With his long strides clacking briskly along,
While I was thinking that, I heard hurried footsteps chasing after us from behind.
"Lord Benno, please wait!"
It was
"Lord Benno."
"What is it? As you can see, I'm in a hurry."
Without so much as slowing his pace, Benno shot back, stripped of every trace of courtesy. Fran flinched at the blunt reply for an instant, then drew a sharp breath and pressed on.
"Please allow me to carry Lady Mine."
"I'm busy. Rejected."
"It would not be appropriate to have a guest carry her. I am Lady Mine's Attendant."
I was trembling inside at the way Fran refused to back down even against Benno, but then Benno stopped abruptly.
"She's got no muscle on her, so she's heavy even though she's small. Whatever you do, don't drop her."
"I am well aware."
Benno slowly knelt and handed me over to Fran.
Fran made tiny adjustments to the position of my head and arms, then stood up. With my head now resting against Fran's shoulder, it stopped bobbing around.
"Fran, you're really good at carrying people," I said, impressed.
Fran's voice took on a slightly irritated edge. "Lady Mine, there is no need for you to force yourself to speak."
"My body's limp, but my head feels clear and cool, so I'm really not pushing myself."
"...You don't seem to have paid much attention to how you're dressed."
Fran's words carried a tinge of concern, and I let out a small laugh. I understood Fran's thoughtfulness, and while it was a little embarrassing, it also made me happy.
"Hey, Fran. With Deria and
There might be other priests in the corridor, so I leaned close to Fran's ear and whispered as though sharing a secret. Without so much as turning his gaze from straight ahead, Fran gave a small nod.
"Please, go ahead."
"I don't know the first thing about nobility yet, and I'm sure I'll cause you a lot of trouble, but I'll do my best to learn as quickly as I can. So I want you to work with me. I'll try to be useful to the Chief Priest, so since we have the same goal, can't we cooperate?"
Fran's arm stiffened, and I could see his Adam's apple bob as he swallowed.
"That is my duty. ...It is I who should be asking forgiveness. I failed to read the Chief Priest's intentions and ended up venting my dissatisfaction at Lady Mine—"
"Huh? You couldn't read his intentions? Didn't the Chief Priest explain properly?"
I blinked in surprise. If someone got assigned to you without any explanation at all, of course you'd be resentful. Being reassigned from Attendant to the Chief Priest to a mere Blue Shrine Maiden apprentice—and one who wasn't even a noble but a commoner girl—could only be seen as a demotion.
"I can never be sure how many people around us might be working for our enemies, so to avoid being pinned down, the Chief Priest rarely says much. Even though he had everyone else leave, I was surprised by how forthcoming he was today."
"No, no, if your subordinates don't understand your intentions, that's a problem," I said. "You were assigned to me without knowing why, and that must have been tough for you, Fran."
I had no idea what the Chief Priest's position really entailed, but if he was making loyal men like Fran feel this way, he'd only be losing allies.
"That's right. It felt as though the Chief Priest was telling me I was unnecessary to him—no different from Deria or Gil."
"That's not it at all. The Chief Priest put you with me not because he was willing to let you go, but because he didn't want to lose you—not even for a moment."
I whispered this quietly, driven by a completely self-serving desire to strengthen Fran's loyalty to the Chief Priest and, while I was at it, get him to be a little nicer to me.
"Is that so?"
The words came out as a question, but the tone of Fran's voice was clearly leaning toward disbelief.
"He only loaned me you, so he figures Benno is just a guest who, in front of that guest, can boss you around—his supposed new master—without even asking me first. He told you to get your health under control by autumn, but if you swapped that out for an ordinary noble, it'd be pretty rude, wouldn't it?"
"...Lady Mine speaks the truth."
Fran let out a soft chuckle just as the front door opened.
A carriage was pulling up in front of the entrance, and the coachman—timing it just right—was goggling wide-eyed at our extremely early appearance.
"Fran, hand Mine over."
Benno had already climbed into the carriage and spread his arms. After a moment's hesitation, Fran passed me to him while voicing a desperate plea.
"Might I accompany you as well?"
"No. If you walk out of the
The rejection came like a slap from Benno as he took me. I guess Fran hadn't expected to be refused on the basis of his outfit, because he looked down at his clothes in bewilderment.
"But we don't have anything else—"
"If secondhand is acceptable, I'll have something ready by next time. Forget it for today."
"My apologies."
After thanking Benno, Fran stood before the carriage with his hands crossed and gave a slight bow.
"Lady Mine, I eagerly await your safe return."
It was the kind of farewell said to a master heading out, and the unexpected words left me flustered. I had no idea how to respond.
I'd always thought Fran's master was the Chief Priest, and I wasn't a good one for him. I shouldn't be someone worth waiting for.
Unable to find words, I heard Benno murmur low by my ear.
"Just say you're leaving him in charge of the place. That's all."
Even if he told me to say that, the Temple wasn't my home. I didn't have a room there, and it wasn't a place I felt enough attachment to call it a place where I belonged.
It would've been easy to argue back, but once Fran said he'd be waiting for me, I felt like—as his master—I had to come back here. It left me with a strange, bittersweet feeling.
I took a light breath and answered as master-like as I could manage.
"Fran, I'm leaving the Temple in your care."
Inside the carriage, my head was placed on Benno's lap and I was rolled onto my side across the seat. Wrapped in his mantle after he removed the gold brooch, my cold body slowly warmed.
A sigh of relief escaped me—then I realized my situation and nearly shrieked.
What is this!? This is a lap pillow, isn't it!?
Not only had there been secret letter exchanges, but now I'd ended up having my first lap pillow with a member of the opposite sex who wasn't even family—and with Benno of all people. An event without any romantic feelings didn't count, right?
There was no way I could extricate myself from this position with my entire body weight resting on Benno's knees, so until we reached the shop, I had no choice but to remain in this embarrassing, mortifying posture.
To distract myself even slightly, I quickened my pace a little and fired a question at Benno.
"B-Benno, do priests not own casual clothes?"
"They don't need them. It's no surprise they don't have any."
According to Benno's explanation, priests only ever left the Temple for ceremonies. The lower-ranked Gray Priests were even less conspicuous than Blue Priests, but fundamentally they never left the Temple grounds. If they wandered through town, they'd stick out like a sore thumb. And if Gray Priests started trailing after me, the unwanted attention would be unavoidable.
"So, um, well..."
"Mine, be quiet."
Benno said it in a gently soothing tone, then softly stroked my forehead. After that, he lightly squeezed my hand as if trying to warm it. It was exactly the gesture of someone worried about a collapsed loved one.
Even in my previous life, I had zero experience in this kind of scenario. This went beyond embarrassment into pure bewilderment. I had no idea how to react.
Benno always acts all gruff and abrasive, but then he goes and does things like this unconsciously, which is why everyone around him gets such weird ideas!
As if reading my thoughts,
"Sir, Mine is not Lady
"...I know. I know, which is why you shouldn't say it'll be fine so easily."
Benno said that while gazing out the window, but he didn't let go of my hand. He wouldn't look my way, so I couldn't see his expression at all.
Still, I felt like I'd touched something that shouldn't be touched—the place where even the seemingly perfect, capable-at-everything Benno was vulnerable. He'd probably smiled and said "I'll be fine" to reassure his lover, right before she died.
I couldn't say a word, couldn't squeeze the large hand warming mine back in return, and before I knew it, the carriage had arrived at the
The coachman unlocked the door from outside and Mark leapt out of the carriage at nearly the same moment. He opened the shop door and issued instructions to the staff. Even rushing about, the ever-dapper butler Mark proved his usual competence. By the time I was carried into the back room, still wrapped in Benno's mantle and cradled in Benno's arms, Mark and his employees had already brought in a sofa.
"Lutz, get in here."
I could hear Lutz's hurried footsteps clattering over. He'd apparently been waiting at the shop and working. Mark's loud call—rare for him—had sent him scrambling.
I was laid down on the sofa they'd carried into the back room. Benno peeled the mantle off me and set me down. My limp arms flopped onto my stomach, and I was surprised by how heavy my own arms felt. The mantle was draped over me from above like a blanket.
"Lutz, Mine collapsed at the Temple."
Lutz leaned over my face on the sofa with a worried expression. He touched my forehead, the sides of my neck, and my hands, then tilted his head in puzzlement.
"You look worn out and pale, but there's no fever. If anything, your hands and feet are cold, right? It's just that you can't move them? ...I've never seen anything like it. Hey, Mine. What'd you do all day today?"
At Lutz's question, I retraced the long day that had passed.
"Um, I went to the Temple, did the Oath Ceremony, offered prayers and a donation, was introduced to my Attendant, received a brief explanation from the Chief Priest, and then read the Holy Book in the Library until Lutz came to get me. After that, it's just what you and Benno already know."
"What's a donation?"
"Um, infusing Magic Power into the temple instruments. It reduces the excess heat, and I feel refreshed afterward."
*Grrruruuruuru~...* My stomach growled mid-explanation. Every pair of eyes locked onto my midsection.
Come to think of it, did I not eat lunch? I only just remembered now. I'd been so tense the whole time that it completely slipped my mind. And once I remembered, my hunger came rushing back.
"...I guess I am kind of hungry."
When I said that, the tension in the room eased slightly. Mark allowed a small smile to form and opened the inner door leading upstairs.
"If there's no fever and she's only hungry, there's no danger of a sudden change in condition. I'll grab something to eat while she changes, Sir."
"Ah."
The two of them vanished through the inner door, and Lutz dragged a chair over to the sofa. Sitting down with his brows furrowed, he looked like he wasn't done with his interrogation.
"Eating at this hour means you skipped lunch, right? What'd you eat?"
"Nothing."
Lutz tilted his head in disbelief.
"Nothing? Why?"
"Reading time felt too precious to waste. When I'm reading, I'm fine for a day or two without food."
In that instant, Lutz's gaze went flat. His jewel-like green eyes turned cold with anger, and his voice sharpened.
"Hey, Mine. When you say that, when are we talking about?"
"Huh? When do I mean..."
"You became Mine, right? And then, since there were no books, you started trying to make them. When was it that you could go two days without eating just fine? That's before you became Mine, isn't it?"
"Ah..."
A cold sweat broke out across me as Lutz's words hit home. He knew I wasn't the real Mine—that I carried the memories of Reiko.
He was right. The version of me that could go two days without eating was from the Reiko era. After becoming the frail, sickly Mine, there had been times when illness kept me from eating, but I'd never willingly skipped a meal.
"And on top of that, using Magic Power means you're moving the heat of Self-Eating by your own will, right? You said Self-Eating nearly consumed you and your body temperature shot up and plummeted, making you feel awful. Wouldn't using Magic Power be just like that?"
"A donation that pulls Magic Power in one direction toward a single target and Self-Eating where the heat with nowhere to go writhes all through your body and runs wild—those are completely different."
"But the part about moving Magic Power is the same, isn't it? After putting yourself through something that demanding, you skipped lunch with that frail, weak body of yours and wandered around until this hour—of course you collapsed! You idiot, Mine!"
After his outburst, Lutz let out a deflated, helpless sigh. Then he took my hand and pressed it against his forehead with a light tap. "Cold, even though it's summer," he muttered, staring at me with eyes that looked on the verge of tears.
"You could die again, you know. Give me a break. If this is what happens the moment I take my eyes off you for a second, then no matter how many hearts I've got, it won't be enough."
I wanted to comfort Lutz, but all I could manage was a few blinks and a twitch of my mouth. My limbs had gone so limp I seemed to have forgotten how to move them entirely.
"I got swept up in the Library and completely forgot. I'm sorry, Lutz."
Lutz's eyes glistened faintly with tears as he gripped my hand and erupted.
"Don't you dare forget! It's your body, for crying out loud!"
"What's all the racket? She's a patient, you know. Keep your voice down."
Benno, who'd apparently changed in a hurry, emerged from the inner door. He strode over with a scowl, reprimanding Lutz as he came.
For Benno's sake, Lutz got up from the chair and let go of my hand. Stepping aside, he vented the feelings he had nowhere else to put.
"But Sir, Mine collapsed because she got so absorbed in her books that she skipped lunch! I—"
"You colossal idiot!!"
"Hwah!?!"
The man who'd just told Lutz not to make a ruckus in front of a patient delivered a thunderclap loud enough to stop one's heart.
My eyes flew wide open as Benno roared. I couldn't flee or cover my ears—I could only stare, eyes brimming with startled tears, at the towering figure of Benno.
"It's said that Self-Eating growth is slow because the Magic Power is stealing your nutrients. And you went and used Magic Power, then skipped a meal on top of that? What were you thinking!?"
"I-I didn't know that..."
"It's your own body! Pay a little attention and gather some information, you fool!"
"Y-Yes sir!"
I understood that what he was saying was right, but I had no idea how to gather information on Self-Eating. Opening my mouth further would only pour oil on the flames of Benno's fury, so I wisely kept quiet.
"Mine's carelessness is nothing new, but please do take your health a bit more seriously. And Sir, shouting at someone who can't even get out of bed—I think it's about time you stopped that."
Gentle yet firm in not coddling me, Mark set dishes on the table with a light clink and helped prop my body up.
"Mine, you should be able to eat this much, correct?"
It was bread porridge—a patient's meal of hard, dry bread shaved down and soaked in milk—drizzled with honey. The sweetness would make it taste good.
"I'll hold her up. Lutz, can you feed her?"
"I'm no good at it, so I'll probably spill on that outfit."
Lutz pointed at the Blue Robe I was wearing and said sheepishly.
Blue Robes were noble garments, high-quality and expensive. Getting milk on them would make them smell awful. And since they were the pull-over type that swallowed you whole, trying to undress someone with no strength at all while supporting them would be a nightmare.
"Now that is a problem."
"Mark, bring some of the crystallized honey. She needs to be able to move at least a little on her own, or undressing her will be a nightmare."
At Benno's command, Mark immediately fetched a small chunk of crystallized honey.
The lumpy, bumpy sweet, shaped like a little star, rolled into my mouth. As it slowly melted, I felt a rich sweetness spread gently throughout my body.
Just one skipped lunch, and I really had been running on empty. By the time the honey had dissolved completely, I felt a faint warmth returning to my body.
After a few more pieces of honey were popped into my mouth and I was lazily licking at them, Benno scratched his head vigorously.
"Mine, did the Chief Priest say anything about using Magic Power? Things like feeling unwell afterward, or that this might happen?"
I recalled the Chief Priest's words from that morning.
"He told me to offer donations without straining myself. After I did, my body felt lighter and refreshed, so it really didn't seem to be a burden at all."
"I see. But you've been a Self-Eating your whole life—Magic Power has always been full and brimming inside you. Could the collapse be from the sudden loss of something that was always there?"
"...That might be it."
I focused my awareness and opened the mental lid I used to contain my Magic Power. I let a small amount of heat seep out gradually, circulating it slowly through my body. I felt my cold fingertips warming up. After pouring warmth into the places that needed it most, I sealed the lid again.
"Benno, you seem to be right. My body's warming up."
"Don't overheat and collapse again."
Lutz's warning shot out immediately. He had me completely figured out.
"...I think it'll be okay."
I slowly opened and closed my warming hand. It still felt a bit stiff, but I could move it properly under my own power again.
Benno, who'd been watching, let out a breath of relief.
"...Mine, I have a lot of secondhand information about Self-Eating myself. For anything involving Magic Power, go ask the Chief Priest directly. He's young, but for a Blue Priest, he's got decent judgment."
"...Huh? The Chief Priest is young?"
At the unexpected remark, I blinked several times. Benno prefaced his answer with "For a kid like you, 'young' could mean anything, so I don't know," but told me anyway.
"He looks about twenty-two, twenty-three? He seems inexperienced and untested in the world, so it's possible he's even younger, but..."
"No way!? Isn't he more like thirty? I thought he was about the same age as you."
"Mine. You'd better never say that to his face."
The warning came with a terrifying look.
But he was so composed, had a certain gravitas, seemed used to handling people, and held a position with "Chief" in the title—surely he wasn't that young?
Hmm. As I mulled it over, I moved various parts of my body and tried to roll over to get up. Still not fully recovered, I didn't so much roll as plop off the sofa with a heavy thud.
"Mine!?"
"What do you think you're doing, you idiot!?"
"I thought I was almost able to get up on my own..."
All three of them narrowed their eyes at my excuse in unison.
"You couldn't move at all—what are you even talking about?"
"Truly, the moment you take your eyes off her..."
"Please, for the love of everything, just stay still."
Having been worried but now seeing I'd recovered somewhat, the three seemed to transition from anxiety into anger. I could practically see the aura of fury radiating behind them.
"Lutz, have Fran report to us every time from now on—Mine's daily actions, whether she used any Magic Power, what she had for lunch, every single detail."
"If no one manages Mine properly, there's no telling what will happen. That much is obvious. I thought I was keeping an eye on her, and look what happened."
Benno tapped the table with his finger and glared at me irritably, while Mark wore a terrifying smile—outwardly pleasant, but with eyes that held not a trace of amusement.
Unable to argue back, I hung my head and listened meekly to Benno and Mark's words. Then Lutz spoke up in a quiet murmur.
"That face won't work on me."
"...Lutz?"
"With a book in front of her, Mine isn't going to listen to some Attendant—someone she sees as beneath her."
Lutz, who knew me better than anyone, pointed at me firmly and declared.
"If that report ever says she got angry because reading was interrupted, or that she didn't eat lunch properly... I'll go to someone important at the Temple and get them to ban you from the Library!"
How merciless!
It looked like, thanks to all of you, I'd be living a carefully managed healthy life at the Temple too.
And so, my long first day came to an end.
Next time: the duties of an Attendant.