Winter Guests in the Frozen North
"Long time no see, Prince Kyle."
"...Indeed."
"The Eristyrol territory is incredibly fascinating."
"The White territory doesn't get much snow."
"Our family name is White, after all."
"......"
Out of the blue, Catherine and Lily had come to visit our territory.
A letter had arrived a week earlier announcing their sudden arrival, and here they were now.
Kyle and I had never expected this.
We had known they might come someday, but we never imagined they would arrive right before the coming-of-age ceremony next year.
To be precise, with half a year left until then, the surprise was even greater.
"Sophia, long time no see. How have you been?"
"Yes."
I had been doing well.
So well that boredom had nearly driven me to distraction.
"Hehe."
"Why have you come to our territory? The Heiden young lady and the White young lady."
"Us? We simply came to visit. The southern provinces are terribly cold, so a cold place is better anyway, and there are people to see as well."
"Oh."
I let out a quiet exclamation.
Of course, because Catherine had mentioned there were people to see!
Could it be that Catherine had come specifically to see Kyle?
Hah...
Hah...
"Let's go inside first. Our servants are quite sensitive to the cold."
"Master, I'm fine though..."
"Sophia, just follow me."
"U... yes..."
Two young ladies stood outside admiring the snow-covered territory, but Kyle suddenly pulled me inside.
It was still bearable cold.
After all, I wasn't wearing just a suit now.
"Sophia, how is it?"
"Warm."
Warm.
Even outside, I could feel the warmth.
The coat Kyle had given me was wonderfully warm.
When he suddenly presented it to me as a birthday gift, I was genuinely surprised.
Kyle hadn't given me such gifts on my birthday in the past.
To be exact, I hadn't received them well.
Accepting extra money from Kyle, who wasn't even my employer, felt a bit... awkward.
"That's fortunate. I worried a lot when we went out together before, seeing how you complained about the cold."
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
Thanks to that, I wasn't as cold outside as I had been before.
The coat was definitely warmer than the cape.
The fabric must have been exceptionally luxurious.
Thanks to it, I could go out more often lately.
"Hmph... it seems Prince Kyle goes out with Sophia often."
"That's not true. I go out when I have time."
As Kyle said, lately on days without his lessons, we had spent many days together in the territory.
When I had gone once before, it had seemed surprisingly fun.
"Master, this way please."
I pulled Kyle slightly to the side while walking with him down the corridor.
The reason was simple.
"Your tie is crooked."
"Ah."
"Since there are pretty young ladies, please be careful with your attire."
Exposing the neck and collarbone in a shirt while loosely tying a tie was acceptable.
It could convey a certain sensuality.
I hadn't thought I would ever use the word "sexy" for men, but now I understood that part.
The firm male skin leading from the neck to the collarbone was, surprisingly, not a bad sight.
"Yes."
Kyle answered with a smile.
That smile was as pleasant to see today as ever.
"...By the way, Prince Kyle, I heard you have a coming-of-age ceremony in the first month next year. Is that true?"
"Yes."
"What do they do for the coming-of-age in Eristyrol?"
"Our family always holds a succession ceremony in the first month of the year you become an adult. We replace that with the coming-of-age."
"Oh... interesting. Right?"
"Yes. Usually, they don't do it right after becoming an adult."
Walking with the two young ladies down the corridor, we arrived at the reception room.
Meal time was still far away, but we couldn't leave guests anywhere.
That was why they had brought us here.
They really had come just to escape the heat.
No matter how much magic existed in the world, it couldn't be helped that it was hot.
In that sense, Eristyrol was the perfect place.
If it got hot here... probably nothing except someone like Kyle who exercised with such fervor.
In fact, the number of times I had sweated in Eristyrol was so few I could count them on my fingers.
"By the way, Prince Kyle, you seem to have grown taller again."
"Yes."
"Wow... how do you keep growing every time we meet? At this point, even in your twenties you would be tall."
"......"
That wasn't wrong.
When I looked at him, Kyle seemed to be 190 centimeters.
Thanks to that, my neck had started hurting more.
I had to stand on tiptoes to tie his tie.
"Sophia, what do you think about people who are too tall?"
"Which one do you mean?"
Suddenly Catherine asked me.
Not too tall, too tall?
"Frankly, it's not that great."
"...."
"Why?"
"If it's too tall, it's uncomfortable to look at. My height isn't too small, but if it's too tall, every time I face it, I have to look up..."
"Ah, I see."
"..."
"Yes."
In my adventurer days, I had seen a person who was 2.2 meters tall.
As a polite person, I usually looked into eyes when talking to people.
But that person was really too tall to look at.
From far away it was fine, but up close it was truly difficult.
"Then Prince Kyle wouldn't be good?"
"What?"
"Prince Kyle is also really tall."
"That's not true. Master is Master."
In my standard, being really tall meant over 2 meters.
In that sense, Kyle wasn't that extremely tall yet.
"Even if Master is tall, it's fine."
Even if Kyle grew, he wouldn't reach 2 meters.
"......"
"...."
People suddenly fell silent.
Could I have made a mistake?
I hadn't thought I made a mistake.
"Uh... did I make a mistake...? Then I apologize..."
"No. Sophia didn't make any mistake. Right, Heiden young lady?"
"...Yes, that's right."
Then Kyle smiled as if he was in a good mood.
I didn't know why, but since Kyle was smiling, it seemed no problem.
Both agreed.
"Whew..."
I was wearing the coat Kyle had given me, but it was still cold.
I had come out to watch Kyle's successor lessons, but the village side and the real snowy area were different...
"Kyle, listen carefully. In this kind of snow, you can't hear anything. The only sounds are the wind and the branches swaying in the wind."
I was listening to their conversation from a slight distance.
As they said, the only sound now was the sharp wind unique to the snowy plain.
It was damn cold.
Today I was wearing fur gloves, which was fortunate.
If I hadn't worn gloves, I would have had to put my hands in my pockets impolitely.
"But if you listen carefully, you'll hear it someday. Animal footsteps, very small cries."
"...?"
I heard nothing, but they seemed to hear something.
The only sound was the wind, but what?
They continued the lesson.
I watched them.
Kyle was chopping wood with an axe and making a small house.
And behind that Kyle, I was watching him, giving instructions.
"Kyle! Don't do it like that when chopping wood."
"Yes..."
"When chopping wood, it's not like swinging a sword at a person..."
Even after that, whenever Kyle did something, I gave instructions.
But Kyle didn't hate the instructions.
Because he was the father.
"Wow... Father, is this enough?"
"Yes, this is enough to be shown to."
Kyle smiled at my evaluation as the instructor and looked at me.
I was happy that Kyle was doing well and smiled at him.
"Sophia, come this way please?"
"?"
Kyle called me in front of the tent he had made.
I went to Kyle according to his words.
"What is it, Master?"
"I made it, shall we take a look inside?"
"Take a look...?"
I was a bit curious.
I had seen the process of making, but not the inside.
Kyle had roughly framed it from outside and was making it diligently, but I hadn't seen the inside.
From outside, it was definitely large, but the inside was unknown.
"Yes. I made it with effort, shall we look?"
"Yes."
Kyle slowly went inside.
I followed him.
"Oh... you made it really well."
At first I had been worried how well he could do it, but seeing him make such a tent alone, it seemed there would be no problem.
If he could solve eating well, there would be no problem, right?
Probably.
"Master, you have talent in this area more than I thought."
Seeing the camping tent I used to use in adventurer days, it felt a bit nostalgic.
In the past, I just watched the party members making it from behind.
I was really lacking in making such things.
Louise had scolded me for the tent I made.
What more could I say.
It was really bad.
"Haha, right?"
Kyle answered with a smile, as if he knew he had made it well.
It seemed no need to worry about half a year later.
"Later, after making it with your wife, you can enjoy camping. Your wife will definitely like this tent if it's this good."
"...I guess so?"
"Yes. I guarantee it. You made it really well."