98 - The Silver-White Knight
I was supposed to have abandoned them with resolve.
But Alfred's research materials crushed me with the realization that there had been a choice not to abandon them.
If I had had just a little more courage. If I had had just a little more wisdom. If I had had just a little more will to act.
Maybe Royne could have been saved. Not as some sick stranger I never knew, but as Royne. Maybe Royne's child Teo could have lived too. Maybe the soul-calming lights lit at that memorial service could have been reduced to half, even if not to zero.
That future was thrust in my face by those research materials. A future I did not choose.
A future I abandoned.
"Hyaa...!?"
The moment a woman's white arm grabbed my neck, I woke from the dream. In the pitch-black world, Jinbei's face comes into view before the ceiling, as if peering down at me. This giant stuffed toy has its fixed spot on the bed, and I use it almost like a pillow, so naturally it is the first thing I see when I wake up.
"...Had a bad dream."
It has been like this ever since I saw the Japanese writing in the research materials. The patients who never came back from the quarantine zone appear in my dreams and whisper to me. Asking if I abandoned them.
...Not that Royne and the others would ever say something like that.
She resented Jean-Jacques for bringing the disease into the city, but in the end, I think she forgave him. I do not believe she felt nothing at all, but she must have tended to Jean-Jacques attentively. Royne's face at the end was very peaceful. I just cannot believe it was a face full of lingering resentment.
...Not that it is for me to decide.
I closed the lid on the possibility of saving them. No matter how I try to gloss it over, I abandoned Royne and the others.
Not feeling like going back to sleep, I get out of bed and approach the window. As a child, my bedtime is early, so it is still not that late. Jasper might be eating a late-night snack and doing transcription work, and Leonardo is probably around the time he would be going to bed too.
...I will go sleep at Leonyaldo-san's place.
Ever since Alfred started staying at the residence, Leonardo has come home every night, probably for security. Or rather, it seems he has been bringing his daytime work back to the residence instead. A prince of the kingdom staying here with only two knights as escort does seem like too little security. Either Alf or Leonardo has been at the residence constantly.
Hugging the ugly cat pillow made from an old pillowcase, I go down the stairs. Jinbei is too big to carry as a pillow, after all. As I walk nervously down the dark hallway, I sense a gaze and turn around.
"...Hyaa!?"
A person's face floating in the darkness nearly made my heart leap out of my mouth. But looking more closely, the face in the darkness looked familiar, and I realized after calming down a bit that the face was not floating. It was just at that height because of his stature. It is definitely not just a floating face ghost.
"It wash Aaron-shama. You shurprished me."
"...I heard a noise."
He was diligently standing guard tonight too, but he must have heard my footsteps coming down the stairs and came to check. Since I am a resident of the residence, but if it were an intruder, he would act as a guard knight.
"You work hard until late at night, Aaron-shama."
"A child should be asleep at this hour."
"I had a shtrange dreamh, sho I thought I would ashk to shleep at Leonyaldo-shan'sh plathe."
"As long as you are not going near the guest rooms, it is fine. Go on."
As long as I do not approach his guard area, I can do what I like, apparently. I am not sure what to think of that from a guard's perspective, but there is no point in him suspecting me as a suspicious person or intruder, so I will just appreciate getting it settled quickly.
Leaving Aaron behind and proceeding down the hallway, a little light was leaking from Leonardo's private room. Leonardo, who normally does not return home every day, has been at the residence almost constantly. It might be unavoidable that his work is not getting done.
When I knock, the door opens after a short wait. Leonardo, who came out, smiled wryly at me holding my cat pillow, then welcomed me inside willingly.
"Your classes at Menhishumi Church will be ending soon."
It is breakfast time, but only me and Leonardo are in the dining room. The number of people staying at the residence has increased, but that noble Alfred-sama wakes up whenever he pleases, and the guard knights do not eat in the dining room. Jasper is practically confined while doing transcription work, so he eats in the guest room. Honestly, it does not feel like there are that many more people.
"If you want, Tina, you can continue attending Basic Knowledge 2 and 3 classes as they are."
"...Would it be good to learn them?"
"It would not hurt to know them."
Leonardo seems to recommend learning them. I have memorized the basic letters and simple words, so I can read books meant for very young children, but I still cannot read the books in the study or write freely on my own. Especially since there are so many books in the study, it feels like a waste not to be able to read them.
When I mentioned at Menhishumi Church in the afternoon that I had talked about this with my guardian (Leonardo), Elke and Petrona told me they were planning to start Basic Knowledge 2 in the spring. During the winter off-season, many children from nearby farming villages come to the classroom, and it seems the city children have an unspoken agreement not to attend during winter. Mirshe's attendance depends on Teo, but Teo is scheduled to study Basic Knowledge 1 again in the winter. Having finally started studying in earnest, Teo was still a problem child in early autumn, so there is a lot of class content he missed.
...If city children are supposed to hold back in winter, maybe I will start in spring too?
If I do that, I will not have any reason I cannot leave the city in winter, so I might be able to go with Leonardo on his business trips. It is not that I particularly want to go, but thinking about Leonardo being gone for half the winter in the current residence, I would be surrounded by strangers, and I do not like that. If I could stay in the annex where Bart and the others live, I would be fine house-sitting, but there is no way Leonardo, who even frowned on me using the attic, would let me sleep in the annex.
"Then everyone will be in Basic Knowledge 2 clash from shpring."
When I concluded that, I heard Nils behind me let out a sigh of relief. When I asked if something was wrong, apparently it had been discussed among the teachers that since Teo had finally become motivated to study, dragged along by me, they wanted him to keep studying while I was still coming to class. It seems that even after graduating from being a brat, Teo is still a source of worry for the teachers.
...They have increased.
When I returned to the residence with Bart, who had come to pick me up with Kokumaro, there were four more knights in white uniforms. Even though this is supposed to be my own house, I am having the strange experience of being questioned by knights I have never met before just to enter.
...I am the one who should be asking who you are and what business you have here.
If I asked what business they had, from their perspective, they are probably Alfred's escort.
"Why have they increashed?"
A knight who does not know my face runs off to Leonardo to confirm. I think it is a waste of time, and I do not understand why I need to be stopped from entering my own house.
...As I thought, maybe I should seriously consider traveling with Leonyaldo-san in the winter.
As I was thinking that, Bart told me the knights had not increased. They had just reached the proper number of escorts. According to Alfred, his beloved horse, excited by the prospect of seeing Alf, apparently galloped over mountains and valleys faster than the wind to get here.
...Would not the escort knights say that their charge abandoned his escorts to charge ahead alone all the way to Grenore city?
Alfred's escorts seem to have a tough time. The biggest problem is the prince who charges ahead alone, but the escorts who let Alfred shake them off are also questionable. As expected of the "ornamental" White Knights, who are said to be "unreliable for anything but gatekeeping."
...Huh?
"Even though he ish the prinshe'sh eshcort, ish it okay to leave it to the White Knights?"
"We ain't White Knights, little miss."
Just as I thought the front door had opened, a middle-aged knight in a white uniform poked his face out. His face is intimidating and stern, but his golden hair is soft and fluffy, and he is wrapped in heavy-looking muscles like armor, very manly. The neatly trimmed mustache under his nose suited him quite well.
...If he had height, he would probably be quite popular as a handsome older gentleman.
Unfortunately, the middle-aged knight is overwhelmingly lacking in height. His legs are short.
"Here, take a look. The color of the clasps and buttons on the cloak."
"The color of the buttosh?"
Urged to look more closely, I see that the middle-aged knight's cloak clasps and buttons are made of silver-white. Since he was wearing a white uniform, I assumed he was a White Knight, but apparently I am supposed to tell them apart by their silver-white buttons, so this must be the insignia of the Silver-White Knights.
"Are you shirs a Shilver-White Knight?"
"That's right. We're the strongest Silver-White Knights, so we're assigned to guard the prince. ...I'm Siegwald. So you're the famous Leo's little sister, huh? Smaller than I heard."
...What kind of rumors are going around, I wonder.
I feel like I often get called "the famous" by knights I am meeting for the first time. I think it is because Leonardo is a celebrity, but not knowing where or what kind of rumors are circulating makes me a bit uneasy.
...His cloak is the same length as Alf-san's. Does that make him vice-commander?
Despite his intimidating face, Siegwald laughs cheerfully. He seems like a nice old man, and I feel a little relieved.
"Hello, nishe to meet you. I'm Tina. Shiegwald-shama... uh..."
Since he introduced himself, I tried to straighten up and greet him properly, but I stumbled over my words. The number of times I stumble has been decreasing lately, but when greeting someone for the first time, I just cannot seem to pull it off smoothly.
"Just Sieg is fine. ...But still, you don't look much alike."
"That'sh becaushe I'm a shtranger to Leonyaldo-san."
"Huh?"
When he peered at my face and said I did not look alike, I answered honestly. I do not know what kind of rumors are going around, but it seems Siegwald thought me and Leonardo were blood siblings. When I explained that we are brother and sister through a naming connection, Siegwald looked up behind me. I cannot see him through the hallway, ceiling, and stairs, but he must be looking back at Leonardo. Maybe he is stunned.
"So he made his benefactor's orphaned daughter his little sister... Well, no wonder he dotes on her."
"I think he shpoils me too much."
"Leo's been alone since the orphanage. No matter what kind of connection it is, he's probably just happy to have family. You should rely on him plenty and give him a hard time."
"She'll have a rough time getting married," Siegwald said with a wry smile, shrugging his shoulders. I tried to laugh it off as way too far in the future to worry about, but I could imagine it all too well and my cheek twitched. Considering how much Leonardo dotes on me now, he will absolutely throw a fit. If I ever get a boyfriend or a husband, he will definitely sulk, rage, get angry, or run away.
...Is my future husband's absolute requirement going to be someone stronger than Leonyaldo-san?
I had a feeling Leonardo would say something like, "If you want to marry my little sister, you will have to defeat me first." No, he will. Definitely.
When I suddenly thought of this future scenario and consulted Bart about it, Siegwald, who was listening nearby, finally burst out laughing. Then he introduced me to several people he knew who were stronger than Leonardo. All of them were Silver-White Knights who had arrived at the residence today.
...They are all older than me!
The Silver-White Knights currently at the residence are, naturally, all older than me. By the time I am of age, they could easily be married or even have children. As candidates for my husband, it was a waste of time even thinking about them.
The actual object of the Silver-White Knights' protection was not, strictly speaking, Alfred. It was apparently what Prince Alfred was carrying so preciously, held close to his chest. The original copy of Saint Yuuta Hiraga's research materials. The Silver-White Knights who arrived at the residence to guard the research materials will stay until the transcription is complete. Naturally, a prince of the kingdom cannot stay for such a long period, so Alfred had launched his solo charge, thinking that the sooner he arrived, the longer he could be with Alf.
...I get it now. Timon-sama and Aaron-sama, who can keep up with Alfred-sama's rampage, are incredible people.
There were several days between Alfred's arrival and Siegwald's arrival. Alfred's love (rampage) for Alf was passionate enough to shave off several days of travel time by horse.
...The knights who have to put up with him have it rough.
And since the Silver-White Knights guarding the original research materials had arrived at the residence, Alfred's mission as a messenger was complete. Alfred's return was decided, and Alf's complexion visibly improved.
Leonardo was going to prepare a carriage, but Alfred refused for a hard-to-understand reason. He wanted to keep watching Alf as he saw him off until he could no longer see him. As a prince of the kingdom, does not he care about appearances? When I asked about that quietly, apparently it is fine because he came to Grenore not as a prince, but as a Silver-White Knight delivering cargo.
...Alfred-sama is a Silver-White Knight even though he's a prince?
Honestly, I cannot tell how much of it is serious and how much is genuine. He is not a bad person, but he is hard to pin down, and I find him a little difficult to deal with.
As I watch Alfred, now on horseback, I sense a gaze and shift my eyes to Aaron. Aaron and Timon, who came to the residence with Alfred, are returning to the capital as Alfred's escort, just as they came.
Aaron barely spoke during his stay, but I wonder if he has something to tell me. Sensing that he seems to want to say something, I wait silently for Aaron to open his mouth.
"...What ish it?"
I tilt my head at Aaron, who is frozen in silence with a look that seems to want to say something. Aaron barely spoke about anything beyond what was necessary, but his green eyes are quite expressive. He is silent during meals, but his green eyes sparkle when chicken dishes (which I assume are his favorite) are served. When he ate the tatsuta-age I had remade because it had been out of Leonardo's reach, his eyes sparkled too, so I think it is safe to say he liked it.
I wait for a while, but Aaron does not say anything. Eventually getting impatient, Timon approaches and helpfully interprets Aaron's expression.
"That's the face of a scoundrel plotting to make Tina his wife so Leonardo becomes his brother-in-law."
The moment Timon explained that, I was lifted up by Leonardo and hidden inside his coat. There was not even a blink of an eye. It happened in an instant.
After that, I was wrapped in his coat the whole time. I could not even see Alfred or Aaron off. I ended up being hidden in his arms the entire time, seeing off the three as they departed.
...Siegwald-sama's worry was absolutely right. I am going to have a hard time getting married! I have to find someone stronger than Leonyaldo-san.
Siegwald's half-joking worry is a future that will definitely come true. I became certain of that, seeing Leonardo who kept me hidden in his arms until we entered the residence.
Tina understood that only eccentrics live in the capital.
Typos and omissions to be fixed another day.
Typos and omissions have been corrected where noticed. Also, I have made small additions and adjustments here and there.