Chapter 4:
When Calyx abruptly awoke from his thoughts, he saw Rosaline was also staring at him. It’s as if she knew from the beginning that he had been watching her. In the corner of the dark hallway, Rosaline’s eyes were shining. Calyx approached her slowly.
“Mother is back. She wants us to have lunch together.”
Rosaline’s eyes shone brighter. Obviously, it was the word ‘lunch’, and not ‘mother’ that must have shaken her heart. When Calyx reached out his hand, she grabbed it and stood.
“Calyx, let’s go together.”
‘Let’s go together’, is it now? He smiled bitterly. The learning pace was too fast.
***
“Is she going to be alright?” Calyx’s advisor, Alter, asked in a low voice.
Before going to the luncheon, Rosaline went into her room to change her pajamas and tidy her hair. The two men were waiting in a nearby drawing-room. Alter was rummaging through the pieces of wood on the Othello board on the table. One would wonder if he wanted to play a game, but he only used the black game pieces to make a heart shape on the board. Alter himself had absolutely no idea what he was doing.
“She didn’t know that the eldest daughter of Count Radwiell was missing, she didn’t know that she was injured, and the Countess only knew just now that she had returned. And we’re still trying to hide this from her? Of course, she’ll be upset.”
Countess Edelweiss Radwiell.
It was only two days ago that she heard the news of her daughter’s disappearance.
When Rosaline disappeared for six days, when she received treatment in Drythorne County, and even after she had returned to Radwiell County, Countess Edelweiss hadn’t known anything. She’d been staying at the Radwiell’s villa that had a sea-side view, which was quite far from Esther. She did not have any particular ailments, but she often collapsed and was often sick, so she had stayed there for more than half a year to recuperate.
Calyx heard that Edelweiss had collapsed again not long ago. At that time, Rosaline had still been missing, so he could not bring himself to say that the county was preparing white cloth. Calyx had thought that he would send his mother a message if they found Rosaline.
Then Calyx said he would send a message if she returned alive. He then reasoned he would send a message when she got home. Which then became that he would send a message when she woke up. After all the delays, Calyx had finally sent her a message three days ago, which she had received two days ago.
Of course, in sending the news, he excluded many details, such as Rosaline having died and come back to life or that she had been in a critically dangerous situation. He abbreviated them to [She is recovering at home and calming her mind and body because something unpleasant happened at the hunting competition]. It was clear his mother would collapse again if he spoke about the situation as it is.
“You didn’t even talk about that, did you?”
“About what?”
“The lady’s head.”
Calyx rolled his eyes. ‘What? What’s wrong with Sister’s head?’ His face showed that if the other party mentioned even one more strange word, he would say something like this.
“That her head is a little… funny.”
“… …” Calyx was silent.
Alter took it as a sign of confirmation, and then he sighed. The road ahead would be a long one.
***
Rosaline quickly changed clothes and left the room. She still had bandages in some places, but they were hidden beneath the long sleeves of the dress she was wearing. The scratches on her face were not much different from when she worked with the Knights Order. And her hair, which had been disheveled, was neatly groomed and tied. It was her best look in a long time.
Calyx’s and Alter’s gazes trailed down her body and finally rested on her feet covered by the dress. The quick-witted maid lifted the hem of her dress slightly so they could look at the shiny edge of the shoe. The two men then nodded their heads in confirmation. ‘Good, she’s wearing shoes too.’
“Our lady looks perfectly fine!”
Calyx’s elbow smashed into Alter’s side, making Alter fall with a shriek. Calyx trampled the wriggling body on the floor and reached out his hand towards Rosaline.
“Shall we go, Sister? Mother is waiting.”
“Sure, Calyx.”
The change over the week was surprising. Unlike Rosaline’s first day, where she only responded with short words, she began to regain her former self at an alarming rate. A woman’s way of speaking versus a man’s way of speaking or formal versus semi-formal speech. She changed it randomly depending on what she heard that day. However, just being able to speak those sentences was already remarkable development. The butler praised her to the point of saying that the Radwiells had a streak of unprecedented genius. Calyx only thought that the atmosphere in the house was fanatic.
Even so, she still lacked a lot. She was like a child repeating the words she had just heard. If other people see it, they would immediately realize that there was a problem with her head. However, since she had always been a quiet person, it seemed like they should be able to pass the luncheon with only simple answers.
‘No, she has to pass.’
“What do you do if Mother talks to you?”
“Just answer with yes or no.”
“What about when we eat?”
“Use the fork, knife, and spoon.”
“Great.”
Calyx saw Rosaline’s confident expression and entered the place where his mother was. A chandelier cast dazzling light inside a banquet hall lavishly prepared upon the Countess’ return. Rosaline was looking around this scene with an astonished expression.
Calyx embraces the brown-haired woman affectionately. The woman also embraces her son, whom she hasn’t seen in a few months. She soon hugged Rosaline too. She held her face and started looking over it.
“Our Rose, your complexion is so bad. Does it still hurt very much? Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“What is this on a lady’s face? Honestly, I’ve told you to quit the knights immediately!”
“No.”
As soon as they met, Rosaline had used up all the two possible answers. Calyx hurriedly intervened to mediate between the two.
“Mother! Thank you so much for coming this far! You must be tired, so please sit down first.”
“You’re right. I held back my sick child and just nagged again. Let us sit.”
“Yes.”
Rosaline was very good at answering every question. Telling her, ‘When a person speaks, you have to answer them to have a conversation’ had a tremendous effect.
‘My sister never seems to forget what she has been taught.’
Although it was only a desperate short-term training, Rosaline quickly understood how to use a fork and knife. Calyx stared at the fruits of his tearful labor with blurry eyes. However, it seemed that Edelweiss, who remembered the old Rosaline, found her to be lacking a lot. She did not dare to spit the words out of her mouth, but her expression changed slightly, and there was an uncomfortable feeling. ‘Her mouth is open too wide, and she’s chewing her food too loudly.’ If Rosaline hadn’t been recovering from her injuries, she would have heard a few of those words right away.
Klang.
The sound of Rosaline laying down her spoon resounded in the quiet room. Edelweiss’ brow twitched. Calyx let out a sigh louder than he was supposed to.
“Mother.”
“What is it, Calyx?”
“I have something to tell you.”
“Sure. But before that, I also have something to tell you. Rose?”
Rosaline said ‘Yes’, with food still in her mouth. As she answered, Edelweiss frowned. She seemed to want to say immediately, ‘How… This… Such an ignorant act!’
“A girl who goes out every day and gets hurt by being a so-called knight. This time as well. Do you know that this mother is always anxious and worried?” Edelweiss nagged.
“No.”
Calyx closed his eyes tightly. My sister’s honesty is making me dizzy. Edelweiss seemed shocked by her answer, so Calyx added hastily.
“Mother, Sister is…”
“No, never mind that. You must have been very upset since I was away from home, but you’re still a child born from my womb. How can I not worry, Rose?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t know how surprised I was to hear that you were injured again this time. People say that one will have to rest for four months at home even if they only break an arm.”
“Yes.”
“So, before this mother leaves for the villa, she will also look everywhere. It is time for you to start a family too…”
“No!” Calyx jumped to his feet.
This was an agenda Edelweiss always had in her mouth, but it was not something she could say when Sister was in her current state. Of course, as a parent, Edelweiss didn’t want her daughter to carry a dangerous sword, and she wanted her to get married in a good house and live a comfortable life. But Rosaline never once wanted that. Because their ideals were so different from each other, the two often collided.
In the era where women were given titles, became merchants, and fought with swords, Edelweiss could be described as old-fashioned. Even Edelweiss’s homeland was the Kingdom of Lagoche, a country where queens had ruled for a longer period than any other country on the continent.
“I don’t think it’s something you should be talking about right now,” Calyx said gently.
“Who said that one has to get married the moment they meet, Cal? Who said that I’m going to let them meet right away? Let her take a break and let them meet when she gets better. She should be at that flowery age, but what the hell is this? Did you know that this mother knows a very good person? He is a young earl at thirty-one, but he is said to have good trading skills and a great personality. When I said I had to go back to Esther, he gave me a precious gem that can’t be found in the eastern continent. When our Rose gets engaged, we can make a ring with it, so….”
Edelweiss could not finish her words. It was because of Rosaline, who was still eating even though Edelweiss had been talking to her. To be precise, Rosaline’s diet was the problem. The audience was silent for a moment as Rosaline picked up the bread that had fallen on the floor, tore it apart, and delightfully ate it.
Calyx, whose body had stiffened, covered his face with his hands and made an unusually pained sound. Meanwhile, Alter, who was watching from behind, was terrified… and shook his head.
‘Come to think of it, at the time of the meal etiquette training, there was no mention of not eating anything that had dropped on the floor. No one had even thought that such an education would be necessary in the first place.’
