Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume Short Story - Chapter 15

Ortwin — The Drewanchel Siblings

“Lord Ortwin, Lady Adolphine has called for you,” an apprentice scholar said, delivering a message.

I grimaced. “Isn’t this a bit early?”

The scholar raised an eyebrow and gave me a half-smile, likely having anticipated my response. “All archduke candidates are in a similar position. Securing meeting rooms has been a struggle since before the fellowship gatherings.”

Sister had summoned me the moment we returned from the fellowship gatherings. Although we were siblings of the same mother, it was forbidden to have someone of the opposite gender enter your room within the dormitory, so I was being summoned specifically to a meeting room. Our half-siblings and adopted siblings were doubtless similarly gathering those of the same mother to plan how to handle this term at the Royal Academy.

I feel that things are even more bloodthirsty here at the dormitory than they were at the castle...

Drewanchel had notably more archduke candidates than other duchies, since it was tradition for the aub to adopt any child with enough mana and skill before they entered the Royal Academy. In other words, on top of the children from his first, second, and third wives, there was also an abundance of adopted ones. This naturally led to those who were raised under the same mother forming defensive alliances.

On average, there’s at least one archduke candidate per grade, which is a lot. I couldn’t believe how few other duchies had at the fellowship gathering.

The majority of archduke candidates, adopted or otherwise, aimed to one day become the aub—because why not? There was no reason for them to waste such a golden opportunity. For an archduke candidate to be established as the next aub, however, they needed some impressive achievements under their belt. To that end, many dedicated themselves to their studies and research in an attempt to invent new magic tools. Retainers followed the wills of their lords or ladies, so the grades of the duchy went up overall, which had ultimately led to Drewanchel being known as the duchy that used knowledge as its weapon.

I’m aiming to come first-in-class, but my biggest enemy here will probably be Lady Hannelore of Dunkelfelger.

The battle for the seat of aub was said to be harsher in Drewanchel than in any other duchy, so why were even more children being adopted into the archducal family? The answer had to do with the educational philosophy that reigned in Yurgenschmidt. Archduke candidates studied a different course from other nobles, specially designed to help them properly rule their land. An aub of the past had decided that this knowledge would also prove important to those who became giebes.

Those who were educated as archduke candidates became giebes, but in Drewanchel, the title wasn’t passed down hereditarily like it was in other duchies. The children of giebes would ultimately be prioritized to become a giebe themselves if they were adopted by the aub and managed to graduate, but those who weren’t worthy of adoption wouldn’t automatically receive the title.

I don’t know whether to describe that as harsh or just tension-inducing...

At the very least, Drewanchel wasn’t a duchy where one could be complacent. This was so true, in fact, that some archducal family members went out of their way to be adopted by an archnoble following their graduation so that they could move to the comparatively more relaxing Sovereignty and focus on their research.

There’s Professor Gundolf, for example. Our dormitory supervisor.

He was the current aub’s uncle and one of only two people in the dormitory whom I couldn’t defy. The other was my sister, which was why I had no choice but to trudge over to the meeting room when summoned.

Still, where did this feeling that I can’t go against my sister come from? Was it implanted in me from birth? Sigh.

Upon entering the meeting room, I found my sister in the midst of a very serious-looking conversation with her retainers, touching her wavy, wine-red hair all the while. I sensed that she was going to say something truly bothersome and was struck with the urge to turn around on the spot... but I stood my ground nonetheless. After being summoned and coming all this way, I couldn’t just leave without saying a word. No, I had another idea—one that would be even more bothersome than whatever she was about to say. For now, I decided to speak in a low voice, hoping that she wouldn’t hear me.

“You called, Sister?” I whispered. My intention was to leave if she didn’t notice me, but notice me she did.

“Your voice is as weak as ever,” she said as she gestured me over. I could tell from her tone that she intended to chastise me, but there was a distinct sparkle in her amber eyes. “You saw it, didn’t you, Ortwin? The hairpins and glossy hair of those Ehrenfest girls! They must intend to push those as trends this term. Don’t you agree?”

It seemed that my sister was completely enchanted, but I couldn’t say that I was particularly interested myself. I did want to know what they were using for their hair and what the product was made of, but only out of curiosity; I wasn’t passionate about it like she was.

To be honest, I think improving rejuvenation potions is a lot more interesting...

I kept this thought to myself, of course. I never voiced my dissent in situations like this, because it would only make my sister emotional and ten times more unreasonable. From there, she had a tendency to entangle me in a web of words.

“Now, now! Stay alert, Ortwin. If you slack too much, you may be beaten by that Ehrenfest archduke candidate. You know that their written grades have been climbing steadily for some time now, correct?”

“Ehrenfest? Beating me?” I asked. “Not the girl from Dunkelfelger?”

Sister was giving me a teasing smirk, but it wasn’t at all in good taste. I was a Drewanchel archduke candidate; I couldn’t imagine losing to someone from the thirteenth-ranked duchy, even if it did have a somewhat skilled archduke candidate or two.

“Well, however unlikely it is for you to lose to Ehrenfest, do whatever it takes to beat Lady Hannelore of Dunkelfelger. You will need to propose to her eventually, and it would be quite awkward for you to have worse grades when you do,” Adolphine said, thrusting a pointer finger my way.

“Huh...?”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I was well aware that Lady Hannelore was my greatest rival when it came to coming first-in-class, but not once had I thought about proposing to her. Had my sister hit her head or something?

“Lady Hannelore is the child of her duchy’s first wife, so if you can get in with her, you are all but guaranteed to become the next aub,” she explained.

Drewanchel was the third-ranked duchy, with the only two ranked above it being Dunkelfelger and Klassenberg. Lady Eglantine was already set to marry royalty, meaning there was no chance of an engagement with any of my half-brothers. My sister was convinced that Lady Hannelore was the best candidate for getting me into the aub seat.

“But I have no intention of becoming the aub,” I said with a glare, not wanting her to decide whom I would marry. She wasn’t my father, after all. “I find research more enjoyable anyway.”

“Oh my...” Adolphine blinked several times, curious. “But it has already been decided that I must marry either Prince Sigiswald or Prince Anastasius—whomever Lady Eglantine does not choose, no? That leaves you to become the aub. I could not rest easy if one of our half-brothers came to rule the duchy instead; I cannot count on them to support me.”

You just want me at your beck and call, even after I’m the aub. I don’t think so.

My sister Adolphine was highly respected both within the duchy and in the Royal Academy. She was a serious student with excellent grades and a trustworthy, diligent personality—but that was just her public image. On the inside, she was a completely different beast. I really, really wanted everyone else to understand how I felt being dragged around by her... but at the same time, I could see why she was so concerned. Anyone would rather have a closer family member in power.

“In any case, all eyes will be on Ehrenfest this year,” Adolphine said. “They even have two archduke candidates in the same grade. They’re first-years and soon to be your classmates. Learn all that you can about them, Ortwin.”

“I understand the importance of gathering intelligence, Sister.”

Soon after I made such a confident declaration, Lady Rozemyne returned to Ehrenfest. My head spun when I overheard Lord Wilfried and Lady Hannelore talking about it during schtappe class. Lady Rozemyne had produced so many things that were bound to become future trends, only to return home as soon as she finished her classes; what kind of archduke candidate did that?

The hairpins and glossy hair stuff were supposed to be marketed to girls, right? Then why did she go home?! If she wants to be the next aub as an adopted daughter, this is her best chance!

I was so confused that I started to panic internally. It was said that adopted children struggled to become aubs in Ehrenfest, so perhaps Lady Rozemyne had been instructed to give all the credit for her achievements to Lord Wilfried, the biological son of the archduke.

No, wait... If that were the case, she would have been told to get middling grades as well. Hold on. I remember hearing that Lord Ferdinand, the Genius of Ehrenfest, came first-in-class every single year despite not wanting to be the next aub.

I thought back to the man whom Professor Gundolf called “the lonely genius created by overwhelming misfortune.” He was a savant of sorts who had produced new magic tools one after another, but he had no mother to speak of and had been despised by his aub’s first wife. Apparently, his genius was born precisely because he had nowhere in his home duchy to rest easy.

I’m getting distracted. Calm down, me.

Right now, I needed to focus on how to get intelligence from Ehrenfest. My sister had told me to learn more about the duchy, but she hadn’t said that I needed to befriend Lady Rozemyne in particular. Ehrenfest had another archduke candidate: Lord Wilfried. I could bond with him and get intelligence that way.

Lady Rozemyne was on another level, having managed to pass almost every class and practical lesson she was attending on the first day, but Lord Wilfried wasn’t so bad either—especially considering his duchy’s rank. He had finished his mana control class before anyone and was coming up with trends that were easily adoptable, such as making schtappes with crests.

The drivable highbeasts that Lady Rozemyne introduced are groundbreaking without a doubt, but they require so much mana that not everyone can use them.

Of the two Ehrenfest archduke candidates, Lord Wilfried seemed like the easier choice to befriend.

“In short, Sister, I’ve been talking to Lord Wilfried during class, and the two of us are on good terms,” I said, having been summoned to a meeting room to report on my findings thus far. “You may still struggle to invite Lady Rozemyne to one of your tea parties, though.”

Adolphine shook her head. “Listen, Ortwin... If you’re going to be friends with either of them, pick Lady Rozemyne. She is a monster of a first-year. Despite having missed two very crucial years of development to a jureve, she has introduced many impactful trends and is almost guaranteed to come first-in-class. It boggles the mind, really.”

“You think she’s the most likely to win too, huh?”

“Doesn’t come as much of a surprise, does it? I doubted my hearing when Professor Gundolf mentioned her scores. How can a child know so much?”

Adolphine was blinking her amber eyes in surprise as she recalled the memory, but I had accepted the reality of my situation long ago. As things stood, I couldn’t believe that anyone expected me to come first-in-class; Lady Rozemyne was simply unrivaled. During lessons, her answers to questions were founded not in what she had been taught thus far or what her professors sought from her, but in her own personal experiences—not to be contrarian to the academic system, but because she knew no better responses. Perhaps it was fate that the disciple of a genius would be a genius herself.

“The fact that you acknowledge her extraordinary intelligence makes this easier,” my sister said. “I cannot imagine it being a struggle for you to marry a girl from Ehrenfest. And would she not make for the most stimulating partner, regardless of whether you wish to become the aub or focus on your research?”

Stimulating? I guess trying to figure her out is pretty interesting...

I wasn’t entirely sure what my sister meant, but I had an idea. Lady Rozemyne was abnormal in more than a few ways. It was hard to describe, but it almost felt like she was from an entirely different world from everyone else—like what she saw and felt were rooted in something incomparable to what the rest of us were used to. Because I couldn’t understand what Lady Rozemyne was thinking or why she acted as she did, she just seemed... uncanny. She was less “stimulating” and more just kind of creepy.

“She returned to her home duchy before I got the chance to speak with her personally,” I said, “but I will consider taking action next year.”

If I feel like it.

“Lord Wilfried seems to be attending various tea parties, but he is primarily socializing with Dunkelfelger and Ahrensbach, correct?” Adolphine asked. “That will limit the intelligence we can gather for some time.”

It was true that Lord Wilfried was only socializing with duchies aligned with Dunkelfelger and Ahrensbach. As these were duchies with weak connections to Drewanchel, my sister was unable to attend.

“Perhaps we could invite him to a Drewanchel tea party now that you have made friends with him in class...” Adolphine pondered aloud.

“We can’t do that, can we? I sent him an invitation to play gewinnen just yesterday, in the name of gathering my fellow first-year male archduke candidates together to practice before socializing begins. So far, the replies have been positive, but there are only four of us. Would you like to join, Sister?”

Gewinnen was a version of ditter played on a board. It was very popular during male socializing events, but it was enjoyed by female archduke candidates as well, since it was essential for future aubs to understand reports regarding their duchy’s defenses and the plans of their Knight’s Order. Incidentally, my sister beat me consistently. Perhaps there was a trend where the worse your personality was, the better you were at ditter.

“I will refrain,” Adolphine replied, albeit after a hesitant pause. “When men play gewinnen, they always end up focusing more on the game than on exchanging information; it is a boorish waste of time. Not to mention, you are playing with first-years, no? Their boyish hearts would surely be crushed if a woman like me dominated them and ground them into dust. I would rather not wound them so.”

Wait... Is my sister actually being considerate of male pride? She’s refraining from grinding the others into dust? Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this side of her.

“I will focus on having tea parties with Lady Eglantine,” Adolphine concluded. “That will be much more productive.”

“Ah, I’m pretty sure Lady Rozemyne had a tea party with Lady Eglantine before returning to Ehrenfest,” I said, conveying what I had heard from my scholars. “Perhaps meeting with Klassenberg would indeed be faster.”

Adolphine gave a curt nod, having already known this. “According to Lady Eglantine, although Lady Rozemyne left so soon, she socialized with Prince Anastasius as well.”

“Really? I didn’t know that... Oh, speaking of which—something seems to have happened between Lady Rozemyne and Dunkelfelger. Lady Hannelore was hinting at it recently.” I was feeling a bit defiant after being shown up by my sister.

“Ortwin,” Adolphine said, a glint in her amber eyes, “Lady Rozemyne has socialized to some degree with Klassenberg, Dunkelfelger, and even members of royalty. Do you care to explain why nothing has happened between her and Drewanchel, perhaps?”

Are you trying to say this is my fault?!

A chill ran down my spine; her tone had suddenly darkened, and she was now twisting her hair around her finger in a show of annoyance. This wasn’t good. It wasn’t good at all. There was one thought on my mind—Prince Anastasius and Lady Eglantine socialized with her despite being of a higher grade, so is this not your fault too?—but I dared not say it aloud. I could only imagine what she would do to me.

“I will ask Lord Wilfried to negotiate with his aub about having Lady Rozemyne return posthaste, such that we may hold a tea party with her,” I said to my sister. This way, while Lord Wilfried and I played gewinnen, she and Lady Rozemyne could discuss trends.

Adolphine thought for a moment, then sighed and nodded. “Ehrenfest has been serving never-before-seen sweets during tea parties. You could at least learn more about them or even bring some back with you, no?”

“Right,” I said. “I will suggest that he bring sweets with him to gewinnen.”

My request for Ehrenfest to bring sweets had only been made to cool my sister’s anger, but in any case, I succeeded in getting some “pound cake” brought to our game of gewinnen. I had informed my attendant ahead of time to save some for my sister, and when my socializing was over, I called Adolphine to a meeting room for a small tea party. She looked over the sweet from various angles, then picked up her cutlery.

“It certainly has a... rustic look to it,” she said.

“According to Wilfried, it is served with cream, honey, and fruit during tea parties, such that one can eat it with their preferred flavors.”

“Lady Adolphine, we can prepare the honey and cream at once,” one of my sister’s attendants said considerately.

Adolphine nodded curtly and asked them to do just that, then turned her attention back to me. “Still, to think you and Lord Wilfried became so close after just one game of gewinnen. You said that was all it took for you to speak frankly and address each other without formalities?” she asked.

I paused; I certainly couldn’t reveal that we had bonded over our mutual exhaustion from attending tea parties with girls—or in my case, with one girl in particular.

“I quite enjoy gewinnen when I can actually win,” I eventually said. “Not to mention, it was not just Wilfried; I also became friends with Lord Konradin of Gaussbuttel and Lord Dahvidh of Lindenthal.”

Whenever I played with Adolphine, the outcome was always the same: my inevitable defeat. At least against Wilfried, I could normally win as long as I didn’t let my guard down. Dahvidh was considerably easier to beat, to the point that I hadn’t lost a single game against him, but Konradin was more complicated. I won against him, but I felt that he was letting me win. Maybe he didn’t want to stick out too much, since he was the son of a third wife.

“Pay close attention so that you can detect whether he is simply appeasing you,” my sister warned when I explained the situation. Our conversation was cut short when a plate neatly decorated with cream and honey was placed before her, and she immediately took a bite of the provided pound cake. “My, my... This is rustic no more. And as for the taste... Not bad in the least. I feel confident in saying that I prefer this to Ahrensbach’s balls of sugar.”

“According to Wilfried, Lady Rozemyne is a gourmand when it comes to delicious food. She has her personal chefs experimenting with new recipes almost all the time. This so-called ‘puh-lein’ flavor is the most basic form, and in truth, there are many others to choose from.”

“Many others...?” Adolphine repeated, looking intently at the pound cake on her plate as if she didn’t understand me. “Ortwin, when will Lady Rozemyne be returning? Did Lord Wilfried say anything?”

“He said that her return is being decided by the aub and her guardians, and that had it been up to him, Lady Rozemyne would have been back by now. He, too, is urgently awaiting her return.”

Wilfried was receiving more invitations than he could deal with, and the army of girls wanting to know more about Ehrenfest hairpins was only continuing to grow. I didn’t envy him at all—in fact, he had my utmost sympathy, having to promote trends for girls originally meant to be promoted by a female archduke candidate all on his own.

“Just what is Aub Ehrenfest thinking...?” my sister wondered aloud. “How does he gain from not spreading trends at such a crucial moment, when everyone is interested in them? If marketing them truly is his intention, he has no choice but to return Lady Rozemyne swiftly or otherwise have Lord Wilfried play a more active role in tea parties...”

“I shall convey your thoughts to Wilfried as a warning from a top-ranking duchy. Perhaps Aub Ehrenfest might then reconsider his position,” I replied, thinking back to my conversation with Wilfried. He had kept saying that he wanted Lady Rozemyne to return, but he didn’t seem too enthusiastic about it.

“Rozemyne causes problems even when she’s not here,” he had said, a distant look in his eyes, “and who knows what disaster she’ll inevitably cause when she comes back. I understand how Father feels.”

At the time, I hadn’t understood what would drive him to say that, but it turned out that Lady Rozemyne stirred the pot more often than one would imagine from someone with her youthful appearance. A shudder had run down my spine as Wilfried started listing off all the problems she had caused—and those were just the ones that had taken place in class. It was easy to imagine that she was causing even more trouble elsewhere.

Marrying Lady Rozemyne? I can’t imagine it. Nope. Not me.

I didn’t want to marry someone who was somehow even more bothersome than my sister. And for that reason, I immediately removed Lady Rozemyne from my list of viable marriage candidates.

The Interduchy Tournament was on the horizon, which meant socializing season was coming to an end. I was busy focusing on my preparations for the upcoming event when I received a summons from my sister.

I entered the meeting room that I was asked to go to and inhaled sharply when I saw that it was clear of retainers. Adolphine very rarely held such private talks. The last time we had attended a family discussion without retainers like this was when her marriage to royalty had been decided internally without her input. I still remembered her crying.

“If they need a Drewanchel woman for their political marriage, won’t any other archduke candidate do?” she had asked.

“You were chosen because you are the daughter of my first wife, Adolphine. You must understand.”

“I do. I understand that only my status matters, not my own thoughts, dreams, or hard work.”

My sister hated it when her worth was determined not by her own power, but by her age, status, and her duchy’s ranking. She had wanted to win the seat of aub with her own two hands, not be married off to a prince. That said, while it was now set in stone that she would marry a royal, it was not decided which prince she would take. It was an insulting scenario where Klassenberg’s Lady Eglantine would pick the next king, while Sister would be left with whoever lost.

Of course, Adolphine had no choice but to accept the situation—that much was inevitable for a political marriage. This was an important union that would bind Drewanchel to royalty, and as the order was coming from Aub Drewanchel himself, there was no escaping it.

It was afterward that she started incessantly prodding me about becoming the next aub.

Apparently, Lady Eglantine was a former princess whose family had been assassinated during the civil war. The previous Aub Klassenberg had allied with the current king in retaliation, hoping to avenge her and return her to royalty.

Lady Eglantine had been on the winning side of the war, but her family’s assassination meant she was still sensitive to conflict. She would most likely choose the older Prince Sigiswald, then. Everyone knew that Prince Anastasius was head over heels for her, but choosing him would inevitably lead to fighting. Adolphine had told me all this with a defeated expression that showed she was resigned to marrying Prince Anastasius.

So, what happened this time, then?

“Sister...?” I said.

She didn’t say anything in response, which was an unsettling first. Instead, she held out a sound-blocking magic tool, her expression hard and her lips pressed together in a thin line. I accepted it, feeling nervous.

“It seems that Lady Eglantine has chosen Prince Anastasius,” Adolphine said. “It came up confidentially in today’s tea party.”

“Prince Anastasius? Does that mean he’s going to be the next king? It’s rare for your prediction to be wrong like that, Sis—”

“No, Prince Sigiswald is still taking the throne. Prince Anastasius gave up his claim to prove that his love for Lady Eglantine is pure—to prove that he is not marrying her to become king.”

“What...?”

The very idea was baffling. Lady Eglantine had more royal blood coursing through her veins, and the future stability of the country depended on her birthing successors. Wasn’t that why Adolphine had been forced into the humiliating and agonizing situation of taking an undecided partner?

“This is the result of Prince Sigiswald obsessing over the throne, while Prince Anastasius obsessed over Lady Eglantine,” my sister continued. “It seems that Lady Eglantine pleaded with her family, saying that she did not want to ignore Prince Anastasius’s feelings, but that she also did not wish to cause war by accepting them.”

And so, Prince Sigiswald got the throne, Prince Anastasius got the woman he loved, and Lady Eglantine got peace. They were all set to live happily ever after.

“You said that you would feel terrible marrying Prince Anastasius knowing that he loves Lady Eglantine, Sister, so is this not perhaps a boon of sorts? As you are marrying Prince Sigiswald, you will now be the first wife of the next king.”

“If only things were so simple...” Adolphine said, her usual triumphant self now completely replaced with a dark and clouded expression. “Prince Sigiswald cares deeply for Lady Nahelache. He was bound to treat Lady Eglantine well no matter how little she meant to him, since she was absolutely necessary for his becoming king... but what about me?”

“Well, this is a political marriage. I cannot imagine royalty mistreating Drewanchel the Third,” I said. Lady Eglantine was on another level, but it was unthinkable that my older sister would be neglected. I told her that she was overthinking things.

“Yes, you are surely right. He will treat me as a normal fiancée from this point onward,” she said with a weak smile, and it was only then that I realized something—not once had my sister received any special treatment from her potential suitors. Both princes had sent Lady Eglantine gifts and honeyed proposals in the hope of winning her heart or the throne, but neither had done anything for Adolphine. She was being treated as though she were just any other noble.

As my sister was not yet officially engaged to either prince, it was not an absolute requirement that they greet her or send her gifts... but surely they could have shown her some consideration while she was stuck waiting for Lady Eglantine to make her decision.

“Everything will change for the better once you are formally engaged,” I said, putting aside the anger that was boiling up inside of me and instead attempting to cheer up my sister. She gave a half-hearted giggle and another weak smile, then let out a heavy sigh.

“I will surely be compared to Lady Eglantine from now on, no matter what I do. And not only that, but I will also have to stand above a former princess-turned-archduke candidate from Klassenberg the First—a girl who regularly came first-in-class. I never expected to become the next king’s first wife; this surprise is most unpleasant. I cannot help but feel that my future is bleak.”

Had the position instead gone to Lady Eglantine, then Adolphine would have had no qualms about supporting her. It was the same thing she had always done: propping up Klassenberg the First. However, these expected roles were now in reverse, with Adolphine being the next king’s first wife, and Lady Eglantine being the first wife of a regular prince. I could only imagine the immense pressure that my sister was feeling.

“I will aid you in any way I can,” I mumbled. The words had escaped me without a second thought when I saw how caught up my sister was in thoughts about her future.

“Lord Ortwin, a summons from Lady Adolphine,” a scholar announced. “She is waiting in the usual meeting room.”

“Ah, she’s back from Ehrenfest’s tea party already?” I replied, standing up at once. “That was fast.”

Lady Rozemyne had returned to the Royal Academy right at the end of socializing season. I had wondered what she would do, since she didn’t have the time to hold many tea parties, and it turned out that she had decided to roll them all into one and host a single tea party that all duchies were invited to. This gathering had taken place today.

I wanted to attend myself, but my sister had snapped up the single Drewanchel seat before anyone else got the chance. The other archduke candidates had all come at her with their claws out, but she had made no move to relinquish her grip on the opportunity. She had even said that it would benefit the duchy most for a future royal such as herself to attend.

An important part of this tea party is going to be Lady Eglantine introducing her, since they have a personal connection.

Rumor was that Lady Rozemyne had also used her time to respond to invitations from Prince Anastasius and Lady Eglantine. Many were dying to know why both of them thought speaking to the young Ehrenfest girl was so important; she must have done something for them to value her so much.

“You seem to be in a good mood, Sister. I assumed you would be gone for longer,” I said upon finding Adolphine waiting for me, her expression the complete opposite of what I had seen previously. She was sniffing the contents of a jar with a broad smile across her face.

“Lady Rozemyne fell unconscious during the tea party,” Adolphine explained, “so it was brought to an abrupt and early close.”

“Uh... what?”

I couldn’t even understand what might make someone collapse midway through a tea party. All one had to do was sit and talk; what was so draining about this that one would faint?

“She is so weak and sickly that I now see why Aub Ehrenfest was so hesitant about returning her to the Royal Academy,” my sister said. “Those of Ehrenfest carried her away with noticeably practiced movements, indicating that this is a common occurrence back in their home duchy. They had their hands quite full consoling the disturbed guests as well. She collapsed right in front of Lady Hannelore, who turned so pale that I honestly feel sympathy for her.”

Yeah, the blood would drain from my face too...

If not dealt with correctly, such an incident could result in an interduchy scandal and an inquiry into whether it counted as an attempted assassination. Wilfried had been completely right in saying that Lady Rozemyne’s return would only lead to even more problems.

Now I’m glad that I didn’t go in the end.

I didn’t want to endure such a stressful-sounding tea party. My heart was way too sensitive—unlike that of my sister, who was busy summarizing the whole experience as a tremendous positive.

“Grimace if you must, Ortwin, but it was a truly stimulating tea party. I tasted many different kinds of pound cake and succeeded in securing some rinsham.”

Adolphine thrust the jar into my hands with a cackle. Rinsham was a liquid that made one’s hair glossy, apparently, and it was to be used when washing one’s hair in the bath. I peered inside the jar and saw a somewhat thick, white liquid that smelled of apfelsige.

“I imagine there are many other smells of this as well,” I said.

“Indeed. She mentioned that she had prepared bottles of the kind she gave to Lady Eglantine before.”

First pound cake, now rinsham... It seemed that Lady Rozemyne wasn’t the type of person who was satisfied with just one type of something. It would probably be easier to deduce how the product was made if we compared the kinds that were available. I put a drop of the rinsham on my finger, smelled it, then smeared it around with my thumb. I could already tell that it contained a lot of oil.

Some kind of soap, maybe?

“Research that and make something of the same kind, Ortwin.”

“What?”

“I wish to have some of my own. You are curious as well, and would it not be delightful to produce this in our own duchy? You will no doubt end up one step closer to coming first-in-class next year.”

My sister’s tone made it clear that she wasn’t going to accept no for an answer. I gazed up and saw that she was pointing a declarative finger at me—a clear indicator that she considered this an order, not a request.

“I’m not sure reproducing this has anything to do with my grades...” I said.

“Giving you such a delightful research topic is my way of showing my love for you as your older sister. Do your best, dear brother,” she replied. Then, she left without warning, having said all that she wanted to say. She had opted to leave the jar with me, of course.

I don’t want love like that! I never should have worried about you in the first place!