Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 4.4 - Chapter Ep

Epilogue

The lengthy meetings and luncheons spent discussing the Archduke Conference had finally come to a close, and the aub of Ahrensbach, Lord Gieselfried, had returned to his duchy for the first time in what felt like an eternity. He sat in his room, sipping the tea prepared for him by his attendant, and sighed. Georgine, on the other hand, showed no exhaustion even in these private quarters; despite how tiring the Archduke Conference had proved, she simply let out a refined laugh. She was from Ehrenfest, and despite having been wed into Ahrensbach as a third wife, she was now its first.

“You seem tired, Lord Gieselfried. But you may rest well knowing that we accomplished much during this year’s conference,” Georgine said. “It is delightful that Lady Letizia will most likely have a partner soon.”

“Indeed. In the next year or so, an archduke candidate who will serve as her groom should be introduced to us,” Gieselfried replied. His granddaughter’s engagement had concerned him more than any other matter addressed during the conference. He had asked for a royal or an archduke candidate worthy of becoming her groom, and his request had been accepted.

Despite having been on the winning side of the civil war, Ahrensbach had lost its second wife to the great purge, and her children had been spared only on the condition that they would be demoted to archnobles. The second wife had not been directly involved in the civil war, to be clear; she had been implicated purely because she was the little sister of Aub Werkestock, a supporter of the first prince, who was responsible for the civil war, and the fourth prince, who had proceeded to drag out the conflict.

At the time, Gieselfried had prioritized saving the lives of the second wife’s children, and since Georgine’s son Wolfram was still alive, he hadn’t feared for his duchy’s future. But the boy soon passed, and all of the daughters except Detlinde were married away.

Gieselfried had contacted Drewanchel, into which his first wife’s daughter had been wed, and sought an adoption with his granddaughter. Letizia had then come to Ahrensbach after they relinquished a youngest daughter (and no better) for the deal. She had already been selected as the next aub and was being trained for that purpose. During the Archduke Conference, Gieselfried had asked for an archduke candidate who would support Letizia as her husband and protect Ahrensbach moving forward. Unless the king gave his order soon, by the time Letizia began attending the Royal Academy, the most ideal older archduke candidates would already be engaged to others. He needed to hurry.

“It seems the king has a child with his third wife, the one from Dunkelfelger,” Gieselfried remarked. “I recall Aub Dunkelfelger saying something about it. Hopefully that child is a son and is in the same year as her...”

“Would we not struggle to wed royalty into Ahrensbach?” Georgine asked.

“We are only facing our current predicament because the royals and those from Klassenberg forced their purge upon us. They feel at least somewhat responsible, so we have something of a chance.” Slowly but surely, Ahrensbach was crumbling to pieces, and the insufficient size of its archducal family was mostly to blame; there were just too few people available to perform Mana Replenishment.

“Then Lady Letizia is taken care of. What shall we do about Detlinde’s groom? I had thought Lord Wilfried would make an excellent choice, but it would seem that his engagement to Lady Rozemyne has removed that possibility.”

Finding a groom for Detlinde had thus far proved to be a challenge; Letizia was already set to become the next aub, so they didn’t want someone who would stir up discord within the duchy. They needed a groom who wouldn’t push Detlinde to take the archduke seat instead, but few men were so meek. Wilfried had apparently been an excellent pick because he had committed an unforgivable crime in Ehrenfest and would therefore be unable to have such high ambitions in another duchy.

“A shame, considering how rare it is for an archduke candidate to have tarnished their reputation,” Gieselfried mused. Such information seldom leaked to other duchies; he had acquired it only because Georgine herself was from Ehrenfest.

“According to Detlinde and Professor Fraularm, Lady Rozemyne was raised in the temple. Perhaps it was convenient for them to wed two equally flawed candidates,” Georgine said, her eyes lowered in an expression that made it impossible to tell whether she found this a great inconvenience or of no importance whatsoever.

Gieselfried frowned, recalling the rumors that had been flying around from the Interduchy Tournament all the way to the Archduke Conference. “That reminds me—they say that this archduke candidate, Rozemyne, is responsible for all of the new trends in Ehrenfest. Is this true? Does your camp have any intelligence on Ehrenfest?” he asked.

“We had a feast in the castle when I last returned home, but they did not serve any of the food or sweets they offered during this year’s Archduke Conference. I know that new sweets were provided at tea parties either hosted or attended by Lady Rozemyne’s family, but that is all. And as you know, I have not been allowed to return to Ehrenfest since, so I am not particularly up to date on current affairs. That said, I do have reports from Detlinde’s attendant, Martina, and there is no doubting that Lady Rozemyne is leading these trends herself.”

“The problem with Fraularm is that her reports cannot be trusted. What purpose does she even serve as a dormitory supervisor?”

Despite her being a professor with a supposed specialization in the gathering and control of information, Fraularm’s reports tended to be highly subjective. Those from Ahrensbach had initially taken them at face value, which had greatly warped their understanding of the situation in Ehrenfest. As a result, despite their leaders being connected by blood, they had ended up far behind other duchies in diplomacy. It was quite a terrible situation indeed.

“I shall warn her myself, dear, so take care not to be too harsh with her,” Georgine said. “A direct scolding from the aub would only introduce unnecessary friction.”

There was also the Count Bindewald incident. Gieselfried accepted Georgine’s proposal and instructed her to give Fraularm a harsh warning against providing inaccurate reports.

“I will speak to Professor Fraularm and instruct Detlinde to strengthen relations with Ehrenfest,” Georgine said. “Incidentally... Ladies Aurelia and Bettina also had their marriages settled during the Archduke Conference, and we can trust they will provide us with intelligence going forward. Lord Lamprecht is the second son of the Ehrenfest knight commander, Lord Karstedt, and is Lady Rozemyne’s older brother by blood. He also serves as Lord Wilfried’s guard knight. We are sure to receive much information on Ehrenfest internal affairs.”

Gieselfried’s niece, Aurelia, was being wed to Lamprecht, the son of the Ehrenfest knight commander. Gieselfried saw no issue with this development, but... “Would Aurelia not have been enough?” he asked. “Did we have to force Bettina’s marriage too?”

“A single marriage would have been refused. Considering the market next year and our future relationship with Ehrenfest, wedding them both was the superior move,” Georgine replied. Her gaze then became somewhat distant, as though she had suddenly remembered something. She brought her red lips into a slight pout, as she often did when deep in thought. “Speaking of which, according to an old childhood friend of mine whom I spoke to briefly at the conference, there is a rumor that Ehrenfest’s new trends are in truth coming from Lady Rozemyne’s guardian, Lord Ferdinand.”

“Ferdinand...?” Gieselfried repeated. “I have heard that name before.” It was a distant memory, but from what he could recall, all of the Ehrenfest archduke candidates who had attended the Royal Academy were either eccentric enough to be widely discussed or intelligent enough to have achieved remarkable grades and commendations.

“Lord Ferdinand was taken in by my father soon after I wed, it seems. I met him for the first time during my last visit. My understanding is that he returned to noble society but went to the temple after graduating. He was present only at the beginning and end of my visit, when greetings and farewells were necessary. Do you know anything about him? As you recall, before I became first wife, I was in no real position to hear about the outside world.”

“A first-in-class candidate who entered the temple, hm...?” Gieselfried mused, now piecing it all together. He could picture the highly competent archduke candidate who had once been forced into the temple, only able to display his talents indirectly through Rozemyne. Such a person would surely be quite a catch. It seemed an unfortunate waste to let such a multitude of demonstrated talents go unused, and with that thought, like electricity sparking from one point to another, Gieselfried had an idea.

“You seem to have thought of something. Might I ask what it is?” Georgine asked, her dark-green eyes sweet and hopeful. Her lips were curled into a more visible smile than usual, as if urging him to answer.