383 - Giselle's Perspective - The Useless White One 4
When I heard the sound of floorboards being removed, I hoped perhaps we might be rescued this way, but it seemed the Black Knights guarding the border could not find me and Christina. They did well to notice the false bottom beneath the floor, but we were not hidden there. Since it was an inspection at a fortress bordering the Empire, they checked anywhere a person might possibly be concealed, such as under the seats in addition to beneath the floorboards, but they did not seem to notice the place where we were actually hidden.
While the Black Knights were boarding the carriage to search it, Edgar and his men were outside the vehicle, so we had an excellent opportunity to make noise, but Edgar was well aware of that. The space was so narrow we could not even stir, and what little space remained was stuffed with blankets until there was no gap at all, almost suffocating. Being jostled about in the carriage kept Christina warm, and in terms of being secured in place it may have been for the best, but as a result, I could not take any action like striking my toes against the floor to make a sound. I wondered if they might notice us by smell instead, but any accidents Christina or I had were likely covered by the scent of flowers, thanks to the spirits' kindness. Even if it did smell, they would probably have taken it for Edgar's perfume. Eventually the Black Knights finished their inspection of the carriage, Edgar and his men boarded, and we crossed the border.
At the fortress of the Zugari Empire on the far side of the border, the soldiers seemed to have noticed where we were hidden. Once, a tapping sound echoed as they inspected the floor... or rather, the ceiling from inside the carriage... and I heard Edgar and a soldier laughing at the Black Knights.
They have the wit to check beneath the floorboards, but their wit is still insufficient, they said. The Zugari Empire has been abducting people from other countries and hiding them as slaves since ancient times. Creating hiding places in carriages is easy for them, they said.
Perhaps they had let their guard down after safely passing through the Kingdom of Ivizia, or perhaps they thought there was no longer any need to conceal it, but the conversation between the soldier and Edgar was audible even through the ceiling cavity. From the fact that Edgar was pressing money into the soldier's hand to buy his silence, I understood that this was not a state-sponsored kidnapping, but a personal abduction of Christina by Edgar. In a state-sponsored kidnapping, there would be no need to coordinate stories with the soldiers.
When we passed through the fortress on the Zugari Empire side and arrived at a post town, we were finally brought out from the carriage's hiding place. To Edgar's eyes, Christina's face, more than half covered in plant leaves, seemed to appear grotesque. He ordered Jasper to wrap her face tightly in bandages, then wrapped her in a blanket and kept her out of his sight.
...The situation is the worst it could be, but at least being able to sit up is a relief.
Let's think positively, I told myself, searching for the silver lining. We had been taken across the border and out of the country, but Christina was still alive. Having been taken out of the cramped hiding space, I could sit up and had regained my sense of day and night. Most of all, it was easier to care for the sleeping Christina.
"...Has Christina woken at all since then?"
"No."
Jasper touched her neck to check her pulse, confirmed her breathing, and examined Christina's condition. Christina never once opened her eyes and remained asleep. Her body temperature stayed low, and I could tell she was growing weaker. We forced water and food into her using a funnel, but I felt she vomited more than she digested. Still, the reason Christina was alive was probably thanks to the lingering scent of flowers. Once I noticed that Christina's lips had a gloss to them, I sniffed and smelled a sweet fragrance. It seemed the spirit caring for Christina had begun tending to her meals as well. They must have applied flower nectar to Christina's lips.
"How long do you intend to keep the young lady Christina living like this?"
There was a wood stove in the carriage, and Christina was always wrapped in blankets, but all the same, living in a carriage as the temperature steadily dropped was simply untenable. It was the kind of season where even healthy adults could fall ill. Dragging a sick child around in a carriage was not the act of a sane person. I wanted to get Christina into a warm, stable room as soon as possible and first restore her health. Escaping from the kidnappers, returning to the Kingdom of Ivizia, all of that would have to wait until Christina could move.
"First, we will likely bring her to Lord Edgar's territory."
To Jasper's words that there, far from the Kingdom of Ivizia, they should be able to focus on her treatment, Edgar unusually raised an objection. There was no need to tell the abducted party where they were heading, he said. Normally he acted as if I, dressed in shabby men's clothing, did not exist, keeping Christina out of his sight, but it seemed he could not stay silent about that.
"...After all, this is a White Knight famous for being useless as a knight, and what is more, a female knight of even lesser ability. I cannot imagine learning where she is headed would enable her to do anything."
On a trial basis, they told me the name of Edgar's territory where we were supposedly heading, but I did not even know where in the Zugari Empire that territory was located. The extent of my knowledge of Zugari Empire geography was limited to the imperial capital of Trarbach, two major cities, towns and ports famous for their products, and the surrounding areas where battles had been fought with our country in recent decades. In other words, I had barely learned the names of territories and towns near the border, but I was not well-versed in the Empire's internal geography. This was not because I was a White Knight, but because it concerned the geography of another country. Knowing the terrain and geography confers an advantage in war. Even if maps are made and used within one's own country, no one leaks detailed maps of their country to foreign nations. The mere act of leaking a map can put one at a disadvantage in war.
...If I am taken to a noble's mansion, there might be a map somewhere.
I made a mental note to search for a map once Christina recovered. I was someone Christina had often been exasperated with for having many gaps in my knowledge. To escape with Christina, I had no choice but to carefully gather information.
"Come to think of it, you were wearing a knight's uniform. Can you even swing a sword with that arm? You would be better suited to lady's maid or maid work."
At Edgar's words, which were all too aware of the truth, I bit my lip. I knew better than anyone that a job swinging a sword was not suited to me. Still, the reason I chose to become a White Knight instead of a lady's maid was because there were fewer competitors. If I did not achieve some meritorious deeds in my generation, my child would become a commoner. I was in a hurry to earn some achievements, but lady's maid work was heavily influenced by status, and there were other daughters of the Flower Peerage as well. Even if I worked among them, I did not think I could achieve any notable meritorious deeds.
So I decided that I should take a position with fewer competitors, and chose to become a White Knight.
Whether that effort bore fruit or not, I was placed in an environment blessed with the opportunity to earn achievements by being assigned to Christina. But having such opportunities also meant danger was close to Christina. The greatest miscalculation was the rampage of relatives blinded by opportunity. They staged a kidnapping themselves, trying to have me rescue Christina so I could claim false achievements. I was truly astounded and despairing over that. A noble title is not something to cling to that desperately, I thought.
...Meritorious deeds, huh.
I became a White Knight to earn achievements and was assigned as Christina's guard, but now was not the time to be talking idly about meritorious deeds. Christina had been kidnapped, and I had been taken out of the country as well. I intended my actions to protect Christina, but no one would evaluate me that way. At worst, there was a possibility I would be thought of as part of the kidnappers' group, having taken Christina and fled.
...At the very least, I must protect the young lady Christina.
I was a guard who could not be of any use, but there were various ways to protect Christina. Just as Kalisa, who was far stronger than me, had quietly offered up her own body, protecting Christina could not be only about swinging a sword.
...What would Kalisa have done?
Protect Christina. If I traced Kalisa's way of thinking, that was the only thing I could think of. She had cast aside everything else and fought with all her might for this single purpose.
...Kalisa's way of protecting, huh.
Perhaps the way I could protect Christina now was to follow Kalisa's example. Since I could not become Kalisa herself, I would merely use her as a reference, thinking 'Kalisa would probably do this.'
...Kalisa would... prioritize the young lady Christina's life above all else, right.
I stifled my petty pride that did not want to submit to the kidnappers. If I held onto something like that, I might be kept away from Christina, and in any case, pride was utterly useless. To watch over Christina's recovery and wait for an opportunity to take her away, I could not let myself be separated from Christina's side.
Rather than making her vomit and lose strength, Christina's food was reduced. Relying only on the honey and meager water prepared to at least provide some nourishment, I sustained Christina's life, and just when I was becoming truly worried about her strength, the carriage arrived at Edgar's territory. Edgar's mansion, with its vast front garden, was almost a small castle. Even just passing through the main gate and reaching the entrance was a considerable distance.
We had to move quickly so that the snow beginning to flutter in the outside air would not rob Christina of her body heat, and I had no leisure to observe the exterior. The only thing I could tell at a glance was that it was a larger castle than the Grenore mansion or the detached palace. A great number of servants came out to greet us, and Christina's body was carried away. Hurrying after them so I would not be separated, Christina was brought to a warm, well-prepared guest room.
...A room prepared for the young lady Christina, I wonder?
Of course, not in a good sense. The room was furnished with furniture appropriate for a noble young lady, but the only lack of discomfort was within the room itself. The window had large bars that were obvious at a single glance, and the intention of it being a cage to confine Christina was clearly visible.
"I will take care of the young lady Christina."
"Chris...?"
Rather than letting them touch her, I held back the maids who had gathered to first bathe Christina before putting her to bed, and the confused atmosphere of the maids reached me. As they hesitated over how to take my words, I myself felt a question arise.
...Why are they confused by the young lady Christina's name?
If it was a name they were hearing for the first time, I would understand if the maids looked like they had 'never heard it before,' but their atmosphere seemed to say, 'a different name from the one we know has come up.' Something was strange. As I thought this and swept my gaze around, Jasper cut in to block my line of sight.
"This is the young lady Sistina's nurse maid. She should be no harm to the young lady, so please teach her the work here."
...Sistina?
Staring at Jasper's back as he began explaining about me to the maids, I sorted through the information I heard in my head. Christina's name, it seemed, was being explained here as 'Sistina.' Apparently, the story was that she was Edgar's niece, a girl named 'Sistina' who had been kidnapped as a child and gone missing, whom he had found and rescued this autumn. Because she was ill both physically and mentally from her long captivity, Edgar was temporarily protecting her in his castle, and once she recovered to some degree, she would be reunited with her parents. As for me, I was supposedly a nurse maid hastily hired for the niece Edgar had rescued. The reason given was that it would be improper for a man to care for a noble young lady.
...Seeing a woman in men's clothing, would an explanation like 'hastily hired nurse maid' really be accepted?
I thought as much, but the maids seemed satisfied with Jasper's explanation. Or rather, the Zugari Empire was not the Kingdom of Ivizia. Even if they harbored doubts inside, accepting that if a noble said so, then that was how it was, was their means of survival. If Edgar ordered them to bring his niece and care for her, the maids' job was to care for the niece. They were not permitted to think about anything beyond that.
With the maids' help for the heavy work, I bathed Christina. While the dust from the journey was washed off and her body warmed, clean undergarments and nightclothes were prepared.
When I removed the bandages wrapped to hide the leaves on her face, one of the maids gasped. Christina, with more than half her face covered in plant leaves, must have looked that bizarre.
After confirming that the number of leaves had neither increased nor decreased, I thought about wrapping the bandages back on, then stopped. Those were bandages Edgar had ordered put on because he disliked Christina's strange appearance. They served no purpose, and if Edgar kept his distance because he did not want to see Christina's face, that was more convenient.
After laying Christina in bed and catching my breath, I was led to a narrow room with a barred window. It seemed this was to be my room. Apparently I was permitted to stay by Christina's side as her maid, and a maid's uniform had been prepared in the room. When I changed and left the room, a man who seemed to be a guard followed behind me.
Two men stood guard before each of the two doors to the room prepared for Christina, and one guarded each door from inside. The top priority was restoring Christina's health, and a chair had been prepared in a corner of the room for Jasper, who was a pharmacist. He was writing down dietary instructions to convey to the cook, so I peered at his work. The food that could be prepared during travel had been limited, but at Edgar's castle, ingredients with high nutritional value seemed available. That said, for the time being, the main fare would be small amounts of food boiled down to a paste so Christina could swallow it easily. In addition, there were the medicinal tisanes Jasper prepared. Bathing had likely expended Christina's strength, but we had been able to raise her dangerously low body temperature. By giving her small amounts of food bit by bit without making her vomit, maintaining her body temperature in a warm room, we could wait for Christina to recover.
The maids seemed to have been instructed by Edgar to prioritize Christina's recovery above all else. As for Edgar himself, he left Christina behind and quickly returned to his separate residence in the imperial capital. It seemed Edgar lived a life of working at his capital residence and rarely returning to his territory except when necessary. Having Christina clinging to him around the clock would have been troublesome, so I was grateful for that.
...Though it was painful that rather than completely neglecting us, he had placed numerous guards on us.
The maids seemed to have been told that Christina was Edgar's niece, but the guards' instructions appeared to be different. Their attitude made it clear they were not protecting Christina but distinctly watching and confining her.
...The only thing that was the same as Leonardo-sama was the unlimited firewood and food expenses.
The feelings directed at Christina were completely different, but Christina's life was unchanged. She was kept in a warm room so she would not catch a cold, and nutritious warm meals were prepared. Frustratingly, Christina, who had been deteriorating steadily, began to show signs of recovery after being confined in Edgar's castle. Settling into a warm room rather than the harsh carriage travel probably made a big difference.
Her body temperature returned to normal, but even by midwinter, Christina did not wake. However, with female hands available to help, care became easier. Nutritious meals were prepared, and as we grew accustomed to caring for her, the frequency of her vomiting decreased. Looking only at her sleeping face, she had regained more health than before, but something seemed lacking, and Christina showed no signs of waking, continuing to sleep.
While I was busy caring for Christina, I grew used to life in Edgar's castle. It seemed this castle had a small library, but I could not secretly peek into it because of the ever-present guards. There would probably be maps of the Zugari Empire in the library, but gathering information to eventually escape with Christina seemed difficult.
Before I knew it, the Divine King Festival arrived. Even in a different country, celebrating the Divine King's birth was the same. For Christina, who was still being force-fed soup boiled down until it was soft enough to slide down her throat, eating this year's 'Itsurateru's Four Blessings' was impossible. There were no instructions from Edgar, but even so, the cook and maids baked 'Itsurateru's Four Blessings' for 'Sistina,' whom they had been told was their master's niece, and celebrated the Divine King Festival in their small way. When I first arrived at the castle, I thought everyone around me was an enemy, but it seemed the ones I needed to be wary of were only Jasper and the guards. The maids and cooks were all commoners hired from nearby villages. They seemed skeptical about Christina being Edgar's niece, but all the same, as a girl in need of nursing, Christina drew their sympathy. They thought and worried in their own way, trying to do something, however small, 'for Sistina.'
...Come to think of it.
I watched as an elderly maid placed the 'Itsurateru's Four Blessings,' which had gone entirely to waste since Christina could not touch them, into the hearth along with milk. On the Divine King Festival, houses with children did not light their hearths, so today Christina was surrounded by wood stoves. I had heard that since she was first taken by spirits, she spent every winter in animal costumes, but this year's Christina, a resident of the bed, wore no costume at all.
...If the young lady Christina were to be taken by spirits today, could she return to Grenore through the hearth?
Thinking it was a groundless fancy, I nevertheless moved a lounge chair in front of the hearth, and further moved the wood stove nearby. I moved Christina, wrapped securely in blankets so she would not catch cold, onto the lounge chair, and spent the whole day watching the hearth and Christina.
In the end, Christina did not return to the city of Grenore through the hearth, but there did seem to have been some intervention from the spirits. When the elderly maid urged me that I could not possibly spend the night on the lounge chair, and I lifted Christina to return her to bed, something fluttered in my vision. I reflexively followed the shadow with my eyes, looked at the green object that had fallen to the floor, and then looked at Christina's face in my arms. One of the leaves stuck to Christina's face had fallen off, and her narrow blue eyes were open.
"Oh my, Lady Sistina!"
The elderly maid, who had immediately noticed the change in Christina, raised her voice. Drowned out by that voice, I missed hearing Christina's slightly moving lips.
...But probably.
I think Christina called out Kalisa's name first upon waking. I thought I heard just the first syllable, 'Ka,' carried on her breath.
Christina's eyes, which had opened for a moment, closed again before Jasper, who had heard the maid's voice, could rise from his chair and come over. I wondered if her momentary awakening had been my imagination, but there were other changes besides the fallen leaf. Until now, her breathing had been so faint I could not tell whether she was breathing or not, but now her chest was clearly rising and falling. Even without putting my ear to her mouth, I could tell she was breathing. It was a major change unlike any before.
Since the night of the Divine King Festival, Christina gradually began to show signs of recovery. The leaves stuck to her face slowly came off, and though she was calling for Kalisa, she occasionally began muttering in her sleep. She did not seem fully conscious, but sometimes her eyes were slightly open. When I sat her up to feed her, she would swallow the soup placed on her tongue, moving her throat.
Once she could eat, Christina's recovery seemed to speed up a little. When she could eat solid food, the time her eyes were open grew longer. One day, as I was clearing the dishes from a finished meal onto a cart, a noise behind me startled me. I turned at the loud sound of something falling, and saw Christina had fallen off the bed. Thinking she might have hit her head again, I hurriedly picked her up, but Christina silently pulled away and fell again. After she fell twice, I realized she had not fallen from the bed, but had deliberately tried to get down and fallen instead. And I also realized that from being bedridden so long, her muscles had weakened and she seemed unable to walk. She had finally woken and begun to eat, but it seemed escaping with her would take even more time.
...But she awoke.
She had been sleeping all this time. For now, I would simply rejoice that she had awakened. Walking training could start once she regained a little more strength.
When all the leaves stuck to her face had fallen off, Christina's consciousness was still hazy, but her waking hours increased. When I sat her up and arranged cushions behind her back, she no longer collapsed and fell asleep.
"Young lady Tina, shall we go look for Kalisa?"
"...Mm."
I hesitated to call Christina by 'Sistina,' the name used in Edgar's castle, but I could not call her 'Christina' either, so I used 'young lady Tina,' the name Kalisa had called her. Christina rarely responded when spoken to, but she did react to the word 'Kalisa.' When I invited her like this, saying 'Let's go look for Kalisa,' she would obediently start moving, making walking training easy and welcome.
The strength training, starting with sitting up without cushions, progressed from standing while holding onto something to standing without support, then training to stand up from bed and training to sit. Once she could walk around the room along the walls, caring for Christina became much more difficult. To be precise, it was not that caring became more difficult, but that Christina began to scurry around.
Christina, who had gradually built up strength by walking around the guest room, wanted to go outside the room. At first the guards were unperturbed, but they gave in to the ordeal of being stared at by Christina for hours on end. Christina's hair was now uneven and cut short, but her face, now free of leaves, was still as lovely as ever, and her small build made her look slightly younger than her actual age. If a girl like that kept staring at you as if to say 'You are in the way, mister,' 'Move aside,' most men would surrender.
On the condition that there would always be three guards including my own guard, she was permitted to roam the castle. Of course, it was supposed to be kept secret from Edgar, so perhaps the guards were people who could be won over with some effort.
Christina, who could now walk along the hallways using the walls, walked down corridors as far as they would go. Whenever she found a door along the way, she opened it, entered the room, and walked around looking for Kalisa. When she grew tired, she sat down wherever she was, whether in the hallway or the dining hall, rested a bit, and then began searching for Kalisa again. I felt a little guilty knowing Kalisa was not in the castle, but Kalisa's name was proving very useful for Christina's strength training.
While walking around the castle, which though small was incomparably larger than the Grenore mansion, Christina recovered enough strength to walk without holding onto walls. She still stumbled occasionally and I could not take my eyes off her, but when she spotted a maid passing a corner in the hallway, she would suddenly run off, startling me. At the sight of her checking the caught maid's face and looking disappointed that it was not Kalisa, one of the guards pressed his eyes with his fingers. There was no way the guards assigned at the castle knew anything about Kalisa, but he must have been won over by Christina tirelessly searching for Kalisa every single day.
Christina, who searched for Kalisa by checking every room in the castle little by little each day, expanded her range to the basement, the servants' domain, and eventually explored the entire castle. When Christina understood that Kalisa was nowhere to be found in the castle, she stopped walking around the castle entirely from that day on. She sat at the end of the lounge chair in the guest room, idly spacing out or sleeping all day. I worried that her strength might decline again, but unlike before, she now turned over in bed and sat up on her own, so Jasper's assessment as a pharmacist was that it should not become too severe.
To Christina, who had stopped giving even short replies compared to when she was searching for Kalisa, one of the guards brought a wig from somewhere. He knew that without some length, her hair could not be properly styled, so perhaps she could wear a wig until her hair grew out, he suggested.
Christina showed no reaction to the prepared wig. She was neither pleased that her appearance had been improved nor grateful for the consideration. She simply showed no reaction at all.
The one who reacted most to Christina wearing the wig was Edgar, who showed his face at the end of winter. Her face leaves had completely fallen off, and with her hair, even if it was a wig, now neat, Edgar blinked, astonished to an amusing degree. He had kept Christina out of his sight because the leaves stuck to her face were unsightly and creepy, but now he seemed to have taken an interest in her originally lovely face. The moment he showed his face, he immediately turned back to the imperial capital, and the next time he came, his carriage was loaded with boxes of gifts.
Will fix typos and errors at a later date. Updates are still irregular.