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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Fiancée's Misunderstanding
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The youngest daughter of the Hardenharts family, rulers of the North.
Bianca Hardenharts.
She was famous as a woman with the coldest face in the North, earning her the nickname Snow Woman due to her utter lack of expression.
Yet her beauty was exceptional, with rumors swirling that she would grow into a stunning beauty.
Why was such a girl his fiancée?
The reason was simple.
'She's perfect for a political marriage.'
The Hardenharts benefited from ties with the Valheims, and the Valheims could make use of their worthless halfwit when the time came.
Either way, both she and he were pawns in political marriages.
'Well, it's just a political marriage anyway.'
Bianca had hated him from the start.
This time would likely be no different.
But her real issue lay elsewhere.
She was one who had joined hands with those who emerged from World Erosion.
One who sought to bring the world to ruin alongside the World Eroders.
White Ghost.
That was the moniker she earned after slaying one of the world's top ten powerhouses in her past life.
"Let her in."
She had come all the way from the North to meet her fiancé; he couldn't just turn her away.
Moreover, she was exactly what Krash needed right now.
"Understood, sir."
Aliod left the room upon Krash's order.
Krash glanced at his reflection in the study mirror.
Quite the mess.
He should at least change his clothes.
With that thought, Krash headed out to greet his guest.
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Bianca Hardenharts.
The youngest daughter of the Hardenharts family, rulers of the North, and bearer of the Snow Woman nickname. She had strikingly white bobbed hair.
True to her moniker, her skin was as pale as white jade. She gazed at her fingertips with eyes like blue moonlight.
Oddly, snowflake crystal patterns were etched into her nail tips.
They were symbols of a curse.
Before she was born, her mother had been caught in World Erosion.
In the process, she was cursed, and the curse passed to the child in her womb.
It was a curse that turned her into an emotionless doll.
Bound to her soul from birth, even exorcists of legend could not lift it.
She lived without so much as a smile or tear until she turned twelve.
Her already icy face, due to her skin and hair, would have promised a bright future—were it not for her blank expression.
But such beauty meant little.
Bodies tainted by World Erosion curses repelled divine contracts.
Thus, she was always neglected in the Hardenharts family.
Without emotions, she couldn't mingle with others. Her siblings despised her as the cursed child who killed their mother.
And a child unable to contract with gods held no value to the family.
So she was easily shipped off for a political marriage.
Her visit to Green Pine Pavilion today was to meet Krash Valheim, her designated fiancé.
The Valheims, most renowned for inaction in the Staron Kingdom.
A family that deterred even empires from touching the kingdom, simply by producing monsters.
Betrothing their youngest was a massive opportunity for the Hardenharts.
No matter their rule over the North, they were pushed aside by the central powers.
This was her second meeting with her fiancé.
Yet she felt no interest whatsoever.
Because in her memories, Krash was nothing but a defeated quitter who had abandoned everything.
"Get lost. Whether you're from the Hardenharts or whatever, don't pretend to be my fiancée when all you care about is Valheim power."
To be precise, Krash ranked among those she disliked.
His speech was crude, and he viewed everything pessimistically.
Even without emotions, Bianca could distinguish good from bad.
So she wasn't thrilled about this meeting either.
Krash was sure to criticize her again.
Thud, thud—
Footsteps approached from outside.
Recognizing them as Krash's, Bianca straightened her attire.
Emotionless from a young age, she had matured too quickly and accepted reality swiftly.
After all, she was in no position to act superior here.
Creeak—
As the door opened, Bianca turned her head.
There stood Krash, who had opened it.
His blue-and-black hair framed eyes similar to hers in hue.
His thirteen-year-old face was boyish, decent-looking aside from his fierce gaze.
"Bianca."
"You've arrived."
Bianca responded politely at once. Krash eyed her briefly before sitting across from her.
He glanced at the untouched teacup and spoke.
"Our maid lacks tact. Hot black tea for a cat-tongued girl."
Bianca paused at Krash's wry smile.
How did he know she couldn't handle hot things?
But beyond that, she sensed something different about him.
What was it? He seemed more composed overall.
"I'll let the maid know."
Krash said so and opened the cookie tin.
Naturally, he placed a macadamia cookie on her plate.
Macadamia was Bianca's favorite flavor.
As she watched his fluid motion in a daze,
Krash placed a chocolate-studded cookie before himself and spoke.
"Tough journey from afar."
"As your fiancée, I need to memorize your face early."
"Really? Sounds more like addressing a superior than a fiancé."
Krash offered a faint smile.
It softened his fierce eyes somewhat.
Bianca tilted her head slightly at the sight.
"May I ask one thing, Lord Krash?"
Her speech didn't suit a twelve-year-old. Krash nodded.
"Has something happened to you?"
Just five months ago,
Krash had acted like he despised even his own reflection.
Now he was utterly changed.
He hadn't been this kind or considerate.
Had some shift in mindset occurred over those months?
It was a question that might provoke his anger.
Krash lifted his teacup.
"I'm that different from before, huh?"
Bianca winced at his words.
She had questioned his rare kindness.
"...My apologies. That was imprudent."
Krash sipped his tea as she corrected herself.
Truthfully, he barely remembered how he'd treated her before.
His mid-to-late teens were hazy; early teens even more so.
Unless it was something special like with Aliod, he wouldn't recall this period.
Their first meeting was the same.
He vaguely knew he'd been brash and rude everywhere in his impulsive youth.
It was the peak of his worldly despair and frustration.
Yet also a time he hadn't fully given up.
Because giving up meant no more despair or frustration.
"...You've always been the same."
One thing was certain: Bianca hadn't changed from past to present.
Even on that final day before the blazing North Sea Ice Pavilion, her face was just like today.
And that scene lingered in Krash's memories.
"Pardon?"
Bianca sought clarification for his murmur. Krash waved it off casually.
He set down his cup, crossed his hands, and rested them on his knee.
"Bianca, I have a proposal for you today."
"A proposal?"
Her large blue eyes blinked.
What could the Valheim heir want to propose to her?
"Is it a breakup?"
Her first thought was annulment.
But Krash looked incredulous.
"Think two kids like us can annul a family decision?"
Fair point.
The youngest couldn't undo what the families decreed.
"Maybe later."
His follow-up suggested he eyed the distant future.
"Though yeah, you'd be better off annulled sooner than tied to a guy like me."
Krash uttered self-deprecating words.
Bianca stared at him steadily.
She knew his circumstances well.
She had studied him to avoid offending her fiancé.
Thus, she knew he was called the Valheim disgrace.
'But he's still a Valheim.'
Despite a position others would envy lifelong, his self-esteem was low.
"I am Lord Krash's fiancée."
And he was hers.
Unchanging ahead.
"That won't change going forward."
It wouldn't as long as the families endured.
Her words drew a hollow chuckle from Krash.
Family loyalist that she was, no personal emotion colored them.
She couldn't fabricate feelings.
Still, they pleased him more than empty flattery.
"Anyway, not annulment. I want to propose something else."
Krash smiled faintly.
"I've contracted with a god recently."
Bianca was briefly surprised.
Average contract age was fifteen.
But he was Valheim.
Direct descendants, eyed by gods from birth, usually contracted before ten.
Thus, Krash was quite late.
Still worth congratulating.
"Congratulations."
Krash nodded indifferently to her well-wishes.
"And through that god, I want to take on your curse with my awakened power."
"Pardon?"
His words were utterly unexpected.
Bianca's eyes blinked in reflex.
Take the curse?
Absurd.
"I have a use for it."
"The curse?"
"Yes. Give me that curse, and I'll grant one wish of yours. Annulment included, if you want."
Bianca fell silent.
It made no sense.
'He wants the curse.'
Hers stripped emotions.
Why desire such a thing?
"Do you plan to etch it onto yourself?"
Familiar to her now, but for one who knew emotions, it would bring chaos.
Krash simply nodded to her question.
'Even famed exorcists couldn't lift it.'
His reaction implied it was a given he'd take it.
'Did he contract a god like that?'
Assuming he could,
what would Krash do, stealing the curse to erase his feelings?
Bianca reviewed his profile.
Valheim halfwit, political pawn.
On bad terms with other direct kin, self-abandoned.
Now seeking emotionlessness.
'He's worn out.'
It clicked as she pieced it together.
Krash was exhausted.
Having poured out too many emotions, he now clung to the curse to end them.
She knew the end for those driven to emotional extremes.
'Depression.'
Her uncle, a northern mental mage, had mentioned it.
He often shared mental topics with her; Krash fit perfectly.
'People change suddenly and grow kind to others as a way to signal their end.'
Bianca looked up at him.
Upon closer inspection, scars and raw skin dotted his body.
'Self-harm.'
Realizing he hurt himself, even emotionless Bianca felt a twinge of pity.
In truth, mere training wounds from the secret manual.
'As his fiancée.'
Utterly misunderstanding, Bianca placed her hand over his.
"Lord Krash, it's alright. You can overcome it."
"Uh, yeah?"
This time, Krash was puzzled.