My name is
Furthermore, Lady Rozemyne saved not only me but also my younger brother
Normally, scribe apprentices who have homes in the Noble District commute to work. They mostly assist their parents or relatives while learning the job, so during their apprenticeship period, they work under relatives locally. Those who live in the Noble District work in the castle, and those who serve a giebe work in that territory as apprentices.
After graduating from the
Knight apprentices who have residences in the Noble District also commute to the castle, while those serving a giebe spend their time receiving knight training locally.
However, unlike scribes, knights spend several years after reaching adulthood drilling in group operations, so everyone is required to live in the dormitory without exception. After that, they either return to their families or are assigned somewhere.
Attendant apprentices are a little different at first. They begin by serving as attendants to their own relatives, who teach them how the work is done. Once they pass their relatives' evaluation, those from the Noble District come to the castle, while those serving a giebe continue their apprenticeship locally. There is also the option of serving a high-ranking noble in the Noble District.
Attendants serving the Archduke's family are given rooms near their lord's chambers, and for those who work and live in the castle but are not attendants, a room is prepared in one corner of the castle.
Among Lady Rozemyne's attendants,
I am a scribe apprentice, but unlike in the knights' dormitory, I was granted a room near Lady Rozemyne's chambers, much like the attendants. The reason given was that I am one of Lady Rozemyne's close attendants, and to prevent family interference.
The attendants normally begin moving before the second bell, but today they started shortly after the first bell finished ringing in order to accompany the party to the Star Binding ceremony at the Border Gate.
I also sensed everyone's movement and got up. When I headed to the room where the Northern Building attendants took their meals,
"Oh, Philine, you aren't accompanying them, so you could have slept a little longer."
Brunhilde, dressed in her riding beast outfit and making her departure preparations, said this upon seeing me. Though Brunhilde is a high-ranking noble, she is a very kind person. She says things like "An attendant who can't even manage this much would bring shame to our lady, Lady Rozemyne," while meticulously teaching me the finer points of noble etiquette and discreetly lending a hand.
"I want to help however I can, and I also want to see them off."
The attendants' meals in the castle are prepared by the court chef, so while the selection is a bit more limited compared to the Archduke's family, the food is very delicious.
I heard that they plan to increase the number of court chefs and eventually serve the same meals at the knights' dormitory, but training and increasing chefs apparently isn't easy. Eudiet, who lives in the knights' dormitory, was lamenting about it.
"This trip outside the castle is a good opportunity to see how Lady Rozemyne fares away from it. And please remember that Her Ladyship is unfamiliar with common noble customs, and serve her diligently so that the
Nodding at Richarta's words, Ottilie and Brunhilde,
Word came that the ordonnanz from the
"Oh, here she comes... Huh?"
Lady Rozemyne's riding beast was larger than anything I had ever seen, and I stared up at the sky, unable to help widening my eyes.
Lady Rozemyne's enormous, enormous riding beast descended, and with a whir the entrance opened wide.
"So this is how they plan to transport the gray priests and the divine instruments to the Border Gate... Riding beasts can grow this large?"
Eudiet, who was seeing everyone off alongside me, was staring at Lady Rozemyne's riding beast with the same stunned expression. I nodded firmly at her words.
"Then, we're heading out!"
"Safe travels!"
"Leave things to us."
While the flock of riding beasts took off all at once, Damuel alone came back. Damuel, a lower-ranking knight, was also on castle guard duty this time.
"Thank you for your hard work at the Temple, Damuel. Today should be a relaxing day for you."
"Philine, you'll have a few easy days ahead too. No need to head to the Temple."
As a scribe apprentice, I go to the Temple every day except for lectures and meetings I can't miss. Practicing Fespiel, assisting Lord
...Besides, Damuel is there too.
"At the castle, there's so little to do, I can't settle down."
"That's good. I've been asked to hold onto a book from
According to Damuel, Lady Rozemyne had thoroughly prepared work for me in advance. The bundle Damuel was carrying must be the book from Dunkelfelger.
"When Lady Rozemyne returns, you'll immediately take up your Temple escort duties, right? I was thinking of going to the Temple as well..."
"No, once she returns from the ceremony, Lady Rozemyne will probably be bedridden, so there's no point going to the Temple until her health stabilizes."
...Ah, I had forgotten about Lady Rozemyne's frail constitution.
A knight escort is necessary, but a scribe is not. When others are working, Lady Rozemyne tries to push herself and start working too, so it actually becomes a burden.
When my shoulders slumped, Damuel shrugged.
"Once Lady Rozemyne recovers, she'll send an ordonnanz. Until then, it'd be best for you to stay at the castle."
"I understand. Please don't forget to send the ordonnanz."
Damuel smiled and said "You're really something, Philine" as he accepted the request.
After that, Damuel entrusted the precious Dunkelfelger book to Richarta and
...He promised to send the ordonnanz. I'm looking forward to it.
Feeling happy, I watched Damuel's retreating figure when Eudiet, giggling, poked my cheek with her fingertip.
"You really do like Damuel, don't you, Philine?"
"...Did it show on my face again?"
I covered my cheek, and Eudiet gave a soft laugh and nodded firmly with a "very much." My feelings were already known to Eudiet, Brunhilde, and Lieseleta.
"Because... isn't he wonderful?"
"He's the hero who saved Philine, after all. A lower-ranking knight who was appointed as an attendant and always allowed to accompany her to the Temple — I thought he must be getting full of himself, but he was actually struggling because Lady Rozemyne kept him running around. He's a bit dense, but he doesn't seem like a bad man, so Philine, you should do your best. Lady
Eudiet shared with me the conversation between Lady Rozemyne and Damuel. When Lady Elvira told him "You won't find anyone right away," he became dejected and asked "Is marriage impossible?" I feel bad for Damuel, who wants to marry as soon as possible, but a part of me wishes he could wait until I come of age.
"If Philine were to ask Lady Rozemyne, surely you'd receive the blessing of the Goddess of Time, Dreffangul."
"I couldn't make such a bold request. If a child like me were to throw her name into the ring, Damuel would only be disappointed."
...If only I were closer to coming of age, there might at least be a sliver of hope.
Shaking my head as the playful Eudiet urged me to "Why not confess your feelings?" I returned to Lady Rozemyne's room, and our usual routine began. Since Lady Rozemyne spends a great deal of time at the Temple, her absence doesn't change things much.
Today there was the send-off, but normally after breakfast, the attendants sort through meeting requests. Today, too, Richarta and Lieseleta were going over meeting requests.
"Richarta, the requests from the former
"...Perhaps something happened. I'll go gather information today."
While Richarta and Lieseleta discussed this, I worked on copying the Dunkelfelger book. The archaic and difficult wording and expressions made progress slow. It's incredible that Lady Rozemyne can read this fluently.
By the time the sorting of meeting requests was finished, Damuel had returned from the knights' dormitory.
"I'll be taking up my guard post at the door shortly."
"Oh, Damuel. Today, I'll be visiting an acquaintance to gather information. Since it's within the castle, please send me an ordonnanz if anything comes up. Also, at the third bell, Philine will be heading to the apprentice scribe lecture. There are many former Veronica faction members in the castle today with almost no Florentia faction members around, so I'll be assigning you as her escort."
Richarta said this and assigned Damuel to me. Hearing Damuel accept, my heart fluttered.
...What should I do? I've suddenly become very much looking forward to the lecture after the third bell.
Once the meeting request sorting was done, the attendants cleaned the rooms, so I either studied in my own room or joined the knights' training.
Today, most people were out, there were few knights, and nearly all of those remaining on guard duty had been dispatched, so there was no training. Just as I was starting to tidy up my pens to go study, Lieseleta lightly raised her hand to stop me.
"Philine, you don't need to move today. I'm about to do some embroidery, and I plan to clean up afterward. When you do embroidery, the fine thread inevitably gets everywhere."
While Richarta was preparing to head out for her information gathering, Lieseleta began preparing to embroider the Schwartzs' clothing. Lieseleta truly creates beautiful and delicate embroidery.
...Because Angelica never changes.
"Leave the door guard to Damuel, and Eudiet, why not join the embroidery? You've been wanting to embroider a cloak someday, haven't you?"
Eudiet, invited by Lieseleta, glanced back and forth between Lieseleta and Damuel several times. She had a conflicted expression — wanting to fulfill her escort duty properly but also wanting Lieseleta to teach her embroidery.
"There probably won't be any visitors today, so you could practice your embroidery and perhaps make something for your future husband?"
"...No thank you. I'm aiming to be like Angelica. I'll do embroidery for myself, but I'm not learning it for some man."
Recently, Eudiet's attitude toward Damuel has softened, and they exchange playful banter quite often. Somehow, seeing Eudiet and Damuel getting along makes me just a tiny bit jealous.
...It's not that I'm being overly reserved, exactly — it's more that unlike Eudiet, a middle-ranking noble, I find it hard to just casually strike up a conversation... I know! I know that Eudiet doesn't have those kinds of feelings! But Damuel is such a wonderful person, so who knows when her feelings might change!
Damuel grew his Magic Power so much through Lady Rozemyne's compression method that he was able to marry Brigitta, a middle-ranking noble. I need to grow my Magic Power at least that much before he'd even be within my sights. I've been working hard at compression, but I resent how low my Magic Power is as a lower noble.
The third bell rang. I packed up the tools I'd been using for copying.
Today, a handful of scribe apprentices who had finished their first year at the Royal Academy were gathered for a lecture on the basics of castle work. Although I am Lady Rozemyne's attendant, I'm unfamiliar with the inside of the castle, so I was told to attend.
According to today's schedule, we would tour the workplaces where the scribes operate, which Lady Rozemyne really wanted to participate in. She is an Archduke candidate, but I heard she also planned to sit in on the scribe apprentice lecture.
...I really need to try harder, or they'll surely say I'm unfit to be the attendant of the outstanding Lady Rozemyne.
"Philine, if you don't hurry, you'll be late!"
"I'm coming right away."
I left the Northern Building with Damuel and headed for the main building. As I walked, carefully matching his pace, I quietly savoring a small measure of happiness. I'm happy to be with Damuel, but going to the main building makes me a little nervous. We are Lady Rozemyne's attendants, but as lower nobles, we're often the target of whispered insults.
At the Temple, adults are preferred, so Damuel always accompanies Lady Rozemyne. In exchange, the familiar castle guard duties are left to the apprentices, so Damuel is often called "the Temple-exclusive knight who stays behind as an attendant because the higher-ranking knights can't be taken to the Temple."
And I, who was saved along with Konrad and granted a room, am called "the lower noble who cleverly exploited the Saint's mercy."
At first I felt like crying every time I heard it, but I've gradually grown used to it recently. Of course it still stings, but Damuel taught me how to brush it off — he shrugged lightly and told me "People are just jealous because Lady Rozemyne added you as an attendant."
...Damuel is kind, and wonderful, isn't he?
Only a small number of people gathered for the scribe apprentice lecture. The first-year scribe apprentices were just myself and Roderich, with two second-year students who hadn't been able to attend the year before joining us. Lady Rozemyne is an Archduke candidate, so even though she considers herself a scribe apprentice, she doesn't really count as one.
Everyone was familiar — we'd spent an entire winter together in the Royal Academy dormitory — so there was very little tension, which I was glad for.
"Roderich."
"Oh, Philine!"
Roderich is a scribe apprentice who devotes himself to writing stories. While Lady Rozemyne was asleep, he and I had been competing to write stories, yet only I was appointed as an attendant, which made me feel a little guilty. If Roderich hadn't been from the former Veronica faction, the middle-ranking noble Roderich rather than the lower-ranking me would probably have become the attendant.
"No one else has come yet, so the timing is perfect."
Roderich looked around, glancing at his surroundings, and pulled a letter from among his belongings.
"...H-here, this is for you, Philine. Please read it as soon as you get back to your room!"
A thoroughly tense Roderich suddenly thrust the letter at me, and I couldn't help comparing the letter to Damuel. He said "no one else has come," but was he unaware that Damuel was standing right beside me?
Handing over the letter seemed to relieve him — the tension drained from Roderich's side — but I wanted to grab my head and scream.
...Of all times, could you please not hand it over right in front of Damuel?!
Damuel glanced down at the letter and murmured, "A love letter? Roderich is a middle-ranking noble, right? This is a rare chance to raise his standing — he should make sure not to let it slip." Afterward, he let out a heavy sigh full of regret.
I hid the letter from Damuel's gaze and let out a sigh of my own. This — being confronted with the reality that not only is he still hung up on Brigitta but I am completely off his radar — was what hurt the most.
Soon the second-year scribe apprentices arrived as well, and a scribe named Kantona began his explanation of the main building. With a heavy heart, I toured the building while carefully taking notes to report the lecture contents to Lady Rozemyne.
When I returned to the Northern Building after the lecture, Eudiet saw me and looked worried.
"Philine, you don't look well at all. Did Damuel do something to you?"
"Wait, Eudiet! Why is my name the first thing that comes up!?"
"Because I can't think of anyone else."
When Eudiet declared that flatly, Lieseleta also chimed in with "What? Damuel did something to Philine? Surely he didn't do anything terrible..." and Damuel hurriedly shook his head in denial.
"It's a misunderstanding. The first-year scribe apprentice Roderich just handed her a love letter, so that must be what it's about. I have nothing to do with it."
"...So you were involved after all."
"Damuel, why didn't you stop Roderich right then and there?"
"Huh? Why should I have stopped him? I don't follow."
"That's exactly why you can't get a girlfriend, Damuel!"
"Guh!"
Turning my back on the three of them chattering away merrily, I returned to my room and opened Roderich's letter. I thought it best to reply as soon as possible.
...What!?
The instant I read the letter, I felt the blood drain from my face. Roderich's letter was not a love letter. It was informing me of an attack plan.
The first page, written in an unfamiliar hand, described a plan to ambush the Temple group that was departing ahead as the advance party to prepare for the Star Binding ceremony.
I had only caught a snippet of conversation, so there was no proof of its truthfulness, and the phrase "if that person gives approval" appeared, making it unclear whether it would actually be carried out. However, the content was asking for countermeasures to be taken.
The second page was in Roderich's handwriting, explaining how he came to deliver the letter.
The children of the former Veronica faction discussed who among them might be able to get closest to Lady Rozemyne, and in the end, Roderich, who might cross paths with me during the scribe apprentice lectures, was given the important task of delivering the letter.
He must have been acting on what he had said at the Royal Academy — that even as a member of the former Veronica faction, he wanted to be of use to Lady Rozemyne.
I gripped the letter and immediately dashed to Lady Rozemyne's room.
"Damuel, Eudiet! Please protect Lady Rozemyne!"
When I held the letter open for everyone to see, their faces all changed at once. Damuel immediately sent an ordonnanz to Richarta: "Attack plan detected. I urgently request an audience with Lord
Lord Bonifatius's ordonnanz returned before Richarta's.
"Come immediately!"
The approval was brief, but Damuel didn't need to hear it three times — he grabbed the letter from Roderich, asked Eudiet to watch over things, and dashed out of the room.
...Please, let them make it in time.
"Lady Rozemyne..."
The three of us — Eudiet, Lieseleta, and I — prayed together that Lady Rozemyne would never again be put in danger, and we finished our lunch, which tasted of nothing despite being delicious.
Some time after lunch, Damuel and Richarta returned. Both wore expressions of relief.
"Is Lady Rozemyne safe!?"
"Yes, it seems the attack was thwarted before it could happen."
Lord Bonifatius apparently used a Magical Tool meant for the Archduke to contact giebes to relay the attack plan directly to
Since the informant was Matthias, they were able to narrow down where an attack might come from, and when knights were placed on alert, the plan was leaked — or "that person's" approval was never granted — and Lady Rozemyne's Temple group made it safely to the Border Gate.
"Lord Bonifatius said it was an excellent effort. The unity Lady Rozemyne worked so hard to foster at the Royal Academy is truly beginning to bear fruit. Someday, the children's solidarity will move the adults as well."
Hearing Richarta say this with her eyes crinkling happily made me feel truly glad as well.
Rejoicing that the attack plan had been thwarted and Lady Rozemyne was safe, I noticed Damuel also relax his shoulders as if a taut string had been cut.
Then, afterward, he looked at me and gave a small grin.
"Even so, that was disappointing for you, Philine."
"Huh?"
"It wasn't the love letter you were expecting, was it?"
At Damuel's words, I felt the world go dark before my eyes.
Here I had been worried sick about Lady Rozemyne's safety, and Damuel thought I was the kind of child who would be thinking about love letters even during a crisis like this?
Looking up at Damuel with tears threatening to fall, he panicked and waved his hands.
"Now, now, there's no need to cry! I mean, you're Philine — you'll have plenty of wonderful encounters. You'll get another love letter or two, easily."
...That's not it at all!
Behind Damuel, I could see Eudiet and Lieseleta sighing in exasperation.
Damuel, who didn't know my feelings, was probably trying to worry about me in his own way. He's a kind person. But he's completely off the mark.
...Should I just come out and say it? I've held back long enough — I can say it now, can't I?
Clenching my fists tightly, I glared at Damuel with all my might. If it were Eudiet, this kind of thing might be normal, but he clearly never expected me to glare at him. I could see him growing flustered.
Staring firmly into Damuel's panicked eyes, I took one deep breath and opened my mouth.
"Damuel, I hope you don't get a girlfriend, and can't get married, until I come of age!"
"W-wait a minute! That's going way too far, Philine!"
"It's just a little wish of mine. It's not going too far."
"That's a terrible wish!"
Watching Damuel's face change color, Eudiet and Lieseleta burst into giggles.
Half relieved that Damuel had no idea what I really meant, and half lonely because of it, I laughed along with the two of them.
...Maybe next time, I should ask Lady Elvira for her support?
This is the tale of how, while Rozemyne was thinking everything ended without incident, the children had done their part.
And as for the rest — well, that would be the salvation of Damuel that you, dear readers, have been hoping for.
Philine's First Love Story.
Love stories have a dangerous tendency to increase their word count on their own.
Next up: the dyeing competition.