TNDHD 2

Chapter 2

Someone shook my shoulder, and I jolted awake. I lifted my head abruptly and saw concerned brown eyes looking at me.

“Madam, are you alright?”

“Mila……”

I thought Kegan had returned.

I pushed back the hair that had fallen messily over my eyes. The back of my neck felt stiff. It seemed I had dozed off while sitting in the armchair in the reception room.

Outside the window, the blue dawn was already breaking.

“Lord Ben has returned. He asked to be informed once you woke, Madam. What should I do?”

“Please show him in.”

I quickly got to my feet.

“Please wait a moment, Madam. The advisor will be coming up here. I’ll go downstairs and prepare some warm tea.”

Why? Ben had returned earlier than expected.

With a faint sense of hope, my steps quickened. If he had returned quickly without conducting a long investigation, perhaps he had met Kegan on the way to the Mist Forest and come back together with him.

But Ben was alone.

“The boundary of the Mist Forest has been sealed.”

In a tone that suggested he had not completely given up hope, he continued his grim report.

“Duchess, I believe you may have heard of the ‘closure period.’ We were in a situation where we might have had to break taboos and search even inside the monster nest, but an mist barrier had formed at the boundary. It was impossible to enter, or even to see beyond it. For now, our knights will continue searching the area and report back, but……”

“The closure period?”

A period when the monster forest refuses human entry. The mist hardens like a stone wall, sealing off the boundaries of the nest. This abnormal phenomenon, known as the closure period, was said to occur rarely and could last from several months to even several years.

Several months, even years without the mist barrier disappearing?

“Then the Duke……”

Ben did not rush to complete the thought that he would likely not return safely. Instead, a heavy silence engulfed us for a moment. Countless thoughts surged and tangled violently in my mind.

No. There was no way he wouldn’t return.

Just a few days ago, I had seen Kegan so strong, so alive. After that night when I had fallen asleep almost unconscious under the weight of his heated, powerful body, I had heard his new plans in the dawn light.

He had suggested we take a vacation. A trip just for the two of us, husband and wife alone. He had no idea that his wife had secretly been thinking of divorce.

“Would you like to visit Tesena after a long time? Before things get busy with winter preparations, I think I could spare about a week.”

“I’ll think about it, Kegan.”

I remember the indifferent voice of the man who had suggested a vacation to my homeland, Tesena—the place I had once planned to quietly pack up and leave forever on my own.

It had sounded like an empty promise, impossible in our hectic lives, but if I had simply agreed, he would have surely taken me to Tesena before autumn ended.

“…He will come back soon.”

The words slipped out without passing through my reason.

“It’s only been a day. I would appreciate it if everyone refrained from careless remarks like ‘missing’ or ‘disappearance.’”

My tone turned sharper without me realizing it, but Ben simply lowered his head in apology.

“I spoke thoughtlessly. I will instruct the knights as well. In the meantime, Duchess, please proceed with your schedule as planned. If that becomes difficult, we will prepare alternatives.”

He offered a gentle suggestion in a softened voice, as though he assumed I was in shock from the possibility of losing my husband.

But I shook my head.

“Marquis Rijen is scheduled to visit this afternoon. Other than that, I have no particular plans, so I am fine.”

Marquis Rijen was the legal heir of the Weyriver estate and a distant relative of the previous Duke of Weyriver.

At the mention of his name, Ben’s expression darkened. Though as an heir he was only a nominal candidate who would fall to the lowest rank once Kegan or his younger sister Diana had children, it was still an uncomfortable moment to face him under the current uncertainty of Kegan’s whereabouts.

“Are you truly alright, Duchess?”

“Yes. I’ll rest a little and get ready.”

I smiled faintly as I rose from my seat.

It was only that my husband was late returning.

I just needed to act as usual. There was no reason to act spoiled in front of subordinates. There was no reason for me not to be fine.

As long as I held the title of Duchess, even if only in name, I would fulfill my duties.

“Please rest your eyes for a moment, Madam. I will bring breakfast up when it’s ready.”

“Thank you, Mila.”

I gave Mila, who was looking at me worriedly, a small smile before heading up to the bedroom.

Kegan not returning even by morning.

It was the first time he had ever broken a promise unilaterally.

And on top of that, he had gone into the monster nest on his own?

“What on earth were you thinking……”

He had broken a taboo. A man who had always strictly followed imperial law that no knight, no matter how exceptional, must cross into forbidden boundaries.

What had happened there? It wasn’t like him. Or rather, did I still think I understood what “like him” even meant?

I buried my dizzy head into the soft pillow and closed my eyes. I did not feel sleepy. My nerves stayed on edge as if I were fully awake, then drifted into a hazy, dreamlike state, repeating over and over. Time passed like that.

Marquis Rijen would be arriving soon.

I need to stay alert.

“Do babies of monsters live in the nest, Kegan?”

Stay alert……

“Yes. I suppose you could call them babies—there are young ones as well.”

“How fascinating. Do monsters build nests and live in families like us?”

A family that had appeared after ten years. For me, Kegan was that family.

“Well, since it has long been a restricted area, its ecology is not well known. It is simply called that because it is a place where monsters are born and go to meet their deaths.”

“Even for a strong knight like you, the nest is forbidden? Even for you, its master?”

In the early days of our marriage, whenever I fell asleep in his broad, warm arms, I would become strangely excited and ask trivial questions.

There was so much I was curious about. About Kegan. About the man who had become my family. The man who buried himself in work all day, then lifted my blanket at night and pulled me close with his strong arms around my waist.

“No one is allowed to enter the nest, Ruwan.”

“Hmm……”

“There are dangerous mists there that can turn into traps at any moment and capture intruders.”

“Like a Venus flytrap?”

He didn’t smile often, but even when his sharp eyes softened slightly and the corners of his lips lifted faintly, he looked incredibly striking.

I thought I was slowly getting to know him.

“Yes. Like a Venus flytrap.”

Before tightly binding me and drawing everything of mine into himself, Kegan would wrap his strong arms around my waist and hold me close, as if he would never let go.

Even while I felt breathless and dizzy under his overwhelming strength, I had also felt a deep sense of stability.

“The nest sounds like a very frightening place. Kegan, you must never go there without my permission. Understand?”

“Yes. Never.”

As if satisfied, he buried his face in my tangled hair and clearly made a promise.

“Ruwan, without your permission……”

I did not think he had lied.

Kegan was not the type of person who lied easily. He might omit things from me, or leave me out when sharing the truth, but he did not fabricate lies.

Then why the monster nest……

“Excuse me, Duchess, I have something urgent to report to you.”

Ben returned shortly after a servant announced Marquis Rijen had arrived at the Weyriver estate.

A sealed envelope with red wax was placed on the table in my room.

“What document is this?”

“You may open it.”

I broke the seal and pulled out the contents. It was a stack of documents about a dozen pages thick.

[Will]

The words on the first page made my heart drop.

The handwriting was familiar. It carried both noble refinement and a rough, untamed edge—so rare that I recognized it at a glance.

Kegan Steinway’s unmistakable writing.

It felt as if all the air in the room had vanished. Forcing my lungs to expand, I took a breath, and then remembered that writing a will was a normal procedure for all heads of households preparing for the possibility of death.

So this was just a warning to be mentally prepared?

“It hasn’t even been a full day, Sir Ben.”

I managed a bitter smile.

“Your ability to remain composed is one of your strengths, Sir Ben.”

I almost said something reckless—asking whether this truly had to be read right now—but stopped myself.

“There is something in that document the Duke specifically wrote regarding succession.”

Ben added before I could speak emotionally.

“Two weeks ago, the Duke drafted a new will expressing his intention to designate an heir. In the presence of a lawyer, myself, and Duchess Schumann as witnesses, he instructed that the contents not be revealed unless absolutely necessary.”

“So the heir of Weyriver has changed?”

Setting aside Marquis Rijen, the candidate recommended by the Imperial Family?

Ah, perhaps Kegan had directly named Diana as heir. Once she came of age, there would be a succession trial anyway, but if Kegan had taken steps in advance, things would be simpler. A common practice.

“That is correct. However, he strictly ordered that this remain confidential until formal succession is completed.”

It was, in truth, not particularly shocking—something anyone might have guessed.

Still, I nodded as if I did not know. My eyes scanned the dense legal text filling more than ten pages, but none of it registered in my mind.

“And if Marquis Rijen learns of it in advance, it could lead to disputes.”

“Would he have that much authority?”

I tilted my head.

An outsider opposing a lord’s legally declared will for succession? Even the Imperial Family would hardly interfere openly.

As I muttered, searching for the name “Diana” among the dense legal text, my gaze suddenly stopped.

This is……

“…Sir Ben.”

[Ruwan Hiela Steinway]

There was a line that appeared to be my name.

[According to imperial law granting nobles appointed by the Emperor of Biacera the right to designate posthumous heirs for their titles and property, I, Kegan Steinway, Duke of Weyriver, hereby designate “Ruwan Hiela Steinway, Duchess of Weyriver” as the first successor to Weyriver.]

“What is this……?”

I asked, keeping my eyes fixed on my name.

“As you can see, Duchess.”

Ben’s tone remained composed. His voice, stating facts without emotion, strangely resembled his lord’s own detached manner of speaking.

“In fact, the Duke has designated you, his spouse, as his heir.”