487 - Visitors and the Gold Ring
...How peaceful.
I stop my embroidery and shift my gaze to Enomena's pot placed by the window. The nursery fairy, who apparently also serves as my guard, is dozing off in the shade of the flower she was born from, bathed in the tranquil afternoon sunlight.
While I do go out occasionally, my life, which basically consists of not leaving the manor, is the definition of peace. I think to myself that staying shut in too much isn't good, but if I can spend my days calmly, I want to maintain this lifestyle. I can work even inside the manor if I get embroidery commissions, and putting aside the five thousand gold coins, I've managed to build up some personal savings thanks to the bobbin lace instruction book. It is a life where there is no need to force myself to go outside.
In the city of Grunol, once the tournament held in the month after summer ends, the temperature begins to drop and autumn arrives. I spend my time occasionally sending and receiving letters from acquaintances, creating translations of research materials on the Saint Yuta Hiraga, and weaving embroidery and bobbin lace as hobbies, when I had a rare visitor. I didn't recognize the person, but since their appearance was tidy and they observed proper etiquette, I attended to them. The visitor's purpose was to invite me to participate in the Wemishuvara Contest held during the Harvest Festival. The identity of the unfamiliar man seemed to be an executive committee member of the Wemishuvara Contest or something similar.
"...That is the situation, but what will you do?"
I wonder, there was no such talk last year, I think, tilting my head while directing the conversation to Salisa, who is waiting behind me. I had assumed he brought the invitation for Salisa to me as her master, but it seemed it was slightly different.
"No, I came to request Kalisa-san's participation as well, but I also wished to ask Christina-sama, so I have come to pay my respects."
"...I have heard that participants for the Wemishuvara Contest are chosen by recommendation from others?"
It is a bit strange that votes would gather for me through other people's recommendations. Salisa sometimes goes out shopping outside the manor, but I spend most of my time without leaving. There should be no way I've been spotted by enough people for a significant number of votes to gather.
When I conveyed that doubt as it was, Salisa, not the man, answered this question. She said it was likely a recommendation from the Black Knights.
...Come to think of it, I did spread some charm at the tournament.
When I was in single digits, I occasionally showed my face at Grunol Fort, and I had spread some charm to the Black Knights I met then. Therefore, at the recent tournament, I spread some charm every time I met a Black Knight, but for that to invite an invitation to the Wemishuvara Contest is a complete miscalculation.
"It is a prestigious invitation, but please allow me to decline."
I make a face lacking confidence, as if to say that, as you can see, my appearance is not yet one that could be called a beauty. Although I have reached the maidenly age of seventeen, my appearance, which had stopped growing for two years, is still that of a child. Since my parents gave birth to me cute, it is certain that I am a beautiful girl, but if I were to participate in the Wemishuvara Contest where beauties line up, the sense of incongruity would be immense.
...Also, it would be a pain if I accidentally won, right?
Last year, Salisa participated in the Wemishuvara Contest under the name 'Kalisa' and snatched the victory. For Salisa, she just wanted to do something like 'proof of Kalisa's existence', but she seemed to have forgotten about the job imposed on the winner of the Wemishuvara Contest, which is to appear as the Goddess Itsurateru in the play held during the Remembrance Festival. Every time she went to play practice, she apologized, saying, 'I am sorry for leaving a hole in my work', and the time commitment for the play was quite long. To put it simply, for me, who has no interest in glory or honor, there was no benefit to participating in the Wemishuvara Contest.
The man honestly complies with my unremarkable refusal. He seemed to show a reasonable understanding of me declining due to the youthfulness of my appearance. Then, after the refusal, the man invited Salisa to participate. To this, Salisa declines with an innocent face, saying, "I am not 'Kalisa'." Last year, Salisa should have participated in the Wemishuvara Contest as 'Kalisa', but it seems she was satisfied with carving the name Kalisa into the city's history once.
...Salisa must have learned her lesson too.
Having been refused by me and Salisa, who apparently had many recommendations, the man begins to hold his head. He says that I, who have many recommendations, and last year's winner will not appear. In particular, the fact that last year's winner will not appear seems to affect the excitement of the Wemishuvara Contest.
"How about that person who had been winning for many years until last year?"
It is a woman who had been winning the Wemishuvara Contest since the time Leonardo came to Grunol Fort. Last year, the victory was snatched by Salisa, but that does not mean her beauty would fade in a single year.
"She has already declined. She says that since she lost to Kalisa-san last year, her era is likely over."
"...Then, let us accept it positively, thinking that there will be new faces."
"In another two or three years, would Christina-sama be willing to participate?"
In another two or three years, my body will surely be completed as an adult woman. The man continues, saying that even if I stand on a stage where only beauties line up, I won't be the only one who feels out of place, to which I now make a slightly troubled face. Whether my body finishes growing or how many more years pass, in truth, I have no interest in the Wemishuvara Contest itself and have no intention of participating.
"I cannot make a promise. There is someone I have promised to go to the Royal Capital when I turn twenty, and before that, there is a possibility that my brother will no longer be the master of Grunol Fort."
I call Leonardo 'brother' for the first time in a while, saying that depending on the circumstances of my guardian, I might disappear from the city of Grunol. It is famous that the master of Grunol Fort is a bit special and is entrusted with four forts. This means that for those who know Leonardo's brave name, it was understandable without explanation that if Leonardo lost even once in the Black Knights' tournament, he might step down as the master of the fort and move to another fort.
...Wait? If I go to the Royal Capital at twenty, will I be living apart from Leonardo-san as soon as we marry...?
I noticed it only now. If Leonardo returns to the city of Grunol as a Black Knight and I move to the Royal Capital as promised to Christoph, that is how it will be. Unless Leonardo quits being a knight or returns to the Royal Capital as the Silver Knight, Leonardo and I cannot be together.
...A separation flag in such a strange place...!
Now that I've noticed it, it's a flag I want to snap off as soon as possible. That said, the reason Christoph and the others want me to come to the Royal Capital is that I can read Japanese. If so, once I have read all the Japanese they want me to read, I will no longer be necessary. And the Japanese they want me to read is, in other words, the research materials on the Saint Yuta Hiraga. Since I am proceeding with the translation work bit by bit, it should be finished by the time I turn twenty. Because there is work to experiment whether the translation functions as a prescription (recipe), I will inevitably have to stay in the Royal Capital for years, but it shouldn't mean being separated from Leonardo forever. At most, a crisis of living apart for two or three years as newlyweds awaits.
...I wonder how that would be, in its own way?
When I become twenty-two or twenty-three, my body will surely be fully grown. I think it's just about the right age to have children, but the problem is Leonardo. Leonardo, who is thirteen years older than me, will be thirty-five or thirty-six. It's fine while the born child is a baby, but it won't be like when twenty-two-year-old Leonardo held nine-year-old me. If the first child is born when Leonardo is thirty-five, Leonardo will be forty-four by the time that child is nine. Setting the eldest aside, for the youngest, there will be worries about hurting his back just by picking them up.
...No, there's no point in worrying about this now, right?
I was the one who decided that Leonardo is the one I want. The age difference should have been factored in from the start. I want to give many children to Leonardo, who I know is seeking a family, and I also wanted him to live even one day longer than me.
...I'm selfish, aren't I?
Thinking about it again, I am truly appallingly arrogant and greedy. Age-wise, Leonardo will die first no matter what, and as a difference between genders, men often die sooner. If I want Leonardo to live longer than me, the only way is for me to die sooner than average.
...Me dying first is worrying in its own way, Leonardo-san.
While thinking about such futile things, I see the visitor to the entrance hall. I say that unfortunately I cannot participate in the Wemishuvara Contest, but I pray for the contest's success.
A few days after declining the invitation to the Wemishuvara Contest, I had another visitor. I recognize this visitor. Rather, it is a person I just met in the spring.
"...Are you free, Bertrand-sama?"
"You are as lacking in cuteness as ever, you."
Since I had sent him back in the spring after reaching the conclusion that Leonardo and I would get engaged, Leonardo was called back from Grunol Fort at the sudden visit of Bertrand. Normally he doesn't return unexpectedly just for a visitor, but when it comes to the grandfather of his fiancée, it seems Leonardo must entertain him for the time being. Facing Bertrand in the reception room, Leonardo sits down beside me with a slightly exasperated face. He is likely exasperated by me, who still cannot be honest with Bertrand.
"Well, fine. ...Today, something I had commissioned some time ago is finished, so I have come to deliver it."
"If it is a delivery, I think you could have asked the Persewash Church..."
I almost let my true feelings leak out, saying that he didn't need to whip his old body into shape to travel from the Royal Capital to the city of Grunol, but it only leaked halfway. Leonardo's large hand, reaching from the side, covered my mouth, and the overly extended slip of the tongue was pushed back into the depths of my throat.
"...Tina, Bertrand-dono made a special effort to create an errand because he wanted to see his granddaughter's face. Tina, you wouldn't be able to visit Bertrand-dono without an errand, right?"
I slap the hand of Leonardo, who continues by saying that I am just like him in being dishonest, and push away the hand that was covering my mouth. I certainly think Bertrand and I are exactly alike in being dishonest, but since it wasn't interesting to have that pointed out, I gave Leonardo a mischievous smile.
"I read a popular romance novel the other day for the sake of emotional education..."
I say that a noisy opponent is silenced with lips, and tap my own lips with my finger. To summarize, it is a threat saying that if he says unnecessary things, I will block Leonardo's lips with my own. This threat worked well on Leonardo. Rather, since the kiss on the day of the tournament, the number of times Leonardo becomes visibly suspicious in his behavior has clearly increased.
...I hope it means he has started to be conscious of me as a member of the opposite sex, right?
If Leonardo is truly disgusted by the idea of taking his sister as a bride, I might need to refrain from pushing Leonardo too much soon. There is a saying that if pushing doesn't work, try pulling, so while a full-scale retreat would be shown by pulling back, I will keep it in view for now. I want Leonardo if I am to marry, but that doesn't mean I want to force my will on Leonardo.
"Save the flirting between fiancés for after I leave. Now, this."
What Bertrand placed on the table, saying 'this', was a small box. Since it seemed to be something brought for me, I take it and open the box. Inside the box, a gold ring set with a gem was contained.
...Wait? I feel like I've seen this somewhere...?
While I search my memory for where I saw it, Bertrand gives me the answer. He says the gold ring is the one that belonged to my father, Saromon, which he had repaired.
"Father's ring...?"
"That's right. I had it made when that person was born."
Hearing it is my father's ring, various memories well up. On the day I first met Leonardo, my father entrusted me to Leonardo and departed in peace. And the thing I found when prompted by Leonardo to find something to bury with my father should have been this ring.
...For some reason, it seems Jean-Jacques picked up that ring and sold it, though.
The ring that passed into Jean-Jacques's hands was sold to an antique dealer, and from the antique dealer, it eventually reached Bertrand. Bertrand, who seemed to be searching for my father's whereabouts around that time, came to the city of Grunol where the ring was sold and found me. In the sense that I was able to meet my blood-related grandfather, it is a ring for which I have nothing but gratitude, but in the sense that it drew in the person my father and mother ran away from, it is truly a subtle point.
...Wait? Something is engraved on the back.
Come to think of it, I remember the wooden ring I buried together with the gold ring. At that time, Leonardo should have said the wooden ring was 'Tina's ring'. Since I couldn't read letters back then, I didn't know, but it seems my name was engraved on the inside of the ring.
And on my father's ring, which Bertrand said he 'repaired', names other than my father's are engraved. This is likely the 'repaired' part.
"Previously, I wondered why my father had a ring with a gem in that Meiyu Village."
"Nobles have a custom of making a ring when a child is born, wishing for the child's healthy growth and wealth so that the child will never go hungry in their life."
"So Father had made a ring for me as well."
"...This one?"
While I am reflecting on the fact that the wooden ring had such a meaning, Bertrand takes out a small lump wrapped in a handkerchief. At a glance, it looked like just a lump, but looking closely, it was a wooden ring that looked as if it would split and break at any moment.
"You had this ring, Bertrand-sama."
"That Oscar found it in the Meiyu Village cemetery. Because he saw this, it was known that Saromon had a daughter..."
"...You picked it up. I should have buried it with my father because we were leaving the village."
I place the small box containing the gold ring on the table and receive the wooden ring. The wooden ring resting on my palm is overall worn out, perhaps because it was exposed to wind and rain for a long time. The reason it maintained its shape without crumbling was likely because Bertrand, who picked up the ring, had kept it carefully. It is a bit difficult to say now that I will take this back and re-bury it in Meiyu Village.
"The fact that you made a ring for a noble child, does that mean Father intended to return me to the house eventually?"
"Only my son would know that... but yes. If it were your mother, wouldn't she have thought so?"
After all, despite being eloped, they had properly reported the marriage and the birth of the child to the Sopdejania Church, which governs law and order. If they didn't want Bertrand to chase them to their elopement destination, they wouldn't have made these documents.
"...For now, I will gratefully accept the rings."
I put the wooden ring into the box containing the gold ring and wrap the box with both hands. Leonardo, who had a puzzled face beside me, saying that I accepted it honestly for a change, was handed the gold ring along with the box.
"I think I should definitely accept this. Look."
"I've seen it before. Since it's Saromon-sama's ring, Saromon-sama's name is..."
He probably found my father's name engraved on the inside of the ring and noticed the other newly engraved names. Leonardo's black eyes widened slightly.
Inside my father's ring, in addition to my father's name, my name and Bertrand's name were engraved. Normally, a noble's name consists of the individual's name, the head of the family's name, and the territory's name. In Bertrand's case, 'Bertrand' is the individual's name, 'Auguste' is the name of the person who was listed as a guardian when he became a noble, and 'Cantar' is the name of the territory. His son, my father Saromon's name, becomes Saromon Bertrand Cantar. And my name should have originally been Christina Saromon Cantar.
...But, the name inside the ring is 'Christina Saromon Chloe Cantar', and Mother's name is included, isn't it?
Bertrand, who does not want to acknowledge my mother, has still incorporated my mother's name into my name. This is likely Bertrand's own way of apologizing or expressing his intentions toward me. There is even a sentence in small letters saying 'Christina Saromon Chloe Cantar is recognized as a blood relative of Bertrand Auguste Cantar'. This ring is something that proves I am the daughter of a Ducal house. It is also something that reinforces my position, which looks weak externally as Christina Meiyu, picked up by the Black Knight Leonardo Dupré.
"Thank you for the lovely ring..."
I avert my eyes because it's a bit embarrassing to say the rest. I intended to put all the strength from the bottom of my stomach and push out all the air in my lungs, but the voice that came out was truly small and shriveled. I tried calling him 'Grandfather', but with such a voice, it probably didn't reach him.
I thought so, but Bertrand, who moved in the corner of my vision, also looked away, so I think my voice reached him. Since I heard Leonardo's cheerful voice from beside me saying, "What a similar grandfather and granddaughter," I pinched my thigh with all my might.
The conclusion of that ring that appears when you've almost forgotten about it.
Typos and omissions will be handled at a later date.