Please Save My Child

“Look at this, Reina!”

Reina was lost in her recollections, until she suddenly regained consciousness. Next to her was a nice girl with white hair smiling.

“Lady Estelle.”

Estelle chuckled as she gazed at the marshmallow-infused chocolate and saw a mountain of marshmallows rise. She couldn’t help but smile, and all of the employees loved it.

“Perhaps the marshmallow floats because it is light? It’s just great.”

“Then if the lady also enters her cocoa I don’t know if she will come out.”

“Ugh. No. I arrived here and ate a lot of crab, gaining weight. I’ll sink.”

“You’re still too skinny.”

Estelle Winternight.

She was a princess who disappeared not long after she was born with the Duchess of Winternight.

“Call a maid worthy of the child.”
A few months before, the Duke had brought in a scruffy, gray-haired youngster. When the Duke asked for a maid to care for his child, the chief butler immediately thought of Reina. This was because she was the duchy’s lone maid and was raising a little daughter, Bonita. After a while, Reina appeared.

Reina smiled sweetly at the grungy child, not batting an eye.

“My name is Reina. What about you?”

“Hee, gray-hair…”

“…?”

“My name is Gray-haired…”

Reina remained silent for quite some time after her child identified himself as Gray-haired. The Duke spoke something in a quiet voice.

“Estelle.”

“…?”

The Duke spat the word ‘Estelle’. The gray-haired child had no idea what it meant, but when everyone heard the term, they forgot to lower their heads and lifted their eyes wide to see what was happening.

“Your name is Estelle, not Gray-haired.”

Reina didn’t ask why he named her Estelle or how he got this gray-haired, dull-looking child. He owned the mansion, so she had no need to interfere. Reina and Estelle went to the bathroom in the duchy.

“Is the water temperature okay?”

“Yes…”

“Is it stingy or static?”

“It’s fine…”

“I believe it’s because the days are dry. I am also surprised by static electricity at times.”

Static electricity occurred as the child was being undressed and placed in warm water. The pain stunned both of them, but Reina forgot about the static charge from just before due to the scars on her child’s body.

‘How could someone do this?’

Reina almost grimaced in front of Estelle, wondering why such a small and slender body had so many scars. However, she strained to keep a friendly demeanor and began eagerly washing her emaciated body. She continued to speak lightly so that Estelle would not feel uneasy. The child soaked in the white and gold bathtub, admiring the magnificent bathroom.

“Huh?”

She was gently lathering Estelle’s hair. When she tried to inquire if it wasn’t too painful, gray water began to stream from her child’s hair. At first, she moved her hand, wondering if it was the dust. However, instead of diminishing, the water became heavier.

“…OH!”

Estelle panicked and attempted to lift herself up before falling into the water of the bathtub. She wouldn’t have gotten sick because she was in the water, but she had to have eaten water because Estelle was coughing so much.

“Cough, Cough!”

“My Lady! Are you okay?

Her face was crimson, and soap got into her eyes. The child who couldn’t open her eyes waved her bony arms, warning her not to approach Reina.

“Oh, no! “I am not washing!”

It must have been dyed to disguise her child’s gray hair. The dye was inexpensive, low-quality, and had a strong stink.The soap she used at the nursery school did not drain as well, possibly because it was of poor quality, whereas the soap she used at the craft house was of good quality, thus the dye had melted away.

“There is no way a Duke’s house would use such soap.”

Flowers, honey, and many types of delicious fruit. The fragrance of hair color and the opposing perfume permeated the washroom. Estelle’s demeanor was devastated as she gazed at the bathtub, which had turned gray and dirty before her eyes. When Reina saw this, she hugged her and opened her mouth.

“My lady, are you okay?”

“Nana…”

She barely opened her burning eyes, revealing her sparse white hair.

‘Ah, it’s over now.’

Estelle had a depressing notion that was unusual for a child. Contrary to Estelle’s fears, Reina asked her in a friendly tone.

“Did you drink water? “Drinking soapy water is bad for you.”

Reina, as if unconcerned with her white hair, brought out a huge towel and hugged Estelle. She then summoned the maids outside the room, instructing them to drain the tub and refill the water, before comforting the kid.

“It’s okay.”

“The lady is the one the master loved and brought back. There is no one in this mansion who despises the lady.”

“Even if I… have gray hair?”

“…”

Reina stared at Estelle’s hair as she asked a cautious query. She pondered why she was referred to as gray-haired, even though she had gray hair, and this was the answer.

“You’re Estelle, not Gray-haired.”

Estelle hesitated when she learned her name was Estelle.

“Does the name Estelle suit me?”

Could she have a name that suggests she was a star, despite her white hair, which is a symbol of unluckiness? That is what the child muttered. Reina was quick to notice what she was concerned about.

“My lady, I used to live where I could see the night sky wide.”

When Reina heard that the tube was full of water again, she returned to the bathroom with the child. Again she carefully dipped the child in the water of the bathtub and she told her story once more.

“It was so quiet and dark there that I was afraid to walk the streets at night.”

“I’m afraid of the dark too…”

“Really? “You and I are the same.

Reina guided the child’s attention to various locations, causing bubbles in the clean water.

“At the moment, as I gazed up at the night sky, there were many beautiful stars. Looking at that star, I decided I was still fine and would calm myself down.”

“Star?”

“Yes. Whether it’s chilly in the winter or scorching in the summer, a white star shines alone in the black sky.”

Reina said as she carefully placed her fingers over Estelle’s head.

“You look very much like that star. So the name Estelle should suit you as if it were for you.”

“…”

Reina even wore nice clothing supplied by Peter, the attendant, after Estelle had been washed. When Peter saw Estelle, who was clean and dry, he knew she was the daughter his Duke had been looking for all along. Rather of thinking her snow-white hair was awful, Reina simply gazed at Estelle, her clothes loose, and her expression troubled.

“I think it’s a little big.”

“Is that true?” “I prepared a dress for a 6-year-old just in case.”

How tiny. Even the six-year-old’s clothes were a little loose. That alone enabled her to learn about her child’s sad past. She noticed how hungry her growing child was, therefore she was so little. Reina’s heart wasn’t in good condition.

After watching Peter and Reina whispering for a while, Estelle wondered what she had done wrong. Reina approached Estelle and she made eye contact with her.

“My lady, are there any foods you can’t eat?”

Estelle shook her head.

“Then what’s your favorite food?”

Estelle shook her head once again. Reina returned her harsh gaze to the youngster and requested that Peter prepare her supper with something nutritious for the child. The chef soon prepared a variety of foods for the children. He had grown-up grandkids and was kind to Bonita, so it was not difficult for him to prepare delicious dinners for the kids. A hamburger with brown sauce, fried gyro fries, creamy risotto, and tangerine salad.

Listening to the chef’s explanation that even pudding was prepared for dessert, Reina noticed that as soon as the chef heard that she had brought her little girl, he had prepared food for the child.

“…it’s good!”

The child ate the hamburger with a fork and liked it. She unknowingly raised her voice and was startled, then blushed and covered her mouth with one hand that wasn’t holding a fork. All the employees around them all looked at Estelle with warm smiles.

“My lady, try this too.”

“My lady, how about this?”

She was a precious lady for whom many had waited so long. The white-haired little lady couldn’t refuse all of the food and received it with a bewildered expression, likely for the first time. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, as soon as the chef learned of Estelle’s fondness for the hamburger, he began making a fuss about preparing additional dishes. Roast chicken with a huge entire chicken, varied mushrooms stir-fried in a special tomato sauce, colorful veggies grilled and topped with white sauce, and whole sea fish that were difficult to find in the Duchy of Winternight were steamed and presented.

Estelle was perplexed by the dishes that quickly occupied the table.

“I-I can’t eat this much!”

Peter, who was standing next to her, said with a hearty smile.

“It’s okay. You can leave it.”

“Well, then it’s a waste… yo.”

Estelle had lived a life closer to poverty than abundance, so when asked to leave food, she mumbled so loudly that she flushed because the people around her didn’t understand. In this large dining room, only Estelle and Reina understood what it meant to be starved.

Translator Note:

Before someone ask, I did not made a mistake with Reina’s child’s name. Her name is ‘Bonita’ but her mum sometimes calls her ‘Bonnie’.