Chapter Text
I had to perform the healing ceremony so I ate as fast as I could and headed out of temple, there Karstedt, Sylvester and Eckhart were waiting for me and Ferdinand. I greeted them then I was informed by Eckhart that we would be departing in highbeasts and a carriage with gray priests who carried Flutrane's wand had already arrived at destination.
I pulled Karstedt's sleeve and whispered
"Father why are we rushing this so much, is it so important? "
"Rozemyne you must have heard that our duchy has been in dire need of mana, most of the blue priests were sent to Sovereignty to compensate for mana loss during purge as such our harvest have been declining, we will use this opportunity to increase the harvest while also increasing the influence of archducal family, since you are now daughter of Archduke, leisgang nobles already have good impression of you and we want to extend that to central Ehrenfest too"
I nodded in understanding, while Ferdinand also arrived at time.
I was heaved up by Sylvester on his highbeast, he sat behind me took the reins and flew up and others followed behind us. We arrived in what seemed to a farmland, there a group of knights and nobles were waiting for us, behind them a few gray priests were standing with a wrapped Flutrane's wand.
Sylvester put me on ground and put away his highbeast and I was subjected to curious gazes of nobles and priests alike. Their eyes boring upon me made me sick but had to straighten up my back look forward.
Sylvester taking up command said
"As announced earlier at baptism, today Rozemyne has graciously accepted to bless this land as the first duty performed by high bishop and as adopted daughter of Archduke, after seeing the deprived state of land. The mana supply to various parts of duchy is supposed to be regulated by temple, which was neglected by the previous high bishop leading to the current situation. Rozemyne volunteered to supply Geduldh her mana"
"Now Rozemyne it's your turn" He whispered to me and pushed me ahead.
Ferdinand took the divine instrument from priests and we went towards a clearing, unwrapping the Flutrane's staff he held it out to me, I stuck it to ground and balanced between my hands .
Then Ferdinand secretly gave me anti-eavesdropping tool and hid his face behind his palm and said
"Remember spread your mana as thinly as you can you don't have to grow plants rather you just have to cover more area"
"What about the materials that we needed for jureve, you never told me about them, I was under impression that we would need a full grown feyplant "
I said copying his action
"I already have required feystones for jureve of a decent quality we can grow if needed later, we don't want to grab more attention by growing feyplants in front of all these nobles"
"Huh! Why didn't you say that earlier? I didn't have to do this"
"You never asked, besides it is precisely why I didn't tell you. You would have refused to heal the land, now back to prayers remember my words. "
"Guhh! fine"
He took the tool and walked a few meters away from me and I closing my eyes repeated the same prayers as during the trombe extermination.
“O Goddess of Water Flutrane, bringer of healing and change. O twelve goddesses who serve by her side. Please hear my prayer and lend me your divine strength. Grant me the power to heal your sister, the Goddess of Earth
Geduldh, who has been wounded by those who serve evil. I shall offer this divine note to thee, casting ripples of the highest order. May you fill the world with your royal color to mine own heart’s content.”
I felt mana being sucked from me and I tried to control the rate of flow, like a tap turned halfway thus letting escape small amount of water and filling a bucket slowly but steadily.
As I felt my mana capacity become half I stopped the flow and opened my eyes. There wasn't much difference between the plants before and after visibly but apparently others did as Ferdinand was tapping his temples while Sylvester, Karstedt and our gaurds were looking at me in surprise as I turned towards other nobles most of them were looking at me with respect, admiration and surprise combined in various ratio but remaining nobels were grinning maliciously as if looking at a delicious meal, those were the same eyes as count Bindelwald I wanted to instictly shrink up and hide behind Ferdinand but instead I stood up straight and gave the divine instrument to Ferdinand, who returned it to grays.
The nobles waved their schtapes excitedly and got permission from Archduke to return to their respective domain and Sylvester and Karstedt left too with their contingent of knights.After we returned to temple I requested a meeting with Ferdinand who immediately accepted seeing the look on my face. He made Brigitte and Damuel guard the door as he took me to his hidden room.
After the door closed I couldn't maintain my noble facade any longer, trembling I requested a gyu from him. Sighing he sat down and picked me up on his lap and granted my request, after a while I managed to speak.
"Ferdinand I don't want to get near those nobles, their gazes were filled with hatred, malice and contempt. I am not going near them"
"Calm down Rozemyne, as archduke's adopted daughter it is your duty to socialize during winter, whether you like it or not. Though we will limit interaction with southern giebes as they were connected with previous high bishop, Karstedt and I noticed too and I am sorry for putting you at that position, I was too focused on positive effects that I forgot to take account of negative ones it reminds me of my mistake during trombe incident, I wanted the nobility and temple to learn about your usefulness, but instead it caught attention of nobles from another duchy. I apologize.
I was so surprised by his apology that I calmed down instantaneously.
Ferdinand then proceeded to tell me that Karstedt apparently was worried too and wanted to increase my number of guards at least at castle. Seeing Ferdinand looking sad I began to pat his head instead which caught him off guard.
"What are you doing". He asked, his face abnormally expression-less, disregarding that I said
"Comforting you just as you are comforting me".
Unimpressed Ferdinand put me down at which I pouted but it only aggravated him further and began torturing my cheeks
"Herdinad lemme goh"
I began pleading, he only stopped when tears began pooling in my eyes and healed my cheeks, rubbing my still stinging cheeks I glared at him, at which he only snorted.
"It seems you have calmed down, do you still want to brew that potion if you are not feeling well then we can postpone it for tomorrow"
"No we will do it today I am fine. "
"Very well, we will be brewing jureve 2 bells later, I have to make some arrangements and prepare a hidden room for you"
"Why can't we do that here"
"As you can see, this room is unsuitable for such purpose and as you will be sleeping during that period, it is necessary that that happens in your hidden room now get out of this room I have too much work also take a rejuvenating potion."
"Okay" and I returned to my chambers and asked Fran to go to Ferdinand and do as instructed.
Later Fran notified me that arrangements have been made and guided me to high bishop chambers. Ferdinand and I together registered a hidden room after which he instructed grays to prepare my room.
After everything was arranged and we were the only ones in room, he put on a glove and took out 4 feystones which he handed to me.
"Since we needed relatively a good feystone I acquired some from Justus. Now pour your mana into these till they are dyed"
I did as he told, then he made me put them in a cauldron one by one till they melted, while stirring them without stopping and constantly providing mana. He put some other ingredients while I stirred, but my arms began to hurt and since I had used too much mana today I felt sluggish too.
"Ferdinand how long will it take, can I take a bit of rest"
"Endure it, it was you who insisted upon doing this besides it won't take long "
He then dropped a black liquid and something else and finally the potion was complete, but i wasn't paying attention to it, as I couldn't move anymore and I felt sluggish and sleepy. Ferdinand noticed my state and said
"I had taken into account that you will get fever for around 3 days, I have already told Fran to prepare your room accordingly and I had warned you before. Atleast the potion has finished"
He carried me out of the room and handed me over to Fran, who took me to my chambers where Monica and Nicola changed me to night clothes and put me to bed. The next day I woke up with high fever and was not able to get out of bed, to kill me time I ordered Fran to get me wooden boards with prayers written on them, citing the need to prepare for starbinding ceremony and letters with instructions to Gilberta Company through Lutz and I managed to sneak and hug and few letters for my family. Much to my surprise I learned that Tulli will be coming to temple during starbinding ceremony. Fufufu.
Even after recovering, my days were spent helping Benno for Italian restaurant, visiting and maintaining orphanage, learning more prayers, regulating myne workshop and any free time would be spent in reading books.
As the day of starbinding ceremony arrived, I was woken up earlier than usual and bathed and changed into high bishop ceremonial robes and arrived at chapel, where new couples were waiting for us. Ferdinand recited tales of Supreme gods and priests and couples took the praying position as I blessed them putting my mana into ring.
“O mighty King and Queen of the endless skies, O God of Darkness and Goddess of Light, hear my prayers. May you grant your blessings to the birth of new unions. May they who offer their prayers and gratitude to thee be blessed with thy divine protection.”
Gold and black blessing flew towards the couples but their jaws were owlishly open as were the blue priests only Ferdinand remain had his devilish smile.
Sighing at this commotion I waited patiently for couples to leave and saw my whole family at the entrance smiling at me, I resisted my urge to wave at them instead resigned to indirect gestures but seeing them after all this time still filled my heart with warmth.
Having completed the ceremony at temple, I was then rushed to archduke's castle to perform starbinding there. Once we reached, I was introduced to Norbert, the castle's butler who assigned new guards to me since my adult knights had to attend ceremony to find their partner. Cornelius, my baptismal brother and a petite and cute girl named Angelica were my guards for time being, since they were underage they would be guarding me only inside the castle. Norbert then introduced me to Riyardha who would be my head attendant in castle and got to see from first place how much of a powerhouse she is, she made Ferdinand the demon king run an errand, calling him my boy making him uncomfortable, I had too much fun at his expense.
I was then again bathed and cleaned then Rihyarda and another attendent Ottilie, who changed me into High bishop robes in no time and was hurried to assembly Hall, there Sylvester and Karstedt were sitting up on altar.
I joined them and observed the crowd below to spot familiar nobles, while Ferdinand was surrounded by women no one approached him but brother Lampretch was talking to multiple women, it seemed he was popular too. Then I tried to find Damuel but couldn't and Brigitte was standing awkwardly at a corner, alone. Sylvester then went on to explain me her background situation with Karstedt telling me about Eckhart's wife's death. Then I promised to myself that I will help Brigitte with her marriage, since she was muscular and tall, her clothes didn't suit her as they were designed better for petite and lean girls thus making Brigitte standout in worse way.
When seventh bell rang Sylvester called for attention and 8 couples came out on front, dressed in more elaborate clothing then rest. Sylvester then proceeded to recite the story of dark God and light goddess and called each of couples to sign on contracts which burst on fire. Then it was my time to shine and I blessed the couples with more mana than in temple as Sylvester suggested as my duty was over I was taken back to my bedroom, again carried by Rihyarda then she and Otillie bathed me again and put me to sleep. Unsurprisingly and frustratingly I was again bedridden with fever.