COARV Chapter 4

I can feel Elliot's eyes on Lesche, wide with shock. If Lesche weren't his liege, it was a face that looked ready to grab him by the collar.

Calm down. Calm down. Do that and you die. I die too.

"Your Highness."

I answered as calmly as I could manage.

"That's not why I came out here. And even if I did come down with frostbite instead of the flu, I'll make sure no priestess has to be called for it again."

Lesche's voice came back edged with mockery.

"Will your fiancé listen to that?"

"Probably."

Kallis looks busy with Lina these days, that's all.

"Because of the Saint?"

Unexpected—and precisely accurate.

"Is Marquess Kallis Haneton having an affair with that saint who doesn't know a thing?"

"……."

My hands, folded politely a moment ago, trembled—a quick, fluttering shudder. A knight with senses that sharp would have caught me off my guard already. Lesche Berke said nothing at all.

A silence passed, and then he turned and looked at Elliot.

"Elliot."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"Is the lake check finished?"

"Yes! Every bit of it, thanks to Lady Seria Stern's hard work."

It was obvious he was tacking on an undeserved compliment for me, on purpose. I resolved, from this day forward, to call Elliot "Angel."

Lesche looked briefly toward the far end of the lake. Watching his profile, it settles in for real.

He really is the male lead.

His pure white silver hair suited this snowfield remarkably well. Cold as ice, and an ass to talk to besides. And still—that face was the reason no one could count all the ladies who adored Lesche Berke.

Because it's a face that shines, plain and simple.

"Let's head back."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Elliot—Angel—moved off first, toward where the horses were tied. I was about to follow him.

Thump.

Warmth wrapped around my whole body, and I froze. It took a full beat before I understood what had happened. Lesche Berke took off the coat he was wearing and, with his own hands, threw it carelessly over my shoulders.

"Wouldn't do to have a precious Stern coming down with the flu."

Then, before I could even thank him, he moved his long legs and started off with long strides, quickly putting distance between us. I blinked, dazed, for a moment, and then hurried to catch up.

The male lead's clothes were pretty big on me. No—really big.

The empire of Gleick had a rather peculiar shape.

Around the vast central plain, plains stretched out long in every direction—north, south, east, and west. What divided each plain from the next was a mountain range that ran severe and unbroken.

Of these lands, arranged in the shape of an equal-armed cross, the north was too cold and ruined for anyone to live there. Most people lived spread across the eastern, western, and southern plains.

And then there was the central plain.

Vast as it was, its bordering mountains were unusually harsh. More than anything, because it contained a frozen lake—a glacier—the region grew dangerous on a regular cycle. Naturally, the empire's capital had long since relocated to the safe, fertile south, leaving behind a separate guardian family to defend the central lands and its frozen lake to the last.

That family was House Berke.

That was the reason the head of House Berke was called "Grand Duke."

Which makes him Grand Duke Lesche Berke, then.

Fitting for such an ancient, sacred house, this territory held vows and rituals that could only be carried out here.

One of these was the Stern's wedding. That was the reason I was staying at this castle with Kallis, ahead of our wedding.

Because this is the best place to gather the nobility.

Oddly enough, a Stern's marriage vow could only be sworn in a limited number of places. Something to do with holy power, if I remembered right. Berke territory was one of those places. In theory, a Stern could hold their sacred wedding anywhere across this central land.

Of course, there was no need to go to that trouble. Berke's main castle had kept a wedding hall reserved exclusively for Sterns, standing ready for several hundred years.

Honestly, given any choice at all, I'd have avoided getting married in this territory. But circumstances had left me no choice but to come here.

This is where the FL and ML hold their ending wedding, in the original.

That was right. In the novel's ending scene, Lina and Lesche were married here, in Berke territory's main castle.

The reason?

Turns out Lina's a Stern too!

Textbook female-lead novel—every single setting dumped straight into her favor. Granted, the secret of Lina's being a Stern didn't come out until the middle-to-late part of the novel.

No need to explain how the original Seria raged and raved over this, thrashing like a wild animal. She'd thought it was hers alone—the one thing that set her apart—and it turned out that thorn in her side, Lina, was a Stern too.

For a woman who'd lived her whole life drunk on her own greatness, it must have been unbearable.

So the villainous villainess Seria kidnapped Lina, tortured her, and tried to kill her.

But I'm not that crazy villainess from the original anymore, am I?

The point where Lina's status as a Stern comes out was, admittedly, right around when she finally started walking a road of flowers. Before that, she suffered miserably through most of the early-to-mid story. And it wasn't only Lina who suffered—the male lead got dragged through the wringer too. Which meant the starting point of that whole grinding, ruinous stretch couldn't be far off now….

I was walking with my brow furrowed when it happened.

"Lady Seria."

Hearing the voice call out, I turned around.

"Bibi!"

A bright smile bloomed on my face without my meaning it to.

"You're back?"

"Yes, my lady. Just returned a moment ago."

Abigail Orien. Nicknamed Bibi.

She returned my look with a gentle smile and warm eyes—my guard knight. I leaned in close to Abigail's ear and whispered.

"You didn't kill anyone, did you?"

"Oh, come on now, my lady."

Abigail smiled softly and whispered back.

"I told you, I don't touch anyone unless they're a criminal."

"Mm."

Right. Right, right.

The jet-black knight, Abigail Orien. She was, in fact, a former assassin—a convict who'd nearly been executed at the temple. Now she'd washed her hands of all that and sworn eternal loyalty as my knight, but her past had been quite something.

"How was the beast subjugation this time, Bibi?"

"About the usual. The celestium armor was cold as ice—I found myself missing you, my lady."

I gave a faint smile at that.

Celestium armor. This was one of the reasons a Stern existed at all. Fighting monsters that gave off demonic energy required a specific kind of iron.

That iron was called Celestium Iron—"the star's plated armor." Anyone who fought without wearing armor made of it would find their whole body rapidly poisoned by demonic energy.

Miss the window to treat it, and eventually the body would end up marked all over in mottled patches before dying.

To prevent that, celestium armor was considered essential equipment for every knight. But celestium was a metal given by the gods, and the longer it stayed in contact with a human body, the more its temperature dropped—exponentially. The only kind of person who could offset it was a Stern.

If a knight went too long without a Stern nearby while wearing celestium armor, their whole body would grow colder and colder until they simply froze to death.

Their body heat stolen from them while they were still alive.

Which is why Lesche Berke called me a precious Stern.

He was, after all, the head of the family that guarded the central territory, so the original had made clear he understood the importance of a Stern more painfully than most.

The coat Lesche Berke had draped over me came to mind, and I hunched my shoulders slightly. Abigail asked at once.

"My lady. Are you cold?"

"No. I'm not cold. I told you I'm not cold, didn't I?"

"Just wear it anyway."

In an instant, Abigail had wrapped her own coat around my shoulders. True to her old assassin instincts, her hands moved impossibly fast. Honestly, I hadn't even seen her move. I clutched the coat she'd gone to the trouble of giving me, careful not to let it slip.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it. I would gladly take it off again anytime you're cold."

At that, something in me flinched, and it made me want to sigh a little at myself. The reason felt embarrassingly childish. How long am I going to keep thinking about Lina and Kallis? Pushing aside the queasy feeling—like peering at a skeleton hidden in a drawer—I kept walking.

Abigail asked.

"I heard from the other knights on my way in. You've been going out to check the glacier every day?"

"About a week now? That's all I've done."

"You know how impressive that is on its own, don't you? You caught a cold from it—please just stop going."

If I stop, they might split my forehead open….

I wanted to avoid the original's ruinous ending, but I also wanted to avoid the smaller, everyday misfortunes scheduled for Seria Stern. Naturally. So at the very least, until the wedding was over and I left for Haneton territory, I would keep faithfully checking the glacier every single day.

Besides, stopping now was a little awkward in its own way.

The corners of the vassals' eyes are starting to droop, little by little.

The vassals of Berke territory hadn't liked Seria—not one of them. Hated her, really. In fact, if she hadn't been a Stern, they would have found some way to run her out of the castle by now. Every year she visited, she'd carried on so intolerably that it was only natural.

But after just a week of faithfully checking the glacier every day, that unfriendly gaze had started, little by little, to soften.

Probably because it saves them a ton of money, that's why.

Having a Stern present meant you could bring along as many celestium-armored knights as you wanted. It meant the roughly thirty knights normally assigned to inspect the frozen lake could be reduced to a single person.

Given how expensive a knight's hide was, this was clearly a serious financial win.

I was genuinely relieved that I—no, that Seria—turned out to be a Stern. It meant I could prove my usefulness this visibly, this fast.

I need to drill it into them: this is someone you can't do without. So please—don't split my throat in half. Please. I want to live, is what I'm saying.

"Lady Seria! You've come!"

"Sir Elliot!"

Elliot—Angel—was already waiting at the stable, and when he spotted Abigail beside me, he tipped his chin at her, a light nod.

Abigail returned it with a silent nod, then leaned in and whispered by my ear.

"You've been going to check the glacier with that knight this whole time?"

"Mm-hm."

"He doesn't look weak."

He's Berke's knight commander, though…?

"Not bad, as far as a spare life for you goes, my lady. Good pick."

Abigail's assessment, however, was entirely unhurried. She took hold of my horse's reins and said,

"I'll get this one settled, my lady."

"Mm, thanks. Bibi."

"Don't mention it."

I stroked my horse's nose. It made a low huffing sound and nuzzled its face against mine.

Abigail led my horse in with practiced ease, and I moved closer to Elliot—Angel. He was watching Abigail's back as she disappeared into the stable, tilting his chin.

"She seems quite strong."

"Who? Dame Abigail?"

"Yes. Your knight, my lady."

"Enough for you to say so, Sir Elliot?"

"That's how she looks to me."

Elliot—Angel—had an easygoing temperament, but his skill was another matter entirely. As Berke's knight commander, his ability was exceptional beyond question. The original had even described him as talented enough that dukes from the capital coveted him—one duke had reportedly stacked gold like a tower just to try to recruit him.

For a man like that to say someone looked quite strong.

How strong is Bibi, exactly?

"Where did you find a knight like that, my lady?"

Ha. The knight commander of the empire's own Grand Duke, coveting my knight. I couldn't very well tell him this was the privilege of someone who'd read the novel and taken over this body. I smiled and pulled Abigail's coat more snugly around myself.