An ordonnanz arrived and announced that Lord Ferdinand and the aub would take their meals in the latter’s office in the castle. Gretia, Lieseleta, and Justus all moved to the neighboring retainers’ room.
Gretia waited patiently as the dumbwaiter churned, then opened its door and wheeled out a small trolley from within.
“As always, test for poison,” Justus instructed, eyes narrowed in a sharp stare.
Together with Lieseleta, Gretia started testing their lady’s food. They wiped the plates and cutlery with cloths soaked in a potion that would react to poison, then used the same potion on a small sample of each dish. Such procedures were taught as part of the Royal Academy’s attendant course and could thus be carried out by any decent retainer, but those in Rozemyne’s retinue had also been taught nonstandard, more thorough methods—courtesy of Justus, of course.
“Soup with arspium requires special care,” he said. “Though harmless in isolation, it becomes poisonous when mixed with dolch. Extract a spoonful of soup from the bowl, pour it onto a potion-doused cloth, and then test the rim of the bowl for good measure.”
Justus’s lessons focused on various poisons not covered at the Royal Academy. His knowledge of plants native to Ahrensbach and tools used only in Lanzenave were essential to Gretia and Lieseleta, attendants of a future aub.
I appreciate his assistance, but he knows far too much about poison... As do the others serving Lord Ferdinand, for that matter.
Lasfam, in particular, came to mind. He had a peaceful demeanor, always wore a calm smile, and had even welcomed commoners into the library he attended. Gretia knew him as a very trusting man, but that side of him vanished when he had to prepare meals for his lord. He refused to put his faith in anyone, even Rozemyne’s personal chefs.
During the evacuation, Lasfam had tested every dish made by the commoner women who had volunteered to cook, then scoured the kitchen from top to bottom for anything that could pose a threat when they were done. He had used the opportunity to show Lieseleta and Gretia what to look out for when preparing Ehrenfest food and warned them to be even more cautious going forward. The court chefs prepared the same dishes for everyone in the dining hall, but that didn’t mean Gretia could slack on testing them for poison. She would also need to learn the risks associated with foods from other regions.
Back then, I thought he was being overly cautious because of our plans to move to the Sovereignty. But now...
Lasfam’s warning cut deep. They had moved not to the Sovereignty but to Ahrensbach, a duchy rife with Detlinde sympathizers and those who took issue with an Ehrenfest noble having stolen their foundation. Even those in Letizia’s faction were scheming—against her wishes, of course. Though their goals were all over the place, they had found common ground in their desire to assassinate Rozemyne before the next Archduke Conference, when she would officially be recognized as the next aub, and install Letizia in her place.
We would never have noticed on our own.
Most of Gretia’s and the others’ intelligence had come from Ferdinand and his retainers, who had moved to Ahrensbach one and a half years earlier and investigated the region’s unique plants and poisons. Gretia was more grateful to them than she could put into words; they were an invaluable source of wisdom for Rozemyne’s retainers, especially when their lady would soon be looked down upon as an underage, female aub.
“Put some of this in your mouth, then spit it into the cloth,” Justus explained. “Asiresse juice reacts with saliva and turns poisonous once ingested.”
Only once the dishes had been thoroughly tested for poison were they allowed to be served. Rozemyne would normally try to eat dinner in the dining hall with Letizia, but on this particular occasion, she would take her meal in the aub’s room with Ferdinand. They had sent away their knights while getting ready to perform a large-scale magic spell, and only those who could enter the archduke’s living area could reach them. As it stood, that permission extended solely to Ehrenfest nobles. No one from Ahrensbach, not even those serving Ferdinand, could reach the pair in their current location.
Some nobles were against Ferdinand using the archduke’s living area when he was not even properly engaged, but their protests fell on deaf ears. It was still unclear which Ahrensbach nobles could be trusted, and Ferdinand was absolutely necessary to perform the spell.
“Those who are not name-sworn, leave,” Ferdinand ordered after dinner.
Lieseleta pushed a trolley loaded with plates out of the room, while Leonore and Angelica moved to guard the outside of the door.
“Gretia, send an ordonnanz when Lady Rozemyne returns from the foundation,” Leonore said.
Under normal circumstances, when the aub was visiting the foundation’s hall, only archnobles belonging to a branch of the duchy’s archducal family were allowed inside their room. Gretia was but a mednoble. She was allowed to stay only because the other name-sworn had gone elsewhere to help prepare for the spell.
“Ferdinand, is it really okay for you to enter the foundation’s hall...?” Rozemyne asked, a look of concern on her face as she watched the retainers leave. The aub normally entered alone while their retinue isolated themselves in the retainers’ room or waited patiently behind a screen. So many exceptions were being made.
“It matters not,” he replied. “We are about to recreate the entire duchy as Alexandria, and anyone who might spread the word of my trespass can easily be silenced. Be aware, however, that this will never happen again. Once the castle has been rebuilt, neither I nor any of our name-sworn may be permitted these exceptions.”
Coming from Ferdinand, it was a shocking declaration. He was known for violating customs without a second thought when he considered it necessary.
Ferdinand took a name stone in hand. “Justus, I forbid you from spreading any information about Ahrensbach’s foundation. Rozemyne, give Gretia and me the same order.”
Rozemyne grimaced, reached down to the cage hanging at her waist, and touched two of the stones inside. She had received the names of many of her retainers but generally loathed using their stones to give orders. Ferdinand, in contrast, seemed to use his quite regularly.
“Ferdinand, Gretia,” she said, “I forbid you both from spreading any information about Ahrensbach’s foundation.”
“Understood.”
Ferdinand slotted a key into the door leading to the foundation’s hall. He was holding several feystones containing Rozemyne’s mana in his other hand, as he always did when acting as the archduke. His reasoning was apparently the same as why the Royal Academy’s professors kept feystones packed with royal mana, but neither Gretia nor her fellow retainers could confirm it; they had not taken the archduke candidate course.