A Certain Winter’s Tale Chapter 3.12 - Elia Winter

And Noah had been staring blankly out the window while chewing over those words.

Matilda, who had been quietly observing Noah’s complexion, spoke softly.

“Are you upset?”

“I know very well how important spring is to this country, and what a celebratory thing it is for flowers to bloom on that tree. I am a citizen of Winterfall too, after all.”

“Still, that doesn’t mean the sadness is lessened, does it?”

Noah avoided her gaze and bit his lip.

She was right. When he was with the sweet and thoughtful El, he forgot all his worries. Even just strolling through the garden with El and that mischievous wolf made laughter constantly leak from his lips. It happened so incessantly that he wondered if there might be a hole in his lungs.

Into those dreamlike days, a strange and bleak reality had suddenly intruded. He felt stifled by this situation, which he could not block or repel with his strength alone.

‘Even when the Red House was about to fall into the hands of that wicked Governor, I felt like there would be a way somehow…’

He had no idea how to unravel this matter. Noah, not being a noble, could not produce flowers for Elia. He tried his best to ignore the bitterness, but then the news of the eleventh wife reached him.

He had tried to start a conversation with El, but bringing it up wasn’t easy. So first, he thought he needed to organize his own thoughts. Time passed without him being able to speak. In the meantime, his sighs only grew, and no solution was in sight.

Noah’s expression gradually hardened. Matilda approached with a worried look and patted his shoulder.

“Noah. Do you know what the world calls the Sovereign, Elia Winter?”

Noah’s eyebrows arched in curiosity. In a situation like this, surely a vulgar joke about his thingy being shriveled wouldn’t be appropriate.

“I heard… he was a man like ice.”

“Haha. That’s a very refined way of putting it. This nanny knows well that there are many who call the Sovereign an ice monster because he is so cold and heartless that he cannot grow attached to people.”

Noah nodded with a bitter smile.

“The Sovereign’s mother passed away early in his childhood. Since then, this nanny has looked after Master Elia like my own son.”

This was a story from over a hundred years ago, back when it was Elia’s father, not Elia, who had brought about this winter.

“The late Emperor, having married for political reasons, could not look after the son he gained very affectionately. Even then, a long winter stayed in the Empire. It was a cold and fierce winter, just like now. During those suspicious times, there was one being who allowed a warm spring to dwell for a short while… do you happen to know who it was?”

As a citizen of Winterfall, there was no way Noah hadn’t heard that story.

“The noble of flowers, Ariel Glory.”

“That is correct.”

Nodding, Matilda gently stroked Noah’s hair. Matilda’s hand, smaller than Noah’s, cradled him with a touch that felt larger and warmer than it actually was.

“If it weren’t for her, Winterfall might have forgotten warmth forever. The people would have lived without even knowing what spring was. Did you know? The wife he shared his bed with just to continue the lineage could not bring that spring. Only one person, Ariel Glory, was the lover of the late Emperor who drove away the winter, if only for a moment.”

While Elia sat on the Sovereign’s throne following his father, his wife had changed ten times, yet the breath of spring was nowhere to be felt. Having watched over that harsh winter together, Matilda found Noah’s existence as precious and grateful as Elia himself did.

And finally, there were signs of a tiny sprout of spring budding. Not just anywhere, but on the snowflake tree that symbolized the House of Winter and Elia himself.

“So, Noah. I hope you do not doubt your own existence. The one who brought the warm breeze into the Sovereign’s heart is none other than you, Noah.”

Sparkling violet eyes shone toward her. They seemed tinged with sadness, but he nodded carefully as if he understood.

Watching him, Matilda’s heart ached even more. To the nobles of Winterfall, holding a beloved lover in one’s arms and producing an heir are separate matters. Until now, no one had been able to melt Elia’s frozen heart. But only now has Elia begun to breathe, laugh, and share affection like a living person. Even though it was a dry land where flowers could not bloom, he had willingly sown his seed in a commoner named Noah. And beneath the snowflake tree, no less.

However, no matter how much she thought about it, the path ahead would not be smooth. Perhaps the Council of Nobles would try to use Noah to obtain seed from Elia. Just as Elia had once referred to himself as nothing more than a noble stallion.

Matilda instinctively stared at Noah’s slim lower belly and lamented.

“If only you, who received that seed, were a noble… it would have been perfect.”

Her sadness was conveyed through her bitter smile. Noah couldn’t say anything. But soon, Matilda wiped away her tears and spoke with strength.

“Still, I am satisfied if spring arrives. Even if an heir cannot be produced, I hope the Sovereign will not be lonely for the rest of his life. I will serve him with all my heart. So, the Sovereign…”

She couldn’t finish her sentence. This was because the guilt of doing something terrible to his lover, while a wife was close at hand for marriage and the wedding night, pounded against her chest.

Noah bit his lips, which shone red like luscious fruit. The attitude of Matilda and Michaelis—who claimed to treasure Elia yet ultimately tried to bind him to duty—made Noah feel strange. However, because he also understood how desperate they were, Noah comforted her in silence. He was an innocent man who had only recently learned of men and shared his body with another for the first time, but he wasn’t so foolish as to not understand the situation.

So he simply smiled humbly. He gently tapped the back of Matilda’s hand resting on his shoulder and soothed her in a soft voice.

“That… I will try to talk it over well with Elia. Would that be alright?”

A tear or two fell from Matilda’s eyes. While feeling flustered, Noah soothed her with a boyish smile on his lips.

“I’m about to go meet El now, and if you are crying like that, I might get scolded by him. Matilda.”

Noah was a man who knew better than anyone how to soothe the weeping of women. Anyone would become that way after living for nearly a hundred years in the Red House, which was filled only with women. However, no matter how many times he saw a woman’s tears, they always felt sorrowful, and it didn’t feel good.

Fortunately, Matilda seemed to gain strength from Noah’s smile and brushed away her tears.

“You’re right. We can’t let such a good day fly away in a fit of tears. It’s time for the Sovereign to return after finishing his work. I will help you prepare.”

“Good. Let’s go meet him together, Matilda.”

He forced his voice to sound light. Matilda became busy. Noah silently slid his arms into the clothes she was putting on him.

And, he pulled himself together again and again to clear away the bleakness that had begun to clump coldly in his chest. He didn’t want to worry Elia by making a sad face over a future he didn’t know yet. Besides, if there were hardships and conflicts ahead, he would be able to solve them together with Elia.

At that time, Noah did not yet doubt that fact.

❄️🐺❄️

Noah decided not to ask Elia until the storm inside him subsided. He decided to just consider it a relief. As Noah, who had come to this distant central territory to sell himself for the sake of the Red House, it was only right to be grateful that he could spend the night with Elia—whom he knew—rather than a stranger as he had feared. Furthermore, thanks to Elia being with him in this strange and lonely palace, he had even received deep comfort.

So, anything beyond that might be greed. The Emperor, who was said to be isolated and had locked his heart in ice, had finally learned of warmth, and perhaps spring would finally come. It was something to be happy and grateful for that the one who shared in that kindness was none other than Noah himself. Even if, if necessary, Elia took another wife and shared affection with that person to bear a child…

While stepping out of the inner palace and repeating those thoughts to himself, Noah came to a dead stop.

“What is it, Noah?”

“…”

Inexplicable emotions surged in like a wave. Worry began to creep onto Matilda’s face. To reassure her, he had to answer that he was fine, but his throat felt tight, making it hard to open his mouth.

“Noah.”

“Matilda. May I go just a little further today to greet the Sovereign?”

He was finally able to ask. He wanted to shake off the anxiety tightening his heart. To repel this emotion that was freezing his chest and stinging sharply, he wanted to see Elia as soon as possible. In this moment, Noah was feeling an uncontrollably intense longing that he had never known before.

“The Sovereign told me to have you wait in the inner palace. It seems he is anxious about you coming outside.”

Why was it even difficult for me to go and meet Elia on my own feet? But since he couldn’t be stubborn, Noah nodded with a bitter smile.

A face that had lost its vitality. Matilda, watching him, eventually said carefully as if she felt sorry for Noah.

“Then shall we wait right in front of the entrance?”

At her single sentence, a bright smile immediately bloomed on Noah’s face.

“Great. And Elia, no… the Sovereign has a sweet nature, so he won’t scold Matilda.”