I slept well.
After waking feeling refreshed, I climbed out from under Father's mantle and stretched luxuriously.
After that, I spread the mantle out wide on the bed. It was technically something I should have left to my Attendants, but I wanted to do it myself.
Smoothing out the wrinkles as best I could with my palms, I carefully folded the mantle.
"All done. Perfect."
I had
Since the Nobility had to eat first, the Attendants and Commoners couldn't eat until they were done. At the small temple, this included even the guardian knights—all people of noble rank were to take their meals together at once.
When I arrived at the dining hall, everyone was already up and eating.
"Good morning, everyone."
"Good morning, Lady
Unlike
"Good morning, Rozemyne. Looks like you slept well."
"Yes. It was very warm."
While Monica and
Ideally I would have handed it over myself, but that wasn't something a lady could do. I had Fran pass it to him, and all I could do was offer my thanks.
"Here is your mantle,
When I called out to my kneeling father, he raised his head slightly and looked at me. Then his amber eyes softened in relief.
"I'm glad I could be of help. ...Lady Rozemyne, I hear you'll be touring the rural villages for the Dedication Festival. Please take great care of yourself."
"Thank you, Gunther. Please convey my regards to your family as well."
"You honor me."
The exchanged words were truly brief. Still, even that small conversation made me happy.
As I watched Father walk back toward the circle of Soldiers, Brigitte narrowed her amethyst eyes in curiosity.
"You seem quite close to that Soldier, Lady Rozemyne."
Among the Nobility present, Brigitte was the only one who didn't know I was Father's biological daughter. The Chief Priest and
I smiled and explained using the established cover story.
"That Soldier has deep ties to the
"I believe I've seen them at the
Brigitte remembered Turi, who had been coming and going with hair ornaments while taking her measurements for clothing.
I nodded and continued.
"That Soldier, Gunther, is Turi's father, and he's also the superior of Corina's husband—the Corina who was entrusted with making Brigitte's clothing. Before the
"So that's the connection."
Brigitte nodded in understanding.
That was the connection we'd established. I was glad she accepted it.
"Rozemyne, you have today to rest. Starting tomorrow, we head out for the Dedication Festival. There are matters to discuss, so come to my room this afternoon."
The Chief Priest, having finished his meal first, announced the day's schedule before withdrawing to his quarters. I replied "Understood" and hurried to start on my breakfast.
Until I and the other Nobility finished eating, everyone else—including the non-nobles—couldn't have their own breakfast. I'd heard that the Gilberta Company and the Soldiers would be returning to Ehrenfest this morning. I needed to let them change shifts quickly, or their departure would be delayed.
Trying my best to look elegant while eating as fast as I could.
After finishing breakfast, I returned to my room so as not to bother anyone.
Sitting in my chair and closing my eyes for a moment, the events from yesterday in
"Lady Rozemyne. Everyone has finished their meal and is preparing to depart. Would you like to say goodbye?"
Snapping out of it at Fran's voice, I shook my head lightly and stood up.
Stepping out of the room and heading to the front entrance, I could see carriages lined up, most already loaded with luggage. There was one carriage that still hadn't finished loading, and Soldiers and Gray Priests were helping with the task.
"Is everything ready?"
When I addressed the members of the Gilberta Company who were discussing things in front of a fully loaded carriage, they all turned toward me in unison.
"Lady Rozemyne, the Chief Priest informed us that the Hasse matter has been resolved. We heard you made quite the dignified appearance."
"It was only possible with the Gilberta Company's cooperation. You were a great help."
The Gilberta Company had used their merchant connections to circulate information among the Commoners. And because we'd had the winter to discuss things thoroughly and consider the situation, the people of Hasse were more willing to accept the outcome.
If they'd been abruptly informed by the Nobility that "a decision has been made" without any conclusions of their own, the backlash would have been enormous, and things could have turned very ugly.
Given my unfamiliarity with noble customs, I didn't think I could have used the civil officials effectively. From here on, I'd need to keep learning the ways of the Nobility, but right now I truly knew nothing. Without Benno and Mark, there would surely have been many more people facing punishment.
"I'm glad we could be of help. As a company that enjoys Lady Rozemyne's deep trust, our business in Hasse has become considerably easier. Should you need anything in the future, please don't hesitate to call on us."
The first part of Benno's words seemed genuine enough, but the latter half was clearly a reminder to "keep up with report-contact-consultation."
I searched my memory for anything I needed to mention, then clapped my hands together.
"Ah, there's one thing I just remembered I need to tell you. It's not immediate, but I'm thinking of visiting Viscount Ilgner's summer estate to search for new paper materials. When that time comes, I'll need your consultation again."
Even though I'd simply mentioned something I'd remembered, Benno's eyes went distant for a moment, Mark lowered his gaze, and Lutz slowly exhaled and slumped his shoulders.
Tilting my head, I looked back at Benno, who returned the look with a smile. His reddish-brown eyes weren't smiling much at all. In fact, if we'd been in the Orphanage Director's hidden room, lightning would have been about to strike from that gaze.
"...Understood. We eagerly await Lady Rozemyne's return after the Dedication Festival. Do please tell us all the details. We'd also like to discuss our thanks for the increased dealings with Nobility that came at your invitation, as well as the clothing Corina has taken on."
With a pleasant "fufufu," Benno said this warmly. Yet I could have sworn I heard him shouting, "Don't create extra work for us when we're already buried in summons from nobles, you fool!"
...I was terrified for the Dedication Festival to end!
I kept that scream locked inside and concluded the conversation with the Gilberta Company on a harmonious note.
Once all departure preparations were complete and everyone had boarded the carriages, I took the money Benno had prepared from Fran and handed small silver coins to each of the Soldiers.
"The escort from Ehrenfest to Hasse must have been exhausting, but I'm counting on you to look after Justus and the Gilberta Company as well."
"Understood."
"Leave it to us."
The Soldiers glanced at the small silver coins they'd been given and let their lips curl into slight smiles. The escort duty had apparently already become a coveted position, so they were likely satisfied with the compensation.
Father was the only one I gave a large silver coin to, but apparently he'd used it to treat everyone to drinks as a "good work" celebration, so he had almost nothing left. Turi had written about that in a letter that was nearly illegible.
I'd handed out the rewards to the Soldiers and everyone was ready to depart, yet one person still hadn't boarded a carriage. It was Justus.
"I'm truly disappointed. I had very much hoped to continue accompanying you in the future as well..."
Justus needed to return the registration box to the castle as quickly as possible, so this was where they parted ways. His steed couldn't carry the large box, so he had to return to the Noble District by carriage. His Attendant was going with him.
Among all the Nobility, Justus was the only one who'd finished preparing to leave. He looked back and forth between me and the Chief Priest with longing in his eyes, but the Chief Priest waved his hand dismissively, as if to say "get in the carriage already."
"The Dedication Festival is a Priest's affair. With the Hasse matter concluded, there's no reason for a civil official to be there. You even snatched work from your own superior to come here. That should be more than enough satisfaction, shouldn't it?"
"I'm satisfied regarding Hasse. But... I have a feeling that accompanying the Lady would lead to seeing all sorts of interesting things."
"You're imagining things."
The Chief Priest shot Justus a sharp glare and cut the conversation short. "It's because of you that we can't even depart," he urged, ordering Justus into the carriage.
Reluctantly, Justus boarded, and at last the departure could begin. The carriages started moving forward slowly from the front. Matching their pace, the escorting Soldiers began walking alongside.
Father, who served as escort commander, watched the lead carriage begin to move. I called out to him.
"Gunther, please be careful on the road."
"And Lady Rozemyne, please take care of your health."
Father gave a soft smile just as the last carriage began to move. He fell into step with the carriage. The mantle I'd been wrapped in last night billowed gently as he walked. Watching the mantle grow smaller and smaller, I returned to the small temple.
The number of people dropped dramatically, and the inside of the
After finishing lunch and resting for a bit, the Chief Priest and Eckhart came to my room to talk.
"An Attendant—Fran will do. Send the rest away."
"Then, except for Fran, everyone please leave."
At my words, all Attendants except Fran withdrew. Remaining were Fran and the two guardian knights.
Fran served tea to everyone, then took up a position by the tightly shut doorway.
Just like in the High Priest's office in the main Temple, there was a rectangular table. The Chief Priest and I sat facing each other, Eckhart sat beside the Chief Priest, and Damuel and Brigitte stood on either side of me.
"First, I want to discuss the materials we'll be collecting during the Dedication Festival."
The Chief Priest opened with this, and the guardian knights' expressions hardened immediately. Sensing the sudden shift in atmosphere, I straightened my own posture.
"Since you're gathering the guardian knights to discuss this, does that mean magical beasts will appear again?"
"Areas rich in Magic Power tend to attract beasts, so they're likely there. According to Justus's information, we've heard that Tarkrosch are present."
Even hearing the name, I had no idea what kind of creature a Tarkrosch was.
However, the knights seemed to recognize it immediately. Brigitte grimaced for a brief moment, which made me wonder if it was perhaps the kind of beast that girls found particularly unpleasant.
...I hated insect-type creatures.
"However, considering what happened during the Night of Schtzeria, I don't think we should be too optimistic about the Night of Fluetrine either. We don't know if it's one powerful beast or many, but something will likely be there."
"Then wouldn't it be better to increase the number of knights? At the very least, couldn't we add my brother
We were supposed to be making potions in secret, but for someone like brother Cornelius who was family, I thought it would be fine to have his cooperation.
However, the Chief Priest shook his head and rejected the idea.
"That's not possible. Cornelius is an underage apprentice. He's not permitted to go on missions outside the city."
"Is that so? I have a memory of him coming all the way to Hasse during the Italian restaurant tasting, though..."
Had someone been carrying people on their steed and flying? Was my memory faulty? When I tilted my head, the Chief Priest and Eckhart both made bitter faces.
"...Rozemyne, that was an exception. It wasn't originally planned for him to leave the city."
That was true—I hadn't planned for the small temple to be built in Hasse during the Italian restaurant tasting either.
"If the number of people isn't increasing, are we really going to be all right?"
"If
Eckhart seemed to have complete faith in the Chief Priest. And whether it was because he was happy to serve as the Chief Priest's guardian knight, there was a somewhat buoyant air about him.
With the Chief Priest present, most things could indeed be handled. I left the safety management entirely to him and focused on gathering information about the materials. I took out my writing board and gripped my metal stylus.
"Chief Priest, what kind of materials are we collecting in spring?"
"Ah, the nectar of Laila—the flower said to be beloved by the Goddess of Spring."
They would apparently head to a spring where Magic Power overflowed, especially in spring—a place said to be the Goddess of Spring's bath. The nectar from Laila flowers blooming within the spring was the material to be collected this time.
"During the night, the flowers close and slowly accumulate nectar. At dawn the flowers open, but to prevent other Magic Power from touching it or beasts from taking it, collection must happen at the very moment of dawn. We'll depart before dawn, set up, and wait for sunrise."
I recorded the Chief Priest's words on my writing board.
"Have you ever been to that spring, Chief Priest?"
"No. I used to collect materials often around the Noble Academy's grounds, but after graduating and returning to Ehrenfest, I never had the luxury. I know about the fierce and dangerous beasts that the Knights' Order needs to exterminate, but I'm not well-versed in harmless creatures and materials."
For information about materials within Ehrenfest, Justus's knowledge would be the most reliable, the Chief Priest said. Justus was, without question, an eccentric—but his information was vast, he was quick on his feet, and he personally went out to collect materials, so his data on Ehrenfest's materials was quite trustworthy.
"The tools you'll need for collection are already prepared. I'll lend them to you again."
"Thank you."
After finishing the discussion about the Laila nectar and the information Justus had gathered about the Tarkrosch, the Chief Priest ordered both the guardian knights and Fran to leave.
"I need to speak with Rozemyne about Hasse. Everyone, leave the room."
"Yes, sir!"
After Fran re-brewed the tea and withdrew, Damuel and Brigitte followed. Eckhart clearly wanted to stay as a guardian knight, but the Chief Priest wouldn't allow it.
"Rozemyne."
"Yes?"
I drank the tea Fran had freshly prepared and set the cup on the table with a soft clink. The Chief Priest fixed me with a quiet gaze from his pale gold eyes.
When the two of us faced each other like this, it was the signal that a lecture was about to begin. I folded my hands in my lap and straightened my posture.
"Tell me what you learned from the Hasse incident."
At the Chief Priest's opening, I closed my eyes briefly. I recalled yesterday's scenes and clenched my fists.
Looking the Chief Priest straight in the eye, I spoke as calmly as I could.
"...First, I realized that I must acquire noble common sense as quickly as possible."
My ignorance of noble hospitality, the White Mansion, and the differences in how Commoners and the Nobility thought and behaved—that was the root of everything. To prevent the same thing from happening again, I needed to learn noble customs urgently.
"That's right. If you had grown up like other noble children, staying under your parents' protection, you would gradually absorb common sense as you matured. But you are running a workshop, expanding the printing industry throughout the territory—you are already active in the adult world."
Because I was doing things no other noble child would do, I needed to study urgently. I was no longer a Commoner. Not a merchant—I needed guidelines for acting as a member of the Nobility.
"Waving around Commoner merchant common sense won't move the Nobility. In Hasse, all that happened was the orphanage was expanded and a workshop was built. There was no groundwork, and the action was abrupt—but because it involved Commoners in the Lord's direct domain, it ended without becoming a major incident."
"...I think it was quite serious, actually."
At the Chief Priest's words, I couldn't help furrowing my brows. If that wasn't serious, then what was?
At my retort, the Chief Priest raised an eyebrow slightly.
"That's because you wanted to preserve Hasse—to save it after its people had become traitors. Normally, everything would be wiped out and the matter closed, leaving few lingering problems."
"Huh? That definitely wouldn't leave few problems."
"A difference in perspective. For me, not destroying Hasse and keeping it around was far more troublesome and time-consuming."
The weight placed on human lives was different. The gap between Commoners and Nobility was too vast.
I shook my head slowly.
"I understand that my common sense doesn't fit this world, but I simply cannot grow accustomed to taking people's lives so easily."
"...In your case, you have a Commoner family. Immersing yourself in noble consciousness may be difficult, but try to accept it as much as you can."
If I was told and taught, I'd try hard to internalize it. But even when I thought I understood, my default thinking and standards would always revert to what I'd known in my life before. Truly overwriting those instincts was extraordinarily difficult.
"I can muddle through lifestyle habits by imitation and memorization, but my thought patterns are much harder to change. The core of how I think is fundamentally misaligned, so I don't even realize just how out of step I am with this world—and reconciling the two isn't easy."
"But if, going forward, you intend to expand the printing industry throughout the territory as the Lord's adopted daughter, your counterparts will be Nobles. Without knowing noble common sense, when problems arise—and they won't be like Hasse—cleaning up the mess will be far more difficult. You could end up in a situation where even the Lord's authority isn't enough."
When problems had arisen with Commoners, it had been this difficult. If trouble occurred with Nobility, it wouldn't be resolved so easily. I needed to proceed carefully and methodically.
"So I need to move forward delicately, to avoid giving anyone grounds for complaint and to avoid making mistakes. You're saying I need to improve my impulsiveness first?"
The Chief Priest nodded, the corner of his lips lifting slightly as though he'd gotten the answer he was looking for.
"More than anything, you want books—I understand that even if I can't relate to a mind that sees nothing but books. I can see just how much you want them. But few people need books as desperately as you do. To expand the printing industry, you must curb your tendency to push things forward forcefully and impulsively."
"...Yes."
In other words, perhaps I shouldn't try to expand until others were asking for it. Perhaps I should focus on running the existing workshop at full capacity, producing books, and pouring my energy into marketing and improvements.
"Then rather than expanding the printing industry, I'll focus on deepening it—improving the paper and raising the literacy rate."
After pouring effort into educating the children of Nobility, I wanted to raise literacy among Commoners too. I needed to create customers—that was my plan. But the Chief Priest raised his hand slightly before me, stopping my plans.
"Wait. What are you talking about?"
"I was thinking, instead of expanding, maybe I should focus on depth...?"
When I said this, the Chief Priest held his head in his hands as if to say, "The first half was going so well—how did it end up like this?"
"Um, if the first half was going well, then let's return the discussion to the Hasse reflection rather than the printing industry. This time, I realized that I can't overlook the differences in awareness and common sense between Commoners and Nobility. Especially people in positions like mayors and village heads—they need to be taught noble thinking."
"For what purpose?"
The Chief Priest didn't see the point in teaching Noble thinking to Commoners, but people in positions where they interacted with Nobility needed to know.
"That High Priest had been getting along with people in the direct domain by thinking that money, women, and alcohol would get them whatever they wanted—that's what led Hasse to what it became. In the other direct domain settlements where that High Priest was on good terms, I'm certain there are other officials with the same misconceptions. I think it would be best to have a conversation making it clear that things can't continue as they always have."
When I said this, the Chief Priest made no effort to hide his displeasure.
"You expect me to go around explaining such things individually?"
"But I'm a child, so I won't be invited to evening gatherings full of adults."
I had no opportunity to speak, and even if a child did say something, there was no telling how much would sink in. If the Chief Priest said it, it would surely be seared into their minds and understood in one go.
But the Chief Priest seemed to have no intention of doing so.
"When the person you're dealing with changes, naturally your approach should change too. Why should I have to go through the trouble of explaining things to incompetents who can't even manage that much?"
"...During the Dedication Festival and the Harvest Festival, couldn't you just chat with them briefly? Refusing to explain and then having to destroy towns or execute people is far more troublesome and exhausting. If you think about efficiency, explaining is the gentler and quicker approach."
The Chief Priest tapped the table with his fingertips and said, "Hmm. There's some merit to your argument," while looking at me.
"If you insist on explaining, then do it yourself. If you only tell the places where you'll be spending the night, there'll be an uneven divide between those who heard it and those who didn't. Before the Dedication Festival, you should give the speech as the High Priest. Don't dump your troublesome tasks onto me."
"...Y-yes."