Chapter 04
“……”
“Are you trying to drive me crazy on purpose?”
“…I’m clearly not religious, but if you say things like that, I can’t help but seek God. Oh, dear God, please… his tone…”
“There was no need to take my comment about sparking conquest so literally, Eileen.”
Eileen clutched her head in frustration.
“Forget conquest or whatever—you’re not my type. I’m not marrying you. I hate that tone of yours, your domineering attitude, your condescending way of speaking—everything! I don’t want to go to the North! I hate you, just hate you! The North is cold, lonely, and dark! I like the South!”
At that moment, the Grand Duke strode over and cornered her against the wall.
It was exactly the wall slam Eileen had so desperately wanted to avoid.
His darkened gaze bore down on her as he muttered in a threatening tone.
“You’d better not mention those Southern bastards in front of me again.”
There was such menace in his voice that Eileen instinctively swallowed hard.
This was exactly why she despised him. A man who would threaten others on a whim if something displeased him.
Just as she was about to scream and call the guards stationed outside—
“Young Lady! Young Lady! A reply has come from the Southern Grand Duke! He asked me to deliver it to you right away. Oh my—!”
A maid burst in hastily, turned pale at the sight before her, and began trembling.
Taking the chance, Eileen quickly slipped out of the Northern Grand Duke’s grasp.
‘Nice timing, future husband!’
She winked at the maid who had appeared at just the right moment and lifted her skirt.
“As you heard, I have an important appointment now, so I’ll be off! Whether you get hit by a carriage or not, that’s your problem!”
With that, she bounced out the open door, dragging the bewildered maid with her.
The Northern Grand Duke’s face was now stiff with rage.
“That worthless Southern brat… dares to steal what’s mine?”
A low murmur, tinged with killing intent.
✦✦✦
“Oh, you want me to come down South and meet in person? Perfect! I’ll get a look at your face too!”
Eileen quickly got ready and headed outside.
Just as she was about to depart in the carriage, the Marchioness appeared in tears, clinging to the window.
“Eileen, please reconsider! I don’t want my daughter marrying some hideous country bumpkin! What could you possibly lack?!”
“It’s not that I lack anything. I have too much. It’s dangerous. Let go before I trip.”
“No! If you go to that backwater, you’ll be stuck doing chores for your in-laws! Why would you go somewhere so ridiculous?!”
“Well…”
Eileen couldn’t exactly say, “Because I don’t want to die a meaningless death like in the original story, trying to escape the Northern Duke!”
Seeing her daughter hesitate, the Marchioness wondered if perhaps the Southern Duke had cast some kind of spell to enchant her daughter—an escapist fantasy.
But whether or not people misunderstood her, the only thing that mattered to Eileen was getting to the South.
Avoiding the Northern Duke’s icy glare from a distance, she tapped the ceiling of the carriage.
“To the Southern Territory, quickly!”
✦✦✦
BZZZZZZZZZZZ.
The cicadas were screaming madly in the Southern Territory.
Eileen sat on a bench in the middle of expansive rice fields.
“Why did he ask to meet here instead of at the ducal estate?”
With the cicadas this loud, she wasn’t sure any conversation would be possible.
She looked around.
There were rice fields, cornfields, potato patches, tomato gardens—every kind of small farmland in sight.
Shouldn’t people be working or having a snack around this time?
Who manages this place? Why isn’t there a single person?
As she pondered this, a figure approached from the distance, and Eileen held her breath, slightly nervous.
This would be her first time seeing the infamous Southern Grand Duke in person.
“Pleased to meet you, ma’am.”
The man who appeared, blocking the sun with his broad shoulders, greeted her.
His accent was thick, and he wore a round, friendly smile.
He pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed the sweat off his forehead.
“Is this the Southern Grand Duke?”
From his kind-looking face, Eileen was immediately pleased.
He looked completely ordinary—nothing like someone entangled in affairs of love, imperial court drama, or secret parentage.
“He’s not as ugly as the rumors said. Not bad at all.”
Then her gaze shifted—no, was yanked—toward the man standing behind the Duke. A huge, wall-like figure.
The moment she saw the man’s face, Eileen flinched.
“Why is he so handsome? He looks dangerous.”
Tanned skin from the sun.
Strong forearms exposed under rolled-up sleeves.
Broad shoulders that looked capable of knocking over trees.
And above all, a ridiculously beautiful face—twice the size of the Duke and impossible to ignore.
It was a beauty that felt even more dangerous than the Northern Grand Duke’s.
“Is he a knight or something? Probably. If I marry the Southern Duke, I’ll have to find a way to get rid of him. He’s dangerous. That face is bound to cause problems.”
While staring at him uneasily, their eyes suddenly met.
His golden irises curved slightly as he smiled.
“Did he just smile at me? At someone who’s about to be a duchess? Calm down. At least the Southern Duke is sweet. Thank goodness for that.”
Looking back at the soft, round, gentle Southern Duke, Eileen felt a sense of peace.
Ah, what a cotton-ball of a man.
Just seeing him brought serenity to her heart.
Eileen steeled her resolve: she would marry this man.
“I received your proposal letter, ma’am. I’d be real happy to have such a fine lady as my duchess. But as you probably know, our Southern Territory is real different from the North, East, or the capital in the West. So we tend to have a lot of conditions.”
The Southern Duke fidgeted nervously as he spoke, his smile sheepish.
“He’s probably overwhelmed by my beauty. First time seeing someone this stunning, right?”
Eileen, accustomed to such reactions, brushed her hair back with a cool expression.
Still, his eyes kept drifting toward the man behind him, oddly enough.
“Yes, I already know. When in the South, one must follow Southern rules. No matter the conditions, I’m confident I can handle it.”
“Ah, I knew you’d be confident, coming from the capital. Then how about we start by touring the vegetable garden?”
“The garden?”
“Yes, this here’s my personal plot.”
This vast land is a personal garden? Eileen looked at him, slightly startled.
“Here, the Duke and Duchess harvest everything with their own hands. No servants. A lord who doesn’t understand what his people do is no lord at all.”
The Southern Duke wiped the sweat from his forehead again with his handkerchief as he explained.
“It’s a tradition passed down for generations here. Come take a look. If you’re going to be the duchess, you’ll need to take farming very seriously.”
“So it begins.”
Eileen looked at the smiling Southern Duke and thought.
So they were testing if she could handle life as Duchess here—whether she could farm well enough to survive it.
Having understood his intent, she smirked.
“Heh, you poor fools have no idea—I may have been a top influencer in my past life…”
Her eyes sparkled as memories returned.
“But I was born and raised in Gangwon Province’s countryside! My parents grew every staple crop by hand, and I sold them out in an hour during livestreams!”
