“Understood. I will serve her well and true.”
The High Priest gave a firm nod, then waved a hand. I knelt down, my arms crossed over my chest, and then left the High Priest’s room to return to the orphanage director’s chambers.
...He wanted results befitting the daughter of an archduke. Lady Rozemyne lacked the knowledge that all nobles shared, and was inexperienced as an apprentice shrine maiden. Supporting her such that she would produce results befitting a High Bishop adopted by the archduke would require much work, and the weight of such a responsibility sent a shiver down my spine.
Lady Rozemyne will first stand before the public as High Bishop during the Starbind Ceremony. Before anything else, I must ensure she does not fail there.
“Rosina, Monika, Nicola—your assistance, please.”
I called everyone over and had them begin summarizing all of the rituals on wooden boards so that it would be easier for Lady Rozemyne to memorize them later. Each year had a number of rituals, each requiring things to be memorized. She had to perform her High Bishop duties flawlessly, and we all had to support her as best we could to ensure that under no circumstances would she fail.
Gil was deeply involved in what interested Lady Rozemyne most—book-making—and was proving quite useful in that regard. In which case, as Lady Rozemyne’s head attendant, I would need to focus on supporting her High Bishop duties as much as possible.
While watching the boards steadily pile up, I shifted my gaze to the bed where Lady Rozemyne was resting. Now then, how shall I have Lady Rozemyne memorize all of these when she will most likely ask to go to the book room instead?
“In order to teach her, it seems I will first have to learn a way to stop Lady Rozemyne from always charging straight toward books,” I muttered. Rosina heard and glanced toward the bed as well.
“That will likely prove quite difficult,” she said with a quiet giggle, and I couldn’t help but nod in agreement.
Effa—Facing the Future
I awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of Kamil crying. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I picked him up. It was time for him to be breastfed. His hair and eyes were a similar color to Myne’s, so thoughts of her surfaced in my mind as I was giving milk.
Myne had always been so quick to get fevers or become bedridden that, for her entire life, I had feared that she might die—that each fever could potentially be the one that was too much for her. And then, when she had finally gotten healthy for the first time, she was taken far away from me, where I would never be able to reach her.
But... she hasn’t actually died, I thought, trying to cheer myself up the same way I always did when I found myself getting sad. Myne was still alive, and even if she couldn’t treat us like family anymore, we still had a thin connection to her. That was enough to make just a little bit of my sorrow go away.
I wonder if Gunther’s okay. I looked at the large lump beneath the blankets beside me, twisting and turning as if unable to sleep. Before I knew it, I had let out a heavy sigh.
It was important to continue life as normal once the funeral had ended. Gunther had to go back to work, no matter how devastated he was, which was why he had gone to the gate yesterday. He had begrudgingly left for his day shift at third bell, but fourth bell hadn’t even rang before he came trudging home.
Apparently, he had punched his boss—the gate commander—in the face, and while the others sympathized with his plight, they had told him to go home and cool it. The commander had allegedly said something to him about Myne. Nobody knew what exactly, but several people heard Gunther scream, “That outsider noble got in ’cause you didn’t tell the guards what I told you! It’s your fault I lost Myne!” before diving at the commander and going to town. That was what Otto, one of his subordinates and the person who had walked him home, had told me.
Gunther lived for his children, and he cared for Myne more than anyone, especially through her sick health. He regretted beyond words that he hadn’t been able to stop the noble from breaking into the city—that he hadn’t been able to protect Myne, and in the end, had been protected by Myne himself. He was so depressed that it felt as though he was on the verge of throwing his whole life away.
...I think I should leave him be for a little while longer.
I patted Kamil’s back lightly to help him burp, then checked his diaper. As I slowly drifted back to sleep, I hoped more than anything that Gunther would recover as soon as possible.
“I think it’s because of Myne’s blessings,” Tuuli said out of nowhere the next morning while preparing for work. She was beaming a smile that said she was excited at her realization, but I had no idea what she was talking about.
“What do you mean?”
“Me getting a contract with Mrs. Corinna yesterday. I wasn’t scared of going to the north part of the city at all since I was going there to keep my promise to Myne, and I wasn’t scared of asking Mrs. Corinna to hire me. That’s definitely thanks to Myne’s blessings.”
Yesterday, Tuuli had gone to the Gilberta Company with Lutz and managed to get an agreement to move to Corinna’s workshop when it was time for her lehange contract
