Chapter 63

“You, my lady?”

Reina couldn’t imagine Estelle holding a sword at all.

As far as she knew, Estelle never held a sword in the original story either.

“Yes.”

“You want to become a knight too, my lady?”

At Reina’s question, Estelle shook her head.

“Boni is learning something, and I’m the only one not doing anything… so I want to learn too.”

“…”

The reason Estelle hadn’t been assigned another tutor was because of the Count Embron incident.

After that, Peter had stayed up nights selecting better candidates, but they still couldn’t easily bring in someone new.

Damian had judged that it would be better to hire someone once Estelle had calmed down more.

‘Is it alright now?’

Reina thought for a moment.

“Then is there something you’d like to learn other than swordsmanship?”

“Other than swords?”

“Yes. Just because Boni is learning the sword doesn’t mean you have to as well, my lady.”

Estelle seemed not to have expected that question and thought for a long while.

But she didn’t seem able to reach a conclusion.

Reina didn’t rush her and quietly waited.

Bonita also stayed silent, hugging Reina’s waist tightly while watching Estelle.

After a long time passed, Estelle finally spoke.

“I think any kind of studying would be good.”

“Really?”

“…Yes. I don’t know much. So I think learning anything would be fun.”

Estelle spoke softly, explaining her thoughts.

“The last teacher was scary, but Dad apologized. He said that if I don’t like the next teacher, I should say I don’t like them right away. He said he’d protect me then. So I think learning next time will be fun.”

Reina quietly pulled Estelle into a one armed hug.

“…Next time won’t be scary.”

“Yes.”

* * *

‘I should talk to his lordship about the young lady’s tutor.’

Reina came to the study with the children and neatly arranged fairy tale books they might read on the table.

Bonita and Estelle sat side by side, sharing books and reading together peacefully.

‘And did the original story mention Boni’s next teacher?’

No matter how she tried to recall it, nothing particular came to mind.

“Is it that I can’t remember… or that there’s nothing to remember?”

It would be nice if everything I remembered could just come flooding back all at once.

Reina let out a deep sigh.

“Why are you sighing again this time?”

“Because it’s frustrating….”

“What is?”

“Well….”

Reina answered naturally, then suddenly snapped to her senses.

She jerked her lowered head up and saw a familiar face, no longer frightening, but still expressionless.

“M-My lord?”

“Yes.”

Even so, her body stiffened on reflex.

“What brings you all the way here… Ah. Did you come to see the young lady?”

“I came to find you.”

“Ahh, me… Pardon?”

“I said I came to find you.”

“Wh-Why me?”

Reina couldn’t hide her confusion, never having imagined he’d come looking for her.

Damian, on the other hand, seemed puzzled as to why she was surprised.

“Didn’t we talk this morning? I said I’d invest.”

“R-Right?”

“The location and materials are all prepared. We should go take a look.”

“What?”

Reina knew that if it were Damian and Peter, they’d finish preparations within a week.

But she hadn’t expected it to be this fast.

“Could it really be prepared in just one day?”

“It’s not difficult. It’s something money can solve by hiring people.”

The fact that he could mobilize the funds to hire that many people on the spot…

Honestly, it was a little chilling.

“…At this rate, I feel like we’ll have results in a week, and that’s scary.”

“Hm.”

Damian didn’t deny it.

That silence made Reina even more uneasy.

It wasn’t that she disliked it, but when things moved this fast, anyone would start thinking that maybe this was too much.

“It’s not that the mana stones are fully prepared yet. I just meant we should check the space first.”

“Ah, ah. I-I see. That makes sense. Preparing the mana stones and equipment for experiments would take a day or two….”

“It’ll all be ready in two days.”

“…”

“How many mages and technicians do you need? The magic tower has been busy lately, so pulling senior staff would be difficult, but I can bring in people more skilled than imperial mages easily.”

“…”

“Would ten mages and thirty technicians be enough?”

Reina swallowed back tears.

“My lord….”

“Yes.”

“Could you give me a little time to think?”

Yes. Reina had overlooked something.

Damian was someone who had once been willing to hand over land deeds just for his eight year old daughter.

He must have taken her age into consideration in his own way back then.

‘He even considered giving me hundreds of millions of Theon at first….’

Compared to that, the cost of this experiment might not even be that large to him.

‘But I’m scared to ask.’

Even standing before Damian, Reina let out a deep sigh.

“I have one question….”

“Go on.”

“Do I need to go to that estate as well?”

“You’re the one in charge, so of course.”

“When should I go?”

“Right now.”

Reina wanted to cry.

“No. It’ll get dark if we go now. Let’s go tomorrow.”

Even after he corrected himself, Reina still wanted to cry.

‘Please give me time to prepare myself mentally.’

If she’d known things would move this fast, she wouldn’t have gone to Damian at dawn to discuss it.

Damian nodded, unaware of Reina’s inner turmoil.

“I wanted to do it faster, but that seemed unreasonable.”

“…I don’t think it can get any faster than this.”

Truly. Sincerely.

Reina swallowed the words she couldn’t say out loud.

* * *

Reina wasn’t a particularly laid back person.

People who could take things slowly usually had enough room in their lives to do so.

Reina, who had neither time nor money, had never had that luxury.

But even so, she couldn’t keep up with Damian’s pace.

‘Is this how the young lady felt too?’

She couldn’t compare herself to the love Damian poured into Estelle, but she felt like she could understand her just a little.

Even if it was only a fraction, maybe this was what it felt like.

“Mom, Mom, the carriage is coming.”

“Wow, the carriage is huge….”

“…”

Bonita and Estelle, holding Reina’s hands tightly on either side, couldn’t hide their excitement.

“You’re really coming along?”

“Yes.”

“Yes.”

The two children answered at the same time again.

“It might be boring.”

“It’s fine.”

“It’s fine.”

Looking down at the children giving identical answers, Reina sighed inwardly and looked toward the approaching carriage.

‘Will it really be fine?’

Damian had informed her yesterday, and they were leaving this morning.

When Bonita and Estelle heard, both insisted on coming along.

There was no way Reina and Damian could win against them, so they all ended up heading to Count Embron’s private estate together.

‘More importantly, that carriage… it really is enormous.’

With a bit of exaggeration, it looked bigger than the house Reina and Bonita used to live in.

‘Or maybe that’s not even an exaggeration.’

It was that imposing.

The massive carriage stopped right in front of Reina and the children.

As they stared at it blankly, unsure whether they were really allowed to ride it, footsteps sounded behind them.

“Are you planning to walk?”

Damian spoke casually and opened the carriage door.

“You’re going in that carriage?”

“Were you really going to walk? Or can you ride a horse?”

“I-I can’t really ride a horse….”

“Then you should take the carriage. If you walk, you’ll arrive after sunset.”

Damian helped the children into the carriage one by one, then held out his gloved hand to Reina.

“Hold on as you climb. The step is high, so you could trip.”

“Th-Thank you.”

Reina took his hand.

The cold feel of leather was vivid.

“Are you not riding with us, my lord?”

Seeing that Damian showed no sign of boarding, Reina asked.

Damian nodded casually and pointed behind him.

“I’ll ride a horse.”

Reina craned her neck to look behind him.

The jet black horse there looked much like Damian himself, its coat gleaming and its size far larger than any other horse.

‘Did he choose a horse that resembled him from the start, or did they grow alike over time?’

She had thought animals all looked similar, but that horse was undeniably handsome.

But that wasn’t what mattered right now.

“Is it really alright for me to ride the carriage when you aren’t?”

“It doesn’t matter. We’re still within the ducal territory. Who would dare comment on what I do?”

“Oh, so it’s not the count’s territory.”

“Of course not. The count’s territory isn’t a place you can reach in a day. It’s a private estate within the ducal lands.”

“I see. For research, it is better to have a place that’s easy to visit often.”

“Exactly. That’s why it was decided.”

With that, Damian firmly closed the carriage door.

Reina couldn’t say anything more.

From outside, Damian knocked on the carriage twice.

“Let’s depart.”

The carriage started moving, and Damian mounted his horse.