Previously
Henrietta visits Dr. Amelia for snacks and discusses the high cost of books and medicine, learning that Kalinin's sister, Kayla, controls the budget. Billy arrives, furious because Kalinin ruined his house-warming joy by gifting him an excessively expensive chandelier that doesn't fit his home.
“Having heard the priest’s advice, I arrived at an epiphany. A guide containing accumulated experience and wisdom is, in fact, a book.”
After he had gone out of his way to summon her, Private Matyas began spouting things better suited to an academy professor the moment she walked in.
Yet her gaze was directed somewhere peculiar. Following Private Matyas’s eyes, Kalinin pushed forward an unopened box of jelly candies with an indifferent air. It had been a gift from his niece that he left neglected because he disliked sweets, but now he could finally get rid of it.
“I cannot squander our budget for the enlightenment of a single private.”
“That is entirely correct. I believe books are necessary for our entire military. Everyone possesses different talents, so if we only conduct group training, the lagging soldiers will never improve. I am confident these fine texts will aid the troops’ personal training.”
Clutching the box of jellies tight, Henrietta laid out her argument with crisp logic.
“Do these books even exist?”
“Yes. Probably?”
“Probably?”
“They are books I read as a child, so I cannot say for certain if I remember them accurately, but they should be something like that.”
“You read books like these as a child?”
Kalinin waved the requisition form. None of the titles listed on it looked remotely suited to qualify as recommended reading for children.
“Well… how much detail do you wish to hear? Briefly? Or the full story?”
“Does reading books as a child truly warrant a full story?”
“They were sitting on the shelves in the knights’ quarters, so I read a bit out of boredom.”
“Why were you in there?”
“From here, I believe we must move into the full story.”
“Let's hear it.”
“I went in there to hide. No one could find me in that place. Because not a single knight ever came by to read a book.”
It was far too brief for a full story.
“Were you playing hide-and-seek? A game where the seeker tracks down the children who hid… or something like that?”
“No. I hid to get away from the cousins tormenting me. I was the family scapegoat, you see.”
“…”
He shouldn't have asked.
“My apologies.”
“Not at all. The experience from back then has always served me well. It serves me well even now. I am a professional outcast, so being ostracized is hardly difficult for me.”
Could anyone deliver such words… so cheerfully?
Kalinin fought hard to suppress a stray laugh.
“Is the reason for your ‘probably’ simply because they are so old you cannot be certain?”
“Yes, that is correct. Even so, it should be fairly close. Books have helped me just as much as experience, so I remember them.”
“I cannot fathom how <Muscles Know the Truth> could have helped you in life.”
“It was helpful during my divorce. Would you like me to tell you how it helped?”
“Tell—no, I will pass.”
The Duke's instinct for novelty tempted him to hear the tale, but in the end, he declined. Setting aside how unbecoming it was, he could roughly guess the rest without being told.
“I couldn’t read it all, only remembering the most striking parts, and it was still that useful. If read properly, it will be of immense help in our training.”
“That certainly sounds plausible.”
“Yes, indeed.”
Feeling her argument was quite persuasive, Henrietta squared her shoulders with a proud expression.
“If only the soldiers knew how to read, that is.”
The Duke, however, was a master at spoiling the mood.
Henrietta felt an urge to glare at him, but she caught herself and composed her expression. Billy had already warned her this might happen. She had a response ready.
“In that case, I believe I can simply teach them to read.”
“No soldier wants to learn how to read from a private.”
“If rank is the issue, I ask for a special promotion. Please appoint me as a training instructor.”
“Denied.”
“Please do not dismiss it out of hand; consider it. It is for the good of the entire military.”
“A private receiving a special promotion would be utterly fatal to troop morale.”
“A capable soldier receiving a special promotion will give hope to others. If anything, I believe it would bolster morale.”
“In your case, Private Matyas, that is not a promotion—it is favoritism. There is nothing more to reconsider. We will end this matter here. You may leave.”
Letting out a heavy sigh, Henrietta turned away with a sullen face.
‘I really didn't want to go this far.’
Yet instead of leaving immediately, she scanned the bookshelves in the room.
‘I was told it was around here.’
The walnut bookshelves with gold accents were elegant and pristine. The books and ornaments were not packed too tightly, making it easy to spot items at a glance. Henrietta’s gaze halted at a glass cabinet displaying several large signet rings and seals adorned with extravagant carvings and jewels.
“What are you doing?”
“Ah, are those perhaps all the seals you use, Division Commander?”
“They are. Is there a problem?”
“There are so many kinds. Are there usually this many?”
Henrietta strolled naturally toward the shelf displaying the seals.
“In my case, I require separate seals for the Duke and the Division Commander, and the seal needed when pressing parchment is different again, so there are naturally many.”
“Oh! I never knew each seal had a different purpose.”
“How odd. You are a noble yourself, Private. Why would you not know that?”
“Well, I only ever entered my uncle's study to be scolded, so I lacked the leisure to look at seals, and I was never allowed inside my husband's study. It was forbidden territory.”
“…”
Feeling as though he had tripped a trigger wire of sorrowful misfortune, Kalinin bowed his head slightly and rubbed his chin for no reason.
Henrietta, however, paid it no mind whatsoever. She was simply admiring how splendid the seals looked.
‘A seal of my own. I wish I had just one. Right. Soon I will be the head of my house anyway, so perhaps I should make a seal stamped with my family name.’
With that thought, she casually pulled a deck of cards from between the books beside the glass cabinet.
‘Here it is.’
Earlier, Billy had shared the location of the cards along with the Division Commander's weakness.
Holding the deck, Henrietta walked back before Kalinin.
“Do you have more to say?”
“I have an excellent idea. How about this? The priest agreed as well, so let us leave it to the will of the gods.”
“The tradition of the clergy passing judgment died out a century ago.”
“No. Not that. Entrusting it to the will of the gods, and….”
“…?”
“We make a wager.”
The Duke’s novelty receptors jolted.
“Do you know how to play Old Maid?”
Already seized by excitement, Kalinin had settled onto the sofa before Henrietta even finished her question.
Sitting across from him, Henrietta asked provocatively,
“Shall we make it best two out of three?”
“Very well.”
“If I win, grant me the special promotion and build a classroom.”
“Done.”
Reaching an agreement with no objections, the two sat across the table and began playing Old Maid.
And before the second round even ended, Henrietta fully understood Billy's remark that the Division Commander was terrible at wagers.
‘Wow—his face gives away everything.’
His face had been cool and bored before, but holding the cards brought it alive. In particular, the ragged edge to his breathing whenever Henrietta reached for the odd card was truly something to behold.
“A special promotion and the construction of a classroom.”
“…Private, how does your face….”
Having lost two rounds in an instant, the Division Commander muttered in a daze. It was the price of looking down on a Queen Bee forged in the cutthroat social world. Yet he did not whine or ask for a rematch. The contest was over.
“Very well. A promise is a promise. I will raise Private Matyas’s rank by one step and appoint her as the military’s Basic Language Instructor.”
“Only a single step, sir?”
“You are greedy. The duties of said post will commence once the classroom is built, and the classroom shall be constructed by the soldiers themselves.”
“Understood.”
Though slightly disappointing, she had secured everything she came for. With a box of jellies as a bonus.
“You may leave.”
“Yes, sir! Thank you for today.”
Henrietta skipped out of the office in high spirits.
Left alone, Kalinin replayed the game in his mind with a grave face. Astonishingly, there wasn't a single round where he had lost by a narrow margin. He had been utterly, completely crushed.
“That recruit severely lacks social tact.”
To know nothing of letting your host win. Knowing how to humor a superior was essential for a smooth military life. Kalinin clicked his tongue and straightened the cards.