Ferdinand had scolded Rin for acting in such an unladylike manner, jumping out a window, rushing through the lower city without a carriage or escort, and all to save the life of a commoner. It was unbecoming of a noble.
Rin had told him to shove his schtoppe up his own ass and then turn it into a staff.
When an otherwise healthy girl suddenly collapses, that means there is a serious medical emergency, and in a serious medical emergency, a few seconds could be the difference between life and death. She was NOT going to wait the hour it would take to arrange for a proper visit for someone of her status.
Ferdinand had sighed, palming his eyes and calling Rin foolish, before asking her a question that caught her off guard.
"Is the girl alright?"
"...She is. Not that you care." Rin said defensively.
Ferdinand took out a sound blocking magic tool and tossed it to her.
"Just because I try to educate you about how your actions will have long reaching consequences, doesn't mean I don't care." Ferdinand said as soon as their voices were blocked from prying ears. "Your reaction to the girl's name was noticed by no less than three attendants of different Blue Priests, two of which had informed their masters, who then informed their factions. Soon, everyone will know that Tohsaka, the Archduke's adopted daughter and soon to be princess, has an unusual attachment to a commoner girl who volunteers her time in the orphanage."
The hairs on the back of Rin's neck stood on end. "I protect my people. There isn't anything unusual about that."
"There is when the difference in status is this large. People are already talking about how you favor the Gilberta Company far more than they are worth." Ferdinand said with a frown. "You don't get it. The Gilberta Company, the orphanage, Angelica and this Tuuli girl. They all have targets on them because they are all ways of hurting you. Ways that your enemies will exploit."
"What enemies? I have remained as neutral as possible, and with my gender, I am unlikely to inherit any rolls over that of a man. And with my control over the railroad, I have to remain neutral unless attacked. I have no enemies." Rin insisted, though she wasn't so sure of that.
"That might be true in the Temple. It might even be true in Ehrenfest, but the moment you enter the Royal Family, neutrality will be impossible. You will be forced into the political game whether you like it or not." Ferdinand countered. "If you let your emotions rule you, you will only put everyone around you in danger."
"I don't need you to tell me that!" Rin spat before tossing the magic tool back in Ferdinand's face and stomping her way out of the room, only stopping at the door to shout back her last two cents. "Have fun being dead inside, since you are too much of a coward to care about anything!"
She hated it. She hated politics.
There might have been a system of nobles among the Magi of her old world, but it was a system that could easily be ignored, at least by her.
Rin had spent much of her developmental years living alone, disconnected from magus society in Japan, the equivalent of the rural countryside by their standards, and once she actually entered that society for real, she was the apprentice of a True Magician and girlfriend of the Second Magus Killer, the dangers involved in messing with her prevented anyone from even trying, as it simply wasn't worth it.
She'd never really had to deal with politics at any moment in her life.
She hated that Sylvester had dragged her into politics by adopting her, and she was even more annoyed with the King for forcing her to become a Princess without asking for her consent. Not that she had much of a choice.
She could either become a princess or live in exile, cut off from both her money and the markets she could spend it with. And while she could definitely live like that, she would be kissing her research goodbye.
Though she was starting to honestly consider just kissing this entire world goodbye once she finished her Jeweled Sword replica. Take Angelica, Lieseleta, Nicola and a large crate of gold and Feystones and just run off to somewhere where the country hadn't fucked itself in the ass and where the air itself wasn't poison, preferably a place with a healthy black market for magic items, because this world SUCKED.
A world stuck in the Age of the Gods and not a SINGLE hero to be found anywhere. The only thing they had going for them was their 'Divine Instruments', which were extremely high quality Mystic Codes, rather than Divine Constructs.
"Lady Tohsaka, are you alright?" Nicola said, pulling her out of her fumming.
"I'm fine. Just angry at the High Priest. That's all." Rin said, palming her face as she tried to work out the stress.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Nicola said, looking down before cheering up. "Maybe having some sweets at the orphanage will help you feel better!"
"That sounds good to me." Taiga said, licking her lips.
Angelica also readily agreed, so Rin chuckled and shrugged her shoulders. "Why not. Let's take a break and see how everyone is doing."
Ferdinand palmed his face after Tohsaka had left.
The girl was usually capable of playing the part of a noble, at least when it came to manners, but actual politics evaded her for some reason.
She had too much confidence in her own value, believing that no one would risk turning her against them. She was too full of herself to realize just how many enemies she had been making.
The businesses she had been muscling into. The houses that were losing their sources of income. The territories that once held strategic trade value that were rendered worthless by her railroad. The nobles who were told to go fuck themselves when they came to the Temple for flower offerings, only to find out that Tohsaka now owned the orphanage, because the Archbishop had been too greedy to read the fine print on the contract, and she refused to allow them to take their pick of the girls. The political toes she stomped on by deeping Ehrenfest's connections to Ahrensbach and Fernbeltag. Not to mention the research on magic that she refused to share.
She ignored them, or was perhaps ignorant of them. She believed she was untouchable by such weak forces.
This was fairly common for children from large and powerful families, and is a notion that always has to be beaten out of them. Experience was the best teacher for just how wrong it was. The problem was that Tohsaka was going to the grand stage now, and she didn't react to confrontation the way a normal child in her position would.
Ferdinand didn't doubt that if the girl made an enemy, she would seek to destroy them with her full power. Which was not the correct response.
It invited fear and collusion between those who were hurt by the inevitable collateral damage that occurred when noble factions.
Problem was, she refused to listen to him, letting her childish nature get the better of her.
…This was going to have to be a hard lesson she learned herself. Ferdinand just hoped that it wouldn't crush her spirit.
"If something like that could break her, she'd never make it as a royal." Ferdinand mumbled before shaking his head. He had more files to get through in preparation for the Lord of Winter hunt.
"You are all becoming excellent cooks." Rin congratulated the children, who were all brimming with happiness as she sampled the different cheesecakes they had prepared the night before, taking very small pieces from each one so as to not show favoritism.
The sugar used was made from a type of beet that grew in Fernbeltag, which Rin had found in their imports, teaching the orphans the process to refine it into sugar. This was the very first batch they had ever made.
It wasn't a great species for making sugar, but it got the job done.
"So what do our judges think? Does new sugar hold up against old sugar?" Rin asked, glancing towards Brigitte and Angelica.
"Mm. It is very good. My favorite is the kind with berries mixed in." Angelica said, with the kind of smile that made the boys in the room, as well as some of the girls, blush.
"I can't believe you were able to make sugar as well, and in such a way that even commoners are going to be able to afford it." Brigitte said in awe. "The taste is a little different, but it is still good. And this cheesecake stuff is incredible."
"There you have it, three noble ladies all giving it their seals of approval." Rin said, causing the orphans to cheer.
"Alright kids. Break time is over. We still have a few projects that need to be completed before the first freezes roll in." Rosina said with a very ladylike chuckle before brushing the children off to get to work again.
"Thank you for coming. It really raises everyone's spirits." Wilma said as she came over to talk with Rin.
"Don't mention it. I am glad that everything is going so well for everyone." Rin said, taking a sip of her tea. "Speaking of, I know that the reports all say that Winter preparations are all complete, but are there any unexpected complications that I should be aware of?"
"No. We have more than enough to get through the Winter." Wilma insisted. "...But…"
"But?" Rin said, signaling the young woman to continue.
"There are some concerns involving your eventual leaving of the Temple. I'm worried about how we will fare next year if you are gone and if we should start to plan accordingly." Wilma said, voicing her concerns that the orphanage might return to what it had once been, only now with an extra hundred mouths to feed. Mouths that also would have problems with mana sickness.
"You don't need to worry. The workshop won't disappear even if I go to the Sovereignty. The only thing that will change is that, rather than being a workshop managed by the Archducal Family, it will be a workshop managed by the Royal Family." Rin said, reassuring the woman.
"That's… frightening in its own way." Wilma chuckled, struggling to maintain her ladylike smile.
Wilma and Rosina had been conditioned to act the part of noble ladies by their previous master, a Blue Priestess from an Archnoble family who was fond of the arts and treated those who were skilled in lt as if they were lesser nobles. So it was very funny when things happened that would strain their noble smiles, like dropping paperwork on them. It was cute.
"I'll leave behind a royal decree that no one should mess with the orphanage workshop, but since I will not actively be here, it will be up to you and the other adults to refuse and report any noble who tries to do anything." Rin stressed.
"I'll… do my best." Wilma replied with a swallow.
"I will be counting on you." Rin said, teasing the young woman a bit with a smile, until the door to the workshop opened and someone unexpected came in. "Tuuli…"
Tuuli had arrived, bundled in warm clothes and with their father carrying her in his arms, the same way he used to carry Myne everywhere.
"Hello, everyone." Tuuli said, seemingly embarrassed about being carried around.
"Tuuli! You're here!" Taiga cheered, openly displaying the emotions that Rin could not. "I'm glad to see you're freeing better. I mean, you are feeling better aren't you? You smell better."
"Taiga, please…" Tuuli said, trying to push away the blonde haired catgirl as she sniffed at her. "Yes. I'm feeling better, so please stop."
"That's good, but you showed up too late. We just finished with snack time." Taiga said, her ears drooping.
"That's alright, really." Tuuli said, putting up her hands in defense before looking over towards Rin. "Thank you for saving me the other day." She said with a bow.
"Think nothing of it. You have always been kind to everyone here, and kindness should always be repaid with kindness." Rin said, acting like a true noble woman.
"Still, thank you." Tuuli replied with a smile so pure that it made Rin's heart ache behind her mask.
Tuuli then went to help with some of the other children as they worked, leaving Gunther with Rin.
"Thank you so much for what you did for my daughter." Gunther said, going down on one knee before Rin.
"You don't need to thank me." Rin replied, not able to look into her father's face while he was like this.
"But I do. Even if it meant nothing to you, it means the world to us." Gunther said solemnly. "...A year ago today, Myne, my youngest daughter and Tuuli's little sister, died from the Devouring. The same sickness you saved Tuuli from."
"...I am afraid that you are mistaken. Tuuli didn't have the Devouring. It was nothing more than a common flu." Rin said, puzzling the guard.
"Wha… No it wasn't, her eyes were…"
"Gunther!" Rin said sharply, cutting the man off. "Your youngest daughter had the Devouring, that much is true. But the odds of two people in the same commoner family having it are one in a million. I know you believe that Tuuli had it, but I am telling you that you are mistaken. It was just a fever caused by a simple flu."
Rin then climbed down from her seat while Gunther stared at her in shock. Tuuli was also looking at them with confusion… as was everyone else in the orphanage.
"I would like to speak to you in private, if you wouldn't mind. Nicola, please head to many chambers and prepare things." Rin said, sending her attendant ahead while Angelica and Brigitte escorted her back to her room. After the doors were closed and Rin was sure no one was listening, she turned to the guard captain, her father, with a serious face. "Gunther, for your family's safety, you must never mention Tuuli having the Devouring ever again."
"...I don't understand." Gunther said in confusion.
"Commoner children being born with magic power is rare, but not that rare. The rarer part is them surviving with it. Magic power is poisonous to the body, and even nobles who are born with natural resistances to the toxic part of mana still will die if they don't regularly drain the mana from their bodies." Rin said as she started her explanation. "In order to survive, you need magic tools, which on top of costing 5 small gold coins on average, require a noble connection in order to obtain. Because of this, children with the Devouring usually end up having to become slaves of a noble in order to get them. You are extremely lucky that I am a good person and favor Tuuli so much, otherwise you would be in serious trouble."
"I see… then what is the problem? If it is money, we will pay it." Gunther said.
"It isn't the money. Nobles are willing to take Devouring children as slaves at such a cost because they are extremely valuable. And while they like to do things with formal contacts to cement their ownership, if they can't do that, they will be more than happy to simply force the child into slavery regardless." Rin said, shocking Gunther. "If word gets out that Tuuli is an unsigned child with the Devouring, some noble WILL take her away from you."
"No way." Gunther said in shock, his tanned skin paling. "Is there anything I can do?"
"...You can entrust her to me." Rin said. "If she becomes contracted to me, no one else would be able to force her into a contract."
"Would she still be taken away from us?"
"I'm afraid so. I'm actually not going to be in Ehrenfest for much longer myself. The Royal Family has taken an interest in me and I am being forcibly adopted by the King." Rin said solemnly. "Once I am, I will be leaving Ehrenfest forever, and Tuuli would have to follow me."
Rin hated how she felt in her heart, wanting so badly for Gunther to just say yes, to let her take her sister with her, knowing that it would still be putting her in danger, and how much it would hurt her mom and dad.
"As long as no one finds out, it will be fine, right?" Gunther said, not wanting to let his only remaining daughter go.
"...That is correct." Rin said, not wanting to bring up the fact that he had already stated the fact inside of the Temple Orphanage, and while Rin could put a hush order on it, there was still a chance of the truth leaking out.
"Then we will make sure that no one ever breathes a word of it. I'll protect Tuuli no matter what." Gunther said full of determination, not understanding the forces that he was declaring war again.
She prayed that his heroic spirit would be enough, and that her family would remain safe.