Chapter 40

“It’s been a long time, Lord Kyle.”

“…. Indeed it has.”

“The Eristirol domain is really fascinating.”

“The White domain doesn’t get this much snow.”

“Despite your family name being White.”

“……”

Suddenly, Catherine and Lily came to visit the domain.

With a letter a week ago saying they were coming, they had now arrived.

Neither Kyle nor I had expected this.

Although there had been mention of them coming someday, we didn’t think they would come when Kyle’s coming-of-age ceremony was just next year.

To be precise, we were even more surprised since there were about six months left until the coming-of-age ceremony.

“It’s been a while, Sofia. Have you been well?”

“Yes.”

I’ve been well.

So well that I’ve been playing due to having nothing to do.

“Hehe.”

“Why have you come to our domain, Lady Oldenburg and Lady White?”

“Us? We just came to visit. The lower regions are extremely hot, so a cold place is better, and there are also people we wanted to see.”

“Oh.”

I quietly exclaimed.

That’s because Catherine answered that there were people she wanted to see!

Could it be that Catherine came to see Kyle?

Gasp…….

Gasp….

“Let’s go inside for now. Our servant is very sensitive to the cold.”

“Young Master, I’m fine….”

“Sofia, just follow me.”

“Y-Yes….”

The two young ladies were looking at the snow-covered domain outside when Kyle suddenly started pulling me inside.

The cold was still bearable.

That’s because I wasn’t just wearing formal attire now.

“How are you feeling, Sofia?”

“I’m warm.”

It’s warm.

I could feel warmth even outside.

The coat Kyle gave me as a gift was very warm.

When he suddenly gave it to me as a birthday gift, I was honestly surprised.

Kyle hadn’t given me such things as birthday gifts very often until now.

More precisely, I didn’t often accept them.

It felt a bit… wrong to receive extra money or gifts from Kyle beyond my salary.

“That’s good. I was worried when I saw you suffering from the cold when we went out before.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

Anyway, for that reason, I wasn’t suffering from the cold outside as much as before.

The coat was definitely warmer than the cape.

Could it be because the material was extremely high quality?

Thanks to it, I could go outside a lot these days.

“Hmph…. It seems Lord Kyle goes outside with Sofia a lot?”

“That’s not true. We go out occasionally when I have time.”

As Kyle said, on days when he didn’t have lessons, the days when we went down to the domain together to spend time had increased.

It must have been quite fun when we went once before.

“Young Master, please come over here for a moment.”

I called Kyle, who was walking with me in the corridor, slightly to the side.

The reason for calling him was simple.

“Your tie is crooked.”

“Ah.”

“Since there are pretty young ladies around, please be careful with your attire.”

It was fine to casually wear a tie with the shirt exposing the neck or collarbone.

That could express a certain sexiness.

I never thought I would use the word “sexy” for a man, but now I could understand that aspect.

The firm skin unique to men and the line from the neck to the collarbone was not a bad sight.

“Yes.”

Kyle answered me with a smile.

That smile looked good today too.

“….”

“By the way, Lord Kyle, I heard your coming-of-age ceremony is in the first month of next year, is that true?”

“Yes, it is.”

“What does Eristirol do for the coming-of-age ceremony?”

“Our family always holds an heir succession ceremony in the first month of the year a person becomes an adult. It substitutes for the coming-of-age ceremony.”

“Ohh…. That’s interesting, isn’t it?”

“It is. Usually, they don’t do it just because someone becomes an adult.”

As we walked through the corridors with the two young ladies, we eventually arrived at the reception room.

Although it was still a long time until mealtime, we couldn’t leave guests just anywhere.

That must be why we brought them here.

They really just came to escape the heat.

No matter how much magic existed in this world, it seems they couldn’t do anything about the heat.

In that sense, Eristirol was a very suitable place.

To feel hot here… there probably wasn’t any way except exercising very hard like Kyle.

In fact, I had sweated so few times in Eristirol that I could count them on my fingers.

“By the way, Lord Kyle, have you grown taller again?”

“Yes.”

“My… How do you keep growing every time we meet? At this rate, it seems like you’ll still be growing even in your twenties?”

“……”

That wasn’t wrong.

From my perspective, Kyle looked like he would really reach 190 cm.

Because of that, my neck hurt more and more.

It was inevitable since I had to stand on tiptoe to tie his tie.

“Sofia, what do you think about people who are too tall?”

“Me?”

Catherine suddenly directed a question at me.

Not just tall people, but people who are too tall?

“Honestly, I don’t like it much.”

“…”

“Why?”

“If they’re too tall, it’s uncomfortable to look at them. My height isn’t particularly short, but if they’re too tall, I have to look up every time I face them….”

“Aha. I see?”

“…”

“Yes.”

During my adventurer days, I once saw a person who was 2.2 meters tall.

Being polite, I usually try to make eye contact when talking to people.

But that person was really too tall to see.

Maybe from a distance it would be fine, but up close it was really difficult.

“Then Lord Kyle must not be good for you?”

“Pardon?”

“Because Lord Kyle is also very tall.”

“That’s not the case. The Young Master is the Young Master.”

In my standards, to be considered extremely tall, one had to be at least 2 meters.

In that sense, Kyle wasn’t extremely tall yet.

“No matter how tall the Young Master becomes, it doesn’t matter.”

No matter how much Kyle grows, he won’t grow to 2 meters.

“……”

“….”

People suddenly lost their words.

Did I say something wrong?

I don’t think there was any slip of the tongue.

“Um…. Did I make a verbal mistake…? If so, I’ll apologize….”

“No. Sofia, you didn’t make any mistake. Isn’t that right, Lady Oldenburg?”

“…Yes, that’s right.”

Then Kyle smiled with what anyone would recognize as a pleased expression.

I wasn’t sure what it was, but since Kyle was smiling, it seemed there was no problem.

The two of them also agreed.

“Phew……”

Even wearing the coat Kyle gave me, it was still cold.

I wanted to see Kyle’s heir succession lesson, so I came along once, but there was a real difference between the village area and the actual snow field….

“Kyle, listen carefully. In a snow field like this, sounds can’t be heard. The only sounds you hear are the wind and the tree branches shaking because of the wind.”

I was listening to their conversation from a slight distance.

As they said, the only sound I could hear now was the sharp sound of wind characteristic of a snow field.

It’s disgustingly cold.

Fortunately, I was wearing fur gloves today.

If I hadn’t been wearing gloves, I would have had to keep my hands in my pockets, which would have been impolite.

“But if you concentrate and listen, you’ll eventually hear it. The footsteps of animals, very small cries.”

“…?”

Unlike me, who couldn’t hear anything, they seemed to be hearing something.

All I could hear was the sound of the wind, what were they talking about?

They continued with the lesson.

I was watching them.

Kyle was cutting trees with an axe and building a small house.

And behind Kyle, I was watching him, and the head of the family was giving pointers.

“Kyle! I told you not to cut trees like that.”

“Yes……”

“Cutting trees is not like swinging a sword at a person……”

The head of the family continued to give pointers whenever Kyle did something.

However, Kyle didn’t dislike such pointers.

Because he was his father.

“Sigh…. Father, is this enough?”

“Yes, well, this much is acceptable.”

Kyle smiled at his father’s evaluation and looked at me.

I was also pleased that Kyle was doing well, so I smiled back at him.

“Sofia, would you like to come over here for a moment?”

“?”

Kyle called me from in front of the makeshift tent he had built.

I followed Kyle’s words and went toward him.

“What is it, Young Master?”

“I’ve built it, would you like to take a look inside?”

“Take a look…?”

I was actually a bit curious.

I had seen the process of making it, but I hadn’t seen the interior.

I had watched Kyle roughly align the frame from the outside and work hard on it, but I hadn’t seen the inside yet.

Looking from the outside, the dimensions were clearly large, but I didn’t know about the interior.

“Yes. I worked hard on it, would you like to see it?”

“Yes.”

Kyle slowly went inside.

I followed Kyle inside.

“Oh…. You’ve made it really well.”

At first, I was really worried about how well Kyle would do, but seeing him make this tent well on his own, I thought there might not be a problem.

If he could figure out the food situation, wouldn’t there be no problem?

I thought so, probably.

“Young Master, you have more talent in this area than I expected.”

Seeing this makeshift tent like the ones I used in my adventurer days brought back memories.

Back then, I just watched from behind as party members worked hard to make them.

I was really terrible at making these things.

Louise even cursed at the tent I made, so what more is there to say?

It was really bad.

“Haha, right?”

Kyle knew he had done a good job, so he answered with a smile.

It seemed like I didn’t need to worry at all about what would happen in half a year.

“Later, you could make something like this with your wife and enjoy camping. Your wife would surely like a tent of this quality.”

“…. I suppose?”

“Yes. I guarantee it. You’ve done a really good job.”