When Jeremy Seibel came to his senses, he realized that he was in his room.

«My Lord, are you feeling well?»

The first thing he saw was the face of an elderly man in a white coat who looked like a doctor. Only then did the baron's son remember that he had fainted.

— I'm sorry… How long had I been unconscious?

— You've been asleep for four days.

Jeremy got up from the bed and looked around the room with slight concern. To his relief, apart from a couple of servants standing listlessly in front of his bed, there was no one else here. The guy sighed.

«My Lord, are you really okay?»

«Well, at least the fact that I'm not in the dungeon is already encouraging.»

Ignoring the general weakness in his body, Jeremy replied to the doctor that he was not experiencing any other ailments.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, the doctor perked up.

— Are you here?

Thinking that it was probably some servant of the princess, Jeremy turned his head. And then his eyes widened in shock. The one who entered through the door turned out to be Selina herself, and not her subordinate at all.

«Why is she here?!»

As Jeremy stared at her in amazement, the Northern Duchess motioned for everyone present to leave the room. Including the doctor. As soon as this happened, the baron's son's heart involuntarily contracted. He realized that the real test was about to begin for him.

Jeremy wanted to hit himself on the head.

«And why am I such an idiot?»

Whichever way you look at it, his own fiancee caught him red—handed during a failed escape attempt. No, he not only couldn't escape, but he almost died. Having fallen for the bait of some secretary… In other words, the thinking abilities of Rufus and the previous owner of this body were not too different.

And now Jeremy Seibel had to pay for his own stupidity.

To be honest, he was surprised that he woke up in his own bed. Given the cruel laws of the North, the guy should have already been executed for such a misdemeanor. But maybe they're going to torture him before that…?

Jeremy swallowed as the princess slowly turned in his direction. The woman's face looked as hard as a piece of ice.

— So you're awake.

Unlike the calm voice he had just heard, the intonation of that voice scared him.

«Oh, I must be finished.»

Jeremy thought that in this case, he did not need to waste time on empty persuasion and immediately go to extreme measures.

«It's a pity that I made such a mistake. You shouldn't have trusted just anyone…»

Thinking about it, Jeremy knelt down. It seemed to him that this would make a greater impression than if he begged for mercy standing on his feet.

«Your Highness, it's my fault!..»

He humbly lowered his head, although he had little hope that his sincere repentance would somehow mitigate the sentence. There was a short pause.

«.....»

— Your Highness, I…» he stammered, not knowing how to find the right words.

Then Selina's voice rang out above his head.

— Get up.

— But now… — He babbled, — Now I have to tell you something very important…

— good. But get up first.

Jeremy raised his head in confusion and stared at her. The princess's face remained just as impenetrable.

«How is that?»

He expected Selina de Loon to be so angry that she would want to get even with him immediately. However, to his surprise, she was behaving as usual.

Although the baron's son was confused, but then he remembered that so far he had not managed to achieve his goal.

«It's too early to let your guard down. Perhaps the worst is yet to come…»

Jeremy's primary task was to beg forgiveness from the princess. Instead of getting up, he continued to kneel and stated:

«Your Highness, all this happened because of me! It's my fault, so please forgive me…»

Even before the guy had finished speaking, the ice witch had already nodded her head.

— good.

«Eh?»

Jeremy thought he had heard something wrong.

— Excuse me?

«I said I accept your apology.»

While Jeremy was in a daze, the Princess of the north calmly continued to speak:

«You seem to be feeling better already.» The tailor will come tomorrow to take your measurements for the wedding suit. Keep this in mind and prepare yourself.

Jeremy opened and closed his mouth. He couldn't believe that in a situation like this, the Duchess could still talk about their wedding so easily. And this is despite what happened.

«Wait…» his throat went dry, «won't I be punished?»

Selina de Loon's impassive face frowned slightly.

— Why should you be punished? «What is it?» she asked.

— But of course… I'm…I'm…» he stammered, trying to pronounce the whole words, «I was trying to escape…

Selina's expression remained unperturbed.

— You didn't run away.

— what?

«As long as you're on my territory, it doesn't count as an escape,» the woman said slowly.

Jeremy stared at her blankly.

«Does she mean to say that while I'm in the North, it can't be called an escape…?»

However, judging by her words, that was exactly the case. Jeremy's face fell.

«I left the palace without your permission.». — The guy muttered, — Besides… Oscar. He…

According to the secretary, he and the Northern Duchess had known each other since childhood. It is likely that he was the only person close to her during these years. However, Oscar was also injured due to his escape attempt. Selina probably couldn't just ignore it.

However…

— He's gone.

The bluish-purple eyes, framed by white eyelashes, remained cold.

— what?

Jeremy's heart was racing.

«The one who betrayed me was Oscar. He disobeyed my order and was punished for it,» as soon as these words left Selina's lips, the guy's back turned cold.

«A man who doesn't follow my orders is useless to me. In turn, the only order for you is to prepare for the wedding. As long as you don't disobey him, I don't care about anything else.

— …

«You'd better remember right away that I hate useless people.»

The realization that this woman had not hesitated to kill her most trusted man just because he had made a single mistake made Jeremy shudder. There really wasn't a shred of humanity in her heart. Is it possible to say that this time he was just lucky?

Just because he did not have time to leave the lands of the northern duchess, the baron's son was spared his life. Otherwise… Jeremy found himself thinking that he didn't even want to think about the possible consequences of his rash act.

— I'm going to go.

As soon as the silver-robed figure of the princess turned her back on him, Jeremy dared to speak. His lips parted:

«Your Highness, I'm sorry…»

Seeing how she turned and looked at him with her bluish-purple eyes, the guy began to hesitate.

«You came to me, didn't you?» Then tell me. I hate being kept waiting.

Jeremy was nervous, but nevertheless, this icy tone spurred him to resolve.

— Why did you choose me as your spouse? The guy's voice faltered.

This question had been bothering him for a long time. But Jeremy still didn't have the courage to ask it. Now the words came out of his mouth by themselves.

Indeed, why did the Northern Duchess choose him? No matter how you look at it, there was nothing special about the baron's youngest son. Even during the selection process, he did not show any outstanding qualities that could attract the princess's attention. Therefore, he sincerely could not understand the reason.

Selina de Loon stared at him in silence for a while. Her response, which Jeremy had not expected at all, completely stunned him:

— Because you don't make much noise.

Jeremy's face twisted in surprise.

— Excuse me…?

«Everyone who participated in the selection before you got on my nerves in every possible way,» she explained calmly, «Songs, poems, magic tricks and other ways to attract my attention. It was all terribly annoying. And I value peace more than anything in the world.

— …

Following the figure leaving the room with an indifferent gaze, the guy was still on his knees.

Jeremy felt a cramp in his stomach.

He couldn't believe that of all the possible options, he would hear this one.

«no… Are you kidding?»

The baron's heir could not believe that his brief confusion at that moment had completely changed his fate. After all, it wasn't because of his red hair, charming personality, or other hypothetical personality traits.

«I'm just… He was silent.»