WBWB | Chapter 17

I couldn’t hear anything. I cautiously opened my eyes.

“I see. Which book was it?”

“Um… On the Nature of Duty.”

The Duke’s reaction to hearing that was unexpected.

“There’s no need for that. I have the book.”

“Pardon?”

“I saw it lying by your feet when you were asleep under the tree. So I took it. I couldn’t leave it to get rained on.”

“…”

“So?”

“Pardon?”

“Did you enjoy it?”

As if hypnotized, I nodded.

“Then it’s fine. You may continue to use the library key. It’s good for a tutor to cultivate their knowledge. There’s not much else to do in the winter besides reading, anyway.”

And then, as if a thought had suddenly crossed his mind, he smiled.

Did this man actually know how to smile? 

I froze, surprised to discover this unexpected side of him.

‘Did I just see that wrong?’

But the smile vanished from his face as quickly as it had appeared.

“I heard you’ve gotten quite good at riding the horse.”

“Yes.”

“Are you enjoying it?”

“Yes, I am.”

I replied, still looking down at Brulee, who was munching on an apple.

“Why Brulee, though?”

“Pardon?”

“Why did you give the horse that name?”

“Ah. That… I took it from ‘brulee’.”

“Brulee?”

“Crème brûlée, a dessert that was popular in the royal palace. It’s custard cream in a dish with a hard layer of caramelized sugar on top. The sugar is melted with a hot spoon to create the crust. It’s crispy and slightly bitter on the outside, and the custard cream underneath is soft and delicious. I named her that because her coat is a similar color to the caramelized sugar.”

“Do you like that dish?”

“Yes, I do. I doubt anyone who’s tried it dislikes it.”

“I see…”

We were so engrossed in our conversation that I completely forgot about the apples.

‘But how did he know I named the horse Brulee?’

A brief moment of doubt crossed my mind only after returning to my room, but I might have mentioned it unconsciously. Or perhaps he had overheard it by chance.

Just then, someone knocked on the door. I didn’t want to see anyone, but I wasn’t in a position to refuse. I sighed and got up to open the door.

The maid who took care of my room stood there, holding a basket.

“His Grace the Duke has sent a gift.”

“…”

“Apples.”

I could see that for myself. The basket was filled with apples. I took the basket and was surprised by its weight. As I looked back and forth between the apples and the maid, she hesitated, then spoke.

“Um… the ones you were picking on the ground were wild apples, small and sour, left for the animals to eat during the winter. The apples grown in the orchard are much bigger and tastier.”

“…”

“His Grace asked me to tell you that.”

“…I see. Tell him I said thank you… Would you like some too?”

The maid took five apples and left. I placed the basket on the table and collapsed onto the bed.

‘He saw.’

He saw me lifting the hem of my skirt and picking up the apples that had fallen to the ground.

‘He saw me.’

I was mortified.

Indeed, the apples in the basket were bright yellow, and the seeds were much larger and more appealing than the ones I had been gathering. 

When I took out one apple and bit into it, the extremely sweet juice instantly filled my mouth.

However, the shame outweighed the sweetness. I couldn’t bear to eat it anymore so I dropped the apple to the floor as if it were poisoned and writhed in embarrassment.

‘Why! Why! Why do I always show him such embarrassing sides of myself?’

Even though my circumstances had fallen so low, I was still a noblewoman. 

For him to witness me in such a state—it was enough to make me want to die of embarrassment.

* * * 

After that day, it rained a couple of times, and the colorful leaves fell from the trees, leaving the bare branches exposed. The entire world turned a bleak gray, and at the same time, an unbelievable cold descended.

Having lived in a place where the weather between autumn, winter, and spring wasn’t much different, I was surprised by the biting cold that made my lungs ache when I inhaled the morning air. 

The Duke’s words hadn’t been an exaggeration. The clothes I had bought at the beginning of autumn were no longer wearable in this freezing weather, and I had to hurriedly order winter clothes and cold-weather gear.

One day, as fires were lit in the fireplaces of every room in the mansion to ward off the chill, the mansion briefly bustled with activity. Then, the Duke abruptly departed with a group of his soldiers. Strangely, the several carts pulled by mules were empty. The wheels rattled loudly due to the lack of cargo, the sound carrying all the way to my room.

‘Where is he going again?’

Unlike before, this time I was curious about his destination and when he would return. The answer, surprisingly, came from Lady Ana.

“His Grace is going hunting, Teacher.”

“Hunting?”

“In Skadi, we hunt animals before the snow falls for winter provisions. The nobles hunt large animals like bears, wild boars, and wolves, and the commoners hunt rabbits and birds.”

“Is that so?”

“There’s nothing to eat after heavy snowfall, and if there are too many animals, they fight over food and can all die. Then there won’t be any animals left in the spring, which is a loss for us too. Also, bears and boars can come down to the village and harm livestock, so we cull them before the snow falls. It’s during the farming off-season, so people have free time. We can use the leftover hides and meat to make clothes and preserve the meat to eat throughout the winter.”

“I see.”

‘Where exactly did she learn such things…?’

The young lady was remarkably knowledgeable about the affairs of the farm.

“Don’t you hunt in winter where you live, Teacher?”

“We…”

Hunting took place in the royal palace too. But only for amusement. Could it even be called hunting? 

The occasional hunts at the royal palace weren’t about catching wild animals. They involved releasing foxes raised specifically for hunting into the gardens and then letting dogs chase them.

“We do, but it’s probably not the kind of hunting you’re thinking of. What else do you do here in winter?”

“We ride sleds when the lake freezes.”

“Sleds?”

“Have you never ridden a sled, Teacher?”

Lady Ana drew a sled on a piece of paper for me, since I didn’t know what it was. 

A sled was a board big enough for a person to sit on, with wooden sides and long metal runners attached to the bottom to glide smoothly over the ice. You sat on it, held metal prods in both hands, and propelled yourself forward by digging them into the ice, Lady Ana explained.

“When it snows, we can also ride snow sleds and skis. Snow sleds don’t have these runners; you just sit on a board and slide down a snowy hill. And skiing is…”

Lady Ana seemed very excited as she talked.

“But does the lake really freeze here in winter?”

Ice was a precious commodity in Franc. It was hard to imagine such a large body of water freezing solid all at once, no matter how cold it got. And snow… I had never actually seen snow before. 

When I confessed this, Lady Ana told me that it was white ice that fell from the sky. It turned into ice when you packed it in your hands, but it was much softer than regular ice.

“You’ll see plenty of it soon, enough to make you sick of it. When it snows heavily, Teacher, you won’t even be able to go outside.”

‘I see.’

It seemed everyone but me, a foreigner, was busy preparing for winter.

About three days later, I finally saw snow.

I opened the window for some fresh air, and white, cotton-like flakes were falling from the gray, overcast sky. Not only that, the entire world was covered in white. I reached out to touch the white stuff, but it melted as soon as it touched my hands. It was cold and light enough to not feel its weight.

Then I noticed the white flakes also accumulating on the windowsill. I gathered some and squeezed them in my hand. When I did, they turned hard like ice and then quickly melted, leaving behind moisture. My hand stung from the cold, and I shivered, closing the window.

‘So this is it.’

It was only then that I realized that winter had begun.

‘This is winter in Skadi.’

I wanted to walk in the snow, but I gave up, afraid of getting sick in the freezing cold. The first snow melted away by the end of the day.

A few days later, the winter clothes I had ordered arrived.

The coats and dresses were all thick and had a unique diamond pattern.