Bibliophile Princess, page 17
As I lost myself in my thoughts, the marquess, who was having a sarcastic exchange with His Highness, snorted. “Our enemies, both now and in the past, are only ever those who interfere with our reading time.”
“That’s understandable,” Glen, who was nearby, murmured in a ridiculously honest way. “That’s why you view Chris as an enemy.”
Aside from that idiot, who was currently buckling under the prince’s cold stare, I figured that since the marquess had cracked a joke, it was a signal that this was the end of the meeting.
I was still inwardly panicking, though, so I decided to cut straight to the point. “If someone is targeting you, Fred, please let us know. Especially since it might have something to do with His Highness’s enemies in the future.”
Alfred chuckled softly. “That’s what I like about you, Alex.”
I clicked my tongue. Evidently, neither sarcasm nor straightforward desperation would get through to Alfred. Once again, I was reminded that this man—this whole family—liked to put up a smokescreen with others. They would wait for people to either get impatient and give up or get angry.
As I thought about how I could rephrase my plea, Alfred took the lead with a wry smile. “I wouldn’t exactly call them an enemy. At least, we never considered them so.”
Alfred was about to continue, but his father, the marquess, stopped him from saying more. “Fred,” he called in a quiet voice. I could tell by his irritated tone that he was telling his son not to say anything unnecessary.
I tried to think calmly and sort through my thoughts. There must have been an answer in what Alfred had said. The Bernsteins’ enemies were not outright opponents, and they’d never thought of them as such, so it wasn’t anyone obvious. In other words, it wasn’t Duke Odin. There was something about the meaningful look in the marquess’s eyes as he regarded His Highness. Did that mean the prince knew the identity of the enemy? Was it someone close to him?
Before I could consider this any further, the marquess stated that time was up. I still felt uneasy that I had received no clear answer, though.
Just then, Alfred called out to me. “Alex,” he said in a kind voice. It was the usual voice of the man I had hit it off with immediately and become good friends with. “This matter is not someone else’s problem. Eli is right in the thick of it. The family is already doing whatever they can to help her. If you’re desperate, then we don’t mind if you use us.”
The Bernstein family was Sauslind’s Brain, so why had they made a move? It must be because the situation was just that serious. The marquess raised his eyebrows as if to say that Alfred was talking too much, but his son ignored him. Although he was a Bernstein, Alfred would make concessions for a friend.
All sorts of predictions and speculations ran through my head, and I was grateful to Alfred for helping me sort them out. I then remembered what he had murmured before.
“People have a very frightening creature inside of them. Do you know what it is?”
A dubious thought came to my mind. If I could understand that, then I would know what was about to happen—and who was the mastermind behind it all.
The meeting came to an end, and His Highness didn’t speak another word. As I pondered it all, only Alfred’s question remained in my head. A frightening creature. Did I have one inside of me too?
Back in the present...
“Miss Eli!” A line of carriages carrying supplies came one after the other, and a girl jumped out of one of them, looking frustrated about the traffic jam. She ran over, but the figure who stood by the temporary huts in the central square stopped her.
“Lilia, before you come any closer, you must wash your hands and gargle, then take a red cloth from over there and cover your mouth.”
Lilia looked like she was on the verge of tears. Her arms were outstretched as if she were about to embrace someone but had frozen when cautioned. Even her expression was stiff. She reminded me of a living statue like we were talking about yesterday.
Mabel, who ran up behind her, bowed and then tugged the girl away.
“Hey, Mabel!” Lady Lilia cried.
Mabel’s demeanor didn’t change even when Lady Lilia regarded her indignantly. She seemed to understand the situation. “We’ve confirmed that Lady Elianna is safe, so now the best thing for us to do is help her.”
“Oh, please! You look like you’re about to cry too!” Lady Lilia retorted.
Those two had been by Lady Elianna’s side ever since her life had first been targeted, and Lady Elianna had shared all of her hardships with them. When Lilia had to act as a decoy, she’d been as determined as she was nervous.
There could be no cracks in our strategy. We had to respect Lady Elianna’s will, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to save the people who were suffering from this terrible plague. Lady Lilia wanted to respect the wishes of the doctors, and as Lady Elianna’s attendant, she wanted to follow her mistress’s orders. But more than anything, Lady Lilia wanted to protect her.
At that time, I could tell that was what was going through Mabel’s mind—a firm determination rather than the fear of risking her own life. “This is what we came here for, so we should do what is expected of us,” she said firmly.
I could see Lady Elianna behind Mabel, moving from the hill. A light of relief shone in her eyes the moment she saw the two of them, but I knew that the current situation wouldn’t allow her to let her guard down for even a moment.
“Miss, the Phure family insists that we hand over the cure and refuses to listen,” A middle-aged man said. “They seem to think that as long as they get it, they’ll be fine. And there’s a household of thirteen people over there, from an elderly person over the age of eighty to the eldest son of a town official. Some are showing symptoms. What should we do?”
I saw Lady Elianna’s eyes instantly change. They grew sharp, as if they couldn’t overlook a single piece of information, no matter how small.
“We can’t just blindly distribute the cure. Confirm the number of sick people. And if that’s difficult, please tell them that we have set up a free soup kitchen and ask them to come. Don’t give up even if they refuse. We just need to get them out here first.”
Lady Elianna told him that they couldn’t really understand how to deal with the illness and this situation until they saw it firsthand. “Even if just one of their family members understands, maybe they can convince the rest. And if that still doesn’t work, I’ll go talk to them myself.” She spoke in a strong, encouraging voice.
“Got it,” the man said.
Next, a particularly large man, who was keeping an eye on the situation by Lady Elianna’s side, shouted, “Berndt! If they won’t listen to you, I’ll go. Or just tell them you’re with me. Surely that’ll get at least one of them to come!”
“All right!” Berndt replied.
Then the next bit of information arrived. There was certainly no time to spare, so the representative from the group of doctors bypassed pleasantries and got right to the point, delivering a list of supplies to Lady Elianna along with his workers.
Once I saw this happen, I rushed to the place where I could purify myself. After I had my pulse and my temperature taken, I was given permission to help and received a cloth to cover my mouth. I wondered if these were the precautions Lady Elianna had devised, the ones that Mabel had spoken of.
The snow had stopped falling, and the early morning glow filled the town. Smoke was rising from many kitchens. There was a bit of confusion still, but it wasn’t chaotic. The families with sick members were sent to town all at once, so the population had increased, but the sick and the healthy, who could be hired as a labor force, were kept separate.
There was also a free soup kitchen. The fact that they could get a hot meal right away seemed to bring comfort to the townspeople and engender trust within them. Politically, I thought it was a smart move. It was winter, and since they’d been barricaded in for more than ten days, they must have been running low on food. When people were hungry, they became irritable, emotional, and irrational. Getting food in their bellies would give them a sense of security and the energy to move.
The state of the town was improving. A town that had been struck with the Ashen Nightmare, despised as a city of death, would be revived by the power of its residents. I was witnessing it with my own eyes. And the one who had brought about all of this was Elianna Bernstein, Prince Christopher’s fiancée. The Ralshen Region had long been critical of the royal family, but perhaps that would change now.
As I watched Lady Elianna deal out precise instructions with unwavering confidence, I had a hard time believing that she was the same woman I had seen quietly reading in the royal archives. She certainly always had the power to move people’s hearts, but she preferred to stay behind the scenes. Now, however, she was standing at the forefront, speaking carefully and sometimes raising her voice harshly. She looked so dignified I couldn’t help but think of her as the future queen, though whether that was a conscious thought on my part, I could not say.
I rushed over with my subordinates, who had changed their minds, and awaited further instructions, but a man as large as a boulder stood in my way. His eyes glinted as he looked down at me, and my breath caught in my throat.
Before I could tell him my name, Lady Elianna interjected. “Raqqa, this is Prince Christopher’s right-hand man, Lord Alexei Strasser. You don’t need to worry about him.” At her words, the boulder of a man stepped aside without a word. I was about to ask her what in the world that was all about, but she said, “Lord Alexei, I’m so pleased that you’re all right. We deeply appreciate the supplies and the manpower. There is one thing I wish to ask you right away, though. Is Earl Ralshen safe?”
At first I thought she was trying to catch me off guard, but then I remembered she wasn’t privy to that information. “Carl and the Black Wing Knights are taking care of things, and part of their forces are following up. They’re supposed to come later, but yes, everyone is safe.”
I finally understood why she’d asked that first thing when Lady Elianna told a nearby attendant to tell Miss Rachel the news. “I’m sure she’s resting,” she said, “but knowing her husband is safe will ease her worries.” The attendant bowed and rushed off.
Her next words also puzzled me. “Lord Alexei, I already gave these orders, but please make sure that the doctors who came with the relief squad are separated into two groups. Do not have all the doctors and nurses who have just arrived go into the assembly hall at once.”
“Why is that?” I asked.
“It’s a direct request from Lady Gene—from the pharmacists and doctors. All the sick people in the assembly hall are seriously ill, and their conditions could become worse if some other sickness is brought in from the outside. We will gradually have them take over when possible. Of course we want their help, but we need to be prudent about it.”
The temporary huts where I stood were built on a slight hill. From there, I could see that the doctors heading toward the sick were separating into two groups after they cleansed themselves.
“Also...” Lady Elianna lowered her voice, a stern look on her face. “We must at all costs avoid losing every doctor at once.”
Even though we had a cure for the Ashen Nightmare, the most important thing was that no one else fell ill. Mabel had told me about the precautions that Lady Elianna had devised, but they were still only theories, not a certainty, and we had to consider that it would be dangerous to rely on them too much.
I wondered how much Lady Elianna had grown just in the past few days, from her daily life of reading books in a quiet library and occasionally sharing her opinion, to standing in the midst of this chaotic situation—a literal moment of life and death.
How many setbacks had she gone through to recover from that disheartened state?
My chest filled with emotion. I was ashamed for predicting it would be an easy feat to revive the city of death, and I was apologetic that I had thought it was a political strategy as well. This city was still very unstable.
“Understood,” I replied. “I will manage the medical team and nurses and make sure that they are divided into two groups. Where do you want the other group to go besides the assembly hall?”
Lady Elianna held a hand-drawn map of the town spread out on a large pedestal. A black mark indicated a vacant house, and red letters showed those that had been inspected. There was a lot of other information written on it as well. Nearby, at another desk, officials stood with a list of residents in one hand, separating the sick from the healthy.
A small sliver of relief ran through Lady Elianna’s eyes as she saw I was willing to help. It seemed that she felt she could share her burdens with me.
“I would like the doctors, nurses, and those who regularly prepare medicinal herbs to help over there. We don’t have enough pharmacists. We need an expert to manage the amateur volunteers, or else we can’t give them permission to administer the cure.”
The cure was being distributed among the sick, so it made sense to keep it under strict control. Unquestionably, priority was placed on doctors, nurses, and medicinal herbs.
Damn it, I thought while clenching my teeth as she pointed at the map. We couldn’t afford any mistakes here.
I instructed my own subordinates, whom I had brought from the mansion, to reorganize the surroundings and to ring the small bell in front of the exposed hut. It was probably located there so the noise stood out amid the hustle and bustle and confusion in the town.
One of the officials looked bewildered by my instruction to ring the bell, but Lady Elianna nodded, and a clear sound resounded in the midwinter sunrise. Once I had the attention of everyone around, I raised my voice and spoke in a tone I had never used before, whether in high society or even at my own office—one that meant I had something important to convey.
“I am Alexei Strasser, assistant to Lady Elianna Bernstein. The rescue team that just arrived consists of twenty doctors and nurses. I’ve also brought with me relief supplies, food, medicinal herbs, clothing, other daily necessities, firewood, and heat stones, which will last a total of three days.”
I paused, then added, “As the number of people here have increased, the supplies will decrease quickly, but further provisions and personnel should arrive later. Additional officers wear royal armbands. Please be careful not to disturb the chain of command. And...please deliver information to me, Alexei, when Lady Elianna is at rest. Thank you all.”
When I bowed my head lightly at the end, I realized that Lady Elianna, who was standing beside me, was looking at me with astonishment, her eyes wide. My mouth twitched as I wondered why she looked so surprised. It was true that I had never before bowed my head and asked a subordinate or a member of a class lower than mine to do something, but my pride came secondary now.
A powerful voice resounded from the side of Lady Elianna—from the man who was as big as a boulder. “Does that mean that the royal family is extending a helping hand to us even more? Everyone! There aren’t many officials here. Make sure to memorize their names and faces. If anyone wicked tries to get in their way, stop them in the name of the Urma miners!”
Cheers of agreement resounded in the morning glow. I’d heard that miners got up very early in the morning because of their job, so it made sense they would be so energized at this hour, but... No, that wasn’t it. The big man’s statement seemed to confirm that he would take responsibility, as well as the rest of the miners. There was certainly a desire to let Lady Elianna rest, as she was managing everything all on her own.
How had she managed to subdue these strong men in less than a day? I found myself surprised once again.
“Who does he mean by ‘anyone wicked’?” I asked. “I need to make note of anyone who would disrupt the chain of command.”
“That’s...” Lady Elianna had been articulate until now, but she unexpectedly became hesitant. She then said, “Lord Irvin has been helping us build temporary huts. Um...he told everyone that my life was being targeted, and to please be aware of their surroundings...”
So that was why the rough-and-tumble miners were keeping an eye out around the temporary government office. I asked her a few other questions so I could grasp the situation. She answered them all hesitantly, but I nodded in relief to see that she was acting like her usual self.
“We took a nap in the carriage on the way here. Even Lady Lilia, who was so excited that she couldn’t sleep. Well, I forced her to sleep. I have more stamina than you do now. Let’s take turns. Please rest for a while.”
When I told her that I would run things in her stead, I could see relief flicker in her eyes, but then they filled with resolve once more, as if she was warning herself that she couldn’t rest yet.
“No,” she began to say, but the big man abruptly threw her over his shoulder. Obviously, that had never been done to her before, and she was rendered speechless for a moment, but she then frantically tried to stop him.
“Raqqa, wait a minute. I just need a bit more time!” she pleaded. She finally got the man who wouldn’t listen to her at first to stop, and with a strange look, she asked, “Lord Alexei, what about the closure of the Urma Mines?”
The large man, who looked to be a miner, twitched in response, and the surrounding people, who looked to be officials of the mining town, fell silent.
It had taken Lady Elianna a lot of courage to put it into words, but there was no hesitation in her eyes. I had none either as I answered, “It has been closed.”
She nodded, and then the large man said that any further questions could be saved for later. As he silently carried her away, I called out to Lady Elianna again.
“My mother has already received the cure, as well as the other patients in the mansion. And—” I hesitated to say the next part, but I knew that I should, for her own well-being and for the miners who were protecting her. “One of the perpetrators who attacked us has escaped, along with two others who were wounded. I’m very sorry...” My voice became stiff. “One of them is Jean.”
