Chapter 25

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“Wow, look over there, Boni. It’s a squirrel.”

“Wooow.”

Rustle, rustle.

A chipmunk hopped lightly across the snowy ground. Reina watched it and replied.

“That’s not a squirrel. It’s a chipmunk.”

“Aren’t they the same?”

“They’re not wrong. They’re just different.”

“What’s the difference between wrong and different?”

“Um…”

Reina carefully explained the difference between different and wrong to Estelle. Bonita stuck close to Reina’s side, listening intently.

Meanwhile, thanks to the knights’ efforts, a wide path had already been cleared, and they watched the children with fond expressions.

“Our young lady is very curious.”

“What do you think she’ll grow up to be?”

“Obviously the master of this duchy. Of course.”

They were said to be a cruel and cold knight order, but judging by the exclamations they made every time Estelle took a step, they looked like complete doting fools.

Estelle glanced back and forth between the small shovel in her hands and the large shovels held by the adults.

“Mine is small…”

It didn’t look very suitable for building a house.

Estelle stopped watching the chipmunk and began kicking snow with her shovel. Bonita followed closely, sparkling eyed, holding a small shovel in one hand and a bucket in the other.

And Reina hurried along behind the tiny children.

The knight order all held massive shovels and watched the three of them with warm smiles.

They looked like a mother squirrel out for a walk with two baby squirrels.

“Boni, what kind of house are you going to make?”

“I’m gonna make a house big enough for Mom and me to both lie down and roll around in.”

“That’s awesome. I wanna make one like that too.”

“…”

Reina rolled her eyes and looked at the snow the two were carefully piling up.

Judging by their slow pace, it looked like it would take days to finish.

The knights, having overheard their conversation and apparently thinking the same thing as Reina, subtly piled snow next to the girls’ snow mound.

Unlike the cold winter, it was a warm and lovely scene.

“Your Grace.”

From afar, Peter’s urgent voice calling Damian could be heard.

“Your Grace. The ghosts are waiting in the meeting room.”

“I never told them to wait.”

Damian looked thoroughly annoyed, clearly irritated as if caught in something troublesome.

“I don’t know why those old men are still alive. They should stop wasting their short lives that could end any day now…”

“Your Grace. My lady can hear you.”

At Peter’s words, Damian glanced toward Estelle.

Estelle was busily gathering snow with Bonita, building a snow mound about as tall as their shovels.

‘What is that.’

He thought they were making a snow house, so he stared at the snow mountain, no, the snow hill, for a while. Peter swallowed and whispered to him.

“They’re people who’ve firmly held their positions since the previous generation. If you don’t attend, there’ll be talk among the families.”

“…F*ck.”

At the mention of the previous generation, Damian’s expression crumpled.

Those people had been useless for a very long time. Plenty of them only interfered at every turn and tried to line their own pockets.

“Did they all come together this time because of Reina Botn?”

“Yes.”

They were offering to give her one of countless titles, something that had nothing to do with them and wouldn’t go to them even if Damian didn’t give it to Reina.

They were exactly the type to resent others for having what they couldn’t.

‘It’s not like I don’t understand.’

From a serious perspective, there would indeed be people who could exploit the situation if Reina were immediately granted a title.

For example, deliberately harming Estelle, then stepping in to help and demanding rewards.

Damian wasn’t someone who couldn’t see that coming, but he didn’t want Estelle to get hurt in the process.

Of course, his vassals weren’t opposing it out of concern for that. They just didn’t like their own share of credit shrinking.

Damian suppressed the headache building up and called out.

“Reina Botn.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Reina, who had been watching the children play safely under the knights’ eyes, walked over to him.

Even though he tried to hide it, Damian already looked exhausted.

“There’s something unfinished I need to take care of, so I’ll have to step away for a bit. Please look after the children.”

“Understood.”

“And…”

Damian lightly shoved the shovel he was holding into Reina’s hands.

“Use this shovel. It looks like you don’t have one.”

“…Me?”

Damian nodded once and left. Only then did Peter let out a breath and hurry after him.

“A shovel.”

Reina looked down at the dazzling shovel now in her hands.

“…A shovel?”

It was far more luxurious than the rusty shovel that used to sit abandoned back home.

‘How many months of my wages would this be.’

It felt almost too precious just to scoop snow with. Still, a shovel couldn’t really cost that much.

No matter how fancy it was, a shovel was still a shovel.

Holding the luxurious shovel, Reina approached the children with hopeful steps.

Estelle looked at the shovel in Reina’s hands, which Damian had been holding earlier, with a confused expression.

“Where did Dad go?”

“He said there was something he still needed to finish.”

“Work…?”

Estelle’s eyes wavered slightly.

That alone told Reina exactly what the child was anxious about.

“Did I cause trouble and make Dad tired?”

“N-no, my lady.”

Reina quickly crouched down and spoke to Estelle.

“You didn’t do anything wrong at all.”

“But…”

Estelle looked unsure.

Reina quickly glanced toward the knight order.

Catching Reina’s silent SOS, the knights hurriedly surrounded Estelle.

“That’s right. My lady didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Our lord just forgot about his work. He’s a bit lacking.”

“Yes, exactly.”

It was questionable whether almost calling their lord stupid was okay, but thanks to the chaotic situation, the unnamed knight extended his career just a little longer.

The adults busily cheered up the dejected Estelle, suggesting they all build an amazing snow house together to surprise Damian.

‘What’s Boni doing right now?’

Reina realized she’d been so focused on comforting Estelle that she’d neglected her own daughter.

Worried Bonita might be upset, Reina quickly turned her head.

“…”

Bonita was crouched in a corner, gently molding snow with her hands.

“Boni? What are you doing?”

Reina approached carefully, wondering if Bonita had gone off to hide being sick, but she clearly looked deeply focused on something.

Only then did Bonita turn her head quickly at Reina’s voice.

“Mom, look. Look at this.”

“Oh my.”

On Bonita’s mittens sat a small rabbit made of snow.

With just a round snowball and two long leaves stuck on as ears, it was clearly a rabbit.

“You made a rabbit?”

“Yeah.”

Bonita held the snow rabbit carefully in both hands and smiled brightly.

“It’s cute, right?”

“It is.”

Bonita laughed, calling the rabbit cute, and Reina replied while looking at Bonita, calling her cute.

‘How is my kid such a genius.’

The detail of using two leaves for ears, the perfectly oval shape. How could she make such a perfect and adorable snow rabbit.

Reina beamed at Bonita’s unbelievably lovely artwork.

From a distance, Estelle watched Reina and Bonita smiling together.

“R-Reina.”

Estelle called out urgently.

Estelle thought she was a bad child. Seeing the two being affectionate without her made an unfounded anxiety and jealousy well up inside her.

Only when Reina, who had been gazing lovingly at Bonita, turned to look at her did Estelle feel relieved.

“My lady?”

“I-I want to make that too.”

Estelle pushed her way through the knights.

Actually, pushing wasn’t even necessary. Just a small wave of her arm made the knights move aside on their own.

“You want to make this too?”

Bonita and Reina both asked brightly, unaware of Estelle’s fleeting jealousy.

Estelle rubbed her cheeks, which were about to turn red from embarrassment, and nodded.

“…I want to make one too.”

“You’re not making a snow house?”

“…R-rabbit first. Then the house.”

Estelle shook her head vigorously, then nodded hard as if an idea had struck her.

“I’ll make a house for the snow rabbit.”

“Oh my.”

“A really, really big house. Ten rooms per rabbit. Um, um…”

“That would have to be a very big house.”

“Yeah.”

Only then did Estelle smile brightly.

Reina, unaware of the jealousy the child had briefly shown, wondered whether rabbits were counted by head or by animal.

The knights, who had stood like a moving wall, finally raised their shovels proudly and spoke.

“My lady. Just give the order. If you wish, we’ll build a snow estate bigger than the duke’s residence.”

‘That sounds impossible.’

Reina rolled her eyes and looked at the piles of snow.

But the knights’ faces clearly said they meant it.

If Estelle wanted it, they looked ready to gather snow from the entire village and build a castle of snow.

Reina strained to recall if she’d ever read a scene like this in a novel.

‘I don’t know.’

No matter how hard she thought, nothing came to mind.

‘Why does this feel familiar.’

That vague sense of déjà vu stirred an uneasy feeling.