Chapter 31

* * *

The head chef let out a deep sigh as he looked at the untouched desserts.

‘My lady is sick, yet habits really are frightening things.’

Estelle had suddenly collapsed with a high fever, throwing the entire estate into chaos.

“My lady’s body feels like it’s on fire!”

“It’s because she was outside all day.”

“We should melt all the snow and get rid of it.”

“How many magic crystals will we need?”

With Estelle collapsed, everyone was in a panic.

As people rushed about in confusion, one urgent voice stopped them.

“That’s not it!”

It was Reina Botn. When everyone turned to look at her, she continued, a little awkward.

“Ah, my lady has simply realized that this ducal residence is her home… and she’s finally relaxed.”

If not for Reina’s words, temperature control magic tools would have been installed even in the garden.

The head chef looked at the lovely lemon meringue tart, Mont Blanc, and pudding placed on the table.

‘Pudding should be fine, right?’

Unfortunately, entry was restricted to doctors and nurses only.

Just how sick was she? If they used divine power, she’d recover quickly, but the fact that they couldn’t bring temple personnel into the ducal residence was truly frustrating.

The Winternight ducal house and the Church of Bendicion were on bad terms. Their relationship had always been delicate, but after Finecke was taken in as the duchess, it had turned downright hostile.

If it weren’t for certain circumstances, the Bendicion Church’s temple likely wouldn’t have been able to remain in this territory at all.

“Sigh, looks like we’ll have to eat these ourselves.”

The head chef sighed repeatedly as he looked down at the lovely desserts.

It would’ve been nice if Bonita came by at least, but from some point on, even her shadow hadn’t appeared in the kitchen.

When she first came to the estate, she used to sneak in while Reina was away, take a few fruits, and grin as she ate them.

‘She was adorable.’

That was why he’d even experimented with making desserts children might like.

The head chef smiled warmly as he recalled those memories.

“You look to be in a good mood.”

“G-Your Grace?!”

At that moment, Damian interrupted the head chef’s reverie.

Since the master of the estate didn’t usually drop by the kitchen unannounced, the head chef overreacted and jumped in surprise.

As a result, the chair behind him clattered backward, and he tripped over its leg and fell hard.

“Oof…”

“Ah, sir! Are you okay?”

While Damian watched the entire scene with a blank expression, Bonita hurried over in alarm.

“B-Boni? What brings you all the way here?”

“The Duke said he’d give me a present, so I came with him.”

At the word “present”, the head chef looked at Damian with a puzzled expression.

Damian’s face was the same blunt one the head chef always knew.

“Haven’t you been making desserts lately?”

“Ah, w-well… yes.”

“I came to give them to this child.”

“Well… you didn’t even send a subordinate, Your Grace personally…”

Damian replied while placing his jacket on the table in the middle of the kitchen.

“There was no one in the corridor.”

“…”

“Most of them must be lingering near Estelle’s room.”

“…I have no excuse.”

“That’s enough. It’s not like you did anything wrong.”

Estelle was the treasured young lady everyone had been waiting for, so all attention was focused on her.

The doctor said she’d be ill for several more days and banned everyone from entering.

That ban included Damian as well.

On the first day, Damian hadn’t been able to leave Estelle’s door, but if he didn’t work, the territory wouldn’t function properly, so he had no choice.

‘And soon, one of the Twelve Priests will be newly appointed.’

No matter how delicate his relationship with the temple was, Damian was still one of the empire’s greatest nobles.

Skipping such an event would be no different from turning the entire empire against him.

‘If I were alone, it wouldn’t matter, but with Estelle involved, I can’t let that happen.’

He had to send a letter to attend the Twelve Priests appointment ceremony, and then prepare the agenda for the meeting that would follow.

The ceremony would be held in a neutral holy state closer than the capital.

To emphasize that they weren’t under the imperial family’s rule, the temple always held major events in the central holy state where the temple resided.

But Damian found stepping onto that land more unpleasant than meeting other greedy nobles.

“…Your Grace?”

Damian snapped back to his senses when he heard a small voice below him, after frowning at the discomfort rising just from imagining it.

“…Bonita Botn.”

Bonita blinked her large violet eyes and looked up at Damian.

“Are you angry, Your Grace…?”

“No.”

Damian relaxed his expression in an instant.

It was still stiff, but Bonita didn’t shrink back and continued looking up at him.

“Then are you worried?”

“…”

“About Estelle… ah, my lady.”

Bonita let go of Damian’s sleeve and continued.

“When Mom worries about me, her face gets scary too. Even though I’m fine, she looks really scary and her face starts to look like yours.”

“Like me?”

Damian couldn’t imagine Reina making the same expression as him.

The head chef standing across from them also failed to hide his similarly puzzled look.

Only Bonita hesitated. Then she rummaged through the jacket on the table and pulled out a small chocolate wrapped in pink paper.

“Your Grace, here.”

Her small hand stretched out.

The chocolate that looked fairly big in Bonita’s hand looked like a tiny pebble in Damian’s.

“…Thank you.”

“It’s a secret! The knight uncle gave it to me, so don’t tell anyone I gave it to you! He told me to eat it all by myself.”

“But is it okay to give it to me?”

“If you eat something sweet, you feel better!”

“Who told you that?”

“I figured it out myself.”

After living only eight years, she confidently nodded and spoke to two adults who had lived more than twice as long.

The head chef barely managed to rein in his softened expression at the sight of such a lovable child.

“Ahem. Anyway… Boni, would you like to eat these?”

The head chef guided her toward the cakes.

“Do you think you can eat all three?”

“Mm…”

No matter how much she liked food, it was far too much. It was the head chef’s overly generous affection as always.

After thinking for a long moment, Bonita smiled while looking back and forth between the head chef and Damian.

“Let’s eat together.”

“…”

The head chef was touched, but also glanced nervously at Damian.

‘His Grace doesn’t really like sweet things.’

It had shocked all the servants when he’d eaten the chocolate cake Estelle had given him last time.

Wrapped chocolate was fine, since he didn’t have to eat it right away.

But cake had to be eaten on the spot, and there was a lot of it.

“Alright.”

Contrary to the head chef’s worries, Damian agreed readily and sat down.

Then he looked at the head chef, who was staring with his mouth open, and said,

“Why are you standing there? Sit.”

“Ah, n-no, it’s nothing. Yes.”

Instead of standing outside Estelle’s door, the head chef thought he’d been granted a rare sight.

* * *

“Haaah~ haaah~ hoooh~”

Crunch.

Another set of footprints appeared in the snow, now sparse of people but full of marks.

After telling a servant to take all the desserts Bonita had received to her room, the two of them were walking through the white snowfield.

Damian silently followed behind Bonita as she walked ahead.

Bonita seemed to enjoy seeing her white breath and kept exhaling deeply as she laughed.

“If you stay out too long, you’ll catch a cold.”

“It’s okay. I’m super healthy!”

Saying that, Bonita trotted back toward Damian.

“…Hm?”

“What is it?”

Tilting her head again, Bonita looked back at the path they’d walked and burst into giggles.

“Your Grace, your feet are huge!”

“…?”

“And you walk really, really big.”

Damian thought, Is that funny? Isn’t that normal?

But it clearly wasn’t to Bonita, who kept laughing as she stepped neatly into the footprints he’d left.

“Your Grace, go ahead.”

“…Alright.”

He didn’t know why she was doing this, but Damian walked ahead as she asked.

Bonita followed behind, slowly and then in big strides, carefully placing her feet into his footprints.

Damian glanced back, realized why, and shortened his stride.

“…!”

Bonita beamed at the easier pace and followed him even more eagerly.

Watching Bonita focus hard on the ground as she followed, Damian suddenly took a step with a much wider stride.

“Ah…”

Bonita hesitated for a moment at the suddenly larger gap.

Then she jumped with all her strength and landed squarely in the footprint.

“Hmph, did you see that? Did you see it?”

“Impressive.”

“I can do it even if it’s farther!”

“I don’t think that’ll work.”

“I can do it!”

Seeing Bonita declare it so confidently, Damian lengthened his stride even more.

“Can you do it?”

“Mm.”

The gap was much wider than before.

“I’ll try.”

Bonita clenched her lips, focused her eyes, and jumped high.