“It’s been a while, Kyle Duke’s Son.”
“… Indeed.”
“The Eristirol Territory is really fascinating.”
“That’s because the White Territory doesn’t get much snow.”
“Well, the family name is White.”
“…….”
Suddenly, Catherine and Lily came to visit the territory.
They arrived just now with a letter saying they would come a week ago.
Neither Kyle nor I expected this at all.
There had been talk of them coming someday, but since the Coming-of-Age Ceremony is just next year, we didn’t think they’d come now.
To be precise, there are still about six months left until the ceremony, so we were even more surprised.
“It’s nice to see you again, Sophia. How have you been?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve been fine.”
“Just enough to play around.”
“Hehe.”
“Why did you come to our territory, Oldenburg Young Lady and White Young Lady?”
“We? We’re just here to hang out. It’s really hot in the south, so a colder place is actually nice, plus there are people to meet.”
“Oh.”
I silently gasped.
Of course, since Catherine mentioned there are people to meet!
Could it be that Catherine came here to see Kyle?
Gasp…
Gasp…
“First, let’s go inside. Our servant can’t handle the cold well.”
“Young Master, I’m fine, though….”
“Sophia, just come along.”
“U-Um… Yes….”
Outside, the two ladies were admiring the territory covered in snow when Kyle suddenly pulled me inside.
The cold was bearable for now.
That’s probably because I wasn’t just wearing a suit.
“Sophia, how do you feel?”
“It’s warm.”
“It’s warm. I can even feel the warmth outside.”
The coat Kyle gifted me was really warm.
Honestly, I was surprised when he suddenly gave it to me as a birthday present.
Kyle hadn’t given me many items as birthday gifts up till now.
To be precise, I rarely accepted them.
It felt a bit weird to receive money like it was a salary, you know…
“Well, I’m glad to hear that. I was worried because I saw you getting cold last time we went out together.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
Anyway, for that reason, I wasn’t getting as cold outside as I used to.
Definitely, the coat was warmer than a cape.
Maybe it was because of the high-quality material?
Thanks to it, I could go outside a lot these days.
“Hmph… Looks like Kyle Duke’s Son and Sophia have been going out a lot together?”
“That’s not quite right. We only go out when we have some free time.”
As Kyle said, these days, on days when he doesn’t have lessons, we spend a lot of time together going down to the territory.
When we went last time, it turned out to be much more fun than I expected.
“Young Master, this way for a moment.”
I slightly pulled Kyle aside as we walked down the hallway together.
The reason was simple.
“Your tie is crooked.”
“Oh.”
“Since there are pretty ladies around, please pay attention to your appearance.”
It was fine to loosely tie a tie while exposing your neck or collarbone in a shirt.
That kind of showed a certain sexiness.
I never thought I’d use the word ‘sexy’ when referring to a man, but now I could understand that aspect too.
That masculine, solid figure from the neck to collarbone wasn’t as bad a sight as I thought.
“Yes.”
Kyle answered with a smile, directed at me.
That smile was nice to see today, too.
“…”
“By the way, Kyle Duke’s Son, I heard your Coming-of-Age Ceremony is in the first month of next year. Is that true?”
“It is.”
“What does Eristirol do for the Coming-of-Age Ceremony?”
“Our family always holds the heir succession ceremony in the first month of the year one becomes an adult. We replace that with the Coming-of-Age Ceremony.”
“Ooh… That’s interesting, right?”
“Indeed. Usually, one doesn’t have the ceremony as soon as they become an adult.”
As we walked down the hallway with the two ladies, we soon arrived at the reception room.
There was still a long time until mealtime, but you couldn’t just leave guests hanging anywhere.
That’s probably why we were brought here, after all.
They really came just to escape the heat.
No matter how magical this world is, heat couldn’t be helped.
In that sense, Eristirol was a perfect place.
To be hot here… well, aside from working as hard as Kyle does, it wouldn’t happen.
In fact, I could count the number of times I sweated in Eristirol on my fingers.
“By the way, Kyle Duke’s Son, have you grown taller again?”
“Yes.”
“How come you keep growing every time we meet? At this rate, you’ll be hitting 20 and still growing, you know?”
“…….”
That wasn’t an incorrect statement.
From my perspective, it seemed Kyle was really going to hit 190 cm.
Which meant my neck was starting to hurt more and more.
I had to tiptoe just to tie his tie, after all.
“How do you feel about very tall people, Sophia?”
“Are you referring to me?”
Catherine suddenly asked me a question.
Tall people? Or very tall people?
“Honestly, I’m not a fan.”
“….”
“Why?”
“If someone is too tall, isn’t it uncomfortable to look up at them? I’m not that short, but if someone is too tall, I have to look up every time we face each other…”
“I see. Is that so?”
“…”
“Yes.”
Back in my adventurer days, I once saw someone who was 2.2 meters tall.
Being polite, I’d try to maintain eye contact when speaking with people.
But that person was so tall, I simply couldn’t see their face.
It was hard to see them up close, at least.
“Then it might not be great for Kyle Duke’s Son, either?”
“Yes?”
“Since you’re pretty tall, too.”
“That’s not it. You are who you are.”
In my standards, ‘very tall’ meant over 2 meters.
In that regard, Kyle wasn’t super tall yet.
“It wouldn’t matter to me, even if the Young Master keeps growing.”
Kyle wouldn’t grow to 2 meters regardless of how tall he got.
“…….”
“….”
Suddenly, everyone was at a loss for words.
Did I just say something wrong?
I don’t think I made a mistake, but…
“Um… Did I say something wrong…? If so, I apologize….”
“No, Sophia, you haven’t made any mistakes. Right, Oldenburg Young Lady?”
“… Yes, that’s right.”
Then Kyle, obviously pleased, smiled brightly.
I don’t know what’s going on, but Kyle smiling seems to mean everything’s alright.
And the two felt the same way.
*
“Phew…”
Even though I was wearing the coat Kyle gifted me, it was still cold.
I followed him out to see the heir lessons, but there was a big difference between the village and the real snowy plains…
“Kyle, listen well. The sound doesn’t carry in such plains. The only sounds that can be heard are the wind and the branches swaying because of it.”
I was slightly distanced, listening to their conversation.
As they said, the only sound I could hear was the sharp wind unique to the snowy plains.
It’s freezing as heck.
Today, I was thankful I wore fur gloves.
If I hadn’t worn them, I’d probably be stuck ungraciously keeping my hands in my pockets.
“But if you listen closely, you’ll eventually hear it. The footsteps of animals or very faint cries.”
“…?”
While I couldn’t hear a thing, it seemed like those two could hear something.
If I could only hear the wind, what could they be talking about?
They continued their lesson.
I kept watching them.
Kyle was chopping wood and building a small house.
And behind Kyle, I was watching him while the Duke was giving pointers.
“Kyle! I told you not to do it that way when chopping wood.”
“Yes….”
“You shouldn’t swing the axe on the wood like it’s a sword for a person….”
Every time Kyle was about to do something, the Duke would keep giving him pointers.
But Kyle didn’t seem to mind the advice.
Because he’s his father.
“Ugh… Father, isn’t this enough?”
“Yeah, I guess that’s acceptable.”
Kyle, smiling at his father’s evaluation, looked at me.
Seeing Kyle do well made me happy, and I smiled back at him.
“Sophia, could you come this way for a moment?”
“?”
Kyle called me in front of the tent he built.
Following Kyle’s lead, I walked over to him.
“What can I do for you, Young Master?”
“I made something, would you like to take a look inside?”
“You mean, take a look…?”
I was a bit curious.
I had seen the process but hadn’t actually seen the inside.
From outside, I saw Kyle putting the frame together and working hard, but I hadn’t seen the inside yet.
It looked spacious from the outside, but I didn’t know about the inside.
“Yes. I worked hard on it, would you like to see?”
“Yes.”
Kyle slowly entered.
I followed him inside.
“Oh… You really did well.”
At first, I was genuinely worried about how Kyle would manage to pull this off, but seeing he made this tent all by himself, it seemed like there wouldn’t be any issues.
If only he could manage the food, we’d totally be fine, right?
I had that feeling.
“You have talent in this area more than I expected, Young Master.”
Seeing this makes me a little nostalgic since I used to set up tents back in my adventurer days.
Back then, I would merely watch as my party members worked hard to build them.
I was really lacking when it came to making things.
Renee even complained about my tents back then, so what more could I say?
It really was that bad.
“Haha, right?”
Kyle smiled, as if he knew he had done well.
I didn’t have to worry about what would happen in six months; things seemed alright.
“One day, after you build something like this with your wife, you can enjoy camping together. She’d surely like a tent like this.”
“… Yeah, I think so?”
“Yes. I guarantee it. You did really well.”
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