Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume Short Story - Chapter 3

Hannelore — Careless Mumbles Lead to Ditter

“Lady Hannelore.”

As I was leaving the Small Hall after my afternoon practical lessons, Cordula called out to me and walked over. She was the adult attendant I had brought with me to the Royal Academy and my head attendant back at home.

“We have a problem, milady. Let us return to the dormitory at once,” she whispered into my ear. She was wearing such a bright smile that I almost struggled to believe her, but her eyes were even sharper than usual. Even in the face of such concerning news, she was silently urging me to stay composed, so I put on the most elegant smile I could manage and nodded in response.

I wonder, do I look like a proper greater duchy archduke candidate?

Although I had the mana of a Dunkelfelger archduke candidate, my timing always left much to be desired, and my family often scolded me for not thinking or acting as was expected of my status. I wasn’t at all confident in my own abilities, and it seemed that I would never be able to act as competently as my older brother did. In fact, Professor Primevere of my court etiquette class had just told me that I lacked the dignity and intensity expected of a greater duchy’s archduke candidate, which explained why I was struggling to pass.

“Welcome back, Lady Hannelore.”

I returned to my room, thinking it was quite unusual to see the dormitory so empty. Even the retainers who usually gathered to greet me were mostly absent.

Have the upperclassmen not finished their lessons yet...?

I turned to Cordula, saw her wearing a broad smile, and immediately revised that theory. My retainers’ absence was no doubt related to the problem she had mentioned.

“So, what in the world happened...?” I asked.

Cordula’s bright smile was suddenly tinged with concern. “Lord Lestilaut seems to have taken charge of the apprentice knights and marched them to the Ehrenfest Dormitory.”

“Why in the world did he do that?!” I exclaimed, my eyes wide in disbelief. “He gave no indication of doing any such thing this morning!”

“He intends to have Ehrenfest surrender the large shumils that attend the library to you, milady, so that you may be their master instead. He seems to think that, as they are the heirlooms of royalty, they will do wonders to improve your image.”

The fact that magic tools in the form of shumils had started assisting Professor Solange in the library had turned into a rather popular topic of conversation in the Royal Academy—as had the realization that an archduke candidate from Ehrenfest was their master. According to our dormitory supervisor Professor Rauffen, these shumils were heirlooms of royalty that had been rendered inactive after losing their masters in the post-civil war purge.

I was very fond of shumils myself, and upon hearing the rumors, I had gone straight to the library to catch a glimpse of them. Seeing them assist Professor Solange in her usual duties was nothing short of adorable, and it seemed that I wasn’t the only one who thought so—there had been many other girls looking at the shumils as well. It had come as quite a relief to know that so many others shared in my fascination.

After returning to my dormitory, having had my fill of cuteness, I remembered saying to Cordula: “How adorable. If only I could be the master of such shumils myself.”

“I certainly did say that,” I muttered, “but I hadn’t intended for anyone to hear. I was just thinking aloud.”

“That would have been fine under any other circumstances,” Cordula replied, “but on this one occasion, it seems your timing was outright unfortunate. Rasantark was passing by and overheard your mumbling.”

Rasantark was my cousin, an archnoble, and one of my brother’s retainers. He had apparently reported to my brother that I wanted to be the shumils’ master.

And after I’ve spent so long trying not to bother anyone... I can’t believe this!

I wasn’t very confident in myself, and my weak-willed nature often led people to criticize my lack of grace and gravitas, but the thought of stealing mastery of the shumils from Ehrenfest’s archduke candidate to remedy this had never even crossed my mind. Drawing that kind of attention to myself would only make my shortcomings as a greater duchy archduke candidate that much more apparent.

“This must be a dreadful fright for Ehrenfest...” I said. “I cannot simply remain here. I must go and stop my brother!”

“An ordonnanz arrived earlier from Prince Anastasius, summoning Professor Rauffen,” Cordula noted, raising a hand to stop me. “This is no longer a matter you can resolve, milady.”

I put my head in my hands without a second thought, bemoaning how long it had taken me to finish my classes. Had I passed during my previous lesson rather than today, I might have been around to prevent all this.

“Once again, Lady Hannelore, it was nothing more than a matter of unfortunate timing.”

“Cordula, that does not make me feel any better. Everything is still my fault.”

I tried to think of something I could do, but Prince Anastasius had already summoned our dormitory supervisor; rushing over and acting overly pushy wouldn’t change anything. Instead, I had no choice but to wait for everyone to return... and when they eventually did, it was almost dinnertime. I caught my brother as soon as he appeared and demanded that he tell me what had happened, but he merely waved me away while saying we could talk over dinner.

Trying to control the nervous fluttering in my chest, I made my way to the dining hall table with the others. “Lestilaut, this all happened because Rasantark told you something he shouldn’t have, didn’t it?” I asked, fixing my brother with the hardest glare I could manage.

“My apologies, Lady Hannelore,” Rasantark interjected at once. “My intentions were pure, I can assure you. I simply thought you would appreciate getting what you desired most.”

Rasantark was an apprentice knight and straightforward to a fault. We had known each other since we were little, so I couldn’t doubt the good nature of his actions. He had quite genuinely wanted to realize my wish.

“That may be so, but I do not wish to take that which does not belong to us, nor am I pleased about causing a fuss like this. Even if your heart was in the right place, how can you justify stealing from another?”

“We were not attempting to steal anything—rather, we were trying to retrieve heirlooms of royalty.” As much as Rasantark tried to excuse their actions, though, it didn’t change that we would have been taking something from Ehrenfest.

“Enough,” Lestilaut said, waving a hand with a thoroughly displeased expression. “The matter has already been settled.” He clearly didn’t want to have this conversation, but I was still none the wiser about what had taken place.

“You are the one who said we would discuss this over dinner, Brother. Now, what in the world happened with Ehrenfest?”

“Irritatingly enough, they refused to give mastery of the shumils to Dunkelfelger,” he replied. A large-scale battle had apparently been on the verge of forming before the prince arrived and put a stop to things. Both of our dormitory supervisors were called, and at Professor Rauffen’s suggestion, a game of ditter had been played to determine who got ownership of the shumils.

It’s nice to see Professor Rauffen’s love of ditter actually do some good...

In the end, Ehrenfest had prevailed despite our ditter winning streak, and it was decided that Lady Rozemyne would continue to have mastery over the shumils. I truly was relieved to know we hadn’t ended up stealing those rights from Ehrenfest.

“It truly is repugnant that such a coward could declare herself a saint...” Lestilaut said, eating with a frustrated expression. Apparently, he had ended up losing quite spectacularly after Lady Rozemyne forced him into participating himself. Interestingly enough, he seemed to be the only one taking the defeat so poorly—Professor Rauffen and the apprentice knights were all beyond themselves with excitement, and rather than criticizing Ehrenfest, they were actually praising Lady Rozemyne.

“Lady Rozemyne is by no means a coward, Lord Lestilaut,” Professor Rauffen said gleefully. “In treasure-stealing ditter, one must use all methods available to wrench victory from one’s opponents. At the end of the day, she utilized a cute little surprise attack that was full of openings—a far cry from the devious plots that Ferdinand used to employ.”

From there, Professor Rauffen spoke at length about the ditter match, regaled us with stories about the genius schemer Lord Ferdinand who had managed to best Dunkelfelger in the past, and started working on a new training regimen that would take effect from tomorrow onward. The apprentice knights spent this time discussing the various strategies Lord Ferdinand had utilized in bygone days, told to them by the older knights or their parents. They resolved to win against Lady Rozemyne no matter what she attempted the next time they fought, and it seemed they were even more unified than usual.

“We must train and challenge Ehrenfest to a rematch at once.”

“Erm, Professor Rauffen... Please do not bother Ehrenfest any more than we have already.”

“Bother them? Not at all, Lady Hannelore. We’re asking them to play ditter!”

According to Professor Rauffen, ditter was something to be desired and celebrated, but it was hard to imagine most female archduke candidates welcoming such challenges.

I must be firm from here on out so that I can stop both my brother and our dormitory supervisor from causing a mess next time...

It was with that resolve in my heart that I finished my meal and exited the dining hall. I could hear the apprentice knights and those who had watched the ditter match having a rousing discussion about the game as I went.

In any case, it’s clear that Lady Rozemyne is a very competent archduke candidate... unlike me.

Lady Rozemyne had passed all of her classes on the first day, defeated Dunkelfelger in a game of ditter, and received the prince’s approval to serve as master of the royal heirlooms. She was presumably the object of more attention than any other archduke candidate right now.

Before we had come to the Royal Academy, there had been rumors that Lady Rozemyne might need to delay her studies by a year—she had apparently been poisoned during an ambush and needed to spend two years in a jureve. She hadn’t grown as much as the rest of us as a result, which should have put her at a disadvantage, but this didn’t seem to be the case at all. In fact, her youthful appearance, like that of a child who had just been baptized, made her seem all the more impressive.

Lady Rozemyne had the most beautiful and refined features despite her young age, golden eyes that shone like the moon, and shockingly glossy hair the color of the night sky. On top of all that, she also wore hairpins that were unlike any I had seen before. Even the other Dunkelfelger girls were desperate to know more, and their silent but intense pleading for me to finish my classes so that we could start socializing with her was impossible to ignore.

I must meet Lady Rozemyne in person and invite her to a tea party... but before that, I must apologize for my brother’s transgressions. This incident has no doubt caused her great offense, so I will need to take care with how I approach her.

It was far from elegant to unearth buried drama, but my mumbling had caused a great deal of trouble for Ehrenfest. I wouldn’t be able to rest easy until she heard my apology.

That said... How can I go about meeting Lady Rozemyne, exactly?

Under normal circumstances, I could have simply spoken to her during class, since we were both first-years, but she had already managed to pass every single lesson. It was as though my chances to meet with her had already slipped through my fingers.

And the only class I ever see Lord Wilfried attend is the schtappe one. Ehrenfest is ranked thirteenth, but their archduke candidates are simply too skilled.

Luckily, our schtappe class was tomorrow, so I would be able to speak with Lord Wilfried then. I would need to probe him for information on when I might be able to meet with Lady Rozemyne.