Chapter 3

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“Reina, look at this!”

Reina snapped out of her memories and came back to herself.

Beside her, a lovely little girl with white hair was grinning from ear to ear.

“Lady Estelle.”

Estelle laughed as she looked at the cocoa topped with heaps of marshmallows, saying a marshmallow mountain had appeared. Every servant nearby failed to hide how adorable they found her.

“Are marshmallows light, so they float? That’s so amazing.”

“Then maybe you’d float too if you went into the cocoa, my lady.”

“Mmm, no. I’ve eaten so much since coming here. I’d sink.”

“You’re still far too thin.”

Estelle Winternight.

The young lady who disappeared shortly after being born along with the Duchess of Winternight.

“Bring a maid suitable to care for a child.”

Several months ago, the duke had brought back a gray haired child dressed in filthy rags.

When the duke asked for a maid to care for the child, the head butler immediately thought of Reina.

She was the only maid in the ducal residence who was raising a young daughter.

Not long after, Reina appeared.

Without even frowning at the dirty child, Reina smiled gently.

“My name’s Reina. What’s yours, my lady?”

“W-White hair…”

“…Pardon?”

“My name is White Hair…”

“…”

After the child introduced herself as White Hair, Reina couldn’t say anything for quite a while.

Then, in a flat voice, the duke uttered a single word.

“Estelle.”

“…?”

The word the duke spoke was Estelle.

White Hair didn’t understand what it meant, but when everyone heard it, they forgot to bow and instead stared wide eyed at the scene.

“Your name isn’t White Hair. It’s Estelle.”

Reina didn’t ask how the duke had come to bring this gray haired, indistinct child here, nor why he’d given her the name Estelle.

The decision had been made by the master of the estate, and unnecessary interference wasn’t her place.

Reina took Estelle and headed first to the bath inside the residence.

“Is the water temperature okay?”

“Mmm…”

“Did it sting earlier? The static electricity?”

“It’s okay…”

“The air’s dry these days. I get surprised by static sometimes too.”

As she undressed the child to put her into the warm water, static crackled. They both flinched at the sting, but Reina quickly forgot about it when she noticed the injuries left on the child’s body.

‘Just how did she live…’

Looking at the wounds on such a small, thin body, Reina almost frowned in front of Estelle.

She forced herself to keep a gentle expression and carefully washed the frail body.

All the while, she kept chatting about ordinary things so Estelle wouldn’t feel awkward.

The child soaked in a bathtub made of ivory and gold, earnestly taking in the lavish bathroom.

“Hm?”

Reina was carefully lathering Estelle’s hair when it happened.

Just as she was about to ask if it hurt, gray liquid began to drip from the child’s hair.

At first, she thought it might be dirt and moved her hands faster. But instead of fading, the liquid only grew darker.

“…Ah!”

Startled, Estelle tried to stand up and slipped back into the tub. It probably didn’t hurt since she fell into water, but she must’ve swallowed some because she started coughing violently.

“Cough, cough!”

“My lady, are you okay?”

Her face flushed red and her eyes squeezed shut, probably from soap getting in them. Estelle waved her thin arms as if to tell Reina not to come closer.

“N-No! I won’t wash anymore!”

It seemed her white hair had been hidden by dye. The dye reeked of harsh chemicals and was clearly cheap and low quality.

The soap used at the orphanage must’ve been poor as well, since the dye hadn’t washed out until now. But the soap used by the ducal household was high quality, so the dye melted away like snow.

‘There’s no way the duke’s household would use soap like that.’

Flowers, honey, and all kinds of sweet fruit.

A fragrant scent, completely opposite to the stench of dye, filled the bathroom.

Seeing the bathtub now stained gray and filthy, Estelle looked utterly devastated. Reina gently soothed her and spoke.

“My lady, are you okay?”

“I… I…”

She barely opened her stinging eyes and saw patches of white hair showing through.

Ah, it’s over now.

A despairing thought, far too heavy for a child, crossed Estelle’s mind.

But unlike Estelle’s fear, Reina asked in a calm, gentle voice.

“Did you swallow any water? Drinking soapy water isn’t good for you.”

As if she hadn’t noticed the white hair at all, Reina took out a large towel, wrapped Estelle in it, and lifted her up.

She then called the maids outside to empty the tub and refill it, all while soothing the child.

“It’s okay.”

“…”

“You’re someone the master carried here with great care. There isn’t a single person in this estate who’d dislike you.”

“Even if I… have white hair?”

“…”

At Estelle’s cautious question, Reina looked at her hair. So that was why she’d been called White Hair despite her ashy color.

“You’re not White Hair. You’re Estelle.”

Hearing her name was Estelle, the child hesitated.

“Doesn’t the name Estelle not suit me…?”

Could someone with ominous white hair really bear a name that meant star?

That was what she was mumbling about. Reina immediately understood the worry behind it.

“My lady, I once lived somewhere with a wide open view of the night sky.”

After being told the tub was ready, Reina returned alone with Estelle to the bathroom. She gently lowered the child back into the water and continued softly.

“It was so quiet and dark that walking outside at night was scary.”

“I’m scared of the dark too…”

“Really? Then you and I are the same.”

Reina made bubbles splash lightly in the clean water, drawing the child’s attention elsewhere.

“When that happened, I’d look up at the night sky and see a very beautiful star. Whenever I saw it, I’d feel relieved, like I was still okay.”

“A star?”

“Yes. No matter if it’s a cold winter or a hot summer, there’s a single white star shining alone in the pitch black sky.”

Reina gently placed bubbles atop Estelle’s head and whispered.

“You’re very much like that star. That’s why the name Estelle suits you perfectly, as if it was made just for you.”

“…”

After washing Estelle, Reina dressed her in an adorable dress that Peter the aide had prepared.

The moment Peter saw Estelle clean and fluffy, he became certain she was the daughter the duke had been searching for all along.

Rather than finding the snow white hair unsettling, Reina simply looked worried as she saw how loose the dress was on Estelle.

“It seems a bit big.”

“Does it? I prepared a dress for a six year old, just in case.”

She was that small.

Even clothes meant for a six year old hung loosely on her. That alone spoke volumes about her unfortunate past.

How much hunger and caution had a growing child endured to end up this small? Reina’s heart felt heavy.

Watching Reina and Peter whisper for a long time, Estelle shrank back, thinking she’d done something wrong again.

Reina approached her, met her eyes, and asked.

“My lady, is there any food you can’t eat?”

Estelle shook her head.

“Then do you have any food you like?”

Estelle shook her head again.

Reina looked at her for a moment, then asked Peter to have a meal prepared that would be easy for the child to eat.

Soon, the head chef prepared a variety of dishes just for her.

He had grown grandchildren and had always doted on Bonita, so making food for a child came naturally to him.

Hamburg steak covered in brown sauce, golden herb fried potatoes, risotto made with plenty of cream, and a tangerine salad.

He even explained that pudding had been prepared for dessert. Listening, Reina realized the chef must’ve started cooking the moment he heard a young lady had arrived.

“…It’s delicious!”

After cutting into the hamburg steak with her fork, the child exclaimed.

Startled by how loud her own voice was, she flushed red and covered her mouth with her free hand.

All the servants nearby watched Estelle with warm smiles.

“My lady, try this too.”

“My lady, how about this one?”

She was the precious young lady they’d waited for, for so very long.

Unfamiliar with such attention, the small white haired girl looked flustered and couldn’t bring herself to refuse any of the dishes offered to her.

Meanwhile, the moment word reached the kitchen that Estelle had praised the hamburg steak, the chef began a commotion, insisting on making even more food.

A whole roasted chicken, mushrooms stir fried in a special tomato sauce, colorful vegetables grilled until glossy and topped with white sauce, and even a whole steamed sea fish, something hard to obtain in the Winternight territory.

Overwhelmed by the unfamiliar delicacies, Estelle stammered.

“I-I can’t eat that much!”

Standing beside her, Peter smiled contentedly and said.

“It’s fine. You can leave some.”

“B-But that would be a waste…”

Having lived closer to hunger than abundance, Estelle muttered those words and blushed when she saw the people around her fail to understand what she meant.

In that vast dining hall, only two people truly understood what it meant to go hungry.

Estelle and Reina.