142 - In a Sense, an Ominous Letter
In order to read Aurelia's letter, even though I was reluctant about it, I decided to learn English. Maybe it was because I had given up on it in my previous life, but I felt a strong sense of aversion. However, I am a child now in both body and mind. With a child's soft mind, perhaps I could remember the English words I had once learned in my previous life but immediately forgot. I reconsidered positively, thinking it would be good to take it seriously and give it a try.
"I'm still studying this country's language, so if I start learning English partway through, I feel like it might get mixed up in my head."
"That may indeed be a possibility."
When I consulted Hermine about learning English, this was her answer. A truly honest statement that kills a child's motivation. However, it was far more reliable than someone irresponsibly saying "That's not true. Let's learn English."
"...I guess it's better to learn the language I'm studying now completely first."
"Yes. For now, let's study a little using the letter as a teaching material."
For the time being, I would write the letter in this country's script, and Hermine would translate it into English. Then I would study using the English-translated text as material, and finally I would rewrite the letter in English and send it to Aurelia. That was the flow we set up.
"First, let's learn the alphabet."
Hermine said that the alphabet was essential for both learning and writing English, and she wrote the alphabet from A to Z with chalk on a somewhat large writing board. As she began the lesson saying "Let's start by learning ten letters, both uppercase and lowercase," I broke into a cold sweat internally.
...Come on, I already know all the alphabet! I have to pretend to learn all of this... don't I?
I couldn't say I already knew the alphabet. Here, I was supposed to be learning English for the first time. It was correct that I shouldn't know it yet, shouldn't have any knowledge of it.
...I'm, sleepy...
Facing the alphabet I already knew with an "I'm about to learn it now" attitude was an incredibly monotonous and tedious task. I almost let a yawn slip, but I knew Hermine would get angry if I did. When I furrowed my brows to look as serious as possible, Hermine seemed to think I was struggling. An early break came, just a little sooner than usual, and I let out a sigh of relief from the bottom of my heart.
"...sama, a letter has arrived for you."
As I was leaning on Leonardo to soothe my heart, tired from the ridiculously easy English lesson, Kalisa brought me a letter addressed to me. She said it was a letter, but besides the envelope, there was also a package the size of what Kalisa was carrying. I had no idea who would send me a letter, but I recognized the name of the sender.
"Why is there a letter from Alfred-sama?"
I had received a letter once before, but back then there had supposedly been a reason for him to send it. Under the pretext of thanking me for my stay at the residence, he had sent a letter, but the real purpose was a request to complete and send the recipe for tatsuta-age, a matter that was truly honest about his appetite. Since I had already sent the tatsuta-age recipe, I never expected to receive a letter from Alfred a second time.
...As always, he's such a considerate person in his letters.
I could feel his thoughtfulness from the wording, making it readable even for a child. The letter was written with simple words and short sentences, briefly conveying the matter.
"Guh."
What was written on the white stationery I hurriedly read was content I could not exactly welcome. To summarize, it was the same concern Hermine had previously worried about, that "it seems you've taken quite a liking to my grandfather (Ethelbert), so be careful." Since Ethelbert valued Hermine's excellence, things were kept in check for now, but apparently there were extremely troublesome schemes afoot, like trying to send an excellent instructor from the capital to start Tina's education as a queen early, or even calling her to the capital to completely enclose her.
...The royal family is scary. Ethel-san's drive is scary!
The content of the letter gave me goosebumps. I silently handed Alfred's letter to Leonardo, who tilted his head suspiciously at me trembling beside him. Leonardo lowered his gaze to the letter, as if to say it was okay to read it since it had been handed to him, and froze as if his thoughts had stopped.
"...Tina, do you want to go to the capital and get married?"
"I might get married and go somewhere someday, but I don't want to go to a royal place."
I absolutely did not want to, I refused, piling on the words, and then I asked something that had occurred to me. Regardless of birth, could a commoner like me really become a royal bride?
"Of course there are various conditions, but it's not that commoners marrying into royalty is completely impossible. The neighboring country seems to have strict restrictions about noble blood and such when forming marriage alliances, but the royal family of our country values individual qualities. So if one's abilities are recognized, they would not hesitate to form a bond even with a commoner."
"Eh, so if I ended up having abilities..."
"There is a possibility you could be sought after as a prince's bride."
"Okay, I'm not studying anymore!"
I declared I would not go to the Menhishumi Church either, and I would stop studying English. Was there anything else I could stop? As I started searching my mind for anything I could think of, Leonardo sat me down on his lap.
"I will not marry you off to anyone you say you do not like, and even if you bring a boy you chose yourself, if he is weaker than me, I will not approve, so you can rest assured there."
"...I have my doubts about the second half."
I pointed that out and hugged Leonardo. It seemed he was at least willing to consider my feelings, even if the other party was royalty.
"What if you are ordered to? Leo, you would prioritize the king's orders over me, would you not?"
"If it came to a royal command, well, at that point... I might at least give permission to court you, saying 'if you want to marry Tina, win her over.'"
"You should say you would refuse to the very end."
"Guhf!?"
With a "heave-ho," I swung my leg up and delivered the baptism of my custom-made shoes. Since I was sitting on his lap, my raised leg struck Leonardo's calf. That must have hurt quite a bit.
"Still, so Diet went to the city of Mandez."
"Dietfried-sama, you mean."
When I carelessly called him 'Diet' out of habit, Leonardo corrected me to 'Dietfried-sama.' Normally, I was a commoner and he was a prince, so Leonardo's correction was correct.
"I heard from Ethelbert-sama that you recommended the Mandez residence, Tina?"
"Now that you mention it, I feel like I might have said something like that...?"
I recalled that Dietfried had wanted Kalisa, who could treat him with a firm attitude, so instead I had recommended the capable steward (Iridal) of the Mandez residence. I had suggested separating Dietfried from the nannies and servants in the capital who spoiled him, and entrusting him to the Mandez residence. It was just a spur-of-the-moment suggestion, but it seemed Ethelbert had seriously discussed it with Leonardo afterwards. I never imagined Dietfried would actually be sent to the Mandez residence.
"I wrote a letter of introduction telling Iridal to discipline him into a prince worthy of being respected as master by the Black Knights, so as not to bring shame to the royal family."
Leonardo laughed, saying that since Iridal was an excellent servant (Brownie), he would surely carry out whatever his master ordered. Kalisa, who had been refraining from interrupting the conversation between her two masters, nodded repeatedly as if to show her strong agreement.
"...If I ever meet him again, I hope he has become a child who can hold back his selfishness a little more."
Not that I had any plans to meet him again. But since Alfred had gone out of his way to warn me with this letter, I should probably be careful. If my memory was correct, even Alfred, who was like a typhoon, was apparently more subdued than the current king. And the drive of Ethelbert, who was said to be similar in nature to the current king, was terrifying to even imagine.
"What is inside that box?"
"It is a thank-you gift for the tatsuta-age recipe. He said he packed it with things I might like."
I took the package Kalisa had been holding and checked its contents. The outer container was a wooden box, a container with nothing cute about it since it was for shipping, but the boxes packed inside were colorful and lovely. When I checked each one, they were filled with small items like brightly colored embroidery thread and hair ornaments, and snacks like baked sweets and candies that would keep well.
...Wow. Alfred-sama, you are so powerful that keeping up with you is tiring, but your taste is wonderful.
At the very least, they were closer to my preferences than Leonardo's gifts, and the ratio of sweets to small items also had more small items. If this had been a gift from Leonardo, ninety percent would have been sweets. In Leonardo's mind, I was a child who preferred sweets over flowers.
I wrote a thank-you letter to Alfred later, consulting with Hermine. I had received many gifts, but I had nothing to send in return, so I had Salisa make pudding and had Kalisa write down the recipe. Since he was so happy with the tatsuta-age recipe, he might be pleased with the pudding recipe too.
...Huh?
As I checked the recipe Kalisa had written for me, something suddenly crossed my mind. A cooking recipe and a medicinal prescription were the same in that they were both procedural instructions.
...Could I, once I learn English, send medicinal prescriptions disguised as cooking recipes to Aurelia-san?
For example, if I could connect ingredients with medicinal materials using some kind of symbols or codes, and convey the names, quantities, and preparation procedures of ingredients, I thought... but I stopped that train of thought. Thinking any further was pointless, I told myself.
...There is absolutely no way I could pull off something like from a manga without any prior coordination.
If I could coordinate with her beforehand, it might be worth trying, but coordinating with Aurelia was impossible. First of all, just meeting Aurelia to coordinate was difficult.
...I thought it was a good idea, though.
I stumbled at the starting line. I thought it was a good idea, but I shelved it.
I will take a break from tomorrow's update.
I will fix typos and errors when spring comes. I have corrected the typos and errors I found.