Gasps echoed throughout the room at the sound of
"
The Chief Priest spoke in a measured, flat tone. It was the quietness that made his anger feel all the more terrifying. What on earth had Wilfried done in the
Even though he wasn't scolding me, my stomach knotted so tightly that I reflexively wanted to blurt out "I'm sorry." That was probably because I got yelled at so often by default.
"If Wilfried becomes Lord and is given competent support, it should be fine—that's what I believed. But Wilfried is not you, Sylvester. And
"Well…even a parent and child are different people, so that's only natural, isn't it?"
Father furrowed his brow slightly while stroking his chin.
"Yes, they are different people. Until
"Yes! I have a question."
I raised my hand crisply toward the Chief Priest, who had delivered his verdict so definitively. It was like cutting through the frozen air, and everyone turned to look at me, holding their breath.
Amid the attention, the Chief Priest gave a slight nod, urging me to continue.
"Lord Ferdinand, what did you see in Brother Wilfried that led you to such a conclusion? Removing him from the heir candidate position would be enormously consequential, so please tell me the reasoning behind your judgment."
Sylvester leaned forward as if demanding an answer, and the Chief Priest stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"I was wondering whether Wilfried only seemed inferior because I was unconsciously comparing him to Rozemyne, whom I know so well. But that wasn't it. Wilfried is inferior not only to the orphans, but to the merchant apprentices working in the workshop and to Rozemyne's attendants as well."
At the harsh assessment, Sylvester and Florentia's eyes went wide. It was probably because this evaluation from the Chief Priest was so different from what they had heard from the teachers and attendants so far.
"That's going too far," Sylvester murmured quietly. Hearing this, I furrowed my brow just slightly. It wasn't going too far at all. It was simply the truth.
"That is exactly as it should be, though."
The Lord and his wife stared at me in surprise at my words. But I had no intention of stopping. Unless they properly recognized the current situation, they could neither fix the environment nor discipline Wilfried.
"The children in my orphanage are raised strictly so that they need never feel ashamed when the time comes to serve blue-robed Priests.
The person who reacted most to my follow-up and hung his head was Oswald, Wilfried's head attendant. Having now heard from two sources that Wilfried was inferior even to orphans, he seemed to have revised his understanding that this was merely harsh criticism.
"Wilfried cannot even sit and listen, and when told to complete his assignments, he refuses to even try. That much I could tolerate, having grown accustomed to it with Sylvester. But that boy tried to use his position as the Lord's son as an excuse to shirk his responsibilities. I cannot make a fool who would use his status to evade duty the Lord."
The Chief Priest coldly declared that Wilfried should be removed from the list of heir candidates. His words were entirely serious, his attitude completely unyielding. When Sylvester sensed the Chief Priest's absolute sincerity, the color drained from his face.
"Wait, Ferdinand. He'll improve immediately. When I was young, I too—"
"Sylvester! I have told you many times that the degree of your and Wilfried's shortcomings is entirely different! Did you not hear me?!"
Sylvester clamped his mouth shut the instant he was struck by Richareda's thunder for trying to defend his son.
The Chief Priest's eyes narrowed slightly. He looked at Sylvester as though seeing someone else entirely—a distant gaze, his lips curling upward ever so slightly into a smile that sent chills down the spine.
"If one is to live as the Lord's child, then working hard and producing results is simply expected. Someone useless who cannot deliver results is not worthy of being the Lord's child. The funds spent on raising him would be wasted. A talentless person has no value in living. A useless Lord's child cannot be kept in the castle, so if he doesn't want to be thrown out, he must of course produce results."
I had heard something similar when I was assigned tasks with the justification that I had been adopted as the Lord's daughter and would one day serve as the Lord's assistant—though phrased a bit more gently.
I had assumed he was harder on me because I was an outsider, but it seemed the Chief Priest demanded the same of anyone who was the Lord's child. Harsh, but fair and easy to understand.
As I nodded in approval of the Chief Priest's fairness, Sylvester pressed his temples and shook his head.
"Ferdinand, no matter what, that's far too harsh for a seven-year-old child."
The Chief Priest's smile deepened at Sylvester's words. It was a smile tinged with both mockery and disbelief.
"What are you saying, Sylvester? From the moment I was brought to the castle at age seven for my
Now I understood the root of the Chief Priest's ruthless meritocracy—toward both himself and others—and couldn't suppress my sigh.
From the perspective of someone who had been relentlessly driven by harsh words and attitudes since childhood, who had forced his body back into shape with medicine rather than show weakness, Wilfried's current state would be sickeningly pampered.
"Wilfried is the Lord's child and was raised by that person, so he should naturally understand at least this much. And yet, with that attitude of his, the appropriate thing to do is disinherit him and remove him from the castle. Since he's currently lacking in Magic Power, the Temple could look after him for the time being."
The deep resentment and anger laced in those calmly spoken words made everyone swallow hard.
Even I, who didn't know the full details, had a vague understanding that the former High Priest and the mother of my adoptive father had resented the Chief Priest. But since he and Sylvester got along well, I had been optimistic. I never imagined that he had been torn away from his parents right after the Baptism Ceremony and subjected to such harsh words from his adoptive mother, living while biting back his tears.
Ferdinand's rebuttal was an impenetrable wall of righteous logic. Sylvester gritted his back teeth. Florentia gently placed a hand on his shoulder. Sylvester looked up as if seeking salvation, but when he saw Florentia's face, he froze.
"Sylvester. What was it you said to me? That you would raise him just like yourself, so there would be no problem. You said that if we left him to his grandmother, he would at least grow up to be a Lord of your caliber, and that was why you took Wilfried's education away from me and gave it to her, was it not?"
Florentia and her mother-in-law had apparently been embroiled in a fierce conflict over this. Florentia, as a newly married bride unfamiliar with local customs, had been denied the right to raise her own child.
The first grandchild, so closely resembling Sylvester, had apparently been doted on excessively by Sylvester's mother. But looking at the current situation, one could only conclude it had been a terrible mistake.
…She was the person who kept shielding that former High Priest, after all. She might have deep affection, but she was clearly the type whose indulgence did more harm than good.
Soft on family, mercilessly harsh toward outsiders like the Chief Priest and Florentia. Just thinking about what kind of education Wilfried had received was enough to give me a headache.
Her son had been forcibly taken from her, and that son had been dismissed as a talentless failure. As his mother, Florentia stared at Sylvester with anger simmering beneath her smile.
"And what are the results of leaving him to his mother? If Wilfried becomes Lord like this, who do you propose will support him?"
"Well, that's…"
"Save your excuses. You did something irreversible to Wilfried."
Her blue eyes blazed with fury even as her smile remained fixed in place. They swept across the dining hall and came to rest precisely on Oswald, standing behind me.
"Oswald. I am disappointed in you."
"Lady Florentia! Please wait! I was—"
"I don't need excuses for your laziness, and I don't need excuses for failing to report the situation to us accurately. What I want is the honest truth."
My adoptive mother turned a gentle smile toward me. Beneath that smile, I could see an anger whose target was unclear—whether directed at someone in particular or at everything in general. She was angry, yet rather than crying, screaming, and cursing the responsible party to feel better, she suppressed it all and looked ahead with clear eyes. I thought that was beautiful.
"Rozemyne, what did you feel? How did you perceive the environment surrounding Wilfried and his current state, compared to your own attendants and guard knights? Please be honest with me."
"Yes, Mother. …The merchants who come and go through my workshop, as well as my attendants raised in the orphanage, can all read, write, and do arithmetic. They learned it all in a single winter. And yet, Brother Wilfried has been given a dedicated tutor and still can't do it even after years. That was simply unbelievable. After spending the day observing, I believe what Brother Wilfried is lacking is a goal, seriousness, and the right environment."
"A goal, seriousness, and environment?"
Florentia's eyes narrowed slightly as she studied me, searching for areas of improvement.
"If people have a clear goal of what they want to become, they will work hard. Since Wilfried has already been decided as the next Lord, I believe he has no goal. Without a goal, there's no reason to take things seriously. And without effort, he never experiences the sense of accomplishment that comes from completing tasks through hard work. Beyond that, there's no one close to him who would praise his successes and share in his joy, no rival who would make him not want to lose… I felt that the environment for his growth is completely lacking."
Florentia nodded slowly, listening intently. Beside her, Sylvester's face grew bitter.
"…Competition isn't really necessary, is it? With outsiders, perhaps, but among family it's unwanted."
"Competition is essential for growth. If you want to develop his talent as Lord, then the heir should be chosen through competition. Father may have been fed up with siblings clawing over each other, but isn't that also a necessary measure to keep the family from becoming too soft on their own?"
I added silently, as if this family wasn't already far too lenient with its own. Florentia nodded vigorously, as though she had heard every word.
"Adoptive Father, if you truly want Wilfried to be your heir, then why didn't you assign Richareda to Wilfried instead of to me? Richareda is the one who raised you, so if she had been assigned to him, he wouldn't need to curry favor with anyone—she would have disciplined him strictly. He never would have ended up in a state where he can't even read the basic alphabet or can only recognize half the numbers."
Richareda was the rare treasure who could scold Father, Adoptive Father, and the Chief Priest all at once with love. It wasn't me, who was always at the Temple and rarely at the castle—it was Richareda who should have been assigned to Wilfried.
"He'll have to bear responsibilities whether he likes it or not in the future. Wouldn't you want to let him enjoy his childhood? It seems cruel to be so strict."
"And isn't it cruel to let him continue like this—unable to read or write or do arithmetic, to be compared with his younger siblings who are being educated and treated like a fool? Isn't it far more pitiable to be the only one who can't play the fehlspear at the winter coming-out ceremony, in front of all the gathered nobles, and humiliate himself? What do you think, Adoptive Father?"
The parental sentiment of wanting to remove hardships from their child's path sounded nice in theory, but in reality it was a gentle form of abuse. Sylvester genuinely believed he was being a good parent and couldn't see that what he was doing was harmful, so I confronted him with what the near future would bring.
"…Well, yes, but we've had him practicing since he was young. Surely he can at least play the fehlspear?"
Sylvester invoked his own childhood, and Richareda strode forward with her brows raised.
"Sylvester! I heard from the musicians today that Wilfried hates practicing and constantly runs away—he still can't even play the scales! How can he possibly play the piece? And if he can't even understand the basic alphabet after all these years, how do you expect him to do the Lord's work?"
"He may not be able to now, but he will be someday."
"You and Wilfried are entirely different in your foundations, Sylvester! You were forced to learn what was necessary even when you hated it, while Wilfried has no one to force him! How stubborn can you be? Look at the problem squarely, just as you do during administrative work!"
Watching Richareda dress down the Lord so sharply, I thought once again that she really would be the ideal choice for educating the Lord's family.
"Sylvester, your mother is no longer with us. I am taking full charge of Wilfried's education from this point forward. Just as you couldn't bring yourself to fully condemn your mother and the former High Priest, I cannot entrust Wilfried to someone who refuses to acknowledge the reality of the situation when it comes to family."
With that, Florentia stamped Sylvester with the mark of uselessness through a smile and turned away from him, shifting slightly in her seat to look straight at me.
"Rozemyne, you managed to have the orphans reading, writing, and doing arithmetic in a single winter. How would you set up the environment for him? If we fix the environment, there might still be time before the winter coming-out ceremony."
Meeting the earnest gaze of a mother who wanted to do something for her son, I nodded.
"First, we need to hold a proper competition for the heir position. We should tell Wilfried himself that he cannot inherit in his current lazy state, so he feels a sense of crisis. But one person feeling urgent won't be enough—if the attendants and guard knights don't take it seriously either, we need to replace them, one by one."
"We won't replace everyone at once?"
At Florentia's question, I shook my head.
"Attendants are deeply involved in daily life, so suddenly changing the entire roster would be unsettling. Rather than replacing them all, we should keep a familiar face or two and assign Richareda as a supervisor."
"Richareda? But she's your head attendant!"
Florentia looked between me and Richareda in surprise.
"I have the Harvest Festival coming up, and I need to make the orphanage's Winter Preparations, so I'll hardly be at the castle until the social season. In the meantime, Richareda can re-educate the attendants and guard knights. For simple household chores, there are other attendants available. Wilfried's education is important, but what's needed even more is educating the people around him. Since even the Lord defers to Richareda, she can thoroughly impress upon everyone what it truly means to raise the next Lord."
"That's… reassuring, but are you all right with this, Richareda?"
"Of course, Lady Florentia. I can't very well leave Wilfried as he is."
Richareda fixed Oswald with a sharp glare—she was already battle-ready. How dependable.
"Then I am formally commissioning you, Richareda. While I am away, I want you to serve as supervisor in Wilfried's room and do everything in your power to reshape his environment."
"I accept this duty."
Richareda knelt on the spot and bowed her head. Florentia's smile relaxed slightly, the anger seeming to fade.
"Additionally, I believe it would help his growth to show him the parent's back, so to speak. Specifically, by seeing his father at work and observing 'this is how work is done,' he can engrave it in his eyes and heart, and set that as his goal. What about placing a desk for him in the office every two or three days? It doesn't need to be for very long."
The reason he casually flaunted his status was that he didn't understand the scope of his own work and responsibilities. If he was to become Lord, he needed to be taught what was expected.
"Oh, what a lovely idea. Wilfried can study in the office while you handle administrative work, Sylvester?"
"Florentia…"
Sylvester called out in a troubled tone, his feeble resistance immediately sealed by Florentia's smile.
"Being a model for your son is more important than sneaking off to the lower town, wouldn't you agree? You'll cooperate as a father, won't you?"
"…Y-Yes, of course."
Sylvester agreed with an expression that screamed "How do you know about the lower town?" I thought I should take a page from her book—gathering information patiently and then deploying it decisively at the critical moment rather than immediately confronting or forbidding things.
"Is there anything else you can think of?"
"…Well, perhaps the guard knights. Whoever is assigned as Brother Wilfried's guard knight must be someone who can grab him without hesitation or mercy and tie him to a chair without a second thought. I think Brother
Eckhart, who had been an adult for several years, would handle things more adeptly in every way than Lamprecht, who had only been an adult for a year and a half. Plus, the Chief Priest had mentioned that Eckhart was close in age and had spent a lot of time with him. Eckhart seemed like the type who could be strict with a smile.
"Eckhart won't do it. Before Wilfried's Baptism Ceremony, I did approach him, but he turned me down."
Father shook his head.
When I tilted my head at the phrase "you did," the Chief Priest shrugged.
"Rozemyne, Eckhart is my guard knight. I couldn't bring him to the Temple, so he's currently working with the Knight Order doing training and administrative tasks, but he still accompanies me as my guard knight at official functions."
I hadn't known that. Of course—the Chief Priest was also the Lord's child, so it made sense for him to have guard knights. I had simply never seen him accompanied at the Temple or the castle, so it had never occurred to me.
"I bring guard knights to the Temple, so couldn't the Chief Priest bring his as well?"
"No. Rozemyne, the Lord's daughter, was appointed High Priest by the Lord's decree. I, on the other hand, entered the Temple of my own accord to show publicly that I am not involved in politics. Our positions are fundamentally different."
When put that way, I had no choice but to accept it. Still, since the mother of Adoptive Father who had mistreated the Chief Priest had already fallen from power, wouldn't he consider returning to secular life? Well, that would be inconvenient if he did it now, though.
"Eckhart apparently has no desire to serve anyone other than Ferdinand. He's quite the oddball—refusing the position of next Lord's guard knight yet gleefully following Ferdinand even after he became a Priest."
Father shrugged as he said this.
If Eckhart was that devoted to the Chief Priest, he would absolutely refuse to serve someone raised by the very person who had mistreated the Chief Priest. If forced to do so, he might end up taking his frustration out on Wilfried in strange ways.
"If Eckhart won't do it, then we'll have to train Brother Lamprecht, I suppose."
"Hmph. No matter how much you fix the environment, it's meaningless without motivation from the person himself. You'd be better off investing effort in educating the younger siblings instead. A talentless failure is best removed quickly. It's only trouble if he becomes a lingering grudge."
The Chief Priest snorted coldly, apparently displeased with the trend of trying to improve Wilfried's situation.
"Please wait, Lord Ferdinand. It's not over yet. If the problem was a bad environment, then fixing the environment will solve it. The attendant you yourself acknowledged earlier, Rozemyne—Lord Ferdinand, that is—Gil was called the worst troublemaker in the orphanage. Even at ten years old, a person can change if they have the will. Brother Wilfried is only seven."
If the person themselves wanted to change, this was an age where astonishing growth was possible. At my words defending Wilfried, Sylvester's face lit up as though he had found a ray of hope.
"Really, Rozemyne!? There's still time!?"
"…It all depends on his own motivation and effort, of course. Nothing changes if you do nothing."
Sylvester's hopeful expression stood in stark contrast to the Chief Priest's bitter grimace. I was wondering whether he really wanted to disinherit Wilfried that badly, when the Chief Priest suddenly pinched my cheek.
"Rozemyne, do you intend to waste your time and energy rehabilitating a fool who, despite all the tasks already on your plate, has thought of nothing but running away from the very start? You'll become a fool yourself, and you certainly don't have that kind of luxury. Stop this."
His words were barbed, but I chose to believe he was worried about my health. Very optimistic of me, admittedly.
Holding my stinging cheek, I glared up at the Chief Priest.
"Lord Ferdinand is correct—I don't have that luxury. But knowing the environment is bad and then just leaving things as they are, letting him be disinherited… that doesn't sit right with me. Mother is finally able to have a say in his education. If he can be raised properly, shouldn't we try?"
"Rozemyne, I'm telling you not to let your emotions run away with you and take on unnecessary burdens. It's your worst habit."
I was looked down upon with golden eyes full of exasperation, as though regarding a particularly dense student. I pursued my lips rebelliously and stared back at the Chief Priest.
"…Then it's fine as long as Brother Wilfried has motivation, right?"
"What do you mean?"
"I gave Brother
When I held up two fingers, the Chief Priest narrowed his eyes with a hint of interest.
"One was to memorize the words of prayer. The other was to memorize a piece for the fehlspear. If Brother Wilfried completes the assignments, that proves he has the motivation—it was only the environment that was lacking. Lord Ferdinand, I'd like you to acknowledge this and cooperate with the education plan."
"Cooperate? What exactly are you asking me to do?"
To the sneer that clearly said "it's pointless," I beamed back a smile of my own.
"Use the threat of disinheritance to give Brother Wilfried a sense of crisis, and give Brother Lamprecht—who's been coddling him—a sharp kick. As for discipline…"
I placed my hands together and bowed inwardly to both of them.
"…Bind Brother Wilfried to a chair if you have to and make him study. I want him to feel genuine terror and engrave in his head and heart that he's backed into a corner with no way out. Lord Ferdinand, you're rather good at that sort of thing, aren't you?"
"If you're asking whether I'm good at it or not—I am. But I might push him too far. You're all right with that?"
At the Chief Priest's eager, dark smile—the one that had declared he wanted to terrify Wilfried and cast him into the valley of despair—I nodded after silently praying for Wilfried's soul. Having the urgency of a nightmare was better than being blindsided by disinheritance without even knowing what had happened.
"And what happens if Wilfried fails to complete the assignments?"
"If it becomes clear that he hasn't completed them and has no motivation, then as Lord Ferdinand suggested, we remove Brother Wilfried from the candidate list and focus on educating the younger siblings instead."
At my response, the Chief Priest raised his eyebrows in surprise, while Sylvester stood up in alarm.
"Rozemyne, that would make Wilfried far too…"
"That's the result of you and the others coddling him too much. If it comes to that, please accept it. The deadline is the winter coming-out ceremony. If he fails, the stigma and that evaluation will remain forever, so there really is no time."
I have more than enough work as it is—I can't afford to look after a child who has no drive. When I said this, Sylvester pressed his temples and collapsed back into his seat.
Watching this exchange, the Chief Priest looked back and forth between me and Sylvester with a wicked grin.
"Rozemyne, Sylvester. From the fifth bell to the sixth, Wilfried didn't even attempt the assignment to memorize the words of prayer. You're wasting your hopes."
Unlike the despairing Sylvester, I simply shrugged.
"Even if it's a waste, I'll wait until tomorrow at noon, when the shift ends. I'll watch how he reacts around the orphanage children, the workshop, and my own attendants. If he truly feels nothing and changes nothing, then there's no way we can turn things around before winter—and at that point, I'll give up cleanly and completely."
"Remember those words."
The Chief Priest spoke with the confidence of someone who had already won, and I smiled and nodded.
"I won't forget. But I'm absolutely certain it will be all right. I'd even stake my reading time on it."
The moment I said I'd stake my reading time, the corner of the Chief Priest's mouth twitched. He narrowed his eyes, looked me up and down, then looked me over from head to toe.
"…What is your basis for staking your reading time? You've barely spent any time with Wilfried yourself either, have you?"
"My reasoning has nothing to do with Brother Wilfried."
This time I triumphantly placed my hands on my hips and puffed out my chest.
"My attendants are outstanding. Not a single one of them has ever failed to complete an assignment I gave them. Getting Brother Wilfried to do his tasks will be no problem at all."
The Chief Priest's eyes widened slightly before he pressed his temples and sighed. Then he crossed his arms and looked down at me from a great height.
"I hate to spoil your triumphant moment, but I was the one who trained Fran."
"It's not just Fran—all of my people are outstanding!"
At the Chief Priest's calm retort, I bellowed with all my might, and suppressed laughter burst out from the surrounding onlookers.
Sylvester, unable to escape either the Chief Priest's wrath or Florentia's smile.
And so, the education plan for Wilfried was set into motion.
Next time: Harvest Festival preparations.