Reina, who was comforting a child’s shoulder, continued speaking.
“It is the adult’s job to teach and protect children until they can distinguish between the world and make decisions on their own.”
Estelle’s strength as she held on to Reina’s waist weakened.
“A lot of responsibility shouldn’t fall on you as a child.”
“Is that so?”
“Sure.”
So Reina smiled, saying she felt even more sorry for Estelle.
“The reason why everyone in this mansion is on your side is not only because you are a princess. Because everyone knows you didn’t do anything wrong.”
Every word Reina said tickled her like cotton. She felt as if a dandelion seed had entered her heart and blossomed. Soon Estelle broke away from Reina’s arms and wiggled her hands. The child’s heart, which had been pounding anxiously, began to beat ‘boom, boom, boom’ as usual.
“…Then Reina, you won’t leave the mansion?”
“No.”
“In the future?”
“I won’t leave until you tell me to.”
Estelle extended her outstretched hand, her little finger extended, to Reina.
“Promise me.”
“Sure.”
Giggling at the sight of her child’s tiny hand, Reina clasped her hand and didn’t forget to stamp it.
Estelle said.
“I’m not going to tell Reina to leave. She has to stay by my side, everafter.”
“Well, later I might cry because I feel betrayed when the lady tells me to leave.”
“I’m not telling Reina to leave! If I say that, it’s fake!”
The child desperately clung to Reina’s words in a light tone.
“I guess it will be easy to tell the Grimm Lady apart.”
Even though Estelle was her young master, Reina gave her a loving look and cupped her cheeks and stroked her. She acted as if she was treating her own daughter.
“Because you will never throw me away.”
“Huh!”
Estelle happily accepted her touch, which was filled with love. Reina held Estelle’s hand for a while before removing her hand and looking at the table in front of the sofa. Desserts that had not even been touched by her were shining lonely.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“…”
It was only after she asked that question that she heard Estelle’s stomach growling. The hunger that had been suppressed by her fear was finally revealing itself.
“I’m hungry.”
Estelle’s ears turned red.
“Have you not eaten by any chance?”
“I ate, but…”
She left behind much more than she ate. Estelle couldn’t spit out these words, but Reina could roughly guess them. Reina didn’t think it would be a good idea to fill her stomach with sweets, but she decided not to argue for now. She soon grabbed the nearest cupcake, topped with pink cream and decorated here and there with white flowers made of sugar. She looked at the cupcake that Estelle had handed to Reina and took a big bite. There was cream on the corners of her mouth, but she didn’t care and focused on the sweetness. Reina saw that the amount of dessert was too much for a child to eat alone, and she thought that the people of this mansion cared for and loved Estelle excessively.
“…it’s good.”
“That’s something the chef will be happy to hear.”
“Ugh, I’ll go later and say it’s delicious. I’ll also say thank you.”
She did things that were not originally planned, just for Estelle’s sake, without even being asked to do so. Estelle was now slowly accepting the meaning of affection.
“And now I want to eat it all without any leftovers.”
If she were to leave it, she could definitely say that it was delicious but she couldn’t eat it because she was full. She didn’t have to worry about the chef. All of the child’s pronunciation came out muffled as she spoke with a mouth full of cupcakes. Even her appearance was so lovely.
Reina smiled kindly and handed Estelle a glass filled with milk.
Estelle said as she held on to her glass of milk after finishing one of the cupcakes.
“Does Bonnie like sweets too?”
This was a question, but it wasn’t a question. Reina understood Estelle’s intentions and just smiled.
“She likes it.”
“Really? Bonnie likes tarts, cream puffs, cookies, and cupcakes… everything.”
Estelle rolled her eyes as if she was thinking for a moment.
“Is Bonnie alone in her room right now?”
“No, she’s going to the Knights Templar.”
“…!”
Estelle said with her eyes sparkling in response to Reina’s answer.
“Then we can take all of this to the knights and share it with everyone! Right!”
“Should I call another worker and ask them to move everything?”
“Ugh, I’ll take the cookies and give them to Bonita myself.”
Estelle smiled very lovely.
“And tonight I’m going to ask if I can sleep with Reina and Bonnie.”
* * *
“Rest!”
“Ugh! I’m dying!”
“Ah! Captain, aren’t you being too strict!”
Immediately after the commander’s return, the knights’ situation was more difficult than ever. The reason was simple. It was because no one was able to provide a strong protection to Estelle while guarding the mansion. The knight commander gave special training, saying they were fortunate not to have been fired.
“It’s noisy. How can we call ourselves the Winter Knights if we can’t even stand this much? Train yourself even more so that you can properly protect those who serve you!”
“Ohh…”
“Gasp… Gasp.”
“…”
Everyone was crying and holding their swords tightly. The knights who followed Damian and Dean, who took separate leave, were no exception to this training. Some were lying on the dirt floor with their tops off.
At that time, he heard small, light footsteps coming from somewhere.
“Sir Dean~!”
Fluffy pink hair, droopy eyes like her mother. When she first came to this mansion, she was so skinny that everyone worried, but she soon grew up to be a lovely child with a lot of attention and love.
She was Bonita.
“…!!”
The knights who were rolling on the floor and the knights who were taking off their shirts all transformed into their usual appearances at the speed of light. It happened very quickly. Bonnie came in with a bright smile on her face, but then she stood there with startled rabbit eyes.
“…Did I disturb you while you were taking a break?”
“Oh, no! Bonnie! What’s happen?”
“Bonnie can’t be bothering, right? Captain?”
Everyone seemed to want to get close to Bonnie, but they wondered if they would smell like sweat. They couldn’t even get close and glanced at the leader.
The Knight Commander saw his men casting glances at him and looked at Bonita, her eyes wide and unable to hide her bewildered expression.
“Hmm, hmm! Let’s rest until dinner time! Everyone, take a shower!”
As soon as those words were finished, everyone rushed to the shower room. Only Bonita and the knightly master Odokani were left standing.
The knight commander glanced at Bonita. He put his hands behind his back and wiggled his hands and asked Bonita.
“I’m going to the leader’s office. Would you like to come with me?”
And he thought, ‘Oops’. He swore all his life to the Duke of Winternight and spent almost all his time with the duchy’s knights. As a result, he spoke to Bonita as harshly as he would to his own subordinate.
Training was going on until now…
The knight commander glanced at Bonita’s notice. If Bonita, who spoke stiffly, ended up crying and Reina saw her…
‘Of course, if it were Reina Borton, she would understand.’
While he was lost in thought for a moment, he heard the child’s sonorous answer.
“Can I follow you?”
“Hmm?”
“Well, that place… Mom told me not to go, leader.”
It’s a place where she worked, so she shouldn’t go because it would disturb her… Bonita replied, stretching his words, and it seemed like he wanted to go. The corner of the knight commander’s mouth slightly turned up without even realizing it, as he could clearly see the child’s inner thoughts.
“It’s okay. If I leave you here alone, my men might get into trouble.”
“What is the lower extremity?”
Bonita nervously approached the knight commander. Even though he was so huge, he seemed not to be afraid.
“Bottom line…”
It was a word he came up with naturally, but Bonita might not know. When he tried to explain this word again, he was worried about what to say. How did he say this in a way that an eight-year-old could understand? After thinking for a moment, he opened his mouth.
“The person below tries to be higher than the person above.”
The two naturally headed towards the building near the training ground. This was where the manager’s office was located.
“So, if the person at the bottom of the stairs goes up, is that also a bad thing?”
“…It’s different from that.”
“Are they also going from the bottom to the top?”
“What I’m talking about here is things like status and age.”
“Aha”
The knight commander stopped for a moment and glanced at Bonita. How hard the little child tries to chase after him.
“…”
The knight commander thought for a moment and then hugged Bonita.
—————————————————————
Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
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