Sina bit her lips and glared at the shadow.
Unlike the first time, the figure appeared this time was dim and small.
"Don't you want to go back?"
The shadow whispered again.
Sina put out a lamp by her bedside. However, the shadow only thickened, but it didn't disappear.
If the shadow was as big as last time, Sina would have run out of the room. But this time, the shadow was small and it seemed easy.
"I want to go back."
So Sina answered like that. Then the shadow glared and said.
"Then bring Iveria!"
Sina frowned as its shouted in a sullen, disturbing, hoarse voice.
"She's a thousand years ago. She's dead."
"She's not dead!"
Shadows shouted again.
"I can feel it! She's not dead! Give her to me! I'll chew the bones and flesh and swallow it!"
Suddenly, when the shadow increased its volume, I rushed down from the bed in surprise. When she saw it, the shadow smiled low.
"I can smell your fear. Stranger, if you want to go back, cross the silver arch."
And the shadow became cloudy and disappeared. Sina stood holding a lamp with her trembling hands.
Unable to fall asleep again at all, she turned on all the lights in the room.
'What do you mean Iveria?'
Sitting on the sofa, Sina hugged her knees.
'At least apologize to me!'
If you're confused, beg for forgiveness!
But if he was a monster with the spirit to apologize, he wouldn't have brought herself in.
Sina took a deep breath.
I thought I should let someone know.
'Lumie...No'
I couldn't tell him to help her find a way back. My heart throbbed at the thought of him.
As expected, the relationship should not have started. I had regrets.
The heat gathered around her eyes, and Sina breathed out, pressing her forehead hard on her knees.
'Let's talk to Unnie.'
Ran was the only ally to Sina. What would happen to yourself without Ran?
I was afraid to imagine.
'But unnie look so busy these days.'
Ran looked so busy since the scary duke left.
'And ·····.'
What if she doubt yourself?
It is a world with religions, magic and ideas that you cannot understand.
They may say that the darkness is dangerous because they talked to them, and they may lock them up or drive them into a witch and burn them.
Sina bit her lips.
'I'm scared.'
She closed her eyes tightly thinking so. The winter night was terribly long.
*******
The winter in the capital was quiet.
It was all the more so because most of them were down to the territory.
So Madame Nouwaz was glad to see the customers who came before the season.
In addition, if the opponent is the Duke of Lazia, there is nothing to say.
It was well known that the Duke of Lazia had a frequent and long-term bond with the new emperor these days.
Eustaf looked at the catalog seriously and said,
"No, except for the decorations around here. What should I say?"
"It's Ruffle."
Madame Nouwaz replied quickly, and he shook his head.
"Take out all the ruffles around your neck. I like simple things."
"Yes."
Madame Nouwaz nodded faithfully. Like most gentler gentlemen, Eustaf did not ask them to build dresses 'in moderation with the latest trends.'
Madame Nouwaz was able to see Eustaf's taste because he gave an okay sign only after checking all the designs with his own eyes.
"How about this style?"
When she showed the design she had sketched in advance, Eustaf glanced and nodded.
"Okay"
"Then I'll do this. Is that a total of 20?"
"Is that all you can do?"
Madame Nouwaz covered her mouth and smiled at Eustaf's words.
"That's a lot of work. And they want us to make dresses before he dies, and that's the limit even if we all stick together."
"I see."
Eustaf nodded and gestured for her to get out. It was the jewelry store that followed.
I've heard rumors that the Duke of Lazia is buying a huge amount of jewelry, so the jewelry store is inflated with the mind to pioneer a new market.
"How about this one?"
Eustaf looked at the diamond ring he had put out with his eyes.
"I have something bigger than that."
"Is, is that so? If so-"
The jeweler swallowed and held out his secret weapon.
It was an emerald necklace with 80 carats of emeralds and 60 carats of emeralds trimmed into square emerald cuts and left to dance with platinum and diamonds.
"I made a special order for Queen of the Southern Kingdom, but she couldn't pay for it, so my hand came in. This necklace is-"
He tried to brag about how transparent and uniform the emerald looked to the same color, but Eustaf raised his hand to interrupt.
"Buy."
"Yes?"
"I'll buy."
The embarrassed jeweler was worried about whether to say the price or not.
"And can I leave my order?"
At that time, Eustaf asked and the jewelry store fell flat.
"Of course! What do you want?"
"A teddy bear and a water gun bird."
"······?"
The jeweler, who had a curious face, soon clenched his fist when he saw Eustaf's face unshakable.
"All right. You mean the teddy bear and the water gun bird."
It's liked what I had to say, so Eustaf nodded, and the jeweler replied firmly again, "All right."
After the jeweler stepped down, Eustaf got up from his seat with a sigh. Ran couldn't come up, so I wanted to take a lot of presents instead.
'There's only a few days left until the announcement.'
The declaration of independence of the Duchy of Lazia and the oath of the Empire and its allies will proceed at the same time. When this was over, Eustaf was going to return to Lazia right away.
I missed Ran. I missed her smile, missed her warmth, and missed her green eyes, her milky hair, and her soul.
I was trying to soothe my longing by buying a present for Ran.
Knock, knock.
With a knock, the butler shouted, "We have a visitor."
"Tell him to come in."
Being in the parlor dealing with a merchant, Eustaf immediately let the customer in. It was Levery.
"Greetings to the Duke of Lazia. May the blue flame bless you."
"The essence of flame is to you. Sit down."
When Eustaf pointed to the sofa, Levery smiled and sat down.
"It's an honor to meet you."
"Have you never been alone?"
As if he had forgotten with a close look, what Eustaf said made Levery's smile even thicker.
"There's one time."
When she sat down, Eustaf given a tea set. The maid came in with a tea, lined up and quietly stepped back. said Levery, lifting a teacup.
"I'm nervous to be with the Duke."
Eustaf stared at Levery and asked.
"You're the one who provided Ran with the status."
It was an unexpected blow, but Levery was also an old merchant. She answered without a pinch of eyelashes.
"I don't know what you mean. Status?"
As if she didn't really understand what he meant, she opened her eyes slightly and asked again with an innocent face. Eustaf leaned over, crossing his legs and raising his hands on his knees.
"If not, I don't care. I thought I'd tell you one thing."
"I'll listen for now."
"If anything happens to Ran."
Cut it short and Eustaf smiled.
"It would be better for the other person to die and go to hell."
Levery opened her eyes wide and bowed her head as if she were surprised.
"I'll keep that in mind."
Then, Levery laughed.
"But who dares to hurt the Duchess of Lazia? I've even heard rumors that-"
Levery whispered meaningfully.
"I heard that our Golden Rose Company will be dealing with someone higher."
"Rumor is fast."
"Information is life for a businessman."
Levery smiled and said, then bowed deeply.
"I look forward to your kind cooperation."
"I think you like Ran."
Eustaf said so, and Levery understood like a stone.
"I hope I can't get out of Ran's sight in the future."
She said she would do well on her own, and Levery got up from her seat after a leisurely cup of tea in silence.
Looking at her leaving, Eustaf was amazed and slightly annoyed by Ran's eyes.
It was because of the thought that if Ran decided to hide, he would have trouble finding it.
'Of course it won't happen.'
But as he himself knows, he is sneaky.
Whether it was possible or not, the hole had to be all in my hands. Don't miss it.
*******
'Right, I was mistaken.'
Ran, who woke up from a recurring dream, held back her anger.
'It was wrong to try to rely on Iveria.'
Ran felt the limit of patience in rare cases.
At first, repeated dreams were amazing and nervous.
I thought she was sending a signal, so I purposely tried to sleep deeply.
But I've sung three flower songs.
Let's keep dreaming about it, and now I'm annoyed. Ran jumped out of bed and opened the window.
The dazzling winter sunshine reflected on the ice wall and sparkled.
'Darkness? Dragon? Right, tell him to come out. Don't you think we can beat that clean dragon? Do you know who I am? It's Ran Romia De Lazia.'
Ran thought of Sina.
If Sina and Eustaf followed and defeated the Darkness, there is no reason why they can't.
'No, I might do better.'
Ran thought so secretly, but felt sorry for Sina, so she coughed lightly and sat at her desk and took out new parchment paper.
And I wrote down my goal at the top.
'Dragon Slayer Plan.'
It was cool after I think it.
'I should've done this.'
Ran snorted with excitement. He won the fight against Uncle Lindbergh, the wizard, the society, and the Duke Devan.
"I don't know much about trick or tactics, but ····."
I can do it if it's a barrage of supplies.
There was a lot of ice crystal, and there was a guild for ice crystal washing.
'If you go to a supply fight, you won't lose, this is it.'
You can get 100,000 bottles.
Because I have money.
'Oh, is it hard because of the population? You can buy a mercenary for that.'
Ran began to write down items such as 'ballistic missiles' and 'anti-tank mines', with a low laugh.
Come to think of it, she has always overcome crises with her own power.
But now it was a mistake to try to rely on other people's power, 'Iveria might have left something behind.'
'We'd better ask the Elves and the Dwarfs for reinforcements, right?'
For now, both sides had to be informed that the darkness was waking up. It's a problem for Lazia, but isn't it a problem for the entire continent that's been down a thousand years?
'I'm glad it's Dukedom'
If it were the dukedom, borrowing Elf and Dwarf's soldiers would have been a big problem. However, it is an independent country now, so there is no problem with military exchanges.
It has not yet been declared a dukedom, but it would have been fine if Eustaf had said he would.
"Oh my? Madam, are you up already?"
Soda, who came to wake up, frowned at Ran sitting at her desk.
"You didn't work all night, did you?"
"No, I just opened my eyes early."
When Ran spoke and shook her hand, Soda smiled.
"You look happy."
"Yes."
I felt frustrated all the time and I felt like I had gone down.
Ran got up from her seat and said,
"Can you call the administrator, the accountant, and the Knight Commander?"
"Let's do it after breakfast."
At Soda's words, Ran looked out the window and nodded.
'Right, it's not a good call from this morning.'
Ran coughed in vain.
"Then tell him to get together around tea time."
"Yes, I will say so. Then would you like to sleep a little longer? Or-"
"Wake up."
"All right."
After the soda receded, Dimodia and Kara came in, opened the window and prepared the wash.
Kara said while she was washing her face.
"The noblewoman says they eats breakfast in bed."
"That's for another noblewoman."
At Ran's words, Kara grinned.
"But the Lord must come back to eat breakfast in bed."
"Kara!"
Ran frowned and threw a drop of water at Kara with her fingertips tingling.
Kara laughed, saying, "I'm just saying that the Lord loves his wife."
"Kara."
Dimodia frowned.
Kara had a close-mouthed test like saying, Oh my gosh. Dimodia swallowed a sigh.
The same Nokyoung, but Kara is second Nokyoung's. Different from herself.
'But even so.'
Compared to herself, who melts perfectly, Kara and Dimodia, who is active, was a little dissatisfied.
'I'll have to talk to you later.'
After making up her mind, Dimodia smiled and said to Ran.
"Then I'll bring breakfast."
"Yes, thank you."
Ran replied, wiping her face with a towel.
After a light breakfast of toasted toast and milk tea, Ran changed her clothes and began to look at the documents.
After completing the examination of the documents, Ran then called the accountant, administrator, and knights as planned in the morning.