Chapter 66

At the sound of a knock on the door of his royal office, Ernst looked up from the untouched mountain of documents on his desk. Into the room strode his old friend Adolphus, who had recently been busy with other matters. Adolphus fixed his magenta eyes on the wretched desk, which looked as if a wastepaper basket had been dumped onto it, and he frowned slightly. “Hoarding work again?” “…I was just about to start in,” said Ernst. His childhood friend sighed and quietly reached for the documents. Then, with practiced motions, he efficiently sorted them. He seemed to be arranging them according to urgency. “By the way, have you gotten the arson outbreak under control?” Ernst asked. “I’m looking into it.” Word was the fires were being set by extremist saint worshippers. But if that was true, they would have to weigh the impacts of a public announcement. Ernst frowned. “I wish Randolph Ulster were here.” Ernst thought back to the young man who had paid him a visit, along with his fiancée, before the pair departed on their royal mission. “That reminds me. You gave something to the Grail girl when they visited, didn’t you? What was it?” He remembered seeing a little glass jar, but he didn’t know what it was for. “Oh, that? Aliénore’s remains,” Adolphus answered casually. Ernst groaned. Adolphus might sound nonchalant, but he’d just dropped a bombshell. “Haven’t you learned your lesson yet…?! If memory serves, we received a complaint through Soldita’s sovereign a few years back…!” The House of Neuen was among the oldest high-ranking noble families in Soldita. The current sovereign was Berta’s nephew, and he had written personally to say his aunt was at her wit’s end. “That complaint was addressed to me, not to Constance Grail,” Adolphus countered. “You’re a smart man, but you can be so idiotic at times…” Feeling suddenly exhausted, Ernst buried his face in the documents. “…Why don’t you give up already? I’ve heard Berta Neuen is a confirmed misanthrope eccentric.” He didn’t know what her reasons were, but there must have been something behind her stubborn refusal to accept the remains. Wouldn’t it be best to let the matter rest? He glanced at Adolphus, who was looking down sadly. “It was Aliénore’s earnest wish,” he murmured. “She asked that if she died, I divide her remains and send a portion to the shrine.” Ernst’s heart ached at the sorrow in his friend’s voice. “…Ah, did she?” He felt sorry for speaking harshly to Adolphus without knowing what drove him, but he couldn’t help adding another word or two. “Still, don’t you think you’re being a bit obstinate…?” “Aliénore told me that if Berta Neuen refused to accept the remains, I was to obstinately persist until she grew angry.” “I don’t follow.” “She said that once Berta gets mad, you’re almost there. So don’t you think she must be on the verge of accepting the remains?” “…Your wife had quite the personality.” Adolphus grinned. “The truth is, I’d almost given up. But I thought perhaps the Grail girl would manage something. That’s why I entrusted the remains to her.” Ernst thought of the young woman with the pale green eyes. When he first met her, he thought she seemed ordinary and timid, and he’d assumed she would either be dragged into the mud by the malicious people around her or crushed. But in fact, neither happened. She had the impudence of meadow grass that sprang back up, unfazed, no matter how much someone trod on it. “I hope she isn’t pulled into a difficult situation again,” Ernst said without thinking. Adolphus burst out laughing. “What?” “Nothing,” Adolphus answered, looking amused. “It’s just, I suspect she’s something of a magnet for difficult situations. Maybe she’s the one pulling them in.”