Purple Heart (11)

The Marquess of Rain’s seal.

Alicia did not fully understand why her father had entrusted it to her.

Valdemar Rain had not been a marquess without faults, but he knew how to move power.

He was a head of house who could make ruthless choices for the family.

Thus, in the first timeline, he had accepted the family’s sudden upheaval and named Harry as heir.

And now, he had passed the choice to Alicia.

It was a moment of choosing again.

Though she struggled to surface from stunned grief, Alicia could not drown in it.

She had to choose—and bear responsibility for that decision.

She had to fight, and dive into the strife that had come to her door to seize what was hers.

The carriage carrying the members of House Rain halted before the manor’s main building.

Harry disembarked first to attend the Marchioness, and Felix followed.

With Felix’s help, Alicia stepped down from the coach.

The servants who had come out to meet the household bowed their heads in unison.

But none spoke the words for welcoming a new marquess.

Even their courtesies to the young marquess were only gestures.

Following after the Marchioness, Felix made for the manor.

“Felix.”

Alicia called to him as he walked between the servants.

He looked back at his name, wondering if something was wrong.

Facing Felix, Alicia offered the formal bow due the marquess.

“I pay respects to the Marquess of Rain. My lord, please lead the domain well.”

Felix, surprised to see Alicia bow so formally, stepped toward her.

“Alicia, up. Don’t stand on ceremony among family.”

For a moment his punctilious expression made him look too gentle—almost delicate—for the head of House Rain.

Yet he was hardly a man who was merely kind without judgment.

“As you command.”

Alicia placed in Felix’s hand the velvet pouch holding the key to the lord’s study and completed her graceful salute.

Seeing his troubled face, she decided to trust her choice.

She would not regret it.

Only…

Harry, who had been attending the Marchioness, came to Alicia’s side and saluted Felix.

“I pay respects to the Marquess.”

There was an easy composure in Harry’s face as he bowed.

Felix, on the other hand, flinched at being fussed over by his siblings.

“That’s enough, you two. You—”

Every servant of the house turned toward Felix and paid respects.

“We pay respects to the Marquess of Rain. My lord, please lead the domain well.”

At those elegant words welcoming the new marquess, a weight of responsibility settled over Felix’s features.

Alicia liked that look.

Only those who understood duty could sit where decisions were made.

Alicia knew one more person like that.

Thus she did not regret her choice—but she was sorry.

She knew he understood the gravity of duty, that it tormented him with tremendous pressure, and that still he strove to fulfill it; this made her all the sorrier.

“…Alicia.”

Harry looked awkwardly at her tearful face across the tea table.

“I’m sorry.”

Alicia whispered an apology and wept like a grieving child.

“What do you have to be sorry for?”

Harry was at a loss.

His crying sister made him ache, and flustered him, and troubled him.

He despised himself for failing to comfort her.

Alicia flatly refused his reaching hand and kind words— and kept crying.

She cried because she was sorry, and sorrier still.

“I’m sorry, Harry. I’m so, so sorry…”

She felt guilt and fear at having erased an entire possibility from one man’s life.

Each time fear rose, her guilt grew.

“There’s nothing for you to be sorry about.”

Harry found Alicia’s limitless remorse puzzling.

It was the natural order for a young marquess to become marquess.

Sometimes a young marquess did not inherit.

Thus he had thought perhaps Alicia, not Felix, might one day take the marquisate.

The young marquess was important, but when support for two candidates was similar, the one directly designated by the marquess had stronger legitimacy.

But for Harry’s part, he was irrelevant to the succession.

Though he had grown closer to his father of late, that had nothing to do with heirs.

He valued more the closeness, the small tasks at his father’s side, and the experiences he had gathered in Baden, than any place in the line.

Seeing Alicia apologize so earnestly, one thing became clear:

Alicia could have taken the marquisate herself.

For the last year Harry had watched his sister, who had become a completely different person.

It had been a frequent topic between him and their father.

He liked the Alicia who now spoke her mind; he had also liked the shy Alicia of a few years ago.

Even then, though she did not voice them, her thoughts and perspective were unusual.

Perhaps the only difference was whether she expressed them or not.

Now, seeing Alicia state her will plainly, he recognized how much she had grown.

There was a strange certainty to her actions.

“I have a favor to ask.”

Alicia spoke at last as her sobs subsided.

“I have one too. Stop crying first. If you stop, I’ll do whatever you ask.”

“Go to Gaeller.”

Alicia carefully wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.

“Gaeller?”

Noticing her handkerchief was soaked, Harry offered his own.

Alicia took it and dabbed away the rest.

“I designate Harry Molstern Rain as acting representative for the Viscounty of Gaeller.”

Harry looked baffled, but his mind raced.

Gaeller was under the authority of the Count of Juma.

“I’ll send the letters patent and the seal once you arrive.”

To promise the patent and seal was not merely to appoint him acting agent; it meant she would first put him forward as regent and then grant him the viscounty.

“Uh… all right.”

Harry felt dazed at the words in his ears.

He wondered if he had heard right.

“They say Juma’s peaches are delicious, Harry.”

Alicia, her tears wiped away, spoke offhandedly.

“Do you have more to tell me, Alicia?”

Since their last talk, Harry had done his own digging.

Juma was a strategic hub in the central region.

On the surface, it was stable.

“When you go somewhere new, how about being steadfast. Be someone kind who helps people in need. Carry an umbrella. Mind your manners—it’s good.”

Alicia spoke her scattered counsel in a calm voice.

“I will.”

Playing the good brother, Harry nodded vigorously.

He promised again and again to obey her to the letter.

Then, seeming as if he would follow Alicia anywhere, he hesitated just a little.

“I’ll leave for Gaeller in a month. For now I want to help Felix until the house settles. Is that all right?”

“Of course. It’s wise to learn who Rain’s enemies are.”

Harry understood at once.

His own reason for staying a while differed, but he also doubted the tale of their father’s fall.

Alicia was convinced the Marquess’s accident had not been an accident.

Enemies.

Harry moved his lips without sound.

“The fall was no simple mishap.”

Alicia questioned the way she herself had changed.

The past and the present had diverged.

Because of her, something had shifted—and her father died.

“We must repay our enemies for their attack.”

Her violet eyes, dark with resolve, looked coldly out at the sunlit window.

“In House Rain there are customs that are the house’s alone. My lord, how can the dowager marchioness share decision-making with you? Should she not pass her place to the new marchioness and enjoy a peaceful later life?”

“An excellent point, Baron Dons. As you know, I became marquess suddenly. I am yet unmarried; until I wed, I have asked my mother to manage the household. I expected to remain young marquess ten more years—and so did you. Marriage must be handled with care, so let us settle urgent matters first and speak of it then. I trust no one will speak of my marriage against my will. Those whose counsel I seek are capable of answering whenever I ask, so I will not worry.”

“Heh-heh, the lord’s words are wise indeed.”

“Still, the sooner the marriage—… Forgive me.”

“On that matter, consult only my mother for now. Shall we move on?”

“Lady Alicia is expected to wed a member of the imperial family. It concerns me that she sits in the Rain descendants’ small council. My lord, should you not prepare for the future?”

“Lord Elgin, spare me the discourtesy. Alicia is not yet wed. Even if she were, given the ties among Rain, Appel, and Echeveria, she would be a necessary party to consultation. Even apart from Echeveria—and even if she were already married—Alicia has the standing to attend our small council. It’s unpleasant to speak as if my family were spies sent by the imperial house. What of the suitable person to protect Echeveria’s representative and mediate between the representative and the count? Shall Harry and I continue to hold the posts jointly?”

“To think the lady a spy! Young men these days do not value family. Take heart, my lord.”

“We are doing our utmost to find the right person.”

“Very well—but my lord, the Grand Duke of Tessen is riding from Baden to Rain at the head of cavalry. The pretext is to congratulate the new marquess, but even for a royal, to come with cavalry—this is disrespect for the North.”

“Ah, yes. Lord Aelloa—thank you for broaching it first. A royal, the Grand Duke of Tessen, and the betrothed of our kin is coming; even in difficult times, we must prepare a proper banquet. As you know, you gentlemen handled such things while I merely went out to greet the guests; I know little of this side. Please recommend someone to arrange the banquet, Lord Aelloa. Time is short, so quickly shortlist a suitable person and inform me. This evening should be possible, yes? If there is nothing further, we shall adjourn here. See to your tasks.”

Felix Rain’s face was the very image of Valdemar Rain’s— but the new lord and the former could not have been more different.

Where Valdemar’s impression had been sharp and hard, Felix—though rigidly formal—was calm, and could not quite hide a young man’s freshness.

He openly admitted what he did not know and showed when things were difficult.

He let his vassals speak to the end before stating his view.

When he gave thanks, a slight smile touched his lips.

The new marquess’s first impression was of a dignified young man who knew his manners.

Even as young marquess, Felix had suited the house.

Becoming marquess did not make him autocratic like the last lord.

It was a good sign that he listened.

For a day, two, three, it was so.

But after five, six, seven days, something seemed off.