Chapter 9
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 9
Chapter Title: The Bearskin Proposal
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Everyone in the Winterguard mansion had no choice but to be shocked for two reasons.
The first was the skin of the Giant Black Bear that their family head, Cassius Winterguard, had brought back.
The hide was massive enough to overflow even after borrowing an entire cart, far exceeding average size at a glance.
And the scarred face of the Giant Black Bear that arrived alongside the skin made them feel just how powerful and long-lived that monster had been.
The overwhelming presence of the hide naturally inspired awe toward Cassius, who had hunted it down without a single scratch.
And the other reason...
'A proposal with that massive hide?!'
It was the fact that the hide had been used for a love confession!
In truth, the second reason shocked the people of the Winterguard mansion even more.
They already knew their family head was strong from the start, after all. They were surprised, but not to the point of astonishment.
But the moment they saw Cassius's hide gift, some of the servants unconsciously gulped or covered their mouths.
Their gruff family head, whose eyes burned with madness, was making a love confession??
The reaction was especially intense from the maids who had just been gossiping with Yelena moments before.
Lucia, Yelena's personal maid, simply watched with amused interest, but the others were different.
"Whoa, whoa whoa!!"
"What do we do!! Lady Yelena...!"
"She just denied it moments ago! Hehe!"
"She must have been secretly hoping for it? But with a noble's pride, she couldn't show it!"
"Aha...!"
The gossip-loving maids immediately began spinning wild fantasies right there on the spot—events that absolutely hadn't happened over the past few days.
Without a doubt, this love confession incident would spread throughout the entire territory—no, the whole North—within days.
And at the center of those rumors would be the Winterguard maids.
But even more vehemently reactive than those maids was the recipient of the proposal herself.
Yelena.
"Uh, ah, uh."
Yelena, broken like a malfunctioning automaton, repeating incomprehensible words.
All she could do was alternate between staring at the Giant Black Bear skin and Cassius.
"Yelena, what's wrong?"
"Hic! W-what, what is it...?!"
And Cassius gazed at her with a face that couldn't comprehend, asking,
"Don't tell me... you don't like it?"
He then pondered with a serious expression.
To Yelena, this came across as:
Are you saying you hate the Giant Black Bear skin I hunted by throwing my whole body into it(?)?
Are you saying you hate the Giant Black Bear skin I caught with such great effort because I seemed too gruff to confess easily?
Do you... hate me?
"Ah, ahh."
Yelena Astria.
Twenty years old.
She had never received such a passionate proposal in her life.
As a child, when her family's fortunes still allowed her to attend balls and parties, she had no interest in romance.
By the time she was old enough, her family had begun to decline, stripping away those opportunities, and she had to focus entirely on the household just to survive.
Then her twentieth year arrived, and here she was in the Winterguard mansion—sold off in place of her family's debts—receiving a proposal along with a massive monster hide!
It was only natural that her mind was filled with confusion.
But she was also a lady of the Empire, a woman beginning to shed her girlish innocence.
She could naturally sense how much courage Cassius had mustered, and even if it wasn't genuine, it made heat rise all over her body.
Chaos.
Because of it, Yelena couldn't think straight right now.
Whenever she tried to reason things out, wild imaginings and reality tangled together, blocking her thoughts.
'Cassius proposed to me?'
But in the hallway earlier, he said it wasn't that...
Which one is it?
At that moment, Cassius—interpreting her silence in his own way—opened his mouth.
"If you don't like the hide, I'll have Alf dispose of it. Then..."
"N-no!"
"Hm?"
"Yes."
The instant he seemed about to give up and hand it to Alf, Yelena stopped him without thinking.
Realizing it too late, she covered her mouth, but it was already too late.
"Kyaa! She's going to accept!"
"Hoo..."
"So she's going to become the Winterguard Duchess now...?"
Already, the attention of many was on her.
Yelena nearly spiraled into even greater confusion amid the stares, but she endured and spoke up.
"......For now, I'll take the hide. But for your feelings......give me a little time."
On hold!
It was an ambiguous answer, but it was the best Yelena could manage.
It had to be.
Her opponent was the Grand Duke infamous for his madness, the man who had targeted her even while paying off her family's debts.
Until now, she had only felt hatred, anger, and near-terror toward him—and just as those feelings were starting to shift, this proposal hit.
'......At least date after getting to know each other, then propose...!'
Even if he was a gruff man, a sudden proposal like this?
Yelena thought.
'For now......let's take it slow and get to know each other.'
And seeing Yelena's ambiguous response, Cassius...
"...? I don't know what that means, but alright then."
nodded with a puzzled look before heading into the mansion.
And in the mansion courtyard, now empty of its two protagonists, the servants' murmurs began to fill the air.
After returning to the mansion following the subjugation, I handed the hide straight to Yelena and headed to my office.
On the way to the office, for some reason Alf and the other butlers looked at me fondly, saying "Well done, sir."
'......Looks like bringing her here but not taking care of her came off poorly.'
Considering how Yelena had blushed while wanting the hide, she must really like bears.
'Maybe I should steadily procure bear skins from now on.'
Anyway, I'd put out the urgent fire. Of course, I'd have to go out for another subjugation next week, but with a full week ahead, I could prepare leisurely.
"More importantly, there are still problems left."
The biggest issue was the roads.
I had to somehow deal with the frozen roads.
It wasn't just for the territory folk's safety or passage.
Of course, that mattered too, but even more critical was that trade from other territories and regions was blocked.
'The North is already isolated, so external goods are vital.'
The North's residents had considerable interest in the capital and other provinces.
That's why local specialties and trends from outside the North spread naturally, with merchants at the center.
But now, with the roads frozen for days, carriages and carts couldn't move—this was causing problems.
'If I don't resolve it quickly......public sentiment could sour.'
To fix this, I'd hired a mage, but the employment fee got inflated while bringing Yelena here—that was the issue.
Of course, considering today's subjugation and next week's, I could cover the fee easily.
But I wanted a complete solution beyond just hiring a mage.
'Winter costs way too much money.'
In the harsh Northern environment, winter naturally spiked expenditures.
And mages took up a not-insignificant portion, so cutting that would let me invest more elsewhere.
"In modern times, they'd use calcium chloride or snowplows..."
Unfortunately, I had zero knowledge on either solution.
At least calcium chloride could be substituted with salt or sand.
But securing those would take time and money too...
Knock knock knock.
"You called?"
"Alf, summon the mage we hired up until last year. It's about the road de-icing."
"Understood."
For now, I'd call the mage familiar with the territory's work, negotiate the price, and if that failed, find another way.
A few days later.
Days passed without major incidents, aside from Yelena giving me strange looks whenever we crossed paths.
Finally, a mage from the Mage Association arrived.
"You summoned me, Your Grace?"
The middle-aged mage looked much like those from modern Earth's fiction.
Minus the pointed hat, the robe and all screamed "mage."
"I'd like to entrust this winter's road de-icing to you."
"Ah, I see. You're a bit late this time."
He wore an innocent expression, but he probably knew the inside story.
That the Grand Duke, in his mad state, had delayed hiring by pouring money into a woman's family.
"Yes, so I want the work done as quickly as possible."
"I see. In that case......the price should be about this."
The mage cautiously handed over a paper listing the price and reasons.
Alf took it and passed it to me.
"......This is the price you want?"
"Yes. The situation is a bit urgent, after all. I know Winterguard territory is struggling, but I'm not digging up dirt to sell here."
The mage chuckled slyly.
I nearly let out a hollow laugh at the amount he'd written.
This bastard had jacked up the fee to nearly three times last year's rate.