Please Save My Child

“Are you going to meet the lady for the first time, shall we wear the prettiest clothes?”

“I want to wear it! The light green dress.”

“It might be a little short, since Bonnie has been eating really well lately, so she’s tall.”

“I like it though.”

“But…”

“The prettiest one.”

That light green dress was what Reina had bought with her first salary after joining the duchy. The money the dukedom gave her was embarrassingly huge compared to what she had ever earned, and it seemed to her that with a few years of hard work she could find a nice house. It was said that peace of mind comes from money. She received the money and on her first vacation, Reina and Bonita went out to the mall.

Her actions stemmed from her desire to buy her children pretty clothes and feed them delicious food. She bought two sweet honey buns, which she had only seen before, and a sandwich sandwiched with unsweetened chicken. She bought a glass bottle of colorful candy and put it in Bonita’s arms, and the child looked more embarrassed than happy. Reina looked at the child anxiously, wondering if this wasn’t what Bonita wanted. After wandering around for a while, she stopped by the clothing store for the last time. Reina said she would pick out three casual clothes that Bonita would wear, and then she would buy Bonita one of the prettiest clothes she thought she would make for a lasting memory for the child.

The child looked at the clothes for a while and then picked up one of them. The light green dress she chose that day was really unexpected. Bonita looked at a dress full of frills made with large ribbons, glittering heirloom stones, and colorful fabric that children would like, and later brought a relatively simple light green dress and said she liked it. What was at least distinctive was the one-tier lace at the hem and the decorated yellow ribbon. Reina asked her cautiously what other clothes she would like, but Bonita insisted that she liked this one the most and that she absolutely hated anything else. In the end, Raina, who could not overcome Bonita’s stubbornness, bought the light green dress with a little extra space in case the child would grow up quickly.

“…”

Reina pondered for a while before she asked.

“Then, shall we try it on now?”

“Huh!”

Bonita took out a light green dress that she wore only once on special occasions from her closet. Thanks to Reina’s care that she could always take out and wear this dress, her dress did not wrinkle. Reina tried to get Bonita to remove her nightgown and put on her dress.

“It’s a bit small…”

Bonita had grown a lot in the last year.

“Hmm…”

Reina held Bonita’s hand weakly and tried to move her arm. She definitely did have the sleeves a bit shorter.

“Should I use this opportunity to buy new clothes?”

“Oh, no, it’s okay.”

“But Bonnie, I have to buy clothes anyway. Now the cold winter is coming again.”

“So it’s okay not to buy it now!”

Bonita shook her head.

“Eh, these are spring and fall clothes anyway… you won’t have anything to wear in the winter.”

“That’s true, but…”

“Right? What if you grow like a bear in the winter! Then I’ll buy it this time.”

“Then I can’t wear it much. So I will wear it now.”

“…is that so?”

“Huh!”

When Reina asked Bonita again for her opinion, with a questioning face, the child nodded her head, visibly relieved.

“Yeah, Bonnie is smarter than her mom, so you’re probably right.”

“Hi-Hi.”

Bonita then took off her clothes, tidied her up, and changed back into her nightgown. She ate the cookies that she had placed on her wooden desk for a while and then hugged Rayna tightly and lay down on her bed.

“Bonnie, since you ate the cookie, you should brush your teeth again and go to sleep.”

“Yeah, I was just being lazy for a while.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, it’s said that being lazy sometimes makes life better~ It’s like oil.”

“Where did you learn such difficult words?”

“Lol.”

Reina laughed, knowing that her child was just sleepy and giving excuses. Yes, it must be because her Bonnie was a very smart kid. In the end, Bonita fell asleep soundly in that state, and Reina had to brush her teeth only tonight, and she extinguished the light of the lantern.

It was not very cold that night.

* * *

The day after Estelle said she wanted to meet Bonita, a meeting was arranged for Estelle and Bonita. While she thought that the preparation of the Duke’s family was great, she also thought that the Duke’s only princess wanted it, so she had no choice but to be ready quickly.

‘After all, I’m the maid of the Duke of Winternight.’

Reina was a maid without any special features, she wasn’t from a great royal family, royalty, or a wizard from far away. The only special thing was that she was actually another person who inherited Reina’s memories, and she became the Duke’s maid without any connection due to her luck.

“Oh, hello!”

Estelle waited nervously for Reina and Bonita in the gorgeous room decorated for the child. Then, when the two entered, she jumped up from the sofa where she was sitting and greeted them.

“My name is Estelle. Estelle Winternight”

“…oh.”

Bonita didn’t know that Estelle would approach her in such a friendly way.

“My name is Bonita. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

As Estelle saw Bonita approaching her more politely than she thought, she looked puzzled.

“Ah, um… that, you don’t have to go that far.”

Estelle said she just wanted to meet her peers. Apparently, all the people in this mansion were adults, and only those who behaved politely to themselves. Everyone needed time to digest their emotions, and kindness was also an emotion. Reina also noticed that Estelle was afraid of the kindness of the adults for reasons she didn’t know. Everyone who worked in this mansion was unaware of the fear of starvation, the diligence of having to check the door every night in mid-winter to see if it would be broken, the desperate need to prepare firewood for boiling water when clean water was unavailable. When Reina gently touched Bonita’s shoulder, Bonita understood her intentions. Soon, Bonita, who had reaped the aristocratic etiquette she had been imitating, approached Estelle with a smile.

“Still, please allow me to use the honorific title. The lady is a precious person in this mansion.”

“…Yes! That, that much is fine op…”

Seeing Bonita smiling like a child, unlike before, Estelle smiled brightly as well. Estelle took Bonita’s hand first and led her to the seat where she had just been sitting.

“Do you like this?”

“Wow…”

On the table were colorful macaroons, candied cherries and whipped cream, bite-size pancakes topped with cheese powder and maple syrup, tarts topped with tangerines, cookies of various shapes, puddings, and drinks. It was evident that those who had heard that Estelle was looking forward to meeting Bonita, a child of her own age, had prepared with great care. Now that her life was better, Reina bought Bonita many snacks, but Bonita didn’t eat much sweet food. She wasn’t looking for anything, and she preferred her meals to those.

Reina’s heart, who had been believing that, skipped a beat when Bonita’s eyes twinkled at the sight of the colorful dessert.

“This is my favorite.”

Estelle handed Bonita a nicely made pudding, perhaps because she wanted to get to know Bonita. The smooth pudding glistened in the light, and when she scooped it up with a spoon, she could tell with her eyes that it was soft.

Bonita accepted the pudding and took a bite. Soft as silk, it dominated Bonita’s mouth with a faint vanilla taste. Bonita looked back and forth between the pudding and Estelle, blushing to see if she liked the pudding.

“There are more, so let’s eat together.”

“!”

Bonita was about to say something, but glanced slightly at Reina.

“…”

“Huh?”

“I can’t eat a lot of sweets. Lady, please eat a lot instead of me.”

“…okay?”

Estelle gave a sad expression.

“Then what about cookies? You know a lot about this, the chef said.”

“Uh.”

“That’s… I like it!”

Picking up a whole wheat cookie with nothing in it, Bonita gave a relieved smile.

“…”

Reina wondered why the scenery hurted so much. Desserts did not decrease no matter how much the chef prepared. Estelle asked Reina to sit down as well, so she sat down and started looking at them.

Estelle seemed to like Bonita very much, and looked back and forth between Reina and Bonita. The two looked exactly the same, almost identical. Slightly drooping eyes, and even the fine features. Estelle looked at the two as if looking for the wrong picture.

“Are Bonita’s eye colors her Dad’s?”

“Yes?”

Estelle was just asking out of her curiosity, but at that moment, Reina’s face flashed with embarrassment.

“Her hair color and eye color all resemble her mother, and her appearance.”

“…”

Estelle said that and brushed her white hair. Bonita looked at Estelle and answered in a mumbling voice.

“Yes…”

It was rude to lengthen her tail, but Reina showed no signs of reprimanding her for it. All she had to do was straighten her pale complexion behind Estelle.

“Then you’ll be able to find out who the mom and dad are right away…”

Estelle, unaware of the circumstances of the two, seemed just envious. She had no resemblance to the Duke, so it seemed that some of the retainers doubted whether Estelle was really the Duke’s daughter.

Bonita hesitated before continuing.

“That… Dad… My father passed away around the time I was born, so my mother said.”

“…!”

It wasn’t until after Bonita said that that Estelle yuk! She groaned and covered her mouth with her hands. Then she turned around and looked at Reina.

“My, I’m sorry…”

‘I don’t know that…’

“No, it’s not something for you to apologize for, lady. Besides, it’s a long time ago.”

Bonita had once asked her about her biological father. At that time, Reina was worried that if she told Bonita the truth, she would hurt this young child. So Reina lied to Bonita that her father waited for her to be born and passed away before Bonita was born.

 

Translator Note:

Sorry, this chapter was wrong, but now is the correct one. Sorry T^T