Matilda’s POV
“Okay, we will now begin the first aides’ meeting!”
Everyone was currently in the servants’ quarters of the House of Archelaus. It was the antechamber for Alice-sama’s aides.
Alice-sama, who was currently in the adjoining private room, has been left in Connie’s care.
The people gathered here are myself, Matilda, Yulena, Johann and Wilhelm.
“I came because it was a meeting of the aides, but what do you want to talk about?”
“Okay. First of all, let’s talk about that lacking sense of urgency!”
“Eh?”
I stabbed my finger at that pompous Wilhelm’s face. Wilhelm’s eyes fluttered, “A lacking sense of urgency?” he repeated.
“For all your talk about being the first aide, I don’t feel you have any inclination to do more for Alice-sama!”
“What?! Love and respect are hard to beat, though! Besides, I teach her studies once a week…”
While Wilhelm seemed to be unwilling to do anything about it, Johann chased him down.
“It’s true, Wilhelm has by far the least amount of time with Alice-sama. Yulena and Matilda are beginning to be taught how to take care of her surroundings by the maid, and I also check with the servant and guard systems, along with accumulating the knowledge of the aides from her predecessors…What will Wilhelm even do if Alice-sama is going to be attending the school from now on?”
“Ugh…”
Wilhelm made a face that said he understood.
By the way, neither honorific titles nor honorifics were used amongst the aides. The titles of the families from which they came from were varied, but they were all people who would not be inheriting the title of lord, so there was no such thing as hierarchy when it came to the aide colleagues. Yulena was the only girl who was respectful to everyone, so she normally used honorifics.
“We are the same age as Alice-sama, so we can stay by her side in the academy, but what will Wilhelm do in the meantime?”
“Uh.”
“Don’t be useless.”
“Johann you*…” (***Wilhelm says the word ‘you’ as ‘kisama…’ which is a harsh way of saying it. Kind of like saying ‘you bastard…’)
Wilhelm only looked awkward when the girls said harsh things to him, but he gave a snappy response to Johann who was the same gender.
Johann also returned it with a somewhat defiant look.
However, Wilhelm then sighed and began to make excuses.
“That said, I have no choice right now. Even if it’s not much, I have my own classes, and until recently, I was doing a lot of things in place of Brother Oluris. Now I’m busy handing that over to my brother, and…”
“–I don’t think making excuses is very cool.”
When I interrupted him with a snap, Wilhelm groaned and held up his hands as if to say he’d given up.
“Well, I knew I wanted some sort of bigger role, because I’m the oldest and first in line, you know.”
My eyes sparkled as I hear those words.
“Then give us some pointers on how to be a better aide to Alice-sama!”
“Some pointers?”
Everyone other than Wilhelm looked up. The air was filled with a sense of wonder.
That was because we were the youngest children of the lower aristocrats.
We didn’t have tutors, and there were few people in our families who had experience with being an aide.
I myself had only studied at home using my sister’s and brother’s old materials, and naturally, my knowledge of martial arts was limited.
As it was, I could only become an ordinary aide, like an extension of a servant. With a diligent master who was always studying hard…wasn’t that inadequate for an aide of Alice-sama? After discussing it with others in the same age group, it was decided that the best thing to do was to persuade Wilhelm (and maybe agitate him a bit) to do something about it.
“Okay, but…haa, I really don’t have time for this right now…”
I felt a little sorry to see him moaning with his head in his hands, but I think he can handle it.
“It looks like we have a lot to learn from Wilhelm of the Virgil Family!”
“I was also thinking that the aides should work on some swordsmanship.”
With Wilhelm’s approval, Yulena’s face lit up with a puff.
Johann also smiled happily and belligerently, but Wilhelm returned a dismissive look.
“No, you haven’t even enrolled into Lovaine yet. It wouldn’t even be worth the adjustments.”
“What…?!”
He paused as if to say, ‘Good grief, child,’ and Johann’s face turned bright red.
Well, it certainly wouldn’t even be match. No matter how good Johann was, coming from a knight’s family that’s good at swordsmanship, there was still too much of a difference in their sizes.
As everyone nodded in agreement, his face became redder and redder.
“Damn it, if you say that, then let’s do it!”
‘Hmm!’ Wilhelm replied to Johann, who turned his head away, saying, “Well, that’s fine.”
“Oh, I’d like to take lessons too. In swordsmanship…”
“What, Yulena?!”
Everyone shouted in surprise at Yulena who raised her hand timidly.
“I don’t mind, but…Yulena is more of a civilian type, right? Why do you want to learn swordsmanship?”
When Wilhelm asked curiously, Yulena shook her slender body and hugged herself with both arms.
“At that time when Alice-sama was almost beaten by Gabriella-sama of the Verandel family, I couldn’t do anything about it… that was really frustrating for me as an aide.”
“Oh, I see…”
Everyone nodded their heads in agreement once again.
Certainly, it was true that at tea parties, a male aide would rarely ever be by her side.
It was not uncommon, but a female aide was always present at a woman’s seat. Meanwhile, the male aides were often placed at the entrance to the hall or venue, or by the wall.
With the exception of a few special types, such as the intellectuals and potential butlers, the female aides worked with the maids to help the mistress, while the male aides were on guard duty, watching out for the surroundings.
That was the general image of an aide in this country.
Incidentally, on that day, Yulena was the aide, and an Archelaus servant was on guard for the pick-up and drop-off.
“It’s true that it is necessary to protect her even at close range. Well, such physical danger between young girls should be rare by nature…”
Wilhelm face revealed his glaring eyes–or rather, all of us were.
When I had heard about that tea party from Yulena, although there was a difference in the level, each of us felt angry at Gabriella-sama.
In particular, Wilhelm, who had always been watching over Alice-sama for a long time, was quite furious, as was Johann, who came from a family of knights who were devoted to their masters.
Of course, I was angry too, because I adore Alice-sama.
I also admire Alice-Same as a girl of the same age, and above all, I think she’s the ideal type of master to serve.
People who are selfish…that’s why it would be common to be treated unreasonably and cruelly under the leadership of a selfish daughter like Gabriella.
In this regard, Alice-sama is kind and rational. She is the future heir to the House of Archelaus, and I believe she is worthy of service and respect.
And yet, that girl made so many incomprehensible complaints and then attacked Alice-sama in a violent manner. How could I not get angry?
I decide to renew my determination.
“Yeah…that’s right. Yulena and I are the ones who will be by her side the most. You must teach me swordsmanship, Wilhelm!”
“Okay. It’s for Alice, if nothing else. We’ll get everything together and show her what we can do!”
Wilhelm looked freshly motivated.
Once that conversation was settled, I then declared.
“Now then, on to the next item on the agenda!”
……Once Alice-sama enrolled in Lovaine, she would be officially counted as a member of the aristocracy and would start her official duties. When that happened, we would also officially begin our roles as aides.
Because Alice-sama does not currently go out much, there are days where she won’t be by our side, leaving it to Connie and the Archelaus family servants to take care of her. But once she was enrolled in the academy, she would also have to start staying overnight there. In other words, we would be the ones staying by her side throughout the school year.
With less than half a year until school started, there were still many decisions to be made right now.
Matilda’s POV
“Okay, we will now begin the first aides’ meeting!”
Everyone was currently in the servants’ quarters of the House of Archelaus. It was the antechamber for Alice-sama’s aides.
Alice-sama, who was currently in the adjoining private room, has been left in Connie’s care.
The people gathered here are myself, Matilda, Yulena, Johann and Wilhelm.
“I came because it was a meeting of the aides, but what do you want to talk about?”
“Okay. First of all, let’s talk about that lacking sense of urgency!”
“Eh?”
I stabbed my finger at that pompous Wilhelm’s face. Wilhelm’s eyes fluttered, “A lacking sense of urgency?” he repeated.
“For all your talk about being the first aide, I don’t feel you have any inclination to do more for Alice-sama!”
“What?! Love and respect are hard to beat, though! Besides, I teach her studies once a week…”
While Wilhelm seemed to be unwilling to do anything about it, Johann chased him down.
“It’s true, Wilhelm has by far the least amount of time with Alice-sama. Yulena and Matilda are beginning to be taught how to take care of her surroundings by the maid, and I also check with the servant and guard systems, along with accumulating the knowledge of the aides from her predecessors…What will Wilhelm even do if Alice-sama is going to be attending the school from now on?”
“Ugh…”
Wilhelm made a face that said he understood.
By the way, neither honorific titles nor honorifics were used amongst the aides. The titles of the families from which they came from were varied, but they were all people who would not be inheriting the title of lord, so there was no such thing as hierarchy when it came to the aide colleagues. Yulena was the only girl who was respectful to everyone, so she normally used honorifics.
“We are the same age as Alice-sama, so we can stay by her side in the academy, but what will Wilhelm do in the meantime?”
“Uh.”
“Don’t be useless.”
“Johann you*…” (***Wilhelm says the word ‘you’ as ‘kisama…’ which is a harsh way of saying it. Kind of like saying ‘you bastard…’)
Wilhelm only looked awkward when the girls said harsh things to him, but he gave a snappy response to Johann who was the same gender.
Johann also returned it with a somewhat defiant look.
However, Wilhelm then sighed and began to make excuses.
“That said, I have no choice right now. Even if it’s not much, I have my own classes, and until recently, I was doing a lot of things in place of Brother Oluris. Now I’m busy handing that over to my brother, and…”
“–I don’t think making excuses is very cool.”
When I interrupted him with a snap, Wilhelm groaned and held up his hands as if to say he’d given up.
“Well, I knew I wanted some sort of bigger role, because I’m the oldest and first in line, you know.”
My eyes sparkled as I hear those words.
“Then give us some pointers on how to be a better aide to Alice-sama!”
“Some pointers?”
Everyone other than Wilhelm looked up. The air was filled with a sense of wonder.
That was because we were the youngest children of the lower aristocrats.
We didn’t have tutors, and there were few people in our families who had experience with being an aide.
I myself had only studied at home using my sister’s and brother’s old materials, and naturally, my knowledge of martial arts was limited.
As it was, I could only become an ordinary aide, like an extension of a servant. With a diligent master who was always studying hard…wasn’t that inadequate for an aide of Alice-sama? After discussing it with others in the same age group, it was decided that the best thing to do was to persuade Wilhelm (and maybe agitate him a bit) to do something about it.
“Okay, but…haa, I really don’t have time for this right now…”
I felt a little sorry to see him moaning with his head in his hands, but I think he can handle it.
“It looks like we have a lot to learn from Wilhelm of the Virgil Family!”
“I was also thinking that the aides should work on some swordsmanship.”
With Wilhelm’s approval, Yulena’s face lit up with a puff.
Johann also smiled happily and belligerently, but Wilhelm returned a dismissive look.
“No, you haven’t even enrolled into Lovaine yet. It wouldn’t even be worth the adjustments.”
“What…?!”
He paused as if to say, ‘Good grief, child,’ and Johann’s face turned bright red.
Well, it certainly wouldn’t even be match. No matter how good Johann was, coming from a knight’s family that’s good at swordsmanship, there was still too much of a difference in their sizes.
As everyone nodded in agreement, his face became redder and redder.
“Damn it, if you say that, then let’s do it!”
‘Hmm!’ Wilhelm replied to Johann, who turned his head away, saying, “Well, that’s fine.”
“Oh, I’d like to take lessons too. In swordsmanship…”
“What, Yulena?!”
Everyone shouted in surprise at Yulena who raised her hand timidly.
“I don’t mind, but…Yulena is more of a civilian type, right? Why do you want to learn swordsmanship?”
When Wilhelm asked curiously, Yulena shook her slender body and hugged herself with both arms.
“At that time when Alice-sama was almost beaten by Gabriella-sama of the Verandel family, I couldn’t do anything about it… that was really frustrating for me as an aide.”
“Oh, I see…”
Everyone nodded their heads in agreement once again.
Certainly, it was true that at tea parties, a male aide would rarely ever be by her side.
It was not uncommon, but a female aide was always present at a woman’s seat. Meanwhile, the male aides were often placed at the entrance to the hall or venue, or by the wall.
With the exception of a few special types, such as the intellectuals and potential butlers, the female aides worked with the maids to help the mistress, while the male aides were on guard duty, watching out for the surroundings.
That was the general image of an aide in this country.
Incidentally, on that day, Yulena was the aide, and an Archelaus servant was on guard for the pick-up and drop-off.
“It’s true that it is necessary to protect her even at close range. Well, such physical danger between young girls should be rare by nature…”
Wilhelm face revealed his glaring eyes–or rather, all of us were.
When I had heard about that tea party from Yulena, although there was a difference in the level, each of us felt angry at Gabriella-sama.
In particular, Wilhelm, who had always been watching over Alice-sama for a long time, was quite furious, as was Johann, who came from a family of knights who were devoted to their masters.
Of course, I was angry too, because I adore Alice-sama.
I also admire Alice-Same as a girl of the same age, and above all, I think she’s the ideal type of master to serve.
People who are selfish…that’s why it would be common to be treated unreasonably and cruelly under the leadership of a selfish daughter like Gabriella.
In this regard, Alice-sama is kind and rational. She is the future heir to the House of Archelaus, and I believe she is worthy of service and respect.
And yet, that girl made so many incomprehensible complaints and then attacked Alice-sama in a violent manner. How could I not get angry?
I decide to renew my determination.
“Yeah…that’s right. Yulena and I are the ones who will be by her side the most. You must teach me swordsmanship, Wilhelm!”
“Okay. It’s for Alice, if nothing else. We’ll get everything together and show her what we can do!”
Wilhelm looked freshly motivated.
Once that conversation was settled, I then declared.
“Now then, on to the next item on the agenda!”
……Once Alice-sama enrolled in Lovaine, she would be officially counted as a member of the aristocracy and would start her official duties. When that happened, we would also officially begin our roles as aides.
Because Alice-sama does not currently go out much, there are days where she won’t be by our side, leaving it to Connie and the Archelaus family servants to take care of her. But once she was enrolled in the academy, she would also have to start staying overnight there. In other words, we would be the ones staying by her side throughout the school year.
With less than half a year until school started, there were still many decisions to be made right now.
