Editing Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance:Volume15 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 1===

Meanwhile, everyone at the Laurenfrost castle of Winter Gulf was gearing up for a celebration banquet.

Having stayed behind on her own to lead reconstruction efforts in Laurenfrost territory after the devastation brought by Zirnitra, it was only natural that Rinslet did not know about Kamito's group getting arrested upon their return to the Academy or the attempted assassination of the emperor at the imperial capital. After all, the mountain path through the Kyria Mountain Range, serving as the link between Laurenfrost and the imperial capital, had been damaged by Zirnitra's earlier rampage and had yet to be restored to a state suitable for passage.

While the castle was bustling in preparation for the celebrations, Rinslet was in a certain room, changing into the Academy uniform.

"...Sigh, I would really like to see Kamito-san sooner."

Just as she was sighing to herself...

"Lady Rinslet, Mireille-sama has finished her preparations."

From outside the door came the voice of Natalia, head maid and captain of the Wolf Ritters.

"I-I shall be there presently!"

Rinslet hastily finished changing and exited to the corridor.

Ahead in the corridor, Natalia's upright standing figure could be seen.

"Natalia, uh, I was talking to myself just now..."

"No, I did not hear any sound."

"I-Is that so...?"

Rinslet breathed a sigh of relief for now.

"However, I am sympathetic to your feelings of wanting to see your beloved as soon as possible."

"Natalia~!"

Thump thump thump.

Gone bright red in the face, Rinslet kept hammering her fists on the head maid's back. At that moment&mdash;

"Wait, Onee-sama, why are you playing around over here? Today is my important day, you know?"

Dressed in the Divine Ritual Institute's princess maiden attire, the third daughter, Mireille, walked towards them along the corridor from up ahead. Following her like a shadow was her personal maid, Milla Bassett. In the back was even the second daughter, Judia, sitting in a wheelchair.

Rinslet stopped hammering the head maid and coughed lightly.

"Mireille, it looks great on you."

Hearing Rinslet's comment, Milla nodded silently.

"Really? But it's harder to move around in these clothes compared to the castle's formal dress..."

Mireille frowned, lifted the hem of her ritual attire and spun around on the spot.

"Stop it. Unseemly behavior will incur the displeasure of spirits."

Seeing Mireille spinning, Rinslet pushed down on her head and stopped her.

"...Th-That would be a problem."

Mireille hastily settled down.

Indeed, Mireille was about to head out to a shrine to conduct a spirit contract ceremony.

Earlier, the border province of Laurenfrost had achieved reconciliation with the reclusive Forest Dwellers who lived in the forest all year round, thus reaching an agreement to rebuild the forest that had been destroyed by Zirnitra. As a return gift, the Forest Dwellers decided to present Mireille with one of their enshrined spirits.

The shrine for the spirit contract ceremony was to be the cave where the second Laurenfrost daughter, Judia, had been imprisoned under ''cursed ice''. Due to this complicated past, someone had suggested changing to a different venue. But now that it was known that the location was no longer dangerous, plus the fact that it was the most sacred shrine in the Laurenfrost region no matter what, hence in the end, preparations were still made to carry out the ritual there.

"I really wish Kamito-oniisama could see me in my formal attire."

Mireille murmured wistfully.

"In that case, how about inviting him to the next Winter Solstice Festival?"

Eyes closed, Judia spoke up. After being freed from the cursed ice, although her health was gradually recovering, her vision was still lost.

"Ah, that's true too. If that's the case, Onee-sama can show off her formal attire to Kamito-oniisama too."

"M-Mireille, please do not make fun of your elder sister!"

Blushing to her ears, Rinslet became flustered.

The Laurenfrost's Winter Solstice Festival's was a festival whose fame spread not only within the Empire's borders but also reached all the other nations. During the festival, snow sculptures of all kinds of spirits would be found all over the city, drawing in large numbers of sightseeing tourists... As a side note, in recent years, snow sculptures of Ren Ashbell were the most dominant in terms of numbers.

As dictated by tradition, the Winter Solstice Festival was presided by princess maidens from the Laurenfrost family. Hence, if Kamito were to be invited here, he would naturally see the Laurenfrost sisters in their formal attire.

"Mireille-sama, the time&mdash;"

At that moment, Milla the maid reminded.

"Then let's go&mdash;"

Leaving behind the wheelchair-bound Judia and head maid Natalia, Mireille and company set off for the shrine.