“...I am absolutely terrified,” he replied.
“I must admit, I did not expect her to have been adopted by the archduke,” Freida agreed.
Rozemyne was now the daughter of an archnoble, soon to be adopted by the archduke; she was not someone they could treat lightly. The guildmaster, with all his noble associates, knew that well.
“With printing being a duchy-wide industry, I’ll need the full cooperation of the Merchant’s Guild. You know how dangerous it is to complain about an industry that has the archduke’s backing, yeah?”
“Hrmm...” The guildmaster fell into thought, clearly trying to work out how much he could profit from this. I tossed him some bait.
“Mind if I send my chefs to train at your place? I want them to learn more about noble cooking before the archduke and archnobles visit the eatery.” Given that actual nobles were visiting the store, it would be wise to teach them not just Myne’s recipes, but normal noble recipes as well. I also wanted to lessen the potential blowback on us by getting the guildmaster involved.
“...What is in it for me?”
“I let you invest in our Italian restaurant and become a partner. How’s that sound?”
I had started the restaurant after the guildmaster’s chef taunted me, but considering that I needed to handle spreading the printing industry throughout the duchy, I didn’t have the time to expand my horizons into eateries. On top of that, the only one who had chefs that could cook noble food, and who knew nobles well enough to run the Italian restaurant, was the guildmaster. And I had no doubt that his home was full of servants trained to serve food.
“...Very well. How much funding do you need, I wonder?” Freida replied, her eyes gleaming as she jumped at the offer before even the guildmaster could.
Fran—To Serve as the High Bishop’s Attendant
“Excuse me, Sister My— Lady Rozemyne. When third bell rings, I will be leaving with Gil to clean the High Bishop’s room.”
“Fran, are you feeling better already? You’re not in pain at all?” Lady Rozemyne asked, her face a little red from fever as she rested upon her bed in the orphanage director’s chambers. She was inquiring once again about the wounds I had received when fighting the Devouring soldiers that the High Bishop and Count Bindewald had brought into the temple, and I couldn’t help but smile at her continued concern.
“As I have said, my wounds were completely healed by a suddenly appearing light that rained dust down upon me. Please worry about yourself rather than me. You now have to live as the daughter of an archnoble, Lady Rozemyne, and that is much more concerning.”
There was a magic ring with a heavy-looking blue stone on the middle finger of Lady Rozemyne’s left hand—a symbol of her current status. She saw me glance at it and forced a small smile.
“It hurts a little every time someone calls me Rozemyne, like I’m being reminded that I’m no longer Myne. I hope I can get used to it soon... Before I go to the Noble’s Quarter, at least.”
It seemed that we weren’t the only ones having trouble adjusting to her new name. I had been told just enough to understand that Lady Rozemyne was the daughter of an archnoble, and would soon be adopted by the archduke.
“Fran, you faced off against Count Bindewald and were there when Lord Sylvester appeared—you can guess what I’m feeling without me even needing to say it, can’t you? Please keep this a secret from the High Priest,” she said, before murmuring weakly about how worried she was for her commoner family and how she doubted she would ever be able to become a proper noble.
...The High Priest had told me to always report when Lady Rozemyne became sad or uneasy, since unstable emotions could lead to her losing control of her mana. What would be the best course of action here? While struggling to decide whether I should keep her feelings a secret, I took out a book I had borrowed from the book room and offered it to her.
“As your fever appears to have mostly gone down, you may read as long as you stay in bed. Will that help cheer you up?”
“Thanks, Fran!”
As Lady Rozemyne gleefully hugged the thick book to her chest, I gave her some space and began looking around the room. I could see Rosina smiling brightly as she polished the large harspiel.
“Rosina, I must go and clean up the High Bishop’s room with Gil. Please take care of Lady Rozemyne while I am gone. She will no doubt be absorbed in her book, so you will need to observe the time and tell her to drink water when necessary.”
“Understood,” Rosina replied, her eyes not leaving the harspiel for a second. I could understand that she was overjoyed to rise from a gray shrine maiden to a noble’s personal musician, but she still had much to do, including teaching Monika and Nicola; I could not trust two newly taken on apprentice attendants with taking care of Lady Rozemyne.
“Rosina, please take care to do your job. If Monika and Nicola are not trained to take your place, it will be longer before I can inform the High Priest that you are ready to leave for the Noble’s Quarter.”
As Lady Rozemyne was a woman, there were many duties that only gray shrine maidens could perform—for one, it was their job to wash her and then change her clothes. In the past, I had assumed I could teach them since I had learned to do both while serving the High Priest, but was forced to change my attitude upon seeing Rosina teach Delia. The work was the same, but there were many different expectations between the genders.
“I am to some degree capable of teaching them how to change her clothes, store her clothes, help her bathe, and assist her in preparing for rituals, but doing her hair, selecting
