Chapter Three Hundred and Thirty-Eight: Traditional Trial 2
“Don’t go after the children and drag them back, okay?”
Karen held back Harald, Ottilie, and Lily—all of whom looked ready to go apprehend the children at that very moment—then turned to Sara, who had brought her the news.
“If they slipped past the guards, does that mean there’s a gap in the security somewhere?”
The earl’s residence in the territorial capital was enormous. To begin with, the grounds themselves were vast. There was a wall surrounding it, but it wasn’t impossible to climb over. Taking that into account, soldiers conducted patrols and maintained watch across the grounds.
Karen was thinking she should let Helfried know if there was a gap in security—and then Sara shook her head.
“It appears they simply walked out through the front gate.”
“The gate? There are gatekeepers at the gate, aren’t there?”
Karen’s eyes went wide. If anything, that was the most heavily guarded point of entry. And the gatekeepers naturally knew that Karen was sheltering magicless children in the annex. So if unfamiliar children tried to leave, they should have stopped them as a matter of course.
“It seems Teresa left through the gate with a cart, claiming she was carrying goods that you entrusted to her, Lady Karen.”
“…She borrowed a cart and packed Lena, Michael, and Mark inside it. That’s clever.”
“Rather than clever, I believe the right word for this is devious.”
Sara shook her head and sighed as if to say, “Good grief.”
“According to the gatekeepers, Teresa looked to be struggling terribly with the weight.”
Karen burst out laughing at the image of Teresa hauling a cart with a desperate expression.
Teresa had apparently used her status as Karen’s sponsored adventurer to her advantage. The people in this household respected Karen and kept track of her affairs. Many of them knew Karen had taken Teresa on as her sponsor, so a large load of luggage with Teresa wouldn’t have seemed strange.
“What would you like to do from here?”
“Keep watching over them, and let’s see what they’re planning to do.”
Karen had decided to watch and wait, while remaining prepared for whatever might happen. Ottilie stepped forward.
“Please leave any punishment for the children to me when they return. Anyone else might go easy on them out of consideration for my brother’s standing. I assure you I will show no such leniency.”
“No, please leave the punishment to me. They caused a scene in front of Lady Karen—I will not go easy on anyone, noble’s sibling or prince alike.”
“And yet, the difference in rank is precisely what tends to soften one’s hand, isn’t it? You may leave it to me, Harald.”
“Rather than worrying that I’ll go easy on them, you should be worried that I’ll go too far. Or is it that you want the right to punish them because you wish to protect your dear little brother from me, Lady Ottilie?”
Two very formidable individuals arguing over who had the right to punish the children was likely to be quite the trial for those children in itself.
Mark had left some evidence of trying to stop them, but since he’d ultimately gone along with Teresa anyway, a reduced sentence might be difficult to justify.
Now that she thought about it, Teresa had a talent for sweeping people around her into trouble. Even the children who had thrown stones alongside Teresa when they first met seemed, aside from Teresa herself, to have been swept up by her influence.
To drive people toward throwing stones at a noble—something even a child could recognize as clearly wrong—that was the talent of an agitator. One wrong step and she was headed straight for serious crime. Fortunately, Karen held the perfect bait for Teresa in the form of Thor. She would have to reel Teresa in carefully and steer her toward something good.
“Punishment may be unavoidable, but please go easy on them. They’re just poor children, starved of love, doing the only thing they knew how to do.”
Lily said it on her behalf, and Karen gratefully closed her mouth on what she’d been about to say. Up until now, Karen had been the only one holding back the people who tended to go too far, and it had been exhausting.
Things looked like they might get easier from here.
“I’ve made sure the children have protection, so let’s keep watch for now without interfering. Lily, please take care of the children who stayed behind so they don’t get anxious. Harald, coordinate with Lily and keep an eye on them.”
“Understood.”
“Of course.”
Karen saw Harald and Lily off as they returned to their respective duties, then glanced at Ottilie, who had remained. Ottilie’s face was drawn with worry. She had offered everything she had to Karen for her brother’s sake, and her brother had effectively thrown it all away—it was understandable that she would look this way.
Karen gave a wry smile and apologized:
“Please don’t take it too hard, Ottilie. If anything, I’m the one who owes you an apology.”
“Why should you be apologizing, Lady Karen?”
“I could have stopped them before they left. But I chose not to. You would have wanted to stop your brother and give him a proper scolding before he ever walked out that gate. And I prevented that.”
“…Even so, it was Michael himself who chose to disregard your kindness.”
Karen had little intention of reproaching the children for what they’d done. But for Ottilie, Michael’s own mindset was what troubled her. Nothing Karen said at this point would put Ottilie’s feelings at ease.
“That said, I am curious as to why you chose to let it happen. If your intention was simply to allow the children to do as they pleased until they felt better, I think that would be far too indulgent.”
“I wanted to try everything that might have a chance.”
“— A chance, you say?”
“The royal children of the Kingdom of Earthfill are said to face trials without knowing it, watched over in secret, and to climb in standing through those trials, correct? Nobles are much the same. In the same way, perhaps magicless children might also have an opportunity to rise.”
“As for that… Michael has already been put to the test, and since he has no magical power, there was little effect, I’m afraid.”
“Even so—these children chose to face a trial of their own will. Doesn’t that deserve our support?”
Waltride had been forced into a trial, and it had left a scar. Karen had no intention of putting unwilling children through one either. But these children had chosen to face it themselves. It would likely be a trial far crueler and more harrowing than facing monsters.
“I intend to honor their courage greatly, and to watch over them right up to the very edge of what they can bear. If it looks like too much, of course I’ll step in.”
Karen said it with a smile, then turned to look at the blue sky spreading outside the window.
“…I’m sure the goddess is watching over all of them.”
When Karen murmured it, Ottilie thought she caught a flash of rainbow light like an auspicious cloud reflected in those sky-blue eyes—and swallowed every question, every word she had left.
Without saying a word, she lowered her head and walked a step behind Karen silently.
