Chapter One: Even Now, the Thunderbird Plush Sits by My Pillow
“HOLY Night celebration?”
One afternoon, during my first winter with my lord husband, before we had our wedding ceremony, I woke from my nap to find him already home from work. Oh, I didn’t get to greet him at the door.
It was snowing in the capital, just like in Longhurst, though because less snowfall accumulated, the weather didn’t seem as cold.
My lord husband stirred the burning coals in the fireplace with a poker then sat on the edge of the bed and wrapped me in a shawl. “Yes, that’s why I finished early today. I’m home,” he said with a smile, kissing me on the forehead.
“Welcome home, my lord! Can we take a stroll?!”
“I’m afraid not. It’s snowing heavily outside.”
The scene beyond my window had turned a stark white while I was asleep. No wonder the room looked a little dark. I thought I’d overslept.
“What’s a Holy Night celebration?”
“Erm, well. It’s a festival, of a sort.”
“A festival?! Will there be a bonfire?!” I almost jumped off the bed, but my lord husband caught me.
“It’s not that kind of festival. It’s a night when spirits are born, so we stay home and spend time with the family, I guess.”
“I read about spirits in a book! I didn’t see any in the Monster King’s forest though. Have you seen one before, my lord?”
After being told I was free to peruse any of the books in the household’s library, I blitzed through most of them. Tabitha even read some of them to me. The books at Longhurst were all documents and treatises on territorial management; there are so many more types of books in the Noel collection.
My lord husband pulled me onto his lap and started to comb his fingers through my hair. “No, I haven’t. Oh—it’s also when elves leave presents by the pillows of well-behaved children.”
“Those tiny terrors?! But they’re mean! They always trailed behind the Monster King and nipped at its heels!”
“Oh, so there are such creatures in the forest…? I see… Anyway, I don’t think the Holy Night elves are actual gnomes or anything.”
“Not gnomes, my lord. Tiny terrors.”
“Oh… I-I guess not then. Anyway, those are mostly fairy tales. Like the ones in the library, yes?”
“I see!”
After that, we played fox and geese until dinnertime. It’s a board game with one fox piece and thirteen geese pieces.
“Fox! Why?!”
“Wow!” I cheered.
He always wins, regardless of side. But finally, after eight rounds, my fox was victorious.
Dinner was a Holy Night feast and a special occasion, so Tabitha and the others joined us. There was even a whole bird in the middle of the table! As head of the household, my lord husband sliced it beautifully, then served the meat on plates along with its carrot-and-bean stuffing. He was as good with the knife as he is his sword.
“A log! A log cake!” I cried with delight.
A roll of sponge cake filled with chopped fruit and fresh cream arrived next, covered in light-brown chocolate cream streaked to resemble tree bark and a row of tiny red strawberries lightly dusted with powdered sugar. Strawberries! Strawberries in winter!
A small sugar figurine wearing a red triangular hat was also placed on my plate.
“As expected, our lady has gone right for the head,” someone observed.
It was crunchy and delicious.
✦ ✦ ✦
ON snowy days when the wind is absent, the forest is much quieter than usual. The trees stand still and silent, coated in soft snow.
The Monster King stands still too. The snow is too deep in winter, so the small human who gives it potatoes doesn’t come.
The spring that sparkles blue in summer lies asleep under a thin sheet of ice feathered with powder. Its frosty blanket reflects the light from the moon and stars, making the forest seem as bright as day even in the dark night.
The Monster King’s numerous black arms and legs are submerged under a soft layer of snow, which shines blue as it piles up, slowly hiding the Monster King from view. The Monster King remains still.
Not many monsters are out and about in winter, and the Monster King had defeated many of them during the harvest festival, so there is little chance it will be attacked. And so, it waits by the spring, undisturbed. Its stomach is empty, but that’s all right.
From time to time, it blinks several of its countless eyes, causing accumulated snow to fall to the ground. It looks at the trees around it, then up at the sky, and back at the frozen spring.
Everywhere, everything is asleep.
Although the Monster King is unbothered by heat or cold, it understands differences in temperature. It knows snow is cold, but it can’t freeze or die from exposure.
It merely feels the chill.
And so the Monster King stays motionless until spring arrives. When spring comes, then… Oh, that’s right.
The small human with potatoes no longer comes.
He’d grown large, then turned small and wrinkled again.
He hasn’t come for many springs. About sixteen have passed since his last appearance, remembers the Monster King.
Spring is there, but the small human isn’t. Huh?
The Monster King must be confused. I can feel—
✦ ✦ ✦
“—A-ARE you awake?”
My eyes snapped open. “…My lord? What’s that?”
His face hovered over mine. We’d begun to sleep in the same bed, so waking next to him was normal. But he was usually beside me, not above me.
He was frowning as if troubled, his gaze averted from mine. I twisted to glimpse his arms stretching toward somewhere above my pillow.
“Thunderbird! It’s a thunderbird!” I gasped.
A stuffed thunderbird so big I didn’t think I could hold it even with both arms! Though it was still smaller than the actual creature! I threw off the comforter and squeezed the plush tight.
When I was the Monster King, I used to eat thunderbirds all the time, and because I usually finished them in one bite, I’d never had the chance to hug one before.
“Wow! So fluffy!”
It was so soft and warm! I buried my face into the thunderbird, and its fur tickled my cheek and forehead. What a pleasant feeling.
“What’s this?! What’s this, my lord?!” I asked in a tizzy.
“E-Erm… You know, it’s your Holy Night present.”
“From the tiny terrors?!”
“No, not them.”
“Yes, not them! It’s from you, my lord!”
“Y-Yes! It’s from me.”
“Yes! Thank you! I was well-behaved!”
He laughed. “Yes, you were the best.”
I couldn’t see out the window since the thick curtains were drawn shut, but I knew the snow was still soundlessly falling outside. Inside, however, the fire crackled in the fireplace, and the room rang with my lord husband’s laughter as he cradled me and the thunderbird in his arms.
The lamp on the sideboard glowed a bright orange, my flower candies glittering in its radiance. It felt as warm as spring sunshine.
“It’s not yet dawn, so let’s go back to sleep,” he said.
“Yes! …Wait, like this! Here!”
The thunderbird put too much distance between us, so I shifted until my back was against my lord husband. That way, I could hold the thunderbird while he held me.
With a goodnight kiss, he rubbed his cheek against my hair and wrapped me in a gentle embrace.
Winter was always cold as the Monster King and as Abigail in Longhurst. For the first time, I realized that winter could be warm too.