The winter in the North was harsh, but my husband Luden's gaze was even colder. To save the territory, which was on the verge of bankruptcy due to a long drought and crop failure, he chose a political marriage with my family, who promised a massive subsidy. However, on our first night, the words he spoke to me were far too dry.

"I will provide all the courtesy you should receive as the Grand Duchess of the North. However, do not expect any more emotion than that from me."

There wasn't even a hint of apology in his calm voice. Guest swallowed the bitterness and tried to silently fulfill her duties in her place. She comforted herself, thinking it was only natural not to be given a place in his heart since it was an affectionless marriage.

But before long, she learned the truth that the servants in the castle were keeping quiet. Luden had a lover he had held deep in his heart for a long time. It was said that after suppressing his feelings and marrying me for the sake of the people of the territory, he never went to see his former lover even once.

As if punishing himself, he stayed cooped up in his office day and night, clinging only to work.

Then one night, trouble finally struck. Luden, who had been overexerting himself and skipping meals for days, lost consciousness and collapsed on the office floor. The doctor, who rushed over, examined his pale face and shook his head with a grim expression. It was neither overwork nor a contagious disease.

It was a deep longing and remorse for the former lover he could not reach that had ruined his body—it was lovesickness.

By the bedside of her husband, who was delirious with a high fever and hovering between life and death, Guest could only stand there blankly. The man who had never once shown her a kind smile was dying, crushed by longing for another woman.

As he lay soaked in sweat, the name he desperately murmured through parched lips was, naturally, not my name.