319 - Boarder at the Detached Palace
Having taken Rannvald into custody at the detached palace, a room was needed urgently. I thought to ask Rebecca to arrange a guest room, but this was rejected by Rannvald himself. Apparently staying in a guest room was inconvenient for him.
"To be harbored, a guest room won't do. There should be a hidden room under the library floor. That will suffice."
"A hidden room, you say... I think that room is the archives. It is not a room meant for living in, though."
That he knows even about the hidden room under the floor... it made me realize that Rannvald had once lived in this detached palace. Since he had originally tried to infiltrate through the hidden passage, it would not be strange for him to know every nook and cranny of the place.
...And that is a rather uncomfortable feeling in its own way, is it not.
It may have indeed been Rannvald's detached palace before, but now it is the detached palace where I live. Having a man I do not know well know the floor plan of my residence... from a security standpoint, that does not set my mind at ease.
...Ah, I had a good idea.
Rannvald's guards, whose faces clearly showed "you cannot just shove him in the archives," would probably accept that place. It was the optimal spot both for hiding him from others and for keeping distance from a man I do not know well.
"If a guest room will not work, shall we use the annex of the detached palace?"
"The annex?"
"It is an annex built by the previous master of the detached palace."
I listed the advantages as they came to mind. The annex had furniture of a caliber suitable for royalty (Rannvald) to use, and since it was built to avoid notice, it had hedges around it and would be easy to hide in. As for disadvantages, perhaps only that the physical distance from me would make it hard to keep an eye on Rannvald's movements. But even that should be an advantage from Rannvald's perspective. For this discrepancy, as the one providing lodging, I could just oblige the escort knights to report to me. They seemed like Rannvald followers, but they were Silver-White Knights, so they would surely set aside personal feelings and fulfill that much duty.
...Besides, there is also that fountain of Leonyaldo-san in an unguarded state there, you know.
If Rannvald saw a fountain of someone who looked just like him in the nude and felt even a little uncomfortable, my mischievous impulse would be satisfied. A building constructed without his knowledge would also pique Rannvald's interest.
To Rannvald, who took the bait asking if such a building existed, I offered to guide him with a lady's smile. Alfred was making a complicated face, so I think he realized what that annex really was.
"Let us leave the meals and such to Nadine. I am sure she will manage well..."
"Wait. Nadine is here? Nadine is Father's agent, you know!?"
"Vard-san, please bend down a little."
"Hmm?"
The information that Nadine was Ethelbert's agent was valuable, but I had been having my cheeks pinched by Alfred every time I slipped up earlier. Since there was another person here who had just let something slip, I wanted to be on the pinching side for once.
Rannvald, who bent down with a dubious look, did not have the kind of round cheeks like Leonardo's that could be pinched. So since I had no choice, I grabbed his easy-to-grip earlobe and yanked it with a squish.
"Ow!"
"Whose agent did you say Nadine is?"
"...Right. Nadine is His Majesty the Former King's agent."
When I pointed it out indirectly, Rannvald seemed to realize his own slip of the tongue. Though he looked a bit reluctant about the wording, he corrected "Father" to "His Majesty the Former King."
"Still, you really do look like Leonyaldo Big Brother-sama."
As I guided him to the annex, I stared intently at Rannvald's face. They were not identical like twins, but it felt like too much resemblance to be complete strangers.
...Leonyaldo-san apparently does not have an older brother, though.
If by some mistake Rannvald were Leonardo's older brother, that would make Leonardo's father Ethelbert. I have never heard anything like that, so I would like to think it is not the case. If Ethelbert had another child, Christoph, who seems to treasure his younger brother (Rannvald), would have no reason to leave him free.
"I hear that quite often. I would like to meet this knight who supposedly resembles me sometime..."
"Unfortunately, Leonyaldo Big Brother-sama is working at Lugmilama Fortress."
Rannvald himself seemed to have some interest in Leonardo. To me, it was more like if you put them side by side, their overall atmosphere was similar... but I did find myself a little curious about what they themselves would think.
When I guided Rannvald to the annex, his guard knights began inspecting the room. The furniture was placed in the annex that the Eighth Princess had used until a year ago, so it should not be old, but they seemed bothered by the thin layer of dust that had accumulated. Since they said they wanted to be hidden without Nadine knowing, I had no choice but to have them do the cleaning themselves. If I lent my lady's maids or maidservants, Nadine would notice something was wrong when the already small number of attendants for the detached palace's mistress decreased. For the liaison with the detached palace, I decided to use one of Rannvald's guards. He looked slightly displeased at leaving Rannvald's side, but I silenced him. I could not leave maids or attendants, and since Silver-White Knights had been coming to the detached palace to check on me during Leonardo's absence even before, it would not be that unnatural. Incidentally, having two knights assigned while I had only one Silver-White Knight was probably so one could secure Rannvald and the other could serve as a liaison in the meantime. That Aaron's partner was the White Knight Giselle was likely based on the idea that even a White Knight could handle a liaison role. Rannvald's escorts, once I explained the reasons, accepted it readily. Or rather, their dissatisfaction was about "having to take their eyes off Rannvald," not petty reasons like not wanting to leave Rannvald or not wanting to take orders from a child (me).
...He even faked his death to run away, so even his own guards do not trust him, do they, Rannvald-sama.
That certainly would make it scary to take your eyes off him. When I heard the guards' story, they had apparently been Rannvald's guards back when he was still registered as royalty. They were close in age and held Rannvald in deep reverence as their lord, so the news of his death from illness had made them even more depressed than Christoph. But now that they had been reunited with him alive, they seemed to never want to let him out of their sight again. They earnestly told me stories of their youth with Rannvald, but for some reason the expressions on their faces did not look like they were recalling happy memories. They looked like Solana's face when she was in front of Alfred. The kind of face that was tense with alertness, wondering what the other person would say next.
...I do not quite understand being afraid to take your eyes off someone who has led you on a wild goose chase... ah, so it is like, if he is going to do something, better to have him within sight?
In a way, I sympathized with the two who had been pulled back by Christoph's hand from a guard duty they had finally been released from, as I told them where the cleaning tools were. Rannvald, who for some reason took the initiative in cleaning, apparently had blended into the common folk and worked during his disappearance. As a member of royalty, I was not sure what to think, but in a way, as a person, he was quite proper.
...Come to think of it, why did he flee like that?
From what I heard, his relationship with his siblings was good, and he seemed to get along well with those around him. I could not find a reason for Rannvald to go so far as to flee, and it bothered me a little, but I refrained from asking him directly. In any case, it was his business. It was not something for me to poke my nose into.
I think Rannvald is a rare type among this country's royalty. I told him to at least give me some reports since I was harboring him, so I got one update a day, but that was it. Rannvald never interfered with me, and I never interfered with Rannvald. Simply because he did not push himself on me, he was an easy person to deal with.
...The royalty of this country are all the pushy type, after all.
Rannvald, who was quietly confining himself to the annex, was so unlike the blood relatives of Ethelbert and Dietfried that I could hardly believe it. He was so quiet it made me want to be on guard, wondering if it was the calm before the storm.
...When I asked about his state, it seemed he was using people to investigate something, though?
The guard knight who had said things like "leave Rannvald's side, you say" seemed to have calmed down a bit now. Even when reporting Rannvald's status to me, he had a refreshingly clear expression that was a little frightening. Was I being too wary?
"Christina, what have you started keeping this time?"
Rannvald seemed to be hiding well, but as expected, he could not fool the eyes of Felicia, who was staying in the guest room at the detached palace. The fact that she came to my room to check rather than calling me to the guest room to ask what I had started keeping was probably because she had sensed that I was "hiding something." If we had a tea party in Felicia's room, there was a chance her followers might overhear.
"...I have not been told to hide it from Henrietta, so would you like to meet him?"
It seemed he wanted to hide from Ethelbert, but I had not been told to hide it from Felicia either. In the first place, if they wanted to hide from Felicia's eyes too, they would not have brought him to my detached palace. They could have had him stay at Alfred's mansion in the noble district.
I prefaced it by saying he was a charge from Alfred, more precisely from Christoph, and then asked if she wanted to meet him. Felicia looked puzzled for a while, but when I added that it seemed they were hiding him from Ethelbert, she seemed to realize who was being hidden. She smiled with her usual beautiful face, but her eyes were not laughing at all.
...Huh? Is Rannvald-sama a landmine for Felicia-sama?
After that, I do not know if Felicia went to the annex to confirm. She avoided the topic throughout, and seemed to have decided to pretend not to notice Rannvald's guards, whose appearances within the detached palace had increased.
...Her not saying anything is scary too.
Worried about such things, the days passed without incident. It was peaceful considering the increased number of royalty nearby, and I was feeling relieved. But finally, news of Ethelbert's arrival reached the detached palace.
[Author's Note]
This is short because it's what I couldn't finish writing yesterday.
I've started to think that if by some mistake Leonardo had royal blood, then Leonardo's obsession would be directed toward Tina, and Tina's obsession would be directed toward Leonardo, and since they'd be subtly interlocking, it might look to those around them as if neither had an obsessive tendency at all.
Will fix typos and errors at a later date. I will skip the update on the 28th.