Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 4.8 - Chapter 14

Decisions

I had wanted to return to the temple straight away, but things weren’t that simple. Ferdinand was being swamped with requests for meetings now that his engagement to Ahrensbach was settled, I was being forced to partake in tea parties with Elvira and her friends as they barked and growled with frustration, and there were letters pouring in from scholars who wanted to get involved with the printing industry starting next year.

I suggested that Elvira and her friends channel their outrage into a story and worked my way through meetings with the scholars. Wilfried and Charlotte were taking work from Elvira and distributing it to their own scholars, so I decided to leave printing matters to them to some degree.

“There is much else I need to do.”

Indeed, there was so much that Ferdinand needed to teach me: my temple work, my Royal Academy studies, and rejuvenation potion lessons. He and I returned to the temple once he had worked through his meetings—or at least, worked through as many as he intended to endure.

After arriving back at the temple, I forced my way into the High Priest’s chambers. Ferdinand met me with a demonic glare, but I didn’t even falter as I said, “Shall we talk?” If you asked me, it was a show of bravery that deserved a lot of praise.

Ferdinand trudged over to his hidden room and opened the door, evidently not pleased about it. Once inside, I made brisk work of cleaning the brewing tools and ingredients from my usual bench, giving myself somewhere to sit.

“I’m glad we can finally talk,” I said.

“I cannot say that I share in your gladness,” Ferdinand replied venomously as he sat in his chair. “Now, what do you wish to ask?”

“First of all, I want to know more about the state of Ahrensbach. That’s where you’ll be going, after all.”

Ferdinand must have expected me to ask about the Adalgisa stuff, as the tension seemed to very subtly drain from his rigid shoulders. “I believe I spoke of Ahrensbach already.”

“Not enough! You said that Aub Ahrensbach isn’t long for this world, but isn’t there a chance Justus is wrong? Couldn’t he end up living for ages like Great-Grandfather? In that case, will Lady Detlinde actually become the next aub? Lady Letizia from Drewanchel has stronger backing and a more steady faction, so I would think she is better suited to the role.”

Letizia had support from the faction of Ahrensbach’s previous, deceased first wife, who by all rights should have been alive, and from her blood mother in Drewanchel. Georgine had abruptly become first wife after being married into the duchy from Ehrenfest, and Detlinde had never even been considered a successor before then. The answer as to who was a more suitable candidate to become the next aub was clear to see.

“You are correct,” Ferdinand said. “The purge forced Ahrensbach to reduce two of its archducal sons to archnobles, so the king formed a plan to save the duchy: Aub Drewanchel’s daughter will be adopted into Ahrensbach, then she will marry Prince Hildebrand once he comes of age.”

During the prince’s debut, it had apparently been announced that he would marry upon coming of age. This was of course news to me.

“This was all well and good when Aub Ahrensbach expected to see Lady Letizia come of age,” Ferdinand continued, “but he has since learned that his days are numbered. Now, tell me—what will happen to Lady Letizia if the aub dies before she becomes an adult?”

“Um... As there won’t be an archduke candidate of adult age, the first wife will take over for the short-term, and the next archduke candidate to come of age will become the aub. In Ahrensbach’s case, Lady Georgine will take over, then Lady Detlinde will rule the duchy when she comes of age,” I said. This was all founded in what I had learned while studying for the archduke course.

“Very good,” Ferdinand replied with an affirming nod. “It appears to be law in Ahrensbach for existing archduke candidates to be reduced to archnobles when the aub is replaced. Lady Detlinde becoming the next archduchess would thereby result in Lady Letizia being demoted to an archnoble—that is, unless she were adopted by the archduke, in which case she would remain an archduke candidate. In short, the duty expected of me is to marry Lady Detlinde, then adopt Lady Letizia and train her in preparation for her marriage to Prince Hildebrand.”

Ferdinand continued, “In truth, it would have been ideal for me to begin training Lady Letizia right away, but Lady Detlinde will need that training more if she is to support an entire greater duchy. Her rule will only be temporary, but having her serve at all is an absolute last resort for Aub Ahrensbach. He is in extremely dire straits.”

Ahrensbach needed someone who was skilled enough to support the duchy and train Letizia. It seemed that Ferdinand was perfect for both jobs, considering that he was already the Saint of Ehrenfest’s guardian and had successfully boosted Ehrenfest’s grades on a wide scale.

“I feel bad for Letizia,” I said. “Please be gentle with her. You mustn’t treat her like you treat me.”

“Why are you showing concern for an Ahrensbach archduke candidate?”

“Wouldn’t it be a disaster if you were to crush one of their precious few archduke candidates with your intensive training? Philine cried many times after you glared at her and demanded that she redo her work.”

“She did...?”

Philine was now used to this treatment, but she had grown painfully depressed around the time she had first come to the temple. Hartmut and Damuel had often needed to console her.

“So, what did the king say to finally convince you?” I asked. “Being married to the aub of another duchy is one thing, but I can’t imagine many would agree to becoming a stopgap for the future aub. That would have given you plenty of reason to refuse, I would think.”

“To put it simply, the king expressed that he was testing Ehrenfest’s loyalty.”

The king and those of the Sovereignty were very uneasy about a neutral duchy like Ehrenfest shooting up through the ranks, especially when it wasn’t yet known where its loyalties lay. Their plan to marry Eglantine, a woman of such royal blood, to the next king to form a strong connection to Klassenberg had been crushed; the incident about the incomplete bible had driven yet more wedges between royalty and the Sovereign temple; and then, to top things off, we had refused the king’s request for me to grant the blessing at the graduation ceremony.

“Um, doesn’t that mean they’re mostly suspicious of us because of me?” I asked.

“The incident with Prince Anastasius was entirely the result of one of your rampages, but all you did was advise him. The blame ultimately lies with Prince Anastasius, who abandoned his claim to the throne, and with the king and Klassenberg, who relented to the decision. You were only following my instruction during the bible incident, and finally, it was Sylvester who declined to allow you to perform the blessing. They seem to be under the impression that I was controlling you from the shadows in all of those cases, so... I suppose you could interpret this wedding as the king testing not Ehrenfest’s loyalty, but mine.”

Ferdinand shot me a glance, no doubt wondering how much he could get away with omitting. I returned a smile and said, “I suppose this test is related to the seed of Adalgisa business?”

“...Correct. In their eyes, I am a seed of Adalgisa, building you up as a saint, dramatically improving Ehrenfest’s grades, and sowing seeds of uncertainty around royals, all in service of some plot they cannot even begin to fathom. It only makes sense that they would tear me from my duchy and bind me somewhere else, no?” Ferdinand asked, sounding resigned. His light-golden eyes cautiously examined me, doubtless trying to decide whether I was friend or foe. This was clearly a topic that he hadn’t wanted to discuss with anyone.

“Ferdinand, what is a ‘seed of Adalgisa’ in the first place? I don’t believe the bible mentions it, so it must be something uncommon.”

“How have you interpreted it?” Ferdinand asked in response. “I assume you kept your silence for a reason.” He was watching me like a hawk, trying to gauge how much I was aware of... and whether I was hiding anything or trying to trick him.

“I wasn’t able to piece it all together at the library, when it came out of nowhere, but after carefully thinking it over and considering the context... You replied that Ehrenfest is your Geduldh, no? I concluded that it likely had to do with where you were born, then. And given that it was something the Sovereign knight commander knew and felt comfortable saying in the presence of others, I subsequently deduced it was a secret phrase indicating somewhere in the Sovereignty.”

Ferdinand put on his fake smile in place of a response. I sighed; that meant I was right.

“I’m told that you were brought to the castle at your baptism, but thinking back, I don’t recall ever hearing anything from before then,” I said. “Were you raised somewhere the Sovereign knight commander knows about, then? Just what is this Adalgisa place?”

Ferdinand fell silent and didn’t speak for some time. I understood this as him not wanting to answer, but I couldn’t back down now—otherwise, our coming here would have been for nothing. I joined him in silence, patiently awaiting his next words... and soon enough, he gave in.

“‘Adalgisa’ is the name of a princess once gifted a royal villa, where I assume the knight commander once served,” Ferdinand explained with downcast eyes. “I did not think anyone knew of my past there, so to be honest, his words caught me off guard.”

I wasn’t surprised to hear that he was connected to royalty—I had expected as much upon learning that he was from the Sovereignty. His presence in Ehrenfest was clearly abnormal; there was his above-average mana capacity to begin with, as well as many more reasons than I cared to list.

“So, Ferdinand... Is this Princess Adalgisa your mother?”

“No. We are unrelated. Adalgisa was given the villa hundreds of years ago, so my mother is someone else entirely. Though their circumstances were similar.”

“Circumstances?” I muttered, tilting my head.

Ferdinand waved a hand at me. “It has nothing to do with you.”

“But I want to know. Isn’t it unfair that you looked into my memories and pried into all the secrets of my past life, but I still know so little about you?”

“Fairness is irrelevant; this is something that you simply do not need to know. Not even Sylvester is aware that I was raised in the Sovereignty before my baptism.”

“Well, what Sylvester knows is irrelevant. I want to know more about you, Ferdinand,” I declared, punctuating my response with a very indignant “Hmph!”

Ferdinand promptly looked away, his face blanched. “To be more precise, Adalgisa is the name of the villa I was raised in. It houses the Lanzenave princess who is sent to Yurgenschmidt once every few generations. That is the most I can say.”

“Lanzenave is the sugar country, right?”

“Sugar... You are not wrong, but your understanding of things is so unconventional that it is at times disconcerting...” Ferdinand said, rubbing his temples. “Speaking to you gives me a headache, so I hereby end this discussion.”

“Hold it right there! There’s no point in you even trying to escape. If you do, I’ll just force my way in again. Now, let’s see... Since you were raised in this special villa, Ferdinand, it’s safe to conclude that you’re royalty with foreign blood, right?”

Ferdinand gave me an annoyed grimace. “I have relatively thick royal blood, yes, but as I was baptized in Ehrenfest, I am not royalty myself. My father is the former Aub Ehrenfest, and I do not have a mother.”

“Why were you baptized in Ehrenfest?”

“The Goddess of Time’s guidance... or so my father said.”

“Um... Excuse me?” It was a very uncharacteristic response for Ferdinand, so I couldn’t help but make a weird noise. He seemed to have expected my reaction, however, as he gazed downward, recalling the distant past.

“I should have died before my baptism.”

“What...?”

According to Ferdinand, female seeds of the Adalgisa villa were raised as Yurgenschmidt princesses, but male seeds received much harsher treatment. Only one boy would return to Lanzenave, while the rest were secretly disposed of, since having a bunch of men with claims to royalty would cause nothing but problems.

“Those who are disposed of can survive if they are taken in by a father, but most nobles would refuse,” Ferdinand explained. “The men would not be able to tell whether the child is really theirs, and they tend to have wives, which inevitably breeds conflict.”

And whenever Ferdinand would ask his father why he had agreed to take in such a child, the late Aub Ehrenfest would say it was by the Goddess of Time’s guidance.

“He said with complete certainty that my presence would benefit Ehrenfest,” Ferdinand concluded.

“I see. That’s quite strange, but also true; if not for your being here, Ehrenfest wouldn’t be the way it is now. If the Goddess of Time truly was involved, I would expect nothing less from her.”

Ferdinand gave me a dumbstruck look and said, “You would believe such a ridiculous story?”

“What? I mean, this is a world where you pray to make spring come early and turn little sticks into weapons of Darkness. Ridiculous things happen left, right, and center. At this point, why would I not believe something so mundane as the Goddess of Time fiddling with things?”

Ferdinand stared at me in utter disbelief. “I knew that it was pointless to think too deeply about your conclusions, but once again, I find myself caught off guard.”

“Neat. So, what did they say about you being a seed of Adalgisa?” I asked, getting us back on track.

“I see your focus does not stray so easily...” Ferdinand muttered, sounding vexed. “Although I am from Ehrenfest and continually express no interest in the throne, that does not change the fact that I am a source of extreme danger to the current Grutrissheit-less king. After all, I am of the blood royal and appear to be using a saint to search for the Grutrissheit.”

“What?”

“You mentioned it to Prince Hildebrand, did you not? The archive that only royalty can enter?”

“Wait, so... this is all my fault?!” I put my head in my hands and screamed, “NOOOO!”

Ferdinand gave a tired sigh. “I was told to display my loyalty to the king through action. To this end, I was presented with two choices: eliminate Sylvester and take his position as aub, or wed into Ahrensbach.”

An archduke could not become royalty—Eglantine had mentioned this when talking about her search for a way to avoid getting involved with the royal family. Ferdinand was being asked to either become the next Aub Ehrenfest or marry the aub of another duchy in order to sever his tie to royalty for good.

“If you needed to display your loyalty in that way, couldn’t you have become Ehrenfest’s aub temporarily until Wilfried came of age? I would rather you stay in Ehrenfest forever, Ferdinand, and will you not be much happier here than with Lady Detlinde? Considering that she resembles Lady Veronica and all...” I was sure that Sylvester would agree if we explained things to him.

Ferdinand shook his head. “Now that the king knows I am a seed of Adalgisa, it is best for me to step away from Ehrenfest. It is impossible to say whether I will end up embroiled in some major incident, but I can say with all certainty that I will not bring this duchy down with me.” His eyes wandered to his hands, which were balled into tight fists. “I gave my father my word that I would make Sylvester the archduke and dedicate my life to Ehrenfest to support him. I could never break that final promise we made. If my only other option is eliminating Sylvester and taking the archducal seat myself, I would much rather marry into Ahrensbach. He must never know that there was an alternative.”

Ferdinand treasured his memories with his father, and now that I knew how much he valued their final promise, I couldn’t bring myself to say anything that might keep him here in Ehrenfest.

“So what you truly want to protect is your promise with your father?” I asked.

“Correct. I assume that you understand how I feel, at least to some degree, considering how much you treasure your true family and your promises with them.”

I had promised Dad that I would protect our family and Ehrenfest with it. Tuuli had promised to become a first-rate seamstress and make my clothes. And Mom... It was hard for me to repeat my promise with her, but I remembered it. It was very, very precious to me, and just thinking about it brought tears to my eyes.

“I can understand,” I said. “I get it. I don’t want you to leave, Ferdinand, but I understand how much that promise means to you.”

“Why are you crying?”

“I remembered my promises with my family. And when I think about how I’ll need to part ways with you as well... I just couldn’t hold them back.”

Ferdinand responded with an exceptionally loud—and exceptionally annoyed—sigh, then unclenched his fists and spread his arms a bit. I climbed onto his lap and embraced him tightly, relieved to have that feeling of touching someone that I hadn’t felt in a truly, truly long time. Hugs had completely vanished from my life.

“You don’t mind...?” I asked.

“I did promise to praise you when you came first-in-class. Though this will most likely be the last time...”

It took me a while to calm down, and when I did, my mind was flooded with worry. I had a strong feeling that Ferdinand would spend his future suffering—that he would focus entirely on his promise with his father and endure all the pain and suffering that being in Ahrensbach would doubtless burden him with. Ferdinand didn’t even ask his closest allies for help when he was overwhelmed with work, so I couldn’t imagine him seeking assistance from anyone in Ahrensbach, even in a life-threatening situation.

I can’t let that happen. But he probably won’t keep any promises he makes with me, so...

I needed something that would more or less force him to keep a promise between us—something that went beyond words. As I racked my brain for ideas, Ferdinand said, “If you have calmed down, get off me.”

“Hold on,” I replied. “I don’t think I’ll ever get another chance to talk to you like this, Ferdinand, which means I’ll have to blackmail you here and now.”

“What are you even saying?” Ferdinand asked, looking far from impressed.

I gazed up at him and smiled. “Promise me you won’t give up on everything and submit to a life of suffering for the sake of your father. Promise me you’ll call for help if you’re ever truly in pain. I’ll come save you right away.”

“I... do not understand. I am going to Ahrensbach. Would you come save me at the cost of making an enemy of the entire duchy? Do not be so foolish.”

I nodded without batting an eye. “Yes, I would. And not just Ahrensbach. I’ll save you no matter what, even if doing so means making the Sovereignty and the king himself my enemy.”

“What the...” Ferdinand trailed off, then started rubbing his temples in complete disbelief. “I tore you away from your family and forbade you from contacting those of the lower city, remember? You must not be right in the head. It makes no sense that you would go to such lengths to save me.”

This guy really doesn’t understand how much he means to other people, does he? Or how much we worry about him.

Ferdinand was probably oblivious to how much Sylvester, Karstedt, Elvira, and I didn’t want him to go to Ahrensbach, and we were far from the only ones who would mourn losing him. He seemed so convinced that his absence wouldn’t affect us in the slightest, since it was best for Ehrenfest, and that thought outright infuriated me.

“Do you really mean that?” I asked. “Do you really mean what you just said?”

“Contain yourself, Rozemyne! Your eyes have begun to change color! You are losing control of your mana!” Ferdinand exclaimed as he rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a feystone. He smacked it against my forehead with such force that it made a noise, and although the dull ache and the feystone draining my mana served to calm me somewhat, I was still furious.

“Listen here,” I said. “You’ve taught me a lot as my guardian. You’ve looked after me and gone to great lengths for my sake, haven’t you? You made me potions and charms, and out of all the nobles in Ehrenfest—whether it be Sylvester, Florencia, or even my fiancé Wilfried—you’ve cared for me more than anyone. Isn’t it obvious that I think of you as family? Why can’t you understand that?”

Ferdinand stared at me in astonishment, not even pointing out that I wasn’t speaking like a proper noblewoman. “A-As family?” was the most he managed in response.

“Yes, as family. You sure are dense when it comes to how other people feel about you, huh?”

“I may not have noticed, but I refuse to be lectured on perceptiveness by the densest girl I have ever met,” Ferdinand replied spitefully, looking away with a hand over his mouth. This was my first time seeing him with such an expression.

“In any case,” I continued, “you are that precious to me. To save you, I wouldn’t even mind stealing the Grutrissheit and becoming queen.”

“What are you saying, you fool?!” Ferdinand snapped, his eyes wide. To me, it was the perfect idea; I could read the Grutrissheit to my heart’s content, save Ferdinand, and then return the book to the king. Everybody wins.

“The commoner daughter of a soldier became the adopted daughter of an archduke to save her family,” I said. “Compared to that, an archduke candidate stealing the Grutrissheit and becoming queen can’t be too much of a stretch. And as long as I use my new position to protect Ehrenfest and all of Yurgenschmidt, I wouldn’t be breaking my promise with my dad, so there wouldn’t be any problems.”

“There would be countless problems!” Ferdinand cried. “There really must be something wrong with your head!” He was getting emotional, which was a good sign. I just needed to keep the momentum going until he made a promise that I could hold against him.

“I will dedicate my life to ensuring I can read in peace. That is my reason for living.”

“I recall you saying the same thing when you saved the orphans...”

“That’s right. I don’t want there to be bad things happening around me when I’m trying to have a good time. My point is that I need you to be happy as well, Ferdinand. There’s no way I can relax while you’re giving me cause for concern. That’s why I need you to contact me on a regular basis, even once you’ve gone off to get married. Just so you know, if enough time passes and I haven’t heard from you, I’ll come fight to save you with every fiber of my being.”

Ferdinand gave me a sincerely troubled look. “I have seen you go berserk for those you consider family many times before. Do you mean to say that you would go on such a rampage for my sake?”

“That’s right. Didn’t I make it clear from the outset that I intend to blackmail you?”

“This could not be worse. I cannot think of a single person who would stand a chance of putting a stop to your efforts to save me.”

It was true—neither Sylvester, Karstedt, nor Elvira were capable of stopping me in the heat of a rampage... although they would most likely be the ones telling me to save him in the first place.

“Not even I know what I’ll do if you end up miserable, Ferdinand. You have two choices here: either you can find a way to be happy all the time, or you can be honest and ask for my help when you need it. Pick one.”

“This blackmail is as unavoidable as it is unexpected, I see,” Ferdinand said with a chuckle. He repeated over and over again that the situation couldn’t be worse... but in the end, he promised to send me regular letters.