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Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 4.7 - Chapter Pr




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Prologue

The tea party in the library was brought to an abrupt close when Rozemyne collapsed without even the slightest warning. Continuing was hardly an option when the host had fallen unconscious. Hannelore and Hildebrand had looked on in a daze, while Rozemyne’s head attendant Rihyarda had sent an ordonnanz to summon Wilfried and Charlotte.

“Lord Wilfried, Lady Charlotte, I leave the rest to you,” Rihyarda said upon their arrival. “I will bring milady back to the dormitory with her guard knights. Brunhilde, assist them in cleaning up.” She curtsied to the prince, who was wide-eyed and chattering his teeth, and obtained permission to leave. Then, she said a simple farewell to Hannelore before making a brisk exit.

“Arthur, what happened to Rozemyne...?” Hildebrand asked his head attendant, shaking. “What’s going on?”

Hannelore heard the prince’s quavering voice and glanced over. Arthur had gone pale; he was trying to think of what to tell his lord, but his understanding of the situation was just as nonexistent.

Wilfried and Charlotte consoled the panicked Hildebrand and explained to his retainers that Rozemyne’s collapse was a regular occurrence.

“Prince Hildebrand, Rozemyne often falls unconscious,” Wilfried said.

“My sister’s health is especially poor,” Charlotte added, “but there are potions waiting for her at the dormitory that will make everything better.”

Wilfried then tried to console Hildebrand the same way he had consoled Hannelore the year before, by telling him about the incidents with the snowballs, her baptism, and so on... but it had the opposite effect. The prince grew enraged and suddenly demanded, “How could you do that to her?!”

Arthur seemed to take solace in the explanation, at least; some color returned to his pale face, and he rested his hands on the prince’s shoulders, urging him to stop directing his worry and panic at Wilfried.

“Prince Hildebrand, these archduke candidates of Ehrenfest know her very well,” Arthur said. “If they say she is fine, we may trust that she is. You must not show your emotions so openly. Let us return as well.”

Hildebrand was young and emotional, but his head attendant Arthur understood the situation well—because there was a royal in the room, everyone else was forced to prioritize his needs, delaying their work. He gave an apologetic look to Wilfried and swiftly concluded their farewells.

Once the prince was gone, Charlotte and Wilfried could begin attending to the remaining guests.

“Professor Solange, we apologize for having surprised you,” Charlotte said.

“Are you well, Lady Hannelore?” Wilfried asked.

An archduke candidate of a greater duchy could not allow themselves to lose their composure, and with that in mind, Hannelore repeated over and over again that she was fine. On the inside, however, she was anything but. She simply couldn’t forget the way that Rozemyne had collapsed and then remained dead still, like a puppet whose strings were suddenly cut.

Hannelore could empathize with the prince’s alarm—the year before, during the Ehrenfest tea party to which all duchies had been invited, Rozemyne had collapsed to the floor the moment she took Hannelore’s hand. She had been smiling up until that moment, but in the blink of an eye, she was unconscious. Hannelore hadn’t known what to do then, and she didn’t know what to do now. A cold sweat ran down her back as she failed to move or speak properly at all.

“Lady Hannelore,” Wilfried said, regarding her with clear concern. Hannelore had assumed that she was wearing a natural smile, but this evidently wasn’t the case; her face kept twitching no matter how much she tried to stop it.

Cordula, Hannelore’s head attendant, sensed that her lady was unable to act in a manner befitting an archduke candidate. She placed a hand on Hannelore’s shoulder and sought permission to speak.

“We were surprised by the suddenness of it all,” Cordula began, “but we are aware that Lady Rozemyne was bedridden for days immediately prior to this tea party. She asked us whether we could bring our musicians for the exchange, since she had been summoned back to Ehrenfest. It is clear that Lady Rozemyne was forced to hold this tea party despite being in such ill-health due to the prince being invited.”

Cordula’s words were spoken with such cold rationality that Hannelore’s mind finally started working again. In retrospect, Dunkelfelger had indeed been told from the start that Rozemyne would be attending this tea party in poor health.

If only you had said that sooner, Cordula... I wouldn’t have panicked so much.

Such a thought ran through Hannelore’s mind, but then she realized why Cordula had not spoken until then—her analysis of the situation could easily have been taken as criticism of the prince. She could never have said such things in the presence of royalty, even if she was just trying to calm her lady.

Hannelore looked around and saw that Rozemyne’s remaining attendants were cleaning up the tea party alongside Solange’s attendants. It seemed best for her to leave sooner rather than later—she had calmed down enough to make that kind of decision.

“Erm, I believe we should be...” she began.

“I’ll take you to your dormitory and explain things to Dunkelfelger,” Wilfried said. “Charlotte, can you handle the rest?”

“Certainly, dear brother. I will settle matters with the attendants before returning to our dormitory,” Charlotte replied, having consoled Solange and directed her own attendants to assist with the cleanup. She seemed unreasonably calm for a first-year, which Hannelore took as proof of just how often Rozemyne collapsed.

After escorting Hannelore back to her dormitory, Wilfried explained the situation to her older brother Lestilaut. “We truly apologize for startling Lady Hannelore and all those attending the party once again,” he said, referencing how the same thing had happened the year before. Naturally, everyone in the dormitory was paying close attention.

“You are not to blame for Lady Rozemyne’s collapse, Lord Wilfried,” Hannelore said, putting on her best smile as she saw him off. “Please tell her that I hope she recovers soon. I am quite fine.”

As soon as the door closed, however, the strings of tension were abruptly cut and a wave of exhaustion hit Hannelore all at once. Her emotions had stirred so much that she felt as weary as she usually did after using a ton of mana. She wanted nothing more than to rest in her room, so she began heading for the stairs... but the circumstances were much too serious.

“Hannelore,” Lestilaut called out, his red eyes narrowed sharply. “Tell me what in the world happened at that tea party.”

“Brother, I would rather wait until after I have calmed down a bit...”

“You know we can’t delay our report—this happened in the presence of royalty. You can remain silent and have your retainers give the details on their own, but you still need to be there. Come.”

There was no room for Hannelore to refuse when her brother was being so firm. And so, she had to go to a meeting room with her retainers before even having an opportunity to rest or change clothes.

Were I to collapse at a tea party like Lady Rozemyne, I find it hard to believe my brother would ever swiftly rush over like Lord Wilfried to take care of things for me...

Hannelore knew there was no point in even comparing the two boys, but she couldn’t help but sigh when she pictured the stern-faced Lestilaut alongside the warmhearted Wilfried.

Oh, how I wish I had a kind older brother like Lord Wilfried...

Gathered in the meeting room were Lestilaut, his retainers, Hannelore, and those who had accompanied her to the tea party.

Hannelore looked over a board she had received from Cordula—the notes her apprentice scholars had made during the tea party. Such notes were very rarely made during tea parties, since postliminary reports were delivered verbally and from memory alone, but Hannelore had deviated from the norm in an attempt to copy Rozemyne. Thus, no matter how panicked they had grown, they could still speak objectively and without missing any details. It was a very wise decision, in hindsight—Rozemyne’s collapse had been so overwhelming that Hannelore hadn’t been able to remember what they had been talking about prior to it.

“As I mentioned previously, I have agreed to start donating mana to the library’s magic tools as an assistant. This”—Hannelore pointed to her armband as she read from the board—“is proof of that fact. We assistants are also being referred to as ‘Library Committee members.’”

“A weird-looking band and a weird-sounding name,” Lestilaut said quite rudely. Hannelore ignored him and continued, explaining that she had supplied mana to Schwartz and Weiss and that Hildebrand would be working with them as a member of the Library Committee henceforth.

Now, what should I say about Lady Rozemyne requesting that Prince Hildebrand do one of our jobs...?

Hannelore fell silent for a moment, taking a sip of tea to wet her mouth while carefully eyeing her brother. He was always scrutinizing Rozemyne’s words and actions, so he would no doubt kick up an exaggerated fuss upon learning of the ordonnanz prompting incident. Hannelore ultimately decided to keep it hidden for now; the prince had accepted it without issue, and it had nothing to do with Dunkelfelger. If it truly was important enough to be featured in the report, Cordula would simply mention it later.

“We exchanged books,” Hannelore said. “Then, Rozemyne presented us with a manuscript about Dunkelfelger’s history, rewritten in modern vernacular. She wants us to make sure it doesn’t contain any mistakes.”

“Hm... Dunkelfelger’s history, you say?” Lestilaut remarked. “Very well. I will check it thoroughly to make sure everything is correct.”

Hannelore noticed the sinister grin on her brother’s face and gave him the hardest glare she could muster; an unfairly critical evaluation ran the risk of damaging her friendship with Rozemyne. She had only recently started to enjoy reading—thanks in large part to Ehrenfest books being so fun and easy to read—and the last thing she wanted was for Rozemyne to start growing distant.

Lestilaut reached for the stack of papers, but Clarissa hugged them to her chest. “I will not give them to you, Lord Lestilaut,” she declared.


“Clarissa, what do you think you’re doing?!” Lestilaut exclaimed. She wasn’t even Hannelore’s retainer—the tea party had taken place before the usual socializing period, and since Hannelore hadn’t had enough available retainers, she had recruited archnobles with free time to accompany her. Thus, Hannelore looked just as surprised as her brother.

“Lady Rozemyne sought not just for the manuscript to be checked, but for Aub Dunkelfelger to be consulted over whether it could be made into a book within Ehrenfest,” Clarissa said. “The aubs of our duchies are going to be discussing this during the Interduchy Tournament, so we must send them home at once.”

Clarissa was using the fact that archdukes would soon be involved to reinforce her point. She had been crazy about Rozemyne ever since the game of ditter the year before and no doubt wished to prevent Lestilaut’s unfair criticisms more than anyone.

As Lestilaut examined Clarissa through narrowed eyes, trying to determine whether she was being sincere, Hannelore agreed with a smile. “Clarissa is correct,” she said. “This is an urgent matter.”

Hannelore and Lestilaut glared at each other, neither person wanting to relent, until eventually Kenntrips, the latter’s apprentice scholar, cleared his throat. “I understand the situation, but as goods entrusted to us from another duchy, it is necessary that Lord Lestilaut be given the opportunity to view them as the future archduke,” he said. “Can you permit him to check them over during the following three days, so as to not interfere with the aub’s negotiations? I will assume responsibility and deliver them to the aub after three days have passed.”

Kenntrips’s suggestion seemed fair to Hannelore; she could trust her brother’s retainers a lot more than she could trust her brother himself, and if Kenntrips said he would send the manuscript home after three days, she could believe it. She moved to agree, but Clarissa still seemed unconvinced—she firmly shook her head while continuing to clutch the papers to her chest.

“If we have three days to wait, I want to spend them reading the manuscript myself!” Clarissa declared. “This is a book on history written by Lady Rozemyne! I can only imagine it is as pleasant and easy to read as all other Ehrenfest books!”

“I wish to read it too!” one of the others who had attended the tea party called out. “I’m terribly curious to see how she translated the heroic tale of Wrangeltus...”

“No, no, no!” another interjected. “Forget Wrangeltus! What about Garlshaut?!”

The others all seemed curious about one hero’s tale or another, and they were getting so heated up that they were leaving the archduke candidates entirely to the side. Hannelore couldn’t help but sigh; Dunkelfelgerians were hot-blooded by nature, and it often caused trouble.

Hannelore looked up at Cordula, who nodded and forcefully clapped her hands together. “Be quiet,” the head attendant said. “As this is a request from another duchy, the aub takes the highest priority. If we are not in a position to respond before the Interduchy Tournament, Dunkelfelger will suffer, for failing here would mean breaking a promise to Lady Rozemyne.”

Her final remark was presumably to hammer the point home for Clarissa. Cordula snatched the papers from her hands and then gave them a close look.

“These papers seem to be bound with thread. If we take care not to lose it, we can halve the pile.”

“Cordula?”

“As we are only checking the precision of this modern translation, the aub will need only half of the manuscript to make his assessment. We can send the first half to Dunkelfelger and keep the second here in the dormitory.”

Hannelore struggled to understand why Cordula was going to such lengths when she just wanted to stop Clarissa and the others from going crazy.

“Lord Lestilaut does need to check the manuscript, but we cannot deprive Lady Hannelore of seeing it when it was entrusted to her in the first place,” Cordula continued. “Please take turns reading the half that we keep hold of.”

In truth, I cannot say I have much interest in reading Dunkelfelger history... I would much rather spend that time reading Ehrenfest romance stories.

But despite Hannelore’s misgivings, she did not reject Cordula’s suggestion. She knew that she would encounter problems during her next tea party with Ehrenfest if she avoided reading the manuscript entirely.

“Lady Cordula, I...” Clarissa began.

“Clarissa, might I suggest that you do your own work?” Cordula said, interrupting her. “I believe you said you were collecting stories for Lady Rozemyne, did you not? If you send them to her through your Ehrenfest associate, she will surely be overjoyed.”

 

    

 

Clarissa put on a serious face as she considered Cordula’s advice. “I have transcribed books to complete challenges and for greetings, but I never thought about transcribing for a get-well present. You are right, Lady Cordula; Lady Rozemyne would surely rejoice to receive stories while she is so unwell.”

Hannelore was glad to see Clarissa so motivated—her fists were clenched and there was a noticeable sparkle in her blue eyes—but there was something about her words that didn’t seem to make sense. She knew that Clarissa had gone crazy for Rozemyne entirely on her own at some point, but when she thought back to the tea party, they hadn’t seemed to have met before.

“Clarissa, what do you mean when you say that you transcribed books to complete challenges and for greetings?” Hannelore asked. “Have you met Lady Rozemyne before?”

The young woman’s cheeks reddened with embarrassment and she turned her head, causing her braid to sway ever so slightly. “Last year, I proposed to one of Lady Rozemyne’s retainers in the Royal Academy,” she said, “and the other day, I finally completed the challenge he gave me. I’m hoping to give Lady Rozemyne a more formal greeting at the Interduchy Tournament this year, so...”

Hannelore had wondered why Clarissa seemed to know so much about Ehrenfest as of late, and now it finally made sense—she had settled on marrying someone from the duchy. She was acting far more adorable than usual right now, as she rejoiced over her proposal having been accepted. Hannelore felt her own heart warming up just from the sight.

“I’m glad that you completed the proposal challenges you received,” Hannelore said encouragingly. “Do continue to keep gathering stories; I am much looking forward to Ehrenfest making a book out of the ones our apprentice scholars have collected.”

From there, Hannelore returned to the report. She noted that, while she and Rozemyne were exchanging their books, Hildebrand had mentioned to his attendant Arthur that he wanted to lend a book too. That was where the notes ended—and presumably when Rozemyne had collapsed. The apprentice scholar who had been writing must have been very disturbed by the sudden incident, since Arthur’s name was cut off midway through, with the ink jerking away in a line.

“And then Lady Rozemyne suddenly collapsed,” Hannelore concluded.

“Huh? But why?” Lestilaut asked.

“Lady Hannelore, surely that is not all... Are you forgetting something?” one of his retainers added, equally surprised. But there was nothing more to say—everyone who had attended the tea party had been too shocked by the sudden event to process anything.

“It truly did happen without warning...” one of those who had attended said, backing up Hannelore. “It was as sudden as could be.”

“Lady Rozemyne’s attendants and her siblings handled the situation with trained experience, but we guests had no idea what had happened or what to do,” another added. Although they had remained silent at the time, it seemed that they had been just as surprised.

“Enough,” Lestilaut said. “I understand that Hannelore’s report was not incomplete. Do we not have even the slightest idea as to why she collapsed?”

“Lady Rozemyne seems to have been bedridden for several days prior to the tea party, and she was so ill that Aub Ehrenfest instructed her to return home,” Hannelore replied. “Cordula believes that she might have collapsed after pushing herself to attend the tea party, due to the prince being in attendance.”

“I’m impressed she can be an archduke candidate while being that sickly...” Lestilaut said, scratching his head with an annoyed grimace.

His poor attitude aside, Hannelore agreed with Lestilaut that Rozemyne’s position as an archduke candidate was peculiar. How did she perform archduke candidate training with a body that weak? Hannelore could only tilt her head in disbelief as she thought over the intense training that Dunkelfelger archduke candidates received... but perhaps other duchies trained in different ways. There was no point thinking about it.

“And that is what happened at the tea party,” Hannelore concluded once again. “May I return to my room now? My emotions stirred heavily from the surprise, and I am exceedingly tired.”

She wasn’t the only one whose emotions had been shaken by Rozemyne’s collapse—all those who had accompanied her were no doubt equally as tired. Lestilaut didn’t try to keep them any longer.

Once she was finally back in her room, Hannelore let out a sigh of relief. Cordula was helping her get changed with a sympathetic smile while the retainers who had been too busy with their classes to attend the tea party prepared tea, looking visibly interested in what they had missed.

“Professor Rauffen was quite troubled to find you all in the meeting room,” one of the retainers said. He had apparently returned after his classes to find the room locked, and it was only from the nearby students that he had learned about the tea party ending early due to Rozemyne collapsing.

“Oh my. But is Lady Rozemyne’s health not far more important than questioning her about the temple?” Hannelore asked.

“It seems he thought to have Prince Hildebrand use his royal authority to make Lady Rozemyne delay her return, but the prince refused.”

Rauffen had sent an ordonnanz to Hildebrand, only for him to respond that he refused to order someone to stay at the Academy when they needed rest in their home duchy. Hannelore, recalling how disturbed the prince and his retainers had been during the tea party, found the idea of the professor making such a request in the first place laughable; if they wanted information on temple matters, they could consult the Sovereign temple or even the temple in Dunkelfelger. Rozemyne’s health took priority, especially when she was exhausted enough to have collapsed in the presence of royalty, so Hannelore was beyond glad that her rest wasn’t going to be disturbed.

“I am relieved to hear that she will not be forced to overexert herself once again due to a royal order,” Hannelore said. “Unlike here at the Royal Academy, she will be able to rest in Ehrenfest. I hope that she gets well soon.”

A few days later, Hannelore received a message stating that Rozemyne had awoken and would promptly be departing for Ehrenfest.



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