King of the North: My Lord's Diary Weekly Summary

Wayne recalled what Anne had said at the camp that day.

She said she had to become the wolf king to have a voice.

Renee smiled, a hint of heartache in her smile.

"You remember it so clearly, sir."

"What she said is worth remembering."

The two walked for a while longer and could see the wooden fence at the northernmost edge of the ranch.

Renee suddenly stopped in her tracks.

"grown ups."

"Um?"

"Will you feel sad?"

Wayne looked at her.

Under the moonlight, the girl's eyes were softer than usual, as if she were hiding something she couldn't say.

"Why are you suddenly asking this?"

"that is……"

Renee lowered her head: "Sometimes I can't sleep at night, and I think about some things."

My mother said I was overthinking things, but…

She paused.

"Sir, you have come from such a far place, leaving home and familiar people, to a completely unfamiliar place."

"You must be sad too, right?"

Wayne was silent for a few seconds.

He recalled how he looked when he first arrived.

Cold, assassination.

He was indeed sad at that time.

But the sadness she felt was different from what Renee described.

"meeting."

He said, "It was very difficult to get used to at first."

"And then?"

"Then things got busy."

Wayne said, "Every day I have to think about what to eat tomorrow, where to stay the day after tomorrow, and whether someone will come to kill me the day after that."

There's no time to be sad then.

Renee was amused by him.

"You're quite the smooth talker, aren't you?"

I'm serious.

Renee looked up at the moon in the sky.

"We wolves are different."

She said, "I was born in this forest, but some of my elders always say they miss their homeland in the north."

"Do you want to go north?"

"In no mood."

Renee shook her head: "But sometimes I wonder what the outside world is like."

My mother said that when she was young, she traveled to very faraway places, where there were red mountains, silver lakes, and fields of wildflowers.

She paused, then spoke even softer.

"I have never seen a flower as beautiful as she described."

Wayne looked at her.

The moonlight softly outlined her profile, and her eyes gazed into the distance, as if looking at an unseen place.

He suddenly raised his hand.

Renee paused for a moment.

Wayne opened his palm, a thin layer of frost rising from it.

The mist slowly condensed and gathered under the moonlight, and finally—bloomed into a flower.

A flower sculpted from ice.

The petals are as thin as cicada wings, shimmering in the moonlight, each one clearly visible.

"This is……"

Renee's voice was stuck in her throat.

"The flowers from my hometown."

Wayne said, "Call her Yukinobuko."

It blooms on the snow-capped mountains—it only blossoms when the ice and snow begin to melt, and then withers quickly before spring arrives, leaving only seeds to fly away with the wind.

Legend has it that it took away the snow, allowing spring to arrive on the continent, so it is also known as the flower of hope.

But at the same time…

"At the same time what?"

Renee's eyes sparkled as she stared at the little blue flower in Wayne's hand.

"Snow hyacinth also represents pure love—willing to wither away quickly in its most beautiful form to bring warmth to the seeds in the new year."

He gently placed the ice flower in Renee's palm.

A chill ran through her, and Renee's hand trembled slightly, but she didn't pull away—her face was flushed, for reasons unknown.

She lowered her head and looked at the flower.

It's very light, very thin, and very beautiful.

"Just like the real thing..."

She held the ice flower in her hands and gazed at it for a very long time.

"It's time to go back."

Renee finally raised her head, her eyes a little red, but with a smile on her face: "Thank you, sir."

Wayne nodded: "Perfect timing, I'll go get the horse."

Wayne vanished from Renee's sight in a flash, followed by the sound of horses' hooves.

He rode up to Renee, still dressed in black.

Faced with the pure and lovely girl on horseback, Wayne did not dismount in a gentlemanly manner to lift her up, but instead stretched out his right hand and gently lifted his left foot at the same time.

At Wayne's prompting, Renee blushed even more—she slowly took Wayne's hand, her fair little hand much warmer than Wayne had imagined.

At the same time, she carefully and gently stepped onto Wayne's foot, and he gently embraced her with his left hand as they mounted the horse.

She didn't know why she was holding that hand.

The two had only known each other for a short time, far from the length of time she had imagined for a special relationship to develop.

He was clearly the lord, while she was merely the adopted daughter of a shaman from the wolf clan.

But the flower under the moonlight was so beautiful that she forgot all her worries.

This was a moment for Wayne and Renee, and Wayne's first truly private moment.

He simply saw that the moonlight was beautiful, and there happened to be a lovely girl beside him.

The journey to the wolf tribe was not short, and the slight bumps along the way made his...

How could he describe the immense warmth behind him?

The girl behind him shyly placed her hand gently on his waist.

……

Wayne rode his horse through the forest—and the outpost came into view ahead.

Ahead lies Rachel's Northwest Outpost.

If I'm willing to share the profits from the finished handcrafted products at this meeting, opening up the luxury market shouldn't be a problem—after all, nobody turns down money, not even a duke.

But what kind of treatment will I receive, what kind of guarantees will I get, and how much extra prestige will I gain...?

Worth looking forward to it!

……

The wooden fence of the Northwest Outpost gleamed with an old, grayish-brown hue in the afternoon sun.

Wayne pulled on the reins and dismounted.

The guards at the door recognized him and did not stop him; they simply saluted and pointed inside.

"The Knight Commander is in the command room."

Wayne nodded, led his horse into the outpost, and then carried the bundle from the horse's side into Rachel's council chamber.

Rachel was standing in front of the table covered with maps, holding a charcoal pencil, and didn't even look up when she heard footsteps.

"Looking to borrow someone again?"

"no."

Wayne placed the package on the table: "I've come to deliver something."

Rachel then looked up, a hint of curiosity flashing in her icy blue eyes.

"What is it?"

Wayne untied the ropes of the package, took out the two sheepskins, and spread them out on the table.

The midday sun slanted in through the window, shining on the two sheepskins.

The pure white fur has a warm luster, with soft edges and delicate texture, like two pieces of condensed moonlight.

Rachel's hand paused.

She put down her charcoal pencil, took two steps closer, and looked down carefully at the two sheepskins.

Then she reached out and gently touched it.

The touch was unexpectedly soft, and she paused for a moment before looking up at Wayne.

"This is... sheepskin?"

"right."

"Where did it come from?"

"The sheepskins were sent by the wolves' allies—more than twenty pieces, plus the skill of my men in processing them."

Rachel didn't speak immediately.

She turned the sheepskin over to look at the back, touched the cut edges, and finally held it up to the sunlight.

"This level of craftsmanship..."

She put down the sheepskin, looked at Wayne, and there was something different in her eyes: "It's not Northern craftsmanship."