Reborn as the Failed Lord with my Resource Gathering System.-Chapter 228: Christmas special- [A new holiday.]

Christmas special: this Chapter has nothing to do with the main timeline plot whatsoever, so you can skip this if you’re not interested.

...

Creek~

The door slowly opened.

Seraphina stepped in, only her head visible as she peered into the room.

Inside, Maria, Ravina, and Ishtar sat together on chairs, deep in discussion with one another.

On the other side of the room, Yelena knelt beside Flare, her fingers gently stroking the soft fur on the dragon’s body.

From the looks of things, they had all been summoned by Dorian, just like she was.

The moment she fully entered and closed the door behind her, all eyes shifted in her direction.

"Seraphina, you finally made it. I was just telling Maria here how there was a fat chance you were still sleeping on the bed." Ishtar spoke, a teasing tone dripping from her mouth.

Seraphina threw a daring gaze at her, knowing full well Ishtar was just trying to get under her skin like always.

But before she could even utter a single word back at her, Yelena’s voice erupted from the side of the room.

"Where is my brother?" she asked, momentarily stopping her hand on Flare’s back as she looked at Seraphina.

Seraphina looked back at her with a confused expression plastered on her face.

"Right, Darling, I haven’t seen him this morning either. When I woke up, I saw a letter telling me to meet him in the visitor’s room, and to my surprise, you guys are here too."

The last part was followed by Seraphina throwing a disgusted look at Ishtar, who of course simply smiled at the action.

"I see. I received the letter as well. I had to ride on my Dragon’s back just to get here." Ravina chimed in, looking as thorough as always. "I wondered why he sent a message, so it wasn’t just me."

"I received the letter as well." Maria added, her voice calm and measured.

"Same here." Ishtar said, followed by Yelena nodding in agreement.

Yelena pouted.

She rested her back fully against Flare’s warm fur and spoke with a hint of a whisper.

"I thought he wanted to see just me. Why the hell are these homewreckers here?"

Seraphina chuckled nervously, knowing there was nothing she could say to that comment.

A few seconds later, they all sensed the sudden change in the atmosphere.

Since they all shared the same emotional bond with Dorian, they could sense it at once. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

He was already in the room with them.

All of them, in a single synchronized movement, turned their gaze toward the window.

There sat a man dressed in a red and white outfit, complete with a matching red and white hat perched on his head.

He sat there with his face angled toward the ground and a smirk so wide they could see it from across the room.

"Husband?" Ishtar was the first to speak.

Regardless of the strange outfit he had on, she was certain that was her husband—or at least reasonably sure.

Silence hung heavy in the air for a long moment.

Then it was followed by a sudden, booming laugh from Dorian, the very man dressed in the red and white outfit, complete with a fake white beard on his chin.

"Ohohoho! Did someone order for Santa?"

His voice sounded deeper than normal, and his body appeared unusually large in size.

"Santa?" Ravina raised her brow, clearly puzzled.

"Brother? It is you, isn’t it? You were the one that called me here. Why are the others here as well? Don’t tell me you expect me to speak with them or something. Also, why are you dressed like that? You look weird."

With every word she spoke, Yelena slowly rose to her feet.

"Yes, she’s right, my lord. I’m sorry, but you do look weird." Maria spoke as well, her tone apologetic but honest.

Seraphina and Ishtar both nodded their heads in acknowledgment.

It didn’t take long for Dorian to break out of character.

"You guys are really tough to crack."

Slowly, Dorian removed the fake beard he had on, revealing his already good-looking features to the girls.

"Would it have killed you all to play along?"

Ishtar was seconds away from laughing, but she quickly covered her lips, stopping herself from doing so.

Then she pointed at Dorian’s unusually large belly. "Husband, why are you dressed like that?"

As though her question was supposed to be some kind of motivation, Dorian carried a smug look on his face before he answered.

"Santa Claus!" he yelled enthusiastically. "Well, obviously you don’t know who he is, which is exactly why... I am introducing him to you all right now."

Baam!

Suddenly, he had settled into the closest chair, his legs and arms crossed in a relaxed manner.

"I was thinking. I would like us to introduce a new holiday in my dukedom. Anytime winter drops and snow falls from the sky, we are all to celebrate Christmas day—a day for sharing love and gifts to the people we care about the most."

All of them stared at Dorian for a long, extended amount of time.

The silence stretched between them like an invisible thread.

"You want to introduce a new holiday?" Seraphina asked, voicing the question dancing in everyone’s mind at the moment.

Dorian looked at her.

Then he looked away.

"There are barely any resting days in this world. My people have worked hard by my side. Is this not something most people would be happy for? A day to rest and appreciate one another?"

They all seemed rather taken by his words, a sad, contemplative look playing on their faces.

All except Ishtar.

With her fan spread out and a knowing smirk on her lips, she spoke.

"Is this another scheme for you to make money?"

"Money? What is that?" Dorian stood up, placed his hand gently on her shoulder, and looked her dead in the eye. "Don’t hurt my feelings now. I called you all here so you can each give advice as to how we can make this event huge and entertaining for people all over the kingdom."

His gaze held hers with unwavering intensity.

"If that is what you need, Dragon Monarch, then I can make an announcement to the public. As King, I know they will listen to me." Ravina said, her eyes darting toward the door. "The snow falls in less than four days, right? Is the event supposed to take place after or before?"

"Before." Dorian responded immediately. "I mean, if the event turns out to be massively big, we can end up making a lot of income from outside regions and also attract more citizens wanting to join in the culture."

"I knew it." Ishtar giggled, fanning herself. "I’m in."

"I can never let you do something this big on your own, so I am in as well." Seraphina declared.

"Same here. As your knight, I should be there too." Maria added.

In a few seconds, everyone in the room had already agreed to help Dorian with his plan.

Including his little sister, Yelena.

Watching them start speaking to one another about what could be done, he smirked internally.

The evil glint in his eyes only grew brighter the longer he stared at them.

’Hahaha, this is awesome. Not only am I introducing Christmas and posing like I made it myself, I am also going to make a shit ton of money from this as well. New people means more taxes.’

His eyes practically gleamed with satisfaction.

’This is genius!’