“why am i here too...?”

    inside the moving carriage, beatrix asked that question.

    she wasn’t joking. her plan during this holiday was to go back to her house, the kilgore march, and spend her time there, free of any kinds of worry.

    as someone who was always swamped with a heavy workload, she wanted nothing else but a break.

    being suddenly summoned and dragged by her best friend to the kendride margraviate wasn’t something that was ever included in her plan.

    especially considering that she’d rather not go to a village that was so cold that it felt like the cold was cutting through one’s skin.

    “you know that i hate the cold, don’t you?! i just can’t think properly when it’s cold—!”

    “i need a strategist, beatrix. you are a talent who suits such a position the best among the people i know.”

    “...”

    “originally, such a position befits dowd the most, but seeing that he is my current goal, i have no other choice.”

    on top of that, the friend who had dragged her here spouted such nonsense onto her face.

    “what strategist—? ...whatever.”

    hearing that, eleanor turned her gloomy gaze outside the window.

    since a woman who was dubbed as a great beauty did such a thing, the scene looked as if it was something that came out of a painting. but, beatrix didn’t even think much of it and just braced herself for whatever other nonsense that eleanor was going to say.

    “...what do you mean by nonsense?”

    “i’ve never heard you say anything that makes any sense whenever you’re wearing that look.”

    “...”

    unable to refute the facts that beatrix threw at her, eleanor went silent for a moment before clearing her throat and...

    “beatrix.”

    “what?”

    “do you know of a sure way to get pregnant?”

    “...”

    see?

    beatrix swept down her face so roughly, it looked like she was going to rip the skin off.

    “...since when did you guys get that far?”

    “we have not yet.”

    “...”

    “but, the other women are working towards that, so my goal from now on is to attain his seeds as soon as possible. that way, those foxes would finally learn to know their pla—”

    “first, shut up.”

    beatrix held her throbbing head that felt as if it was going to break as she blurted those words out.

    by now, her desire to give this woman a speech about how bad it would be politically for someone from the tristan duchal household to step into the kendride margraviate had started to fade away.

    because a discussion that was completely unrelated to that bum called dowd would only be promptly ignored by the current eleanor.

    however, she still felt the need to ask this.

    “so, according to what you said...”

    “hm.”

    “...there are several other women throwing themselves at him, trying to bear his child right now?”

    “yes.”

    “...”

    honestly, she wished that eleanor wouldn’t affirm such a crazy thing without blinking her eyes.

    she re-confirmed the list of ‘the group of women near dowd’ in her mind.

    if those women are actually trying to fight for that man’s children...

    ...the continent might just be destroyed.

    that was her honest assessment.

    “...”

    as she was lost in her thoughts, she let out a deep sigh.

    at this point, she believed that saying anything to eleanor or the other women would be meaningless.

    which meant, if she wanted to sort out the mess that made her dizzy by just thinking about it, she had to talk to the other related person.

    “eleanor.”

    “?”

    “anyway, this isn’t a matter of whether i’m confident or not. if they’re serious about me, then i have to repay their intention to the best of my abilities.”

    “...”

    “it’s not a matter of can or can’t, i have to do this.”

    “...”

    “anyway, thanks for your concern, senior.”

    “...seriously, that glib tongue of yours...”

    as i replied to her with a smile, beatrix let out a sigh, holding back the words that she wanted to say.

    “don’t disappoint eleanor. she might not look like it, but she’s extremely soft-hearted.”

    beatrix said before turning her body.

    “...i still have a lot to say, but... since it seems like we’re going to stay here for a while, i can just say it all later.”

    “is that so?”

    “yeah. anyway, it’s so cold here. i swear, i could die from this cold. i haven’t been feeling well in the first place...”

    as i looked at beatrix, who said such words while shivering, i promptly let out a bitter smile.

    maybe because i had only been seeing her getting annoyed and snapping at me, the way she was shivering with tears welling up in her eyes looked quite cute.

    “also, everyone’s probably already waiting for us in the banquet hall. let’s just go—”

    beatrix said before her body swayed hard, as if she had lost balance for a moment because of a sudden dizziness.

    she was most likely telling the truth, she really wasn’t feeling well. standing around outside for so long seemed to have affected her negatively.

    her eyes shook greatly, as if she didn’t expect her body to twist so much.

    i wouldn’t be surprised if she just fell down to the floor right there and then.

    “...oh...”

    but, here was the problem...

    currently, we were at an open terrace.

    as expected from the extreme frozen land, slippery snow was piled up on the floor.

    beatrix’ body completely lost its balance and was stuck on the fence of the nearby terrace.

    she was a tall woman, and that height definitely didn’t help her at times like this. the bars that were only as tall as her thighs couldn’t even serve as a safety guard and instead made her body lean over the fence even more.

    from the way it looked, it seemed like she was about to go over the fence.

    “...”

    huh?

    for a moment, my eyes captured the other side of the terrace.

    the margrave’s palace was built on quite a high hill. there was only a snow-covered vast forest below.

    if i were to let her be...

    she’d just fall down straight from here.

    “s-senior?!”

    the realization shocked me and i quickly rushed to grab her body.

    at this rate, she’s going to fall over the terrace! there’s no one else here, so it isn’t like i can just let her fall and turn this into a huge accident—!

    i thought as i held her body tightly in a hurry.

    “...hm?”

    but then my body also tilted over and fell over with her.

    “...”

    ah...

    right...

    my life wasn’t exactly in danger now, which meant desperation wouldn’t be activated.

    it might be activated later ‘in the middle of the fall,’ but right now... nope.

    which meant i didn’t have the physical abilities to support a woman’s body on my own. especially the one who had completely lost her balance, being pulled greatly by the gravity, while standing on a slippery floor like this.

    and so...

    “whoaaaak—!”

    “aaaaargh—!”

    beatrix’ body and mine fell headlong over the terrace at the same time.