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Chapter 1
The Enar Grand Duchy, the strongest guardian knight family in the Empire.
Early in the morning, the servants of the Grand Duke’s residence gathered in front of the hall, whispering among themselves.
“What is this?”
The holy main hall was filled with sunlight.
At the center stood a gigantic ice sculpture, shining brilliantly with overwhelming presence.
It was a sculpture of a man’s upper body, proudly showing off his raw physique.
Huge chest muscles that looked ready to burst, a firm six-pack, and bulging biceps that gleamed beautifully.
Some of the younger maids were too embarrassed to look directly at it and could only peek through their fingers.
“Oh dear, how disgraceful.”
At that moment, the head maid walked over and shouted at the maids.
“What are you all standing around staring at? Hurry and get back to work!”
The head maid clicked her tongue.
“Tsk tsk. Who put such a strange thing in the main hall…? I should report this to His Grace immediately.”
“But Head Maid!”
One maid gathered her courage and pointed at the giant ice sculpture’s face.
“Look at the sculpture’s face! That face is definitely…!”
“The face?”
Only then did the head maid slowly raise her head toward the sculpture.
Her mouth dropped open in shock.
“My goodness! Who dared do such a thing?!”
The face of the giant sculpture showing off its physique belonged to none other than the holy master of the Grand Duchy.
The Grand Duke of Enar himself.
The guardian knight of the snowy mountains, Kaid Enar!
Unlike the other guardian knights of the Empire, he considered exposing a strong body vulgar and indecent.
And yet someone had mocked him like this!
The servants gathered in groups, whispering among themselves like a swarm of clouds.
Someone had insulted His Grace!
The head butler stepped forward and spoke firmly.
“This is a grave crime. We must find the culprit immediately!”
The head maid nodded as if she already knew who it was.
“There is one child who comes to mind.”
At her words, all the servants nodded together as if they understood immediately.
At a moment like this, everyone could only think of one girl.
“The troublemaker of the Enar Grand Duchy!”
Hearing the head maid’s words, the head butler shouted loudly.
“Find Genuere right now! Hurry!”
“Yes!”
At his command, the maids hurried off busily.
Hidden behind the sculpture, I smiled in satisfaction.
‘Perfect!’
I clenched my fist tightly as joy surged inside me.
‘This time, they’ll finally kick me out, right?’
My heart pounded rapidly.
At last, I could escape from the Enar Grand Duchy!
My name is Genuere.
I am an ice ability user.
I can create and control ice freely with my hands.
And this ice sculpture, clearly made to insult the holy Grand Duke, was my masterpiece.
A while ago, my ability caught the Grand Duke’s attention, and I began staying at the Grand Duchy as his ward.
But I wanted to escape from here.
‘As quickly as possible!’
Before the original novel’s heroine arrived!
Until now, I had tried every possible method to escape the Grand Duchy, but nothing worked.
Then there was only one solution left.
I had to change the Grand Duke’s opinion of me.
After all, the Grand Duke only kept me in this mansion to shape and use my ice ability for his own purposes.
And not only that.
Soon, the heroine of the original story would appear, and the moment the Grand Duke learned the true nature of my ability, he would surely kill me.
Because that was my ending in the original story.
‘I don’t want to be used.’
Of course, I wanted to die even less!
If my ability went out of control and humiliated the Grand Duke, then a proud man like him would mercilessly abandon me.
‘Then I can avoid my horrible death ending!’
I watched the servants busily searching the main hall for me.
‘Alright. Time to get caught.’
Just as I was about to stand up with my heart racing—
Someone suddenly approached naturally from behind me and asked,
“…Does the Grand Duke of Enar really look like this?”
I nodded confidently.
“Of course.”
Well, I had exaggerated the muscles a little in order to insult him as much as possible, but still.
Then the gentle voice continued.
“I don’t know. To me, it looks a bit lacking.”
“Ah, really?”
“I’m much sturdier than that.”
The moment I turned around in disbelief—
I froze completely.
“Huh…?”
Why hadn’t I realized it sooner?
Kaid Enar.
The Grand Duke of the snowy mountains, the very man who had tied me to this mansion, was standing there looking down at me with a beautiful smile.
Though he was in his mid-thirties, he still wore his silver uniform buttoned all the way up to his neck, with long silver-gray hair flowing behind him.
He carried an elegant aura like a holy priest.
But that wasn’t the problem right now.
“Still, it’s a wonderful piece, Genuere.”
The Grand Duke’s blue eyes gazed down at me warmly.
As if he genuinely liked the muscular sculpture in front of him, the corners of his eyes curved softly.
I thought to myself,
‘There’s no way he means that!’
He was supposed to feel insulted.
But instead…
The Grand Duke stepped closer to me.
Then he calmly stretched out his arm and tapped the sculpture with the back of his hand.
Clang! Clang!
“It’s very solid and sturdy.”
Smiling, he patted my head.
“As expected from a child I personally chose. Genuere, your work moves people’s hearts. Perhaps… my taste in clothing may even change.”
I was horrified inside.
‘Aaaah! This won’t work!’
It seemed my plan had failed.
Based on the original story, I had shaped the sculpture like this to mentally shock the Grand Duke, who hated revealing clothing.
But the Grand Duke standing before me didn’t seem mentally shocked at all.
‘Is it because my ice ability looks impressive on the surface?’
Then…
There was no choice.
I clenched both fists tightly.
‘I’ll reveal the truth about my ice ability right here.’
At that moment, the servants noticed us and began gathering around.
I lifted my head proudly.
“Everyone, look!”
I lightly punched the bottom of the muscular ice sculpture.
Then—
Crashhhh!
The enormous sculpture that reached all the way to the ceiling collapsed instantly like powdered sugar.
Fwoooosh—
A snowy mist swirled through the hall like a blizzard.
“Achoo! Achoo!”
The servants burst into coughs together.
Then they widened their eyes in shock.
The giant sculpture had completely collapsed and vanished in an instant.
I shouted to them,
“Look. I’m not a real ability user. If this were true ice power, it wouldn’t collapse so easily just because I hit it with my fist!”
The original heroine’s “real ice” purified the evil energy of monsters.
That kind of ice was harder than diamonds and could never be broken.
But my ability was different.
If I wanted, I could make it collapse at any moment.
Because my ice was not the “real ice” that purified evil.
‘That was the difference between my fake ice and the heroine’s real ice.’
Of course, the heroine wasn’t here yet.
But the people of the Grand Duchy understood ice abilities better than anyone.
Surely they had already realized my ability was fake.
Then there was no reason to keep me here anymore.
‘I should’ve done this from the start!’
Instead of insulting them with sculptures, I should have simply revealed the truth and disappointed them.
I calmly looked at the shocked servants.
Then finally, I raised my head toward the emotionless face of the Grand Duke, whose thoughts I still couldn’t read.
“Your Grace. And… everyone.”
I politely bowed with both hands together.
“Thank you for taking care of me until now. And I will accept whatever punishment you give me.”
Silence filled the hall.
While bowing, I swallowed nervously.
I imagined the knights dragging me outside and throwing me out of the mansion.
Just then, a large shadow fell over me.
The Grand Duke had approached and bent down toward me.
Then—
Pat, pat.
His large hand brushed the snow powder off my head.
He spoke quietly.
“Genuere. What a shame.”
…Apparently, he really was disappointed.
Well, he had personally brought me here after seeing my ability with his own eyes.
Naturally, he would feel disappointed after learning the truth.
Though honestly, that wasn’t my problem.
“I really liked that sculpture.”
…Excuse me?
“Next time, make it sturdier.”
I stared at him in disbelief.
He still wore that beautiful smile as he lightly patted my shoulder.
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he tapped his chin thoughtfully.
“Or perhaps this turned out better. The sculpture was so large that I was wondering how to move it out of the main hall. You cleaned it up nicely for me.”
Excuse me, but the ice ability you were looking for shouldn’t be something you can interpret so flexibly.
“But it truly is a shame…”
He looked thoughtful for a moment while staring at the snow piled throughout the hall.
“There’s quite a lot of snow now.”
Ah… yes.
“Come to think of it, you once said you envied children who made snowmen with their families.”
“…Ah, yes.”
Wait.
Had I ever told him something like that?
“Then shall we make a snowman together?”
“…What?”
I stared at him with wide eyes.
A strangely warm smile rested on his lips.
Then he actually grabbed my hand and began rolling the snow piled on the floor of the main hall.
“Head Maid, bring gloves for Genuere.”
“Ah, yes!”
The head maid hurried away immediately.
The Grand Duke smiled and turned toward the head butler.
“Butler.”
“Y-Yes, Your Grace!”
“I’ll be making a snowman with Genuere, so take everyone and leave.”
“……Y-Yes, Your Grace!”
The butler and maids awkwardly retreated.
Watching this ridiculous scene, I suddenly widened my eyes.
‘What is this?’
In that short moment, the Grand Duke had already rolled up a huge snowball.
“Genuere, come make one with me too.”
My mind felt dizzy.
…Whatever.
I plopped down into the snow pile.
Feeling his gaze on me, I forced myself to roll a snowball.
And at the same time, I desperately rolled my thoughts around too.
‘I have to think of some way.’
‘A way to completely disappoint this Grand Duke and escape from the Grand Duchy!’
(To be continued)
