Why the Northern Duke Wanders the Snowfields - Chapter 22

“Good night, Hardin.”

Hardin pulled the blanket over himself as he received Aubrianna’s greeting.

‘She has to be a goddess.’

When the woman hugged him earlier, she definitely smelled like his mother. His mother, who died of puerperal fever not long after giving birth to his younger sister, Isaren.

“Please take care of the baby.”

At his mother’s final request, Hardin, even at a young age, had to struggle to look after Isaren.

‘Did I die and come to the goddess’s land?’

According to the Carnu tribe’s legends, there was a sacred land somewhere in the snowfield where the goddess resided.

But the soup he’d eaten earlier and the hard bread were real. The texture of the animal fur covering him was just as real.

“If you’re cold, tell me. I’ll add more firewood.”

He couldn’t even see her from under the blanket, but Hardin shook his head.

‘It really smelled just like Mom. A mix of flowers and milk.’

Hardin felt a swell of emotion, and even though he was extremely tired, sleep wouldn’t come. Of course, he had never heard of a goddess marrying a hunter and giving birth to a baby.

‘But she already knew my name.’

Is she really a goddess? They said that once you were embraced by the goddess, you couldn’t return….

Suddenly thinking of Isaren, Hardin threw off the blanket and sprang up.

“Hm? Hardin, what’s wrong?”

“No, um….”

He was about to ask, Are you a goddess? but the woman looked far too human. As Hardin watched the shadows flicker across her pale face in the firelight, his gaze drifted to the cabin door.

“Aren’t you scared being here alone?”

If it were him, he would be.

‘If she’s a goddess, she’ll say she’s not scared, right?’

But instead of answering, the woman pulled something out from her clothes and said proudly, “I’m not scared because I have this.”

It was a dagger. The dagger, with a slender pattern engraved on the handle, looked a bit large for a woman to carry.

Hardin, who hadn’t expected a weapon to appear, blinked his eyes repeatedly before getting out of bed and approaching Aubrianna.

‘It’s made for a knight.’

Even after rubbing his eyes, it was clearly a lethal weapon meant for close combat.

Thinking that, as a boy, he must naturally be interested in weapons, Aubrianna handed the dagger to him so he could take a closer look.

Shing.

As he drew the blade from the handle, a finely honed edge gleamed. At this level, it could inflict a fatal wound on one or two intruders.

“You should be careful using something like this. It’s dangerous.”

“That’s exactly what Kay says.”

The woman chuckled as she mentioned her husband. As Hardin handed the dagger back to her, he noticed the pattern on the handle.

A design of a flag bearing a tree root and a spear overlapped, with golden wheat sheaves flourishing beneath it.

In the cold northern lands, wheat symbolized abundant food. It was also the representative emblem of the Tennant family.

And judging by the way expensive gold had been inlaid following the shape of the sheaves, it was something owned by a person of high status.

Still holding the dagger, Hardin carefully examined the inside of the cabin.

A fireplace, a small brazier, a bed, and a table. It was a small cabin filled to capacity with just those things. His sharp black eyes caught sight of a long shape at the edge of the bed.

Aubrianna followed his gaze, then smiled and stood up.

“You’re a boy too, so you’re interested in swords.”

She picked up a long sword and handed it to Hardin.

“Be careful. It’ll be sharper than the dagger.”

Before leaving, Kay had handed Aubrianna both a dagger and a longsword, repeatedly urging her to be careful.

“If there are only one or two intruders, this should be enough. But if the dagger gets lodged in, it won’t be easy to pull it out. In that case, throw the dagger away, move to the bed, take the longsword, and face them. If there are more intruders than that, just surrender.”

“Why would I surrender without even trying to fight?”

“Because that way, you can survive no matter what.”

After thinking for a moment, Kaeloc suddenly furrowed his brows.

“Forget everything I just said.”

“What do you mean?”

“About stabbing with the knife and all that. Just run. If you get the chance, run no matter what. Got it?”

He changed his words and told her again that if there was a chance to run, she shouldn’t fight back and should just run. She didn’t know why, but she had no choice except to nod as he told her.

“I’ve looked enough.”

The boy must have finished examining it in the meantime, because he politely handed the sword back to her.

“You must be very tired, so hurry and get some sleep.”

Watching Hardin return to the bed and lie down, Aubrianna turned back again and looked at the firelight in the fireplace.

‘If Hardin is here, that means a search party looking for Kaeloc must be somewhere nearby.’

Kay needs to come before they do….

Judging by Hardin’s condition, he seemed to have come from quite far away, so it would take some time for the search party to arrive.

Two days, maybe three.

If Kaeloc comes before then, I need to tell him everything and prepare.

He would demand to know why she hadn’t told him, but maybe it would be enough to say that she didn’t want to shock him when he’d lost his memories.

When Aubrianna realized through Hardin’s appearance that the day she would return to the duke’s castle was no longer far off, her heart grew troubled.

‘Life here was too…’

Happy. She had been able to feel him to her heart’s content without watching anyone else’s eyes. All she wanted was to live here forever with Kay, not Kaeloc.

But Theo had been born of the bloodline of House Tennant.

For the sake of her child, born with a fate he could not refuse, Aubrianna had already resolved to accept everything.

With that, Aubrianna steeled herself once more, and her eyes burned red along with the flames.

***

“Hardin?”

Maybe the child was exhausted, because even after the morning sun rose, he still didn’t wake up.

“It’s time to get up and eat breakfast.”

Aubrianna spoke toward the blanket puffed up over him. While nursing Theo, who had woken early in the morning, making fresh soup, and grilling dried meat, Hardin had not opened his eyes even once.

“Are you really that tired? Still, you should at least eat breakfast…?”

As Aubrianna shook the blanket, she suddenly stopped and pulled it back. Hardin was gone.

Startled, Aubrianna opened the door and went outside. It wasn’t a blizzard, but a fair amount of snow had still fallen overnight, turning everything around her white.

“Hardin!”

She cupped her hands and called the child’s name, but there was no answer.

“Hardin!”

Aubrianna slowly lowered her hands.

“Where did he go without saying a word?”

Just then, she heard the baby whimpering. It seemed the open door had made it cold.

She cast one more lingering glance around the cabin, where only silence flowed, then turned and went back inside.

The cabin was warm, and the sizzling sound of meat roasting stirred her appetite.

She ate alone in silence, then spent the whole morning playing with the baby, but her mind was full of other thoughts. In the end, Hardin never came back.

“Why on earth did he disappear without even saying goodbye?”

Unable to understand what had happened, Aubrianna’s mood sank, and she grew depressed.

‘Was I too familiar with him? To Hardin, I must have been a stranger….’

She regretted it, but what was done couldn’t be undone.

After putting the baby to sleep, she cleaned the now-quiet cabin. She swept the ashes from the fireplace cleanly and threw them outside, then added firewood again and lit the fire.

Aubrianna was so disappointed by Hardin’s disappearance that she didn’t notice the dagger Kay had given her was gone.

***

She regained consciousness and opened her eyes, but her vision was pitch-black.

At first, Aubrianna thought she had gone blind. Otherwise, there was no way the world could be this dark.

“Mmph!”

She tried to speak, but something was blocking her mouth. She tried to move her hands, but they were tied behind her back, and she couldn’t budge.

‘Ah.’

Only then did her memory return.

‘Sion… and Hardin.’

Kaeloc was late. He said he would come within two days at the latest, but he didn’t return, and Hardin had brought Sion and the search party to the cabin.

‘The look on Sion’s face when he saw me was something to see.’

Sion had always hated her. The moment he heard from Hardin that there was a woman and a baby in the cabin, she figured he must have thought of her.

Sion gagged her and covered her head with a hood. In the duke’s castle, she had been someone kept hidden from the start, so there were few who knew her face.

‘But my baby?’

She began to worry about the baby.

“Mmph, mmph.”

As she struggled, she sensed someone beside her.

“Don’t be alarmed.”

A voice mixed with tears. It was Hardin.

“I have Theo with me right now. He’s sleeping very well, so don’t worry.”

Only then did Aubrianna relax, reassured.

“…I’m sorry. I didn’t know they would treat you this roughly.”

Even when he secretly stole Aubrianna’s dagger and ran off, he never imagined things would turn out like this.

Hardin had to find the duke for the sake of his younger sister, Isaren, and in the cabin where the woman lived, he found the duke’s dagger.

He thought that if he quickly took the dagger and showed it to Sir Sion or Razen, they would come to the cabin and politely ask the woman about the duke’s whereabouts….

Hardin bit his lip hard.

Sion abruptly ordered the knights to bind the woman, calling her the duke’s kidnapper.

“Sir Sion! Sir Sion! That lady would never do such a thing!”

No one listened to Hardin’s shocked words. Not even Razen.

“Kid. Step aside. Your part is done.”

Following Sion’s orders, the knights tied up the woman, loaded her onto a cart, and nearly destroyed the cabin as they removed everything inside.

Hardin could only stare blankly as the cozy and peaceful space he had seen the day before disappeared completely. Then someone brought the baby and handed him to Hardin.

“Here. Get on the cart with this baby.”

It was Razen. After lightly patting Hardin’s head, he ran back into the cabin that was turning into ruins.

Hardin could only watch that sight with a tear-streaked face. It was one of the worst moments a young Hardin could experience.