Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 5.4 - Chapter 2

Lamprecht and Nikolaus

After leaving my hidden room, I sorted information with the scholars until third bell, then practiced harspiel with my siblings and started reading the books I’d borrowed. This was for Melchior’s sake, since he had spent such a long time by himself.

“My sincerest apologies, Lady Rozemyne,” Lamprecht said, “but may I have a moment of your time this afternoon? There is much I wish to discuss with you.”

I stared at him in surprise; it was rare for him to address me so formally. I also wasn’t sure how to respond. How could I meet with him when I couldn’t leave the northern building?

“Rihyarda?” I said.

“It must be urgent for him to have asked,” she replied. “As you have no plans this afternoon, you may speak with him. Use your room, but have Leonore and Angelica stay with you.”

I was engaged now, so it made sense to have some of the girls accompany me. I turned back to Lamprecht and said, “Very well. This afternoon, then.”

Lamprecht came almost immediately after lunch. Our attendants poured us some tea, then swiftly took their leave.

“It’s rare for you to approach me directly, Lamprecht.”

“Well... this is something I need to tell you myself.” He scratched his cheek, then gave me a kind smile that I recognized in an instant.

“Your baby was born, I presume?”

“Yep. At the beginning of winter. We were expecting him in autumn, but he must not have been in much of a hurry.”

“Congratulations! Let us begin the celebrations at once—”

“We assumed you would go nuts upon hearing the news,” Cornelius interjected and rolled his eyes. “That was why we’ve been keeping quiet about it.” He then told me that I wasn’t to make the information public under any circumstances.

“But why?” I asked. “We’re siblings! It should be fine for us to celebrate the birth, right?”

Florencia was having a baby too, but I wouldn’t even be able to meet the child until they were baptized. Lamprecht was my brother, though, which meant I was allowed to see his kid whenever.

“I’m glad that you’re so excited,” Lamprecht said, “but we’re planning to keep the birth a household secret for now. A celebration would complicate that.”

“A secret? Why’s that?”

The commoner way of celebrating a birth was to tell everyone about it so that it would stick in their memory. Nobles only told those close to them until the child was baptized, but they rarely made a conscious effort to keep the birth a secret, and there was no rule against celebrating.

“The purge targeted those who gave their names to Georgine and the nobles of the former Veronica faction,” Lamprecht began. “Those with Ahrensbach blood or who had shown favoritism to the faction were likewise punished. As you know, my wife is from Ahrensbach as well, so I worry that she and our child will not be treated kindly. To spare them any abuse, we want to keep this news exclusively among our close family.”

Cornelius nodded and continued with the hard expression he wore at work, “Those of us who didn’t go with you to the Royal Academy were at the front line of the purge, and it’s impossible to say who holds a grudge against us. That’s why we don’t want any large-scale celebrations.”

“Aurelia’s become very sensitive to the movements of Ahrensbach-aligned nobles, and we want to make things as peaceful as we can for her. Keep this a secret for us, Rozemyne, so she and our baby can be as safe as possible.”

Lamprecht had always come across as kind of unreliable, but his expression as he spoke about protecting his family reminded me of Dad. It actually warmed my heart a little.

“Got it,” I said. “I won’t tell a soul. I did want to see your baby right away and throw a huge celebration, but safety comes first. You’re trying to protect your family, after all. I can ask you questions while we’re here, though, right? Is the baby doing well?”

Lamprecht broke into a smile. “Aurelia’s been in a bit of a daze, maybe because she keeps having to wake up in the night to breastfeed, but the baby is very healthy. He’s even started to hold his head up. For safety’s sake, they’re living in the main building instead of a side one.”

Apparently, Lamprecht had joked about how Aurelia was only ever sleeping or breastfeeding. Elvira had immediately scolded him for that, saying that it just went to show how hard it was being a mother. Thoughts of life with a baby made me think of my short time with Kamil.

“By the way—Cornelius, when do you and Leonore plan to marry?” I asked, turning to look at the couple, who were sitting beside one another. Cornelius had been given Eckhart’s estate, so maybe their Starbind Ceremony would be as early as this summer.

“You’re making exactly the same face as Mother when she’s about to tease us,” Cornelius replied, then made eye contact with his future wife. “The preparations normally take a year or two. We’re already engaged, so why rush the ceremony?”

“I feel the same way,” Leonore agreed. “It would also be best to wait until the situation in Ehrenfest has calmed down.” It was good to see them getting along so well.

“Well, whenever your Starbind Ceremony happens, you can count on me,” I assured them. “I’ll give you the blessing of a lifetime.”

“A normal blessing will do!” Cornelius sputtered. “A normal one! Nothing good will come of you going all out!”

“No, no, no! That won’t do!” I protested. “This is my brother’s wedding we’re talking about! I’ll give you a blessing that will rival even the one given during the royal family’s Starbinding—”

“Please, no!” Cornelius exclaimed, waving his hands in a desperate attempt to stop me. Leonore giggled in amusement as she watched him panic.

“Anyway... that’s all the good news,” Lamprecht said, interrupting our back-and-forth. “We need to speak about Nikolaus.”

Everyone’s expression hardened. Nikolaus was Karstedt’s son with his second wife, Trudeliede, which made him my half-brother, but his mother’s distaste for Ferdinand and history serving Veronica meant I’d been told to avoid him.

“Trudeliede was imprisoned too,” Lamprecht continued. “You know that, right?”

“I do. She was really invested in Lady Veronica and was evidently doing a lot behind the scenes.”

“Well, as we speak... Nikolaus is in the playroom.”

My eyes widened. “Still...? Has Father not taken him in and brought him home?” My face twisted into a grimace. “It seems too cruel to make him spend an entire season in the playroom when he has a parent so close by.”

Cornelius frowned. “Father led the purge. He’s gone to speak with Nikolaus on a couple of occasions, but actually taking him in isn’t an option. We can’t have a kid his age all alone in a side building, can we?”

“A side building?” I repeated. “Why would he go there when Mother is in the main building?”

“Nikolaus isn’t her son. Why would Mother agree to care for him?” Lamprecht asked. Cornelius looked just as taken aback.

“Um, why wouldn’t she?”

Leonore chimed in, “Are you perhaps not aware of the distinction between siblings who share a mother and those who don’t? You were raised in the temple and were baptized as Lady Elvira’s child, after all. It would be okay for her to start caring for Nikolaus with his mother’s permission, but Lady Trudeliede is imprisoned, meaning her thoughts on the matter cannot be confirmed.”

Cornelius and Lamprecht nodded, only now realizing why this was so hard for me to grasp. Angelica nodded too, seeming to suggest that she understood.

“In order for Mother to take in Nikolaus without his birth mother’s permission, she would need to adopt him,” Lamprecht explained, “and that would cause problems upon Trudeliede’s eventual return from her punishment. Mother herself said it would be best for him to stay in the playroom. We can’t start caring for him when his own mother is unable to consent.”

I was shocked. Even though we lived in the same estate, Nikolaus was being treated as though he were from another family entirely. If not sharing the same mother was this big of a deal, there were probably more children left in the playroom than I’d thought.

I murmured, “But if a child in this situation had their father’s support, I’m sure the other wives would look after them to at least some degree, half-relation or not...”

“Nikolaus, Matthias, and the others haven’t been deemed guilty by association, but that doesn’t change the fact that their parents are criminals. Though they have escaped punishment, that won’t change how society views them. I expect few would want to take such children into their home.”

Even back on Earth, the families of criminals had been harshly scrutinized. The most I could do was quietly respond that Nikolaus was still only nine years old.

“‘Only’?” Cornelius repeated. “Rozemyne, he is already nine years old. Considering how Trudeliede might have raised him and how he must feel about his own father imprisoning her, I do not want him in the main building. Especially since he is training to become a knight.”

Lamprecht nodded. “I care more about the safety of Aurelia and our baby than a mere half-brother, and I’m opposed to putting an apprentice knight who might get emotional in the main building. It doesn’t help that Nikolaus is tall, in good shape, and very talented according to Grandfather. If my wife were in peak condition, she could easily take him down, but she’s still recovering from the birth.”

Gotta admit, I’m finding it hard to imagine a woman who hides behind a veil and meekly shuffles around “taking down” an apprentice knight. I know she took the knight course, but that didn’t seem to fit her personality at all.

“Trudeliede was devoted to Lady Veronica and against Lord Ferdinand,” Lamprecht continued. “She mocked our mother both when Eckhart gave Lord Ferdinand his name and when she took you in from the temple. She rarely showed her face in the main building, but I despise her, and I don’t want to take in anyone whom she raised. It’s best for Nikolaus to stay in the playroom until her punishment is over.”

“I... guess...”

I understood the circumstances surrounding Nikolaus, but something still didn’t feel right. He was being treated way too harshly for someone who hadn’t done a single thing wrong.

“How many children are going to be left in the playroom after the feast celebrating spring?” I asked. “Could we perhaps move them to the orphanage?” My hope was to get them somewhere they could be more at ease.

Cornelius’s and Leonore’s eyes shot wide open.

“Rozemyne, what’re you thinking?!”

“Lady Rozemyne, making such a drastic move on a whim is simply too much!”

Maybe she was right, but I couldn’t bear to leave the kids stranded where they were. Living in the castle’s main building meant they were always exposed to the judgmental eyes of adult nobles.

“Lamprecht,” I said, “I believe one of Charlotte’s retainers is looking after the playroom. I want to speak with them about this. Cornelius, summon Hartmut. I have questions about the current status of the orphanage.”

At my instruction, Lamprecht and Cornelius exited the room, both wearing looks of resignation. Hartmut came in immediately after, wearing a broad smile. It was like he’d been waiting right outside the door.

“You called, Lady Rozemyne?”

I asked Hartmut about Nikolaus, the status of the orphanage, and how many of the children were going to have their parents come for them in spring.

“There have been five requests thus far. I should note that the children of second and third wives are much more likely to be abandoned, and we have received no news regarding the children without magic tools.”

“I see... Do you think the orphanage will have enough room for those who end up being left in the playroom?”

Hartmut cast his orange eyes down in thought. “Housing them would not be an issue—the funding could still come from their parents and the purged nobles—but unlike the pre-baptism children, those in the playroom are already being treated as nobles. I do not know whether they would obediently listen to gray priests and shrine maidens, and they would presumably struggle to live as and with gray-robes.”

As he said, while the pre-baptism children weren’t yet official nobles, the children in the playroom absolutely were.

“Lady Rozemyne,” came Gretia’s voice, “Lord Wilfried requests permission to enter.” I nodded, and immediately he came inside, looking worried.

“Lamprecht told me you’re about to cause trouble again,” he said. “What are you planning this time?”

“The prospect looks grim...” I said with a shake of my head, then explained the general idea of moving the abandoned children from the playroom to the temple’s orphanage.

Wilfried gave me a look of momentary exasperation, then sighed. “You want to shelter them from the eyes of society because you feel sorry for them? Hiding them won’t change anything, you know; their parents committed crimes and were punished as a result. Instead, shouldn’t you tell them to puff out their chests and live with pride? That they haven’t done anything to be ashamed of?” He was looking straight ahead all the while, and it was clear that he was speaking from experience. No matter how much someone tried to hide, there would always be nobles backbiting them.

“Well, hiding them from the public eye is one reason to move them, but Melchior couldn’t go to the playroom this winter, right? He said that he spent the entire winter with his retainers, studying.”

“He did say that.”

“If all the teachers were with him, then what was the winter like for those in the playroom? How can they receive a proper noble education without someone to guide them?”

“This is outside of your purview,” Wilfried said plainly. “Mother is in charge of the playroom, so speak with her if you have some concerns. Don’t go butting into people’s lives when they haven’t asked you to.”

He was right, and that realization made me loosen up a little. I could speak to Florencia about this problem, but it was ultimately something for her to resolve.

“Besides, you don’t need to think about all the kids. Just focus on Nikolaus.”

“On Nikolaus...?” I repeated, blinking in confusion.

“Yeah,” Wilfried replied with a nod. “He’s petitioning to serve the archducal family as an archknight, and you’re his foremost choice. It seems that he wants Lord Bonifatius to dote on him like he does on Cornelius and Angelica, plus he envies your relationship with Cornelius.”

I was at a loss for words. Nobody had told me before.

“But you’ve been kept away from him because you don’t have the same mother,” Wilfried continued. “He said he hasn’t been able to speak a single word to you, and when he told his parents that he wants to serve you, they instantly shot him down.”

“For the record, our father wasn’t the one who refused him,” Lamprecht clarified with a sigh. “It was his mother, Trudeliede. She said that she would not permit him to serve someone who was raised in the temple.”

In other words, it was true that Nikolaus had asked to be my retainer. I gazed at Cornelius, who had forbidden me from meeting with him. “I didn’t even know that he wanted to serve me. This is my first time hearing any of this.”

“That’s because we decided it would be better for him to serve Lord Wilfried,” Cornelius replied with a smile. “His wish to become an archducal retainer would still be granted, and Trudeliede wouldn’t complain about her son serving Lady Veronica’s precious grandson. He could even start getting to know his siblings thanks to Lamprecht being there too.”

Wilfried glared at Cornelius and shook his head. “Nikolaus isn’t asking to serve me, though; he wants to serve Rozemyne. Is it not bad enough that he’s been abandoned in the playroom? How can we deny him the future he desires on top of that? We should at least let the kids who weren’t punished choose their own lords or ladies.”

Cornelius’s smile became very obviously forced. “Perhaps I would share your perspective if this were the child of anyone but Trudeliede, who is still persistently loyal to Lady Veronica. Furthermore, whether the students who evaded punishment by association get to choose whom they serve depends on whether they choose to give their names. Maybe I would trust Nikolaus a little more if he gave his name as Matthias and the others did.”

In response, Wilfried suddenly looked a little more wooden.

Lamprecht glowered at Cornelius, then sighed. “Lord Wilfried, Trudeliede is a dangerously biased woman. She was of the firm belief that Rozemyne worked with Lord Ferdinand to deceive the aub and secure her adoption, all the while using underhanded means to trick the former High Bishop and subsequently incriminate Lady Veronica.”

Well, it would be more accurate to say that Ferdinand used me. Lady Veronica and the High Bishop then walked straight into his trap, due in no small part to Sylvester’s intervention.

I thought back to that time and sighed. I couldn’t help feeling bad for Nikolaus, since I’d never met Trudeliede myself, but I also couldn’t blame Elvira and Cornelius for not wanting to take him in.

“Rozemyne,” Cornelius said, interjecting before I could even speak. “You are so sympathetic to the children because they have committed no crimes and are without guilt, but as your guard knight, I cannot allow you to create openings for dangerous people to exploit. You are at risk enough already.”

The sight of my guard knights all collectively nodding was enough for me to realize what a challenge it would be trying to speak with Nikolaus.

I really want to have a face-to-face conversation with him, though. At least once.