The Ice Age Came And I Just Got Married - Chapter 58

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 58
I stood on the roof, surveying the village and turning the matter over in my mind.
It was true that the damage here would be less severe than elsewhere, but that didn’t mean there would be none at all.
“We have a little time left. Let’s reinforce things further. We might be able to minimize the damage even more.”
Logan smiled at my answer, and in that smile I recognized the echo of something from long ago—a similar moment, a similar choice.
“Did you deliberately leave some of the work for me?”
“Not intentionally. I simply ran out of time. There were more pressing matters to attend to.”
Logan shrugged as he answered.
It made sense—he’d foreseen the snowstorm coming six months after the Ice Age began, so preparations against it wouldn’t have seemed an urgent priority.
‘That’s fine. There’s enough time.’
I made my way downstairs with Logan.
Everyone was waiting for us below.
We finished our meal quickly within twenty minutes and resumed our detailed explanations.
.
.
.
Three hours and thirty minutes before the snowstorm struck.
Logan took command of the preparations—the village’s true owner and the one who possessed the most knowledge about the coming tempest.
First, we began reinforcing the walls.
If the walls were built too rigidly, like fortress ramparts, the strong winds would strike them and create turbulence, potentially causing snow to accumulate in strange heaps on the inside.
“I think it would be best if Marcus, Nathan, and Vincent handled the walls.”
In truth, Logan had already reinforced the walls when he’d purchased the village.
The wall wasn’t a barrier of tightly packed logs, but rather a double windbreak with deliberately spaced gaps.
The outer wall would slow the wind, and the inner lower fence would cause the blowing snow to fall outside the walls rather than pile up within the village.
“It looks like we’ll only need to do some repairs.”
Marcus examined the wall quickly and gave his assessment before turning to Nathan and Vincent.
“It’ll take some effort, but the structure is solid. Our junior sure is clever.”
Three hours before the snowstorm struck.
We began seriously reinforcing the glass greenhouse, pooling everyone’s strength for the work.
The greenhouse was the most vulnerable spot when the snowstorm came. Beyond the wind itself, there was the danger that ice particles, branches, and hardened chunks of snow carried by the gale could shatter the glass.
So the first thing we did was fit wooden shutters over the exterior of the glass.
Next, we braced the roof with horizontal reinforcement bars and immediately harvested any crops that were ready to be picked.
Scratch-scratch, scratch!
Watching us move busily around the outside of the greenhouse, Chipi scurried anxiously back and forth across the Vegetable Garden, clearly uneasy.
I reached out to stroke the small squirrel’s head, but he bit my finger.
……
I snatched the Acorn from Chipi’s paws and bit it myself. Revenge.
“Eve. What are you doing?”
At Charlotte’s call, I turned my head, still holding the Acorn between my teeth.
“Nothing much.”
But then—Aiden was standing right behind Charlotte.
The long-haired man stood with his hands clasped behind his back, leaning forward inquisitively to see what I was doing, and our eyes met.
Aiden’s expression became complicated.
He quickly looked away, his face suddenly awkward, as though he’d witnessed something he shouldn’t have.
No, wait—his courtesy only made me look even stranger.
The Acorn I’d been holding fell from my mouth onto Chipi’s head. On purpose.
Even this small squirrel needed to learn the harsh truth that the world was not kind to anyone.
Angry now, Chipi bit my opposite finger.
Sigh.
Before I’d even noticed his approach, Logan grabbed Chipi by the scruff with a finger, using his characteristic painless grip—the squirrel’s teeth were useless against him—and pulled him away.
Chipi thrashed in Logan’s hand, chittering indignantly.
Logan lightly buried the impudent squirrel up to its face in the Vegetable Garden soil.
Instantly, Chipi grew docile. As if he hadn’t just been furious, he soon fell peacefully asleep. The soil clearly gave him a sense of security.
Logan turned to me.
“I’ll move the potted plants. You stay here.”
After that, Logan carried the flower pots and small plant boxes into Eve House.
In the meantime, I seized a moment when no one was watching and drew every last bit of power from my Goldstone, using it to strengthen the greenhouse’s structural integrity and reinforce the glass.
I’d retrieve it after the storm passed.
Then I positioned a Redstone inside the greenhouse to prevent the interior temperature from plummeting.
“My, I’m curious—exactly how many Redstones do you have that you’re using them so freely?”
Aiden watched with clear interest as I positioned the Redstone. Fortunately, it seemed he hadn’t noticed me using the Goldstone.
If he saw me absorbing the Winterstones, he’d be stunned speechless.
“How many Winterstones have you managed to secure, if I may ask?”
“Given the debt of gratitude I owe, I’ll tell you this much, madam — we’ve accumulated a fairly diverse stock of them ourselves.”
“Are you perhaps interested in the Winterstones we possess?”
“I am no plunderer. So rest assured, madam.”
I’d heard the answer I needed. I retrieved Chipi from the Vegetable Garden and rose to my feet.
Then I turned to Aiden.
“Do you happen to be strong?”
Two hours before the snowstorm struck.
Our next task was preparing for heat.
We couldn’t venture outside while the storm raged.
So it was wise to store firewood in scattered locations — emergency supplies in the Livestock Shed and Greenhouse, with the rest piled into Eve House.
We’d decided to shelter together in Eve House until the storm passed, in case of emergency.
One hour before the snowstorm struck.
We prepared as much water as we could manage.
Snow was plentiful, but we couldn’t venture out to gather it while the storm whipped about — and melting snow consumed fuel. So we filled bathtubs, pots, buckets, and jars to the brim.
We boiled the melted snow and kept it separate as drinking water, storing cooking water and cleaning water in their own supplies.
Once all preparations were complete, I entered Eve House and spotted the group gathered on the living room sofa — then my eyes met Aiden’s, and I cursed inwardly.
I’d planned so carefully to make Dotori Village seem unremarkable and harmless in his eyes.
I pressed my forehead with my hand.
Perhaps it was better this way — better to appear competent than insignificant.
Better to shift toward cooperation than enmity.
“Damn it! Eve! Eve!”
Marcus suddenly came racing down from the fence, waving both arms frantically toward us.
He must have been desperate to call me by my name instead of his usual respectful address.
“Nathan and Vincent are in danger right now!”
Thirty minutes before the snowstorm struck.
Logan’s aide Nathan and Aiden’s bodyguard Vincent were in peril.
* * *
Thirty minutes before the incident began.
Nathan, who had been working with Marcus and Vincent on fence repairs, spotted the young bird Pipi fluttering through the air.
The creature darted back and forth above the fence before landing on Nathan’s shoulder.
Chirp—
The chick perched on Nathan’s shoulder and let out a delicate, adorable cry.
Marcus happened to be far enough away that only Vincent witnessed it.
Chirp—
The chick tapped Nathan’s Ear Warmer gently with its beak — the one I’d knitted for him.
“You recognize your master’s things, don’t you?”
“Ah. So that bird belongs to Lady Charlotte.”
Vincent spoke up — a stark contrast to his previous silence, as if he’d been unwilling to exchange even words with Nathan.
Nathan regarded him with suspicion. He found Vincent disagreeable.
Vincent was polite, yet somehow discourteous all the same.
It was a contradiction, yet utterly true.
“You seem fortunate, Nathan.”
“I beg your pardon?”
At Vincent’s sudden remark, Nathan lifted a wooden stake and rose onto his elbows.
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing at all.”
Vincent dropped the subject flatly, and Nathan exhaled a sigh as he glanced at him.
“Finish your part quickly. We haven’t time to dawdle, have we?”
“… Being an aide must suit you quite well.”
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
Vincent was a man shaped by the conservative and overbearing thinking typical of bodyguards — courteous and upright, grounded in the code of his station, yet rigid and narrow-minded in his outlook.
“Here you are, in this hellish disaster, sheltering behind the Empire’s most celebrated warrior, the great general Charlotte, and her delicate duchess wife — keeping yourself warm with soup while preserving your neck.”
Vincent’s tone remained formal, but his words were unmistakably an accusation.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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