#18.
To Lady Cordelia,
This is Bedar Lang.
I apologize for having my letter seized by Prince Archie. I did not realize you trusted Prince Archie so much. After all, isn’t he the one who ran off with the bookcase? Although he is our prince, he has a very bad habit.
However, I am very glad that our secret was discovered and now I can write this letter openly.
Especially, I have something to tell you about the bookcase you asked about.
I do not know how this magical box was made. However, what I can tell you is that this bookcase is definitely related to the Windsor family. It was Princess Edwina who first brought this box to the monastery.
To explain this story, I must first tell you about the war between the Reutlingen Empire and the Windsor Kingdom that happened over 30 years ago.
This is a painful history for us in Windsor. Windsor was completely defeated, and on top of that, our prince, Edwin, lost his life. King Alfred had to kneel before the emperor of the empire to retrieve the prince’s severed head, even if it was just the corpse.
On top of that, the shameless empire demanded Princess Edwina in exchange for a truce. With Prince Edwin gone and Princess Edwina being the only remaining heir, Windsor had no choice but to accept this terrible demand for 10 years.
Lady Cordelia, do you know much about military science?
I do not know much about such things, living in the monastery. However, I have heard that royalty taken as hostages are usually treated with some respect. But it was not so with the Reutlingen Empire.
Most of the maids and servants who crossed over to the empire with Princess Edwina died, and only about half returned. You can imagine what Princess Edwina’s life was like in the empire.
However, neither King Alfred nor the people of Windsor knew that Princess Edwina was living in such hardship. The princess wrote in her monthly letters that Reutlingen was a very enjoyable and exciting place, and the letters were so lively that the king was worried that the princess might end up loving Reutlingen too much.
The truth was revealed three years after Princess Edwina was taken as a hostage. The way it was revealed was very much like the princess.
What happened?
Well, the envoy we sent to the empire to see the princess found a girl called the princess who was trembling and covering her face and head with a veil.
Princess Edwina was a small and delicate girl, but she was always strong-willed and bold. She would not have been trembling after three years as a hostage. Earl Alpheus, who had known the princess since she was young, thought something was wrong.
“Show me the princess’s face.”
When he said this and lifted the veil, there was a maid with reddish-brown hair crying tears.
Earl Alpheus realized at once that the empire had killed the princess and sent this maid to pose as the princess.
Lady Cordelia, between us, Earl Alpheus was bold enough not to let such things pass just because we were a defeated country.
To put it shortly, he was famous for losing his temper and not thinking about the consequences.
He did not hesitate to raise his voice right in the empire’s palace.
“You brought a princess as a hostage, killed her, and then tried to cover it up by having a maid pose as the princess! What is going on here!”
The people of Reutlingen were also taken aback. Partly because it was absurd for a noble of a defeated country to lose his temper like that, but also because they did not know things had turned out this way. The people of the empire did not even know what our princess looked like and had taken the maid thinking she was Princess Edwina.
The truth came out when Earl Alpheus boldly demanded to be taken to Princess Edwina’s quarters. The place was so terrible and shabby it was more like a prison.
The empire had confined our princess and the people of Windsor in such a filthy place and had not even given them proper food or cleaning supplies.
At that time, the Reutlingen Empire was also at war with Vallea and Aldar, in addition to Windsor, so they thought they could not waste their food on people from other countries.
At mealtime, a full meal was prepared, but only for one person, the princess. Imperial maids came to supervise, and after the princess finished eating, they took away even the leftovers. The rest of the maids and servants had to survive on a few potatoes they were given. They grew emaciated shortly after arriving in the empire.
Since the food storeroom was nearby, they sometimes risked their lives to sneak food, and the imperial maids occasionally threw them some scraps, but it gradually became insufficient.
Moreover, the maids had monthly periods to deal with. All the sanitary products, thick underwear, and clothes were allocated only to the princess. Despite this, the empire used our maids and servants like slaves for all sorts of tasks. If they collapsed from work, they were killed for being sick, and if they lay down due to period pain or showed blood, they were sent to prison.
The sturdy servants accustomed to labor fared slightly better, but most of the maids were noble young ladies. Within half a year, more than half of them were either imprisoned or dead.
Our Princess Edwina would not just stand by and pity them. Did I mention? Princess Edwina was as witty as Prince Archie and as strong-willed as Princess Cecilia.
She initially acted as a very demanding princess, claiming the sunlight in Reutlingen was so strong it was peeling her skin, and asked for a veil. She then lived every day with her face covered by that veil.
When the imperial maids got used to this, the princess…
Yes, Lady Cordelia, you are starting to get the idea, right?
The princess became a maid herself.
Today it was Maria, tomorrow it was Remy, the day after it was Renée acting as the princess.
Everyone was equally hungry, so their sad princess role-play had a strict order, but the order sometimes changed if someone started their period or got sick.
The maids, when it was their turn, tied their hair with a red cloth, sat quietly, and acted as the princess. Meanwhile, the princess became a maid. Today she was Marie, tomorrow she was Jane, the day after she was Renée, starving and eating sprouted potatoes.
Do you think the imperial maids really didn’t notice? Well, thinking back, I doubt it.
After all, later, when I heard the stories from the former servants who ended up at our monastery, they said the princess even made the overly weak men play the princess’s role. Even the empire’s people must have noticed that.
Later, I heard that the second prince of Reutlingen helped the princess a lot. Unlike the martial emperor or his brother, he was weak and had no talent for martial arts, only magic, and was not favored by the emperor.
It makes sense that he might have felt sympathy for the lonely Princess Edwina and helped her.
But I prefer to believe that there were those who helped our Windsor people out of the goodness of their hearts, not just by the second prince’s command.
They are human too, and they couldn’t ignore people starving and confined in the most wretched corner of the palace.
I, too, despite hating Reutlingen for losing my brother in the empire’s war, once took care of a soldier of Reutlingen who couldn’t return to his country, having lost his limbs. When caring for someone in that condition, nationality no longer matters. After several days of caring, when he finally passed, I cried a lot, just as I did when my own brother died.
Anyway, thanks to the kindness of many, the operation succeeded, but how Princess Edwina could write monthly letters about how delightful Reutlingen was while living such a life is beyond comprehension.
Now, thinking back, perhaps the princess really did find it enjoyable. She was quite unique.
So, on that day, the princess was acting as a maid as usual. While maid Sophia was pretending to be the princess.
Shouldn’t she have come out herself, given that the envoy had come from Windsor? Of course, Princess Edwina thought so too. However, the day before, while acting as Marie, she got caught by the imperial interior minister trying to sneak some fallen fruits from the food store and was locked up.
So, it was really good that Earl Alpheus lifted the veil.
Otherwise, the empire might have executed the maid from Windsor who dared to steal fruit.
If that had happened, the princess would have quietly died in her place, rather than revealing her true identity.
Anyway, it was fortunate that Windsor learned Princess Edwina, held hostage, was imprisoned. It was heartbreaking news for the entire nation.
Though she returned to her original quarters, the surveillance on the princess was bound to increase, not decrease. Windsor had no way to protest against Reutlingen.
The only way to change this situation was to go to war again, but there was no guarantee of victory. No, we would surely lose again.
Lady Cordelia, you might be wondering what this story has to do with the magical box, right? But at this point, Princess Edwina came to our Lete Monastery as if by magic, with a few maids and servants.
We were really surprised. Had the princess escaped alone? That seemed impossible. But she looked like she had come through the bushes, covered in leaves, yet her white face and clean limbs showed no signs of hardship.
The princess said nothing about how she escaped from the empire.
Then she handed me a box.
“Keep this.”
“What is this, Your Highness?”
The princess completely ignored my question and showed me her arm.
“Look at my arm.”
“Huh? Your arm has become thinner. How much suffering have you endured, Your Highness?”
“Quiet, and take this off my arm.”
“I worried that you might have lost your temper over the past three years, but you are still the same, Princess Edwina!”
“Bedar, I had hoped you might have become less talkative over the past three years, but you are the same. Regrettable.”
Yes, as I mentioned earlier, the princess had a similar personality to both Prince Archie and Princess Cecilia. Without further ado, I removed the intricate bracelet with a mysterious glow from the princess’s arm. The princess put the bracelet in the box and handed it to me.
It’s quite remarkable to think that a princess who had me remove a bracelet for her could have played the role of a maid. The princess spoke again in a brusque tone that rivaled Princess Cecilia’s.
“Keep this.”
“Until when?”
“Until I ask for it back.”
“Your Highness, how did you get here?”
The answer to my question came not from the princess but from the maids.
“The second prince of Reutlingen gave us this box and bracelet and helped us escape from the palace. But you must not tell anyone. Only Sir Bedar should know.”
Princess Edwina hastily scribbled a letter and summoned a monk to deliver it to the empire.
Should it be called a letter? It contained only this message.
[Thank you to Reutlingen for sending me back to Windsor so early.]
It was a poorly written note, not adhering to any formal letter-writing conventions, and the handwriting was a mess, but I understood what the princess intended.
The emperor of Reutlingen could not save face by trying to retrieve a hostage that his own son had released. Thus, the princess preemptively sent a message to the emperor.
‘Let’s just say you sent me back. I’ll be grateful.’
The situation was resolved more easily than expected, thanks to the second prince of Reutlingen. It seemed that while he did not receive his father’s love, he had his mother’s love.
Even though the emperor’s power was supreme, he could not ignore his sickly son and the empress who protected him, and thus could not punish the prince for releasing the hostage.
Thus ended Princess Edwina’s time as a hostage in Reutlingen. One of the servants she brought stayed at our monastery, and a few maids spent considerable time here before finding other places to live. However, even after everyone had left, the bookcase left by the princess remained in my possession.
You know what happened after that, Lady Cordelia, don’t you? Sir Arthur Gillon came to find the princess and waited outside the balcony for 99 days before leaving, and then the princess left with him.
The princess came to retrieve the bookcase from me half a year after those events.
I would like to tell you the rest of the story today, but Prince Archie has been staring at me with those beautiful blue eyes, and I feel as if my face is about to be pierced. I don’t understand how he can be so confident as if it was always his when he originally took it secretly.
At least, with the story this old man has told today, your curiosity must be somewhat satisfied, right?
Now, this old man must put down his pen and end it here. I need to go check on the work of the vegetarians again.
Tomorrow, Princess Cecilia will return to the palace, and the former king will be visiting Edwina’s forest. Our immature prince’s path ahead will likely be tumultuous, so Lady Cordelia, please be a good friend to him.
– On a night when the light green moon is fading, Scribe Bedar Lang.
—-——————
To my friend Coco,
It’s Archie again.
Are you complaining that your tears vanished while reading Princess Edwina’s story, only to be startled by my sudden writing? I can already see you pouting, saying Prince Archie ruined the moment.
Yes, I really can see it. I now know you’re a cute girl with red hair and big green eyes on a round face.
On the night of the eighteenth day of the light green moon,
– Your very, very beloved Archie Albert.
* * *
Silly Archie,
Didn’t we agree to stop saying ‘very, very beloved’?
Yes. My tears did stop when I saw your writing.
Why are you giving Bedar a hard time while he’s writing?
The story about Princess Edwina stopping at the Lete Monastery while searching for a knight isn’t in Anne Selin’s manuscript. I’m dying to know why Edwina visited the monastery.
Scribe Bedar is as good at playing with people’s hearts as you are, Archie. Hurry up and get him to pick up the pen again.
Archie, you need to prepare to escort the former king to Princess Edwina’s tomb.
P.S. Take care of yourself. Windsor isn’t still in a position to send a prince as a hostage, is it? You annoy me, but I always worry about you.
6.18.
– Just Cordelia
* * *
Just Cordelia, who really likes me,
Don’t tear up the letter.
Just one last time.
I really, really like that you really, really like me.
I am also curious about the rest of Bedar’s story, but it seems that the illumination of the prayer book the former king ordered is still incomplete, so Bedar is quite busy. Bedar seems to enjoy sharing old stories with you, so be patient. Actually, I also had no idea that Princess Edwina stopped by the monastery while searching for the knight. Once the prayer book is finished, I’ll urge him to tell us the next part of the story.
– Archie Albert, who won’t tell you about Windsor’s situation just to make you worry a bit more.
———= Author’s Note ———=
To my very, very beloved readers,
I also won’t tell you about my stockpile situation just to make you worry a bit more.
Thank you for all the recommendations, comments, and support.
<– The Secret of Florian –>
(8/9)
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