Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 5.6 - Chapter 10

Kids’ Tea Party

“And this is how my studies have progressed, Lady Rozemyne,” Clarissa said, showing me some of her recent work. “What do you think?” For the Archduke Conference, she had supported the archducal couple during their negotiations with Dunkelfelger, but now she was helping me.

Although it would only fully begin when I came of age, it was already set in stone that I’d start a new printing industry in the Sovereignty. This would potentially lead to my involvement in charitably establishing new workshops, depending on the state of the Sovereign temple’s orphanage and gray priests, and that was where Clarissa came in. She had collected all kinds of documents from when I’d established my workshop here in Ehrenfest—specifically documents from the nobles’ side of things—all so that I could begin my work in the Sovereignty as smoothly as possible.

Among the documents she had compiled were records of the negotiations Ferdinand had entered with nobles at the time and of the contracts they had signed. There were also lists of the shops that had gotten involved and the number of workers they employed. Clarissa was using this information alongside references to various exchanges between Dunkelfelger and the Sovereignty to work out how we should go about starting the new industry and which scholars from which government branches we would need to speak with.

“You have done well to research so much in this short time, Clarissa. I never knew that Ferdinand went to such great lengths while I was making a workshop in the orphanage.”

These documents made it clear how much Ferdinand had supported me while I was blazing ahead with Benno and the others. They also revealed my own shortsightedness. At the time, I’d thought it was annoying that Ferdinand wanted so many reports and expected meetings to be arranged so far in advance, but now I could see that it had all been extremely necessary.

“I can’t lose to Philine now that she’s due to become the orphanage director and is being of such great use to you,” Clarissa said.

Philine spent the day doing handover work in the temple with Monika, as she did every day. In the process, Hartmut had performed a fealty ceremony to give her some blue robes. She was now a proper apprentice blue shrine maiden.

As for Roderick, under my instruction, he was using the requests we’d received from the Plantin and Gilberta Companies to write reports on what size stores they would need in the Sovereignty. He was also making lists of the tools that would need to be made for them, and calculating how many rooms they would need for their workers. He was keeping busy even during tea parties.

I checked with Gretia and Lieseleta to ensure that the preparations for our sibling tea party were complete, then entrusted Ottilie with looking after my chambers while I was gone. Damuel would inform me once Wilfried and Melchior left their rooms, so I was just waiting to hear from him.

“Lady Rozemyne, Damuel sends word,” Angelica reported after momentarily leaving the room. “Lord Wilfried and Lord Melchior have departed.”

I gathered my attendants and guard knights, then likewise headed to Charlotte’s tea party.

“Everyone, clear the room,” Charlotte instructed once we had exchanged greetings, taken our seats, and witnessed that the tea and sweets were safe to consume.

Wilfried, Melchior, and I said the same to our retainers. Soon enough, we four archduke candidates were the only ones left.

Charlotte indicated an area-affecting sound-blocker and said, “We shall use this today.” But as she moved to activate it, I quickly spoke out in protest.

“Using that tool would put a disproportionately large burden on you, wouldn’t it? Should we not use individual ones?”

“No, Sister; this is ideal. Melchior may be too exhausted to use a personal magic tool for the duration of our gathering. I’ve heard that he regularly offers his mana at the temple.”

Excuse me?!

As it turned out, it wasn’t advisable for children who had yet to enter the Royal Academy to use personal sound-blockers; the burden it would put on them was simply too great. That hadn’t stopped Ferdinand, though. He had made me use them from the very start.

Ferdinand was never this considerate with me!

As I recalled, he had first made me use one during our meeting with Lutz’s parents. That hadn’t been a short discussion by any means. Not to mention, he had only thrust it at me in the first place as a way of shutting me up. I supposed that he had probably known enough about my mana quantity to gauge what was within my limits. And even if using the tool had made me sick, that likely wouldn’t have bothered him; in his eyes, it would have been the perfect excuse to exclude me from the meeting altogether.

Curse you, Ferdinand!

As I angrily shook my fist at the past, I offered to activate the tool instead. “You should not shoulder this burden alone, Charlotte.”

She gave me a cute glare with her indigo eyes. “You say that, but don’t you always try to carry burdens on your own?”

I wanted to be a reliable elder sister on at least some occasions, so I slid off of my chair and gave the magic tool a swift chop, activating it before Charlotte even had the chance. Speed had brought me victory.

“I currently have no shortage of mana,” I said, resuming my seat with my chest puffed out, “so please allow me to assist you at times like this. As it stands, you are supporting my socializing and your mother while I am doing nothing. Furthermore, for you to have prepared this much, you must want to discuss my move to the Sovereignty, right?”

A slight smile graced Charlotte’s lips as she replied, “Sister, despite what you might believe, you are always helping me.”

“That hardly seems true...”

“It is. When your engagement to Wilfried was decided, you asked Father to let me pick my future partner in return. Even now, when you are faced with this undesirable adoption, you are doing everything in your power to give me so many options for the future. How can I ever hope to repay you?”

Holy cow, we’re starting off heavy! Would it be okay for me to respond that I just want her to say, “Sister, you’re amazing! I respect you so much!” in a cute voice? No?

Charlotte looked so serious that I didn’t know whether to give a light response or seriously contemplate her predicament alongside her.

She continued, “It is because of you that we have not had to live as members of a bottom-ranking duchy. Speaking to those in their thirties and above has helped me to realize what a different world that would have been.” Supporting Florencia, carrying out the duties of a first wife, and seeing the working nobles in the castle had shown her that there was a huge gap between the adults who knew only the methods of the bottom-ranking duchies, and the younger generation who had never even experienced it. “From what I can tell, Ehrenfest’s shift in perspective began with those who attended the Royal Academy with Uncle.”

Veronica had already cast Ferdinand aside by the time he enrolled at the Royal Academy, so his excellent grades and other achievements hadn’t contributed much to Ehrenfest’s overall ranking. They had, however, inspired many of his peers. Under his spartan leadership, our knights had managed to best Dunkelfelger at treasure-stealing ditter. And when he came first-in-class on the scholar course, our other scholars had started working even harder, believing that they could catch up to him with enough effort.

Ferdinand then graduated, and Damuel’s contemporaries moved to the forefront. Thanks to the end of the civil war and the subsequent purge, Ehrenfest’s place in the duchy rankings had risen entirely on its own. It was a period of great change, with blue priests attending the Academy to become nobles, professors being swapped out after so many were killed, and the curriculum morphing dramatically. That new generation had been the last to experience Ehrenfest’s days at the very bottom of the rankings.

From there, Cornelius’s generation had arrived. They had spent their first years at the Royal Academy being treated as members of a bottom-ranking duchy, despite Ehrenfest’s sudden climb. Then, out of the blue, picture-book bibles and other learning materials had come on the market, and the winter playroom had been repurposed for education. Indeed, they had experienced Ehrenfest at its best and worst.

Then, Wilfried and I enrolled at the Royal Academy. Trends were set left and right, the Better Grades Committee prompted massive improvements in Ehrenfest’s grades, and our rapid development caught the attention of the other duchies. Our dormitory began serving delicious food as a matter of course; meanwhile, we received so many invitations to tea parties that we had to start filtering them. We were so popular during socializing season that even top-ranking duchies reached out to us.

Then came Charlotte’s generation, who arrived at the Academy when our rise through the rankings was already in full swing. Everyone had stopped treating us like a bottom-ranking duchy by that point, so it made sense that they didn’t understand the struggles of their elders.

“Other duchies chide us for not acting as a top-ranking duchy should,” Charlotte said, “but a glance behind the curtain shows that our mindset is indeed changing. If not for your new adoption, Sister, I would only have needed to criticize those who thoughtlessly clung to the old methods...”

I was the person challenging and reshaping everyone’s ideas of common sense, so Charlotte predicted that my departure would cause Ehrenfest to slip back down the rankings. She was probably right; our duchy was dominated by adults who subscribed to the old mindset, and there were plenty among the archducal family and their retainers who had yet to adopt our new way of thinking. Those who remained in Ehrenfest would need to do something to stop all of our progress from being undone.

Charlotte sighed. “We must protect what you have given us while at the same time shrugging off any interference from the adults. I really do wish to repay your kindness, and the only way I can think to do that is by ensuring that you don’t become embarrassed by your home after joining the royal family.”

In my absence, the archducal family would continue going to the temple in hope of dismantling its negative reputation, while also performing religious ceremonies to gain divine protections. Thanks to the benefits of prayer, there would eventually come a time when they could speak proudly of my temple upbringing.

Charlotte also had several plans of her own. She would develop the printing industry and send me new books, carefully oversee the Italian restaurant’s chefs as part of a plan to make Ehrenfest a duchy overflowing with delicious food, ensure that the playroom remained a place of education, and maintain the Better Grades Committee so that our duchy’s grades wouldn’t fall. In short, she would protect the fruits of my labor while continuing to change the duchy’s mindset.

“That is what I can do,” Charlotte concluded with a smile.

A pleasant warmth spread through my chest. She really cared about protecting the results of my hard work, and that realization brought a smile to my face as well.

“I should warn you, though, Sister—I am ill-suited for coming up with bold new ways to develop the duchy or incorporating things of my own invention. My strengths lie in a more supportive role. Thus, I shall do my best to coordinate the chaos while protecting and standardizing the framework you have made.”

Charlotte’s evaluation sounded very objective in nature. She did often support others from behind the scenes, and she displayed immense talent in the areas she had described. Bringing together opposing forces and making them work toward one goal was no easy feat.

“Because my aim is to preserve the systems you have put in place,” she continued, “I think I am the best candidate to become our duchy’s next aub. In time, Melchior and our new younger sibling might become better suited than I, depending on the skills they develop... but until then, I shall hold the fort and assist them where I can. Will you support me in this, Sister?”

After listening to Charlotte identify her strengths and weaknesses, I nodded meekly. “Ehrenfest’s adults are quite vocal in their hatred of change, so I wasn’t very confident in my reforms. It makes me glad to hear that you wish to keep them. I will support your choice, Charlotte, but... will you really stay here, even though you would make such a capable first wife in a top-ranking duchy?”

Serving as an interim aub was anything but easy—she would be harshly criticized by the more conservative nobles, she needed to be careful with her choice of husband, and the mountain of tedious work that came with the position would surely make her want to quit. Plus, now that Wilfried was no longer guaranteed to become the next archduke, there was a good chance that the Leisegangs would start obsessing over Brunhilde’s child, if she ended up having one.

“As nobody from Ehrenfest can marry outside the duchy for the next five years, our population will gradually include more and more people from other duchies,” Charlotte said. “I would use the methods and perspectives of these individuals to fight against the Leisegangs and prove that they are in the wrong.”

The Leisegangs had the loudest voice now that the former Veronica faction was gone, but Charlotte wanted to quiet them down and gradually change the dominant perspective in Ehrenfest. Her decision to remain an archduke candidate and take a groom from another duchy would apparently benefit all generations moving forward.

“Furthermore,” she continued, “due to the contract I signed to learn mana compression, I cannot risk doing anything that might make me your enemy. Taking a husband and staying in Ehrenfest is therefore ideal. Far from being opposed to you, I shall turn the duchy into your shield once the king has adopted you. Yes, I could marry elsewhere, but I do not know what position that would put me in. The civil war might seem like distant history to us, but it only happened two decades ago.”

A shiver ran down my spine. I was surprised that Charlotte had brought up the mana compression contract—even more so that it was binding her to Ehrenfest. That hadn’t been my intention at all.

As I put my head in my hands, cursing my own shortsightedness, Charlotte gave me a troubled smile. There was kindness in her eyes as she said, “Please do not think you are to blame; I chose to sign that contract after weighing up my options. Just know that no matter your situation—no matter the status of your adoption, new or old—I will always be your ally.”

Her words were so touching that I wanted to cry.

Wilfried nodded, having been quietly listening to our exchange. “You’ve done so much for Ehrenfest, Rozemyne, but there’s almost nothing it can do for you in return before you leave for the Sovereignty. We’re the weakest shield you could ask for, but, well... you can at least rest easy knowing that your allies here will support you no matter what.”

“You’re going to support me as well, Wilfried...?” I asked, going out of my way to confirm that I understood.

He scoffed. “Given how you’re treating Uncle even now that he’s moved, it’s clear that you won’t suddenly lord your royal status over Ehrenfest. Though you’ll probably dump plenty of trouble on us.”

“Oh my... Is that not a tad offensive? I still worry about Ferdinand even now that he has moved to Ahrensbach, but I certainly haven’t dumped trouble on him, as you put it.” I was working so hard to be useful, and this was the thanks I got? How rude.

Wilfried shook his head, exasperated, then pointed a finger at me. “You’re the only one who thinks that. Sorry to say this, but you’re wrong.”

“No, dear brother—you are wrong. I am striving to cause not even a single problem for Ferdinand.”

“Then you’ve been going about it in all the wrong ways, don’t you think?”

Charlotte and Melchior merely burst into laughter. Neither one of them came to my defense.

Ngh... Th-That’s fine...

“Speaking of misdirected effort, is it even worth trying to hide the fact you’re leaving?”

“What do you mean?”

“There are rumors of your move to the Sovereignty all over the place.”

“What?!”

As it turned out, there were plenty of reasons that people thought I was going to move. During the Archduke Conference, many had argued that I should be made the Sovereign High Bishop—then, to further stoke the flames of suspicion, our archducal couple had received an unexpected summons from the royal family. Even more unusual were their decision to hold a meeting without retainers after the initial refusal, the private discussion that had taken place after the post-conference review, and the acceleration of the temple handover. It was easy to assume that I’d been ordered to become the Sovereign High Bishop.

“I wasn’t told all that much about what happened during the conference, so imagine my surprise when the rumors reached me. It made me wonder, though...” He gave me a look of genuine concern. “Are you really going to be made the Sovereign High Bishop after your adoption...? I’ve heard about the temples of other duchies during tea parties, and they aren’t anything like the one in Ehrenfest.”

I shook my head. “I might tour the Sovereign temple on occasion, but I doubt I will ever become its High Bishop. I was very clear with Prince Sigiswald that if the royal family attempts to give me such duties, they will need to start performing them as well.”

Wilfried exchanged a look with Charlotte before staring at me, suddenly overcome with fear. “D-Don’t tell me you... gave Prince Sigiswald orders before you’ve even been adopted...”

I nodded, and immediately he groaned that my antics were why he didn’t like dealing with me. Meanwhile, Charlotte’s eyes wandered around the room. She spent a long while trying to find the right words, then eventually said that she was glad my adoption was coming so soon. Her main concern was that my outbursts might be misconstrued as treason.

“Was it really that disrespectful...?” I asked. “Here in Ehrenfest, the aub and the rest of the archducal family have agreed to visit the temple and perform religious ceremonies, so it seemed reasonable enough to me. I merely said that they should get a healthy royal to serve as the High Bishop instead of thrusting such duties upon someone as sickly as I. Was that so wrong of me?”

“No normal noble would say that!”

“Prince Sigiswald certainly was surprised. I don’t regret saying it, though; he wouldn’t have understood any of my intentions otherwise.”

His shoulders slumped, Wilfried offered a few words of sympathy for Prince Sigiswald, who would eventually be engaged to me. I shot him a stern glare, not at all sure what the problem was, while he turned to Melchior and stressed that I was a terrible example to follow when it came to socializing.

“You can consider her a role model for studying and religious ceremonies, but never use her as your basis for socializing or common sense. Not even Uncle could sort her out, so we don’t stand a chance. In short, everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses, but you should only strive to mimic the former. Got it?”

Melchior nodded, taking the advice very seriously. “Rozemyne is exceptional, but I see she has her weaknesses too. That’s a relief. It was starting to upset me that I can’t yet manage all the things she does so easily.”

“It’s okay to let Rozemyne inspire you, but don’t worry about trying to keep up with her. If you start doing that, then you’re just going to fall short and feel miserable all the time.”

“Indeed,” Charlotte added. “I once lost my confidence as an archduke candidate after I was unable to do things exactly as Rozemyne did them. This is a path that we siblings must all tread.”

Melchior let out a pleased sigh, looking as if a huge weight had just been lifted from his shoulders. “So I’m not the only one...” He had come to a mutual understanding of sorts with our siblings... which actually frustrated me a little.

“Please don’t leave me out,” I said.

“How could we not? You don’t understand the pain and suffering that comes with having an abnormal, extraordinary sibling.”

“I was stuck with an abnormal, extraordinary mentor! I’ve struggled too! Include me!”

Wilfried and Charlotte exchanged glances. Then...

“You and Uncle seem like birds of a feather to me,” Wilfried remarked. “You’re both weird.”

“That’s right, Sister,” Charlotte agreed. “You were able to complete his grueling lessons without breaking a sweat. Did you ever succumb to the pressure and fail, by chance?”

Melchior then finished me off with a very unhelpful, “You’re not being left out. You and Uncle are weird together.”

I want to be included with my siblings, not the family weirdo!

As I despaired, an ordonnanz flew into the room. We each held out an arm so that it wouldn’t land on the table or our sweets, and it perched on mine.

“This is Hartmut. The Leisegang elders are storming the castle, demanding to know if you are being sent to the Sovereignty. They might have deliberately waited until the aub was out of the picture. Lady Florencia will need to face them alone, which won’t be good for her... prenatal care, was it? As I’m sure you’ve gathered, this is a cause for concern.”

The bird repeated its message two more times before turning back into a yellow feystone.

“They would antagonize Mother as soon as Father’s gone?” Wilfried muttered, staring intently at the stone. Sylvester’s retinue had passed through Leisegang to break on their way to Ahrensbach, so the elders were acting in knowledge of his absence.

I took out my schtappe, tapped the feystone, and spoke the chant to turn it back into an ordonnanz. “Hartmut, find out who told the Leisegangs about what occurred during the Archduke Conference. Someone must be inciting them.”

I swung my schtappe, and the white bird disappeared through the wall on its way to Hartmut. Wilfried watched it go, then stood up with a clatter.

“I’m going to help Mother.”

“As am I,” I said, sliding off of my chair. “We shall deal with them together. The Leisegang elders won’t be a good influence on her unborn child, that’s for certain.”

Wilfried nodded, then turned to Charlotte and Melchior. “Charlotte, Melchior, take Mother to a side room and keep her away from the Leisegangs. Rozemyne and I will fight them off.”

“Are you certain, Brother...?” Charlotte asked anxiously. “Have you not already had so many terrible experiences with them? Furthermore, considering how we will need to handle them moving forward...”

He patted her on the shoulder. “I’m not the next aub anymore. I don’t need their support, which means I don’t have to take their blows lying down. I’ll stand squarely in the firing line while you wait for the right opportunity to pounce on Giebe Leisegang and get him on your side. That’s what you’re good at, isn’t it?”

“Brother...”

With that, I turned off the sound-blocker, and we summoned our retainers. They all wanted to know what the incident was, so we told them about the arrival of the Leisegang elders.

“Leonore,” I said, “please inform Mother, Grandfather, and Giebe Leisegang of this development. And Angelica... gather all of the guard knights serving archduke candidates.”

“Understood!”

In an instant, our retainers had gone from waiting outside to busily assembling.

Charlotte and Melchior let out quiet gasps at the sudden intensity of our guard knights. Wilfried was unfazed, though; he told them to follow us, then offered me his hand and said, “Let’s go, Rozemyne. We’re not gonna let them run amok while Father’s gone.”

“That’s right,” I replied, taking his hand with a smile. “The purge might have eliminated their political opposition, but they’ve gotten a little too cocksure, if you ask me. Let’s use this opportunity to knock them down a peg. For all of our sakes.”

“It’s about time they learned that their ‘princess’ is the scariest monster of all.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?!”