🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 08
Make a Wish
Aidan thought back to the first day he met her.
It hadn’t been that long ago, yet it felt like a distant memory.
River had started shoving yet another woman into Aidan’s tent.
The fourteenth one, already.
“I told him it’s pointless.”
Maybe River thought Aidan looked unstable and was trying to help in his own way.
Aidan had grown tired of arguing with him and just gave in.
“Sleeping with a woman will fix things? What a foolish idea.”
He figured he could just ignore her and send her away later.
But it turned out that ignoring her wasn’t so easy.
Flinch. Aidan looked at the woman standing by the entrance.
Seeing that fragile creature trembling made his mood sink further.
Why? Why couldn’t this war—this war that made everyone suffer—just come to an end?
It had been fourteen days. He hadn’t even laid down to sleep during that time.
With a woman inside his tent, he couldn’t let his guard down. So he planned to sit and stay awake all night again.
Contrary to River’s intentions, Aidan’s nerves only grew more frayed.
The woman stood stiffly at first but, perhaps too tense to remain standing, soon crouched in a corner.
He wanted to tell her to rest comfortably but couldn’t bring himself to offer his own bed.
If the soldiers saw him treating a prisoner woman with kindness, it could hurt morale.
Just one night of discomfort. As a prisoner, she could endure that much, surely.
Aidan forced himself to ignore the discomfort gnawing at him.
That pointless stalemate dragged on until the fifteenth night.
Aidan had decided it would be the last. He would order River to stop this nonsense the next morning.
Then another woman walked in.
“Here we go again.”
Feeling deeply fatigued, Aidan cast a brief glance toward the door.
Then turned his attention back to his papers—
But something felt off. A strange sense of dissonance.
“Why?”
He tried to pinpoint the source of that feeling. And then he found it.
The woman was… calm.
Soft, milk-brown hair. Green eyes.
She stood there with a languid but composed expression, calmly taking in her surroundings.
No, not just her surroundings—she was looking at him.
Intently. Dissecting him piece by piece with her gaze.
Though he wasn’t directly looking at her, Aidan—ever sharp—could clearly feel her eyes on him.
His body tensed unconsciously.
He kept losing focus on his papers.
And then, strangely, he began to feel curious about the woman.
As if she knew, she began to move.
Aidan pretended not to notice, keeping his expression blank as he continued working.
Soon, she brought him a steaming cup of tea.
“She’s… not afraid of me?”
He looked at her, unintentionally frowning as usual.
Most women flinched and backed away when he looked at them like that.
Even women from the North feared him. And this was a prisoner—a woman facing the enemy leader himself, the one called the Icewall Archduke, feared even by his own troops.
Yet she simply handed him the tea, unfazed.
Suddenly, a strange scent hit his nose. Was it the tea? Or her?
“Leave it.”
He tried to mask his confusion by speaking coldly. His voice naturally carried a harsh edge.
But she didn’t seem bothered. She left the tea and quietly returned to the doorway.
Once she was gone, the scent faded. It must’ve come from her.
He brought the tea to his lips.
Strange. Just one sip, and he was overwhelmed by sleepiness.
“Damn it. I can’t fall asleep.”
At the very least, not while she was watching him like that.
He stood up, determined to stay awake.
But as he swayed, she rushed over and supported him.
That scent again—flooding his senses, scrambling his thoughts.
He wasn’t sure exactly when it started, but from that moment on, he was certain—
He wanted her.
Aidan looked at Brody, lying beside him.
From that day until now…
Every day had felt new.
Instead of sticky despair, a small hope had begun to sprout in the North.
“If I win this war, I’ll give her everything a duchess could ever wish for.”
Maybe… just maybe, she didn’t completely hate him.
If she truly found him repulsive, she wouldn’t even be lying next to him.
She hadn’t been afraid of him—then or now.
He hoped that, just a little, she liked being by his side too.
With that small hope, a week passed quickly.
The Archduke and his soldiers were ready to march.
Once the fourth star rose to mark the time, they would begin the operation.
Meanwhile, Brody was busy in her own way.
Around ten, when everyone had gone to sleep, she was out in the field alone.
“What am I doing, you ask? Cheating, of course.”
Needing quick results, she was secretly helping the crops grow faster.
“You’re working hard.”
“Wah!”
Brody nearly jumped out of her skin at the sudden voice.
She turned around.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you…”
“Y-Your Grace.”
Did he realize what she was doing?
Her heart pounding, Brody clutched her chest and cautiously observed him.
“Incredible. Growing crops here like this. Thanks to you, the soldiers’ morale is improving.”
“You flatter me.”
His tone wasn’t suspicious—in fact, he looked pleased. Brody let out a quiet sigh of relief.
“How about it? Do you think you can meet the yield the chief of staff ordered?”
“As long as there are no natural disasters.”
Such confidence. Aidan nodded in satisfaction.
“This war’s hero might not be me or the chief of staff—it could be you.”
“It’s a bit too early to say that, don’t you think? You’re making me nervous.”
They walked among the budding crops, which had grown to ankle height.
The moonlight and starlight bathed the night in a soft glow.
Standing there on the eve of battle, Aidan felt the strangeness of the calm—but allowed himself to be enveloped by it.
Then Brody spoke, her voice low in the cool northern air.
“Your Grace, I’m curious about something.”
“Mm? What is it?”
He noticed she looked cold and gently draped his cloak over her shoulders.
Brody, awkwardly accepting his touch, bit her lip and then spoke with resolve.
“If we don’t meet our goal… will you kill all the prisoner women?”
Aidan’s hand, fastening her cloak, froze mid-motion.
But he soon composed himself and looked her in the eye.
After ensuring the cloak was secure, he withdrew his hand.
His gaze under the moonlight shone with conviction.
His voice was calm, yet resonant in the still air.
“I… believe in you.”
“….”
He brushed back a loose curl from her hair—tied back for work but still escaping.
“I believe the work you’re doing won’t fail.”
Brody gave a dry laugh, raising one eyebrow.
“I think it’ll work too. But still, ‘what if’ exists, right?”
Something in her confidence made Aidan smile faintly.
“You sound so sure of yourself, I don’t have any doubts either. But if we must consider the ‘what if’… then…”
“…!”
Brody was startled. Suddenly, Aidan was in her field of vision—kneeling in front of her.
“I swear on my honor. I won’t let your courage and effort be in vain.”
He lifted her hand to his lips in a gesture of oath.
It was the posture of a knight swearing fealty to a lady.
“Y-Your Grace. My hand’s dirty. I’ve been working with plants…”
Brody quickly pulled back her dirt-smudged hand and hid it behind her back.
Aidan looked momentarily embarrassed but then smiled faintly and stood up.
“It’s not dirty.”
Backlit by the moon, his face broke into a smile.
Thump-thump-thump. Brody’s heart pounded wildly, and her face flushed red.
She turned around, trying to hide her blush, and asked,
“What if I mess up? Why promise something like that already?”
“If you were afraid of failing and dying, you wouldn’t have stepped up.”
“Exactly. If you’re going to kill the other prisoners, you’ll have to kill me too.”
Her voice trembled with urgency, but her words were a clear threat.
“Is she… threatening the Icewall Archduke to save the prisoners? Putting her own life on the line?”
Aidan’s heart started to race at her boldness.
Strangely in awe, and deeply… charmed.
He wanted to wrap his arms around her from behind—but barely held himself back.
“A knight’s oath is no small thing. You can trust it.”
Brody, still turned away, was just as overwhelmed.
“Why is my heart pounding like this? Ugh, that face, that atmosphere, those lines—so unfair.”
She quickly tried to change the subject with an awkward question.
“W-When do you leave for battle, Your Grace?”
Aidan walked beside her, looking up at the sky.
He seemed to be checking the time by the stars and moon.
“Soon.”
Brody stopped walking.
War. A real war.
Originally, Aidan was supposed to die by her hands—so she didn’t know the outcome.
She thought she’d survive whether he won or lost.
But now the thought of him dying left her uneasy.
“Please… come back victorious.”
“Hm? A prisoner saying that?”
Aidan looked surprised, as if he hadn’t expected such words.
“If Your Grace loses, do you really think we’ll be safe? If anything, they’ll say we’ve lost our purity and try to cast us out.”
Her realistic response darkened his expression.
“So… it’d be better for all of us if Your Grace came back.”
Brody struggled to express her personal feelings, cloaking them in general concern.
It was too embarrassing to speak like a lover wishing for his safe return.
“Anyway, what should we do? I won’t be able to serve you tea for a while.”
She looked at him with concern.
“Can’t be helped. You have things to do here.”
As Brody nodded, Aidan answered easily,
“Don’t worry. It’s pain I’ve lived with all my life. Fighting keeps me distracted.”
“Ah… I see…”
She knew he was trying to reassure her, but the word “fighting” only reminded her of the war—and worried her more.
Seeing her spirits sink, Aidan began to sweat nervously.
He searched for something more to say, but Brody spoke first.
“Your Grace, when you return victorious…”
“Mm?”
“When you return victorious”—I like that. Aidan let out a breath of relief at the lighter mood and waited for her to continue.
“If I successfully complete my mission, will you grant me one wish?”
“If it’s something I can do, anything.”
Her face lit up.
“Really? A promise—no, a vow?”
“Yes. I vow it.”
It was the first time Aidan had seen her smile so brightly.
He liked that smile so much, he thought—
I’ll have to grant her wishes often, just to see it again.
Even if he didn’t yet know what that wish might be.
