318 - Twelve-Year-Old Goal of Breaking Free from Brother Complex
Before I knew it, spring had ended in the midst of one thing after another. At Siegwald's annex, the prescriptions and compounding methods for Mustine and the Greenwich Pox preventive medicine had been conveyed to the pharmacists along with hands-on work, and those who passed Barbara's inspection were to be transferred to Sedovara Churches across the region. Many secret arts were slated for revival eventually, but for now it was just these two. Since Christoph and the Sedovara Church had judged these as urgently needed and revived them, that was enough for now. For safety's sake, the prescriptions would only be disseminated in the capital of Provall for a while, but I hoped the manufacturing methods would eventually become established like other medicines.
...My twelftth birthday~.
Time passes whether I do anything or not. I did not think I was just playing around every day, but before I knew it, I was twelve.
...Twelve would be sixth grade in elementary school, but what kind of kid was I back in sixth grade?
I tried thinking about it, but I could not remember anything. It is strange how I have no personal memories, yet I can dimly recall the circumstances around me from that time. In sixth grade, I think some of the early bloomers had already started their periods. The fussing about love and such began a little before that. Up through elementary school, I had the mindset of boys are just childish and I do not like them, but once I hit middle school, my eyes suddenly shifted from seeing boys as children to selecting them as the opposite sex, and by high school it was full-on mating season. Thinking about it that way, Elke, who was fascinated by love from the moment we met, was normal, and Petrona first love might have been a little late. As for me, saying I do not have any clue about having a crush... I am completely going my own way.
...My twelve-year-old goal... breaking free from brother complex?
If I look at things positively, Leonardo being away at Lugmilama Fort and not by my side might be a good thing. When Leonardo was around, I clung to him and spoiled myself rotten, so there was no chance of any brother-detachment happening.
...On the flip side, I feel like I am getting lonelier and my brother complex is getting worse, though.
Even I think a brother complex right on the verge of middle school is a bit much, so I want to consciously work on improving myself. If it is just thinking about it, even I should be able to manage that. Whether I can actually achieve it is another story entirely.
...Still, I never thought I would end up spending a whole year in the capital.
I left Grenore City on my birthday last year, so I have not returned to Grenore City for an entire year. Since the carriage journey took about a month, it has not been a full year since I arrived in the capital, but since I failed to obtain an Adorutoru egg in spring, it is decided that I will be in the capital until at least next spring. Alfred supposedly wanted to keep me away from the border, so this might have been convenient for them, but it makes me uneasy that I might end up permanently settled in the capital. It is not that I have any complaints about life at the detached palace, but emotionally speaking, the residence in Grenore feels more relaxed.
I casually wrote down my plans and my goal of breaking free from brother complex on the writing board. The word "brother complex" does not exist in the Erath language, so that part was in katakana. I could write it in English as "brother complex" too, but if I am going to change just that one word, Japanese would be fine as well. More than anything, writing it in katakana makes it feel just slightly less severe.
...It is just a placebo, though.
I am aware that my brother complex already has one foot in the serious category. Whether I write it in English or in four katakana characters, it does not mean much.
"Christina-sama, Prince Alfred has arrived."
"Alfred-sama has?"
Hmm, I searched my memory, but I was sure he had no plans to come to the detached palace this morning. As expected, I found no such memory. That meant Alfred's visit really was sudden. And apparently the purpose was different from his usual check-ins on my well-being, too. Solana said Alfred was waiting in the reception room, whereas normally he was shown straight to my room. That was truly unusual.
"Happy twelfth birthday, Christina."
"Thank you very much, Alfred-sama."
As I opened the door and entered the reception room, Alfred offered me birthday congratulations with a refreshing smile. That was certainly nice, but my gaze passed right through Alfred and was drawn to the attendant standing behind him. It was not unusual for Alfred to bring attendants, but I was on familiar terms with almost all of his attendants since he visited every two days or so. Among them, there was an attendant today whose face I was seeing for the first time. And what drew my eye was not simply that the attendant's face was new.
"...Alfred-sama, who is that person behind you?"
"His name is Vard."
"Vard..."
When I remarked that it was a bit too straightforward, my cheek was pinched with a smile. Apparently I must not let even a careless slip about Vard's real name escape my lips.
"He really was alive, so... it hurts, deshu..."
"Such a talkative mouth you have, Christina."
My cheek, just released, was pinched again, and I swatted Alfred's hand away to put some distance between us. I did not want to suffer any more pain from carelessness.
...Well, a prince who was supposed to be dead being alive does seem like it could cause all sorts of problems.
Rubbing my pinched cheek, I turned my gaze toward Vard, alias Rannvald, who stood behind with an innocent expression. For a brief moment at the detached palace, a rumor had circulated that he was Leonardo's twin, but seeing him up close like this, they were not that similar. It was more at the level of someone who was not close with Leonardo mistaking him from a distance based on build and silhouette. In other words, in many cases people would mistake Rannvald for Leonardo. Only close friends, acquaintances, and family could probably tell them apart.
...Also, is he not quite a bit older than Leonyaldo-san?
Leonardo, with his hair pulled back, looked older than he was, so his actual age was younger than his appearance. And since Rannvald resembled the older-looking Leonardo, he seemed to be in his thirties. They gave off the impression of brothers with a bit of an age gap.
"So, then. Returning to the main topic... As a birthday gift for Christina, I will give you this Vard."
"I do not want him. Please take him back."
What is this obvious troublemaker, I thought, looking up at Alfred with eyes that saw him as suspicious. He was the kind of nuisance whose real name I could not even utter and whose mere existence would earn me a cheek-pinch just for confirming he was alive. No matter how I thought about it, I could only sense trouble ahead.
"...It is a request from His Majesty King Christoph. Please look after him for a while."
"You should have said that from the start."
There is a vast difference between being given someone and looking after them for a while.
With the former, I had no idea how long I would need to deal with the nuisance, but the latter came with a time limit of sorts, that being for a while. I was aware that I owed both Alfred and Christoph, so if it was within my ability to help, I wanted to lend a hand.
"By the way, why does it have to be me who looks after him?"
"Someone is coming from Gumons to the capital toward summer, you see..."
"Parent... no, should they not be allowed to meet?"
I almost said "are they not parent and child" but swallowed the words. If even speaking his name was forbidden, then words hinting at blood relations like parent and child would surely also earn me a cheek-pinch.
"Personally, I think allowing them to meet would be fine..."
"If I, who cut my ties and went into hiding, were found lounging around the royal castle, I would be killed for sure this time."
"Were you not lounging around using the detached palace just now?"
As if he had already given up playing the role of a well-behaved cat, Rannvald, who had been pretending to be an attendant, dropped his formal posture. Plopping himself down next to Alfred with a thud, he crossed his arms in a remarkably arrogant pose. It was hardly the attitude of someone saying please hide me from Ethelbert's eyes for a while.
...But I cannot get mad. That confident gesture... it looks just like Leonyaldo-san in work mode!
The fact that I had thought, even for a split second, that it was kind of cool meant I seriously needed to graduate from my brother complex. At this rate, forget finding a husband stronger than Leonardo, I might end up seriously saying I want to become Big Brother's bride.
"I was not coming to the detached palace that often, you know. This time, really, I had no choice, there was a need..."
"Setting aside this time, you have come back to the royal castle multiple times already, have you not?"
"...Alf, whose daughter is this? There is no one this stubborn and cautious in our family line, is there?"
Rannvald seemed to be calling Alfred "Alf." Since Alf and Alfred had similar faces, hearing him called "Alf" so familiarly made me momentarily mistake him for Leonardo.
...Old Leo-lookalike. Old Leo-lookalike. It is not Leonyaldo-san, this is Rannvald-sama.
What pulled me back from that train of thought was Alfred's words. Though they were not exactly welcome words.
"Christina's grandfather is the hero Bertrand. His wife is your second cousin, so... she is unmistakably of our bloodline."
At the unexpected words that followed, saying the royal family's traits were clearly showing, I blinked. The characteristic of this kingdom's royal family was a tendency toward obsessive devotion. Thinking about how they poured all their love into one thing single-mindedly, I did find something that fit.
"I, I am just a brother complex. I do not have any royal family traits!"
Please do not say such terrifying things, I glared, but the two of them did not understand the word brother complex at first. When I told them it was short for "brother complex," the two, who as I had heard had English as a required subject for nobles, immediately understood and nodded in acceptance, saying it was indeed in their bloodline after all.
...Do not nod in agreement like that!
I glared resentfully at Alfred and Rannvald who had started nodding along, thinking that if it were Leonardo, I would have kicked his leg right about now. Though even if it were Leonardo, we were seated across the table, so it would be impossible to kick his leg immediately anyway.
"So, Vard-sama, what kind of need did you have that led you to trespass?"
"Just Vard is fine. I will be staying at this detached palace as an attendant. I came to the royal castle, where I have many acquaintances, seeking connections for finding someone."
At the word "acquaintances," the silver-white knights Alfred had brought with him showed a slight reaction. They were apparently the acquaintances Rannvald was referring to. They were not faces I often saw as Alfred's guards, so perhaps they were Rannvald's guards.
...Or maybe Christoph-sama assigned them as watchmen to make sure he does not suddenly disappear again?
I considered guard or watchman, then realized both possibilities applied. They were probably both guards assigned to a member of the royal family and watchers to make sure he did not conceal himself again.
...I recall hearing somewhere that they were close brothers, did I not?
Christoph had said he would be happy even with a ghost. And now, far from being a ghost, he was truly alive. Surely no one would object to assigning a few watchers to make sure he did not quietly disappear again. In the first place, Rannvald was the one at fault for faking his death and running away.
"Are your connections likely to find the person you are looking for?"
"It is difficult. Some things need simple manpower, and there are documents that need to be checked."
Apparently he could arrange the manpower without returning to the royal castle, but the document checks required someone of status working at the royal castle or similar institutions. It seemed he intended to throw his status around to peek at documents not generally available to the public.
"...I would prefer not to host a guest who behaves like a spy."
I felt like I would get dragged into some kind of trouble. When I made this entirely reasonable assertion, Alfred shifted the subject in an obvious way. Ignoring Rannvald, who had already shed all pretense of being an attendant, Alfred signaled to his lady's maid. The maid who received the signal calmly stepped forward and handed a small box to Giselle. After inspecting its contents, Giselle placed the box in front of me.
"This is a birthday gift for Christina, entrusted to me by His Majesty King Christoph."
"This is a cameo, is it not? It is so beautiful."
When I opened the box, a seemingly simple gold pendant lay inside. It was only simple at first glance. There were grooves on the sides of the pendant top, and I could hook my fingernail into it to open it. I thought it was a so-called locket, but inside was not a recess for a photograph or portrait, but a cameo with a person's profile carved into it. The carving was incredibly intricate, depicting Leonardo's profile.
"...But why is Leonyaldo Big Brother-sama's face carved into it?"
"Well, it is His Majesty's way of saying you will not get lonely for a while with that... I suppose."
"I am not so dependent on Leonyaldo Big Brother-sama that I need to carry his profile hidden in a pendant."
I put on a composed expression, conveniently ignoring that I had tucked a sketch of Leonardo into my breast pocket back in Lagarette City. I was happy in the sense of having received a fine gift, since the quality of the carving was excellent. It was not that I was delighted because it had my brother's face engraved on it.
"Even so, are you not going to tuck it away in your pocket right away?"
"It is a gift, after all. Allow me to put it on immediately."
As I eagerly tried to put on the pendant, Solana helped me. I gently opened the lid of the pendant top that hung at my chest and looked at Leonardo inside.
"...Actually, I have one more thing entrusted to me."
"What is it?"
It passed from the maid's hands to Giselle's, was safety-checked as a formality, and then the small box was placed before me. When I opened the second box, there was a gold pendant inside.
...Huh? The same thing?
I looked at the pendant top with grooves on its sides, found it curious, and opened the lid. I had assumed it was the same pendant, but the carving depicted on this pendant top was my face. My childishly rounded cheeks looked cute.
"Um... what is this?"
"Would Leonardo not be happy if you sent it to him?"
As I stood perplexed by the pendant top engraved with my own face, Alfred explained. Likely, this was originally intended as a set, meant to be given to me and to Leonardo. Our birthdays were barely half a month apart. Preparing gifts for the two of us together was a good opportunity, I supposed.
...After all, there is no way the King could give a birthday gift to Leonyaldo-san, who is just a mere vassal.
Using the gift intended as a reward for me as cover, he must have prepared a birthday gift for Leonardo. Christoph was a huge Leonardo supporter.
...Probably that is also related to Rannvald-sama, I think.
Seen from a distance, Rannvald and Leonardo looked alike. Christoph might have been remembering Rannvald, who was supposed to have died of illness, by gazing at Leonardo from afar.
...For now, maybe I will send it to Leonyaldo-san along with a letter?
Time is up.
Will fix typos and errors at a later date.