The Gifting Ceremony
The winter feast was being held today. There was the winter debut and the baptism ceremony for children born in the winter, followed by the Gifting Ceremony for new students of the Academy. Since I myself was a new student, Ferdinand was going to be performing this year’s ceremonies. I had my hair done at a leisurely pace and changed into my outfit, all in all taking my time with my preparations.
“Sister, shall we go to the grand hall together?” Charlotte asked, visiting my room as though she had been waiting for the very moment I was ready.
I naturally agreed at once, and together we left my room.
“I have been so lonely, Sister. You are finally living in the castle again, but due to your special lessons, I only ever get to see you during whirl practice and dinner.”
Charlotte is as cute as ever, I see.
Seeing that my little sister had grown taller than me was such a shock that it had come close to breaking my heart, but the instant she had thanked me for rescuing her and apologized for putting me in danger by distracting my guard knights, my love for her smashed through the roof with such overwhelming force that all my surprise was blown away in an instant.
My little sister is so cute, so healthy, and so adorable.
I took out my highbeast and got inside, continuing to chat with Charlotte as I drove down the stairs. Wilfried was waiting for us at the bottom, having finished his preparations already.
“You’re still using your highbeast?” he asked, blinking in surprise. “I thought the potion was supposed to make you healthy.”
“I technically am healthy now, but I can’t walk without magic tools yet.”
“What?! Didn’t you say you were training with Bonifatius in the Knight’s Order?! Are you trying to die?!” Wilfried exclaimed. He had undergone some training himself while his guard knights were being worked on, and in his eyes, training with Bonifatius was equivalent to an act of suicide. I had certainly felt like I was on the verge of death at times, so perhaps that was a perspective everyone who trained with him ended up having.
“Grandfather is simply teaching me about enhancement magic; we haven’t been doing anything too arduous.”
“You have been making such swift progress during our dedication whirl practice, Sister, that I thought you had already recovered entirely,” Charlotte said. It seemed that she’d also assumed I had recovered over the past few weeks, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth.
“...At the moment, the plan is for me to remove the magic tools after returning from the Royal Academy,” I explained. “From there, I will work on slowly building my muscles back up. Keep this a secret, if you can; I won’t need to wear them for too much longer.”
With that, I started driving down the hall in Lessy. Wilfried and Charlotte were walking beside me, while our guard knights circled around us in a tight formation. The three of us hadn’t walked together since the attack two years ago, and I could sense that everyone was tensing up a little.
“I am a bit nervous about all this, but they did catch the culprit. We should be perfectly fine,” Charlotte said with a small, reassuring smile. Everyone else smiled a little as well, putting me slightly more at ease.
Once we turned the last corner to the grand hall, I got out of my Pandabus. I couldn’t keep riding my highbeast beyond this point, which meant I would be standing for just about the rest of the day.
Will... Will I really survive this?
My worry must have shown on my face, because Wilfried soon furrowed his brow and held out a hand to me. “Rozemyne, want to lean on my arm?”
“No, I am such a slow walker that doing so would only tire you out. You may go on ahead with Charlotte. I will walk at my own pace.”
“That’s not an option. We’ve been told to stick together today.”
Wilfried and Charlotte stood firm, so in the end, everyone ended up walking with me. We took our places at the very front of those lined up in the grand hall, dragging all our guard knights along as well. I couldn’t see much along the way due to all the knights around us, but the nobles who came to greet us all widened their eyes upon seeing me.
“I see that you have awoken, Lady Rozemyne.”
“What a joyous day. Now we can attend the Royal Academy together, Lady Rozemyne. I cannot wait.”
“Indeed, Count Groschel, Brunhilde. My sister is at full health once again,” Charlotte said, stepping forward and handling the nobles with a smile.
Brunhilde was two years older than me; I remembered seeing her in the winter playroom three years ago. Her eyes were light brown and she had straight hair that was pure crimson. From what I remembered, she was a fashionable girl who loved to talk, and she was the one who had gathered all the information about fashion trends at the Royal Academy for me.
I stood next to Charlotte and gave Brunhilde a smile. It would be best to thank her here.
“Brunhilde, the fashion information you gathered at the Royal Academy proved highly useful.”
“Oh my, I am glad to have been of use to you,” she replied in a bright voice, at which point others began gathering to greet us as well. I was something of a curiosity to everyone, given that I had been asleep for two full years, so noble after noble continued to approach.
“Please do allow me to greet Lady Rozemyne as well,” came a voice.
“Ah, Viscountess Dahldolf,” Wilfried said, stepping in front of me before I could say anything. “I am glad to see you are in good health as well. Incidentally, I am interested in speaking to Viscount Dahldolf. Do you know where he is?”
“Oh my. Hello, Lord Wilfried... I shall search for him. If you will excuse me.”
Shikza’s mother hated me, so I was pleased to see her attack get deflected. I was grateful for Wilfried, but as the waves of nobles continued to greet us, I suddenly realized something.
Wait... Wilfried and Charlotte are protecting me.
Whenever a noble came forward to greet me, one of them would smoothly step between us. Unless I actively stepped forward to involve myself, the exchange would end without me having to say a word. I was now watching their backs as they protected me during noble exchanges—a complete reversal from two years ago.
“You have both learned so much, haven’t you?” I commented.
Wilfried nodded. “We couldn’t rely on you to protect us forever.”
The manual about dealing with nobles that Ferdinand had beaten into my head was pretty sizable, as I recalled. It was genuinely impressive that they had managed to master it at such a young age.
“There is much to memorize. I imagine it has been quite the struggle.”
“...It certainly has,” Charlotte replied. “But it was not much more than you were made to study two years ago, and you had to prepare for my baptism ceremony and winter debut on top of that, correct? I thought I would collapse from exhaustion after seeing all the boards of religious ceremonies that you had to memorize, Sister.”
It seemed that Ferdinand had pushed both the manual for dealing with nobles and the wooden boards covering the Spring Prayer onto them at once, so they ended up catching a glimpse of the constant studying I had needed to endure.
“I have been told that you even helped with my High Bishop work. I am so sorry to have forced so much onto you both.”
“Sister, we too are children of the archduke. We learned well over the past two years just how important and taxing it is to fill the Central District with mana. I intend to participate in Spring Prayer next year as well; I cannot allow you to shoulder such a heavy burden alone.”
“Right,” Wilfried added. “We can get it over with a lot quicker if we all help each other.”
Oh no. They’ve both grown so much, they’ve completely left me behind.
As I chewed over how the two of them had grown both in body and spirit, the archducal couple arrived. They ascended the stage, took their seats, then directed gentle smiles our way, which we naturally returned.
“The High Priest may now enter,” came an announcement.
Ferdinand walked up onto the stage and gazed across all those below. “We welcome the new children of Ehrenfest,” he announced, his voice resounding through the grand hall. No sooner had he spoken than the door opened, and the noble children baptized this year started to enter.
Ngh. Some of those kids are taller than me.
“Lady Rozemyne,” Cornelius whispered as I watched some of the children climb up onto the stage to be baptized. “There’s a boy named Nikolaus among those about to have their debut, and... he’s the son of Father’s second wife. Our half-brother.”
I had been baptized with Elvira, the first wife, as my mother, while Nikolaus had been baptized with Trudeliede, the second wife, as his mother.
“I imagine he and Trudeliede will come to greet you later.”
“...Is there anything I need to be careful about?” I asked, noticing that Cornelius looked a little on guard.
“No, but Father did ask me to tell you not to show him any blatant favoritism in the winter playroom. You have a tendency to be especially sweet with younger family members, so...”
Since I was the archduke’s adopted daughter, Wilfried and Charlotte were my main social priority as my adoptive siblings, then Eckhart, Lamprecht, and Cornelius as my brothers. Nikolaus was fairly low on the priority list due to him only being a half-brother, and it was apparently important that I not dote on him excessively.
But little brothers are cute too, and I want him to rely on me...
As an archnoble, Nikolaus was the last to play harspiel at the debut, and his performance made it clear just how much he had practiced. He was a young boy with light-chestnut hair and bright-blue eyes. Given how little he resembled Karstedt, he probably took after his mother, but he was well-built and probably taller than me.
The Gifting Ceremony followed the winter debut. Ferdinand climbed down from the stage; then eight scholars carrying ornately carved boxes moved to take his place, standing in a line. Once everyone was in place, Sylvester strode to the center of the stage.
“The Gifting Ceremony shall now begin. New students of the Royal Academy, step forward!”
The voice of a scholar rang out, then Wilfried escorted me up onto the stage. We lined up together alongside six other children—the same six we had lined up with three years ago at our debut. I scanned the group and recognized everyone, but they were now all a lot taller than I remembered. My heart sank at how blatant my own lack of growth was now, and that was when Philine caught my eye. She gave a happy smile, which I promptly returned. It was nice to see a genuinely friendly face after all the weird and curious looks I had gotten so far today.
“Rozemyne,” Sylvester called.
I shot my head up and stepped forward. One of the scholars set his box in front of Sylvester, who delicately opened it before taking out the cape and brooch within, which he then held out to me.
“I ask that you live life to the fullest—that you learn well, grow, and become a noble worthy of Ehrenfest.”
“In honor of the God of Darkness, I will do my utmost to turn my experiences into personal strengths,” I replied, accepting the cape and brooch before stepping back to rejoin the line.
Once everyone had received their gifts, the scholars informed us when we were to move to the Royal Academy. As was tradition, the oldest students would be leaving first, with the new students—Wilfried and me included—leaving on the final day.
And so began our daily lives in the winter.
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