“Of course the commander of the Knight’s Order is gonna keep his private and public life separate—no commander would get all friendly with his secret daughter during a mission. We just have to say he was doing his job properly.” Sylvester seemed intent on sticking to that story, but it seemed hard to believe that anyone would buy something like that. It just didn’t add up, and since I couldn’t believe Sylvester, I turned to the High Priest for reassurance.
“Would a half-baked story like that hold water in noble society?”
“Myne, you may not remember this, but Christine was in the temple for fairly similar reasons.”
The High Priest’s cold words brought the memories flooding back. My main impression of Christine was that she was an artistic shrine maiden and the former mistress of Wilma and Rosina, but I did seem to remember something about her being a noble’s daughter who was raised in the temple because her father’s first wife disliked her. He had sent her money and tutors so that she could be welcomed back into noble society when it was safer for her.
“Well, a living example does make the story seem more believable. But would you really want a daughter with that kind of background, Lord Karstedt?”
“...It does not bother me. Many times before I have wished that I had a daughter with Rozemary before she passed.” As it turned out, he actually did have a third wife who had apparently died after being bullied by his other wives.
Am I going to get bullied the second I become a noble?
“Ngh. Well, if you’re fine with that, Lord Karstedt, I am as well. But wouldn’t it be weird to introduce a child so long after their birth? Don’t people celebrate children when they’re born?” When Kamil was born, the first thing we did was throw a party and show him to everyone we could. I heard this was so as many people as possible would remember when he was born, since this world didn’t have birth records, but maybe nobles were different.
Karstedt was the one who replied to my question. He put a hand on his chin and narrowed his eyes a bit, as if thinking things over from as many perspectives as possible. “We celebrate the births of children from first wives, but it is common not to bother informing others of births among second and third wives. In noble society, it is only at their baptism that children are introduced as members of the family. Few know just how many children anyone else has unless they are particularly close.”
“Oh, I see.” I nodded to myself, at which point the High Priest continued with a thin smile.
“Reason being, children that lack the mana befitting their family are adopted by lesser families before their baptism or sent to the temple. The higher a noble is ranked, the less reason there is for them to announce a birth before they are sure the child has enough mana for them.”
...Holy cow! Noble society is actually terrifying! It seemed to be built entirely around having mana, and my upbringing in the lower city would be entirely irrelevant there. There was a lot of culture shock just from joining the temple, but I could already tell joining noble society would be far worse.
“So yeah,” Sylvester added, “if you want to raise your kid as a noble, the latest you can wait to reveal them is their baptism. Karstedt will use your baptism to announce that you were born with an extraordinary amount of mana, just like your mother, and that I’m adopting you. That way he could give his beloved daughter the status she deserves while protecting her from his wives... And that’s the story. Got all that?”
I nodded, thinking over everything he had just told me. “So noble society really is just like a (soap opera). Can I turn this story into a book?”
“You can include it in your autobiography if you ever write one.”
“...Ngh. I think I’ll pass, thank you.”
I’m just a very weak little girl who likes to read books. I’ll never write an autobiography. I rejected the idea immediately, earning me a grin from Sylvester and a comment that, since he had gone out of his way to think up the story, we might as well spread it across the world.
“Anyway, point being, we’ll hold your baptism ceremony this summer. It’ll happen in Karstedt’s mansion, and we’ll announce your adoption to me at the same time. Karstedt, when’s a good time for you?”
“How does right before the Starbind Ceremony sound? We’ll need time to prepare for the baptism—outfits, food, invitations, and the like,” Karstedt said.
The High Priest fell into thought, then shook his head. “I believe it would be better to plan the ceremony for a few days earlier rather than right before the Starbind Ceremony. Considering Myne’s poor health, we can never be sure when she might end up bedridden. We need extra time to keep an eye on her.”
“I see, we’ll need a time buffer in case she gets sick. Hm. Preparing early will make things difficult,” Karstedt said with a troubled frown.
“Karstedt, invite as many people as you can to the baptism ceremony. Given that we’ll be announcing the adoption at the same time, the more people who are in attendance, the better.”
“Ah, that reminds me—you would do well to assign her an etiquette tutor before the baptism, Karstedt. She knows the fundamentals thanks to the instruction of her attendants, but she has never had a proper teacher.”
The three of them were ignoring me, steadily advancing their plans while I sat there, stunned.
“Um, but I already had my baptism ceremony a whole year ago... Won’t this mean we’ll be lying about my age?” Baptisms were held at age seven, and mine had happened a full year ago.
I don’t want to have another and go back to being seven years old. That feels like being held
