In the distance, a bell rang, announcing the end of the funeral. A group of people in black mourning clothes bowed low and remained silent to pay their respects.

  Slowly, the coffin began to be lowered into the grave. Remesis just stared at the coffin. As if she still refused to believe that all this was happening in reality and was merely a continuation of a nightmare.

  "In the end, I... couldn't change anything."

  Despite all of Remesis's attempts to deny harsh reality, one thing was clear: the future had not changed. The girl had no choice but to accept this fact. Although some things had turned out differently in this life, some of them also remained unchanged. In the end, the person who had replaced a real grandfather for Remesis had still fallen ill and passed away suddenly.

  "Oh, my poor mistress..."

  The maid standing next to Remesis wiped away her tears with a handkerchief.

  She was worried about the Princess Consort's condition at that moment, because she knew how dear the master of the northern castle had been to her.

  "I'm fine, Julie."

  Remesis squeezed the maid's hand tightly.

  The maid Julie burst into tears again, as if the princess's calm appearance was unnatural. In fact, in this life, Remesis indeed extremely rarely showed her true emotions. The girl was used to keeping everything deep inside. Even in childhood, despite all the hardships and burdens unbearable for a child, she had cried only once. And now... Remesis still tried to remain strong. At least in the eyes of those around her, for whom she herself was a support.

  When the last minute of silence ended, they began to throw earth onto the coffin.

  Remesis clutched the hem of her black dress.

  Despite the fact that Luven Iter had wanted to be buried in the south, in his family's ancestral crypt, the relatives had refused to accept his body. Last night, Remesis had finally received the long-awaited answer from them. The letter was rather cold in content. It said that Luven should be buried in the north because he died as a servant of Fortress Nord, but Remesis read between the lines of the letter. She guessed that the reason for the refusal was entirely different.

  In fact, the Iter family simply did not want to have ties with a relative who was out of favor with the Emperor. After all, the reason the old man had been exiled to the north was due to his accusation of high treason. Thus, these people were afraid of bringing trouble upon themselves.

  As soon as Remesis received this letter, she first crumpled it tightly, and then tore it to shreds.

  "People are so low."

  Despite the fact that Remesis could not fulfill the master's wish to be laid to rest in his homeland, she tried to do everything possible to arrange a decent funeral for him here.

  Unconsciously, Remesis approached the grave onto which earth was being shoveled.

  "Your Highness."

  She shook her head when one of the workers filling the grave with earth addressed her.

  "It's alright. Continue."

  The men began working again.

  As the earth began to quickly cover the smooth coffin, Remesis looked at it, and at that moment, time seemed to stand still around her. Many memories of the time spent with Master Luven flashed through her mind. The girl covered her face with both hands. He wasn't real family to her, but Luven Iter still treated her better than her real relatives.

  Time flew by unnoticed, and the burial ceremony had already come to an end. When everyone else had dispersed, having mourned the old man, Remesis sat alone on her haunches by the memorial erected in honor of the master's memory. The northern wind continued to strengthen, but she remained motionless, staring absently at the ground.

  In the end, all that was left for her now was...

  "Wife."

  Remesis turned at the sudden call.

  Asil, the only one who also still remained here, approached and covered her back with the cloak she was wearing. It was a cloak lined with wolf fur that the princess had made herself some time ago. When Asil covered her with this cloak, Remesis raised her head and stared at her.

  The princess's face held the same expression as always.

  Was she grieving or pretending? Remesis could not know. In any case, Asil really had no particular reason to mourn the master's passing. After all, in this life as in previous ones, they had never been close. Although Remesis had tried to change this, it had ultimately been without result.

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  The girl even doubted that in her entire life the princess had had even one person whose death she could truly mourn.

  "Don't sit here. Let's go back. It'll be bad if you catch a cold."

  Remesis glanced at her for a moment and turned away. She looked at the memorial plaque before her, on which the master's name was engraved.

  "You don't need to worry about me."

  "Wife?"

  "Your Highness, you can go back," the girl said more coolly. "I'll stay here a little longer, and then I'll return too."

  Hearing her words, Asil tilted her head. The woman hesitated for a while, but in the end, she hesitantly opened her mouth:

  "Wife, I mean... I don't know. Life is full of surprises."

  Remesis lifted her head again and looked at her. She noticed how her golden eyes flickered for a moment. Apparently, the princess was trying to find words of comfort at that moment.

  "I don't know what to do. I don't know what I can do for you. However..."

  "…"

  "At least, I want to be by your side."

  Remesis was silent for a moment. Looking at these eyes gazing at her, it was hard to guess her true emotions. Remesis didn't want anyone to comfort her at that moment; she just wanted to be alone, but she couldn't bring herself to tell the princess to leave her again.

  Suddenly, Remesis remembered the time when Asil, still resembling an immature little animal, had jealously competed with Master Luven for her attention in a childish way, and the old man would often chuckle about it. At that moment, she let her guard down for the first time, and tears filled her blue, topaz-like eyes.

  Asil looked down at her for a long time, and then, without saying a word, carefully reached out and pulled her close.

  "Everything will be alright."

  "...Your Highness."

  The scent of icy wind emanated from the young woman, who looked as if she were carved from winter itself. The princess slowly embraced her. Remesis held her breath, but nevertheless also reached out her hand and hugged her, letting out a long sigh. Asil supported Remesis's back with both hands, holding her tightly against herself.

  This was only the second time Asil had seen Remesis cry. And last time, she had comforted her completely ineptly, more like a puppy trying to lick away its master's tears with its tongue. But now much time had passed, and everything had changed.

  "Wife, as long as we have each other, everything will be alright."

  The princess continued to whisper softly in her ear.

  Remesis, finding herself in the princess's embrace, sobbed from deep sorrow. Asil did not cry. She just held her tighter. She continued to whisper in her ear until Remesis fell asleep, exhausted from the previous sleepless nights and crying.

  "I…"

  No words followed after that.

  ***

  During the three days after the funeral, the Princess of the North cried every day from heart-wrenching grief. She had only eaten for the first time yesterday. She cried as soon as she woke up and before going to bed. For a week after that, she cried from time to time.

  A week had already passed since Master Luven's funeral, but despite this, the girl's body still remained weak.

  Remesis thought that it couldn't go on like this and she should return to her duties, but she didn't even have the strength to get up. In the end, Remesis now refused to see anyone.

  She hadn't shed a single tear despite all the hardships that had befallen her during these eleven years in the harsh northern land. And so now it was completely out of character for her, the princess who had amazed the castle's inhabitants with her resilience, that she couldn't pull herself together at all.

  Otherwise, if the northern fortress had truly been left without its manager for such an extended period, things could indeed have been bad. But thanks to Asil's intervention, this did not happen.

  The princess now handled both military affairs and paperwork simultaneously, thereby giving Remesis the time she needed to recover. And, despite her somewhat wary attitude towards her, Remesis was still grateful to the princess for extending a helping hand at such a moment. "Wife, you've worked hard enough. You can rest as much as you need." — Thus, all affairs of Fortress Nord now passed completely to Asil.

  Remesis, meanwhile, spent all these days trying to recover: she hadn't expected the master's death to hit her as hard the second time as it had the first. Perhaps the emotional exhaustion she had been experiencing lately, but hiding deep within herself, was also added to this. After all, even the strongest dam has its limit.

  Although Remesis had made it clear that she did not wish to see anyone anytime soon, the person who disturbed her peace eventually appeared before her. The princess was forced to allow him into her chambers because it was Hannes Wrightly.

  "Princess."

  The commander of the northern fortress knelt before her.

  "What happened?"

  Since Remesis's body was so weakened, she couldn't even get out of bed and simply sat up. The knight, after hesitating, nevertheless raised his head and looked at her carefully.

  "Forgive me for disturbing you at such a difficult time. And yet... There is one thing I absolutely must report to you."

  "Continue."

  "Two days ago, we received a letter that, it seemed to me, only you had the right to open."

  Hannes handed her an envelope, and seeing the seal engraved on it, Remesis's expression unconsciously worsened even more. This dark blue imprint with the family coat of arms undoubtedly belonged to the Carter family. The girl recognized it at first glance. This was the first letter she had received from her relatives in these eleven years.

  Although Remesis did not yet know what it was about, she wasn't even going to read it.

  "Throw it away," she ordered indifferently.

  "Excuse me?"

  "I said I'm not going to open it."

  "But..." the commander hesitated: "Are you really sure about this?"

  Remesis frowned.

  "I've already made myself quite clear. Do you need any further confirmation of my words?"

  "It's just..."

  The knight paused briefly before adding something else to his words.

  "The sender of this letter is your elder brother."

  "…"

  "Your second brother," he hastily added.

  "What? This letter is from Livius?"

  As soon as Remesis heard this name, her determination to immediately throw away the letter, or even tear it to shreds, diminished somewhat. Hannes understood that the Princess Consort's intentions had changed from her expression and quickly handed her the envelope again. This time, Remesis did not treat it so categorically.

  "Phew..."

  Remesis took the letter the knight had just given her with a sigh. Then she read its contents, which turned out to be quite short. Nevertheless, her topaz eyes, which had become over this week like stones dulled from constant tears, blazed unusually brightly.

  Remesis Rania Ashelot sincerely did not believe that this day could ever come.

  "Could it be... That I really have to return to the Carter estate?"