Why the Northern Duke Wanders the Snowfields - Chapter 25

As she crossed the snowfield, fortunately no blizzard came, but Aubrianna was growing utterly exhausted.

To make matters worse, the baby began to fuss.

“Theo, shh.”

Soothing the baby in her arms, she turned to look behind her.

By now, she couldn’t even tell which direction she had come from.

At that moment, something large and black descending from the hill entered her view.

Startled, Aubrianna’s mouth fell open.

“A person? Or… a bear?”

It was too far away to tell. All she could make out was that it was large.

Flustered, she looked around. But in the middle of the snowfield, which was no different from a barren plain, there wasn’t a single tree or forest to hide behind.

Fear rushed in all at once.

‘Am I going to die like this again, so futilely?’

It felt unfair. And more than anything, she couldn’t bear the thought of losing Theo again.

‘No! I can’t let that happen.’

In her previous life, she had only given up easily.

She had simply watched as Kaeloc tried to get engaged to another woman for the sake of his family and the North. She thought it wasn’t something someone as lowly as her could do anything about.

She had quietly endured the duchess’s contempt. Even when the other maids ignored and ostracized her, she believed she deserved to be treated that way.

Even with Theo, it had been the same. She hadn’t wanted the baby.

There was no future in her relationship with Kaeloc. He was a duke, and she was nothing more than a maid.

When she heard rumors that he was looking for a fiancée, Aubrianna started studying again. Then she secretly took the entrance exam for a girls’ school and passed.

She had been waiting for the day she would leave for Alandor again….

But somehow, she ended up pregnant.

“I can’t believe I’m pregnant.”

“I definitely drank the contraceptive tea. Then why….”

Taking pity on her as she cried endlessly, Mrs. Nelly helped her.

“If you steep this tea strong and drink it for a week, it’ll work. It’ll be hard on your body, but it’s better than giving birth to a bastard child.”

But even that was ruined because of Kaeloc.

“The child you carry will become the only heir of House Tennant. I have no intention of having an heir with another woman.”

Saying such absurd things, Kaeloc had locked her in a maid’s room in the annex and prevented her from meeting anyone.

‘What should I have done?’

She resented the baby in her womb for ruining everything when she could have entered the girls’ school she wanted. She was angry at Kaeloc for confining her.

And when she looked at the baby she gave birth to alone without Kaeloc, it felt like a trap tightening around her ankle.

“But not anymore.”

She spread the scarf around her neck wide, wrapped it around the baby’s hips and back, and tied him firmly to her back.

“I’m going to run now, Theo.”

After losing this baby and spending time in the underground prison, she had many regrets.

I should’ve held him more. I should’ve stroked him more. I should’ve smiled more.

She regretted every moment she failed to respond to the baby’s smiles.

“So don’t let go. I won’t ever let go of you either.”

As if he understood, the baby smiled brightly and gripped her clothes tightly.

Proud, she met Theo’s gaze and smiled radiantly.

“That’s right, Theo. Hold on like that.”

Aubrianna turned back with a resolute expression. She had come quite a distance down the hill.

Now the sun hung at the edge of the snowfield. The world that had been entirely white was beginning to mix with darkness and light.

A time when day and night, illusion and reality, could not be clearly distinguished.

It was hard to tell whether what was chasing her was a large man or a bear.

But Aubrianna believed she would survive.

There had to be a reason she’d opened her eyes again in this snowfield. Whether it was the goddess’s design, a step in the process of dying, or her own wish.

‘I will survive no matter what!’

She turned and began to run, trying to put distance between herself and her pursuer. The heavy hem of her skirt hindered her stride, but she didn’t care.

Her breath grew ragged, and sweat poured down like rain.

The hood of her cloak fell back, and her long hair whipped in the wind.

‘I need to widen the gap as much as possible.’

Huff, huff, huff.

The sound of her labored breathing rang loudly in her ears.

Just as her lips dried out and her lungs felt ready to burst, Aubrianna stopped at the sight before her.

In an instant, her jaw stiffened with fear.

It was a cliff with no end in sight. All she could see was pitch-black darkness. From that deep abyss, a cold wind rose, brushing her skin before climbing into the sky.

She squeezed her eyes shut.

‘Is this how it ends after all?’

There was nowhere left to run. A single tear of despair slid down her cheek.

‘Theo, your mother did her best.’

She had to decide quickly. The pursuer behind her wasn’t far.

Aubrianna, who had been staring down at the cliff, bit her lip hard and turned her body to face her pursuer.

‘It’s too soon to give up.’

Even if it meant killing that person….

Aubrianna’s eyes burned red like flames.

At that moment.

“Aubrianna!”

A dark figure shrouded in shadow called her name.

Aubrianna recognized that voice.

“K-Kaeloc?”

Then the man’s face came into view as he drew close. It was the man she had been calling out for in her heart as she ran.

“Kaeloc!”

She ran forward without thinking and threw her arms around him.

Ah.

Thank goodness. It wasn’t a wild beast, nor the duke’s search party, nor the assassins from her past who had been chasing her.

The man holding Aubrianna looked flustered when she began to cry.

“Hey. Don’t cry.”

“Why! Why did you come so late! Do you know how scared I was! Sob.”

“I’m sorry.”

He felt like he shouldn’t say he was late because he was buying clothes, so he kept his mouth shut and tried to stroke her back.

“Waaah.”

The moment Kaeloc’s hand touched her back, the baby, who had been quiet until then, burst into tears as well.

With both the woman and the baby crying, Kaeloc’s face showed clear distress.

“Shh, shh. There, there. Stop crying.”

In the end, he had no choice but to hold both of them tightly in his arms until they calmed down.

***

By propping up large branches and draping the man’s cloak over them, they managed to create a space that could somewhat block the cold of the night.

Aubrianna quickly took off her cloak and removed her clothes. It had been long past feeding time, and her breasts were painfully swollen and aching.

The baby, as if he had waited long enough, eagerly grabbed her breast and began to suck.

“Ah….”

A low moan slipped from her lips. It wasn’t pleasure, but pain.

“Does it hurt?”

“No. I’m fine.”

It was bearable. She thought she would die without ever being able to nurse him like this again.

“If I’d realized sooner that it was you, I wouldn’t have run like that….”

The snowfield was much farther than it looked. So even if he shouted her name at the top of his lungs, it wouldn’t reach her.

“But I’m glad it was you.”

If it hadn’t been him but a savage wild animal, she and the baby would have had no way to escape death.

Kaeloc silently handed Aubrianna a water pouch.

“I want to start a fire, but if those bastards notice, that won’t do….”

Those bastards?

Did he run into the search party? Aubrianna’s expression stiffened.

“D-did you meet them?”

“I got to the cabin, and it was a complete mess.”

As if recalling that moment, Kaeloc lifted his brows and clenched his fist.

“The cabin was wrecked. You and the baby were gone. So I tracked them down right away and went after them.”

“Then it was you.”

The attack Hardin mistook for the Carnu tribe was actually Kaeloc.

She felt relieved. When she climbed the hill and saw Hardin dragging the empty supply cart away, she had worried that he might get caught.

‘Then Hardin must be safe.’

Letting out a sigh of relief, Aubrianna suddenly realized that Kaeloc must have met Sion.

“Kaeloc, by any chance….”

“Aubrianna, by any chance….”

They spoke at the same time, their gazes tangling.

“You go first.”

“No, you go first.”

Kaeloc brought his fist to his mouth and cleared his throat, then after a brief hesitation, spoke, “Is that man… the baby’s father… Sion? Is it him?”

Aubrianna’s mouth fell open. She had been about to ask whether he had met Sion.

“No! No. That’s not it.”

She waved her hands. Of all people, Sion? That made no sense.

“Did they say anything to you?”

“I don’t know. I was so furious seeing the cabin destroyed and you gone that I don’t remember anything.”

Kaeloc looked at her with a sullen expression.

“They were spouting some nonsense. But it was insane.”

Aubrianna’s expression turned strange. She could guess what Sion must have said to Kaeloc.

“What if… what they said wasn’t nonsense?”

“What are you talking about?”

Perhaps exhausted, the baby fell asleep right after feeding. She wrapped him well in the cloak and laid him beside her, then spoke with a serious expression.

“His name is Sioniel Valian.”

The moment she stated the man’s full name and house precisely, Kaeloc’s expression hardened.

“You said he’s not the father, so how do you know his name?”

At the man’s question, Aubrianna closed her eyes. As she prepared to tell the truth, her chest trembled and she felt tense.

“Kay. Listen carefully to what I’m about to say.”

Clear eyes, a vivid red glint. The man’s gaze slowly lowered, moving toward her lips.

“Your name is Kaeloc Tennant. You are the Duke of Tennant, who governs the North.”