Episode 8
Callian finally stepped back from Asterophe.
He was trying to accept the changes he saw in her, but what she was saying now clearly left him unsettled.
“Honestly… I don’t understand why you’re acting like this. You reach out to cling to me, you kiss me first, you say sweet things, and now you’re even talking about the duties of a grand duchess…”
“Do you not like me acting this way, Your Highness?”
“No, that’s not the problem. You’re just too different from yesterday. It feels like you’ve become a completely different person.”
Callian ran a hand over his face, looking confused.
Just then, Anne arrived with Asterophe’s outer coat and bowed deeply.
“Is that the Grand Duchess’s coat?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“From now on, always carry her coat with you. The Grand Duchess is weak to Serpiewood’s cold.”
“Yes, I will remember that!”
After saying that, Callian was about to step away.
Asterophe grabbed his arm.
She didn’t say anything, just looked at him. In the end, Callian sighed as if giving in.
“Lope, I need to return to the meeting hall. If you want to know about Serpiewood, old man Tama can explain it well. Ask him anytime.”
“When will your meeting end?”
“I don’t know. Don’t stay outside too long.”
He gently brushed her cheek and turned away.
Asterophe couldn’t say anything more.
He was clearly trying his best to adapt to her change, but for some reason, he reacted far too strongly when she said she wanted to know about Serpiewood.
As if that was something she would never do.
When he turned his back on her and left, Asterophe lowered her head.
Trust that had collapsed over a full year couldn’t be restored so easily. Loving her and trusting her were two different things.
Anne quickly wrapped a luxurious white coat around her shoulders. It was made from the fur and hide of a monster wolf said to have lived for a thousand years.
When Asterophe first caught a cold after arriving here, Callian had personally hunted the beast and had this coat made for her.
She had once thought it was crude and unfashionable, but there was no coat warmer—or more comforting—than this one.
She touched the fabric, then looked back outside.
The snow over Serpiewood was falling even harder.
“Your Grace, if you catch another cold…”
“Yes. Let’s go inside.”
“Yes.”
Asterophe turned away from the pure white scenery.
Sincere feelings were hard to make reach someone.
But there was no shortcut.
All she could do was prove herself little by little.
She tried not to rush and began walking.
Still, the image of Callian’s face turning cold in an instant wouldn’t leave her mind.
He said he saw her as the mistress of Serpiewood—so why was he afraid of her learning about it?
‘It’s hypocritical.’
Asterophe headed to her room.
It felt colder than when she had been standing on the terrace.
“Prepare a warm bath.”
“Yes, Your Grace. Shall I add the same flower petals as usual?”
“Yes. And don’t let anyone enter. I want to be alone.”
“Yes. I’ll prepare it right away.”
Seeing how stiff the Grand Duke’s expression had been earlier, Anne was clearly on edge. Her movements were much quicker than usual.
Asterophe glanced at her and sank into a soft sofa.
She didn’t want to do anything.
Even when she closed her eyes, she felt like she could see endless white snowfields.
Along with Callian’s face, growing colder and more distant than frost.
Callian walked toward the meeting hall with longer strides than usual.
His expression was complicated.
Every small change in Asterophe was shaking him.
At first, he thought she was simply tired or sick.
But when she looked at him with genuine curiosity about Serpiewood, something strange surged inside him.
It felt like a warning.
The kind you only feel on a battlefield.
‘She must not learn about that.
It’s dangerous.
She will be in danger.’
If he became endangered, that was fine.
But he couldn’t bear the thought of her being in danger.
Over the past year, he had created an environment where she didn’t have to do anything as a grand duchess. She didn’t need to try. She didn’t need to struggle.
Who had pushed her?
What had changed her?
What if that change put her in danger?
Callian felt uneasy.
The image of her standing in the snow—white flakes falling, her thick hair flowing in the wind—kept returning to him.
Her slender body looked like it could vanish if the wind blew too hard.
“Billish Numa is going to kill me!”
She had cried like that once.
After staying submerged in cold water for a long time.
Callian let out a sigh.
Her behavior back then had been nothing but anxiety.
She couldn’t even stand to have lights on. She suddenly showed him Billish Numa’s love letters. She kissed him first.
What was making her so afraid?
What if she disappeared because of that fear?
His expression hardened as he walked.
At the entrance to the meeting hall, the attendant Hwiaro bowed deeply.
Callian spoke coldly.
“Why does the Grand Duchess have only one maid at her side?”
“That is… Her Grace ordered us all to withdraw…”
Hwiaro blinked and stammered.
“Are you insane? Even if the Grand Duchess says that, someone should always stay nearby. Do you all have two heads to lose?”
Callian looked like he might draw his sword at any moment.
Hwiaro immediately dropped flat to the floor.
“I-I beg your pardon! I will gather the maids immediately and correct this!”
“Replace the head maid first. Anyone who made the Grand Duchess uncomfortable doesn’t deserve that position.”
“Yes, Your Highness!”
The meeting room door slammed shut.
Only then did Hwiaro lift his forehead from the floor.
Down the corridor, Chester approached and placed a hand on Somer’s shoulder, clicking his tongue.
“This is worse than when she used to demand new dresses all the time. What a mess.”
“Watch your words. Even you could lose your head.”
“Don’t twist my meaning. When did I insult her?”
“Still… I think your opinion was right. The Grand Duchess needs to be watched closely.”
“There’s something going on. And I don’t like that it’s connected to Crown Prince Billish Numa.”
No one in the Serpiewood knight order was unaware of the inferiority complex Billish Numa had toward the Northern Grand Duke.
The way his legs shook just from going to war had been a laughingstock among knights.
Callian protected that crown prince and placed him in the safest locations—then charged straight into the enemy’s command.
He fought boldly in the most dangerous places, becoming a symbol of victory.
Every time Callian earned greater honors and recognition, the crown prince burned with rage—unable to endure his own weakness.
No matter how much he trained, he could never overcome someone with overwhelming natural talent.
“I didn’t think he’d move this soon—even if he wanted the Grand Duke gone.”
“And using the Grand Duchess, no less.”
“I think it’s a clever move.”
“That’s the Grand Duke’s biggest weakness.”
Somer said that as he helped the shaken Hwiaro and entered the meeting room first.
Chester let out a long sigh.
There was no helping it.
Anything that could become the Grand Duke’s weakness had always been removed by Somer and Chester.
Billish stretched out his hand naturally when his butler entered his room.
The butler looked at Billish’s pale hand, then bowed his head.
“…There has been no reply from her.”
“What?”
Billish raised his head as if he had misheard.
No reply from Asterophe?
That had never happened even once over the past year.
Billish smiled brightly.
“Which rat intercepted it, I wonder?”
“I want to kill them.”
The butler swallowed hard.
No one had intercepted the letter.
Asterophe hadn’t sent one at all.
There were even rumors that she had reported the letter to the Northern Grand Duke.
The butler looked at Billish anxiously.
“I believe it would be best to stop contacting Her Grace for the time being—”
Bang.
The crown prince slammed the desk and stood up.
His expression was ice-cold.
“Bring me her reply.”
“Without fail. Unless you want to see me go to Serpiewood myself.”
“Your Highness!”
“I said bring me her reply!”
Billish shouted hysterically and swept the items on his desk onto the floor.
The butler watched objects scatter near his feet.
“Yes! Yes! I will bring it! Please calm yourself, Your Highness!”
“If you don’t bring me that letter, don’t show your face to me again! Not a single one of you!”
Billish breathed heavily, his yellow eyes blazing with fury.
The butler left the office, worried the prince might harm himself.
To Crown Prince Billish, Asterophe Lunette had to belong to him.
Someone who should move exactly as he wished.
His marionette.
His doll.
His sunflower, always facing him.
He imagined her smiling brightly while looking at him.
‘Asterophe loves me. Only me.’
Billish wanted to believe that without doubt.
She was his chess piece.
A piece planted deep in enemy territory.
His greatest weapon—one that must not break yet.
