Published: August 3, 2025
When I arrived at my room in the temple, I first went upstairs to change into the Blue Robes. There, Delia was already waiting with the Blue Robes prepared and ready to help me dress. If I tried to change by myself, Delia would scold me with a “Moo!” as usual, so I had to move my arms to bend and stretch in sync with her movements.
At first, our movements didn’t match at all, and I almost wanted to pout, thinking it would be much faster to dress myself. But recently, I’ve gotten used to it, and she helps me change quite naturally now.
Thinking maybe I was starting to look a bit like a lady, I lightly looked down and waited as Delia tidied my hair. Then, she muttered softly.
“That was more wonderful than I expected.”
“Huh? What?”
I tilted my head, not sure what she was talking about. Delia’s pale blue eyes gleamed sharply as she glared at me.
“Moo! It’s the picture book you let me read first! Didn’t Myne-sama say she wanted to hear our impressions?”
“Oh, the picture book. I just didn’t catch the topic at first. I’m glad to hear your thoughts, Delia… You actually managed to read it all? You must be reading much better now.”
Delia had been studying on her own, so I thought she would be behind Gil in progress. I didn’t expect she could read the whole thing.
“…Gil taught me a little, and showed me karuta as well.”
“I see. I’m glad you’re learning.”
Imagining Delia, who regarded Gil as a rival, asking him to teach her because she wanted to read was quite heartwarming.
As I smiled to myself, Rosina interrupted our chat with a somewhat stern expression.
“Myne-sama, let’s cut the conversation short and practice Fischpiel. We don’t have much time.”
“Rosina, what’s wrong? Your face looks tense.”
“We’ve received a message from the high priest telling us to perform the second assigned piece during the meeting.”
Hearing this, I understood. If we had to perform in front of the high priest, no wonder Rosina was nervous.
“Then we have to practice hard. When is the high priest’s appointment?”
“After lunch.”
I slowly tilted my head with a bad feeling about the sudden answer that skipped the date.
“…Hey, Rosina. After lunch on which day?”
“Today, after lunch.”
“What!?”
Fran, who had brought the letter, said the high priest also had to attend the harvest festival at a nearby farming village and wouldn’t have time for a while. He wanted to finish the meeting before leaving. I was glad they were handling it quickly, but suddenly adding a Fischpiel performance left my heart unprepared.
“Myne-sama, it’s not elegant to rush. Please be careful not to let the high priest notice.”
“…Yes.”
I practiced desperately until the third bell, then calmly assisted the high priest. Without showing any panic at the sudden performance, I finished lunch quickly and trained with Rosina until just before departure.
Since I was practicing seriously, I was improving, but performing in front of someone still made me nervous. Especially since this time I had to present a song I composed myself—a piece I remembered from the Reno era.
For the self-composed song, I stopped using the love song that had been the movie’s theme and changed it to a safe school song. Making a suitable parody was just too difficult. Every time the lyrics changed slightly, and sometimes I found myself humming the English lyrics, which exasperated Rosina.
“If you play calmly, you’ll be fine. You’re better than me anyway.”
“Thank you, Delia. I’ll do my best.”
Encouraged by Delia, I headed to the high priest’s room with Fran, carrying the children’s Sacred Scripture and Cinderella’s text, and Rosina carrying the smaller Fischpiel.
“Sorry for the sudden request.”
With an expression that didn’t seem particularly sorry, the high priest said this and guided me to a guest chair nearly in the center of the room.
“Well then, let’s see how much you’ve improved since then.”
I took the Fischpiel from Rosina, placed it between my thighs, and took a deep breath. Listening to the pounding beat in my ears, I plucked the strings sharply.