“If we’re going to grow book-making as a government business, we need connections with the Gilberta Company. Do you know how much work it would be to crush that store and build up a new one from scratch?” Sylvester replied casually.
“Um... You’re going to crush the Gilberta Company?”
“Don’t jump to conclusions. I’m not planning on doing anything to them. Their owner is quick on the uptake, and he knows how to keep a secret. Shockingly few people know who you really are, Myne, and most of those who do are Gilberta Company employees. Everyone else thinks you’re either Benno’s daughter or just some rich girl, so there won’t be any problem with us saying you were a noble all along.”
Although the books would be produced under the authority of the archduke, it would be my Gutenbergs who actually made them, with me at their center. As such, it was more convenient to keep a place that commoners were able to enter freely than to constantly have to summon them all to the Noble’s Quarter.
“You can meet commoners in your chambers just like you have been,” Sylvester said, and my face lit up. “But you will not be allowed to meet your family as family. You will become Karstedt’s daughter and my adopted daughter. It’s important that you leave your old family so that you might join ours; if you can’t do that, I can’t allow you to meet your family ever again.”
My face darkened again. It was like a chill had been sent through my heart. I wasn’t sure whether I should be happy that I was allowed to see them at all, or fearful that doing so would just make it hurt all the worse.
“There won’t be a problem with your soldier father accompanying you as a guard while you travel, or having your older sister get involved with making paper. Work relationships are fine. But I will have you swear through a magic contract that you will no longer call each other family,” Sylvester said. He looked at me with hard eyes, and I could feel my heart thumping painfully in my chest.
Ripped Apart
“If you are to be baptized as Karstedt’s child, you will need a new name,” the High Priest prompted, breaking the silence that had fallen over the room. I blinked in confusion, not following his logic.
“A new name?”
“Yeah, your current name doesn’t sound too great,” Sylvester agreed.
Apparently nobles needed to have long names, not short ones, which meant that all of the nobles I would soon be meeting against my will would have long names. Honestly, I had no faith that I’d be able to remember them all.
But I remembered all of those long god names, so maybe I’ll be fine? ...At least, I hope I will be.
“Ideally it’ll be something that can be shortened to ‘Myne’ as a nickname. That will help explain anyone from the Gilberta Company using her old name by accident. Myne, any preferences here?” Sylvester asked.
I tried to think of a new name that incorporated “Myne,” but sadly, nothing immediately sprung to mind.
“...All I can think of are terrible names like ‘Mynenigou,’ ‘Aratamyne,’ and ‘Akaimyne.’”
“Those all sound quite strange. I imagine they each have some particular meaning to you?” the High Priest asked with a confused frown. As he expected, I was using the Japanese from my Urano days, so nobody understood what I was trying to say.
“They mean ‘Myne Two,’ ‘New Myne,’ and ‘Red Myne,’ respectively.”
“Why is ‘Red Myne’ one of your suggestions? Your color would be blue based on your birth, midnight blue based on your hair, or gold based on your eyes. Where are you getting red from?”
“I don’t really understand this myself, but red versions of people tend to be, like, stronger, or faster.”
Sylvester gave me a weird look, but I was basing that off of something my childhood friend from my Urano days had told me, so I didn’t really have a strong grasp on the concept myself. My mom was completely sold on the “red underwear is lucky” boom of her day, so that was probably one of the reasons I subconsciously associated the color with strength.
Incidentally, red underwear was supposedly good to wear when the stakes were high. My mom had given me a pair for my college admission exam, but I was too embarrassed by her motherly love to actually wear them. I luckily passed the exam anyway, and while that made my mom’s faith in red underwear grow even deeper, I had actually been wearing light-blue underwear at the time.
I’m sorry I was such a bad daughter.
As my thoughts wandered, Sylvester’s eyes shot open in shock at my statement. “Hold on a second! I’m the one who’s confused here. Red is a strong color?! If we’re talking about strength, what else is there but blue, the divine color of Leidenschaft?!”
Karstedt rested a hand on his forehead, and his face seemed to cloud over a little. “Red is the divine color of Geduldh, the Goddess of Earth. It represents warmth and compassion, which is feminine, but not exactly what you seem to have been going for.”
...Yeaaah, okay. I guess that’s what happens when you have two different cultures that have developed independently.
My goal had been to envision a new me, stronger and healthier than ever before, but that didn’t get through to anybody.
The High Priest glared at me, tapping a finger against his temple. “You should know that strength and speed are ill-fitting for a woman’s name. Your lack of common sense astounds once again. Need I remind you that this is the name you will be using for the rest of your life? Think harder, fool.”
“...I’m sorry. But honestly, I don’t really know what kind of names nobles usually have, or in what manner they’re given, so I’m kind of at a loss here.”
When coming up with names in Japan, we would sometimes borrow parts of a parent’s name, have the
