fluvia 78: Fluvia and the Cornewall Family

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Chapter 78: Fluvia and the Cornewall Family

“Mm, hm. There you go, Young Lady. Hm, hm. You should be more careful in the future. Since your goal is to become used to riding for long periods, hm, it’s no good to rely on healing magic all the time.”

“Yes, I understand. Thank you very much, Healer Rudolfo.”

It’s only natural that we bring our House Healer along, but it’s a bit shameful that I’m the first person to need his assistance.

Thudthudthud!

As I thank Healer Rudolfo, footsteps sound from outside the room, and Brother bursts into the room.

“Sister, Sister, you’re alright?”

“…”

Brother also rode for six hours, right? How is he still so energetic?

It’s inconceivable.

Humans really aren’t all made equal.

“I’m alright. Just a little sore.”

Healer Rudolfo didn’t fully heal me, so that I could have some benefits from today’s ride.

Although it might not disrupt muscle strengthening, healing me does inhibit the growth of the necessary calluses and disrupts the muscle memory from the strenuous tasks being done, so he’s still right in saying that I shouldn’t regularly rely on healing magic to strengthen me during training sessions.

By the way, this was something recently discovered by Healer Martin in the Capital’s House of Healing.

Although the basic idea that healing magic was detrimental to physical training was passed around as common knowledge since a long time before, Healer Martin was the first person to systematically confirm it as truth, as well as discover the exact reasons behind it.

Experimentation and the scientific method has been taking off like crazy around the country.

“Hm hm, well then, Young Lady, Young Lord.”

Healer Rudolfo nodded his head and bowed as he left the room.

We are currently in a high class inn in a moderately sized town, Terose.

It’s the first major town after leaving Roseat towards the Capital, and it’s most definitely a trader’s town. Most of the towns along the way are, after all.

I stood up, trying to brush the dust off of me, before I remember.

“<Disperse>!”

With that, the dust particles clinging to my clothes fall off to the ground.

Yes, by the way, I’ve finally learned a little magic!

Not from Minister Winchestor, but from Instructor Fionna.

In the first place, I’m mostly Minister Winchestor’s pupil by name only, due to how busy his responsibilities as the Minister of Magic keep him, and due to the fact that we live a week and a half’s journey apart.

Although, he has already claimed that I won’t be able to get away from becoming his apprentice once I come to the Capital to attend The Academy… but then I’ll be 15, an adult, and isn’t that usually how apprenticeship to a person in the country’s leadership should go?

These past few years, I’ve understood exactly why Minister Winchestor’s declaration that I’ll be his apprentice should have been opposed.

Since I was underage, had no prior training, and was lacking magic potential.

Just what was that mad bastard thinking…

Anyway, I’ve been learning some life magic from Instructor Fionna.

Because my abilities are limited by my magic potential, the effects tend to be pretty mediocre.

But, that’s okay.

Actually, I prefer a lot of the spells to be underpowered.

For example, my <Anesthesia> doesn’t completely dull the pain, but conversely, I feel a little scared of an <Anesthesia> that can.

If I’m just using magic for daily life, it doesn’t have to be anything grand.

After all, it’s all in how you use what you’re given, not how much you’ve been given, right?

Although I’m just repeating something I heard on the TV in my previous world.

And, although it’s not something done in this world, I vaguely remember my daughter talk about how magic circulation should improve the quality or control or something of your magic.

… Not that I remember if what she said referred to THIS game world or a different one.

Still, I meditate every day, playing with my magic.

To be fair, it reminded me of qi circulation, so I was wondering if magic circulation was something similar and would help me recover from my illness more easily, but it feels good and is calming, so I’ve continued the practice even now.

Naturally, my doting, curious, and impulsive brother began to copy me when I said it might help me get stronger, and he’ll often do the same.

Whether or not it actually helps … who knows.

It does feel like I have better control over what meager magic I have, compared to others that I’ve seen using magic, but … it’s so subtle, I might be imagining it.

That said, magic isn’t used all that much in daily life.

At the most, it’s things like <Disperse> or basic water magic or the like, but Valed has a lot of magic tools that are used in everyday living.

It’s only at times like these, when we’re traveling away from the mansion and the normal luxuries, that I see a little more magic being used, but even then there are portable tools, like a lighter-like tool using a fire stone.

It makes sense, though.

Why would you bother using up your magic if you have a tool to do it for you?

In the first place, it’s wiser to save up your magic on a journey in case of an attack by bandits or monsters, so one won’t normally waste it on lighting a fire or preparing food or whatever when the tools and magic stones are so cheap.

“… Brother, shouldn’t you comb your hair? Grandfather should be meeting up with us any time now.”

I reach out to brush at his hair.

Although Brother doesn’t dodge it, he frowns.

“Isn’t it fine? We’ll be traveling together from now on, so they’ll just see it all messy later on anyway.”

“Eeh… but we’ve never met Lady Cornewall, Aunt Brigida, or Uncle Reynard before. Is it bad if I just want my brother to look cool?”

I stamp my feet and pout a little.

“G…eeeh….”

Fufu, do you really think you can win against the little sister skill of acting cute?

Although it probably only works because my brother is the foolishly overprotective kind of older brother.

And so, reluctantly, Brother stands still as I comb and rearrange his hair.

I don’t have the maids do it; there’s something about helping each other personally that deepens out bonds, I think.

Anyway, I think it’s better to look presentable if we’re expecting company.

As long as nothing happens, Grandfather, Baron Cornewall from Mother’s side, will be joining us to travel to the Capital.

Mother’s mother, our grandmother, died a long time ago when Mother was still young, so the Lady Cornewall that will be arriving with him is Baron Cornewall’s second wife.

Uncle Reynard is Grandfather’s second-eldest son, and the soon-to-be new Baron.

Aunt Brigida is one of Mother’s elder sisters, and known as Captain Brigida, a valorous Captain of the Crown’s Guard.

Actually, Mother’s relationships with her sisters aren’t all that bad, currently.

Even when there were bad rumors flying around about Mother, her sisters didn’t seem to believe in them.

Still, Mother was understandably feeling estranged from them, since they weren’t sure the rumors were COMPLETELY false and Mother knew it.

Furthermore, Mother’s three elder sisters were ambitious women, more interested in their careers than in maintaining relationships, so their relationships with each other were just as distant as their relationships with Mother.

Who knows how long that might have lasted if it weren’t for Aunt Brigida’s sudden divorce.

She had gotten married to another member of the Guard and even had two children with him, but one day she caught him cheating on her.

Divorce in Valed can only be done through a court case that justifies whether the reason for divorce is valid. In this country, falling out of love isn’t a valid reason, by the way. After all, there are many loveless, politically arranged marriages in Valed. The culture is very different from modern Japan, where the freedom to love is valued, unfortunately.

Valid reasons that will justify a divorce are adultery, domestic abuse and other such violence, and immoral or treasonous behavior.

As you might expect, that last category is the one that ends up spending years in a court as the definition of ‘immoral’ or ‘treasonous’ becomes debated over and over again, as the people involved attempt to argue their way out of it.

After all, if you are judged as the ‘guilty party’ in a divorce case, you often have to pay an extremely hefty fine to the other party, so it’s understandable that one would argue until backed against the wall if possible.

Aunt Brigida’s case should have gone fairly smoothly, since adultery with evidence is always grounds for a divorce (and boy did she have evidence; barging into the house with colleagues during a night out just to discover your husband in bed with another woman tends to be pretty damning), and the one who committed adultery is almost always slapped with a hefty fine up to half his assets, but rarely do cheating men give up that easily.

Her husband argued that Aunt Brigida was a violent woman, and the proof was that she nearly chopped him into pieces when she caught him in the act.

In a bid to lessen his fine, he claimed that Aunt Brigida did domestic violence which drove him to seek his mistress, whom he was truly in love with.

It was unfortunate that he was better at acting than Aunt Brigida and nearly swayed some members of Domestic Court into believing him.

Mother and the other sisters were furious, and pretty soon, they began to act.

In retrospect, Aunt Brigida’s now ex-husband was preeeetty stupid.

Maybe he thought his own reputation as a likeable and popular member of society and diligence in his workplace was enough to get him through this, or maybe he thought Aunt Brigida’s relationships with her family weren’t good so he could get away with it, but ….

By trying to drag Captain Brigida’s reputation into the mud, he made an enemy of the Cornewall Barondom (both Grandfather and Uncle Reynard, the next Baron), the famous musician Lady Alessa, and an official of the Ministry of Domestic Affairs, Lady Cornelia, and even the current A-Rank adventurer Lightning Step, our uncle and Grandfather’s eldest son, Lyron Cornewall.

And that’s not counting LADY ESTELLA, the Earl of Dellarose’s wife, the current Belle of Society, and someone who has the Earl wrapped around her little finger.

Despite their apparent uninterest in each other, the Cornewall family was one that wouldn’t hesitate to attack those who attacked them.

After all, over a century ago, when Valed was not yet a country, the Cornewall family was the one that guarded the Dellarose border against the forces of Margot, and many famous war feats from the Dellarose was performed by Cornewall.

Though current society might have dulled the appearances of their fangs, it didn’t mean the willingness to fight was lost in the Cornewall bloodline.

Although, despite all of that, the divorce case might have gotten more complicated if we didn’t have Lysander and his group, the Dellarose Investigators, on our side…

You want to try to push the blame of your infidelity on the other person? Fine then. Let’s show society who you truly are.

All of his dirty little secrets, just how many women he really did ‘see,’ let’s show everyone the evidence.

What, you think I might have gotten a little invested if I had the Investigators involved in this?

Whatever might you be saying? Of course I don’t have a grudge against men who abandon their women and children, ohohoho…

Anyway, his mistress(es) were shocked that they weren’t the only ‘other woman,’ and a few of them who had been assuming they were his only mistress came forward with a willingness to testify.

Although I understand why Domestic Court would obscure the other party in the affair as long as it wasn’t directly relevant in the case, it was laughable how many of the ex-husband’s mistresses thought the affair in the case was about them.

In short, his entire sob story of unrequited love in the face of adversary fell apart … … in the end, Valed does value monogamy even if polygamy is allowed, and feigning monogamy while deceiving your partner is pretty abhorrent in this country, let alone the fact that he was pretending with almost every woman he had a relationship with.

Also, premarital relations are not acceptable.

If you truly want to be with a woman, you should marry her as another wife or a concubine.

Otherwise, it can be taken that you are knowingly participating in a relationship that you prefer to keep hidden, and therefore it’s a relationship that should not exist… … anyway, there are a lot of things that Aunt Brigida’s ex-husband did that ran against Valed’s cultural beliefs.

Of course, just because it goes against society’s cultural beliefs doesn’t mean that these types of acts are illegal, per se.

No one’s getting dragged to jail for having sex outside of wedlock or having an affair.

But if you’re suddenly thrown into a court case that needs you to prove your fidelity, these types of acts are damning at best.

In the end, he was slapped with the maximum fine due to his attempts to damage his wife’s reputation in order to preserve his own and dodge his responsibilities, Aunt Brigida successfully divorced while keeping custody of her children, and the entire Cornewall Household’s relationships were changed for the better.

Even though the Investigators did most of the work behind the scenes, the members of the Cornewall House all worked hard and did their best to support Aunt Brigida.

Why didn’t they help out when Mother’s reputation was being attacked?

Well, it’s a lot harder to attack an unknown opponent, after all. They did try to refute it a little, but it was drowned out in the false(ish) rumors being spread. Also … they probably felt the rumors were at least a little true.

It’s not just the Dellarose Household that’s aware of Mother’s bad points.

I don’t hold it against them, and neither does Mother … mostly. I do think it saddened her a bit, but once the rumors were cleared, THEN the Cornewall Household’s members began to oppose the naysayers more forcefully.

Especially after Aunt Brigida’s divorce, which happened shortly after the entire treasonous situation was cleared up.

I wonder if they were worried Mother was holding a grudge against them for not helping out, but once it was clear she was still for them as she publicly stood on Aunt Brigida’s side, they also became more obvious with their support for Mother.

Uncle Lyron and Aunt Alessa even took to coming by the Roseat every few months to check in on Mother and Brother and me.

Of course, Brother is enamored with Uncle Lyron, who is one of the strongest adventurers in Valed.

By the way, this will be the first time we meet both Aunt Brigida and Uncle Reynard.

Aunt Brigida is a Captain of the Royal Guard, after all, and now also a single mother, so I completely understand why she was unable to make it over here despite sending her regards more frequently.

She was only able to get vacation now, first taking her children to see Grandfather in the Cornewall Barondom before joining up with us to be able to be with the family as Brother and I are debuted.

Because, you know, we’re kind of a big deal during this Debut Season.

It’s also understandable why Uncle Reynard is unable to come over more frequently.

Because Grandfather visits too often!

Grandfather calls it ‘training the future Baron,’ but …. anyway, Uncle Reynard’s always left in charge of the Barondom when Grandfather disappears is inspecting the Barondom or visiting the Earl.

Haah….

Well, I can’t deny that, despite Mother’s past, her family is solid and reassuring.

At least, they are now even if they weren’t in the past.

I hope for their relations to be healed even more, now that Brother and my debuts are bringing everyone together into one place.

—

Extra

In Yabukoi, the treasonous poisoning incident wasn’t cleared up before Captain Brigida’s divorce case occurred.

Even though the Cornewall House, including Lady Estella, did attempt to help her, it was difficult for anyone to make too many large movements during the political unrest, and one of the points Captain Brigida’s husband brought up was that Captain Brigida was Lady Estella’s sister, and that it wouldn’t be unheard of if sisters shared similar traits.

Although the divorce still went through and the ex-husband was still required to pay a fine, the poor timing, the still malicious rumors swirling around, and the lack of the Dellarose Investigators made the case far more convoluted, the ex-husband’s many mistresses were left in the dark about how he was cheating even among them, and there was little to no reconciliation among the members of the Cornewall Barondom.

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<a/n: Remember, Lady Estella’s own OCD/neuroses was a big factor in her personality going haywire.
Although her siblings might have also received certain parts of those neuroses, such as a high temper, sensitivity to others, or a habit of over-thinking, poor Lady Estella was the one who received ALL of them in on package.
She was supposed to be a rotten noble, after all. It’s only natural that her basic nature was initially stacked against her.>