I Became the Childhood Friend of the Northern Duchess

In the end, Ariel, who was constantly ticked by Edgar on her forehead, cried all day long with her bangs down to hide her red forehead.

"Cii, you're not doing this because you're interested in Shuri, are you?"

"listen from the side, don't say anything weird, you idiot."

“I’m not stupid! First of all, don't even think about touching Shuri because she is already taken by someone."

Oh, she has a lover?

Edgar's eyebrows twitched slightly at the interesting phrase Ariel spat in the middle of her tantrum.

After all, there is no story as enjoyable as someone else's love story.

Coincidentally, it wasn't long before they would arrive in Hispania, so wouldn't Shuri's love story be a very suitable material to soothe the boring environment until they reach their destination.

Ariel could only turn her head towards Shuri impatiently with a literal dark face.

It would only be strange if Shuri didn't squeak ‘Hee-ik!' because Ariel's expression was truly sinister.

“I am curious. You mean you already have a lover?”

“Not already, it's because she’s a year older than us”

“Leave out of here. Leave out of the country. Because I’m talking to Shuri.”

Edgar, who heard unnecessary noise from the side, ignored it and began digging into Shuri's love history.

"I-I don't think it's going to be that interesting… It's because we've been close since we were young, so it feels like we're in a relationship now… … .”

"Really? Is that so?”

Ariel knows Shuri had a lover and she also knows who the other party was, but she had yet to hear the details of Shuri's love story.

So Ariel snuck a quick glance.

She looked sideways at Edgar, who was sitting across from her, and she suddenly got up from her seat and asked him to change their seats..

“Why are you suddenly changing? We'll be arriving soon anyway."

"Noisy. If I want to change, I will change!”

"You're such a maverick…."

When Edgar let out a sigh and changed his place, Ariel's expression, which had been dull until just now, seemed to turn jolly and started to satisfy her curiosity about the other person's love story.

“Hmmmm. So, is that why Shuri has been friends with that person since childhood?”

Although her master's behavior of asking about her love story in earnest by coming close to her body was embarrassing, Shuri nodded her head and continued to answer quietly.

"Anyway, we work in the same family, so we have something in common. Our parents are familiar with each other.”

“His name is Ronan…right? The gardener's son.”

"Yes, that's right. He has a quiet and calm personality, but he has taken good care of me since I was little. We played in the mountains and fields together.”

Ariel, who had a lot of interest in Shuri's story, nodded her head and immersed herself in the story.

Her childhood friend, whom she has been close to since childhood, also seems to have such memories together with her.

She has also been busy running around since young with a fat boy who keeps digging his ear out there.

“I liked being at home. However, although Ronan had a quiet personality, he liked to play outside. He always dragged me out and showed me around.”

“Wow, what a wonderful person. He's different from someone who's confined to the mansion and only gets dragged around by a woman.”

Ariel speaks as if for certain ‘someone' to listen, with her head slightly turned away.

A small wrinkle formed between Edgar's eyebrows as he listened to the girl in silence.

“Are you saying that for me to hear?"

"Well? That's not what I meant. Did you get stabbed?”

She blatantly provoked him with her bright red tongue sticking out, but Edgar sighed as if he would let him go this time and sat back down.

He doesn't know what would happen if they get worked up in a running carriage like this.

Watching Edgar finally lose his temper, Ariel slightly raised the corner of her mouth as if she was the victor, and suddenly grabbed Shuri's hand.

“Shuri, tell me more when you return to the castle. I will do well in the future. Understand?"

"yes… … .”

Fortunately, there seems to be no revenge story for what happened just a moment ago.

She was nervous about what to do if Ariel held grudges in her heart, but seeing her master smiling so brightly made Shuri feel relieved.

Maybe it means that the man named Edgar has that much influence over Ariel.

RATTLE!

The moment Shuri finished thinking that far, the carriage stopped and informed her that they had reached their destination.

Finally arrived at Hispania, which is called the heart of the North.

Soon the door of the carriage opened, and the cold wind pushed through the gap.

"It's certainly cold in Hispania."

The air in Hispania was cold enough to feel quite chilly even though Edgar, who is strong against the cold, was quite dressed.

Ariel was already shaking her whole body and cocooned herself in the blanket that Shuri handed over.

"Mom, why did you stop here?”

Realizing that the place where the carriage got off was in front of the entrance to the outskirts of the city, not the castle, Ariel expressed her doubts.

“Yeah, I thought it would be nice to show around Hispania to Ed.”

“Hmm, I think it would have been okay to look around from the carriage… … ?”

“Then there will be no fun in that. If my daughter doesn't like it, shall I let the driver drive straight to the castle?”

The size of the city is enormous, befitting the nickname of Hispania, the heart of the North.

It would probably take a whole year to walk from the entrance to the castle without the carriage.

Edgar must have felt sorry for his childhood friend who was shivering because of the cold, so Edgar suggested that since it was fine, why don't they go straight to the castle, but Ariel stopped him.

“Uh, okay. I can alleviate the cold with a little magic anyway.”

In addition, Hispania had a unique characteristic of a hidden city.

With the fact in mind that the cold was just temporary, Ariel pointed her chin at him as if to carry on.

When that was decided, Helena asked Sheffy to lead their carriage back to the castle.

She asked Shuri about her intentions, but Shuri decided to stay by Ariel's side.

In the first place, she has lived all her life on the outskirts of Hispania, so she didn't budge from this coldness.

“Oops… !?”

Just as he was about to take a step forward, Edgar's body staggered at the sight of snow piled on the ground.

Fortunately for him, Ariel caught him by the neck, or else he'd have his butt on the floor right away.

“You fool, walk carefully.”

“Sorry, I didn’t think of that.”

Ardenum was also colder than other regions, but it wasn't snowy all year round. Even if he hadn't thought of it, he still couldn't help it.

Still, the snow was just up to his ankles, and it wasn't hard for him to walk, so Edgar quickly got used to his snow-covered trails.

‘But why is there no snow on that spire?'

Edgar, who was quietly moving his steps, saw a tall spire that caught his eye and tilted his head.

It was barely visible from quite a distance, but unlike the other buildings, it was clear that there was no snow ❄️ scattered around that tall spire.

And for some reason, there were very few people in the place where they were walking now.

He had thought that in a big city the size of Hispania, there would be crowds everywhere, but he was very surprised by what was in front of him.

“Why are you looking around like that?”

“I think there are fewer people. Is it because we're still on the outskirts?'

In such a large city, the central area where the powerhouses who dominated the land resided in should be the most developed place, and there should be densely populated areas where many commoners live in the outskirts.

But here somehow, in the outskirts, there were not many buildings.

As if it were an abandoned land.

At Edgar's questioning self-talk, Ariel exchanged glances with Helena, and at the same time burst into a small laugh.

Well, for an outsider new to Hespania, this is an appropriate reaction.

Although Hispania has been widely known lately, every first-time visitor is bound to have such a fresh reaction.

Ariel's curiosity was piqued by Edgar, so she thought deeply about it and wanted to leave him be for a while longer, but Ariel couldn't win over Helena's eyes and soon began to explain about Hispania.

“Haven’t you heard of the symbol of Hispania?”

“No?”

“Ooh, listen carefully. In Hispania, there is a magical sphere that is said to be the symbol of dominance.”

So it is the symbol of domination.

Does that have anything to do with the power of control passed down through the Robeheim family lineage?

At the appearance of the interesting word, Edgar immediately pricked his ears and focused on Ariel's explanation.

“By the way, this is also the story of Lord Elgrun, the first head of the Robeheim family.”

“It was a long time ago.”

It is about the story of 600 years ago.

At this point, it would be closer to legend than history, but since ancient times, history has sometimes been mixed with exaggerated fiction.

Anyway, as long as the explanation was done properly, it wouldn't matter anyway.

“Currently, the foreigners do not know what to do, but during the time Lord Elgrun was alive, he reigned as the ruler of the north and drove out the foreigners.”

“I know that.”

“And at the time, there was a sphere containing mysterious power that Lord Elgrun obtained by defeating the chieftain of the foreign tribes, but no one knew of its ability at first.”

The leader of the foreign races said that the sphere was more precious to them than their lives and handed them over as the cost of defeat, but at the time, lord Elgrun met the end of his life without knowing the power of the sphere.

“In the meantime, Lord Schwarz, the second generation of him, took over, and one day he inadvertently poured his magic into the sphere… … .”

“You mean that ability was activated?”

"Right. It turns out that the sphere is an item that can only be activated by those who possess special magical power, but the owner of that special magical power is the lineage of the Robeheim family.”

Only then did the contents of the magic sphere, a symbol of dominance, fit together like a puzzle in his head.

Only those with the special magical power of domination can activate it, and it was brought as a symbol of victory by Elgrun, who conquered the north and became a true ‘ruler' in a sense.

That's probably why it was called the ‘Symbol of Domination'.

"But what does that have to do with Hispania?"

"You'll find out soon enough. Don't be surprised."

Ariel snorted and suddenly cut off the explanation.

Just as a question mark was about to rise above Edgar's head, an unexpected scene unfolded before his eyes as he entered the road to the left.

The spire he saw just a moment ago was a little closer, and other buildings that rose, even the road.

This is because the snow scene he saw a while ago had the appearance of an ordinary city like Ardenum, even if it was a lie.

The air was still a little chilly, but at least it wasn't as biting as it was a while ago.

The number of people walking has increased significantly, and their clothes were quite thin to be living in Hispania.

"What's this?"

"Isn't it amazing? This is the influence of ‘symbol of domination'."

Ariel, who smiled at him blinking her eyes, immediately continued to explain.

In other words, the "symbol of domination" held by the Robeheim family can make the temperature of a certain area similar to other regions.

Regardless of this cold weather in the north, it was also the driving force behind Hespania's transformation into a large city called the heart of the north.

"Then the outer area……?”

"Unfortunately, it is an area where the symbol of domination cannot reach. That's why it's a place where only people who are in dire need live."

In the past, the "symbol of domination" used to exert absolute power to protect the even wider area, but as time went by, its power weakened and became the current Hespania.

There is no immediate way to create a residence for those who lived outside of the city only by suddenly reducing the city, and if the scope of ‘symbol of domination' decreases day by day, this old-fashioned solution will not be a perfect solution.

As Edgar's expression changed mysteriously after hearing the complicated reality, Ariel strode up and grabbed both of his cheeks and stretched them recklessly.

"Who the hell told you to make that kind of face? You don't have to worry too much..”

Ariel, who vowed to come up with a solution somehow when she became the ruler, sincerely did not intend to put the responsibility on others.

Even if the boy is the man she trusts the most.

Only after Edgar frowned and said that he was hurt, did Ariel let go and walked forward with her hands behind her back.

Then, smiling coyly among the backstretch of tall buildings, she gave a belated welcome to her childhood friend.

"Anyway, come on in. Welcome to Hispania."

[T Note: Hispania is not just a made up city, it actually exists in y life and you may search up on Google. The main reason for this note is because only now did I know that Hespania is not spelled with H'e'spania, it's H'i'spania.]

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