Beast of the Frozen Night

But her thoughts seldom continued.
The soft falling snow was gradually pressing down on her shoulders.

By the way… Can they find me… ? Can I hold out until they come?

It was for a while that Anna was immersed in hopes.
But, at some point, pessimism washed over her.
She wondered if she would meet her death here.
Her breathing that became increasingly difficult was evidence of that.

Too cold.

The intense chill on her flesh made it difficult to even open her mouth.
In the cramped space, Anne drew her body as tight as possible.
However, her space only became narrower and she couldn’t breathe.

I can’t … I have to open my eyes.

Her body’s senses had become dull at some point, and her eyelids were very heavy again.

Dying like this isn’t bad either.

’

As Anne struggled to push her eyelids open, she thought in a hazy consciousness.

Looking back, it was not that she had any regrets in life.
If God, who took pity on her, summoned her, it wouldn’t be bad to finally rest.
Wouldn’t she be able to get out of this difficult life?

In the face of death, which was eating away at her clouding mind, she was unexpectedly calm and accepting.
She didn’t regret leaving as it is, but the only regret was that Libelois would take advantage of the price of the Grand Duchess, who gave her life trying to save the people.

But after a while, it wouldn’t matter anyway.
Her consciousness faded and her vision blurred.
She could feel the hot blood in her veins cooling and slowing down.

After a while—

A blinding light that suddenly stung her eyes.
And suddenly, a human figure appeared before her.

For a moment, she thought she was dreaming.

’

A man walked without hindrance.
She could see the bloodshot red eyes slowly widening.
Seeing his face gave her a strange sense of relief.

But for some reason, the man, who was pale as if his blood had dried up, looked to be in more danger than her.

“Angroanne.”

The familiar call was mixed with heavy breathing.
She had to answer because he called her name, but she stopped when she tried to open her mouth due to extreme exhaustion and the cold that hit her throat.

He dropped to his knees and slowly met her gaze.
The red eyes were more subdued than ever.

“An… n …”

A gloomy voice was cut off as if the world had collapsed.
His tone of voice calling her by her nickname disturbed her for some reason.

Why .
.
.
Why are you making that face?

’

Anne couldn’t understand why he was looking at her that way.
A nameless emotion settled on his pale face, and the unfamiliar yet somehow vague figure, enough to make her calm heart ache.

The last thing she could not take her eyes off of was the flickering of the beautiful red eyes, and she lost her consciousness.

* * *

“God has helped her.
Since she had been buried in the snow for a long time, you need to pay special attention to maintaining her body temperature.
The fracture on her leg isn’t big, so she can rest for a few days.”

As soon as the doctor finished saying that she would have been helpless if help had been even a little bit later, the maid’s breathless sobs leaked out.
The bloody atmosphere that was caused by the uproar subsided when the doctor said that her life was not in danger.
But the castle was still so cold that she couldn’t even breathe properly.

God helped.
If so, she shouldn’t have done such a thing in the first place, the Grand Duke thought.

“Can you take responsibility for that? You will have to put your head on the line when you say that there is no danger to the Grand Duchess’ life.”

’

After reading her pulse, the doctor tucked Anne’s wrist back under the thick blanket.
As an eerie energy prodded his back, he was overcome with the illusion that it was him, not the Grand Duchess, who suffered from hypothermia.
With more than thirty years of experience as a doctor, he was unsure of a person’s life, but when his own life was at stake, he had to speak out with hope.

“Keep the room warm and keep Her Grace from cooling down, and she should be able to regain consciousness tomorrow.”

As soon as he heard that, the Grand Duke opened the door and left.

Bang!

The Grand Duke had no way to vent his anger, so he punched a perfectly fine wall.
He couldn’t figure out why he was so very angry.

Why did he feel this way?

Her cold body temperature, which he could still feel under his palms, clung to him uncomfortably.
Unlike him, the woman’s body was always warm… Thinking that far, he even felt sorry for Anne.