Chapter 2
‘Ugh…?’
An unfamiliar ceiling.
The crackling sound of a fireplace slowly pierced through Clemen’s dull ears.
Her hazy gaze moved slowly as she tried to recall what had happened before she lost consciousness.
She had avoided a falling rock while climbing the mountain.
Then she got lost.
After her food ran out, she wandered around hungry, trying to find the path again—and slipped, rolling down a steep mountain slope.
‘Is the reason I can barely breathe because of my injuries?’
Still lying down, Clemen slowly lifted her head.
What she saw was something she had never imagined.
Two small children were clinging to her chest and stomach.
Clemen instantly regained her senses and checked the children.
When she had been unconscious, her heart might have gone wild.
Had she hurt them?
Even though there had been clothes and blankets, what if her high body temperature had burned them?
Then she met the eyes of the little girl who was staring straight at her.
The girl’s eyes were full of curiosity—and for some reason, affection.
‘They seem okay, right?’
Clemen let out a relieved sigh and smiled gently.
“Hello?”
She spoke in the empire’s language she had learned by herself.
The moment she said it, both children jumped up and ran outside.
“Mom! The stove is talking!”
They shouted strange words as they ran away.
Watching them go, Clemen scratched her cheek.
‘What word sounds similar to stove…?’
It didn’t take long for her to realize she hadn’t misheard them.
“It seems the children were joking because your body is warm. Apologize, Laura.”
The children’s mother arrived and spoke with an awkward smile as she apologized.
Laura puffed out her cheeks.
“Isn’t her face burnt because she’s a stove?”
“You little—! She’s just from another region!”
“No! She’s a stove! Laura’s stove!”
Laura climbed energetically onto the bed and stuck herself to Clemen’s side.
Her twin brother, Lu, who had been sucking his finger, smiled brightly and lay across Clemen’s legs.
“C-Children! She just woke up—”
“It’s okay. I like it.”
“…What?”
Looking at the flustered mother, Clemen gave a harmless smile.
“Rescuer. Thank you for saving me.”
“N-no, it’s nothing. I’m just glad you’re okay.”
After those words, silence fell.
The mother, while tending to the children, kept glancing at Clemen.
She clearly had many questions.
‘That makes sense.’
Even among the fair-skinned people of the Empire, those living in the North had especially pale skin like snow.
Their light-colored Northern hair was also very different from Clemen’s.
Her vivid vermilion hair and slightly tanned skin.
Anyone could tell she was an outsider.
Moreover, she was clearly from the southern desert of the continent.
Just the words themselves showed how opposite the desert and the North were.
Even traveling between the capital and the North was difficult.
It would already be unusual for another citizen of the Empire to appear here—let alone someone from the far south.
Of course people would be curious.
And that was even without considering her strange constitution.
“My name is Clemen. I’m twenty-one. I came here because I like cold places.”
“Oh… I see. I’m Ruby.”
Ruby hesitated but couldn’t take her eyes off Clemen.
She simply couldn’t forget the situation when she had first found her.
Even though snow had been pouring down, there hadn’t been a single patch of snow around Clemen.
It had been warm enough that you couldn’t even see her breath.
For someone born and raised in the North, it was an unimaginable sight.
A snowstorm was raging in the sky.
Yet the air surrounding Clemen was warm, turning snow into rain.
It was the first time Ruby had ever seen a waterfall instead of snow.
That was how strange Clemen’s presence felt.
She clearly looked human, yet somehow didn’t feel entirely human.
‘Right… she looked like the Fire Spirit from the founding legends.’
According to legend, a fire spirit had helped the first emperor defeat an evil dragon when the empire was founded.
It was said that the Fire Spirit’s mere presence warmed the world and purified evil.
And the greatest evil in the North was this endless snow.
A person who melted snow.
For the people of the North, there was also a well-known legend that a fire spirit slept somewhere in their land.
So it wasn’t strange for Ruby to think of a Fire Spirit when she saw Clemen.
‘But it makes no sense for a real Fire Spirit to be lying unconscious on the ground.’
Then what exactly was this person?
She looked kind and warm, but a person’s true nature couldn’t be seen on the surface.
Still, asking directly felt rude.
While Ruby was struggling with these thoughts, Clemen suddenly called her with a bright smile.
“Ruby… Ah. May I call you Ruby?”
“Yes… I don’t mind.”
“Then Ruby, please tell me where the village chief’s house is.”
“…Why?”
“This is my first village! I want to live here.”
Ruby blinked.
“You want to… live here?”
“Yes. Oh… do you not like that?”
“It’s not that…”
Ruby was worried about how the villagers—including the chief—would react to Clemen.
They might worship her as a Fire Spirit.
Or they might reject her as something not human.
“I’m fine living outside the village too. If people don’t want to meet me, I won’t meet them.”
What kind of life had this person lived for such words to come out so naturally?
Ruby squeezed her eyes shut and sighed.
“I’ll let you meet the village chief. But don’t expect me to convince him.”
“That’s fine. Thank you!”
Clemen simply smiled happily.
Seeing that cheerful smile only made Ruby feel more conflicted.
“Our stove! It’s mine! You can’t take it!”
“Stove… warm.”
Laura and Lu clung tightly to Clemen and stubbornly protested.
It was strange to see.
The twins were usually very shy around strangers.
‘Maybe I should tell Lady Rosia…’
Rosia was currently handling the affairs of the territory in place of the secluded Grand Duke and the sick Grand Duchess.
‘If the head maid recommended her, maybe she could work somehow… The inside of the mansion sometimes freezes over, but if Clemen went there, it would probably melt right away.’
Cleaning water was far easier than scraping away ice.
Ruby shook her head when she realized she had started calculating Clemen’s usefulness.
That would be overstepping.
Considering the situation of the ducal family, they couldn’t just bring in anyone.
“Kyaaa! Hahaha!”
The twins were laughing so hard they could barely breathe.
Seeing them like that made Ruby feel complicated.
And what about Clemen?
She looked flustered but was gently stroking the children with a slightly flushed face.
Ruby’s heart softened again.
“I’ll just… mention it. Just a little.’
Once she made that decision, she felt much lighter.
“Kids, that’s enough. Come here. She needs to rest.”
“Ah, it’s okay!”
Clemen waved her hand—
Then she noticed the unfamiliar sleeves she was wearing.
Unlike the loose desert clothes that swayed when she moved, these Northern clothes were tightly closed at the cuffs.
“I changed your clothes. They were too dirty. I think they’ll dry in two days…”
Ruby suddenly stopped speaking.
Clemen had grabbed her hands in excitement.
Her hands were not just warm but hot.
Ruby flinched.
“This is wonderful! I feel like a real Northerner! I want to go outside like this!”
“You can’t! That’s pajamas!”
Ruby shouted because Clemen looked like she might run outside immediately.
“These are pajamas? They’re so thick!”
“If you go out like that, you’ll freeze to death.”
Clemen was taller than Ruby.
The pajamas that could wrap around Ruby’s whole body only reached Clemen’s calves, and her wrists were fully exposed.
“It’s fine! I’m hot. The cold doesn’t bother me!”
Clemen dashed outside like an arrow and stepped onto the snow.
Barefoot on snow felt cool and soft.
It melted instantly beneath her feet.
But that was fine.
The sky was still pouring down white joy.
“Stove! If you do that, you’ll go out! Watch the wind!”
“Break… down.”
Laura and Lu had followed her outside wearing coats and were holding their arms wide open.
‘…This is the first time.’
No one had ever tried to approach her first.
Because she was hot.
Because she caused fires.
Because she was considered a disaster.
People had thrown stones to drive her away.
Even the fortune-teller grandmother who had raised her had hugged her only once.
‘I’m… so happy.’
Her lips lifted in uncontrollable joy.
She opened her arms wide as well.
As if they had been waiting for it, the two children jumped into her arms.
She lifted them up.
“Wow, warm.”
“Hot…”
The children rubbed their cheeks against her neck.
Clemen couldn’t help but smile.
Her unusually high body temperature seemed helpful to them.
What could make her happier than that?
‘They actually like it.’
She felt happy.
It felt like she had been given permission to stay here.
If she could talk well with the village chief and live in this village, that would be perfect.
‘A stove? If they want, I’ll be one forever!’
Clemen puffed out her breath.
‘Maybe I can finally make friends for the first time.’
In this place, she felt she might finally live the ordinary, happy life she had always wanted.
…That was what she had thought one day ago.
“Please deliver this to His Grace! If it’s you, Fire Spirit, we believe you can do it!”
Clemen had accidentally encountered knights whose eyes looked half-crazed despite their polite speech.
They dragged her along.
And she ended up meeting the lord of the territory—something she had never planned.
Even inside the room, the man was wrapped from head to toe in fur and leather.
The moment their eyes met—
The burning heat that had tormented her all her life suddenly calmed down.
