The Crazy Daughter of the Duke's Family - Book One: Pandora

Chapter 6: Far Up and Away

She looked at him dazedly for a second. 'So it was just dirt, not freckles, huh?' Slightly disappointed, Rowena received a steaming cup of tea just as she looked at Norina and was surprised. "How did you do it so fast?"

Norina, completely unaware of her mistress's actual confusion, began to laugh warmly. 'She is so cute sometimes, making jokes like that to cover her shyness.' Of course, she had to help her. "We prepared it beforehand, my lady."

Rowena realized the nature of the tin bottles from before. They didn't have thermos flasks here because they didn't know how that technology would work, but they did have man-made artifacts with Mana Stones that would heat everything inside or keep it at a preset temperature.

It was just a minor gadget, so she forgot about it. Mana Stones were rather rare in this world, but nobles would have such objects.

A Mana Stone could be influenced by a person who was able to manipulate Mana. The whole process was based on intention. A stone already filled with one intention could not be inscribed with another.

For example, a stone that was supposed to heat up something in the container it was part of, could not be changed to a stone that would cool things down, or make something float.

The more the stones had to work, the faster their energy was used up. As a result, tiny objects with the stones built in, such as those bottles, would become useless when the stone exceeded its limit and crumbled.

Normally, devices with Mana Stones inside could last for decades if they were checked frequently and had their stones refilled with Mana by a Spellkeeper – no, a High Priest in this world. And bigger ones, like fridges, were made so that the Stone could be replaced if needed as well.

'They're so versatile, if you're good at your craft and give it a one-track command, those things can do almost anything except for your homework,' she thought in regret, 'not that I tried or anything.'

A little interested, she looked down into her cup, only then realizing that she had not even acknowledged the High Priest in front of her.

Without so much as looking up, in an effort to make her pause seem more natural, she opened her mouth: "How should I address you, if not as Sir?"

She read nothing into the renewed silence, while the men and women around her felt the urge to pat her on the head.

Her petite frame could only be described as "delicate", and the way she hunched over her iron mug, red with steam rather than embarrassment, made her look very vulnerable.

Logan Randall had been a part of the Duchy's Brigade for quite some time. He had joined at the age of fifteen, now he was twenty-one. Back then, shortly after he had enlisted, he had heard how everyone was worried about the sick young lady. He didn't know exactly what happened, but the manor was in chaos for days because she wouldn't wake up.

Afterwards, it was said that the lady was an insufferable and entitled child, filled with hatred and anger. She was also said to be quite eccentric, apparently trying to get her own servants into trouble by pretending to be mistreated so that her father would pay attention to her, which never worked.

All these stories, and more, would go around the estate, its servants, and finally reach the knights' training grounds, where they usually fell on deaf ears. A knight didn't care about entitlement, he cared about lineage.

When they swore allegiance to the head of a household, they were swearing to that family as well, so anyone by the same name had to be treated utmost respect until the one they swore allegiance to said otherwise.