# 80
---
“Um… is that all?”
This isn't the only snowman you see in children's picture books, is it?
Ares shrugged his shoulders.
"I need to attach something like a twig or a button, but I don't have any."
For some reason, Grace felt an inexplicable urge to finish making the snowman. In the small flowerbed beyond the corridor, trees with only branches remaining were enduring the accumulating snow. As Grace went down to the flowerbed, Ares sauntered after her.
You could just leave it like that, but are you trying to make sure the twig is attached tightly?
If you do it half-heartedly, it's worse than not doing it at all.
As Grace bent down to look for a fallen branch under the tree, Ares reached out and roughly snapped off a living branch.
"Okay, let's go."
Given his personality, Ares would have just carelessly broken things and roughly put them back together—and besides, he wouldn't have even made a snowman in the first place—but seeing Grace come over and look intently at his hands, he felt a surge of determination to do a good job.
Taking the size of the snowman's head into account, they broke off a branch, and Grace, who was waiting, caught it. As soon as the branch was driven into the spots where the eyes and nose would be, it began to look quite fitting for the name 'snowman'.
Finally, Ares cut a branch about the length of his middle finger and inserted it into the trunk.
You have to do this too to call it a snowman.
Grace, who had been quietly gazing at the white snowman, looked up. So much snow was falling that the faint sunlight of this afternoon felt like a lie. Ares followed her up to the sky.
"Is this your first time seeing snow?"
“In Taylor, snow from the mountain range gets blown in by the wind once every few years. This is the first time I’ve seen snowflakes this big falling. And piled up, too.”
"Then I guess you don't even know what things like sledding or snowball fights are."
Are you teasing me?
As Grace narrowed her eyes and looked at him, Ares chuckled.
I know what that is.
Theory and practice are always different.
“…….”
"We don't have a sled, so that's a bit of a hassle. Want to have a snowball fight?"
At his playful tone, Grace's heart also floated lightly like a small snowflake.
“Even if my hand were fine, I’d rather not stare at Your Excellency, but with my hand like this today, it’s going to be difficult. Let’s try again next time.”
Ares, who had been letting out a faint laugh, stopped. He remained silent for a moment, turning his gaze to the flowerbed where the snow continued to fall. Then, he suddenly spoke.
“When the snow melts, I’ll go to the capital.”
Yes. That's how it should be.
Ares pushed aside the snow piled on the corridor railing and sat down casually. As a result, he was level with Grace.
It is right to modify a plan as you execute it.
“……?”
“Do you intend to fight in the name of my lover even after going to the capital?”
The bait of the Duke of Richmond's lover is so tempting that, of course, the jackals of the capital will bite her as well. However,
If that happens, I won't have a way to protect you.
The justification for protecting her simply because she was his lover was far too insufficient. The title of "lover" could not provide perfect protection, not even at the Duke of Richmond's castle.
Ares's gaze grew deep and intense, like the sky holding snow. Then, just as the sky had suddenly and unexpectedly spat out the snow it had been holding all along, he brought out the heart he had been harboring.
Marry me.
His proposal swallowed Grace calmly, like white snow silently engulfing the whole world.
* * *
Empire City, the capital of the Deccan, is a planned city built on a gently sloping, circular hill. There are several names for this city. Some called it the Capital or the Emperor's Castle, while others called it exactly Empire City. However, the people who actually lived in the capital referred to this massive city as the Four Castles.
The reason this place is called Saseong is that the city actually looked like four castles stacked on top of each other.
There were a total of four circular city walls in the capital. Administrative districts were divided along these walls, and the first wall was by far the wall of the Imperial Palace.
At the very top of a massive hill with a diameter of a staggering 100 kilometers stood the Imperial Palace, the heart of the Deccan. Since no buildings in the capital were allowed to exceed the height of the Imperial Palace, it could be seen from anywhere in the capital.
Beyond the walls of the Imperial Palace lay the First Quarter, where the mansions of the nobility were located. Residing in the First Quarter required both money and honor. Notable nobles granted permission to build mansions in the First Quarter included the Duke of Richmond and the Duke of Taylor, and the House of Saxony was also granted permission to reside there about a decade ago.
The second wall of the Four Fortresses was located between the First and Second Quarters and was known as the Wall of the Nobles. Just as a pass was required to pass through the Wall of the Nobles, not just anyone could enter the First Quarter. But was the Second Quarter a place inhabited by the motley crew? Not at all. The Second Quarter was actually the most vibrant area in the capital.
The 2nd Quarter was a commercial district and a place of exchange where commoners and nobles interacted freely. It was home to famous boutiques that stirred up Deccan society, and it was also where Chernin’s Café, which has recently emerged as a social hub, was located. It was inhabited by wealthy commoners, as well as by nobles who were not permitted to reside in the 1st Quarter.
The third wall of the fortress was the so-called Wall of Money, located between the second and third quarters. Beyond the Wall of Money from the second quarter lay the third quarter, a collective residential area for commoners. The final, fourth wall was the Wall of Knights, which served as the actual fortress wall encircling the massive Empire City.
A shabby child from the third box was engrossed in watching the procession of wheat that had been continuing for several hours.
"and……."
The golden wheat loaded in every cart looked like gold to the child's eyes.
"looks delicious……."
The child's small murmur was drowned out by the sound of the carriage wheels rolling ceaselessly.
The procession of carts laden with golden wheat crossed the Wall of Money and led to the magnificent mansion of the second enclosure. The pure white marble mansion, also known as Chernin Castle, was larger in scale than most mansions of the first enclosure. In the main garden, there was an exotic carp fountain imported from the East, and somewhere in the rear garden, there was a deep pond. Carp, said to have been imported from the East as well, lived there.
From the main building's terrace, a man watched with listless eyes as a cart of mills poured in. Wearing glasses said to be extremely precious, he had his brown hair, which reached down to his back, loosely tied back. The person who approached him stood upright and offered a greeting.
“Deacon. I’m back.”
The bespectacled man, Chernin's butler, extended his right hand to him without a word. However, his right hand looked somewhat strange. The spots where his ring and little fingers should have been were shiny, as if they had been severed by something sharp.
While the butler, skillfully holding the document with three fingers, was quickly reviewing it, the person who handed it over spoke.
I heard some interesting news from Taylor.
"what."
It seems Jack Saxon proposed to Rosette Taylor as a second best option. The Duke appeared overjoyed, while Rosette Taylor—well, I hear she was crying and making a fuss.
As the butler reviewing the documents stared at him, the assistant butler grinned.
“And it seems Grace Taylor is at the Duke of Richmond’s castle. I was wondering who she eloped with after getting the better of Jack Saxon, and lo and behold, it’s the Duke of Richmond? As expected of Princess Taylor, she’s quite the expert at cheating.”
The butler's lips curled up as well. After gathering the documents, he took a few glittering gold coins from his pocket and dropped them onto the assistant butler's palm.
"thank you!"
You worked hard coming and going. Get plenty of rest until tomorrow morning.
The butler headed toward the garden, crossing the flower-lined hallway.
After passing a deep pond inhabited by carp and traversing a long, rounded corridor, a house with a peculiar shape reminiscent of a desert palace came into view. It was a flashy building, seemingly devoid of any personal taste, merely collected with money. While others were building chapels, the owner of the mansion constructed this building claiming that he, too, was building a chapel.
It wasn't a lie.
“Insolent Gael, how dare you cover your mouth and nose in a sacred place? You may not even worship.”
Hazel Chernin, lying on a mountain of wheat, giggled at Gail the butler who was entering with his mouth and nose covered with a handkerchief.
“Look at this wheat dust. Do you think I look like I wouldn’t cover my mouth and nose?”
Hazel pretended not to hear, grabbed a handful of wheat, and took a deep breath. How should I put it... she felt a sweetness that felt full and rich.
"Aren't you tired of doing this? You have no idea how much of a hassle it is to bring the wheat here and then take it back."
It's noisy.
Hazel abruptly cut off Gail's nagging and scattered wheat grains over her head like children playing in the snow. It looked just like gold pouring down. As Hazel continued to scatter wheat several more times, Gail suddenly spoke to her.
It seems the Count of Saxony proposed marriage to Rosette Taylor.
Hazel's movements came to a sudden halt. He sat up completely, narrowed his blue eyes, and tilted his head.
“I heard the Count of Saxony collected the entire debt he had promised to repay Taylor. He even brought the goods in kind.”
"you're right."
"And after all that, you're proposing marriage to Rosette Taylor now?"
"Isn't there some ulterior motive?"
“Scheming?”
Hazel laughed cruelly.
It would be troublesome if you had ulterior motives regarding Taylor.
He stroked the Taylor wheat piled at his feet.
That golden field is mine.
Gale skillfully tossed the document bearing the Duke of Taylor's seal onto the pile of wheat. Hazel, who easily caught the document, tapped the wheat ear crest with his index finger and let out a gasp.
“Ugh—I like this sentence too. I’m going to have this one later, too.”
Just then, a well-dressed man appeared from behind Gail and spoke with a serious expression.
“Deacon, I think you need to come over.”
Then Hazel, who was rummaging through documents on top of a wheat heap, said in a sickening tone
“Looks like the scoundrel is back again. Is it two or one this time?”
“…There are two.”
I'm so sick of it, seriously.
Gail also let out a sigh as if tired and turned around.