The Dress Debut and Ferdinand’s Return
Upon returning to the temple, I was faced with a barrage of extremely busy days. I needed to prepare printed goods for the next round of sales in the castle, arrange the time and place for said sales, look over Brigitte’s completed outfit, and check up on Hasse.
As the Starbind Ceremony approached, the temple internally prepared for the ceremony that would signal Ferdinand’s return to noble society, and word was spread that he would promptly return as the High Priest once it was over. In the final few days leading up to the event, the doors to the High Priest’s chambers were kept closed and entry was forbidden; Ferdinand no longer had a place in the temple now that he was being called back, so he was going to be staying in the Noble’s Quarter for the time being.
“Kampfer, Frietack—I expect you to continue preparations for the Starbind Ceremony as instructed,” Ferdinand said.
“As you wish.”
“Rozemyne, perform the ceremonies as you have been, regardless of my absence. You need only do the same as last year, so I cannot imagine there will be any problems. But do not get careless. Understood?”
Only after listing off a long string of warnings that made his unease more than apparent did Ferdinand leave the temple for the Noble’s Quarter. I would have to perform this year’s Starbind Ceremony without him. Kampfer and Frietack were entrusted with his duties while he was gone, and I could sense how anxious they were about it already.
“Don’t worry, you two. All you need to do is read the stories straight from the bible. There’s nothing to be anxious about,” I said reassuringly.
“High Bishop, we are not worried about speaking of the gods during the ritual. We are worried that Brother Egmont and the other blue priests will not follow our instructions.”
Egmont and the former High Bishop’s other lackeys were all from high-status families—that is, families that were of a higher status than Kampfer’s and Frietack’s. In this regard, it would be tough for the two of them to deal with noncompliance issues.
“If anything of the sort happens, please inform me at once. I shall deal with them using my authority as High Bishop.”
“It pains us to rely on someone as young as yourself, but your assistance will be much appreciated,” they both agreed with gentle smiles.
If the blue priests wanted to use status as an excuse to slack off, then I simply had to crush that excuse with my own hammer of authority. And if that wasn’t enough, a little actual Crushing would no doubt silence any further opposition. Keeping them under control wouldn’t be an issue at all.
“The Starbind Ceremony is called the Star Festival in the lower city, right? Hugo told me all about it,” Nicola said while dressing me in my ceremonial robes.
I nodded. “That’s right. After the ceremony in the temple, everyone across the city throws taue fruit at one another. I imagine the children in the orphanage are going to be heading off very soon to pick up some for themselves, and I believe Gunther is going along with them.”
Lutz had said that he wouldn’t be able to accompany the orphans today. The newly established Plantin Company really had to put in work during the Star Festival to get recognition in the area, so Benno had told him to mingle with the lehanges and the stores they came from. The life of a merchant was not an easy one.
“Hugo won’t get to participate in the Star Festival’s main event this year either, given that his partner broke up with him. Ella told me all about it. But since he’s so busy preparing to move to the Noble’s Quarter and work as a helper in the castle’s kitchen, he isn’t upset about it at all. Well, that’s what he said, at least—he had a really frustrated look on his face when he told me,” Nicola said with a laugh.
Both of my personal chefs were busy today, since they would be heading to the Noble’s Quarter right after lunch.
“I’m relying on you to make dinner, Nicola.”
“You can count on me. I’ve grown a lot, too.”
There would be one ceremony in the temple this morning, then another in the castle during the afternoon. This year was especially busy because this second ceremony was where we would be debuting Brigitte’s dress.
“Brigitte must be extremely busy right now...” Damuel mused aloud as he rode to the castle in Lessy with my other personnel.
He was sitting in the passenger’s seat since Brigitte wasn’t here; she had today off and had spent the entire morning preparing for the debut. She would normally get changed in the knight dorms, but as she was going to be wearing a dress I had designed myself, she was being dressed in the castle instead.
“I’m sure she’s really anxious, too, especially since she has Lady Elvira accompanying her while you’re busy at the temple. That’d be like me spending all morning with the knight commander,” Damuel continued, placing an uneasy hand on his stomach as though he was feeling Brigitte’s pain firsthand.
Since Damuel had to participate in the Starbind Ceremony as well, he headed straight to the knight dorms once we arrived at the castle. During my time here, my guard knights would be two minors—Cornelius and Angelica.
“Time to get you ready, milady,” Rihyarda said.
“Rosina advised Monika and Nicola as to what hairstyles are popular in the castle, so unlike last year, I don’t believe much additional preparation will be needed. What do you think, Rihyarda?”
She looked me over from head to toe with narrowed eyes, examining me from every angle. Then, after adjusting my robes at the hip ever so slightly, she gave a nod. “That should just about do it. Now, let’s get you to the room where Brigitte’s waiting. I believe she’s almost ready.”
By the time we arrived, Brigitte was already surrounded by Corinna and several seamstresses, all of whom were busily moving about beneath Elvira’s watchful eye.
“Mother, I thank you ever so much for agreeing to my request. I appreciate you looking over Brigitte today.”
“Of course, Rozemyne. You may entrust the dress’s debut to me and focus on your duties as High Bishop.”
I was attending the Starbind Ceremony solely to perform my duties as High Bishop: since I was a minor, I had to leave once they were over. To that end, Elvira would also be accompanying Brigitte to ensure the debut went smoothly, a job she had accepted with glee due to the high praise the dress received during its initial unveiling.
The reality was that Elvira had been unhappy about having nothing to do, since neither Eckhart nor Lamprecht were looking for partners this year. They had both ended up personally thanking me for drawing her attention away from them.
“It looks wonderful on you, Brigitte.”
“Thank you, Lady Rozemyne.”
The halter dress hugged her upper body, making her chest down to her waist look as beautiful as can be. Its light emerald-green fabric did an excellent job emphasizing both her dark-red hair and the similarly colored flower decorations adorning her skirt, while the hair ornament she wore sported pure-white flowers and bouncing leaves that matched her dress. The ornament used a long hair stick similar to the ones I wore so that anyone could immediately identify she had my personal support.
“The beauty of the dress alone would be enough to garner interest, but it was none other than Rozemyne herself who designed it. I imagine that many ambitious men with a lust for power will approach you for political means, Brigitte, so please take care,” Elvira warned. But Brigitte shook her head with a defeated smile.
“I am a woman who canceled an engagement; prior to this, I had given up all hope of ever finding another partner. Should Lady Rozemyne’s dress attract a man who will bring good fortune to Illgner, then there is nothing more I could ask for.”
I mean... I’m more concerned about them being good for you than for Illgner, I thought, but since I didn’t understand the exact impact of canceling an engagement in noble society, there wasn’t much I could say.
“A man who is good for Illgner, hm?” Elvira wondered aloud. “That may still prove rather difficult. Your connection to Rozemyne is clear to all, and if your province does not appeal to others...”
It seemed to me that starting a new paper-making business in Illgner would make it easier for Brigitte to find a good marriage partner. I’ll do my best with the negotiations, for both her sake and mine.
“Now then, we must depart for the grand hall. Rozemyne, please return to your room for now,” Elvira said before leaving with the fully prepared Brigitte.
“I’ll be watching from the stage,” I called out, causing Brigitte to return a small, embarrassed smile.
Once the door was closed, I turned to Corinna, who was busy cleaning up. “Thank you for all your work here, Corinna. The efforts of you and your seamstresses have helped Brigitte to blossom into the beautiful woman she deserves to be. I am certain that her new dress will draw the attention of all those present tonight, and the Gilberta Company’s name will surely spread like wildfire.”
“We are grateful beyond words for your patronage,” Corinna said as she knelt down. The other seamstresses followed suit as well.
“Now, if you will excuse me, I must attend to other matters. Ottilie, I trust you to handle the rest.”
“As you wish, Lady Rozemyne.”
Now that I could use my highbeast inside the castle, I arrived at the grand hall right on time, without having to be rushed along by Rihyarda like last year. I speedily put away my Pandabus, and after having Rihyarda check my clothes for wrinkles, stepped into the hall.
“The High Bishop has arrived,” intoned a speaker.
The ceiling of the grand hall reached as high as that of a gymnasium, and stretching down the center of the room from the entrance to the stage was a black, gold-hemmed carpet. I started to walk along it, with everyone’s eyes watching me just as they had the year before.
Had I gotten any faster? No.
“This way, Rozemyne.”
On stage were Sylvester, Florencia, and Karstedt, with several other guard knights standing behind the archducal couple. I took a seat beside Sylvester just as I had done last year, prompting Cornelius and Angelica to stand behind me.
“You sure made one heck of a dress, huh? That knight hardly even looks like the same woman as last year,” Sylvester said in an impressed tone while looking down at Brigitte. She was currently in one corner of the hall, surrounded not only by men, but also women interested in her new outfit.
“Eheh. My guard knight sure is a beauty, isn’t she?”
“Yup. She’ll receive more marriage proposals than she’ll know what to do with,” Sylvester responded with a nod. He had been fairly harsh on Brigitte last year, but now he was giving her full marks.
It seemed to me that he was exclusively staring at her pronounced bust, but I was kind enough not to point that out; I didn’t want to say anything that might harm his reputation in Florencia’s eyes.
“That said, she’s basically advertising that she has your full support here. She’s going to be hounded by ambitious men who lust for power. You better warn her to be careful.”
“My mother already did, but Brigitte simply responded that she didn’t mind so long as she could secure a good partner to help Illgner. She had given up on marrying anyone of worth due to having canceled her previous engagement. I do hope she can find a good husband, but...” I trailed off, pursing my lips unhappily.
Sylvester raised an eyebrow. “Hm. Hard to say what kind of marriage the world has in store for her, but whether it’s good or not will depend on Giebe Illgner. Hopefully they don’t draw another dud.”
“Well, I won’t consider myself responsible if they do. I’ll trust Brigitte and Giebe Illgner to make the right decision here,” I replied. I didn’t know what kind of person would be good for Illgner, nor what Brigitte wanted in a marriage. “I’m just pleased that everyone now understands Brigitte is a beautiful and charming woman. I also hope that it becomes fashionable for women to wear clothes that suit them, rather than them being restricted to whatever’s trendy.”
“So you were thinking about more than just starting a new trend here, huh...?” Sylvester asked, his eyes widening a little in surprise. But my ambitions here weren’t that lofty; I just wanted people to be free to wear clothes that looked good on them.
All of a sudden, I heard the high-pitched squeals of many fine noblewomen rise above the chatter. I looked over to see what all the fuss was about, and realized that Ferdinand had entered the hall. Women thronged the door to catch even a passing glimpse, though they didn’t dream of standing in his way. Everyone kept clear of the gold-hemmed carpet as though they had agreed to do so ahead of time.
“There you are, Ferdinand,” Sylvester called out.
Ferdinand reached the stage with no obstructions, climbed up the steps, and sat next to me on the opposite side from Sylvester. Behind him stood Eckhart, who was unable to hide the smile on his face; being able to serve as Ferdinand’s guard knight apparently brought him more joy than searching for a new wife.
“You seem happy about this, Eckhart.”
“Indeed. I had thought the day where I could once again serve Lord Ferdinand might never come. Justus is just as glad as I am.”
“Quite. He even said that he would now like to visit the temple as much as possible. Though it seemed to me that his eyes fell on someone other than myself,” Ferdinand added, shooting me a weighty glance.
“...Are you inferring that Justus wants to visit the temple to see me?”
“An outright answer may lead to unwelcome rumors about his romantic proclivities, but considering his obsession with collecting information, there is no mistaking that you are a source of great interest to him,” Ferdinand replied, confirming my suspicion despite having in the same sentence expressed his desire not to.
It turned out that Justus found me and my antics to be both surprising and intriguing to no end.
“Take care not to mention this carelessly,” Ferdinand repeated, making sure I understood.
“Right. By the way, your return to noble society means you can get married again, right? Shouldn’t you be down there looking for someone?” I asked. It seemed to me that, rather than sitting up on the stage, he should be with the other available men calling out to a fine noblewoman or two.
But Ferdinand glanced down at the hall dismissively. “There would be no point; not a single woman there has enough mana to match my own.”
His flat response took me by surprise. I was already aware from the situation between Brigitte and Damuel that a considerable difference in mana capacity was enough to kill any chance of a relationship, but was he really saying that every single woman of marriageable age in the hall didn’t have enough mana for him?
“Um... Not a single one?”
“Not among the unmarried women of Ehrenfest, no.”
“Wait, really? But haven’t you courted a girl before? Mother mentioned that it didn’t last long, but...”
It was hard to imagine there being any mistakes in the deep Ferdinand lore that I’d heard from Elvira, especially considering that it largely originated from Eckhart, who had witnessed it all happen firsthand. I shot him a quick glance, which was enough for Ferdinand to deduce the true source of my information.
“What in the world have you all been wasting your time talking about?” he asked with a grimace. “Good grief... Either way, that happened when I was attending the Royal Academy. There were girls taking the archduke candidate course alongside me whose mana capacity was large enough to match my own. And to be clear, if we included married women in Ehrenfest, then there would be one who is compatible.”
I was relieved to know that the number of women wasn’t literally zero, but I also couldn’t help but wonder. Considering this is purely about mana, would that married woman he’s referring to be Florencia? I guess not even Ehrenfest’s archnobles have a large enough capacity for Ferdinand.
“It must be rough only being compatible with members of the archducal family,” I said.
Upon hearing me speak about the matter as though it didn’t concern me whatsoever, Karstedt gave a bemused frown. “In that case, Ferdinand, perhaps you should marry Rozemyne. Her mana capacity will equal yours once she’s grown, correct?”
His abrupt suggestion caused both Ferdinand and me to grimace with wide-eyed horror.
“You would have me look after this problem child for my entire life? Just how much do you wish for me to suffer, Karstedt?”
“Ferdinand is exactly right. Being stuck with a perpetually unhappy lecture factory like him would be nothing but torment for me. Would you ever want to marry him, Father? Even knowing how talented he is? I didn’t think so.”
“Heh. You two sure are peas in a pod, huh?” Sylvester chimed in, his lips curling into an especially smug smirk. My cheeks started to twitch with frustration; he always made that face when he was causing problems for other people.
“Sylvester...” I began, planning to say that he should drop the idea before I dropped him. But Ferdinand stopped me before I could.
“All that will achieve is amusing him further,” he said.
It made perfect sense. We couldn’t let ourselves react the way Sylvester wanted us to. I nodded in agreement, at which point Ferdinand placed a hand on my shoulder and gave me a serious look.
“Rozemyne, you will find more nobles with a mana capacity equivalent to yours in the Royal Academy than anywhere else. Use that time to find the best partner you can. I do not mind if doing so requires you to leave Ehrenfest. You have my express permission—hide your true self, and do everything in your power to find a partner. Understand?”
“I will put in the effort to find someone with a larger book collection than anyone in Ehrenfest. But really, you’re the one who should be putting in the work here, Ferdinand. You’re approaching a more dire age for this than I am.”
As we advanced the conversation along on our own, Sylvester hurriedly leaned forward to stop us. “Hold it, you two. Those are some serious political decisions you’re trying to make. Ferdinand, you don’t have the authority to give her permission for that.”
“Think again, Sylvester. Have you forgotten that I am soon to be her guardian?”
“My my, Sylvester. And a guardian is much like a parent, are they not?” I asked, both Ferdinand and I sharing the same subtle, victorious smile.
Sylvester fell silent, completely aghast. That would probably be enough to stop him from butting in again.
Satisfied with the counterattack we had landed, I began scanning the hall for Damuel, just as I had done last year. But once again, I couldn’t find him. Perhaps he had finally found a cute girlfriend. Or maybe he was too lovestruck with Brigitte to even search for one.
At seventh bell, Sylvester smoothly stood up from his chair and took a step forward, his cape rippling behind him. “Now begins the Starbind Ceremony. Newlyweds, come forth!”
Once the newlyweds in the hall were lined up, Sylvester gave his speech. The couples then signed their marriage contracts, one pair at a time, and when those were all done, I gave them a blessing.
“O mighty King and Queen of the endless skies, O God of Darkness and Goddess of Light, hear my prayers. May you grant your blessings to the birth of new unions. May they who offer their prayers and gratitude to thee be blessed with thy divine protection.”
I prayed to the King and Queen gods while pouring mana into my ring, causing black and golden lights to swirl around before shooting up to the ceiling. The lights merged together, overlapped, and then exploded. Tiny specks of glistening dust scattered throughout the room, raining down on the newlyweds to the cheers of the audience.
Whew. My work here is done.
The announcement of Ferdinand’s return to noble society was apparently happening next, but I had to leave as soon as my blessing was given. I would have to wait and hear the details from Elvira during our tea party planned for tomorrow afternoon.
“Mother, how was the reception for Brigitte’s dress?” I asked. I made sure to take the first sip of tea and try one of the prepared sweets before gesturing for her to do the same.
Elvira gently raised her own teacup to her lips, letting out a wistful sigh with a blissful look on her face. “Last night she was simply... aah... simply wonderful,” she began, her eyes sparkling like those of a young girl with radiant dreams.
What followed wasn’t a discussion on how the dress was received, however, but a love story starring Brigitte. She had spent the previous year’s ceremony clad in clothes that didn’t suit her, but this year, she wore a new outfit so stunning that she attracted the attention of all those present.
The dress had of course been designed by the archduke’s adopted daughter, and as men found themselves drawn to both Brigitte’s beauty and her powerful political sponsor, one man stepped forward from the crowd with a smile—the very same man she had previously ended her engagement with.
“I am willing to offer you another chance. Getting engaged to me again will repair your reputation more than any other marriage could,” he said brazenly, extending a hand for her to take.
But then Damuel stepped forth with several fellow knights, getting between Brigitte and her former fiancé in an attempt to protect her honor.
“Damuel knelt before Brigitte and declared: ‘Wait one year for me, and I shall have developed enough mana to earn your hand in marriage.’ It was like watching a knight story develop before our very eyes, and even observing from the sidelines was enough to make my heart pound with emotion. If only a man would pine for my love with such fervor...” Elvira concluded with a breathy sigh.
...What the heck?! I can’t believe I missed that!
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