Chapter 50
There was Aidan.
Whenever she thought of Aidan, a complex and subtle emotion brushed her heart.
Hearing that Helia viewed him favorably made her both happy and pained.
However, upon seeing Floria’s brightened face, Mother pursed her lips.
“Still, it’s no match for Altomole.
The food here is tasty now, but that’s surely because it’s summer.
When winter comes, do you think there will be ample produce and meat in this cold region? It’s just better than expected. And… that Grand Duke.”
Mother looked at Helia, her lips pursed.
“He may appear fine on the outside, but how do you know what kind of person he is behind the scenes? Appearance is innate, but you can’t know what’s inside.
There’s always a reason someone is called a tyrant. Isn’t there a rumor that he enjoys eating wolves in the winter mountains?”
“That is…”
Indeed, when she asked Aidan, he said he had eaten wolf meat like a beast.
But he never spoke of it with enjoyment.
“When you go to the battlefield in winter, there’s nothing to eat, so soldiers have to eat whatever they can.
Anything in sight. Food supplies aren’t easy to come by.”
“Have you tried wolf meat?”
“It’s terrible. There’s hardly any meat.”
He said he ate it to survive, to stay alive in war.
At Mother’s words, Floria spoke up.
“He doesn’t enjoy it.”
“What?”
“He doesn’t eat it for pleasure.
When he goes to war and food is scarce, he has no choice but to eat it…”
Mother frowned at Floria’s words.
“See, he does eat it, doesn’t he?
Floria, haven’t you tried it too?”
“Ah, no. Nothing like that.”
“Look here, Helia.”
Mother’s furrowed brow softened as she turned to Helia.
“It’s fortunate you didn’t come in winter.
If it weren’t summer, you might have faced a rough time.”
Helia also looked at Mother with a gentle smile and spoke.
“If it were winter, we wouldn’t have been able to bring the carriage here.
We wouldn’t have even dared to come. And the cold.”
As she spoke, Helia shivered.
“I really hate the cold. The Grand Duke may look fine, but… how eccentric must he be?
That Grand Duke Aidan.
Floria, you really have a strong stomach.
Just imagining sharing a bed with such a man is unpleasant.”
At her words, Floria’s mouth stiffened.
“He’s not that bad of a person.”
But Helia didn’t back down.
“Be honest with your sister.
Does he ever hit you?”
Hit her?
Aidan treated Floria as delicately as handling a thin glass bowl.
Even when he embraced her and laid her on the bed, he did so gently.
Certainly, sometimes his masculine muscles and large frame were intimidating, but he had never treated her roughly.
Of course, their nights were sometimes… but his actions were never meant to hurt Floria.
He always filled the night solely with pleasure.
“Hit me? He’s not violent.
He doesn’t even raise his voice.”
“He kills people; a wife would be nothing to him.”
Indeed, he said he had killed people on the battlefield.
But… At least to her, he had never behaved that way.
“…No. His Highness is always kind to me.”
He might be a tyrant, but the man she saw was different.
“He’s not a bad person.”
She didn’t know about his actions on the battlefield.
At Floria’s firm words, Mother straightened her back in surprise and spoke.
“You’ve become one of them.
To defend the Grand Duke like this after such a short time.”
“It’s not defense; it’s the truth.”
At Floria’s rebuttal, Helia smiled brightly.
Her smooth lips curved into a graceful arc.
That smile felt somehow unsettling.
“But anyway, it’s fortunate.
That Grand Duke Aidan is kind to Floria.
In some ways, it seems better.”
At her sister’s words, Floria blinked.
It was unexpected.
Helia wouldn’t usually say something considerate like that?
Always receiving abundant love from Father and Mother, she looked down on Floria a bit.
They were never close sisters.
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