232 - The Passage Exit and the Letter on the Silver Tray
What awaited after Nadine's long lecture was part two of the reflection meeting disguised as Hermine's lesson.
In other words, it was a continuation of the scolding time.
"...Where are you going, Leonyaldo Big Brother?"
While I was being scolded that exploring the hidden passage was "conduct unbefitting a lady" and receiving a lecture on the model answer for what a lady should have done instead, Leonardo, who had been reading what looked like documents on a long sofa, stood up.
The mere fact that Leonardo stood up distracted me, and a crease formed between Hermine's brows.
"While Tina is in her lesson, I will go investigate the passage from the exit side."
It seemed he had found the exit of that passage from the documents.
I started to open my mouth to say I wanted to go too to Leonardo, who was telling me his destination concisely, but I closed it at Hermine's piercing gaze.
Even I understood that making her any angrier would be bad.
...Well, if you tried to do the same thing right after being scolded, of course they would get angry.
To me, who started to raise my hand and then lowered it, Leonardo gave a wry smile and patted my head.
According to the documents, the passage exit seemed to be outside the royal castle, so apparently I could not follow along either way.
I was not even used to the detached palace yet, let alone the castle grounds.
There was no way they could take me outside the even more expansive royal castle grounds.
"Since I am going out anyway, I will buy some Norakamu as a souvenir for Tina.
You never got to eat the Norakamu from the other day, did you."
The Norakamu sent by the First Prince never made it into my mouth at all, what with me being bedridden and then making the rounds to greet the detached palace servants.
Apparently Nadine sent a thank-you letter using a standard form, but I also thought it was rude to have ended up not even tasting something I was kindly given.
And more than anything, I could not tell if Norakamu, which looked exactly like macarons, really was a macaron without eating one.
I thought about various things like that, but really, it was nothing special.
I simply wanted to try eating Norakamu.
When told I would get Norakamu as a souvenir, I had no choice but to reluctantly see Leonardo off.
I could tell Hermine's anger subsided just a little at my decision to obediently see Leonardo off.
She must have judged that the results of my learning were showing, however slightly.
The reflection meeting led by Hermine ended sooner than I expected.
...Yeah, Norakamu really is a macaron after all.
As I brought to my mouth the Norakamu Leonardo had promptly brought back, I savored its flavor.
The colorful and cute Norakamu seemed to have even more colors than the ones I had seen in my previous life.
The red and dark green ones were fine, but the blue and lurid purple ones took a bit of courage to put in my mouth.
The taste was the same, but as a former Japanese person, the blue ones especially did not feel like food.
...Foreign sweets had such crazy colors, did not they.
I had seen something called rainbow pancakes in my previous life, though only in photos.
As a Japanese person, I never really wanted to eat them with those colors, but maybe that was normal over there.
...Also, each one was big.
Japanese macarons were only bite-sized, but Norakamu was about the same size as my hand.
They were colorful and cute, but at this size, I as a child could only eat one.
It seemed Leonardo had bought various flavors, but even splitting them in half, I could probably only try two flavors at most.
...Since they are popular, maybe there are other shops too?
I was wondering if they sold smaller sizes somewhere, but Leonardo told me the results of his investigation while bringing Norakamu to his mouth.
"The conclusion is, the lock on the door at the end of the hidden passage needs to be replaced as soon as possible."
When he went from the hidden passage exit in the documents back to where the door was located, it seemed he found traces that someone had used the door.
It was not a trace from just yesterday or today, but apparently marks from opening and closing the door remained as layers in the dust.
...What is that, scary.
The key was missing, but the fact that there were traces of it being opened and closed meant that someone had the key and was carrying it around knowing it was the key to that door.
As a new resident of the detached palace, that was absolutely something I could not overlook.
Under the pretense of handing over the leftover Norakamu, he called over a maid who had been serving at the detached palace for a long time and questioned her, but no stories about any intruders came up.
It was strange that the people serving at the detached palace did not know about it when there were traces of the door being used.
I could not tell whether it was by chance that the last time the door was used was before that maid came to the detached palace, or whether she knew and was staying silent.
...But Leonyaldo-san's maid had been changed.
The maid he called was not the one who had been hitting on Leonardo the other day.
Leonardo, being Leonardo, must have handled it properly.
...Rebecca's transfer request still does not seem to have been accepted, though?
Ulrika, who had been making eyes at Leonardo, seemed not to hit on him when I was around. Well, she was a maid after all.
She showed no particular blunders otherwise.
If I had to name one, it would be oversleeping the day after arriving at the detached palace.
If she continued not to make eyes at Leonardo within my sight, I might be willing to overlook the other day.
If she could separate public and private, I had no reason to fire her.
...After all, I do think love is a personal freedom.
If Leonardo actually brought a lover or something, I felt like I might get jealous and interfere, but in principle, love is a personal freedom.
As long as one could distinguish between work hours and private time like a proper working adult, I thought it was fine whoever hit on whoever.
...No, but I will be strictly vetting any sister-in-law.
I will do my best as a meddlesome sister-in-law.
A door with no key that showed signs of being used by someone was too unsettling.
And on top of that, a passage connected through such a door leading outside the royal castle was beyond careless.
So now that I understood the situation, I decided to post a guard at the spring room hearth until the door replacement was finished.
Excluding Leonardo, who guarded me as a hobby, I only had two personal guards, so I could not spare them.
Fortunately, there were several White Knights guarding the detached palace itself, so I decided to borrow a few of them to stand watch in shifts.
"The locksmith has arrived.
From here on, I will serve as the supervisor and begin the door replacement work."
Whether it had been arranged beforehand or not, a maid announced the locksmith's arrival, and Aaron handed over my protection to Leonardo.
My official guards were Aaron and Giselle, but Aaron did not seem to trust Giselle, the White Knight, at all.
I did not know Giselle's actual combat ability either, so I could not defend her, but I did know she was quietly making persistent efforts.
She would borrow the detached palace blueprints without being asked and read documents in between guarding. Perhaps emulating Aaron, she was working hard to make up for her own shortcomings.
...I think she would be more suited as a maid or an attendant rather than a knight, though.
Giselle, who looked dainty at a glance, had the appearance of a noble young lady and did not look like a knight at all.
She wore the White Knight uniform, so in that sense she did look like a knight, but her physique was like the "princess knights" often seen in fiction, without a single muscle for fighting.
"There is still time until Hermine-sensei's lesson, is not there?
I would like to observe the work as well..."
I started to say I wanted to follow, but I noticed Hermine deepening her smile in the corner of my vision.
If I followed along wanting to peek at the work like usual, the afternoon lesson would turn into a reflection meeting.
...Close one, close one.
I almost made another mistake.
I had been taught this once before in Grenore when I tried to watch the interior decorators' work while preparing Aurelia's room.
The master only gives instructions. Supervision of the work is left to the servants.
Given the nature of this work's location, Aaron, being a guard, had agreed to take on the supervisor role.
"...I wanted to go observe the work, but it is not the master's job... is it... right?"
When I corrected myself while timidly gauging Hermine's expression, Hermine's smile turned into a wry one.
I was correct, but perhaps my asking with such uncertainty was pathetic.
"I am very pleased that Tina-sama remembers what I taught you before."
She added, "Of course, it is not the master's work," so I tried to obediently sit down in a chair, but just as Aaron was replaced, Nadine entered carrying a silver tray.
She quietly crossed the room and advanced before me, then knelt on one knee and held out the silver tray to me as if presenting it.
"...Is that a letter?"
"Humbly, an invitation from Ethelbert-sama has arrived for you, Tina-sama."
I somehow managed to stop my face from twisting in dismay.
Nadine's face was below the silver tray and she was looking down, so she did not notice, but Hermine definitely saw my cheek twitch.
It was only on my face for a moment and I did not voice it, so I hoped she would let it slide.
...I had a feeling the afternoon lesson content had just changed, though.
I did not think the reflection meeting would be that long, but I felt I would at least get a warning.
"How does Ethelbert-sama know that I am staying in the capital?"
My honest thought was, from whose mouth did it leak to that old gentleman that I was in the capital.
This is what happened when I dressed it up like a proper lady.
"Ethelbert-sama is one who possesses eyes that survey the entire country and large ears that hear the voice of every single citizen.
It seems he knew of your stay, Tina-sama, even before you arrived."
Was the "eyes that survey the entire country" referring to his journey traveling through the various domains rather than various countries?
If so, the "large ears" might be Ethelbert's own information network.
Or perhaps it was the windmill person.
In fact, it seemed an invitation from Ethelbert had arrived even on the day I arrived at the detached palace.
But at the time, I had already had a tea party with Alfred first, and Alfred supposedly took that invitation away, saying I must be tired from the journey.
...Alfred-sama! When Alf is not involved, he is such a reliable prince!!
I decided I would rely on him with all my might while staying in the capital.
While plotting such things on my own, I tried silently asking Alfred, who was not here in the detached palace, to somehow deal with this troublesome thing (letter) right in front of me, but of course doing that would not convey my predicament to Alfred.
"I think Ethelbert-sama is a good-natured old gentleman, but he tells me to become his granddaughter, so I would rather not meet him."
In a way, it was the same as confessing and being rejected.
The one who confesses might feel better having gotten it off their chest, but the one who does the rejecting is left with a certain amount of guilt.
My interactions with Ethelbert were similar to this.
I did not want to become a royal bride, but every time we met, he would invite me to become his grandson's bride, and refusing that was nothing but a burden to me.
...If he did not tell me to become his granddaughter, I would not mind going to see him, though?
However, as a practical matter, an invitation from Ethelbert was being presented right in front of me.
An invitation from His Majesty the former king.
As a lady, I could not ignore this.
"...If I do not accept this letter, could not that mean I do not have to go?"
"Since the invitation has arrived at the detached palace, there is no sufficient reason to decline, so that is impossible."
I reached toward the letter on the silver tray, then pulled my hand back, afraid to accept it.
When I turned my gaze toward Hermine as if pleading, the lesson suddenly began.
"Leoo..."
Please read the letter for me instead.
I looked up at Leonardo with that wish in my eyes, but he refused, saying that even if he was currently in hiding, he could not have someone who was not even named on the address read a letter from the former king first.
"...Um?"
I had no choice, so I steeled myself.
No matter how much I avoided it, it would come from the other side anyway.
I decided to think that it was still better that paper was sent rather than him personally barging into the detached palace.
"Today... today?
Is it today?
Could the fact that it is too sudden not be a reason to decline?"
"It is not sudden for Ethelbert-sama at all."
Since Alfred had once taken the invitation back, it was not sudden for Ethelbert at all.
When I turned to Hermine with a beaming face, thinking I had found a reason to refuse, she casually cut off my escape route.
"That Ethelbert-sama has already been waiting over three days after Tina-san's arrival..."
Hermine said it would be better to just show my face once.
Knowing Ethelbert's excessive capacity for action, if I left it any longer, he might either launch a direct assault on the detached palace, or, like the retired Mito lord, have the dragonfly-emblemed people sneak into my bedroom and take me out during the night. (T/N: Reference to Mito Komon, a historical Edo-period retired lord famous for traveling incognito to help commoners, accompanied by attendants bearing dragonfly crests.)
...I kind of wanted to see a guard-versus-ninja showdown between Leonyaldo-san and the dragonfly people.
I had no intention of letting Aaron into my bedroom, and Giselle apparently was not very useful in combat, so I excluded her.
I let my thoughts drift to a dream mixed-style martial arts match, then quickly returned to reality.
Even if I escaped into fantasy, the invitation in front of me would not disappear.
I should probably follow Hermine's advice after all.
...Besides, I am the type who eats the things I do not like first!
The secret is I hesitated a bit over whether to use "things I dislike" or "things I am not good at" for the closing line.
Typos and omissions again another day.
Fixed any typos and omissions I found.