257 - Dupre Orphanage 1
I don't think the content of the work is particularly positive. But even so, I'm happy to have something I can do. Up until now, all I did was take Hermine's lessons, with none of the embroidery side work I did in Grenore, just spending my time freely making bobbin lace or reading books. I was aware that I was just eating for free, so even though I don't yet know if I'll be useful, I'm honestly happy to have been given work.
The pile of documents I received at the Consort's Detached Palace, I brought into the most private space in my room, the tatami area. Since they were entrusted to me, I ordered the Black Dog (Oscar) to guard the documents. I wondered if he would do guard duty for things other than people, but the Black Dog, who responded when I told him to keep watch at the Grenore residence as well, now lies down beside the tatami and waits on standby.
...The content of the job is "reading documents," but Hermine-sensei's opinion of it is not good.
Since I'd be reading a lot of text, I face the documents in a relaxed posture, but this is exactly what Hermine disapproves of. For Hermine, whose job is to teach me proper ladylike behavior, seeing me take off my shoes and sit on the tatami probably doesn't look well-mannered. Thinking back, even at the Grenore residence, I was scolded once when I sat on the carpet while playing with the puppy (Kokumaro). At that time, I placated her by putting a cushion under me, but unfortunately I didn't bring the ugly cat pillow to the detached palace. If I wanted to put something under my bottom, I'd have to make something new or sacrifice a stuffed cushion.
...Being able to stretch my legs without shoes on is comfortable, though, you know?
I place the writing board on my knees as a desk substitute and jot down notable passages from the documents onto paper. Since I can't write directly on the documents, I don't forget to make notes of the document serial numbers. If I use paper for notes and the writing board for thoughts, I can save on paper usage.
...Like Felicia-sama said, the first being the attempted poisoning of Alfred-sama is probably right on the mark.
Alfred's symptoms and those of his mother Evelina are the same, differing only in severity and mildness. I think this difference probably comes from the physical size and stamina differences between an adult and a child. If this was twenty years ago, Alfred would have been even younger than I am now.
...Aurelia-san's handwriting.
Among the bundles of documents recording the details of Evelina's symptoms, diagnosis notes in Aurelia's handwriting were occasionally inserted. The names of the medicines and their usage are also written carefully.
...This might be manageable, but if it's a poison not in the diagnosis notes, I feel like there'd be no way to find the antidote.
The symptoms caused by the poison are recorded in detail, and even the antidote and its usage are preserved meticulously. With this many reference materials left, if the same medicine exists in Saint Yuuta Hiraga's research materials, I could probably find it. The problem is if a poison not documented in Aurelia's diagnosis notes was used. I can at least read through the remaining materials, but I have zero knowledge as a pharmacist. I can't identify an antidote for a new poison from my own knowledge.
...As I thought, I might not be able to say anything for sure until I've read all the research materials.
Because they know what documents I'm reading, the number of times I'm summoned to Felicia-sama's tea parties has decreased. The reason it hasn't gone to zero is that the nickname "Owl Princess" has stuck. Occasionally, when a guest arrives whom Felicia especially relies on, I'm called out for face-to-face introductions. Felicia's followers had many Staff Peerages.
...Speaking of Felicia-sama's tea parties, it seems that since she started wearing clothes, things have gotten a little troublesome.
Felicia, who used to generously bare her beautiful body, had many worshippers due to her goddess-like beauty, but now that she wears clothes and hides her private parts, it seems people's awareness has shifted from worship of a goddess to longing for a beautiful human woman. I wonder if the kind of phenomenon Leonardo once mentioned is occurring. People don't feel lust toward a statue of a goddess, but they do harbor carnal desires toward a fellow human woman. To put it plainly, suitors have begun flocking to Felicia as a beautiful human woman.
...Come to think of it, Felicia-sama. Even though she's Alfred-sama's older sister, she still hasn't married.
I wonder if she's about to age out of the suitable marriage period. I think that, but Felicia shows no signs of impatience. If she aims for the throne, she needs to be extremely selective about a husband, and if she can't find a good partner, she seems to think she can either give up on the throne or adopt a sibling's child. In a way, she's decisive, and if you think about it, that's very like Felicia.
"Tina, let's go outside for once."
"What is it? I am in the middle of secret work. Please do not interrupt my work."
Sitting on the floor chair that Ethelbert had sent, having somehow arranged it, I brush off Leonardo while reading documents. Our positions are completely reversed from when we were in Grenore, but since I never interrupted Leonardo when he was working, Leonardo is the worse one here. With a writing desk also sent along with the floor chair, the tatami area was gradually becoming a little workspace. Though it was a playhouse-like workspace with just a writing desk, a floor chair, and a box full of documents on a two-tatami area.
"You've been glaring at documents ever since you came back from the tea party. If you don't go outside sometimes, it's bad for your health."
"I didn't go outside much at the Grenore residence either, you know."
"No, that's not true. At the residence you went out to the backyard every day for a walk."
Even after coming to the detached palace, I didn't go out unless invited, but I did occasionally stroll through the garden. But now that he points out I'm sitting still on the tatami like an ornament, continuously reading documents, I think about it a little.
...Come to think of it, maybe that's true?
I was so happy to finally have something I could do that I've been reading through documents like crazy, but I feel like I've been focusing on that alone and neglecting everything else. The only times I wear shoes are during Hermine's lessons and when I absolutely have to leave the tatami, like moving to the dining hall or the bath. Ever since I came back from the Consort's Detached Palace, I've been spending most of my time on the tatami. The next longest is in bed for sleep.
...But this might involve people's lives, so I think I should act quickly, you know?
For my health, it might be better to get some sunlight. I understand that, but I also begrudge even that small amount of time. Besides, there's no place I particularly want to go.
"...Then, shall we take an early autumn garden stroll?"
Just as this detached palace has rooms for each season, it also has gardens for each season. Since summer is ending, we'd be moving to the autumn room, so the autumn-blooming flowers probably haven't bloomed yet, but checking on the gardener's work might be good. Most of all, since it's within the same detached palace, the best part is that it wouldn't take much time.
"There's a place I want to go. Will you come with me?"
"That's an outing invitation from the start, isn't it."
Since I don't need to think about the destination, I decide to go out, thinking it might be fine. I never interrupted Leonardo's work, but even when he was busy with work, he sometimes took me to the city as a break. I think it's the same thing.
...Either way, it's Leonyaldo-san who's dragging me out.
"Oh? Where are we going?"
I board the carriage that was quickly prepared and gaze at the scenery flowing past the small window. I thought for sure we were going somewhere inside the royal castle, but the carriage went out through the main gate and entered the inner city.
"We're heading to the orphanage where I grew up."
"The orphanage? Do you have business there?"
"It's nothing as important as business... but since we came all the way to the capital, I thought I'd at least show my face once."
It's like coming nearby and deciding to check on your hometown, I suppose. In this world where transportation networks aren't very developed, if you move to a city different from your hometown, you can't easily visit home. It wasn't a stay in the capital for the purpose of visiting home, but since we're in the capital anyway, I suppose no harm would come from going to see how things are.
On the way to the working-class district where the orphanage is located, we stop the carriage and peek into a confectionery shop. He seems to intend to buy souvenirs for the current residents of the orphanage, but since he doesn't know how many children are there, fresh sweets are hard to buy. When he decided to buy baked sweets instead, I tugged his sleeve and recommended jarfuls of candy. Baked sweets are fine, but candy should last longer.
...It's not that I was begging. I was just offering the opinion that candy would keep longer.
That's what I thought, but Leonardo slyly bought candy for me too. The souvenirs for the orphanage are jar-packed candy, but mine is candy in a tin can.
...Still, shopping with guards feels like it might be a nuisance for the shopkeeper.
Aaron standing at the shop entrance, and Giselle who followed me inside. Aaron was still outside, so maybe that was fine, but Giselle, perhaps out of a sense of responsibility as a guard, did not have a face suited for being seen by the public. Even if she is a noble's daughter, having such an unsociable guard as a customer might be a nuisance for the shop. Just seeing the guard's face makes other customers shrink back.
...As I thought, I feel like staying holed up indoors is best for me.
The Dupre Orphanage, where Leonardo grew up, had an old-fashioned but clean exterior. It was a sight I couldn't have imagined from the reality of the orphanage as Leonardo once told me about it.
...This is my first time at an orphanage.
There must have been one in Grenore too, but I never went. It wasn't on the 'streets I was allowed to walk' that Leonardo set for me, and I had no business going near one.
...The stares are intense.
The moment I got off the carriage, I was exposed to curious stares from the children, and instead of taking his escort, I clung to Leonardo's arm. I'm not such a child that I always need to hold my guardian's hand, but in an unfamiliar place, and in a situation where I seemed to be gathering gazes from all directions, I felt uneasy being separated from Leonardo.
"I feel like I'm being prickly stared at."
"A child wearing new, pretty clothes like you, Tina, is rare around here."
In other words, it's the look of seeing something foreign, something different from themselves. According to Leonardo's brief explanation of the inner city, the Dupre Orphanage is located in the working-class district, so it can't be helped. Even Mirshe, who lives in the working-class district of Grenore, always wears old secondhand clothes or clothes with patches. This area inevitably depends on the guardian's income.
"I wondered which noble had come... if it isn't Leo. Long time no see, you've grown."
Whether one of the children went to call him, or he noticed the sound of the carriage, a middle-aged man with dark brown hair came out of the building. He was calling out familiarly to Leonardo, so he must be someone Leonardo knows. I looked up at Leonardo, about to ask what kind of acquaintance he was, and saw a face I'd never seen before on him. If I had to compare it, it was like a young child before his father. I could tell from Leonardo's expression alone what kind of relationship they had, so I decided to stay quiet and not get in the way. Today is something like Leonardo's homecoming. I felt it would be wrong to bother him too much with my own matters.
"It's been a while, Jude-san. I've been staying in the capital for a little while now, so I came to say hello."
"I know. I heard that at the martial arts tournament the other day, you finally beat Timon the Silver-White Knight. You're staying in the capital for a year, right? And now Leo is the Silver-White Knight Commander, huh. You've become something of a hero to the children around here."
"No, about that Commander business..."
Leonardo explains that although he beat Timon, the commander of the Silver-White Knights, he won't become the commander himself. Under normal circumstances he might consider it, but right now he has important matters he can't take his hands off back at the fortress.
...More accurately, it's not his hands he can't take off, it's his eyes, and it's not the fortress, it's the border.
The king's single word had decided that Leonardo would remain with the Black Knights, but it seems the general public thinks Leonardo will become the commander of the Silver-White Knights this year. When Jude invited us in, saying to come inside and tell him the story slowly, I stopped Leonardo who seemed about to be drawn in. When I silently pointed to the carriage's cargo bed, he seemed to remember that he'd bought souvenirs.
"...Right, Jude-san. I brought souvenirs for the children."
After patting my head once, Leonardo returned to the carriage. Whether they heard the commotion, the word "souvenirs," or the name "Leonardo," the children of the orphanage had gathered around the carriage.
"I've got baked sweets and candy... how many siblings are there now?"
"Twenty... five!"
Leonardo asked the nearest boy the number of children. It seems they count each other as "siblings" here. Which means these children currently swarming Leonardo, are they also siblings to him?
...Ah. I just got irritated. I'm a terribly jealous person.
The boy who answered twenty-five seemed to be showing the number with his fingers, but with two fingers on one hand and four on the other, I don't think it's twenty-five. Whether he counted to four, or turned it around and it's actually six, asking Jude would probably be faster than asking the child.
I was about to turn around and ask "How many are there really?" when I noticed Jude looking at me with a curious expression on his face. I tilted my head wondering what was up, when Leonardo, having finished handing out all the souvenirs to the children, came back.
"And who is this young lady? Don't tell me... she's Leo's daughter?"
"Tina is my little sister."
"Little sister? So you reconciled with your parents..."
"No no, the age gap is too big for her to be my blood sister."
"That's true."
To Jude's question of what kind of sister she was then, Leonardo repeated the explanation he'd given many times before. She's the daughter of the benefactor who saved him, and though it was by chance, he was present at the benefactor's final moments and was entrusted with her then. Though the relationship goes through the name-giver, they consider themselves brother and sister.
"I see... so Saromon-sama has passed away..."
Seeing Jude's eyes grow nostalgic, saying he was a good person, I felt somehow strange. Jude, an acquaintance of Leonardo's, seems to know a father I never knew. I don't think I ever heard the name Jude from Father Saro even once, but perhaps the orphanage Father assumed I would go to was this Dupre Orphanage. If that were the case, even if I had somehow made it to the orphanage without meeting Leonardo, Leo and I would have become brother and sister. Of course the relationship would have been completely different from what we have now, but thinking about it feels somehow strange.
O-oh, it's late but thank you for 2000 bookmarks. Also, this story seems to be happily celebrating its first anniversary tomorrow, July 7th.
Will fix typos and errors at a later date. Fixed any typos and omissions I found.