401 - Giselle's Perspective - The White Useless One 6
Even when spring passed and summer arrived, there was no change in Christina. She spent her days sitting vacantly on the lounge chair, and even when called out to or spoken to, she gave no reply. Before, she had even given scores regarding the taste of pudding, but that too had stopped. However, I think this is not so much that her reactions ceased, but rather that she was satisfied with the taste of the pudding. Even just saying "pudding," Kalisa made various flavors, coffee (Ihoku) flavor, caramel flavor, chocolate flavor. Probably, Christina recognized them as some of those within her mind. Not exactly the same as what Kalisa made, but that this too was pudding.
...It is better than autumn when she was asleep, but I feel like just letting her spend her time idly like this is not good either.
Christina, who had closed off her heart, did not laugh in exchange for not crying. Really, she just sat there vacantly all day long. Putting aside the matter of maintaining her physical strength, I felt that at this rate, her heart might truly never come back.
...I never imagined she would have no reaction even when directly hurt.
Just the other day, Edgar, growing impatient with Christina who gave no response at all, ordered Jasper to choose an inconspicuous place where a scar would not be too noticeable and run a knife over her. Since the purpose was to draw a reaction from Christina, the wound was shallow and the bleeding stopped quickly, but Christina watched Jasper's hand drawing the knife without even twitching an eyebrow. There is no way being cut by a knife did not hurt, but Christina did not even cry out. Even the fact that she was watching Jasper's hand seemed to be merely "following it with her eyes because it was moving."
...But no scar remained.
No scar remained on the arm of Christina, who had been deliberately injured. Rather than saying no scar remained, I think the spirits healed her overnight. The next day, when I opened the canopy of the bed where Christina was sleeping, along with the scent of flowers from the other day, leaves had fallen around her arm area.
...I had heard several strange stories about Christina-sama, but that was my first time witnessing one.
Christina, being a Spirit's Favored Child, is sometimes taken by the spirits. When she returns from such occasions, she sometimes appears in a place far from where she was taken. The first time she was taken by spirits, she apparently moved from the city of Grenore to the city of Mandez. Truth or not, I have also heard that when she was kidnapped in the city of Lagarette, one mysterious accident after another occurred to stall the kidnapper's carriage.
I have heard a few other strange stories too, but I think this was the first time something directly happened to someone other than Christina. Whether it was retaliation for deliberately hurting Christina, or just coincidence, a wound appeared on Jasper's arm in the same place as the one he had inflicted on Christina. And unlike the wound on Christina, which had been carefully made shallow so as not to leave a scar, it was a roughly cut wound with considerable depth.
...Even Christina-sama had been hurt by spirits before, after all.
Because of the precedent with Christina, I knew that spirits could sometimes harm humans. In Christina's case, she said it was "because she angered the spirits," but this time was different. Jasper hurt Christina, and was likely wounded by the spirits as retaliation for that. I had never even considered that spirits might directly attack ordinary humans, aside from special existences like a Spirit's Favored Child.
...But it did serve as a deterrent.
If you hurt Christina, there would be retaliation from the spirits in some form. Though it was demonstrated through Jasper's body, it worked well as a deterrent against Edgar. Lately, Edgar had been growing irritated that Christina, who as a good-looking reincarnator capable of reading Japanese should have been useful to him in the future, was in her current state. He had succeeded in capturing Christina's gaze with perfume, but communication was all but nonexistent. I had been worried that Edgar, growing impatient, might lay hands on Christina, but the sight of Jasper's wound seemed to make him think twice.
Edgar would not raise his hand against Christina, but instead, his irritation was directed at me and the other maids. Being kicked in the back or struck with a whip on the arm was not uncommon. There were days when even worse things were done. One young maid disappeared from the castle, said to have been sent home, but it was probably for the same reason the gardener was replaced.
Edgar was growing irritated, but Christina remained closed off, indifferent to all of that. I did not care about Edgar's convenience, but I wondered if there was not some way for Christina to spend her days in peace, and the first thing that came to mind was bobbin lace. Christina, who had been making a bobbin lace guidebook, also handled bobbins herself. I recalled the sight of her weaving bobbin lace all day long, making that pleasant clattering sound.
"Tina-sama, would you like to do some bobbin lace?"
"..."
To Christina, who replied with her usual silence even when spoken to, I roused my flagging spirits. Having no reaction to anything I said had been the case for this entire half year. If I were the only one she did not react to, I might be depressed, thinking "she is ignoring me because I have fallen out of favor with my master," but Christina's state was different. It was a "void" that remained unchanged toward anyone.
"Of course, we don't have the tools she used before, so I've prepared some with whatever was available."
How about it, I said, taking Christina's hand and leading her to the table where I had set up the bobbin lace tools. The tools on the table really were made from whatever was at hand. There were no bobbins like the ones Christina had used, so I wound thread around wooden spoons instead. The cushion for sticking pins into while weaving lace was not the soft one stuffed with feathers like the one on Christina's bed, but a hard cushion used in the servants' beds. The pins themselves I was able to prepare, so those were actual pins. What remained was the pattern, and I drew that myself. As her guard, I had been present when Christina was making her guidebook. So I had also directly heard the stories of Kalisa, who had enough skill to create new patterns herself. If I recalled what I had heard back then, even I could draw simple patterns. The pattern I drew was merely a simple geometric design, but Christina should be able to weave lace even with this.
...As expected, it was no good, huh.
Christina stared vacantly at the tools, but that was all. She showed no sign of lifting her arms, and when I tried placing the spoon substituting for a bobbin in her hand, she simply held it as placed. Without throwing it away or starting to weave lace, Christina showed her usual lack of any reaction.
I thought this was a failure, but surprisingly, Christina did respond. While I was away for a short while, Christina had silently begun to weave lace.
Once she started weaving bobbin lace, Christina continued weaving it all day long. She still gave no proper response when called, but when the thread broke, she would join it herself, and when she ran out of thread, she would look around the room. And she started coming to whoever responded to that gaze, holding out the spoon that had run out of thread, to request more thread.
...But when I got greedy and tried to draw words out of her, she sulked and did not weave bobbin lace for ten days.
Wondering if I could not draw some other reaction out of her, an elderly maid tried speaking to Christina as if to a child, saying "if you can say 'please give me thread,' I will prepare it" when Christina came to request thread, and Christina sulked magnificently. As if saying "well then, I don't need it anymore," she threw down the wooden spoon and returned to her usual lounge chair. After that, no matter how many times we called out to her, she remained as before, and it ultimately took ten days for Christina to resume weaving bobbin lace. All the calling out during that period was in vain, and when a maid, having given up, wound thread around a wooden spoon and placed it there, Christina was weaving lace again the moment our attention was elsewhere.
...Come to think of it, they should definitely be searching for Christina-sama in the country too... right?
Since we were using wooden spoons as substitutes for bobbins, the bobbin lace weaving here did not make that pleasant clattering sound. Still, as I gazed at Christina's hands, I suddenly noticed something.
No matter how I thought about it, Leonardo should be searching for Christina by now. A kidnapping of Christina, whom they valued enough to assign a Silver-White Knight as her guard. Naturally, the search for Christina would not just be Leonardo's personal effort, but should be a large-scale search by the country using the Black Knights.
...Which meant, perhaps, if I did not try to force an escape, there was a possibility that rescue would come eventually...?
Even if it was difficult for me alone to bring Christina back to the Kingdom of Ivizia, if the Black Knights came to rescue us, there might be a way for Christina to return to the Kingdom of Ivizia. Of course, to have the Black Knights come for us, we would need to let them know Christina was here, but that seemed easier than me alone trying to escape with Christina.
...Could we not use this as a marker to be found?
Looking down at the bobbin lace gradually being woven by Christina's hands, I had a flash of inspiration. Sending a letter to the Kingdom of Ivizia was difficult, but perhaps I could at least assert that Christina was here.
I asked Christina, still as unresponsive as ever, whether I could take a few ribbons, as a formality. The pattern was one I had drawn, so it was not that elaborate a design, but even so, it was still finely woven lace. Just like when Christina had given gifts to Basilia of the Staff Peerage family, it was something worthy of being worn by a noble.
"It is a gift from Lady Sistina."
"Oh. What magnificent lace."
Sticking my tongue out internally, I brought the bobbin lace Christina had woven to Edgar. I had planned to suggest he make it a gift to a woman if he refused it, saying lace was for men, but unexpectedly, Edgar was extremely interested in the bobbin lace. Whether because he had heard that Christina had been weaving it earnestly lately, or because it genuinely caught his interest, Edgar gazed intently at the lace in his hands.
"...Very well. I will have a shirt made using this lace. I must let it be known that I was the first in the Empire to obtain the so-called Aurelian lace."
...What?
At the unexpected words that flew from Edgar's mouth, I blinked for a while. Bobbin lace was at the stage where Christina was making a guidebook to spread it in the Kingdom of Ivizia, so there was no way rumors should have reached the Zugall Empire yet, even if it was a neighboring country. If the name of bobbin lace were to reach the Zugall Empire, it would be several years from now, after the guidebook spread through the Kingdom of Ivizia and craftspeople were trained there. I never imagined that today I would hear from Edgar's mouth that he had "heard of it as a rumor."
"Why... how do you know about the bobbins... about Aurelian lace?"
"I hear it is a trend originating from the Kingdom of Ivizia. The provisional king of Quebia took a liking to the Aurelian lace presented to him and had a portrait painted of himself wearing it, so it is now the talk of the Imperial capital as well."
Bobbin lace, the talk of the Imperial capital, but with the actual item being difficult to obtain. Edgar, pleased as could be that he had obtained it faster than anyone else within the Empire, returned to the Imperial capital. I had Edgar take the bobbin lace hoping it might let someone know Christina's whereabouts, but with the name of bobbin lace having spread without my knowledge, rescue seemed likely to come sooner than I had expected. Incidentally, the safety of Christina, the only person in the Empire currently capable of producing new bobbin lace, could also be expected a little more. When Edgar was in a good mood, the violence toward me and the maids decreased as well.
...But still, bobbin lace having become popular in the Kingdom of Ivizia and even the provisional king of Quebia knowing about it... just what is going on?
I did not know what had happened to change the situation, but there was one thing I understood. The popularity of bobbin lace was, no matter how I thought about it, the work of Christina's guardians. When I thought of Christina's guardians, Leonardo, her older brother, was the first to come to mind, but behind him was Prince Alfred, and King Christoph was also on friendly terms with Christina. Creating a trend within the Kingdom of Ivizia would be easy for Christina's guardians.
...Perhaps it really was better to wait for rescue rather than forcefully trying to escape.
Will fix typos and errors at a later date.