Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 4.9 - Chapter SS6

My Son’s Departure

“Mother, this is Justus. I have urgent news and must ask you to return home to the estate today.”

An ordonnanz had arrived for me while I was in the castle, sorting through gifts with Lady Elvira and Lady Florencia. I was surprised for a moment, but they both seemed far more disturbed.

“Oh my. Urgent news... What could it possibly be?” Lady Elvira said.

“Rihyarda, Rozemyne has not yet returned from the temple,” Lady Florencia added. “I ask that you go home at once. You may have tomorrow off as well.”

I understood their extreme concern—Justus rarely sent such ordonnanzes while I was busy with work—but Lord Ferdinand had personally asked me to evaluate the gifts being sent to Ahrensbach. I could not simply abandon this duty.

“I shall graciously accept your offer and return home for today, but I will return to continue this work tomorrow,” I said. “This is Justus we are talking about; I cannot imagine it is anything significant.”

“That will not do, Rihyarda,” Lady Elvira said, a sudden sharpness to her eyes. “I order you thus as the mother of your lady, Rozemyne: treasure the time you have left with Lord Justus. You do not know how much longer you will be able to help him as his mother.”

It was rare for her to look quite so emotional, and the look she was giving me pierced my heart. Lady Elvira was also sending her son to Ahrensbach; and due to the sudden change in plans, we only had a week left with Lord Ferdinand and our children.

“Rihyarda,” Lady Florencia said, “as these are gifts from one duchy to another, this work should most properly be carried out by members of the archducal family, such as myself and Charlotte. Unfortunately, Lord Ferdinand did not request my aid directly, but I would suggest not giving that fact undue importance. Go and assist Justus.”

Even then, I was hesitant to abandon the duty given to me. I had spent my entire life thus far devoted to my work.

Having sensed my conflicting emotions, Lady Florencia gave me a gentle smile. “Would it not be problematic if this matter of Justus’s went unresolved and Lord Ferdinand’s schedule were to be interrupted as a result? Rihyarda, Elvira—you should both take tomorrow off. You may assist your sons with their luggage, clean their rooms, or what have you, as long as you make sure to spend some time with them as their mothers before they leave. This is an order. Is that understood?”

Indeed, her expression seemed warm at first glance, but her indigo eyes carried a strength that one could not refuse. And when considered alongside the fact that I could not refuse an order from the archducal family, my hands were well and truly tied. Both Lady Elvira and I knelt before her.

“We are grateful.”

We often saw and worked with our children as retainers, but we seldom had the opportunity to meet with them as parents. Today would perhaps be the last time we ever met with our sons as family.

“My apologies, Mother. I seem to have come back late,” Justus said when he arrived at home, wearing a smirk that indicated there was no danger at all. Lady Elvira and Lady Florencia’s concern had filled me with such unease, yet here he was grinning up a storm.

I sighed, then raised my eyebrows at him. “We may be family, Justus, but as two working adults, this was far too sudden! And at fourth bell, no less! How many times have I told you to contact me at third bell, at the very latest? Any later than that does not leave me with enough time to prepare a meal.”

“Milady’s away at the temple for handover business, and, unlike last year, there’s no embroidering to be done. Were you not entirely without work?”

“I was sorting through the gifts for Ahrensbach, as per an order from Lord Ferdinand. And, in any case, whether or not I have free time does not excuse your rudeness. Do not put such a burden on our attendants and chefs.”

We would normally eat dinner at our place of work, so a sudden change of plans only served to inconvenience those working at our estate. As an attendant, Justus knew that it was our duty to create a reasonable work environment for our staff. Why, then, was he so incapable of managing that...?

Justus gave me a curious look. “Mother, it amazes me that you can talk for so long. How do you say so much in a single breath?”

My fool of a son!

I was feeling a mixture of resignation that he would never change and outrage that he had yet to learn his lesson, but the most I could do was put my head in my hands. Was it just me, or had he not grown at all since his youth?

Paying no mind to the fact that he had just given his own mother a headache, Justus handed me a sound-blocking magic tool and said, “Tell your attendant to leave; what comes next is secret.” He then turned on his heel and started toward his room. “How are things in the castle? I expect our sudden departure has been causing some chaos.”

“Indeed. We have an entire season less to dedicate to the handover. Lord Sylvester and the higher-ups of the Knight’s Order are all in quite the panic,” I replied. Many winter plans were being impacted by this sudden change of schedule. “How is milady doing in the temple? Ottilie has informed me that Hartmut is tremendously busy...”

“Milady is uneasy about losing her guardian but is staying strong nonetheless. She is preparing meals for him to bring to Ahrensbach, a hairpin to be gifted to Lady Letizia... It seems as if she is keeping busy as a way of avoiding her sorrows. I am worried about how she will fare once Lord Ferdinand is gone.”

We soon reached Justus’s room and closed the door behind us. I then turned to him and said, “So, what is this urgent business that has taken me away from my work?”

“Naturally, I wish to borrow the skills of my excellent attendant mother. Do help your adorable son with his packing. There’s a lot I’m bringing with me that I don’t want our estate’s attendants to see.”

Calling oneself adorable was anything but, though I did understand that Justus needed some assistance. His report a moment ago implied that he had a mountain of work to be done before his departure: checking the food and sweets that milady prepared, cleaning up the High Priest’s chambers, assisting Lasfam in Lord Ferdinand’s estate, and passing on his duties in the castle. He surely had no time to spare on his own preparations and chambers.

“Not to mention, once the High Priest’s chambers have been cleared out and Lord Ferdinand’s luggage has been brought to his estate, Lady Rozemyne will be staying at the castle in preparation for winter,” Justus continued. “As her head attendant, you will not be able to come here for the duration of her stay, no? Hence my urgent summons.”

It seemed that his schedule was even more packed than I realized.

“I do not know how to feel about using a member of the archducal family to transport luggage... but I understand the circumstances,” I mused. “That said, doing all of your packing between now and seventh bell is nigh impossible. You are lucky that Lady Florencia has given me some time off.”

“That’s good to hear. I was planning to use some more forceful methods to free up your schedule otherwise.”

“Justus! Do you really not understand how much sudden changes inconvenience others?”

“I do—but right now, it’s hard to determine who can know how much in the castle.”

It was impossible to argue against that. Because I was Lady Rozemyne’s retainer, I was privy to information known only by Ehrenfest’s topmost echelons—but such matters weren’t for the ears of our estate’s attendants.

“I can help you to pack,” I said, “but I refuse to sort through your mountain of clutter.”

“Yes, I’m aware. I couldn’t leave that to you anyway, Mother, as you’d toss it all away. Even though each piece is a treasure to me...”

At a young age, Justus had developed a habit of gathering strange items that could only be described as junk and nothing more. To make matters worse, he refused to throw any of these “treasures” away—a stubbornness that had caused the attendant who cleaned his room and me countless headaches. I recalled the rules we had enforced as a compromise of sorts: keep it all in your hidden room, and do not complain if anything found carelessly strewn across your floor is immediately discarded. Only then had his room started to look more befitting of a noble.

“I will need to have winter clothes and daily necessities packed within the next few days,” Justus said. “Can I leave that to you, Mother? I plan to unregister my hidden room, so I need to box up everything inside and put it in a corner somewhere.”

Unregistering one’s hidden room indicated one’s resolve to never return there again. My daughter had done the same when leaving our estate after her marriage. I had felt the same sense of loss back then too.

“Don’t tell me you intend to bring everything from your hidden room to Ahrensbach...” I said.

“Of course. Once things... settle down over there, of course. I trust you to look after my things until then.”

That was his roundabout way of saying that he didn’t know how bad things were going to be. There was a sudden burning sensation in my throat, and my stomach started to turn.

I watched Justus as he disappeared into his hidden room with some empty boxes, then I started packing clothes and small items from around his desk. He needed only the bare minimum to get through the winter, not unlike milady’s preparations for the Royal Academy. Anything he needed for spring and beyond would be sent over once the snow melted.

“But this isn’t the same as preparing for the Royal Academy,” I said to myself. “He will need to attend winter socializing events, which means he will need to bring more clothing.”

I put aside a few days’ worth of normal clothes and something for him to wear on the day of his departure, then began packing one winter outfit after another. I then started filling boxes with the items he was unlikely to use on a daily basis. Stationery like his writing utensils and such would naturally need to be placed on top, since he was bound to need it more often. It was precisely because he didn’t want the estate attendants to touch his documents and such that he had asked me to help out.

Maintaining secrecy is especially crucial now, while we must be so careful about our intelligence leaking.

The recent temple break-in and theft of our duchy’s bible was still fresh in our minds. It had turned out to be Viscountess Dahldolf who perpetrated the crime, but the Ehrenfest higher-ups all suspected that Lady Georgine had masterminded it all. It was also believed that Lord Ferdinand interfering with her plans had put her in a situation where she had no choice but to have him summoned to Ahrensbach as soon as possible.

Why, oh why did things have to turn out this way?

I could not help but remember the days when I had served a young Lady Georgine, and the way she had played with my Gudrun and Justus. Her mother had given birth to two girls consecutively, which had put her future as the first wife in danger and caused so much worry. It was then that Lady Georgine had vowed to become the next archduchess for her mother’s sake. Even now, I considered it a respectable and very purehearted decision.

But then, Lady Veronica birthed another child—a baby boy with whom she immediately became obsessed. She had showered the little Lord Sylvester with nothing but love, and when his poor health came to light, she had attentively cared for him, assigning someone else to look after the archducal playroom in her stead.

Lady Veronica had only been young when she lost both her mother and brother. She believed that the Leisegangs had poisoned them, so when her darling son had finally been born, she had become extremely anxious about losing him too. It was for this reason that she had chosen me to attend to him. My time spent serving Lady Veronica, raising Lord Karstedt, and serving as Lady Georgine’s head attendant had unintentionally given me experience in raising potential future archdukes, which had made me a very appropriate candidate for the role.

I cannot imagine how Lady Georgine felt when her head attendant was suddenly taken from her.

As a member of a branch family to the archducal family, I did not have a set lord or lady—my loyalty had always been to the ruling archduke, whether that was the current aub, his father, or his father before him. He would order me to serve whomever in the archducal family was struggling to find an attendant. But perhaps, on that one occasion, I should have expressed more resistance.

“Mother, is something wrong?” came Justus’s voice. He had just stepped out of his hidden room with a box in his arms.

I slowly shook my head. “I am simply thinking that I should not have left Lady Georgine’s side all those years ago...”

“You’re still regretting that?” Justus asked flatly. “It wasn’t your fault, Mother; it’s your duty to serve whomever the aub chooses. The fault lies with Lady Veronica, who wanted your services, and the previous archduke, who accepted her request.”

I couldn’t help but give him a wry smile. “That professionalism is precisely why I thought you were so well suited for serving Aub Ehrenfest... You certainly did not follow my teachings growing up.”

Having been forced to leave Lady Georgine’s side, I had instructed my children to attend to her in my stead. Gudrun had agreed and ended up becoming Lady Georgine’s retainer, but Justus had refused, even going as far as to take the attendant course to avoid serving her.

A second opportunity had then presented itself when the previous archduke ordered Justus to serve Lord Ferdinand. I had rejoiced at the thought that he was obeying the aub, attending to those who needed servants for the sake of our duchy... but then he had given his name to Lord Ferdinand.

“Had I refused as you did and continued to serve Lady Georgine, then perhaps we would not be in this situation,” I said. “Lady Georgine and Lord Sylvester might have worked together to rule Ehrenfest and guide it down a brighter path.”

“Huh? That would have put Lord Ferdinand in an even worse position than he’s in now. Lady Veronica and Lady Georgine are alike in how violently they treat those who oppose them. I don’t even want to imagine what might have happened if they had both targeted him at once,” Justus replied, tearing apart my optimistic fantasy. “It’s not like you to get caught up in such fanciful notions, Mother. Who cares how Lady Georgine feels, anyway?”

I glared at him. “Justus, you need to be more—”

“Good grief... You certainly have it rough, Mother, having to switch whom you serve so often. You can only work for one person at a time, but you have to be considerate of all the lords and ladies you’ve ever served.” He took another box from his hidden room and stacked it in the corner. “Even now, Lady Georgine has enough allies to comfortably threaten Aub Ehrenfest. I can see it now—she’s plotting Lord Sylvester’s downfall with an excited glint in her eye, much like she did when they were younger.”

Once again, I was reminded that Justus’s perspective differed so greatly from my own. He no longer saw Lady Georgine as his childhood friend, nor did he look back on their lost days together with any semblance of warmth.

“To you, Mother, Lady Georgine is a woman whom you once loyally served. To me, she is an enemy whom I must beat down and destroy. You are free to wallow in sentimentality, but I ask you—where do your priorities lie?”

I gave another wry smile as my son thrust reality in my face once again; despite his words, I could tell that he was unwilling to allow me even the smallest moment of nostalgia.

“I serve Aub Ehrenfest and Lady Rozemyne,” I said. “That hasn’t once slipped my mind.”

“Indeed. Lord Ferdinand is leaving for the sake of our duchy. In turn, we are leaving Lady Rozemyne to you.”

I was a little surprised to see Justus so concerned about someone other than Lord Ferdinand, but I hid those feelings beneath a reassuring smile. “Unlike those of you going to Ahrensbach, milady has her retainers, her family, and her fiancé to worry about her. She will not be lonely for long.”

“I’ll pray that turns out to be true...” Justus replied with a doubtful sigh.

I sighed as well. My son treasured his lord enough to have given him his name, so it was entirely understandable that he still resented Lord Sylvester and Lord Wilfried, who had been so lovingly doted on by Lady Veronica. At times, he even resented them for things that weren’t their fault—and while I was aware that this was simply how emotions worked, I always considered it tragic.

Lord Ferdinand is more important to Justus than anyone else, after all.

Back when Justus had given his name, he had cast aside his wife, his child—everything and everyone but his lord. He had a cold, ruthless side to his personality that wasn’t apparent from his relaxed appearance and demeanor, and he openly stated that he would renounce anything that might so much as inconvenience Lord Ferdinand.

In a sense, he was more like me than anyone else. I, too, had vowed to give up my entire life when I swore my loyalty to Ehrenfest.

The next day, I made the absolute most of the time off that Lady Florencia had given me and finished cleaning Justus’s room with maximum efficiency. Separated into neat piles were the luggage that he would be taking with him when he departed, his clothes for after winter, and the luggage that would be sent after Lord Ferdinand’s Starbinding, when he was no longer a guest in Ahrensbach.

“Whew. You have my thanks. That’s my mother for you.”

“Praise me all you want, but this is the most I am doing for you. Good grief...”

My response had come out almost instinctively, but now silence hung in the air. I gazed up at Justus. Although it was possible that we would meet in the future—after all, I was Lady Rozemyne’s attendant and he Lord Ferdinand’s retainer—it was unlikely that we would ever speak as family again.

I need to think of something to say...

Despite my best efforts, nothing that felt appropriate for a last farewell came to mind. A simple “be careful” would not change my son’s willingness to rush headlong into danger whenever he deemed it necessary for his goals. Ever since he was a child, not once had I actually seen him exercise caution.

In short, saying something out of worry is pointless.

My entire life was dedicated to the archduke, and Justus was leaving for Ahrensbach with the lord to whom he had given his name; the words normally exchanged between a mother and her son ill suited our situation.

After some thought, I straightened my back and took a deep breath. Justus must have noticed this because his goofy smile disappeared and he straightened up as well.

“Do not forget the vow you made,” I said. “Do everything in your power to realize the will of the man to whom you gave your name.”

“Understood. May our lives be spent for those we serve.”

“...Indeed. For those we serve.”

A small, proud smile arose on Justus’s face. There was no doubt in my mind that he would remain wholly dedicated to his lord, living exactly as he wished. He was, without a shadow of a doubt, my son.