Introductions (2)

“Diana, girls. This is Edwin, Court Mystic Gundabad’s apprentice.”

When the King finished his introductions, I hurried to stand up and bow to the queen.

“It’s an honour to meet you, Your Majesty.”

Queen Diana smiled warmly at me, exuding a certain motherly vibe that put people at ease.

“It’s lovely to meet you, Edwin. I hope you will become good friends with Mira and Anna.”

She let go of the little girls’ hands and gently pushed them forward.

I also stepped forward to meet the little princesses. I didn’t bow: I wanted to be their friend, perhaps even a brother to them, so I couldn’t act subserviently. Instead, I smiled and offered my right hand, palm upwards.

“Hello. As you heard, my name is Edwin, but my friends can call me Ed. I know it’s a bit sudden, but I’d like to be friends with the both of you. How about it?”

The girls looked at each other and seemed to be communicating something through their eyes. Then they turned back to face me, and Mira opened her mouth:

“If we become friends, will you get mad at us if we prank you?”

I blinked a few times, then burst into laughter. I just couldn’t help it. From the corner of my eye, I noticed the adults also clearly straining themselves not to laugh aloud. The twins looked at me in puzzlement, apparently not understanding what I found so funny.

I took a deep breath to calm down.

“I’m sorry, that was rude of me. Please don’t mind it. To answer your question: depending on the prank, I might get angry, but I promise you, I’ll never hate you.”

The girls exchanged a glance and a nod. Then, it was Anna’s turn to ask a question, her voice almost the same as her sister’s, only a little lower in volume:

“Will you play with us even if we want to do girly things?”

A corner of my mouth twitched involuntarily, but I maintained my smile and composure.

“If I have time to, sure. But I’m pretty busy with studying, so I can’t always accompany you.”

I honestly didn’t mind playing some “girly” games with the twins, but I left myself a way out in case they wanted to do something unbearably embarrassing. Besides, it was true that I was going to be very busy.

The little girls exchanged another glance, then reached out their hands.

“That’s okay. They make us study all the time, too. Let’s be friends!”

With Mira’s words and a weird three-way handshake, the deal was sealed.

“Do you like flowers, Ed?”

Anna’s question caught me off-guard. I contemplated my answer for a brief moment. Despite having lived one of my previous lives in a world with extremely vibrant nature, I honestly didn’t have much interest in plants in this life. That said, if I had to choose between like and dislike, then I would say that I did like flowers.

“...I think flowers are pretty.”

Judging from the smiles that bloomed on their cute faces, my answer seemed to have satisfied the little princesses.

“Mother, can we go play in the garden?”

The queen smiled and waved her delicate hand to invite the girls to come closer.

“Come here. You won’t be needing these when you play in the garden.”

She took off their tiaras, probably so they wouldn’t drop them when they played outside. Then she turned to the maid who was waiting by the door.

“Elina, dear. Bring the children to the royal garden. Let them play for an hour or so, then bring Mira and Anna back to their room and have Edwin guided to Court Mystic Gundabad’s room.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The maid curtsied and waited for us at the door. Just in case, I briefly glanced at my master, but seeing him nod, I followed the maid and the little girls out of the room.

* * *

In the evening of my appointment as the court mystic, I heard a knock from my door again.

“Come in!”

I stood up from my chair, yawned and stretched.

The door opened and revealed two men behind it. One of them was an older gentleman I knew quite well: Philip Grover, the king’s butler, the chief of all male servants in the castle.

The other man was much younger, about my age. He, too, was dressed like a butler. He had short, dark hair, a slim build and enviably good looks. He was carrying a tray with food – which made me realise that I hadn’t eaten in hours and was quite famished.

“Court Mystic Edwin. This is Ronald Whitney, who recently finished his butler training and has been assigned as your manservant.”

The chief butler introduced the younger man, who bowed while skilfully keeping the tray steady with one hand.

“It’s an honour to be of service to the court mystic. I will not disappoint you.”

Ah. Of course. My master also received a personal servant when he became the court mystic. Up until now, he had been taking care of us both – not an overwhelming burden, as neither of us had particularly extravagant needs.

“Nice to meet you, Ronald. I’ll be in your care. Please come in.”

I nodded and greeted him with a friendly attitude.

I bid the chief butler goodbye and had my new servant set the tray down on my desk. Before I sat down to eat, however, there were a few things I had to go over with Ronald.

“Let’s start with some ground rules. Don’t move anything in my room without permission. There’s nothing so dangerous or fragile here that they can’t be touched, for example while cleaning, but I need to know where I can find my things, so they must not be moved. This doesn’t extend to my bedroom or the lavatory, though.”

“Of course, sir.”

“Other than that, there’s nothing in particular. I rarely have any needs besides the usual; meals, laundry and the like. I don’t need to be awakened unless I specifically instruct so; I usually wake up at dawn on my own.”

I lowered my head with a frown, contemplating what else to say.

“Oh, but I don’t like to be interrupted while I’m focusing on my studies, unless it’s an important matter or the ones bothering me are the twin princesses. So please, other than bringing my meals, try to stay out while I’m working.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, sir.”

“Any questions?”

“No, sir.”

I observed the young man while I was talking. He seemed perfectly professional, attentive and showing no hint of any personal feelings. Well, if he managed to complete Philip’s training, then that was only to be expected.

Still, the fact that he had a family name meant that he should be from some noble family. I was a commoner at birth, and many children of landed nobles looked down on the court nobility. This man showed no sign of displeasure at being ordered around by a former commoner, and a man around his own age to boot, so he was probably not that sort of person. Or he simply respected mystics, as most people did.

There was nothing unusual about children of lower landed nobility becoming servants at the castle. Elina, too, was a baron’s daughter. Of course, the first son was the heir and the second son was his spare, but if it was the third or a later son, there was little chance of inheriting anything, so they had to consider other paths in life.

These kinds of people, if there was nothing wrong with their personality, were often apprenticed as servants in the castle. They already knew etiquette and many other useful things, so they didn’t have to be taught everything from scratch. If they could become servants of high-ranked court nobility, it was not too bad at all from their viewpoint.

Well, I could get to know Ronald later. Right now I wanted to eat and get back to my book.

“You may go. Come get the dishes in about half an hour.”

“Yes, sir.”