Chapter 4 - Spring blooms in winter's pavilion (3)

When I immersed myself in the bathtub, a stream of water flowed and spilled over to the floor.

The bathtub is full of bubbles today.

In the meantime, rubber ducks are floating around.

"Wow, it's snowing."

Sitting in the bathtub, I looked through the window, and it was snowing outside.

It was April starting today, but Peina told me that in April, it was still a long winter at the Duchy of Wensgray.

I yawned, surrounded by steam, as I looked at the chocolate-colored rancid roofs engulfed beneath the snowy white landscape.

This morning's bath seemed a little later than usual.

After washing up, I put the duck dolls on the shelf and went outside.

I was just about to leave, but I kept stepping on the foamy bathtub and the watery floor.

"Shall I clean it up….."

But I tried to ignore it and turn away. I've decided not to do that anymore.

It took me a lot of time to make this decision.

As I stepped outside, the faces of the maids who were waiting for me to finish washing, brightened.

I shouted first before they could even check the bathroom over my head.

"I didn't clean the bathroom!"

"Oh, good job. Lady!"

The maids are happy. They immediately smiled with satisfaction while covering my body and hair with towels.

Peina asked, wiping my face thoroughly with a towel.

"You didn't fold the blanket in the morning, did you?"

"Yes!"

"You didn't even wake up until we went to wake you up!"

"Yes!"

"Oh, you did a great job. My lady!"

Peina, who had an emotional face, hugged me tightly.

The maids are proud so they made a fuss and chatted, saying I really didn't clean the bathroom.

After some time, I could realize that the maids of this castle were rather unique people.

To my surprise, they liked me the lazier I was.

Just like when I cleaned the bathroom on the first day, the next day, the maid was shocked to see that I woke up at 5 a.m. and cleaned up the bedding.

Also, when I finished eating and was about to wash the dishes myself, they were equally astonished.

As a result, I had to wash my hands off on all the housework.

It felt strange not to work. So what the hell am I supposed to do here?

When I asked, Peina simply answered.

"You just have to play, eat, sleep, and stay happy."

"All of the Young Masters were oversleepers, self-indulgent and carefree. You can do that, too, Young Lady."

As I stepped outside after breakfast, Peina, who was holding my hand tightly, said in a playful voice.

"Well, really?"

"Yes, especially the third Young Master didn't like to wash up and the second Young Master hates onions."

It was a little funny to hear that my older brothers don't like to wash up and are picky.

So when I giggled, Peina laughed with me. It seemed like a happy atmosphere for some reason.

Today, I held Peina's hand tightly and went on a tour in the Duchy.

She said it would be nice to learn the geography in advance. So these days, walking around the castle with the maids was my main routine.

The castle was very large.

It seemed obvious that I would get lost if I walked around alone.

At least, I kept going to the third floor where my room was located, so I roughly learned where and what was there, but I didn't know what the other floor was like.

This time, I was looking at the relics exhibition room on the second floor with Peina and other maids, and suddenly I was curious.

"By the way, where are the other Young Masters?"

"Ah..."

But for some reason, Peina and the other maids looked at each other with a sense of embarrassment.

Did I bring up an awkward question?

I was in a hurry to tell them it's fine if they don't answer, but before that, Peina smiled and brought it up.

"All three of your brothers are not at the Duchy now."

"Huh? Why?"

"It's been a little over two years since the first Young Master left the expedition to wipe out the Holy Spirit. The second Young Master went to the Imperial Academy, and the youngest Master went to the magic tower to learn how to control his power because the mana he received during the Awakening Ceremony was a little exceptional."

All three should be back by autumn, Peina added.

Holy Spirit was the monster of this world.

God did not exist in this world, but religion itself disappeared a thousand years ago because Aketrab the Great suppressed all religions in the world and destroyed their status.

At that time, the main body of the world disappeared and left a curse.

The monsters that emerged from the curse were the 'sacred spirits'.

Holy Spirits appeared in nature, and humans and animals changed, and the King of the Holy Spirit was their leader.

"King of the Holy Spirit" was the last boss I planted after Henriette when I wrote the original novel.

I didn't ask him to appear, I just mentioned it, and eventually I stopped writing novels before it came out.

Anyway, the curse left by God exists, but God doesn't exist anymore, so instead the world was protected by the "guarding stars."

Ancient heroes, sages, and wizards defend the world by breaking away from some cycle after death.

Therefore, every child in the world receives a special power called "Gaho" from the Guardian of the stars at the age of eight, which is the ritual of awakening.

...I knew about it because it was a setting I made from the beginning, and it was also explained by Peina in the past few days.

Now that I think about it, I have another question.

"T, then the Duke, what's his?"

When I asked that because I couldn't call him words like "dad," Peina answered right away without any hesitation.

"The master has been given a powerful spell and all the magical knowledge of the world by the Lady of the Silver Snow in the Pole."

"Ah... What about Peina?"

"I've been given the protection of a life-long cold or disease-free and healthy life from the unnamed star of Suho."

That alone seemed great, but Henriette's power certainly isn't for comparison.

Like this, 'Gaho' has a different amount of power depending on which guardian star is set to fall.

Someone gets the power to protect the world from the star of reputable protection.

However, there's someone is protected only by the star of Suho, who is not properly named in the history book, saying that he will never be stabbed by anything.

What kind of protection will I get later?

I'm a little curious.

I don't want big things, but I think it's good to be healthy forever like Peina, or I'm more likely to pick up money on the road.

"Now, where else shall we go next?"

When I finished looking around the relics exhibition room, Peina and the maids took me to another place.

They took me and showed me around freely, only on where Henriette had already given me permission.

The Library was one of them, but it was actually a city of books rather than a library.

In the center is a spiral staircase, and the bookshelves extend to a high place.

Next, I went to the kitchen on the first floor, and many chefs, including assistant cooks, welcomed me every meal.

"You always eat our meals without leaving any leftovers?"

"I want to know which dessert was the best."

"Young Miss, thank you for enjoying what we make every day."

I couldn't answer anything and my face turned red.

After coming to Duke of Wensgray, I've been eating a few times as much as I used to.

But thinking that all these people knew I'm eating so much, was somehow embarrassing.

A few seconds later, the Main chef came out to say hello to me.

He put a large cookie in my hand, Peina saw it and stopped it.

"No, Miss, you had five cookies for lunch today."

Peina was strict only at times like this.

She used to stop me from eating too many sweets because my teeth would rot, although she liked it when I didn't clean up my bed, ate well, and didn't clean the bathroom.

Of course, I know that well, but in the child's mind it was a bit unfair and disappointing.

So I looked at the chef, and he, who seemed to be equally sorry, immediately protested to Payna.

"All the servants of the whole castle gave her cookies or candies once, but I can't do that?"

That's right.

These days, servants were impatient because they couldn't give me food whenever they saw me.

Is it because Henriette called me "disgraceful"? Or maybe I, a skinny little girl, looked unseemly to them, too.

Anyway, thanks to that I've gained a little more weight on my cheeks lately.

It hasn't even been a week since I came here.

If I gain too much weight, wouldn't Henriette come back to watch me and say something? Or kick me out because he doesn't want to see me.

A little worried, I ended up sticking the cookies out to the chef.

"If Peina says no, I won't eat..."

Then Peina became seriously stiff this time.

In the end, she stretched her arms to me.

"Oh, my lady, have one more of that."

"No, I don't want to gain weight."

Then, for some reason, the two adults in front of me were astonished.

"Oh, my God, Young lady! It is the duty of adults to fatten up children like you!"

The chef freaked out and shouted. Even Peina was freaking out.

"Yes, Miss. I'm limiting the amount of dessert you can have for a day because I'm worried about your health! It's all right, so go ahead and eat, okay?"

"B, but....."

"The cookie will be very delicious. Chocolate is embedded, butter is very soft, and it's very warm ······"

Peina was so good at describing the food.

Eventually, as I munched on the cookies outside, the chef's face brightened up to see me off from behind.

After a rough tour in the castle, I went outside.

As the Duke's castle was large in size, the garden was very large, and it was divided into two separate gardens, south and north.

It was the northern garden that Peina's showing me today.

"That glass greenhouse is the pride of our Duchy of Wensgray. Isn't it beautiful?"

Among them, Peina took me into a huge glass greenhouse, which was really beautiful.

Glazed glass walls and tall ceilings glistened like crystals.

Pure skylight poured down over the blue glass.

The interior of the glass greenhouse was much wider than what was seen from the outside, and Peina said it was because of magic.

She hugged me and showed me unusual flowers or trees. However, it showed only the plants outside and did not go further inside.

Dangerous things are trapped inside? Indeed, it is a greenhouse owned by a villainous duke.

I watched trees with golden leaves, roses made of glass and jewelry tulips in my arms.

The glass greenhouse wasn't the only beautiful place.

Behind the glass greenhouse was a field of roses.

It was a summer rose, a symbol of the Wensgrey family.

Although it was winter now, thanks to magic, light pink roses that looked just like the color of my hair were in full bloom.

"How was your day, miss?"'

"Oh, good!"

I immediately answered Peina's question with a bright face.

I thought they would see me as annoying, but they were very happy to take care of me and would take me wherever I wanted to go.

With a feeling of gratitude, I decided to convey that today.

I whispered a little to Fayna.

"Peina, thank you for showing me so much beautiful placestoday."

"Lady·······"

I wanted to say something more, but I wasn't used to saying thank you, whether in the state of being an adult or a child.

Peina looked at me with a moving look, and hugged me even tighter.

"Young Lady, why don't you join me in the castle support tomorrow?"

At that time,Mary sneaked in and talked to me.

As if they couldn't follow, other maids, who had been just watching, also talked one by one.

"Oh, come with us, Young Miss! Look how beautiful the gardener decorated the front yard! We said we'd show it to the lady, and we put a swing on the zelkova tree."

"Young Miss, why don't you join me in the Western Garden the next day? I'll bake delicious cookies as soon as I can."

"Oh, I'll prepare candy, candy!"

The maids began to get excited.

Seeing them bring up food, they seemed to have quickly grasped the fact that I liked to eat.

Honestly, I love it.

In Peina's arms, I laughed so hard I couldn't hide it, shaking my feet with a happy face, barely covering the corners of my mouth with both hands.