Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume Short Story - Chapter 7

Wilfried — Tea Parties for Girls

Rozemyne was a sore loser even after Father ordered her back to Ehrenfest. She was able to delay her return home for three days by saying that she needed time to prepare, but after that, she gave up the fight and complied.

On countless occasions since the Royal Academy term began, I had put my head in my hands and wondered what nonsense Rozemyne must have done to cause me so many problems. But now, my little sister was gone. There would be no more library antics, no more incidents with greater duchies and members of royalty, and no more problems that outraged everyone back at home. In other words, I could finally relax and enjoy some time to myself.

“Even after finishing almost every single one of my classes, I’ve found myself with painfully little time to unwind,” I mused aloud. “Most of my spare time has been spent writing reports about Rozemyne, but now... I’m free.”

“I will similarly be able to focus on my classes now that we do not need to send reports,” Ignaz said, sighing with relief alongside everyone else who had assisted me in writing reports to Uncle. Rozemyne’s penchant for causing so much trouble had put an extra burden on my retainers, meaning only a few of them had managed to finish their classes. And although I was meant to have more time on my hands, I was struggling to even leave the dormitory.

“You should all finish your classes as soon as you can,” I said.

“Understood.”

In the end, my newfound freedom was tragically short-lived. It lasted only until the evening that very same day, when Isidore, my retainer and a third-year apprentice attendant, brought me an invitation from Dunkelfelger.

“An invitation to a tea party?” I said. “That reminds me—Lady Hannelore mentioned wanting to invite Rozemyne to one.” Our conversation during schtappe class was still fresh in my mind.

“I received no such report on that matter...” Oswald said with a frown.

“Apologies. It was discussed only casually during class, and since it had to do with Rozemyne, I didn’t think a report was necessary. She wanted to invite Rozemyne to a tea party to apologize for Lord Lestilaut’s rudeness. This must be her following up on that. Doesn’t seem like she made it in time, though...” I glanced down at the invitation. Lady Hannelore would probably be disappointed, but there was no helping it now. “Isidore, since Rozemyne’s already returned to Ehrenfest, have her retainers turn Lady Hannelore down. I’m sure they don’t want me holding an invitation meant for them.”

I went to give the letter back, sure that Rozemyne’s retainers who had yet to leave could deal with the matter, but Isidore made no attempt to accept it. Instead, he exchanged glances with Oswald and then said, “Unfortunately, Lord Wilfried... this is one invitation you must accept.”

“But why...? Lady Hannelore made it perfectly clear that she wanted to invite Rozemyne. She won’t want me there, regardless of the situation,” I tried to explain. Lady Hannelore was curious about Rozemyne, not me. She had asked about her plans, not mine. And yet, Isidore was adamant.

My head attendant, Oswald, crossed his arms. “Please look closely, Lord Wilfried. This invitation is not addressed to Lady Rozemyne in particular, but to all of our duchy’s archduke candidates. As this includes you, it would be rude for you to refuse.”

Say what?!

It was one thing to attend a tea party with other boys present, but the idea of attending one meant only for girls sounded excruciatingly awkward. And yet here I was, being told that I couldn’t refuse?

“I’ve already spread the word that Rozemyne has left,” I said. “Can I still not turn down the invitation? I mean, Lady Hannelore meant it for Rozemyne, and this is a tea party for girls, right?”

Oswald shook his head. “That is not the problem. According to your report just now, she wishes to apologize for Lord Lestilaut’s rudeness, correct? This letter also states that she hopes to use this opportunity to deepen the bonds between our duchies.”

“That’s true, but...”

“In other words, Lady Hannelore is of the opinion that Dunkelfelger was in the wrong regarding the treasure-stealing ditter incident, and she wishes to apologize for it.”

I nodded. We had expected another incident to occur, considering how obsessed Dunkelfelger had been with the library magic tools, but if an archduke candidate like Lady Hannelore was so openly against her own duchy’s actions, she would most likely be able to stop Lord Lestilaut from making it a repeat incident.

“That sounds good,” I said.

“Indeed. Lady Hannelore will most likely serve as an ally to Ehrenfest, and that is precisely why we must be so careful,” Oswald explained. He gestured to the letter that was still in my hand, directing my attention to where the sender’s name was written. “This invitation is from Lady Hannelore herself—not from Lord Lestilaut, who is responsible for the incident, or from Dunkelfelger as a whole. In other words, Lord Lestilaut does not regret what happened, and the guilt that Lady Hannelore feels is entirely her own.”

I continued to nod as Oswald spoke, but I couldn’t help feeling that he was extrapolating far too much from what was pretty much just a name. I certainly didn’t want anyone to expect me to read that much into a simple letter.

“If you refuse this invitation,” Oswald continued, “then you are telling Lady Hannelore that Ehrenfest refuses to accept even her personal apology.”

“That can’t be right!”

“It is addressed to our duchy’s archduke candidates, not to one particular person. Your refusal is equivalent to Ehrenfest stubbornly refusing Dunkelfelger,” Oswald said dryly. “Lady Rozemyne is not here, which is why you must be the one to attend.”

“Tea parties in Ehrenfest weren’t like this at all...” I muttered, trying to stop my head from spinning. It had never occurred to me that a single meeting could have such a colossal impact on interduchy diplomacy.

“Tea parties held within a duchy affect faction politics, while those held in the Royal Academy affect interduchy politics,” Oswald explained. “Thus, it would be problematic if you were to casually socialize with royals and top-ranking duchies as Lady Rozemyne does. Even this incident was due to her refusing to relent to Dunkelfelger’s demands, no? If she had simply not fussed over the magic tools and respected the duchy rankings, the conflict that started all this would never have happened.”

Oswald then elaborated on the importance of personal status and not resisting the flow of events imposed by those greater than ourselves. Ehrenfest had ranked among the bottom duchies prior to the civil war, but now we were a middle-ranked duchy, which made us the target of a great deal of resentment and envy from those beneath us. Apparently, taking care not to stick out was important for our socializing.

But if our intention is to keep our heads down, won’t socializing in the Royal Academy be impossible for Rozemyne? She looked so much younger than the other students that she would automatically draw attention to herself wherever she went—I already knew that much from my daily reports.

“In conclusion,” Oswald said, “this invitation is addressed to Ehrenfest’s archduke candidates, indicating that their priority is to attain our forgiveness. Had this simply been about socializing with Lady Rozemyne, Lady Hannelore would have sent the letter to her in particular.”

“No, that can’t be it...” I replied. “I’m guessing it’s because Lady Hannelore has never actually met Rozemyne in person.” You couldn’t send personal letters to someone you had never interacted with, which I thought was a more likely explanation for why she had addressed the invitation to Ehrenfest as a whole.

Oswald watched me quizzically. “But did you not say Lady Hannelore is a first-year?”

“She is.”

“In that case, would they not have shared classes? I could understand them not having spoken if they weren’t the same gender or were being taught in separate rooms, but they are both young women and archduke candidates...”

Most of my retainers agreed with Oswald, since his words were so deeply founded in common sense, but my apprentice archknight Gregor shook his head. He alone had attended the first-year classes with me, so he understood the problem all too well.

“It makes sense that they might not have met,” Gregor said. “Lady Rozemyne attended the majority of her classes only a single time, and not once have I seen her speak to students from other duchies.”

I nodded in agreement. Rozemyne had passed not just her written lessons in one go, but almost all of her practical ones too. Her head was filled with nothing but thoughts of completing her first-year studies, so I assumed she hadn’t even considered socializing with the other students.

And yet, despite being a veritable stranger to her classmates and spending her days holed up in the library, Rozemyne was somehow on good terms with the Sovereignty’s Prince Anastasius and Klassenberg’s Lady Eglantine. Her social sphere was absurd to me, but there was nothing to gain from confirming what a peculiar character she was for the billionth time. All that mattered right now was the Dunkelfelger tea party, and the unfortunate fact that I needed to attend.

“I don’t want to, but... I guess I have no choice,” I eventually conceded. “I’ll go to the tea party. I should say, though—I’ve only ever been to girls’ tea parties when my grandmother had visitors, or when there were family tea parties with Mother and Charlotte. Do you think I’ll be alright?” I turned to my retainers for reassurance, but they were all exchanging worried glances.

After what felt like a painfully long silence, Oswald gave a heavy sigh. “We are similarly concerned, Lord Wilfried. We attendants have learned the basics of female socializing, but we have not attended a girls-only tea party for quite some time. The common understandings and fashion of young women can change suddenly and dramatically. Not to mention, we are dealing with a greater duchy—something that Ehrenfest has rarely needed to do throughout its entire history.”

In short, Oswald and my other attendants were all men, and none were experts on female socializing. It was easy to foresee us struggling with the challenge ahead.

“What should we do?” I asked.

“Might I suggest asking Lady Rozemyne’s remaining attendants for assistance? They have experience attending tea parties with Prince Anastasius and the Klassenberg archduke candidate, and as I understand it, Lady Rozemyne has ordered them to help us. Furthermore, as they were previously accompanying her to her daily library excursions, I am sure they have finished most of their lessons.”

I was far from pleased with how hard Rozemyne had worked her retainers just so that she could surround herself with books, but it seemed that her rampages did on occasion prove useful.

“Right,” I said. “Retainers who have finished their classes and don’t have any pressing matters to attend to are exactly what we need. And these were supposed to be Rozemyne’s tea parties in the first place. I’ll ask them to handle this Dunkelfelger business.”

And so, the decision was made. It really was logical to leave the preparations to them, since they had so much more free time than my own retainers, who were mostly still busy with their classes.

“It is a privilege to be attending a Dunkelfelger tea party.”

“I imagine that coming here was not easy for you, Lord Wilfried, so I am glad you made it,” Lady Hannelore replied, lowering her red eyes slightly in a way that conveyed the guilt she was feeling.

I glanced around the room, and in an instant, the last of my hope disappeared. There really weren’t any other boys for me to share my struggle with, but I made sure to hide my disappointment as I said, “I see Lord Lestilaut is not here.”

“My apologies...” Lady Hannelore replied. “This is a personal tea party, so he could not come.”

“I understand. Really, I do. Think nothing of it.”

I took in a slow breath, trying to pump myself up while heading to the seat that was offered to me. It was frightening to be surrounded by a gang of girls, their eyes gleaming in anticipation of who knew what, but I made sure to keep my chin up and didn’t forget to smile.

I’m going to be fine. They’re not scarier than Uncle, Wilfried. They’re not scarier than Uncle.

I chanted those words in my heart like a spell and glanced at all the gathered retainers. Rozemyne’s apprentice attendants were giving our gifts to the Dunkelfelger attendants, while her apprentice scholar was preparing a pen. They all seemed used to the routine, maybe because they had attended the Klassenberg tea party. It was good to have them here, especially when my own retainers were so terrified about this being an all-girls meeting.

“Oh, Lord Wilfried, are these new and popular sweets from Ehrenfest?” Lady Hannelore asked.

“Yes, this is called pound cake.”

“I see there are two flavors. Are they both pound cakes? It is quite unusual for variations of the same dish to look quite so different.”

“Y-Yes. They are both pound cakes.”

This isn’t good. This really isn’t good. I don’t know how to keep conversations going here.

Rozemyne was the one who had come up with pound cake and made it popular throughout Ehrenfest. Sure, I may have eaten it on several occasions at the castle, but I didn’t know how many types existed or anything about the flavors we had with us. I was aware that one was something called “puh-lein” and the other was rumtopf, but I didn’t know which was which.

Under normal circumstances, I could easily resolve this problem by asking Oswald, but I couldn’t turn around and start speaking to my retainers during a tea party with other duchies. The most they could do was offer brief words of advice while refreshing my tea.

I raised my cup a little, signaling that I wanted a refill. Oswald promptly stepped forward and took my cup with a polite, “Excuse me.”

Now!

“Oswald, which pound cake is the puh-lein one?” I asked, keeping my voice so quiet that only he could hear me. I made sure to keep a smile on my face all the while, so as to avoid raising suspicion.

My head attendant stepped away for a moment to pour me more tea, his expression completely unchanged, then returned with my steaming beverage. “The one with nothing in it,” he replied briskly and in an equally low voice.

Perfect. So that one’s puh-lein, and the one with stuff inside is rumtopf.

I struggled to understand why Rozemyne had given the sweet such a strange name to begin with. It wasn’t at all useful when it came to identifying what it was made of, which made it very unforgiving.

“Lord Wilfried, what has been used to flavor this one?” Lady Hannelore asked.

“For that one?” I repeated. “Rumtopf.”

Wait... Is that right? And, I mean, what even is rumtopf?

That same question must have run through the mind of the girl sitting beside me, as she proceeded to ask, “Erm, what is rumtopf, exactly? It tastes very strongly of wine. Is it a flavor preferred by men?”

Oswald—I need answers!

He had refilled my cup a mere moment ago, so using that trick again wasn’t an option. This was something I needed to overcome on my own, and to that end, I turned my unfaltering smile on her and said, “I personally enjoy rumtopf, but perhaps the taste is not to most women’s liking. Next time, I will prepare something that tastes less strongly of wine, to better suit your preferences.”

“Oh my. I am ever so looking forward to it.”

Yes... Yes! That actually worked!

It was like I was hanging over the edge of a cliff, but little did I know, the worst was yet to come. I was getting away with vague answers because the girls could simply try the pound cake for themselves, but when the topic shifted to rinsham and hairpins, the atmosphere abruptly became sharper than expected.

“The girls of your duchy drew much attention during the fellowship gatherings. Just what must one use to make their hair so glossy?”

“How is rinsham made? Oh, is that a secret, I suppose? I have heard that Ehrenfest plans to start selling it in the future. I would love to have some myself.”

“I find the hairpins Lady Rozemyne wears to be wonderful. Is there a craftsman I could order one of my own from?”

The girls’ questions came all at once like a barrage.

Wait, wait, wait! I can’t keep up with all of you, and there’s no way I can answer a question I can’t hear! To start with, Father’s the one who’ll make the trade decisions, not me. And all these questions about seeing or trying some rinsham and what it feels like are completely lost on me, because I don’t know what it’s like to use the kind of rinsham made for girls.

As the tea party went on and on, I could only maintain a smile and continually say, “Please ask Lady Rozemyne upon her return.” It was a struggle that I was forced to endure, like all the times Grandmother had propped me up and showered me with praise.

It’s finally over...

Rozemyne’s retainers had carried out all the necessary preparations for the tea party, but they hadn’t given me any of the information required to answer the girls’ questions. To make matters worse, her attendants had focused on speaking with other attendants, while her scholars focused on exchanging intelligence. I was serving as their lord for the day, but they had ignored my plight entirely, neither glancing my way nor offering any assistance whatsoever.

This tea party was being held for your lady! I was fighting for my life trying to respond to all those girls, so how about you be a little more considerate of me?!

I was very frustrated with those retainers, but since Rozemyne and their mentor Rihyarda were absent, they had no figures of authority to scold them. Oswald had informed me that I couldn’t chastise them myself either, since they weren’t in my service, so I was forced to suppress my anger. I decided it was for the best, and that there was no point making such a fuss over a onetime occurrence... but then more and more invitations started to arrive.

“Why are we still receiving so many?” I asked. “I made it perfectly clear that Rozemyne has returned to Ehrenfest.”

“Perhaps because they have determined that you are equipped to attend female tea parties,” Oswald suggested. “Or maybe rinsham and pound cake are so enticing that they are simply desperate to beat the other duchies in learning more about them.”

The Royal Academy’s socializing season was meant to be in the latter half of the term, when most students had finished their lessons. Few people were holding tea parties and mingling with others during these early weeks.

“Oswald... do I need to attend all of these?”

“Yes, especially considering that these ones are addressed to you specifically.”

No matter how much I glared at the huge stack of invitations, it didn’t become any smaller. And so, due to Rozemyne being absent, I was forced to attend countless all-girl tea parties. My retainers had a hard time of it too, as they were forced to accompany me.

“Girls-only tea parties are exhausting...” I said. “I want to socialize with men too.”

“I truly understand how you feel.”

In an unbelievable twist, during our struggle to keep up with all the tea parties that shouldn’t have been our responsibility in the first place, one of Rozemyne’s apprentice attendants had complained to Oswald about having to help us.

“She said that you are asking too much of them, considering that you aren’t their lord,” he explained to me. “It seems that she would rather you not accept every single invitation and instead start refusing some.”

“Just what is that attendant thinking?” I asked. “I may not be her lord, but I am a member of the archducal family, and with Rozemyne not here, it’s up to me to lead the dormitory.”

“You are exactly correct. If ordered, the apprentice attendants will not be able to refuse you,” Oswald said, nodding in agreement. Rozemyne’s retainers just lacked the motivation to work, apparently. I could only hope that they would come to understand the needs of those above them a little better.

“Plus, we’re all nobles of the Florencia faction,” I added. “They should really be a bit more cooperative.”

“These girls in particular are more from the Leisegang than the Florencia faction,” Oswald noted, correcting me. “The Leisegang faction has a long history of acting unreasonably toward the archducal family, making many demands and generally being hostile for little good reason.”

Apparently, the Leisegangs had done a lot to make Grandmother miserable in the past. They had bullied her when she was young, refused to accept an archducal bride who had married into Ehrenfest from Ahrensbach, and even plotted to have a Leisegang become my father’s second wife. It came as no surprise that she was so angry with them.

“It seems very likely that Lady Rozemyne being adopted by the archduke has caused the Leisegangs to become even more riled up than before,” Oswald said. “However, these girls must understand that the archducal family stands above them. Please act firmly going forward, Lord Wilfried.”

“Is it just me, or is Lady Rozemyne not disciplining her retainers properly?” I asked, recalling that she and Rihyarda had complained at length to my own retainers about my progress in class. They had been pretty smug then, but what now? She wasn’t even training her own retinue properly.

“Lord Wilfried, please do not mistake the Leisegangs being troublesome with Lady Rozemyne not training those in her service well enough.”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“Her retainers were selected only after she came to the Royal Academy. And do you recall how much time passed between that happening and her leaving? A mere month. We cannot expect too much.”

Their unhelpfulness definitely stood out, but when I considered that they had only been in Rozemyne’s service for a month, everything made more sense. They couldn’t compare to my own retainers, who had been serving me for so many years.

I’ll endure it for now, but hopefully they’ll have matured a little more by next year.

After convincing myself that there was no point in getting mad at them, I very begrudgingly started on a reply of acceptance for the latest tea party invitation.