“We understand.”
The servants accepted the five pheasants and immediately hurried toward the kitchens.
Judging by how smoothly they moved without the slightest hint of surprise, this clearly wasn't the first time he had personally brought back fresh game.
Surely...
His main purpose for joining this patrol hadn't actually been hunting?
Watching Varkas with growing suspicion, Tyron suddenly noticed the man stop in his tracks just as he turned toward the main keep.
Following his gaze almost instinctively, Tyron unconsciously caught his breath.
Near the entrance to the keep, beside a small fountain, sat a blonde woman wrapped in silver fur.
The moment he saw her face, surrounded by the pale light of winter, his mind went completely blank.
The first time they had met, she had possessed an eerie presence.
She had seemed so fragile, as though she might shatter into countless pieces at any moment.
Yet now that same woman radiated a languid vitality, her entire being glowing with a pearly brilliance.
Still spellbound by the unreal sight before him, he watched the ruler of the East stride straight toward her.
“Why are you out here?”
The woman, who had been gazing dreamily at the sky as though lost inside a waking dream, slowly turned her large eyes toward her husband.
A faint smile spread across the face that was usually so cold and distant.
“I came out to watch the snow.”
“It isn't time for snow yet.”
“No, it snowed a little earlier. If I wait, it might start again.”
“You could watch it from inside your room.”
“If I stay cooped up in the bedroom all the time, I feel suffocated. Besides, Marisen said it's better if I move around a little.”
Apparently tired of listening to his scolding, the woman frowned slightly.
“If you're going to lecture me every single time I step outside, then why did you even give me this fur cloak?”
“I didn't give it to you so you could wander around the castle this defenseless.”
“What's wrong with how I look?”
The corners of her eyes lifted in irritation.
Her eyes were flushed as though she had a slight fever, giving her an oddly alluring appearance.
Perhaps struck by the same impression, an unfamiliar tension briefly crossed the face of the man who usually looked as though he had been carved from marble.
Oblivious to it, the woman continued pressing him.
“Well? Tell me. Is there something wrong with how I look?”
The man, whose lips had drawn into a tight line, let out a long breath.
He removed the cloak draped over his shoulders and tossed it to the attendant standing behind him.
Then he carefully lifted his wife into his arms.
“Please bear with it for a moment, even if I smell unpleasant.”
Before she could even protest, he strode toward the entrance of the keep.
Everyone gathered in the courtyard watched the scene in stunned silence.
It was hardly surprising.
With their radiant golden hair, blue eyes, and skin as white as ivory, the two of them looked like beings separated from the mortal world itself.
“...They truly are a perfectly matched couple.”
The northern merchant murmured in admiration.
Something about those words sounded strangely off to Tyron, making him frown.
It was certainly true.
Like a perfectly matched pair of magnificent horses, they suited one another astonishingly well.
It was almost impossible to believe that the two of them had spent years as little better than sworn enemies.