192 - Lace Weaving
Please consider all dialogue in '' to be spoken in English.
Since Tina has started studying, we have graduated from machine-reliant translation.
...Ugh, I messed up. I made Aurelia-san angry.
I had wanted to consult with Leonardo about whether I should tell him that I am a Japanese reincarnation, but the atmosphere was no longer right for that. All I can do now is reflect on my own actions and figure out what exactly touched Aurelia's sore spot.
...Was it because I would not stop talking even though she told me to go to sleep?
If that were the reason, it would feel a bit strange. Aurelia had said there was no need to rush through the conversation since I still had time during my stay. So it was not that I was being disobedient.
"I am back."
Since she told me to bring a nursemaid, I hurriedly fetched Kalisa, who had started cleaning the attic.
When I knocked on the bedroom door and opened it, Aurelia was holding her hand over the lit flame of a lamp. A small fire flickered up from her hand, and I realized she had not been warming her hand over the flame. She was burning paper.
...Huh? Was what she just burned the letter I wrote?
It was the letter I had hastily written when Leonardo brought me here as a surprise, trying to convey the contents of the research materials. Since I could not write enough English, it was a desperate letter mixed with the language of this country and the English I was studying. Aurelia had accepted it happily, even though she could not really read it.
"Letter... burn... why?"
And on top of that, lighting paper directly from her hand was dangerous. She could burn herself. When I looked up at Aurelia wondering what she was thinking, she was not looking at me but at Kalisa.
"A child's discipline is the nursemaid's job. Punish this mischievous girl."
"Punishment... me... why?"
I could tell she was seriously angry, but I was confused because I did not understand the reason. When I looked at Kalisa, who had been summoned by Aurelia to work as a nursemaid, she seemed bewildered too.
"What sort of mischief has Tina-sama committed?"
"To be precise, it is not something as cute as mischief. She has committed a serious crime of information leakage."
Aurelia pointed out that while she understood I meant well, what I had done was information leakage. She said I had leaked to her information that must not be shared outside, even if I had learned it within the Fortress Lord's Residence.
When she pointed it out, my mouth fell open because she was absolutely right. I should not have casually passed on something as important as the prescription for medicine effective against Warts disease just because I happened to see it. Even if the recipient was Aurelia, the only person who had continuously inherited the medical arts of Saint Yuuta Hiraga and could reproduce them.
...Aurelia-san burned the letter because she realized that was information that should not be leaked.
"Realize this. I understand you acted out of goodwill, but what you did is a crime, and it will involve many people."
Until she asked me if I knew who would bear the responsibility first if I committed a crime, I realized I had never even thought about it. It never occurred to me that I might do something that could be called a crime until it was pointed out. I thought conveying the research material contents to Aurelia was necessary to prepare for the next outbreak of Warts disease, but I never considered that I was taking information guarded by several knights outside. Even just Jasper sending a letter to the Sedovara Church required confirmation and approval from the Silver-White Knights and Leonardo. Even though I had learned it by chance, if I had thought about it, I should have realized it was not something I was permitted to tell Aurelia.
"If you commit a crime, first your guardian Leonardo will be doubly charged for it."
She asked if I understood why, and I thought about it. If Leonardo, as my guardian, would be doubly charged, then first my crime as the protected party would be charged directly to Leonardo as his crime. That much I understood immediately.
But what was the second charge? I thought about it but could not figure it out. When I turned my gaze to Kalisa for help, it seemed she understood. She explained that apart from bearing my crime, Leonardo would also be charged with supervisory responsibility for failing to prevent the crime.
Kalisa had not heard what I leaked, so she said "supervisory responsibility," but strictly speaking it would be security responsibility. And in this case, Leonardo would not be the only one charged. The security of the research materials was handled by several Silver-White Knights working together. They would all be held responsible at the same time.
"...I had not thought that far."
I had simply thought I needed to deliver the prescription to Aurelia. It never crossed my mind that my leaking information would cause trouble for so many people.
"Kalisa, please spank me. I did something wrong."
"Yes, young lady."
I lay face down over Kalisa's lap as she sat on a chair, and she spanked me. Since Kalisa does not have as much strength as Leonardo, there was no need for her to hold back with me. But if anything, it hurt more than when Leonardo spanks me.
It was decided that I would report what I had done to Leonardo properly. I did think for a moment that if I kept quiet, no one would know, but I also understood that keeping silent was not the right thing to do. I really had done something no laughing matter.
...I failed. Complete failure.
Sneaky thoughts did cross my mind, but I am not clever enough to use those sneaky methods knowing they are sneaky. It would cause Leonardo enormous trouble, but staying quiet would probably be worse.
...I know Leonyaldo-san will honestly take the blame like an idiot. And drag others into it too.
Leonardo is not the type to keep a crime buried in his chest, thinking "there was no actual harm." He will probably try to prevent the blame from spreading to the Silver-White Knights, but he will absolutely impose punishment on me and himself. Right now, I resent Leonardo's honesty just a little.
When I woke up the next morning, Aurelia said nothing. Even if she scolded me now, what was done was done. She must have judged that further lecturing was pointless.
After cleaning up breakfast, Aurelia called me to the bedroom. Thinking it was too early to sleep, I went to the bedroom and found something like a cylindrical cushion placed on the desk. Several wooden sticks were arranged around it.
"What... is this?"
"You came to learn lace weaving, did you not?"
So that pillow-like thing was a tool for weaving lace. When I approached and looked closely, a geometric pattern diagram was placed on top of the cushion, and what I had thought were wooden sticks had thread wound around them.
"You stick pins in according to the pattern."
Explaining as she went, Aurelia pushed what she called pins into the cushion. If you think of it as a cushion for sticking pins, maybe it is better to think of it as a large pincushion.
I think this stay was supposed to be about learning lace weaving, but from what little I had heard, it seemed more like lace weaving than lace knitting. The technique was apparently called bobbin lace. It was named after the bobbins used to weave it. Bobbin lace is woven by hand, like weaving cloth on a loom. Even from the brief explanation, I could tell it was an incredibly labor-intensive craft.
Whenever I stumbled over Aurelia's English explanations, Kalisa, who was listening nearby, interpreted for me. She was teaching me with a very simple pattern, and I tried to move the threads as instructed, but my head got confused partway through. However, I understood why Aurelia had specified coarse threads in various colors when preparing materials. She chose colored coarse threads to make it easy for me, a beginner, to understand and to practice with. I could not keep track of which thread was which even if they were numbered, but with colors, I could distinguish them. She must have chosen easy-to-understand materials for a true beginner.
...But the finished result is a complete mess of colors, though.
Comparing the pattern Aurelia had woven first with the one I wove next, I sighed. Maybe it was decent for a beginner's work, but the gap was too wide.
"Jumping into patterns was too much for you. Let us start with the basics of basics."
Saying that, Aurelia brought out another cylindrical cushion from somewhere. This time there was no pattern underneath. Starting with getting my fingers accustomed, I began by weaving a simple surface with slightly thicker thread.
Koto, kororo, koron. A light sound rang out each time I moved the bobbins. I understood that fundamentals were important in everything, so even though I thought it was a simple task, I found myself concentrating before I knew it.
I was not sure how long I had been concentrating, but before I knew it, the regular sound of bobbins was echoing from beside me. Aurelia had gone to her pharmacy apprentice after teaching me the basics, but had she come back and was continuing the geometric pattern? Thinking that and looking up, I saw Kalisa, completely absorbed, rolling her bobbins. Since Kalisa had been interpreting Aurelia's explanations for me, she should understand how bobbin lace worked too. She must have been curious about a new craft technique. With a pleasant koron, koron sound echoing, she was weaving the geometric pattern with total focus.
"...Well, I suppose this is about right for a beginner."
In the evening, I showed Aurelia the lace I had made. What I had produced was less a lace and more just a flat, long ribbon of plain weave. It took time and effort, but it was really just practice. Still, the part I had woven in the morning and the part I had woven in the afternoon were clearly different in quality, so the practice seemed to have had some effect. If I kept at it a while longer, I felt like I could weave neatly.
"Beginner... same. Kalisa is good."
"Ah, that is quite pretty for a first try. At this rate, you might be able to make slightly more complex patterns."
On the condition of being a beginner, there should be no difference between Kalisa and me, but the results were clearly different. The geometric pattern ribbon, which had sections made by Aurelia, sections by me, and sections by Kalisa, besides being worked on by three people, my section alone was uneven and shabby.
"...Am I not suited for this?"
"As if bobbin lace is something you can master overnight. If you are going to give up that quickly, do not even start in the first place."
Saying it would be a waste of thread and time, Aurelia pinched my cheek. Aurelia had indulged me by offering to teach me, so I could not just throw in the towel right away. Maybe Kalisa was just especially good at it, and I was still at a normal level. It was too early to give up.
For several days after that, I just kept rolling bobbins. My fingers had finally gotten used to it, and the bobbins I rolled began to produce a pleasant sound too. When Kalisa and I wove lace together, Aurelia seemed stimulated by it as well. She found time to come to the bedroom and started weaving lace too.
"...Aurelia-san's sound is soothing."
I stopped my own work and listened to the regular koron, koron sound of her bobbins. I had improved a bit and could weave more neatly, but I still could not do it while distracted without the surface warping. I watched Aurelia's hands closely while listening carefully to the sound of the bobbins rolling.
"Once you get used to it, your sound will be like this too."
"How many years from now? I hope it will."
Amidst the koron, koron sound of the bobbins, I peered at Kalisa's hands as she rolled her bobbins with complete focus beside me. Kalisa, who had already earned Aurelia's recognition to some extent from the very first day, could now weave the geometric pattern with almost no surface warping, but according to Aurelia, it still was not at a level she could sell.
...Bobbin lace is beautiful and incredibly delicate, but it seems like it would be difficult to popularize even if I tried.
I had thought that if it became available on the market as a commercial product, I would not be bothered by shady merchants anymore. But after trying it for several days, I understood all too well. Very few people can do this. To reach a level where you can make something sellable, it would take years of training unless you are someone like Kalisa whose nature suits it. It would be even more years before it circulates as a commercial product.
Typos and corrections will be handled another day.
It has been a while since I felt signs of tendonitis, so I will skip tomorrow's update.
I have found and fixed the typos and errors I spotted.