Choices

As soon as I returned to the Temple, I barged straight into the High Priest's room. I want to commend myself for being able to say "Let's have a talk" without flinching, even when the High Priest glared at me with that menacing expression of his.

The High Priest opened the door to the workshop with unmistakable reluctance, and I stepped inside. As always, the workshop was cluttered with all sorts of mixing equipment and ingredients, but I quickly cleared a spot on the long bench and sat down.

"I'm so glad we can finally talk."

"The only one who's happy about this, I assure you," he shot back with a sharp retort, but the High Priest settled into his chair all the same.

"So then, what exactly do you want to know?"

"First, I'd like to know the current state of Ahrensbach in detail. Since the High Priest will be going there."

He had apparently braced himself for questions about Adalgisa, because his shoulders relaxed slightly.

"I thought I already told you?"

"Not nearly enough. You did mention that the Aub of Ahrensbach wouldn't be around for long, but what if Estuck's information is wrong and he lives much longer than expected? Like Grandfather did, for instance. If that happens, will Lady Detlinde truly be able to become the next lord? Lady Letizia, who was adopted as a daughter from Drewanchel, has a much more solid backing and faction support—I think she'd be far more suited to be the next lord."

Letizia, who already had the backing of the deceased first wife's faction (which had originally existed in Ahrensbach) and her true mother in Drewanchel. Georgine, who had suddenly risen from third wife to first wife, hailing from Ehrenfest. And Detlinde, who had never been considered a viable heir until Georgine became the first wife. When you asked who among them was truly suited to be the next lord of Ahrensbach, I thought the answer was self-evident.

"You're correct. The King intends to save Ahrensbach—which was left in disarray after he was forced to demote two of its sons to upper nobility through a purge—by having Drewanchel's granddaughter adopted as a daughter, and by marrying Prince Hildebrand into the family once he comes of age."

Apparently, the fact that Hildebrand would marry into Ahrensbach after reaching adulthood had been publicly announced at the recent Lord's Conference when he was formally presented.

"If the Aub can survive until Letizia comes of age, then that would be the best outcome. But if the Aub already knows he doesn't have long to live, what then? What happens if he passes away before Letizia reaches adulthood?"

"Um, if there are no adult lord candidates, the first wife serves as a regent, and once a lord candidate reaches adulthood, that person takes over as the new Aub. In Ahrensbach's case, Lady Georgine would serve as regent until Lady Detlinde comes of age, and she would assume the position of Aub at that time."

I answered while recalling the succession-related knowledge I had studied as part of the lord candidate course prep work. The High Priest nodded and said, "Very well."

"In Ahrensbach, when the lord changes, any lord candidate from the previous reign is elevated to upper nobility. If Detlinde becomes the next Aub, Letizia will be stripped of her status as a lord candidate. To keep her as a candidate, she needs to be officially adopted by the Aub. In other words, the role being asked of me is to marry Detlinde, adopt Letizia, and serve as both regent and educator until Prince Hildebrand can marry into the family."

It seemed the plan was for Detlinde to adopt Letizia the moment she became Aub, and for Letizia to be raised as the Aub's successor.

"The successor needs to be taught the oral traditions as early as possible, but Detlinde, who was never trained to be the next lord in the first place, cannot possibly support Ahrensbach on her own. For the Aub of Ahrensbach, making Detlinde the next lord—even as a stopgap—seems like a last resort, doesn't it?"

What Ahrensbach needed was someone with the ability to hold things together, and ideally someone who could also educate Letizia. The High Priest, who had served as guardian to Ehrenfest's saint and had a track record of dramatically improving Ehrenfest's standing, was apparently the perfect candidate.

"Poor Lady Letizia. Please do go easy on her. Don't treat her the way you treated me!"

"Why on earth are you worried about a lord candidate of Ahrensbach?"

"If an important lord candidate were to be crushed by the High Priest's rigorous training, that would be terrible! When I was young, Philine was in tears from being made to redo things over and over while you stared daggers at her!"

"...Was she?"

She seemed to have gotten used to it by now, but Philine's dejection back when she first started coming to the Temple had been truly awful. Hartmut and Damuel had comforted her often.

"So what did the King say to the High Priest to make him accept this? Even if the spouse of a future lord is one thing, when it's clear you're only meant to be a stopgap spouse, not many people would willingly agree, right? I'd think you had more grounds to refuse than ever."

"If I had to summarize it—I was tested for my loyalty to Ehrenfest."

Despite being neutral and by no means an ally, Ehrenfest's meteoric rise made it look like a ball of suspicion from the King's and the Central Government's perspective. The plan to tie Klassenberg to the crown by marrying Eglantine—the one with the strongest royal blood—to the next King had been sabotaged. The dispute over the Holy Book had created a rift between the Central Temple and the King. And then there was the matter of refusing the King's request for a blessing.

"...Um, wouldn't the majority of those suspicions actually be my fault?"

"The incident with Anastasius was entirely your own doing, yes, but they generally believe I'm the one pulling your strings from behind the scenes. As for this marriage arrangement—I'd say they're testing my personal loyalty more than Ehrenfest's as a whole."

After saying that, the High Priest stole a glance at me. It was the look of someone hoping I might just let it slide. I answered with a smile.

"Does Adalgisa's Fruit tie into the matter of the High Priest's loyalty?"

"...That's right. It's hardly unreasonable for the King to want to separate someone like me—who elevated you to saint status, transformed Ehrenfest's standing, scattered seeds of discord around the royal family, and appears to be plotting something—from Ehrenfest and bind them somewhere safe."

He said this with a resigned expression, his pale golden eyes fixed on me. The wary gaze, carefully probing friend from foe, told me this was a topic that ran quite deep for the High Priest—one he'd rather not touch.

"Say, High Priest. What exactly is this Adalgisa's Fruit to begin with? It doesn't appear in the Holy Book, and it's not exactly common terminology, is it?"

"What do you think? You must have had some theory, otherwise you wouldn't have refrained from asking those around you."

The High Priest studied me intently, gauging how much I had pieced together and what I already knew. I stared right back, refusing to be evasive or kept in the dark.

"When I first heard the name, I didn't immediately understand it. But once I really thought about it, I realized the High Priest had stated his Geduldh was Ehrenfest. So I figured it must be about a place of origin. If the Central Knight Commander knew about it, and someone else was present when it was mentioned, it must be a code name for somewhere in the Central Government."

The High Priest's face twisted into a forced smile. I let out a quiet breath of relief—I had guessed correctly.

"I'd heard that the High Priest was brought to the castle for the Baptism Ceremony, but I don't think anyone ever mentioned anything before that. You must have grown up somewhere the Central Knight Commander would know? Is there actually a place called Adalgisa?"

The High Priest fell silent for a time, his lips pressed tight. I could tell he didn't want to talk about it, but if I backed down now, there would have been no point in coming to the workshop. As I waited patiently for his answer, he finally relented, lowering his gaze and speaking.

"...Adalgisa is the name of the first princess who was granted a remote palace. That Knight Commander was probably one of the knights who used to guard the palace in the old days. I honestly never expected anyone here would know I'd been there."

I had already guessed from his Central origins that it was probably something royal, so I wasn't particularly surprised. If anything, I just thought, As I suspected. In terms of Magic Power and many other things, the High Priest was far too much of an anomaly in Ehrenfest.

"So is Princess Adalgisa the High Priest's mother?"

"No, she isn't. Adalgisa received the palace hundreds of years ago, so it's a different person, but her circumstances were similar."

"Circumstances?"

When I tilted my head, the High Priest gave a dismissive wave.

"For now, this is a matter that has absolutely nothing to do with you."

"But I want to know. The High Priest peeks into my memories and learns my secrets, yet it's unfair for me to be kept in the dark, don't you think?"

"It's not a matter of fairness—it's something you'd be better off not knowing. Even Sylvester doesn't know that I was raised in the Central Government until my Baptism Ceremony."

"It doesn't matter whether my adoptive father knows. I want to know about the High Priest."

When I puffed my cheeks in indignation, the High Priest made an extremely displeased face and turned away.

"...Adalgisa is the palace where a princess from Lanzenave, sent as tribute once every few generations, is placed. I won't tell you any more than that."

"Lanzenave—that's the sugar country, isn't it?"

"Sugar... That's not wrong, but the gap between your understanding and mine is somewhat disorienting."

The High Priest pressed a hand to his temple.

"Talking to you gives me a headache. This conversation is now over."

"Wait just a moment! Running away won't work. If you end things now, we'll just have to have this conversation all over again. So—the remote palace means the High Priest is unquestionably royalty with foreign blood, correct?"

When I pressed with another question because I couldn't afford to let the conversation end, the High Priest slowly exhaled.

"I do have a relatively strong share of royal blood, but since I underwent the Baptism Ceremony in Ehrenfest, I am not royalty. I have no mother, and my father was the previous Aub of Ehrenfest."

"Why was your Baptism Ceremony held in Ehrenfest?"

"It was said to be at the guidance of the Goddess of Time. ...That is what my father told me."

"Huh?"

The words coming from the High Priest's mouth didn't seem like something he would normally say, and I let out an involuntary yelp of surprise. The High Priest calmly added, "Surprising, isn't it?" while slightly softening his gaze as if recalling the past.

"By all rights, I should have been dead before my Baptism Ceremony."

"What?"

According to the High Priest, if Adalgisa's Fruit happened to be a girl, she would be raised as a princess of Yurgenschmidt. But if it was a boy, only one would be sent back to Lanzenave, and since having multiple princes who might lay claim to the throne would be inconvenient, all the rest were secretly disposed of.

"If the father was willing to take the child in, survival was possible, but in most cases the fathers refused. From the male side's perspective, there was no way to be certain the child was even his, and it would typically cause discord with their wives."

When the High Priest asked why the previous Aub of Ehrenfest had taken him in, the only answer he received was that it was at the Goddess of Time's guidance.

"He was told that it would certainly benefit Ehrenfest."

"Well, as strange as that story is, the truth is that without the High Priest, Ehrenfest wouldn't be what it is today, so the Goddess of Time's words were not wrong."

I nodded several times, thinking How impressive, the Goddess truly is, and the High Priest stared at me as if I had caught him off guard.

"You actually believe a story that absurd?"

"What? In a world where praying to the gods brings spring, and praying to the gods transforms weapons, I don't think absurd even begins to cover it."

When I blinked as if to say Why are you surprised, the High Priest looked at me with an expression of utter disbelief.

"I should have known by now that it's pointless to think too deeply about you, but I'm still surprised."

"Is that so? Anyway, what did they say about the 'Adalgisa's Fruit' thing?"

When I steered the conversation back, the High Priest muttered irritably, "You hadn't forgotten?"

"No matter how many times I say that I'm from Ehrenfest, not royalty, and have zero interest in the throne, the fact remains that to the current King—who does not possess the Grutrissheit—I am an extremely dangerous figure. With my strong royal blood and the fact that I appear to be searching for the Grutrissheit through a saint, I'm a threat regardless."

"What?"

"Wasn't it you who told Prince Hildebrand about the library that only royalty can enter?"

"That's my fault too!?"

I clutched my head with a groan, and the High Priest sighed with resigned exasperation.

"I was told to demonstrate my submission to the King through action. Either I should seize Ehrenfest by ousting Sylvester and becoming the Aub, or marry into Ahrensbach."

If he became a lord, he could never return to the royal family. I had heard this from Eglantine, who had been searching for an escape from the royal family because she wanted nothing to do with it. The High Priest had apparently been told to choose one of two paths: cut his ties to the royalty by becoming Aub of Ehrenfest, or become the spouse of another territory's Aub.

"...If that's what's needed to show submission, couldn't the High Priest stay in Ehrenfest as a stopgap between my adoptive father and Brother Wilfried, without having to marry into Ahrensbach? I want the High Priest to remain in Ehrenfest, and frankly, marrying Lady Detlinde, who resembles Lady Veronica, might not be great for the High Priest's mood either, you know?"

I thought that if I brought this idea to my adoptive father as a way to keep the High Priest in Ehrenfest, he would probably go for it.

But the High Priest shook his head firmly. "That won't work."

"Since the King now knows I am Adalgisa's Fruit, I need to distance myself from Ehrenfest. There's no telling what I might get swept up in, and I refuse to drag Ehrenfest down with me."

The High Priest exhaled slowly.

"Rozemyne, I made a promise to my father. That I would make Sylvester the Aub, and I would serve Ehrenfest as his supporter. I have no intention of breaking my final promise to my father. I would rather marry into Ahrensbach a thousand times over than oust Sylvester and become the Aub of Ehrenfest with my own hands. So never say that there was a way to avoid it if I simply became the Aub."

I realized just how much he cherished his memories and promises with his father, and the words I might have used to try to keep him there died on my lips.

"What the High Priest truly wants to protect is that promise to your father, isn't it?"

"...Yes. Since you're someone who cherishes promises made to your real family, perhaps you can understand my feelings to some degree."

My promise to my father had been to protect the family and Ehrenfest as a whole. With Turi, I had promised her to become a first-rate tailor and work with clothing. As for the promise to my mother, it was hard to say I was keeping it, but I still remembered it. These were precious, important promises—the kind that could bring tears to my eyes just from recalling them.

"I understand. I don't want the High Priest to leave, but I understand how important that promise is."

"Why are you crying?"

"Because I remembered the promises I made with Father and the others, and when I realized that no matter how much I didn't want the High Priest to go, I still had to properly see him off, it just... overflowed."

After letting out the most exasperated sigh I had ever seen, the High Priest slowly unwound his crossed arms. I shuffled over and climbed onto his lap, hugging him tightly. The relief of physical contact—something I had truly been lacking lately—and the comfort of leaning on someone made me exhale with a deep sense of peace.

"...Is this alright?"

"I once promised that if you achieved top marks, I would praise you like this. This will probably be the last time, though."

Once some time had passed and I had calmed down, I became deeply worried about the High Priest going forward. With nothing but his promise to his father in mind, he would endure any amount of pain or hardship alone, bottling everything up inside.

Would the High Priest, who couldn't even let those around him know that his work was difficult, ever ask someone for help if he found himself in dire straits in Ahrensbach?

...Impossible. But even if I made him a promise, he probably wouldn't keep it.

As I was lost in thought, the High Priest said, "If you've calmed down, get down now."

"Just a moment. Since I doubt we'll get another chance to talk alone like this, I'm going to coerce the High Priest right now."

"What are you talking about?"

I smiled sweetly at his grimacing face.

"Please promise that when things are painful or hard, you'll ask for help instead of giving everything up and enduring in silence for the sake of your promise to your father. I will come to help the High Priest with everything I have."

"...I don't understand what you mean. I'm going to Ahrensbach. Are you saying that if I asked for your help, you'd come even if it meant making an enemy of Ahrensbach?"

He made a thoroughly exasperated face and said something to the effect of Don't be ridiculous. I nodded at him with a straight face.

"Yes. Not just Ahrensbach—even if it meant making enemies of the King and the Central Government, I will go help the High Priest."

"Wait just a moment."

The High Priest's eyes went wide for a moment, and then he pressed his temple as though genuinely bewildered.

"I took your family away from you. I forbade you from interacting with people from the lower town. I stripped away the place where you could find peace. Why on earth would you come to help someone like me? That makes no sense, doesn't it?"

...This man truly has no idea what kind of person he is to those around him, or how worried everyone is about him.

My adoptive father, my father, my mother, my own feelings of concern—all of it, the wish that he not be sent to Ahrensbach, probably hadn't reached him by even half. He thought only about what was best for Ehrenfest and nothing else, and a helpless anger welled up inside me at his complete obliviousness.

"High Priest, do you mean what you just said?"

"Calm down, Rozemyne! Your eyes are starting to change color. Your Magic Power is about to run wild!"

The High Priest fumbled at his hip in a panic and produced a magic stone. He pressed it to my forehead with enough force to make a thud, and the pain combined with the drain of the stone somewhat calmed the surge of Magic Power. The anger, of course, continued unabated.

"You see, High Priest, as my guardian, you've taught me so many things, looked after me, and run around on my behalf. You've made medicine for me, prepared protective charms, and among all the nobles—even more than my adoptive father, my adoptive mother, or Brother Wilfried, who is technically my fiancé—you care about me more than anyone. It's only natural that I think of the High Priest as family! Why don't you understand that?"

The High Priest stared at me blankly, not even pointing out the disarray in my words.

"F-family, you say?"

"That's right. You know, when it comes to feelings of affection from other people, the High Priest is pretty dense, isn't he?"

"...I'll admit I hadn't noticed, but I'd rather not hear that from someone who's fundamentally dense herself."

The High Priest pressed a hand over his mouth and looked away. It was an expression I'd never seen on him before, but I continued speaking.

"In any case, that's how much I care about the High Priest. And if it means going against the King's command to save him, then I don't mind obtaining the Grutrissheit and becoming King myself!"

"What in the world are you saying, you fool?!"

The High Priest's eyes went wide in shock and anger, but I thought it was an excellent plan. I'd save the High Priest alone, and once I had finished reading the Grutrissheit, I could simply hand it over to the King. Everyone would be happy.

"I became the adoptive daughter of a lord as the daughter of a commoner and a soldier, all to protect my family. Compared to that, a lord candidate obtaining the Grutrissheit and becoming King isn't that big a deal. If I protect all of Yurgenschmidt including Ehrenfest, it won't even break my promise to Father!"

"That is a huge problem! What has happened to your sense of reason?!"

The High Priest was getting rather emotional. That was a good trend. I wanted to extract a firm promise from him while he was like this.

"My way of life is to do everything I can so that I can read as many books as possible in peace. That's who I am."

"...You said something similar when you saved those orphans."

"That's right. If there's something worrying the people around me, I can't enjoy my reading. In other words, the High Priest needs to be happy too. If I'm too worried about you to concentrate on my books, that would be terrible. So even after you go, please send letters regularly. If I don't hear from you, I will come to your aid with everything I've got."

My words left the High Priest looking genuinely troubled.

"I've witnessed you go into a frenzy over family matters multiple times. You intend to apply that same treatment to me?"

"Of course. I told you this was a threat from the very beginning, didn't I?"

"This is the worst. The worst part is that I can't think of anyone who could stop you if you went on a rampage to save me."

My adoptive father, my father, my mother—none of them would stop me. If anything, they'd probably encourage me to go save him.

"If the High Priest becomes unhappy, I can't guarantee what I'll do! So please choose—either you will definitely be happy, or you will honestly ask for help when something goes wrong."

"...That's an unexpectedly unavoidable threat."

He said it was the worst, but the High Priest gave a small smile and promised to write letters regularly.

I managed to step just a little further into the High Priest's inner world.

What matters most to the High Priest is his promise to his father.

Next up is the handover.