It had been several days since our discussion with the Plantan Company concluded and we returned to the castle.
I was in the middle of my afternoon lesson in Brother
"Young Lord Wilfried, Lady Rosemine. The Aub Ehrenfest has returned. Shall we go greet them?"
"Father and Mother are coming back!?"
Right after I heard the excitement in Brother Wilfried's voice, Rihyarda took the history book I'd been reading and gave me a stern smile.
"Your studies will continue after the greeting. Let's go, my lady."
"Yes."
Brother Wilfried and I were ushered by Rihyarda to the room with the teleportation circle. We had the guard on watch open the door for us and stepped inside.
Shortly after we arrived, the teleportation circle flared with light. The complex magic array rose into view, and in the next instant, Father, my adoptive father, and my adoptive mother were standing atop the circle.
Brother Wilfried immediately ran over, saying, "Welcome home, Father, Mother."
"We have returned, Wilfried, Rosemine. Did the two of you fulfill your duties properly?"
"Of course, Mother. I made my magic power supply every day. Right, Rosemine?"
"Welcome home, Father, Mother. Brother Wilfried worked very hard on his unfamiliar magic power supply every single day."
"Good. I'm proud of both of you, as your mother."
Adoptive Mother smiled gently and began to walk forward. We were told it would be best to leave the teleportation circle room early, since the retainers would be returning in succession.
I gave up my spot to Brother Wilfried, who had all sorts of things to report to his mother, and approached Father, who was rolling his shoulders lightly.
"As expected, it's reassuring to be back in Ehrenfest."
"Welcome home, Father."
When I spoke to Father, who had been acting as the lord couple's guard knight, he looked slightly surprised, then softened his eyes as he gazed down at me. "I'm glad to see you well, Rosemine."
"Have things been the same?"
"Yes."
While I was talking with Father, Adoptive Father suddenly poked me in the cheek with a "psst." He looked utterly exhausted—his complexion was poor and his eyes were dead.
"W-What is it?"
I tilted my head, but his expression didn't change. As he kept insistently poking my cheek, I caught on to what he wanted.
"P-pfft?"
"...It's your fault."
"Huh?"
The cheek-poking stopped, but now I had no idea what he was asking of me. I blinked up at Adoptive Father in confusion, and then—*snap*—he flicked my forehead with his index finger.
"Ow!"
"I need to talk to you about
"...Understood."
Rubbing my throbbing forehead, I parted ways with the lord couple and Brother Wilfried, and we returned to our lessons. Until the fifth bell, lessons continued.
The fifth bell rang while I was reading.
"Rosemine, go talk with Father. I have plans for tea with Mother and my younger siblings."
Brother Wilfried was clearly delighted to have his parents back after so long. The moment the bell rang, he packed up his study materials and dashed off toward the room where his younger siblings were staying in the main building, his steps practically bouncing.
I had my appointment with Adoptive Father, so I headed to his office in the main building via the lower building. Recently, fewer people seemed surprised to see me using the lower building.
"Aub Ehrenfest, Lady Rosemine is here."
"Send her in."
When I entered the room, I could see retainers organizing documents brought back from the trip and an Attendant preparing tea.
After offering me a seat, Adoptive Father dismissed everyone except Father, his guard knight.
"Wait outside until I call for you. Only
"Understood."
The retainers—those who had been working and those preparing tea—filed out like a receding tide.
Once everyone had gone and not a single footstep could be heard, Adoptive Father let out a long, slow breath. At the same time, the dignified aura he'd maintained with the retainers present completely vanished, and he slumped forward onto the table with a deflated *plop*.
"It's Rosemine's fault."
This was apparently the side of him he only showed to family, but I had no idea what he was talking about and didn't know how to respond. What was my fault? I had absolutely no clue.
When I looked to Father for help, he simply shrugged. "It's been a lot for him."
"Um, Adoptive Father—what was it you wanted to discuss about the Temple?"
When I asked, he turned only his face toward me, his expression full of resentment, and stared at me intently with his dark green eyes.
"I heard you told my sister about our uncle's death."
"...I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You're saying you have no clue?"
None.
But Adoptive Father was glaring at me with absolute certainty. I thought back over his words, trying to figure out what he meant.
"Well, I understand the uncle part. The former High Priest—that's correct, right? But I don't know which sister you mean. I believe your mother's older sister married into some western territory... Frebeltag, was it? Is it her?"
"No. That's the second sister. The one I'm talking about is the eldest."
Adoptive Father waved his hand dismissively and added, "She married into
My response must have been too blank, because Adoptive Father sat up abruptly and began tapping the table with his fingertip in an irritated *tap tap tap tap*.
"The Temple contacted her, she said. Do you have no memory of informing her about our uncle's death in winter?"
"When inquiries came in from various quarters, the High Priest's death was announced, so it was probably just one of many. Which one was hers... Oh, wait—could it have been that magical tool letter? The one that turned into a bird and flew away after I wrote a reply? That was quite the surprise."
I remembered the magical tool letter that had transformed into a bird and flown off during the dedication ceremony, and Adoptive Father pointed sharply at me. "That's the one!" His face lit up as if we'd finally gotten through, but then his shoulders slumped.
"...So you didn't know my sister. Our uncle doted on her terribly, and they apparently kept in touch even after she married. Yet she wasn't informed of his death for nearly a year—she chewed me out about it relentlessly during the lord's conference."
Adoptive Father's haggard appearance, it seemed, was the result of being repeatedly needled by his eldest sister.
That's when it hit me.
"Wait—could she be the much-older sister who was once considered the next lord before Adoptive Father was born? The one your father feared would cause conflict with you as lord, so he married her off to another territory?"
"...That's correct, but how do you know that in such detail?"
So the person who wrote those letters wasn't the former High Priest's secret lover after all. Thank goodness I never told anyone.
They weren't letters of innocent secret love—they were from a niece grumbling to her uncle.
"There were letters from her among those the former High Priest kept carefully stored. Even after marrying into another territory, you kept in touch—you must have been close."
"My sister took after Mother, so she was Uncle's favorite."
So she'd berated Adoptive Father during the lord's conference, saying things like, "The news of the former High Priest's death came not from family—from the Lord himself—but from the Temple." Adoptive Father was the lord, and there had been complications involving crimes, so there were various reasons for the delay, but the death notification had certainly been careless. When someone close to you needles you about it, you just have to bear it.
"So, my sister plans to visit Uncle's grave at the end of summer. She also said she wants to personally thank you for informing her about Uncle's death."
"Understood."
Thinking she was rather gracious for coming all this way just to say thank you, I was surprised when Adoptive Father sighed, "You really don't understand at all," and shook his head.
"When she finds out you were the reason Uncle was arrested, knowing my sister, she'll needle you relentlessly—making cutting, wounding remarks. I intend to keep the details of Uncle's arrest as quiet as possible, but my sister still has her own information network in Ehrenfest. If it comes out, you'll just have to accept it and endure."
"Wh-What?!"
"Being limited-time is the only saving grace. My sister is persistent. She'll bring up the same thing over and over again."
She wasn't gracious at all—she was resentful and troublesome.
The instant I realized this headache was about to land on me, I felt the blood drain from my face.
When my complexion turned pale, Adoptive Father's improved in turn, as though he'd found a companion to share his suffering. He grinned with an unpleasant smile.
"Ahrensbach, where my sister married, is a higher-ranking territory than Ehrenfest. If I offend her, all sorts of territorial matters become troublesome. Be very careful."
Oh boy, it sounded like things were about to get really complicated.
I slumped my shoulders and started to rise, saying, "If our discussion is finished, I'll take my leave," but Adoptive Father waved for me to sit back down.
"We're not done. I'm thinking of having
"...Are you planning to destroy the Temple?"
When I offered my candid opinion, Father snorted with laughter and Adoptive Father held his head in his hands.
"That's not it. You're aware that the harvest in our direct domain increased during the year you served as High Priest, yes?"
"Yes."
"With the entire territory short on magic power, having the lord's family working visibly for the territory carries great significance—for both the commoners and the nobility."
It sounded like nothing more than a well-phrased justification, but I nodded anyway. "That's certainly true."
"Besides, Mother has been confined for a year now. No one would complain about bringing Ferdinand back from the Temple at this point. I plan to have him leave secular life first, then appoint him as Chief Priest under a lord's order—just as I did with you—and send him to the Temple."
The justification was airtight, and it would be hard to object if Ferdinand returned as Chief Priest. Still, I gave Adoptive Father a small glare.
"That's not just because you want to work Ferdinand to the bone at the castle, is it? Losing the Chief Priest right now would be extremely problematic. We haven't trained any successors yet."
Even when the lord's mother had been arrested, no one had ever suggested having the Chief Priest return to secular life. It seemed to me that since the Chief Priest had been entirely consumed by Temple work and stopped appearing at the castle, they were in a rush to bring him back.
Suspicion crept in—didn't they just want him to do office work at the castle? Adoptive Father was momentarily at a loss for words.
"...It's true that there are very few adults in the lord's family who can act freely, and I want to fill that gap."
"Adoptive Father—"
"But more than that, I don't want to leave Ferdinand in his current state."
Adoptive Father lowered his gaze and asked quietly, "Do you know why Ferdinand is at the Temple?"
I had bits and pieces—information gathered from the Chief Priest, from Mother, from Father, and from the former High Priest. But no one had ever explained things in detail.
"Piecing everything together, it seems he entered the Temple to escape the harassment from your mother, but I don't know the specifics."
"That's more or less correct."
Adoptive Father nodded with a bitter expression, and Father added context.
"She had always been harsh toward Ferdinand, but shortly before the previous lord's death, her malice escalated to the point where he feared for his life. She was making claims that Ferdinand wished for the previous lord's death and intended to seize the lord's seat afterward."
That was paranoia beyond reason.
The Chief Priest had been told since childhood, "You must assist the lord" and "Useless people aren't needed." He'd lived a life on constant guard, never showing weakness for fear of being destroyed. I couldn't imagine him wanting such a troublesome position.
"Ferdinand was born of a concubine, not the legal wife, so he can never become the lord. Even Mother should understand that much, yet the persecution only grew worse. After Father died and I became lord, Mother still wouldn't change. I was the one who told Ferdinand to enter the Temple and escape, in order to separate the two of them."
He'd only just inherited the lord's position, and with everything still unstable, he wanted to prevent any incidents.
Adoptive Father had believed that once he became lord and things settled down, his mother's wrath would subside. But when he tried to bring the Chief Priest back to the castle, she had fiercely opposed it.
"I never intended to keep Ferdinand at the Temple for this long."
"...I understand your regret, Adoptive Father. But right now, the Chief Priest is thriving at the Temple—he's actively training successors and his medication has been reduced. In terms of health, he's improved, so I'd rather his situation not change."
If they used his return to secular life as a reason to work him to the bone at the castle, everything would revert to the way it was.
When I pushed back on the Chief Priest's return to secular life, Father let out a quiet chuckle.
"Listening to that, it's hard to tell which one of you is the guardian."
"Indeed. It seems like Rosemine is the one looking after Ferdinand."
Adoptive Father covered his mouth as he laughed, then glanced at me.
"Rosemine, as your guardian in the Temple as well, it would benefit Ferdinand socially among the nobility if he returned to secular life. Moreover, if Ferdinand serves as Chief Priest in the capacity of the lord's half-brother, he could be assigned dedicated guard knights and retainers just like you. Wouldn't that ease the Temple's workload somewhat?"
Dedicated attendants to the Chief Priest—that would be
"I understand. I'll at least raise the topic of returning to secular life, but please prioritize the Chief Priest's own wishes."
"...Very well."
Our discussion concluded, and I took my leave.
With the lord's conference over and the lord couple and their entourage returned, retainers bustled about busily, and the castle buzzed with activity once more.
Now that the lord and his wife were back, my duties were essentially over. The magic power supply assignment had ended, so I would be returning to the Temple. And once I returned, there was the spring coming-of-age ceremony, followed by the summer
The next day, back at the Temple, I met with the Chief Priest. Of course, to avoid confusing the other priests, we spoke inside his hidden room.
The Chief Priest seemed to have considerably more free time now. On the large desk in his hidden room sat bottles containing liquids of unusual colors, notes summarizing research results were scattered about, and his magical tool hobby research appeared to be progressing well.
As usual, I avoided the paperwork and sat on the long chair while the Chief Priest took his seat. Once our eyes met, he prompted me.
"What did the lord have to say?"
"He wants the Chief Priest to return to secular life."
When I summarized my conversation with the lord, the Chief Priest sighed. "He's still brooding about that? How troublesome."
"I think there are many advantages, as Adoptive Father said."
"There are disadvantages
He smiled sardonically, then furrowed his brows slightly and tapped his temple.
Returning to his noble status should, under normal circumstances, make someone leap with joy to leave the Temple. But the Chief Priest had called it "troublesome." His attitude didn't seem at all eager about returning to secular life, and I clenched my fist.
"...What will you do? If you don't want to return to secular life, I can advise my adoptive father on your behalf—"
"No, that won't be necessary. If it's guaranteed that my position as Chief Priest won't change, there's no loss for you. And it's better not to go against the lord's decision. Besides, as Sylvester said, the more hands and feet at your disposal, the better. ...Eckhart and Justus, who are assigned to me, are being exposed to pointless malice because of it."
His calm words only made my brows furrow further. I pressed my lips together in frustration and glared at the Chief Priest.
Everything he mentioned was about other people's concerns. My gains and losses, Eckhart's and Justus's positions—none of that mattered to me right now. I was asking what the Chief Priest himself wanted.
"I'm not asking about other people's gains and losses—I'm asking what you yourself think?"
My words caught him off guard. He looked slightly startled, blinked a few times, then shook his head lightly.
"Whether I return to secular life or not, I'll still be dragged out to the castle either way, won't I? If so, I should choose the option with more advantages."
What I wanted was not "what I should do" but "what I want to do," but I didn't expect to get anything more from the Chief Priest. If his answer was to choose whichever option had more advantages, I would respect that.
"I understand. He wants to make the announcement at the Star Binding Ceremony, when the nobles are gathered. After returning to secular life, you would enter the Temple as Chief Priest under the lord's order, and afterward, you would officially become my guardian, as I understand it."
The Chief Priest had been listening with a "hmm hmm," but at the word "guardian," he glanced at me, raised his eyebrows slightly, and lifted the corner of his lips in a sardonic smirk.
"...Your guardian, is it? Perhaps returning to secular life was a mistake after all."
"What do you mean? Is the position of my guardian such a massive drawback that it outweighs all the advantages Adoptive Father mentioned?"
When I glared at him in irritation, the Chief Priest narrowed his golden eyes with amusement and let out a derisive huff.
"That's exactly what I mean. You keep bringing one unexpected problem after another, don't you? Between assisting Sylvester and being your guardian—which is easier—now that's a difficult one."
It stung, but I couldn't deny a single word of it.
Still, to think that in the Chief Priest's eyes, I was on the same level of trouble as my adoptive father. That was a first for me. ...Learning I was on the same level as someone who pokes people's cheeks without warning and makes them go "pfft" was honestly a bit of a shock.
The lord and his wife have returned.
And the letter writer turned out to be Lord Sylvester's older sister.
Next time: the Star Binding Ceremony.