Chapter 53

“…Ah.”

From an awkward distance, Dean looked at Reina with an awkward expression.

There was no way he hadn’t heard it.

Dean simply seemed unsure what to say, staring at Reina with a stiff face.

Reina just smiled back at him.

But after hearing such cruel words, smiling like usual was a bit much, so she only managed to lift the corners of her lips slightly.

“Y-you heard everything, right?”

Dean couldn’t answer and only nodded with a troubled look.

Now Reina took the lead and started walking as she spoke.

“I’m okay.”

“…”

“I mean, I was already getting used to it. I’m used to things like that.”

With every step and every echo of her footsteps, she was reminded of the time before she ever entered the ducal castle, when she had not even the bare minimum of protection.

Through this incident, the one who had grown was not Estelle.

This time reminded Reina of the hostility she had once forgotten and forced her to revisit that past.

And that was what pushed her forward.

A small lantern lit up the dark surroundings.

When someone who has lived a life where misfortune is the norm finally becomes happy, most people come to see happiness as something lacking.

And when you soak in that happiness without realizing it, then face misfortune again…

As Reina sank into thought, the wildly surging emotions slowly settled down.

‘It feels like I just got splashed with cold water.’

I never thought I’d be forced to face reality again like this.

Seeing those horrible words, Reina was relieved that Dean hadn’t heard them.

When they came out of the underground prison, the dazzling light made Reina squint.

The small flame that had lit the darkness below lost its strength in the light outside.

Extinguishing the lantern, Reina spoke to Dean.

“I’m going to check on Boni. Are you alright, Sir Dean?”

“…Yes. Protecting you is my job.”

Dean seemed to have given the dark path quite a bit of thought as well.

In the end, he chose not to say anything to Reina.

Just as Reina had done for him, Dean also tried his best to put on a gentle smile.

“Thank you.”

“I told you earlier. This is my job, Reina.”

Dean carried the lantern that was no longer lit.

“Where is Boni? I heard they set up Bonita’s desk in my lord’s office. Should we head that way?”

“Ah, no. Today they’re in the outdoor garden.”

Reina shook her head lightly.

“There were some unpleasant things recently for Boni and the young lady.

His Grace thought it would be better to let them get some fresh air outside rather than stay inside, so he took them out.”

It was also to make sure that if something happened in the underground prison and caused a disturbance, it wouldn’t reach the children’s ears.

Reina understood Damian’s consideration, but she continued speaking without showing it.

“My lord said he had a magic heater installed near the gazebo, so it shouldn’t be too cold.”

“Then is His Grace taking a break from work today?”

“No. He said he’d look over documents there.”

As they stepped outside after walking down the corridor, a cold gust of wind rushed over them.

Her pink hair swayed softly in the breeze.

From far away, Reina spotted two children running toward her.

She quickly smoothed over the expression where only the corners of her lips had been lifted with sadness.

She knew she couldn’t show sorrow in front of the children.

‘I can’t make their hearts heavy too.’

Reina thought it was fortunate that she was someone used to sadness, someone who could control her emotions well, even if it didn’t look that way.

As she watched the children, Reina’s face gradually returned to its usual gentle warmth.

Dean followed her gaze.

Two children, one with pink hair and one with white hair, were hurrying toward them.

Reina picked up her slow steps and walked a little faster toward them.

“Mom~”

“R-Reina.”

Despite the distance, the three of them met quickly and hugged tightly.

Seeing how the children hid themselves in her skirt, Reina let out a small laugh.

Bonita clung tightly to Reina and peeked her head up.

“Mom, did something bad happen?”

“Mmm, no. Nothing bad. Only good things happened.”

At the mention of good things, Estelle beside her also peeked her head up.

“Good things?”

“Good things?”

They asked the same question at the same time.

Reina thought they looked like twins and felt a sense of deja vu.

“Yes. Good things.”

Reina gently separated the two and answered.

“The moment I stepped outside, the two people I love the most came out to greet me.

What could be better than that?”

At Reina’s answer, Estelle and Bonita widened their eyes, then looked at each other and burst into giggles.

They clearly loved her response.

“How did you know I was coming out? It’s sooo far from the gazebo to the main gate~”

“I can tell even if Mom’s really far away. Because you’re my mom.”

“I-I can tell too…”

Estelle nodded her head vigorously as she spoke.

“R-Reina isn’t my mom, but…

I like Reina, so I can tell.”

Watching the children’s affection made Reina feel a little better.

Bonita then noticed Dean standing beside Reina.

“It’s Uncle Dean. Uncle, are you not practicing swordsmanship today?”

“Starting today, Uncle’s going to protect you and your mom.”

“Then you don’t have to be at the training grounds? Even though you’re a knight?”

“Being a knight doesn’t mean staying at the training grounds every day.”

Dean naturally lifted Bonita into his arms.

Bonita looked at him with a puzzled expression.

“But they said knights have to sharpen their swords every single day.

If you work hard, you can use it for a long time.”

“Is that so? Then I guess I need to work harder.”

“So Uncle Dean can’t use it for long yet?”

“Not yet.”

It was the realm of aura.

Though the exact mechanism hadn’t been fully revealed yet, there were theories that it was related to the amount of mana one possessed.

In other words, no matter how hard one tried, not everyone could awaken aura.

Dean knew he didn’t have that level of talent, but he didn’t want to talk about limits to a child whose eyes were sparkling with curiosity.

“Then I’ll use aura before Uncle Dean does.”

“Boni, do you really want to learn the sword later?”

“Yes. The duke gave me a super cool sword as a gift this time.”

She laughed brightly, saying she’d grow up properly to become someone worthy of that sword.

Dean simply watched her with a gentle smile.

Reina looked at Bonita and Dean, then carefully took Estelle’s hand beside her.

“Then shall we go now? My lord will be waiting. Please lead the way, young lady.”

Reina already knew where the gazebo was, but she asked on purpose.

Estelle rolled her eyes around, then brightened, clearly happy that Reina had spoken to her.

Clutching Reina’s hand tightly, she began walking ahead with light, sparkling steps.

Dean followed behind, holding Bonita in his arms.

Along the path to the gazebo, two pairs of small footprints were scattered here and there.

After walking for several minutes, they finally drew close to the gazebo.

Damian was spinning a fountain pen in one hand while neatly stacking documents with the other.

Sensing their presence, he shifted his gaze from the papers to Reina.

“You’re here.”

“…”

The amount of paperwork around Damian was overwhelming.

Reina stared at it, unable to close her mouth.

“Were you alone?”

“No. Peter went to the office to fetch some necessary materials.”

‘Then the two of them were handling all that…?’

Even for two people, it was far too much.

Seeing Reina’s expression, Damian spoke.

“There’s something urgent that needs to be dealt with.”

“I-I see.”

“Yes. I need to wipe out some pests I’ve left unattended.”

“…I-I see.”

“Mom, come here. Over here.”

Bonita, who had already climbed down from Dean’s arms, tugged on Reina.

“The chef baked some really delicious cookies.

You haven’t tried them yet, right?

They’re really good.”

“Yeah, I saved the best one so Reina could have it.”

“If they’re good, you could’ve just eaten them all.”

“But I wanted Reina to eat something tasty too.”

Estelle smiled faintly.

The two children, smiling brightly, placed a brand new cookie without a single crumb missing into Reina’s hand.

Urged on by them, Reina put the cookie into her mouth, but her stiff mouth couldn’t really taste it.

Once again, she realized it.

Ah, my condition really isn’t good right now.

The two children looked at Reina with sparkling eyes.

Both of them clearly hoped she felt the same way they did.

Reina spoke with a warm smile.

“It really is. It’s the most delicious cookie I’ve ever had.”

Even so, she worried.

Whether it was really right for her to be smiling like usual.

* * *

A dim night.

Dressed in light sleepwear with a coat draped over her shoulders, Reina checked on the two children to make sure they were sleeping well.

‘Looks like they’re not having nightmares.’

Estelle often had nightmares.

Recently, she also seemed to have grown timid again like before, which worried Reina greatly.

Next, she checked that Bonita was properly tucked in and sleeping comfortably.

After making sure of everything and gently patting each child’s head once, Reina drew the curtains and stepped out of the room.

A chill lingered in the corridor.