Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 5.7 - Chapter Pr

Prologue

The luggage from Ehrenfest arrived at the end of autumn, only a few days before the start of winter socializing.

Back when Ferdinand had first moved to Ahrensbach, his luggage had needed to be delivered to the office, opened in the presence of several knights and scholars, then thoroughly checked for anything dangerous. Now, however, it was taken straight to his chambers as a matter of course and checked only by his retainers. He attributed that to a tension-draining letter from Rozemyne.

“Here we have meals made with the seasonings Lady Letizia sent to Lady Rozemyne,” Justus said as he started checking the food in the time-stopper for poison. “We also have some sweets for Lady Letizia, and replies to the letters.”

Ferdinand sighed. “Gifts to thank us for our thank-you gifts... There is no end to this.” Were he to send Rozemyne something else in response, she would merely return the favor once again. The whole experience was still new to him, so he had no idea how to escape the loop.

Was she not going to ease up on these interactions now that she was getting older?

“May I entrust Strahl with the letter and sweets for Lady Letizia?” Sergius asked as the attendants began checking the letters. “This seems like a good opportunity for him to gain some experience. Strahl, given how many retainers Lord Gieselfried used to have as the archduke, can I assume you were rarely tasked with checking deliveries?”

Strahl was Ahrensbach’s former knight commander. During his extended service, he had earned the unfaltering trust of the late Gieselfried, the previous Aub Ahrensbach, but that meant nothing to Detlinde. After her father’s death, she had dismissed Strahl from her service for being “too critical and irritating.” He had chastised her for visiting the Lanzenave Estate on such a regular basis.

I cannot even begin to comprehend her foolishness. Why would anyone dismiss a competent worker for such an asinine reason?

Strahl was far from the only victim; Detlinde had dismissed every single one of her sensible retainers, for they had all criticized her dealings with Lanzenave. The surveillance on her had weakened ever since midsummer, and now it was much harder to stop her from slipping away. Not even Georgine had enough reach to keep the situation under control. From what Ferdinand understood, she had even resorted to summoning Detlinde’s elder sister, Alstede—who had been demoted to an archnoble—to watch over her irrational daughter.

Although I sympathize with Detlinde’s house, one could say they are receiving their just deserts for not raising her properly.

It had been with half an eye on the struggles of Ahrensbach’s archducal family that Ferdinand had taken Strahl into his service. The work expected of a knight commander was not quite the same as that expected of a guard knight, which occasionally caused the man some trouble.

“Lord Ferdinand, the letter instructs you to invite Lady Letizia to a meal and share this dish with her,” Sergius said. “What shall we do?”

“We have little choice in the matter,” Ferdinand replied. “We can all expect to be busy once winter socializing begins. Ask whether she would care to have lunch with me before then.”

Sergius was the son of Letizia’s head attendant, Roswitha, so he was invaluable when it came to contacting her. Strahl was similarly connected, as his daughter Fairseele was Letizia’s apprentice attendant.

As far as Ferdinand was concerned, it was no coincidence that the retainers whom Detlinde had dismissed—each for a trivial reason—had also been those considered most trustworthy by the previous archduke. He could practically see the strings connecting Detlinde to her mother’s manipulative hands, but his access to any meaningful intelligence had tapered off since his move to the western building.

“This has come at a good time,” Eckhart muttered from behind Ferdinand, speaking quietly enough that only his lord would hear. “We did say that we wanted to probe Lady Letizia for information about Lanzenave.”

He was right. Letizia had been making frequent trips to the Lanzenave Estate—ostensibly at Detlinde’s invitation, but more realistically at her command. Relying on her for intelligence would mean relying on the perspective and memory of a child, but Ferdinand still considered it a good opportunity to learn more about Lanzenave’s internals.

Neither my retainers nor I can even approach Detlinde anymore, since she no longer wishes to “deal with Ewigeliebe’s attitude.” A bizarre complaint, to say the least.

The scholars who had gone to protest the trade arrangements had come back with their heads in their hands. Ferdinand was genuinely impressed that an archducal family member could be raised into such a fool. It was hard to believe that Detlinde was the granddaughter of Veronica, who had so often proclaimed that there was no place for useless incompetents in the archducal family.

“Lord Ferdinand, do you have a preference for the date?” Sergius asked.

“The day of the farewell feast for Lanzenave. We have been forbidden from attending it, but as most of the nobles are going to be there, we will not be able to get any work done. I intended to pass the time by brewing... but a meal sounds like a fine idea. Lady Letizia is still underage and would not be allowed to attend the feast either, so our circumstances align. How convenient.”

On that date, they were guaranteed to be free from Detlinde’s involvement.

Sergius nodded, looking resigned. Ferdinand thought it was “convenient” that his fiancée, the next archduke, wished to distance him? There was surely something to be said about that, but Sergius could not find the words.

“I thank you ever so much for your invitation,” Letizia said, taking the seat to which Ferdinand was gesturing.

Justus produced one dish after another from the time-stopper. “Lady Rozemyne sent us a wide variety of meals, Lady Letizia. It would seem that she is very eager to hear your thoughts on them. To start, this is inspired by pome stew served with garneschel.”

Once the dishes were all on the table, Justus described each one with the aid of Rozemyne’s letter. None of the meals were recognizable at a glance, and even when Ferdinand tested them for poison, he struggled to determine which was which. In the meantime, Letizia merely stared at the plate sitting before her, frozen in place while gripping her cutlery.

Most likely because the garneschel is nowhere to be seen. Rozemyne used pork in its place, the fool.

Ferdinand set down his cutlery and gave Letizia a sympathetic smile. “The use of Ahrensbach seasonings should make it taste somewhat familiar, but with the lack of garneschel...” He picked up some fluffy bread. “You might want to consider it an entirely new dish.”

Her resolve steeled, Letizia cut into the soft, buttery meat, then popped a small piece into her mouth. The morsel practically melted on her tongue, and an intensely rich flavor set her taste buds tingling. Her eyes widened... then a smile blossomed on her face. Anyone could see that she found it delightful, but her joy soon turned into curiosity.

“Rozemyne makes some truly unusual changes, as you can see,” Ferdinand said with a shrug. “To think she still compared it to pome stew with garneschel despite the complete absence of garneschel...”

“Indeed. It is strange that something can taste so new despite being made with ingredients I am used to. It certainly is delicious, but I cannot believe it came out of the recipe I sent to Lady Rozemyne. It is something else entirely.” She paused, then hesitantly asked, “Is all food in Ehrenfest like this?”

Ferdinand shook his head, not wanting Letizia to get any strange ideas. “Rozemyne is the only one who gives her chefs such unusual requests. The dishes might be palatable, but I still wonder how she comes up with them.”

Letizia nodded, convinced.

“Lady Rozemyne has sent Ehrenfest dishes made with Ahrensbach seasonings and Ahrensbach dishes made with Ehrenfest seasonings,” Justus said with a smile. “Even if you are having them for the very first time, they are bound to taste familiar.”

“Rozemyne’s original recipes might be strange to your palate, but I expect people from other duchies to enjoy them more than dishes made with Lanzenave’s spices and seasonings,” Ferdinand added. Ahrensbach-style cooking had taken influence from its Lanzenave imports, leading to many sour and intensely spicy dishes. Were they served during an Archduke Conference, the reception would almost certainly be negative. “It might be wise to consider purchasing her recipes and introducing them as new Ahrensbach dishes. That can be negotiated during the upcoming Interduchy Tournament.”

If Letizia agreed, it would give Ferdinand a reason to attend the Interduchy Tournament. He had gone the previous year as Detlinde’s escort, but that option was no longer on the table. His true intention was to visit the Royal Academy’s library to brew magic tools, but he needed an airtight excuse to keep Georgine from interfering.

Once an acceptable amount of time had passed, Ferdinand turned the discussion to the true reason he had asked Letizia to lunch: “That aside, I am aware you have been visiting the Lanzenave Estate at Lady Detlinde’s invitation.”

Letizia gave a knowing smile, suggesting that she understood everything. “Those of Lanzenave wish to stay on good terms with Ahrensbach, and Lord Leonzio is exceptionally friendly. However... Lord Ferdinand, I have seen that you do not chastise Lady Detlinde for her behavior. Should you not act more like her fiancé and indicate your disapproval of her actions?”

How foolish. Ahrensbach is to blame for her becoming an ill-behaving harlot. I do not even wish to look at that immoral adulteress; why must I dirty my hands dealing with her?

Knowing better than to voice those thoughts, Ferdinand merely smiled and shook his head. He did not care about Detlinde; his only concern was securing information about the Lanzenave Estate. But perhaps he had spoken too indirectly for a child to understand. He decided to phrase his next question more carefully.

“Lady Letizia, what manner of place is the Lanzenave Estate? I cannot approach it, as Lady Detlinde views me with suspicion.”

“That reminds me—she said that if you and Lord Leonzio met, you would duel over her hand in marriage.”

Ferdinand squeezed his eyes shut, suppressing the urge to snap, “That is not intelligence on the estate, fool.” Getting frustrated would only frighten her and make it harder to find out what he wanted to know; Rozemyne and the other Ehrenfest archduke candidates hadn’t been the only ones to learn from their time together. Instead, he smiled and said, “Is there anything else?”

“Lord Leonzio shares blood with the Yurgenschmidt royal family, and it would seem that he personally connected with the Sovereign knight commander this summer. Though the occurrence during the funeral created so many discussions, I am unsure how close they are or what truly happened.”

Ferdinand frowned. Raublut, the Sovereign knight commander, knew about the seeds of Adalgisa—and using that knowledge, he had convinced the king to remove Ferdinand from Ehrenfest. It was unclear how Raublut was connected with Adalgisa, but he viewed Ferdinand and Ehrenfest as enemies.

“Lord Leonzio of Lanzenave associating with Lord Raublut...” Ferdinand muttered. “I do not know how much Lady Detlinde’s words can be trusted, but this is a serious cause for concern.”

“I would not expect the Sovereign knight commander to do anything suspicious, especially after he went to such lengths to resolve the funeral incident.”

Raublut had gone along with Detlinde’s foolish demand to execute the culprits before a proper investigation could take place. On top of that, when the subsequent inquiry had started, he had continuously emphasized that Ehrenfest knights were to blame, directing the public eye away from the Sovereign Knight’s Order. The news that he was using his frequent visits to the Lanzenave Estate to consort with Leonzio—when he was supposed to be carrying out an impartial investigation, no less—was dubious to no end.

That said, from Letizia’s perspective, the Sovereign knight commander had worked ardently to keep the funeral situation under control. She believed that he deserved nothing but gratitude. Ferdinand determined that there was no point trying to change her mind; no matter how long he spent expounding Raublut’s questionable attributes, others would assume he was merely lashing out in frustration now that Ehrenfest was under suspicion. The atmosphere that had set in during the inquiry was still fresh in his mind.

“I am more concerned about Lady Detlinde,” Ferdinand said with a smile, masking his true thoughts. “Who knows what is being whispered into her ear?”

Looking convinced, Letizia finally answered the question first put to her. “According to Lady Detlinde, there is a door in the Lanzenave Estate that can be opened only by the aub. The room beyond it apparently exists for Lanzenave princesses going to the Sovereignty. I can only imagine the problems that would have arisen if a princess had come when our foundation was not dyed.”

Ferdinand already knew what sat beyond that door: a teleportation circle connecting Ahrensbach with the Adalgisa villa.

Imagine telling someone to negotiate for the royal family to accept a Lanzenave princess before your foundation has even been dyed.

Had the royal family acceded to the demand, Detlinde would have embarrassed herself when she proved unable to open the door for the princess. The sheer foolishness of the situation made Ferdinand want to scoff, so he quickly changed the subject.

“It would seem that Lady Detlinde finally finished dyeing the foundation. I suppose I will need to begin offering my mana as well.”

Under normal circumstances, a fiancé from another duchy would not be made to perform Mana Replenishment, but documents from the previous archduke had made it possible to arrange—with a few troublesome restrictions.

He continued, “You shall use this opportunity to start practicing Mana Replenishment as well, Lady Letizia.”

“Lord Ferdinand... I was told that new sweets from Lady Rozemyne have arrived.”

There was a dark gloom in Letizia’s eyes as she asked about her reward. She was still not used to controlling her mana, so the thought of performing Mana Replenishment must have been anything but pleasant. Although she had plenty of stamina and did not collapse over the smallest inconvenience—two advantages over Rozemyne—she was a slow learner who wasted an enormous amount of time on breaks.

“Indeed,” Ferdinand replied. “She sent more than usual to be given to you—at your request, apparently. In her response to my letters, she told me not to push someone your age too hard, despite what Ahrensbach’s circumstances might demand.”

Rozemyne asked not to be used as a reference point, but Lady Letizia would be much further in her studies if she desired books as a reward instead of sweets.

As he resisted the urge to sigh, Letizia clapped her hands together in realization. “I received a jar of Lanzenave sweets from Lord Leonzio. They are like feystones in appearance, and each one can be enjoyed for a very long time.”

Ferdinand had not received any sweets—both because he took very little interest in them and because Detlinde had ordered him to stay away from Lanzenave. Still, he was curious to see what Lanzenave had given her and whether they could be used for brewing.

“I received splendid toys as well,” Letizia continued. “Would you care to see? Unlike those made in Ehrenfest, they are rather strange and can only be used once, but they are unique and terribly fun. If you pull the string attached to them, flower petals of all colors shoot out and flutter around the room. It is beautiful and always manages to raise my spirits. Roswitha, could you fetch the sweets and toys?”

“Here you are,” the head attendant replied, first presenting her lady with the multicolored sweets that looked similar to feystones.

Letizia went first, eating one with a joyful smile. Ferdinand then did the same—and immediately had to fight back the urge to spit it out. His palate was being assaulted by an unbearable sweetness, as though he were eating a lump of pure sugar.

“This is much too sweet,” Ferdinand said with a grimace. He then crunched the candy into pieces, desperate to swallow it as quickly as he could.

Letizia stared in shock, appalled to see one of her precious sweets go to waste. Ferdinand was unfazed, though; letting the flavor settle in his mouth would have been a miserable experience.

Ferdinand took a generous sip of tea to wash away the lingering sweetness, then turned to the other items Roswitha had brought over. “Are these the Lanzenave toys you told me about?” They appeared to be simple silver tubes, each with a piece of string dangling from one end. An explanation was certainly in order.

Letizia smiled happily as she picked one up and gave its string a firm tug. Out burst flower petals of various colors, which fluttered through the air.

How does the toy work? It is unlikely to be a magic tool, I know that much.

“Was that not positively stunning?” Letizia asked.

“May I have one of those toys? I am eager to find out how they are made.”

Letizia must not have expected such a request; she faltered, then let out a quiet “What...?” She had several toys, yet she was unwilling to part with a single one.

After staring at her Lanzenave goods for some time, Letizia finally made up her mind. She took the jar, which still contained three sweets, and one of the silver tubes, then looked up at Ferdinand. “U-Um, Lord Ferdinand... I intended to give these to Lady Rozemyne. B-But if you reduce my workload... I will allow you to take one!” Her voice had cracked as she forced out the last few words; she must have known that her attempt to negotiate was not very ladylike.

Ferdinand responded with a look of exasperation, having already deduced the culprit. “Has Rozemyne been putting strange ideas in your head, by chance?”

“She is not to blame. Rather, I... Um...”

Rozemyne was the only one who would encourage an archduke candidate from another duchy to act so brazenly.

Good grief. What a headache.

“Very well. In return for one of those toys, I will reduce your workload to some degree. However, take care not to accept too much advice from Rozemyne; she can be a bad influence at times.”

Ferdinand extended a hand, then heaved a heavy sigh. It was his job to clean up the messes his charge created. He would need to spend the evening responding to Rozemyne’s letter; there was much for which she needed to be chastised.

“Lord Ferdinand, here is a letter from Lady Rozemyne and a roughly drafted response,” Sergius said, then looked down at the table. “That, um, was a gift... from Lady Letizia...”

“Put them in that ingredient box,” Ferdinand replied, looking up from the silver tube he was meticulously taking apart and analyzing. It no longer bore the slightest resemblance to its original shape, but it was indeed one of the toys Letizia had received from Lanzenave. “At the pull of a string and without any magic whatsoever, the contents of the tube can be ejected. There were petals inside this time, but what if they were replaced with something else? This could easily become a very dangerous weapon. In any case, there is nothing more I wish to learn about this toy. You may clear it away.”

“It was meant to bring happiness with its beauty...” Sergius said, looking sad.

Perhaps it was cruel of Ferdinand to disassemble the toy he had taken from Letizia and then simply have it disposed of, but those had been his intentions from the very beginning. Neither glum looks nor complaints would affect him in the slightest.

“Lord Ferdinand,” Justus said, “although I do not mind the ingredients from Lady Rozemyne being moved into your hidden room, exercise some restraint with your brewing.”

“We are not on watch tonight. Please do not trouble those who are.”

Ferdinand waved them away, then went into his hidden room with the box containing both letters and ingredients from Rozemyne.

“Hmm... Nothing of particular note...”

He had decided to start by reading the letters—including a report from Justus, which was slotted neatly between Rozemyne’s letter and the roughly drafted response. It was a summary of all the information they had acquired from Letizia’s retainers over lunch and corroborated everything she had told them directly. By this point, it was obvious that Raublut and Leonzio were on good terms. Many had seen the knight commander take great interest in Lanzenave’s situation during the inquiry.

Raublut and Lanzenave, hm?

If the Sovereign knight commander truly was connected to the Adalgisa villa, then he presumably had strong ties to Lanzenave. It was possible he would try to convince the royal family to accept their princess.

Moreover, Georgine had taken Raublut to the Lanzenave Estate. The duty would normally have fallen to Detlinde, but she was being kept away from the knight commander after her emotional demand that the “treasonous criminals” be executed. It was a perfectly logical decision, but Ferdinand still considered it suspicious.

“It’s just a gut feeling.”

Sylvester’s voice echoed in his mind. The man’s instincts truly were impressive; countless times before, he had danced through disaster with nothing else to guide him.

Ferdinand was well aware that he needed to keep a close eye on Georgine and obtain as much intelligence as he could... but his move to the western building had complicated matters. Worse still, Georgine had most likely experienced the consequences of Sylvester’s instincts firsthand. The two of them had grown up together, after all. Ferdinand could still recall the sharp breath she had taken in response to her brother’s remark during the inquiry. She was presumably on guard as well.

Something is going to happen. There is no mistaking that.

However, no matter how things developed, negotiations with the royal family would go smoothly once he finished what he was making.

Ferdinand sat in his chair and thought about the maximal-quality fey paper Rozemyne had sent him. Her mana quantity was beyond impressive. As long as she followed his recipe, he would have everything he needed before the next Interduchy Tournament.

I am more concerned about what Sylvester and the first prince were alluding to.

It had been stated during the inquiry that Ferdinand and Rozemyne were “clearly loyal to the royal family and obedient followers of royal decrees.” That was obviously true for Ferdinand, who had transferred into Ahrensbach at the king’s order...

But what about Rozemyne? Are they referring to the religious ceremonies held during the Archduke Conference, or something else entirely? Are the rumors true that she is being sent to the Sovereign temple?

Because of the recent incident, interactions between Ferdinand and Ehrenfest—where the culprits had come from—were under careful observation. Simply receiving his luggage and the letters had taken a great deal of work, so a private discussion with Sylvester had been out of the question.

Ferdinand probed the letters as best he could, but neither Sylvester nor Rozemyne touched upon anything he needed to know. In better times, he might have welcomed that lack of news. Perhaps he was overthinking things... but he had a bad feeling about their situation.

“Rozemyne’s letter says nothing about her Geduldh. How can I not be suspicious?”

Ferdinand touched the paper to see what she had written with her invisible ink, but still, there was no answer to his question. She was hiding something—something she could not consult him about.

“Please tell me your Geduldh.”

That was the question he had asked to make sure neither Ehrenfest’s nor Rozemyne’s situation had changed. He had only wanted confirmation.

Rozemyne often struggled with noble euphemisms, but she already knew that one’s Geduldh meant one’s home or someone one loved. If all were well, she would have written, “Ehrenfest is my Geduldh, as are my library and those of the lower city. You know that already, don’t you?” Or if she had not understood the question, she would have requested an explanation.

“Your decision not to answer at all is severely more suspicious. Fool.”

She had doubtless read too deeply into the question. Then, fearing what Ferdinand might say about her response, she had begun to doubt the identity of her Geduldh. Had something happened to encourage her indecision?

“Prince Sigiswald is aware of the circumstances, so the royal family is likely involved. I do not know the details, but I imagine their objective is the Grutrissheit.”

Those of the royal family had barely even been able to read the ancient language in the underground archive. If they were in desperate need of the Grutrissheit, they would naturally attempt to bring Rozemyne into their fold by any means necessary. After all, she had mastered the language during her time in the temple.

Was that something Rozemyne would wish for? Or had they driven her into a corner, as they had done to Ferdinand when giving him his decree? Being apart from her was painfully frustrating. If he could just glimpse her face, he would see through any attempts at secrecy in an instant.

“I should be able to help once I finish what I am making, but...”

What was Rozemyne trying to protect? What did she treasure more than anything else? Unless he could deduce what was motivating her, Ferdinand worried that his hard work would ultimately be for nothing.

Ferdinand tossed the letter onto his desk, frustrated that he could not simply ask Rozemyne for the answer he sought. The distance between them now truly was vast.

“I do not know the circumstances, what Rozemyne is hiding from me, or what is motivating her... but a single misstep and that fool will end up on another one of her rampages.”

The fog of concern and mistrust that had descended upon him was growing ever thicker. He had a much weaker grasp on the others’ intentions, so each move he made risked disaster. Rozemyne’s Geduldh had once been so clear; now it was anything but. And with Sylvester offering so little in the way of information, Ferdinand was struggling to see the path ahead.

Come winter, we will at least be able to speak through Raimund once again. There is also the Interduchy Tournament coming up. As soon as the opportunity arises, I will stop these ineffectual attempts to probe her through letters and question her directly.

Ferdinand gave an annoyed sigh. For now, like Rozemyne, he had no choice but to put his troubles on hold.