10 — That Taught Me Something

“Hiyah~!”

“Whoops...”

With my courageous(?) cry, Cartham was flung through the air. He was remarkably calm for someone who just got tossed, spinning around once as he landed before hopping back up like it was nothing.

“...Damn, and that was my best throw...”

“Hahaha!”

While I was bent over wheezing, he stood with his usual composed smile. Grr...

Thanks to Bellis and Stellaria’s special training, I’d finally managed to get to the point where I could successfully throw someone who attacked me from the front. It had taken me the whole day, though...

They thought it would be good for me to be able to toss a full-grown man, but it’d be impossible for me to do it to Bellis right now, since he’s so bulky—so they summoned Cartham for the job instead. Why did they want me to learn this? Because I was most likely to be attacked by a man. And if I could toss men, throwing a much lighter woman would be a breeze anyway. Cartham was chosen because he was fairly average-sized, but he was still hard to throw because of his muscles.

“I was only able to be so calm because I knew it was Madam throwing me... an untrained person might have been hurt. You’ve done wonderfully on your first day. Your toss was magnifique!”

Cartham praised me with his sweet words, but I couldn’t find it in me to be happy about it when he was completely unfazed by it.

Bellis noticed the disappointment on my face, saying, “An ordinary noble boy would probably have fainted.”

R-Really? Really really? If both of them say it, I might just have to believe it!

But martial arts took more energy than dancing, so I was pretty exhausted. I’d been told it’d just be so easy, catching someone coming at me and throwing them away. But that was a lie. I’d been totally fooled, and now I was totally pooped. Hmm, should I just have sucked it up and danced...?

The only thing that made this easier than dancing was the lack of mental stress. With martial arts, all I had to do was throw and practice falling. It might actually have been easier, overall, since I didn’t have to plaster a smile on my face the whole time.

“Hehehe~! Since you both praised me, could it be that I’m actually pretty good?” I was nowhere near the master-class maids’ level, but I was still feeling a bit smug, overestimating myself because I got a bit of praise.

“You’re good for a beginner. Dealing with someone coming at you straight-on is the most basic of basics. In a real situation, you’ll actually see more people coming from the back or sides.”

“Ah.”

Grr, Bellis! Just when I was thinking he was saying all this nice stuff about me, he has to go and add something like that! So, I was just learning the most basic of basics, huh...

“You can’t learn everything in one day, so let’s just get you used to doing this bit by bit!” Stellaria tried to cheer me up when she saw me staring off into the distance, but as you’d expect from one of our servants, she didn’t actually say we were going to stop for now. I knew from experience that they’d never be satisfied with just teaching me the basics. They’d just say I should move on to practical use, and once I’d gotten that down, mastering it.

Ahh~ Looks like we’re gonna be going for a while yet. I just wanna scream, “You don’t have to keep up the professionalism here, too!”

But no, I was too chicken to say that out loud. And I could just see them wheedling me back into it if I tried to resist. “...I think I can manage bit by bit, at least...” That was all I could get myself to say—don’t blame me!

After that, the Spa Squad treated me to a healing massage until Mr. Fisalis got home. But since I’d worked a lot of muscles I’d never used before, there was no way I’d be able to avoid the aches and pains afterwards. Oww.

The next day wasn’t rainy. I mean, it was still miserably cloudy, but that was better than rain.

Since I was still sore from martial arts practice the day before, it would’ve been absolute torture to be subjected to more physical exercise.

For the moment, I decided to just be happy it wasn’t raining. After seeing Mr. Fisalis off as usual, I considered what to do for the day as I sipped my tea in the salon.

“Since I couldn’t change the flowers yesterday, I might start with that. ...I really, REALLY do not want to move much.”

“Oh, Madam. Changing the flowers would be lovely~! It’ll cheer you right up, too. Bellis should be in the greenhouse today.”

“For now, at least. He spent all yesterday teaching me martial arts.”

“Yep...”

When I looked over at Mimosa, who was just keeping me company since she wasn’t working, I thought of the flowers and decided what I was going to do. Then, while she and I were heading to the greenhouse with Stellaria, we ran into Rohtas.

“Oh, Rohtas. What’s that you’ve got?”

He was carrying a super-thick, super-fancy book in his arms. It was navy blue, with the title written on the cover and spine in gold, but since I only got a glimpse and it was in a really ornate script, I didn’t catch what it said. I figured just asking would be faster than trying to read it.

“This is the brand-new noble’s almanac. It just arrived from the palace, so I was bringing it to the library,” he said, showing me.

The noble’s almanac was a book listing all of the court ranks, names, positions, and blood relations of the aristocracy in Flür. They were valuable books, and only the families of dukes and marquises actually received a copy. If someone with the rank of count or lower wanted to read it, they’d have to go to the royal library.

Due to various circumstances (that were certainly not because I wasn’t interested!), this was the first time I’d ever seen one. My father told me the almanacs were boring since they were all text, no pictures. The Fisalis family is highly ranked enough to get their own copy, huh?

“It’s so thick! Looks heavy.” I was amazed because the book was thicker than the distance between the tips of my thumb and middle finger stretched as far apart as possible.

“This year, they’ve included portraits of the heads of each house, so that ‘fattened’ the book up, it seems,” Rohtas explained with a faint smile.

Father’s prayers have been answered, huh? “It was just text up until now, right?”

“Yes. There were complaints about not being able to match names to faces, so they’ve added the portraits with the intention of stopping scoundrels from disguising themselves as nobles.”

So, my father wasn’t the only one who was unhappy with the lack of pictures. But never mind that. Very rarely, swindlers tried to pass themselves off as nobles who only occasionally came to the capital or weren’t involved in high society. They’re right that having portraits too may help! Good job, editors!

“Huh, so there are portraits now. I kinda want to see.”

If it included all of the nobles in the kingdom, it’d definitely have Mr. Fisalis’s portrait. I’d never cared about the almanac before (there, I said it!) since it didn’t have anything I wanted to look at, but now I wanted to see how they’d painted my sparklingly beautiful husband.

“Oh, by all means. The portraits were drawn by the most skilled artist in the kingdom, so that alone is worth a look. I’ll carry it to the library; you can read it there.”

I mean, I’m glad he agreed so quickly, but... is it me, or was he smirking just now?

“What’s wrong, Madam?”

“Oh, nothing! Let’s go!” I’d been staring at Rohtas’s face, but all I could see now was his usual smile. Must’ve been my imagination.

“Wow! Mr. Fisalis looks so cool! This artist really is talented! They’ve managed to capture his sparkle so perfectly!”

“The former duke also looks quite handsome.”

“Ah, they beautified my father!?”

“No, no, they didn’t.”

Mimosa and Stellaria gave me a forced smile.

The three of us were in the library, having a blast looking through the noble’s almanac.

The Fisalis family was founded by the younger brother of Flür’s first king, who became his retainer, and many princesses had been married off into the family, it had been the source of many queens, and blah blah blah... Basically, they were really close to royalty. That was why they were so prestigious.

Which meant that the Fisalis family got top billing in the almanac and Mr. Fisalis’s portrait as the current head was the very first page. And they did a great job of capturing his stunning visage! The artist they picked really was great—it was kind of a waste that all these gorgeous paintings were in an almanac of all things. I could just imagine young ladies cutting pictures out and hanging them on their walls!

...I had to stress how great it was.

Huh, me? I wouldn’t hang it up. I’ve got enough with the real thing around all the time.

“So, this is what Miss Iris’ father looks like~!”

“Marquis Sanguinneah?”

“She looks so much like her father. Especially around the eyes.”

Etc, etc. We kept flipping through the pages, squealing excitedly.

“Just from seeing the portraits of Mr. Fisalis and my father, they’re drawn so close to reality.”

“Yes. The artist is known for drawing exactly what they see, but still making it attractive. They’re the number one artist in Rozhe, and in great demand. Her Majesty summoned them a few days ago to do her own portrait.”

I see. So they can capture how beautiful people really look, and make normal people look situationally attractive. And my father was one of the latter to be blessed.

“Just as you’d expect from Stellaria! You know everything, from high society trends to what goes on in the palace!” I was always amazed by how well-informed she was.

“Leave all the Rozhe info to me! I can answer any question you ask!”

Thanks to the portraits, we managed to get through the entire almanac without getting bored, and I got to put nobles’ faces and names together. Illustrated almanacs are the best!