Ilyin thought that if she met Viscount Arlen again, and if he verbally abused her even worse than before, she would stop listening to him instead of trying to shut him up.
It was not because he loved the viscount, but because he was afraid of him.
“In ten years?” Ilyin thought about the strange question and the first thought that came to him was that he would still be living his life.
"Yes.
If it's complicated, then I'll help you a little more." Aden got up from his chair, walked around behind Ilyin and hugged her.
He then whispered in her ear, “What would you think if, in ten years, Viscount Arlen had greater honor, a good position, and was living very well?”
The first feeling she had was discomfort, and Ilyin's lips closed as she grimaced.
Aden laughed, “Do you still have any love for him as a family member?”
Ilyin remembered when the viscount asked: “Have you ever dreamed of me?” She thought she had left that memory at the mansion and shook her head in response to Aden's question.
“Then it’s okay to make things much worse,” Aden said as he looked at her.
He then leaned over and kissed her forehead gently and whispered again:
"It's not a bad thing either.
Do what you want, Ilyin.
Do what your heart desires.
Whatever you do, you won't be able to leave the winter region now that you've seen my face."
The whispering voice was so sweet and comforting, and Ilyin knew what he meant by it.
It seemed like he was threatening her, but in reality it was the opposite, Aden was comforting her and letting her know that she belonged to him.
"No matter what you do, I won't let you go.
So it's your choice.
Do whatever you want," Aden promised her.
“If it is too difficult to answer now, it will not be too late to decide when we are in the hot region.”
Ilyin lowered his gaze a little.
It would be a lie if she didn't think about the terrible things that happened to her father, who wasn't like a father, and her brothers who made her life in the mansion hell, she didn't want them to be okay.
The only reason she didn't do anything wrong in the mansion was that she had nowhere else to go, but things were different now.
In ten years, she wanted all the bad things that happened to her to happen to them.
Ilyin was surprised by this sudden thought.
Aden held his fist closed and said:
"You're not a bad person.
They're the ones who are bad." He hugged her tightly again, "But it's okay if you're still anxious.
If you go to the hot region with me, I'll show you how bad I am." Then he looked deeply into her big eyes and blinked: “But you don’t have to be as bad as me.”
***
Most people from the winter region never left the area.
Many centuries ago, the Milton tribe used to be in the southeast, so human settlement in the winter region moved inland.
Biflten Castle was closer to the hot region before the Milton tribe became a force to be reckoned with a thousand years ago, but now it was just an abandoned settlement.
Since then, in the winter region, people have chosen to stay away from the hot region, but this has changed depending on the Duke's personality at the time.
The general understanding was that the warm region and the winter region were separate and to them, the fact that the Winter Duke was one of the empire's citizens was useless and forgettable information.
There was no reason for the hot region's emperor to come to the winter region and the winter region had its law.
Of course, going to the hot region required a large number of supplies and a lot of manpower, so only people with certain statuses could go there and there were also not many brave souls who wanted to risk traveling through the snowstorms.
Furthermore, the winter region's magical ability was better than the hot region thought, so they weren't too curious to explore that land.
Thanks to all this, the warm region was an unknown territory for the inhabitants of the winter region.
The Delrose maids were shocked when they heard the news, they never thought they would go to the hot region in their lives!
So they were confused with the order of packing for the trip and were also told to choose someone who would take care of Aden's wife in the hot region.
There were some maids who had experience traveling to the hot region, they served the last Duke of Biflten who had ties to the hot region but not Aden.
In his generation, most of the people who had experience going to the hot region were gone.
"How about Sieh?
She's almost the same age as the Lady" One of the maids suggested.
“This child doesn’t have much experience for a position like this,” said another employee.
The position of serving Ilyin while in the hot region was being debated by the maids and they struggled to decide who would be best suited.
Since the Delroses did not force an order, the maids could choose whether or not to go to the hot region.
Etra was in charge, so she had no choice, unfortunately and she had to start studying about the hot region now!
The day before departure, the maids who had some knowledge about the hot region began to pack Ilyin's bags.
“Isn’t that too thick?” One of the maids whispered.
Ilyin thought that he could only take a few items like when he came to the winter region, but from the maid's point of view, that wouldn't happen.
Firstly, there were a lot of skincare cosmetics.
Although Ilyin said she didn't need the products, they still had to package them.
It was common for the lower ranks to bring ten items, although the higher ranking person only used one.
“How about now?” Nessi, a Delrose maid, asked as she held up a thick jacket.
It didn't have a thick cotton lining like the winter region's jackets, but it felt warm enough to survive the winter in the warm region.
“Isn’t it very thin?” The maid, Mito, felt the jacket and shook her head at Nessi.
She went to the dressing room and then brought another one.
It was a piece of clothing worn in the winter region in late January or early February, when it was not as cold as it is now.
“How about now?” Mito asked.
“Isn’t that too thick?”
“So how thin should it be?”
“It’s winter in the hot region too.”
“Do you think winter is the same as here?” Nessi and Mito were confused and started to fight.
Between the two winter maids, they couldn't decide what to take to the warm region.
“Do you need any help?” Someone asked.
Nessi and Mito, who were still fighting, frowned at the sudden interruption.
“You may not touch anything of the Lady,” said Nessi.
“Go get permission from Miss Etra,” Mito instructed.
“Okay, I'll do it.” The calm voice sounded familiar.
When the two maids turned around, they were surprised, it was Ilyin standing behind them and they jumped in fright and exclaimed simultaneously:
“Oh, my lady!”