Chapter 31

The carriage stopped midway, and I must have dozed off for a moment, as there was a dried drool mark stuck under my lip. The weather had turned so cold after just a day of travel. I guess I really did come to the north. Just as I was worrying about whether I’d have to survive on potatoes from now on, the carriage door opened, and my fiancée, Glacia, entered.

“Are you cold?”

“It’s quite chilly. We haven’t even arrived at your territory yet, and it’s already this cold. This could be troublesome.”

“Would you like to cover up?”

Glacia held out a white fur coat she had gotten from somewhere. Personally, I like this kind of material, but in such a cold region, wearing fur like this must be a daily necessity. When I tried it on, it was soft and warm, and I began to understand why the wealthy wear fur coats.

However, a certain presence suddenly intruded into that warmth. Glacia sat beside me, wanting to share the fur blanket. It seems that sharing is a common concept for those from the north. But the northern leaders I know are only concerned with monopolies, war, and nukes.

Perhaps the people here, even the leaders, understand the meaning of shared property. Oh, Vladimir Lenin, are you watching? There’s a leader here who perfectly understands your philosophy. And she’s incredibly beautiful with a great figure.

“Are you uncomfortable with sharing the fur blanket?”

“No, not at all.”

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. When in the north, follow their customs. The concept of “mine” doesn’t exist here. Only “ours.”

Glacia gradually moved closer to me. Her warmth became more palpable, and so did her charming face. Her silver hair inherited from her father, her red eyes from her mother, and her overall attractiveness.

Honestly, among all the women I’ve seen so far, Glacia is the closest to my ideal in terms of looks. Mixing the blood of the Vampire Queen with northern DNA results in someone like her. If you combined the best traits of all living beings, you’d probably get Glacia. In the game, she’s perfect as a tank, DPS, and utility. Plus, she inherited her mother’s beauty.

If it weren’t for her terrifying and insane personality, I might have fallen for her. I might have even been excited by her leaning on me. But knowing her crazy personality, this situation only makes me feel threatened.

I gently covered Glacia’s face with the edge of the fur blanket. Honestly, I’m scared.

“Why are you covering my face?”

It seems she doesn’t like having her face covered. I’ll make a note of that.

“To be honest, being this close to a woman’s face is a bit embarrassing.”

“It’s fine if you look.”

“Excuse me, what did you say…?”

“It’s not rude, so don’t hesitate to keep looking at my face.”

Having her face this close is a bit awkward. It’s not that I’m uncomfortable with women, but it’s still a bit strange. Her face has a mix of charm and dignity, both flashy and modest. It’s only natural to feel shy when faced with such conflicting charms.

“Isn’t it rude to stare at a lady’s face before marriage?”

“But isn’t it fine to look at your fiancée’s face?”

Ah, right. She’s not giving me any room to escape. Unless you’re a master of escaping pressure like Modric, it’s hard to get out of this. But seeing her like this, is it really anger from when I broke off the engagement and ran away? Or is it revenge for daring to reject her? I’m starting to wonder. If she were only driven by revenge and anger, she wouldn’t need to act so seductively.

What exactly are Glacia’s feelings toward me? Affection? Fondness? I can’t tell. I can’t even understand men’s hearts, let alone a woman’s. But whatever her feelings are, they’re probably not normal. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have handcuffed and kidnapped me.

Glacia, who kept her intense gaze on me, finally spoke.

“Who are you, really?”

For a moment, I thought she had discovered that I was possessing this body, and my heart shrank to the size of a bean. But I was needlessly scared; her next words had nothing to do with that.

“Where are those people who looked down on you for being an orphan, for being lowborn, for having a feminine face?”

Both Werner and I dislike being called girly, but we’ve never been discriminated against for it. She’s adding her own discrimination factors.

“Why are you asking about that?”

“Shouldn’t we thoroughly teach them a lesson?”

“What do you mean? Moral lessons about not discriminating or looking down on others?”

It’s a bit funny that there’s a young lady who believes in such pure stories. People naturally look down on those they consider beneath them. I’ve done it too, so if I were to condemn it, I’d have to scold myself first.

“To show those lowborns what happens when they dare to disrespect a sorcerer recognized by the Winterheart family’s former head, the fiancé of the current head of the Winterheart family.”

Only she could call the nobles of the capital lowborn. She knows how to get angry for others and fight for them. That side of her is so…

*Thud!*

She’s cute and seems young. Her appearance and age may be that of an adult, but her mind is still that of a child.

“…Earlier, you said it was rude to stare at my face, but isn’t hitting your fiancée’s forehead also rude?”

“I hit you to correct your naive thoughts as an adult.”

“Naive thoughts?”

“Discrimination isn’t always overt.”

Normal people don’t openly insult orphans or lowborns to their faces. Those in high positions, filled with elitism, pretend to reach out while gossiping behind their backs. And with someone like Werner, who has abilities, they can’t openly disrespect him. But to them, his lowborn status is like filth, no matter how well-dressed he is.

“Instead, they use subtle and meticulous methods to pressure without overt confrontation.”

“But those who challenge me always come at me directly.”

“That’s because Lady Glacia, unlike lowborns like me, holds a noble status. Challenging the strong is admirable, but beating a sick beggar isn’t something to boast about.”

Not that they don’t beat beggars. Even if they praise you to your face, their eyes and actions betray their disdain. And Werner isn’t foolish enough to miss that.

“At least if they openly insulted me and spilled wine on my clothes, I’d have a chance to protest. But if they praise me to my face while looking down on me with their eyes, do I really have a chance to protest?”

Glacia swallowed her words for a moment, then straightened my collar. With a somewhat sad voice, she spoke.

“How have you changed so much?”

“I’m not sure what you mean by that.”

“The Werner I saw as a child wasn’t like this.”

Well, duh, that wasn’t me, of course.

“What kind of person was the Werner you saw as a child?”

“When I was six, Werner was different. He had the mindset that he was the best under the heavens, ready to blow away anyone who disrespected him, and believed he could change the world.”

When Glacia was six, Werner was fourteen… Damn, that’s when this guy was running around creating that cringy “Obvious Guide of Darkness” magic. He was deep in his chuunibyou phase, so of course, he had that kind of mindset. He had no idea how scary the world could be.

“That was a long time ago… Back then, both you and I were very young.”

Not “seemingly” young, but actually young. At fourteen, in my world, he’d still be a kid. Six years old, even more so.

“Fortunately, the world kindly showed me, an orphan, that no matter how much I struggle, I can’t change anything on my own.”

I looked at Glacia’s sad face and continued calmly.

“And no matter how much magic a lowborn develops, no matter how much they struggle, they’ll always be seen as lowborn.”

The noble society that the boy, who once begged for food, suddenly found himself in was brutal. It was cruel enough to turn even a sensitive boy into a pessimistic adult. And the boy who once delighted in creating cringy magic like the “Obvious Guide of Darkness” became disillusioned and disgusted.