Just after receiving word from the Chief Priest that the farewell would be the next day, an ordonnanz from Irukner arrived at
Gibe Irukner's voice repeated the same words three times over.
"We have new paper, but we don't know how well ink will adhere to it. We plan to transfer the completed paper to the castle, so could you come receive it in the near future? The workshop workers say they want to decide whether to mass-produce it based on how well the ink sticks."
I interlaced my fingers before my chest and let out a soft, impressed sigh. I hadn't expected them to find a new type of paper in just over a month. It seemed
"New paper is already finished? Truly worthy of my
The next morning, since I was supposed to head to the castle right after breakfast, I asked the Chief Priest if I could go collect the delivery from Irukner. After changing clothes, I'd be on standby until the farewell, so I should have plenty of time.
The Chief Priest sighed and called me willful, but when I pointed out that he'd already prepared a work set to pass the time and loaded it onto the lesser bas, he agreed to take me to the scholars' office that had the transfer circle.
When we arrived at the castle, Richarta was waiting. She had me change clothes, redo my hair, and put on a veil. Then she escorted me to the waiting room for the farewell.
The Chief Priest, who should have gone home first, had already changed and returned, spreading out his work set in the waiting room.
"As expected, there's still quite a bit of time before we need to go out for the farewell. Let's go pick up the delivery."
"Thank you very much."
The room with the transfer circle was separate from the tax storehouse. It appeared to be where wooden tags and documents arrived from nobles throughout the territory. Numerous boxes were lined up, and watching the items sent through the transfer circle being sorted by scholars reminded me of the shipping businesses and post offices from my previous life.
"
One of the scholars approached us, looking surprised.
"Has a package arrived from Irukner addressed to
"A document box has arrived. Please check the contents."
The Chief Priest took the document box with practiced hands, checked the address on the attached tag, and opened it. Then he pulled out the newly made paper, a letter, and a small metal tag.
"Rozemyne, write your name on this tag. It serves as proof of receipt."
I used the magic-power pen the Chief Priest handed me to sign my name on the indicated metal tag. After a quick glance, the Chief Priest placed it back in the document box and returned it to the scholar.
"Then, let's head back."
"Yes. Thank you for your help."
I held the new paper and letter close and climbed aboard my personal lesser bas.
I only touched it briefly, but the new paper was stiff and smooth. If ink could print on it well, it would be perfect for making playing cards.
...I'd need to get in touch with
When I returned to the waiting room, I immediately read the letter. Just as I'd heard through the ordonnanz from Lutz and Gil, it said they wanted me to deliver the new paper to Heidi and have her research ink. Including the gray priests, it seemed everyone was hard at work on papermaking.
I decided to try folding the new paper. To test how ink adhered, I'd folded paper and cut it into small pieces like this before.
Now then, would this stiff paper fold? If it wouldn't fold properly or developed strange creases, I'd have to mark it and cut it with a cutter.
I started with a mountain fold, and despite its stiffness, it folded normally without cracking or forming strange creases. So I alternated between mountain and valley folds, making an accordion fold.
"Oh, it turned into a 'paper fan.'"
The stiffness was just right. I held one end and slapped it against my palm a couple of times. It seemed like it would make quite a satisfying sound.
"Rozemyne, what is that? What on earth is it for?"
The Chief Priest, who had been spreading out his work set with
"Nfufu~ You use it like this. Take that!"
I swung the paper fan toward the Chief Priest. Despite it being a surprise attack, he raised his left elbow to block the blow and immediately snatched it with his right hand. Then he smacked me on the head with it.
"Ow!"
"Hmm, I see. So this is how it's used."
The Chief Priest held the paper fan, slapping it against his palm with a smug grin spreading across his face. That dark smile was at its finest.
"Ugh... Please give it back."
The paper fan was confiscated with the words "I'll return it when we get back to the
"Rozemyne, what are you doing over there?"
I'd asked Richarta to bring me a cord so I could tie back my long, flowing sleeves and keep them from getting dirty while I helped with the work, when
"I'm helping Ferdinand. Would you like to help too, Brother Wilfried?"
"No, I have to practice my farewell greeting to Aunt. I'm afraid I can't help with that."
"I see."
Wilfried was being trained by
After a while, an attendant came to call us to the farewell, and we headed to the front entrance. Since it would cause a stir if my riding beast was seen, the Chief Priest had Eckhart carry me near the entrance.
By the time we reached the entrance, the Chief Priest's face had transformed from a grim expression into a refreshing smile. He greeted
Just as everyone's greetings had been completed, Wilfried suddenly ran forward, for reasons none of us could fathom.
"I barely got to speak with you this time, so next time I'd like to have a long talk with you, Aunt."
"Oh my, Wilfried, you wanted to talk with me? Well then, I suppose... I'll come by again around this time next year."
"I look forward to it!"
We'd all been cultivating a polite "it'd be nice to meet again someday" atmosphere, and he'd completely shattered it. It was now confirmed that Georgine would come to Ehrenfest again next year.
I could sense my foster mother's blue eyes widening in surprise as she looked down at Brother Wilfried. What's more, I felt cold air radiating from the Chief Priest. His face was still wearing that refreshing smile, yet he was terrifying.
Once we were alone and he had innocently watched the carriage disappear completely, the Chief Priest wiped that fake, refreshing smile from his face in an instant, etching deep furrows between his brows. His golden eyes glinted with cold fury as he looked down at Wilfried.
"Do it, Rozemyne."
Along with those words, the Chief Priest held out the paper fan that had been confiscated earlier.
...Why did he have that with him?
It was incredibly puzzling, but I was too afraid to voice the question. I nodded and took the paper fan. Wilfried's guard knights and attendants were face-palming, the lord and his wife were shocked, and the Chief Priest was furious. I might as well give him a proper scolding.
I raised the paper fan high and swung it down at Wilfried's head.
"Brother Wilfried, you idiot! There are things you should and shouldn't say out loud. Please learn to read the room!"
With my shout, a crisp, satisfying sound rang out, and Wilfried's eyes went wide.
"What do you think you're doing!?"
"That's exactly what I want to ask you! What were you thinking, making such a foolish move to pin down a promise from Lady Georgine for next year!?"
I could see the lord and his wife nodding in the corner of my vision.
"I-I only said I wanted to talk with my aunt!"
"That's exactly what's wrong! What were the farewell words you were taught? What kind of situation is that greeting meant for? And what do you think the lord and his wife were thinking when they chose that particular greeting?"
Wilfried furrowed his brow and tilted his head. He'd just been taught this in the waiting room.
"Rozemyne, we should go inside to continue this discussion. And don't get too worked up. You'll collapse."
"...Yes."
I swallowed back the retort about who had handed me the paper fan in the first place and went inside.
The lord entered the small conference room nearest to the main building, and the discussion continued there.
"...I only wanted to have a conversation with my Aunt. Are you saying that Father and Mother don't want to talk with her either?"
Wilfried furrowed his brows awkwardly under everyone's quiet gaze.
At Wilfried's words, the lord and his wife — and even Wilfried's own attendants — let out deep sighs.
"That's right. When it comes to lords and first wives from other territories, even siblings shouldn't be allowed into the castle too freely. It's difficult to know what information they could obtain and how they might use it — precisely because they're family."
"You should have used today's greeting as you were taught. You must not act on your own in front of your superiors. You cannot leave yourself open. ...If Wilfried doesn't study a bit more, we won't be able to send him to the
At the Royal Academy, students came from territories larger and more powerful than Ehrenfest, as well as children of the royal family who ruled the central dominion. My foster mother said that while Wilfried had no one to bow to in Ehrenfest besides his parents, there were people at the Academy he would need to show full courtesy to and even kneel before.
Yet the concept of someone being his superior seemed to go right over Wilfried's head.
"Brother Wilfried, you call Lady Georgine 'Aunt' and try to show her proper courtesy. So why don't you start by calling Ferdinand 'Uncle,' showing him proper courtesy, and learning to kneel? You've been calling Ferdinand by his name this whole time, and I've always felt that wasn't the proper way to address a superior."
At my words, Wilfried's eyes went wide in disbelief.
"Ferdinand isn't my superior! Grandmother told me so!"
"Your grandmother is no longer here. She's been confined as a criminal and will never appear in public again. A year and a half has passed since everything changed — were you not aware?"
"Lady Rozemyne, perhaps that is something best taught when he has matured a bit more..."
Oswald hurriedly stepped between me and Wilfried. I could see my foster father squeeze his eyes shut as if to say, "So it's come out."
"Oswald, didn't we learn last autumn that Brother Wilfried needs to be shown reality?"
I shifted my gaze from Oswald, whose eyes had widened slightly, to my foster father and foster mother.
I was still in the middle of being drilled on noble etiquette by the Chief Priest. What were they going to do about the heir acting like this?
"Last time, we crammed what was necessary right before the debut, but the same approach won't work every time. You wouldn't be so foolish as to let it come to insufficient education right before entering the Royal Academy and repeat the same mistake, would you?"
"Until now, Ferdinand's status was clearly lower because he was a priest, even if he was my half-brother. But he's already returned to secular life. Wilfried, Rozemyne is right. From now on, you will show Ferdinand proper courtesy."
"Father!?"
After that, discussions about Wilfried's education resumed, but I left the details to the attendants and the lord and his wife. I decided to return to the Temple with the Chief Priest. I didn't have time to get involved in educational planning. I had too much to do.
...I needed to contact the Planton Company and have them deliver the new paper to Heidi. And also...
As I headed to my room in the Temple, I recalled the business I'd been unable to handle because of Georgine's visit, and looked up at the Chief Priest in a start.
"Chief Priest, now that Lady Georgine has left, may I go to
Hasse had been sending letters requesting an audience for a while, but since I'd been unable to move about freely, I'd put them on hold.
The content of the request was for them to buy orphans as part of Hasse's Winter Preparations. Since the dedication ritual hadn't been held and the harvest was lower than last year, they probably wanted to secure cash before full-scale winter preparations began.
"I'll need to accompany you. Schedule it for the afternoon of the day after tomorrow."
"Understood. Also, would it be permissible to send gray priests to Hasse for the winter?"
"What for, exactly?"
"Well, you see..."
The letters requesting an audience had been quite poorly written — to the point where any other noble would have been justified in calling them rude.
It wasn't a matter of messy handwriting or failing to use proper noble language. They actually used flowery phrases like "We shall offer the divine messengers the sweet nectar of fruit and the season's most beautiful flowers, prepare cloth, and burn incense to demonstrate our devotion" — but the actual meaning was "We have wine, women, and valuables ready, so please grant our request."
Because the previous High Priest had been in power for so long, they likely thought this was just a standard set phrase used in noble correspondence. They even used it in letters addressed to me. The people of Hasse probably didn't understand what it actually meant.
"I really do think we should teach them. Don't you think there might not be a single citizen who knows the true meaning?"
"...Indeed. If someone were to send such an outright bribe expecting their demands to be met, the first noble to receive it would be utterly shocked."
The Chief Priest seemed to find the situation equally troublesome and let out a heavy sigh.
"So I'd like to send two or three gray priests to Hasse's winter residence. If we use the official reason of monitoring the winter residence — checking whether they're harboring rebellious intent or are truly remorseful — couldn't we make it work? ...And during the winter, we could teach the new town mayor and anyone who writes letters on their behalf how to properly write documents and use noble expressions."
"If it's this winter, we can probably make it work. I don't want to receive letters like that over and over."
With a sigh of exasperation, the Chief Priest gave his permission. I clenched my fist in triumph. I needed to write back to Hasse with the scheduled date right away.
I wrote a letter to Hasse specifying the date and time, and at the same time wrote another letter saying that new orphans would be arriving at the Hasse chapel and to prepare the rooms.
I also contacted
I had Monica contact
On the afternoon of the designated day, the Chief Priest and I departed for Hasse after finishing lunch. Joining us were my two guard knights and my attendants
"I was looking forward to riding on the young lady's beast."
"I'm sorry, but Justus can't come along."
"Why not!?"
I was taken aback by his face, which showed the kind of shock you'd only see from someone who never imagined he'd be refused.
"Justus, you talk the entire time, and it's very distracting. It makes it really hard to control the riding beast."
"Young lady, I'm afraid those words are rather harsh..."
"Even if I sugarcoated it, you wouldn't understand, would you, Justus? I've learned my lesson."
Justus made a hurt face, but it couldn't be helped. If I didn't put my foot down, we all knew who would try to push ahead regardless.
"Since Rozemyne has refused you, give it up and go on your own beast, Justus."
"Aah, my one joy..."
Even after the Chief Priest's words, Justus lingeringly gazed at the lesser bas. The Chief Priest let out a soft breath and summoned his own riding beast.
"Summon your beast or return to the Noble District — pick whichever you prefer. Now then, Rozemyne. We depart once you're ready."
"Yes!"
I piloted the lesser bas and arrived at Hasse. Since we'd sent word ahead, Licht and the heads of the surrounding farming villages had gathered in front of the entrance, kneeling in wait. It was the start of harvest season, so they'd been working hard.
After finishing the lengthy greetings and going inside, I found that incense was faintly burning in the reception room, flowers had been arranged, and freshly squeezed fruit juice was neatly prepared. Sure enough, they still didn't understand the meaning behind that closing phrase in their letters.
"We are honored by your visit, High Priest."
"It's been a while, Licht. How is this year's harvest looking?"
"...As expected, it's a bit rough."
The village heads' shoulders drooped along with Licht's. No matter how much care they put into tending the fields, crops simply wouldn't grow well in land without blessings.
I nodded lightly and stated my business first.
"Licht, this winter, two gray priests will be stationed in Hasse. This is to confirm whether you harbor any rebellious intent toward the lord and whether you've truly shown enough remorse to warrant having the dedication ritual performed in spring."
Licht's head snapped up. The emotion of "We're still not trusted?" was written plainly on his face. I understood that feeling, since the town had been working hard together as one, but perhaps he also needed to practice not showing his emotions around nobles.
"Confirmation is indeed necessary, but my true purpose is something else entirely."
"Your true purpose?"
I nodded at Licht, trying to look as solemn as possible.
"Yes. While staying at the winter residence, my purpose is to teach you proper noble etiquette and how to write documents. ...Because the previous High Priest was in power for so long, there appear to be quite a few mistakes in how you handle things."
"...Is that so? What kind of mistakes?"
They hadn't realized they were making mistakes, and Licht's eyes wavered in confusion. Perhaps he was remembering how the previous mayor had continued to act arrogantly without knowing that "climbing the stairs to heaven" was a euphemism for death.
"Every time I receive a letter from you, it contains the phrase 'We shall offer the divine messengers the sweet nectar of fruit and the season's most beautiful flowers, prepare cloth, and burn incense to demonstrate our devotion.' You don't understand what it means, do you?"
"The meaning?"
As Licht tilted his head, the Chief Priest slowly nodded and shifted his gaze to the flowers arranged in the room. Licht followed his gaze to the flowers as well.
"That phrase means, 'We have prepared wine, women, and valuables, so please grant our request.' If you truly understood its meaning, you wouldn't use it with the current High Priest. After all, none of those things have been prepared here."
"W-What!? I-I never imagined it meant that..."
Licht's face drained of color as the realization hit him. He turned pale and tried to explain himself. Of course — he'd been using that phrase in letters for decades and never knew it had that meaning.
The village heads' eyes went wide and their faces changed color, thinking they'd committed yet another offense. I could see it written on their faces: as if their punishment was finally about to end, only for a new sin to pile on top.
Seeing their reactions, the Chief Priest waved his hand dismissively.
"It's not surprising that the original meaning was lost as mayors changed hands. And looking at the state of this room, it's obvious you didn't understand. Neither the High Priest nor I intend to punish you. But can you understand how a noble receiving such a letter for the first time would feel?"
"I understand. We are deeply sorry."
Licht dropped to his knees and bowed his head.
"That is precisely why I'm sending gray priests to Hasse. If you don't know noble expressions, you'll keep falling into the same misunderstandings. I don't want any more unfortunate miscommunications to occur in Hasse."
"We are deeply grateful for the High Priest's concern, and we humbly wish to learn from the gray priests."
Licht and the village heads looked at me with moved expressions. It seemed they were treating me like a compassionate saint, but I wasn't one. So while they were still feeling grateful, I wanted to make sure I secured a proper promise about the gray priests' treatment.
"The gray priests being sent are my representatives. If anyone treats the gray priests with contempt, mocking them or regarding them as you would orphans, they will return to the chapel immediately. I trust you'll make sure everyone understands that both the oversight and the education are for Hasse's own benefit."
"Understood."
With that warning in place, the gray priests I sent probably wouldn't face any overt mistreatment.
"And if nothing goes wrong this winter, I believe the dedication ritual can be performed in spring. Please stay vigilant just a little longer."
"We are humbled."
Licht relaxed his shoulders, and the other farming village heads gathered in the winter residence eased their tension slightly.
"Now then, let's hear what Licht and the others came to discuss."
"...As we requested in our letters, we'd like you to take in several orphans. Honestly, it's going to be difficult to get through winter, and because we're under the lord's punishment, no one else will buy them."
Few would come near Hasse while the lord's punishment was still in effect. It was easy to imagine them being driven to sell orphans at rock-bottom prices.
The orphans being sold off were pitiful, but buying them was part of cleaning up the mess I'd helped create.
"I have no objection to buying them. However, once they enter the Temple's orphanage, they'll be treated as priests and shrine maidens from then on. They'll likely never be able to return to being citizens of Hasse. For that reason, the younger children would be better."
Once you entered the Temple, it was difficult to leave. In particular, children from Hasse who grew up in the mayor's orphanage as things were would receive land. But if they entered the Temple, they'd spend their lives as priests and shrine maidens, moved around at the whims of the nobility.
"Young children will be fine?"
Without some degree of growth, they couldn't be used as labor. When selling orphans, the younger ones weren't usually chosen — there was no way they'd fetch a high price.
"We can't very well ruin the futures of those who are almost adults and could receive land to become independent. Younger ones adapt to the Temple's ways more easily — they absorb whatever you teach them quickly.
"I see."
Orphans under ten were brought in. Unlike before, they wore ragged clothes, but there were no signs of physical punishment — no children were covered in wounds. And perhaps because they knew I'd be watching, they'd all been properly cleaned up.
I let out a breath of relief that they hadn't been treated too badly and looked at Licht.
"How many should we take?"
"If possible, could you take about four?"
"Understood."
Licht and I agreed on purchasing four children around the age of baptism. Justus, acting as the scholar, prepared the documents and finalized the transaction on my behalf.
"Well then, let's go. Nora and the others are there, so it won't be all unfamiliar faces."
I loaded everyone onto the lesser bas and took the new orphans to the Hasse chapel. Since we'd sent word ahead, it seemed various preparations had been made.
"Everyone, these are our new companions. They'll be staying here for a while to get used to Temple life. Once the harvest festival is over, these children will be transferred to the Ehrenfest orphanage. Nora and the others, please think back to when you were adjusting and give them your advice."
"Understood."