Weekly chapters (1/2)
You can read the interlude vol.3 here:
https://travistranslations.com/novel/61644/the-holy-grail-of-eris/vol-3-chapter-8
It seems there is error on Travis site, so I’ll post this chapter over there tomorrow.
Enjoy~
Translator: Raizu
Editor: Schwartz13
Volume 4 chapter 1
On that day, a young girl came into the deserted Lytton’s store.
“Please help me!”
Lytton is a mid-level tailor who takes on laundry and delivery of clothing as a side business. Of course, the clients vary, but the most orders are from the lowest level of maids of the Castiel family, those who cannot afford a uniform with their name on it.
In the case of the Castiel family, all the maids’ uniforms were provided with the family crest, and Lytton’s job was to tailor them and to go to the Castiels’ detached dormitory once a week to exchange used uniforms for laundered ones for the maids who lived and worked there.
“I woke up this morning and my clothes were gone! It must have been Matilda!”
From what she said, it appeared that the girl was a live-in maid for the Castiel family.
“What is your assignment?”
Lytton asked as he rolled up the list of names he had taken out of the drawer. It is not unusual for a housemaid to visit Litton’s store for spare maid’s uniforms, regardless of the Castiel family. Especially in live-in dormitories with many young girls. The reasons for this vary from being splashed with tea to being tearing them apart, a sort of rite of passage for which he sympathizes. Still, as a formality, he made sure to check the assignments and names, though.
“I’m a laundry maid.”
But, the unexpected answer stopped his hand from holding the list. Laundry maids don’t last long. The young girls are lucky if they last three days. The list had long since been discontinued because it had become too bothersome to rewrite it, since all but the oldest members were replaced so quickly.
Well, okay.
Scratching his head, Lytton picked out a dark blue uniform from the shelf and handed it to her. The girl’s face burst into a smile and she thanked him.
She had hazel hair, bright green eyes, an ordinary girl who could be found anywhere.
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Vanessa was stretching the wrinkled linen she had just finished hanging in the wringer with a hot iron. The iron is hot and heavy, and it burns easily if you let up even a little. So she had to keep her back bent and stay steady the whole time. Her back was damaged from such overuse, and recently even standing up was painful. Even so, when they were Vanessa’s daughters, they all tried very hard to hone their skills. ――― Young girls these days give up after not three days, but three hours.
The bell rang and it was an unfamiliar girl who came to pick up the finished linens. It happens all the time. The laundry maid doesn’t last. Vanessa knew that, but she could not suppress her annoyance and raised her voice.
“What’s wrong with Cassie?”
The wringer makes noisy sounds. It is impossible to have a conversation without speaking loudly. This is the second reason why the laundry maid does not continue.
“She has a headache!”
“Huh? I think you are wrong with ‘dumb-head’!”
Young people these days are always trying to feign illnesses. She handed her a pile of folded linen in a basket with a grumble. It was probably heavier than expected, and the girl wobbled back a step or two with the basket in her arms.
“Hey! If you drop it, I won’t forgive you!”
Vanessa couldn’t resist yelling at her. If that happens, she has to start all over again.
“Yes!”
A vigorous voice comes out of her petite body. The reply alone was quite admirable. But then again, there are often girls like that.
“Listen up, laundry maid lesson Number 1! You must be proud, not dusty!”
“Yes sir!”
As expected, only the reply was splendid. Then the problem is whether she can last for three days―――no, three hours. Vanessa looked at the girl again.
Her hazel hair and bright green eyes. The more she looked at her, the more she realized that she was an ordinary girl who could be found anywhere.
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Constance Grail was holding a basket and pushing forward in the corridor on the second floor. It is terribly long and she cannot see the end of it. What’s going on with this mansion―――no, it’s a castle now.
After a while, light came in, and the sound of excited voices could be heard coming from downstairs. The atrium was a cylindrical hall, where an elderly gentleman was playing with young ladies, his face blushing red.
“Oh no. It’s Jared the jerk.”
Scarlett gave him a look as if he were an insect. When Connie inclined her head, Scarlett put an affectionate smile on her beautiful face.
“He’s my debaucherous uncle. He used to come here once in a while when I was alive, but I didn’t know he was still alive. Why doesn’t he just rot away?”
Connie was too afraid to ask what it was. Scarlett gave Connie instructions with a nonchalant look on her face as if nothing had happened.
“Turn left at the corner.”
“Next right.”
“Go up the stairs.”
“Straight ahead, straight ahead.”
This is how she arrived at the Long Gallery, a walkway-style art exhibition room. The white stucco ceiling is covered with sacred paintings, and the side walls are filled with beautifully decorated mirrors and paintings. On the pedestal are jewelry, ornaments, and sculptures of great people.
“There is an overhanging window at the far end. Go to the front of the plate armor statue.”
It is true there was armor faintly visible. So that is where I should aim for, she thought as she readjusted her arms to her basket, and regained her spirit. ―――At that moment…
“―――What are you doing?”
As if prompted by an intimidating voice, she turned around and saw a figure at the entrance of the room. Pale gold hair and reddish purple eyes. A man with cool-headed good looks.
“….Older brother.”
Scarlett muttered in dumbfounded.
She wonders if he is the next head of the family, Maximilian Castiel. There are rumors about him. It is said that he is a man of high morals unlike his sister. She remembered that his wife was a noblewoman of Faris.
Maximilian looked at her as if he were looking at a suspicious person. Scarlett immediately turned to Connie. “―――tell him that Jared called you.”
“…Lord Jared called for me, Sir.”
“What?”
Maximilian squinted quickly.
“He told me to come here.”
“―――That pig. Did he get another bad lover? I told him the next time he messes with someone in the house, I’ll castrate him. ……But then again, it seems his taste has…… changed…… a lot. ……”
Do the Castiel family members somehow know how to scoop out the minds of ordinary people? Connie bowed her head, somewhat hurt by the sincere tone of voice without malice.
“So please allow me to be of service―――”
“Huh? Are you stupid? Just go back to your post. I’ll go talk to him.”
After giving a clear order, he returned without listening to Connie’s answer. Connie’s heart was relieved as she watched his back getting smaller.
As they walked among a sea of period-cut artwork, Scarlett muttered.
“―――not much of a resemblance, is it?”
Hm? Connie thought so and looks at Scarlet.
“Tell me honestly. The color of his hair? The looks? Oh, or maybe his personality?”
The words finally made sense to Connie. ‘You mean Maximilian’. At the same time, her mouth slips.
“Eh, you two look alike, don’t you?”
“Huh?”
“Eh?”
Scarlett’s eyes widened in surprise. Connie is more surprised by that reaction.
“…… Which parts?”
“It’s that…… attitude of not thinking of people as people when you give them orders.”
Also, the part where he calls people “you” as a matter of course. They are so much alike.
Scarlett looked as if she had been caught off guard, and then she burst out laughing.
“I’ve never heard anyone say that to me before.”
“Really?”
“Yes, it is. Because my brother has blond hair, and his eyes are indeed the color of Royalty, but they are a slightly different shade from mine, and he is smart and diligent.”
The fact that it came out of her mouth so easily means that she had been thinking that way for some time. It was a little surprising. That Scarlett Castiel would say such a thing.
“Besides, even our mother is different.”
Connie stopped her walk.
“Oh, you don’t know? In our time, it was a tacit understanding.”
―――Ten years is longer than she thought. Her voice, somewhat lonely, falls on the cold corridor.
“Do you know Cornelia of the Star Crown?”
Connie nodded. It was the name of the last imperial Princess from the days when the neighboring country of Faris was still a huge Empire―――and falling apart.
At that time, Faris was actively marrying tribal Chiefs and national Royalty from the invaded lands and attempting to indirectly control the province by incorporating them into the imperial bloodline. Of course, the imperial family had to be pure-blood Faris, so the chosen receivers were any of the high-ranking nobles who were loyal to the Empire. The chosen house was called filthy blood and was avoided, but it was said that it had a great deal of influence.
Cornelia’s father was the youngest son of the Emperor at the time, and when he fell in love with the daughter of filthy blood, they married as if they were eloping. Cornelia Farris was born with a crown as large as the number of stars on her head, and was called “Star Crown,” meaning that she was the first person in the history of the Empire to have the right to succeed to the throne.
The Empire was then broken up due to the rebellion of the provinces, and the Royal family was executed one after another, but Cornelia Farris was safe because she was studying in the neutral Republic of Soldita at the time. She went into exile, and her whereabouts are unknown. According to one theory, she remained in the Republic and married the son of the head of state.
The sheet metal armor made of dull shining steel was already in front of them. Scarlett pointed to the head of the armor.
“In there.”
It did not take much strength to remove the head. It seems that the head is not connected to the body, but there is a human-shaped support inside, and it is covered by the support.
With a metallic clank, a wax doll’s face appeared from inside. Connie’s eyes widened. A black mask covered the upper half of the doll’s flat face, from its sunken eyes to its nose.
The material was similar to the starless night sky―――black jet, perhaps.
”In the countryside of the Republic of Soldita, there was a girl who was said to have the blood of Cornelia of the Star Crown. If that is true, and if this were the times, I am sure that all rulers of the continent would have kneeled to her and sworn their allegiance.”
Scarlett muttered.
“Alienor the Uncrowned. ――― that’s my mother.”
Nega Translations 