Chapter 379: Not the Crown Princess Yet
Then I introduced Viola to Hilda.
She looked thoroughly nervous before the lady of the house. Viola offered a proper noble’s courtesy, bowing demurely to Hilda. As she watched, a subtle glint came into Hilda’s eyes.
"It is a pleasure to meet you, my lady. My name is Viola von Rijeka."
"...A pleasure, Rijeka. Are you from an eastern noble family?"
"Y-you don’t need to be so formal with me."
Viola was flustered before Hilda. Hoping to put her at ease, Hilda smiled softly and chatted with her warmly. Viola, for her part, did her best to make a good impression on Hilda.
"I was so surprised, Wolf. What a lovely, adorable girl."
"She’s been melting the hearts of every unmarried retainer we have."
"She’s such a pretty girl. Girls like that are truly rare..."
Hilda looked at me with an odd glint in her eye. I pride myself on having nothing to be ashamed of before heaven, but I couldn’t help shrinking a little under that gaze. A husband is endlessly weak before his wife.
It’s true that Viola is pretty, but Hilda is a beauty in her own right. Rather than ranking one above the other, it would be more accurate to call them beauties with entirely different charms. Hilda is a healthy, radiant beauty.
That was when Lily jumped right in.
That girl in white, at it again...
"That’s right, Hilda! I was really surprised too!"
"Lady Lily! It’s rude to interrupt when two people are speaking."
"Then when am I supposed to interrupt?"
"Just keep your mouth shut entirely!"
"That’s not fair!"
Thanks to Lily and Angela’s bickering, the slightly awkward mood eased a little. Sabine, who had been reading the room, led the fidgeting Viola away on the pretext of needing extra hands.
I took Hilda’s hand and leaned in close to her.
This was a conversation that called for whispers no one else could hear.
"Don’t tell me you’re worried I cheated on you while I was away?"
"What are you talking about? I know better than anyone that you’re not that kind of man, Wolf. I’m just a little annoyed that there’s never any shortage of beautiful women around you."
Starting with Sabine, then Lily and Angela, and now Viola joining the mix, Hilda seemed to be showing a hint of jealousy. Because for nobles, infidelity was extremely common.
Hm, a jealous wife.
Is she even allowed to be this cute?
I whispered sweet nothings to her and soothed her mood a little. Casually murmuring words no ordinary German noble could even imagine happens to be my specialty.
Enough that Hilda once suspected I might secretly be Italian.
Once the mood softened, I explained Viola’s story.
"She was Lou’s handmaid? That girl?"
"Yes. And what’s more, she’s carrying Louis’s child."
"...Good heavens! Is that true?"
Prince Louis’s death had brought Hilda great sorrow as well, so learning that his flesh and blood remained came as a shock of an entirely different kind. The Louis that Hilda knew had shown no interest in women whatsoever.
While the food was being prepared, I explained everything.
Once she knew the whole story, Hilda let out a long sigh.
"So Lou made that choice for the family he left behind..."
Hilda’s eyes grew misty.
Not only the crown prince and Vermeer, but Louis too had been one of Hilda’s childhood friends. And the spirited Hilda, so the story goes, used to drag the frail Louis all over the place and stir up all kinds of trouble.
But fate was cruel, and Louis joined hands with the Duke of Radensdorf (now the Duke of Altringen) and raised a rebellion. Feuzen very nearly burned to ashes because of it.
He was an enemy who deserved no sympathy, and yet in the end, it was compassion that made me accept his request. What fault could Viola and the child possibly bear? And Viola truly is a good woman.
"Being born a bastard is far too cruel. What if we passed the child off as an orphaned distant relative we’ve taken in to raise? I’d love for the child to grow up as a good friend to our own."
"That’s a fine idea. We can say the child is a distant relative of House Streit."
I had no idea whether we actually had any distant relatives, but at least in Rosenheim, no one would question such a claim. It was a necessary measure, for Viola’s sake and the child’s.
The brand of bastard follows you until the day you die. Bodo had no choice but to accept it, but we couldn’t let that happen to Viola’s child. I was truly grateful that Hilda embraced the idea so willingly.
"May I speak with Viola for a moment?"
"As you wish, my lady baroness."
"Thank you, my sweet and wonderful baron."
Hilda led away Viola, who had been taking instructions from Sabine. She most likely meant to talk about Louis. The flustered Viola shrank into herself, apparently convinced she was about to be scolded.
Lily, who had been waiting for her chance, sidled right up.
"Brother, what were you and Hilda just talking about?"
"A sweet exchange of love between husband and wife."
"Judging by her expression, that wasn’t all it was."
Sharp-eyed when it’s completely unnecessary, this one.
I was about to nag her as her older brother, but then it occurred to me that the time had come to treat Lily as the crown princess. However much she felt like a little sister, treating the crown princess so casually was a problem.
"You certainly seem to have many questions, Your Highness."
Lily stared at me as if to ask what I’d eaten that morning to make me act this way.
She wore the expression of someone who had just witnessed the most horrifying thing in the world.
"Why are you suddenly being so creepy? I’m not the crown princess yet."
"You’ll be off to the royal palace soon. Best start getting used to it."
"Ugh, Brother. It sounds so distant, and I hate it!"
The moment she got teary, my resolve crumbled.
Good grief, what am I going to do with this girl in white?
"Please, grow up a little. Are you going to keep acting like that in front of His Highness the crown prince too?"
"It’s fine. Franz is head over heels for me."
"...The fact that it’s true makes it even more infuriating."
"Oh my, did Franz miss me even out east?"
"He wouldn’t stop going on about how he wanted to bring you to the royal palace as soon as possible. To the point of being a nuisance."
Lily was so delighted that Franz had missed her that she retreated into her own little world. Perhaps because writing novels is her hobby, she has a tendency to slip into daydreams.
I turned my gaze to Angela, who was sighing right along with me.
She shared the exact same worry I did.
"I wish Lady Lily would wake up to her station as the crown princess, but she still has a long way to go."
"Stay by her side and keep her steady so she doesn’t stray."
"By the way, didn’t you bring Bodo back with you? All I heard was that he was rescued safely, but I don’t know what happened after that. Lady Lily was terribly worried about him."
Hmm, is this a good time to bring it up? I had planned to send a formal letter to Count Euz, but sounding out Angela’s feelings first seemed like a good idea too.
Who knows, she might be more interested in Bodo than I expected.
If she weren’t interested at all, she wouldn’t be asking after him.
"That rascal stayed behind in the Viscounty of Elsheimer."
"What? The viscounty? What do you mean?"
"I was planning to announce it later, but I’ll tell you first. Bodo is the bastard son of the Viscount of Elsheimer, and the current family head, Fräulein Elsheimer, has recognized him as her heir."
I had compressed an incredible story into a single sentence, but Angela grasped the crucial part right away. What mattered was that the family head had recognized him as heir. Astonishment was written all over Angela’s face.
"I don’t quite follow the first part, but Bodo has become a noble?"
"That’s right. When he comes of age, he’ll inherit the title of Viscount Elsheimer."
"Good heavens! Bodo becoming a noble is absurd enough, but that puts him above you in rank, Baron!"
"In terms of rank alone, yes. More importantly, talk of an arranged marriage has already come up."
"A-an arranged marriage?"
By this point, Angela seemed to be catching on to what I was getting at. When two unmarried nobles are mentioned in the same breath as an arranged marriage, there’s no way not to see where it’s going.
Angela’s face turned bright red.
"You and Bodo..."
"Absolutely not!"
"..."
"Eek?!"
Realizing she had cut me off mid-sentence, she panicked. Before she could even explain herself, Lily, who had recovered first, swooped right in. To her, this was probably the most entertaining situation the world had to offer.
"I approve of this marriage! A love story between the newly ennobled Bodo and Angela! What wonderful material!"
"L-L-L-Lady Lily! What are you saying, butting in out of nowhere!"
When Angela lunged at her with a shriek, Lily bolted at full speed. It was quite the racket, but Sabine and the other handmaids simply went on setting out the dishes without batting an eye, apparently long used to the sight.
"Those two are always like that."
"Hmm, I take it there’s never a quiet day around here."
"Hehe, but it’s fun."
So life was entertaining even without me around.
Will it feel lonely here once Lily and Angela leave for the royal palace?