312 - The Neighboring Country's Various Affairs
"How does it feel? Is it too tight or uncomfortable anywhere?"
"It's just right. Fits perfectly."
Leonardo slipped his arms into the black shirt, then bent and stretched his arms on the spot, and next rolled his shoulders. Every movement was extremely smooth, so the shirt didn't seem to be too tight.
"If there don't seem to be any problems, then it's complete."
It was a shirt I'd made to pass the time, but being able to confirm the finished fit on the person himself before gifting it was helpful. I couldn't give it as a surprise present, but that was better than making something that didn't fit because I tried to be clever. Besides, surprise presents weren't enjoyable to give or receive.
"Even so, Tina, how did you know my measurements so well?"
"When I asked the tailor, they delivered the fabric already cut and ready to sew."
Originally I'd planned to ask only for Leonardo's measurements, learn from Hermine, and start from cutting the fabric. But when I explained to my brother that I wanted to sew him a shirt and asked for his measurements, the tailor was too considerate. The fabric arrived in a state where all that was left was to sew it together, leaving me with a somewhat unsatisfied feeling.
"...Well, ordinary ladies don't sew their own clothes."
"That's true."
Hermine taught sewing as part of ladyship education, but ordinary ladies didn't do things like tailoring their own clothes. Embroidery was done as an elegant hobby, but making clothes or mending tears was the work of tailors and servants. Even the children's clothes I wore were either made by the tailor or by Kalisa as part of her nurse maid duties.
...Next time, instead of the tailor, I should go to the fabric shop.
Reflecting on this failure, I realized that if I wanted to make it from scratch, I should have prepared the fabric first, and I packed the sewing tools into the box. Leaving Petrona to put away the sewing box, I turned back to Leonardo, who was still wearing the freshly finished shirt.
"...Leonyaldo Big Brother, how long do you intend to keep wearing that shirt? Since it's a Spring Flower Festival gift, please take it off now."
"This is something you're giving me, right?"
"It's something I'm giving you, Leonyaldo Big Brother, but the Spring Flower Festival is still some time away. Since the custom is to wear new clothes for the first time at the Spring Flower Festival, please take it off for now."
"You've probably prepared a few other shirts anyway, right? What's wrong with just one?"
"You don't give up easily."
When I told him he was an adult and should listen, Leonardo turned defiant, saying what was wrong with fully celebrating a gift from his little sister. The fact that 'his little sister sewed it' must have held some special premium for him, since he showed resistance to taking off the shirt.
"...I was planning to iron that shirt before giving it to you, you know."
If he wanted to keep wearing it as is, I pressed, then he should be prepared to have it ironed while he was wearing it. Even Leonardo seemed to give up at that. If someone ironed clothes while you were wearing them, you'd definitely get burned. And not just a careless little burn, but a serious deep one.
"By the way, who's doing the ironing?"
"If I said it was me, would you intend to be ironed while still wearing it, Leonyaldo Big Brother? Even I would leave the ironing to an adult."
There was no such thing as a child-sized iron. That meant if I were to use one, I'd have to handle an adult iron. In my previous life, lightweight electric irons would have been one thing, but in this country, irons were primitive things where you put charcoal or hot water into a thick-bottomed iron pot. There was no way a child like me could hold one with one hand.
"...I'll be heading to Lugmilama Fortress by the Spring Flower Festival, so it should be fine to give it to me now."
"If you resist any more, it'll change from a Spring Flower Festival gift to your birthday gift for this year, Leonyaldo Big Brother."
My birthday was at the beginning of summer, but Leonardo's birthday was at the end of spring, only about half a month apart. And since the Spring Flower Festival was at the beginning of spring, if it changed from a Spring Flower Festival gift to a birthday gift, he'd have to wait about a whole season before he could wear the shirt.
Ulrika handed Leonardo the shirt he'd been wearing earlier as he started taking off the new one with a thoroughly reluctant expression. While folding the shirt I'd received from Leonardo, I began thinking about the birthday gift.
...Last year I made an embroidery painting... but this year I hadn't thought of anything.
I felt like I'd had more to do than expected and hadn't had the mental leeway to think of pranks. I wasn't sure if it was right to equate my brother's birthday gift with thinking of pranks, but since Leonardo seemed happy with anything from me, that just made me want to throw him a curveball instead.
"What should I make for Leonyaldo Big Brother's birthday gift this year?"
Since it was around the end of spring, he'd definitely be at Lugmilama Fortress by then, but if I could celebrate it, I wanted to. When I asked him directly if there was anything he wanted within reason, Leonardo said he'd be happy to receive letters regularly. Lugmilama Fortress was a workplace, but the knights originally stationed there had families in the surrounding villages. They'd occasionally show off care packages from their families, and it seemed Leonardo, who'd left his little sister behind in the capital for a solo posting, didn't find it amusing. Of course, as the Commander in charge of the fortress, he couldn't let that lower his subordinates' morale, nor could he ban care packages. In autumn, after that situation had continued for a while, he'd thought to himself, apparently. He wanted to connect with family, even if only through letters.
"As for me, I'd assumed letters to the fortress were things like work reports and instruction documents, so I held back..."
"Letters from family are allowed, you know."
Letters sent from the fortress to family were subject to censorship, but it seemed letters from family to knights stationed at the fortress would be delivered except in special situations like during wartime. It appeared I hadn't needed to hold back so much just because it was a workplace.
"...Then I'll write to you each season."
"I won't say once a week, but can't you make it at least once a month?"
When I said I'd write about once every three months because sending too often would be a nuisance, apparently once every three months was too little. Sending a letter once a week would be a waste on transportation costs, but once a month did seem like a good interval.
"Understood. Then I'll send you letters that'll make you feel anxious and want to come check on me regularly."
"As a brother, I'd like reassuring letters, though..."
I cut off the conversation, saying I couldn't promise that. I generally tried to keep to myself and not stick my nose into trouble, but things like poison being brought into the detached palace or foolish White Knights aiding suspicious persons weren't things I could prevent through my own efforts.
...Well, it seemed Alfred-sama had cleaned things up quite a bit, so things would work out somehow, right?
Though snow still remained, spring was approaching and Leonardo's departure date was set. This was the second time I packed Leonardo's luggage. Last time I'd packed while learning from Hermine, so this time I did it alone.
...Really, this was something Leonardo-san's wife should be doing, though.
Since my brother had no wife, I, his little sister, packed his luggage. Even when a wife prepared it, strictly speaking the mistress gave instructions to the servants to pack it, so there was actually no need to fixate on a wife. Simply put, it was also one of the few things I could do for Leonardo, so I just wanted to do it.
...This should be fine, I thought.
I packed by myself, but I still wanted someone to confirm it, so I relied on Hermine. I had her double-check the travel essentials and things needed for early spring from her perspective, and finally delivered the luggage to Leonardo.
"...Huh? You didn't pack the luggage evenly this time?"
"I heard from the Black Knight who came to pick you up last time that you seemed to have difficulty with the packing since it was different from usual."
I'd thought that if the luggage was going to be tied to a horse's back, it would be better to balance it evenly left and right. But apparently, packing differently from usual had been a burden on Leonardo. Leonardo hadn't said anything, but one of the Black Knights who'd come from Lugmilama Fortress to pick him up had told me about the previous journey. That Leonardo seemed to have a little trouble with his luggage.
"This time I packed it by purpose, so you shouldn't be confused."
"I see. You thought of all sorts of things for me."
He patted my head with thanks, and I pointed out in embarrassment, "What I thought about was last time." It seemed the attempt had failed, but the thinking and doing something was last time's story.
"Speaking of last time's failure, I prepared properly this time. Talismans. Please take them with you."
Last time I'd assumed he was just returning to Grenore Fortress, so I hadn't thought to prepare talismans. When I'd found out he was actually heading to the tense Lugmilama Fortress, I'd been furious. If I'd known he was going to Lugmilama Fortress, I would have at least prepared one talisman.
"A talisman of Anatochu, the guardian deity of travelers, and this one, I'd be happier if it went to waste, but a talisman of the War God Herkeles."
The blessing of Anatochu, who protected travelers on their journey, was necessary. But I'd be happier if the War God Herkeles talisman had no chance to be used. The War God Herkeles talisman was also one that prayed for military success. It was a talisman based on the premise that war would occur.
"...This time, it's a trip of almost a whole year, isn't it?"
I handed the talismans to Leonardo and closed the lids of the bags I'd finished checking. Staring at the two bags lined up on the table, the reality that I'd be separated from my brother again for a while set in, and the need for affection that had finally settled down lately began to ache. Since I'd already started feeling lonely, I sat down next to Leonardo as if to hide my feelings.
"If the war ends, I can come back sooner."
"I dislike war in its own right, so that's complicated."
I wanted Leonardo to come back soon, but that didn't mean I wanted war to start. If war began, not only would Leonardo's life be put in danger, but many soldiers on both sides would lose their lives. I only knew about war from stories, but even so, I understood it was a frightening and terrible thing.
"Is it our neighbor, the Saenard Kingdom? They should just apologize properly."
"That country couldn't do that. Perhaps because they value bloodlines above all else, they're a country rigidly stuck in their strange pride. Different from this country."
"This country... even those of royal blood marry commoners without a second thought."
When one heard of nobles and royalty, one would think they'd normally resist by protecting their noble bloodlines and refusing to mix with commoners. But this country's royalty was generous. If they wanted to bring someone in, they'd marry off a princess even to a commoner, and even if someone married into or out of the family, their status as royalty was maintained. If I thought about the worst case, nobles aiming to usurp the throne under the banner of an illegitimate child bearing royal blood could easily emerge, but I felt they even tolerated that. Perhaps they thought that if a tyrant deserving of revolution sat on the throne, so be it.
"Unthinkable in the Saenard Kingdom, for royalty to marry commoners."
"...Were they really originally the same country?"
"That's what history says."
The Ivizia Kingdom and the Saenard Kingdom had originally been one country if you went back in time. About a hundred and thirty years ago, a younger princess who held a Royal Peerage and an older princess without a Royal Peerage fought over the throne of the Ivizia Kingdom. The older princess who lost led the nobles who had sided with her and declared independence. That was the beginning of the current Saenard Kingdom. As a neighboring country with such beginnings, it had been on bad terms with our Ivizia Kingdom ever since its founding.
The Ivizia Kingdom, ruled by the younger princess who held the Royal Peerage, was meritocratic. Even today, royalty were not allowed to be complacent, and no power accrued to the king's children who did not hold a Royal Peerage. Conversely, the Saenard Kingdom, ruled by the older princess who had failed to obtain a Royal Peerage, ran on bloodline aristocracy, to the point where as long as one carried noble blood, one could hold important positions regardless of ability or skill. Naturally, even if the heir to the throne was a fool, in the Saenard Kingdom, they would place that fool on the throne by virtue of bloodline.
"Somehow... it seems like a country that's bound to collapse someday."
It might be fine at first, but surely distortions would arise somewhere and it would rot. Especially frightening was that incompetents could still take important positions.
"Still, it's a country that has lasted over a hundred years... but whether it will continue or split apart, I don't know."
"There are factors that could cause a split?"
"It's been over five years now... but there's one prince who fell from power. I hear he's currently confined in Alsuta Castle, but that prince is very popular among the people. If something were to happen, it's possible."
"Speaking of the prince of Alsuta Castle, I feel like I've heard about him somewhere..."
Who was that? As I searched my memory, Leonardo told me before I found the answer. He was the superior of the man who kidnapped me in Lagarette.
"The ringleader of kidnappers is popular among the people?"
"Officially, that kidnapping is considered to have been the kidnapper and his gang's independent decision. That's where the negotiations between the countries got complicated and led to the current tense border situation..."
According to the testimony of the kidnapper William, he had apparently been trying to recruit Leonardo away in order to restore Prince Conrad, who was confined in Alsuta Castle. However, he also testified that it was all done on his own initiative, and Prince Conrad knew nothing of it. That he was sorry for causing trouble for Prince Conrad because of his actions. And the aforementioned Prince Conrad was officially maintaining a stance of neither knowing nor acknowledging the matter. He testified neither that it was William's rampage nor that it was done on his orders.
"...Alf's view, apparently, was that another prince or princess who wants to steal Prince Conrad's popularity is trying to use this matter as a pretext to start a war with Ivizia. He also said that Prince Conrad, currently in disgrace, would stay on the sidelines."
"How did Alf-san think the neighboring country's prince would stay on the sidelines?"
"Probably because he's met him directly. Even I've met and spoken with Prince Conrad before."
Prince Conrad apparently wasn't such a bad person as a neighbor. The place where Leonardo and Alf had met him, from what I gathered from the conversation, was on a battlefield, but I refrained from pointing that out.
Alf, who seemed to have spoken directly with Prince Conrad, had judged on his own that "Prince Conrad will stay on the sidelines." Leonardo apparently shared the same opinion, as he didn't seem inclined to add anything more on the matter.
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Time is up.
Will fix typos and errors at a later date. The update on the 20th will be skipped.