Me and the Chief Priest

Deep within my hazy consciousness, I faintly heard a voice calling my name. I didn't want to wake up yet. I wanted to keep sinking into the sea of sleep.

But no matter what I thought, the voice calling me wouldn't stop.

"Rozemyne, wake up."

"Mmm..."

My body was shaken back and forth, and with no choice, I slowly opened my eyes. My eyelids felt swollen and heavy. Maybe I'd cried too much—my temples were still throbbing and felt warm.

"The Chief Priest... and Eustachius, and Brother Eckhart...?"

I couldn't understand why these people were so close to me, so I looked around and remembered where I was—my hidden room.

Apparently, I'd fallen asleep crying over the letter. The Chief Priest and the two standing behind him watched as I slowly raised myself from where I'd been slumped over the desk. I must have slept in an odd position—everything ached when I moved.

"Ouch..."

"My goodness, what a dreadful face."

The moment I sat up, the Chief Priest furrowed his brow and said this. He followed it up with "What a pitiful state you've become," and I pouted my lips in protest.

"That's a terrible thing to say to a girl."

"But it's the truth."

...That's even worse.

"Your face is swollen from crying, and on top of that, you fell asleep face-down on the letter. Your cheek is covered in ink. It's gotten so bad that the letters on your face are actually legible."

At the Chief Priest's words, I gently touched my cheek and looked at the desk where I'd been sleeping. I gasped.

"Nooo! The ink from the letter has smudged onto my face!"

"Forget about the letter and do something about that wretched face of yours."

"The letter is more important than my face!"

Clutching my head in despair, I held up the letter—its ink smeared by tears, warped from getting wet and drying into a stiff, crumpled mess.

"Chief Priest, isn't there some wonderful magic that can restore this letter!?"

"I do know of a Magical Tool that removes ink cleanly."

"But it would be completely erased!"

The Chief Priest nodded expressionlessly. "That's exactly right," he said, and Eustachius covered his mouth to suppress a laugh. The Chief Priest looked down at me and let out an exasperated sigh.

"...You seem more energetic than I expected."

Fran had activated the communication Magical Tool to let me know it was time to prepare for heading to the castle, but I'd been fast asleep and hadn't noticed at all. Worried that I might have collapsed in my hidden room, Fran had contacted the Chief Priest—one of the few people who could enter—and he'd come to check on me.

"When I entered the hidden room, I found you collapsed face-down on the desk, completely unconscious. I was quite alarmed. When I realized you were only sleeping, I was relieved."

After a brief pause, Eustachius added, "Lord Ferdinand," and the Chief Priest shot him a sharp glare. "Don't say unnecessary things," he said. Then he looked at me.

"I was simply reminded of the reflection room incident. There's no deeper meaning."

"Lord Ferdinand, what was this reflection room incident? What happened?"

Eustachius's eyes lit up with curiosity, and I raised my hand slightly to silence him. The Chief Priest touched my forehead, then my neck.

"You don't have a fever. Your pulse is normal. Your magic power appears stable as well."

"Forget about my health—I'm completely listless. Just droopy and deflated. But I've set my goal, so I'm fine. I can work hard toward it."

When I declared I would do everything in my power to establish the library and enrich its collection, the Chief Priest made an extremely sour face.

"You don't look particularly lacking in energy, but fine. Let's do something about that unsightly face of yours first."

"The Chief Priest is the one who needs to do something about his horrible way of speaking. He has far too many insults at his disposal."

As I grumbled and turned back toward the Chief Priest, he pulled out his stappe and abruptly ordered, "Hold your breath."

Not understanding what he meant, I tilted my head and said "Huh?"—and at the same moment, a ball of water flew from somewhere and struck me right in the face.

"Bwagh!?"

By the time I realized it was the same cleansing magic he'd used to wash Dad's cape at the small chapel in Hasse, I was already drowning in the water ball, and then it vanished.

I'd inadvertently swallowed the water that hit my face, but all the moisture was already gone—only the sensation of water rushing back up my nose remained.

"Cough! Cough! My nose stings!"

"You fool, why didn't you hold your breath!?"

The Chief Priest said this in surprise, but if he'd told me not just "hold your breath" but also "because I'm going to use cleansing magic," I would have properly held it. While Eustachius rubbed my back, I glared daggers at the Chief Priest.

"Your explanations are far too incomplete."

At my complaint, the Chief Priest snorted, but then—this time including the reason—he said, "I'm going to grant healing. Close your eyes."

I closed my eyes as instructed, and his hand covered my eye area. With a murmur of "Lutzschmeel's healing," a gentle green light filled my vision, and the puffy, swollen feeling around my eyes melted away.

"Thank you, Chief Priest."

"At least now you're somewhat presentable. You really are high-maintenance."

He said this with an exasperated expression, but then his gaze fell on the letter still in my hands. I could feel his eyes narrowing as he studied it. Before I knew what was happening, his hand shot toward me— ...He's going to confiscate it!?

I quickly tucked the letter behind my back.

But the Chief Priest's hand simply landed on my head and began spinning it around in circles. He moved my head left and right without a word. I endured for a few seconds, but my vision started to spin. As the scenery swayed sickeningly before my eyes, I called out for him to stop.

"Wait—what are you doing!?"

"...Come to think of it, I don't think I ever congratulated you."

Was spinning my head around the Chief Priest's way of offering congratulations? I was starting to feel like I didn't need his congratulations at all.

"Did I... do something praiseworthy?"

"You earned top honors, didn't you? As your guardian—a parental figure—I should have congratulated you. I realized that just now, reading your letter."

"Could it be that when the Chief Priest earned top honors, he received congratulations too?"

At my question, his eyes softened, and his expression took on the look of someone savoring a precious memory. I watched, filled with a strange feeling, as a tenderness I'd never seen before surfaced on his face.

Come to think of it, he'd also apologized for missing my awards ceremony. Earning top honors must be a deeply happy and cherished memory for the Chief Priest.

"...Who congratulated you, Chief Priest?"

"My father."

After being brought to the castle at the Baptism Ceremony, the Chief Priest had been given a room in the northern wing from the very beginning. Because they lived in separate quarters, the only time he could talk with his father—the previous Lord—was during dinner. And since Veronica was always present, the Chief Priest, wanting to minimize contact with her, would eat in silence unless directly questioned. That routine lasted until he entered the Noble Academy.

On the night he earned top honors as a first-year at the Noble Academy, the Chief Priest was summoned to his father's room for the first time. The Academy dormitories separated men and women on the second and third floors, and the Lord and his wife had different rooms, so Veronica couldn't intrude. For the first time, he had a father-son moment alone.

Sylvester was there too, and both of them congratulated the Chief Priest on earning top honors. Sylvester gave an eloquent account of what had happened at the Academy, and his father listened with a gentle expression, eyes narrowed. His father—who normally wouldn't even meet his eyes—turned his gaze toward him and listened. It was a precious time, the three of them together with no interruptions.

After that, whenever the Lord and his wife visited the Noble Academy, they apparently made time for a brief talk at night. The result of him giving his absolute all during those rare moments with his father—to earn his praise—was the legend of Ferdinand.

"Back then, did the Chief Priest's father congratulate you like this?"

I couldn't help thinking: Couldn't the previous Lord have put a little more thought into his methods? But the Chief Priest simply shook his head. "No, it wasn't like that." The spin-your-head approach was apparently the Chief Priest's own invention. No wonder it lacked any warmth.

"Then please congratulate me the way you were congratulated."

"The way my father congratulated me?"

Go on, congratulate me! When I spread both arms wide, the Chief Priest sat down in the chair I'd been using. He then pulled me close and gave me a light embrace. Not expecting a noble parent-child interaction to involve something like this, my eyes went wide.

While I let out a startled "Whoa!?", the Chief Priest spoke in a gentle voice I'd never heard from him before.

"Well done, Ferdinand. As a candidate for Lord of Ehrenfest, you have served splendidly. You are my pride."

"...I can see the Chief Priest's father was a kind man, but could you please replace 'Ferdinand' with 'Rozemyne'?"

I pouted—pointing out that he hadn't actually praised me—but let out a soft sigh. I'd thought he was someone with few family connections, clumsy with human relationships, but to learn that his time with his father amounted to only a few days a year... that was worse than I'd imagined.

"Well done, Rozemyne. As a candidate for Lord of Ehrenfest, you have served splendidly. You are my pride."

This time he properly praised me, but the memory-corrective warmth in the Chief Priest's mind must have faded, because the words came out stiff and monotone. The moment he finished, he pushed me away.

The Chief Priest surely never received such treatment from his father. He was my guardian and parent figure, yet his treatment of me was a little harsh.

"...Chief Priest, I'll work hard too, so please congratulate me like this a few times a year."

"When you earn top honors."

My eyes went wide at the impossibly high bar the Chief Priest set, and Eustachius let out a sigh, shaking his head.

"Lord Ferdinand, Lady Rozemyne needs at least that much. As I reported earlier, she has effectively lost both her hidden room and her bed. Isn't it a guardian's duty to prepare replacements? You've been outsourcing her emotional well-being to the lower city all this time—now that you've taken that away, you should bear the responsibility."

Spoken to in a tone very similar to Richarta's, the Chief Priest made a complicated, indescribable expression. He tapped his temple lightly while looking at me.

"When you say responsibility... Rozemyne already has a new family, doesn't she? ...Rozemyne, if your family in the lower city is your hidden room, and the Plantan Company is your bed, then what are Karstedt and Sylvester?"

Glared at as he asked this, I thought hard.

"Father and my adoptive father are... doors. They keep others from entering from outside, protect me, and at the same time, they're doors that keep me from going outside..."

"I see."

"What a fascinating comparison. Then what kind of existence would Lady Elvira and my mother be?"

Eustachius's eyes lit up as he posed the next question. Picturing the furniture in my room, I tried to come up with comparisons.

"Mother and Richarta are the fireplace. They're bright, warm, and absolutely essential to daily life—you can't lean on them, and if you get too close, you'll get burned."

"Hmm, how interesting."

The Chief Priest's lips curved up ever so slightly in what seemed like amusement, and he began listing people around me, one after another. I answered each in turn.

"Angelica and Brother Cornelius and the other guard knights—they'd be bookshelves. They protect my precious things. ...Actually, now that I think about it, Damuel is a locked writing chest. He knows my secrets and keeps his mouth shut."

"You seem to value Damuel more than I expected."

"Fran and the Temple Attendants are the office desk. It's where I do my work and also where I spread out books to read. It encompasses both my public and private life—it feels indispensable to my daily routine."

"Are you the only one who lumps private matters together with public ones at an office desk?" Eustachius said, shrugging. I didn't think it was wrong—a desk was where I leisurely enjoyed reading as a hobby, so it was perfectly reasonable to call it a personal space.

After several more names had been suggested, the Chief Priest's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Rozemyne, the person you'll need to rely on going forward is Wilfried, your fiancé. What kind of existence is Wilfried to you right now?"

"Brother Wilfried? Hmm... He's a chair without a backrest. You can sit and catch your breath, but you can't lean on him."

He'd grown over the past two years, and I thought he was genuinely trying hard, but my honest impression was that he didn't offer the kind of security you could lean on. The Chief Priest raised one eyebrow slightly.

"He is indeed unreliable. He needs to be trained until he at least has a backrest."

In my heart, I sent Wilfried a word of encouragement—he'd be receiving the Chief Priest's education from now on—and raised the bar further.

"If possible, I'd like armrests too. That level of security would be nice."

"Hmm, I'll take it into consideration."

...My condolences, Brother Wilf.

"Lady Rozemyne, what are your thoughts on the former Count Liesegang?"

"Great-grandfather?"

The name of someone not particularly close to me came from Eustachius's mouth, and I tilted my head slowly.

"He's like one of those delicate ornamental figurines you place on a fireplace mantle or on top of a shelf—the kind that seem to be made of sand and would crumble to pieces if you poked them. Even watching from a distance makes me nervous."

Eckhart let out a small laugh. "I agree that great-grandfather is someone you shouldn't touch," he said. Happy to have someone who shared my view, I looked up at Eckhart and smiled, but his expression turned somewhat serious.

"But that fragile-looking figurine is actually a surprisingly sturdy and dangerous existence, Rozemyne."

The former Count Liesegang had a beloved daughter who married into the Lord's family at the request of the heir apparent—a candidate for the next Lord. Despite entering as the first wife, when the princess from Ahrensbach arrived by palanquin, she was demoted to second wife. What's more, that candidate was removed from the running for Lord because marrying the Ahrensbach princess had caused unrest within the territory.

At the same time, the Lord at the time ordered him to marry off his youngest daughter to Granduncle Bonifatius, to maintain balance within the territory. He did so, but his uncle, having no interest in the position of Lord, passed it on to his younger brother instead.

That uncle's first wife was Veronica, born to the Ahrensbach princess—which meant that even his beloved daughter's children and grandchildren ended up being mistreated by Veronica.

Despite being a high-ranking noble with the largest land holdings, the years he spent watching himself gradually pushed from the center of power were agonizingly long. He could only protect Lady Elvira by arranging her marriage to Father, and he reportedly lived a life of bitter tears, unable to face his ancestors.

"He says that Rozemyne, with enough Magic Power and achievements to become the Lord's adopted daughter and heir candidate, is the light of hope for the Liesegang family—a gift bestowed by the gods at the end of his life."

"...That's an awful lot of expectation. If I told him I have no intention of becoming Lord, he'd be—not joking—on the verge of despair. Is that really okay?"

"Great-grandfather is already taking steps toward making you the next Lord. He's begun rallying the other territories around Liesegang—Haldenzel, Greshell, and Ilgner, which was the first to adopt your papermaking industry."

I was originally a Commoner, not someone who could become Lord. The fact that the first person my adoptive father proposed to bind me to through engagement was the Chief Priest—rather than Wilfried, whom he intended to make the next Lord—proved he never actually wanted me as a first wife.

"How should I handle this? I truly have no intention of becoming Lord."

"I don't intend to make you Lord either. The engagement with Wilfried should calm things somewhat, but the former Count Liesegang, having lived many years, is cunning. He could easily manipulate a simple, trusting child like you. Stay away from him as much as possible."

Listening to the Chief Priest's reasoning, my great-grandfather sounded less like a concerned elder and more like a mastermind pulling strings from the shadows. While I could see the current Count Liesegang being dangerous, I didn't think my great-grandfather was quite that threatening.

...Though my judgment was probably the one that was wrong, so I planned to follow the Chief Priest's advice.

"There may be increased contact with Count Liesegang going forward regarding the printing business, but try to rely on Elvira as much as possible. It would be best for you to stay out of the spotlight. And for now—even if it's just for show—make sure you're seen relying on Wilfried. You need to project the image of someone supporting the next Lord."

"Understood."

When I nodded, the Chief Priest said, "Good," then fell silent for a moment. After appearing to think, he lowered his gaze briefly, then looked at me.

"Rozemyne, you carry secrets as you live your life. Secrets you have almost no one to confide in. Eustachius pointed out that because of this, you haven't been able to integrate well into noble society. He said that those who know about those secrets should be providing more careful assistance."

I looked up at Eustachius in surprise. He let out a soft sigh.

"Adapting to common sense you don't know is difficult. And since you need to live there—not just blend in temporarily—I only said that the rules shouldn't merely be forbidden; the reasons behind them also need to be carefully explained. That's what Lutz told me."

"What did you talk with Lutz about?"

"Just small talk while working at the workshop. Since I don't have much in common with the workshop workers, your name came up quite often, Lady Rozemyne."

The gray Priests at the Temple, the Plantan Company, and the Gutenbergs were all jumbled together in conversation, making for quite an entertaining exchange, Eustachius said with a smile.

"Against the rumors at the workshop—that you were a saint who'd been too sickly to go outside, who spoke with the gods in dreams and used that knowledge to save orphans—Lutz assessed that you were a business partner who needed to be corrected point by point: what was wrong, how it was wrong, and what the right thing to do was."

It felt like the saint legend had gotten wildly inflated at some point. As I listened in a detached, oh-really sort of way, the Chief Priest shrugged.

"Because Eustachius told me this, I intend to closely observe your behavior going forward and point out your mistakes. Your integration into noble society is urgent, and it would be best not to let your secrets slip."

...Knowing the common sense of noble society would be incredibly helpful, but being watched all the time was not enjoyable in the slightest.

"...Rozemyne, I know that living with secrets is not easy. But when you think about the ripples that would spread if those secrets were leaked, you can understand why they shouldn't be shared carelessly, can't you?"

"Does the Chief Priest also carry some kind of secret?"

Sensing a slight hitch in his words when he said "I know," I asked, and the Chief Priest glared at me.

"That's precisely why they're secrets. Don't ask questions you already know I can't answer, you fool."

"My apologies."

...So he did have secrets.

"The engagement announcement with Wilfried will stir up the territory once more. I intend to act in a way that brings the nobility together as a whole. Be very careful with your own words and actions. Consult me before doing anything. Understood?"

"Yes."

With that, the conversation seemed to end. The Chief Priest stood up, saying it was probably past time to head to the castle, and headed for the door.

As I chased after his retreating figure, Eustachius called out, "Lady Rozemyne."

"What is it, Eustachius?"

"Just now, you used various people as comparisons, but I realized I never asked about Lord Ferdinand. What kind of existence is Lord Ferdinand to you?"

I looked up at the Chief Priest. He narrowed his eyes ever so slightly, waiting for my answer.

"...He's a sofa. You can read on it and relax on it, but if you completely let your guard down and fall asleep, you end up with aches all over, catch a cold, or hurt yourself."

After all that heaviness, a brief respite. The Chief Priest healed me.

From here on, I would be building relationships with my noble family.

Hang in there, Brother Wilf!

Next time: The feast to celebrate spring.