Northern Grand Duke (4)

As I opened the door to the office, a warm air rushed out. The flames blazing in the fireplace painted the wall red.

Kiara was sitting at the table. Instead of the armor engraved with the Frost Wolf emblem, she was wearing a neat military uniform. Only the white wolf fur draped over her shoulders remained the same.

“Please, have a seat.”

She offered me a teacup. Steam was rising from it.

“It would be good to warm yourself up. The chill must have reached your bones…”

“Explain first, please.”

At my words, Kiara’s movements stopped. She seemed to be trying hard to hide a fleeting emotion.

“Wouldn’t it be better to drink some tea first…”

“What was that earlier?”

“Do you… really want to know everything?”

The flames in the fireplace flickered. Kiara’s white fingers gripped the teacup tightly.

Her usual cold dignity was nowhere to be found, and she looked somehow precarious.

“If I didn’t want to know, I wouldn’t have asked. I’m curious about why you blocked my attack during the battle.”

“Yes… of course. Because you’re the Hero-nim. First, I’d like to apologize. For hindering the Hero-nim’s victory….”

Kiara bowed her head towards me.

“I’m not curious about the apology, but the reason. Why?”

“…You must have seen Baekseol’s appearance. Doesn’t she… look similar to me?”

I recalled it in an instant. Baekseol’s cold gaze, cool silver hair, and even the power to control the cold.

“She is… Baekseol, one of the Demon King’s Four Heavenly Kings….”

Kiara’s voice trembled.

“She’s my sister.”

Kiara let out a deep sigh. Outside the window, the Frost Wolf flag fluttered forlornly in the blizzard.

“To be exact… Kirua Frostguard. She was originally the Grand Duchess of Frostguard.”

Her strange behavior during the battle with the Four Heavenly Kings. The complex gaze she gave Baekseol. Everything made sense now.

“It was snowing like this that day too… It was a surprise attack by the demons. No one expected it.”

Her voice trembled.

“Back then, I… I was still young. I could only hide behind my sister… My sister… tried to protect me and everyone else. As she always did.”

Her gaze was directed at the empty air. She seemed to be recalling that day again.

“The Jabberwock attacked the castle walls. My sister was at the very front…”

“The Jabberwock, you mean… that Ice Dragon?”

Kiara nodded. The frost-covered corners of her eyes were bloodshot.

“That’s why Fenrir went wild when he saw the Jabberwock. Because of the memories of that day….”

Suddenly, she burst into laughter. But it was closer to crying than laughing.

“But you know what? It was a trap. The Jabberwock was just bait.”

A cold aura filled the room.

“While my sister was fighting the Jabberwock, a demonic ritual… took over my sister’s body…”

Kiara’s shoulders trembled.

“If only… if only I had been stronger…”

Kiara’s emotions intensified. A chill swirled around her.

“So my sister… died. Frozen white…”

Her voice grew louder and louder.

“But the demons… coldly… so coldly…”

She was muttering as if possessed, then suddenly turned to me.

“I apologize again. When I thought the Hero-nim was going to kill my sister, my body moved on its own…. I can’t… I can’t lose my sister again.”

“I’m sorry to say this, but Baekseol… is no longer your sister.”

I said coldly. I needed rational judgment. I couldn’t be swayed by emotions.

“She’s already been taken over by the demons. Wouldn’t freeing her from that body be the truly right thing to do for your sister?”

“No! My sister… is still inside there. She remembers. She remembers us, Frostguard…!”

“How can you prove that?”

At my words, the temperature in the room dropped sharply.

“It could be the demons acting, and even if your sister’s spirit really remains, compared to the mental strength of a Four Heavenly King, a human’s spirit is already….”

“It happened when I was 18 years old. The Legion of Bitter Cold attacked the castle walls. Along with thousands of Frost Ghouls, the Commander of the Legion of Bitter Cold appeared.”

I had heard this story when I first arrived at Frostguard. The patrolmen told it proudly.

That an 18-year-old girl single-handedly defeated a Four Heavenly King, calling it the Miracle of the North.

“Everyone calls me a hero. But… my sister… retreated when she saw me.”

“Yes?”

I recalled my sparring with her. Kiara’s skills were… certainly strong, but…

‘Honestly, she’s weaker than my party members.’

No matter how good her affinity for cold was, and even with the soldiers of Frostguard, she was definitely not capable of facing a Four Heavenly King alone.

Even in our Hero party, the only ones who could withstand a Four Heavenly King were the Hero-Saintess combo, or Aris in long-range magic combat. Or Sylvia, with the World Tree’s backup in the Elven Forest. Nia is a Secret Machine Cat, so pass.

So the reason Kiara was able to protect Frostguard was….

Simply because Baekseol didn’t try to kill her.

“Sometimes as Baekseol, the Commander of the Legion of Bitter Cold, sometimes as Kirua, the Grand Duchess of Frostguard, my sister is still constantly struggling.”

Kiara’s eyes turned red.

“That’s why it hurts even more. Because she’s not completely lost… That’s why I… can never give up.”

Neither a complete enemy nor a complete family member. I could feel the pain she had endured for eight years in that ambiguous boundary.

“We’re fighting like this, but… we’re protecting each other. Neither my sister nor I… want victory.”

Kiara’s reddened eyes were filled with anguish.

“I… don’t want anything more. Not the glory of Frostguard, not the honor of the Grand Duchess… I don’t need any of it.”

Kiara took a step closer. Tears welled up in her blue eyes.

Her hand grabbed my arm. Her cold fingertips were trembling.

“I like it this way. Pretending to be enemies, pretending to fight…”

Kiara’s tears fell as ice crystals.

“We’ve endured for eight years. Even like this… even like this… I want to be with my sister.”

The flames in the fireplace flickered as if they were about to go out. The steam from the cold teacup on the table faded away.

“Hero-nim, please leave. Please just leave us, Frostguard, alone.”

Her voice trembled. The truth she had been hiding burst out.

But I couldn’t answer. The position of the Hero, who had to defeat the demons, and the position of the younger sister, who wanted to protect her sister, were too different.

My head was complicated. The fact that Baekseol was not just a Four Heavenly King to be subjugated, but someone’s precious family member.

But I couldn’t just leave Baekseol, who had become a demon.

“This won’t do.”

I suddenly opened my mouth. Kiara’s blue eyes wavered.

“Is this really okay? Leaving your sister half-dead… suffering in the demons’ cold?”

“Then.”

Kiara’s voice trembled. The hand holding the Frost Sword trembled.

“Then what am I supposed to do…”

The cold mask crumbled. All that remained was a younger sister who missed her sister, not the guardian of the Frost Wolf.

“This is all… this is all I can do.”

Kiara lowered her head. Tears fell through her silver hair.

“I know this isn’t the best, but… still…”

“I will save her.”

I said firmly. Kiara’s movements stopped.

“Kirua-nim.”

“What…”

“Not just killing her. But with true salvation. At least let you have a proper farewell.”

“Is that… is that really possible?”

Kiara raised her head. A faint hope flickered in her reddened eyes.

A trembling voice. The first time I had seen such sincere expectation.

“Driving out the demonic ritual and restoring Kirua-nim’s spirit.”

I took another step closer. I took Kiara’s cold hand.

“Trust me, Grand Duchess-nim. I promise you as the Hero.”

“But… how…”

“There is a way.”

I said firmly. In fact, I wasn’t sure. But right now… she needed hope.

“Really… if that’s possible…”

Tears welled up in Kiara’s eyes. But this time, they weren’t tears of despair.

“Please help me.”

She gripped my hand tightly. I could feel warmth in her cold fingertips.

“Please save my sister… please save my sister.”

The flames in the fireplace blazed again. The chill in the room gradually subsided.

Have we… become allies instead of enemies now?

Well, it didn’t matter. The hope in Kiara’s eyes right now was enough.

‘There must be a way.’

*

Darkness that even moonlight couldn’t penetrate enveloped the cemetery. A pitch-black fog crawled across the ground.

Black marble coffins stood in rows. Under the faint moonlight, their glossy surfaces shone coldly. The names engraved on them were already faded and unreadable.

‘The Necromancer King’s Cemetery…’

This was an extra stage. An ‘additional boss battle’ area that didn’t need to be visited in a normal playthrough.

Protruding bone fragments covered the floor. The sound of them crunching underfoot echoed with every step. Skeletons grinned, baring their teeth.

This bent rib cage must have been someone’s chest. That broken spine must have been the back of a tall man. A skull that had rolled to one side belonged to a girl. Her youthful forehead and the soft curves of her temples remained intact.

Judging by her skull, she must have been quite cute in life.

[Master, there’s a strange energy…]

A chill ran down my spine. An unpleasant sensation crept up. The darkness around me writhed.

“Heung~ It’s been a while, living person~”

Suddenly, a clear voice came from behind me.

White mist swirled around and formed the shape of a girl.

Translucent skin, floating in the air. And even a playful, scrunched-up expression.

“Hehe, you’re handsome? Wanna be my boyfriend? I’m Misty~”

The ghost girl… no, Misty, spun around me.

Her translucent skirt fluttered in the air. The rabbit pattern floating in the air was cute.

“Silly human~ You came into the cemetery without permission, so I can do whatever I want! I’m gonna touch you all over! Ah! I can’t touch you because I’m a ghost. I was the idiot!”

Her transparent form repeatedly came close and moved away. Passing through nearby tombstones or wrapping around me from all sides. She was too pure to be a ghost.

“I can see your panties.”

“Hieeek! Y-Y-You can see me?”

Misty, who had stopped in mid-air, blushed. Her translucent face turned bright red as she clutched her skirt tightly.