Ripped Apart

Ripped Apart

Ripped Apart

“If you are to be baptized as Karstedt’s child, you will need a new name,” the High Priest prompted, breaking the silence that had fallen over the room. I blinked in confusion, not following his logic.

“A new name?”

“Yeah, your current name doesn’t sound too great,” Sylvester agreed.

Apparently nobles needed to have long names, not short ones, which meant that all of the nobles I would soon be meeting against my will would have long names. Honestly, I had no faith that I’d be able to remember them all.

But I remembered all of those long god names, so maybe I’ll be fine? ...At least, I hope I will be.

“Ideally it’ll be something that can be shortened to ‘Myne’ as a nickname. That will help explain anyone from the Gilberta Company using her old name by accident. Myne, any preferences here?” Sylvester asked.

I tried to think of a new name that incorporated “Myne,” but sadly, nothing immediately sprung to mind.

“...All I can think of are terrible names like ‘Mynenigou,’ ‘Aratamyne,’ and ‘Akaimyne.’”

“Those all sound quite strange. I imagine they each have some particular meaning to you?” the High Priest asked with a confused frown. As he expected, I was using the Japanese from my Urano days, so nobody understood what I was trying to say.

“They mean ‘Myne Two,’ ‘New Myne,’ and ‘Red Myne,’ respectively.”

“Why is ‘Red Myne’ one of your suggestions? Your color would be blue based on your birth, midnight blue based on your hair, or gold based on your eyes. Where are you getting red from?”

“I don’t really understand this myself, but red versions of people tend to be, like, stronger, or faster.”

Sylvester gave me a weird look, but I was basing that off of something my childhood friend from my Urano days had told me, so I didn’t really have a strong grasp on the concept myself. My mom was completely sold on the “red underwear is lucky” boom of her day, so that was probably one of the reasons I subconsciously associated the color with strength.

Incidentally, red underwear was supposedly good to wear when the stakes were high. My mom had given me a pair for my college admission exam, but I was too embarrassed by her motherly love to actually wear them. I luckily passed the exam anyway, and while that made my mom’s faith in red underwear grow even deeper, I had actually been wearing light-blue underwear at the time.

I’m sorry I was such a bad daughter.

As my thoughts wandered, Sylvester’s eyes shot open in shock at my statement. “Hold on a second! I’m the one who’s confused here. Red is a strong color?! If we’re talking about strength, what else is there but blue, the divine color of Leidenschaft?!”

Karstedt rested a hand on his forehead, and his face seemed to cloud over a little. “Red is the divine color of Geduldh, the Goddess of Earth. It represents warmth and compassion, which is feminine, but not exactly what you seem to have been going for.”

...Yeaaah, okay. I guess that’s what happens when you have two different cultures that have developed independently.

My goal had been to envision a new me, stronger and healthier than ever before, but that didn’t get through to anybody.

The High Priest glared at me, tapping a finger against his temple. “You should know that strength and speed are ill-fitting for a woman’s name. Your lack of common sense astounds once again. Need I remind you that this is the name you will be using for the rest of your life? Think harder, fool.”

“...I’m sorry. But honestly, I don’t really know what kind of names nobles usually have, or in what manner they’re given, so I’m kind of at a loss here.”

When coming up with names in Japan, we would sometimes borrow parts of a parent’s name, have the local temple decide, or base the name on some personal family tradition. I had no idea how names were decided here, and when I asked for details, Sylvester, Karstedt, and the High Priest all seemed thrown off.

“Some people take names from their ancestors or great people of history, but there aren’t really any rules beyond that,” Sylvester explained. I nodded, intrigued, as Karstedt rubbed his chin in thought, then raised his head to look at me.

“If we were to borrow from the name of one of your parents... what if we took inspiration from the ‘Roze’ in ‘Rozemary’ and named you ‘Rozemyne’?”

“Wow! Now that sounds like a noble girl’s name. I like it a lot. It’s much cuter and more feminine than anything I could have ever come up with.”

“It seems you will need to work on developing a better sense of aesthetics, Myne,” the High Priest said with a quiet laugh before standing up. It seemed he would be writing up both the magic contract to change my name and the previously discussed contract before my parents arrived.

Not long after he finished, we heard the tingling of a small bell outside.

“You may enter,” the High Priest permitted, and an attendant who had been waiting outside opened the door. Fran guided the visitors inside as Arno announced their arrival with long noble phrases. Tuuli was holding hands with Dad, and Mom was carrying Kamil in a sling.

“Myne!” Tuuli let go of Dad’s hand and raced toward me, positively beaming as she jumped into my arms.

“Tuuli.” I hugged her back, and after a tight squeeze, she let go of me and started to make sure I wasn’t hurt anywhere.

“Dad was super hurt and came to get us with a scary look on his face. He even said Mom had to bring Kamil to the temple, so I was really scared something had happened to you, Myne. I’m so glad you’re safe.”

Tuuli, in all her innocence, was just glad to see that I was safe, but Mom understood the situation as soon as she saw the High Priest and the other nobles in the room. She shut her eyes in anguish as she knelt down, Kamil in her arms.

“Tuuli, there are nobles here. You need to kneel,” Dad said, plopping a firm hand on Tuuli’s shoulder as he did so himself. Tuuli blinked in surprise and looked around the room, and the moment she saw the three well-dressed men sitting calmly at the table, she hurriedly knelt down as well.

“Arno, Fran—leave.” The High Priest cleared the room, sending out the gray priests who had guided my family inside. The door shut tight, and Sylvester—the highest authority in the room—casually waved his hand.

“Have a seat. I permit you to speak.”

“It is an honor, sir.” Dad gave his soldier’s salute before sitting at the table. Mom did the same, trudging her way to an empty seat. Tuuli looked around anxiously, sensing the sparks in the air, then sat next to me.

Sylvester crossed his legs and exhaled before beginning to speak. “The situation has demanded that I adopt Myne and have her as my daughter.”

“...Understood.”

“Make it so that the commoner Myne has died here.”

Tuuli shot her head up and looked at me, her face pale. “Is this my fault?! You were attacked because I came to get you, right?!”

“No, Tuuli. The culprit was inside the temple all along, so I would have been attacked even if you hadn’t come to get me.” I desperately explained the situation as best I could so that Tuuli wouldn’t blame herself. I told her how it had gotten so dangerous that I had needed to attack a noble, which was a crime that would put my family and attendants in danger too. “If this is anyone’s fault, it’s mine for getting you all wrapped up in this. ...It was scary, wasn’t it, Tuuli?”

“It was scary. It was, but... adoption...?” Tuuli looked at the floor, tears dripping from her eyes. I reached out and stroked her hair.

Sylvester looked at Tuuli, a painful grimace flashing across his face for only the briefest of moments before he quietly spoke with the hard expression of an archduke. “Myne needs to be the daughter of an archnoble so that I may adopt her. You, her family, are complicating that. I considered executing you all to tie up any loose ends, but since that would no doubt send Myne into a frenzy, I decided to spare your lives. However, that does not change that you cannot meet as family ever again.”

Sylvester’s firm declaration made everyone in my family gasp in shock. They looked at him with wide eyes, their lips trembling.

“The Myne Workshop will continue to exist and produce paper, books, and other products. She will also remain in possession of her chambers in the temple, so if you sign this contract you will be able to meet her on business. That is all I can permit.” Sylvester held out the magic paper being used for our magic contract—it was the one the High Priest had just finished making. “Myne, read this for them. They’ll trust you more than they would any of us.”

Most commoners couldn’t read, which led to more than a few cases of people getting tricked into signing unfavorable contracts. I had heard there were even merchants who had suffered great losses after not understanding deceptive euphemisms that nobles had slid into their contracts. That was why it was important for the illiterate to have someone who they could trust available to read for them.

I stood up and headed to the part of the table where the pen and ink had been lined up. Sylvester, Karstedt, and the High Priest were to my left, while my family was sitting to my right. I picked up the contract while looking at them all, then frowned hard; it hurt so, so bad that I had to read out loud a contract made to separate me from my family.

“Myne will be announced to be dead. Henceforth, neither party may acknowledge the other as family, should they ever meet. Myne must be treated as one would treat a noble. Thus are the terms of this contract.” I set the paper onto the table and saw Tuuli, who was sitting the furthest away from me, start to cry again.

“If I sign this, does that mean you won’t be my little sister anymore, Myne?”

“We won’t be sisters even if you don’t sign it.” The contract was mainly there to allow us to continue seeing each other; my adoption was going to happen either way.

“I don’t want that!”

“Me neither, but I don’t want to put you in any more danger. You survived this time, but maybe you won’t next time. They might even go after Mom and Kamil next. All because of me...”

A haunted look crossed Tuuli’s already pale face. She must have remembered the fear she had felt when being kidnapped. Not much time had passed since a knife had been held to her throat; it only made sense that she would be afraid.

“I don’t want to keep putting my family in danger. Please understand, Tuuli. This is for your sake.”

“But...” Tuuli bit her lip and groaned, unable to agree with me. I wanted to cry too. My vision blurred, and a tear rolled down my cheek.

“Tuuli, please. Write your name on it. If you don’t, we’ll never see each other again. Even if we stop being family, even if I can’t call you my big sister, I at least want to keep seeing you. I don’t want this to be goodbye forever.”

“Wha?” Tuuli looked at me wide-eyed, then abruptly stood up and raced toward me, tears trailing behind her as she ran. I immediately clung to her.

“I’ll do my best to make books and toys for you and Kamil, okay? Come and visit me in the temple and my chambers. Just let me see you. I want to know how you’re doing.”

“Myne. Don’t cry.” Tuuli tightened her arms around me and spoke in a halting voice, pausing as she tried to choke back her tears. “I’ll come... visit you in the temple. I’ll work hard... and learn to read... so I can... read your books. Okay?”

“Uh huh. I want you to come visit, and then take the toys and books back home with you. Kamil can’t come to the temple until his baptism, so I’ll need you to give him my gifts for me.” I looked up at Tuuli, and her warmth forced my troubled frown into a smile.

Tuuli wiped the snot from her nose while she responded. “Definitely. I’ll definitely give him your gifts.”

“Also, you’re joining Corinna’s workshop, right? If you work hard and become a first-rate seamstress, I’ll order my clothes from you. I want you to make my clothes one day, Tuuli.”

My request restored the light in Tuuli’s puffy red eyes, and she gave me a firm nod. “I promise. I’ll make your clothes, no matter what.”

“I love you, Tuuli. I’m so proud to have an older sister like you.”

We hugged tightly once more, then Tuuli signed the magic contract, sobbing all the while. It felt a little ironic that the letters she had worked so hard to learn over the winter would prove useful here.

She took out her knife and cut her finger to make the bloody fingerprint. Her part done, she returned to her seat, still choking back sobs.

“Myne.” Mom stood up from her chair, handing Kamil in his sling to Dad. She knelt beside me as I stood next to the contract, and while on her knees embraced me in a warm hug. Perhaps due to the smell of milk, I was enveloped by a sweet, nostalgic scent as I wrapped my arms around her too.

“Mom...” I couldn’t think of what to say as I kept hugging her tight. As I stood there in silence, Mom whispered to me in a troubled tone.

“It’s too soon for you to be leaving your parents.”

“I’m sorry, Mom.” She was holding me so closely that I could hear her heartbeat as she spoke. She stroked my hair like she usually would at night when we went to bed, and started giving me her usual list of warnings.

“Take care of yourself, Myne. You always get sick so easily. Ask the people around you for help when you need it. Listen to what they tell you so you don’t keep being a thorn in their side. And don’t charge off and do things on your own. Help where you can, but don’t rely on others too much. And...”

Normally I would have stopped paying attention by now, but the realization that I’d never hear her lecture me like this again made my heart sink. I nodded, still clinging to her, and listened to every word, but she was saying so much that eventually she just started repeating herself. It almost made me laugh.

“And finally, one last thing.”

“There’s still something else?” I looked up and actually did let out a chuckle. Mom’s own smile broke down, and I could feel her tears drip down onto my face.

“Don’t push yourself too hard. Stay safe and happy. I love you, Myne. My precious Myne.”

“I love you too, Mom.”

Mom let me hold onto her for a little longer, then slowly let go and stood up.

“Mom, do you need me to... Do you need me to write your name?” Dad could sign his name thanks to work, and I had taught Tuuli how to write while she was studying in the temple. I didn’t think Mom knew how to write, but she slowly shook her head at my offer.

“I studied with Tuuli over the winter; I wanted to read the letters you wrote too. It’s not much, but I can write everyone’s names now.” Mom gave an embarrassed smile and picked up the pen before writing her name and Kamil’s with a shaky hand. Once that was done, like Tuuli, she also stamped the contract with her blood.

Dad walked over to us, holding Kamil in his sling; he was probably about to hand Kamil over to Mom, as she stayed standing instead of going back to her seat.

“Um, Dad. Can I hold Kamil?”

“Yeah.” Dad undid the sling, needing Mom’s help to do so since he could barely move his arm, then held Kamil out to me.

I held him properly, having finally learned how to, and his eyes opened the moment I peered at his face. Kamil’s sweet baby scent caught my nose as I rubbed my cheek against his; I inhaled deeply, then gave his cute forehead a kiss. “I don’t think you’ll remember me, but I’ll make lots of picture books for you. Be sure to read them all for me, okay?”

I handed Kamil back to Mom before he could start crying. After a moment of hesitation, she made a small cut on his finger, then stamped it against his name as he started crying in pain.

Mom left while consoling Kamil, leaving me with Dad. He hugged me using just his right arm since the burns on his left stopped him from being able to move it much.

“Dad, is your arm okay? It hurts, doesn’t it? I’m sorry... You got hurt because of me.”

“No. I’m your father, but I wasn’t strong enough... I couldn’t protect you. I’m sorry, Myne,” Dad forced out in a low voice, his face twisted with regret and tears trickling down his cheeks. As I felt his arm tighten around me, I shook my head over and over.

“No, Dad, you’ve protected me my whole life. If I ever get married, I hope it’ll be to someone strong who can protect me just like you have.”

Hearing that, Dad furrowed his brow and shook his head, now wearing a tearful grin. “Myne, if whoever you marry can’t protect you, I’ll come beat him up myself.”

“Uh huh. I know you’ll always be there for me, Dad.” I hugged him tighter, and Dad buried his face in my shoulder.

“Yeah... I’ve always wanted to hear a daughter of mine say that, but now that I have and now that you’re going to leave, it hurts more than anything.”

Dad had protected me and raised me my whole life, and I couldn’t stop crying. “My name’s going to change, and I can’t call you ‘Dad’ anymore, but... I’ll always be your daughter. I’ll protect this city, and you, and everyone. I will.”

“Myne.” Dad squeezed me tighter, and I couldn’t stop the explosion of emotions inside of me. The ring the High Priest had lent me started shining as my mana poured into it.