It had completely melted.
The precious gift she had carefully brought back was now just an ordinary branch. The snow flower that had bloomed at its tip was gone.
With eyes full of regret, Eunice fiddled with it before setting the branch down on the table.
It had already been two days since then. Since she unexpectedly met Johannes and walked through the snow-covered garden.
Eunice recalled that day. How long had they been walking, exchanging unremarkable conversation, when Johannes suddenly stopped in his tracks?
When she turned her head in confusion, he was staring somewhere with a displeased expression. Following his gaze, she spotted Chancellor Glenton in the distance.
The look in Glenton’s eyes as he adjusted his gleaming glasses with a knife-like posture was unusual. Even Eunice, who knew nothing of the situation, felt a chill down her spine.
「I should go now.」
That was the last thing he said.
Johannes strode away and quickly disappeared into a building with Glenton. Following his retreating figure with her eyes, Eunice had a strange feeling.
How to describe it?
Like an academy student heading off to study on a beautiful day. Or perhaps like a tired worker going to perform labor on an exhausting day.
It was a back view that didn’t match the description of a tyrannical king. Well, one couldn’t fully understand a person after just a few days.
Eunice tried to piece together the limited information she had gathered. The current situation at the palace… paperwork was significantly backed up, and Johannes was busy without a moment to spare.
Was that all? Having reached this disappointingly simple conclusion, Eunice let out a deep sigh.
“I thought we’d at least have meals together.”
That wasn’t the case at all.
Yesterday’s lunch and dinner, and today’s breakfast—Eunice had eaten them all alone. She couldn’t even catch a glimpse of Johannes’s shadow.
“How did he manage to come all the way to the Land of Death to meet me if he’s this busy?”
After saying it, she realized something odd. Eunice’s gaze moved from the branch to something slightly to the side.
Johannes’s gloves.
That day, Eunice had Hannah’s gloves properly tucked in her pocket. Yet somehow, she hadn’t wanted to take them out, pretending she had none.
She had never once been cunning in her life, always living earnestly, desperately trying to earn her father’s approval—she never dreamed she had such a fox-like side to her.
Is the first time always the hardest? Eunice’s green eyes wavered with hesitation.
A moment later, she picked up Johannes’s gloves and left the room.
* * *
If only that guy hadn’t interfered.
With his brow deeply furrowed as he battled with reports, Johannes glanced up to glare at the annoying chancellor’s face.
He had wanted to spend more time with Eunice. But with Glenton threatening him with his eyes from a distance, he had no choice but to be dragged away like livestock.
And now he had been confined here for two days.
He either slept hunched over at his desk or took short naps sprawled on the sofa. The creepy thing was that Glenton was also participating in this grueling march through mountains of paperwork, without breaking his posture once.
‘Stubborn bastard.’
Inwardly cursing Glenton, Johannes pressed his tired eyelids.
To be honest, he couldn’t really blame Glenton. He was the fool who had stupidly gone all the way to the Land of Death just to see Eunice a day sooner.
All for a woman who couldn’t even remember him.
“Tsk.”
Despite the light click of his tongue, his heart felt very bitter. It was all his own doing.
Sigh, just endure until the wedding.
Johannes suppressed his desire to take a break and quietly observed Glenton, who hadn’t moved for two hours.
‘He promised three days off, right?’
If they could just process all these accumulated documents before the wedding, he’d get a three-day vacation. After becoming Eunice’s official husband, he could do all sorts of things in bed…
“…”
Suddenly his concentration increased. With almost obsessive focus, Johannes flipped through the reports. His eyes moved faster and faster as he read.
Rustle.
Rustle rustle.
Rustle rustle rustle.
As the intervals between the sounds of turning pages grew shorter, Glenton stopped what he was doing and looked up. After staring at Johannes for a moment, a snicker escaped between his teeth.
“If you had worked at this speed normally, we would have finished long ago.”
“…”
Johannes responded with silence, implying that he shouldn’t be disturbed.
Glenton was dumbfounded. He never expected to see such burning efficiency. It was the first time he’d witnessed this.
“The Eunice effect is quite remarkable. I should use it more often in the future.”
“Shut up.”
Without denying that she was the source of his concentration, Johannes furrowed his brow. He needed to finish quickly. Interruptions were forbidden.
Knock knock.
But what timing was this?
Just as he was trying to work properly, a knock disturbed him. Johannes raised his head, not hiding his irritation.
“What is it?”
His voice was ice cold. After a brief silence, the guard announced from beyond the door.
“Lady Eunice von Pavlone is here to see you.”
“…!”
Johannes’s eyes widened. Without needing to decide who would go first, Johannes and Glenton looked at each other. The expressions on both men’s faces were identical, as if reflected in a mirror.
Why has Eunice come?
After reading the same question in each other’s dumbfounded faces, they simultaneously turned their heads toward the door.
Johannes cleared his throat soundlessly and composed his expression. His blue eyes, which had wavered with bewilderment, firmly regained their place. At least that’s how it appeared on the outside.
“Come in.”
As soon as permission was granted, Eunice revealed her graceful figure. Approaching with light steps, she looked like a beautiful fairy.
It was hard to understand why everything suddenly felt so fresh. With each of her steps into the space where they had been tediously processing documents, it felt as if spring flowers were blooming.
Had the office always been such a bright space? Johannes was realizing it for the first time.
“I hope I’m not disturbing you while you’re busy.”
“Not at all.”
The man who had frowned at being interrupted just moments ago was nowhere to be seen. Eunice exchanged a restrained eye greeting with Glenton and approached Johannes’s desk.
What could this woman be here for? Pure curiosity arose in Johannes’s blue eyes.
Having made people curious just by her appearance, Eunice didn’t state her business but carefully rolled her eyes around. She was pretending not to be looking around the office.
“What brings you here?”
Johannes asked directly, cutting to the chase. While he was happy that Eunice had come to see him, time was short until the wedding.
After hesitating, she cautiously opened her mouth.
“You seem to have a lot of work.”
“And?”
One of Johannes’s eyebrows quirked up. He had no idea what Eunice meant by saying this. And Johannes didn’t like this kind of beating around the bush.
“I was just wondering if you were busy.”
“Speak clearly.”
Though he had only used his normal tone, Eunice froze up.
Seeing this, Glenton narrowed his eyes into triangles behind her and shot Johannes a warning glare. He was telling him to speak more nicely.
Oh dear. Acknowledging his mistake, Johannes’s voice softened considerably.
“Ahem, I think I can spare a moment.”
It was then that something caught Johannes’s eye as he awkwardly lowered his gaze. Eunice was clutching something tightly in her hand, as if grasping at straws.
Perhaps feeling his intent gaze, her slender fingers fidgeted. Soon after, Eunice gently placed “what was probably her reason for coming all this way” on the desk.
“Thank you for the other day.”
Johannes’s expression became peculiar.
“…Did you come to return this?”
The unspoken “Was that really necessary?” hung in the air. After all, knowing full well how busy he was, why would she need to return gloves—something that didn’t particularly matter whether he had them or not—right now?
As he slowly raised his head and stared at her, Eunice began to ramble.
“It’s already been two days, and I was wondering how to return them to you. I thought we might run into each other by chance, but that didn’t happen, and we eat separately, and sleep in different rooms. No, what I mean is…”
“…”
“I just…”
“You came because you wanted to see me?”
Eunice’s face turned tomato red. Perhaps because her skin was so fair, it seemed to blush more sensitively.
Staring blankly at that vivid change, Johannes unconsciously let out a chuckle. The laughter just came naturally.
“Haha.”
“That’s not it. I came to return these and to see if there was anything I could help with. I remembered Glenton saying there were lots of documents piled up!”
“Hahaha!”
Eunice’s voice grew louder as she desperately tried to explain. Even that was adorably endearing.
Johannes now showed his white teeth and laughed heartily. He could see Glenton shaking his head with cold eyes from the corner of his vision, but he couldn’t stop. Glenton’s expression suggested he found it pathetic that Johannes was teasing her.
‘If I laugh more, she’ll cry.’
Eunice’s expression was desperate. Johannes finally managed to calm his persistent laughter and picked up the gloves from the desk, waving them lightly.
“You could have returned them later. Anyway, thank you.”
The implication was that she should leave now that her business was done. But Eunice didn’t leave and stood her ground. She seemed very embarrassed but wanted to maintain her stance that she had come to help with work.
Johannes pressed down his twitching lips and said:
“I don’t need help, just focus on the wedding.”
