Published: August 10, 2026
Grethia went ahead to the greenhouse to prepare the tea. She had been told to take her time, keeping Hannelore's changing time in mind. The greenhouse was in the direction of the room where the tea party would be held, and it seemed to play a very active role during the snowbound Winter Social Season.
"Shall we go soon, Lady Rosemine? Will you be using a Mount?"
I left the room with Darmel and Judith as my two guards. As always, I tried to summon my Mount, but my hand stopped.
"Lady Rosemine, what is the matter?"
Judith looked at me in confusion, and I told them that the sight of mana stones frightened me because they reminded me of the battle, and of the people who had died in front of me. Judith's eyes went wide, and Darmel's face darkened.
"Liselotte was worried because you dropped an Ordnance mana stone, but if you are in such a state, please let your attendants know. It would be a pity for Liselotte to be tossed about without knowing anything."
"Darmel, is that not something you were not supposed to tell Lady Rosemine yet? She should rest for one night and recover from her fatigue first..."
"But whether we are caring for a lord who is tired from fighting in a distant land or looking after a lord who is suffering from special aftereffects caused by battle, our mindset and everything else changes. If the lord wishes to be informed, don't you think we must inform her?"
Darmel and Judith seemed to be arguing about something. It seemed to be something they were going to report to me later, but judging from Darmel's reaction, I probably should hear it now.
"Darmel, please tell me."
If I was too afraid of mana stones to summon my Mount, then I would have to walk to the greenhouse. It seemed I would end up arriving slowly after all. As we walked toward the greenhouse, I listened to Darmel's story.
"Lady Rosemine, even though Lord Ferdinand urged you to do it, you invited Lord Bonifatius to a seat and asked him for tales of valor. Did you realize that at that seat, you were the host?"
...I had not.
It was to calm grandfather's rampage, so the people around us were saved, but ordinarily, reporting to the aub should have taken priority. As a makeshift measure, grandfather's attendants and mine apparently decided to muddle through by having Foster Father, who was the aub, sit with us and making the order of reporting vague.
"Lord Bonifatius was in a good mood and talked easily, and the aub, who had been reluctant to speak, began talking about his own battle as well. From the outside, it looked as though everything was proceeding smoothly. However, Lady Rosemine suddenly cut off the aub's story, stood up, and said that she needed to decide the schedule for the fitting."
The reason I tried to leave my seat in a hurry was because I had been overtaken by fear of mana stones, but the people around me did not know that. Without giving any signal to my attendants and without even offering a proper farewell to the others at the table, I apparently rose so abruptly that I cut off the aub mid-sentence and began complaining to my attendants about the schedule for the fitting.
...Ahhhh, how outrageously impolite.
"When Lord Ferdinand said that there might have been a factor other than fatigue, we realized it too late. If we had known beforehand that seeing mana stones caused you to feel unwell, Lord Ferdinand would not have arranged for Lord Bonifatius to talk about battle, and Liselotte could have taken a different approach. However, since Lady Rosemine had experienced ditter at the noble academy many times and then invited Dunkelfelger to launch this battle, you did not particularly consider battle-related aftereffects."
If I had simply pretended to faint, they could have carried me away as I was, but I went to Foster Mother and Charlotte and the others under the pretext of the fitting for the outfit, and managed to get through the feast with a forced smile, though I was under quite a strain.
"Because Lady Rosemine has become so much better at covering things up, this sudden mid-meal departure apparently looked like extremely rude and bizarre behavior to the aub and Lord Bonifatius's attendants."