The Grand Duke Returns
It was the first day of my twenty-fourth year — and somewhere along the way, Kyle had turned eighteen. Despite the bitter January cold, we were spending the day no differently than any other.
Kyle was in the middle of a lesson with Louise. Elin and I, having just wrapped up a quiet tea, were strolling at an unhurried pace down the castle corridor.
"Emergency!!!!"
"Everyone to the entrance!!!"
"Hurry!!"
"?"
All at once the servants came thundering down the hallway, shouting at the top of their lungs. They never ran — not even when they were in a rush. What on earth could have them this worked up?
Elin, walking beside me, seemed just as lost. We exchanged a look.
"What's going on?"
"That's... what I'd like to know."
"Should we head over too, for now?"
"Yeah."
Whatever this was, the atmosphere made it clear we were expected to go. We started toward the castle entrance.
When we arrived, the servants were already standing in a long, orderly line. Across from them, the household knights had formed a matching rank of their own.
"...."
"...."
Elin and I didn't say a word. We simply walked forward between the two lines, and when our eyes met — hers just ahead of mine — we shared a look of pure bewilderment. What could possibly warrant lining up every servant and knight in the household like this?
Six years. That was how long I had lived at Eristirol. In all that time, nothing like this had ever happened, which only made the whole scene harder to parse.
Then the head butler stepped forward from the front of the line. It had been a while since I'd last seen the man. I didn't run into him much while looking after Kyle — and if I was being honest, I hadn't particularly wanted to.
"There is only one reason you have all been gathered here. A letter has just arrived informing us that His Grace the Grand Duke is returning."
The Grand Duke was coming home.
It was the first time I had ever heard those words. In all the years I had worked at Eristirol Castle, I had never once laid eyes on the man. Adela and Kyle hardly ever mentioned him, either. There was never much occasion to. All I knew was that he enjoyed hunting, and that he had something of a wandering streak.
They said it didn't interfere with raising and educating Kyle — but the absence of a father, arguably the most important member of Kyle's family, had always sat a little wrong with me. Kyle had grown into a fine young man, thank goodness, but I couldn't say I harbored particularly warm feelings toward the Grand Duke.
"Knowing His Grace's temperament, it is a certainty that he sent this letter late yet again. He will likely arrive at any moment, so remain here and wait."
The knights, in particular, answered the butler's words with a noisy chorus of acknowledgment. Their lord had been gone for years, but their loyalty to him hadn't dimmed in the slightest. And loyalty like that usually came paired with skill to match.
"...."
There was a bigger problem, though. One that had nothing to do with loyalty or letters.
Unlike most of the people in this castle, who had been born and raised in the North, I was from the central regions. The places I had lived were warm, almost without exception. Winters got cold, sure — but they were nothing compared to this. I almost never went outside here.
And yet right now, slipping back into the castle wasn't exactly an option. The Grand Duke was arriving. What would it look like if some lowly servant ducked inside because she was chilly? I'd be on his bad side before I even opened my mouth.
"Hhh... hh-hh..."
And it was January. The coldest stretch of the year in Eristirol, bar none. White snow was still drifting down from the sky, and a wind sharp as a blade cut through the courtyard. In short: it was fucking cold.
"Nnh... hhh..."
I had spent so much of my life inside the castle's warmth that I had dressed the way I always did — an ordinary formal outfit. No insulating layer underneath. Just underclothes, a shirt, and a blazer. The pants were even worse. Panties and trousers. There was no universe in which that was warm.
"Urgh..."
"Miss Sophia."
"Young Master..?"
I was standing there shivering, both hands jammed into my armpits, when Kyle called my name from behind. I turned toward him.
Why is Kyle here?
Ah. Right. His father was coming. Of course he had to be here too.
"You're cold, aren't you?"
"Y-yeh..."
I could barely get the words out. I would have given anything for something — anything — to throw over my shoulders. One of those thick, fluffy fur cloaks the hunters wore, the kind I used to watch them in through the castle windows. That was what I needed.
"Forgive me a moment."
"Nnh.."
Without warning, Kyle pulled me into his arms.
The difference in our heights was enormous. The thing I had been dreading had come to pass: Kyle had grown to about six-foot-one. We were a good two heads apart. Which meant that, folded into his embrace, my face ended up buried squarely in his chest.
"Young Master..?"
"Please stay like this for a moment. You'll be warm soon."
Now that I thought about it, he had wrapped the coat he was wearing around me, shielding me from the wind. He had seen me freezing and done this without being asked.
This kid's talent for sweeping a woman off her feet was no joke. If I had been anyone else, I would have had hearts in my eyes by now — too flustered to even look him in the face.
"Thank you."
Not that any of that applied to me. Still, I was grateful. And a little impressed, if I was being honest. The little boy who had once been shorter than me had grown into a man who could pull me into his arms and drive the cold away.
"Heh..."
I'd say I raised him pretty well, wouldn't I? Taking a frightened twelve-year-old and turning him into a man like this — that counted as a job well done.
"Thank you, Young Master."
And this kid had done his part too, following my lead and growing up right. I was a little curious what would have happened if he had ignored me and gone off the rails — but I didn't let myself imagine it. He had turned out well. That was what mattered.
"But you mustn't do this for young ladies you've only just met. Women are creatures who are easily fooled, you know."
"...Yes."
With other women, he would be better off simply draping his coat over their shoulders like a normal person. Northerners already ran hot, and Kyle ran hotter than most of them. If he went around hugging every shivering girl with a body like that, she would fall for him on the spot. His body heat, pressed against mine, had already driven the cold away — but if he did this with just anyone, even a young lord would earn himself a reputation. The kind of man who flirted with every woman he saw.
"By the way, Young Master — the outfit you're wearing. It looks really good on you."
A black shirt underneath, and over it a black coat trimmed in pure white fur, warm just to look at. He had a good eye for clothes, too.
"...Thank you."
That said, being stuck this close and having to crane my neck to look at him was murder on my throat. The height difference was ridiculous.
"The Grand Duke is entering!!!"
I had been in Kyle's arms for a few minutes when the head butler's voice rang out. The castle gates began to open.
"Oh."
Still held against Kyle's chest, I watched the gates swing wide. They were so massive that the simple act of opening them was a spectacle of its own — vast and imposing.
And through the widening gap, a giant of a man came into view. The falling snow blurred his outline, but there was no mistaking him. That was William Eristyrol — head of the Eristirol family, and Kyle's father.
He looked exactly like the Vikings I had heard about in my previous life. His hair was white, the same as Kyle's — but he was taller, easily six-foot-seven, and built like a fortress of muscle. His only upper garment was a single animal pelt, wolf or bear, I couldn't tell, which left nearly all of that physique on full display.
"Wow..."
It was a more staggering body than the knight commander's, the last time I had seen him. If anything, this man looked more like a knight commander than the actual one did. The long hair, the beard — he really did look like he had stepped straight out of a Viking saga.
"Salute the Grand Duke!!"
At the butler's single command, every person in the courtyard — knight and servant alike — bent at the waist in unison. I turned with them and bowed deeply, a full ninety degrees, eyes fixed forward.
Kyle, for his part, offered only a perfunctory greeting and didn't bow at all. If he had done it properly, the weight of him would have been enormous. Thank goodness. I would never have been able to hold him up.
"...?"
Come to think of it, I could feel something behind me. Something incredibly hard. Kyle must have stuffed something in his pants pocket.
"That's enough. Get back to work."
The Grand Duke's voice was deep and rough. At those few words, the servants and knights scattered back to their posts.
"...?"
We had all stood out here in this cold for that? Well — actually, this was better. At least I wouldn't have to linger outside any longer than necessary.
"Young Master, I'll be heading inside now. Since His Grace has returned, I hope you have a wonderful—"
I tried to slip out of Kyle's arms and make for the castle, but he suddenly wrapped an arm around my waist and held me in place.
"Young Master..?"
"I need to introduce you to Father, so please wait."
"Pardon..?"
Introduce me? To that Viking?
Okay, calling him a Viking might have been a bit much. But still — introducing me to the Grand Duke, out of nowhere? Why would he introduce some ordinary servant?
"You're my tutor."
"Ah."
Lately I hadn't been teaching Kyle much of anything, if I was being honest — but I was, technically, still his private tutor. I had so little to do these days that I had almost forgotten.
"And you're my personal attendant. So of course you should stay."
"Right.."
I stayed where I was, still held in Kyle's arms. The Grand Duke was still speaking with the knight commander and the head butler. And at some point, Adela had appeared at his side.
"What's this, Brother? Why are you like that with Miss Sophia?"
"Ah — Miss Sophia feels the cold terribly, so I didn't have much choice."
"Ahh... so that's your angle?"
"..?"