I am Florentia, the First Wife of the Aub Ehrenfest. It has been about ten years since I married into this family. There were various difficulties at the start, but now I am blessed with dear children and enjoying a peaceful time.
"
"Yes, Mother."
"See you later."
I spoke to my children, embracing each one before rising to my feet, suppressing my reluctance as I left the room. Every time I see my dear children's smiling faces, frustration wells up in my chest that I could not give
...Truly, that mother-in-law of mine.
Two seasons after Wilfried was born, when I was told I had to breastfeed him, he was taken away and raised by my mother-in-law. Truly, all I could do was give him an embrace after dinner before the
"At the very least, the fact that parenting rights were returned to me was something to be grateful for..."
All of this is thanks to
From the moment I married in, my mother-in-law had been harsh in every way—"
Ehrenfest's—or rather, my saint.
When I heard that Sylvester, who could not even be said to properly educate his own children, was planning to adopt
Her refined appearance, immense Magic Power, frighteningly quick mind, the ideas she generated for creating new trends, the decisiveness to bring them to life immediately, and her compassionate heart toward others. And then, her frailty that made it seem as though she might die the moment you looked away.
I believe it was a rare display of good judgment on Sylvester's part to have decided that she must be secured and protected for the sake of the territory.
Today, I am to have tea with Lady
However, I am not particularly eager.
"...Just resembling my mother-in-law is enough to make me uncomfortable. And what's more, I cannot shake the feeling about the smile Lady Georgine directed at Wilfried during the welcoming banquet."
"...You're probably right, Florentia. I think it's best not to let Wilfried meet her. Seeing her off at the end will be enough. ...Of course, Rozemyne too."
Sylvester, who is generally lenient with family and had let that High Priest and my mother-in-law do as they pleased, showed a surprising level of vigilance that concerned me.
"Sylvester, why are you so wary of Lady Georgine?"
"Because I don't want my child to suffer the same experience I did."
According to Sylvester, during the time he was being suffocated by the intense pressure of being raised as the heir, Lady Georgine—who was much older and had had the position of heir taken from him—had tormented him terribly.
"Now that I think about it, I somewhat understand my sister's feelings about having her entire life up to that point denied. But it began the very moment I moved into the northern wing where only children resided after completing my Baptism Ceremony, and it continued all the way until my sister married off to Ahrensbach."
Sylvester tried to sound as calm as possible as he said this, but the harassment had left deep scars on his heart, and he likely still had not fully processed those childhood experiences.
...Truly, this man.
He grew up receiving my mother-in-law's warped affection and is essentially a grown child whose salvation was never extended when he truly needed it.
"Carry this to the room."
Sylvester ordered an Attendant to bring a wooden box to the tea party room and rose to his feet. I stood up as well.
"I also need to discuss matters with my uncle and mother... This is going to be heavy."
"If I, who only knows one side of the story, interfere in your family's problems, it will only create more confusion. This is your work. I will be present as well, so please hold firm."
I kissed Sylvester on the cheek to encourage him as much as I could, then clung to his side as we made our way to the tea party room.
Sylvester and I sat side by side, Lady Georgine sat across from us, and the tea party began.
Per Sylvester's instruction not to show Ehrenfest's strengths, the sweets today were traditional ones. I took a bite so Lady Georgine could see. Recently it had been all Rozemyne's recipes, so this felt rather nostalgic.
"Sylvester, I came here to visit my uncle's grave. When will you show me the way?"
Lady Georgine frowned as she sipped her tea, fixing her gaze on Sylvester.
Sylvester glanced at me for a brief moment as if seeking help, then clenched his fists and turned to face Lady Georgine.
"Uncle was executed as a convicted felon. The Arnsberg barony, which is his family, has also rejected any connection to someone who entered the
"Executed, you say...?"
Lady Georgine had apparently been informed of his death through a letter from the Temple, but she had not known the details. During the Lord's Conference, one could not bring up the matter of a lord's relative being executed, so those details had been kept from her as well.
Lady Georgine's hands tightened into fists, and she glared up at Sylvester with demanding eyes seeking an explanation. Sylvester gritted his back teeth and opened his mouth with the gravity befitting a lord.
"Forgery of official documents. He defied the lord's orders, instigated the lord's mother into forging official documents, and lured in nobles from another territory to incite a disturbance."
I could see Sylvester's fists trembling slightly on his knees. When I gently placed my hand over his fist, it flipped over, our fingers interlocked, and he gripped tightly.
...It's all right, Sylvester.
As I stroked the back of his hand with my fingertips and tapped it lightly, I could feel him gradually relaxing his grip.
"The gravity of using the lord's seal without permission during the Lord's Conference while the lord was absent—there is no way my sister, as the First Wife of Ahrensbach, doesn't understand that. ...I believe she does."
Lady Georgine lowered her gaze for a moment, then let out a soft, thin breath and slowly raised her face.
"I believe that no matter how painful it is, execution was unavoidable. ...Did Uncle leave behind any belongings?"
"I have several items in my possession. Take whichever ones you like."
"Yes, I shall."
The wooden box Sylvester had had carried by the Attendant apparently contained the former High Priest's belongings.
"This box contains letters from my sister that Uncle carefully preserved in the Temple.
"My goodness, he read them? ...How embarrassing."
Lady Georgine smiled softly as she carefully removed from the wooden box a smaller case containing letters and an ornate ink pot.
"...Uncle, you used this until the very end, didn't you?"
From her quiet murmur, I inferred that the items had perhaps been gifts she had received before her marriage.
Gazing at the ink pot with fondly narrowed eyes and touching the bundle of letters, Lady Georgine appeared to be a deeply affectionate woman. Her gentle smile seemed at odds with what Sylvester had told me and with the smile she had directed at Wilfried—I could have believed it was all a lie.
I had only ever crossed paths with the former High Priest during ceremonies, and he and my mother-in-law had lectured me at great length about "a bride's duties," so I had not held him in particularly high regard.
Moreover, he had maintained his distance from his own family as well, so I felt a small measure of relief knowing that someone out there still remembered him fondly.
"Uncle must have instigated Mother into committing the crime? Then where is Mother now? I thought it was strange that she wasn't at the welcoming banquet, but I couldn't very well ask about it in that setting."
"Mother is confined. She is currently in the Forest Tower..."
"I want to see her."
Lady Georgine's request made Sylvester's expression change as he shook his head. To prevent escape or assassination, visits with criminals who had committed treason against the lord were not permitted.
"...She is a criminal who has committed treason against the lord. I cannot allow a meeting."
"I'm not saying I want to have a conversation with her. I only want to see with my own eyes what kind of life she is living. Can you not understand a child's desire to at least see her and feel at ease?"
"If it were the other way around, you would have said the same thing, wouldn't you?" Lady Georgine narrowed her eyes and glared at Sylvester.
"I am, after all, the First Wife of Ahrensbach. I have no intention of helping a convicted felon escape or requesting a reduced sentence."
"...If you will wear the shackles that seal your Stappe, I will permit you to see her..."
The hand shackles that sealed one's Stappe were given to nobles who had committed crimes, rendering them completely unable to use magic.
At Sylvester's roundabout refusal—only permitting the visit if she wore the shackles given to criminals—Lady Georgine offered her elegantly shaped wrist with a radiant smile.
"Very well, I accept."
Sylvester attached the Magical Tool shackles to Lady Georgine's wrist with a bitter expression. He was perhaps remembering the time he had put them on my mother-in-law.
He then guided Lady Georgine to the Forest Tower. The white tower rising in the Noble's Forest was where nobles who had committed treason against the lord were confined.
Entering the white tower, he opened the innermost door. Behind the bars, the room looked no different from an ordinary noble's quarters, and there stood my mother-in-law, wearing the same hand shackles that sealed one's Stappe as Lady Georgine now wore.
"Georgine!"
Hearing the door open, she looked up, stood, and hurried to the bars. Even though she was confined, she was still the lord's mother. Her treatment was not cruel. Her hair and clothing were both kept tidy.
"Ah, Georgine. Please, tell Sylvester from your side as well. Tell him to release me from here. Sylvester is being manipulated by Ferdinand. Please help me, Georgine!"
Lady Georgine quietly watched my mother-in-law's desperate entreaties. True to her agreement with Sylvester, she truly did only look—without exchanging a single word with my mother-in-law, she turned her back on her.
"...Sylvester, that is enough."
Sylvester nodded and began to walk. Lady Georgine and I followed.
"Georgine! Georgine!"
At the sound of my mother-in-law calling out again and again, Lady Georgine paused and turned around once.
When our eyes met, Lady Georgine smiled brightly.
"I'm glad I was able to see Mother's face, even if only for a moment. I'm sorry for imposing, Florentia."
"Not at all. I understand the desire to ease one's worries."
Then, turning her gaze toward my mother-in-law, Lady Georgine wore a smile of unmistakable delight. Her expression directed at my mother-in-law, who was desperately calling her name, did not at all look like one of reassurance, and I felt a chill run through me.
"It was so kind of you to come,
And then came the tea party with Elvira, who was playing the role of Rozemyne's mother today.
I had been in Elvira's debt ever since I first married in. For a bride who had just arrived from a neighboring territory and knew little about Ehrenfest, Elvira had taught me in great detail about the territory, brought me into her faction, and quietly shielded me from my mother-in-law.
...She is more dependable than Sylvester, though I cannot tell Sylvester that. He would sulk.
Once the Attendants who had prepared the sweets and tea had been dismissed, I took the precaution of handing Elvira an anti-eavesdropping Magical Tool, just to be safe.
Without a word, I sipped my tea, picked up a sweet, and offered it to Elvira. She, too, nodded and took a sip of tea.
"It's about Lady Georgine, isn't it?"
Elvira set down her cup gently and let a small smile grace her lips.
"Because you, Elvira, can tell me all sorts of things I wouldn't otherwise be able to learn. I'm sorry for always relying on you."
"It's perfectly fine. That is what my faction exists for. ...All the same, Lady Georgine has been remarkably active. Apparently she attended a tea party with the old
Elvira let out a sigh that was equal parts exasperation and admiration, then murmured quietly. Veronica was my mother-in-law's name. The faction had lost momentum after my mother-in-law's downfall, but it was apparently buzzing with newfound energy now that Lady Georgine had returned.
"There are quite a few nobles with ties to Ahrensbach in that faction, aren't there? She seems desperate to forge connections. If Lady Georgine wants to deepen her influence here as well, reconnecting with old acquaintances would be essential."
Since my mother-in-law's downfall, ties with Ahrensbach had grown quite thin. As the new First Wife, Lady Georgine may have been seeking a strong connection with her family of origin, which could serve as her backing.
"Apparently, at yesterday's tea party, Viscountess Daubendorf whispered all manner of things to Lady Georgine. ...I'm worried about Rozemyne."
"Viscountess Daubendorf? ...Wasn't she the mother of the knight who was executed about two years ago for disobeying orders?"
"Yes. He was a shameless knight who injured Rozemyne, who was a Blue Shrine Maiden at the time, with his Stappe despite orders from Lord Ferdinand to protect her, and disrupted the scene of a magical beast subjugation."
She had apparently been spreading malicious rumors about Rozemyne. A warning had reached Elvira through connections among the lower-ranking nobility.
"Viscountess Daubendorf was also quite close to the former High Priest, who had been spreading the word that the Blue Shrine Maiden was a Commoner, wasn't she?"
"When Viscountess Daubendorf was in Lady Veronica's faction, she had apparently pleaded with the former High Priest on behalf of her son, who was being sent to the Temple. The former High Priest was Lady Veronica's only full brother, you see."
Elvira furrowed her brows helplessly. "If it were only that, then since the knight who disobeyed orders was clearly in the wrong, there wouldn't be much cause for concern." After saying this, she lowered her gaze.
"But Rozemyne is deeply connected not only to Viscountess Daubendorf's son but also to the circumstances of the former High Priest's death. The rumors about her being a Commoner have been firmly denied by the Aub Ehrenfest, but her involvement in the former High Priest's death is impossible to hide. I cannot predict how Lady Georgine will feel about this or what judgment she will make."
"That's..."
I recalled the image of Lady Georgine holding the former High Priest's belongings and let out a sigh. I could not shake the feeling that her unresolved emotions would be directed at Rozemyne.
"I did spend some time with Lady Georgine at the
At the Royal Academy, there had been gatherings where students from the same year assembled, so we must have crossed paths several times. But perhaps because the age gap between upper- and lower-class students was significant, or perhaps because I was fond of Sister Constanze—who was already romantically involved with my brother by the time I entered the Academy—I had almost no impression of Lady Georgine.
"She was proud and hardworking. However, perhaps because of Lady Veronica's bloodline, Lady Georgine had a truly ruthless disposition toward anyone she regarded with hostility or malice. She carried out relentless harassment to exclude young Lord Sylvester."
"Quarreling over the lord's seat and trying to oust one's siblings isn't uncommon," Elvira said with a shrug.
"Losing the lord's seat to young Lord Sylvester, having her engagement broken off as a result, and being married off to Ahrensbach as a Third Wife—this must have been an immense humiliation for Lady Georgine, so I do understand her feelings. However, the hatred she directed at a child who had just completed his Baptism Ceremony was truly terrible. Lord Karstedt was at a loss for how to handle it."
"More often than not, a male lord is preferable."
To give a child abundant Magic Power, the mother's magic quantity is critical. During pregnancy, expectant mothers restrict their use of Magic Power in order to channel as much as possible to the child.
Thus, when a male becomes lord, even if the woman chosen as his wife is not a lord candidate herself, she is permitted as long as she possesses sufficient Magic Power. But when a female becomes lord, she must necessarily be a lord candidate.
"The customs and circumstances as seen from the outside are one thing, but Lady Georgine's emotions are another matter entirely. You must be very careful around both Lord Wilfried, who resembles Lord Sylvester so closely, and Rozemyne, who ended up being the one to bring down the former High Priest."
Because once she spots a weakness, she immediately targets and bites into it, Elvira continued.
Her words inevitably reminded me of my mother-in-law.
"...We should be on guard about Lady Georgine wielding power as the First Wife."
"Yes. I think that would be wise. She had never once returned to the castle during her time as Third Wife, yet the moment she obtained the power to bring down Ehrenfest, she paid a visit home."
No matter how great a territory Ahrensbach might be, a Third Wife who had no involvement in politics and a lord were not on equal footing—the lord held the superior position. It was precisely because she had gained the position to bring down Sylvester that she had returned, Elvira said.
I recalled the image of Sylvester, whose fists had trembled just from facing Lady Georgine and talking with her.
"I must become stronger too..."
And then, after approximately one week of her stay, the day came for Lady Georgine to return to Ahrensbach.
For the farewell, Rozemyne and Wilfried stood in line as well, and lengthy pleasantries were exchanged.
"You've gone to a great deal of trouble."
"If Lady Georgine's heart was even slightly soothed, then I am glad."
Having been on guard the entire time, I honestly felt a small measure of relief.
In that brief moment when I let out a sigh of relief, Wilfried seized the opening and dashed toward Lady Georgine with a bright smile.
"We barely had a chance to talk this time, so next time I'd like to have a nice long conversation with you, Aunt."
He leaped out from my blind spot with such speed that I had no time to stop him.
At Wilfried's words, the corners of Lady Georgine's lips curled upward.
"Oh my, Wilfried, you wanted to talk with me? Very well, then... I shall come here again around this time next year."
"I'm looking forward to it!"
...Oh no, why did you have to say that?
I wanted to pinch Wilfried's cheek, but I could not do anything of the sort in this setting. Clasping my hands together and forcing myself to maintain a smile, I saw Lady Georgine gaze at me and tilt her elegant head.
"Would it trouble you if I accepted Wilfried's invitation?"
It would be tremendously troublesome—but of course I could never say such a thing candidly in a formal exchange like this. My answer was predetermined.
"We would welcome you."
...This foolish son of mine!
Once the carriage carrying Lady Georgine had disappeared from sight, I turned around to find Ferdinand staring down at Wilfried, the radiant smile from moments ago completely gone, a deep furrow carved between his brows.
He then handed Rozemyne something resembling a fan made of white paper.
"Go ahead and do it, Rozemyne."
At Ferdinand's bone-chilling voice, Rozemyne nodded and swung the white fan down at Wilfried.
"Big Brother Wilfried, you idiot! There are things you should say and things you shouldn't! Please try to read the room!"
Watching Rozemyne strike him with a satisfying crack and shout, I applauded in my heart. Those were exactly the words I had wanted to say.
...For the future of Ehrenfest, it might be worth seriously considering the possibility of having Rozemyne and Wilfried marry after all.
This was an event during Rozemyne's stay that could not be seen from her perspective.
Next is autumn. We're heading to