Why the Northern Duke Wanders the Snowfields - Chapter 7

“Is it the place in Otsen, on the outskirts of the capital, Beska?”

The torches the servants were holding were bright enough to read the writing on the paper. When Aubrianna nodded, Mrs. Nellie took off her glasses and lowered the ledger.

“We paid the amount to Miss Francis.”

“The amount?”

Aubrianna looked at the rosy-cheeked woman with a baffled expression.

“Miss Francis is our headmistress. I brought her the money I’d saved so far as the admission fee for Regatta Girls’ School.”

Regatta Girls’ School was the only place in the Kingdom of Trilan where commoner girls could enroll, but at the same time, it was a school you couldn’t attend unless you were clever and capable.

‘She doesn’t look stupid, but she seems not to know much about how the world works yet.’

Having lived long enough to know the ways of the world, Mrs. Nellie immediately understood what had happened. From time to time, families in difficult circumstances told their daughters they were going to serve as attendants and took money in advance, only to send them off as maids.

Young women who arrived with excited hearts, thinking they’d be serving noble ladies, often burst into tears when they realized they’d come to work as maids doing chores like cooking and laundry.

In short, this young lady had been deceived by the head of the orphanage where she’d lived and brought here.

From the ducal estate’s perspective, it was troublesome, but in the north, where finding people to work was extremely difficult, there were no cases of simply sending a young woman back.

“For now, you’ve come a long way, so let’s have dinner first and talk again afterward.”

The elderly woman soothed her and urged her to warm herself.

But Aubrianna had no intention of doing that.

“Please. I have to go right now.”

The only money she had left was enough for one week of lodging while staying in Alandor.

On top of that, the admission date for Regatta Girls’ School was approaching, so she had to hurry.

Until the other women left with Lien’s guidance, Aubrianna kept pleading in front of Mrs. Nellie.

“It seems there was some kind of mistake.”

Mrs. Nellie continued to calm Aubrianna.

“Now, Miss Morel. First, go inside and have a meal, and then….”

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Under the crescent moon, the air was cold, and a man’s voice just as chilly scattered before the two of them.

Two large horses were standing there, though no one knew when they’d arrived.

“Y-Your Grace.”

Mrs. Nellie hurriedly bowed, and Aubrianna also bowed, gripping the hem of her skirt with a troubled expression.

Watching that, the man dismounted, removed his gloves, and slowly approached them.

His movements were elegant and without excess.

“Well….”

Seeing the woman’s distressed expression, Aubrianna bit her lip. She didn’t want to put her in a difficult position, but this was a matter her life depended on.

If this man truly was the duke, he might be able to understand her difficult circumstances.

She stepped forward.

“There’s been a mistake. I boarded a carriage to go to Regatta Girls’ School, but when I got off, this is where I was.”

Aubrianna swallowed dryly and added, “…Your Grace.”

Tap.

When the man slapped his gloves against his palm and stopped right in front of her, Aubrianna held her breath.

Having lost her mother at a young age and grown up only in an orphanage, Aubrianna had never seen a nobleman this close before.

Overwhelmed by his imposing presence, her gaze naturally dropped.

“Mrs. Nellie?”

At the duke’s call, an expression of difficulty rose on the wrinkled woman’s face.

“Well… we posted a notice to find people to work, and the Coldwell Orphanage run by Miss Francis contacted us first.”

First.

Recalling the greedy face of the headmistress, Aubrianna bit down hard on the inside of her cheek.

“Do you think you’ll ever find a headmistress as generous as me again? Consider yourself lucky that I’m only taking this much.”

Originally, once a girl turned sixteen, she had to leave the orphanage. With nowhere to go, Aubrianna stayed for two more years, taking charge of work both inside and outside the orphanage, and on top of that, she had to give half of the wages she earned from working at a shop separately to the headmistress.

“She said a young lady of age had nowhere to go and wanted to come work as a maid, so we hired her.”

The duke’s cold eyes swept over her.

Aubrianna couldn’t bring herself to meet his gaze and instead clutched the hem of her skirt.

“Then what’s the problem?”

“Well, it’s just that this young lady….”

Both of their gazes turned toward the young woman who had lowered her eyes.

Her small face was pale, and her thin body was so gaunt it swayed.

No matter how you looked at her, she didn’t seem like a sturdy maid fit to take on rough labor.

“We’ve already paid a year’s worth of advance wages to the orphanage. But this young lady says she also gave money to the headmistress….”

“I never wanted to come here to work as a maid. I didn’t even know where this place was to begin with.”

Wearing old black clothes and a hat. Yet her neatly pinned-up hair was not a mess, and her posture was straight and proper.

“I was clearly told yesterday morning that it was a carriage going to Alandor.”

In the morning, she boarded the carriage while receiving farewells from the orphanage children. She even smiled at the puffed-up face of Siena, who was a year younger than her and sulking. After all, Aubrianna was the only one in the orphanage with grades good enough to enter a girls’ school.

But when she got off the carriage, she was startled by the cold air and stood dazed at the enormous gate before her and the even more massive castle behind it.

“This is the Tennant family’s ducal estate.”

The man wearing a jacket that fit perfectly over his shoulders and neck and a black cloak trimmed with white fur was enormous.

His movements were concise, and his face showed no unnecessary emotion, yet his eyes alone were alive and restless.

Shining his blue eyes in the darkness, the duke was always the one who dominated the situation.

‘The Tennant family’s ducal estate.’

Aubrianna couldn’t swallow the breath caught in her throat. The place where the orphanage stood was Otsen, on the outskirts of the capital, Beska.

It made no sense that it had taken only two days to reach the Tennant territory in the north.

Even riding a horse nonstop, it would take at least four days.

Aubrianna’s gaze shifted to the carriage where six or seven servants were rushing over and examining it.

‘Could it be a magic stone?’

She had read about it in the newspaper.

A newly discovered mineral called a magic stone was an object that held tremendous power.

Even at the size of a fist, it could generate boundless heat or energy.

Realizing that the shabby carriage she’d ridden contained a rare mineral she might never see again in her lifetime, Aubrianna’s eyes widened.

The man, having read her thoughts, explained in a gentle tone. Or rather, it was a tone that made others believe he was being kind.

“With a magic stone, two days is enough. From the capital to here.”

The man slowly snapped his fingers. At that, Aubrianna’s gaze shifted toward the duke and halted at his piercing blue eyes that seemed to shoot through her.

A smile settled into his narrowly folded eyes.

Without taking his gaze off her, the man spoke slowly to Mrs. Nellie in a cruel tone, “Either way, since we paid the money, if she continues to cause a disturbance, lock her up in prison.”

“Pardon?”

At the duke’s sudden words, Mrs. Nellie flinched and looked at him.

“Your Grace!”

If this small, delicate young lady got locked up in prison in weather like this, there was a high chance she’d come down with a serious illness.

“Such a harsh measure….”

“Then you should coax her properly and make her work for a year.”

Mrs. Nellie’s startled eyes blinked, then turned toward Aubrianna.

The young woman looked like a picture that had lost all color, drained by despair and exhaustion. Her lips were tightly closed, but the ends trembled faintly.

Forcing down her sobs, Aubrianna tried to open her mouth again.

“But I was deceived by the headmistress….”

“If you were deceived, that’s on you. The problem is that we were deceived by her too. Then who’s going to reimburse the year’s wages we paid?”

“Then contact the headmistress. Get the money back and hire another maid.”

She looked back and forth between the two of them with a face full of pleading.

“You know what the north’s winter is like, don’t you? It’s already started. That carriage is the last carriage that came into the north. Until winter passes, no one can leave or enter this place.”

At Mrs. Nellie’s explanation, the duke moved his feet with an indifferent face that said it was over, and he spoke to the man standing beside him.

“Sion. If that maid causes any disturbance, lock her up right away.”

The young man nodded, shot her a glare with black eyes, then sharply turned his head and followed behind the duke.

Aubrianna hurried after him as if she might grab the duke’s trousers, but Mrs. Nellie pulled her back with a pitiful expression.

“Listen. I don’t have any ill will toward you, but if you make more of a fuss, you really will be locked up in the dungeon.”

She glanced at the guard standing upright with a long spear.

“I know you’re upset, but endure it and work for just one year. It’s cold here, but it’s still livable in its own way.”

“But I, I….”

She hadn’t worked all day and stayed up all night studying just to be sold off as a maid.

It was to live a better life, and to meet her noble father, whose face she didn’t even know, without shame when he came to take her….

All her efforts ended up being for nothing.

In the end, tears streamed down Aubrianna’s face.