Chapter 80

“M…om?”

“Boni, are you awake?”

Just as Reina arrived and gently laid the child down on the bed, Bonita called out to her.

Reina carefully brushed her bangs aside and kissed her forehead with love.

“N-No… I wasn’t sleeping…”

“But you were asleep when Mom picked you up earlier.”

“I was pretending.”

Rubbing her eyes, Bonita told an obvious lie.

“Is that so? Mom was totally fooled.”

Even so, Reina smiled and willingly believed her.

Reina cherished Bonita enough to happily fall for any lie she told.

“Mom bought you some presents, Boni. Want to look at them together?”

“…Yeah.”

Reina kissed Bonita’s forehead again and brought all the gift boxes onto the bed.

“I didn’t know what you’d like, so I thought and thought really hard before picking them.”

Pretty hair ribbons, gloves, jewel like sparkling chocolates, a fairy tale book with lovely illustrations, and a quill pen.

“Was there anything you wanted, Boni? The people Mom works with scolded me and told me to make sure I celebrated your birthday properly.”

“I like anything Mom gives me.”

Bonita’s cheeks flushed as she examined each gift.

She rolled the quill pen, a bit big for her hand, around her palm for a while, then suddenly jumped up.

“What is it?”

“I have something to give Mom too.”

Bonita pulled out a cookie tin she had hidden carefully in the corner of the drawer.

“I saved it so we could eat it together on my birthday.”

“So that’s why you hid it so carefully?”

“If I left it where I could see it, I thought I’d eat it all. It was really good.”

It wasn’t a lie. When she opened the lid, some of the cookies were already gone.

“It’s been a long time, so I don’t know if it’s still okay to eat.”

Reina stared at the cookies for a while, then picked one up and put it in her mouth.

The cookie, long past its prime, crumbled helplessly, having gone soft.

“It’s good. You held back and didn’t eat something this tasty just for Mom?”

“…Yeah!”

Bonita, who had been nervously watching Reina’s reaction, broke into a wide smile.

“What am I supposed to do with a daughter this kind. Mom’s almost worried.”

“I’ll be the kindest to Mom, and just a little kind to everyone else, so don’t worry.”

“That’s totally fine.”

Reina laughed, cupping Bonita’s cheeks and rubbing noses with her.

The child’s small hands rested on top of Reina’s.

“Sorry Mom’s late. Did you wait a lot?”

“It’s okay. Uncle Dean and the knight uncles said happy birthday to me. And the chef uncle gave me chocolate… and the duke and My lady asked me to have dinner with them and stayed with me until you came.”

“Still…”

“And my birthday isn’t over yet, and Mom’s here too. I’m really happy.”

Something inside Reina’s heart rang sharply.

It was a different feeling from when she researched magic tools.

Bonita gently held up the fairy tale book Reina had bought.

“Read this to me tonight. I want the fairy tale Mom bought to be read by Mom.”

“Shall I? Then Mom will go get ready for bed first. Can you stay awake?”

“Yeah.”

Bonita forced her eyes wide open with all her might. Reina giggled at the cute sight and lightly pinched her little nose.

Before Bonita fell asleep, Reina hurriedly changed her clothes.

Her pajamas were the same design as Bonita’s, just a different size.

After putting the presents away and lying down beside her, Bonita hugged the fairy tale book and scooted closer.

Her warm body heat pressed against Reina.

“And the duke didn’t read you a fairy tale too?”

“He did. But I like it more when Mom reads. You’re my mom.”

“You like Mom’s voice?”

“Yeah.”

Reina took the fairy tale book from Bonita’s arms.

‘If I’d known, I should’ve bought a few more fairy tale books.’

She opened it and read slowly, page by page.

Listening quietly to Reina’s gentle voice, Bonita murmured sleepily.

“You know… the duke says My lady is precious to him.”

“Boni is very precious to Mom too.”

“Does Mom like me?”

“Of course.”

Bonita tried to keep her eyes open, treasuring every moment with Reina.

But already half asleep, her weak voice dragged on slowly.

“The duke doesn’t say he likes My lady.”

“That’s probably because he’s shy.”

“Why?”

“Sometimes it’s embarrassing to say things you’re not used to.”

“Are adults like that?”

“Yeah. Maybe that’s just how adults are. Mom’s not sure. When Boni grows up, will you experience it and tell me?”

“Okay. I’ll remember.”

Since it was a promise made while half asleep, Reina thought Bonita wouldn’t remember this conversation at all.

So she simply smiled and gently stroked the child’s hair.

Her eyes had already been closed for a while.

Reina closed the fairy tale book halfway through, laid Bonita down properly, and lay beside her.

With her eyes closed, Bonita called out softly like sleep talk.

“…Mom.”

“Yeah.”

“Actually, it’s okay even if you don’t buy presents.”

Blink.

Bonita reflected in Reina’s eyes.

“I just like it when Mom is next to me on my birthday.”

“…”

“So I like it because Mom’s here.”

With that, Bonita’s breathing settled into a steady rhythm.

‘Was that sleep talking?’

By the time Reina had been reading, Bonita had already been drifting off, so she surely wouldn’t remember what she’d just said.

‘That’s a relief.’

Thinking the child wouldn’t remember, the first emotion Reina felt was relief.

“…Huh?”

Her eyes trembled slightly as she wondered why she felt relieved at all.

Blink.

Reina closed her eyes and went to sleep.

The emotion that followed relief was guilt.

* * *

It was inevitable that the mages dispatched from the mage tower would come to like Reina.

Though she had no magic power at all, ironically her understanding of magic was far beyond that of ordinary people.

“If she had even an average amount of magic power, we’d have taken her straight to the mage tower.”

“Seriously.”

The mages, having finally gotten about half a day of proper sleep, gathered and whispered among themselves.

“She hasn’t learned much yet, so she doesn’t know the theory well, but she understands magic instinctively. That’s a classic genius type.”

“Haha, her self esteem is way too low though.”

“Ah… can’t we just fix it somehow? Is having no magic power really the problem?”

“It is. She can’t even make a single magic tool on her own.”

Ugh…

A groan escaped.

At first, the mages had been drawn in by Reina’s sincere praise and emotions, but as days passed, they grew more and more impressed by her innate sense.

“Why does someone from the empire have no magic power at all?”

One mage vented bitterly. Another beside him nodded in agreement.

“Her presence is so faint too… don’t geniuses usually have some kind of aura?”

“Still, I heard her daughter has a bit of magic power.”

“What if Eleanor Beanz measured it wrong?”

“No, no. We had another mage examiner check again a few days ago. There’s really no reaction at all.”

The more they talked, the heavier the air grew.

“Good morning, everyone.”

And the cause of that heavy mood, Reina herself, appeared calmly.

If she had known they were having such a gloomy conversation about her, she would’ve shown up hours later.

“Reina, welcome.”

All the mages looked at her fondly. Today too, her presence was reliably faint.

“I was thinking on the way here. What if we try changing something other than the circuit?”

“For example?”

“Like the rotational axis rules…”

The moment Reina began speaking, everyone rushed back to their stations.

“The idea of grinding magic stones into powder wasn’t originally mine. Someone researched it before. Thanks to that person, our research could move this fast. We avoided a lot of trial and error.”

“And by the way, did you celebrate your daughter’s birthday well?”

“Ah.”

Reina had been handling a magic stone when she suddenly looked up.

“If anything, I almost didn’t. I went out to buy presents and only realized it was night once I came to my senses.”

“That was close.”

“Buying presents was fun though.”

“Did your child like them?”

“…She liked them.”

Remembering Bonita’s expression from the night before, Reina smiled faintly. That morning, she had waited until Bonita woke up.

Bonita had assumed Reina would already be gone, so she’d been startled to see her still there.

‘Still, she was happy.’

“Have a safe trip!”

Bonita hugged Reina tightly as she saw her off.

She was so adorable it almost made Reina unable to take a single step.

“…When you say she liked them, does that mean you couldn’t give her something she was fully satisfied with?”

“She said she liked being with me more than the presents. I thought she’d obviously like the gifts more. Ah, and Boni saved cookies to give me too…”

In the end, the conversation turned into bragging about her daughter.

The mage smiled warmly as he listened to Reina gently talk about Bonita with a happy face.

“Reina and Bonita really cherish each other.”

“D-Does it look like that?”

“Yes. Very much so.”

Reina’s cheeks flushed visibly.

Pressing both hands to her cheeks to cool them down, she murmured,

“Will I be able to keep getting along well with Boni from now on?”