Beast of the Frozen Night

to turn around as if her business was over.

The Grand Duke momentarily grabbed her arm.
Anne, who looked down at her hand, looked up at him with dry eyes.

“Is there anything else?”

He was glad that she had spoken to him after a long time, but he was reluctant to ask her to leave.
But the anxiety he had felt about her appearance was scratching his nerves uncomfortably.

“Do you want to go?”

“.
.
.”

He could see the dead eyes shaking very slightly.
He was chilled at the slight change in her.
Even if she didn’t say anything, she wanted to go.

He finally agreed to it on condition.

And while she was gone, he decided to think about why he felt uneasy about her change and why he was shaken by her.

* * *

The Grand Duke allowed her to go to the capital under three conditions: to stay only in the Grand Duke’s residence in the capital, to go everywhere with knights, and to return quickly after completing her errands.
It was quite unexpected that he gave permission even though he was reluctant, but he was not a man that can get understood in the first place.

Beside Emily, who was checking that nothing was missing from her luggage, Anne opened the window wide.
There were still traces of snow in every corner of the garden, but the air was different.

Winter is over.

Spring was coming.
Neither the fresh flowers nor the green leaves could be seen yet, but the fierce air flow had changed.
Now, even when she breathes in, her nose is not spicy, and she can feel the subtle scent of spring.

“Madam, it’s done now.”

Anne smiled as Marie tied her hair finely and gave her a wide-brimmed hat.

The woman in the mirror, wearing a ragenta blue dress resembling a blue hydrangea, was quite worth looking at.
There was no gloomy expression as if she had been assimilated into the Grand Duke’s castle.
With a slightly excited face Marie tied the long ribbon of the beige hat neatly around the back for the last time.

“Are you excited about going to the capital?”

“Yes.
I didn’t get a good look last time.
By now, the capital should be splendid with spring flowers, right?”

When she asked a question related to the capital, Marie, who had become somber, did not shy away from the conversation like she had done for so long.
On the day she allowed Marie to attend to her again, Marie knelt down and apologized and Anne had forgiven her.

She, too, was only one of those to whom the Grand Duke had given his mandate.
She didn’t want to blame Marie for her hard work.
And she knew Marie wasn’t the Grand Duke’s real lover, and she didn’t feel too bad about it now.

So, even though she tried to deny it, Anne admitted only one thing to herself.
She hated the thought of the Grand Duke going to another woman’s room.