It was already late at night when Werner went back to his room to rest, and Neurath and Schunzel sat down in their chairs.
“It’s hard.”
“You’ve been training since you were a child. You’re a hard worker, Werner-sama.”
“I can see why Ingo-sama said you would have trouble.”
Neurath smiled. He had accepted his current position because he had been asked to take care of me despite the difficulties I would face. It was a great honor to be the son of a minister and the direct heir of a count’s heir, so I accepted the position without giving much thought to the meaning of the words, considering my family.
Schünzel responds with a nod and a similar expression on his face.
“But I have a lot to learn.”
“I won’t deny it. It’s not boring.”
Werner’s ideas are sometimes difficult to understand, but they often make sense in hindsight, and his ideas are sometimes alien to the aristocracy, but his knowledge is rich and informative.
The only thing that is a mystery to both of them is that they do not know when and where Werner acquired this kind of knowledge. They have come up with a hypothesis that the school’s curriculum may have changed, but the source of this knowledge remains a mystery to both of them.
On the other hand, in martial arts training, Werner sometimes uses a spear instead of a sword, since both of them are undoubtedly stronger than Werner with a sword. Of course this is training for Werner, but it is also good practice for both of them against spears.
Werner himself may not have much of a greed, but he often offers additional rewards in the form of wine and other things, making him worthwhile to work for. However, he has a fastidious attitude towards the weak, so he’s not the best choice for someone who wants to be bossy or easy-going.
“That’s fine with the two of you.”
Oh, Lord Frensen.
“Sure looks like Sir is having a hard time on his own.”
Frensen, who had returned the materials to the library, sat down with the two of them with a tired look on his face as well. He’s a butler and a civil servant at the same time, so it’s certainly hard work. He sighs and speaks to the two of them in a slightly complaining tone.
“I’m worried that the tea I drink when I’m tired doesn’t taste good.”
I can’t deny it.
“I don’t have the luxury of a T’Challa, but I’d at least like to drink something Lily’s brewed.”
Tirulla, the Zehrfeldt’s senior chambermaid and parlourmaid, is a master at brewing tea and is well known not only amongst Werner’s friends but also amongst the nobility. It is said that she has even been recruited by other families for a high price.
The Zehrfeldt family has many tea parties, including this one, and because of the relationship between Werner and the brave Mazel, it was an open secret to those working at the museum that Werner’s mother, Claudia, was having trouble coordinating her schedule.
Lily, on the other hand, has always been an innkeeper’s daughter and she doesn’t mind working. She’s also a hardworking girl and eager to learn, so she’s worth teaching. T’Challa, the one who teaches her, is fond of her.
Lily works hard and is well liked by the Zehrfeldt knights, Norbert the butler, and others in the house. Werner says, “Norbert looks at me like I’m his granddaughter.
“T’Challa is a bit taller than me, but I wouldn’t call them sisters.”
“If anything, Lily’s more of a small animal.”
“Yes, I’m sure it is.”
I wonder if Lily is sneezing right now. The three of them laugh together. Neurath turns to Frentzen as if he has just noticed.
“By the way, I heard that Norbert was looking into the matter of the Knight Commander of House Bitgeft, but have you heard anything about it?”
“Ah, you mean the one where the hero’s parents had a complicated look on their faces?”
Schünzel continued and Frensen looked at him as if he had heard of such a thing before. Norbert was in charge because he was investigating as a count, but Frensen had also participated in the investigation. He explains with a wry smile as he recalls the details of the investigation.
“That Knight Commander was the son of the chief of the village of Aarea…”
It’s listening.
“When he was young, he made a pass at Lady Mazel and Anna, Lily’s mother, and she rejected him.”
“… Huh?”
Neurath and Schunzel’s voices overlap beautifully. Frensen laughs at their reaction, which is the same as Werner’s when he first heard the story.
“Anna chose Ally and the Lord Commander left the village because he was heartbroken at being rejected and went to serve the Beithefts.”
“So from that former chief’s point of view, the eldest son of the woman who dumped his son and forced him to abandon the village was the brave one.”
“It will be.”
“… You’ve been a little messed up, haven’t you?”
Schunzel crossed his arms with an indescribable expression on his face. I don’t have a good impression of the former village chief, but I can understand why he was dissatisfied. At the same time, it’s only natural that the parents of the brave Mazel would have a complicated look on their faces after meeting the man who had risen to the rank of Knight Commander of the House of Bitgeft.
“I also heard that the former mayor was trying to get Lily to go to work.”
“I shall not ask where. I wonder if Count Bitheft knew about it.”
“Wouldn’t it be more natural if I didn’t know?”
Neurath cuts him off at Schunzel’s careful questioning. But thinking about it further will only make his nightcap taste worse. He must have decided that he had understood what he wanted to know, because he changes the subject rather forcefully.
“By the way, are those paintings in Werner-sama’s room Lily’s?”
“Yes. She gave him a handkerchief, too. The ladies who work as laundresses at the manor tell stories about them.”
“Handkerchief… Embroidered or…”
I’m afraid so.
Clothes are basically expensive in this world. That’s why women have always mended the clothes of their mates and children, even in families of high rank. It was common for mothers to mend the clothes of their children, especially when they were in their prime.
The legend goes, “If you mend your clothes with love, you will never get hurt in the same place again.” And now, further down the ages, it has become a kind of talisman that “a cloth sewn with love in mind will protect the person you love. It is treated as a kind of talisman.
It is not uncommon to send an embroidered item to a friend, but usually to a family member, a bride-to-be or a lover to wish them safe travels or battle. This is the reason why embroidery is a favorite among the ladies of the nobility, and was originally intended as a mending exercise.
“I’m sure Werner-sama doesn’t know about this.”
“Maybe you know it in knowledge, but you don’t think of it that way.”
Frensen responded to Schunzel’s question, and Neurath questioned Frensen.
“I’m not a womanizer myself, but don’t you think Werner-sama is a bit too plain or womanly? I admit he was close to the hero, but his face isn’t exactly unsightly and he’s the heir to a count’s family.
“Perhaps a slight distrust of women. That’s what Norbert told me.
As a child Werner had a carriage accident. Werner himself was seriously wounded, but his elder brother, the eldest, was more seriously wounded and had departed into the light by the time help arrived, or in other words died. Witnesses say that he was wounded protecting his younger brother, Werner.
The problem is what happened afterwards. Her brother’s fiancée attended the funeral, but the fiancée said something like, “I’m glad I didn’t marry into a civilian family, and I’d like to thank them for my death.” I’d like to thank her for dying.
Neurath and Schünzel hear the conversation and look at each other in dismay. Neurath opens his mouth to confirm.
“It’s a political marriage.”
“I can only assume so, but I doubt if he understood it. I wonder if the Count did not hear it.”
I don’t know, but Werner seems to have overheard something. He was silent that day.”
Ingo, as head of the count’s household, might have been excused to receive a greeting from someone important. It is possible, however, that the relationship between Zehrfeldt and his family did not continue.
On the other hand, Werner’s strange lack of interest in women after that, apparently made those around him wonder if he had developed a distrust of women.
“No matter how you look at the Count’s heir, there will always be a hint of calculation in your gaze. So you’re naturally building a wall.”
“Perhaps you subconsciously exclude women from aristocratic society because you don’t want them to like you.”
In fact, he was probably half right. He had to figure out how to survive before the attack of the Four Heavenly Kings, as a mob character, right after he regained his memory, and he was completely over capacity at that time, including the feelings of separation from his brother that he remembered.
It was in this context that I made this comment. I can’t deny that I have developed a distorted understanding of how women look at the nameless civilian mob characters in this world. Combined with the fact that my top priority from then on was my own survival, I never maintained my interest in any particular woman, even though I would compare myself with Mazel in a joking manner.
“Hey Schunzel, don’t you think that Lily’s existence is pretty valuable?”
Yeah, I think so.
Even though she is the sister of his best friend Mazel, she has no calculation or ulterior motive. She is even aggressive towards Werner, who has little interest in women. It is the result of a series of coincidences, but she has suddenly jumped into the bosom of Werner, who has always had an aversion to women.
Werner has softened a little, to be sure, but it is still hard to imagine that there are not many women who can go this far. Regardless of whether they are in love or not, they are certainly valuable in terms of correcting our perceptions of women.
Frensen opens his mouth, as if suddenly remembering.
“Well, you said you were planning to go to the market to get Lily something as a gift.”
“Ho.”
Neurath gave him a rare grin. Schunzel nodded.
Well, I’ll have to come with you to protect you.
Yeah, it’s an important mission.
“… It’s not for the two of you to choose.”
Of course.
Frentzen sighed as he looked at the two of them who seemed unwilling to give in, and he knew he would have to work alone again tomorrow.
Later on in the taverns of Anheim, there was a lot of talk about what kind of woman the Lord High Constable might be engaged to.
