Tearmoon Empire: Volume 12 (eBook)

Nozomu Mochitsuki (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2024
250 Seiten
J-Novel Heart (Verlag)
978-1-7183-7170-5 (ISBN)

Infos

'After saving the King of Sunkland, reuniting the thirteen clans of the Equestrian Kingdom, and defeating the High Priestess of the Chaos Serpents, Mia has finally returned to Saint-Noel for some much-needed respite...until that's interrupted by two girls magically appearing before her. If Bel wasn't enough, Mia must now also care for the mysterious Patricia. Just where did she come from? Bel doesn't seem to know, and the only clue they have is her last name: Clausius.

As Mia tries to dig into the girl's past, she discovers a terrifying truth. Patricia's education has been raising her into a Chaos Serpent! To keep this under wraps, Mia resolves to tell her a minor fib-she isn't Princess Mia Luna Tearmoon, but a teacher sent by the Serpents. Mia uses this pretense to raise the girl right, and somehow, it works! But as smiles begin to return to Patricia's lips, the case of a stolen sacramental item throws her morals into question...

'

Textauszug

Chapter 6: The Loyal Retainer Is a Contrarian

The third room on the second floor of the girls’ dormitory at Saint-Noel Academy was built like any other, but all who lived there knew it to be the layer of the school’s ruler. In other words, it was the room of Rafina Orca Belluga. In front of it now stood a girl who sighed—Lynsha.

I still can’t get used to being here.

She knocked on the door.

“Excuse me, Lady Rafina.”

“My, Lynsha. Please, come in.”

Having been granted permission, she pushed the door open. Rafina had come to greet her, but her expression was worn. Dark circles had started to appear under her eyes.

I suppose she hasn’t been able to escape it either...

Lynsha had been worked to the bone over the last few days. Just the memory had another sigh escaping her lips. The spring storm that had assaulted Belluga had kept Rafina up and working with little sleep. To further rub salt into the wound, Rafina’s maid Monica had left the island just before the storm had hit.

While the weather was usually a bit unstable around this time of year, storms like this one were rare. The unexpected circumstances had left Santeri, the man in charge of the island’s security, swamped.

Princess Mia may be the student council president, but the details of the island’s workings are all left to Belluga. It must be tough on Rafina.

Lynsha’s thoughts were suddenly cut off.

“I’m deeply sorry for pushing you around like this,” said Rafina. “These circumstances really are atypical...”

Lynsha’s response was a forced smile.

“So? Have you grown used to working for the academy?” Rafina, too, forced a smile, trying to hide her exhaustion.

“Yes, thanks to your efforts,” Lynsha responded curtly.

“Are you pushing yourself too ha—? No, never mind that.” This time, Rafina’s smile was considerate, but she cut herself off with a shake of her head. It reminded Lynsha that Rafina wasn’t a noble who suffered from the affliction of hubris.

“Are you pushing yourself too hard?” was a question of consideration, but it could also be cruel. When asked to those who are already hurt, it instead pushes them further into a corner, for “No, I’m not” is never a truthful answer. When someone is pained but needs to push on forward, they instead push themselves too hard, pretending that everything is all right. Asking such a person “Are you pushing yourself too hard?” had an obvious answer, and it was one that should not be asked. This was the reason Rafina had cut herself off.

And yet...

“I’m not pushing myself at all. There is much I’ve learned at the academy. There’s no need for you to concern yourself over me,” declared Lynsha with a smile.

I’m not hurting, after all.

It had been sudden.

After returning to Remno and greeting her old revolutionary friends, Lynsha had decided to take an excursion to visit her brother Lambert, who was currently in another country (it seemed that he had begun teaching literature at a school run by the Central Orthodox Church, a job which he quite enjoyed). Afterward, Lynsha had returned to Saint-Noel.

Has she really been studying during all the time I’ve been away? I doubt it. I’ve got to make sure I give her a mouthful...

It was with those thoughts in her mind that she returned to the academy. But sad news had shortly greeted her.

“I’m sorry, Lynsha. Bel is no longer...”

The girl was gone. Gone. The phrasing had been indirect, but Lynsha wasn’t enough of a fool not to have grasped its meaning. Bel...had died. Just like that, she had left this world, and Lynsha had been none the wiser. It left her...absolutely pissed off. She wasn’t really sad—not at all, really. It was just that whenever the thought, But I went through all the trouble of saving you! How could you just die like that...? flit through her head, tears of frustration welled up in her eyes.

That, she insisted, was the only reason for her tears.

“So, Lynsha... Do you intend to stay in Saint-Noel?” asked Mia.

“What do you mean?” Lynsha lowered her voice, surely to keep the anger out of it.

“You treated Bel quite kindly. I’m not very fond of the idea of firing you, and I think you could learn a lot here that could help you in the future. I had a chat with Miss Rafina, and she agreed that one path for you would be to stay at Saint-Noel as her maid as you continued your studies.”

“As the Holy Lady’s maid?”

“Yes. I’m sure you remember Barbara and Jem.”

Of course she did. How could she forget? One was the woman she defeated with her own hands, and the other was the conman who had deceived her brother.

“There are quite a few people like them hiding around us. Thus, we’re very lucky to have someone like you who we can rely on.”

The words Mia offered were mere sympathy. She was the younger sister of the Remno Revolution’s mastermind. That title was one that weighed heavily on her. Living from here on out in Remno would be suffocating, but at the same time, she had not been blessed with enough talents to live abroad. Should she remain at Saint-Noel to study while serving as a maid to Rafina, she might eventually earn the right to become one of her official retainers. Or she could use the knowledge she gained at Saint-Noel as a merchant.

But more than anything, she felt that refusing such a proposal would mean admitting that there were scars in her heart that could not heal...that the death of Bel had hurt her.

And so she accepted. “Thank you. That would help me immensely.”

It would be strange to refuse. This would be for her own benefit.

The death of the girl had not hurt her, nor had it caused her sorrow.

Thus, Lynsha found herself working under Rafina...and with quite a bit of free time. Bel didn’t require too much looking after, but she now found herself with even less work. This was all thanks to the kindness of Mia and Rafina who were trying to assure she would have time to study, but it instead had left Lynsha feeling quite bored. She felt empty, as if there were a hole somewhere in her heart. So, being swamped with the work needed to respond to the storm was something Lynsha instead felt grateful for.

“So? What is it?”

Rafina’s question had brought Lynsha out of her thoughts. “Oh, um... There is a report from Monica. It seems Barbara has escaped...”

Rafina’s shoulders jumped at the news. “...Was that because someone let her free?” she muttered, crossing her arms.

“According to the report...it has only been ten days since her escape. We are only hearing of it now because the storm slowed our communications.”

“I see...” Rafina sighed. “She may be planning to make contact with the High Priestess...Princess Valentina. We may need to strengthen our defenses...” She gave an exasperated shake of her head.

Having made her report, Lynsha headed back to her room.

“I think I have arithmetic tomorrow... I’ll need that if I want to be a merchant. I’ll have to give it my all.” That led Lynsha to thinking about how much Bel hated that class, and it put a bitter smile on her lips. “Well, I guess not having to teach her arithmetic has saved me the effort. She hated studying.”

She wasn’t sad; she had just lost one more thing to consider.

She sighed. “I haven’t thought about her in a while. It’s pissing me off again...”

Despite having once been a noble, unladylike words overflowed from her mouth. But that was just an irrefutable consequence of what she had been through. No matter how many times she had told Bel not to show her thanks with coins, it was thanks to Bel that she could continue to study here at Saint-Noel. She felt like it was a parting gift to her, one more “thank you”...and it pissed her off above all imagination.

“What am I getting so angry about? This is completely irrelevant.”

Bel was almost nothing to her. They had only been acquainted for a year, and she had only become the girl’s retainer in the first place because Mia had begged her to. Her loyalty was nothing, the price of just a few small coins...

But then, Lynsha picked her head up and looked in front of her. She gasped. Before her was the room of Duke Yellowmoon’s daughter, and she could see the door opening. She knew this, and thus, there was nothing strange about Bel’s friend Citrina exiting it. However, while few smiles had graced Citrina ever since Bel’s disappearance, she now looked to be in incredibly high spirits. It caught her attention. Listlessly, she stared at the door when she saw...it. The nostalgic face of a young girl.

“Ah...” she croaked, her voice wavering. But she wasn’t happy. Her feet just broke into a run on their own accord. She thought nothing of their reunion. After all—after all—she was only angry at the girl, and nothing else.

“Ah! M-Mother Lynsha...I mean, Lynsha! Hwah?!”

She was simply irked that after leaving her for all this time, that was Bel’s response, her voice as ditzy and nonchalant as always. Thus, in anger, she...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 26.4.2024
• Reihe/Serie: Tearmoon Empire
• Illustrationen: GILSE
• Übersetzer: Madeleine Willette
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy
• Schlagworte: Heartwarming • Light Novel • period fantasy • Princess • Reincarnation • rewriting history • school
• ISBN-10: 1-7183-7170-5 / 1718371705
• ISBN-13: 978-1-7183-7170-5 / 9781718371705