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Chapter 4
Ilyin had lived like this for more than twenty years.
She was already used to the cold treatment, the strange looks, and the whispers behind her back.
“A place that regularly sends supplies to the North. Most of the goods must be food that can last for months and come from warm regions.”
That condition already narrowed it down to only a few places.
Very few lands near Biflten had enough food to support large deliveries.
Not many people wanted to live close to lands filled with monsters.
“But why are you searching for this?” the knight asked suspiciously.
“To find a place to marry into.”
The knight sneered.
Ilyin could easily guess what he was thinking.
No one would marry her.
Rumors about Ilyin de Arlene had probably already spread through noble society.
A noble lady in her mid-twenties who had never even made her social debut.
Naturally, people assumed she had some terrible flaw.
And once gossip began, people endlessly imagined worse stories.
“You may leave now,” said Ilyin quietly. “Thank you for your work.”
The knight turned around without even answering.
The sound of the door slamming echoed loudly.
Ilyin endured it.
She was human too.
Of course she felt hurt.
But she comforted herself like always.
“It’s alright.”
She had lived through this treatment her whole life.
And soon, she would leave this mansion forever.
That thought calmed her.
What if I leave Biflten later?
Something could still go wrong after the first night.
The recruitment letter had clearly stated that divorce was possible.
If she wished, she could leave.
But Ilyin had no intention of returning to this mansion.
Not ever again.
“No one will welcome me anyway.”
Her father, Viscount Arlene, did not love her enough to accept her back after a failed marriage.
He would probably only say she ruined the family’s reputation.
Bang!
The knight slammed the door as he left.
Ilyin frowned slightly.
Still, it did not matter anymore.
Soon she would leave.
Eventually, her first night would arrive.
The position of the mistress of the Biflten family had already been decided.
There was no reason to fear.
At that thought, Ilyin finally relaxed a little.
That night, Ilyin had another dream.
It was dawn before sunrise.
The world was so dark that only shadows could barely be seen.
Several people silently moved around a large wagon.
Inside the wagon were fruits and sacks of rice.
The expensive goods were carefully hidden under thick blankets.
A green mark was painted on the blanket.
A flying hawk.
Beside it was a name.
[Essid]
It was clearly the name of a merchant group.
“Hurry!” someone shouted. “We must leave before sunrise!”
A man quickly ran over and bowed his head.
“My lord, if we leave too early, the goods may freeze.”
“It’s fine,” the leader replied calmly. “If we leave now, we’ll reach the gates of Biflten by afternoon.”
Biflten?
Ilyin watched quietly.
The leader lifted the blanket and checked the goods.
Thick cotton buffers were packed underneath to protect the fruit.
“We’re ready to depart!”
As the leader lifted the last blanket—
Ilyin saw it.
A colorful mobile shining brightly among the goods.
Ilyin immediately opened her eyes.
Perhaps the dream was showing her a way to reach Biflten quickly.
Ilyin’s first precognitive dream happened when she was seven years old.
Even now, she remembered it clearly.
She had seen her younger brother, Sid Arlene, falling from the terrace on a snowy day.
“Sid!”
Young Ilyin had cried as she woke up and ran to her parents.
Unlike Viscount Arlene, who dismissed it as nonsense, her mother believed her immediately.
Her mother understood what those dreams truly were.
From that day on, Lady Arlene became terrified of winter.
As the weather grew colder, her mind slowly broke.
“Sid will die on a snowy day.”
That sentence completely consumed her.
Whenever Sid went near the terrace, she panicked.
On snowy days, she locked him inside his room.
She desperately tried to prevent his death.
But fate still arrived.
Sid did not fall from the terrace.
Instead, he slipped down the emergency stairs on the third floor.
His head struck the sharp edge of the stairs.
And on a snowy day—
Sid died.
No matter how desperately people struggled, precognitive dreams always came true.
After Sid’s death, her father repeatedly asked only one thing whenever he saw her.
“Did you dream about me?”
Little Ilyin feared him deeply.
He no longer treated her warmly.
Instead, he anxiously questioned her about future disasters that might happen to him.
Finally, one day, Ilyin’s grandmother could not endure it anymore.
She slapped Viscount Arlene across the face.
“You crazy bastard! She’s just a child!”
After that day, her father stopped questioning her.
Instead, he simply treated her like something cursed.
Being able to see the future while being powerless to change it—
It was a terrible ability.
Ilyin’s grandmother pitied both her daughter and granddaughter.
And Ilyin herself gradually began to hate her dreams.
When she was young, she tried to believe they were meaningless.
But every dream came true.
And every single time—
A mobile appeared.
The same mobile that once hung above her childhood bed.
A gift from her mother before she lost her sanity.
Back then, her mother had loved her dearly.
Until Sid died.
“Why do you dream such horrible things?”
Her mother’s resentful voice still echoed in her ears.
“That cursed blood…”
Sid’s death destroyed their family.
Her father’s hatred.
Her mother’s resentment.
Everything changed after that winter.
Knock knock.
“My lady, his name is Brad.”
The voice outside the door pulled Ilyin back to reality.
“Come in.”
The door opened immediately.
The knight she had sent to investigate the merchant group entered the room.
“Thank you for your work,” said Ilyin.
The knight did not answer.
He simply left and slammed the door behind him again.
The investigation should not have taken an entire week.
He clearly had not worked sincerely.
Still, the information she needed was there.
[Essid Merchants Group]
Ilyin stood up.
It was finally time to move.
“Your identity, miss?” the clerk asked.
“Ilyin de Arlene.”
Very few nobles knew her name.
She had never appeared in noble society.
The clerk from the Essid Merchants Group looked suspicious.
He was trying to determine whether she was truly a noble lady.
“I am Ilyin de Arlene,” she repeated calmly. “Is being part of the Arlene family not enough?”
“Please wait a moment.”
The clerk disappeared inside.
After a long time, he returned.
“You will need to wait half a day.”
It was an obvious refusal.
Ilyin quietly checked her surroundings.
No one else was nearby.
“I know a large shipment is heading north,” she said softly.
“Of course,” the clerk answered. “Borough is one of our regular destinations.”
Borough Territory was much closer than Biflten.
But Ilyin calmly continued.
“I heard some of the wagons are heading much farther north than that.”
The clerk’s expression stiffened.
“I know some supplies are going to Biflten.”
Without her dreams, she would never have known.
Crops could not properly grow in Biflten.
Naturally, they needed outside supplies.
Only a small number of people likely knew those routes.
“…Please wait a moment.”
The clerk hurried back inside.
This time, Ilyin was certain.
She had guessed correctly.
Soon, the clerk returned with a much more respectful expression.
“This way, please.”
He guided her through a curved hallway.
A large sign read:
[Leader’s Office]
But instead of entering that room, the clerk led her into a smaller room nearby.
“My lord, she has arrived.”
“Good work.”
The merchant leader looked far simpler than Ilyin expected.
He wore plain clothes instead of luxurious robes.
But she recognized him immediately.
He was the man from her dream.
“Did you say your name was Ilyin de Arlene?”
“Yes.”
“This is a sensitive matter,” the man said calmly. “We do not deal with Biflten.”
“That cannot be true.”
The merchant leader smiled naturally.
“Our wagons do not travel to Biflten. I’m not cruel enough to send people into that terrible frozen land.”
He continued smoothly.
“It is true we deliver large amounts of food northward. But those goods are distributed around Borough and nearby territories. As you know, the North is very large.”
