A Certain Winter’s Tale Chapter 2.8 - Winterfall

Noah was also hiding the fact that he himself aged slowly. However, perhaps because the emotional intimacy he felt was special, Noah found the time he spent with Jonny to be quite enjoyable.

“Come over here!”

Jonny let out a chuckling sound and knelt down toward a small patch that looked like a flower bed. Seeing the smile that filled his face, he looked very excited. With a face full of smiles, Noah took off his fur coat, hung it on a wooden bench, and rolled up his sleeves.

“Alright! I’ll help too!”

“Hey, don’t get in the way, just watch. Besides, if I make the Monarch’s concubine do such work and he gets hurt somewhere, I’ll be the one who gets scolded.”

Noah frowned and wrinkled his nose.

“You can’t do anything even if you make that face. Well, Mr. Noah, you said you felt bad because you were being treated like a product or an object. But that’s the truth, isn’t it? I heard Mr. Michaelis nagged you just for that one tooth mark on the back of your hand from when Snow bit you last week. By any chance… you didn’t tell him I was there with you, did you?”

“Yeah. I didn’t.”

Remembering the small commotion from last week, Noah let out a short sigh and, following Jonny’s words, obediently squatted down beside him.

“That’s right. Just watch. That alone is a great help to me. While this long winter has continued, the people here seem to be living as if they’ve completely forgotten about the existence of flowers.”

Jonny even started humming as he began to dig into the ground with a trowel. He remembered Jonny saying that since he came here as a gardener, he had never seen anyone take this much interest in the garden. It went without saying that there had been absolutely no one who, like Noah, talked about the types of flowers and suggested trying to plant different ones they had never planted before.

So, Jonny had recently made it a habit to say that he had become a very happy gardener. Understanding that sentiment, Noah smiled brightly and became a conversation partner for the gardener who was engrossed in planting new flowers.

As he was concentrating on the flower bed, Noah realized that the chilly wind that had been wrapped around his body had partially subsided and turned his head to the left.

There, a beast with a mane as white as snow was sitting motionlessly. A large dire wolf, sitting demurely and watching the two of them. Its wild, piercingly blue eyes flashed.

“Oh!”

Jonny, who turned his head at the sound of Noah’s surprise, said.

“Huh? Snow has come out to play here again.”

Noah glanced at the handsome wolf and retreated a step or two while still squatting.

“What if… it bites me again.”

“Haha, really. Normally, it’s indifferent to everything unless you bother it first. It’s so strange, right? My colleague who takes care of Snow in the rear garden says that unless the Monarch comes, it just lies around sleeping or goes into the forest and doesn’t come out.”

“I remember. You said it rarely comes this way.”

It was all because of this beast that Noah had hurt his hand last week and ended up getting an earful from Michaelis. From what Jonny said, it was supposed to be a calm and gentle creature, which was truly strange.

The time Snow had bitten Noah’s hand was when he was observing the remaining azaleas that were drying up in the corner of the garden and chatting with Jonny. He really hadn’t done anything to provoke this beautiful creature in the slightest. Noah hadn’t even known that such a creature lived in the forest connected to the garden, so it was a fact that could not be called a lie.

But while the two of them were focused on the flower bed, Snow had stealthily approached them and suddenly bitten Noah’s hand.

The stinging pain from that time came back to him. So Noah kept glancing over, inching backward to hide behind Jonny. At that, Snow, who had been watching them while sitting with its tail wrapped around its front paws, suddenly stood up and, step by step, approached Noah.

“Gasp!”

Noah shot up in surprise and retreated again. Then, his heel caught on the edge of the flower bed, and his feet got tangled.

“Ah, be careful!”

Jonny’s warning came too late. Noah staggered and then plopped down, landing on his bottom on the flower bed where flowers should have bloomed.

As he sat on the ground, Snow approached with quick steps.

“Mr. Noah?!”

“Aah!”

As soon as the huge mouth, large enough to swallow his head in one gulp if it opened wide, came into view, Noah squeezed his eyes shut and raised both hands in a defensive posture. Seeing him frightened, Jonny hastily called his name.

But the pain never came. He just froze his entire body at the hot, somewhat savory breath that touched his cheek.

It was then.

“Snow. What are you doing all the way out here?”

A low, languidly resonating, unfamiliar voice made the fine hairs on Noah’s body stand on end. Perhaps thanks to that voice, the unfortunate incident of the dire wolf biting Noah’s face did not happen, thankfully.

Noah slowly opened his eyes to identify the owner of the voice.

❄️🐺❄️

“Elia. Why on earth won’t you take a single step outside the inner palace?”

“Do you have business with me?”

“No, that’s not it, but…”

“Then why must I go out?”

“…”

“I told you I’ll unwrap that ‘gift’ later when the time is right. Stop bothering me and get lost.”

Looking at his fussy friend, Michaelis let out deep sighs. He then sent a pleading gaze to Elia’s nanny, Matilda. But she too was staring at Elia, who was cooped up in his room, with eyes full of sorrow.

After clearing her throat a few times, Matilda asked cautiously.

“My Lord. I hear that Mr. Michaelis has brought a rather rare gift. If it is too much trouble, shall I tell them to bring him here?”

Hearing Matilda’s words, Elia slowly turned his head and, after a pause, asked.

“That gift you speak of, don’t tell me it’s a person?”

“Huh?”

As the two people who had been pestering him became visibly flustered, Elia let out a sigh thick with irritation.

“You said to ‘bring him’ over. That means it’s not an object. Did you find another consort from somewhere who needs my seed.”

“That’s not it…”

Elia’s face, which had been showing clear signs of exhaustion, became completely colored with annoyance.

“Please stop, Micha. It’s not enough that the Council of Nobles keeps replacing my consorts, and now you too.”

“It’s not like that, Elia! I really found something you’d like…!”

“The only thing I would like right now, Micha, is for you to not enter the inner palace for about a week. You must be free these days? How can you come every single day and pester me to go see this gift or whatever? If you need more work, I’ll assign you the tasks I’ve given to the other regents.”

Elia annoyedly closed the book he had been trying to focus on and stood up from his seat. Matilda hurriedly went before him, picked up the book he had closed, and disappeared behind the bookshelf.

Good heavens. Having lost his only ally who had been helping him, Michaelis couldn’t hide his bewilderment as he scratched his head.

But Elia, paying him no mind, decided to leave the study and swung the door wide open. Micha, feeling rushed, shouted urgently.

“Hey! I didn’t want to go this far but… he’s really hot. I mean, so beautiful it’ll make you lose your mind!”

As if it wasn’t worth a reply, Elia turned away, his face contorted in a deep frown. Regardless of the reaction, Michaelis, having succeeded in at least stopping his steps, continued without a break.

“We’ve known each other for over 100 years, so you know my taste well, and I know yours surprisingly well. Among all the people I’ve seen in my life, there will never be a treasure that satisfies you as much as this one.”

“…”

“I swear on my family name. You’ve never been interested in anyone, but you’ve said it from time to time. That someone’s certain feature is a waste, and someone else’s other feature is pretty. If you just send him back this time, you’ll regret it, you hear?”

Michaelis did his best to capture Elia’s attention, afraid that he would turn around and leave the study at any moment. Did he finally recognize his effort? Elia, finally sighing, replied.

“Fine, I get it.”

“Really? Then tonight, right away…!”

“Just stick him somewhere appropriate in the private palace. I’ll go see him someday.”

“Hey, Elia. That’s not what I meant!”

But this time, Elia truly left the study without any lingering attachment. Michaelis’s urgent shouts were heard from behind.

“Hey! Then I’m going to take him as my concubine. He’s seriously, no joke! And he’s a virgin, no less! He’s the perfect match for you, who has never truly spent the night with anyone. …Hey, then I’ll gobble him up first. I’m not kidding, I’m serious. Eli, my Lord…, My Lord!”

I wish he would just do as he pleases.

Elia muttered inwardly and returned to the monarch’s room. His friend seemed to be plotting all sorts of things, thinking he was looking out for him. But that ‘gift’ thing had been repeated in a similar repertoire for 100 years, to the point of being tedious.

The Council of Nobles nagged him in their own way, and even his friend, who was as close as a brother, was not much different, desperate to pair him up with someone. It was now so agonizing and helpless that it was disillusioning.