Chapter : 2
Even so, I never imagined they would marry me off to a place this far away.
They called it a marriage, but for Aspara, who had arrived in a strange land with no proper attendants and no meaningful personal property, it was little different from exile.
《—, —– ——-.》
“I am Aspara of the Bell Family. Unfortunately, we do not have the custom of teaching the language of barbarians, so I cannot understand your greeting.”
《——, — ——.》
“The interpreter could not accompany me because he was found guilty of disloyalty. Well, neither of us is particularly stupid. If we live together long enough, one of us is bound to learn the other’s language.”
《—-, —– ——-.》
“I heard my family’s dowry was sent ahead in advance. We’ll simply take a few things from that luggage and use them.”
Her escort knight, Jack, couldn’t help thinking that his young mistress was astonishingly composed.
Watching the two of them calmly exchange sentences neither could understand, Jack coughed several times in the freezing cold before glancing at the northern knights clad in crimson armor.
They looked just as bewildered—
No, even more bewildered than his own side.
It was only natural. At the very least, Jack himself knew why the new bride had shown up with nothing but a single knight, no interpreter, and not another soul to accompany her.
“…Jack, could you interpret for us?”
Lost in thought, he turned as Aspara looked at him with an annoyed expression.
Snapping back to reality, Jack looked toward his mistress.
Not only the young lady, but also the black-clad lord and more than a dozen northern knights were all staring at him with hopeful, pleading eyes.
“U-Um…”
Jack suddenly remembered the day he had been hired as a knight by the Bell Family.
For a country bumpkin with neither connections nor achievements to boast of, becoming a servant of a powerful noble house had been an incredibly difficult task.
“Just write it! Everyone knows half the things people put in self-introductions are lies!”
His eldest sister’s voice came back to him vividly. She was brilliant, but her sense of ethics left much to be desired.
‘Big Sis…’
“You think you’ll fail because you can’t shoot a bow? Then write something else! Say you can speak the Northern language! Nobody uses it anyway, so you’ll never get caught!”
Ah… Big Sis.
Not only had he been completely found out, but thanks to that lie, he’d ended up riding a carriage all the way to the North—a place he’d never dreamed of visiting.
The journey there hadn’t been too bad.
At first, they’d had a real interpreter, and Jack had managed to survive by hastily memorizing a few beginner-level phrases from him.
Conversations inside the carriage had been limited anyway. On one side were a noblewoman and her escort knight, and on the other were servants sent to receive them. One-sided communication and terrible interpretations had somehow been enough.
But now…
Now that trick had finally reached its limit.
Sweating nervously, Jack forced an awkward smile.
“Th-They… welcome you, My Lady.”
“So that’s how they welcome people in the North. Ah, don’t translate that word for word. Just tell them it’s cold and we should go inside.”
“…”
At his young mistress’s impatient glance urging him to hurry, Jack wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and desperately searched his memory for every Northern word he knew.
“Uh… 《― ― ―》.”
《―! ― ― ―!》
“…He says we should wait a moment.”
Grinning as flatteringly as possible, Jack delivered the message.
Fortunately, after a brief commotion, the people really did begin heading into the castle under the lord’s direction.
It wasn’t until much later that Jack realized the words he’d spoken didn’t mean “Please let us inside.”
They meant…
“Please let us go home.”
The lord of Fang Castle, known as the King of the Barbarians, Guss, was deeply troubled.
Lady Aspara.
His bride from the South was even smaller, frailer, and more delicate than he’d imagined.
And she was shivering uncontrollably.
Lady Aspara…
Even after entering the castle, she continued trembling faintly.
Watching her, Guss wanted nothing more than to smash his own head against the wall.
He couldn’t forget the historic first sentence her attendant had interpreted.
“Please send us back.”
‘But I cannot break our engagement. Regrettably…’
Though people called him a king, he was ultimately nothing more than the king of barbarians.
Strictly speaking, he could hardly even be called a king.
His “kingdom” was little more than a gathering of wandering people who had come together to share the warmth of the same campfire.
‘What kind of king can’t even grant his wife’s very first wish?’
《…I’m afraid I cannot grant your earlier request. Is there any other wish you would ask of me?》
Guss glanced sideways at the attendant whose lips had turned blue from the cold.
The man wore a sword at his waist, so he was probably a knight.
But the way he walked lacked any confidence whatsoever.
He hardly inspired trust.
So the only retainer she brought is someone like that…
It only reinforced Guss’s belief that Aspara had been cast aside and sold off after losing her family’s favor.
《…I may not be able to serve you as you were served in the southern castle, but I will do everything in my power…》
Jack cautiously watched Aspara’s expression.
‘…Is he talking to me?’
“Jack, what exactly is he saying?”
“Uh… I’m sorry, but I’m not actually a professional interpreter. I don’t speak the Northern language that well… And these people have a really strong dialect.”
“Isn’t this the capital of the North?”
“Ah, but they’re barbarians! They don’t really have proper standards. Even the king speaks in a country accent. Their language was never fully unified in the first place.”
It was a hastily invented excuse.
But strangely enough…
It wasn’t entirely false.
Because of that, everyone in Fang Castle simply assumed the southern attendant who spoke awkwardly was some country fellow who had learned a strange regional dialect.
Guss silently watched the two foreigners whispering together.
His bride had clearly said something.
Yet her attendant hesitated, unable to bring himself to translate it.
Unable to ask what his trembling new bride had really said, Guss swallowed a sigh and led them both toward the dining hall.
The kitchen was the warmest place in the castle.
Several maids had just finished setting out steaming bowls of slightly thin taro porridge, semi-dried fish jerky, white bread, and a little hot liquor.
By Guss’s standards—and by those of his followers, who had been suffering through a poor harvest—it was the finest feast they could possibly prepare.
Yet seeing those coarse dishes appear even duller before the bride dressed in elegant purple, Guss felt ashamed of his homeland for the first time in his life.
‘If I’d known it would be like this, I should have tried harder… I should’ve cut off one of my own thighs and roasted it for her.’
‘…Is he trying to insult me?’
The moment Aspara saw the dining table, she couldn’t help wondering whether her new husband was deliberately making a point.
Then again, he had probably been forced into this marriage just as much as she had.
It wouldn’t be strange if he disliked the arrangement.
Not that she had any intention of shrinking back because of it.
From Aspara’s perspective, the large dining table itself seemed almost like a declaration of hostility.
She had often heard that northern food tasted terrible.
But she’d always assumed it was merely because their cooking methods differed from those of the South.
She had never imagined even the ingredients themselves would be so different.
‘The food is one thing… but serving meals with wooden tableware? Isn’t this a bit too much?’
Looking at her husband, whose expression remained stiff throughout, the young lady became convinced that he truly resented their marriage.
Then again…
It wouldn’t be surprising if he already had someone he loved.
He was a little younger than she was, but by northern standards he was certainly old enough to be married.
Besides, she’d heard plenty of rumors about northern barbarians.
They supposedly entered relationships without proper marriage contracts, fell in love before marrying, and even held wedding ceremonies multiple times.
《―. ― ―.》
Guss finished saying something.
Immediately, everyone lined up in perfect order and sat down at the dining table.
Jack and Aspara hesitated.
The attendant eats with the lord of the castle?
Looking at Aspara, Guss gestured toward the seat beside him.
It was the place of honor, distinguished by its high-backed chair.
Aspara sat down.
Guss glanced awkwardly at his new bride beside him before raising his cup and saying what sounded like a toast.
《― ―. ― ― ―, ―.》
Everyone lifted their cups and repeated the words after him.
Jack and Aspara also awkwardly raised their cups with faint smiles.
What on earth did he say?
Jack wondered.
Once the toast ended, an uncomfortable silence settled over the room.
Eating quietly among strangers whose language you couldn’t understand was even more awkward than expected.
Doesn’t a single person in this castle speak the southern language?
Only the sounds of eating echoed through the dining hall.
Actually…
Not even that.
The bowls and utensils were made of wood, so there wasn’t even the familiar clatter of dishes.
Aspara slowly looked around.
There isn’t a single decent piece of furniture here. Is this really a castle? The outer walls looked rough but sturdy in their own way… but the inside feels more like the maid dormitory back home.
Still, it was nothing more than an objective observation.
Aspara felt neither despair nor disappointment.
Whether the furniture lacked carved lily emblems or the roof lacked elegant decorative eaves, what did any of that really matter?
Whatever this place was, it was far more peaceful than the castle she’d left behind.
If possible, she wanted to live here for a very long time.
If this place looked like a den of beggars, that simply meant her dowry would be all the more valuable to them.
And if no one here understood the southern language…
Then the chances of someone secretly acting as her family’s informant were that much lower.
