How to Survive as the Wife of the Monster Duke - Chapter 1

Biflten was well-known for its harsh winter, more people died of the cold than anything else. Duke Aden of Biflten was a rich but possibly the worst groom in the world.  Aden spent more time with monsters than with women. His face was always painted with blood and was unknown to society. Rumors spread that he was a hideous, ugly monster. Then one fateful day, a noble was found dead. People assumed that anyone who so much as looked at the Duke’s eyes turned to stone. 

Everyone was terrified of the Duke, no woman wanted to marry him. However, the Duke of Biflten himself was indifferent to the ever-increasing rumors to his name. The elders of the Biflten family took matters into their own hands. They sent out posters to look for a bride for the Duke. They even allowed divorce if the bride was unhappy with it. To be summarized: enter the Biflten Castle, marry and then divorce were the terms. But none came forward. Nobody wanted to enter the castle because people believed monsters lived there, and no one wanted to marry the monster of a Duke.

Aden de Biflten wasn’t known to live in the castle for long anyway. These ways devised by the elders to soothe the rumors against the Duke backfired. Nobody wanted to live alone after marriage nor marry the Duke. Any attempt to satiate the rumors made it worse than before and the recruitment for brides for the Duke failed miserably. 

***

It was a vivid dream. A dream worth remembering. That even when you woke up, it stayed with you, signals and all. In the dream, Ilyin had looked up at the spinning mobile from the ceiling. There was a mobile on top of the bed, even though it wasn’t a cradle. A predictive dream.

Ever since Ilyin was young, a dream with a mobile showed her the future. She watched herself in the dream like an observer. She looked around the bedroom to find another figure, herself, in the bright room. Then the lights went out. And Ilyin, both herself and the dream self, heard a voice in the heavy darkness. 

“Ilyin de Biflten.”

Ilyin opened her eyes wide. My name? No, that surname isn’t mine. It wasn’t Ilyin de Arlen but de Biflten. The back of her head hurt, as though from a heavy blow.

“Ilyin.”

The low voice kept ringing in her ears. The voice in the dark that had called her seemed to have amplified in her ears. It was ringing in her head. The bed rocked. Ilyin knew that it was the Duke of Biflten in the dream, where he had come upon her bed. Aden de Biflten. His hands passionately hot against her body. His fingers on her cloth were gentle. He touched her like she was a fragile glasswork. 

“Ah…” 

In her dream, she exhaled a deep breath. The hand carefully reaching for her clothes were huge. Ilyin couldn’t tell if the sound was coming from her clothing or her blanket, the sound of clothes rustling against each other stuck in her ears.

Ilyin’s back arched. The touch of her clumped bedclothes was vivid. The night was long.

 ***

 Ilyin opened her eyes. She had a letter in her hand for the recruitment of a bride for the Duke of Biflten. Ilyin double-checked the name on the letter, baffled.

‘Ilyin de Biflten.’

The last name had changed. It meant she was the bride of the Duke of Biflten. Ilyin leapt out of bed. The long old mobile touched her forehead. 

 ***

Rumors then spread like wildfire about the Biflten family, while a blizzard covered the outer walls of the Biflten Castle. The castle was only visible in mid-summer, if at all. It was said that the castle was almost inaccessible because of the winter and harsh climate. The only people who ever reached Biflten Castle were those escorted by the Biflten family. They were the only ones who knew how to get around the castle and its surroundings.

The curious thing was that these harsh conditions were only limited to the Biflten lands. Outside their territories it was always sunny and warm. ‘Land forsaken by the Gods’ were what people said about the Biflten estates. The name fit it well and it remained in Ilyin’s mind. A land with monsters. The Duke…

There were rumors that he was scary and hideous, that he was a medusa of Dukes. He preferred his sword to talking with others. It was said he was so brutal that he would behead anyone that went against opinions. The Mad Duke of the North, they called him. That was the reputation that preceded Aden, the Duke of Biflten.