Prologue

I am Ferdinand. For the past few days, Rozemyne has remained submerged in the blue medicinal liquid of the jureve, occasionally opening her eyelids only for her unfocused eyes to close once more. I knew her awakening was near, but her body had yet to rise from the jureve.

During the Harvest Festival, I had flown back on my riding beast multiple times to check on her, but the progress was maddeningly slow. Finally, after sluggish blinks, Rozemyne's eyes focused, and her body slowly rose from the liquid as if to say that no further treatment was possible.

I reached into the jureve to help Rozemyne up, patting her back when she struggled to breathe. The jureve that had entered her mouth and airway was expelled, making breathing easier, and after a few rough coughs, her breathing settled.

"It hurts, Chief Priest."

I don't understand why I'm being glared at with such resentful eyes.

In any case, I was glad Rozemyne had awakened before the start of winter social season. I had been concerned whether she would make it in time for the Noble Academy, but it seemed she would.

"Once you've finished bathing, call for me. We'll discuss what happened during the period you were asleep. If you have questions, save them for then."

I lifted Rozemyne out of the jureve and carried her out of the workshop. I handed her to Fran, who had been eagerly awaiting his lady's awakening, then returned to my own room.

"The High Priest has awakened! Could this small handprint belong to the High Priest?"

The attendant pointed to the spot where Rozemyne had grabbed on. A small handprint was stuck firmly there. Between reaching into the jureve to rouse her, lifting her, and carrying her, my priest's robes were in a terrible state.

"Chief Priest, shall we change your robes?"

"Ah, please."

The attendant who brought the change of clothes also seemed relieved that Rozemyne had awakened, relaxing their expression and, unusually, cracking a light joke. It seemed my own attendant had also been waiting for Rozemyne to wake up.

...Once she's awake, I won't be bothered by *that* anymore.

With a sigh, I turned my gaze to the corner of my desk where numerous yellow magic stones had accumulated.

For the past half year, I had been inundated with ordentanz that did nothing but ask when Rozemyne would wake up, and I was thoroughly sick of them.

I had been just as frustrated by Rozemyne's stubborn magic that wouldn't dissipate. How many times had I wanted to shout that *I* wanted to know when she'd wake up too?

Alongside my great relief that she had awakened safely came anxiety. It was only natural since she had been soaking in the jureve, but Rozemyne had not changed at all. Her consciousness and memories, of course, but even her appearance had frozen two years in the past.

Just now, Rozemyne had stared wide-eyed at the grown attendants, then looked up at me and grabbed the sleeve of my robe with a terribly anxious expression. She would now have to reconcile her surroundings' progress with her own existence.

"I'm heading to the High Priest's chambers later to explain these past two years. When the attendants from that side arrive, show them in."

"Understood."

After changing, I went to my desk and lightly tapped each of the yellow magic stones piled in the corner with my staff, infusing them with magic power. I transformed all twenty or so at once into ordentanz, filling the room with white birds. I addressed them: "Rozemyne has awakened. If there are no issues with her condition, I will bring her to the castle three days from now at the third bell. She is not yet fully recovered, so do not come to the temple."

With a wave of my staff, the ordentanz all took flight. Incidentally, a dozen or so of those were replies to Lord Bonifatius.

Since a single ordentanz repeats the same message three times, I imagined Lord Bonifatius having to hear the same message thirty to forty times over, and felt a small measure of satisfaction. It was petty revenge for the months he had sent ordentanz almost daily asking whether Rozemyne had awakened.

But my satisfaction was short-lived. I had just taken out the documents listing the items Rozemyne needed to memorize before the Noble Academy when an ordentanz returned, its message brimming with elation.

"Rooooozemyne! You've awakened!"

Having to hear a voice loud enough to echo through the entire temple three times over, I could only press my fingertips to my temples. Whether Rozemyne was asleep or awake, Lord Bonifatius was exhausting.

I was in no mood to deal with any more of that, so I left the yellow magic stones the ordentanz had reverted to and was reviewing my documents when an attendant spoke to me.

"Chief Priest, the High Priest says she is ready."

"Understood. Let's go."

"Chief Priest, now, please tell me everything!"

Rozemyne lay listlessly on the long sofa, glaring daggers at me as she spoke. Her golden eyes and tone were lively enough, but after two years of sleep, her body had weakened to the point that she could barely support herself.

...There were no records of anyone using the jureve for this long. It might prove to be valuable documentation.

As I was considering whether to examine how much she had weakened, Rozemyne said, "You're going to tell me what happened, right?" with a lively mouth but barely enough energy to tap the sofa seat with her fingertips. This seemed to be the extent of her protest.

"...There are things I cannot discuss here. Shall we go there instead?"

Some of the events that occurred at the castle were not to be spoken of openly at the temple. When I indicated the hidden room, Rozemyne lowered her eyes instead of nodding.

"If we're going over there, please carry me. I still can't put any strength into my body."

"Is that so? Has your sensation not changed at all since awakening? Or are there parts that are gradually moving more? Do you have any idea how long it will be before you can move as you did before?"

When I asked my questions, Rozemyne smiled with such a disconcertingly sunny expression and said, "Chief Priest, you really are a mad scientist." I didn't know what "mad scientist" meant, but I understood I was being insulted, so I flicked her forehead smartly.

Rozemyne yelped "Owie!" but the hand that usually went straight to her forehead barely moved, rising slowly with a sluggish, heavy motion.

...If this was her current state, how long would it take for her muscles to recover to the point of normal movement? If she recovered quickly, that would be one thing, but if building muscle she never had took too long, there was a possibility she wouldn't make it in time for the Noble Academy.

Observing Rozemyne's condition, I opened the door to the hidden room and had Fran and Zahm carry Rozemyne on the long sofa. I brought a chair in front of her and sat down facing her.

Once Fran and Zahm left and the door closed, Rozemyne's expression quickly transformed into one brimming with discontent.

"Chief Priest, I'm completely in 'Urashima Tarō' mode right now!"

"...What? I don't understand."

"Before I left here, the only person around me was the Chief Priest, whose frown lines hadn't changed a single bit, so it didn't really feel like two years had passed. But once I got outside, Nicola and Monica are both adults now, with their hair up and their skirts longer, and Gil has grown so much..."

In truth, she had also been left behind by Charlotte and Wilfried. If Rozemyne, who had been foolishly working so hard to be a good "big sister" to Charlotte, learned that Charlotte had surpassed her in height, who knew what would happen.

...Well, nothing would happen. There was nothing to be done.

The moment I let out a sigh, I felt Rozemyne's magic power waver unsteadily. Her eyes shifted from their familiar gold to an iridescent, oil-slick rainbow as she voiced her anxiety in agitation.

"I've been completely left behind! Everything around me is like a world I don't recognize, and it makes me sick!"

"Rozemyne, calm down."

"I can't! Everything around me is completely different! Everyone except me..."

"Over these two years, the flow of your magic power has also changed. If you don't calm down, it could go out of control."

The instability in her magic was already visible. I had predicted this would happen, so I took out a prepared magic stone from the pouch at my waist and pressed it to Rozemyne's forehead. In an instant, magic power accumulated.

After watching several magic stones quickly fill with her own magic, Rozemyne's eyes widened in surprise. She blinked several times, slowly took deep breaths, and steadied herself. Then, reaching out with trembling hands that lacked strength, she grabbed my sleeve as she had before.

"...Chief Priest, please tell me properly what happened over these past two years. Everyone has changed so much that I'm afraid to go outside."

"If you ask me what happened... well, where should I start?"

"Was the attacker caught? Is Charlotte safe?"

It suddenly occurred to me that what had ended two years ago for me was, for Rozemyne, something that had just happened moments ago. With such a vast disparity in perception, filling in the two-year gap might prove far more difficult than I had anticipated.

I told her about the kidnapper of Charlotte being a relative of Rosemary, already executed. That he had not been involved in Rozemyne's kidnapping or drugging. That Viscount Gerlach, who had provided him with Self-Eating soldiers, was suspicious, but without evidence, and had been in the sealed great hall when the attack was discovered. That the guard knights had each made mistakes but, having failed to protect their lady, had received pay cuts.

"I'm glad the guard knights weren't given terrible punishments. By the way, you had given instructions—what happened with the Children's Room in the winter?"

"Regarding the winter Children's Room, Charlotte and Wilfried apparently worked hard to run it according to your instructions. I received reports from the attendants assigned to the Children's Room, and from Damuel, who was transporting and lending the picture books. A lower noble named Philine was apparently quite helpful with collecting and lending out the teaching materials."

The name of this lower noble who apparently adored Rozemyne had come up from Damuel, Wilfried, and Charlotte alike. Rozemyne seemed to immediately recall the name, her expression softening slightly.

"I see, Philine..."

"At the Children's Room, stories from various regions were gathered, but since they were written in children's conversational speech, they couldn't be turned into proper books. Your attendants were quite distressed about it."

Perhaps imagining their reactions, Rozemyne let out a small chuckle.

"What happened with Hasse? Was the Dedication Ritual held properly?"

"Charlotte, who offered to take your place because she felt responsible for what had happened, conducted the Dedication Ritual at Hasse."

"...Was there enough magic power?"

I gave a slight shrug at Rozemyne's blinking eyes.

"There was obviously not nearly enough. They used your magic power as it dissolved from the jureve for Charlotte and Wilfried to perform the Dedication Ritual. They also went around during the Harvest Festival to collect the dedications. They helped with this year's Dedication Ritual as well. Both of them seem to have gotten somewhat accustomed to handling magic stones."

"I see... They've grown, haven't they?"

Rozemyne lowered her eyes and murmured, sounding terribly lonely.

"Two years have passed, after all."

"...Yes. What about the lower town? If two years have passed, I think Father and the others must be very worried..."

"I haven't received reports about your family. The only reports related to the lower town are that hand pumps have gradually begun to spread. As for your family, the attendants managing the workshop might know something?"

"...I'll ask Gil and Fritz later. Has the printing business stalled? What happened with Ilgner's papermaking?"

Rozemyne murmured about how things had been going so well before being interrupted. I told her that Ilgner's papermaking was proceeding smoothly, that the sales contract with Volk had been concluded successfully, and that by the time of this year's Harvest Festival, Volk had a child.

"They properly saved everything up, the two of them? That's wonderful."

"Also, Elvira, concerned that the printing business you had been directing would stagnate, started a printing operation at Haldenzel, where her family is from. For that purpose, the entire Guttenberg group was mobilized, and they had gone to Haldenzel from spring through autumn this year. Benno reported the other day that they returned after the Harvest Festival."

"E-Eh? M-Mother started a printing business?"

At Rozemyne's wide-eyed look of disbelief, I nodded deeply. Elvira had taken on the burden of expanding the printing business that Rozemyne had been championing, stepping in as her mother when I was being buried in work.

Elvira was a high-ranking noble, so naturally she was not well-versed in business matters. This made things difficult for Benno, who had been given unreasonable demands, but it did lighten my load somewhat.

"You should be grateful for your mother's devotion."

"Of course, I am grateful to Mother, but..."

Rozemyne looked up at me with a strangely complicated expression. For a few brief seconds, her eyes seemed to want to say something, then she lightly closed them, appeared to mull something over, and settled on a "well, whatever" look.

"...What? What were you going to say?"

"Oh, nothing. I was just thinking that the Chief Priest gave his approval quite readily."

"Honestly, I couldn't manage the printing business on top of everything else. If Elvira was willing to handle it, there was nothing better."

The workload Rozemyne had been shouldering was not something a child could handle. I had known that, but it was not something I could carry alone either—it had to be significantly distributed among those around me.

Losing my accountant alone had been a blow, but on top of all the ceremonies, managing the orphanage and workshop, and dealing with the Plantin Trading Company, all of that had been added to my work. The temple affairs alone were enough to make one's head spin.

And because Rozemyne, that breakwater, was gone, the number of times I was summoned to the castle also increased. There, not only did Sylvester make unreasonable demands, but the annoying Lord Bonifatius was also there, insisting that I find evidence against Viscount Gerlach—who was definitely the culprit—by any means necessary, even setting traps, and nagging me to wake Rozemyne up quickly.

To top it all off, because Lord Bonifatius had been eager to train the guard knights of the lord's family while Rozemyne slept, even Eckhart—who could serve as my assistant—and Rozemyne's guard knights, who had only just begun having work delegated to them in her stead, had been conscripted for training. It was the worst.

"So, has the old Veronica faction calmed down?"

"As far as Ehrenfest is concerned, there hasn't been much activity. Viscount Gerlach is also cleverly covering his tracks. Someone did say to set a trap and find evidence no matter what, but I was barely keeping up with the work right in front of me."

"All of my work ended up on your plate, then. You've worked hard. Starting tomorrow, I'll try to resume as much as I can... once this body cooperates."

Indeed, in her current state, Rozemyne couldn't help with work. There was no time for careful observation—we needed to act quickly.

"We've prevented a repeat of Georgine. For now, as a territory, we're making sure to have absolutely no contact with Ahrensbach, so they shouldn't be able to make any moves either. ...However, I am concerned that Lamprecht might become the seed of the next problem."

"Lamprecht?"

As I recalled the events of the past two years, I narrowed my eyes slightly.

At the end of winter two years ago, when Rozemyne fell asleep, Lamprecht had attended the graduation ceremony at the Noble Academy to celebrate his girlfriend's graduation. While they were students, Lamprecht's magic power had been lower than his girlfriend's, and her father had been hesitant about their relationship. However, because Lamprecht had learned the secret of magic compression from Rozemyne, his magic power had increased slightly over the winter.

"So her father gave his approval?"

"Yes. He apparently said that if there was still room for growth, it wasn't bad. Lamprecht returned from the Noble Academy and submitted a marriage application to his father Karstedt and to Sylvester."

"Ohhh," Rozemyne's eyes sparkled as she urged me to continue. Why did women find other people's romantic affairs so fascinating? I simply could not understand.

After letting out a sigh, I continued. This was not going to be a story Rozemyne would enjoy anyway.

"However, because Lamprecht's girlfriend was a high-ranking noble from Ahrensbach, the application was immediately rejected. He probably knew it would be rejected given the situation in Ehrenfest. He simply nodded, saying 'as expected,' and immediately sent a breakup letter to his girlfriend."

Even if a couple in love both wanted to marry, without parental approval and the lord's permission, the marriage could not happen. Personal feelings might be tolerated up to the graduation ceremony at the Noble Academy, but beyond that lay various restrictions. It was not uncommon for romances that couldn't continue past the Noble Academy to fizzle out.

"...Lamprecht is Wilfried's guard knight, after all. A marriage with a lady from Ahrensbach would be difficult."

Rozemyne furrowed her brows slightly and gave an understanding murmur.

"Originally, the application would have been rejected, the breakup letter sent, and that would have been the end of it. But it turns out Lamprecht's girlfriend was the lord's niece, and at last spring's Lord's Conference, Aub Ahrensbach asked Sylvester why the application had been rejected."

"Wow..."

Sylvester, questioned at the Lord's Conference, apparently listed every reason he could think of: that there were other nobles besides Lamprecht who wished to marry daughters from Ahrensbach, that no lord wanted to send away daughters who could bear powerful children during these times of low noble populations, that Ehrenfest, which was weak compared to Ahrensbach, didn't have the leeway to give away its men even if it wanted to allow such marriages, and that they couldn't allow unequal terms for only one side. With these arguments, he managed to drive off Aub Ahrensbach.

"But I expect she'll press the matter again at this year's Lord's Conference. So, once you enter the Noble Academy, look into the situation in Ahrensbach thoroughly."

"...Hah, well, I'll do my best."

At Rozemyne's clearly disinterested reply, I pressed my fingertips to my temples.

"Are you listening, Rozemyne?"

"I am listening, but Lamprecht is my brother and the inter-territorial issues mean his marriage is impossible regardless. More importantly, what happened with Brigitte and Damuel?"

"...You care more about your guard knights' marriages than your own brother's?"

"Because the amount of time we spend together is different."

I drew a sharp breath at Rozemyne's words. I had been breaking my heart over Wilfried and Charlotte too, and I had assumed that anyone within the framework of "family" automatically counted as Rozemyne's inner circle.

But Rozemyne's sense of closeness was not determined by blood or family frameworks—it was determined by her interactions with each person. Among the people Rozemyne treated as family, including practically everyone she met, I was struck for the first time to realize there were clear distinctions.

"How did Damuel's marriage proposal turn out?"

"I hate to interrupt your excitement, but that marriage did not come to pass."

"W-Why!? They were in love, weren't they!?"

Rozemyne's eyes went wide with shock.

"Because Damuel wished to continue being your guard knight. Mutual feelings alone aren't enough."

"...So even when both people are in love, things don't always work out."

"There are countless things that can't be helped due to circumstances around you. You've come of age once before, so you should know that much."

"When I read about it in books, there were various scenarios, but around me personally, there was no one whose mutual love didn't work out."

"Oh, I see," I exhaled with understanding. The world she had come from was similar but different. There were various differences in all sorts of things. The common sense surrounding such matters must have been quite different as well.

"There were two paths for their marriage to go through. Either Brigitte, from a family of landholding middle nobles, would lower her status to that of a lower noble in the Noble District, or Damuel, a second son of a lower noble, would rise to middle noble status through the marriage. One or the other."

"If Damuel rose in status, there would be no problem, right?"

Rozemyne said this lightly, seemingly unaware of the nuances of noble society.

"Fool. That would mean Damuel giving up being a guard knight and joining Ilgner. For an ordinary lower knight, that might have been acceptable. In fact, there was even an opinion that it would be better to replace him with a middle or upper knight who had more magic power. But Damuel is special. He knows too much about your affairs, and he was saved and raised up by you. Until you tell him to quit, he is in a position where he cannot resign of his own volition."

Not only third parties—even Brigitte, to whom the proposal was made, didn't know that Damuel had once been a commoner. When Damuel declined Brigitte's offer, many called it "what a waste," while others praised his loyalty.

"Then if I tell Damuel right now that he can quit, they can get married!?"

"It's too late. Brigitte married the third son of a middle noble that Elvira introduced, this past summer, and returned to Ilgner."

"That's way too sudden. I can't believe it," Rozemyne muttered in a dazed expression.

Seeing that Rozemyne had been prepared to seriously dismiss Damuel—a man who held her critical secrets—in order to bless the two of them and send him off to Ilgner, I silently applauded Elvira's skill.

"Oh, by the way, we also received a marriage application from your personal cook. Since he requires his lady's approval to proceed, it's been held in reserve. Rather than those two whose matter is already settled, handle this one first."

"...So spring has finally come for Hugo too."

Rozemyne attempted a smile but failed, muttering, "How lovely." It was the same expression she'd had earlier when she said everything around her had changed too much and it was scary.

"Regarding the orphanage and workshop, your attendants would know better. I think it would be clearer to have them give you that report."

"...Yes."

Looking at Rozemyne's visibly tense, stiff face, I hesitated, wondering what to do. I knew several people who had used the jureve, but their durations ranged from ten days to a single season. I didn't know anyone who had slept for years. And from my perspective, Rozemyne hadn't changed at all, so I honestly didn't understand how she felt about being bewildered by the changes around her.

If anything, I better understood the feelings of the attendants who had been worried night and day about whether she would ever wake up.

"Rozemyne, I don't know what you're afraid of, but all of your attendants have been waiting for your awakening. They followed the instructions you left behind, running the High Priest's chambers, the orphanage, and the workshop. They worked hard so that you would be happy when you woke up. Don't be frightened by their growth—praise them for it."

"Yes."

As she answered, Rozemyne smiled softly. It was the Rozemyne I knew.

This concludes the two-year digest from the Chief Priest's perspective. Next, we see the Urashima Tarō Rozemyne reuniting with her attendants and the lower town crew.