Chapter 27

* * *

“Look, Mom! Isn’t it amazing!”

“Wow…”

Reina stared at the towering pillar of snow that had been built up high.

‘Is this even possible?’

Wondering if she had seen it wrong, Reina slowly closed her eyes and opened them again.

“…?”

But the tall pillar was still there, proudly standing in all its glory. It seemed the nine knights, excluding Dean, had built it while waiting for the carriage. Watching the two delighted children, the nine knights wore satisfied expressions.

“Please have some tea.”

“Thank you.”

It was warm tea, perfect for the chilly winter weather.

While Dean handed out tea to the knights, Reina passed cocoa topped generously with marshmallows to Estelle and Bonita.

“Thanks, Reina.”

“It’s steaming, so be careful. It’s hot.”

“Is it really hot?”

“Hot?”

Estelle and Bonita blinked their big eyes and tilted their heads at the same time as they asked if it was hot.

The sight of the two of them tilting their heads in the same direction while wearing mismatched mittens was unbearably adorable.

“Yes. It’s very hot.”

“How hot?”

“How hot?”

Reina smiled as she watched the lovable children mirror each other perfectly.

“Mm, hot enough that the snow would melt into water in an instant.”

“Then we have to be careful!”

“We should be careful!”

Estelle and Bonita giggled together, clearly pleased with themselves. As the children’s clear laughter rang out, the expressions of the adults around them softened. Despite the freezing winter, spring seemed to bloom on everyone’s faces.

The white marshmallows in the warm cocoa melted like snow, and the children blew on it before taking tiny sips.

Standing near them, Reina looked at the snow pillar the knights had worked so hard to build.

‘They really went all out.’

At a glance, the snow pillar looked like the framework for a house. What Reina had suggested was an igloo style snow house, stacking blocks of snow piece by piece. It was definitely not meant to be a mansion built with such a meticulous frame from the ground up.

“My lady, look at this!”

“Boni! Look at this! I made a snow duck!”

Reina glanced back and saw the other knights looking after the two children.

‘It should be fine, right?’

She quietly slipped inside. Calling it inside was a stretch, since it was nothing but pillars with all sides wide open.

“The ground is even flat…”

They had cleared the snow, leveled the ground, and then built the frame. Weren’t these people supposed to be knights?

‘Is basic knight training these days… architecture…?’

Otherwise, there was no way it could be built this well.

Unaware that the entire knight order had competed fiercely at dawn to be chosen for this task by flaunting their construction knowledge, Reina admired it calmly.

“Alright! We’ve had our tea, so shall we finish the rest now!”

“My lady, please stay there and watch!”

“Boni, you stay there too! We’ll finish it for you!”

“Reina Botn, come out of there! It’s dangerous!”

After neatly stacking the cups onto an empty tray, the knights all began stretching. Estelle and Bonita, who had not even finished half their cocoa, watched the busy adults with wide eyes.

“Can you really finish this?”

“Of course!”

“Really?”

When Reina looked at the snow pillars and the knights with a doubtful expression, they all nodded confidently.

“Don’t worry. Hans’s family makes their living through construction.”

Dean whispered to her, having noticed her concern.

“I see.”

At that moment, Reina had only one thought.

‘Who’s Hans?’

* * *

“…”

Damian stared at a shovel left standing alone.

“Why is this here?”

“Ah, my lord! You’re here?”

“Botn.”

From behind the tree where the shovel was leaning, Reina emerged from the dense forest.

Damian looked at the shovel with a serious expression before asking,

“The shovel is here, and…”

“…Yes?”

Reina stared at him, confused, then went, Ah, and replied,

“The knights are so skilled that there wasn’t really anything for me to help with.”

“…I see.”

Damian picked up the shovel and glanced at Reina. Her arms were full of bundled branches, as if she had gathered them all at once. Without a word, Damian took all the branches from her and tucked them under his arm.

“I-I can carry those.”

“It’s fine. I haven’t done anything today, so I should at least do this.”

“Isn’t the whole point of hiring someone so the employer doesn’t have to work!”

Ignoring her inner protest, Damian wondered what the branches were for.

“Ah, I was looking for the best branches.”

“The best branches?”

“Yes. My lady and Boni made a snowman. But it doesn’t have arms yet. While everyone was making the snow house… the snow mansion, I was looking for suitable branches.”

Listening to her explanation, Damian looked up at the sky. The sun was starting to set.

“It’ll be dangerous in the forest once it gets dark.”

“But I thought it’d be fine since it’s private land.”

Even so, it was quite vast. Reina could tell that Damian had been worried she might wander too deep and get lost.

“And have all the guests left?”

“They’re not guests.”

“Yes?”

“You can’t call people guests when they show up uninvited.”

Damian clicked his tongue. They would probably leave around sunset. They must have already sensed from his attitude that today wasn’t the day.

‘And next time, they’ll come more prepared.’

It was always like that. They would test the waters once, retreat if it didn’t work, then try to persuade him with a different approach.

Thinking of their greedy faces made his mood sour. It would only be a matter of time before their twisted desires turned toward Estelle as well. That was why Damian had sent word to Count Elbron to come as soon as possible.

Suppressing the stiffness creeping into his expression, Damian held the shovel in one hand and the bundle of branches in the other, then glanced at Reina.

‘Should I say it now?’

There was something he wanted to propose to her.

“Reina Botn…”

“Reina, the wall of the snow house is comp…”

Just as Damian was about to call out to her, Dean came running over from afar with a bright smile.

“…”

“…”

“M-My lord, when did you arrive?”

It wasn’t a particularly warm atmosphere to begin with, but in an instant it became awkward enough to feel colder than midwinter.

Dean stared in shock at the shovel in Damian’s hand and the branches in his arms.

“M-My lord, I’ll carry those!”

“It’s fine. So what’s going on?”

“Ah, I came to let you know that the walls of the snow house are complete, and now we just need to build the interior.”

“…?”

Reina tilted her head slightly when she heard that.

‘The interior?’

“The interior?”

Damian seemed to be thinking the same thing.

“Yes. We’ve divided into teams centered around Hans to make beds, sofas, and even desks.”

“If it’s Hans Vangijn, he’s reliable.”

Surrounded by men at least a head taller than her, Reina could only think,

‘So who exactly is Hans?’

“Ah, Botn, you don’t really know who Hans Vangijn is, do you?”

“Y-Yeah…”

Noticing her confusion, Damian continued,

“There’s a knight named Hans Vangijn who joined the order the same year as you, Reina Botn.”

“I see.”

Reina nodded as she listened to Damian explain. The Vangijn family made their living through construction, they had no title but were wealthy enough to be treated like quasi nobles, Hans himself was exceptionally talented but chose the path of a knight because his older brother was expected to inherit the family, and so on.

As she listened to his endless explanation, a question suddenly came to mind.

“Do you know everything about all the knights?”

“More or less.”

“That’s impressive.”

‘That doesn’t sound like more or less.’ Knowing the exact reason a knight chose his path went far beyond a rough understanding.

‘He pays more attention to those around him than I thought.’

Both in the novel she remembered and in this world, Damian was known as someone who didn’t particularly look after those around him. But watching him explain Hans Vangijn at length with a blunt expression made it clear that while he wasn’t warm, he did pay attention.

‘He noticed I didn’t know who Hans was and explained it to me.’

At first glance, his status as a duke, sharp features, and overwhelming presence made him hard to approach, but after a few conversations, it was easy to see he was a good person.

After all, while the Winternight Duchy was harsher than other territories, there were very few people living in poverty. That was because Damian had built systems for them more thoroughly than expected.

The reason Reina thought such people were rare was simply because she herself had been one of the few who were poor.

Lost in thought as they walked, they soon arrived at the construction site of the snow house.

“My goodness…”

Reina forgot to close her mouth as she stared at the massive snow mansion before her.

“Over there, they’ve made a slide you can use to go straight down from the second floor.”

As Dean finished explaining, laughter echoed from beyond.

“Is there any risk of the slide collapsing and someone getting hurt?”

“None. Still, just in case, we plan to have about three people supervising whenever it’s used.”

“Hm.”

Reina stared at the outer wall with her mouth still open.

‘Is that… a window?’

It wasn’t just a hole punched through and labeled a window. They had even designed proper window frames.