A Certain Winter’s Tale Chapter 3.18 - Elia Winter

Noah bit his spoon and smiled bashfully with his eyes. Every time they shared a meal inside the inner palace, Noah was living a life of no lack, consuming delicious food and love simultaneously. However, he was a little worried because Elia did not seem to enjoy his meals very much compared to his large build.

Of course, Elia didn’t seem to mind.

“When I look at you, no negative thoughts come to mind. I don’t even feel hungry, and I just keep smiling the whole time.”

“You can’t do that. Here, eat this!”

Noah held out a piece of bread dipped in sauce. Drawing a steep smile around his eyes, Elia took a bite of the bread from his hand. Following that, Noah held out other foods to Elia as well.

The large man quietly accepted and ate the food from Noah as if he had become a baby bird. Later, Noah seemed to be taking care of Elia so much that Elia personally scooped up food and fed it into Noah’s mouth.

Before long, there were far more gestures toward each other’s lips on the table than times they scooped food for themselves. As a mischievous Elia pushed food into Noah’s small mouth until it was full, red sauce got smeared around his lips.

They were in the middle of a meal, but a brief hunger flickered in Elia’s eyes. Just like that, Elia reached out toward Noah.

“Oh.”

Elia, who pressed down and wiped Noah’s lips with his thumb, licked up the sauce that had rubbed onto his hand and stared at Noah with shimmering eyes.

“……E, Elia.”

“What is it?”

Only then did Noah briefly return to his senses. He realized the fact that the two of them had been stroking each other with their gazes as if possessed. He realized only then that there were many eyes watching.

Toward Noah, whose face was burning bright red, Elia spoke with a seductive smile.

“Since we’ve finished dinner, I’d like to do something else. Shall we go back?”

“Something else?”

“The end of a banquet is always decided, isn’t it?”

All the other nobles do that. Whispering lowly, Elia’s hand reached out from across the table and stroked the tip of Noah’s chin as if brushing against it. Noah’s face turned bright red.

Noah, who stood up abruptly from his seat, headed toward the kitchen while babbling incoherently.

“I, I’ll go pack some meat that we can give to Snow too!”

It could be seen even from behind that the nape of his neck was flushed red. Because it was such a tempting color, he feared others might see it. With the thought of wanting to close that collar, Elia followed behind Noah.

Noah spoke with the owner couple in front of the kitchen, gave a polite bow, and went inside the kitchen. Elia watched Noah’s back with a short smile and then approached the counter to pay for the meal.

“Now, since I’ve rested enough. I should head to the next territory!”

Just then, a merchant who had drained a cup of water stood up from his seat. The lady, who had asked Elia for his understanding, gave her farewell to the merchant.

“It hasn’t even been a year since we reopened the shop, but it was a big help that Elder Max’s son started supplying to our shop again! Take care on your way!”

“It’s a family we’ve been trading with for three generations, so this is nothing! My father also felt so sorry seeing that the Willow House couldn’t do proper business during the second generation! It looks like spring is coming now, so things will get better. Don’t worry!”

Noah said it was a famous place he heard about from his sister. Since it was a restaurant that had continued for three generations, he figured it must have been that famous.

“Customer, thank you for waiting! He is the son of the grocery store owner who has traded with us since my grandfather ran the shop, and since it hasn’t been long since we reopened the shop! Honestly, I thought we wouldn’t be able to trade again, so it’s a very thankful thing.”

Counting the change from the silver coin Elia handed over, the lady chattered with a bright face. Elia could not hold back his curiosity and asked.

“I heard it was a famous shop. There was a story behind it.”

“Yes! Since you seem to be a nobleman, perhaps you might have heard about our shop about half a century ago! My grandfather passed the shop down, but my father was often sickly, so the shop was closed for a long time. Here is your change!”

‘Wait a minute. Three generations?’

Didn’t Noah’s sister say it was a place she visited when she lived in the central territory? A piece that didn’t fit together well came to mind, and Elia stared at the lady with a dazed face.

It was a bit strange. Looking only at his appearance, Noah looked to be in his early twenties by commoner standards. Even if she were a sister with a large age gap, she who would have passed away early wouldn’t have exceeded her thirties. To think this shop had been closed for such a long time. Somewhere, the beginning and end do not match.

As Elia held out his hand with a blank face, the lady placed the change on top of that hand. At that moment, a burst of giggling laughter erupted from the table behind Elia.

“Right! That’s what I’m saying! As soon as the second son of the head of the Sun Nobles entered as the wife, the weather started to clear up!”

“Hahaha! Then has the Emperor finally met his match?!”

Elia’s eyebrows curved strangely. As he turned his gaze toward the table where the story was flowing out, various stories were being exchanged at a crowded table where several families sat around.

“Yes! I’ve even heard the story that the tree in the center of the Winter Castle has become lush with leaves again?! They say the son of the Sun Noble who went in as the wife is such a beauty! Finally, that ice like Emperor’s heart has melted away! So the story about seeing spring in the Territory of Night must be true! Spring is finally coming!”

He never dreamed that such rumors were spreading outside. Since they were citizens who couldn’t possibly know of the existence of a concubine named Noah, he thought it wasn’t unreasonable to link the news of spring with the palace entry of Aiden Lux, whose timing coincided roughly.

When Elia was about to turn away to sigh and correct their wrong belief.

“El, let’s go back!”

Noah smiled brightly and fell right into Elia’s arms. The lady who watched that scene from the counter smiled brightly and said, ‘Oh my, it seems there is a sign of spring here too!’ and disappeared into the kitchen.

As he wrapped his arms around Noah, Elia’s heart melted away, pushing that unpleasant chill far away.

“What about the meat for Snow?”

“Here it is! The owner gave me some hind leg meat from a young calf among the groceries that just came in.”

What did it matter. No matter what was known outside, the energy of spring that dwelt in Elia’s heart was all created by this one person.

“Yes, let’s go back.”

But perhaps the anxiety that arose implicitly could not be helped.

As soon as they passed the castle gates and entered the inner palace where palace officials were scarce, Elia undid Noah’s clothes which had been tightly closed and firmly wrapped, making him flustered.

“E, El?!”

“Haa. I held it back the whole way here, Noah.”

With hurried movements, Noah’s white nape and straight collarbones were revealed to the outside in an instant. Noah struggled to turn his body toward Snow, who was following them.

“Not yet… Heu, El… this first…….”

Reddish flower petals bloomed on top of Noah’s snowy white skin. They were traces of affection created by Elia’s lips. Just then, hearing the news of the two people’s return to the palace, Matilda stepped into the bedroom of the Snow Flower Tree inner garden and her eyes widened.

“Lord, Master Noah. I heard you returned……. Oh my!”

Elia wrapped his arm around the waist of the struggling Noah, pulling him close, and commanded shortly.

“Nanny. Take Snow out and give him something to eat.”

Elia took the sack that was in Noah’s hand and handed it to Matilda. Noah stayed breathless in Elia’s arms, his body colored bright red from his shoulders to the tip of his head.

“Haha! I understand, Lord. Snow, come this way.”

Snow left the inner garden while glancing at the two of them as if feeling regretful. While coming out of the beautiful garden, Elia’s clear laughter full of joy rang out, and Matilda was moved once again.

“Now, since I’ve chased away the interrupters. Give me permission, Noah.”

Only then did Noah gently let go of the hem of his clothes that he had been holding onto with difficulty. Satisfaction spread even further across Elia’s face.

Elia immediately lowered his lips onto Noah’s white chest and kissed him elaborately, leaving his marks around the skin where pretty protrusions and patterns were located.

‘Come to think of it, this pattern……. I have a memory of seeing it somewhere.’

Elia particularly did not take his lips off the flower petal pattern. Noah let out a groan mixed with excitement, his waist trembling slightly.

“Heu…… El. St, stop.”

“I can’t. The festival isn’t over yet.”

That day, Elia tenderly fondled and stroked Noah’s body. It was a movement that considered Noah, who still found it burdensome to join bodies. Though the movement of his lower body alone was as violent as a hungry snow wolf, Noah entrusted his body to him with the trust that Elia would not hurt him.

Of course, it was natural that Noah was the first to get exhausted and collapse.

Laying Noah’s neatly washed body on the bed, Elia moved his lips, which were mixed with laughter, onto his shoulder. Noah whined in his sleep.

“Uum, Elia…… stop…….”

“I understand, Noah. Rest comfortably.”

Elia stared at Noah in his arms with a look of regret. Noah was sound asleep, making only the sound of breathing.

Elia was spending the night without realizing the passage of time, taking in the delicate features of the lovely young man sleeping in his arms for a long while.

Meanwhile. Matilda, who had left the inner garden in the early evening, carefully called Elia from outside the inner garden in the late dawn.

“Lord. Lord……? By chance, have you already gone to bed?”

Rarely, a hint of anxiety tinged that voice, so Elia replied in a whisper.

“What is it, Matilda.”

Matilda carefully entered the inner garden. To avoid looking at the two people on the bed, Matilda answered with her eyes cast down.

“Lord. Young Master Aiden Lux has sent a messenger saying he has words he wishes to offer to the Lord.”

“At this hour?”

When Elia’s face crumpled with displeasure, Matilda bowed her head as if asking for forgiveness.

“Yes. We tried to stop them, of course, but he was so persistent. And he keeps telling unpleasant stories.”

“What stories.”

Elia asked shortly while stroking the cheek of the softly sleeping Noah. After hesitating, Matilda answered cautiously.

“He said that he knows Master Noah’s secret, and if you do not want it revealed to the Noble Council, you should share a conversation for a moment…….”

Elia let out a sigh.

“For someone just saying anything to lure the Lord out, it was a quite detailed story. He said that the Lord must also know the fact that Master Noah came from the Territory of the Sun.”

Elia’s hand, which had been stroking Noah’s cheek, stopped abruptly.

Come to think of it, Aiden Lux is from the Sun Nobles. Michaelis said he found Noah in a brothel called the Red House in a corner of the Territory of the Sun. Aiden, being from that place, might have heard Noah’s story from someone.

Elia’s face frowned deeply. He was concerned that he might be trying to cause harm by making an issue of Noah’s origins.

“He is doing something quite absurd.”

Elia finally rose from the bed. As Matilda helped him put on simple clothes, she asked in a worried voice.

“Are you going?”

“I think I should go and give him a warning not to go around causing trouble.”

“Please go safely.”

Matilda watched him with a worried gaze the whole time. Elia left the inner palace after leaving behind a short word.

“I am sorry, Nanny. Please stay in the quarters inside the inner palace and help Noah if he feels uncomfortable.”

The dark night passed silently. Blessing the coming signs of spring, the last night of the Spring Awakening Festival came to a grand close in such a manner.

And just as people expected and cheered, after that, the aura of spring began to spread throughout Winterfall. In various places across the twelve territories, new sprouts and greenery began to harmonize, and the frozen earth gradually melted, busy preparing to conceive new life.

As if harmonizing with the quickening of the earth, exactly one month later.

The snow flower tree representing the Winter family became more lush and even more lush. Right upon those branches, an unprecedentedly lovely and beautiful flower bud shyly revealed its face.

Since Elia Winter was conceived in the womb of his mother, Lipa Forest, it was the first joyful news the Winter family had welcomed in a long time of over a hundred years.

And as the rumor that flower buds had formed on the snow flower tree spread throughout the castle, Aiden Lux, who had remained in the Winter Castle without receiving the title of wife, acted as if he had been waiting. He widely announced the fact of his own pregnancy to the public.