same time?

Selen forcibly steadied her trembling gaze and looked elsewhere.

His eyes resembled those of a predator.

She felt as though the moment he noticed any weakness, she would be devoured alive.

After watching her for a while, Varas finally spoke.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

The question gave Selen a strange feeling.

It sounded like a kind King Kong asking a rabbit,

“Would you like me to bring you some grass?”

A small smile slipped onto her face.

One eyebrow twitched upward, and the corner of her mouth lifted slightly.

It was an expression that seemed to say:

What a strange thing to ask.

But Varas’s eyes brightened.

For the first time, he had seen an actual expression appear on her face.

And he arrived at a thoroughly ridiculous conclusion.

Ah.

Selen likes being asked whether she’s hungry.

The thought was absurd.

But he had spent his life on battlefields since before the age of ten.

He had never paid attention to the lace on a woman’s dress.

Even at the imperial victory balls he attended out of obligation, no women approached him.

More accurately, apart from his fellow soldiers and the Emperor and Empress, almost nobody spoke to him at all.

People who merely met his gaze usually trembled and fled.

Why would anyone greet him?

To most people, Varas wasn’t another human being.

He was an object of fear.

Encouraged by what sounded suspiciously like kindness, Selen decided to ask for the thing she wanted most.

“Outside.”

After speaking that single word, she fell silent again.

Her own voice startled her.

It sounded completely different from the one she had lived with her entire life.

Clearing her throat, she took a deep breath and tried again.

“I’d like to go outside.”

The moment the words left her mouth, she regretted them.

She didn’t believe Varas would grant such a request.

In the novel, he was controlling.

Violent.

The sort of man who seemed not to know the meaning of patience.

Maybe she’d simply been fooled for a moment by his question about whether she was hungry.

Perhaps he’d refuse immediately.

Perhaps he’d even lock the door.

Just as those thoughts crossed her mind, she saw Varas slowly rise to his feet.

Varas suddenly remembered Anna visiting his office twice that day.

What had she said again?

“She hasn’t touched a bite of food all day. She just sits by the window staring outside.”

When Selen looked up, the giant man tilted his head slightly.

“If you want to go outside, you’ll have to stand up first.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Selen cautiously rose from her seat.

Even standing perfectly straight, the top of her head barely reached his solar plexus.

Had she seemed this small during the wedding?

Varas vaguely remembered hearing that first impressions between men and women were supposed to be important.

Yet he remembered almost nothing about their wedding day.

Probably because she had stirred no particular emotion in him.

Even while watching her and thinking that they would spend the rest of their lives together, he had felt absolutely nothing.

Strangely enough, the image that remained clearest in his memory was her clutching the blankets in the darkness.

His gaze drifted downward.

Not intentionally.

His eyes simply moved there naturally.

From the top of her head to her collarbone.

Seen from above, she was…

provocative.

Clicking his tongue inwardly, Varas opened the wardrobe.

He took out a thick coat and a heavy cloak and wrapped them around her.

Selen looked bewildered.

Her expression seemed to ask:

Why are you bundling me up like this?

The red glow of the setting sun streaming through the window illuminated her face.

Her features were beautiful.

But more than that, he liked the way she always tried to meet his eyes directly.

Her fair skin and soft lips barely registered in comparison.

Turning away, he quickly strode to the door and opened it.

A gust of wind rushed through the room, replacing the stale air with something colder.

Selen tried to follow him with the same long strides.

But the oversized coat kept tangling around her feet.

Varas watched as she struggled.

She couldn’t even properly gather the coat in her hands before hurrying forward.

Yet he waited patiently.

The delay didn’t bother him.

Unexpectedly, there was something peaceful about watching her.

The awkward way the coat sat crooked on her shoulders.

The cautious little steps she took as though surprised by her own clumsiness.

Soon she drew close enough to meet his eyes again.

And for some reason, her expression made him think:

“Look, I made it all the way here. Didn’t I do well?”

It was a ridiculous thought.

What grown adult expected praise for walking a few steps?

The problem was that, to him, she genuinely looked that way.

When she finally reached him and looked up with those clear eyes, their gazes met.

And once again, that absurd thought crossed his mind.