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So, one rainy spring day.
Rieta and Darrel went to the Academy in a carriage.
Darrel, as usual, was properly dressed like the heir to the Duchy.
The blue tie matched him very nicely.
On the other hand, Rieta, who was sitting opposite him, looked neat and inconspicuous.
“Aren’t those clothes uncomfortable?”
Darrel asked, pointing to the ‘employee’s clothes’ that Rieta was wearing.
She looked down at her clothes and shook her head.
The employee’s clothes were what the employees wore to work after all, so it was very comfortable to move around in.
“It’s okay. It’s comfortable.”
“I feel kind of sorry.”
Darrel bowed his head slightly.
“Even if there was no other way, for the Princess of Liz to be dressed like this . . .”
“Well, in a way, you could say I’m dressed like a Princess of Liz.”
Rieta replied that way, recalling her childhood.
“Do you remember the precautions?”
“Yes.”
She recalled the posture of an employee, which she had practiced several times.
As there were good employees all over the Duchy, she was able to learn it without much difficulty.
However, it was inevitable to feel nervous, even though she was familiar with it.
“Oh my.”
Darrel took Rieta’s trembling hand carefully.
“You are nervous.”
“Yes, this is . . . a bad thing.”
After Rieta had said that, she quickly added a frank comment.
“That doesn’t mean I want to go back.”
“You must have made your priorities clear, right?”
“I think I should do that.”
“I praise you.”
He smiled, blowing breath into the tips of Rieta’s increasingly cold hands.
“Don’t be nervous. It’s nothing,” he whispered.
“More than anything else, what are you afraid of when I’m with you?”
“Well, true.”
All Rieta had to do was to follow after him.
He said they might go through an identity check if they were unlucky, but they didn’t usually check a servant brought in by a high-ranking noble.
So, until they met the gatherer in person, there would be no need for Rieta to do much.
“Oh, but maybe I.”
“What?”
“Isn’t the academy very spacious?”
“It is very spacious. Why?”
Rieta came up with a problem that she hadn’t thought of before because she had been thinking about everything that could possibly go wrong’.
“No, I want to know what to do if I run into someone I know.”
“You don’t have to worry if you just exchanged casual greetings. They won’t recognize you.”
“How do you know?”
“Because normally nobles only see the Princess’ shoes and the end of her dress when they greet each other up close.”
Besides, they wouldn’t think that the Princess who was cared for by the Duke would wear the modest clothing of an employee.
It was also a place where entry was strictly prohibited.
“Besides, when your hair is neatly pulled up like that, you give off a very different impression, so they won’t be able to recognize you easily.”
“But Hugh McClean or Noel might recognize me right away. What if we meet?”
“It’s simple, isn’t it?”
At that moment, Rieta thought for some reason that Darrel was having a bit of fun.
“You have to run away.”
“Run away?!”
“But don’t worry. We didn’t come here on a rainy day for nothing.”
He tapped on the umbrella he had brought along.
“On days when everyone has an umbrella, their field of vision is narrow.”
Rieta was about to ask, ‘But we’ll be indoors?’, but the carriage began to slow down little by little, so she quickly shut her mouth.
“Are you ready?”
By the time Darrel asked that question, she saw a high wall guarded by soldiers and a large iron gate.
The realization that it was a place forbidden to foreigners became a little clearer.
But Rieta nodded his head with a determined face.
“Yes, Young Master.”
“That’s great pronunciation.”
Well, it was only natural that her pronunciation was fine after the multitude of corrections over the past few days.
Finally the carriage stopped.
The armed soldier bowed his head and opened the carriage door.
“Apologies. Lord.”
“You don’t have to worry. We can’t use the family’s carriage from here on, right?”
“Yes. The floor is slippery, so be careful when getting off.”
The soldier took a few steps back. Darrel alighted the carriage first.
Rieta followed him out of the wagon and, perhaps because the road was slippery, one of the soldiers lent her his hand so that she could get off with ease.
Rieta would have replied, ‘Thank you,’ as usual, but she quickly changed it to ‘Thanks.’
She stuttered a little, but fortunately it didn’t seem particularly strange.
“Lord, I will guide you.”
They led Darrel to the access office, and Rieta followed like a shadow in someone’s footsteps.
She held the envelope containing the papers carefully.
Upon arriving at the office, Darrel skillfully began filling out his visitation papers.
‘Return of Externally Loaned Papers’.
And at the bottom of it he left a signature.
Rieta wondered, ‘Can I enter the academy now?’, but Rieta’s eyes met those of the entrance secretary.