CHAPTER 75……………………
Ares looked at me with an expression of endless pity.
The look of someone who found the little princess’s tastes pitiful.
A sympathy-filled expression that said, “If that’s what you like, I’ll try to understand.”
After I went out of my way to console him?!
And the worst part was that Ares’s comparison had been so apt it made me even angrier.
The color of a frog spitting blood? How disgustingly creative.
At that moment, Calion sighed, as though wondering how I didn’t know something so obvious.
“You stupid gnat. You’re the one who doesn’t know the obvious.”
“What?!”
“Of course it’s a trophy you’re taking.”
“…!”
“You caught a bad guy, so naturally you’re taking the loot from the scene.”
“Ahhh—!”
At last, a faint light of understanding passed through Ares’s eyes.
I quickly jumped in to back him up.
“Y-yeah, exactly! Right, like a keepsake! The three of us caught those bad guys, right? It’s a memento of that memory!”
I clapped my hands, looking between the two of them.
“You two worked the hardest this time. Don’t you want something too?”
“Hmmm.”
“Ares? Anything come to mind?”
“I do, but… instead of some rock, I’d like a different keepsake.”
“Huh?”
I blinked in surprise at Ares’s request.
But there was no reason I couldn’t grant it.
According to Minte, Ares had helped without going berserk, after all.
“If it’s something I can give! Oh, once we get to the capital, should I give you more artifacts?”
“Hmph, no thanks.”
“Oh, really…?”
What a spoiled little brat…
But still, it’s only right to give a reward that the recipient actually wants.
Calion, after some hesitation, flushed red and whispered shyly.
“Lord Sion, me too. I… I’d like something else as well.”
“Oh, of course!”
After all, Calion was the one who deserved the most credit for this mission.
I took both their hands and asked, a proud smile spreading across my face.
“Alright then, tell me. What should I give you two?”
After a few seconds of thought—
Blushing Calion and shameless Ares spoke at the same time.
“Just once, a kiss on my forehead.”
“Give me a kiss on the cheek as my reward.”
I gazed at the two of them with a beatific smile.
“You two…”
They’d be horrified if they heard me say this, but…
You’re more alike than you pretend.
Calion—well, he never received real parental affection, so I could understand him.
Even his precocious talk of marrying me someday—it must just be because I’m the only one who’s ever been kind to him.
But Ares… what was his deal?
At first, he had reminded me of the way Talos used to look at me.
Maybe for him too, it’s like a duckling imprinting on the first thing it sees as its mother?
And of course, some of it was probably rivalry with Calion mixed in.
Won’t he regret today if an even cuter girl comes along later?
And besides…
Won’t both of them leave me once they become adults anyway?
Whether it be as the prince of Halkion Theocracy—
Or as the current duke’s second son—who knew what their future positions would bring?
Sigh. Ugh, my head.
I mentally smacked myself.
By mental age, both of them were about ten years younger than me.
Why was I racking my brain this hard over kids?
I gave a bitter smile.
“Alright then, both of you, kneel.”
“Yes!”
“Alright!”
Calion smiled brightly, while Ares grinned as they dropped to one knee.
Fine, let’s at least get down to their level, shall we?
First, Calion.
Smooch.
Then, Ares.
Smooch.
I gave them the kisses they wanted, filled with affection.
Calion smiled bashfully, his hand brushing the spot my lips had touched.
“Thank you, Lord Sion.”
But then Ares immediately ruined the mood with a whine.
“Eh, that was boring. Make it longer.”
“Haa… you pest, seriously.”
“Hey! I wasn’t asking you, blue-eyes.”
Ares even set both hands on my knees and started begging.
His usual cocky face turned sulky—it was…
So annoyingly cute.
“Come on? Just one second longer. Morally speaking, it was way too short.”
“Quit fooling around, little baby Ares.”
“Argh! Why are you calling me that like a real big sister?!”
Well, I was the older one here. What, did he think he was older than me?
And as for why he kept busting out fancy vocabulary—I had no clue.
* * *
Time at the Autumn Palace flew by.
The Nestor family returned to the capital, and the time I spent inside with the boys increased.
Soon, snow fell here as well.
And on the morning of the first snowfall—
“Yaaawn… haaaahhh…”
“Ugh, why’s that guy yawning since morning.”
Bundled up, Calion and I yawned endlessly.
Why were we outside in the garden this early morning?
“Why are you two staggering around like that? So weak!”
“…”
“…”
Because of him—our youngest, Ares.
He was brimming with energy just because he was the youngest.
At his side, he carried a large bowl.
Inside was molasses, freshly melted by the head chef.
Ares thrust a huge spoon toward us and shouted—
“When it snows, you obviously have to do this!”
“Molasses, haaaahh… poured onto snow…?”
I hid my face in my muffler, yawning.
I hadn’t stopped him since he looked so excited, but I had no idea what he was trying to do.
Calion looked just as clueless.
Ares puffed out his chest.
“You don’t know? It’s for making molasses candy!”
“Molasses candy?”
“That’s right!”
Ares dropped a large spoonful of molasses onto clean snow.
Calion and I just watched in silence.
Neither I, who had lived in the temple, nor Calion, who was cooped up in the palace, had ever seen this before.
“When you pour it on snow, it hardens into candy.”
“Ohhh!”
Unbelievable. Just like he said.
The hot molasses cooled instantly, turning into slightly chewy candy.
“Lord Sion, you try first.”
“Fwaaah.”
I accepted the piece Calion broke off for me.
A bit bitter at first, but the sweetness deepened as I chewed.
Calion tried one too and murmured—
“Amazing. It really does turn into candy.”
“Hah, so rustic, blue-eyes.”
“…”
Calion gave him a look that said he wanted to thump him on the head.
But he restrained himself. Barely.
“I’ll put up with it since I owe you.”
“Then you’d better put up with it forever, Prince.”
“You’re insufferable.”
The two bickered with familiar ease.
Before long, the three of us lost track of time, absorbed in making molasses candy.
I squatted down beside Ares.
“Ares.”
“Yeah?”
“Why’d you suddenly want to do this?”
After all, it had snowed before, even when I lived at Persen Palace.
But he never begged to do it then. What changed?
Ares, still focused on making candy, answered.
“We did this all the time in the duchy.”
“Ah…”
“Seeing Trasa noona reminded me, so I wanted to do it.”
Now that I thought about it…
Ever since the berserk incident, Ares had been apart from his family for a long time.
Yet he’d never once complained.
Ares pushed the molasses-coated spoon toward me.
“You have to do this when the first snow falls. Thanks to me, now you know!”
“Yeah, thank you.”
“Then we’re doing it next year too.”
Ares reached toward my lips.
To wipe away the sticky molasses.
“And every year after that.”
“Mhm.”
I gave Ares a piece of hardened candy in return.
Just then, Calion dropped a handful of snow onto Ares’s head.
“Aughh!”
“Getting all high and mighty now, huh, Ismenios.”
“You boring prince, shut up!”
“Calion, don’t do that!”
“Yes, Lord Sion.”
At Calion’s prompt reply, Ares trembled with rage.
“Hey, what about an apology to me?!”
“Oh, sorry.”
“You don’t even mean it, you damn blue-eyes…!”
“Alright, alright, both of you, enough.”
I stepped between them, scolding.
“Don’t fight. Ares is right.”
I raised a spoon, speaking a little shyly.
“From now on, whenever the first snow falls… let’s do this together.”
But though I felt shy, I was also happy.
No longer sitting alone in the temple, watching others from afar.
Now I had precious people right beside me.
“From now on, this will be our tradition.”
“Yes, Lord Sion.”
“Hmph.”
And so, our snowy morning in the South passed in warmth and laughter.
…Until, inevitably, Ares and Calion ended it with a spoon-sword fight.
