Please Save My Child - Chapter 16

Reina glanced at the duke, who had once again fallen into deep thought, and carefully asked, “…Would you like to try making one? If you give it to Miss Estelle as a gift, I’m sure she’ll be delighted.”

“……”

At the mention of Estelle being happy, the duke’s eyes wavered.

“Would she really like it?”

She might prefer the flower crown made by Reina instead.

What if he gave her something he had made and ended up disappointing her?

The man known as an unshakable force, fearless of anything, was actually a pitiful father who was terrified that Estelle might find him even the slightest bit scary.

Reina, watching him quietly, spoke gently, “She won’t dislike it.”

“……”

“Miss Estelle is intelligent and kind—she recognizes sincerity.”

“…Then, I suppose I should give it a try.”

The duke hesitantly approached Reina’s side.

Startled by the sudden closeness, Reina tensed slightly as she demonstrated how to weave the flowers together.

Unlike the children, the duke’s attempt at making a flower crown was an utter disaster.

A man who appeared as if he could not be cut even with a blade crumbled helplessly before his first attempt at crafting a flower crown.

What lay before him was a completely misshapen mess.

He stared at it with the same grave expression he used when dealing with serious political matters.

“…Huh?”

The children had returned, arms full of flowers, only to stop dead in their tracks at the sight of the duke sitting in the gazebo, weaving a flower crown.

“Miss Estelle, the master is making a flower crown for you.”

“……!”

Estelle’s cheeks flushed red at the words.

She seemed flustered, but she didn’t dislike the idea.

The duke, however, interpreted her silence differently and immediately redoubled his efforts.

But the harder he tried, the more his large hands crushed the delicate flower petals.

“……”

The outcome was inevitable.

Before them lay one beautiful flower crown made by Reina and three that were far from it.

Reina smiled awkwardly, while the others’ expressions were too complicated to describe.

The duke gazed at his work with a grave expression.

“…Wait just a little while, Estelle. I’ll go to the flower market and buy every flower they have.”

Reina suddenly realized that the duke was seriously considering buying out the entire flower market just to practice making flower crowns.

Estelle hesitated for a moment, her hands fidgeting, before picking up the first flower crown he had made and placing it on her head.

“…I, I like this one.”

“……!”

At that moment, the duke’s expression shifted strangely.

It seemed as though he was struggling to suppress an emotional reaction.

Reina could guess what he was thinking, but the two children remained oblivious.

Estelle, startled by his odd expression, mustered up all her courage and shyly offered her own wrinkled little flower crown to him.

“…Um… It’s a gift… Since you gave me a flower crown… it’s, um… an exchange?”

“……”

When the tiny flower crown was finally placed in the duke’s large hands, he gazed at it with an expression of quiet amazement.

Worried that he might be displeased with such a meager gift, Estelle nervously watched him.

But then, the duke suddenly bellowed, “Butler!!!”

Not only Estelle, but even Reina and Bonita, who had been sitting nearby, flinched in shock at his sudden outburst.

“Summon a mage immediately! Someone who can cast preservation magic!!!”

And so, in a historic moment, a spell worth tens of millions of Theon was used to preserve a humble flower crown.

***

In the end, the flower crown Reina had made was placed on Bonita’s head, and Reina received Bonita’s in return.

‘It would be nice if the master softened his expression a little more.’

Reina let out a small sigh.

If even she felt overwhelmed by his presence, how much more so for the much smaller children?

The duke had ordered a craftsman to create a beautiful frame for Estelle’s flower crown, and Estelle, watching the process unfold, blushed furiously.

Every servant in the mansion praised Estelle’s work, showering her with compliments.

They admired her dexterity, her eye for choosing flowers, and her deep love for her father.

Only Reina looked at Estelle with sympathy.

The adults had no idea how embarrassing this was for the child.

“Mom? What’s wrong?”

“Hm? Oh, it’s nothing.”

After an entire day of overwhelming events, night had fallen before they knew it.

Bonita seemed to love the flower crown Reina had made and continued wearing it.

Unlike the duke, Reina wasn’t wealthy enough to hire a mage to preserve it.

So she pondered how best to keep it intact.

“Bonita, shall we dry the flower crown to preserve it?”

Reina wasn’t as extravagant as the duke, but she still wanted to keep Bonita’s first flower crown as a cherished memory.

Even though some petals had fallen off due to Bonita’s unsteady hands, to Reina, it was still precious.

‘How did she arrange the flowers so well?’

Others might see it as an uneven mess, but to Reina, it was as beautiful as the emperor’s golden crown.

Bonita, however, didn’t seem too fond of the idea.

“…Mine looks ugly…”

“This is the prettiest flower crown I’ve ever had.”

“You’re talking about your flower crown when you say ‘prettiest’!”

Bonita, trying to argue against Reina’s words, suddenly thrust the crown she had been wearing toward her.

When the two flower crowns were placed side by side, the difference was stark.

Bonita felt embarrassed, thinking hers looked shabby, but Reina’s gaze remained fixed on Bonita’s flower crown.

‘What will my child become when she grows up…?’

Reina had never lived a life privileged enough to dream about what she wanted to become.

Until she was fourteen, she had worried about whether she would go hungry the next day, helped her mother with work, and then struggled endlessly to survive on her own.

Reina had lived a life of poverty and had learned little, but she wished for Bonita to have a better life—to experience things beyond what she had known.

“I’ll make you an even prettier one later, okay?”

Bonita, growing anxious at Reina’s continued gaze on her clumsy flower crown, tried to persuade her.

“But the one I make later won’t be the same as this one.”

The first of anything always held special meaning.

Parents never wanted to miss a single one of their child’s firsts.

“…But still…”

And yet, children never truly understood those sentiments.

Bonita hesitated before suddenly hugging Reina tightly and murmuring in a small voice, “…Then let’s dry yours too.”

“Shall we?”

“Yeah. It wouldn’t be fair if only mine was kept.”

Reina wasn’t quite sure what Bonita meant by fair, but she simply nodded and patted her daughter’s head.

It was always impossible to guess what went on in this little one’s mind.

In the end, both flower crowns were hung side by side on the wall.

A large one and a small one, placed together—they truly looked like mother and daughter.

Even as she lay in bed, Bonita kept glancing at the spot where the flower crowns hung, as if she secretly liked the idea of drying them after all.

Even after the lights were turned off, she continued staring at the flower crowns in the darkness before finally snuggling into Reina’s arms.

It was a warm and love-filled, peaceful night.

***

The flower crown Estelle had gifted the Duke of Winternight was now preserved with magic and displayed in a frame, looking exactly as it had the day it was made.

The duke, reading through documents, glanced up at the flower crown, signed a paper, and then looked at the frame again, muttering that it seemed slightly crooked before adjusting it.

Peter, watching his master fidget restlessly, let out a deep sigh.

“Master, please compose yourself.”

“…No matter how I think about it, my daughter is a genius.”

This was not the person he used to be.

Just hearing the name “Duke of Winternight” had once been enough to strike fear into men and women alike.

Yet now, that very same duke had become an utterly doting father.

“What if my daughter wants to open a flower shop? Look at how harmoniously she chose these flowers. Is there another child in this empire with such a refined eye?”

“……”

“I should establish the largest flower shop in the empire. It must be grand—bigger than any other shop. It will be run in my daughter’s name, of course.”

“…Perhaps you should ask the young lady for her opinion first.”

The duke did not seem interested in listening.

He continued staring at the framed flower crown with a satisfied expression, going on and on about Estelle’s loveliness.

When Estelle had taken the flower crown, saying she liked it, she had looked adorable.

The duke could hardly believe that such a sweet child was his daughter.

At the same time, the fact that he had missed so much of her growth filled him with sorrow.

“At what age do children usually start speaking?”

“……”

“When do they start walking?”

He had finally found his daughter, but his wife had disappeared without leaving a single trace.

Yet, he still remembered how frantic he had been when she was pregnant.

Wanting to be a good father, he studied everything he could. Whenever his wife craved something, no matter what it was, he had people fetch it for her. If she suddenly complained of stomach pains in the middle of the night, he would summon the physician without hesitation.

The day he first felt the baby move, he had even shed tears of joy. If it were a girl, they would name her Estelle, and if a boy, Esteban—he and his wife had spent every day carefully deliberating over the best name they could give their child.

But in the end, everything had vanished into nothingness over the course of eight years. Now, all the duke could do was fill in the blanks with his imagination.

Peter, having neither a child nor a wife of his own, had no answer to offer in response to the duke’s question.

“…I’m going out for some fresh air.”

“Please take care.”

The sky outside had darkened, and only the cold moonlight remained.

Since the duke preferred to walk alone, Peter stayed behind to continue working through the remaining documents.

Aside from a select few, most of the household’s servants were already asleep.

His footsteps echoed loudly as he walked.

Though he hadn’t intended it, he soon found himself near Estelle’s room.

Before he even realized it, he was already standing at her door.

Then—

“…Hic.”

A faint, barely audible sound.

A child’s quiet sobs.

At that moment, his heart plummeted.