There were no longer any gray shrine maidens raising their own children who could look after the babies, and considering where those children came from, it was in our best interest for gray shrine maidens to continue not having children. I needed to talk to the High Priest to discuss what to do with future babies given to the orphanage. It wouldn’t be reasonable—or possible—to have my attendants bear the burden of every baby that ended up in the orphanage for the rest of time.
“I always feel so lonely when Dirk leaves,” Delia said, rubbing his head regretfully before eventually giving him to Wilma. The energy always drained from Delia the moment Dirk went to the orphanage, leaving her slumped and melancholic, but Rosina always looked relieved. Their reactions were on the exact opposite ends of the spectrum.
I practiced harspiel until third bell, at which point I went with Fran to the High Priest’s room where I would help him until lunch. After lunch, Fran and Rosina now went to their respective rooms to rest. They had both started to look a bit better now that they were getting regular naps in the afternoon, but the exhaustion was still clear on their faces.
“Rest well, you two.”
“Please excuse our absence.”
Now that Fran and Rosina had gone to have their afternoon rest, Delia was the only attendant left in my room. She had finished cleaning and was working on her math, while I was busy making stencils at my desk, waiting for Lutz to arrive. It didn’t take him long to finish his lunch at the Gilberta Company and come over with the finished baby toys.
“Here, Myne. They’re all done.”
“Yay! Thank you.”
Lutz shook the darkish-red rattles to show that they were finished. I really hoped they would make the babies happy. Kamil wasn’t quite old enough to really get excited over anything, so my plan was to see what Dirk thought first.
“I’ve ordered the paper from Master Benno too. He’ll be ready to supply whenever you want to start printing.”
“You work fast, Lutz.”
“Nah, I still have a long way to go. Mark’s always telling me how much time and effort I waste when doing things.”
It seemed that Mark’s education was really bearing fruit; Lutz was saying that he couldn’t yet compare to Mark, Benno, or Leon, but at his age it would be unreasonable to expect him to be that skilled.
“Myne, don’t forget to bring the stencils from Wilma. I’ll start getting the workshop ready to print.”
“Uh huh, leave it to me.”
After seeing Lutz off, I put one of the rattles into my tote basket. I then walked downstairs with the other one to talk to Damuel, who was in the small hall on the first floor.
“Sir Damuel, I would like to go to the orphanage.”
“Sure, not a problem,” he replied.
I power walked to the door where he was waiting for me, but before I got there he looked around and gave a stern frown. “Wait, apprentice. Where are your attendants? Are you really planning on leaving your chambers without one?”
“...Bwuh?” I had thought that wouldn’t be a problem since Damuel was around, but apparently bodyguards didn’t count as proper accompaniments like attendants did. It would be extremely unladylike for me to leave without one, so my hand was forced.
“Delia, I have something to discuss with Wilma in the orphanage. Please accompany me.”
“Sister Myne, I...” Delia turned around with a stiff expression, but swallowed her words mid-sentence and bit her lip in frustration. She wanted to refuse me, but couldn’t due to her position. Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t want to force her to do something she wasn’t comfortable doing, but with a knight like Damuel waiting on me, I couldn’t waste any more time.
“You would only need to accompany me up to the orphanage door. Does that sound manageable for you? I can instead ask Wilma to accompany me on the way back, if you so wish.”
“...As you wish.”
Delia took the lead, dejectedly advancing down the hallway. I could tell even while following from behind that her shoulders were stiff and her footsteps heavy. Her face was out of view, but I could imagine the desperate expression she was probably wearing.
When we arrived at the orphanage, Delia stopped in place. “Well then, I’ll be leaving now.”
“I think not, attendant. Open the door before you leave. You would make your mistress, the apprentice, open it herself?” Damuel’s harsh voice rang out as Delia turned to leave. I couldn’t open the door myself, and couldn’t make a knight open the door for me either. Attendants existed so as to relieve their masters of such a duty.
Delia, having been told to open the orphanage door, paled to the point that her face was pure white. Still, she looked at Damuel with no change in her stiff expression, then reached for the door. She shut her eyes tight and grit her teeth, pushing the door open with a trembling hand.
It opened with a heavy creak. Large tables were lined up across the dining hall, which was right in front of the entrance. At the furthest end was a large cushion on which Dirk was laying, surrounded by gray shrine maidens, all of whom looked this way upon hearing the door. They turned their backs on the pillow and knelt at my presence, arms crossed over their chests.
“Sister Myne. I’ll be leaving now,” Delia murmured, her head lowered so as to avoid seeing inside the orphanage.
“Of course, and I apologize for making you uncomfortable. Thank you, Delia.”
“It was nothing.” Delia glanced once in Dirk’s direction, then started to turn around. But her eyes suddenly shot wide open and she spun around, running straight for the cushion at the far end of the dining hall. “Dirk!”
He had almost successfully rolled over, with half of his body now over the side of the cushion. If he kept going
