It had been two weeks since the marriage and Juvia and Gray had fallen into a routine. In the mornings, they would have breakfast together with Jose Porla, who decided to stay for some time to make sure that she was alright, as he said. Then, Gray would go to his office and deal with Duchy issues, while Juvia went to the big salon and sew. When it was lunch time, the Duke and Duchess -plus Jose Porla- would eat together and right after, Gray would go out with his horse and a few guards to check the lands surrounding Avalanche Castle, while Juvia would go back to the salon and sew. After dinner – with Jose Porla, of course – , they would talk for a while and then went to sleep: she occupying the bed, while he slept on the couch.

Juvia didn't like that routine. Not at all.

First: she didn't want Jose around during the times Juvia was with her husband. They barely talked during the meals and she was certain that it was the older man who was making it impossible for them to bond. The Duchess had learned that her husband didn't like to share much and even though he was the one who suggested that they needed to know each other better, with Jose there it was difficult; Gray had made very clear that he didn't like the other man if his silence wasn't enough.

And second: she hated sewing and it seemed the only thing she was doing since she got there, right next to eating. Juvia had made to herself a new dress during the time she was living in that castle. And not a simple one, it was kind of fancy.

Third: Juvia wanted her husband to really look at her!

Her instincts about Gray were right; she knew it now. He tried to be detached from the world, but the truth was that he loved that Duchy. One time, when Jose was late for dinner, Juvia had asked how his day was and surprisingly, he answered.

"This season we were able to provide for all of the villages." She saw the sparkle in his eyes. "The roughest time we have around here is Winter for obvious reasons, but it's tough during the warmer months too. This was a very good Spring. A few years back, when my grandfather's father ruled, even during the Summer and Spring the rates of deaths because of malnutrition were insanely high." He smiled. "Sorry, I talked too much."

"No, please, continue." She said eagerly. Juvia didn't stutter as much when he was around anymore. Only if the Duke was too close to her, of course. Her stomach would start to feel funny and she would forget how to speak like a normal person. But at that moment, Juvia was too excited because her husband was talking to her. "Juvia likes to hear about the Duchy."

Gray nodded. "Alright, then." He was glad that his wife was showing interest in her new home. "When the Summer is here, if we do it again – have supplies for all villages, that is –, I am confident that when the Winter comes we will be alright." He chuckled. "The past few years we've been holding on, but this year, I'm confident we will finally have a good winter."

"Juvia is glad." The blue haired woman smiled truly happy that her husband was feeling confident about the Duchy.

"And there's your March." Gray said, smiling even wider. "I received a letter earlier; the Blue Diamonds that were being shipped to the Duchy of Spring arrived with no problems."

"Really?" Juvia asked, surprised.

"Yes." He nodded. "My guess is that whoever is stealing is afraid of make a move since I am your husband and the new lord of the March." He stopped for a moment and smirked. "And well... I did change the routes of the ships. Maybe they're just lost."

Juvia put a hand over her mouth and giggled.

"Very smart, Gray-sama." She said.

"You know that just 'Gray' is fine, Juvia." He rolled his eyes.

"Ju-Juvia can't." The Duchess' face became vermillion and she looked down with shyness.

"Fine." He sighed. "If you prefer it like that, it's fine. Just so you know, I'm not calling you 'Juvia-sama', my wife or not." He joked.

She looked up and was about to tell him that she didn't expect him to, but she saw the playful look on his eyes and her face became even redder. He was so handsome when was carefree like that.

Jose Porla chose to enter the dining room at that moment and Gray's posture changed. His shoulders straighten, his face became stoic and all playfulness left his eyes. He was the Duke, then; not Gray.

Juvia wanted that again; she wanted to talk to her husband when he was Gray, not when he was the Duke. Honestly? She wanted Jose gone. She felt small amount of guilt; Jose was the only father figure she ever had, but she was a married woman and she needed to know her husband.

And that day, was the day he was going back to the March of Rain.

Finally, Juvia thought. She was glad to see him going. Jose was the man who pretty much raised her, but she knew that most of people would get uncomfortable around him, and to tell the truth he was too nosy. The man practically asked in what position Juvia and the Duke consummate the marriage – which they still hadn't done it!

She waved good-bye while the chariot went away, and with it, most of the guards that came with her, and of course, Jose Porla.

Gajeel was by her side, stoic as ever. He chose to stay with Juvia. He and Marge were the only ones who stayed and the Duchess was glad they did. Marge, even with her pessimist behavior, was the woman who raised her and she was glad to have at least her there. Gajeel said that he was her guard and would be until she herself says that his services were not needed anymore.

"Are you sure you don't wanna go, Gajeel-kun?" Juvia asked as the chariot with Jose went away and the man snorted.

"And leave your security to these stupid snow guards?" His red eyes focused on her. "Sorry, but they're more interested in protecting the Duke, not you. A wife is replaceable; the man with the lineage is not."

The Duchess nodded. "Juvia is glad that you chose to stay. It's good to have faces she recognizes."

"Whatever. Don't get all mushy on me." Gajeel said and Juvia giggled.

"Let's get inside. Now that Master is gone, maybe Juvia can do things other than sewing."

#

Avalanche Castle was a very, very big place; Juvia noticed that she could easily get lost there if she wasn't careful enough. Gajeel was following her, of course. Probably making his own map inside his head in case they needed to run. Juvia was just enjoying the place.

The two weeks since the wedding, she had only seen her room, the dining room and the sewing room, where she and Marge would stay most of the day.

It was strange, to see all those people inside the castle. Lots of housemaids were passing by and bowing to her before resuming their tasks of cleaning whichever. Juvia was, as always, surprised to see how much sunlight the castle had. The big windows provided it, and also the beautiful image of the mountains and the snow.

After checking the eastern side of the castle, Juvia and Gajeel wander off the western one. It appeared to be much older than the other one and she guessed that it was the first side to be built. The Duchess and her guard were in silence for most of the time, and neither bothered with meaningless talk. They never did.

After a few minutes, down the main hall of western side, they stopped in front of a big painting; it was of the previous Duke, Juvia guessed. And even though he was in his mid-twenties or so, he had hair as white as the snow outside. He was wearing the formal clothes from the Ice Lands and was standing by a woman, also in her mid-twenties. She had dark hair and eyes that reminded Juvia of her husband. She had a baby in her arms, a girl with a small amount of white hair wearing a dress that looked a lot like the Duchess'. The boy was standing in front of his father, his white hair exactly like the Duke's.

Right under the painting, there was written: Leonard V. and his family – 30th Duke of Winter.

"A kid with white hair is freaky. Old people have white hair." Gajeel said frowning slightly and then smirked. "Maybe you'll have small elderly babies, Juvia. It's clearly possible."

At this, the Duchess laughed. "Yes. That's not going to happen for a while, Gajeel-kun."

He shrugged. "Think about the bright side of it: if you find a guy with white hair to have an affair with, no one will know if you have his baby."

"Gajeel-kun!" She turned to face him with her cheeks bright red. "Juvia would never..." He just laughed and ducked as she tried to give him small slaps on his arm. She was laughing with him after a few moments and they stopped when someone let out a cough. When Juvia turned around, she saw the amused sight of her husband, Loki a few steps behind. "Gray-sama! This is not... we are not..."

Gray was leaning on a nearby wall and had a smirk on his lips as he saw his wife and her guard interact. For a moment, he thought that might had been some kind of feelings between the two, since Gajeel seemed too concerned about her but now it was clear that they were just friends.

"It's okay to explore, I told you." The Duke shrugged and started to walk towards them. "Now this is your house too you can come and go as you please." She nodded and Gajeel stepped back a bit, just enough to give them some privacy, but not much, and stood by Loki's side. Gray pointed to the painting. "As you probably guessed, this was my Grandfather, Leonard. He was the one who set the marriage with your grandfather." Juvia looked to the painting again.

"You have his eyes." She said.

"I don't think so." He frowned. "He had dark green eyes. Mine are black."

"Not the color." Juvia shook her head. "The look on his eyes; you two have the same one. Juvia doesn't know how to explain..."

"It's okay. There are things we just know." Gray said dismissing the subject. He was never told that he looked like his grandfather. That was one of the difficulties he had to face when he became Duke; for as long as people could remember the Dukes of the Ice Lands had been white haired. "Even though I don't see it. Neither does anyone else." He pointed to the woman. "That was his wife, Catherine, my grandmother. She died before I was born, so I didn't really meet her, but I was told that she was a kind woman."

"She looks like she was." Juvia whispered staring at the beautiful woman's portrait.

"The boy is my uncle London." He pointed to the little boy. "He was supposed to be the Duke after my grandfather, but he died when he was twenty-eight, I think. His son was to become the Duke, but he..." Gray stopped talking to choose his words carefully. "He was not up for the task." Juvia looked towards her husband's direction and saw his face change a little, he was much more relaxed before and now he was tense; decided to not stay on the subject much longer, afraid that he would push her away, the Duchess pointed to the baby.

"So this is your mother?" It was obvious, but she asked anyway.

He nodded. "Yes. Her name was Mika." Gray said, relaxing a bit and looking fondly at the image of his mother as a child. "It is weird to see her like this. Unfortunately, I am starting to forget about her face." He said sadly. "I remember that she smelled nice, though. She sang to me when she put me to sleep. And she was warm."

"That's nice." Juvia said softly, stepping closer to her husband and putting a soothing hand on his arm. "Don't you have another painting of her?"

"I never looked. There are so many paintings of my ancestors stocked away and with the Duchy problems... I never had the time." The dark-haired man said. "I don't think my father and her had the money to pay a painter to make a portrait of them. We struggled a lot to survive." Juvia didn't understand.

"You did?" She asked.

"Yes." Gray smirked. "Grandfather almost had a heart attack when Mom ran away from Avalanche Castle when she was fifteen to find her own way out in the world, I heard people say. She hated it here: to be told what to do, how to behave... She was what we can call a free spirit. Father had a small amount of land and had a few cows, horses and goats. They met after three years she ran away and they got married. Two years later, she had me."

"Really?" Juvia was surprised. "Did you grow up in a farm?"

"I did." The Duke said. "Until I was seven my life was all about how to tend cows and horses. I liked the horses better. Do you ride?" He asked nonchalantly.

"Juvia did learn how to ride, yes." She smiled. "It was fun, because it was outside and Juvia barely had lessons because the rain almost never stops. But it was good enough."

"That's nice." Gray said and then returned his attention to the painting. "That's all, I think. One day we will also have our painting up here." He sighed. "When all these rules start to strangle me, I want to just do like my mom and go. But it is my duty now. There's already one 'free spirit' in the family." Gray rolled his eyes and when Gray spoke the word 'duty', Juvia removed her hand from his arm and felt some pain in her heart.

'Oh, right. Juvia's just a duty.' She thought sadly.

"Gray-sama has family?" Juvia asked, smiling brightly so he couldn't see how his words hurt.

"A cousin. We don't see each other much." He shrugged. "You don't have to concern yourself with him." Gray said. "I doubt he's ever going to come here in a long time. He also hated this place, like my mother did."

"So, Leonard the Fifth, Catherine, London and Mika, right?" Juvia asked.

"Yes, but my Grandfather was not the 'Fifth.' The V stands for Vastia. He was Leonard Vastia, my uncle was London Vastia and my cousin is Lyon Vastia. My mother and I were the only Fullbusters." Gray said and after a moment, Juvia seemed to be assimilating all he told her. "Well, anyway... I was looking for you. Follow me." He offered his arm, like the gentleman he was. The Duchess frowned slightly, but accepted his arm and both of them started to walk away from the painting, followed by their guards a few steps away from the couple.

#

Juvia, with her new and much warmer coat, followed Gray until they were outside on the stables. She had no idea of what they were doing out there, but she was curious to find out. When they got inside the stables, Juvia saw that it was much warmer than she expected.

The horses were very well treated, she could tell. "They are so beautiful." She said to Gray while she looked around.

"They are. I particularly like horses, as I told you." He grabbed her hand and went straight to the middle stall, where a very beautiful dark horse was. "This one is mine. I call him Black-Rust. Not original, I know." Juvia giggled. The Duke put the hand he was holding towards the horse, so she could touch it. "Get to know him."

Carefully, Juvia started to caress Black-Rust with tenderness. She also liked horses but never had one of her own back in the March. The only reason she was allowed to have riding lessons was because she convinced Master Jose to only take the classes when it wasn't raining. As it was rare, he let her.

"Hello there." She whispered to the horse. "You are such a beautiful boy." The horse let out a breath, as if it was agreeing and the Duchess laughed. "And you know it. Okay, Juvia understands." She looked over her shoulder to her husband. He was looking to his side, as if he was expecting something. "Gray-sama?"

"Yes?" he asked returning his attention back to her.

"Why are all the other horses white while Black-Rust is not?" The blunette asked with genuine curiosity.

"Those are the horses of the guards. It is better to blend it with the rest of the landscape." Gray said. "Mine is black because I never liked hiding. If I go into the battlefield, I want the enemy to know exactly who I am." There was some movement from the ending of the stable and Gray grinned. "Here she is!"

A man was bringing a caramel colored horse that had its hair in a light-yellow tone. Even inside the stables and with the indoors light, the horse seemed to glow. "Here in the Duchy of Winter it is common for the husband to give her new wife a gift after the wedding. So... This is my gift to you." Juvia had stepped away from Black-Rust's stall and was frowning in confusion. Gray smiled and pointed to the caramel horse. "It's yours."

Juvia looked to her husband confused. It couldn't be true, could it? "What?"

"I thought very hard about what to give to you and I thought it would be good if you had your own horse. You seem like you would like to ride." The man shrugged. "Besides, someday I could take you to explore outside the castle." He looked to the horse.

The Duchess couldn't believe what was happening to her. A little hesitant, she went closer to the horse. All of its body was colored like caramel. But the hair of its tail, its head and neck were long and inevitable blonde. And anyone could see that that horse was one fine specimen. She was gorgeous, of course.

And it was Juvia's. Her husband thought of her and bought it. For her.

Without even thinking of what she was doing, she let out a happy squeal and jumped up and down all the way from where the horse was, until she reached her husband, who was clearly amused with her reaction. Juvia, then, let her arms around the man's shoulders, in an awkward hug, but she was too happy to care.

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!" She said, squeezing him, while the Duke let out a small laugh because of her reaction. "Really, thank you. That's the best gift ever." Juvia looked up, and feeling a little brave after receiving such gift, she got on her toes and kissed the Duke.

Right. Into. His. Lips.

It was only for a few seconds and only a brush of their lips, but it counted nonetheless.

Letting him go, Juvia smiled brightly and went back to her new pet, talking to it as calm as she could because her heart was pounding like crazy inside her chest; and it was hard to focus when her husband was looking kind of silly, still with a shocked expression. Juvia was more forward than he (or herself) thought she would be.

And somehow, he liked that side of her.