Why the Northern Duke Wanders the Snowfields - Chapter 1

Kay ran his calloused palm over his beard, looking around the small cabin with a bewildered, flustered face.

“What in the world….”

In the fireplace, dry firewood was stacked twice as high as usual and blazed away, and the large bathing tub, which he only brought out now and then, was sending up hot steam.

Outside was all white with a blizzard. It was cold enough to freeze to death, but inside the cabin, it was hot and full of moisture, so it felt like being in another country.

His gaze went to the floor. He saw the slick floorboards soaked to the point that a black puddle had formed.

‘If I step on that wrong, I’ll go straight into the goddess’s arms.’

He brushed the snow piled on his shoulders and head and asked, “What are you doing?”

He was on his way back from rummaging through the storage shed at the woman’s request for a different kind of soup.

Stamping his feet to shake off the snow caught under his shoes, the man walked slowly toward the brazier.

He plunked a jar of dried spices onto the small table they used as both dining table and prep counter, and there he found a pot with water boiling hard.

Startled, he hurried to check the jar where they kept water and leaned against the wall in defeat.

“Damn it. You used up all the drinking water.”

Gritting his teeth, the man muttered in a voice full of anger.

“Why….”

He had picked days without snow and hauled it diligently from a spring that was passable only when the weather was good.

Because of the increased number of guests, he had been using it sparingly, and yet in a single day it was exhausted.

A small brown head tilted inside the bathing tub.

“I used some to wash the baby.”

Her voice came out rough and breathy after a full week down with a cold.

“Some?”

He glanced at the jar. That much was barely enough to make soup tomorrow.

Even at his tone of disbelief, the woman casually poured water over the squirming soft skin and scrubbed.

Her long, light brown hair was piled high, and in the firelight from the fireplace, it shone like gold.

The few wet strands clinging to her white, slender neck were a deep russet, like the branches scattered around the cabin.

“Up we go.”

When the woman’s thin arms lifted the chubby baby once above the water and set it down, a string of bright giggles rolled out from between the baby’s lips, jutting from those plump cheeks.

“See? The baby loves playing in the water.”

Even just to listen, the woman’s excited voice was far more audible than last week, when almost no sound would come out.

“You’ll catch a cold again.”

No matter that the cabin was filled with hot air, outside was the dead of winter. To the curt man’s words, the woman replied cheerfully.

“The water is warm. Ah, would you add one more dipper of hot water from over there?”

He took up a ladle, scooped the furiously boiling water, and went to the fireplace.

Even as he poured the water slowly into the tub, he didn’t understand why he was obeying the woman so meekly.

“Kyaa, kyaa.”

When the little hands splashed the water, glittering droplets spattered his cheeks.

“You little rascal!”

So this little one was the culprit who soaked the floor.

As the man lifted his brows, the woman stretched out her arms.

“Here, hold the baby for a moment.”

“What?”

“I’ve been holding the baby the whole time, and it’s heavy.”

The baby’s round bottom, like a freshly baked loaf of bread, was pushed right in front of his eyes.

Startled, Kay glanced between the woman’s trembling, thin arms and the baby’s squirming, plump legs.

“Quickly.”

At the woman’s urging, the man looked down at his hands.

After roughly wiping off the stains and cobwebs from rummaging through the dusty storage shed with a towel, he reached to grab the baby by the back of the neck.

“No!”

When the woman cried out urgently, Kay flinched and withdrew his hand.

“You can’t do that! A baby’s neck is very fragile.”

With nothing covering the baby’s white skin, there wasn’t anywhere proper to hold, so the man stared blankly before asking, “Then how am I supposed to hold it?”

“Bring your hands under the armpits. Right below my hands now.”

He slowly brought his hands to the baby’s belly. The baby had looked plump, but in his grip it was small enough to fit in one hand.

When the baby squirmed again, startled, he unconsciously tightened his grip.

“No! You have to hold gently.”

The woman shouted again.

“What? Then how am I supposed to do it? This little thing keeps slipping!”

Finally losing patience, he shouted too, and the baby began to whimper.

Damn it!

Kay swore under his breath and loosened his grip just enough so the baby wouldn’t slip.

“Carry the baby to the bed and lay it down.”

After confirming the baby’s safety, the woman ordered in a weary tone. The man frowned deeply, moving carefully, a little awkwardly.

Stretching his arms out straight, Kay managed to lay the baby on the bed in an awkward crouch, then let out a sigh with his fists clenched.

Then the baby’s flailing legs hit him in the chin.

The small feet on those chubby legs were surprisingly strong, and Kay had to rub his sore chin.

“Well done.”

At the woman’s praise, the man threw a towel loosely over the baby’s body and straightened his back.

He walked irritably toward the fireplace and pulled out a few logs.

The sweat on his forehead wasn’t because that tiny creature had flustered him, but because of the damn heat filling the cabin.

He looked out the window at the raging blizzard and checked the remaining firewood.

“Only half left.”

At least he wasn’t too worried, since they’d stacked plenty of firewood under the eaves outside.

“What is?”

At the woman’s low, husky voice, Kay turned his head over his shoulder. The woman scooped up water and poured it over her shoulder.

Drip.

The droplets rolled down her white skin like pearls.

Crack.

Because of the logs he’d removed, the burning wood collapsed.

For a moment, the flames flared up, lighting the room brightly.

The man’s pupils glowed blue as he stared intently at the woman’s pale, flushed body.

She scooped up more water and let it flow down her chest. Her whole body shimmered as if wrapped in golden pearls.

The man fell silent, his lips pressed tightly together.

“What’s only half left?”

The woman spread both arms wide and rested them on the rim of the tub, asking innocently as if she knew nothing.

‘Does this woman have no shame?’

Come to think of it, she’d been that way from the start.

From the moment she opened her eyes and came to her senses, this woman had been ordering him around in an arrogant tone.

“Give me a warm, wet towel so I can wipe the baby.”

“I’m sweaty and sticky. Do you have another sheet?”

“The tunic you’re wearing looks comfortable. Take it off.”

Thanks to that, he had to go to bed wearing only his pants in the middle of winter.

Of course, he usually preferred to sleep completely naked, but he couldn’t possibly do that next to a woman he didn’t know.

And when she nonchalantly bared her chest to feed the baby, he’d nearly fainted.

Even though he’d lost his memory, he still clearly understood that it wasn’t normal for a woman to expose herself just anywhere.

Whether he turned his head away or not, every time the baby got hungry, she revealed those beautiful breasts again and again, without hesitation.

But now wasn’t the time for her to feed the baby.

So she was doing this on purpose.

Her eyes, tinted with the faint color of water and appearing pink, shone provocatively.

Had she realized that he’d secretly glanced at her chest while pretending not to look?

Was she testing him now?

Even though he thought he should look away, he couldn’t tear his gaze from her.

The man swallowed hard and held his breath as he stared at her naked body.

The ripples that swayed above her small navel tickled her body like waves. Her lower ribs, where her frame was visible, were thinner than the baby he’d held, and above them her breasts were strangely full, with nipples that jutted out and were a deep violet.

Whoooosh.

The wind swept around the cabin, dragging a long snowstorm and howling roughly.

The woman tilted her head back lazily, her small, perfect chin gleaming with the ruby necklace that was the only ornament she wore.

Below her navel, her lower body swayed side to side along with the rippling water.

Between her long, pale legs, the shadow of the tub made it dark.

The woman’s voice sounded distant.

The man tore his gaze away from the moving ripples and swallowed before asking again.

“…What did you say?”

The woman smiled softly and drew her legs in to her chest.

“I said you should come in too.”

Maybe because her body had warmed in the hot water, her cheeks and lips were red and vivid, like ripe pomegranate seeds. Between them, a small tongue slipped out and smoothed over her lips.

“The water’s still warm.”

The man groaned quietly, swallowed his saliva, and turned his head away.

There wasn’t even soap here, yet the woman’s scent, as sweet as flowers, followed him and lingered at the tip of his nose.

‘I’ll never get into the same bath as that woman. Not even if I die.’

Wasn’t that obvious?

He didn’t know who she really was, but one thing was certain.

She was a married woman with a child.