Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 4.5 - Chapter 7

The Wedding on the Border

For today, I had made my Pandabus especially large. I was transporting Fran, Monika, and Nicola as my temple attendants, two of Ferdinand’s temple attendants, Hugo as my personal chef, and four castle chefs, as well as the offerings and divine instruments needed for the Starbind Ceremony. As for my noble retainers, there were Ottilie and Brunhilde as my attendants, Hartmut as my scholar, and Angelica and Leonore as my guard knights. I had prioritized bringing Leisegang-related nobles since we were going to be staying in the Leisegang summer mansion, and Angelica was coming because she was engaged to Eckhart. Everyone else was staying behind.

Cornelius was coming along not as my guard knight but as the groom’s younger brother. Likewise, Karstedt was coming as the groom’s father, rather than the commander of the Knight’s Order, so Sylvester’s guards were being organized around the vice-commander.

Since the ceremony called for the participation of both archducal families, Wilfried and Charlotte were coming with the archducal couple. Bonifatius might have been expected to come with us in that sense, but he was already retired, so it was perfectly acceptable for him to stay behind. He was going to be guarding the castle, which was now less protected than usual, considering that we were bringing so many retainers with us.

We had with us temple workers for the ceremony, our attendants, the archducal family and their retainers, the Knight’s Order to serve as guards, and to top it all off, Freuden and his family. I couldn’t hide my surprise after being told just how many people were going to be participating.

“That certainly is a lot...” I said.

“If not for diplomatic tensions and the fact that the bride is the niece of the current Aub Ahrensbach, we would not have needed to come out in so much force,” Ferdinand noted. It seemed that when a normal noble was being wed into another duchy, their families would receive permission from the aub before going to the border gate to see them off. The involved families would greet each other, then the bride or groom would take their partner home. They would not be married at that point and would simply wait for the summer Starbind Ceremony to be officially wed.

“What would an abnormal noble be?”

“One who requires permission from the king.”

Marriages involving royalty and archducal family members required not just the permissions of the relevant aubs, but also the permission of the king himself. Such weddings were held at the Archduke Conference with the Sovereign High Bishop coming from the Sovereignty’s temple to perform the rites. The Starbind Ceremony would then be held in the chapel deep within the Royal Academy—where we had gone to get our Divine Wills—and following that, those wed would be debuted in their duchy. The wedding certainly wasn’t held at a border gate with the archducal families gathered like this.

“The question is, why has this particular marriage ended up so large-scale? Perhaps Aub Ahrensbach is worried about his niece marrying into a family with rich Leisegang blood and is putting pressure on us to ensure she is not neglected as Lady Gabriele once was,” I said, stating my theory with a proud expression.

Ferdinand shook his head. “Your thinking is shallow. If Lamprecht is to be believed, his bride is the daughter of a third wife from Frenbeltag. She would not be worth this much of a fuss. I would imagine Aub Ahrensbach’s primary objective is to intimidate us into obedience, given our attempts to move away from Ahrensbach by settling on trade with Klassenberg and the Sovereignty. His duchy is presumably in quite a panic right now...” he said with a sigh. “For decades, Ehrenfest was under the control of the Veronica faction, which had deep connections to Ahrensbach due to her being the daughter of Gabriele. It was expected that these connections would be maintained once Sylvester, as Veronica’s son, became the aub. But instead, Sylvester chose to save your life and punish his mother and uncle, even at the cost of cutting off his own power base entirely.”

Only then did I finally understand the situation that Sylvester had been in. Back then, when my understanding of noble politics had been practically nonexistent, I had wondered why a blatant criminal like Bezewanst had been allowed to act as he pleased. Now, I realized that punishing him would have cost Sylvester the support of all the nobles backing him. Sylvester had essentially turned his back on the very faction that had given him the power to become the archduke in the first place. It must have been terrifying.

Sylvester’s situation was comparable to me executing or distancing the archducal couple, my siblings, Karstedt, Elvira, and almost all of my retainers at once. My new power base would become former allies who no longer trusted me, nobles who weren’t at all close to me, and nobles of the opposite faction who had previously been working against me. I would need to live and lead the duchy with barely anyone I could trust on my side.

“You do not need to look so down,” Ferdinand said. “Sylvester made the decision he did because he believed it was necessary. And indeed, it was necessary for the future of Ehrenfest. That aside, I imagine Ahrensbach hopes to use this opportunity to observe you, which they failed to do at the Royal Academy.”

“Let me stop you there, Ferdinand. I already know what you’re getting at. I won’t do anything without your explicit permission, and I need to keep the power of my blessings to a bare minimum. Is that what you were about to say?”

Ultimately, the plan was for me to follow behind Ferdinand like a duckling—to make it seem like I was little more than a powerless puppet being controlled and propped up by my guardians.

It was early in the morning when we actually departed, and we arrived in Leisegang at noon. Compared to when we traveled all over for Spring Prayer, it was a rather quick journey—and a rather simple one, considering that we had just needed to move in a straight line. It helped that we could go faster in our highbeasts than normal, since everyone in our group was a mednoble or greater.

“Welcome, welcome.”

Upon our arrival, we were greeted by Count Leisegang and his entourage. The archducal couple, Wilfried, Charlotte, and the others were guided into the mansion, accompanied by their retainers and the Knight’s Order.

“These are our chefs,” one of the mansion attendants said. “They are ready to provide their service.”

Hugo and the court chefs from the castle were here to help prepare tonight’s feast. They were also going to be demonstrating how to make the recipes in the book my great-grandfather had purchased, to compensate the Leisegangs for allowing us to stay in their mansion.

Although we had now arrived at our destination, Ferdinand and I could not go inside immediately; we needed to ensure my highbeast would stay formed without me and give instructions to Fran and the others. Our noble retainers stood by while we directed our temple attendants.

“After lunch, we will go to the side building to change,” I said. “Ensure our rooms are ready by then.”

Just like during Spring Prayer and the Harvest Festival, priests and shrine maidens couldn’t go into the count’s mansion, so Ferdinand and I had to change into our ceremonial robes in the side building instead. This was apparently the norm, and in retrospect, Illgner was pretty slack for having allowed the gray priests to walk freely in their mansion in service of me during the Harvest Festival.

“We shall depart for the border gate first, to prepare the shrine,” Ferdinand added. “We do not have much time.”

“Understood.”

After receiving our orders, the gray priests got to work. They needed to ensure the side building was clean, move everything we would need to get changed into our rooms, and find an opportunity to eat the lunches that Ella had prepared for them. All in all, they were going to be pretty busy.

Once we had confirmed that the gray priests had started carrying out their instructions, Ferdinand and I entered the mansion with our retainers. We were going to have lunch, change into our ceremonial robes, and then prepare to leave for the shrine. It was temple business, but we were going to be bringing our noble retainers with us nonetheless.

Ceremonies weren’t usually held at the border gate, so there was no shrine there for us to use. We were having to make one ourselves. At the same time, as a precaution in case of any ambushes, Ferdinand was going to be performing several modifications to the gate waiting rooms and the room where the ceremony was being held.

Monika and Nicola helped me change clothes, then we all climbed into Lessy. Angelica was in the passenger seat, and after making sure all the gray priests were in the back seat, we set off, traveling through the air to a point further south than Leisegang.

“Wha...?”

Back when I had performed Spring Prayer as a blue shrine maiden, the border between Ehrenfest and Ahrensbach had been blurred by a great forest. Now, however, it was clear as day, as the vast expanse of trees abruptly became a flat grassy plain. I had only been handling Spring Prayer and the Harvest Festival in the Central District for quite some time now, never having reason to come this far south, so I had been unaware just how dramatically the border had changed.

I glanced over at Ferdinand, who was observing the scene with a tight frown. As expected, this had bad implications. I wanted to ask him a few questions, but the wind roared in our ears, and I could tell that he would chastise me as unladylike for trying to shout over the noise when there was no emergency. For that reason, I decided to wait until we landed at the gate.

It seemed that this protective barrier along the border allowed the archduke to know when nobles crossed the border, which meant he would be able to tell the instant nobles from other duchies attempted to launch an invasion—although the barrier did not detect those who had too little mana to be considered a noble. The border gate had therefore been established to allow nobles to visit other duchies without being suspected of plotting an attack.

“So that’s the border gate, hm?”

A towering white gate sat in the middle of the sprawling forest. It was significantly larger and wider than the castle gate, since it had been made explicitly for nobles to travel through, but there were no walls stretching out on either end. As the barrier was invisible, from where we were, it looked to be a randomly placed gate. And because everything except the city roads for carriages was green, it stuck out like a sore thumb.

“I really like that it stands out,” Angelica said. “It makes it hard to mistake it for anything else.”

She was exactly right. Not particularly insightful, but exactly right.

We were greeted by the knights guarding the gate when we landed. “Lady Rozemyne. Lord Ferdinand. We were informed of your arrival,” one said. I could see there were Ahrensbach knights here as well.

“I imagine it will be a challenge with the archducal families of both duchies arriving for the ceremony, but I trust that you will serve well,” I said.

Ferdinand instructed me to greet the representatives of both duchies and gave me pouches to hand to them, so I did just that. Inside the pouches was money for the knights stuck at the backwater gate to buy celebratory wine with later. We couldn’t give them the alcohol outright, as doing so might lead to suspicions that we were attempting to poison them or tempt them to drink while still on the job. Formally handing the representatives money in front of the others was also a good move because it prevented them from being able to hide it away for their own purposes.

“Our gratitude is yours.”

The knights smiled just a little, since the amount we had given them was very much appropriate to the size of the event. First impressions were important, after all. And with that, the knights took us to the room where the ceremony was going to be held.

“Priests, construct the shrine,” Ferdinand instructed. “Rozemyne, go to the waiting room.”

Fran and the others unloaded all of the luggage from my highbeast, after which I put away Lessy and moved to the waiting room. Ottilie and Brunhilde were the only ones with me while the others were busy with preparations; they swiftly prepared tea for me and set down the cookies Ella had made before my departure.

As I munched my way through my snacks, Ferdinand came into the waiting room with his retainers, having likely finished putting the divine instruments and such into place. Justus poured him some tea right away. I didn’t recognize several of the other retainers, and it was somewhat odd not seeing Eckhart among them.

Ferdinand and I discussed the day’s ceremony and who would be handling which portions. Once that was done, I was finally granted the opportunity to pose the question that had been playing on my mind.

“The environment here certainly has changed... Unless my memory deceives me, is this not the place where we were ambushed in the past?” I asked.

It seemed my deliberately vague use of “in the past” had gotten my message across loud and clear; Ferdinand nodded and said with furrowed brows that this was at least close to the same place. I had already known that it wasn’t exactly the same area, since I hadn’t seen the extremely memorable gate back then, but it was nearby in the sense of being close to Ahrensbach’s border.

Ferdinand took out the sound-blocking magic tools from a leather pouch hanging from his belt and held one out to me. “There are Ahrensbach knights here,” he explained with a defeated sigh, informing me that I had blundered once again.

“Sorry.”

“No matter. I expect that the Ahrensbach province on the other side of this border was under the jurisdiction of Count Bindewald, whose fate you know well. It is clear to see that they are suffering quite a severe mana shortage. The question is whether this is because his replacement lacks enough mana, no replacements were sent as punishment, or Ahrensbach as a whole is lacking in mana compared to the past.”

I pursed my lips. “What are they thinking, sending over two brides when they’re suffering this much already? The archduke’s niece is surely an archnoble, and she has more mana than Lamprecht did before he learned my compression method, does she not? I would have assumed she was quite valuable to them.”

“They will be demanding something of greater value than the two brides, obviously. We simply do not yet know what that something is. We know too little and lack far too much information,” Ferdinand said before sipping his tea.

By the time the shrine was in order, the Ehrenfest party had arrived. The Ahrensbach party showed up a short while later, and the two archdukes exchanged quite lengthy greetings. I listened in a daze while observing those from our neighboring duchy. The brides were standing in the back, their faces covered with embroidered veils, so I was mainly watching Aub Ahrensbach and his family.

So this is Aub Ahrensbach, huh?

He was presumably no younger than fifty-five—old enough to be called a grandfather without hesitation. Georgine genuinely looked like his daughter standing next to him, and with Detlinde there too, it was like seeing three different generations all at once.

There was a girl even younger than Detlinde, perhaps my age, hiding behind Aub Ahrensbach. She had blonde hair, blue eyes, and gosh, was she cute.

Is she the other archduke candidate...?

Her being an archduke candidate meant she was the archduke’s child for sure, but she couldn’t have been Georgine’s child. I had heard that Detlinde was her youngest daughter. Not to mention, they looked entirely different, and she was standing too far apart from the others.

Either the archduke has another wife, or he adopted her just like Sylvester adopted me.

The archducal greetings ended as I observed the Ahrensbach archducal family. Georgine was standing a half step behind the foreign aub, a peaceful smile on her face. She came across as more restrained here, and very different from how she had seemed in Ehrenfest.

Detlinde approached Wilfried, looking especially friendly. “I heard you are now engaged to Rozemyne,” she said. “It does not seem to me that your relationship has changed much.”

“We were family to begin with,” Wilfried replied. “It is only natural that our relationship would not change.”

I watched Detlinde go on to exchange first greetings with Charlotte before turning to look at Aurelia, who was standing with her family. The veil covering her face meant I couldn’t see her facial features very clearly, but her fancy clothes were certainly appropriate for the niece of an archduke. She was quite tall for a woman, which made her a good match for a muscular knight like Lamprecht. They would no doubt look great standing together.

Aurelia’s father seemed just as old as Aub Ahrensbach; his first grandchild was surely coming of age right about now. Aurelia’s mother was his third wife, and presumably his latest. She seemed about as old as Elvira, and she was standing beside a girl whose identity was easy enough to guess.

Is that the smart, friendly, and beloved little sister? She looks a little bit like Tuuli, I think.

Her long braid, bright smile, and lively aura all made me think of my own sister. She looked to be about the same age as well, but Tuuli was more well-developed than most, so I could assume this girl was actually about as old as Detlinde. She was already in the Royal Academy for sure, even if they weren’t in the same grade.

Behind Aurelia’s family, I could see Freuden’s family greeting the Ahrensbach mednoble family from which his bride descended.

“Now then, let us begin the Starbind Ceremony.”

Ferdinand signaled for the Starbind Ceremony to commence, prompting the involved families to move to the room with the makeshift shrine. His and my retainers stayed in the waiting room, along with the brides and grooms.

“Um... Are you perhaps Lamprecht’s little sister, the High Bishop who will be performing this ceremony?” Aurelia suddenly asked. “I am told you are known as the Saint of Ehrenfest, but will you be okay performing at such a young age?”

I had been told not to speak to anyone, but I couldn’t ignore someone who had already approached me. I turned around on reflex just as Angelica and my retainers surrounded me, the former having taken up a defensive posture. The knights from Ahrensbach did the same around Aurelia, as if acting in response.

“Stand down. There is no place for violence on this day of celebration,” I said to my retainers before turning my attention back to Aurelia. “I understand that someone not from Ehrenfest might find it unsettling to see someone as young as me being entrusted with such an important event, but I have performed many ceremonies as the High Bishop before. You may rest assured that your wedding will be a blessed one.”

“Lady Rozemyne, it is forbidden to speak directly to the bride,” Leonore said. I raised my chin and turned my head away from her dismissively, prepared for whatever scolding my guardians would give me later.

“I am not speaking to the bride,” I said. “I am merely thinking aloud.”

“My, my... Your voice was quite loud though,” Ottilie said, but I was determined to stand my ground. That was when a thin, shaky voice came from amid the Ahrensbach knights. It was presumably Aurelia, but there were so many people now between us that I couldn’t quite tell.

“This is me thinking aloud too, but... will you truly be blessing us?”

I blinked, as surprised as Aurelia sounded. Ehrenfest was rupturing internally since the former Veronica faction was feeding information to Ahrensbach, at least from what I knew. From our perspective, these brides were being forced onto us, but perhaps they were being forced into this by higher authorities. If so, they must have been more worried and anxious than anyone, since they were traveling to new homes amid what was nothing short of political turmoil.

“I am still thinking aloud, but it is only natural that new couples would be blessed. That is why I am here. Of course, I imagine everyone is ill at ease, given the complex political relationships at play... but the brides and grooms will need to build their own lives in Ehrenfest by communicating and supporting one another. I pray that these lives will be filled with joy.”

As Aurelia and I continued our conversation under the weak guise of thinking aloud, our guard knights faced each other, sighed, and then ultimately backed down. The atmosphere in the room seemed to relax soon after.

“The High Bishop shall now enter,” came Fran’s voice from the other side of the door. I smiled at the two brides before heading for the open door with the bible in my arms. I entered the room in which the ceremony was being held and made my way over to Ferdinand—naturally taking great care not to step on the hem of my robes and fall flat on my face during this important ritual—before eventually taking my place beside him. I could feel the intense gazes I was receiving from Ahrensbach’s side of the room.

I had Ferdinand put the bible on its podium, as per usual, and then stepped onto the stand that had been placed for me behind it. Ferdinand began speaking when I was ready.

“Now begins the Starbind Ceremony. All brides and grooms, step forward!”

Gray priests opened the door, and the two new couples stepped inside. It was a tense moment for both the Ehrenfest and the Ahrensbach Knight’s Order, who were busy staring each other down, but the involved families clapped and gave words of celebration, which was a relief to see.

Ferdinand read from the bible before confirming the couples’ intent to marry as both archdukes stood by. Since the brides were marrying into Ehrenfest, we were the ones who had to prepare the wedding documents. Sylvester took out two contracts, which went up in golden flames after the brides and grooms signed them with magic pens. Once they had vanished completely, the wedding was complete.

“The High Bishop shall now bless the newly formed couples.”

It was my time to shine.

Ferdinand handed me a feystone he had preemptively filled with the proper amount of mana, such that my blessing would not end up being too great. It was effectively Plan A in his Rozemyne Chaos Prevention Scheme. He gave me a sharp look that seemed to stress just how important it was that I not mess this up, and I returned a brisk nod to show my understanding before taking a deep breath.

“O mighty King and Queen of the endless skies, O God of Darkness and Goddess of Light, hear my prayers. May you grant your blessings to the birth of new unions. May they who offer their prayers and gratitude to thee be blessed with thine divine protection.”

As I prayed to the supreme gods, black and golden light swirled in my ring like usual, then shot up to the ceiling. The colors overlapped, mixed together, and then burst apart into specks of light dust, which rained down upon the newlyweds.

I had been told not to make a spectacle, and since there were only two couples, the blessing ended up fairly small. Its distribution was usually affected to at least some degree by my feelings, but this time, it went out equally to Lamprecht, Freuden, and their new wives. As I sighed in relief, I heard awed mutters and whispers from the Ahrensbach side of the room.

“O Saint of Ehrenfest, that was a magnificent blessing.”

“I am honored.”

Aub Ahrensbach wore a smile as he praised my efforts, but his eyes were not on me. They were on Ferdinand.