Dmitry stood in front of the ducal mansion, taking a deep breath.
The pale breath dispersed in the air...
He had not expected...
that less than a week after he left Frost Speech, his father would have transford into a dragon. One could even say that the mont Dmitry’s front foot had stepped out of Frost Speech, trouble had befallen Duke Ivan.
He had not been able to see his father’s last monts as a human, nor had he been able to attend Annan’s coronation ceremony.
Emotionally, he had wanted to rush back, chase all the visiting ministers away, and get drunk with Annan... but his reason had told him it would be aningless.
It would only cause greater trouble.
Once the eldest son of a ruling monarch, he was now the brother of the new duke.
As Dmitry, any unusual behavior would lead to excessive interpretation by others. What he could do at the mont was to try to maintain the stability of Winter on all sides and sustain Annan’s rule... after all, this was the path they had set eight years ago.
Dmitry even considered that maybe it wasn’t that Ivan had transford into a dragon right after he left... but rather, knowing he was about to transform, Ivan had deliberately sent him away.
——Irrespective of Dmitry’s own wishes.
Most people did not know that Dmitry had lost the ability to produce offspring.
If during Duke Ivan’s transformation into a dragon, Dmitry and Annan had both been in Frost Speech, then, as the elder with a claim and more experienced in governnt affairs, Dmitry would have seen nobles spontaneously forming a "Dmitry faction" even if he had no desire to seize the ducal power himself.
This would have caused Annan so trivial troubles in the political realm after his accession, although with his personal capabilities, these troubles would not have posed any real obstacle.
Despite the core power of the Winter principality being held in the "Ten Fingers"... yet, even those trivial troubles were eliminated by Duke Ivan.
He was a conservative and steady ruler, solemn and steady like the endless glaciers of the northern Winter. It was for this reason that he could maintain the stability of the Winter principality even during the winter years.
"Move it, Dmitry."
A cold voice rang out behind him.
The small-frad girl in white robes said, "Don’t just stand there at the door like an idiot, you’re blocking my way."
It was his younger sister, Maria.
Just from the tone, it was clear, this was indeed close kin...
"I was just thinking about father,"
Dmitry said in a low voice.
He instinctively reached for the cigar at his chest, only to be pushed lightly yet firmly by Maria from behind.
Then he cleared his throat and unobtrusively withdrew his hand into his trouser pocket.
He was still wearing that deep grey Frost Beast fur coat, still with the appearance of not dressing properly — sleeves not put through, fluttering behind him like a long cape. His shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, his hands pocketed, baring forearms with quite prominent, bulging veins.
If Ivan had seen him dressed like this, he would surely have scolded him. He would have told him to dress properly and roll down his sleeves.
"What, are you planning on hitting soone?" he would admonish him in exactly this way.
If he detected a sll of smoke or alcohol on him, he would be scolded again.
"Father isn’t dead,"
Maria said indifferently, "He’s beco a dragon, protecting us from another world, guarding Winter."
"Ah, I know,"
Dmitry murmured, "Just like that old saying goes, ’There are no funerals for the people of Winter.’
"’People die and are buried, no need for excessive sorrow.’" Father used to say."
Maria followed behind him, replying softly.
—This was a unique tradition of Winter.
Due to the harsh natural environnt and scarce resources of Winter, there was typically no custom of hosting lavish ceremonies for complex rites.
They had no feasts to celebrate births, nor feasts to mourn the dead.
Newborns were often not sure to survive, so they couldn’t even have their own nas. Usually, they were given their official nas only when they could eat on their own, and were lively and active enough to run around.
And the dead were the sa... People of Winter did not reminisce much about the dead.
It was not due to lack of feeling, but because deaths were too frequent, too swift... and too urgent.
If one could not escape from sorrow for a long ti, then the grief would follow one after another, until it completely buried a person.
Generally, when soone died, they would pick a sunny day to quietly bury the body under a tree. Those who were slightly more fastidious might erect a monunt and visit with a bouquet of flowers the following spring, indicating that all was well... at least there was still ti and mood to bring a bouquet of flowers.
They had to be strong—even in a declining small town with less than a thousand inhabitants, walking through the empty streets, they needed to live their lives calmly and steadily.
—Or leave the Winter principality.
In the Winter principality, the most solemn ceremony was a wedding.
Because in such a difficult environnt for survival, it was easier for two people to live than one... and only for a wedding, would they want the Priest, the old grandmother, to witness the marriage.
Beyond that, the Winter principality didn’t even celebrate the New Year. Because every year, January was New Year’s. After a whole month of heavy snow in December... co January, in the month belonging to the Bone Mother, it often also marked the day when the most people in Winter died.
Many elderly could not withstand the winter and would die of various diseases. For the Winter principality, New Year was not a particularly celebratory day.
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