Chapter 1: The Frozen Heir and the Lost Girl

To be recognized as the heir of the Winterhoff Dukedom, there was one rite of passage: surviving alone for a week in the mountains, said to hold the will of the previous Duke.

Stories were passed down of past heirs receiving teachings from the previous Duke residing there and being reborn as true Northerners. However, those stories were now just empty formalities. It had been a long time since the ritual became just a symbolic act for the heir to undergo.

Iris Winterhoff was on her way to the mountain dwelling prepared for this purpose.

It wasn’t particularly difficult, as she had frequented the place in her childhood. Iris even felt a sense of nostalgia in this harsh environment, recalling those days when her mother was still alive. She reminisced about the warmest days of her life.

That is, until she heard a scream from the mountain.

“Aaaaagh! This is driving me crazy! Why isn’t there anything here?!”

“Someone?”

Leaving aside the audacity of someone intruding upon the sacred grounds of the North, who would scream so loudly a top this snowy mountain? If the previous Duke were present, they would have been reprimanded.

Whatever the intruder’s purpose, Iris judged it would be dangerous if not dealt with quickly.

Even if it was a mere formality, the ritual could not be disturbed. Iris started towards the source of the sound.

Not far away, she found a woman yelling at the top of her lungs. No, calling her a woman seemed a bit much; she looked smaller. The girl had striking silver hair that didn’t fade even in the snow.

Soon, Iris and the girl’s eyes met.

Iris’s red eyes and the girl’s sunset-gold eyes locked.

The girl stared blankly, rubbed her eyes, then began to shout with a tearful expression.

Iris sighed inwardly. ‘Such ignorance.’

“A, a person!”

“Stop.”

A chilling feeling ran through Iris, and she drew her sword, still in its sheath, and pointed it at the girl. A moment later, and she might have been attacked by this suspicious girl.

The thought sent a shiver down her spine.

‘My training is still lacking. Who is this girl anyway?’

No one in their right mind would wander the mountains in such attire. Unless they had a death wish.

But Iris had never heard of a human-like monster existing in this place.

‘Could it be the previous Duke’s spirit?’ The stories of the previous Duke flashed through Iris’s mind, but seeing the girl sniffling and shivering made her feel apologetic.

‘To think of such a frail thing as the previous Duke… The thought itself is disrespectful.’

“Who are you?”

“Huh? Uh…”

“Can’t you even remember your own name?”

“No, it’s not like that!”

“Haa… Forget it.”

Iris sighed, sheathed her sword, and took off her coat, offering it to the shivering girl. It was a coat with rich, black fur.

Her destination wasn’t far, and she considered herself capable enough. She wasn’t raised to be weak.

“Let’s move and continue this conversation elsewhere. Thanks to your shouting, anything could happen now.”

The girl accepted the coat with a curious look and nodded repeatedly.

Now seemingly warm, her sniffling and shivering stopped. Confirming this, Iris quickened her pace.

“Hurry up.”

“Okay.”

With a crunching sound, their footsteps fell in sync. Walking in silence, Iris glanced back to check on the girl.

Perhaps due to the height difference, the hem of the coat dragged on the ground, leaving a long trail.

It looked like a giant snake had crawled through the snow.

As Iris was about to start walking again, her eyes fell on the girl’s feet.

Pale feet, unprotected from the cold. Iris frowned.

Perhaps the girl was just as stoic as herself? Or perhaps simple-minded.

She had assumed there were no problems since the girl remained silent.

“Hey.”

“Huh?”

“Come closer.”

The girl seemed to notice Iris’s frown and stammered.

“Is something… wrong?”

Iris abruptly lifted the girl and carried her.

On her hip.

The girl, dumbfounded, rolled her gold eyes, taking in Iris’s face. Her expression questioned what was going on.

“Excuse me?”

“Is there a problem?”

“There’s a huge one!”

“We’re almost there. Just be patient.”

At Iris’s firm interruption, the girl seemed to give up and slumped against her.

Both the girl and Iris’s sword swayed at her hip.

Dangling from Iris’s hip like a sack of potatoes, the girl muttered.

“Did you say something?”

“Nothing.”

“Right.”

Their peculiar procession continued until they reached their destination, accompanied by the sound of dangling and swaying.

‘Is she crazy?’

‘I don’t recall any mention of madness in her character profile.’

It wasn’t painful or uncomfortable, but being carried around on someone’s hip like a child at her age was embarrassing.

Closing her eyes against the swaying view, she tried to recall what she knew about the setting.

The girl’s name was Iris Winterhoff, the sole heir to the Dukedom. A grand setting, but she didn’t appear much in the game.

Well, who would like such a stoic character these days? She was probably just there to fill out the cast.

And they even made her female as some kind of cliche subversion.

‘Still… I’m honestly grateful.’ She couldn’t guess how many days she had wandered through the snow.

Fortunately, she wasn’t hungry, and the cold hadn’t bothered her.

When she felt tired, she just buried herself in the snow and slept. She thought she might die like that, but she woke up fine. The snow was surprisingly warm.

She was puzzled by this phenomenon, but after meeting Iris… a hypothesis came to mind.

‘Maybe it’s because I’m inside the game?’ Otherwise, she would have died long ago, suffering from hunger and cold.

This thought made her wonder if something like a status window existed. Quietly, so Iris wouldn’t hear while carrying her like luggage, she muttered,

“Status window…”

A translucent hologram flashed before her eyes.

She checked its contents with anticipation, but there was nothing much.

[Evrys]

‘That’s it.’

It showed just that and disappeared.

‘Just like a game.’

She assumed it was her name. But it was a name she’d never seen before. The North, where the Dukedom resided, wasn’t a heavily featured location in the game, so there wasn’t much information about it.

That’s why all she could remember was Iris’s name. The major events unfolded in the Imperial capital, so she had no way of knowing about the North.

Well, she knew a few things, but they didn’t seem useful right now. They probably wouldn’t be necessary anyway.

The presence of Iris meant she was somewhere in the North.

‘Wherever it is, who cares?’

She wasn’t the protagonist, so why bother doing anything? It was a world destined for destruction, and eventually, the ending would come.

She had tried everything to prevent the destruction, but there was no ending where it could be avoided.

To experience that in a game meant to be about sweet romance… what else could you call it but a trap?

So, she would leave everything to the protagonist in the Imperial capital.

‘It’s a world doomed to ruin. I don’t need to worry about it.’

‘I’ll just treat this like a vacation, enjoy this world until its destruction, and maybe I’ll be able to go back when the “ending” comes?’

The thought of ‘what if’ briefly crossed her mind…

But she let it go.

She didn’t know why she had been put inside this game. But this probably wasn’t what they wanted.

If their goal was to make her find the ending herself, she didn’t want to do it even more.

They were the kind of people who’d shove her into their game for writing a factual review. She wouldn’t play by their rules.

She would choose her own path.

So, she would slack off with all her might. Just like watching a fire from across the river.

“What are you thinking so hard about?”

Iris’s voice reached her as she nodded to herself, having made up her mind. A surprisingly steady voice for someone carrying a person and walking.

“Nothing…”

“Is that so?”

Her downward gaze shifted upwards, and she felt her feet touch the ground.

The feel of wood, not snow.

“We’ve arrived. Let’s go inside and talk.”

“Okay…”

She watched Iris open the door and enter.

She couldn’t tell if it was because her body was small or if Iris was tall, but Iris was certainly quite tall.

Her jet-black hair was neatly tied back, swaying like a ponytail.

Her stoic face was beautiful, yet exuded coldness.

She thought Iris might look pretty if she smiled, but judging by what she had seen so far… she doubted it. Iris seemed like the type who wouldn’t even flinch if stabbed.

“Why aren’t you coming in?”

“I’m going… now.”

It wasn’t that she was scared.

As an extra, she was simply accommodating the heir to the Dukedom.

She hoped there would be no misunderstanding.

Grumbling, she stepped inside and closed the door. A loud noise came from outside.