RODH Chapter 83

83.

“Ugh.”

As soon as Ian awoke, he found himself staring at the spirit floating in the air.

He rubbed his eyes with his arm.

No matter how much he rubbed, the small human-like figure, drifting like a soap bubble, did not disappear.

Frowning, Ian asked,

“Are you really Anna Tuhatla?”

Anna Tuhatla grinned.

“Do I look fake to you?”

“No, I was just wondering why the Great Spirit suddenly appeared before me.”

“You can drop the formal speech. You’re a special human.”

“No, I would rather not.”

Ian didn’t want to cause unnecessary trouble.

“You’re just as picky as he was.”

“Who are you talking about?”

“There was such a human.”

Ian glanced around.

By now the sun had set, and a red dusk filled the study.

It would soon be dinnertime…

He thought he had better settle matters before Bain arrived.

“Why did you come to me?”

“Because I had business, of course.”

“Then see to your business.”

At Ian’s words, Anna Tuhatla burst into a fit of giggles.

Amid the scattered laughter, snow crystals flickered into being and vanished again, making it hard to focus.

Was this really the same spirit described in the books?

As Ian’s doubts mounted, Anna Tuhatla spoke.

“This isn’t my true form. Because I did not receive the full offering from Seed Ferost, I ended up like this.”

“Seed Ferost…”

“Yes. There was that explosion, wasn’t there? That’s why my body became this way.”

Anna Tuhatla grumbled, clearly displeased with her small, stumpy body.

To Ian, she only looked small and cute.

The gods might be angered if they heard him think so, but that was the truth.

“Take me to Grand Duke Kirias. I must receive the offering again and regain my true form.”

“Understood. But… can’t you do something about your current appearance?”

Anna Tuhatla asked casually,

“Why?”

“Well… others will be shocked when they see you.”

“Northerners have hearts of steel. They won’t be surprised so easily.”

“Is that so.”

“Yes. You grew up in a warm place, so you are delicate. Hm, or perhaps not even that delicate?”

She continued speaking nonsense, then instructed Ian to lead the way.

With the spirit that had suddenly appeared, Ian left the study.

After walking a little down the corridor, the butler spotted him and greeted him warmly.

“I was just looking for you, young duke… but what in the world is that beside you?”

“My name is Anna Tuhatla. I have come to see your master.”

“W-what?”

At the spirit’s name, the butler foamed at the mouth and collapsed.

A passing attendant’s legs also gave way, and he fainted on the spot, trembling.

Ian glanced at Anna Tuhatla.

“They don’t seem to have hearts of steel after all.”

“Clicking tongue. They’re simply overwhelmed by my presence. Where is that grand duke hiding himself?”

The spirit seemed arrogant and entirely self-absorbed.

After felling several more people along the way, Ian finally reached Nevan’s office.

He knocked, and Klain opened the door.

Startled at the sight of the small figure floating in the air, he flinched but did not faint.

And Nevan…

“Lord Ian, who is this person?”

He simply asked the name.

Ian carefully explained what had happened in the study.

“You may not believe it, but this is Lady Anna Tuhatla herself.”

“Ahem. Indeed, I am Anna Tuhatla, mistress of Ferost!”

“……”

Nevan stared at Ian for a long moment before turning his gaze toward the spirit.

“Do you have business with me?”

“You look different from the grand duke I knew. Then again, much time has passed—he must have died by now.”

Murmuring with feigned melancholy, Anna Tuhatla continued,

“Offer me the tribute of Seed Ferost once more. Because of that explosion, my body ended up like this.”

“The explosion was not intentional.”

“I know.”

“But preparing Seed Ferost’s offering will take time.”

An offering to a spirit had to be flawless.

For half a year now, the North had been scoured to find a fitting tribute for Seed Ferost.

Anna Tuhatla folded her arms.

“Hm… you’re right. It will take some time.”

“Do you have any other requests?”

“It has been so long since I came to the human world. I would like to look around.”

“I will show you around myself.”

At Nevan’s offer, Anna Tuhatla smiled.

“You protect your betrothed well. But I choose the one who brings spring.”

“What?”

Ian was caught completely off guard.

“I’m not very good at guiding people.”

“Lord Ian speaks truly. I know the North far better.”

“The two of you bickering looks amusing, but understand this—my current form exists only because of Ian’s mana. If I leave him, I will scatter into nothing.”

Anna Tuhatla sighed deeply.

As though to prove she was not normally so weak, she declared,

“I am the mistress of eternal snow, the unceasing blizzard of Ferost. For your sakes, my labor has been great.”

“Thank you.”

Nevan lowered one knee and bowed his head before the spirit.

Klain, standing by the door, also bent to one knee.

Left standing alone, Ian awkwardly followed suit.

Anna Tuhatla’s smile grew satisfied.

“There is no need to rage over a ruined harvest. One who brings spring, I shall follow you, but do not find it too burdensome.”

“It is not… burdensome.”

Again, something in Ian’s words made her burst into delighted laughter.

“How can a soul be so empty! You’ve already learned the way to survive in the North.”

Survive in the North?

Ian thought her words contradictory but didn’t press further.

He was the heir of House Ruben.

Even if he stayed long in the North, he would one day return to his family.

But if, as the spirit implied, he became the grand duchess and lived in the North… what would become of House Ruben?

The thought only lingered a moment before Nevan took Ian’s hand and kissed it.

A gentle warmth spread there.

“Lady Anna Tuhatla is a benevolent spirit. Lord Ian, it will be difficult, but please look after her well.”

“Understood.”

Nevan then left to search for the tribute to be offered.

Ian, unwilling to lose the sensation of Nevan’s lips, gently covered his kissed hand with the other.

“Are you planning to stay here all day?”

Anna Tuhatla yawned, urging Ian along.

Ian, who had been staring after Nevan’s departing figure, shook his head.

“Let’s return now.”

* * *

The faint-hearted Bain fainted the moment he saw Anna Tuhatla.

When he woke, he fainted again, and then again, until Anna Tuhatla had no choice but to conceal herself.

At last, when he managed to regain some sense, Bain bit his hand and shouted,

“M-my lord… I think I just saw a ghost three times over!”

“You must have imagined it.”

Ian would have preferred Bain not know at all.

But even though he had fainted, Bain remembered Anna Tuhatla with startling clarity.

“No, it was real! It was about this big, the eyes were pitch black, and the center was blue!”

“Like this?”

Suddenly, Anna Tuhatla popped out again.

“Hiieeek!”

Bain collapsed once more.

Ian pressed a hand to his forehead and said to Anna Tuhatla,

“Bain is faint-hearted. Please, stop now.”

“Mm, I was getting bored of it anyway.”

While Bain rose again and went to fetch supper, Ian looked over Berkisto’s journal.

Of course, the page he was reading contained entries about Anna Tuhatla.

“So you were tall originally.”

“They made me look so wicked! Let’s see… who was the author again? Berkisto?”

Anna Tuhatla’s expression shifted.

“What is it?”

Ian, puzzled, asked, and she folded her arms as she replied,

“I told you there was a human you resembled.”

“Don’t tell me you mean I resemble my ancestor?”

“No, you resemble his younger sister much more. She was loved wherever she went.”

So Berkisto had a younger sister.

Ian thought he ought to revisit the complicated family tree.

Since names changed when a woman married out, there was probably a separate record kept.

“How do you know of Lord Berkisto?”

“Because I was close with the Tower Lord.”

For a moment, Alvis came to mind, but Ian shook his head.

In Berkisto’s era, the Tower Lord would have been Alvis’s master.

Though Ian didn’t know the name, for that master to be close with a northern spirit… he must have been extraordinary.

But as if to dash such thoughts to pieces, Anna Tuhatla giggled and added,

“The Tower Lord fancied Berkisto’s little sister. I made a bet over drinks, but I doubt he ever confessed his whole life.”

“Ha. Then Berkisto and the Tower Lord weren’t truly close, were they?”

“Of course not! He hated humans. I heard he abandoned the tower early. The last time I went there, he was gone, and only some young mage was around.”

“……”

Ian now understood why Berkisto’s journal contained such detailed records of the Tower.

“He used his sister, didn’t he?”

Perhaps even the pursuit of knowledge was just another form of selfish desire.

Clicking his tongue, Ian read on through the journal.

It contained the same accounts as those in Anna Tuhatla.