Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 5.2 - Chapter 4

Frustrating Tea Parties

After arriving at Hirschur’s laboratory, I gave Raimund my letter for Ferdinand and then got to work making new prototype magic tools.

Right now, Raimund was researching a magic tool that would shine various lights when a certain time came. It would project colors onto the pages of books so that even the most obsessive reader would stare up in surprise, offering the perfect opportunity for someone to snatch the book from their hands and end their reading time.

I’d wanted to prioritize making a tool that would automatically return books to their respective shelves, but my attendants had fervently disagreed; according to them, my library would absolutely need one of these light-shining magic tools.

“Research the light-shining magic tool first,” Hirschur said. “Then you can research the magic tool for returning books.”

“Is that your assessment, Professor Hirschur?” Raimund asked. “I couldn’t agree more.”

They both immediately concurred with my attendants, since they were the ones preparing their meals.

I can understand having a weakness for delicious food, but at least try to disguise it! Besides, I’m the one who gets them to make all those meals for you! Hmph!

“Well, I must be off,” Raimund said. “I need to go to the library to research the light magic tool.”

“I should go as well,” I added. “That way, I can ask Schwartz and Weiss about the docu—”

“Raimund is more than capable of asking on your behalf, milady. Anyway, has the royal family not forbidden you from visiting the library? If you wish to read books, we may return to your room.”

Bwehhh... I wanna go toooo...

I slumped my shoulders; being told that I couldn’t go somewhere just made me want to go there even more. Sure, there were enough books in my room to keep me occupied for now... but the moment I finished them, my inability to visit the library would really start wearing me down.

“Lady Rozemyne, were you not going to deliver these documents to Professor Hirschur?” Lieseleta asked, handing me a stack of papers. It was a transcription of all the research on Schwartz and Weiss.

“Professor Hirschur, this is research left behind by someone who studied Schwartz and Weiss in the past,” I said. “You may only borrow it, so transcribe whatever you wish to keep. I intend to show this to Ferdinand eventually, so I cannot let you have it permanently.”

“Where did you find these documents? I do not recall them being on the library’s second floor.”

“They were in a closed-stack archive, I am told. Professor Solange lent them to me.”

Hirschur looked over the papers and then blinked. “Oh, yes... I often send my disciples to seek documents, but I have never consulted Solange myself. Just how many documents are in this closed-stack archive?”

“Well, it contains material so valuable that it must be preserved with magic tools. Professor Solange was previously unable to confirm its actual contents, but that has changed now that Schwartz and Weiss are moving again and the new archlibrarian is providing additional mana. You should go talk to her.”

The library had been suffering from a serious mana shortage back when Solange was the only one protecting it, which had meant she was unable to supply the closed-stack archive with the mana it needed. Many of the documents had started to deteriorate as a result. Hortensia now had her hands full trying to ensure that everything was adequately supplied; keeping Schwartz and Weiss operational wasn’t enough.

So, in other words, the library still needs more mana.

“Lady Rozemyne, you say that you plan to deliver these papers to Ferdinand, but surely he is in no position to be doing research.”

“At present, he has neither a room nor a hidden room, meaning he has nowhere to do any research. However, as he wrote in his letter that he wishes to do some nonetheless, I thought it best to preserve some documents for him.”

Once he did eventually receive a hidden room, my first course of action was going to be to cram Lessy full of documents, tools, and materials, then head straight to Ahrensbach’s castle.

Though I doubt Aub Ahrensbach will permit me to fly over in my highbeast, so that will remain but a dream.

“Those who move to other duchies remain in guest rooms until they are officially married,” I continued. “Ferdinand, however, was sent over much sooner than usual. He will surely suffocate without somewhere to retreat to. If only there were something we could do for him...”

In my eyes, we were both expressing our worry for Ferdinand, but Hirschur seemed to recover in a heartbeat. “I shall carry out research in his place and strive to do it every single day in his honor,” she said, completely unfazed. “Perhaps you should return to your dormitory and read, Lady Rozemyne. If you have any other useful documents, do bring them over. Oh, and you would do well to send a report to Fraularm sooner rather than later.”

Wha...? Come on, let’s talk about Ferdinand for a little while longer.

Hirschur began transcribing the documents, determined not to back down. There was little else for me to do until Raimund finished his schematics—I couldn’t make any prototypes without them—so I resigned myself to returning to my room and reading. I wanted to finish the books I was currently borrowing so that I could take out even more.

As I whiled away the time reading in my room, invitations for tea parties started to trickle in. The Royal Academy’s socializing season was finally beginning. My attendants consulted Charlotte’s and formed our plans; the two of us were going to be attending together.

At the same time, I arranged for a meeting with Fraularm. As per Hirschur’s instructions, I needed to give her a second report on the state of our research and point out that the first report for Ferdinand had not been delivered.

Fraularm must have taken a personal interest in the progress of our joint research; unlike when I was trying to schedule my exam with her, she agreed to see me pretty much instantly.

As soon as I arrived to meet Fraularm, she extended a hand to me, requesting my report. She was wearing gloves and made no attempt to read the letter then and there. In truth, she was acting like Ferdinand did when on guard against an attempted poisoning.

“Professor Fraularm... it seems that the first report has still not reached Ferdinand,” I said. “Have you sent it to Ahrensbach yet?”

“Is that so?” she replied, deliberately avoiding my gaze. “Our scholars must be slacking. I certainly did send it.”

I put a hand on my cheek and sighed. “In that case, I may need to consult Lady Detlinde. Such apathy from the scholars of a greater duchy is quite troubling indeed. It must be especially troublesome for you, as someone who specializes in collecting and organizing intelligence.”

“Indeed. Quite troublesome...” Fraularm said, glancing my way with a fake smile plastered on her face. “Incidentally, Lady Rozemyne... through what means are you keeping in contact with Lord Ferdinand...?”

“He is my guardian; it is only natural that I would have various means of communicating with him. Revealing any more than that would be like giving Schutzaria’s shield to Leidenschaft, no?”

Fraularm huffed and then turned away from me sharply—an unsurprising reaction considering that I had more or less said, “You don’t need to know that. Just what are you trying to pull?”

“On a more important note,” I continued, moving the conversation along, “do you know when Lady Detlinde will be finishing her classes?”

“Now that is what I would call giving Schutzaria’s shield to Leidenschaft,” she retorted.

“You are aware that I need to schedule a cousins’ tea party with her and deliver her hairpins, correct...? And, as you should also know, I am busy with joint research, and my schedule is becoming increasingly packed with plans for other tea parties. As such, I would consider my question to be nothing but reasonable. That said, if you are insistent on keeping quiet, then please inform Lady Detlinde that I will have my attendants deliver the hairpins some other time.”

My attendants only had a brief opportunity to socialize this year, and they were striving to do as much as they could in that time. I’d been focused on my books when they were coming to me with requests, so I’d absentmindedly agreed to everything that was put before me. As a result, my schedule was now completely packed.

Truth be told, I much preferred the idea of reading more books to attending tea parties, but I needed to socialize with as many duchies as possible; my aim was to improve the horrible reputation that was plaguing both Sylvester and Ehrenfest as a whole. In that regard, I was fully on board with delaying a tea party with Ahrensbach, a duchy that was bound to spread negative rumors about us anyway.

I was willing to attend the cousins’ tea party, since I’m curious about how Ferdinand is doing in Ahrensbach, but I can’t say I’m too enthusiastic about it.

“Sister, we are receiving so many invitations to tea parties,” Charlotte informed me upon my return to the dormitory. “Which will you attend?”

“There are more?” I asked, taking the invitations she had extended to me. I was already due to attend so many, and the thought of sitting through even more—and surrendering even more of my reading time—was especially annoying.

Charlotte gave me a consoling smile. “Socializing season has just properly begun. Almost all duchies know from their dormitory supervisors that you are busy with your joint research projects, so they must want to secure a meeting with you as early as they can.”

That made sense; after all, as the Interduchy Tournament grew nearer and nearer, everybody would end up too busy with their research to attend tea parties.

“Furthermore,” Brunhilde added with a smile, “this is the first time you have not needed to return home for the Dedication Ritual.”

“I don’t think I’m physically capable of socializing every day...” I said. “I’ll probably end up sick.”

Although I was getting healthier, biting off more than I could chew would be dangerous. If we didn’t set aside at least two days of reading for each day of tea parties, then I would probably collapse out of the blue and at a terribly inconvenient moment.

“Indeed,” Brunhilde replied. “We do not know when a summons might come from Dunkelfelger or the royal family, so we cannot pack our schedule too tightly.”

Together, my attendants and I continued this conversation while gradually working out how to allocate our time. We were interrupted only when an ordonnanz flew into the room.

“This is Detlinde of Ahrensbach,” the bird said. “I, too, have very little time in my schedule. Let us have our tea party four days from now, in the afternoon.”

In other words, Fraularm had passed along our message. I wasn’t particularly happy about Detlinde setting a date for our tea party without speaking to my attendants or checking when I was free.

“I... can’t refuse this, can I?”

“This was at your request, was it not, Sister?” Charlotte asked. “I will inform Wilfried that a date has been decided.”

“Maybe, but this wasn’t my intention...” I sighed. My only option was to adjust my schedule accordingly and then give Detlinde my acknowledgment.

Today, I was going to be attending tea parties with bottom-ranking duchies, but not with Charlotte; Ahrensbach’s inconsiderate actions had required us to make a few changes to our schedule. Given that Ehrenfest had taken a neutral stance during the civil war, some bottom-ranking duchies apparently thought it would be easier to kiss up to us than to the faction that had come out victorious.

According to Charlotte, we wanted to bring as many bottom-ranking duchies under our wing as was feasible. The problem was that I wasn’t sure how to go about doing this. Ehrenfest was in the midst of reshaping its interduchy relations, and Charlotte didn’t know enough about the subject to teach me anything of use. This was one of numerous problems that had arisen from our sudden rise through the duchy rankings.

“Lady Rozemyne, famous Saint of Ehrenfest. We have long awaited this opportunity to speak with you.”

For the most part, every tea party we attended started with the other duchy singing Ehrenfest’s praises. They commended our sweets and paid especially close attention to Rosina’s music, which they asked to hear more of. I even noticed their musicians straining their ears as they desperately attempted to memorize what they could.

Some books were exchanged as well.

“I was not able to bring a book last year, since everything happened so suddenly, but this year, I received permission from the aub ahead of time...” the representative of the other duchy explained.

Naturally, I wanted to be on good terms with any duchy that was willing to lend me books. I accepted their generous offer with a smile, then lent them some Ehrenfest books in return. As it turned out, they were particularly excited to read them, as our books were now popular among the top-ranking duchies.

As expected, it’s best to establish our trends at the very top and then let them trickle down. By doing this, reading will spread even further.

Unfortunately, my sincere interest lasted only as long as our conversation about books. The bottom-ranking duchies were very, very curious about how we had climbed the ranks, and once they began their legitimately obstinate barrage of questions, I was forced to put on a fake smile.

“It was just so sudden,” someone remarked. “Is there some secret technique that Ehrenfest used to climb so far up the ranks in just a number of years?”

“To think you are balancing three joint research projects with greater duchies...” the representative continued. “You truly are exceptional, Lady Rozemyne. Not only are you responsible for many trends and in charge of several research projects, but you have also proven that you are kindhearted enough to continue serving as High Bishop even after being adopted. I must kneel before the astute eyes of Aub Ehrenfest, who identified your talents and adopted you.”

“Everyone says that Aub Ehrenfest is a cruel archduke who forces all archduke candidates other than his own children into the temple. How tragic.”

Each time someone bad-mouthed Sylvester, I disputed whatever rumor they were repeating and clarified that all of our archduke candidates passed through the farming villages for Spring Prayer and the Harvest Festival. No matter how much I argued my case, however, nobody believed me. Bizarrely enough, they would always reply with something like “You truly are kind to protect him like that.”

But I’m not. It’s all true. Are you even listening to me?!

Over and over again, Sylvester was insulted, Wilfried and Charlotte were indirectly accused of having easy lives, and I was upheld as a profound saint—the lone jewel of an otherwise cruel family. I continued to speak out against such ideas, but I might as well have been reasoning with a brick wall, and the tea party ended with me feeling in a worse mood than when I’d entered.

I’m just glad that I made it through without unleashing an indiscriminate “kill everything” Crushing wave. I really did a good job keeping myself under control.

I returned to my room, and we gathered together to reflect on our most recent tea party. “Am I the only one who has to endure listening to such malicious words?” I asked, looking at my attendants who had attended the tea party with me. “Do they say the same to Charlotte’s face, I wonder?”

Brunhilde shook her head. “They would not dare mention such rumors to the aub’s own children. I expect they feel comfortable saying them to you as they are hoping to get on your good side, as you are an adopted daughter, and many believe you are being abused.” Her voice was noticeably harsher than usual, and although both she and Rihyarda were smiling at me, I could tell that they had been equally frustrated by the tea parties.

“The aub and his children by blood were not the only ones being treated with such contempt,” came a voice. “It may have seemed that they were idolizing you, Lady Rozemyne, but even those ‘heralding’ you as a saint were being backhanded.”

“Gretia?”

“They called you a saint to emphasize that you were raised in the temple. They mocked you for protecting the aub, insinuating that you were merely blind to the worse treatment you receive, and proclaimed you to be a very convenient and freely available source of mana.”

My initial thought was that Gretia was being too negative in her evaluation, but she had felt strongly enough to speak up instead of maintaining her usual silence. It seemed wise to take her input seriously.

“You are most likely being viewed as a quiet, weak-minded saint who exists only as a puppet for her guardians,” Gretia continued. “You will need to consider the risk of someone trying to extort or even kidnap you.”

“Understood,” responded not I, but Leonore.

After our reflection, we spoke more about how people bad-mouthed the aub’s biological children behind their backs. As I understood it, Charlotte and I were deliberately being made to attend tea parties separately to lure the duchies hosting us into a false sense of security. I was well aware that getting such duchies to expose their maliciousness was a righteous cause, but I was finding it miserable having to say, “You are all very kind, but Aub Ehrenfest is not that kind of man” over and over and over again.

I vented my frustrations while taking a short reading break, then had to attend even more frustrating tea parties. If someone had warned me that this was going to be my fate, then I would have rather missed socializing season entirely.

Guhhh... I wish they had summoned me back to the temple this year.

As my misery continued, it came time for Detlinde’s tea party for cousins. I was well aware that I needed to attend whether I wanted to or not, but in my current state, I was really starting to doubt that I would be able to bless her marriage to Ferdinand. It was going to take my utmost concentration to not accidentally say, “Gimme back my precious brain!”

“Matthias, Laurenz, Muriella, and Gretia will sit this one out,” I said. “It would not be wise to reveal that several children from the former Veronica faction have become my retainers all at once.”

“Indeed. We do not know how much Ahrensbach knows about the purge. Hiding what we can is certainly wise.”

How much information would we give, and how much would we keep to ourselves? Those were the questions I discussed with Wilfried and Charlotte.

Okay, Rozemyne. No matter how annoyed you get, don’t let it show on your face. Keep things peaceful so that Ferdinand doesn’t suffer more in Ahrensbach.

After carving this holy oath into my heart, I made my way to the Ahrensbach tea party alongside my two siblings.

“Good day, everyone.”

“Good day, Lady Detlinde,” Wilfried replied, greeting her as our representative. “Thank you ever so much for inviting us.”

We were promptly directed to our seats. Meanwhile, Detlinde was looking notably pleased. She saw our attendants handing over packages, smiled, and asked whether they were her hairpins.

“Today, my musician will be playing a new Ahrensbach piece,” Detlinde announced. “It is a love song that Lord Ferdinand composed for me, dedicated to Geduldh.” After giving a dainty laugh and stroking her gorgeous blonde hair, she then turned to her musician, who nodded in response and started to play. It was the same song about nostalgia that I’d previously heard in music class—and it seemed that I wasn’t the only one connecting the dots.

“We heard this in music class,” Wilfried remarked.

“Indeed,” Detlinde said pridefully. “I got all of our musically talented students to learn it so that word of its origins would spread. Lord Ferdinand gave me this wonderful gift during the feast marking the start of winter, so they did not have long to practice. I am sure it was quite a struggle for them.”

Detlinde went on to sip her tea and take demonstrative bites of the prepared sweets. We tried them for ourselves soon after, which elicited an excited smile from our host.

“So,” she continued, “is it after our spring Starbinding that Lord Ferdinand’s personal chefs are coming to Ahrensbach?”

Excuse me? I don’t think that was ever in the cards.

The chefs who had previously worked for Ferdinand in the temple were now working for Hartmut. I was in no position to discuss the movements of other people’s personnel, so there was nothing I could say in response. Maybe I would need to send a cautionary letter...

Detlinde gave a satisfied sigh and then set down her cup. “I was initially depressed about being engaged to Lord Ferdinand... but as of late, I have been feeling a little more optimistic about our union.”

“You were depressed...?” I asked.

“But of course. I am going to be the next archduchess of Ahrensbach, yet my father chose to pair me with a much older man from a much lower-ranking duchy—a man who has no mother and was sent to Ehrenfest’s temple. My disappointment was only natural.”

I was more surprised than I was annoyed. To me, Ferdinand was an excellent archduke candidate who had come first-in-class each year he attended the Royal Academy, all the while being a creative mad scientist who could do anything from scholar work, to knight work, to serving as the representative of an aub. However, to those who weren’t from Ehrenfest and thus hadn’t seen all the work he’d done, and those who hadn’t been at the Royal Academy to witness his great feats, he was apparently a terrible pick.

I guess that’s just how he looks from the outside...

“I was quite relieved when I met him in person and saw his kind personality and intelligence for myself,” Detlinde continued. “He did vow to dedicate himself to me, after all.”

I assume she thinks he’s “kind” because she fell victim to his fake smile? I mean, this misunderstanding is exactly what we want, but at the same time... I really want her to know that he’s playing her like a fiddle.

Of course, this deception had made her more optimistic about marrying Ferdinand, so I silenced the mischievous voice in my head and instead started promoting his competence.

“There remain countless legends about his accomplishments in the Royal Academy. For example—”

“Yes, I know of them already. I gathered intelligence to find out more about his true nature and was very surprised. Given his many accomplishments, I see no reason why he cannot stand by my side as my husband.”

Now I was annoyed.

He’s the amazing one here! The question should be whether you are worthy of standing beside him!

Again, I swallowed my words. Today was turning out to be the ultimate test of patience.

Having noticed my internal struggle and fake smile, Charlotte leaned into the conversation and promptly moved things along. “If you were initially depressed about your engagement, Lady Detlinde, then was your heart perhaps set on another? I remember a similar tale in Royal Academy Love Stories. If you have any particularly affectionate memories, then I would be delighted to hear about them.”

Detlinde blinked a few times before averting her gaze, her dark-green eyes downcast. “Yes, of course it was. The man even returned my affections, but I am the next archduchess; I have no choice but to marry the man whom my father chose for me. No matter how wondrous that past flame may have been, no matter how desperately he conveyed his feelings to me, I cannot give my hand to someone who does not suit me. I understood this even back then... but our parting was still so very painful. Oh, how I loathed Liebeskhilfe the Goddess of Binding for having brought us together, knowing that we were destined to be separated.”

There was now a vacant look in Detlinde’s eyes; her thoughts had presumably wandered to her past lover. The two had apparently said their farewells during the summer, so this mystery man must have been an Ahrensbach noble rather than someone from the Royal Academy.

I guess this engagement has been hard for her too.

I’d assumed that Detlinde had everything to gain from her upcoming marriage, since she hadn’t settled on an escort, and there hadn’t been any rumors circulating through the Academy about her being romantically involved with someone. In reality, despite what everyone else thought, this engagement wasn’t desired by either participant. I couldn’t help but sigh at how cruel the world could be.

“Thus, partially for the sake of my lost love, I must become an excellent aub,” Detlinde concluded, making her resolve clear.

I was slightly moved, but also suddenly worried; her repeated assertions about becoming the next aub suggested that the current Aub Ahrensbach’s condition was far from stable. I decided to broach the matter.

“Speaking of which, how fares Aub Ahrensbach’s health? I was worried when Ferdinand was asked to move to Ahrensbach so suddenly.”

Ferdinand would most likely be able to sustain him with potions, but it was unlikely that Ahrensbach would trust the concoctions of another duchy. He wasn’t even describing the aub’s health in his letters to me, so I was concerned about whether the handover had gone smoothly.

Detlinde heaved a tragic sigh. “He certainly cannot be described as ‘well.’ Thankfully, Lord Ferdinand has made reasonable progress with his administrative work, so I would assume he is at peace.”

“I see...”

For her to be describing the aub as sickly here at a tea party, he must have been extremely unwell indeed. Ehrenfest already knew this from Ferdinand’s sudden departure, but from what I understood, no other duchies were aware. At the very least, it wasn’t spoken about in the Royal Academy.

“I wished to return to Ahrensbach immediately, but Mother has said that, as the next aub, I must focus on socializing...” Detlinde continued. It was only natural that she would want to rush to the side of an ill family member. Still, despite all the stress she must have been dealing with, she had somehow managed to contain those feelings, focus on her classes, and put effort into socializing. Maybe I would need to reevaluate my opinion of her a little.

Personally, if someone had told me that my dad was unwell, I would have rushed through my classes and headed straight back to Ehrenfest, where I would have stayed at his bedside no matter what he said.

“Thus, during this year’s graduation ceremony, I must carry myself in a manner befitting the next Aub Ahrensbach.”

“I wish you well in your efforts.”

“That said, do you not think it Ehrenfest’s duty to assist me with captivating my audience?”

“Um... Assist you how?” I asked, blinking. I could tell that Detlinde viewed her request as being very straightforward, but I didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. I turned to Wilfried and Charlotte, but they were just as uncertain.

Irritated by our confusion, Detlinde continued in a sharper tone: “I am asking that you teach me how to make my feystones shine when I dance. That was how you drew so much attention to yourself during whirling class, was it not? Personally, I considered it a gaudy and perhaps even needy display, but I cannot deny its effectiveness. Will such theatrics not be essential to my performance as the Goddess of Light during this year’s dedication whirl, hm?”

I was stunned silent, barely able to comprehend what she had just said.

Uh, what? If you attempt something like that, then forget the Goddess of Light; you’re going to be more like the Goddess of Neon Lamps! I mean, you’ll end up being so overly flashy! It might get you a lot of attention, sure, but I don’t think any of it will be positive.

Wilfried and Charlotte were wearing similar looks of disbelief.

“Lady Detlinde,” Wilfried said, “if you saw Rozemyne practice, then I think you would understand that what you are suggesting will make you stand out for all the wrong reasons. I do not believe you should do something like that at your graduation, in the presence of the royal family and other aubs.”

“Oh my. Wilfried... will you really not help me in my time of need...?” Detlinde asked, feigning surprise. Even then, her exaggerated display was nothing compared to what the rest of us were feeling. Did she really intend to turn herself into a whirling glow stick?

“I do not believe that is the issue here...” I said.

“Oh? Do you not wish to teach me?” Detlinde asked, fixing me with a glare. “Are you so against the idea of sharing the spotlight?”

“No, that is not what I meant... If you wish to make your feystones shine, then you need only fill them with mana, no?”

“I will not be fooled so easily. There must be some method you used to make so many shine at once. You relied on a magic tool of some sort, I presume.”

Uh... no.

Detlinde went on to describe how the many rainbow feystones of my hair stick had started to shine and said that such a thing could not possibly have happened just from me channeling mana into them. We would need to either masterfully change the subject or outright deceive her.

I was trying to figure out what to say when Charlotte suddenly leaned forward and said in a low voice, “Lady Detlinde, please keep what I am about to tell you to yourself.”

Detlinde similarly leaned closer, her eyes sparkling. “I knew there was a secret.”

“The truth is, on the day of that unusual display, my sister was exceptionally ill. She could not keep her mana under control. Thus, the feystones truly were filled naturally; there was no magic tool that made them shine.”

“So, she collapsed after whirling because...”

“Because she had not been able to keep her mana from flowing out, yes.”

That wasn’t a lie, but it sure felt like one. Charlotte was making it sound as though I had some kind of terrible disease.

Detlinde gave both Charlotte and me a suspicious look, indicating that she wasn’t convinced.

Wilfried must have assumed this was a good moment for him to step in, as he nodded and said, “That’s why Rozemyne wouldn’t be able to make her feystones shine now even if she wanted to; she’s all better. You know, if you really are set on doing it yourself, then why not get some cheap feystones that can’t hold much mana?”

What are you doing?! Are you trying to turn her into the Goddess of Neon Lamps?!

Charlotte and I instinctively looked at one another. We were both concerned, but Wilfried was just doing his best to help her with the knowledge he had.

“This introduces the risk that they might turn to gold dust if you pour too much mana into them,” he said, unmistakably serious, “but they’ll shine more easily.”

“A splendid idea,” Detlinde said, clapping her hands together.

Aaaaaah! She’s actually going to do it?!

“It will require a great deal of mana to make even feystones of a lower quality light up like that...” Charlotte said, trying to appeal to Detlinde’s better judgment. “I do not believe there is any need to use so much for the dedication whirl.”

Detlinde smiled and shook her head. “Fear not; I will practice ahead of time so that I can determine the lowest quality that does not turn into gold dust. Oh, and may I see the hairpins I will be wearing for my graduation ceremony?” she asked cheerfully.

Wilfried’s attendant got straight to work—and after various checks, Detlinde’s apprentice attendant, Martina, accepted the box.

“I intend to debut these at a tea party consisting only of top-ranking duchies,” Detlinde said.

“In that case, we will need to show your attendants how they are worn,” I replied. “Brunhilde.”

After responding with a brisk nod, Brunhilde started teaching Martina, having been through this process countless times before with Eglantine’s and Adolphine’s attendants, among others.

“Still, Lady Rozemyne—your rainbow feystones truly are wonderful,” Detlinde remarked. “Should I ask my fiancé for a similar ornament, I wonder?”

“I am sure he would be willing to make one for you after your Starbind Ceremony.”

“Oh my. Only after?”

I took this opportunity to complain about a matter of great importance to me.

“Well, as Ferdinand is staying in a guest room until then, he has no workshop, no ingredients, and no tools with which to work. There is nothing he can do. Ideally, he would at least have a workshop for doing research, but...”

“Ah. There is no helping it, then.”

I had hoped that the allure of a rainbow feystone ornament would encourage her to prepare a workshop at once, but her response hadn’t sounded very positive. How unfortunate.

“Speaking of research,” Detlinde continued, “how is your project with Ahrensbach faring? I must say, I am disappointed that you have yet to send us a single report.”

“I delivered my second report to Professor Fraularm several days ago,” I said, turning to Wilfried and Charlotte for support. They both nodded, confirming that I was speaking the truth. “She assured me that she sent the first to Ahrensbach, but has she really not said a word to you? That is an unusual way to treat one’s archduke candidates...”

“To think she would send them to Ahrensbach without showing them to me first...”

“It also seems that my first report never reached Ferdinand. I struggle to believe that a greater duchy such as Ahrensbach has any inattentive scholars, but I would be very appreciative if you could investigate the matter as the next aub.” I made sure to add that it was possible this was all a huge misunderstanding.

Detlinde gave a firm nod and said, “I shall do just that. This research is being advertised as that of Lord Ferdinand’s disciples, and anything that impacts my fiancé’s reputation impacts my own as well. I would rather his name not be sullied through this project of yours.”

“To ensure that we meet his standards, Raimund is constantly sending him letters and reports,” I replied. “We will only be presenting that which receives his direct approval.”

“Yes, you do that.”

Her phrasing is really getting on my nerves... but this might resolve our report incident, and it gives me an excuse to contact Ferdinand more frequently. All’s well that ends well, I suppose...

As I was feeling satisfied with our unexpected progress, Wilfried spoke with Detlinde. “Uncle went to Ahrensbach as Lady Letizia’s instructor, but how has that been going?” he asked, eyeing her and her retainers carefully. “He, um... has a tendency to be quite harsh when educating others, so I am a bit worried.”

I could tell that Wilfried was actually trying to find out whether Detlinde knew about Letizia and the royal decree. Her retainers tensed up a little, but Detlinde herself merely rested a troubled hand on her cheek.

“I do not socialize with Letizia much,” she said, “so I could not tell you much about her. I departed for the Royal Academy as soon as winter socializing began, but according to the letters I’ve received, Lord Ferdinand is working rather hard on his administrative duties. Surely he has no time to be teaching some child.”

This pretty much confirmed it: Detlinde was completely blind to the significance of Ferdinand moving to Ahrensbach to teach Letizia. She didn’t realize that she was only a temporary, interim aub—and, upon sensing this, Wilfried gave her a sympathetic look.

“More importantly, look at this,” Detlinde continued, redirecting the focus of our conversation. “It was a gift given to me by someone from Lanzenave who visited Ahrensbach during the summer.”

What followed was a slurry of uninteresting chatter as Detlinde bragged about her duchy, her fiancé, or some other person with whom she was connected, then pointed out how she stood above them all as Ahrensbach’s next aub. She clearly wanted us to praise her or give her advice on how to strengthen her duchy’s influence.

As our tea party continued, Detlinde made no attempt to inquire about or even mention the purge happening in Ehrenfest. I started to wonder whether she really was oblivious—whether Georgine was intentionally keeping her unaware and excluding her from her plan.

Detlinde continued to prattle on and on about herself and her position as the next aub... and soon enough, our meeting came to an uneventful end.

“That was tiring...”

Such were my first words upon our return to the Ehrenfest Dormitory. We had spent the entire tea party being expected to prop up our host, and as it had been a private tea party without guests from other duchies, we had been treated entirely like a lesser, inferior duchy while everything went as Detlinde wished. It really had been exhausting.

To me, the worst part had been when Detlinde started bragging about the legendary tales of Ferdinand—which she had apparently gathered from other students and those who had attended alongside him—as though they were based on her own accomplishments. I’d only barely suppressed the urge to scream that he had still been from Ehrenfest when all those things had taken place.

“I was fearful of what she might know about Ehrenfest’s current situation and prepared for her to start probing us,” Charlotte said, “but I evidently worried for nothing.”

I shook my head. “Lady Detlinde might have been oblivious, but there were moments when her retainers seemed especially tense. I expect that some of them know more than she does.”

Wilfried frowned, his face clouded with concern. “I know this isn’t our problem, but I’m kind of worried about Lady Detlinde. Is she gonna be okay as the next aub when her own retainers are hiding so much from her?”

“Perhaps they are doing it because she is only planned to be a temporary aub,” Charlotte said.

Indeed, considering their behavior, I was fairly certain that Detlinde’s retainers were actively hiding information from her. The real question was whether they were carrying out Aub Ahrensbach’s will or enacting some plot by Georgine.

“I feel like that’ll just make things worse when she eventually does find out, but...” Wilfried trailed off.

“That is something for those of Ahrensbach to think about,” I interjected with a sigh. “As long as it doesn’t impact Ferdinand, it’s nothing for us to bother ourselves with.”

Wilfried glared at me; his dark-green eyes really were just like Detlinde’s. “Your tone was a little cold there, Rozemyne. Aren’t you worried about Lady Detlinde?”

I could guess that Wilfried related to Detlinde in some regards; after all, he had once been kept in the dark, manipulated, and fooled into tarnishing his own reputation. Unfortunately for him, I was so exhausted from dealing with her garbage that my heart was completely unmoved. The fact that I hadn’t outright said, “She can explode for all I care” deserved a medal, if you asked me.

“If she is still so unaware despite her position as the next aub and having so many retainers by her side, then it must be the will of Aub Ahrensbach. I am far more concerned about her doing something that results in Ferdinand getting punished by association.”

“Uncle can manage. He’s strong enough on his own.”

Hearing him worry about Detlinde but not Ferdinand made something inside of me snap. “Ferdinand is not in the same position that he was in before, when he was in Ehrenfest; he has few people he can trust and no environment in which to make new magic tools. And on top of protecting himself, he must also protect Lady Letizia. I think you seem cold, Wilfried.”

I would rather he worry about his uncle, the man who had worked his fingers to the bone for his sake, than some nuisance who had no value to us other than being a way for us to contact Ferdinand.

Wilfried and I continued to glare at one another until Charlotte gave a heavy sigh. “Brother, Sister, neither one of you is being cold; you are simply worried about different people. The fact that you are fighting over something so trivial just goes to show how exhausted the two of you must be.”

“Charlotte...”

“You’re right. My bad.”

Having been admonished by our little sister, Wilfried and I apologized to each other and then had our attendants brew tea so that we could calm ourselves and start going over the tea party.

“By having Lady Detlinde, ignorant as she is, take center stage, they were able to hide their machinations—that is, Lady Georgine’s actions and intentions—even more thoroughly than would normally be the case,” I said. “This is rather painful for Ehrenfest.”

We had spent the entire tea party paying lip service to Detlinde’s boastful remarks and learned absolutely nothing new about Ahrensbach in the process. That realization suddenly made me feel all the more tired.

The tea parties didn’t end there; before I could even recover from the exhaustion of our time spent with Detlinde, I found myself needing to meet with some middle- and bottom-ranking duchies. I was still feeling absolutely miserable, so my fake smile was even more phony than usual.

This time, our sweets were the focus of excessive praise, with the participants even asking for the recipe. I decided to mention that Dunkelfelger had developed its own kind of pound cake made with its local specialty, rohres.

“They used their local specialty...? Why, that’s splendid. I will get my chefs to follow their example at once.”

“You certainly are on good terms with Dunkelfelger, Lady Rozemyne. You are even collaborating on research...”

“We of Immerdink asked to join but were refused. We only wanted to be of some assistance...”

Every duchy was interested in our joint research, since it provided an excellent chance to deepen one’s bonds with greater duchies. It was nice that this tea party wasn’t just a slew of negative rumors about Sylvester and the rest of my family, unlike my meeting with exclusively bottom-ranking duchies, but I didn’t want to listen to nonstop whining from those who hadn’t been allowed to join our research.

“Perhaps we will have an opportunity to collaborate next time,” I noted, putting a swift end to this topic of conversation. From there, I started talking about Ehrenfest’s books; some of the students here had already read our new volume after borrowing copies from Charlotte during other tea parties.

“Lady Lueuradi of Jossbrenner, I am told that you borrowed a copy from Charlotte as well,” I said. “Have you finished it already?”

“Oh, yes, I did. Last year’s volume of Royal Academy Love Stories was truly delightful, so I was on the edge of my seat for the new release.”

Lueuradi was here as an archnoble representative for Jossbrenner the Tenth, and she leapt at this opportunity to speak at length about Royal Academy Love Stories, her light-green eyes sparkling all the while. I was relieved to know that everyone was focused on books now.

“Lady Rozemyne, how are things with your fiancé, Lord Wilfried?” Lueuradi asked. “Do you share a wondrous romance like in the stories?”

I couldn’t help but falter in the face of so many hopeful stares. “Um... Our love is familial and nothing like what can be found in books. That said, is there not value in such stability? My mother says that stories should have dramatic peaks and valleys, but I would rather my own life be an even line.”

I was hoping that my lame response would make everyone tire of the discussion and move on, but Lueuradi continued to press me on the matter. “Oh my... You would say that your romance is so plain despite that magnificent hair ornament he has given you?”

“It is magnificent, isn’t it?” someone said in agreement. “It has so many rainbow feystones. Their love and passion is clear for all to see.”

Because members of the royal family and greater duchies had started gifting hairpins during their graduation ceremonies, students of middle- and bottom-ranking duchies were beginning to view hair ornaments as romantic objects that one received from one’s lover.

They measure love by the fanciness of one’s hair ornament? That’s news to me. No way can I ever tell them I got this from Ferdinand and not from my fiancé, Wilfried.

Keeping those thoughts in mind, I explained that my hair stick was a gift from all of my guardians, taking care to keep the details consistent with what I had already told others. This would more or less shatter the fantasies of these young girls, but I needed to emphasize that Ferdinand had designed it, else Detlinde’s inevitable hairpin disaster would give him a bad name.

“This hair stick was not a gift from Wilfried alone,” I said. “My guardians prepared the rainbow feystones, and my mentor, Ferdinand, designed the ornament.”

“My... Given how much they all must care about you, it seems strange to think that they sent you to the temple. You do not need to cover for your aub, Lady Rozemyne; we are on your side.”

Once again, Sylvester was being treated as a villain. Having to correct people all the time was getting seriously exhausting.

“I do not know what the temples of other duchies are like, but in Ehrenfest, we take religious ceremonies very seriously,” I said. “I am not the only one who visits our temple; Wilfried, Charlotte, and even the aub himself go there as well.”

“I cannot believe that the Ehrenfest archducal family deigns to visit a temple. Those buildings are so filthy...”

Hm. That wasn’t at all what I expected them to take away from that.

“Religious ceremonies are performed in the temple,” I explained, “and the duchy’s harvest will suffer unless the giebes’ chalices and the Central District are supplied with mana. Ehrenfest’s temple lacked the mana for that after our blue priests and shrine maidens were moved to the Sovereign temple, so we archduke candidates are acting in their stead.” Of course, I made sure to add that Wilfried and Charlotte likewise circled farming towns for Spring Prayer and the Harvest Festival. “If your duchies are suffering from a smaller harvest, then I would advise that you have your archduke candidates do the same.”

“But going to the temple and to farming towns is simply...”

I was feeling increasingly foolish for smiling and repeating the same thing over and over again when my words were only ever met with ignorant grimaces. To be frank, I was sick of all this nonstop complaining from people who didn’t understand the importance of religious ceremonies or how bad things really were. It ticked me the heck off that these people couldn’t grasp how much Wilfried and Charlotte had struggled to take my place, even back when they had barely been able to control their mana.

“So, Lady Rozemyne,” said Immerdink’s archduke candidate. “Forget about the temple; I wish to discuss your joint research. What manner of research are you doing with the greater duchies?”

I shrugged. “For our research with Dunkelfelger, we are focusing on the religious ceremonies that you all despise so much.”

“We are not so opposed to religious ceremonies done in the Royal Academy. We have to perform the ritual for obtaining divine protections in class, so...”

Oh, I see. So it’s the temple you take issue with, huh?

I spat on the inside—but then I was struck with an epiphany.

Wait. I’ve got it. It’s perfect!

“As part of our joint research, Ehrenfest will be demonstrating a religious ceremony. Would you care to join? If we can obtain permission from Dunkelfelger, that is.”

“Oh my. You would allow me to?” the Immerdink archduke candidate asked with a bright smile, having been pleading to join for so long. She went on to say that I was very kind indeed, then grumbled that Charlotte had refused to budge no matter how much she asked.

“If you are allowing Immerdink, then I would like to join as well.”

“If men can participate, then I will speak with our archduke candidate.”

“Jossbrenner has no archduke candidates at present, so please allow me to participate as a representative.”

I smiled as everyone collectively asked for permission to join. Surprisingly enough, they didn’t seem to mind participating in religious ceremonies when it meant they could put their names on our joint research project.

“Of course, this all depends on us receiving Dunkelfelger’s permission,” I said. “I will ask them, but you all must do the same. Permission will only be granted if your passion is adequately conveyed.”

Given that Dunkelfelger had relied on passionate appeals and the verbal equivalent of a human wave attack to convince the king to send Ferdinand to Ahrensbach, I was sure it would embrace a similar approach from these girls. At the very least, it seemed far more likely to work than me asking on my own—and this way, everyone would be able to participate in our religious ceremony.

Oh, and I’ll need permission from the royal family too.