The chef sighed as he looked at the dessert that no one had touched.
‘The lady is sick, but habits are really scary.’
Estelle suddenly collapsed with a high fever, and the entire mansion was in chaos.
“The lady’s body is like a ball of fire!”
“It’s because she was out all day yesterday.”
“I have to melt all the snow away.”
“How many magic stones do you need?”
Estelle fell and everyone was confused. While everyone was confused, a voice hurriedly stopped them.
“It’s not like that!”
It was Reina Borton. As everyone looked at her, she continued speaking slightly hesitantly.
“Ah, the young lady just realized that this Duke’s castle is her home and is now at ease.”
If it weren’t for Reina’s words, a temperature control magic device would have been installed in the garden. The chef looked at the lovely lemon meringue tart, Mont Blanc, and pudding on the table.
‘Wouldn’t pudding be okay?’
Because of the pain, entry was prohibited except for doctors and nurses. They were wondering how much it hurt, if it would get better quickly if she was treated with holy power, but it was deplorable that they couldn’t bring people from the temple into the Duke’s house. The Winternight Duke and the Church of Vendision had a bad relationship. Their relationship had been subtle since before, but after he made Finecke his duchess, it became extreme. If it were not for the state religion, it would probably have been impossible for the Vendisionist temple to remain in this territory.
“Ugh, I guess we should eat this together.”
The chef sighed and looked down at the lovely dessert. It would have been better if Bonita had come to visit, but from one day on, she didn’t even have a shadow in the kitchen. When she first came to the mansion, she sneaked over to Reina while she was away, got some fruits, and ate them while she was away.
‘It was cute.’
So, he sometimes researched desserts that children might like and made them for them. The chef smiled happily and recalled his old memories.
“You seem to be in a good mood.”
“Yo-Your Excellency?!”
At that time, Damien interrupted the chef’s recollection. Since the master of the mansion was not one to make unexpected visits to the kitchen, the chef overreacted and jumped up. And because of that, the chair behind him fell backwards, and the chef tripped over the leg of the chair and fell hard.
“Oh my…”
“Oh, man! Are you okay?”
While Damian was looking down at everything with a dull face, Bonita was startled and approached the chef.
“Bo, Bonnie? What’s going on here?”
“The Duke said he would give me a gift, so I came with him.”
The chef looked at Damien with a puzzled expression when he heard the word ‘gift’. Damian had the blunt face that the chef had always known.
“Have you been making desserts lately?”
“Oh, that’s right.”
“I came to give it to this child.”
“No, why didn’t you order a subordinate to do it, Your Excellency…”
Damian answered, putting his jacket down on the table in the middle of the kitchen.
“There was no one in the hallway.”
“…”
“It seems like most of them are loitering around Estelle’s door.”
“…I have no shame.”
“It’s okay. What did you do wrong?”
Everyone’s attention was focused on Estelle because she was the treasure-like young lady everyone had been waiting for. The doctor said she would be sick for a few more days and banned everyone from entering. Damian was also included in all of them.
Damian also didn’t know how to leave Estelle’s visit on the first day, but he had no choice but to work because the estate wouldn’t run properly if he didn’t work.
‘Moreover, one of the 12 priests will soon be selected.’
No matter how subtle the relationship between the temple and Damian was, Damian was one of the great nobles of this empire. For him to miss such an event was no different from turning the entire empire into an enemy.
‘It wouldn’t really matter if I was alone, but since Estelle is there, that doesn’t work.’
He had to send a letter to attend the ordination ceremony of 12 priests and then prepare the agenda for the meeting that immediately followed. The appointment ceremony was held in a neutral sacred country closer to the island. In order to make it known that the temple was not under the control of the imperial family, important events were always held in a neutral sacred country where the temple was located. However, Damian was more unpleasant than meeting other greedy nobles who set foot on that land.
“…Duke?”
Damian, who had frowned at the discomfort rising just by imagining it, suddenly came to his senses when he heard a young voice coming from right below him.
“…Bonita Borton.”
Bonita blinked her big purple eyes and looked up at Damian.
“Duke, are you angry…?”
“No.”
Damian instantly lost his stern expression. Nevertheless, although his expression was still stiff, Bonita was not afraid and looked at him straight.
“Then are you worried…?”
“Estel… Ah, the lady.”
Bonita removed her hand from Damian’s hem and continued her sentence.
“When Mom worries about me, her face gets scared. I’m fine, but she gets really scared and her expression looks like a duke’s.”
“Becoming like me?”
Damian couldn’t imagine Rerna having the same expression as him. He couldn’t hide the same puzzled look on his face as the chef standing across from him. Only Bonita hesitated. Then the child rummaged through the jacket on the table and took out a small chocolate wrapped in pink wrapping paper.
“Duke, please eat.”
The child’s small hand stretched out. The chocolate, which seemed quite large in Bonita’s hands, was like a very small pebble in Damian’s hands.
“…thanks. Did the knights give it to you or something?”
“Huh. It’s a secret that I gave it away! They made sure to ask me to eat only the crab.”
“But can you give it to me?”
“Eating sweets makes me feel better!”
“Who told you that?”
“I figured it out.”
She lived for eight years at most, and nodded her head as she spoke confidently in front of two adults who lived twice as long as her. The chef could barely stop her face from softening at the actions of such an adorable child.
“Hmm, hmm. Anyway… would you like to eat this?”
The chef led her child to a pile of cakes.
“Can I eat all three?”
No matter how much the child liked the food, three portions were too much. They always blamed the chef for being too loving. Bonita thought for a while, then looked back and forth between the chef and Damien, and she smiled.
“Let’s all eat together.”
“…”
While the chef was moved by those words, he also looked at Damian’s thoughts.
‘Your Excellency doesn’t like sweet food very much.’
It was so bad that all the employees were shocked when they saw Estelle eating the chocolate cake he gave her last time. The packaged chocolate was okay. Because there was no need to eat right now. However, the cake had to be eaten right away and there was a lot of it.
“Okay.”
However, ignoring the chef’s concerns, Damien answered willingly and sat down. Then he looked at the chef with his mouth wide open and said:
“What can I do instead of sitting down?”
“Oh, no. No. Yes.”
The chef thought that although he had not gone to Estelle’s door, he had seen a rare sight.
* * *
“Haaa~ Haa~ Hooooo~.”
Crunch crunch.
Now there are few people, and another footprint has been engraved in the snow field full of traces. After telling the employee to move all of Bonita’s desserts to her room, the two were walking in the white snow field. Damien walked silently behind Bonita, who was walking ahead. Bonita continued to exhale loudly and laugh as if she was enjoying the sight of her white breath coming out.
“If you stay too long, you’ll catch a cold.”
“It’s okay. I’m perfectly healthy!”
Bonita said that and walked back to Damian at a brisk pace.
“…huh?”
“Why do you do that?”
Then, tilting her head again, Bonita looked back at the path the two had walked and smiled.
“The Duke’s feet are so big!”
“…?”
“And walk very, very loudly.”
‘Is that really that funny? Isn’t it obvious? she thought.’
But Bonita kept smiling and put her foot in the footprints left by Damien.
“Go ahead, Duke.”
“…okay.”
He didn’t know why he did that, but Damien walked forward as Bonita told him to do. Bonita followed him at a slow pace, putting her foot in the footprints he left behind. Damian glanced behind him, realized the reason, and shortened his stride. Bonita grinned at her strides, which were much easier than before, and followed Damian even harder. Damian looked at Bonita, who was following him intently at the ground, and then walked with wide strides.
“Oh…”
Bonita paused for a moment at the suddenly widened street. Then she jumped with all his might and landed in the footprints.
“Huh, did you see it? Did you see it?”
“That’s amazing.”
“I can do it even further!”
“I don’t think that will work.”
“I could!”
Damian could do it with confidence. When he saw Bonita declaring, he walked with longer strides.
“Can you do it?”
“Hmm.”
The stride was much wider than before.
“I want to try it.”
Bonita pursed her lips, strained her eyes, and jumped high.
—————————————————————
Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
If you like my work please support me with Ko-fi or Patreon. Next post will be released on December, 16.
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