* * *

There are days when my eyes open easily in the morning. A refreshing feeling with no trace of fatigue left.

My life couldn’t possibly be this bright.

Feeling a strange sense of unease in the midst of this freshness, I suddenly opened my eyes wide and sprang up, gripping the blanket tightly.

‘This is crazy.’

The texture of the sheets in my hands felt completely different from what I was familiar with.

At the same time, the weight I sensed next to me on the bed pulled me down heavily.

“You can sleep a little longer.”

A low, softly resonating voice. I knew the owner of that voice.

I had to escape.

A red emergency light was flashing in my mind, but I couldn’t think of a single word to say.

Should I say it was a mistake?

That we were both drunk and let’s just pretend it didn’t happen?

Or maybe apologize?

While my mind was spinning in circles, wondering what to say, the man next to me on the bed slowly opened his eyes, puzzled by the fact that I hadn’t lain back down.

“Mister Everdeen?”

Ugh. No matter how many times I heard it—dozens, no, thousands, or even tens of thousands of times—I could never get used to that word.

It was the surname of the family to which the owner of the body I was now possessing belonged.

“Is there something wrong…?”

Something wrong?

The situation itself is the problem, yet you’re asking that?

As I berated myself, I cautiously moved my tense, trembling body to the opposite side of the bed, breaking out in a cold sweat.

“Well… no… I mean…”

I wanted to jump out of there immediately, but I was in no position to offend him.

He was a young duke who owned more than 30% of the northern territory, while I was just a low-ranking noble from a rural southern village where the high nobility came to vacation in the winter.

“The weather in Velon is too cold for you to endure it with bare skin, Mister Everdeen. Cover yourself with the blanket.”

The man, with his muscular, firm upper body, gently wrapped his arm around my shoulder and carefully pressed me back down toward the sheets.

As he did, I couldn’t help but shiver again, remembering the sensation of his grip on my body from the night before, which left my entire body feeling sore.

“Ah… thank you…”

No, no. This isn’t it.

I should be bowing my head, begging you to forget the rudeness of yesterday, and yet, I was just saying thank you?

My mouth was dry.

The moment my body collapsed back onto the bed, clutching the edge of the blanket, before I even realized what was happening, the man pulled me into his embrace.

“?!”

Due to Velon’s dry air, my skin was completely parched, and the touch of the man’s firm muscles against it was unmistakable.

His heartbeat, slow and steady, transmitted through the skin pressed against mine, leaving no room for even the smallest gap.

I wondered if he could hear my heartbeat too.

The man, still holding me in his arms, buried his face in the nape of my neck, and I could sense him stifling a laugh.

Laugh?

Even a cornered sewer rat will bite a cat.

With veins bulging on my forehead, I shoved the man away and covered myself with the blanket.

“I-I apologize for the rudeness!”

I sprang up from the bed and was about to extend my legs over the edge when the man grabbed my wrist.

“Is that all you have to say to the lover you spent the night with?”

Eek!

His expression was strangely arrogant, as if he was looking down on me.

I couldn’t immediately shake off his hand.

But at the same time, I couldn’t just sit back down and let myself be embraced either.

“Who said I’m your lover?”

I needed to correct the most important point first.

Besides, this guy was already supposed to be with someone else.

Not only was he supposed to be with someone else, but if ‘that incident’ hadn’t happened, he should have been enjoying the rosy honeymoon phase of his newlywed life right about now.

As I desperately denied it, he lightly chuckled and rebutted with a smirk.

“You’re not my lover? Mister Everdeen, are you perhaps unaware of what it means to spend the first night together according to northern customs?”

I don’t know!

Even if I knew, I wouldn’t want to.

It’s not like I was born and raised here.

I was too busy paying attention to the southern rural etiquette, the rules when dealing with royal officials, and the protocols to observe when hosting foreign dignitaries to cram something like that into my head.

“I’m not… really sure.”

I didn’t care about customs from other regions, as long as I avoided any business faux pas.

I didn’t need to know anything about first nights.

As I hesitated for a long while before finally answering, the man sighed deeply and looked up at me.

“In northern customs, any physical relationship with someone who is not your lover is strictly prohibited. This custom was established in the distant past when hunting and warfare were frequent, causing couples to be separated for long periods of time. To ensure the legitimacy of their offspring, the custom emphasized mutual fidelity between couples.”

When I frowned, wondering why he was telling me this, the man continued, gently raising his eyebrows.

“It is customary for all northerners to become lovers with the person they first give their purity to. Since you’re from the South, I won’t ask about your previous relationships. However, what’s important is…”

Wait, what?

Hold on, what are you talking about?

Sensing an ominous beginning, I tried to shake off his hand, but he was too strong.

The faint mark engraved on his forearm glowed brightly as his grip tightened.

“Mister Everdeen, you took my purity last night. So it is only natural, in the eyes of the gods and His Majesty the Emperor, that you should become my lover.”

This is insane. Something was definitely going wrong.

“……”

To explain this messy situation would take too long.

For now, I should clarify that I’m not the ‘real’ eldest son of the Everdeen family, who owns the Nirvan estate.

I’m 23 years old, named Woo Seongheon.

Born in Seoul, South Korea, I never imagined that my life could be turned upside down at such an absurdly impossible timing, even through my time serving in the military as a healthy young man.

I was born into a family where I grew up with more than enough, to the point of having an overabundance.

As the son of a nationally famous Korean restaurant owner, I was guaranteed to be the heir without much threat and was put into a managerial position at my parents’ restaurant even before I graduated from college.

Outsiders might think I lived an easy life as a silver spoon, but that would be a mistake.

My grandmother, who came down to South Korea from the North during the war, had a single-minded determination to conquer the nation with her cooking.

She had immense pride in her culinary skills and business acumen, and although my father may have had a talent for cooking, she was very displeased with his lack of business sense.

Fortunately, my mother, the eldest daughter-in-law, was meticulous, so the business thrived rather than declined.

However… since my grandmother believed my father was hopeless, she turned her focus on me, vowing to properly teach me and ensure I was a worthy successor before she passed.

Long story short, I was driven to the ground in the effort to mold me into the ‘perfect heir.’ I learned how to ferment soy sauce before I learned the ABCs in kindergarten.

So, even though I became a manager at a young age, having worked at the restaurant since middle school, I was never looked down upon by the employees.

Instead, I was often pitied. I was constantly pushed to prove that I was the heir that the adults wanted, rather than being some spoiled kid who just relied on his parents’ wealth.

Though it may have seemed to outsiders that I lived an easy life as the future president of a high-end restaurant, where even state dignitaries came for formal dinners, it was a life I lived with determination and effort.

Unlike other friends who could hang out at PC bangs or play soccer on the playground, such things were always out of reach for me.

Still… well….

I thought it suited me well, expanding the business was fun, and being recognized by elders who were stingy with praise was rewarding.

Since I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth, I figured I should make the most of it and live diligently.

I lived thinking, “Let’s work hard without complaining.”

So, I was confident that, with the effort I put in, my future would continue smoothly without any major changes.

But then, I died of overwork at an absurdly young age.

“…….”

They say you should embrace hardships when you’re young, but of course, there were limits.

One night, I fell asleep leaning on a restaurant table and never woke up again.

After wandering aimlessly in some unknown afterlife, I was suddenly sucked into somewhere as if being pulled in.

When I came to my senses, I found myself in a dark place where a child, slightly taller than my waist, was hugging their knees and crying.

Why is a child here?

Is this kid dead like me?

Just as I was hurriedly trying to comfort the child, they hugged my waist and looked up at me.

“You take my place!”

“What?”

I was momentarily flustered by the sudden request, but the child tightened their grip around my waist as if determined.

“I, I can’t do it! I’m scared of Elise and Jurgen! I don’t want to be an heir!”

What was the kid scared of, and what couldn’t they do?

Before I could fully understand, my head started spinning, and I felt a wave of nausea.

When I opened my eyes, I had become a child who seemed about 30 centimeters shorter than before.

* * *