Chapter 42: Work for the Ducal House

The work assigned by the Duchess of Rusewell.

First, for Richard, it was simply participation in knight order training.

Richard belonged to the Margrave’s knight order, so it would take the form of joint training.

After joining the basic drills, they would then move on to confirming Richard’s actual ability.

After all, if he could not demonstrate his strength, there would be no way to know whether he even met the conditions in the first place.

As for me, my role was to assist the Duchess of Rusewell.

Or rather, to help with the duchess’s work?

Was it really all right for me to do that?

“Um.
I feel like I might end up hearing things I shouldn’t know…”

“Oh?
That’s not the case at all.
What do you think a duchess is, exactly?
I have ordinary ladies-in-waiting, you know?”

“Well, I mean, they’re people from the ducal house itself…”

“Oh, don’t worry about that.
In any case, Electra, you’ll be attached to me for a while and serve as someone I can consult with.”

“A consultation partner?”

Being a consultation partner to a duchess was far too intimidating.

“You are a goddess, after all.
Surely you can spare time to listen to me.
Fufu.”

“T-that is… um.
It’s only a nickname and doesn’t represent my status…
And also, it’s ‘of the battlefield,’ you know!”

This part was actually rather important.

What made me apparently superior to others was my magical ability.

But all I could do was heal external injuries.

Healing magic could not cure illness or poison.

If the title ran away on its own, people might start expecting me to do those things as well.

That would be troublesome.

That was why I was only the Goddess of the Battlefield.

Specialized in healing the wounds of knights fighting on the battlefield.

Even then, I still could not purify magical beasts or erect barriers.

I did not possess any of the abilities people might associate with rumors of a saint or goddess.

“So, in any case, you’ll be my conversation partner for a while.
You want Sir Claudius to become a senior knight, don’t you?”

“…Yes.
I humbly ask for your guidance.”

“Good.
You’ve been in Grandra for quite some time now, haven’t you?
Wouldn’t it be better for you to learn about the current state of the capital and the central factions?
Your instincts as a noblewoman must have dulled.”

“Instincts?”

“Yes.
You’ve been near the front lines—well, not exactly on them—but you’ve been throwing yourself physically into things with magic.
You haven’t been using your head in the way that comes from social interaction and gathering information to plan future strategies, have you?
So it’s time to get those instincts back.”

“…Yes.
Thank you very much, Lady Rusewell.”

“You can call me Katalina, Electra.”

“That would be… no, Lady Katalina.
Understood.”

And so, I became attached to Lady Katalina.

Originally, the duchess’s work would have proceeded just fine without me.

There was no sign of any shortage of personnel.

I was nothing more than an extra addition.

Of course, since it was work, I had no intention of slacking off.

For a while, I was essentially acting as a lady-in-waiting—no, more like an apprentice secretary.

I did not handle Lady Katalina’s personal care.

I was only involved in work-related matters.

So I was not really a lady-in-waiting.

At first, rather than being asked for opinions, I was absorbing information.

As a duchess, all manner of information naturally flowed to her.

“The Crown Prince was previously engaged to a princess of a neighboring country.
You’ve heard that the engagement was annulled due to circumstances on their side, haven’t you?”

“Yes…
We don’t know the details, but we have heard the rumors.”

I had heard it from Richard.

Apparently, it was being talked about within the knight order.

It was a major enough event for rumors to reach even the frontier.

“Prince Julian’s intended was the fourth princess of that neighboring kingdom, but…”

The Crown Prince’s name was Julian von Lance.

He was the first prince of this country.

He was younger than me and had only come of age last year.

“It seems she awakened to ‘true love.’”

“…Pardon?”

“In short, infidelity.
She became romantically involved with a nobleman from her own country.”

“That is quite…”

Such stories of infidelity really were everywhere.

“It was judged to be their fault, so several agreements favorable to the Kingdom of Lance were concluded.”

“I see.”

“Yes.
The matter between the royal families has already been settled, and compensation was decided, but the aftermath was significant.”

First, with the foreign princess no longer set to marry in, relations with that country became tense.

At the very least, they could no longer be considered friendly.

That, in turn, affected the border margravates and neighboring territories on the other side.

The parts of the economy that had benefited from trade with that country began to show strain.

It was a very troublesome issue.

There was royal pride to consider, but honestly, it would have been better for the nobles if relations had remained friendly.

“With the Crown Prince’s fiancée position now vacant, several noble houses have begun to move.
Will they seek another royal or noble from abroad, or choose someone domestically?
The royal family has not yet decided on a policy.”

That was a natural development.

Especially for houses with daughters of marriageable age.

“The woman rumored to be a ‘saint’ might have been considered if she were not already married.
Her age would have been appropriate.”

“That would have been something…”

Lady Livia.

She was called a saint, but her abilities were likely no different from mine.

I had never heard of her erecting barriers or purifying magical beasts.

“A mere title would not suffice to serve as Crown Princess, let alone future queen.”

“…Indeed.
It would have been absolutely impossible for her.
For her, at least.”

Hm?
That sounded oddly pointed.

“Electra?”

“Y-yes.
What is it, Lady Katalina?”

“You do realize, don’t you?
If someone called a ‘saint’ could become a candidate, then you, as a ‘goddess,’ would be even closer to consideration.
And unlike her, you have experience in territorial administration.”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“That’s impossible.
I have a marriage history.
I cannot become the Crown Prince’s partner.”

“It was a white marriage, wasn’t it?
With your former husband.”

“Well… that is true, but…”

Even if that were so, could anyone truly believe it?

The very existence of doubt made one unfit to be a royal consort.

And as for administrative experience, I had only been entrusted with a small baronial domain.

It was hardly something that deserved evaluation at this level.

“There are factional considerations as well.”

“Factions?”

“Yes.
Until now, the Crown Prince was set to marry a foreign princess, wasn’t he?
In that sense, domestic nobles were all equal.
At least in theory.
But if a daughter of some domestic house becomes Crown Princess, the situation changes greatly.
To avoid that…”

“To avoid it?”

“One option would be to bring in a renowned woman from the church, strengthen ties with the church, and avoid provoking domestic nobles.”

“…No, no.
I may be away from my family now, but I am still from House Vent, a viscount family.
That would…”

It would not help ease domestic resentment.

It would only appear to favor House Vent.

“A viscount family, correct?”

“…Yes.”

Favoring a viscount family would not change much.

It would have some impact, but nothing compared to favoring a count or higher house.

“In short, you are not entirely outside the picture.
That is why you should properly learn about the situation within the Kingdom of Lance here under me, Electra.”

“Yes, Lady Katalina.
Thank you very much.”

Even so, I still thought it unlikely that I would become involved with the young Crown Prince.

After all, I had an… beloved… fiancé!