4 (1) – 7


    The head of the L?rrich family, Rudolph L?rrich, had two sons.


    One was the prodigal son, us.


    He was twenty years old, a raucous yboy that Rudolph always found difficult to rein in. Always out in the town ying around and chasing skirts, sometimes noting home for days at a time. Abandoning the studies he was expected to take up as a noble, he instead indulged in practices frowned upon by the deeply traditionalist Mohnton territory, such as poetry and music. Constantly and irritatingly arrogant, he was always disdainful of people who stood at a higher station than him. It was as if he made a sport in mocking and treating high ranking nobles and others older than him flippantly, always earning their ire.


    No matter how much Rudolph reprimanded him, he would never pay any attention, only further fuelling his father’s indignation Two years ago, it was finally decided that his disrespectful and irresponsible behavior could no longer be tolerated, so he was kicked out of his family home. As he made to leave Mohnton entirely for new pastures, he was eagerly stopped by Alois before he could reach the border and was convinced to work for him.


    The second son was a very serious and studious young man named Franz.


    Franz, a year younger than us, was almost his exact opposite. He was honest and hard-working, always carrying himself with pride and dignity as a noble. He had a deep respect for his elders, honoured the old histories and traditions of thend, and his conduct resembled a true leader of the future.


    He never hesitated to make decisions, even if they were hard ones, always valuing the good of the many over the benefit of the few. He had earned a deep sense of trust from the rest of his family and was seen as an ideal candidate to inherit the position of the family head when the time came.


    In fact, Rudolph himself wished to name Franz as his sessor. He may be slightly willful and overconfident of his own abilities, but he was far more capable than us and exceptionally easier to manage as well.


    However, Franz has not yet been named as the sessor to the L?rrich family.


    That is because Rudolph’s older sister, Gerda, strongly objects.


    ○


    A few days after the two of them were expelled from the kitchen.


    With things as they were, it would be hard to practice cooking. In Mohnton, and with little in the way of entertainment, Cami was struggling to find ways to pass the time.


    Sitting in that dim room of hers was bad for her health and talking with Nicole wasn’t nearly enough to properly upy her. The only other thing she could do was learn more about the territory of Mohnton from Alois’ study sessions.


    Thanks to that, Cami had be familiar with the circumstances of the L?rrich family these past few days. Specifically, the situation around the two brothers and the matter of session. It had be quite a popr source of gossip, apparently. Alois did his best toy out the matter in an objective way, but it was obvious that he favoured us with the way he talked.


    Cami herself didn’t really understand just why Alois took us’ side so much. From Cami’s point of view, us waszy and irresponsible, not to mention utterly disrespectful.


    No matter how much he said he didn’t care for them, everything he did reflected back on his family’s name. So whenever he yed around and made a fool of himself, it would drag the honour of his house and its vassals through the mud. Not to mention Alois, who always had to cover for him.


    Not that Cami was really one to talk when it came to shaming a family name.


    – No, no, just why am I even thinking about that man!?


    After finishing her study session with Alois, she returned to her room. Cami found it hard to rid herself of what she had just learned about the House of L?rrich from Alois, shaking her head furiously.


    – In the first ce, just why am I going along with all this studying!? I haven’t even decided on marriage yet!


    She didn’t have any desire to even think about marriage until Alois was a man she could stomach to kiss. Even if he had slimmed down somewhat, he was stillrger than the average person by quite some degree. All that useless fat of his must be chiseled into muscle.


    – At any rate, I need to get him exercising.


    Despite having spent over seven months in Mohnton, Cami had never seen Alois run or train as any sort of exercise. When he was in a panic or an emergency, Alois did sometimes run. But from what she could see, he was winded almost immediately by the effort. Thinking back, she had never seen him on horseback either. That said, the reason for that might be that there wasn’t any horse that could support his weight.


    Needless to say, Alois waspletely unfit. When she saw just how passionately his eyes lit up when he was busy lecturing Cami about the history of some house or town, a good part of her wished that he would devote that drive to getting outdoors every now and then.


    Cami could only think that it was such a shame. If only he’d swing his sword around a little bit, it would be good exercise... No, would he even be able to practice with a sword as he is right now?


    – Next time we talk, I should invite him to take a walk with me.


    If he can’t even keep up a run for a few seconds without losing his breath, she probably couldn’t expect much out of his physical stamina, so the best thing would be to start with simple walking.


    That way, eventually she could tighten up that body of his. Taking her time, slowly but surely.


    And with that, the decision of marriage could be put off.


    “I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times. I don’t care about the session.”


    It was the voice of a clearly irritated man that broke Cami’s line of thought.


    “I’m leaving all of that to my little brother. He wants to inherit anyways, so there’s no point in me getting in the way.”


    “We cannot afford to let an ipetent inherit the House of L?rrich.”


    As soon as she heard that cold voice, Cami instinctively hid behind a corner.


    One of the halls of the Montchat manor. There weren’t many people around. Yet standing imposingly in the middle of the hallway were Gerda and us, talking face to face.


    The two of them were merely servants. Whereas Cami was their master’s... for now, a guest. She was irritated that her first instinct was to stay hidden, but both of these people truly were hard to deal with for vastly different reasons, and the two of them in one ce spelled trouble.


    As she stuck close to the corner, trying to keep herself in the shadows, a scullery maid that passed by looked at her suspiciously.


    Cami realized just how suspicious she must look to any passer-by. She could have just taken another path to get back to her room, but the idea of being forced into doing that was annoying in of itself.


    Since she was standing like this now, she decided that she would at least listen to what was going on.


    Seemingly not noticing Cami’s presence, Gerda and us continued their serious looking discussion.


    “Ipetent? Aunty, don’t you just hate him because he doesn’t listen to you? That guy is different from father, he actually has self-confidence.”


    us kept up that frivolous attitude as per usual, but there was a definite undercurrent of displeasure in his tone of voice. On the other hand, Cami could only see Gerda’s back from where she was peeking. But, that taut back and cold voice seemed like the usual Gerda to her.


    “But even if I seed for some unknown reason, it’s not like I’d listen to you either, aunty. I would liven up that dull town and have parties in the street every day.”


    “Even if you never listened to me, I have no doubt you would do the job well.”


    “Well, thank you for that.”


    usughed jokingly, but he didn’t seem to be happy at all.


    Then, trying to put a full stop on the conversation, us tried to slip past Gerda.


    As he did, she spoke quietly, her voice devoid of emotion.


    “In Blume, Franz is reportedly building up a force in secret.”


    “Huh?”


    “He’s an ambitious person, so he has decided to make his move. He intends to rule Blume with an iron fist. Apparently, he’s extorting young people and pressing them into his service, as well as rounding up anyone who goes against him and keeping them captive. The rumours haven’t leaked out yet, but that’s likely due to the influence of the L?rrich. If they possess any wisdom at all, they would keep this story secret.”


    us stopped in his tracks, looking back at Gerda. Gerda’s voice may have sounded as cold as usual, but as she spoke more and more it was possible to hear a vein of feeling running through it.


    “He intends to turn Blume into his own personal treasury. He’s already begun to eye the profits from the manastone towns enviously and wants to convert Blume into such a ce.”


    “...That town, it isn’t fit for something like that.”


    “And because he does not know it, that is why he is ipetent.”


    Their conversation really was very serious. Aren’t they worried about being overheard?


    Despite Cami thinking that, although neither Gerda nor us raised their voices, they didn’t seem to have any issue with being seen talking either. In fact, some busy looking servants had passed right by them during their conversation.


    – Perhaps she isn’t concerned about rumours being spread?


    Of course, she wasn’t concerned. If her goal was to keep us in ce as the sessor, she ought to be protesting as loudly as possible. Having a few more servants spread helpful rumours could only help her in that.


    Not to mention, despite how hostile she was to Cami, she was utterly upright. Considering how rock solid her position in the Montchat household seemed, she had little reason to be concerned.


    “Well, y’know, I am a genius, so... I really don’t think it’ll turn out the way you think it will, aunty. If you don’t get that, there are going to be some problems.”


    “That doesn’t matter. All I care about is aiding the L?rrich family however I can... Although the opposing party is troublesome to deal with, certainly.”


    Gerda sighed. Then, for a moment, keeping her back straight, she turned away from us.


    Her eyes were gloomy and without much life, yet somehow filled with a quiet determination, as she nced towards the corner where Cami was peeking out from. She didn’t re at her like before, but Cami still felt her heart rate double.


    “Ipetence is truly unforgivable, all the same.”


    As if dering that was truly the end of the conversation, Gerda turned back to us. Then, she continued back down the corridor without even offering him a farewell.


    us, now alone, simply shrugged as he watched Gerda walk away. With a final, quick nce, he went down the hallway in the opposite direction to where Gerda left.


    In other words, right towards Cami.


    “...What’re you doing?”


    Right in front of the corner. As he came across Cami, who missed her opportunity to escape, he muttered in amazement.


    A bad situation somehow got even more awkward.