463 - Information from Basilia
The servants of the castle lord's manor handled the sudden visit from Basilia perfectly, even without instructions from me, their master. In the entrance hall, they first guided Basilia to the reception room, and in the meantime, they tidied up the sunroom while Rannvald brought in a table set. By the time the formal greetings were finished over the tea Salisa had served, the preparations for hosting the guest were complete. As for the tea sweets, my home is never lacking. This is because Leonardo continues to buy sweets for me, claiming they are souvenirs, though the frequency and quantity have naturally decreased.
I guided Basilia to the sunroom, and we enjoyed a small tea party for just the two of us. Although I said just the two of us, it only meant that there were two on the host side, as Salisa and Mirshe remained standing by. According to Salisa's judgment that Mirshe was still too anxious to be presented before a guest, Mirshe should have stepped back, but Basilia seemed to have spotted the bobbin lace ribbon tied in Mirshe's hair and stopped her.
...Sorry, Mirshe-chan. That ribbon might have called for trouble after all.
Basilia likely remembered the story about me giving bobbin lace ribbons to my friends. Since Mirshe began working at the castle lord's manor, her sphere of life had changed from before, so I had given her a matching bobbin lace ribbon, but it seems trouble is coming from a direction I had forgotten.
...Some girls are the type to get jealous when their friend has other friends. I wonder which type Basilia-chan is?
Since I do not know how Basilia will react, I will pretend not to notice Mirshe for now. I cannot imagine she would be jealous of my friend Mirshe and act meanly, but I will keep quiet until she says something.
...Hmm? But I think it will be fine. It seems Basilia-chan has made some acquaintances of her own.
Previously, I felt she was somewhat obsessed with me, saying she had no other friends, but in the royal capital, she had been holding and being invited to tea parties. More than two years have passed since then. She cannot have as few friends as she did when we first met or when she first went to the royal capital. Basilia probably will not be obsessed with me to the point of being mean to my friends.
...Probably.
I shifted the conversation to Basilia, who was far too aware of Mirshe, to divert her attention away from Mirshe. She had come all the way from Lagarette. She must have had some business.
...Come to think of it, why did Basilia-chan come so suddenly?
When I told her exactly what I was thinking, Basilia's expression, which had looked quite mature, crumbled. She made a clearly pouting face, even sticking out her lips. What a waste of a beautiful girl.
"Friends are people who meet casually without any particular business and spend hours talking about nothing. Is that not so?"
"No. I believe the friends I imagine are like that as well..."
My sense of friendship is the same. Meeting when our schedules align even without special business, talking about trivial things, and then parting ways. Depending on the friend's personality, we might go out to play or go shopping together.
However, this is a commoner's friendship. When it comes to friendships between nobles, it is a bit different.
Basic interactions are handled through letters or other people like servants, and meeting face-to-face happens at arranged settings like tea parties, where the conversation is primarily for information gathering. In tea parties between nobles, even if it looks like idle chatter, there is no such thing as truly idle chatter. Despite this, it was a bit surprising that Basilia, a noble princess, held a commoner-like sense of friendship. It seems Basilia simply came to show me her face.
I was able to hear a great variety of stories from Basilia. I have heard about the events of the last two years from various people. From Leonardo, I heard the general flow from my kidnapping to my rescue, and from Alfred, I heard about the changes in the times in the royal capital. Basilia's stories were mostly about changes outside the royal capital or supplementary to Alfred's stories.
"...The Sedovara Church is terrifying."
"What are you saying? The most terrifying one is you. The Sedovara Church withdrew all pharmacists from across the Empire as retaliation for how you were treated."
I am hearing about what the Sedovara Church did for the first time, perhaps because Leonardo and the others judged it would not be relevant to the main plot.
It seems the Sedovara Church learned that the ones who kidnapped me were the church's own pharmacists and immediately decided to provide full cooperation for the search. That alone would have been fine, but as the search progressed and the direction I was taken and the existence of Zugari Empire nobles who conspired in the kidnapping became clear, the Sedovara Church seems to have retaliated against the Zugari Empire itself. They withdrew the Sedovara Church's pharmacists from the entire Empire, and the horror of this is easy to understand if you consider that doctors disappear from towns and villages. This happened on a national scale.
Although it was a 'weapon' I had prepared after Christoph told me to 'have a weapon' in the royal capital, and I had hoped it would serve as a deterrent, I did not think it would actually be used. It was exactly as I had intended for its use, but it was a weapon I had no plan to actually use. Even just hearing the result makes a cold sweat run down my spine. As a blessing in disguise, it seems Alfred and my big brother Leonardo quickly stopped this retaliation, so it seems the pharmacists did not truly vanish entirely from within the Zugari Empire. That said, the towns and villages where pharmacists remained were only those lands ruled by lords who were already well-regarded. From the Imperial Capital and other regions, most pharmacists apparently vanished.
"If they are sane, no one will dare lay a hand on you anymore. It has been proven that the Sedovara Church will move easily if anything happens to you."
Even if they could harm me in a fit of impulse, there is no future for the culprit. If the Sedovara Church finds out who the culprit is, not only the culprit but their parents, siblings, and relatives will no longer receive the benefits of the Sedovara Church.
To add to that, it would be better if it ended with retaliation against an individual.
Whether the scope of retaliation is on a town scale, a territory scale, or even a national scale depends on the Sedovara Church. And a 'normally impossible' retaliation on a national scale has actually been carried out.
It has already been proven that the naive thought of 'surely they wouldn't go that far' does not work on the Sedovara Church.
"...If it were me, I would absolutely never lay a hand on you."
"I agree."
It is a weapon I prepared myself, but it is truly the lowest, worst, and most fearsome weapon. This must never be wielded again. I sincerely pray for that.
"As for other big changes... Aurelian lace spread in the blink of an eye."
"I heard it was used in Felicia-sama's outfit at the Spring Flower Festival..."
Just because it was used in Felicia's outfit, bobbin lace would not have spread this quickly. Leonardo and Alfred's explanations were truly summarized very roughly in this regard. When I heard the story about that bobbin lace again from Basilia, I felt sorry for the two brides who had to hold their once-in-a-lifetime weddings without sufficient time or preparation because of me, and I felt the lack of delicacy from the men (Alfred).
"I thought it was strange. That Felicia-sama and Alfred-sama held their weddings one after another."
It is rare for royal weddings to occur in the same year, and especially within a short period of only six months. It is not absolutely impossible, but for a royal wedding, preparations are usually made over years, creating demand and supply in various places, and the economy should move significantly. This huge business opportunity in a sense was lost throughout the royal capital because there was no preparation period and they were held consecutively. The merchants also did not get a sufficient preparation period.
...Because of my kidnapping, did my country actually suffer a huge loss...?
To be precise, the merchants simply missed business opportunities that would have occurred in the future, so no actual loss occurred. It did not occur, but once I realized it, I was filled with apology.
...As I thought, since I was kidnapped for two years, can I extend it by two years! I'll stay with Leonardo-san until I'm twenty-two, is the atmosphere not one where I can say that...?
Especially with Alfred, it seems I will never be able to hold my head up. He caused a staggering amount of loss, just thinking about it, by his decision. All of it was for gathering information to search for the kidnapped me and creating an environment where it was easy to move. This certainly makes it understandable that he is tied to the seat of the next king.
Even in the history of my previous life or in stories, the throne fought over is treated as a penalty game in the Ivizia Kingdom.
Since only those who have completed education as a ruler obtain the right of succession as a royal duke, they understand the heavy responsibility well even before becoming king. Precisely because they understand it, few royal dukes want to become a king with such an overwhelmingly heavy responsibility.
...Curse you, Edgar.
Cursing the kidnapper whose face I do not even remember, I recall that there must have been another perpetrator. I have heard from Leonardo and the others that Jasper was the one who took me away, but for some reason, I do not feel the urge to resent him. The anger and resentment over Kalisa being killed certainly exist, but what I feel toward Jasper is 'emptiness' and 'disappointment'. Even though Aaron lost his sight and Kokumaro still limps sometimes, I had no strong emotions like wanting to do the same thing back to him or absolutely never forgiving him. Instead, I do think that I never want my heart to be troubled by Jasper again. I do not want to resent him for betraying me or deceiving me, nor do I want to be sad. Perhaps I even want to forget that I ever met him.
...That is a bit lonely, though.
I cannot forgive him, and I cannot adore him even if he once took care of me. Regarding Jasper, it is best not to think about him.
"--The statue draped in Aurelian lace is also a rumor in the galleries."
"Eh?"
I blinked, realizing my thoughts had drifted. Basilia also seemed to notice that my reaction was absent-minded. I thought she would puff out her cheeks in anger, but she only pointed her lips slightly and immediately regained her composure to tell me the story I had missed.
...It is not just her appearance, Basilia-chan's growth.
It seems she no longer gives reactions as childlike as before. Her age should be almost the same as mine, but her inside seems to have grown more than her appearance. Every single gesture is adult-like.
...Yes, lady education is important. I should not just play the part of a lady, but properly acquire it.
Basilia, who was a tomboy who would pour water on a love rival, is now before me as a full-fledged lady. Her graceful gestures are truly elegant, and it makes me realize how my lady-like behavior is just a quick fix, as I only play the lady in necessary places. This is why Tabitha and the others' calls have returned to the nickname for calling a child, 'Tina-jou-sama'.
"A sculptor who was impressed by Felicia-sama's wedding dress draped in Aurelian lace created a work modeled after Felicia-sama."
"...I heard a story that no one could capture Felicia-sama's beauty, and several painters broke their brushes?"
I think I heard that story from Rannvald. Felicia, who possesses the beauty of a goddess, is the ultimate motif that painters long to draw at least once. However, no painter had the skill to capture the too-beautiful figure of Felicia in a painting, and even famous painters permitted to use Felicia as a model challenged this and broke their brushes at their own limits. I wondered if such a Felicia could be expressed in a statue rather than a painting, and when I prompted her to continue, it seems that even though it is a statue of Felicia, her face is not visible.
"It is Felicia-sama draped in bobbin lace as a veil. Of course, her face is not showing. But that is exactly what is wonderful."
The statue of Felicia made by carving marble should not be transparent since it is stone, but it is apparently a work so precise and delicate that one is deluded into seeing Felicia's beauty hidden behind the veil. And this delusion of seeing Felicia's beauty shine through worked. By stimulating the imagination of the viewer to supplement the beauty of Felicia that no one had been able to capture until now, a work was born into the world that even those who know Felicia directly could certify as 'this is Felicia'.
"I would definitely like to see that. ...Will I be able to see it in five years?"
"If a replica is acceptable, it is scheduled to be displayed in the Lagarette gallery in two years' spring."
The words 'so come visit Lagarette soon after you are able to go outside' were whispered in a truly small voice. I thought she had become a completely mature lady, but the gesture of averting her eyes a bit shyly has not changed. Basilia is a tsundere as always.
"Even so, if royals are to marry in the same year, I think there was a method of having two couples simultaneously at the Harvest Festival..."
With this, even if it was shorter than the original preparation period, there should have been a bit more time. From what I heard, Felicia's wedding took place in the spring of the year after I was kidnapped. There must have been a difference for those around them between preparing for a spring wedding in six months and extending the wedding to autumn to have a one-year preparation period.
"I was taught at the Menhishumi Church that it is common to hold weddings at the Harvest Festival to pray for children..."
"I think they used the Spring Flower Festival to spread Aurelian lace. The Spring Flower Festival is a festival where commerce flourishes."
By having Felicia wear it at the Spring Flower Festival, they spread its existence on a large scale, and by using it in Alfred's wedding outfit, they dealt the finishing blow. That the bobbin lace Felicia wore was not a transient fad, but something to be rooted in the Ivizia Kingdom.
...Alf-san, you're scary.
In my previous life, 'fads' in clothing were nothing more than 'planned harmony' created by the clothing industry consulting with each other. Since it was a 'fad' intentionally spread by the industry, the transmission of information was easy and easy to reach consumers.
However, in the Ivizia Kingdom where I live in this life, it is difficult to take the same method. Thanks to the Menhishumi Church, the literacy rate is reasonably high, but the speed of information transmission is incomparably slower than in my previous life. To add to that, the means are few, and the feet are slow. Alfred used the occasion of their weddings, which attracts public attention, to transmit information, and turned the public who saw the ceremony into transmitters of information. Many merchants and travelers gather at the Spring Flower Festival, and on their journey back to their hometowns, they will talk about Felicia's beauty and bobbin lace, spreading it.
...Even without televisions or telephones, I think spreading an intentionally targeted fad is incredibly difficult?
Alfred has accomplished that. I thought it would be fine if I could spread bobbin lace little by little over a decade, but in just two years, the name of bobbin lace spread across the continent, and the guidebooks spread as well. It seems craftsmen are starting to be born little by little now. Alfred had achieved things that would have been difficult for me alone without my knowing.
...And, my money had increased quite a bit without my knowing.
Two years ago, it was five thousand gold coins, but the amount, which should have decreased slightly due to the printing of the guidebooks, had conversely increased. This is because I, who had said to set the price of the guidebooks so that even commoners could buy them, was snatched away halfway. I had planned to set a price where I could just recover the printing costs, but the one who took over the guidebook production was Nils, the son of a merchant. It seems the families of Elke and others also cooperated in the sale of the guidebooks, and as a result, with the cooperation of my friends who have merchant families, the price was set to ensure a solid profit. Furthermore, through the Felicia connection, I have many acquaintances who are staff-rank nobles, and Cody is a traveling merchant. The profits from the bobbin lace guidebooks sold across the continent do not have the impact of five thousand gold coins, but it has become an amount that makes one tilt their head for a fifteen-year-old to possess.
"...Regarding these two years, it seems better to investigate for myself rather than just ending with what I heard from Big Brother Leonardo."
In the information from Leonardo and Alfred, information they judged as unnecessary has been hidden. No matter how I think about it, some kind of thanks and apology are necessary for the two brides who had to face their once-in-a-lifetime weddings without sufficient preparation because of me.
"As for changes over two years related to Christina-sama... do you want to hear about Dietfried-sama?"
"I'll listen if you want to brag..."
I am not that interested. That thought probably showed on my face. Basilia made an indescribable, subtle face, then let out a wry smile.
"You are the same as always. I feel sorry for Dietfried-sama. I wonder what kind of gentleman would make Christina-sama's heart flutter."
"What kind... someone stronger than Big Brother Leonardo?"
"Is that a factor for fluttering? Is it not a mistake for an absolute condition?"
"...It was the absolute condition."
A man stronger than Leonardo is an absolute condition. Otherwise, Leonardo would almost certainly not agree to hand me over. And I think I would choose Leonardo even if I found a man stronger than Leonardo. I cannot even imagine a person who could be exchanged for Leonardo.
"Come to think of it, Basilia-sama, what attracted you to Dietfried-sama? I believe you were crazy about him from around the time you met."
"It was love at first sight."
Of course it was, Basilia answered with a smile full of confidence. I know Dietfried from when he was young, but where was the element to fall in love at first sight in such an undisciplined tyrant? When I looked at Basilia, wondering from the bottom of my heart, Basilia, with her cheeks blushing lovelily with the expression of a maiden in love, began to tell me, "I was annoyed by a boy who was cuter than a girl, and before I knew it, I was crazy about him."
...I don't understand the meaning at all? Eh? What does 'annoyed because he's cuter than a girl, so I'm crazy about him' mean?
Since I did not understand the meaning at all, I asked if that was only about appearance and if his inside was good. My lady-like act slipped again, but I do not care.
"He is honest and easy to manage, and his single-mindedness is wonderful (cute)."
The fact that he still seems to be clinging to me is even better, Basilia said, closing her eyelids with the expression of a maiden in love, which was lovely, but the words she was saying were somehow strange. The part where she liked a boy cuter than a girl because she was annoyed, and she likes a fiancé who still has feelings for another girl, is truly incomprehensible. If it were me, I would hate such a fiancé. To ensure that Dietfried, who has no chance, would not linger on me forever, I flatly and clearly refused his proposal, but it has become a strange situation. Basilia, who had mistaken me for a love rival and poured water on me at our first meeting, now has an atmosphere as if she would incite Dietfried, who has become her fiancé, toward me. And, as she said his single-mindedness is wonderful, she probably wants to adore Dietfried being rejected by me.
"Is that really okay? You are his fiancé, right? Even if he is still chasing me, do you intend to leave him be?"
"It is fine. I love the sight of Dietfried-sama chasing Christina-sama."
And then, I will pretend I did not hear the words that followed, saying that the sight of him being coldly brushed off and becoming depressed is the best. Basilia, blushing entranced and saying he is pathetic and the cutest, does indeed have the blood of the Ivizia Kingdom's royalty if you go back. It is not surprising that she has one or two strange fetishes.
...Good luck, Diet.