I don’t understand. Is this a dream? Maids entered the room and guided the dazed Leticiel back to bed, treating her with a first-aid kit they pulled out of thin air.
Leticiel’s hands were covered in cuts from holding the shard of glass. She watched the maids busily disinfect and treat her wounds with a puzzled expression. “Can’t you just heal it with sorcery?” she asked.
“Sorcery? Are you referring to magic?” Her question was answered with a question in return. Once again, Leticiel didn’t recognize the words they were using. Was sorcery referred to as magic in this country?
“Besides, my lady, only a select few can use light attribute healing magic.”
“Huh…”
“Healing others with magic isn’t something that can be done easily.”
Leticiel had never heard such a thing. Back when she was a princess, most people who could use sorcery could use healing spells. It was a time when you would easily die if you couldn’t protect yourself.
After she finished treating Leticiel, the maid packed up the first aid kit and disappeared through another door in the room.
Leticiel looked at her bandaged hand. The maid had said that healing magic was rare, but Leticiel was certain that she had been able to use it. To confirm things for herself, Leticiel activated a healing spell.
When she called for it, the aether scattered in the air faithfully obeyed her will and gathered in her hands. A breeze caused by the flow of aether, a uniquely magical phenomena, made Leticiel’s silver hair flutter softly. Huh, so I can use it, she thought, feeling silly for having worried.
She flexed her hand, but the pain she had felt earlier had disappeared. She knew healing sorcery wasn’t as rare as the maid had made it out to be.
Just as she was thinking that, the maid from earlier came back and bowed respectfully. “My lady, please come this way so I can get you ready.” The maid led her into a dressing room, where several maids were waiting to help.
When she was a princess, Leticiel had taken care of all of her personal needs by herself. Back in those turbulent times, even the royal family couldn’t afford luxuries. If she had the money to hire servants or buy dresses, she would rather invest it in military equipment. Her country’s policies might have seemed battle-crazed, with top priority being given to the military at all times, but that had been necessary to keep them from being consumed by neighboring nations.
That was why her face involuntarily twitched when she saw the servants and the massive amount of dresses in the dressing room. To Leticiel, a princess in a time of war, it was an unbelievable sight. Is this country going to be okay if they’re splurging on luxuries on such a grand scale?
Leticiel left the dressing room with mixed feelings in a pretty cream-colored dress and elegant accessories. “It suits you, my lady,” said the man who had stopped her from killing herself from where he was standing by the door.
“I see. Thank you.” After a pause, Leticiel said, “Excuse me.”
The man seemed startled. “Yes? Are you talking to me?”
“Yes, I am. There’s no one else here, after all. Who are you? What are you to me?”
Leticiel had almost no understanding of her current situation. She had no idea who he was or where he came from, much less his name.
“Um… What is the matter, my lady?”
“Oh, you know,” Leticiel replied flippantly, “sometimes you just want to ask strange questions, right?”
“H-Hmm… I’m your personal butler. My name is Ruvik.” The man dutifully introduced himself despite looking as if he had no clue what was going on.
“Ruvik? Yes, that’s right. I’m sorry, it completely slipped my mind.” Leticiel didn’t have a grasp of the situation either, but assumed it would be best for her to pretend to be “Drossell” for now.
Ruvik seemed surprised by Leticiel’s response, but since she didn’t think she had said anything strange, she ignored him and went to grab the doorknob. Though she was confused by her situation, her stomach was rumbling and she wanted to have breakfast in the dining room.
She gave Ruvik a questioning look when he reached out to stop her. “Your hands are injured,” he explained, “so please, allow me.”
Leticiel didn’t mind as she’d already healed her hands, but she obediently drew back, getting the feeling that she shouldn’t say anything unnecessarily.
She passed through the door that Ruvik opened for her, stumbling at the dazzling extravagance that awaited her. “Is something the matter, my lady?” Ruvik asked.
“I’m amazed that this country hasn’t gone to ruin yet from all of this wasteful luxury…”
“Pardon?” Ruvik replied, perplexed. “I’m not sure what you mean. The kingdom of Platina has been at peace for a long time, so...”
Leticiel’s eyes widened. How could peace exist in such a cruel, bloody era? Still, they’d been using many unfamiliar words, and she’d never heard of the kingdom of Platina. She mentally sifted through the list of country names she knew, but couldn’t recall it.
Well, it’s an everyday occurrence for new countries to pop up or be destroyed, after all. This country had likely been formed the same way. Leticiel decided not to worry about it. As she walked down the long corridor with Ruvik, an old maid came toward them carrying a basket of laundry. The old maid bowed deeply when she saw them, but she was clearly frowning.
Leticiel could guess from the woman’s gaze that she hated Leticiel—or rather, Drossell. Yet she ignored the woman, not paying any mind to the information.
Having experienced the despair of what felt like the end of the world and having taken her own life, Leticiel’s heart no longer had the capacity to care about the negative feelings directed at her by others. To put things positively, she was now able to view things philosophically. But from a negative standpoint, she no longer had any interest in what those around her thought. Leticiel’s former cheerful personality had disappeared, leaving her with an extremely dispassionate and cold attitude. She was amazed by how much people could change fundamentally after going through such an extreme experience, somehow feeling like it was someone else who had changed and not herself.
Leticiel walked gracefully down the hallway, but when there was no one else around her, she stopped abruptly. Ruvik, who was walking behind her and slightly off to the side, gave his mistress a puzzled look.
“Hey, Ruvik.”
“What is it, my lady?”
“Where is the dining room?”
“You were just wandering around?!” Ruvik’s hysterical voice echoed in the manor’s corridors in the early morning.