A Bolt from the Blue (1)

Even after a year had passed since our wedding, we still had no children. Even though I heard Mother got pregnant six months after getting married to Father. Among the commoners back at the territory, I’ve also heard that if more than a year passed since the wedding and the couple were still not expecting a child, then it was common for the wife to be regarded as the problem. So, I was a little down in the dumps.

However, Cermiane did not appear to care at all, and whenever I mumbled out my concerns, he would laugh and say, “I’m totally fine if we don’t have any children.” I really liked these parts of Cermiane, and honestly, I believed that there was no better husband than Cermiane. I felt blessed that I was able to have a husband who understood me well and accepted me for who I am.

Around this time, I had become a famous huntswoman in the Capital, and I have been getting requests to hunt this and that animal from various places. Accepting these requests made good money, and as a huntswoman, it was an honor. I had also become one of the huntsmen that the huntsman guild kept an eye out for, and when giant serpents, bears, and wolves appeared in the area, I’ve sometimes been commissioned by the  guild to hunt them. One time, when a red bear appeared, I took it down with Cermiane. The huntsmen and knights who came to help us were surprised by our strength and prowess.

Cermiane’s work as a knight was also progressing smoothly: he proactively participated in settling disputes and uprisings, dangerous predator exterminations like I mentioned before, and had raised a couple of achievements, receiving a couple of medallions and honors. When we married, he was a decurion, but now he became a centurion. As a knight who was only twenty years old,  this level of progression was unheard of. Climbing up the ranks was good, but this meant that I had to attend the ceremonies, and these ceremonies always had a banquet afterwards, so I was always very troubled. A wife couldn’t just miss her husband’s conferment of honor ceremony, you know? It seemed like these events would only increase in the future. So, I had been asking Quemella to teach me basic etiquette and manners, since even I realized that I couldn’t stay as is. With Cermiane being such a good husband and always accommodating me, I thought that I couldn’t pull his leg and make a fool of myself due to not knowing the proper etiquette and manners. I needed to learn how to walk elegantly and do a simple dance, at the very least. For one full year, Quemella had thoroughly taught me whenever we had some free time. Finally it appeared that I had become able to do the bare minimum to prevent me from embarrassing both Cermiane and myself.

Like this, we entered our second spring as a married couple. Spring was when many mountain vegetables and herbs sprouted, so I focused more on harvesting these rather than hunting. Both required walking through mountains anyway. Once you gather a certain number of these vegetables and herbs, you can get a lot of money. It’s easy if you shoulder a basket and focus on the regions where most people can’t go, like the deeper sections of the forest and cliffs. Harvest a lot, and bring them back home. You can sell them for a higher price if you prepare them at home first. For the mountain vegetables, cut off the unnecessary parts, and then rinse them. For the herbs, if you dry them for a bit, they’ll last longer.

When I was humming my way back home, an agitated Quemella came up to me.

“M-Madam, your presence is requested. A messenger has come.”

Messenger? I tilted my head at the unfamiliar word. Cermiane should be out working, so he probably wasn’t home right now. I put down my basket in the shed and hurried into my house.

In the parlor, a noble-looking man was sitting in an anxious manner. Since I had just returned from the forest, I was in my shabby outfit for walking in the mountains. I kind of felt sorry. When the messenger saw my appearance, his eyes popped out. I still curtsied by holding the sleeves of my outerwear, since I was wearing pants.

“I apologize for the delay.”

“Are you Madam Emilian?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

It felt slightly weird since we usually never use our surnames. When I answered, the messenger took out a letter from his pocket. It wasn’t in an envelope, but was rather a scroll, with a string acting as the seal. The messenger opened it and read aloud.

“I hereby declare that the following two subjects, Sir Cermiane Emilian and Madam Ralphene Emilian, are to come to the second presence chamber in the imperial palace tomorrow. This is an imperial command.”

Then he rolled up the scroll, re-tied it, and respectfully offered it to me. I had no choice but to take it. I accepted the scroll with two hands. Then, the messenger took out another document, this time sealed in an envelope, from his pocket. It was pretty thick.

“Please give this to Sir Emilian.”

He then bowed and left. What??? What just happened? If that was it, couldn’t he have spoken to Jamal or Quemella instead? Still harboring some doubts, I entrusted both documents to Jamal and headed back to my workshed. I needed to dry the herbs today or they would go bad.

The gravity of the situation was only revealed once Cermiane came home. When I handed the scroll and envelope to Cermiane, the blood drained from his face. He was stunned into silence as he read the scroll while still standing, and when he opened the envelope and read the letter with shaking hands, he fell to his knees as if he was suddenly extremely light-headed.