Chapter 7

The Grand Duke’s office, which I was entering for the first time, was the North in its purest form.

Cold, rigid, and orderly.

Dark reddish-brown wooden bookshelves covering the walls, a gray carpet, a desk piled high with documents, and a fireplace blazing brightly.

Aside from the guest sofa I was sitting on and the table directly in front of me, there was hardly any furniture to speak of.

I had put on the dress I had worn when I first arrived at the Grand Ducal Residence.

Having grown accustomed to the comfort of the maid’s uniform, I found it incredibly uncomfortable.

And sitting opposite me—

The man whose face was somehow harder to look at than any luxury item was Grand Duke Varkan Escar.

‘So I finally get to see your face, Your Grace.’

My first impression of the man filling my field of vision was that someone had taken every harsh quality of the northern winter and molded it into human form.

His hair was as black as pitch, and beneath it were long, cold-looking eyes.

But more than anything else, there were those black eyes that seemed capable of seeing straight through me.

A fierce, intimidating aura radiated from him, powerful enough to make anyone shrink back from his gaze alone.

He wasn’t even the protagonist of the original novel, merely the second male lead, yet his presence was overwhelming.

And above all—

‘He’s ridiculously handsome.’

His face, his physique, even that dangerous atmosphere surrounding him.

Unfortunately, he was exactly, exactly my type.

Of course, the aide and the commander of the knights standing behind the Grand Duke were also handsome enough to be displayed anywhere without shame.

‘But they’re not my type.’

Still.

I tilted my head as I looked directly into Varkan’s eyes, which were fixed on me.

‘That gaze…… Where have I seen it before—?’

Just as I was seized by that strange feeling—

After examining me sharply for quite some time, Varkan casually spoke.

“You seem quite suited to working as a maid, Princess.”

My eyebrow twitched.

Was his first greeting really Are you enjoying your maid work?

‘You were the one who ordered me to do it.’

Strictly speaking, the person who had ordered me to work as a maid was that very Grand Duke.

I was only doing what I had been told.

So why did he look so irritated?

I found it absurd, but instead of showing it, I smiled brightly and innocently.

“Yes. It’s all thanks to Your Grace’s thoughtful consideration. Perhaps because the Grand Ducal Residence is an old mansion, there was quite a lot of built-up grime. Since this is the residence where I’ll be living from now on, I was happy to scrub it all away.”

“…….”

I did a good job, right? Hehe.

My calm and shameless response caused Varkan’s smooth brow to twitch ever so slightly.

After remaining silent for a moment, he folded his arms over his solid chest and spoke again.

“I’ve heard what happened. There was an incident in the commercial district of the Grand Duke’s territory earlier.”

I quickly replied,

“It wasn’t an incident. It was more like a natural disaster.”

“You may be the only person who would call it that, Princess. It was the failure of the knights responsible for protecting you and a dereliction of their duty.”

“My goodness.”

I clasped both hands in front of my lips and lowered the corners of my eyes.

“How bleak.”

“…….”

At my words, Varkan’s eyes narrowed.

The commander of the knights and the aide standing behind him widened their eyes.

“How can you possibly have not even a speck of flexibility?”

“……Flexibility.”

Varkan rolled the word around on the tip of his tongue before letting out a cold scoff.

“You don’t seem to understand what a convenient excuse the word ‘flexibility’ can be. On a battlefield where even a minor mistake can lead directly to death, people lose their lives because of that kind of so-called flexibility.”

I slightly raised my shoulders.

“But this isn’t a battlefield, is it?”

“Is there such a thing as a separate battlefield? Anywhere people live or die is a battlefield, Princess.”

“…….”

Wow.

I was genuinely impressed.

That impenetrable wall seemed so solid that even a spear couldn’t pierce it.

‘There’s seriously no talking to this man.’

So he really intended to punish the knights?

He finally returned after a week, and the first thing he wanted to do was punish the knights who had been assigned to protect me?!

I narrowed my eyes and said,

“You really live a difficult life. You don’t have any friends, do you?”

“…….”

Varkan’s gaze grew even colder.

“You speak in a manner unbecoming of a princess.”

I grumbled,

“Is there some law that says princesses have to speak a certain way?”

I leaned comfortably against the back of the sofa and shrugged.

Varkan narrowed his eyes.

“I can understand why rumors about the princess have spread in such a manner.”

“In such a manner?”

I tilted my head.

“What manner would that be?”

Varkan remained silent for a moment, simply staring at me.

“You know very well.”

At his meaningful gaze, I blinked rapidly.

Then I clapped my hands.

“Because I’m crazy?”

The commander of the knights standing behind him cleared his throat.

His aide turned away while touching the arm of his glasses.

Varkan pressed his lips tightly together before finally opening them a moment later.

“……I didn’t go that far.”

“Okay, okay. Then continue living your refined, dignified life, Your Grace. I’ll keep living however I want.”

“…….”

The atmosphere inside the office instantly froze.

Whatever.

I stood up with a victorious smile and gathered the cumbersome folds of my skirt.

“And let me say this one more time. If the knights who were assigned to protect me are punished no matter what…… I’ll somehow receive the exact same punishment as them.”

At my terrifying declaration, Varkan’s eyebrow slowly rose.

“Do as you please.”

At Varkan’s curt response, I gave a light scoff.

‘Does he think I won’t do it just because he tells me to?’

I raised my chin slightly and turned my back to the Grand Duke.

“Remember those words.”

Boom—

When the princess left and the door closed, a brief silence settled over the office.

Varkan leaned back against the sofa and rubbed his face before letting out a sigh.

His aide, Roan, approached him.

“Is something troubling you, Your Highness?”

“……Troubling?”

Yes.

Perhaps this feeling really was what one called discomfort.

Varkan stared into empty space and muttered,

“She is a strange woman.”

There had been something that honestly surprised him when he first saw the princess.

Her dazzling platinum-blond hair and delicate yet clearly defined features.

She possessed colors so vivid and striking that they seemed almost alien against this bleak northern land.

For a princess who had experienced the devastation of war and been brought here as a hostage, her eyes were far too lively.

He had been told that she had lost her mind from the shock of the war.

Yet after actually speaking with her, she didn’t exactly seem insane.

But if someone asked whether she was normal, the answer was absolutely not.

‘If she isn’t normal, then she must definitely be crazy.’

There was a powerful sense of incongruity about her.

Was she pretending to be crazy?

Was she actually crazy?

Or was she crazy but occasionally had moments when her reason returned?

She was completely impossible to figure out.

Varkan furrowed his brow and asked Roan,

“So. What did the princess who disappeared in the commercial district return carrying?”

“Yes, Your Highness. They said she returned clutching several pouches containing something in her arms.”

“What was inside them?”

“Well……”

For some reason, Roan hesitated.

“Why? Was it something dangerous?”

“No, Your Highness. ……We don’t know yet either.”

“What?”

Varkan looked at Roan.

With an extremely troubled expression, Roan continued.

“When the escort knights approached to check the contents, Her Highness suddenly bared her white teeth and…… w-well…… barked.”

Varkan’s brow furrowed.

“Barked?”

Roan answered with an expression twisted by embarrassment.

“Woof, woof, woof, woof! ……She made barking noises like a dog and threatened to bite their necks out on the spot if they came even one step closer…… so they couldn’t bring themselves to restrain her by force and gave up on checking the contents.”

“…….”

The office once again sank into silence.

Varkan recalled the princess who had just sat directly in front of him and argued with him clearly and confidently.

He felt utterly pathetic for having briefly wondered whether she might actually have been pretending to be crazy.

‘She really is crazy.’

The conclusion was simple.

Yes.

He had thought she was strange.

A woman who didn’t avoid his gaze, but instead boldly met it head-on as though she intended to stare right through him.

Most people became frightened simply when his gaze happened to pass over them.

But that princess had met his eyes without the slightest hesitation.

Her blue eyes had been striking.

They were as clear as a winter lake and as deep as an afternoon sky without a single cloud.

Thinking that this was simply because she wasn’t in her right mind made a certain amount of sense.

Come to think of it, those eyes……

‘Where have I seen them before……?’

Where had he seen them?

At that moment, the commander of the knights, Deros, asked,

“Then what shall we do about the punishment for the knights who were assigned to escort Her Highness? The princess is being so adamant about it……”

At Deros’s question, Varkan rested his chin on his hand and fell into thought.

The knights were certainly responsible for losing sight of the person they were supposed to protect in the middle of the commercial district.

In the North, those who made mistakes were punished.

But since the princess had come forward so stubbornly to defend the knights, completely ignoring the matter was also difficult.

After a moment, Varkan slowly opened his lips.

“……The punishment will be carried out as scheduled. However—”