“I shall check up on the workshop.”
“Gil, I feel as though there are times where you overload yourself with work that only you can do, to secure your place among Lady Rozemyne’s attendants. However, if you are to be the High Bishop’s apprentice attendant, you must learn to delegate your work to other gray priests. Lady Rozemyne is not the type of person who would cut you off while you work so hard to serve her.”
Gil frowned and raced off to the workshop, while Rosina resumed instructing Monika and Nicola. I gave Lady Rozemyne another book so that she would not leave her bed, then went to the High Priest’s room. Once inside, I found the High Priest busily sorting through boards and paperwork. They had likely all been taken from the High Bishop’s chambers.
“I appreciate you coming, Fran. How is the girl doing? I heard her fever was lasting longer than usual.”
“It’s almost entirely gone now. However, I believe she is still emotionally unstable. She spoke of worrying about her family and feeling anxious about her current position,” I reported, and the High Priest’s expression softened a bit with relief.
“We do not need to worry if she is comfortable enough to share her anxieties with you. The potion I gave her this time does not restore much mana, and given how much she spent, her mana should be fine for quite some time. Though do tell me if you notice any changes.”
The High Priest’s attendants and I discussed what to do with the furniture taken out of the former High Bishop’s chambers. His family did not care to have it, so it would instead be distributed among the blue priests. Once we had finished arranging the order in which we would put this furniture on display and who would look after it, the High Priest waved a hand.
“I will now discuss a ritual that Rozemyne shall perform as High Bishop. Return to your work,” he said, and his attendants all immediately distanced themselves from his desk, leaving only myself and the High Priest there. I took out my diptych once they were all gone to write down what he had to say, at which point he glanced at me, then lowered his voice and seemingly forced his next words out. “Fran, I heard about your circumstances from Arno.”
Goosebumps rose on my skin, and I swallowed hard. Arno had said that he would inform the High Priest about my past if asked, but now that it had actually happened, I felt as though I wasn’t even fit to stand in the High Priest’s presence. I instinctively took a step backward.
“Although I did not know at the time, I can imagine the pain you felt when I ordered you to serve a blue shrine maiden. Fran, do you wish to continue serving Rozemyne? Can you view her as your master, as you did me in the past?” he asked, fixing his golden eyes on me, speaking not a word of my past. It felt as though he had indirectly said that the past did not matter, and I could feel the burden on my heart lighten.
“You are correct in assuming that I was depressed at first. Nothing could have been worse for me than returning to the orphanage director’s chambers in service of a blue shrine maiden.”
Lady Rozemyne had been given the chambers with the furniture and cutlery unchanged from its last owner, which forced me to remember my past there. But I was shocked to see just how big of a difference a new master could make.
Lady Rozemyne took gray priests to the lower city when normally they weren’t permitted to leave the temple, and she taught those in the orphanage and the workshop the ways of commoners. I could see my environment changing before my very eyes. She started one new thing after another, and I was so caught up following Lady Rozemyne as she changed the temple using her outsider influence that I didn’t have the time to think about my past.
“Lady Rozemyne is nothing like Sister Margaret. She does not use the orphanage for her own benefit. Instead, she fights to improve it as much as she can.”
She could have treated the orphans like tools to exploit. She could have embezzled the orphanage’s budget to line her own pockets. She could have done no meaningful work beyond accepting the payment those who directed the orphanage were given. But she didn’t, and that was what made Lady Rozemyne entirely different from every orphanage director who had come before her. Instead, she used her own funds to save the orphans, giving them work and the means to survive on their own. Only someone raised in the orphanage could truly understand just how wonderful and important Lady Rozemyne’s impact had been, doubly so considering that she had needed to do it all under the noses of the High Bishop and the blue priests.
“All those in the orphanage, from the youngest child to the oldest gray priest, respect and thank her. She often baffles me, but even so, I would like to continue serving and being of use to Lady Rozemyne however I can.”
“I see. Good, then. I have distanced Arno since his own actions had been unduly influenced by his past experience with blue shrine maidens, but I hope that you continue to serve Rozemyne well.”
I exhaled, understanding the intent behind the High Priest’s short, coded message. I had thought it strange that Arno was not among the High Priest’s other attendants, but it seemed that he had climbed the towering stairway.
And given that his past with blue shrine maidens was mentioned, I can guess that Arno was also one of Sister Margaret’s victims.
“In noble society, even the smallest of errors can lead to permanent stains. Keep that firmly in mind as you serve Rozemyne. It is not enough to just diligently follow
