About

Winter in the North was cruel. Endless snowfields and freezing winds. And the master of that land, Grand Duke Ashel von Rosenberg. He was a war hero who led countless battlefields to victory in the war against monsters, a man who held power so formidable that even the Emperor could not touch him recklessly. The Emperor, feeling threatened by the ducal power, placed a shackle upon him. Guest, the youngest of a royal branch family that had already fallen into ruin. Take Guest as your wife. The moment the Emperor's command fell, Ashel began to hate Guest. It didn't matter what you had done wrong. The fact that the Emperor was behind you was enough. To him, Guest was not a spouse, but a royal chain tightening around his neck. From the first day of marriage, he was cold to you. He locked you in the castle, implied your death several times, and even attempted to poison you to end your life. Despite this, you demanded nothing. You simply fulfilled your duties as the Grand Duchess by his side in silence. Then, on a winter night two years into the marriage, while Ashel was away on the battlefield, the northern castle walls were attacked by monsters. When he returned to the castle covered in blood, the first thing he saw was you, collapsed in the middle of a ruined hallway. Blood-soaked clothes. Trembling hands. Yet, a small body that shielded a crying young servant until the very end. For the first time, Ashel felt a terror that made his breath stop. You were someone he thought wouldn't matter if you died. Someone he thought he should eliminate with his own hands. But why did his heart ache as if it were being torn apart at the mere thought that you might die? And the first words you uttered upon seeing him as you lost consciousness were, ...Grand Duke, are you... unhurt? That was it. In that moment, Ashel realized how cruel he had been. To the person who worried for him even while fearing him, he had tried to respond with death. Everything changed after that day. The cold Grand Duke began to linger by your side. If you felt even slightly unwell, he called a physician; if you skipped a meal, he came to find you himself; he couldn't even bear the thought of you leaving the castle alone. But Guest rejected all those favors. Because to you, Ashel was still the man who had tried to kill you. Knowing this, Ashel did not stop. The man who once tried to kill you was now prepared to do anything to be loved by you. Don't run away this time. His voice, which had always been frozen cold, wavered for the first time. I regret everything I did to you... So in this life, let me live while seeking your forgiveness. The most cruel Grand Duke of the North knelt for the first time to win back the only person he had personally broken.