On Friday, I’d had to visit the royal palace, so I hadn’t been able to go to alchemy club. I was now at home, making a list of all the devices I wanted to make. Some were going to be hard to explain, so I drew out some diagrams for them. As I was sketching out all the things I wanted to make, I had a flash of inspiration.
“We wouldn’t need a magic stone for this,” I mumbled to myself. “We could even use it at home. We could also use it twice, so it would save money! Though, I’m not sure if making this would be considered alchemy. I’ll have to ask President Caesar about it!”
My list of possible inventions mostly consisted of rough sketches and hastily written explanations just so I could convey the basic concepts of what I wanted to make, but for this device in particular, I spent time thinking about the specifics. I even wrote in the exact dimensions I wanted.
“I think this is about the size it should be. Oh, I’ll go ahead and make a cover for it.”
I grabbed some scrap fabric from the attic and used it to create a cover for my planned device. I was buzzing with excitement.
I can’t wait to go to alchemy club!
My little angels loved the lamp I’d made for them, but it would stop working once the magic stone was used up. The magic stone the lamp was currently running on had been a gift from the alchemy club. President Caesar had called it payment for the idea, but I wouldn’t be able to get more free magic stones whenever I wanted.
And so I decided to pour my efforts into my side job of painting designs onto ceramics. This was something that I consciously used household magic on from start to finish, so I could knock out a lot of finished objects.
“This is basically copying and pasting a design, right?” I thought aloud. “I wonder if I could do the same to have a side job producing magic circles. I wouldn’t know how to go about selling magic circles to a lamp factory though.”
For now, I focused on finishing the designs on the porcelain tea sets. Once I was done, I summoned Wyatt to retrieve the completed wares.
“You worked quite quickly, my lady,” Wyatt remarked. “There was no need for you to push yourself so hard.”
I’d completed double the number that I usually did, which worried Wyatt.
“You know, Wyatt, I’m also incredibly fast at drawing the magic circles used in magic lamps. Do you know anyone who works in a lamp factory?”
Wyatt had seen the lamps I’d made for my brothers’ room and for myself, and he gasped as if he’d realized something.
“I see,” he replied with a smile. “I will speak to an old friend of mine. But please make sure to rest well, my lady.”
I now had a new side job. I’m done with mending socks! It pays way too little.
When I was at school, I did a side job embroidering. Apparently when a noble lady gets married, she has to bring a mountain of linens, such as cloth napkins, pillowcases, and handkerchiefs, all embroidered with her name. Mary and I both took orders for this kind of work.
This side job was slightly more difficult than it might have seemed, because the backside of our work also had to look neat. Though it was a bit tedious, the extra skill required also meant that the work paid more. As an added bonus, Mary knew someone who worked in an embroidery shop, so we were able to purchase embroidery floss at an extreme discount. I was planning on using some of the thread to embroider Nassius’s name and our family crest into his uniform!
I was also learning needle painting from Ms. McNally, the embroidery teacher. I was excited to gain this skill, because needle painted pieces sold for a high price. That wasn’t a surprise, because an intricate piece could easily take a year to make. My current focus was on learning a variety of techniques, so I was being careful not to use household magic, but I would still occasionally slip up and use it.
According to Ms. McNally, it had been fashionable in the past for noble ladies to master needle painting before getting married. Once married, they would decorate their homes with beautiful works of embroidery to show off how talented they were. I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if it came out that they were terrible at embroidery. Perhaps those noble ladies had forced their maids to make embroidered pieces for them.
There was no longer as much of an expectation for women to cultivate the skill themselves, but there seemed to be an endless stream of noblewomen who secretly bought embroidered pieces to show off.
I’m going to work hard at this!
As usual, my fun-filled weekend quickly came to an end. I didn’t understand why I had to spend this precious time at home taking horse riding lessons, which I hated. I would also get worried for Henry while watching him leap over tall obstacles. What if he got hurt? The anxiety wasn’t good for my heart.
“Did you see that, sister?” Henry excitedly asked.
I’m sorry; I closed my eyes.
“Are you all right, Henry?” I asked back. I was so worried I couldn’t bear it.
“Next is my turn,” Nassius announced.
I don’t think that’s a good idea!
“You can do it! Jump!” Samuel said.
You can’t just say things like that, Samuel!
I was too afraid to watch, but it sounded like Nassius had succeeded.
“I did it, sister!” he shouted.
Being a big sister is tough. I wonder if my heart can take much more of this.
“Aren’t you going to ride anymore, Patience?” Samuel asked.
I’m going to ban you from our home if you keep sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong, Samuel. I already rode enough.
“I must start preparing to return to the dorms,” I said.
Samuel had asked if he could visit from time to time on the weekends, to which I’d said yes. It made me happy to see Nassius and Henry playing with their cousin, so Samuel’s visits were generally a good thing. The only problem was that he kept trying to force riding lessons on me! Well, I wasn’t going to let him!
I’m definitely going to make a bicycle in alchemy club! Oh, but that means I’ll have to remember how a bicycle functions. Guess I’m working on that first.
My brothers were still in the middle of their riding lessons with Samuel, so I gave them quick kisses goodbye and left for the dorms.
They don’t need their sister as much anymore. It makes me sad, but that’s just growing up. Hey, since he annoys me, starting next time I’m also going to kiss Samuel! I bet he’ll hate that!
I spent my ride to the academy thinking such stupid things that I arrived in the blink of an eye.
After sending Mary back home, I put on my coat and headed for the greenhouse. I hadn’t been able to water my plants on Saturday, so I was a bit worried, but I arrived and saw that they seemed fine.
I purified some water and used it on my ridge of plants—and only my own ridge. Otherwise Ms. Makias would scold me again.
I rushed back to my dorm room to get out of the cold. The warmth of my fireplace was comforting. I wanted to just lay on the couch with a book, but I maintained proper ladylike posture and sat up as I read.
I couldn’t focus on my book, because I kept thinking about what Percival had said to me about the possibility of me becoming a diplomat. Being a diplomatic official sounded like such a cool job, and it had been a dream of mine to enter the diplomatic service during my previous life. That said, being a diplomat in this world was likely different from my understanding of the job. I wanted to travel to other countries, but this world had monsters. It could be dangerous.
Time passed as I was occupied with such thoughts, and Princess Margaret arrived on campus. Today I noticed her arrival before Zofie came to inform me.
Princess Margaret shared that the queen had been in a good mood, since Prince Keith’s problems with the knight club had been settled. I’d also thought that the queen had seemed to be in a good mood when I’d visited on Friday.
You shouldn’t cause Her Majesty too much worry, Prince Keith!
On Monday, my day started with diplomacy and world history. Because of what Percival had said, I was quite excited for both classes.
After lunch, I was planning to use my Alchemy II time block to visit alchemy club, because I really wanted to make that thing. However, I was still worried whether making it would be considered alchemy.
I’m sure that alchemy could be used to make it. But we didn’t have alchemy in my previous world, so we had to rely on mundane metalworking there.
For some reason, Philips once again walked me to our classroom where diplomacy and world history were held. As we walked, Philips discussed with Russell how Mr. Cuthbert seemed quite unmotivated, but I had no interest in the topic of our meathead teacher. According to the boys’ conversation, his low spirits were an actual problem, because he was the PE teacher.
“Mr. Cuthbert’s always been tough on mage track and civil service track students, and this whole incident just made more people hate him,” Russell remarked. He’d apparently refused to sign the knight club’s petition.
“Since you’re in riding club, I understand why you didn’t want to sign,” Philips replied.
I didn’t realize Russell is in riding club.
“Sir Russell, my cousin Samuel is also in riding club,” I chimed in. “I hope you will look after him.”
Russell chuckled, seeming to recall my cousin.
“He’s in that group of four, isn’t he? I know he’s also in music club. I’ll watch out for him.”
Now that I think about it, I don’t know if Philips is in any club.
“Do you participate in any extracurriculars, Sir Philips?” I asked.
For some reason, Russell spat as if he’d failed at suppressing a laugh.
“How rude of you, Russell,” Philips chided. “The history club is a storied institution of this academy.”
I didn’t even know that there was a history club. I guess we had those in my previous life too. If I remember correctly, they studied things like earthenware and historical ruins.
“I have no idea how visiting the ruins of a fallen empire could be any fun,” Russell scoffed. “You’re a decent rider, Philips. You should just join riding club.”
Is this the start of another club recruitment war?
“The history club barely has enough people as it is,” Philips explained. “I can’t leave. I’d actually love to have either you or Mademoiselle Patience join.” Philips then turned to me. “How about it? Investigating the reasons the empire fell is quite fun.”