Chapter 78

“Hmm…”

Damian looked at Bonita, who was clearly and firmly stating her thoughts, with a complicated expression.

“Looks like Reina taught you well.”

“My mom’s good at everything.”

“She really is versatile.”

Bonita didn’t know what versatile meant, but she was certain it was praise for her mom, so she lifted her chin proudly.

“Then let’s call it a gift.”

“What kind of gift?”

“…When’s your birthday? Let’s say it’s a birthday present. Is it too modest for a birthday gift?”

Bonita fiddled with the cookie tin in her hands.

The cool metal surface slid smoothly beneath her fingertips.

“My birthday’s still a little far away.”

“When is it?”

After hesitating for a while, Bonita answered.

“February fourth…”

“February fourth?”

“Yes.”

“You were born on the same day as Estelle.”

“My lady’s birthday is February fourth too?”

“That’s right. In that case, celebrating together wouldn’t be a problem.”

“Th-That won’t work!”

Bonita jolted in shock at the passing suggestion. If Reina had been nearby, she would have been just as startled.

“Th-The birthday party is for the one and only young lady of the duchy. I’m not a young lady, so it’s not okay.”

“…”

Bonita hugged the cookie tin tightly, as if it suited her to have just this much. It was an assertion far beyond her years.

Her gaze drifted toward the door.

The burgundy door had a beautiful silver star embossed on it.

‘A star.’

A star could mean many things.

In the Eisen Empire, it sometimes symbolized the child Bendicion loved most, but in this mansion, it meant Estelle.

A star engraved on a door meant a room for Estelle.

Everything in this room existed for Estelle.

Damian had even told Bonita that all of this was being prepared for Estelle’s birthday.

Though she was young, she could tell what she was allowed to have and what she wasn’t.

“I don’t need a birthday party. This year too, I’ll just spend it with Mom. That’s enough.”

“What do you do with Reina on your birthday?”

“When it’s my birthday, Mom doesn’t go to work and stays with me all day.”

“…?”

Damian looked down at Bonita with a puzzled expression.

“That’s all?”

“Huh?”

Bonita mirrored his confused look.

They stared at each other for a while with questioning faces, until Bonita spoke first.

“Mom’s busy every single day. Since we started living here, I get to see her every day, but before that, she was really busy. You’d be surprised if you knew.”

“I see.”

“So on my birthday, Mom stayed with me all day. We just roll around on the bed and play all day.”

“I see…”

From Damian’s perspective, it felt like not much at all, but Bonita looked genuinely happy as she explained.

Everyone had different values, and Damian didn’t want to dismiss hers, so he listened and slowly nodded.

“Then can I ask you one more favor?”

“You’re super super nice to Mom, so just say it!”

“That’s reassuring.”

Damian smiled faintly and bent his knees to meet her eyes.

“Will you come to my daughter’s birthday party?”

“That’s the favor?”

“You said your birthday is a day where you just laze around with Reina Botn and do nothing. I’d be taking that moment away from you.”

“My lady’s my friend, so of course I’ll celebrate her. Birthdays are days everyone should be celebrated.”

“Did Reina Botn teach you that too?”

“Yes. My mom told me.”

Whenever Reina came up, Bonita’s smile grew especially sweet.

It showed just how big a place Reina held in her heart.

“Your Grace, this is Dean Peronte. I heard Boni is here, so I’ve come to take her back.”

Dean knocked from the other side of the room.

Damian stood and held out his hand to Bonita.

“I’ve taken up too much of the young lady’s time.”

“I’ll forgive you.”

Bonita answered boldly and took his hand without hesitation.

“You know, My lady said she’s really really happy because a new teacher is coming this time.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. She said she’s so grateful to you that she doesn’t know what to do.”

“That’s only natural.”

“Is it because you love My lady?”

Damian didn’t answer right away.

With his hand on the doorknob, he finally spoke.

“Because I treasure her.”

* * *

Booooomm!!!!

A massive explosion rang out from the mansion that had once been Count Embron’s private residence and was now a research facility.

Birds that had been enjoying a peaceful moment scattered in panic and flew far away. Gray smoke seeped out through the mansion’s windows.

“That’s the fifth failure.”

“But the blast seemed weaker this time, right?”

“Hm, what could be the problem?”

“Cough, maybe the problem is that we’re rushing too much.”

Reina coughed as she joined the group of mages discussing the situation.

They naturally made space for her.

“Reina, how many days have you been staying here now?”

“Three days.”

“Is your daughter doing alright?”

“Hm, everyone’s taking good care of her. Sir Dean’s there, and from what I hear, my lord’s looking after her too. All I can do is hurry and produce some kind of result.”

It had already been three weeks. With the mages’ help, the experimental setup had been completed quickly, but they kept failing.

“How many Theon have we wasted already…”

“In total over three weeks…”

“No, I wasn’t really asking you to tell me.”

When Reina muttered something close to a lament, one mage kindly tried to explain.

Since it was information she absolutely didn’t want to hear right now, Reina cut him off.

Having gone three days without sleep, Reina ran a hand through her dry hair and stared down at the blueprints.

“Is this actually impossible?”

“No, the circuit design is perfect. Of course, I said the same thing at the first demonstration too.”

“And how many times have we modified the circuit so far?”

“Four times.”

“…”

“…”

Silence fell over everyone. Now and then, someone let out a heavy sigh.

‘At least it’s a relief that Boni’s okay.’

Even working day and night with their heads together, there still wasn’t enough time.

If she hadn’t gotten Bonita’s understanding, she couldn’t even imagine how much she would have suffered trying to force results out of such limited time.

Just thinking about it made her dizzy.

For a very brief break, servants brought out sandwiches and warm tea.

Before eating her sandwich, Reina swallowed a magic power enhancement potion the mages had given her.

“Reina, does that potion actually work?”

The mage who had been the most diligent about giving it to her asked. Reina simply smiled and shook her head.

“I’ve got no idea. I still can’t activate a single magic tool, so it doesn’t seem to be working.”

“If you’ve been taking it for three weeks, you’d think there’d be at least some effect…”

“I kind of want to study Reina’s body later.”

“Haha…”

Whenever she took the potion, her stomach churned unpleasantly.

It felt awful every time, but she couldn’t bring herself to reject everyone’s concern, so she took it faithfully.

One of the mages said bluntly.

“Wouldn’t it be better to try the potion the temple makes? The ones from the mage tower are way too old fashioned.”

“Sh-Shut it. You can’t feed that kind of support to Reina.”

“Got it, Reina. That guy’s an apostate, an apostate. If you dig into his background, I bet he’s from the temple. Living off the mage tower’s stipend and still saying that, tsk.”

“I’m living off Duke Winternight’s patronage right now anyway. Honestly, the mage tower’s way too stuck in its ways.”

Reina kept sipping her tea to calm her churning stomach, watching the argument that was almost like banter.

The mage sitting beside her spoke quietly.

“Well, there are opinions saying the mage tower should be more open minded now, but honestly, I don’t like that potion either.”

“Because it’s from the temple?”

“Not just because it’s the temple. One of the ingredients used there is poison to the Finecke. There’s even a history of that ingredient being used to kill Finecke in the past…”

It was all news to Reina. None of the materials she had studied mentioned anything about poison.

“Poison?”

At the word, Reina startled, and the mage hurried to reassure her as he continued.

“You’ve probably heard of Perman, right? There are several types. The Perman I’m talking about is one that the temple has given a special blessing.”

According to the mage, those blessings came in many forms. The most common was a blessing bestowed upon land.

“In that case, I’ve only seen it in processed form, so I’ve never seen what it looks like in its raw state. The duke would probably know though. The duchess was Finecke.”

Listening to the explanation, Reina asked with a confused look.

“So does that mean the temple still creates Perman that could kill Finecke even today?”

“Well, it’s used as medicine too.”

“But that’s lethal poison to the Finecke. That means they could kill them if they wanted to.”

“Why would the temple keep cultivating something like that?”

The original role of the temple was to receive the will of the god and care for the weak.

As Reina spoke with the mages, she recalled the moment she had been turned away by the temple last winter.

Not noticing her pale complexion, the mage spoke calmly.

“Because the Finecke as a whole are considered heretics.”