Chapter 7:
Daily Life at House Banfield
WHILE LIAM AND HIS FORCES warred over Planet Charlot, life on House Banfield’s home planet was rather peaceful. The battlefield was a faraway concept, and life continued as usual in House Banfield’s mansion—though one thing had changed.
Wearing casual clothes rather than a maid uniform, Ciel stood before Rosetta. “My stay here wasn’t long, Lady Rosetta, but I truly feel that it benefited me.”
Ciel curtsied, and Rosetta’s eyes welled up. “You’re finally old enough to attend primary school, Ciel.”
Ciel Sera Exner would start attending primary school this year, so her time training under House Banfield had come to its end.
Standing behind Rosetta and to either side were Brian the butler and Serena the head maid. Brian looked despondent. “Baron Exner’s daughter leaves from our care a splendid young lady… It’s wonderful, but at the same time, I can’t help feeling sad about it.”
As Rosetta and Brian teared up, Serena—who had overseen Ciel’s training—gave them an exasperated look. “I’m fairly certain that she’ll return to us in the future. Have you two forgotten that?”
While training under House Banfield, Ciel had committed a fairly serious blunder. House Exner had taken that very seriously and decided that she needed to be punished. They had reached an understanding with Liam, however, that Ciel would return to House Banfield after her noble training was complete; she would only be gone for a short while.
Rosetta looked embarrassed. “I-I know that, but we’ll still miss her. Primary school and the Imperial university will take at least eighteen years.”
As a woman, Ciel wasn’t obliged to serve in the military. She could enlist, of course, but her father, Baron Exner, insisted that she abstain, feeling that too much education in the wrong subjects would likely lead her to make more mistakes in the future. Ciel hadn’t been too pleased about that, of course, but she couldn’t exactly argue after what she had done.
“It’s just a couple of decades,” she said. “I’ll be back before you know it.” I need to come back soon so that I can continue to observe Liam anyway.
Ciel was one of the very few people who had realized Liam’s true nature. As such, she felt a responsibility to keep an eye on him so that he couldn’t do whatever he liked.
“But you haven’t been home in a long time either, have you?” Rosetta asked following Ciel’s brief reply. “If you like, you can take your time and return in thirty or forty years.”
Rosetta had made that suggestion out of the goodness of her heart, but Ciel nonetheless flatly turned her down. “No, I’ll come right back—as early as I possibly can!” I can’t leave Liam for too long, for one thing. But there’s no place for me back home anymore either.
From House Exner’s point of view, Ciel had caused trouble for Liam, to whom they owed a great deal. If she went home, all that awaited her was a strict education—another reason Ciel couldn’t return there.
Leaving the mansion through the front door, Ciel headed for the limousine-like vehicle that would take her to the spaceport. Before she got in, footsteps pattered toward her quickly.
“Cieeeeel!”
“Chino?!”
Chino, dressed in a maid uniform, jumped on Ciel and clung to her, crying. “I heard you’re leaving! I don’t want you to leeeeeave!”
“I’ll only be gone twenty years or so.”
“A whole twenty years?!”
Chino was a beastgirl, and Liam had picked her up from a planet that didn’t yet have access to lifespan-extending technology like education capsules. She still expected a lifespan of somewhere between thirty to forty years, so her sense of time differed greatly from that of everyone else there. Since Chino arrived at the mansion, her lifespan had already been extended via an education capsule, but that hadn’t changed the way she thought about time.
Despite her maid’s uniform, Chino’s role was less about caretaking and more about providing a calming presence. Even when she behaved improperly, Serena didn’t scold her for it.
As Chino clung to her, Ciel looked to Rosetta for help. “Wh-what do I do?”
Rosetta smiled placatingly. “She doesn’t want you to leave, huh? Okay—let’s head to the spaceport together. I’ll come too.”
✦ ✦ ✦
When they climbed into the vehicle, Amagi did likewise, since she had been tasked with looking after Rosetta. Besides the driver and knights serving as their guards, the vehicle’s passengers were Rosetta, Ciel, Chino, and Amagi. An unseen operative like Kunai might also have been present.
Chino had worn herself out crying, so she slept on Ciel’s lap in the car.
“Isn’t she carefree? And with House Banfield at war right now.”
“It’s not surprising. The war probably doesn’t feel real to her.”
Chino had grown up in such a different environment that she had trouble understanding these circumstances.
“I’ll regret having to miss your wedding, Lady Rosetta.”
“You’ll be able to take time off for it.”
“That’s not what I meant. I’ve heard that conflicts like this can go on for decades. In the worst-case scenario, it might take a century to end.”
If the war went on that long, Liam wouldn’t have any chance to return to his home planet from the battlefield, so in the worst-case scenario, Rosetta could be left alone for a hundred years or more.
Rosetta knew what Ciel meant, but she shook her head. “As long as Darling comes home safe, I’ll be fine. Of course, I can’t say that he should take a century if he wants to. That would burden the domain terribly, after all.”
As Rosetta laughed awkwardly, Ciel replied, “I’m not his maid at this point, so I won’t use Liam’s title when speaking of him. But if he’d just gotten the ceremony over with before this, there wouldn’t have been a problem. I can’t imagine that he really has your happiness in mind, Lady Rosetta.”
When Ciel made her opinion on Liam clear, Amagi looked over at her. Ciel gasped, but Rosetta chuckled. “Ciel, I am happy.”
“Huh? But…”
“Yes, it’s a shame that we can’t have the ceremony now, but I got to try on a beautiful dress. It was so expensive that it made me dizzy, but it was more stunning than anything I had ever dreamed I might one day wear. I was thrilled.” Continuing to tell Ciel how happy she was, Rosetta added, “I’m content every day, for that matter. I wake up each morning in a warm bed, and I have so many people around who support me. Most of all, I have a wonderful fiancé.”
Ciel cocked her head. “Isn’t that only natural? You’re the daughter of a dukedom, Lady Rosetta. Liam chose you personally.”
“A person can lose sight of happiness too easily, Ciel.” Earnestly, Rosetta imparted her final lesson to the girl. “I told you about my circumstances, didn’t I? My house was a dukedom in name only—we were never treated like true nobles.”
“I’ve heard that, but it’s not the case anymore, is it?”
“Back when I met Darling, I dreamed in order to escape from my painful reality. I could only forget that reality by imagining happiness for myself. But my real circumstances always crushed those happy dreams of mine, however much I fantasized. Reality forced me to recognize how pitiful I was every time I imagined a happy life for myself.”
“Er…”
“I’m not scolding you, Ciel. I just want you to remember this.” Rosetta had experienced a cruel, harsh youth, and her current life was better than anything she could have dreamed of when she was young. “It’s fine to pursue happiness, but don’t lose sight of what’s really important. If you only realize it when it’s gone, it’ll be too late.”
“Then what’s important to you is—”
“Being with Darling is my happiness. The wedding isn’t what matters to me; all I want is for Darling to return to me.” Rosetta clasped her hands as though praying.
Meanwhile, Amagi watched her silently.