The Worries and Uncertainties of a Retainer

“Brigitte, even in the children’s playroom room, you mustn’t let your guard down. It’s a prime opportunity for members of other factions to get close to her.”

Having grown up in Illgner, far from the castle, I can’t help but be somewhat unfamiliar with the internal factions and the tension that comes with them. That’s why Rhiyarda, the head attendant, informed me what I need to be careful about as a retainer serving the archducal family.

“I understand your concerns Rhiyarda. Especially during initial greetings with someone for the first time, since there are also students from the Royal Academy present, we must be very careful to ensure that no one tries to draw their schtappe while another is giving their greeting, correct?”

“There isn’t quite that level of danger… Ah, right—during Brigitte’s time, Lord Ferdinand was the only one present in the playroom.”

Rihyarda let out a sigh.

“This is the first winter since Lady Veronica was brought down. Lord Wilfried and Lady Rozemyne have only just made their debut, so most will be simply observing for now.”

Just as she had said, the atmosphere was different from the playroom I had known—there was no harsh tension. Instead, there was a mood of mutual probing as greetings to the archduke’s children began.

“May I pray for a blessing in appreciation of this serendipitous meeting, ordained by the harsh judgment of Ewigeliebe the God of Life?”

“You may.”

If a child’s baptism ceremony does not fall during the winter, it is normally the case that one would have already exchanged greetings with children of family friends or relatives before entering the playroom room. However, Lord Wilfried—whose guardian, Lady Veronica, fell from power in the spring—and Lady Rozemyne, who was raised in the temple, seemed to have had less interaction with factional nobles and relatives than usual. As a result, they had to receive greetings from nearly everyone in the winter playroom room.

…Receiving greetings from so many people is more difficult than I expected.

Seeing the children lined up in a long row and my lady receiving their greetings, I quietly let out a breath.

When I first entered the winter playroom room, Lord Ferdinand was the one seated in the chair reserved for the archduke candidates. Only the children of the same grade, who had had their debut alongside me, went to give their initial greetings, so the number was quite small. Perhaps because of that, we who lined up nervously, doing our best not to make mistakes, watching the archdual family receiving the greetings from their seats as being far more at ease.

However, in reality, those receiving the greetings had to memorize information about every child beforehand, and they must continue to accept greetings for such a long stretch of time. Now I finally understood that we, who only had to finish our greetings before being free to chat, were actually the ones who had it easy.

“Damuel, why did you decide to become a knight?”

It was likely just a way to pass the time until the line of children greeting Lord Wilfried came to an end. But Lady Rozemyne began asking her guard knights some questions.

It seemed that Damuel chose a different occupation from his brother in order to broaden the scope of information gathering. Similarly, since my brother chose the scholar course to succeed as a Giebe, I chose to become a knight so I could efficiently subjugate the feybeasts that appear in Illgner. In the sense that we are complementing each other as a family, I suppose our reasons for choosing our paths are quite similar.

Cornelius said that coming from a family of knights, he couldn’t think of any other path. I imagined the family of the Knight Commander—if all the men were knights, it would indeed be difficult to choose a different course considering the household environment.

“Angelica, why did you decide to become a knight?”

“Because I didn’t want to study.”

…Eh?

I didn’t understand what she meant. I can sympathize with not wanting to study, but saying it so bluntly—and directly to her own lady—is beyond comprehension. She could easily be judged unfit to serve as a guard knight to a member of the archducal family.

Feeling tense, I glanced toward Lady Rozemyne to see her reaction. ”…I-I see,” she said, letting it pass without issue.

“I see you all have your own reasonings. I personally want to be a scholar. And then, a librarian who manages the castle’s book room,” Lady Rozemyne declared.

Librarians are chosen from among the scholars. Go to the Royal Academy, become a scholar, and eventually become a librarian. Lady Rozemyne spoke dreamily about her future plans, saying she’d do whatever it took to reach that goal.

…Could it be that she is unaware?

Seeing my lady’s eyes shine with anticipation made it all the more difficult to say, but it was surely better to tell her sooner rather than later. If Lady Rozemyne, who was raised in the temple and knows little of noble common sense, were to speak of such things too openly, she might end up slandered or ridiculed.

“Lady Rozemyne, it is law that you shall be attending the archduke candidate course. You are the archduke’s daughter, and so this cannot be changed.”

“Wha…? But I’m adopted. I won’t become the archduke.”

Lady Rozemyne looked up at me with a blank expression. I, too, understood that she wouldn’t become the aub. Most likely, Aub Ehrenfest intended for her to become Lord Wilfried’s wife. With Lord Wilfried having lost Lady Veronica, his greatest supporter, and Lady Rozemyne carrying strong Leisegang blood, their union would ensure the stability of the duchy.

…Given his educational progress, it was already questionable whether he would complete his assignments before his debut.

And if Lord Wilfried was to become the next aub, he’ll certainly need an exceptionally capable partner.

Regardless of what I imagined the aub’s intentions to be, it seemed Lady Rozemyne was unaware that, whether by birth or adoption, an archduke’s child is expected to be an archduke candidate.

“All children of the archduke become archduke candidates. I would imagine that is why you were adopted in the first place.”

I had heard she was adopted due to her excellence in introducing new industries to the duchy and the remarkable amount of mana she possessed. If she were to become a scholar, remaining Lord Karstedt’s daughter would have posed no issue.

“Um… If I can’t be a scholar, does that mean I can’t be a librarian either?”

I saw the blood drain from Lady Rozemyne’s face. It felt as though I had just crushed her dreams for the future. Even if I had to tell her the truth, perhaps I should have done so with more tact. Guilt weighed on me, and I decided to soften the reality, if only slightly.

“That is… a good question. I have never heard of an archduke’s child becoming a librarian before.”

Immediately after, Lady Rozemyne’s head swayed unsteadily. Her eyelids drooped shut, and her body slumped to the side, as though all strength had left her.

“Lady Rozemyne!? Stay strong!”

I rushed to catch her before she could fall from her chair, managing to support her just in time—yet Lady Rozemyne had lost consciousness.

…What in the world just happened…?

My mind went completely blank—I had no idea what to do except continue supporting Lady Rozemyne’s body.

“Everyone, get Lady Rozemyne to her room at once. Richarda, it seems her condition has taken a turn.”

At Cornelius’s words, I snapped back to my senses. Cradling Lady Rozemyne in my arms, I hurried out of the playroom.

Darmuel and Angelica followed close behind, their expressions tense. Before long, I heard the sound of footsteps hurrying after us.

“What happened?!”

Rhiyarda rushed over with a look of utter shock. Her expression turned fierce as she saw Lady Rozemyne unconscious and limp in my arms, and she demanded an explanation from me. But I… I had no idea how to respond.

“Nothing… I mean, we were just talking about course selection in the Royal Academy…”

That’s what I wanted to explain. Truly, I swear by the gods—we were only discussing course selection.

“People don’t simply faint due to a conversation like that, do they?!”

I explained the reality to Lady Rozemyne when she said she wished to become a scholar, but all we did was talk—I hadn’t caused her any harm.

“Rihyarda, in Lady Rozemyne’s case, this can happen. …because it was about becoming a librarian.”

When Damuel murmured as though something had occurred to him, Cornelius followed with a voice of realization, “Ah… because librarians are related to libraries.”

“Calm down, Rihyarda. You’ve heard it from Mother, haven’t you? Rozemyne truly does lose consciousness without warning.”

“I simply cannot accept this. Something so… How are we even supposed to handle it…?”

In my heart, I fully agreed with Rihyarda’s words. How was one supposed to respond, especially as a guard knight, where their charge could lose consciousness so suddenly? I tightened my grip around Lady Rozemyne as I held her in my arms.

“If it were Lord Ferdinand, he would know how to handle Rozemyne—he observed her condition at the temple, after all. However, the winter social season has just begun, and he’s swamped with banquets and meetings. I’m not sure if he’ll be able to spare the time for this…”

According to Cornelius, when the frail Lady Rozemyne would fall ill, it was Lord Ferdinand who took on the role of her physician, administering healing and recovery potions. Now that I think about it, whenever she was unwell at the temple, the gray priests would bring medicine.

“I will go and summon him.”

Rihyarda suppressed her flustered demeanor and gave the order to carry Lady Rozemyne to her room as she was, then immediately turned on her heel. If it’s Rihyarda, she will surely bring back Lord Ferdinand.

“Brigitte, are you alright?”

Once I had laid Lady Rozemyne down on her bed, it was as though the tension within me suddenly snapped—my strength left my body. When Damuel called out to me, I clung to the hand he offered and managed to stand up.

“I truly apologize. I don’t even understand what just happened… Does something like this often occur with Lady Rozemyne?”

I had served Lady Rozemyne since the middle of summer. I knew that she has a frail constitution and often takes to bed, but that was the first time I had seen her suddenly lose consciousness in the middle of a conversation while otherwise appearing perfectly well. When I turned to face Cornelius, Lady Rozemyne’s biological brother, to hear his thoughts, he gave me a small nod.

“Ah… not that it happens often, but it tends to occur just when we’ve let our guard down. Brigitte, you weren’t directly involved, but you must have seen it before. On the day of Rozemyne’s baptism, she suddenly lost consciousness after being taken away by Lord Wilfried, didn’t she?”

”…Are you saying that it wasn’t Lord Wilfried being reckless and rough with Lady Rozemyne due to her frailty, but that she actually lost consciousness all of a sudden?”

That’s quite different from the impression I had of Lord Wilfried.

“In truth, it was unreasonable of him—he pulled Rozemyne away in the middle of greetings, dragging her along and injuring her. So yes, it was thoughtless. But still, it’s not like he intended to hurt her from the start.”

“Lord Wilfried must have been terribly shocked. I can’t help but feel sorry for him,” I said, to which Cornelius only shrugged.

“It couldn’t be helped. If Lord Wilfried had done something like that at the castle, there would’ve been a slew of people facing punishment. That’s why Lord Ferdinand orchestrated it—to make him understand Rozemyne’s frailty from the very beginning and drill into him how to handle her.”

“Isn’t that a bit too harsh? For both Lord Wilfried and for Lady Rozemyne, who was injured…”

I couldn’t help but say it aloud. Cornelius nodded in agreement, replying, “Yeah, even I was put off by how overly efficient it was.”

Still, he said that for Lady Rozemyne—raised in the temple—to live as the archduke’s adopted daughter, Lord Ferdinand’s protection was essential.

“In fact, Lord Ferdinand made sure I understood it myself,” Cornelius said. “I had been warned that Rozemyne gets too excited over books and libraries and that it was dangerous—but I underestimated her frailty and thought the warnings were exaggerated.”

Apparently, Cornelius had tried to take Rozemyne to his family’s library as a reward for her hard work preparing for her baptism ceremony, only for her to suddenly collapse along the way.

“I sent an ordonnanz to Lord Ferdinand on the spot to call for help… Given that you’re not panicking nearly as much as Brigitte, I assume you’ve already had your own incident, Darmuel?”

Prompted by Cornelius, Darmuel gave a wry nod in response.

“When I was serving as her guard in the temple, I had a similar experience. Lady Rozemyne got so excited about the completion of the metal letter types used for printing that she suddenly lost consciousness… Just like today, it happened so suddenly… Unlike me, who panicked, the merchants were quite composed and simply laid her down on a bench.”

”…The merchants did?”

The merchants I saw at the temple were always courteous and kept their distance.

So hearing that they were accustomed to touching Lady Rozemyne and laying her down on a bench—it feels rather strange.

“Lady Rozemyne was not yet the archduke’s adopted daughter at the time, and it seems it wasn’t unusual for her to go down into the lower city. The merchants who had known her for a long time apparently anticipated that there was a high chance she would get overly excited and lose consciousness during discussions about metal letter types, so they had a bench prepared in the room in advance.”

Cornelius let out a quiet sigh and said, “She never compromises when it comes to books. It’s troubling, really.” But as for myself—I couldn’t even foresee that Lady Rozemyne might lose consciousness, despite being one of her guard knights.

I haven’t gathered nearly enough information about my lady. I’m utterly unqualified as her guard knight.

“What sort of punishment awaits us for failing to protect our lady?”

Despite being her guard knights, we had failed to obtain a ruelle fruit, and this time, we couldn’t prevent her from losing consciousness. Having failed to protect our lady, it was only natural that we would face some kind of reprimand. There was even the possibility that my family and my home in Illgner might be implicated.

“Are we going to be reprimanded for this?”

Angelica, who had been listening quietly until now, placed a hand to her cheek and tilted her head slightly.

“There’s no need to worry. No one will be punished for this,” Cornelius said. “Lord Ferdinand knows well that it’s not something easily prevented. And to ensure the guard knights aren’t blamed, I—her own brother—am serving as one of her guards.”

His words brought me a small measure of relief. They had already prepared as a family to respond to such things in advance. For Lady Rozemyne to lose consciousness like that—it must not be that unusual. From now on, we’ll need to include that in our future preparations as well.

“If we try to separate Rozemyne from books or the library, she’ll just get upset, wail, and work herself up so much that she’ll faint all the same. Similar situations will no doubt happen again and again. We’ll just have to get used to it.”

Cornelius’s sigh-laden words were tinged with resignation, and I let out a breath of my own.

If she loses consciousness due to emotional excitement, then it will be difficult to predict.

“I don’t want to get used to this… and I certainly don’t want to see it happen over and over again.”

“I wholeheartedly agree with that.”

Sharing a glance with Damuel, who voiced his agreement, I gave a wry smile.

Serving as Lady Rozemyne’s guard knight seemed far more nerve-wracking than I had ever imagined.