An enormous pile of books and scrolls was set on the table. As I stared at them, mouth agape, Madame Marie wiped the sweat from her brow and said. “We’ll start light today.”
“……”
“For a lady like you, this is nothing at all. Hohoho… isn’t that right?”
When my reaction wasn’t good, Madame Marie sought agreement from the maids who had carried the load with her. When I looked back, they were all smiling and nodding in unison.
Ah, this is a conspiracy. Otherwise, there’s no way I’d be studying again at my age.
“My Lady, at just twenty, whatever you read will go straight into your head.”
Gasp… I’m twenty? When I looked up in surprise, Madame Marie quickly added.
“You already read through all of this once at the manor, so it’ll be easier. Hohoho. I was so startled when you suddenly said you wanted to study the moment you began to recover.”
I was so startled I could have fallen flat on my back.
Thanks to Madame Marie’s quick cover, the maids didn’t seem to question much why Edita was studying again now. When the time came to begin in earnest, Madame Marie shooed the maids out of the room again.
“My Lady, you still don’t remember?”
“I just found out I’m twenty.”
Madame Marie sighed. I felt small, as if I’d done something wrong. It wasn’t that I couldn’t understand her feelings. After being here a few days, I was human too; there were things plain to see.
A daughter the Emperor fathered outside and brought in, whose mother’s low status meant she couldn’t even be called a princess. There were people all over the palace who disliked such an Edita and openly kept her in check. One of them was the Crown Prince, the Emperor’s son, and another was the princess, his daughter.
If she wasn’t careful, she could be thoroughly isolated in the palace, saved only by the Emperor’s favor. And to make matters worse, now she was practically a simpleton who remembered nothing… And I have to memorize all these books! Ah, I wish Madame Marie would understand my feelings just a little…
But they say if you can’t avoid it, enjoy it. Wanting to lift the gloom on Madame Marie’s face, I picked up a book without being told. It was so thick I had to hold it with both hands, and its surface was dusted white. Its title, solemn as could be, was simply ‘History.’ No qualifiers—just ‘History.’ The intimidation started right there.
But hold on, there was something odd. I had lived in another world and suddenly fallen into this one, yet I could read the writing here fluently. Not only the writing—spoken language too. It made no sense.
Come to think of it, when I heard of Baron Orleans’s death, tears flowed against my will. Instinctively, I sensed they were Edita’s tears.
‘Could it be that I’m borrowing the memories steeped into Edita’s body?’
Not mere knowledge, but memories embedded in the body, like language or fierce emotions. Otherwise, there was no way to explain this.
If so, perhaps Edita and I hadn’t simply swapped bodies. Which would mean that even if I fell into the pond again, I might not return!
“My Lady, you mustn’t flip through that book so carelessly. History is the most basic of basics a member of the royal family must know.”
Madame Marie spoke. Lost in thought, I had been riffling through the pages without realizing it. She began showing me the books and scrolls one by one, explaining.
“First, read through history, and next you must read the Bahist scriptures, the sole religion of Ludenbach. After that…”
Study time was long and tedious. Since coming here, I had never been this bored. Still, since it had come to this, I decided I had better learn properly so Crown Prince Fabio or Princess Lena wouldn’t find fault with me.
The Ludenbach Empire originally began as a small mountain kingdom. Then the Fifth King, the conquering monarch Caliph II, conquered most of the Western continent and, shortly after, was acknowledged by the Bahists and ascended as Emperor. The current Emperor, Paul Ludenbach, is the eleventh. After his first empress bore Crown Prince Fabio and died of childbed fever, he did not take a new empress.
‘What became of Edita’s mother?’
I stared blankly at Madame Marie, who was teaching with the fervor of a cram school star instructor. It felt like something I ought to know, but I simply couldn’t bring myself to ask.
Her end may have been dignified, but it surely wasn’t a happy one.
‘It must be a sad memory for Madame Marie as well.’
Stories people don’t dare speak aloud even in the palace.
Feeling bitter, I lowered my head, and a large, flat volume caught my eye.
‘Peerage Registry, Year 2 of Paul?’
Curious, I opened it. It was published in the second year of the current Emperor’s reign, a book that recorded the leading noble houses and their members. It even included each house’s crest and the head of house’s portrait.
Through the lands marked for each house, I saw the map of the Ludenbach Empire for the first time. More than half of a chubby boomerang-shaped continent belonged to Ludenbach, and most of Ludenbach’s land was noble fiefs.
If a handful of nobles own all the land, what do the others live on? Do they tenant-farm here? Having lived as the lowest of commoners, I couldn’t help thinking that.
Noticing how intently I was studying the registry, Madame Marie spoke.
“I was going to explain that later, but if you’re interested, shall I tell you now?”
When I nodded, she turned a few pages and opened to the Albrenovich Ducal house. In the head-of-house slot was a portrait of a middle-aged man I’d never seen before, looking straight ahead with a firm expression. Strange how familiar he seemed despite it being my first time seeing him.
“He is the father of the current Duke Albrenovich, Brandt.”
Now that she said it, he did look very much like Brandt.
“Isn’t Duke Brandt of Albrenovich the current head of the house?”
“This is an old book published in His Majesty’s second regnal year. Of course, there haven’t been major changes since, so this volume alone is enough to learn the noble world, but there are occasional differences. I will explain all of those.”
The House of Albrenovich was one of the most time-honored families in Ludenbach. Together with the Imperial House of Ludenbach, there were three houses that founded the early Kingdom of Ludenbach, and Albrenovich was the only one to survive the power struggles without falling.
Their crest bore a blue dragon in flight, based on a legend of a blue dragon said to have lived in their domain of Albee. The tale goes that a brave hunter of Albee met a lost woman and, rather than finding the way, spent a night where bone and flesh burned. Not long after, when everything had run its course, she revealed she was the Blue Dragon, and, leaving only an egg—the fruit of their love—for the hunter reeling from the shock of coupling with a reptile, she vanished. Naturally, the story continues that the founder of House Albrenovich was born from that egg.
‘What kind of story is this?’
Possessing such an impressive secret of birth, the Dukes of Albrenovich held the chairmanship of the Privy Council that advised the King for generations. The house also produced six empresses and three popes. Even a cursory read made it clear they stood at the pinnacle of power.
‘I’m really marrying into an enormous house, huh?’
Especially that secret-of-birth bit is thrilling.
When my reaction veered off her expectations, Madame Marie turned the page to show the vast domains of House Albrenovich. Indeed, the entirety of Albee in Eastern Ludenbach was their fief.
But for someone who had just been worrying that if nobles gobbled up Ludenbach’s land, what would commoners live on, it didn’t move me much.
“If I marry Duke Albrenovich, will I live there?”
“You will visit the domain seasonally, but nobles participate in governance, so most of your time is spent in the capital, Luden. Especially since Duke Albrenovich is the chairman of the Privy Council.”
“If he’s chairman of the Privy Council, he must be busy.”
With such a grand house, I could understand why the Emperor paired Edita, who had suddenly lost her fiancé, with him at once. However noble Orleans might have been, he couldn’t compare to Duke Albrenovich. Moreover, judging from what I’d overheard at the banquet, it seemed Orleans, like Edita, hadn’t been treated in a manner befitting his name.
‘So they were a sad pair of lovers.’
On a sudden impulse, I turned pages to find Orleans’s house. But no matter how much I flipped, it wasn’t there. Seeing that Sir Stefano’s house also wasn’t listed, it seemed the book recorded only very powerful noble families.
So even though Edita was the Emperor’s daughter, she was betrothed to a not-so-influential noble? Because of status and checks against her?
“Madame Marie, what kind of house is Baron Orleans’s? It’s not in this book.”
“At the time this registry was published, the House of Baron Orleans had not yet been formally elevated to the ranks of the nobility.”
Madame Marie pursed her lips and said.
“They were a family that dreamed of entering high society as formal nobles after earning great merit in war. Especially Baron Felix Orleans—his handsome looks and eloquence could make even refined ladies kneel.”
“Then how did he become a Baron officially?”
Madame Marie looked at me as if she couldn’t believe it.
“Because you wept and begged His Majesty to let you marry Baron Orleans. To match your station, His Majesty granted the Orleans family a Baronial title. I, for one, was not pleased that my Lady would be betrothed to such a house, but thanks to that, you were able to avoid the scrutiny of those noisy, meddlesome tongues.”
But the glory of House Orleans was brief. Baron Felix Orleans died on the battlefield.
Now, instead of marrying into a family newly risen to the nobility, Edita was to wed an ancient Ducal house woven into Ludenbach’s history. Which meant she could no longer avoid the scrutiny of those noisy, meddlesome tongues.
‘But so what. If I have to live watching people’s moods either way, I might as well get it over with.’
The problem is Brandt. Judging by Princess Lena’s demand that I practice forced chastity, this world is clearly conservative and rigid. I can understand the Emperor’s excitement at landing the big catch that is Albrenovich out of the blue, but he too ignored my will and forced an engagement.
So now am I stuck obeying that cold, icy man for the rest of my life? My vision dimmed. I had never imagined such a life.
Just then, Madame Marie laid her warm hand over the back of mine. Her face was filled with the tenderness of someone comforting a saddened girl. “My Lady, you will live happily. So please don’t worry.”
Her voice embraced me like a mother’s. I knew nothing had been resolved, and yet I felt my throat tighten a little.
Saying my brain had been overworked by studying and I needed to go out at once, I called for the maids. For the sake of my mood, Madame Marie allowed a walk in the garden of the Saint-Liselle’s Palace. In exchange, I had to put on that beautiful and bizarre dress I’d worn yesterday to step outside.
“Aaagh! Aaaah!”
“My Lady, I told you to say ‘ahem,’ ‘oh my.’”
No matter how many times I wore it, I couldn’t get used to the corset. Thank goodness Edita at least had a slim waist. If it were my original body… ugh! The thought alone is horrific.
Still, once I put it on, the dress—lavished with lace and frills—had a magic that made a woman’s heart flutter. The pale pink shoes looked a bit dowdy at first glance, but on second thought they were pure and charming, and I liked them. They were far more comfortable than the cheap shoes I used to buy and wear.
But the outfit wasn’t the end. There was the hair, which we hadn’t done yesterday.
“My Lady, hold your head high and straight.”
“How am I supposed to hold my head high with this thing piled on it?”
“Oh my, this isn’t even half of what you usually wear.”
This was worse than the corset. How high were they going to stack my hair? As if that weren’t enough, they added a wig, stuck in flowers, tied a huge ribbon, and hung jewels in every color. When a maid tried to perch a bird-shaped ornament on top, I threw a fit to barely stop her. But already, a giant piece of installation art sat on my head. Hairpieces were child’s play compared to this.
Women in this world really do live a tiring life.
After this monumental preparation, we finally left the annex, and Madame Marie, walking ahead, said.
“You must never let your feet show from beneath your skirt. Place each step softly, like an angel gliding across the clouds.”
I tried to follow her and set my feet down softly, like an angel gliding across the clouds. But… I was a perfect Antarctic penguin.
“Oh dear, what shall we do…”
I could hear the maids groaning in dismay at my waddling gait. They seemed genuinely worried, but I was too embarrassed to walk any further in front of them.
“Right, you all stay and watch over the annex.”
As if hearing my thoughts, Madame Marie told the maids. She came over to me, eyes wide, and whispered.
“I shall tell you an amusing story while we walk. For that, it’s best to peel away the cumbersome maids.”
“Sending the maids away sounds like an amusing-story disguise for a study session.”
“Though my Lady has lost her memories, she has not lost her wit. I’m relieved.”
Madame Marie is truly a blessing, but there are times I want to shoot her a glare like this.
Unlike the night we snuck out of the annex, the Saint-Liselle’s Palace appeared quickly.
What on earth was I doing that night? Why did I wander in circles when it was this close? Sir Stefano didn’t say it, but he must have been dumbfounded.
In the bright sunlight, the garden, thick with green trees, inspired awe. There were no showy flowers or plants, but the great trees stood in ranks along the edges, and the lawn, brimming with bright life, embroidered the ground in swirling patterns. In the distance, at the center of the greensward, a man-made lake lay smooth as glass.
Many nobles visiting the palace were strolling through the Liselle’s Garden with steps like angels gliding across the clouds.
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