Formerly, The Fallen Daughter of the Duke

41. Second Baptism Ceremony

It’s sunny today.

This island is always as beautiful as paradise, but today the blue of the sky is particularly deep and the boundaries with the sea are not known.

Porky spring cheer and smell of the day. The poor flowers blooming all over there were no different from the landscape a year later.

A week after his 15th birthday, Claire was about to be baptized by one person on Lindell Island, considerably earlier than planned. The cause starts three weeks before retroactivity.

―――――

Claire followed her aim and was able to safely return to the past.

……

That day, two weeks before my 15th birthday. When she woke up, Claire was on her own bed in the Martino family.

When Claire jumps up, she rushes out of bed and checks her calendar. The date written there was clearly a year and a half old.

“Back…”

Claire walked straight into the floor. The emotions of joy and loss intersect. It’s still a chilly season in the morning and evening, but I didn’t feel cold at all due to excitement.

“Excuse me…… Miss Claire!? Are you all right?”

A samurai who just brought awake tea is surprised that Claire is sitting on the floor.

“Yeah… I fell asleep a little…”

Claire, who nearly answered that, looked at the samurai’s face and doubted her own eyes.

“Sophie……”

“Yes, ma’am”

The samurai was Sophie, who had been looking after Claire all the time since she was 5.

Sophie turns a smile when she loses her round face.

“Sophie!”

Claire called again and hugged Sophie.

She’s retiring in the next six months.

After being baptized, Claire rarely accompanies her father Benjamin to the royal palace or nightclub, even when he returns from the Royal College of Aristocracy.

As a result, Sophie almost ran out of work as a dedicated samurai and was offered time while Claire was in the dormitory.

(Think about it, there’s something strange about Sophie’s retirement. Suddenly without any news, I can’t believe it. Charlotte hasn’t woken up the magic yet, but maybe she was moving something while I was away)

Claire thinks as she embraces Sophie and indulges in relief.

“Oh. The lady is still a child, isn’t she? She said she was almost 15.”

(… I did)

Claire remembered why she came here. The aim is to avoid a deterioration in relations between the Noston and Paft countries.

Claire lowers her hips on the couch with her sleeping roll. Sophie blended me some dark tea for the morning.

(… nostalgic scent…)

“How about today’s meal? It looks warmer today, so even dresses with more light laces will look good.”

Sophie is opening the closet and thinking about coordination.

Clothes that look like closets have many pastel colored dresses with more lace and frills. Claire remembered that she was only 14 years old after she was gnawed.

(Me a year and a half ago……! Exactly, I can’t mentally wear those clothes)

“Sophie, I was wondering if you could keep the simplest clothes out today. And I want to go shopping in the city during this long vacation. Can you confirm your brother’s plans?

“Yes, ma’am.”

That’s what Sophie said and smiled gently, choosing a light orange piece and an aligned stall to line up with, she left.

When I washed my face, changed into the clothes Sophie put out for me and stood by the window, I saw my father, Benjamin, and my brother, Oscar, serve in the royal palace.

Secondly, Claire comes up with an idea.

“A letter from your mother that it’s in the safe… I wonder if Charlotte has found it yet”

Claire had no intention of preventing the letter from being thrown away. Because I’m not going to get a real baptism as of the age of 15. If we do that, the expulsion of the Royal School of Aristocracy will be put aside and we will no longer even be able to hold ourselves free.

(But I’m curious what message your mother left me at 15)

Riko said it was save data before this world moved on to ‘Asberto Route’. If Charlotte hasn’t started moving yet, the letter from my mother should be hidden in Benjamin’s study safe.

Claire leaves the room gently down the spiral stairs leading to the entrance and asks how the lobby looks.

In the lobby, Charlotte and her younger brother Leo were welcoming each other affectionately.

Suddenly, Liko’s voice echoes on her head.

“Uh, I had a hard time getting you to move with your brother.”

Claire feels like she’s seen something she shouldn’t have seen because of the distance between the two people in the lobby.

I tried to find out if I already knew the letter existed, but that gave up and headed back upstairs to Benjamin’s study.

“It’s quicker to open the safe than it moves a lot, I’m sure.”

When I go into the study, there’s a lot of paperwork stacked on the desk. Every document has new ink and no dust.

(Your father’s still busy)

Benjamin tried to treat Claire as an object at a night club earlier. That was completely within our expectations, so Claire wasn’t hurt at all. But that would be a lie if I told you I didn’t want to see my old sweet father.

If I could talk to my father these days, I’d like to talk to him again, Claire thought so.

Peek into the safe placed under the desk. This safe is non-magical dialed, but seldom opens. Besides Benjamin, Oscar, Leo and Claire knew the number to unlock.

(… uh, it sure should be like this)

Unlocking the keys to the retro dial style, there were several cards in a single album in the ragged vault, along with a pink envelope.

“This is it!

Claire takes out the pink envelope.

(Can I open it…)

(It’s okay, if you put the seal back on after reading it, it shouldn’t be a problem)

After hesitating for only a few seconds, Claire unbearably opened the seal.

What was written at best was the letter of my mother, which I remember loudly.

― ― ― ―

To Claire.

Happy 15th birthday.

I have to forget to tell you, so I’ll write it down here.

The christening ceremony is on Lindell Island in the Paft Country.

― ― ― ―

That was a very simple letter written only what I wanted to tell you.

I guess Claire’s mother didn’t leave this letter assuming she died without seeing her daughter grow up.

As proof of this, there were no letters addressed to my brother Oscar or Leo, and only Claire’s share was prepared, which would assume a serious detriment to the country if baptized. Now, the brothers are baptized in the Noston Nation.

Claire can understand that now is the time to delay the revealing of her mother’s origins, but if she had read this letter in her first life, she would have felt sorry and distressed for her brothers.

Claire became sad when it seemed that the carelessness of her mother, whose life had suddenly been lost one day, was reflected in this brief text.

“Brother Leo… you’re going to read this letter and throw it away”

Claire was driven by the desire to keep her last letter from this mother at the same time as considering her brother Leo’s mood. My hands tremble with a light pink envelope and a note.

(… if you don’t tell anyone what’s in it and I just keep it hidden, fine. The future shouldn’t change)

Claire gently took the letter from her mother back to her room and locked it by behaving behind her desk.

―――――

The week after that, Claire, who held up her 15-year-old baptismal ceremony nearby, went out to the city with Oscar.

I received a dress for a post-baptismal nightclub at my favorite tailor and bought some other simple dresses and pieces that I could wear right away.

And it was when I was taking a break at the cafe.

“You’re going to Lindell Island next time?

I could hear a conversation between two men sitting in the seat next to Claire. While I don’t think I should eavesdrop, my consciousness keeps up with the sound of Lindell Island.

“Oh, they say they have a beautiful view of the beach called the Holy Springs. I want to go sightseeing once before they bury me.”

……

Claire hardened to too many shocks.

(What the hell is this about?

If I don’t ask for details, my body won’t move even though I think so. While we were doing that, the pair apparently came to meet and left.

“What’s wrong, Claire”

Look at Claire, who suddenly becomes suspicious of behavior, and Oscar listens gently.

In the world ahead, my brother Oscar was very kind until after the christening ceremony. Claire thinks she was proud of her excellent sister and regarded her as the one to serve in the future.

Not yet, Oscar is sweet. But Claire, who remembers the grim Oscar gaze, couldn’t do much to feel safe and sweet.

“… Um… Has Brother Oscar ever been to Lindell Island?”

“No, you haven’t. I have plans to go to the Paft country next month on official business. Though I’d like to stop by then.”

“Are there any recent developments in tourism?”

“Oh. That thing. Apparently, they’re rubbing it in the Puffy Country. They have a nobleman trying to crush the only beach on Lindell Island.”

“Oh no… it’s a beautiful island”

Claire made it look like she was shocked that the island’s landscape would be lost, but there was havoc in her mind.

(How could there be no more Holy Springs on Lindell Island…! You can’t be baptized after being banished from the Royal College of Aristocrats.)

Above all, Claire had something to worry about. It’s about a magic tornado that’s going to happen in a year and a little while.

(If you don’t wake up the magic, that tornado won’t go away… the world will be devastated)

“Well, large-scale construction has the king’s permission. Not to mention the Holy Springs. No matter how powerful the aristocracy is, I don’t think it’s going to be so easy to bury it.”

(… Still, there’s no guarantee you won’t be able to bury it for a year)

Cared for Claire, who suddenly lost her energy, Oscar would recommend me to replace the cafe ole or order dessert. But Claire was ready, smiling in the sky above all of it.

―――――

A week later.

Claire celebrated her second baptism ceremony in the Noston Nation in her life.

The result, naturally the same as last time, was that Claire was horrified, even though she felt sorry for the king and father Benjamin, who could not hide the colour of her disappointment.

(Good, that’s cheap for the time being)

“Are you okay?”

Night club after the baptism ceremony. Asberto speaks to Claire.

While no one cares about Claire and speaks up, it’s just asberto in every sense to bother to make an obvious voice call, Claire thinks. But Claire wasn’t as uncomfortable as that.

“It’s okay. Weak magic can help anyone.”

Claire smiles from the bottom of her heart. In the world ahead, I think Claire was pretty hurt……. but now I was in a great mood to awaken the magic of a safe light pink.

“Sister, cheer up”

“Thank you, pretty Charlotte”

Next to Asberto was Charlotte.

(these two…… could we have been so close since this time)

Claire tilts her neck and takes a sip of wine. In the Noston Country, wine is allowed for the first time at the age of 15. Claire was alarmed that she might still feel unsavory, but she was surprised that it went through her throat so deliciously.

“I knew Charlotte would look good on His Highness Asberto.”

Looking at the two lined up, words naturally leaked out of Claire’s mouth.

For a moment, time stops.

(… Shit)

Claire hurries to hold her mouth. By this time I should have never spoken of this. In particular, I remember being at my best so that my pride as Duke’s Lady could not be broken at this night club.

Claire, what are you talking about?

Asberto is stunned. Next to it, Charlotte was hiding her mouth to hide her joy while closing her big eyes.

“Also, I’m sorry, Your Highness. It was too good for two people lined up.”

Claire excuses herself desperately. The reason I haven’t excused myself at all is because the first wine I drank started spinning, I thought.

Benjamin watched with pity from afar.

―――――

Upon returning from the night club, Claire was called to her father’s study.

(Previously, they wouldn’t have called. Is there something wrong?)

When I open the dreaded door, Benjamin is sitting back on the reception set drinking strong alcohol.

“Claire, are you here? Have a seat.”

“Yes, excuse me, Father”

What is in front of me was not my father, who gently sent me out for baptism this morning. It keeps changing from here, and I think it would have darkened my heart.

But now Claire couldn’t wait for the future and felt sunny.

Benjamin stares at the liquor left in the glass for a few seconds, then drinks it all at once. And I said.

“Claire, would you like to quit the Royal College of Aristocracy and study at the Royal School in the Paft Country?