"Mm…"
Rin was like puddy in Rihyarda's both gentle and and rough hands as she scrubbed her down in a bath, rubbing away tiny layers of dead skin and dirt that Rin hadn't even realized were there, despite Structural Analysis. The feeling of it was heavenly.
She could certainly get used to this, though she supposed she would have to replace the soaps they used with ones that were better for skin and haircare.
"You are the most well behaved child I have ever given a bath to. This is a much different experience than with those boys." Rihyarda said as she washed the last of the soap out of Rin's hair.
"Is that so? Sylvester mentioned that you had served several people in the past, but other than Ferdinand, he didn't give any names. He just said that they were all misbehaving children." Rin said, as a way of making idle conversation with her new head attendant for her time at the castle.
"Oh, just a few people. The Knight Commander Karstedt, the Head Scholar Ozpin, the chief of finances Dolred, and Sylvester himself. Young master Ferdinand was the least energetic of the children, but he came with his own set of challenges." Rihyarda said.
"I'm guessing his personality was no better when he was a child." Rin said, impressed by the woman's resume.
Rihyarda was an attendant Archnoble who had been serving the Archducal family for years and was of high enough status to basically boss anyone and everyone around, and those who she couldn't boss around because of social status, she could boss around because she had taken care of them in diapers.
She was one of the few people who could and would burst into the Archduke's office and lecture him whenever he was acting irresponsibly.
"Try not to hold it against him. He's a good but troubled boy." Rihyarda said before lowering her voice. "And Milady should be careful about Lady Veronica."
"And she is?" Rin asked, keeping her voice quiet but her tone relaxed.
"Young Master Sylvester's mother, and the reason that Ferdinand is the way he is." Rihyarda said. "If you aren't in the routine of having your food checked, I'd suggest you start."
"I always check my food. But thanks for the warning." Rin replied with a sigh.
By being adopted by the Archduke, she was technically in the running for the seat of Aub.
Rin would say technically, because she was not even an Ehrenfest noble by blood, so no one would support her in becoming the Aub, for the same reason no one would elect a man from another country to be their president. But the world of politics was not a world full of rational people.
Even if Rin's chances at the seat were functionally zero and she didn't want it, others might be encouraged to try to make sure she didn't get it.
Well, it wasn't like she wasn't used to having to keep an eye open for people who were trying to kill her for various reasons. That was just part of being a magus.
Her bath complete, she was dried off and given some clothes to were, which seemed to have been borrowed from a child of one of the high rank servants of the castle, one RIn's age. …Or a year younger than her, and it was still a little big.
She cursed her tiny body as Rihyarda commented on just how small she was for her age.
The high ether density in this world's mana caused several problems in those who could not deal with it, including a delayed growth cycle. Despite being able to deal with it more actively now, the quantity of it that she had to process made her remain rather small.
Rin's tiny little body really was absurd, as despite her size, she was dealing with quantities of mana equal to those she had in her previous life at the end of the end of her growth period. When she was fully grown, she'd probably rival monsters like Aoko in the quality of her magic circuits.
Her ascent to becoming a magician was basically assured.
The dress was not exactly Rin's style, being one of those made with the idea that lots of cloth to show off how wealthy you are is the height of fashion. By design, she needed several ribbons to hold some of it up so that she could even walk, and holding things with those sleeves would forever be awkward.
Rin couldn't wait for the introduction of the cotton gin and the spinning loom to render cloth super cheap and basically kill this dumb trend, introducing more practical dresses and stockings. Things that let you show off your shapely thighs.
Hopefully that will all be in place by the time she was old enough for it.
Rihyarda changed RIn's hairstyle from the straight twintails she always wore as a child to the two-up-side style she wore as a teen. The woman has good tastes.
As Rihyarda guided her to the children's section of the castle, where the Archduke's children would stay until they were baptized, Rin asked the woman about the other members of the family, their ages, backgrounds and interests, earning the old woman's approval.
They met with Sylvester who gave Rin a quick up and down before nodding his approval and leading her in to meet the family.
There was more than just the family in the room, since attendants and guards were there, but based on Rihyarda's description, Rin managed to pick out who she was there to meet.
A woman in her late twenties with long blonde hair tied up in a swirling fashion around her head, dressed in a gown in various shades of green, indicating the colors of the season, with golden trim that expertly hid the seams where the different cloths met. Her blue eyes were kind and she held the hand of a young girl who was around four years old, with golden hair drills, wearing a similar dress, though with more ribbons and with her shoulders and neck concealed.
The hair style of the child poked something in the back of Rin's mind, but the child's eyes were pure and full of curiosity, so Rin brushed the feeling away.
There two would be Florencia, the Archduke's first and only wife, and Charlotte, his daughter.
Behind them was a maid holding a bundle containing a newborn baby, just a few months old, who had blue hair and a pudgy sleeping face.
That would be Melchior, the youngest son, born during the Winter.
Meanwhile, an older woman, who was wearing a black veil which was attached to a tiara with a magic stone in it, stood off to the side with a young boy. Her veil was a magic tool that turned the cloth into a sort of one way mirror to hide the woman's facial expressions, and her aging face.
This was Veronica, and the five year old boy standing next to her would be Wilfried.
He looked just like a miniature vision of his father, save for his blond hair and blue eyes, right down to the expression on his face that made you think he was moments away from getting bored and wandering off. Likely the reason his grandmother was holding onto his hand tightly.
"Tohsaka, this is your new mother Florencia, and your brothers and sister, Wilfried, Melchior and Charlotte. Everyone, this is Tohsaka, please treat her nicely." Sylvester said, quickly handling the introductions all at once. Notably neglecting to mention Veronica, which was telling that the woman was not about to accept Rin easily.
Rin gave a graceful bow for them. "Greetings to you all. May our meetings, as ordained by the pure rivers flowing from Flutrane the Goddess of Water, be blessed." Rin said, firing off a blessing from her ring, the green light blanketing everyone in the room.
The servants were certainly impressed, but their voices were drowned out by another. "Hey! That's not fair!" Wilfried said, finally interested enough to pay attention. "Why is it that she has a ring when I don't?"
"Wilfried…" Sylvester said in a warning tone, though Rin was already at work.
"I… suppose it is improper for a girl who isn't yet baptized to have one, isn't it." She said as she looked down at her hand and held the ring close to her. "But… it's the only thing I have left of my old family. I… Do I… really have to give it up?"
She looked at them with such pitiful puppy dog eyes that froze mid objection, her eyes even watering as she reinforced her tear ducts to make them produce.
Florencia was the one to come forward and start to pat Rin's hand, comforting her. "No dear, of course not." She said, shelling Rin from view so that no one could see her cry. "We understand. No one will try to take it away."
"Thank you." Rin said before looking towards Florencia's necklace. "A guardian star necklace."
Florencia blinked, her hand going up to it. "You know about it?"
Rin nodded. "My mother told me about them. She said that a wedding necklace made with two small Feystones given by the bride's parents is supposed to mean that the parents will be keeping an eye on their daughter and make sure that the husband treats her as a husband should." Rin said thoughtfully. "But… I haven't seen anyone else using that design since I came to Ehrenfest."
It was a trend in Frenbeltag, the home Duchy of Florencia and supposably Rin as well. Rin had studied all of the trends one might expect a three-year-old girl to maybe know about, since that would be about the time the purge took place for her.
A normal wedding necklace was made with the engagement Feystone given to the woman by her husband to be, which were usually high quality Feystones if the woman was of high status, and would be dyed with the man's magic power. In Frenbeltag, the parents would add two more small Feystone dyed with their magic power that would be connected on either side to the main one by a thin chain.
"That's right. I got the stones from my mother and father when I agreed to marry Sylvester." Florencia said with a sad smile.
"...You lost your parents too, didn't you?" Rin said, surprising the woman. Not that it was a secret at all that Florencia's parents, the previous Archduke and Archduchess of Frenbeltag had been on the losing side of the civil war and thus lost their lives in the purge. "I'm sorry."
"Yes. I am too." Florencia said, smiling softly.
Sylvester watched this exchange with a barely raised eyebrow.
Girl works fast.
As it turned out, Ferdinand was right. Not that Sylvester should be surprised about that at this point.
Finding a knight willing to go into the Temple and watch after Tohsaka was proving to be difficult. The only one who was even remotely willing was Eckhart, but he had to be kept separated from Ferdinand for political reasons, and the only reason he wanted to do it was to be with his old master.
It had been four weeks already, with a long gap in the middle when he had went to the Archducal Conference, and Sylvester was finally done looking for volunteers and was going down the list of people who he could pressure to take the job without fear of them taking revenge on the girl, when Rihyarda arrived to give a report.
"How is the young lady adapting?" Sylvester asked the woman.
"Shockingly fast." Rihyarda admitted. "She was already nearly done with etiquette to begin with, and the fact that she can read, write and knows her numbers can go without saying. If anything, she showed off and taught the tutor things that he didn't know yet."
"As expected." Sylvester said, nodding his head and thinking about the things Ferdinand had said about the child.
"She knows the ancient language and mathematics better than Moritz. She learned how to play the harspiel as well as a professional after just a few minutes of holding the instrument. After showing an interest in Gewinnen, Ozwin played a few games with her, and she beat him every time, despite having only just had the rules explained to her. She also defeated one of the apprentice knights in a sparring match." Rihyarda said, listing off Tohsaka's achievements over the last few days. "Milady really is a genius. The only thing she needs to brush up on is recent history, as while she knows that the civil war happened, she is unsure of the cause."
"And older history?" Sylvester asked.
"It seems she had been exchanging helping Young Master Ferdinand with paperwork for access to his old class notes on the subject." Rihyarda said before looking at Sylvester with a critical stare. "Speaking of which, why is it that half of all of your scholars' work ends up at the Temple?"
"I… That is to say… I thought Ferdinand could use something to pass the time while he was there." Sylvester said awkwardly.
"Unbelievable!" Rihyarda said, her brow twitching as she switched into lecture mode. "When are you going to grow up and handle things on your own? Is this the kind of example you wish to set for your children?"
Sylvester winced as the woman who had helped to raise him dug into him, while he had no defense. His status as Archduke meant nothing in these kinds of situations. His only option was to change the subject. "Is Tohsaka getting along with Charlotte and Wilfried?"
"...She takes time to assist in making sweets for them and is kind towards them when they are around. Charlotte seems very taken with her, but… Tohsaka herself doesn't honestly see them as family." Rihyarda admitted.
"I see." Sylvester said, not really surprised. "The girl is like Hirschur after all, so she naturally has little tolerance for people who get between her and her research."
"It goes a little deeper than that." Rihyarda said with a shake of her head. "While adoptions are normal in noble society and it is common sense that an adopted child be treated like any other member of the family, she doesn't seem to view it that way. In her eyes, you are only seeking to benefit from her and she is only seeking to benefit from you. No trust and no familiar connection."
"I guess I left a bad first impression on her." Sylvester said, feeling guilty.
It was definitely true that he had adopted the girl because it was what was best for the Duchy, but that didn't mean he didn't intend to treat her like she was his daughter.
He and Florencia had seen her every night after dinner to ask her about her day and try to get closer to her, the same way they did with all of their children, but Tohsaka had remained distant to them, speaking professionally and maintaining an almost constant guard.
She would speak to him about some things, but keep things hidden as well, as if afraid if she revealed her tricks that he would no longer have use for her and would discard her. Like how she wouldn't speak to him about how she had brought the Spring when other territories tried to reproduce her feat and failed. None of them had a clue as to how she had activated the stage, not even Ferdinand could figure it out, much to his frustration.
"Her safety has always depended upon being seen as valuable to those around her and she is used to it being that way. She only acts like a child to manipulate others. Even when Florencia is kissing her goodnight, it is like she is bracing herself for an attack. She's had a rough life." Sylvester said solemnly.
Rihyarda couldn't deny that. Much like Ferdinand, Tohsaka didn't trust anyone around her. Not the adult attendants that had been assigned to her. Not the children who would try to play with her. Not her adopted parents or siblings. Not even Rihyarda herself.
Though unlike Ferdinand, she did a better job of hiding it.
"Maybe we should try to find some time off and take the kids for a picnic or something." Sylvester said after giving it some thought.
"I'll see about scheduling it." Rihyarda said with a nod of her head.
Rin's experience with adoptions of this kind is the Matou family, so naturally, she doesn't trust any of them. She believes that all she is to them is a tool for making money, influence and eventually babies. Which let's be honest, she isn't wrong.
I'll be going into this a little more next chapter, but her original plan was to use magecraft to mind control whatever family adopted her to assure her safety (yeah, she can do that. Not a useful skill when fighting Servants or aware Magi, but one she has). She is only stopped from doing that by the fact that she was adopted by the Archduke, who is in the middle of everything, rather than a Geibe who lives on the outer edge of the Duchy like she had planned.
And as stated, her choices now that she had been publicly adopted by the Archduke are to either accept it or run away and start over from nothing, with nothing but what she can carry with her. Which wouldn't be too bad, since she can always duck into a place and mindfuck people into believing she is their daughter, but not optimal. (She couldn't do that for a noble family to being with because people would question why they adopted a child out of no where)