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As Regina pointed to the lady guest with her chin, Mr. Eilmer, who sat on the same sofa, shrugged his shoulders and said “good grief.”

So she is my senior pupil that I’ve been hearing about. As the future Governor, I’m sure I’d be in contact with her a lot in the future, so a good first impression is a must.

I set the tray down on a nearby long oblong chest and hesitated for a moment before then putting my hand on my hood —notably, Regina didn’t stop me there, as she was busy sipping tea— so I casually dropped the hood and turned to Mrs. Christy.

“It is a pleasure to finally meet you, elder sister Christy. I am Jill, a disciple of the witch Regina. A novice that I may be, it is a great honor for me to meet you, my own senior disciple in the art of witchcraft. I look forward to acquainting myself with you in the future.” Trying not to show my uglies, I picked up my robe along with the skirt under it and performed a curtsy (that greeting where you pull one leg back and bend the front leg).

When I did, Mrs. Christy stared at me fixedly as if I was some kind of skin-changing monster.

“……”
“……”

For some reason, we ended up staring at each other in silence.

“Oh lord, how magnificent! That’s lady Jill for you, a proper lady through and through!”

The one to break the silence was Mr. Eilmer with a loud voice and a clap, and that seemed to bring Mrs. Christy back to her senses. With a light cough, she got up from the sofa and gave an impeccable response to my greeting.

“Thank you very much for your kind greetings. My name is Christiane Rita Brandmüller, a professor at the Imperial Academy of Magic and a baronet by His Majesty the Emperor. I have come on this occasion to ask for the assistance of my mentor Regina in the affairs of the Old Domiziano Fief as I will be assuming the position of Governor starting next year. We are students of the same mentor, which makes us sisters if nothing else. I, too, look forward to acquainting myself with you.”

With a thin smile and a slightly husky but clear voice —which instantly turned her unfriendly aura on its head— she offered me an atmosphere of intimacy. The very next second, however, she turned perfectly expressionless as her neck craned like an old hinge that hadn’t been oiled, glaring at our mentor with frigid eyes.

“… finally resorted to kidnapping, huh Mentor? Truly befitting for your moniker as the Witch of Tenebrae Nemus.”
“What do you mean, you brainless disciple?!”

Regina frowned and slammed her cup down on the saucer in disapproval.

“I mean her, obviously! It’s simply impossible that such an overqualified disciple was raised by you of all people! Where did you kidnap her from?!”
“Don’t make scandalous nonsense! Look at you getting ecstatic for being called ‘elder sister’ at your age, you old virgin!!”

Regina’s comment invited a magnificent blue streak to appear on Ms. Christy’s forehead. That was when Mr. Eilmer looked up to the heavens, saying “oh lord,” then evacuated his cup of tea and its saucer.

The next moment, a storm of invectives between the mentor and her disciple began. As the tribulation was running rampage, Mr. Eilmer, who had surreptitiously gotten up from his seat, came up next to me and greeted me with a friendly smile, leaning his back against the wall.

“Hello, it’s been a long time, lady Jill. You’re looking more and more lovely in the little time I’ve been away. Is this one your familiar?”
“Yes. She is Vier, a Sirius. Vier, say hello.”

Urged, Vier barked to greet Mr. Eilmer, and he greeted back with a “nice to meet you.” He looked at me meaningfully while sipping the tea I brought.

“Would you also introduce me to the other personage you have with you?”

“…hou.” Immediately, a rusty voice came from under my feet— specifically, from the shadow I cast from the lantern on the corner. It was Bartholomew the Death Knight, the self-proclaimed guardian spirit who possessed me to kill time (aka nuisance).

“To think you could see through my mysterious profundity… I shall judge you as a respectable warrior. I am Bartholomew, a knight of the Crimson Empire, eternal its name be as the heavens and earth, its magical light reaches all that there is. As of now, I am a warrior entrusted with the protection of lady Jill. If possible, I would wish to stand proud as I name myself, but…”
“You’re going to scratch the floor, so would you please not?”

I oh so gently warned this irresolute bone heap that Bartholomew was.

“…as such, my hands are tied.”
“I see. I am Eilmer, a Dragon Knight of the Graviol Empire. It is an honor to meet you.”
“Mhm.”

Once the introductions were over, Mr. Eilmer looked at me again with amusement.

“Dear lord, I am always surprised whenever I meet you, Lady Jill. How truly regrettable. Had it not been for the engagement with Princess Syltianna, even if I had to force it, I would have given you to Luke.”
“HAah?!”

That unexpected name drop made me squeeze out an exclamation that surprised even myself. Regina and Ms. Christy also stopped arguing, looking at us to see what happened.

“Syltianna…? Umm, isn’t that Luke’s prospective match that you mentioned in your letter to Mentor?”

I thought he was making a mistake and meant my half-sister from another mother. After all, Syltianna’s very body was right here and she was supposed to be dead to the world.

“Yes. The fifth daughter of the Count of Auranthia of the neighboring Livitium Imperial Kingdom, and the only daughter of the most renowned beauty Cattleya of the Livitium Imperial Kingdom, the shrine maiden of the Saintess’ Church, Princess Clara—” Mr. Eilmer practically sang the words he uttered, before he paused and gave a complicated smile. “—it is the worldwide notorious Ragweed Princess of the Livitium Imperial Kingdom herself.”

As I was dumbfounded by that statement, I found myself and Regina shared the same look, and she drearily shook her head left and right.

“The Frontier Count has offered us to meet before the winter arrives. We are planning to welcome the rag…no, Princess Syltianna in the capital using our teleporter. I came today for the meeting, but also because I thought I could get more detailed information about the princess, of whom I have heard so many rumors, considering the relatively close proximity this place is to the county.”
“Well, rumors are often gross overdramatization of the truth. However, even if you take it with the benefit of doubt, the rumors about the Ragweed Princess that you hear in the Imperial Capital are plainly terrible.”

After moistening her throat from all the cursing and yelling, Ms. Christy raised her eyebrows and added a few words.

“…err, by the way, just out of curiosity, what kind of rumors are they?”

Upon my inquiry, she made a look as though she was reproaching something unscrupulous, before reluctantly answering my question.

“Hmm, from what I heard, the moment she was born, the midwife and all the attendants fainted due to her sheer ugliness. Also, when she sees her own face reflected in a soup, that soup rots immediately, or something.”
“I heard that she is so rotund she cannot move by herself and always has to be carried by her lady attendant. I also heard that the sweat and grease that falls from her every time she walks leaves marks on the ground so thick, you would think it was a slug that just passed by or something along the line.”

Mr. Eilmer too, half-giving up, started to tell me the rumors of the Ragweed Princess.

And once the tap was open, it poured out… like how she was stuck in a bathtub and was only freed after the tub was broken, or how a commissioned painter fled the country and went missing when asked to paint a portrait of her, and so on and so forth. No, I know that neither of them has any ill intention to me, and I understand more than enough to know that they are simply speaking out the hearsays that abound in the street, but…

Vier looked up at me and rubbed the tip of her nose in concern.

And so, once the tea had completely cooled down, Mr. Eilmer, who seemed to have exhausted all the stories he had heard, suddenly regained his senses and offered me a question. “In reality, how much of it is the truth, about Ragweed Princess…no, Princess Syltianna?”

“……”

Just… How should I answer that question?¹

Translator’s Note:

Notice the change from Mrs. to Ms. ? Yeah that’s intentional.

1. Lio: tbh I would’ve burst into tears 6 minutes in.