Nobles could act however they wanted to commoners, but when nobles of the city were involved, those from other duchies were at a disadvantage. The outsider noble had apparently left grumbling after the Knight’s Order had explained that he would need the archduke’s permission to enter.
“Problems caused by nobles are best solved by nobles. Honestly, I’m real glad they came to help.”
“Still, he had a letter of introduction from a noble here, right? Why did someone send him a letter of introduction if they knew that he wouldn’t be able to enter without the archduke’s permission?”
“Who knows.”
Maybe it was a letter of introduction he had been given before the spring. I tilted my head in confusion, despite the answer being impossible for me to know, when Dad looked at me with a serious expression.
“Myne, you need to be real careful about staying safe. Remember what the High Priest said? Nobles from other duchies might be coming after you,” he warned, and I gave a slow nod. “I’ll protect the gate and call the Knight’s Order the second any dangerous noble tries getting in. You just be sure not to go anywhere without your bodyguard.”
Dad promising to protect me made me so happy that despite the circumstances, I couldn’t help but smile.
The Two Who Left
Damuel didn’t come the next day or the day after that. Since I wasn’t even allowed to go to the plaza, I had nothing but spare time, which I spent thinking up the content for my third picture book and making stuffed animal rattles with Tuuli. She was apparently going to give the one she had made to Corinna’s daughter, Renate.
“I’ll bring it when we go to her place to see the baby. We are going to see her, right?”
“It would be a bit awkward if we didn’t go given how much the Gilberta Company has helped us, not to mention that Benno gave us a gift when Kamil was born.”
My plan was to visit Corinna once all of the danger in the air had settled down, and Tuuli was more than ready to come with me. Girl babies were probably pretty cute too, plus I was kind of looking forward to seeing Otto going head over heels for his new daughter.
“...But, look. The one you made is cuter, Myne.” Tuuli looked down at the finished rattles and pursed her lips. She had made a white bear-like thing, while I made something more similar to a rabbit. They were kind of lumpy since we had stuffed the white cloth with rags instead of cotton.
“Your sewing is way better than mine, though.” I had stitched mine together a little haphazardly, but like Tuuli said, it was still pretty cute.
As I sat looking at my successful work in satisfaction, Tuuli peered over from beside me and shook her head. “If you don’t learn to sew a little better, you’ll never get married.”
“That’s fine! I’m prepared to dedicate my whole life to books.” What men looked for in wives around here was good health, being able to work, and having good sewing skills. I didn’t meet a single one of these criteria, so my fate was sealed; I had given up on marriage a long time ago. Just like in my Urano days, I would be just fine living with books as my soulmates. And to be honest, I would much rather keep making and reading books than be married off to someone and have to spend my days wrestling with thread to make clothes for my new family.
If only we had the cat bells to finish these toys, I sadly thought to myself. But on the evening of my third day in isolation, Lutz came over with them.
“Johann brought these things to the store. Whaddaya need them for?” he asked, rolling a few around in his palm. They let out cute little tinkling sounds as the smaller bells inside knocked into each other.
Wowee. Johann knocks it out of the park yet again.
“They’re little bells, and I’m putting them in these toys. That way they’ll make noise when you shake them.”
The cat bells had to go inside the toys so that small children wouldn’t accidentally swallow them, and the eyes and mouths were just patterned cloth rather than separate parts that could be taken off. I had kept a small slit open on each toy so that I could put the bells in, allowing me to quickly complete them in front of Lutz.
I shook the finished toys, and a cute clinking sound could be heard from inside the cloth. Success.
“Kamil, it’s done. Can you hear the bells?” I tried shaking my rabbit next to Kamil’s ears, and he blinked in surprise several times. He couldn’t hold up his head yet, which meant he couldn’t turn to look at the toy, but his eyes were searching for the source of the noise.
“Cute! You’re so cute, Kamil.” I broke into a smile at his reaction to my toy, and seconds later he started crying. It seemed my road to becoming a beloved older sister was far from over.
In the end, it was on the morning of my fifth day of being stuck inside that Fran and Damuel came to pick me up at my house.
“Good morning, Sister Myne.”
“Good morning Fran, Sir Damuel.”
“Morning, apprentice.” Damuel nodded in response to my greeting before turning to look at Dad, who was still at home since his work didn’t start until the afternoon today. “If you’ll excuse me, I’m here for the apprentice.”
“Please take good care of her, sir.” Dad thumped a fist twice against his
