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Chapter Text

Rozemyne’s wisdom was always a fascinating thing to Ferdinand, coming from the world of endless learning and that was also magicless. Fran always reported what Rozemyne commissioned to make as precisely as he could, but there was only so much one could glimpse from written reports. 

Ferdinand had heard Rozemyne was commissioning something from a glass artisant since last summer, she called it a heron fountain. It was a fascinating contraption consisting of three large glass jars about the size of a barrel arranged like stairs. She then explained how it was an ancient technology that creates an unending flow of water. 

“Created by a hero of a great ancient library city, truly the library and books are the core of civilization!” Rozemyne said, nodding to herself with a smug look on her face. 

It was quite amusing, Rozemyne said so just because of her book addled mind. His ward had no idea how true her statement was for this country, literally so because of Grutisheit. There was always a slight nagging suspicion at the back of his mind about Rozemyne’s reincarnation to this world, like divine interference. So far aside from how… more responsive the Gods are to her prayers, Rozemyne didn’t seem to have any connection with them. She was oddly awed by them for some reason, but most likely just because magic didn’t exist in her previous world. 

“Now we need salt water.” 

She then proceeded to have her gray attendants mix water with salt… lots of salt. “I am keeping my seafood here… the ratio is like 1 salt to three water. We have well water so I guess there should be enough minerals.”   

From what Ferdinand understood, it started from the merchant guild master’s dissatisfaction that not a lot of business from Rozemyne came their way, and how Gilberta was monopolizing her wisdom. Predictably Benno shot them down with the argument that he dealt with Rozemyne’s insane schedule and innovation better, and that was the benefit he provided. Why not try to offer Rozemyne something better then? Hence, Othmar offered their connection to import the seafood Rozmeyne wanted.  For all her intellect, somehow only recently had Rozemyne realized she could import seafood from Ahrensbach. 

For that matter, Ferdinand had no idea she had an obsession for seafood that almost rivaled her one for books. Seafood was easily perishable, and even Veronica had it imported sparingly.  Rozemyne splurged for seafood from Ahrensbach, much to his distaste, but she also failed to ask Ferdinand about time stopping magical tools. So, she gave up on fish and asked for something else. 

There was… ‘weed’ from the sea, and Rozemyne lamented about no longer having a [Japanese] stomach to eat it raw- the insanity. 

As if that was not strange enough, the sea creatures she managed to bring were not even fish.

“I want octopuses because they can be transported alive since they can breathe air through their skin. Gustav brought everything with tentacles caught by fishermen in Ahrensbach, so I guess it all works out.” Rozemyne shrugged. 

Ferdinand tapped his temple. “And that’s your explanation for these weird creatures?” 

There was a pair of purple creatures called achtrake with a soft head and suckers on its tentacles, and it was about the size of an adult's head. So far it had escaped twice, so the ‘tank’ was now closed with a tight lid on top of it. The second tank had several seemingly slimmer versions of achtrake. Rozemyne called them [squid], but Ferdinand recognized it was a very young cumi – a type of feybeast that could glow in the dark. 

The last, however, were an unknown species. Three of them had been captured. It also had tentacles but with a needle-like head shaped bell; one could also see through the insides of this creature. Rozemyne called it a [jellyfish], and she was very disappointed. “It’s not the edible kind of [jellyfish]! What a waste!” 

“It looks nothing like a fish.” To be fair, none of these looked like a fish. The last one didn’t even have eyes. He sighed, “I can’t believe you wasted both mana and gold for this…” 

Rozemyne looked at him, clearly offended, “As if nobles aren’t weird themselves… if you can manipulate time, why is it that we use it for preserving food and flowers?” 

They also used it to preserve dead bodies, but Ferdinand learned by now there was no point in upsetting Rozemyne with death and blood. “...And what would people of your dream world use time spells for?” 

“To stop aging of course! Isn’t it the dream of humanity to preserve their youth?” Rozemyne pointed out. Then she looked at her makeshift aquarium, “Like these jellyfish – I think they’re identical to a species called [beni kurage] I know,” she pointed at the bottom of the tank. “And I have seen their polyps too… a marine [scientist] would be interested, as this is quite a large specimen, but I can’t eat it so it’s pretty useless.” 

“How is this see through creature interesting? It doesn’t seem to do anything?”

Rozemyne absentmindedly replied, “Well… it’s sort of immortal and eternally youthful… its the organism closest to achieving true immortality and eternal youth in my old world.” 

Obviously his ward did not comprehend the weight of the statement she just made, and Ferdinand felt himself stop thinking for a moment before his mind whirled with the outrageousness of what Rozemyne had just said. This weak looking creature, no bigger than a rafel, was…immortal and youthful forever?! 

There were partial notes in his Book of Mestionora on the research of immortality and an end note of ‘abandoning’ it because youth could not be preserved. There was a concern that if the research did ever succeed, the subject would be trapped in the misery of aging for the rest of their immortal life. 

“How could that be?” 

“Erm…” Rozemyne paused, realizing the morsel of knowledge she fed him just now had piqued his interest. 

Ferdinand sighed, “I will lend you a book for that knowledge and a specimen.” 

“Deal!” She beamed at him brightly. 

This creature (in the dream world) was called scarlet jellyfish. It began life as a larva-like insect then settled on the seafloor and grew into a cylindrical colony; it was a sort of the cocoon stage of theirs like in butterflies. These ultimately spawn the free swimming creature in the tank. However, in response to physical damage or starvation, they take a leap back in their development process, transforming back into their cocoon that was at the bottom of the tank and would spawn identical creatures when the time was right. 

“What a fascinating life cycle they live.” 

“Yes, they did the impossible.” 

“Is it not the same as reversing their time to their youth?” 

Rozemyne shrugged, “Who knows? Even advanced technology from my previous world could only advance so far on this topic, I think this world is ahead in this matter. From my perspective, the nobles of Yurgenschmidt seem to have the means already.”

That was indeed a very interesting perspective. Ferdinand had a jar containing the scarlet jellyfish brought to his hidden room. Rozemyne warned him there should be some sort of [pump] to keep it alive, which Ferdinand rectified easily enough with a magical tool. Rozemyne let out weird noises about commissioning an expensive tank. 

It was her fault she hadn’t consulted him.  

“Zahm, you don’t have to call me for meals… and only call for an emergency.” 

So Ferdinand began his research, he already had part of the wisdom in this matter, and he wondered how far he could get with the help of this specimen Rozemyne brought to his attention? 

Rozemyne- The Adorable Angel

Ferdinand promised her a library in exchange for her mana, so of course it was a done deal as far as she was concerned. Rozemyne was not sure what Ferdinand was going to use her mana for, but mad scientists did mad-scientist things, and they were none of a librarian’s business. One of her seniors in the library science course once said that she needed not to question people on what the material they provided was going to be used for. Sometimes it was fine to make light conversation about it, but, for the most part, a librarian should just smile and act like a loyal and unfeeling search engine providing research materials. 

Rozemyne thus handed over her mana filled feystone, her jellyfish, and her tank and let her High Priest do whatever he wanted with it. She would collect this favor in the form of a library in ten years or so!  

Unfortunately, she forgot the part of the advice about keeping her mouth shut. In her defense, Rozemyne did not mean to inspire the mad scientist in Ferdinand. 

Ferdinand looked like he had a processing error as she explained the jellyfish. There was a big fuss over this species when it was first found in her previous life too. The hype quickly faded when further studies showed this species of jellyfish was too fragile; it was only technically immortal and forever youthful, but anything could easily kill it. So yeah, maybe she was a bit like these jellyfishes. She had an awesome previous life’s memory and tons of mana, but she was so weak she would collapse from a bit of stress. 

Rozemyne expected even Ferdinand wouldn’t be able to keep that jellyfish alive for long, and that should have been the end of that discussion but...a week later, Ferdinand didn’t come out of his hidden room for three days in a row. Which, of course, were three Rozemyne-free days for him as she had business in the castle and would never ever let him lock himself up in his hidden room that long if she was there. Damuel frantically sent a message to her in the castle about Ferdinand’s absence. 

They were only alarmed on the third day because Ferdinand had still been eating the food delivered to his hidden room, but when last night's dinner was untouched and in the morning Justus’s call was ignored, they became worried. So, they needed her to drag her mentor out of his hidden room; hopefully he hadn’t killed himself or something. 

She touched the summoning stone and asked him to come out politely – no answer. No big deal. 

Then she shouted some threats like selling another batch of his printed merchandise to the ladies. Still no response. 

So there was no choice but to come in brazenly and check on Ferdinand. She pressed her hand against the stone to open the door and called out, “...High Priest? I am coming in-” 

Then she saw him… a bundle of blue curled up on the bench, a very beautiful young boy with long sky blue hair that had dozed off. His expression was far from peaceful and from his lips a soft groan escaped before his eyes fluttered open briefly, pale gold peeking out between pale blue-colored eyelashes. His movement made a strand of hair fall over his eyes and a crease appeared between his brows in discomfort. 

Rozemyne couldn’t resist and reached to tuck the errant hair away, but instead of withdrawing her hand, she patted his head gently. It seemed he was having a nightmare so she sang him a lullaby for comfort and continued caressing his soft hair. 

She didn’t know how long she sang, but it was long enough that Justus's voice had been what snapped her out of her daze. “Lady Rozemyne! Are you and Lord Ferdinand, alright? Please respond to us!” 

“Shush, Justus… you will wake him up.” 

“Who?”  

Too late, the boy’s eyes snapped open and his pale gold irises met hers. “...You are…”

Rozemyne hesitated and called his name, “Fer...dinand?” 

“Myne?” 

Bwuh? He called her by her commoner name? He hadn’t done that since she signed the magical contract, not even in this hidden room. Her thoughts were interrupted as a pair of arms in baggy sleeves wrapped around her neck. “Ugyaa-” 

“Myne! You’re alive!” 

What? Alive…? Wait… did Ferdinand just give me a squeeze voluntarily- also- why is he so small! 

“Small?” Did she just say it out loud? “You…” He squinted at her, “Isn’t it Myne who is small?” 

...Something was really wrong here, and… she should have noticed the very moment she found Ferdinand in this state. Still- 

“Lady Rozemyne!”  

“Uhm… for now, let’s talk with Justus first.” 

“Justus is outside?” 

She came out first and told Justus to send all the grays except for Fran out. They could only trust Fran to not freak out and of course- fanatical Eckhart should not be informed yet. She also asked Justus to bring Ferdinand’s old childhood clothes, and the scholar sent an ordonnanz the caretaker of Ferdinand’s mansion bring them. Apparently Ferdinand had a third aide hidden she never knew about; his name was Lasfam. 

Once a set of clothes was ready, she let Ferdinand out, and he was deft enough to not stumble in his oversized blue robes. 

“Lord Ferdinand!” 

“High Priest!” 

Ferdinand was on guard at once, eyes narrowed at his aides. “Justus… and you are?” He didn’t recognize the other man. 

Justus winced, “Milord… how old are you?” 

“...I am eight years old.”

Ferdinand was younger than her!  

“...And what is the last thing you remember?” Justus continued the interrogation after he dressed the boy in his old clothes which had been preserved very well by his aide. It was old fashioned but looked very good on him. 

Ferdinand answered, “...It’s winter. I was hiding from Veronica faction children trying to hit me with snowballs with rocks inside.” 

Rozemyne gasped. They bullied Ferdinand with something that dangerous?! Also… it sounded like he was alone to boot!  

“I see…” 

“More importantly, Justus,” Ferdinand narrowed his eyes at his aide, “why did Myne become so much younger?” 

Justus’s eyes widened in surprise. “You… remember Lady Rozemyne, Milord?”

He frowned deeper, “Lady Rozemyne? I don’t remember you calling her that last time.” 

Rozemyne stepped in, “Uhm… Ferdinand, do you recognize me as someone else?” 

Ferdinand shook his head, “It can’t be… you sang me the same lullaby, and you let out the same weird noise when you were surprised too.” 

That last part was not necessary! 

“Myne’s hair also carries the same citrus smell…” Ferdinand said as he reached out to her hair and brought a lock of it to his nose. “A refreshing and light fragrance of apfelsige mixed with herbal rozen.” 

How did he know all that? ! She had just changed her rinsham to this formula because, as a trendsetter, she had to use her own signature scent! Wait- his voice- also face- too close… Ferdinand’s usually deep voice instead sounded androgynous and youthful, like- he sounded like an angel! It was so unfair to deliver such a compliment with that voice! 

“Ugh…” 

Justus was grinning, “Lord Ferdinand… you’re really sure she is the ‘Myne’ you and I know, but I don’t remember her being there when you were eight.” 

“...Only Myne would say something like ‘children need plenty of compliments when they do good and scolding when they do something wrong’, and ‘that way they will grow well.’” 

That did sound like her—or something any Japanese person would say! 

How confusing! Ferdinand seemed to think she was someone he knew as a child, someone he called “Myne,” but obviously she didn’t know or remember him… “I’m not grown up yet, so I’m not your Myne, but I will sing you lullabies and give you plenty of gyuu.”

“Only Myne would say ‘gyuu’ or ‘squeeze,’” Ferdinand assured Justus, which again was strange, but it did seem little Ferdinand knew an older version of her?

“Well, you are not wrong, but you must call her ‘Rozemyne,’ Milord.”

She nodded and then reached out to pat his head, something an older Ferdinand would never allow, so that really drove home exactly how much he’d had to shelter himself because of Veronica and her bullying.

“Rozemyne…” he nodded to himself firmly. “Alright. But…” he looked at Justus, and then at Fran and Lasfam—he didn’t recognize them, obviously. “Justus, you’re older…”

“Yes, it seems you had some sort of accident while experimenting, and, while you seem to be eight, you are actually more than ten years older than that at present.”

It should be illegal to be so cute… and a crime to make this angel grow up to be that demonic guardian of hers. 

“Lady Rozemyne,” Justus interrupted her line of thought, “do you know what Lord Ferdinand was researching that may have led to him ending up like this?” 

Rozemyne cringed inwardly, recalling the conversation before recounting it for him, but she had assumed from his comments on the topic nothing would come from it. She never dreamed he would succeed like this. 

Justus shook his head, “It’s not… my paranoid master would never ever test something like this on himself, and as much as it’s hard to believe… a capable person like Lord Ferdinand can fail too.” 

“...I see… well, even monkeys fall from trees.” 

“Monkey?” 

“Ah… a primate creature that looks a lot like a bataffe.” Rozemyne beamed before regretting it when she saw how devastated Ferdinand looked. 

Ferdinand stammered, “I… am the same as a bataffe?” 

“No, no, no! I mean no matter how talented someone is, they can still fail!” To think someone as robust as Ferdinand used to be this sensitive when he was a child!

At any rate… this really proved Ferdinand was not born as the demon king but as an angel! Somehow he remembered her as his caretaker, who Justus didn’t even remember but… Ferdinand saw her as family – a mother figure! She felt like exploding with motherhood for Ferdinand, so, regardless of whether or not this was temporary, Rozemyne would do her best to raise Ferdinand well! 

“Lady Rozemyne… I feel sorry for my master that you’re brimming with motherhood for him when you are both eight years old.” 

Justus had just made a very rude comment. 

“But more importantly, we should inform the Archduke.” 

Crap. She had forgotten about Sylvester. 

It was a blessing Ferdinand had trained two capable blue robes who could manage administrative work in his absence. Then again, if not for the extra free time, Ferdinand wouldn’t be in this mess. At least with Veronica’s banishment and Bezewanst’s death, they could afford spreading the news that Ferdinand had fallen ill and was recuperating in the temple. 

Eckhart was informed about his real situation because they couldn’t hide it from the fanatic knight forever. Her eldest brother was quite shocked to be recognized by Ferdinand as Karstedt’s oldest son whom young Ferdinand had never met and only knew by name. Ferdinand was also quite confused why the firstborn of current Archduke’s lead knight served him this enthusiastically. 

Well, normally Eckhart would have served Wilfried. Justus only said many things happened and Eckhart was Eckhart. 

When she told Ferdinand that they would have to inform the current Archduke, Sylvester, Ferdinand looked oddly excited and happy. “I am looking forward to seeing my esteemed brother leading our duchy. Brother said he would become the greatest archduke in our history.” 

“Eh, uhm… right?” Rozemyne wasn’t sure how to respond. The closest I’ve seen him get to being the greatest at something is running away from his work.

Apparently Sylvester used to be a very hardworking older brother who strived to live up to Ferdinand’s expectations. Said motivation was ground to pieces after Ferdinand enrolled in the Royal Academy. It was no excuse to stop working hard as the heir apparent to Ehrenfest, but it was hard to preserve one’s dignity as older brother after Ferdinand snatched the title of best student of the year six times in a row. 

Predictably, when she informed Sylvester of Ferdinand’s predicament, Sylvester was worried for one moment but when assured that his little brother was fine only shrunk- the mischievous archduke was already thinking of ways to tease his younger brother for this blunder. 

“Currently, this Ferdinand still thinks you’re a good and dependable older brother. Do you plan to shatter your image so soon?” Sylvester’s grin froze at her question. It seemed she had hit her mark, at least, and saved little Ferdinand from ruthless teasing.

Ferdinand- Children are Innocent 

Myne- no, Rozemyne returned to his life when he thought Father’s wife had sent her to the towering heights. She was very small now, even smaller than him, but he would rather have her at chest height than not at all. Still, this was the future. He was supposed to be over twenty years old. According to Justus, he had been raising Rozemyne like she did him for a while, but the adult version of him did not remember her as his Erwachlehren and Wiegenmilch. 

Rozemyne said he needed not to feel anxious about forgetting, childhood memories could be easily forgotten when you grew up. Maybe it was because of Veronica’s harassment. It seemed Father’s first wife never accepted him as a son after all. And his father… he had climbed to the towering heights a few years ago, and Sylvester was the Archduke now. 

Hence, Rozemyne was reporting his condition to Sylvester and left him with his aides and her pair of knights. Rozemyne was an archduke candidate like him but she had a laynoble as a knight. Then again, Ferdinand also had a laynoble attendant. It seemed, just like him, she had trouble recruiting enough aides. 

The layknight seemed to be a very good aide though; he even could do paperwork! 

“Rozemyne’s aide is very versatile.” 

Damuel, for some reason, looked depressed by his compliment. “Ah yes…” 

As for the medknight standing by the door, “I am guarding the door.” 

“Can she be trusted?” Her blank look was unreadable, making Ferdinand wary. 

Justus just chuckled, “It’s fine Milord. Angelica is just not thinking. That’s why Lady Rozemyne left her with us, and besides, didn't you notice she hasn’t asked what happened to you at all?” 

“Yes, why haven’t you asked…?” 

Angelica answered, “I am on guard duty. I don’t have to think about anything else.” 

He looked at Eckhart, his own knight shook his head. “While guard knights should think of themselves as the shield and sword of their master, forfeiting self-thinking like Angelica is not the norm, Milord…” 

So this girl was strange too.  

“Master, guarding the door does not mean you can act like a living shield and sword. Proper guard knights should be alert and observant of danger approaching their target of protection.” 

There was an adult male voice coming from Angelica’s direction.

Eckhart looked around, then deflated, “For a moment I thought the older Lord Ferdinand had returned, but it’s just Stenluke.” 

Justus also sighed, “Stenluke’s voice is just cruel at a time like this. Then again, it is expected of Milady’s accidental work.” 

Ferdinand became curious, “How did Rozemyne’s work result in a mana blade with my voice?” 

Eckhart explained, “From the carelessness of her retainers letting her donate mana to Angelica’s mana blade…” 

Stenluke chimed in, “I was born from Lady Rozemyne’s and Lord Ferdinand’s mana imbued by her wish.”   

“...Rozemyne’s and my mana?” he echoed in confusion. “Does that mean Stenluke is our child?”

His aides and Damuel froze. 

“...Child, Milord… erm, that’s not how this works.” 

“But Justus, you said a child came to be when parents mixed their mana… Stenluke was born from our mana.” 

Angelica looked at the sword on her waist, “Stenluke… you are my lady’s and Lord Ferdinand’s child? Then… I shall treat you more reverently as my mistress’ son.”

“Master, while I indeed came to be from their mana… I- well, in a sense I am an artificial child of theirs but-” The mana blade sounded confused too. “Theoretically I am, but not like that!’”

Justus was wheezing, “...A son… Lord Ferdinand and Lady Rozemyne ahahaha-” 

Eckhart fidgeted, “I… I want a mana blade like Stenluke too! Please, Milord, I will look after your child!”   

“Wait! Lord Eckhart, you’re begging for a child from a child!” Damuel tried to intercede.

“Shut up, Damuel.” 

Stenluke seemed to be a very versatile mana blade, and Ferdinand thought it would be good if there were more guard knights with one. Also Rozemyne gave Stenluke to Angelica because she was dumb, and Eckhart seemed to be a typical muscle head like Uncle Bonifatius so he would need one too, right? 

“I will ask Rozemyne if she is willing to have another child,” Ferdinand declared in complete seriousness after considering the matter. 

Justus turned away and was laughing while holding his sides, in spite of the behavior being totally unbefitting of his station as an archnoble. 

Rozemyne- The Angel’s Romantic Proposal

Rozemyne brought Sylvester to the temple, and their Archduke was clearly putting forth his best effort to look very prim and cool. It seemed Sylvester really did desire this second chance to be a reliable and cool older brother to Ferdinand. Let’s milk this for all its worth so he will do his job as Archduke. It was not like Ferdinand could help him with paperwork in his current condition. 

Although, maybe he could . This was Ferdinand. He seemed to be a very sharp kid, and it wouldn't surprise Rozemyne if it only took a day of tutorials for the boy to do a better job than the average scholar. 

“Brother, please allow me to pray for a blessing for you in this bountiful season of harvest brought by Schutzaria.”  

Sylvester froze for a moment when he was confronted with a young Ferdinand, covered his face with his hand, and then turned to the side. “It’s my adorable younger brother and not the evil version.” 

“Archduke…” Rozemyne hissed under her breath.

Sylvester cleared his throat and redirected his attention to his brother. “You, may,” he responded, putting on what Rozemyne recognized as his “aub” face.

Once greetings were exchanged, Ferdinand stood and looked up at his, now, much older brother.

He frowned at Sylvester, an adorable wrinkle between his eyebrows. “Brother you…” Sylvester perked up in anticipation, “You’re old…” 

Sylvester looked like he had taken a direct hit, “For Ferdinand of all people to call me old…” 

“Brother, you have become a cool and great archduke as you said you would. I am glad…”

A different kind of damage was taken now, and hopefully this would be as effective as putting Wilfried in his office. 

“Rozemyne…” he called her adorably, “you see…”

He sounded very shy and had a faint flush to his cheeks for some reason. “Yes, Ferdinand?” Rozemyne smiled softly at him, encouraging him to speak.

“...it’s on behalf of Eckhart, I have a wish…” 

Rozemyne blushed, “Whatever you wish, I will do my best to grant it!” If asked by a boy this lovely, she would even sell her liver! 

Ferdinand brightened up, and then voiced a wish that didn’t match his adorable appearance. “Let’s make another child, Rozemyne.”

“Bwuh?” For once she was the one who had her brain crash from something Ferdinand said instead of the other way around. Then she tried digesting his words properly.  Another child?! Where was the first one?!

“A child?” Sylvester didn’t sound confused; he sounded angry, or at least firm and unamused. She supposed that made sense, but she was still completely lost, tilting her head as she tried to figure out what was going on. “Ferdinand, that is unacceptable, you’re… you have not met Forsernte, much less been blessed by the Supreme Couple!”

Rosemyne looked around. Where was Fran? Wasn’t it usually his job to explain her strange outbursts to Ferdinand not the other way around?

Ferdinand straightened and met his - much taller - brother’s gaze. “Angelica looks after my and Rozemyne’s child already!”

Rozemyne felt even more question marks form in her head, and she looked to Angelica who was holding up Stenluke proudly. “Oh. Sylvester, he…” she struggled not to laugh. He was young, a child, and while she wasn’t particularly good at romance, it seemed Ferdinand thought babies came from a cabbage patch of mixed mana. Noble training pull through! “Stenluke came into existence because of my and Ferdinand’s mana mixing.” The artificial intelligence part at least. 

“ Indeed I am, master of my master! ” Stenluke agreed. Sylvester blinked several times as he looked at the talking sword with the voice of his younger brother’s adult body, then at her, then at Ferdinand. 

“Ferdinand, you decided that I shouldn’t go around putting mana into other people’s swords if it was going to end up like Stenluke… so we should not… have any more childr—”

“Rozemyne, do not even say it!” Sylvester stopped her, and then she watched a miracle – Sylvester taking something seriously rather than teasing his brother mercilessly. In the end, he shooed her and everyone else out of Ferdinand’s chambers, quite possibly to fulfill his brotherly duty of explaining the birds and bees.

“I wanted a mana blade with Lord Ferdinand’s voice,” Eckhart complained, looking dejected.

“You should know better, dear Brother!” Rozemyne answered. She tapped her temple, not at all amused that he hadn’t corrected Ferdinand’s misunderstanding. Before she could scold him, she was quickly taken to change into her High Bishop robes and relax while Sylvester spoke with Ferdinand. Once changed, she invited Ferdinand’s retainers into the room for tea while they waited to be summoned back to their lord.

“Milady, you must admit that you and my lord make excellent parents,” Justus attempted to justify the duo’s lack of decorum while also teasing her.

“And you as well, Justus! Isn’t your job to make sure Ferdinand grows up able to deal with noble society?!” Yes he was cute, beyond cute, absolutely adorable even, but calling Stenluke their child!

“Do you truly think I could contain myself when he called a manablade your child ?!”

It was pretty funny… 

She even managed not to laugh when Ferdinand came to her room with Sylvester trailing behind, looking for all the world like an actual stern father.

“Let’s… wait for autumn and the blessing of the Supreme Couple…” Ferdinand said, his ears bright red even as he tried to keep his face impassive.

“Ferdinand, that—” Sylvester looked like he wanted to bury his head in his hands, which was when Rozemyne realized that he’d actually just… sort of proposed, hadn’t he?

“We can wait, Ferdinand,” she said, trying very hard to take this seriously. “You already promised me bride wealth, yes?”

Sylvester gaped at her.

“I was promised Ferdinand’s library!” It was actually a bit fun to be the one putting Sylvester so off balance for a change instead of the other way around.

It was not so fun when, three days later, she was detained by Elvira for an early lady’s education. What she said to Ferdinand about putting mana into swords made her want to die or dig a hole to hide in. Euphemisms for sex and everything related to it were also ridiculous. Winter season ! It was normal to talk about the seasons and the weather. Why did they use it for that of all things? 

At any rate the birds and bees weren't so much different than in her previous world other than involving mana and colors. Elvira mentioned it appeared her color was very close to Ferdinand’s, if Stenluke was any indication. A statistical impossibility in nature, but it happened. They might not need courtship jewelry even. 

That was the end of the lesson, which left her puzzled because it shouldn’t be…so she asked about contraception and safe “winter.”  

Elvira looked at Rozemyne puzzled, “What do you mean ‘safe winter?’”

“Umm…” with her new knowledge of shame in this world, Rozemyne wasn’t sure how to speak about this topic euphemistically, “there are times when Geduldh’s soil is less fertile? Um.. mother, can I just explain this plainly?” Her face was bright red with embarrassment. 

“Please do. I am afraid I have misunderstood what you’re trying to say.”

Rozemyne took a deep breath and tried to think of this as responding to a teacher in class rather than a sex talk with her mother. “Is there a medicine you can take to prevent your body from allowing the seed to implant in the soil? One that can be taken to prevent pregnancy, not that makes a woman infertile forever. I’ve also heard of an oil men can take in small quantities that will reduce their own fertility, but it can become permanent if taken too much. There’s also a less reliable method I learned of where from the first day of the loss of the soil until day 7, it is likely safe to engage in winter without worry of Geduldh’s burden. From days 8-19, a woman is more likely to gain Geduldh’s burden, and from day 20 until the start of the loss of the soil is a mostly unlikely time to gain Geduldh’s burden. It’s kind of important though to count the days between your own loss of soil starting and the next. The safe days are impacted by that.”

Elvira’s eyes shone with this new knowledge, but also with concern for how her young daughter knew such things. “Rozemyne, was there information on this in the temple?” Elvira didn’t bother asking if Ferdinand had taught her; the man hated women.

“No! I… Ferdinand knows, and he told father and Sylvester, but I had dreams of living in another world when I was sick in bed as a child. This is all stuff I learned in those dreams. I know it’s hard to believe, but I swear it’s true,” Rozemyne rushed, worried how her mother would respond. 

“I see. Well, with Lord Ferdinand unable to guide you, it’s good that you’ve shared this with me. I will be your secret keeper in this regard. Tell me more about what you learned in these dreams,” Elvira sat up straighter, poised to take notes.

Feeling relieved at being believed, Rozemyne continued, “Well, in addition to the rhythm method, there were other ways to help prevent Geduldh’s burden. There was a medicine women could take that tricked their bodies into believing it already carried new life, so it kept the egg, um, the woman’s part of the process, from being released.”

Rozemyne tapped her chin, “Perhaps the special barrier made to be placed on the man’s sword would be most practical in this world. The earliest barriers were made from the intestines of sheep or goats. It would be best to use these with the rhythm method if you really want to minimize the chances of Geduldh’s burden.”

“My oh, my, this is interesting knowledge for a lady, and especially important for those who must avoid the burden so they can supply mana,” Elvira seemed excited for the new methods. 

Elvira eventually let Rozemyne go, and, of course, shared her new knowledge with Florencia. 

Sylvester came to protest later about how Rozemyne had made his couple time with Florencia tightly scheduled; he had no doubt the strange information came from Rozemyne. He interrupted her reading time over it so she was annoyed. To make him go away more quickly, she accused him of lacking imagination, wrote down shameful material she read from Shuu-chan’s naughty books she had found in his room, and passed it to Sylvester. 

It was only then that Sylvester sobered up and realized he was complaining about winter matters to his eight year old adopted daughter. It was super improper, but curiosity won over. “Just what is with this country in your dream world? Why is it so shameful?” 

Rozemyne rolled her eyes, “Japan has quite an advanced culture… so, my dear Archduke, just enjoy our bountiful knowledge, and let me read my books in peace.” 

“...Do not teach your knowledge to Ferdinand until his autumn.” 

Never would she imagine Sylvester acting like a stern father again and at her over Ferdinand’s chastity! It was no wonder three days later she was once again detained and wrung dry of her shameful knowledge by her mother. She felt for her really- anyone would feel complicated if an eight year old knew more than adults about sex. 

Justus, that shameless aide of Ferdinand's, smelled blood and came demanding the knowledge be shared with him as well. She wanted a copy of kama sutra so badly just so she could chuck the book at Justus’s head instead. 

==

When he was younger, Ferdinand had long hair that reached halfway down his back. It was a waste he cut it as an adult, but now it was all hers to pamper! Adult Ferdinand would never allow it, so she called Benno and explained the situation. As expected of Benno, who was so used to dealing with her, his eyebrows only twitched a little when he saw the miniaturized Ferdinand. 

This was a good chance so she had him bring several oils, dried seeds, salt, and nouts. “Justus, we will make Ferdinand’s exclusive scent… and I want to crochet a hair tie for men.”  

For some reason, Ferdinand’s ears blushed, “Rozemyne, for you to give this much attention to my hair…” 

“Because it’s very beautiful!” 

Ferdinand loved the scent of her rinsham, but it was too sweet for boys so she suggested mixing the apfelsige peel with tea leaves to create a mild and sophisticated scent. Benno had a poor complexion when he promised to make a batch immediately in the workshop. 

Meanwhile, she knit a long string of ribbon from the thread Ferdinand chose out of the high quality supplies Benno brought them, then used feystones to create a tassel on the end of it. Justus wanted to help, but there was no way she wouldn't use this rare chance to run her fingers through his silky sky-colored hair! 

“Do whatever you wish, Rozemyne,” Ferdinand gave a shy smile with his permission. 

Damuel looked like a goldfish for quite some time, before he finally closed his mouth and was just blushing furiously. Did he have a fever or something? Brigitte had looked away and also had a blush on her cheeks. 

She combed Ferdinand’s hair and then tied the ribbon. Unlike her hair that couldn’t be tied easily, his hair was more obedient. She then braided his hair, weaving the long ribbon throughout. The dark blue and gold looked very good as it stood in contrast against Ferdinand’s light blue hair. 

Justus commented, “Oh, the feystone part can be turned into an amulet… this could be a good fashion for men.” 

“I am only making this for Ferdinand.” 

“I… I will treasure it, Rozemyne.” 

He was so cute! Her mentor would never have said he’d treasure something she gave him. 

Veronica was banished and so were most of her closest subordinates. It was definitely a safer environment for little Ferdinand but at the same time not. After all, he had lost most of his knowledge and skills with the change. Rozemyne also lost her guardian, making navigating noble society more dangerous for both of them. 

However…while the temple was relatively safe, it was not like they could hide Ferdinand forever. 

“I think it’s for the best if Lady Rozemyne immerses herself in jureve sooner… right after Lady Charlotte’s baptism ceremony,” Justus suggested. 

Rozemyne frowned, “I don’t understand… what about the dedication ceremony in winter then?” 

“Lady Rozemyne...when you’re in jureve, your hardened mana will melt and be absorbed by the feystones placed in the jureve with you. You will provide us with plenty of mana for winter and more, so no worries,” Justus explained. “During the winter, Angelica and Cornelius will be gone for most of the season at the Royal Academy, and your protection will be dangerously thin.  Now that Lord Ferdinand also needs to be guarded, it's best for you to lock yourself inside your hidden room where only a select few people can enter and pass the season quietly… this will also give Lord Ferdinand a reason to not appear at winter socializing.” 

That made a lot of sense if Ferdinand was not around and staying in the temple to take care of her. 

“Won’t it announce we’re at our weakest?” 

Justus exchanged glances with Eckhart before agreeing, “Perhaps… but it’s better to reveal a weakness and hide rather than forcing a strong front people would notice quickly. Shoring up our defenses during the winter on high alert is more practical than hiding Ferdinand’s condition and guarding both of you during the season when all nobles are gathering in the noble district.” 

As expected of one of Ferdinand’s aides, they’re prioritizing efficiency above everything. 

“I will teach Lady Rozemyne how to strengthen the amulets and protections she has been given. It will consume a lot of mana, but it should be fine for an archduke candidate with your capacity to add to the existing defense mechanisms my lord gave you.”

It wouldn’t be easy but she had to hold on for one season.  

Ferdinand looked somber at the news, “I am sorry Rozemyne… if only I remembered my adult self’s knowledge…” 

“It’s not your fault! We should be fine…” Now she was becoming worried about her supply of potions though. She also had not been getting her health exams since Ferdinand turned into a child. Rozemyne was reminded again of how dependent she was on Ferdinand, and Fran was now more vigilant than ever about her health. “Hm?” 

Ferdinand was getting close since who knows when and haltingly began a familiar series of action, forehead, wrist and then neck. 

“Lord Ferdinand?” 

Rozemyne was hypnotized by the comforting touch until she felt it, a wave of pleasure that made her jolted awake from her daze. “Fuunyaa~” She let out a very weird noise. 

Justus shouted, “Milord, stop that! You put too much mana into Lady Rozemyne!!!” 

She flushed, and pressed her hands to her heated cheeks. It was a failure as a noble, but she’d already given up on that after responding how she did. That wasn’t anything like when Ferdinand had closed her wound with his mana. 

Rozemyne had always thought of her medical check as something warm and comfortable, to know it was one misstep away from that was a bit terrifying.

“You must be careful, Milord, foreign mana is quite painful.” 

She flushed even more, while Justus came to check on her, and she said, almost in a whisper: “It was not painful…” Justus’s eyes widened, and he pulled back, looking at her with a puzzled expression. Since it was well known among the adults that her ‘winter knowledge’ was extensive, it was clear he had put it together and realized that it must have been the opposite. 

“Your colors are so close?” He was down at eye level with her, and Rozemyne could see his confused expression. “You and my lord never…?”

She shook her head vehemently. At least she knew that her word carried some weight, she knew far more about ‘winter’ than anyone else in Ehrenfest it seemed. Modern sex education was truly wondrous, but it also meant that she was struggling with the particular differences… Justus looked between the two of them and then shook his own head. He obviously thought something was strange.

He rose and fixed Ferdinand with a firm look. “There will be no more practicing of checking Lady Rozemyne’s mana.” 

He nodded.

“Hopefully the jureve will be enough… If it is not, I’m afraid Lord Ferdinand’s expertise being lost will make it difficult to handle your illness from there,” Justus said. “Milord, you are quite intelligent, but it seems we will need to have even more instruction on many issues of nobility.” He sighed, “We will need to make our preparations for winter, for Lady Rozemyne to sleep in jureve, for milord to reenter the world of the nobility, and perhaps even present again.”

Winter preparations… why is everything a euphemism now!? She was going to die of embarrassment like this.

“I am sorry I hurt you, Rozemyne,” Ferdinand said, golden eyes wide and earnest. She forgave him immediately, he was far too sweet and adorable and earnest now, something that had been taken away from him over time. “I will be more careful next time.”

The combination of words and realizing what had been happening with their mana made her want to crawl into a hole and die of embarrassment, but Ferdinand was obviously worried for her, so she reached out and stroked his brow and fluffed his hair. “I’m fine, Ferdinand; do not worry.”

He might not have been worrying, but Rozemyne certainly was. How was she supposed to survive a cute and earnest young Ferdinand?

Chapter Text

Ferdinand- Claw Marks of Chaoscipher 

Rozemyne had a tea party with Sylvester’s second child who would be having her baptism this winter, and so Ferdinand had the chance to sneak into Sylvester’s office to discuss his winter arrangements. There was no sign of him turning back to his adult self after weeks, and he didn’t feel any different from before he spontaneously found himself in the future either. 

If anything he was feeling so much better, “I don’t understand, but this is not a curse I think.” 

The look on Justus’ face was priceless, while Sylvester was confused. “What a mystery.” 

Justus shook his head, “Aub, it’s not a mystery… Lord Ferdinand is simply more receptive to Lady Rozemyne’s care, so he has been eating proper meals three times a day, sleeping at least two and half bells, and is well protected in the temple…” Ferdinand’s attendant listed. “He is safe.” 

Sylvester openly flinched and Ferdinand glared at Justus for talking too much. “Justus, more importantly… about my current condition?” 

Justus shrugged, “Even with my own limited medical knowledge, I can say there’s nothing wrong with Milord… he is healthier than ever! Still… there’s no sign of rapid ‘growth’ whatsoever that implies his condition is only temporary. Furthermore… Milord has lost all magical growth, including mana sensing.” He went on, “However… it seems he has more mana than when he was eight years old and has to compress.” 

“Wait- where’s Ferdinand’s magical tool?” 

“I am afraid there was an accident with it that involved attendants sent by Lady Veronica.” 

His brother flinched, “That’s just… could we have it made again?” 

“There’s no suitable material for it. For the same reason, we can’t procure anything suitable for Lady Rozemyne either. They have too much mana and there’s… no main feystone of similar attributes to accommodate them.” 

Ferdinand frowned at that, “We can manage. There’s the foundation and the temple to control our mana. I… Rozemyne and I will be fine.” 

Sylvester cradled his head in distress and didn’t speak for a long while before he sighed. “This is fine I suppose…” Sylvester said with a melancholic expression, “If you can grow up happier than you did the first time around, I have nothing to complain about.” 

Ferdinand felt a mix of happiness and sadness from Sylvester’s resignation over his condition. 

Then he groaned again, “Still… the uproar when we announce your condition is going to be troublesome. And considering we have to re-enroll you in the Royal Academy, you will need aides. You’ll have to attend the children's room, and redo your winter presentation.” 

Ferdinand felt apologetic, “My deepest apologies for the trouble, brother.” 

“Naaah… it’s fine. I wish I could just say you are your adult self’s hidden child, but…”

There was no way that excuse could fly. He was supposed to be twenty two years old this year, and if he had an eight year old child… Even if they faked his age to be seven years old it would be too ridiculous to believe. Apparently, because of Veronica, he grew up to be so wary of women in general that he only trusted a select few of the fairer sex, with Rozemyne being the sole exception of one he trusted fully and could get close to. 

“So we just need to be honest; you got into an accident and turned into this…” 

Justus looked troubled. “I am concerned about my lord’s safety if you reveal his condition, Aub.” 

Sylvester nodded, “I know, but in the long term he can’t afford not showing his face at all. Not to mention the fact that he can only have one adult aide with him at the Royal Academy, and he will need a schtappe… which I don’t want to consider how that will go. But he needs more aides.”

“Which will be complicated for both Lord Ferdinand and Lady Rozemyne…”

Because they were staying at the temple, even though Rozemyne had reformed it, there was still a strong repulsion against the house of the Gods. 

“There will be four archduke candidates within a year of each other at the Royal Academy for Ehrenfest.” 

Ferdinand then suggested, “It should be fine if Rozemyne and I share aides… also, considering Rozemyne already has a very reliable layknight who can also serve as scholar, we will also draw aides from laynobles so long as they are capable.” 

“Damuel is not the norm but rather a special case,” Sylvester pointed out. 

“A good special case that should be encouraged,” Ferdinand gave his opinion. “I know it would be difficult due to their low social status and mana capacity, but with Rozemyne’s compression method their mana won’t stay an issue.” They had to pay, but he had confirmed with Justus that he and Rozemyne could afford to pay their aides generously. “Once their mana increases beyond their station it would be for the best if Justus and Eckhart educate them to act befittingly for their new status.” 

Sylvester looked skeptical, “Raising the quality of our nobles and giving them a promotion in social status…” 

“Perhaps not a status upgrade to mednoble or archnoble, but maybe at work along with visible acknowledgement.” 

“Didn’t Drewanchel do this and so they have many ready archduke candidates as a result? We don’t have quantity so we will make do with quality.” 

His brother had a very complicated look due to his suggestion. Justus then added, “I think Lord Ferdinand meant to experiment with this within the small scope of his and Lady Rozemyne’s entourage, Aub Ehrenfest.” 

Sylvester looked relieved, “I guess that could work… so, this winter we will announce Ferdinand’s condition, and then we will have Ferdinand socialize on her behalf in the children's room.” He trailed off, “As for Rozemyne, it’s for the best to forfeit leading Charlotte’s baptism ceremony this season and have Ferdinand do it in her stead.” 

“...Rozemyne will be upset.” She was very excited about a new little sister and most likely had promised Sylvester’s daughter a spectacular baptism ceremony. 

“I know,” Sylvester heaved a sigh. “The Leisegangs will be upset that their Lady Rozemyne is not socializing this winter for sure; it’s for her wellbeing but I bet they won’t believe me…” 

“...is Leisegang still a problem?” He knew his brother was not popular with the Leisegang faction due to Veronica, but even after putting that woman in Ivory Tower they still held a grudge against his brother? 

His brother looked forlorn, “As far as they’re concerned, nothing is good enough. I should have condemned my mother sooner… I have ‘to compensate them more for all the suffering they went through under my mother’s tyranny,’ and ‘make Lady Rozemyne my heir…’” Sylvester listed their complaints on and on, his voice dripping with disdain. 

Basically, even if Sylvester wished to make amends with the Leisegang faction, their pent up resentment was so great they wished to replace Sylvester’s line with archduke candidates without blood from Ahrensbach. 

“It would be fine if Brother’s heir can mend our family’s relationship with Leisegang…” 

“Erm…. that’s a bit-” 

Justus was also cringing. For some reason, they expressed discomfort at the idea that should have made a lot of sense. Sylvester’s heir was just a child, a new generation, and so there should be room for the Leisegangs to assess the child fairly now that Veronica was gone. 

An ordonnanz flew through the window at that very moment from Rozemyne’s knight, informing Sylvester that his son had committed an unforgivable mistake for an archduke candidate. He had entered the Ivory Tower and accused Rozemyne and him of conspiracy within earshot of many people. 

Sylvester looked devastated before he regained composure and commanded that they would tend to it in Charlotte’s room to avoid further spread of the news. Lady Florencia arrived first; they were all greeted by Rozemyne, her knights, Charlotte and… the star of the day. 

Wilfried looked a lot like Sylvester but with Veronica’s coloring. From this alone Ferdinand could imagine Leisegang would hold prejudice against this boy easily. However, it seemed there was more reason than just his looks that had earned the Leisegang’s ire. 

“Father! You have been fooled by Rozemyne and that bastard! Grandmother told me! Release Grandmother at once, Father!” 

Did this child just demand the Archduke withdraw his decision to punish a criminal and also accuse Rozemyne and me of deceiving Sylvester?  

While they waited, Justus had explained to him that Wilfried was raised by Veronica and pampered excessively, and he barely passed his winter presentation with Rozemyne’s help. It seemed Veronica’s education came through so well, the boy even dared to defy his Father. 

Sylvester understandably became furious, “I am the one who decided Veronica deserved to be banished to the Ivory Tower! It was my verdict as Aub Ehrenfest!” 

“But—” 

“Even though you’re my son, you have no right to demand I overturn my decree! Do you understand that you are rebelling against me, Wilfried?!” 

Judging from the open shock on the boy’s face, he didn’t realize the weight of his actions at all. However, instead of denying it or begging for mercy from his father, he turned to Rozemyne accusingly instead. Ferdinand stepped forward placing himself in between Rozemyne and Wilfried. 

“...You are?” 

“I am the bastard child your dear grandmother despises so much. If you have any complaints about Veronica’s imprisonment you can voice them to me.” 

Wilfried looked confused by his appearance, but his emotions got the better of him when Ferdinand mentioned Veronica’s name. “You did this to my grandmother! How could you… she is so kind and gentle!” 

Ferdinand chuckled softly, “Plotting against her? So what if I did? It’s my duty as an archduke candidate of Ehrenfest to eliminate threats to our duchy.” 

“Grandmother is not a threat!” 

“Embezzling duchy’s funds, hiding her brother’s illegal activities, poisoning innocent noblewomen and children of Ehrenfest…” Ferdinand listed smoothly, “Also, endangering the lives of multiple archduke candidates.” He finished, “Your accusation of conspiracy implies I faked evidence against your Grandmother… but in reality, I wouldn’t have to.” 

“I don’t believe you!” 

“You don’t have to believe me, but a fact is fact. Even an idiot like you should be able to tell if you look at the mortality rate of the Leisegang faction’s children over the years… and even when they don’t die, your kind and gentle grandmother uses her considerable talents to assure that the most easily manipulated of her own faction ascend to positions they do not deserve…” He could see that Veronica had worked her talents on his brother’s own son! “If she was so kind, why did she ensure you would show yourself to be a disgrace of an archduke candidate at your winter presentation? Do you not realize the disaster Rozemyne’s kindness saved you from?”

“Ferdinand!” Sylvester, it seemed, had had enough, but Ferdinand had more than said his piece. He took a deep breath, and was helped even further by Rozemyne coming up and placing a gentle hand against his, squeezing tightly, and he squeezed back.

She tugged, and he stepped back.

“Wilfried,” she said, since it seemed Sylvester did not intend to say anything. “It is always important to understand all of the sides of an issue. You have heard at least some of Ferdinand’s perspective. Would you like to hear what Veronica did? Would you like to hear why your father imprisoned her?”

Ferdinand had not actually heard the whole story. Justus had told him a few parts, but most of his time was given over to lectures on how to be more… like his older self.

Wilfried looked at his father, and then back to Rozemyne, and then he nodded.

“The old High Bishop, Bezewanst, your granduncle, was jealous of my mana and abilities--” 

Ferdinand listened, somewhat horrified, as Rozemyne explained that Bezewanst had organized for a noble from Ahrensbach, where his half-sister Georgine was the newly promoted first wife, to come and attempted to kidnap and subjugate her. Veronica had forged the entry permits, the crime she was finally imprisoned for, but Bezewanst and the neighboring Count had assaulted Rozemyne…

The boy looked to Sylvester, pain in his eyes, and Ferdinand watched his brother frown, exhale long and slow, and then nod to indicate that he agreed with Rozemyne’s explanation. “Your grandmother has harmed our people and duchy too greatly over the years. I did not want to condemn my own mother, but as Aub Ehrenfest, it’s my duty…” Sylvester exhaled again. “I hid the truth from you because I wanted to spare you from the pain of her betrayal, at least until you were old enough to understand… but it was a mistake…” 

Lady Florencia stepped forward and pulled the boy to a hug, “I am so sorry Wilfried… as your parents we failed you. We couldn’t even raise you by our side and now… even after we have you back, we were unable to protect you.” 

The boy was in a pitiful state. While Ferdinand could hardly forgive him for returning Rozemyne’s kindness with scorn, this boy’s misbehavior was the result of Veronica’s education. Veronica had ruined Wilfried beyond repair. If she truly cared about the boy she wouldn’t tell the boy to demand her release, she would tell the boy to keep his entry a secret. 

However… in the end Veronica only thought about herself and condemned the boy to the same fate. 

“Why did this happen to Wilfried?” 

The decision on how to punish the boy was postponed while they first focused on figuring out the cause. An archduke candidate as young as Wilfried should not know of the Ivory Tower beyond what was taught in statecraft class. The boy certainly couldn’t have wandered to that restricted facility by accident. The purpose of leading an archduke candidate to the Ivory Tower was also unknown. This kind of stunt brought no benefit. 

“I think it's harassment,” Rozemyne pointed out, eyes widening in realization. 

“To what end?” Sylvester wondered out loud. 

Rozemyne glanced at Sylvester, she hesitated before saying. “Aside from Wilfried himself, the ones who will suffer the most from this blemish are his parents…” 

Wilfried was just a means to an end, the real target was their Archduke. This was an attack on Ehrenfest itself.  

Justus piped in, “Aub Ehrenfest, this kind of strategy of harassing an enemy sounds like someone we’re very familiar with.” His aide was not smiling anymore; his expression was grim. 

“...Georgine.” 

Their sister who was now the first lady of Ahrensbach? He had never met Georgine but according to Justus, Georgine was as vicious as Veronica and was sent away by Veronica over fear she would steal Veronica’s faction. It seemed Georgine had already stolen at least part of Veronica’s faction, and they were brazen enough to harass their Archduke on behalf of a woman married into another duchy. 

Now they had the name of the suspected culprit but there was nothing they could do against her since she had become the first wife of Archduke Ahrensbach. They could pursue her subordinates, but more importantly, they needed to decide what to do about Wilfried. Normally the boy would be punished and sent to Ivory Tower, however… 

“That would be what my sister wants. Wilfried is just a victim, and losing him to Ivory Tower will just devastate the already small number of archducal family members…” Ferdinand could tell it was partly Sylvester’s bias talking as Wilfried’s father, but he couldn’t blame his brother for wanting to save his son. 

Ideally they would have hidden Wilfried’s crime, but the boy had shouted about seeing Veronica to many people to hear today. The Leisegang would not stay quiet if they let Wilfried escape his punishment. 

Rozemyne managed to come out with a solution, “Sylvester should read Wilfried’s memory, it’s a treatment fit for his crime of entering Ivory Tower without permission. That way you can find out who provoked Wilfried to go to the tower…” Which would help their investigation immensely. “And you can revoke his position as your heir…”

The Leisegang would not be satisfied with just that, but it would take away the heat enough that they could not accuse Sylvester of not punishing his son. In the end Rozemyne’s suggestion helped them from losing a archduke candidate, even though it was an incompetent and naive one. 

In consideration of what happened to Wilfried, they submerged Rozemyne immediately in jureve in the safety of her hidden room in the temple. Rozemyne was unhappy with their decision, but she understood why they decided so. 

“I will be with you when you wake up, Rozemyne,” Ferdinand promised her as she sank to the depth of jureve. 

It was sad to see her asleep like this but she would be healthier and safe. Also, with her absence in winter Rozemyne could escape the chaos the social season brought to Ehrenfest. It was no surprise many were in disbelief of his rejuvenation, and their reaction varied. The most notable was the Leisegang faction and Viscount Joisontak. The Leisegangs were unhappy their Lady Rozemyne lost her adult guardian in the temple and desired to put someone from their faction to replace his adult self. Viscount Joisontak volunteered himself as he was Rozemyne’s uncle by blood. 

According to Lady Elvira, some of the Leisegang members genuinely worried for Rozemyne but… part of them desired to puppet Rozemyne and gain control of her profitable industries. Their concern was not legitimate though, because Rozemyne had a father and adopted father, she was certainly not lacking in parental figures. 

Justus used this chance to enter the temple as a blue priest to assist him and Rozemyne. Sylvester was devastated about losing a capable tax collector but Justus was his retainer in the first place. This prompted Ottilie’s youngest son, a boy by the name Hartmut to publicly declare if the temple was lacking personnel he would join to ease the burden of their saint of Ehrenfest. 

The glint on the boy’s eyes as he aggressively proposed the idea to Ferdinand in front of so many people unnerved him, and for a moment he was suspicious of Hartmut’s intentions, but… something about the boy was eerily familiar. Justus standing beside him confirmed it: the boy reminded them very much of Eckhart. 

“Please work me like a horse for the sake of Lady Rozemyne!” 

Justus suggested accepting the boy’s sincere feelings, even though Ferdinand disliked keeping a boy so enthusiastic about his Goddess of Light close. He reasoned it was more dangerous to let a fanatic scholar like this boy loose, and the boy was quite capable. 

Ferdinand was not convinced so he gave a condition. “If you can finish all your classes for this year quickly enough to assist our winter dedication ceremony, we will make you a blue priest as you desire.” 

The boy hesitated for a moment before vowing, “Everything for my lady!” 

Rozemyne’s brother, Cornelius, was quite peeved. “I tried so hard to keep the weirdo away from my dearest sister!” He lamented. 

Justus disagreed, “Cornelius, there are not many nobles willing to be Lady Rozemyne’s aides because of her work in the temple. Even a weirdo is welcome if they’re capable.” 

“...But-” 

The fellow ‘eccentric’ added, “If you don’t want more eccentrics like Hartmut to join in, perhaps you should recommend more normal aides to Lady Rozemyne and my lord yourself.” 

Her brother looked like he had swallow an apfelsiege whole. “...Hartmut was normal before he met Rozemyne though…” Cornelius was basically implying he had no idea if there was anyone who wouldn’t show their true nature after coming in contact with his sister. 

That was just rude.  

Ferdinand- Selfish Child

Sylvester’s second daughter took after Lady Florencia with none of Sylvester’s appearance or temperament. Ferdinand felt a bit sorry that she was looking forward to being baptized by Rozemyne instead of him. The girl put up a brave face and declared Rozemyne’s wellbeing was more important and she would do her best in the children's room on behalf of Rozemyne. 

It seemed Rozemyne had been giving her instructions for the children's room too. Ferdinand noted his Goddess of Light left nothing for Wilfried, and Justus pondered for a moment why she hadn’t. “...I believe my lord once told me…” His adult self said something? “Lady Rozemyne is generous and has a soft spot for children, but she is not as mindlessly forgiving as she appears to be. If she decides to discard someone, she will keep them far from her vicinity and out of mind.”  

Obviously, she could not do that with Wilfried, who returned her favor with scorn because of a little provocation. He was still Sylvester’s son after all. However, she certainly kept Wilfried away as much as she could, and her second rescue of Wilfried was partly because if it wasn’t the Ivory Tower, they would have banished Wilfried to the temple as an alternative. Sylvester was certainly considering it but Rozemyne didn’t want the boy around. 

Ferdinand knew it was petty, but he was not happy Rozemyne saved Wilfried so many times when the boy didn’t deserve it. He couldn’t help but feel jealous and also insecure about her being taken away by another boy. If it was between Sylvester’s heir and motherless him the political choice was not in his favor. 

The Leisegangs would pick him over Wilfried because they despised the boy, but that would put Sylvester and his children in a difficult position. Yet, after losing Rozemyne once, he didn’t want to let her go. 

The baptism ceremony was simple, and he registered Charlotte’s medal and completed the baptism smoothly. The girl had five colors, and, if Ferdinand recalled correctly, according to Justus, Wilfried had six like Sylvester. Basically, all of Sylvester’s children were inferior in mana quantity and colors compared to him and Rozemyne. 

It seemed in the present he had to hide his omni-elemental mana again. 

Children’s room

If there was any blessing from the disaster during hunting competition in autumn, it was the cancellation of Wilfried’s position as heir apparent to their duchy. By the first day in the room, Sylvester’s firstborn once again displayed the results of Veronica’s education (or lack thereof) by ostracizing the former Veronica faction children openly. He was especially hostile towards a timid brown haired child named Roderick. 

Justus had informed him the boy was the one who led Wilfried to his doom in autumn, but the boy was not punished because he was just following instructions and obviously did not know what he was told to do. It was a classic Veronica tactic: make use of a less important child or noble and then cut them off. 

What disgusted Ferdinand the most was that Wilfried was so focused on his own hurt that he was blind to the bigger picture. Sylvester was struggling with the lack of Leisegang’s support to his reign, and yet, the boy made their family’s standing even more awkward by being hostile to the faction that nominally supported his father in public.

The Leisegang children were watching quietly, some even had a mocking smile at Wilfried’s idiocy. The former Veronica faction children narrowed their shoulders and were obviously caught off guard by Wilfried’s behavior. Ferdinand could not watch anymore and had Charlotte take over Rozemyne’s task to pay for stories and lend out educational toys. Then had Justus drag the idiotic child out of the room. 

“What’s wrong with you, Uncle?!” Wilfried was not happy to be dragged away from the karuta game. 

Ferdinand gave his nephew his best chilling glare and Wilfried froze in fear. “You absolute fool! Do you realize what you have done and the consequences?!”

Wilfried looked at Ferdinand with confusion and annoyance written all over his face. His lead aide, Oswald, balked at Ferdinand’s words. “...Lord Ferdinand, even though you’re his uncle… Lord Wilfried is Archduke’s son!” 

“He is Sylvester’s son and has made another catastrophic blunder that jeopardizes our whole family!” Ferdinand tried so hard to keep his voice calm, but it was obvious from his lowered voice he was losing it. 

“What did I do?” 

As expected… Just last winter the boy barely passed his winter presentation, and obviously over the last year the boy had not gained the finer art of reading the air. His sister, Charlotte, was more adept at it in spite of being younger. 

Ferdinand smiled coldly, “Wilfried, I am sure you are aware that we are in a tense relationship with the Leisegang faction because of Veronica?” The boy nodded stiffly, “Rozemyne’s adoption placated them somewhat, but your public accusation towards her in autumn put your father in their bad graces once again, hindering his effort to reconcile with them.” 

“...I am sorry…” Wilfried was on the verge of tears. “I did not know…” 

“That doesn’t make you innocent.” He ignored Oswald’s glare for putting Wilfried on the spot. “Have you not yet learned that every single thoughtless action of yours can cause disaster to our family?” 

Wilfried shook, “I didn’t do anything to annoy Leisegang today so why-” 

“It’s not Leisegang but the former Veronicans.” Judging from the boy’s confused look, he was still clueless. Veronica really made sure this boy was as simple-minded as possible. It was terrifying that the boy thought it was fine to be hostile to former Veronican children and perhaps assumed it would put him in Leisegang’s good graces. 

“I don’t understand!” 

He inhaled deeply, willing himself to enlighten this belligerent fool because Veronica thought it was a brilliant idea to make the boy so crippled to survive noble society. He thought of Myne and did his best to embody her patience. “Wilfried… only the former Veronican faction nominally supports your father; the Leisegangs are still wary of the Archduke even with Rozemyne’s adoption.” According to Justus, even the moderate ones like Lady Elvira’s brother had decided to take the wait and see approach. It seemed Father’s absence and Veronica’s domineering behavior in Sylvester’s reign had severely distanced the Leisegangs from his brother. 

“Yet you openly showed that you despise your father’s faction. No matter how much you hate them, what you did is once again endangering your father and our family!” This was also exactly Veronica’s greatest mistake as a member of the archducal family: punishing a whole faction for actions of few. 

Wilfried gasped, trembling once again just like when Sylvester snapped at him in autumn. “But they are enemies.” 

The boy was ignorant of the weight of the word ‘enemy’ in their society, of their position as an archducal family. “Fool! Do you think Leisegang would be pleased if you treat the former Veronicans terribly? What they see is how our family will treat the faction supporting us. What faction would be inclined to reconcile with our Archduke now?” 

Horror dawned upon the boy at last, “I… I am sorry…” 

“We don’t need your apology. Go back to your room and reflect. Your parents will hear from me, and you will face another punishment.” 

Ferdinand had to be Ordoschnelli of bad news again to Sylvester and his wife. 

Sylvester was happy when he requested a meeting at the end of the day but was also confused as to why Lady Florencia and Elvira were asked to attend. Ferdinand did not enjoy being the bearer of bad news, playing Ordoschnelli for his big brother was part of his job as Sylvester’s future minister so he couldn’t avoid it. 

“And that’s how your children fare in the children's room… there’s nothing to complain about with Charlotte, but Wilfried…” 

Sylvester looked ready to pass out, and his more robust wife also had a pale complexion. Karstedt and Elvira were not faring better either, they were the ones keeping Leisegang in line with Bonifatius all these years so they didn’t have a civil war at hand but Sylvester’s idiotic son made their job harder and harder in span of less than a month. 

“I pulled him out of the room as quickly as I could but there’s no mistaking his hostility towards former Veronican children and there’s no way the Leisegang children and Neutral children would not report this to their parents.” Ferdinand was ashamed he could do no more. 

Sylvester slammed his fist in anger on the table, “Wilfried…it’s one blunder after another! Just what are his aides doing ?!” 

Ferdinand sighed, “To be fair I don’t think Wilfried announced it to his aides that he planned to ostracize the former Veronican children, they’re largely from the same faction themselves and would have stopped your son if they knew.” This time they could not blame Wilfried’s useless entourage. Then again how did Wilfried, whose entourage consisted of mostly former Veronicans, think they were enemies? Shouldn’t he be wary of those closest to him first? Veronica didn’t even teach her grandson that common sense of a noble. 

“What should we do now?” 

He pointed out the most obvious problem first. “...It’s a mistake to keep him as archduke candidate if he keeps sabotaging our family like this.” 

Sylvester hesitated before voicing a suggestion, “Are you suggesting that we send him to the temple?” 

“Rozemyne and I are there, you can’t use entering the temple as punishment because it would send the wrong message to the Leisegangs.” Also, he would rather not have the idiot around in their temple. Justus had told him that his older self had avoided Wilfried, both because Sylvester had asked him to and because he couldn’t abide the fool. Apparently ‘self-centered hooligan’ was a phrase bandied about more than once. What could be done, however? “With my condition as it is, there are only three adult archduke candidates in Ehrenfest, and we cannot demote him without extensive political consequences.”

“Demote? Ferdinand, he’s a boy, he’s eight!”

Ferdinand gave him a firm look. “As am I, and yet such a misstep would have gotten me far worse than a demotion to the rank of an archnoble.” Veronica had never allowed him a misstep, the absolute luxury of having to only worry about a dozen things now instead of a hundred was truly relaxing. “Wilfried must be completely removed from the possibility of succession,” Ferdinand said, firmly.

“What makes you so adamant on that, Ferdinand?” Sylvester asked. 

He remembered being told that he had apparently advocated for that when Wilfried was an educational disaster a year ago. “First of all, your son has only caught up academically on what is considered the minimum required of his current status, but he has so little awareness and responsibility as an archduke candidate not even Rozemyne’s curriculum can help him to recover from that.” 

Sylvester flinched but couldn’t deny. “...You are saying he is a danger to himself and our family in his current state.” 

Ferdinand nodded and swallowed his hesitation, “Ehrenfest has already suffered enough under another member of the archduke’s family who follows petty and vindictive whims.” Even a child like him knew this better than anyone. He might be another archduke candidate to feed, clothe, and educate but his aides made it clear he had been contributing his all to Ehrenfest beyond his station and Veronica still persecuted him. He was not the only one, Veronica despised Sylvester’s pillars and distanced many loyal to Ehrenfest for her own gain.  “Do not make your son the next one.” 

The hit struck firmly.

“Your sister may be undermining our duchy. You’ve displaced your mother, but it would be foolish to think her faction’s loyalty will have gone over to you fully. Rozemyne’s adoption placated Leisegang some, but if you cannot bring them to your side you will find yourself without any support in a decade, if not sooner. Court them.”

“Florencia…” Sylvester looked at his wife uncomfortably, but said wife just listened calmly.

Ferdinand gave him a firm glare. “Take a wife if you must, but at least bring them on as advisors. I may have been your advisor, but I am a child now, and I am telling you simply what a mere child can see: these warring factions are going to be the death of Ehrenfest, and, for all her faults, your mother kept a firm hand at least.”

It hurt, it hurt intensely to praise absolutely anything about Veronica, but Ferdinand remembered what seemed to be only months ago to him. The woman had flawlessly infiltrated important houses, she controlled policies, she pushed laws, and his father had never fought against that, and now it was very clear his brother hadn’t either. Veronica had unified her faction and held it tight, and Leisegang in response had firmly unified against her. With Veronica gone, Leisegang’s scapegoat imprisoned, Sylvester could finally step out of his mother’s shadow. 

But here he was worrying about Wilfried.

“He can study under Karstedt or work to become a son-in-law. You do him no favors pretending he could still ever be Archduke. Rozemyne may have saved his winter presentation, but his second winter playroom has been a failure.”

Lady Florencia bowed her head, only slightly, a firm set of her lips saying she was not at all pleased. Perhaps this was how she had reacted to Rozemyne’s declarations on Wilfried as well.

“It seems whatever retraining was done on his entourage was insufficient,” Ferdinand continued as the room was silent. “As Rozemyne will be absent this winter, I suggest you again utilize Rihyarda to bring some form of order to his entourage. Karstedt…” He turned to his cousin. “I do not wish to bring dishonor to your family, but Lamprecht…” 

Karstedt’s mouth grew hard, but he nodded. “You’ve spoken your mind on the matter, Lord Ferdinand. I ask that you report again tomorrow.” He glanced at Sylvester, who nodded. Ferdinand understood he was being dismissed, and he nodded and headed back to his quarters, followed closely by Eckhart and Justus.

“Milord, you were especially… furious,” Justus noted. 

He did not quite know how to answer his aide, but he nodded. “I still remember my first year in the palace after my baptism, Justus.” He had been living in it until just recently. “Tiny missteps would have seen me disinherited or dead. Charlotte is quite competent, Rozemyne too despite her background. Wilfried was clearly not raised to be Archduke.”

The silent agreement from Justus was deafening. 

Charlotte- Uncle and Sister

Mother never explained to her why older brother was not raised together with them, but Charlotte knew her mother resented Grandmother for years for taking brother away from her. When brother was allowed to play with them from time to time, Charlotte couldn’t help but feel Wilfried looked down on her and Melchior. Even as young as she was, Charlotte understood father had chosen Wilfried as his heir for no reason other than he was born first, a boy and the favorite. 

Their mother was more clear-headed and still educated her and Melchior as heir candidates instead of ministers silently. It was against their father’s wishes, but Charlotte was happy she was given the chance at all. Charlotte knew it was perhaps petty, but she hated not being given a chance to compete at all and she desired to prove herself. 

The existence of her new sister elated Charlotte, because Rozemyne was everything she wanted to be as an archduke candidate. Rozemyne was wise, pretty and contributed beyond her station and age to their duchy. Her excellence highlighted Wilfried’s poorness even more, and yet Father still decided that he was the heir. Charlotte feared her excellent sister would be forced to marry Wilfried to make up for his weakness so she probed a bit about Rozemyne’s love interest through her love for romantic books. 

Surprisingly her sister was being courted by their uncle, Ferdinand. “He promise me a library and we’re going to grow feytrees together.”  

Their uncle in a sense was a worse option for her father’s political position, he was technically neutral and Rozemyne was the Lady Rozemyne of Leisegang. However, for Charlotte it was better because Uncle definitely deserved Rozemyne more than Wilfried. 

Still… she never wished ill for her own older brother. What happened in autumn made her angry at him, but in the end her anger was washed with pity. Now that their grandmother was gone, all hatred for that woman went to her brother. It was understandable his love for her turned to hate. Wilfried came to resent her faction and their children. 

However she didn’t expect her brother who was supposedly educated as an archduke candidate like she was would have done such a thing as hating them so openly. 

Charlotte was enjoying listening to a girl named Philine enthusiastically reciting a story she gathered for her sister, and she worked hard to write the story down by herself. Uncle said it was a good practice to write so she didn’t let her aide to help her. She was counting coins when she noticed Uncle was looking somewhere else after passing the karuta and scripture book for Philine. 

It was her brother. 

Wilfried was shooing away a child from their group game and glaring if they even dared to get close. Charlotte recognized them as former Veronican children, her blood went cold when he saw children from other factions watched on quietly. Uncle quickly had his aide pull brother out of the room, he looked furious and Charlotte did her best to pretend everything was fine. 

It was not fine, Charlotte didn’t understand the full repercussions of her brother’s actions but from the tense air in the room he had committed a blunder on the same scale as he did in autumn. Uncle returned to the room not long after, told her to keep her emotions in check and resumed their activity as if nothing happened. 

Mother came to her room that night and explained why Uncle was so angry, and even Charlotte was furious at Wilfried now. He was so selfish, and not thinking at all about their family and father. 

“What should we do now, Mother?” 

She smiled sadly, “I wish I could tell you everything would be fine but I am not sure… at worst we perhaps have to offer our duchy to Rozemyne.” 

Charlotte couldn’t help but feel relieved and Mother could tell. 

“Charlotte… It's not necessarily a good thing. Rozemyne is a saint, but she is also a daughter of Leisegang.” 

She looked down, ashamed by her optimistic view. “...I believe my sister will protect us.” 

Mother smiled sadly, “That’s true… but as a mother I don’t wish for my children to live depending on someone else’s generosity, Charlotte.” 

Frankly Charlotte would pick depending on Rozemyne’s generosity over Wilfried any day, today had proven her brother would have gotten them killed with his callous attitude.  

Charlotte had never met her uncle before her baptism, and thus found it easier than Father, Mother, and Wilfried to accept that her uncle was only a year older than her. Apparently Father had decided Uncle was difficult to learn from, and Wilfried had even called him brutal in his occasional visits before her own baptism, but it was impossible not to note that her uncle was also very exceptional, just like her older sister… It was no wonder he and sister got along so well.

Uncle was hard and Sister was soft, and they were well matched. 

The next day, Wilfried seemed slightly cowed by the lectures from Uncle and Father, but it was almost comical to see Wilfried playing games while Uncle meticulously read through a huge tome and played with a gewinnen set, occasionally clarifying something with his nearby guard.

It seemed he attracted many would-be knights to him, and while Charlotte could tell Uncle was occasionally uncomfortable he did eventually explain certain magical warfare strategies that way.

Several old Veronicans flocked to Uncle, especially the knights, and Charlotte couldn’t help but be fascinated by that, even as it became clear how discomforted he was by the matter.

Mother explained that even though her uncle was only eight, he did still hold a year of memories being aggressively bullied by her grandmother’s faction. It must have been odd to be their champion in the children’s room.

Chapter Text

Ferdinand - Herding Children

What Rozemyne would do with the winter playroom was the question he couldn’t help but think over and over. Damuel of all people gave him a clue: if children in the orphanage fought for one reason or the other she usually would make them play together and distract them that way. Children were simple minded, they would forget bad stuff easier than adults. 

...He wished that Damuel would say so sooner, like yesterday after he returned to the playroom. A day has passed by and any well educated children would have reported the incident to their parents already so it was too late to rewrite the problem with a happy team game. Then again, older children were there too, so whatever he attempted today to keep peace wouldn’t fix what happened yesterday. 

So he went to see Sylvester with this plan post-breakfast briefing, “Will this work?” His brother understandably looked very skeptical. 

“It’s better than nothing.” He admitted, “I am no master in keeping peace, Aub.” 

Sylvester had a nostalgic look on his face before nodding. “Indeed… you usually prepare, pick the fight and win.” 

Wilfried came with a very tense expression, followed by his lead aide and Rihyarda who had a stormy expression on her face. Not long after Charlotte arrived together with Lady Florencia. Sylvester opened the talk with his son by asking if the boy comprehended his failure this winter. Wilfried just nodded numbly, Ferdinand was not impressed. 

“Speak up, answer our Archduke properly… your silence explains nothing.” He had to make sure the boy was not going to pull another stupid stunt. Starting from acceptable level of comprehension of his behavior that endanger the clan. 

Wilfried glanced at him fearfully before the boy began to speak in a halting voice, for the most part reciting what Ferdinand explained to him yesterday. Venting his anger for what Veronica and her people did to him was unbecoming of an archduke candidate, and following his vengeful whim had threatened their family’s standing. 

“I have chosen you as my heir before and keep it that way even after we had found out about your inadequate education. I also decided it was fine since you finished your winter presentation passably…” Sylvester trailed off in a stern voice. “Even during the incident in autumn we did our best to save you and accept your sister’s suggestion…” 

“...Yes, Father.” Wilfried answered meekly. 

“Wilfried, not only do you lack consciousness as an heir, you're not even fit as an archduke candidate.” It must have hurt for Sylvester to say this to his son but he had to. “I am not asking you to not resent those who have hurt you but as a member of our family you have to see the bigger picture.” 

The boy was obviously reluctant with the idea of making peace with former Veronican children today, but he agreed to cooperate with Ferdinand. It would be counter productive to play Karuta or Trump he could easily win, and Damuel once again proved himself to be a valuable human resource by suggesting Gewinnen. Apparently his older self had started the trend of using gewinnen to explain strategy and tactics in Ditter. 

Many former Veronican children close to their age that Wilfried had offended were boys, and it would be a good way to attract their interest. So he had his favorite art of war tome borrowed from their library and brought to the children’s room. At first most of the boys hesitated to approach him, and Wilfried’s presence by his side was not helping. It took no time at all when the boys were drawn by the prospect of learning cool moves in gewinnen and asking questions one after another. 

It was only half-way through Ferdinand’s lecture that he realized many of the former Veronican boys aspired to be knights, while the neutral and Leisegang had more boys going after the scholar course. So instead of a group of Veronican children looking at him scornfully, he had former Veronican boys fascinated by his lesson. 

The future or rather the present had turned to a very bizarre place. 

He was very relieved to leave the castle and checked on his goddess. The present day’s castle was no longer a dwelling of hostile force in every corner for him, but the north where archducal children were placed would never be a home for Ferdinand. It felt like yesterday his father’s wife could have attendants that were supposed to serve him bring him to the supply room regardless of his wish and drain his mana to near death. 

Even if Sylvester was now the Archduke, Ferdinand could never feel safe there. 

He entered the hidden room where Rozemyne was sleeping, the beautiful girl submerged under the pale blue liquid, frozen in time. Ferdinand wanted to gaze on her longer but kept his focus on the feystones submerged, already filled with her pale yellow mana to the brim. 

“There’s more mana released than expected.” It seemed they could go through the winter dedication ceremony this year without a problem even though his vessel shrunk. They already expected this so Ferdinand had a new batch of empty feystone brought to him and put them into the jureve. He also noted she was not at the bottom of the tub anymore, but floating halfway to the surface. Indicating the jureve was making great progress healing her body. 

He dipped the empty feystones, floating on the jureve’s surface as it was unfilled and it would take a few days for it to sink. Ferdinand brought his soaked hand in front of his eyes, wet from retrieving the filled feystone. “Rozemyne’s jureve…” Upon use, jureve’s blue would mix with her saturated mana.

The beautiful liquid clung to his fingers, on both hands, and it looked so… tantalizing to his eyes. Ferdinand licked his lips, feeling the mix of sweet oil and beeswax that made the lip balm Rozemyne gave him for his chapped lips. Then he wondered… 

It was a shameful act he normally wouldn’t have done. Ferdinand dipped his right hand to the bottom of the tub, reaching for his goddess. That hand hesitated for a moment, before gently cupping her face. His thumb traced her gracile lips as delicately as he could.  

Ferdinand closed his eyes as he brought his soaked finger to his mouth, his tongue licked the honey-like liquid dripping from the tip of his fingers. The concoction was full of Rozemyne’s mana and as explained by Sylvester during his gentleman’s education, the mana that was so close in color to his tasted very sweet. Somewhat delicate, round without a cloying aftertaste, with a hint of flower and fruit. 

This was how she would taste if we… kissed. His entire face was set aflame at the vivid imagination, and he quickly withdrew his hands. Ferdinand quickly reached out to the towel prepared nearby to clean himself up, unwilling to entertain his wild imagination any further. 

“Shameful.” He scolded himself, tapping his still Geduldh-colored cheeks. 

Ferdinand was glad his older self had the foresight to pay her bride price ahead of anyone else, and he had a head start using his private library. Once they enrolled in the Royal Academy, he would work hard to gather more books to satisfy her ferocious desire to read. Just to be safe, he had to collect more than anyone in Yurgenschmidt. 

Later that night, Justus was very amused when he asked who had more books than him in Ehrenfest, or in the whole country. “Lady Rozemyne seems to prefer private libraries more than family-owned ones. For personal collections I believe you are without equal in Ehrenfest. Perhaps there are some nobles in Drewanchel who come close to you…” He frowned at that. “The Royal Family of course has the biggest collection of books, but I imagine she would not want a royal match.” 

He was still worried… 

“Luckily for you, Lady Rozemyne brought the wonderful printing technology to Ehrenfest. I imagine in five years, by using all the human resources we have, you can easily increase the number of your collection.” 

“I see…” 

Justus grinned. “Also, many Drewanchel researchers would gladly copy manuscripts of their personal collection in exchange for your research notes.” 

His eyes narrowed in determination. “I promised Rozemyne a library, but I will have to ensure that it has more books than she could read in a lifetime.” 

Justus knelt, “And I shall assist you to achieve your goal by any means, Milord.” 

He had to think about how to increase his collection, which should start from manuscripts. Ferdinand needed manpower, connections with book owners from other duchies, and money. Justus had assured him that he needed not to worry about money and selling potions and magical tools was an immensely profitable source of income. For connections, he could reuse the ones his older self forged and make new ones too. Manpower was harder, but with Damuel as an example, there should be no problem with using attendants and knights as scribes as long as they are compensated well for their hard work. 

Noble children of lower rank with financial problems like Damuel would be ideal. Looking at how capable the teen was, he started to wonder if they needed high-ranked nobles to do paperwork. One Damuel was perhaps more useful than a dozen scholars in Sylvester’s employment. Then again, as his Myne used to say, multiplying by zero always results in a big fat zero. 

It was very pitiful that Sylvester had to work with incompetent aides because Veronica didn’t bother to keep competent people, just a herd of obedient slaves. It was quite busy during the social season. Once he and Rozemyne had spare time they had to start recruiting more adult aides. 

Speaking of adults, he was quite concerned about Viscount Joisontak, who was Rozemyne’s uncle by blood. According to Justus the reason Karstedt’s third wife got in trouble with his second wife was the case of “two zanze that couldn’t share one hunting ground”; they were both social climbers. Rozemyne had avoided Rosemary’s shameless relatives because not only was she baptized as Elvira’s daughter, the viscount also had the gall to look down on Giebe Ilgner favored by Rozemyne 

What an idiot. He could have easily found out from Rozemyne’s saintly reputation that they spread that she was very caring to those who served her. Disrespecting her aides would instantly put you in her bad graces. Still, that Leisegang stopped making noise about giving Rozemyne a new guardian was understandable. Bonifatius had interfered like an angry Angriff, loudly demanding whoever wanted the position had to beat the old veteran first. 

That uncle of course didn’t even dare to try facing Uncle Bonifatius and hopefully, the man got a clue and dispersed. It was mid-winter when he heard about Viscount Joisontak again. Ehrenfest was blessed by Glucklitat this year and two places had been attacked to get to their archduke candidates.

Ferdinand- The Sweet Scent of Chaos  

The castle and the temple were attacked by an unknown assailant. It was easy to guess why they invaded the temple, they were after Rozemyne for sure. It was thanks to Rozemyne’s suggestion for the evacuation procedure that everyone in the temple was safe. Temple was easy to manage because they had firm grasp on who they could trust and not, so when the ward in the temple was breached by someone not registered to enter the temple the grays quickly evacuated to a magic locked shelter in the orphanage basement as they were trained to do during the drill. Two blue robes Ferdinand’s adult self had trained were also informed how to keep themselves and grays safe during an attack on the temple. 

No one was killed in the incident but they had victims. A blue robe had the misfortune to run to the invaders during the incident, and he was dragged to the High Bishop’s chamber for some reason. They had ransacked Rozemyne’s room searching for something. 

“They are devouring soldiers, I can feel their mana…” Reported Damuel. 

Amazingly the laynoble knight of Rozemyne had sensed the invaders even before the barrier was triggered, hence why the grays could react so quickly to the emergency. 

“Damuel is amazing but Lady Rozemyne is even more so.” Justus commented, “Her misdirection strategy worked so well…” 

Rozemyne’s hidden room where she was submerged in jureve was not in the temple but in Ferdinand’s mansion. It was her idea to move when they decided to reveal her medical coma to the public. It was quite a hassle to move everything with their limited human resource, but the noble's habit of ignoring commoners made it easy to get Benno to do so on their behalf by old-fashioned carriage. 

Ferdinand even went as far as making frequent fake visits to her chamber in the temple to create the illusion she was really there. 

“...The blue robe who was attacked is heavily injured, it’s weird but he is so lucky to be alive.” 

“He would have died if we didn’t find him in time, I don’t think it’s on purpose as much as they are sure he would be dead, and ensuring it is so low on their priority.” 

“So are they really looking for Rozemyne in her room?” 

Justus narrowed his eyes, “They made a big mess in this room but they’re focusing on Milady’s office first and foremost…” 

“...I don’t think she kept anything that would interest the intruder there.” 

“Perhaps it’s something they think might be kept in her desk… are there any precious belongings Lady Rozemyne might keep here?” 

Rozemyne’s precious belonging would be her hair ornaments, printing press, and books. If it’s inside her room and of value not just for her, it would be books but Fran had strictly managed them so she couldn’t keep them in her bedroom. Also the most precious books in the temple were under Ferdinand’s management and aside from that was High Bishop’s scripture. It was valuable but not very useful for anyone but the High Bishop. 

When asked if that book was accounted for, Fran panicked because it was not in its usual place. Before Ferdinand could assume it was stolen, Justus sheepishly admitted he had it. 

“Why did you have it?”

“...I was curious about it and since Lady Rozemyne has no need of it while she is asleep, I brought it to my room to inspect.” 

It was a false alarm after all, there was no reason to steal a scripture. “What interests you about that book?”

“Well, I saw Milady unlocking the book as a reference for her children’s scripture… she used a tiny bit of mana.” Rozemyne used mana to open the book? “It’s a magical item and seems interesting, so I trade it with information on the Royal Academy Library.” 

Ferdinand glared at Justus, “And you didn’t report it?” 

“I am planning to inspect it thoroughly and report when I find anything about it.” 

So nothing was stolen in the end. “Never mind the scripture then, but is it real that Charlotte is almost kidnapped in the castle and of all people Viscount Joisontak  has saved her?” 

In a sense that was even more bizarre that man had been the hero of the day. He was no knight but a scholar, it didn’t make sense he would risk his life to save Charlotte.  It had to be investigated, so Ferdinand resisted his urge to check on his mansion personally and went to the castle. Sylvester already had the Linkberg couple, Bonifatius and Viscount Joisontak  in his office. Florencia was absent, most likely comforting Charlotte after the traumatic ordeal. 

Ferdinand didn’t like it but he expressed his gratitude to the Gibe for saving his niece, a social smile firmly in place. 

“It’s just a matter of course for me to save Lady Charlotte when I could, she is a very precious sister to my niece.” 

It seemed the man was no hero after all, claiming blood relation to an archduke candidate not baptized as his sister’s daughter arbitrarily in front of Linkberg and the Archduke showed his desperation to make connection with Rozemyne. Also… this sweet and sickening smell coming from his body- 

“It’s my greatest wish to see my niece, I am worried about her safety while she is still recovering in jureve.” 

He dared to voice his desire to approach Rozemyne when she was so vulnerable?! Such a ploy, saving someone or their close confidant was far too common. “What would seeing her in jureve accomplish?”

Joisontak  blinked, as though confused by the question, but he recovered: “Simply to assure she is recovering well.”

That would be almost useless to him, even Ferdinand had some troubles determining how her healing was going. “And how strange you, a scholar, were able to subdue many trained attackers…”

“Simply an uncle’s strength to defend his dear niece.”

Ferdinand glanced at Bonifatius and Karstedt and then Eckhart. Just as he had, they all seemed deeply suspicious of his flagrant answers to Ferdinand’s questions. Nobles should be able to hide their plans and motives far better. 

He also stunk of some sickly sweet odor; it caused Ferdinand’s mind to be ill at ease, almost as though he dimly remembered it in the past...

Karstedt seemed to follow that Ferdinand was suspicious, and then crossed his arms, pondering. “A pity you weren’t at the temple, then, it was also attacked by a group of robed men just like the ones who almost kidnapped Charlotte, do you know?” 

A look of disbelief painted all over the Gibe. “...How could that happen? They shouldn’t-”

Ferdinand latched on like a ferocious lion, “What a curious choice of words…” Ferdinand smiled darkly, “If Charlotte is attacked it’s not strange at all if they split their force to go after Rozemyne too, but you’re surprised they did…”

His uncle grabbed the man’s head, “Ohooo… curious indeed, if you’re so worried about Rozemyne… shouldn’t you ask if she is safe? Instead of saying it’s impossible?” 

Ferdinand nodded to Eckhart, and his guard quickly snapped out a band of light that encircled Joisontak  and caused him to fall to his feet.

Justus has moved right beside Eckhart and removed Joisontak’s ring just in case, “We think you have some explaining to do.”  

After he had been dragged away, Ferdinand grimaced. “That smell…”

Bonifatius piped in, “Ah - you smelled it too dear nephew? It was nothing natural.”

Ferdinand hid his shaking hand by clenching it against his side, and he nodded. “I do not think it is anything good.”

“We will track his associates,” Karstedt promised. “Viscount Joisontak is not the only one who stinks.”

Ferdinand knew as part of the Archduke family he should be out there and helping the investigation, however he was feeling under the weather since they apprehended Viscount Joisontak. It was silly to feel upset because the sickeningly sweet scent carried by the man brought up terrible memories he wished to bury. Sylvester took one look at his face this morning before telling him to go take a rest in his mansion, eat good food, sleep and see Rozemyne. 

Unlearn being inhuman like your adult self, it’s one thing to not show weakness but as your brother I don’t want to be deceived to think you are fine when you’re not. As your brother, I should have the privilege to know when I have to send you packing to Rozemyne’s side for healing.” 

“But-” 

“Even this cool Archduke brother of yours needed Florencia to get through his days, if you collapse you help nobody.” Sylvester said, and for some reason his brother didn't look at Ferdinand in the eye when he said so. Perhaps he was embarrassed too. 

So he was sent out of the castle and back to his mansion. Justus looked very grateful to his brother for once and praised their Archduke for growing up. It seemed in the past Rozemyne had given his brother a scolding for his workload. "Lord Ferdinand, I don't wish to keep this for you but as proud as we are for you to grow up to be a very dependable young man once you reach your autumn..." 

Ferdinand could already tell a 'but' coming and it wasn't something his retainer and Rozemyne approved.

"Veronica's poisonous words took hold of you so deeply, you make it your life mission to be 'useful' to your brother and Ehrenfest." Justus said sadly. 

He could hear a phantom of that woman trapped in Ivory Tower whispering to Ferdinand, how he shouldn't waste their grace and be useful to repay everything given to him. His older self had forgotten Myne, her loving words of how precious and loved he was to her was... overshadowed by Veronica's hateful words. 'How could I forget? Why did I let that woman taint me?' Ferdinand was ashamed of himself.  

Justus knelt down, getting a good look at Ferdinand's face full of shame for himself. "I am glad you remember milady now, especially if the memory of her is what it takes to let yourself be happy, Milord.”

“...Was my adult self really that unreasonable?” 

Justus nodded, giving Ferdinand a clear view of sadness in his expression. “You have become so guarded… and more often than not deceive everyone including your retainer and your brother that you’re invulnerable. At times I wonder if we’re all second-rate aides in spite of our willingness to offer our lord everything.” He chuckled softly, “We can’t help but be a little jealous of Lady Rozemyne.”  

Rozemyne was more observant and unlike most people was not fooled into thinking he was invulnerable. She was especially vocal about how he stink of potion and allergic to saying no to work. 

He was certainly not as robust as he wanted to be, especially now. It was that place where someone he vaguely recognized as his biological mother lived, a life of solitude behind the latticed windows. Until her gentle hand pulled him out and he was brought to his father. He didn’t want to remember and now he wanted Rozemyne’s gyuu so badly but she was still asleep. 

This suffocating feeling of being so vulnerable made him realize no matter how hard he tried to act mature, he was still a child. 

“Rozemyne… please wake up soon.” Less than a season without her made him feel so alone, Ferdinand couldn’t fathom how he could live to his twenties before he found her again. Perhaps in a twisted way, that woman’s threat to his life distracted him too much to survive first that he couldn’t even breathe long enough to notice this loneliness. 

Then again if what he heard from his aides about his adult self’s lifestyle were true, Ferdinand neglected enjoying life and just surviving day by day. It was only after Rozemyne re-enter his life, he started living like a human again. In hindsight even though he forgot about his goddess, he couldn’t live without her after all. 

“I am so pathetic without you…”   

Rozemyne - In Jureve Realm

How long it had been, the dull day of watering these stones monotonously. She had a lot of time to ponder; this was a metaphorical world made up of her mana, the rocks were her mana lump and the water was her jureve. It felt like forever she had to do this and wake up, but Rozemyne supposed patience as the key. 

Until she heard him… Ferdinand’s angelic voice called her and begged her to wake up soon in a helpless way that struck a chord inside her.  This was no time to slowly enjoy watering rock like a granny! She had to wake up and return to her poor baby boy! 

“Ey! Come! A high pressure washer!” And then she started to melt the lump more vigorously with her new tool.

Chapter Text

Ferdinand- Rozemyne’s Awakening 

Ferdinand sat beside the stone basin that held Rozemyne suspended in jureve, he had a book on his lap, a huge one about history that he was reading slowly out loud, a few words a bit long for him but he managed well. Rozemyne would like that, knowing he was reading to her… 

She was still probably weeks away from waking according to Justus, but reading to her and watching her dark hair sway in suspended blue liquid comforted him. Then he saw a sliver of gold peeking through dark eyelashes for a brief moment. “Rozemyne!” He called her name happily. If what he learned from Justus was accurate this was the sign of her awakening would be in days instead of weeks. 

Justus was in disbelief when he informed this to his aide. “That’s really quick… Milady is predicted to wake up at the beginning of spring.” He cupped his chin in a thoughtful manner. “I know Milady is out of standard but with her condition, she should be submerged for longer."

Ferdinand began to fret, “Is it… a bad sign if she awakens sooner?”

“...Optimistically our Lady Rozemyne is out of standard so she somehow managed to accelerate the process. However the likely cause is that the quality of jureve is not good enough to melt all the lumps.” 

Which meant they had to gather better materials next time but Justus had given them the best they could get in Ehrenfest. 

“We need to examine her before making a correct assessment of her condition.” Justus decided, looking sincerely apologetic, he ruined Ferdinand’s mood that Rozemyne’s early awakening might not be good news. 

Ferdinand became worried now that in his state he could hardly help Rozemyne to gather her materials but Justus assured him that even if her current jureve was not good enough to melt all her mana lumps, it should solve most of it so the next jureve didn’t have to be very high quality. They could even make do with materials his adult self stored, and since their colors were close the drop in quality most likely would be nonexistent. 

Few days later Rozemyne’s eyelids moved more frequently and her body started to surface, the perk of her tiny body meant Ferdinand could lift her up with body strengthening, a trick taught by Eckhart to make up for his lack of schtappe. Rozemyne coughed the leftover jureve out of her mouth and patted her back gently. 

“Fer...dinand…” Her moon-like eyes looked up at him and Ferdinand felt his very being trembling with joy.  

“I have been waiting for you, Rozemyne.” 

Rozemyne smiled at him beautifully, “I am back… Ferdinand.” 

They had brought Rosina over to serve as Rozemyne’s attendant, and the musician had frowned at how improper it was for him to carry soaking wet Rozemyne in her underwear. Ferdinand thought it was too late to talk about impropriety but Rozemyne laughing at Rosina’s concern about being uncalled for because Ferdinand was still a little boy was quite annoying. 

When Rozemyne took a bath, Justus arrived so Ferdinand told him. “Rozemyne, she didn’t see me as a man.” 

Justus’ smile didn’t waver, “...Well Milord, she did agree to marry you…” 

He turned away, his ears felt hot recalling her acceptance to his proposal. “She does adore me and I offered her library as a bride prize.” Ferdinand grumbled, “I want my goddess to see me as a man.” He was not yet a man, but he was at least the opposite sex and of similar age! 

Justus smiled, “I believe Lord Sylvester has explained about Lady Rozemyne’s… older mentality.” He and Justus were told about Rozemyne’s dream world discovered by his adult self, which was the source of her unique knowledge. Rozemyne remembered living as an adult but Justus believed some parts of her were affected by her body’s age. So, while she could act childish at times, Rozemyne was more inclined to see children their age through the eyes of an older figure than peers. 

His aide theorized this was why his adult self got along easily with her even though he usually disliked interacting with kids. At the same time she was still young and defenseless enough for him to let his guard down. The current Ferdinand couldn’t help but feel frustrated that while Rozemyne acknowledged she would marry him one day, at the present she would more often acted motherly towards him rather than a lover. 

Ferdinand loved her hugs, pats and little kisses on his cheeks he remembered her older self also gave him before his baptism. The feeling behind those loving gestures unfortunately wasn’t what he wanted. 

His pride as a man was a bit soothed when Rozemyne refused to have her mana circulation exam with him around. Elvira was invited to come, and Rozemyne’s mother had apparently learned how to operate the magic circle his adult self created for Rozemyne’s sake with Justus’ guidance. 

He had a mixed feeling now that Rozemyne was conscious enough to not allow someone of the opposite sex to examine her. HIs conflicted feeling didn’t last long after he overheard from behind the partition that she had a clear circulation and was healthier than she had ever been. 

“Ferdinand, I am healthy no-Gyaa!”

“Rozemyne!” Chided Elvira. 

He almost ran to the other side before Justus stopped him. Rozemyne had tripped over her feet, while she could still move months inside jureve made her body very sluggish.  

“Rozemyne! You’re not decent and shall not run to a boy in such a state.” Elvira trailed off, “Well, not that you can run for now, my dear.”  

“...Oh right!” 

...So he was still a boy to her in the end. 

Elvira was cupping her cheek in exasperation as she had Rosina and her attendant brought Rozemyne away for proper bath, and told them she would be over in a moment to supervise. “My daughter should have more attendants, but unfortunately there’s so few of them available and even fewer we can trust when she is this vulnerable…” 

Justus nodded in agreement, “True, she can’t even keep herself upright in bathtub for long in that condition.” Then he added, “More importantly, we really should find Lady Rozemyne a proper female doctor…” 

“Considering what happened recently in the castle, I wouldn’t trust the doctor serving Florencia.” 

Ferdinand felt it was just yesterday Sylvester was so happy to go to the Royal Academy and see Lady Florencia of Frenbeltag again. He succeeded in tying his thread with the lady of her dream, as he said. Ferdinand knew very little of Lady Florencia, but she at least not a cold woman who outright abandoned her son raised by Veronica and so obviously full of weakness to exploit.

After Rozemyne returned, all freshened up and warm after her bath. Elvira had Rozemyne sit in her lap and be comfortable, and helped Rozemyne to drink warm milk and soft pound cake. Ferdinand felt a bit jealous, he was too small to put Rozemyne in his lap like Elvira did. Elvira’s keen eyes caught him staring and her ears reddened again at her gentle smile, as if she had seen through him. 

They had the attendants to clear the room and continued the conversation about Rozemyne’s health. It was clear getting a female doctor couldn’t be delayed any longer, and Elvira had to use her connection to native Ehrenfest sovereignty nobles to find a female doctor to send home. Understandably, due to Veronica’s rampant poisoning she despised doctors, especially female doctors because they got in her way. So it was up to Elvira to convince someone to return and that the flag had changed. Elvira would go for the inter-duchy competition to see her relatives in the sovereignty. She promised she would do everything in her power to get someone for Rozemyne.  

“Why can’t I borrow Florencia’s doctor? They would be serving Florencia and Charlotte, they should be pretty good.” Rozemyne asked curiously. 

Elvira shook her head, “Well, her doctor is someone she brought from Frenbeltag.” 

Justus added, “Lady Rozemyne, an ‘adopted’ daughter is treated as a ‘half-sibling’ of their children by the norm… and you’re so frail, so your doctor couldn’t have ‘split’ loyalty.” 

Rozemyne gasped, “...You mean I can’t trust Sylvester’s wife?!”

Ferdinand nodded, “It’s just how it is… especially after what happened with Wilfried, and the situation in the children’s winter room.” 

His goddess blinked at him. “What did Wilfried do again this time? We barely saved him from the ivory tower last season!”  

“Apparently his grandmother and his entourage failed to even teach him noble common sense.” Then Ferdinand retold her what happened that day, how he had to pull Wilfried out of the room. 

Her eyes glazed over, “Oh, that explains… a lot considering Wilfried threw tantrums in public so often,  I thought he was just immature… but even a [manchild] like Sylvester kept up some appearance when he had to.”  

What did she just call Sylvester? 

“While Lady Florencia owes you for Wilfried and Charlotte adores you, it would be unwise to consider her as part of your inner circle.” Ferdinand advised Rozemyne. “Wilfried’s latest blunder effectively disinherited him completely from succession, her oldest son raised by Veronica… this is a great blow to her standing as mother of archducal children and Sylvester’s wife.” 

“...But she didn’t raise him?” She pointed out timidly. 

“Even though Veronica stood in his baptism…” Trailed Justus, “And he was raised like a half-sibling of Florencia’s other children, Aub’s first lady is still nominally his mother.” 

“She stood at her grandson’s baptism?” Ferdinand echoed in disbelief. He had belatedly learned Veronica’s refusal to stand in his baptism when father asked her was outrageous but parading herself as the ‘mother’ in Wilfried’s baptism was something else. 

Justus smirked, “It was quite an outrage indeed, even her faction pretend there’s nothing wrong… the Leisegangs of course outright call her delusional. She even start asking to go to the conference in place of ‘inexperienced’ Lady Florencia that spring.”

Elvira went on, “Veronica was getting senile… and that’s why she was distanced before she hurt herself.” 

Quite true, from what he was hearing now Veronica was getting even more deplorable than Ferdinand remembered. No wonder Sylvester had her retired, permanently in Ivory Tower.   

Lady Elvira went on to explain that Veronica strongly rejected Florencia when she was married to Ehrenfest, and she had been protecting Sylvester’s wife since then. “I know Florencia perhaps even better than her own husband, she is not Veronica but she is not gracious and there’s Leberecht…”

Justus nodded in agreement. “Her lead scholar is quite cunning, and doesn’t hesitate to use others as a shield for his lady… he is especially prone to deflect Veronica’s malice onto Lord Ferdinand.” 

“How could he?!” Rozemyne sounded indignant. “I don’t believe Ferdinand has ever wronged his sister in law!” 

Ferdinand was not surprised, “I am her husband’s little brother… and the faction nominally supporting her is not fond of Sylvester, I am not of Veronica’s blood and a threat to that support.”  Even if he did nothing against Florencia, his existence was enough. Eckhart had enlighten him about the ‘wonder’ of his academic achievement in the academy, and also the connections to grand duchies he made. 

Elvira gently patted Rozemyne in the head, and chided her for puffing her cheeks. “Don’t spoil your beautiful face like that, dear.” She chuckled softly, “Leberecht is a relative and nominally Leisegang but he is quite merciless under Verbergen’s shroud towards Veronican and Leisegang alike. Otilier is trustworthy and even at times anxious with how her husband moves politically, so don’t be surprised that while she would serve you sincerely she would also keep a distance for your protection.” 

Rozemyne grimaced, “...I will pay attention.” 

Apparently Elvira was content to let Rozemyne at peace with blissful ignorance as she was very young, and with how Florencia ‘owed’ Rozemyne a debt for trends and Wilfried there should be no danger imposed by Sylvester’s wife. The same couldn’t be said now with the massive blunder her son pulled in succession, and the Joisontak that ‘could be’ her maternal relative threatened Charlotte. Now they had to treat Florencia with caution. The lady herself might do nothing, but Leberecht certainly would if the chance presented itself. 

Hence Elvira’s need to rush to find Rozemyne a proper female doctor.  

“For now… Rozemyne, please give a favorable impression to proposals from Leisegang.” Elvira advised. “As your paper and printing are duchy industry, it would also present Aub’s shifting favor to them but indirectly…” 

“Elvira, that’s…” Ferdinand cautioned her. 

Elvira shook her head, “We need what remains of Veronica’s faction to cling to your brother a bit longer, and at the same time show my family that Rozemyne does have authority over these industries… then we can coax a suitable candidate for a second wife to marry Sylvester.” 

“...He won’t be happy.” 

“Unfortunately, Lord Ferdinand…with the imminent demotion of his oldest son he needs a proper second wife to support Lady Florencia.” Elvira stated firmly. “As you have told him, we can no longer afford the selfish whims of an archducal family member stirring Chaoscipher in Ehrenfest any further. His reign won’t last… after everything my husband and myself dedicate to the family, I at least wish for a peaceful change of reign in the future.” 

Ferdinand couldn’t help but nod, it would be hard on Sylvester but it had to be done. 

Rozemyne- Budget, Corruption, Oh! 

Post jureve, Rozemyne was beyond glad that she was officially declared healthy, Justus said she would still be weak, with low stamina, but her tendency to fall down when excited would be greatly reduced, if not eliminated, and that was perfect. Ferdinand and Hartmut had managed to finish the Winter Dedication without issues, even if Hartmut pleaded to be re-sworn in by Rozemyne, which she did.

“...What did your parent said about your blue robes status? I hope you’re not fighting with them?” 

Hartmut swooned, “Oh, milady! Do not worry! My mother just wishes me to not trouble you! My father disapproves but I am the youngest son of the family, so I can do whatever I want!” 

“Alright, just tell me if you’re in trouble over this.” 

“Of course, Milady! Rest assured, there’s nothing that would stop me from dedicating my service to you!” 

She supposed he was in a similar situation as old Lutz, the difference being Leberecht wasn’t so concerned. Although from what he learned of Florencia’s head scholar, Leberecht must have thought of using Hartmut to keep an eye on them in the temple too. 

Well, not that they would be in the temple for long this season. 

It was agreed that she and Ferdinand would need to go back to the palace to participate in the children’s room further, but she had also learned of the massive shake ups within the room from Ferdinand. Wilfried had made a huge fool of himself and actually become entirely removed from the line of succession, Charlotte was excellent, but because she was Wilfried’s sister she would be watched closely by their people for sure. Everyone was learning well from the various tools and new books. 

Hartmut had just begun his specialization in the scholar course, and brought her a variety of interesting observations from the Royal Academy, grades were up, and Sylvester would doubtless want more.

Rozemyne confirmed exactly that a few days later when she had a rare opportunity to talk business with Sylvester over dinner and after dinner. “We need more study materials, Rozemyne, but since we also need them to stay in the duchy we need exports, and fashion, and to improve our overall standing within the territorial confrontation--”

“Archduke,” she said, holding up her hand to get him to stop. She was told she was too reckless, and so when she thought Sylvester was being unreasonable, that was saying something. “I will start the Ehrenfest Improvement Committee, but you will need to do more fundraising this time!”

Ferdinand frowned beside her. “When did you do fundraising at all?” 

Rozemyne wished she could sell more Ferdinand merchandise! But now she would be dealing with shotacons and that was not good at all! “I funded everything inside the Hasse Monastery to prepare for paper making with contributions--” 

“Brother!” Ferdinand gave Sylvester a firm look. “Is printing and paper a Rozemyne industry or an Ehrenfest industry?”

“... Ehrenfest,” Sylvester answered, obviously glum.

“Then Ehrenfest will provide a reasonable amount of money, and if the scholars are incapable of finding it-- perhaps you should look for different scholars,” Ferdinand answered, fixing Sylvester with the sternest gaze an eight year old could muster.

“You’re too sweet to Rozemyne,” Sylvester protested.

Rozemyne smiled, while holding her urge to point out Ferdinand was right, a duchy's projects should be funded by their government. Ferdinand was not being sweet. “I will budget well, don’t worry.” However, since she got the funds she needed, she refrained from ruining Sylvester’s image. Rozemyne still had use of Sylvester’s desire to present a cool and reliable older brother/Archduke to Ferdinand. 

“Uh, but I’ve been getting a lot of requests to set up paper shops and printing shops around the duchy, yeah? So can you get that going? There are a few Giebes who have been loyal and giving them that opportunity would really help me out.”

Political kickbacks? She tilted her head and pressed a finger to her cheek. “I will pick where there is a good environment for the industry itself and the people who will work there. You may make suggestions, but if you want profit, you need a good setup!” 

Elvira had advised her to favor Leisegang first and dangle the bait for former Veronican to behave. Sylvester was really too soft to his faction, he was quick to appease them after what Wilfried did. It was no wonder his mother’s faction didn’t respect him even after he imprisoned her. 

And so began late winter: tell students to bring home study guides, get more stories from kids, and review the applications for new workshops with Sylvester and his aides. She even found six who were stupid and obviously embezzling and trying to trick a little girl into giving money to their home Giebe or similar. 

In the end she tentatively agreed to set up a paper manufacturing operation in Groschel and a printing operation in Haldenzel, which apparently signaled she was supporting Leisegang. That hadn’t been her intent, but the very long Haldenzel winters meant they could print quite a bit, and Groschel appeared to have the water sources needed…

“Well, Archduke, perhaps you should ask Giebe Haldenzel and Giebe Groschel if they have recommended civil servants who might like a place in your entourage,” Rozemyne said when Sylvester protested. “I will take Guttenberg to both areas with Lessy during Spring Prayer and they can assess if the conditions are right.”

Sylvester looked ill, and Rozemyne smiled, ignoring it. Sylvester had just accepted this was the way to befriend the Leisegang faction whether he liked it or not. If not for Wilfried’s repeated blunders they could have done this the slow way, but that wasn’t an option now. It was quite a risky move to expose this lazy Archduke of theirs to Leisegang folks, but Sylvester would have to work hard to earn their approval. In a sense they were more severe judges than children in his office, because Leisegang would make sure their Archduke would not pass anything that would give former Veronican any unfair advantage over them and at the same time would be looking for weakness to gain an upper hand over him. 

After they returned, Justus told her that she misunderstood Sylvester. It seemed she overestimated their dear Archduke, he apparently had not realized the gate of office hell she opened with her suggestion to welcome Leisegang and neutral factions to his office. Sylvester wanted to reassure and appease the former Veronican faction that they had not fallen out of favor yet. Which was definitely easier than convincing the Leisegang faction to like him. 

She understood where Sylvester was coming from but if the former Veronicans started their businesses with the intent to abuse commoners and embezzle funds, she was not going to give them her business. So Rozemyne told Justus to relay her message to Sylvester that the former Veronican faction had to learn how to conduct business with sincerity before even thinking to deal in the paper and printing business. She was not letting those bad nobles anywhere near her Guttenberg. 

“He also needs to be a bit firmer with his faction to get them to behave, don’t forget… they did trap his children before.” He didn’t have to punish everyone because of the Joisontaks, but he did need to show it was not nothing. 

Since she now had a study guide project, Rozemyne was given access to Royal Academy lesson materials through Hartmut and her aides that had enrolled. Year three and up materials were managed by Justus and Eckhart on their behalf so he and Ferdinand could concentrate on the first two years. 

Eckhart said they had a problem with the knight course. “This is a disaster, with curriculum this lax it’s no wonder the quality of knights has dropped sharply in recent years.” 

“How so?” Rozemyne asked curiously, “I am under the impression their theoretical lesson is comprehensive enough…” Not that she could say more because her knowledge on knight course was from tutoring Angelica. 

“It’s not the theory lesson…it’s the practical, especially Ditter.” Then Eckhart explained what Ditter was all about, basically it was a type of mock war exercise played as a game by the knights. In recent years the type of Ditter exercised focused on speed, which was not giving the apprentice knights the practical experience they needed. 

Ferdinand figured out why this change happened, “It’s because of the drop of quality in noble students entering in recent years, orthodox Ditter namely Treasure Stealing Ditter is a long drawn out battle which meant more mana, funds for potions, and magical tools… and also injuries. If we look at other courses most likely we will see similar changes to accommodate the same issue.” 

Rozemyne frowned, “That’s understandable… However, why did we notice this only now? Don’t we get information from our people in the Sovereignty at all?”

“Rozemyne is right, why is that?”  

Justus smiled sadly at them, “Simple… because most competent people sent to the sovereignty are those who are sick with Veronica and stagnation of our duchy so they completely abandon Ehrenfest.”

Whoaaa- Veronica really didn’t hold back in her mission to ruin Ehrenfest beyond repair. 

“Also… their general opinion is: sending information to our duchy is a futile endeavor since it’s not like our Archduke can use it for the betterment of our duchy and Lady Veronica will ensure Ehrenfest will stay at rock bottom and subservient to Ahrensbach.” 

So more people Sylvester had to make amends with, she started to feel sorry that Sylvester had to clean up after his mother’s mess to this extent. 

They were in the midst of considering what to recommend to Sylvester when an ordonnanz flew through the window and landed on Eckhart’s outstretched hand and her father’s voice said: “The Winter Lord has appeared, all knights are to report to the main training ground.”

Rozemyne looked at the stone, and then saw Ferdinand stand as though he was going to go. “Wait, no! Absolutely not, Ferdinand may have taken the knight course in the future but he’s eight!”

Ferdinand, far from relieved, seemed a bit hurt by her defense. “But I’ve learned feystone armor crafting and I can control my highbeast well.”

“Do you even have a weapon?” she shot back at him.

He faltered, making it clear that he did not. He might be healthier than her, but he was still small without much practice and training, so using some other weapon would not be feasible either.

“Milady, you participated last year, and ridiculous or not, Milord must arrive or be called a deserter,” Justus said, ushering Ferdinand out of the room to prepare for battle.

“I’m going too!” she shouted after them, there was no way she was letting Ferdinand out of her sight. “Fran,” she turned to her attendant. “Fetch Flutrane’s staff…” And for Ferdinand… “and Ewegeliebe’s sword.”

Brigitte, Justus, and Ferdinand rode with her in Lessy, while Damuel and Eckhart led the way. She did have one question. “Why can’t Ferdinand find the palace anymore?”

Her knight flushed very slightly. “It… is a matter of mana sensing.”

Oh… since Ferdinand was a kid. “And Justus, tell Sylvester if he’s going to make Ferdinand subjugate a Lord of Winter, Wilfried shouldn’t be exempt!” She dropped the scholar at the palace and then to the rendezvous point. They were a bit early, and Karstedt looked at them both confused when she and Ferdinand exited Lessy.

“You…” He shook his head. “The ordonnonz was meant for knights…” But he had sent the message regardless, and Ferdinand was sworn as a knight so the magic sent an ordonnanze to him. “I—” Perhaps he saw something when he looked at Ferdinand. “Stay formed up with the layknights if you must.”

“Father, what is the Winter Lord this year?”

“Eisfrettchen, it’s quick and agile, so mana enhancement for speed will be needed,” he explained. Soon after the rest of the knights arrived.

Speed… well, if Angriff seemed happy enough to offer blessings when she asked… “Men of the Knights Order, I will pray for your success!” They all removed their helmets and knelt, and she called for a blessing from Angriff, as well as the goddess of swiftness, Steifebrise, and marksmanship.

Brigitte was her and Ferdinand’s guide for the trip to the hunt, with Ferdinand exiting Lessy when they arrived. The Lord of Winter this year was quite small in comparison to the saber toothed tiger from last year. It looked like a gargantuan ferret with too many teeth and a scythe-like tail and elbows; it reminded her of kamaitachi in Japanese folklore. Unlike last year, the minions of the Winter Lord were terrifyingly fast, if even more frail, and the snowy and furry monster with a snake-like body was far more lithe and lower to the ground, but that meant it much more easily darted away or pounced.

Ferdinand joined the layknights in fighting the stragglers, but as medknights tired they quickly urged him forward to take the fight to the front line of minions.

Rozemyne watched on, powerless to help as Ferdinand poured mana into his sword and hacked through more and more enemies. 

As the blade began to spark Ivory, Rozemyne screamed from inside Lessy: “Ferdinand, pray to Ewegeliebe!”

She watched as he did exactly that, sweeping the sword down and then dozens of minions, almost exactly like the Winter Lord’s shot from the blade and rampaged through the lines that the medknights struggled against before impacting the Winter Lord with a sickening crunch Rozemyne could hear through the howling wind.

The Lord hobbled, and she watched as the arch and medknights closed to begin their butchery. Ferdinand, apparently exhausted, retreated to Lessy to rest.

“Ferdinand, lay down and rest,” she told him. “I would give you a lap pillow but I’m driving…”

“Lady Rozemyne!” Brigitte protested, but Ferdinand just smiled from the back seat.

It took much longer, for hours and hours the Winter Lord continued to try to regenerate, but the tide was turned by the broken leg hobbling its speed.

“I had no idea a holy relic could be used that way…” Ferdinand remarked.

“We did that last year, attacking the Lord with Leidenschaft’s spear! When the battle is done I’ll heal with the cane.”

“I can’t just wander around with a holy relic… perhaps a mana blade…”

She remembered that he’d called Stenluke their child and flushed, waiting for the Knights to finish their battle and ignored her passenger. 

Rozemyne- Her Edgy Children 

Ferdinand now was a hero for participating in Winter Lord subjugation at eight and performing far beyond what one would expect from a child his age. The knight aspirants in the children’s room were all looking at him with a heated gaze of admiration rivaling Eckhart’s. Many girls flocked to him, obviously falling for him. For a moment she felt sad he was no longer just her hero but… it was for the best if Ferdinand was popular and became everyone’s hero! After all, any mother would be happy if their son made so many friends! 

When she said as much to Justus, he just looked at her as if she was a disappointing girl like Angelica. 

On lesser issues, Charlotte was adorable and a good girl Rozemyne was so proud of. Wilfried on the other hand sulked because Ferdinand got all the attention and being a fellow male archduke candidate made people compare them. Wilfried had lost from the start in spite of his better pedigree due to his recent blunders and Sylvester had a headache because his son wanted to prove himself and joined the next subjugation. 

Sylvester was disappointed in his son but was now back to pitying Wilfried for becoming a male archduke candidate in the same generation as Ferdinand. Rozemyne intercepted them before Sylvester started doing something stupid in the name of a father’s love. First of all, Ferdinand was good because he worked hard beyond what was expected of him. Wilfried barely caught up to the standard level expected of a archduke candidate, and it was not his fault. However Wilfried had never shown the sign of working as hard as Ferdinand to be beyond excellent, so he had no right to cry foul.

If he wanted to be a hero too, go learn under Karstedt and make friends with everyone in the Children’s room. Nobody was stopping him from achieving his full potential if he wanted to, he just had to sacrifice his free time. 

She managed to shut Wilfried up, and warned the boy that complaining about being not as good as Ferdinand was showing the gap of their family’s unity too. Go to a hidden room if he wants to vent, a child educated as a noble like him should know better. 

Now that she still had some time before spring and calling her merchants, she had to address more pressing issues she had overlooked. Ferdinand lost his sctappe and so he had no weapon. Like he said, Ferdinand couldn’t afford to use sacred tools as his weapon every time. It was not appropriate even as her high priest. 

So a mana blade it was, and considering their mana and his need for it to be a ready weapon, they more likely had to feed the mana blade together… which would result in giving Stenluke a little sibling. 

Rozemyne waited patiently for Justus to stop laughing before the scholar was sent away to get a mana blade. Surprisingly… or rather unsurprisingly, Ferdinand did have one laying around in his workshop but never got around to using this masterpiece because after learning compression he had so much mana he could just easily use his schtappe for for everything. It looked very similar to Stenluke with the exception of lion carving at the pommel and scabbard that marked Ferdinand’s status as an archduke candidate.  

Justus of course just had to ask, “So… you will make your child now, Milady?” 

She glared at the insufferable man and had him bring Ferdinand over so they could do this quickly and he would have a reliable weapon to defend himself. Ferdinand was overjoyed when she told him that she was going to give him her mana for the blade but worried about giving the precious mana away. 

“I want to grow up anyway so… according to your adult self I need to decompress at least a bit so it’s convenient to have a vessel to put my mana into.” 

“I see… then I am glad to accept, Rozemyne.” 

Both of them put their fingertips on the feystone and began pouring mana together. Rozemyne tried her best to not think but her mind kept wandering to how helpful Stenluke was to cover for Angelica’s weakness and she wanted to give the same to Ferdinand. The problems in winter during her absence made her realize she wanted to be always near to help Ferdinand. 

The blade grew rapidly and both of them stopped when it reached the desired length suitable for Ferdinand. 

“Amazing… a knight would take months to grow a fraction of this length for their mana blade.” Justus commented admirably, “Hm… this child can’t talk?” 

Rozemyne flushed, “‘Quit calling it a child, Justus!” 

“It’s very embarrassing indeed, Mother of mine.”

Silence fell in the room as they turned their attention to the mana blade. 

Ferdinand grasped the sword’s handle. “...Did you just speak?” 

“ I did, dearest Father .” 

The voice coming from the mana blade was clear and gentle, a voice of a young lady. It sounded a bit like hers… could it be? 

“Milord… that voice.”

Ferdinand nodded, blushing in his ears. “It’s the voice of Rozemyne’s adult self from my memory…” 

“M-mo-more importantly, don’t call us Mother and Father! Fix it- call Ferdinand your master like Stenluke did Angelica!” 

“But… Mother-” 

It was really weird to have her adult voice calling her Mother but in the end she managed to get the blade to call her and Ferdinand as Mistress and Master respectively. Justus was not helpful at all, he was making friends with the floor. 

Ferdinand christened the second preaching sword with the name Roselion. It was quite a cool name for a sword but it was named after her and it made her embarrassed. Yet- she couldn’t bring herself to convince Ferdinand otherwise because the boy looked so happy with the name. 

Eckhart once again begged for his own mana blade, he even brought a pair he had apparently raised since autumn. Rozemyne reluctantly complied because she couldn’t handle her oldest brother begging like a child. The third mana blade infused with their mana had Ferdinand’s young voice, and Eckhart was really happy because this immortalized Ferdinand’s current voice. The last one however… had an unknown woman’s voice, Ferdinand’s aide recognized as their fallen comrade and Eckhart’s late wife. 

Eckhart named the sword after his first wife, Heidemarie. Apparently… the feystone that used to make the mana blade was his wife’s… and the second smaller sword that was more of a dagger was from his unborn child and named it Judichel. It was sort of touching but also… tragic. 

Eckhart declared them as family heirlooms. 

Rozemyne refused Justus before the man could ask, four children was already four too many in her book! 

On the brighter side of things, Mother who returned from the inter-duchy tournament succeeded in inviting a female doctor from Sovereignty to serve her! 

After a lengthy winter greeting, the middle aged woman with pale purple hair and candy colored eyes introduced herself. “My name is Cardea, Lady Rozemyne… if you will have me. I shall serve you faithfully as your Heilschmerz.” 

They signed the contract after Rozemyne gave her consent, and that day Rozemyne learned there was a simplified hippocratic oath for a doctor to sign when they consent to work as personal doctors. This would serve for the safety of the patient and doctor. 

So after the contract, Cardea right away tried her hand in examining Rozemyne. “Hyau!” 

“Oh dear! I thought you have been examined by other doctor before, Milady. I didn’t expect you to be so sensitive to foreign mana.” 

“Uhm… ha haha, it’s a bit tingly and chilly- that is all.” 

“That’s pretty normal to feel slight discomfort. It will get better over time, Milady.” 

She learned that day, doctor’s examination was quite… uncomfortable and only Ferdinand’s was nice. Fortunately, an experienced doctor like Carnea had ways to make it more comfortable. 

Chapter Text

Spring of Youth

“Geduldh is freed by water goddess Fluthrahne, bless the thaw!” 

And that was how Ehrenfest at last welcomed spring and since their Duchy was quite close to the north, at the beginning of winter she could only shed a layer from her winter dress and swap to the noble color of green. It would be a busy season for her because spring meant she had to start surveying the location for paper and printing workshops all over Ehrenfest. They had settled on surveying Haidenzel and Groschel, and she hoped there were more regions she could put under pending choices. Honestly it wasn’t that hard to get her consideration, present a proposal on why their area was suitable to start the workshop, be sincere in requesting for funds and treat her people well. 

She had to tell Sylvester repeatedly that former Veronicans could forget getting involved if their knee jerk response to a duchy project with hefty funds was trying to embezzle it. Now she understood why Ehrenfest was so poor. So to combat this she proposed several reforms to be held under Rihyarda’s and Justus’ supervision. 

First she proposed a uniform format for all documents in Archduke’s office for more efficient processing. Because Johann was too busy, she opted to get Ingo to create a wooden stamp and templates for forms for financial reports, research, and so on. Which made auditing their duchy’s financial report so much easier, Justus couldn’t stop laughing as he brought a handful of grays she and Ferdinand had trained to the castle. Sylvester thought she at last had mercy for her pitiful adopted father. 

Ehrenfest was poor but not that poor, Justus was a tax collector so he had a very good grasp on numbers. Rozemyne gave him a crash course on how to spot embezzlement; she had no hands-on experience, but plenty of books about taking down mob bosses and finance! Ferdinand had also been looking for Bezewanst’s embezzlement so many greys were familiar with that.

It was nothing complicated really, all they had to do was make all reports uniform and while they were at it, they should compare them to see discrepancies in numbers and categories. Justus loved gathering information, so he had a good grasp on this. It was like a game to spot ‘unclear spending’ and Justus had taken to it like fish to water. 

Result: more than half of Sylvester’s scholars were guilty of extreme embezzlement and had to be dismissed with solid evidence gathered by Justus.  Which resulted in their property impounded to repay the duchy, and of course… Justus had a long standing grudge against them and Veronica so the trail also led to… Veronica’s money. 

And since Sylvester’s entourage shrank… there was room for Leisegang and neutral aides. Sylvester was glad to see the corruption rooted out of Ehrenfest, however at the same time it also meant welcoming aides that would bully him to push Leisegang’s interest and since he owed them for what his mother did…

“You have to deal with it sooner or later because those corrupt aides just pamper you and do no good for our duchy.” She had not taken Ferdinand with her to see Sylvester so their Archduke had no reservation to whine. At times like this, Rozemyne understood rather than a daughter Sylvester saw her more like a minister. She didn’t mind but Rozemyne wished this Archduke realized how pathetic it looked to sulk at a little girl. 

Sylvester glared at her, “You’re not the one who will get bullied.” 

“I did it because Ehrenfest needs money and sooner or later your corrupt officials have to repay the money they owe us.” 

“...Rozemyne…” 

“You’re the one who told me you don’t have the money to fund our duchy project and I helped you find some, it’s not my fault the missing money is in their pockets…” Which also led to his mother’s. 

Sylvester just sighed, “This is not good for my heart and stomach.” 

“I am sorry but Archduke… I am under the impression the prosperity of our duchy is more important than your stomach.” She pointed out blithely, “Also one way or the other as Ferdinand said you have to convince the other two factions to support you, he is right your deadline is a decade or less.” By then her generation would become adults and eligible to replace Sylvester.

Sylvester buried his face on his hands, “...You really want to make me work, don’t you Rozemyne?” 

She refrained from answering him, or rather her silence was an affirmative. Then marched back with her entourage back to the temple with her head held high. Now that she had settled the issue of funds, she could concentrate on the Spring Ceremonies. As usual she would handle the area under direct control of their Archduke then moved to see Haldenzel and Groschel. 

Hasse just like last year was very happy to see her and she had Ferdinand to see the workshop of a small temple. She had him see the workshop in their temple but it would be different for a place like Hasse where the orphans cut the wood and soaked it in the river. 

“As you said Rozemyne… the paper industry needs a stable supply of water, this eliminates some of the regions already.” Ferdinand commented as he looked over the clean river of Hasse. 

She nodded, “Yes, and while our well trained workers in the orphanage make it look easy… it actually takes a while to get a hang of paper crafting. Also, if they use different wood the formula of adhesive and water ratio might be different. There’s also the matter of weather...”

“Which is why Haldenzel with their long winter is not suitable?” 

“Yes.” 

After they finished their rounds of the nearby area they moved towards Groschel. She had her Gutenbergs traveling in Lessy, her aides from the temple, and her plans for the area. She left them to their work just after landing, and then continued to Giebe Groschel’s summer mansion for her duties as High Bishop and daughter of Sylvester.

Ferdinand had taken to escorting her when they were out in official capacities, something she found incredibly endearing since he wasn’t tall enough to make a huge difference in their height. 

Rozemyne did her duty handing over the chalice and then quickly found herself on the receiving end of dozens of introductions and greetings.

Giebe Groschel assured she was again introduced to Brunhilde, his daughter who was around Hartmut‘s age and clearly trying to become selected for a position as her retainer. There was also apparently a younger sister who wasn’t baptized yet, so Rozemyne didn’t meet her.

“I must thank you for considering Groschel for the expansion of the paper production within Ehrenfest,” the Giebe said as they had a rather lavish dinner to welcome Rozemyne and Ferdinand.

“A solid proposal was provided,” Rozemyne answered. “After the assessment, Ilkner will be receiving my Gutenbergs and preparing the final stage of their workshop at the moment, if Groschel is suited and prepared, tools will be commissioned and further instructions provided.”

Rozemyne got the sense that the Giebe was not thrilled to be placed behind the hick and backward territory of Ilkner, but unlike Giebe Joisontak he was not stupid enough to say so. Brigitte was a well-respected figure in her entourage and her mother had assured she had good opportunities for romance as well, signaling that Elvira was favoring her as well.

“And you, Lord Ferdinand, news of your role in the subjugation of the Winter Lord has been extensive , it is almost enough to think you merely became a youth in appearance.”

Rozemyne was amused to think of that a little, she was her own ‘adult child’, but Ferdinand certainly had more than a bit of that air as well.

“I thank you, Giebe Groschel, but I will be attending the Royal Academy again and learning again,” he answered. “With the new work Rozemyne is doing with printing I suspect three courses will be far easier this time around.”

And that led to Brunhilde praising Rozemyne’s printing and her collecting of trends, more to say how much she hoped the fashions could be spread to the central area, and so forth.

“Yes, elevating Ehrenfest is a goal deeply on the mind of my father, Aub Ehrenfest,” she answered. It was deeply on his mind to complain, and avoid, but it was on his mind.

The conversation flowed to the dismissal of some of the worst embezzlers within Sylvester’s entourage and Giebe Groschel offering up a small handful of scholars who he assured would make excellent additions to Sylvester’s office.

Of course no promises were made and Rozemyne carefully made it clear that scholars of good standing with an ability to work with commoners were just as needed to make the paper industry a success.

Gil and Lutz offered their unimpressed review of the Groschel preparations: “Their water sources are quite muddy from agricultural areas nearby, the various workshops that need to be contacted to make the tools haven’t been informed, workshop space is unavailable, and the quarters for workers are… good enough for grey robes, but don’t speak to the care you’d like your workers to receive, Milady,” Gil reported. Lutz followed with his own similar report, more geared toward the craftsman integration and the issues with local merchants who were unprepared to handle paper without causing damage. 

In short, the Groschel scholars had talked a good game in their proposal, but in practice there were huge gaps.

“Should we cancel the agreement?” Ferdinand asked after the reports were considered.

Rozemyne did consider it, after all it wasn’t exactly good to reward this level of incompetence any more than it was a good idea to show that Rozemyne was not the type to abandon someone after an error if it was fixed… 

“No, I will give them until the Harvest Festival to make their corrections, and add a few tips for the more difficult issues,” Rozemyne said, gesturing, and Fran quickly set out paper, quill, and ink for her to get to work on her ‘official recommendation’. “But we must be clear with anyone, Leisegang, Veronican, or Neutral that I will not allow my Guttenbergs to be placed in bad circumstances simply due to family or relationship.”

“Then I will assure that Giebe Groschel understands what is needed from his civil servants… Sylvester’s new aides might be able to go without interactions with commoners, but as they are the key to your industries…” Ferdinand had his diptych brought and began to make notes for his own discussion.

In the end, she had tea with Brunhilde, who was obviously concerned over the bad ‘review’ given by both Rozemyne and Ferdinand. There was also the matter that she was clearly attempting to gain a place in Rozemyne’s future entourage.

“Are you disappointed in Groschel, Lady Rozemyne?”

Her answer was to tilt her head, somewhat confused. “Issues are natural in new development, my concern is simply to assure that my exclusive commoners are treated well, even by those who are their social betters. My disappointment comes not from failing, but from failing to improve after.”

Brunhilde quietly considered for several moments, before making a soft note about Wilfried, which Rozemyne dutifully ignored.

Elvira- The Fair Princess   

Elvira had told Rozemyne about giving preferential treatment to Leisegang, in hope to create a balance so the former Veronicans would cling to Sylvester a little longer until their duchy became united. Sylvester would ask Rozemyne to give the former Veronicans a chance to get involved in the industry anyway. So both sides would be benefited from the new industry, and support the archducal family, or so she hoped. She had ignored the warning of the older Lord Ferdinand that Rozemyne was not predictable, so to always prepare for her to move diagonally from their expectations. 

With Lord Ferdinand in his state - she secretly adored this situation - he had joined her rather than restraining Elvira’s dear daughter. For better or worse perhaps, the control on Rozemyne loosened considerably. However Elvira did not expect Rozemyne would touch Sylvester's officials and root out what was left of Veronica's grasp on Ehrenfest's gold. Then again sending Justus and a group of trained grays to help Sylveater might seem like help from heaven, not his daughter's attempt to wreck havoc in his office.

Justus was very happy with his good deed, and most likely the scholar was avenging his master. Her darling daughter was also all smiles now there was enough funds for the industry, not even looking back at the destruction she left in her wake. In hindsight it was quite amusing, and as a noble loyal to their duchy she was glad.

However, her daughter now left a vacuum of power inside Sylvester's office their Archduke had to fill with Leisegang and neutrals. Rozemyne obviously meant well, and Lord Ferdinand had said Archduke had to welcome aides from other factions. Her way of doing it though spurred Leisegang faction like throwing a ripe ruel fruit to a group of hungry feybeast.

She brought the former Veronicans to justice and paved a path to power for Leisegang. She was an exemplary daughter of Leisegang. Elvira heard the old grandfather of hers had been in great shape after hearing what Rozemyne had done. It was disrespectful but Elvira wished her grandfather would climb to the towering height soon, just so the old man would stop fanning hostility towards the former Veronican faction. Which was making her effort to keep the Leisegang faction from pushing Rozemyne to the heir’s seat even harder. 

Florencia’s gaze was becoming frosty lately, but thankfully their First Lady knew where the blame should be thrown, solely at her husband’s feet. He was the one who ‘gave’ their son away for nonsensical reasons; it was the ‘Ehrenfest’s way of raising heirs, how did their Archduke even believe in the ‘least’ Ehrenfest noble in this land, Elvira had no idea. She had long given up making sense of Lord Sylvester’s filial piety to Lady Veronica. 

The boy had repeatedly became Chaoscipher’s greatest trap, dragging the reputation of their archducal family members through the mud. Elvira almost suspected Veronica did this on purpose, destroying Florencia’s son. That was likely a farfetched assumption, but you never knew with Veronica. Karstedt had told her that one of the reasons Sylvester decided to confine her at last was due to her deteriorating mental faculties, and how it would just be about time Veronica would become like old Count Leisegang. 

‘...Well, I suspected so when she stood in Lord Wilfried’s baptism instead of Lady Florencia.’ Even Lord Sylvester was extremely uncomfortable with the oldest child of theirs, for their first ever baptism as parents, Veronica usurped Florencia’s position. 

Lord Wilfried’s baptism had renewed the dissatisfaction with the archducal family last year, and Rozemyne was baptized just in time to placate their clan. Perhaps Rozemyne did too much.  

Unexpectedly… or rather as expected of her out of standard daughter, Rozemyne solved the problem she triggered by the failure of Groschel to meet her requirement. News traveled fast, and she received inquiries from her relatives as to why Rozemyne sabotaged their family. Elvira had to escape to her hidden room to laugh when he heard the details. 

As expected of Lord Ferdinand’s disciple, Rozemyne was meritocratic and would throw nepotism out of the window at the first sign of incompetence. Which was exactly what she did, Rozemyne cared not that Giebe Groschel was related to her and his region was one of the most elevated in Ehrenfest. Rozemyne found his preparation for the paper industry unsatisfactory and didn’t meet his promise in the business proposal, so she declared Groschel unfit, gave them advice on what to fix, and told them to try again. She promised to inspect them again during the harvest festival and expected Groschel to get their bearings together by then. 

Basically her dear daughter had crushed Leisegang’s daydream for a perfect Leisegang's daughter who would abide by all their wishes and present herself as a fair and just archduke candidate who would not hesitate to be strict to her relatives. 

Her brother of course asked her what Rozemyne was up to with her treatment towards Groshechel when Elvira arrived in Haldenzel ahead of her daughter. 

“There’s nothing, Rozemyne merely deemed Groschel was not up to her standard in their preparation for the paper industry. She was certainly not ordered by Sylvester to cease favoring the Leisegang faction, and our cousin didn’t offend my daughter either.” 

“That was it?” 

Elvira nodded, inwardly laughing at the thinly veiled shock on her brother’s face. “Rozemyne is Lord Ferdinand’s disciple but due to her childhood that kept her away from noble society there’s a straightforwardness and fairness she upholds even if she has to disregard noble common sense…” She took a sip of her tea calmly, “I believe in the orphanage, the orphans are taught only those who work get to eat. Work hard and you will be rewarded…” 

Giebe Haldenzel frowned, “Basically just like the orphans, since Giebe Groschel didn’t do well she won’t reward Groschel…” 

“Indeed… and she rejected former Veronicans’ proposals because she found their proposals reeked of corruption and insincerity, not due to faction politics.” 

Which meant if a Giebe from the former Veronican faction proposed an honest and reasonable deal, Rozemyne would take it too. 

“And her investigation that put half of Archduke’s entourage on house arrest or worse?"

“...The fundraising was held before because Ehrenfest didn't have the liquid money to fund her business, but then it would be her industry not the duchy’s… so she sent help so our Archduke could find the money.” Which had snugly rested inside those corrupt Veronicans’ pockets. “There’s no faction politics, my daughter is just looking for the money she needs to fund her paper and printing industry.” 

Her brother’s noble mask almost slipped, “So those former Veronican criminals embezzling our duchy’s money are just collateral damage to her?” 

Elvira just smiled and kept her silence. 

Her brother looked concerned now, “Elvira… at the rate this is going, all three factions would unite under your daughter and support her or Lord Ferdinand to be the next Archduke.”

“...Because she is fair.” 

“The reason Lady Veronica had a large following is because she gave strong protection to members of her faction, distributing profit by giving them power and money and holding their loyalty tight…” 

On the other hand, the profit given by Rozemyne was more mouthwatering because it was their own business. It was a long term investment that was so much safer than embezzlement that relied on maintaining favor to keep their access. She was also known for treating her people well, returning their devotion to her with sincerity. The deciding factor however… was her fairness, she was strict to all factions and would reward them the same. 

The neutrals would certainly prefer Rozemyne’s policy, and the Leisegangs, while unsatisfied, would pick her over Sylvester’s children that inherited Veronica’s blood and the former Veronicans who not only lost Veronica but also Wilfried… the moderate part of the faction for sure would go to Rozemyne and those who only sought profit would follow. 

“Is she in good health now?”

“...She is recovering well and recently my daughter has expressed her wish to exercise to improve her health and stamina.” Rozemyne was still not the healthiest girl but people around her were more careful than ever to fill the hole left by Ferdinand and the boy himself was also working hard to regain his skill to manage her health. "We have Carnea now, and she believed it would take a while to fix her frail constitution but not impossible. Rozemyne is very motivated to get healthier."

So that would not be a problem in the near future.

The only hindrance would be her gender, but Rozemyne was beyond exceptional and she was also courted by Lord Ferdinand who was as good. Now the problem would be what Elvira and Haldenzel do with this revelation? Their loyalty first was of course to Haldenzel, then to Ehrenfest… third… to their Archduke. 

Loyalty that was worn down and tested repeatedly, especially after Veronica has cruelly robbed her first daughter in law and grandchild in her pettiness to make Lord Ferdinand suffer and pushed Tordeliede’s son to be Karstedt’s heir. It would never happen as Karstedt had made it clear to their second lady that if something happened to their sons, whether or not Tordeliede did it- Nicolaus would be disinherited. 

Her household matters aside…

Karstedt was Sylvester’s knight, but also the knight commander of Ehrenfest. If eventually Sylvester proved himself incapable to lead Ehrenfest, Bonifatius would be sorely disappointed but he would choose what was best for Ehrenfest and Karstedt would follow. In the first place the rule to decide the next Archduke was to choose the best of the best from the children of the first wife. The previous Archduke always wanted Veronica to stand as Lord Ferdinand’s mother in baptism; she had gone against Archduke’s decree by refusing. Rozemyne was also adopted as Florencia’s daughter. 

So if they went by technicalities, the pair would be legitimate heirs of the duchy. 

Their current Archduke did not sit on his throne by his merit, but because Georgine was too cruel and Sylvester was favored. A choice ruled by emotion, and it did Ehrenfest no good. 

“My concern is whether Lady Rozemyne could get the blessing of Entbidung.” 

It was a valid concern indeed, considering Rozemyne’s frailness. However, Elvira knew she already had four grandchildren in the shape of manablades. Heidemarie and Judichel were blessings that made Eckhart deliriously happy and she couldn’t bear to say otherwise to her eldest son. She had not met her other two grandchildren but… suffice to say due to their abnormally compatible color, if Lord Ferdinand married her daughter- Entbidung would bless them with children, and if she continued to strengthen her body carrying them should be quite possible.

“There should be no problem… however like Lord Ferdinand, my daughter has no desire to  become Archduke.”

Her brother sighed, “Why do the most competent archduke candidates in Ehrenfest not want to be Archduke?”

Perhaps this duchy just didn’t deserve them. 

“At any rate it’s not a bad thing… if you consider my daughter’s hold on many profitable industries, her standing would be rock solid and our current and next Archduke wouldn’t be able to ignore her…” Her brother looked worried Rozemyne would be treated as a threat like Veronica did Lord Ferdinand. “She gets along with the Archduke’s younger children… and if our Archduke wants the best for his children he will let my daughter influence them. Lady Charlotte has done exceedingly well in the Children's room with Rozemyne’s instruction.”

It did not matter who sat on Archduke’s seat as long as this duchy prospered.  

Rozemyne arrived the next day to deliver the holy grail to her brother. 

Rozemyne - Heralding Spring

"The goddess of water, Flutraine, who brings healing and change, and the twelve subordinate deities by her side, gave the earth goddess Geduldh the power to nurture a new life. I sincerely hope that you will be filled with the noble color of the water goddess Flutraine.”

The Giebe of Haldenzel accepted the grails gratefully, "Surely, the earth goddess Geduldh is filled with the magic of the water goddess Flutraine. We pray for the thaw and congratulate the arrival of spring."

Just like in Groschel, she was welcomed warmly by her uncle and introduced to the members of his family. Surprisingly her uncle’s second son was introduced as a potential aide not to Sylvester but Ferdinand. Apparently the teen who was just slightly younger than Eckhart was a knight that admired Ferdinand but couldn’t be his aide because of Veronica, with Rozemyne also in the temple, the opposition to him becoming Ferdinand’s aide was weaker. 

Eckhart seemed to quite like this cousin of his, Alphonse. “He is a fellow knight who understood Ferdinand’s greatness.” 

Honestly if someone offered to be Ferdinand’s aide and he was an archnoble to boot, they wouldn’t want to refuse because of their chronic lack of human resource. So Alphonse became part of Ferdinand’s entourage and his group of three became four. Rozemyne herself had four knights, Hartmut as a scholar and two attendants in the castle. Even joining their entourage, by archduke candidate standards it was tragically small. 

As she did in Groschel, while she was treated to a feast in Haldenzel’s mansion she had Gil and Lutz to survey the preparations made for the printing industry. Giebe Haldenzel made good on his promise. 

“All workshops, blacksmiths, ink makers, and carpenters are well informed to prepare receiving instruction from Guttenberg. They had set aside a number of people with clear schedules for lessons instead of work.” Lutz reported with a smile, he looked relieved. “The merchants are motivated to do their best and asked many questions of Master Benno and Marc on the issues.”

Rozemyne was relieved too, she knew her gentle reprimand to Groschel made quite an uproar. So she was glad Elvira’s brother didn’t disappoint. While she would rather ignore the Leisegangs, they were still her relatives and she had to show them some good will. “Very well… how about the workshop for printing, I hope the facilities prepared are satisfactory?” 

Gil nodded, “The quarters for workers are comfortable and their lord prepared everything they need to pass through the long winter comfortably.” Gil went on to list down supplies such as food, blankets and firewood that had been arranged well by Giebe Haldenzel. 

“Which meant there should be no problem for Haldenzel to receive Guttenberg’s guidance as scheduled.” Ferdinand noted after Lutz and Gil left, his small exhale told her that he was similarly relieved. “It would be harder to deny Haldenzel, not only because Giebe Haldenzel is your uncle but also because the Archduke family owes Haldenzel…” 

Rozemyne suppressed her urge to cringe, recalling Justus and Hartmut’s intel on Haldenzel. Also the story from her mother about Veronica and the family drama that strangled Ehrenfest. As large as it was, Haldenzel was one of the most miserable regions due to high taxes and long winters. Which meant the next step after removing corrupt Veronican nobles was to lower the taxes for territories that had been unfairly charged higher and get those who had been skimping on their tax to pay gradually to make up the difference. 

Sylvester’s policy from now on should be fairness, while it was easier to get backing by treating certain factions favorably that had proven to be counterproductive for Ehrenfest. 

“It’s hard but factional disputes that get out of our control will just tear Ehrenfest apart.” 

They understood asking the factions to play nice with each other was a tall ordeal, but at least the issues between factions should not put their duchy in jeopardy. This issue was felt even more when the next day a hunting event was held. Haldenzel needed to hunt feybeasts frequently to weaken the Lord of Winter. However even though the Lord of Winter had been defeated they still had to hunt. 

“We have to protect our food.” Said Alphonse, “After all we have a shorter time for farming so we plant as much as possible during the limited time we have.”

However due to vast land to grow food, protecting it also became harder even for a land that housed many strong knights. Veronica’s harassment had made Haldenzel suffer to get to the previous first lady of Haldenzel, and also made Ehrenfest’s winter worse in turn. Also it seemed their extra grain from Leisegang always had problems reaching Haldenzel. 

She tried to think up a good solution, but Elvira reminded her that delivering full grails had already made a huge impact. 

The next day was the Haldenzel spring ceremony, and as expected of Elvira’s hometown. The gaze of the ladies watching Ferdinand who gracefully escorted her was intense. Which was opened by sword dances from the hunting tribe of Haldenzel, but the song… it sounded like that poem she read in the bible. 

Which somehow led to Giebe Haidenzel making a wild guess that if she joined the ceremony the spring would come earlier. “I… know the lyrics but not the song.” It was too unreasonable to expect her to sing an unknown song in public. 

She sent Ferdinand a pleading look, and he smiled. “Is there a score of the song? I will sing with Rozemyne together…” 

FERDINAND- that was not what she meant! 

In the end they compromised, Elvira would play the harspiel and sing. She and Ferdinand could be their extras as High Priest and High Bishop, and followed Elvira for quick training. Fortunately the tune was not very complicated, but she had to use her meager talent to catch up with Ferdinand who was already a super human at the age of eight. Elvira was very pumped up at the prospect of singing together with Ferdinand. 

"To the end of the deep... deep Ivory world. Crush the hard ice that deprive everything and rescue our earth goddess ..."  

They sang together in tune with Elvira and Ferdinand’s harspiel, and Rozemyne did her best to keep smiling and followed Haldenzel ladies to kneel and stand. It was not perfect but her healthier body helped her to move quick enough to copy their movement so she didn’t look like an idiot. 

“Thanks to the Gods!” She finished safely- or not- 

A magical circle appeared on the stage and mana was sucked to the circle, laynobles and mednobles started falling down, creating an uproar. It seemed whatever the circle was for, it consumed the mana of everyone on the stage. Even an archnoble like Elvira looked a bit pale, she and Ferdinand were the only one not fazed by the mana drain. 

That night… they had a visit from Faidrena and she had a newfound fear for thunder. Monica and Nicola saw her terribly frightened and one of them fetched… Ferdinand. It was not appropriate and this was her mother’s ancestral home but… All proproety lessons flew out of the window when she felt his warmth in her hand, already bigger than hers and she knew it would grow to a big and strong hand that would dwarfed hers but now... she could wrap hers around his comfortably. 

“I will be with you until you fall asleep, Rozemyne…” Ferdinand promised and then timidly asked. "...Would you like me to sing a lullaby, you sang it to me when you..." He trailed off unsurely. 

Rozemyne just nodded, happy to listen and hoped his sweet voice would drown the scary roar of Verdrenna. So Ferdinand did, singing a familiar folk song Urano's mother used to sing to lull her to sleep. It was a very sad song of a little girl's lament, but the lyric Ferdinand sang was a very happy one. 

My angel, time to close your eyes,

Now it's time to say good night,

Good night, sleep tight.

Scraltraum's blessing for me,

May his protection be with you.

Goodnight, my angel, now it's time to dream,

And dream how wonderful your life will be. 

She could imagine, herself... singing this song to angel like Ferdinand.

One kiss and we'll part,

And you'll be going... 

She fell asleep holding Ferdinand’s hand, and there was a soft and warmth blooming on her forehead. That night, Rozemyne slept soundly. 
The next day for some reason, Ferdinand looked very shy while Rosina looked at him warily. 

Spring had come to Haldenzel earlier than usual and she was given brenyus fruit as thanks. While she was glad the ritual ended up bringing their long awaited spring, it gave her a load of trouble because now everyone wanted the early spring. Ehrenfest was a northern duchy with a long winter so their people longed for Flutrahne’s blessing. She understood where the desperation came from for the same miracle in Haldenzel. 

She looked over her scripture, they only have the song lyric but not the magic circle or material used to create the stage. It was like asking to make quartequart with just sugar but no flour, butter, or egg. On top of that their best researcher had turned into a child, so there was nobody to ask for help. 

“We can’t replicate the ritual in Haldenzel without the stage…” Ferdinand reported to Sylvester. “From Justus’ information however… there are some mysterious ruined structures found in several regions of Ehrenfest that seem to be…”

She finished Ferdinand’s bad news, “Seems to be what is left of ancient magical platforms similar to Haldenzel…” So it had to be fixed first for the spring ritual. 

Sylvester frowned, “...You have given Haldenzel too much favor, many are upset and jealous of Haldenzel now.” 

“But Haldenzel until recently suffered from high taxes, long winters, their duty to hunt winter feybeasts to weaken the Lord of Winter, and their supplies from Leisegang are often sabotaged…” Rozemyne pointed out. “We can just claim we-” 

Sylvester became pale. “...Rozemyne, you can’t just believe everything your Leisegang relatives say.” 

“I have seen their tax and merchant reports indicating the flow of supplies to Haldenzel always has problems.”

“...So reports from Haldenzel over the years…” 

Ferdinand scoffed, “Veronica must have told you Haldenzel is exaggerating their suffering… then again the previous first lady of Haldenzel is her half-sister from a Leisegang Lady. Of course she would do her best to destroy Haldenzel…” 

Sylvester looked forlorn, “...Petitions from many regions of the Leisegang faction just arrived, due to the dismissal of embezzlers found in my entourage… they want a tax subsidy because of the high tax they paid over the years.”  

Ferdinand narrowed his eyes, “There is no doubt many territories suffered undue taxation due to favoritism, but lowering taxes sharply would doubtless damage the Ehrenfest economy…” 

Justus nodded in response to that. “Going from Ehrenfest having not enough money due to embezzlement to not enough money due to lowered taxes will help no one.”

This was as if everything Veronica did to wrong Ehrenfest came flooding back to Sylvester to repent to the victim on her behalf lately. 

“...I am so sorry Sylvester, I didn’t mean to cause this.” But it did mean she felt as though she would need to fix it. They did have quite a bit more money, but that wouldn’t last… 

Ferdinand comforted her, however. “Rozemyne… sooner or later we have to get rid of Sylvester’s corrupt officials, and as our duchy gets richer from your industries… they would have sucked even more from this land to satisfy their greed.” Then he added, “Besides… since Rozemyne is your adopted daughter, everything she did can be considered your intention. It’s not a bad thing to be seen as a just Archduke, didn’t you always want to be a hero, brother?”

Ferdinand’s sincere gaze hurt Sylvester’s conscience for sure, and obviously this was not what her adopted father had in mind for heroic deeds. Cleaning up after your mother was not cool. 

“Well,” Sylvester pondered. “New tax assessments should be needed, yes?”

Justus nodded. “Several of your civil servants and many of my fellow tax collectors can be trusted to make fair assessments,” he answered. “Areas like Haldenzel have been particularly burdened, and several areas have been overburdened but not enough to cause the same troubles…” 

“Begin with that,” Sylvester concluded. “But that’s not enough to get Leisegang and the neutrals off my back, they are claiming millions of lyons of over taxation over the last decades.” And now he had officials from other factions, Sylvester had a group of eager scholars that were more debt collectors than assistants. 

Rozemyne winced. “That is probably true, at least in part. Have the Giebes submit proposals for projects, sanitation, modernization, buildings, whatever makes sense, make a budget, and make your civil servants decide on which to suggest for adoption. They will fight amongst each other to get funding, they might be Leisegangs or Neutrals, but ultimately they have a single Giebe they are most loyal to.”

“So your solution to factional disputes is to make them fight within the Archduke’s office?” Ferdinand asked, obviously skeptical.

“Would you rather they fought in the Archduke’s office for money, or in their own territories with poison or worse?” Rozemyne shrugged. “There can be more money next year for good proposals, Archduke.”

Justus actually chuckled at her answer. “They can fight with each other rather than you,” Justus told Sylvester.

Her adopted father simply rubbed his stomach in anxiety, but agreed that if Justus also accepted it it might work...

Rozemyne’s suggestion solved their tax problem for now, and Ferdinand now had to reassess just how much damage his father’s beloved wife had done to their duchy. Justus had regaled him about the tales of Gabriela from three sides, from Leisegang and Veronicans the tales of course were biased but all versions shared one similarity. Gabriela regretted her decision to come to Ehrenfest and wished to return to Ahrensbach. 

Considering how extensively Veronica had to spend effort to get Ahrensbach’s backing, going as far as selling Georgina to the upper territory… Ahrensbach didn’t look highly upon Gabriela’s line or the ties between Ehrenfest and Ahrensbach. One could even say the only thing given to Veronica from Ahrensbach was just their name, but the actual weight was nonexistent. Georgine had a grudge against Veronica, and his half sister just came to the Ivory Tower to look down on their former first lady. Justus said Georgine was actually quite pleased by Veronica’s downfall. 

“If the Archduke ever decides to get in Georgine’s good graces, handing Veronica over would be his best bet.” Said Justus with a grin. 

Ferdinand inwardly cringed, “...So she could kill Veronica by her own hands?”

“The Georgine I know would torture Veronica to the brink of insanity so hurting that woman any further would be pointless and then she would kill Veronica and use her stone as jewelry.” 

That was quite a vivid imagination, but Justus who served by Georgine’s side for a while seemed to be confident that was Veronica’s ultimate fate in her daughter’s hand. 

“Rather than such a what if scenario, I would rather know how to build or fix the magical platform to welcome early spring.” That problem has not been solved yet. “Sylvester is looking for the record in Archduke’s private library…” His brother told him to go back to the temple with Rozemyne and keep the library a secret, or his goddess might get motivated to be Sylvester’s heir just for the library. He thought that was ridiculous but Justus said it was for the best to not give Rozemyne that motivation. “It seems difficult considering Ehrenfest’s young age, that stage must be from the era of Eisenreich… and it’s understandable the materials from a fallen duchy would be scarce even in Archduke’s library.” 

Justus brightened up, “Then how about the underground library of Royal Academy? Milord before said there are many old records inside, dated back thousands of years.” 

His adult self said that? “There is still time before the conference and bringing up this information would be beneficial for Ehrenfest, northern duchies like Klassenburg would also desire early spring…” It was not a world shaking commodity like paper but it would ease severe eyes upon Ehrenfest for rising through the ranks by staying neutral.  

Sylvester brightened up considerably at the idea of presenting the information of the stage that brought early spring. After all, Rozemyne had told him to delay introducing their new commodities for supply reasons. “At the very least we won’t be seen as a duchy that contributes nothing this year.” He heaved a sigh, “So there is an underground library where we might find about how to make or fix the stage but ancient language… I am not very good at it so lend me Justus.” 

“I can’t enter with you Archduke… also it would be a good idea to seek your father’s aides if there’s any among the old scholars who have learned the ancient language. You have to find the materials yourself or copy whatever you find on ‘spring’ or…” He trailed off, “I think you can use Schwartz and Weiss to bring relevant materials.” 

“...What are they?” 

“Automatons made by royal family ancestors to assist librarians to manage the Royal Academy’s library.” 

He beamed, “I see… well, I am sure Klassenburg and Gleissenmeier would be interested. Upper territories should have more experts on ancient languages.” 

Justus nodded in agreement and added, “Also, it would be a good idea to use this chance to reconcile with Hilschur.” 

Sylvester cringed, “Aaah… Ferdinand’s mentor my Mother hates… and also why information from the Sovereignty didn’t get to Ehrenfest at all.” 

Hilschur was his adult self’s mentor, and the eccentric woman apparently had sheltered him from Veronica in Royal Academy. 

“It’s also a good idea to have her visit Ehrenfest to see Milord… considering his current condition.” 

Sylvester sighed, “This spring is so busy… my entourage increased, so paperwork processing gets faster, but the load of work just gets bigger and bigger.” 

“Please cheer up brother, I will study hard to help you.” Rozemyne had told him to cheer Sylvester to work hard from time to time and smile. He didn’t really understand but according to Rozemyne, Sylvester is a big child so he also needed compliments and headpat to grow. “I believe in you.”   

Sylvester flushed a bit, “Oo-of course, thank you Ferdinand. Just leave it to your older brother!”  

For some reason when they returned to the temple, Justus playfully scolded Rozemyne about teaching him bad things. Rozemyne retorted back that cuteness was justice and should be used while it lasted for the good of their duchy. He felt a bit left out because he couldn’t understand, but Rozemyne gave him a comforting squeeze as an apology so everything was well.  

Chapter Text

Florencia- Discussion with Family 

Ehrenfest had never been a peaceful duchy for as long as Florencia had lived there, courtesy of two feuding factions. Over the years she had grown more capable of standing in the midst of warring ladies factions thanks to Elvira, but even more upset had come to Ehrenfest in the form of a tiny girl who was clearly favored and inspired by the gods: Rozemyne, Elvira’s daughter, Florencia’s adopted daughter, and if rumor was to be believed the Goddess of Light to her brother-in-law Ferdinand.

The powerful potential duo seemed to want little more than to have their needs and wishes met and that largely involved Sylvester doing far more work than he was accustomed to. Sylvester was getting more stressed and clingy than usual, although lately he was too tired to welcome winter and instead greeted Schraltraum as soon as his head hit the pillow and pulled her to his embrace.

In the actual matters of state, Rozemyne proved herself both blessing and curse in that area as well. Florencia had no love for Veronica, especially now that she had been all but forced to disinherit Wilfried as a result of her education. She and Elvira had wondered what Veronica wished to achieve when the rumors of Wilfried’s less than stellar education was spread, but Leberecht believed it was to blame Florencia for Wilfried’s failure if she had not been sent to Ivory Tower for her crime. 

It wouldn’t be the last time Lady Veronica would force her faction to twist Ordoschnell no matter how thin Verbergen’s shroud became. She might receive the grace of Dregarnuhr by how… Sylvester at last decided to stop his mother’s tyranny, because Veronica never gave up on bringing in a new daughter in law she wanted. For all the love she spouted for her only son, Veronica did not care one bit about Sylvester’s feelings or anyone else. 

She even had some sympathy for Veronicans now. Several had come seeking refuge in the wake of Veronica’s imprisonment, and now they sought her to be included in financial opportunities and even more. So, while she was not busy with taxes and building and new industry, she did still have to deal with many inquiries.

“No embroidery, no clothing, no hair ornaments, no paper, no printing…” She couldn’t help but wish they could begin to claw out of their economic troubles, but she was assured that Rozemyne’s people were moving as quickly as possible.

Another strange aspect of her daughter, while she knew Sylvester could be childish and impulsive, she had generally understood the noble wisdom of ‘tell a commoner to make it so, and it was done, punish them if it was not’, and yet Rozemyne had looked horrified at this concept and instead insisted on working very closely with her commoners.

Perhaps it was wise, as things certainly seemed to go more smoothly… 

When it was finally time for the Archduke’s Conference, she and Sylvester invited her brother and sister-in-law from Frenbeltag to dinner, and even served some of the new treats that Rozemyne had innovated, but they were then begged for help with the winter dedication, something that Rozemyne and Ferdinand both had absolutely forbidden.

“I am sorry, Brother,” she said, and she truly was. “Our High Bishop even required us to provide the mana last year, it cannot be done again.” 

“That is just unreasonable!” Her Brother looked to Sylvester, shocked. “Isn’t that your uncle?”

He calmly answered, “He ascended the staircase quite suddenly, we installed our daughter in his place.”

“Your daughter?! Not little Charlotte. Could a woman’s reputation endure that?”

“Our adopted daughter,” Florencia clarified. “Rozemyne, she is the daughter of My Lord’s cousin.”

Constanze seemed slightly surprised. “Lord Karstedt? I thought he had only boys.”

Rozemyne’s pedigree was discussed, but the issue of her reputation still remained, and Sylvester simply assured his sister and brother-in-law that the temple was quite clean now. It was slightly difficult to fall back on the excuse of poverty when Rozemyne had also developed foods that tasted exquisite for only a bit more than cuisine that was beautiful, but less flavorful, but Sylvester managed to hold fast because the disappointed look in Ferdinand’s eyes haunted him.

“Still, our people suffer and we can’t turn to anyone else…” Her brother pleaded his case again. 

Constanze shook her head, “Husband… you can not- ” Her brother looked at his first wife, aghast she was now agreeing with them to not ask anymore. “She is our cousin’s daughter, and his first wife is also a relative of ours… Lady Elvira has been a greatest pillar for Florencia, and her land has also been devastated by the drought.” 

Her brother’s eyes widened. “Florencia… does our request make your position that precarious?” 

Florencia lowered her head briefly in shame. She didn’t wish to jeopardize the tentative stability of Ehrenfest, it was just too dangerous. Diverting mana to another duchy was betraying Elvira, her friend and pillar. 

Not to mention…, “The majority of Ehrenfest native sovereignty nobles are Elvira’s relatives.” Frenbeltag was a losing territory and it would endanger them all if this reached the Zent’s ears. 

Sylvester nodded, “You must have heard of them from Constanze, the Leisegang faction. Back then the previous first lady still suppressed them, but now-” 

Brother looked at Constanze and then to her before his shoulders dropped in defeat. “I understand…” 

The topic was diverted again to the amazing food served in this tea party, and Constanze was awed by the taste and asked when it would be sold. “Rozemyne does hope to make the recipes available in the near future,” Florencia conceded. “But Ehrenfest is not ready for trade yet.” 

“She cleaned the temple, runs it, and has created this food?” Constanze asked, obviously surprised by Rozemyne’s excellence.

“And hairpins,” Florencia added.

This led to a diversion on the topic of fashion and again how ridiculous their adopted daughter was. All of the female members of her and Sylvester’s entourages had been outfitted with hairpins of varying colors and flowers, and it was impossible not to note the curious gazes during the opening ceremonies of the Lords Conference, although no one from an upper territory would stoop to look at such a trend from a lower-middle territory like Ehrenfest.

Their only truly interesting moment within the first days was when they were very slightly singled out as a territory with increased academic performance at the lower grades, something Florencia knew was near and dear to Rozemyne’s heart, that caused a few speculative glances from Drewanchel particularly. As usual they knew little of their internal politics, but her understanding from some of the intelligence gathering was that their eldest archduke candidate had just recently entered the Academy, which would mean their interest in academics would again increase.

The true interest, however, began when the various duchies reported on any internal issues that would affect Yurgenschmidt as a whole. 

“Our High Bishop traveled to one of our northern provinces during the spring prayer and accidentally revived an ancient ritual that summoned Verdrenna and brought spring in a single night, melting the entire territory’s snow.”

The entire room fell completely silent.

After a moment, her husband continued: “We hope to continue to research the phenomenon, as it is not entirely clear how it happened, but hope it can be researched either by students at the Academy or others at home.”

They were quickly flooded with requests from northern territories to hear more details about the ritual, and the first wife of Archduke Gleissenmeier even noted her hair ornament. They remained at thirteenth place, but it was also mentioned how much improvement was made. It was… oddly a win for Ehrenfest.

Sylvester- Verdrenna’s Abundance

“We hope to continue to research the phenomenon, as it is not entirely clear how it happened, but hope it can be researched either by students at the Academy or others at home.” 

The reaction to his proposal was met with hopeful looks so he went on. “So we would like to request permission for two of our archduke candidates to see materials from the underground library, Your Majesty… I am not sure how much we could gather in short time during this conference but-” 

Zent interrupted him, which made Sylvester’s heart almost jump out of his mouth.“Underground Library, there’s such a thing in Royal Academy?” 

He almost thought Verdrenna was having a party in his ribcage at the look Zent gave him. Sylvester had no idea how to answer Zent Trauerqual’s question on the existence of the library. He glanced at Justus and the scholar quickly wrote down a short response. “I believe it’s the locked library only those registered as suppliers of a foundation can enter… with permission of the senior librarians, I haven’t been there myself but there are many old records supposedly so I believe we can find materials on ritual to welcome early spring.” He refrained from making note of the Zent's ignorance, gave a genuine explanation, and admitted he didn’t know and had never been there himself. 

He glanced at his surroundings and noted the younger Archdukes in the room looked similarly confused including his brother in law, but older Archdukes and several older scholars looked at Trauerqual in disbelief. 

“Is the existence of this library public knowledge?” Zent continued to ask, and Sylvester belatedly realized perhaps Zent should stop asking and gathered intel later to preserve his dignity. No such luck. 

Scholars from upper territories answered it was not widespread that there’s a library but it was not a secret either. It was an obscure place only the most studious of archduke candidates and their scholars knew of, Drewanchel certainly was familiar with the place. Trauerqual further inquired why the royal family was not informed, only to receive an embarrassing answer that most upper territories aware of the existence took it for granted that the Royal Family would have known. 

Dunkleferger and Drewanchel for some reason looked displeased, especially the territory of the studious- Drewanchel. Nothing good coming when upper duchy folks openly show displeasure. 

Sylvester wanted to flee from his seat, as his stomach was in pain that he had started a topic that brought shame to the Royal Family. Then again Justus, his brother, and several old aides of his father knew it existed! Sylvester didn’t know because he was not enthusiastic about books or studying like a certain duo. Wasn’t it weird for the Royal Family to not know, of course everyone expected they would know! That was like Sylvester didn’t know about the Archduke’s archive. 

“The matter will be taken under consideration,” Zent Trauerqual promised them both, which was more than enough for him. 

As was the way of nobility, many letters and aides were sent back and forth, with Sylvester confirming the identities of the investigators - his half-brother and his daughter - and that Rozemyne would need to pay her admission fee, and so forth. Sylvester could only hold his head with deep concern about letting Rozemyne free at all near a library, but things were actually organized such that the pair of them were even allowed to enter the library toward the end of the Lords’ Conference.

Sylvester went to the library himself with his entourage and greeted Professor Solange, the remaining librarian of the Royal Academy library. He was informed that the senior librarians were executed at the end of the civil war so no access to the underground library could be granted. Drewanchel and several northern duchies had come to make similar inquiries and were obviously dissatisfied by her reply. 

“I believe Schwarz and Weiss, the royal artefact, can enter the underground library and bring relevant materials requested by archduke candidates. Milord had done the same.”

Apparently there was a reading room before the underground library that would allow archduke candidates to discuss things with their archnoble aides, there were all sorts of restrictions but generally archduke candidates were expected to enter the underground library under supervision of the automaton for their safety. Which was why generally, only archducal members of the same duchy entered together for safety reasons. 

He was quite nervous to be among so many dissatisfied Archdukes and their entourage and very grateful Justus had sent them an answer to save them from the awkward situation. 

Only for his hope to be crushed by Solange’s answer. “...My deepest apologies but Schwarz and Weiss have become inactive for years because of the absence of senior librarians, no one can provide enough mana to keep them active.” Solange’s tone was flat, her expression completely blank.

Sylvester panicked, “I am more than willing to supply them, anything for the pursuit of Mestionora!” He offered, cringing inwardly that he sounded like his adoptive daughter. 

Solange sadly shook her head,  “Furthermore, their wards kept anyone without permission of their master from touching them. So unfortunately I am the only one alive who could touch them.” The mednoble gestured towards the feystone in their forehead, apparently it was where they should supply the mana. 

Glucklitat! Trials should have solutions! Sylvester cried in his heart. 

Archduke Drewanchel couldn’t keep the frost from his voice, “And… so two precious royal artefacts, the masterpiece of royal ancestors are abandoned just like that… cutting off our access to precious knowledge of our ancestors?” It was obvious who was to blame. 

Solange didn’t answer, the librarian just smiled serenely. Sylvester wondered if he had caused further dissatisfaction with the royals in the people around him who desired both knowledge and early spring. He definitely did not encourage anti-royal sentiment! His stomach- his poor stomach! 

As the Zent was now in more trouble for his mismanagement of this library, he easily granted permission for Rozemyne and Ferdinand. Maybe the material was somewhere in the library and not in that ‘secret’ library, the Zent was obviously grasping at any threads Dregarnuhr offered. They could only rely on his adopted daughter and Ferdinand, somehow they had to find something to stave off this dissatisfaction. Maybe… whatever was fine! 

Few days later, as it was customary when Rozemyne and the Library were involved… “Rozemyne!” She was trembling, swaying at the sight of the ‘grand library’ of the academy and then she did the ‘expected’ they had all not taken into account. 

Rozemyne raised her hands in prayer pose, “Praise to be Mestionora for this wonderful library!” 

“Ah!” 

It was too late, the blessing burst from her ring and rained upon the library. And the next thing Sylvester knew, the supposedly inactive automaton had come hopping towards them and dancing around Rozemyne chanting ‘milady’ like her fanatic scholar. 

“Schwartz, Weiss!” Solange exclaimed happily, “You woke up!” 

The two shumils looked so… ridiculously fitting to be around Rozemyne, and they were begging for both mana and work to do. Sylvester belatedly realized, Rozemyne solved all their problems.

“Through Rozemyne’s sincere prayer to Mestionora, the stray blessing activated the automaton because they’re so thoroughly spent…” Ferdinand analyzed.  

Gods- that was not what he meant by whatever! ‘Child’s mana saving tool… as soon as we have enough money and feystones, we have to make her a tool!’  Also, why did nobody realized 'blessings' could supply mana indirectly before Rozemyne did it?! 

Because they were minors and not even enrolled at the Academy of course he was the one who had to report and apologize to Zent about the accident. Justus had the foresight to request Solange go with him and testify about the accident from a stray blessing. Nobody was stealing the royal artifacts! 

“...Stray blessing due to her sincere prayer to the Goddess of Wisdom?” Echoed Zent Trauerqual in confusion.

Sylvester did his best to not avert his eyes, “My deepest apologies, Your Majesty. My daughter is a pious lady who serves in Ehrenfest as our High Bishop and has a deep love for libraries and the knowledge within.” Actually it was just books but since Rozemyne called books a crystallization of knowledge, it was not too far off. “She does this whenever she finds a new library, blessing and all.” It was no lie because she also prayed when brought to the library in Linkberg mansion and the castle. 

Solange was all smiles, “I believe because Schwarz and Weiss exhausted their mana, even the little that came from Lady Rozemyne’s blessing is enough to re-activate and register her as their owner.” 

“...Several northern duchies have sent petitions to allow the automaton stay active so the research for early spring can progress.” Zent Trauerqual trailed off, “Still… it’s too unreasonable to have a pair of eight year old children provide for the Royal Artefacts…” 

Sylvester understood their Zent’s feeling, it must not feel good to have two out of standard genius kids to do your job.

“Of course! My dearest adopted daughter is willing to pass over the ownership to the suitable person Your Majesty chooses.” Just say the word! 

Zent Trauerqual shook his head, “I shall give permission for your daughter to maintain the automaton during her stay in the Royal Academy.” 

Would you let Rozemyne have those Shumils?!

“We need time to choose a senior librarian to replace your daughter.”

That made sense… wait a moment, one he said… but they need three! 

Solange asked permission to speak, “Your Majesty… pardon my rudeness, but to gain access to the library we need three librarians.” 

“One can own all three keys, it would be more efficient.” 

Usually this kind of key that came in one set, only one person per key could be registered- right? It was like how one person couldn’t own multiple hidden rooms in the same Ivory building. Sylvester was not going to point this out however, and it seemed Solange also chose to stay quiet. 

It was only later he heard from one of his new scholars that Drewanchel had asked about the library. It seemed since the matter of the Underground Library was brought up Drewanchel held a deep dissatisfaction, and the fact Zent Trauerqual was only willing to spare one person as senior librarian had further displeased them. 

His stomach couldn’t take all the royal drama with an upper territory!

Rozemyne- A Whole New Library! 

Library. Library. Library!! Rozemyne could not even begin to contain her absolute glee at the prospect of going to what Justus assured her was the second largest library in all of Yurgenschmidt. She was currently being carried by him, to keep her from passing out in excitement, and they arrived at the appointed hour for them to go there, a wooden invitation slid into the receptacle, and the door opened to reveal a matronly woman named Professor Solange, who allowed them in, confirmed that Justus and Ferdinand were permitted, and helped Rozemyne sign the paperwork necessary to become a library member.

“Shall I offer you a tour of the facilities?”

“I would be ever so grateful!” 

Justus shook his head and chuckled at her enthusiasm. “Lady Rozemyne, we are here for--”

“Let her have some fun,” Ferdinand said, giving Justus a firm look, and a gentle smile to her. “Besides, I need to be reacquainted as well.”

And so they were led around the library, to the lower areas that were for student work - the parts that had doubtless been copied by several of the students to earn money - and then the upper library that held many chained books that caused her heart to absolutely explode with glee.

“Praise be to Mestionora!” She shot her hands in the air, and offered her fervent prayers to the gods for offering her such an incredible paradise.

Which… caused her to accidentally offer mana to two library tools - Schwartz and Weiss - which meant all manner of trouble for her, really, at least as far as Solange explained, but after further inquiries, she learned that they would be necessary to access the underground library at all.

“There used to be three librarians, who held keys that would be used to open the doors, I’m afraid without three librarians to hold the keys, all you can do is request materials, but there has not been a catalogue of that material for decades…” 

So she would… need to guess at what might be there, and then ask for it to be retrieved, and Professor Solange insisted they also stay within a much smaller area of the library so that the materials could be observed both by her and the library tools, in short… she wasn’t going to be allowed to freely browse books! Her paradise was shattered!

“You can catalogue them,” Ferdinand assured her. “But we do need to read, not just browse.”

Yes, she was on a mission, she couldn’t forget that, and so with one plaintive look to the many books that called out to her, she instead sat beside Ferdinand at one of the many lecterns, and summoned over the two magical artifacts, apparently called shumils, although they looked like rabbits to her.

“Bring us all of the materials related to seasonal magic circles.”

“Milady, one at a time!” The black one, Schwartz, protested her instruction.

It was Professor Solange who clarified that because they were not entering the library themselves the two would not allow more than one item each.

“Bring one for Ferdinand and one for me.”

“Milady, fetch!” And the two of them headed off to who knew where. She handed Ferdinand some paper, and spread some for herself.

“I wish we could have Hartmut and the others gathered together,” she said, but they had been given relatively limited access to the library, only them and their close aides, and would need to request further access on additional days, clear that with Professor Solange… 

“This is fine,” Ferdinand assured her. “It’s fun to explore a secret library together, isn’t it?”

That she could agree with, so she gave Ferdinand a warm smile. 

Unfortunately their research abilities beyond that were stymied by a few problems that they hadn’t anticipated. Rozemyne could read the more ancient dialects fairly well, as could Ferdinand, and Ferdinand had made some study of magic circles, but she had made none, and so they were deeply reliant on Justus to actually explain the proper content of the magic circles, and each ivory plaque became a lecture.

The other trouble was Ferdinand himself, because while Sylvester had told the king and his entourage about Ferdinand’s… accident, the general public was still unaware of the existence of the cute and miniaturized Ferdinand.

Based on what she could gather from Sylvester’s explanations: Ferdinand was very popular with people outside of the duchy who could obviously appreciate Ferdinand’s excellence. So popular that they mourned for his entry to the temple and Sylvester and Veronica received chilling gazes from many nobles, which is also why Veronica didn’t relent in harassing Ferdinand in the temple as if it would help her escape from the scorn of Ferdinand’s admirers. 

So when they received the news about Ferdinand’s presence in Royal Academy, they came in droves… which further interrupted their research time. 

Ferdinand was escorting her back to Ehrenfest dormitory, they were a bit disheartened that today they had not gotten the right material yet. Although one of the stone plates brought in was the very opposite of what they wanted, it was to start an early winter. It seemed in the past this ritual was used for war in tandem with the Sword of Ewegeliebe. On the brighter side of things, she figured out that Schwarz and Weiss worked like a search engine so if they added more keywords, there would be fewer search results and it was easier for them to get the right material. 

She and Ferdinand would test it the next day! 

“Tonight is Ferdinand’s favorite- so eat plenty~” Rozemyne said. 

Ferdinand frowned, which was his version of pouting, “Rozemyne… I will but-” 

“LORD FERDINAND!” 

As one they turned around and see a group with blue cloaks, and Rozemyne realized it was the same blue of adult Ferdinand’s cloak. “Arrgh… to run to Dunkleferger of all groups.” Justus began to groan. 

The one who seem to be the leader approached them slowly, his eyes wide as he locked eyes with Ferdinand. “...You really, I had heard… but Lord Ferdinand really shrunk!” The group behind him was also clamoring about Ferdinand being a child. “You’re once again in your summer!” 

Loud- they were so loud! 

“Do… I know you?” Ferdinand was trying his best to not cringe at the noise. After all, no matter how annoying they were Dunkleferger ranked second, they were told to be polite to upper territories. 

The man looked ready to burst to tears. “I am Heisshitze, Lord Ferdinand… you forgot about all of us?”

A group of grown men looked so upset over Ferdinand forgetting them was quite an unnerving sight to Rozemyne. “Are they Ferdinand’s friends?” Rozemyne asked Justus. 

“Uhm… they are-” 

Heisshitze answered before Justus could come up with an answer. “I am Lord Ferdinand’s rival and best friend!” He declared loudly.

Ferdinand had friends! What a relief, she had been so worried he was quite anti-social and not socializing more than needed, but Justus' reaction was a bit off. Since Ferdinand rejuvenated, she had spent an unholy amount of time with Justus and she had a pretty good grasp of the man’s range of emotion. In a way Justus was better than even adult Ferdinand, he kept his emotion impeccably when needed but could switch to be a very expressive person among people he trusted. 

Justus’ behavior implied this was a troublesome bunch, not quite friendly and true allies. Like the horde of Ferdinand’s fangirl back home that was not Elvira. 

“Six years… I have been waiting for six years for our next Ditter, but no worries Lord Ferdinand! I will patiently wait for another few years for our fateful Ditter!” 

Dunkleferger was a military duchy right? They were always number one in Ditter and they were challenging an eight year old?! 

“Why would we have to ditter?” 

And there it was… the devastated look as if Ferdinand had told them the most grave tragedy. “...Lord Ferdinand also forgot that too… our promise.” 

Rozemyne reflexively stepped forward so she was slightly in front of Ferdinand, looking a grown man on the verge of tears so close in front of young and cute Ferdinand made her nervous. “Uhm Justus… what is Sir Heisshitze talking about?” 

“Erm… during their last year Sir Heisshitze challenged Milord after a series of successive losses, and so Milord requested he bet the cloak his then fiancée embroidered as collateral.” 

A cloak embroidered by a fiancée or wife was equivalent to a wedding ring in this world, basically Ferdinand was so done with this guy pestering him with challenges he asked for the cloak in hope Heisshitze would stop bothering him. Unfortunately not only did Heisshitze not read the hint, or he thought Ditter with Ferdinand was more important than his lady, he challenged Ferdinand regardless and lost the cloak. However instead of regretting his loss, it seemed the man thought it was a legit cause to keep challenging Ferdinand. 

Wait a moment… according to Justus’ recent lecture magical circles were embroidered on a cloak as a defensive measure, and since the horrible Veronica took Ferdinand’s ochre cloak, he had been using the blue cloak because it was a good shield! However- she was his future wife, and Ferdinand had been using another lady’s embroidery on his cloak!

“So let’s Ditter when you get your Schtappe back, Lord Ferdinand.” 

“Uh-”  

Ferdinand was troubled so Rozemyne stepped forward, “We will return the cloak as soon as possible to you, Sir Heisshitze.” She promised to him.  

Heisshitze blinked owlishly at her, “Erm… this charming little lady Lord Ferdinand escorted is…?” 

“Lady Rozemyne of Ehrenfest… she is the adopted daughter of Aub Ehrenfest, and daughter of Knight Commander Karstedt.” Justus smiled beamingly, “And also the goddess of Milord and my future lady.”

Heisshitze looked at Rozemyne in disbelief. “She is… Lord Ferdinand’s goddess but she is so- young?” He was looking at her skeptically. “Lord Ferdinand is so exceptional so his spouse can’t be just anyone…” 

Justus’ voice became sharp, “Watch your words Heisshitze… remember your mistake that put a blemish upon Milord.” 

The air became tense, Justus had obviously reprimanded a knight from upper territory but they seemed chastised rather than offended. 

Ferdinand spoke up, “I don’t have recollection of my peers in my previous days in Royal Academy, but I would like to believe that I never change… Bluanfa only dances with delight to me for the goddess I chose with all my heart. What everybody thinks is no concern of mine…” 

Rozemyne felt her cheeks heat, and her heart accelerated. But more importantly- “And that’s why we shall return your cloak, because I will embroider Ferdinand’s cloak.” Even though she was no sewing beauty she had the wisdom of the previous world! She would do it for cute Ferdinand! 

“...A cloak you embroidered for me?” Ferdinand said in a daze, as if in disbelief. “...But you-”  

What unsaid was clear to her, she didn’t like embroidery- did she ever tell him that before. “I will do my best for Ferdinand, so you can return the cloak!”

Ferdinand’s smile bloomed beautifully, “I will return the cloak if that’s your wish.” 

“Wait- it’s something Lord Ferdinand got through Ditter so it can only be taken back through Ditter.” Cried Sir Heitsitze.  

“...Sir Heisshitze, I thought you’re Ferdinand’s friend?” The knight stopped in his tracks, and Rozemyne knew she had the man. This type of chivalrous knight was predictable, they had a conscience that was easy to stroke. “I would grieve for my fellow lady if my Dark God passed over the cloak she embroider to another and my heart would also feel disturbed that he wore another’s lady’s embroidery on his back when it was supposed to be my privilege as his goddess.” 

“Kuh-” 

Justus took this chance to say, “We will have the cloak cleaned and delivered to you in Dunkleferger Dormitory in a few days, Heisshitze…. Dregaftnuhr spun our threads smoothly today.” 

Then they rushed back to their dormitory, leaving the Dunklefelger knights. When they reached Ehrenfest dormitory, Justus had to use a whole bag of feystone to calm Ferdinand down. He looked very embarrassed but apparently the prospect of receiving a cloak from her meant the world to Ferdinand. She should have known sooner if he wanted an embroidered cloak from her so much! 

So when they had Lasfam went back to Ehrenfest to fetch the cloak, Rozemyne also passed him a blueprint for a punch needle for Johann to make. Her exclusive blacksmith would be delighted for the -non metal type- job to refresh his mind and hand.   

“I will do my best for Ferdinand’s happiness!” She declared as she passed the order form wooden bill to Lasfam. 

For some reason both aide of Ferdinand turned around and trembled, did she say something wrong?

That day Lasfam and Justus started calling her Milady.

Ferdinand- Happiness

Ferdinand couldn’t help but blush at how flagrantly Rozemyne had declared them future partners. Yes his older self had apparently asked for her mana to help grow trees and he had offered her a place in his home and thus his private library, so he supposed it should not have been a surprise, but for her to jump so vehemently onto embroidering his cloak… 

“Justus, I will need to get the finest feystone for Rozemyne when I am able to create a courtship stone!”

“Milord, I will do my utmost to scour both Ehrenfest and the Sovereignty for an appropriate material for your future goddess,” Justus assured him immediately.

Obviously it would need to be all attribute, incredibly high quality, and valuable, and then he would need to consider the metalwork to house it. His understanding was their colors were so close that the jewelry was barely necessary, but he didn’t wish to skimp for Rozemyne.

The three of them had meticulously examined the protective embroidery on his older self’s cloak, and copied each circle, and then Justus had gleefully mentioned that there was even more embroidery and protective circles on the library tools. Supposedly a library from the Sovereignty would take over Rozemyne’s role as ‘Milady’ soon, so if they were going to make a study of those circles as well, so that was the goal of the next few days while Rozemyne continued to read materials from the underground library.

They had visits from Hartmut weekly, expressing whether or not there were any issues in the temple or the palace, and Rozemyne had even asked to take on Philine as her scholar as well, and so the help in the dormitory rose, at least. 

He and Justus were just finishing up making notes on the magic circles in the feystone buttons on the pair of shumil when Rozemyne happily came into the back room of the library. 

“Ferdinand, I found it!” she beamed at him.

“Milady found it!” Weiss said, echoing her enthusiasm.

They then headed out into the area where Rozemyne had been reading, and the three of them poured over the tablet that appeared to answer all of their questions.

“I don’t fully understand the size,” Ferdinand admitted, since that was written in more ancient units of measurement. “But we can copy the one at Haldenzel for that part,” he continued without pause. 

“Carve a furrow of this design,” Rozemyne continued, placing her finger at the design itself, it was a very elaborate design, as would be expected, and so Justus was carefully copying it down just as he did every other one of the dozens of circles they were currently investigating. “Fill the furrow with… stones of spring?”

Ferdinand nodded at her interpretation of the words, but that did little to help him understand exactly what was being requested.

“Ah, Milord, Milady,” Justus said, looking up at the translation. “There are examples of several materials, I believe this would be something like rairien nectar, a liquid magical material deeply aligned with the spring season, after it is placed with the furrow it could then be turned to stone via the application of further magic.”

Rozemyne remembered her own visit to the Goddess Bath for her jureve, so that was something she was familiar with, Justus hadn’t been there, but he had doubtless heard the tale afterward from Ferdinand. “So that would need to be collected, and doubtless on the Night of Flutrane or a similar night, just like for jureve?”

Justus nodded at her assessment.

“And then…” Rozemyne frowned and continued to read. “Bathe the stone in the essence made from the stones of the seasonal guardians filled with the mana of the lord who will summon spring.”

“Seasonal guardians?” Ferdiand asked, looking to both Justus and Rozemyne.

“I can’t be certain,” Justus answered. “Seasonal mentions would perhaps again refer to jureve, and the lord who will summon spring… it was Rozemyne, Lady Elvira, and various lesser nobles from the area around Haldenzel, yes?”

Rozemyne nodded.

“Well, obviously Rozemyne you are not Elvira’s blood, but she is Giebe Haldenzel’s blood, and Haldenzel is one of the few areas that has remained in the hands of the same lords since before the time Ehrenfest was Ehrenreich.”

“So you think it might be jureve made by the Giebe, and then… any future family of his will be able to perform the ceremony?” Ferdinand suggested.

“And what is this ‘seasonal guardian’ is that something like the Lord of Winter?” Rozemyne asked.

“There are in general Lords of Winter and Summer in various territories,” Justus confirmed. “Dunklefelger in the south, for example, has a Lord of Summer that is defeated to cool the land and bring the start of fall and the end of Leidenschaft’s reign. The spring and autumn guardians would be… I couldn’t say.”

“So in order to make the final jureve step you might need stones from a Lord of Winter, a Lord of Summer, and two mystery ‘lords’?” Rozemyne asked.

“Doubtless heralds of the season.”

An unknown voice startled them, and all three of them quickly looked up and found that someone unfamiliar to them had entered into the smaller study area that had been set aside for them. The man was exceptionally well dressed with rich embroidery at the level of finery that surpass Sylvester's, perhaps around thirty, with a maroon color to his hair, and a emerald green cloak that Ferdinand knew signified someone from Drewanchel. 

“My sincerest apologies for my interruption,” he said after no one responded. “I am Archduke Drewanchel.”

Ferdinand rushed to greet the Archduke of third rank territory, followed by Rozemyne. “Allow us to  pray in thanks of this meeting ordained by the flow of clear spring by Flutrane.”

The Archduke of Drewanchel nodded firmly. “You may.”

Further greetings were exchanged, and after those pleasantries were finished he very helpfully continued to explain the seasonal heralds, unlike the Lords of Winter and Summer who are defeated to bring the end of their respective seasons, the heralds appear soon after to bring forth the next season. I believe in Ehrenfest that would be something similar to a Blenrus, a feyplant native to your more northern areas.”

“Giebe Haldenzel explained that the Blenrus doesn’t often appear, and it only did this year because of the ritual to bring spring, are you saying that without an already functioning platform you might need to wait years before such a feytree or feybeast appeared?”

The Archduke nodded, and Ferdinand looked between them for a moment, his ‘Rozemyne training’ - or more specifically her Benno training - meant that he realized that hunting benryus for areas like Klassenberg might be a very profitable endeavor for the next several years, which would actually help their finances if there were no others available.

“I am grateful for your wisdom on the matter, Your Grace,” Ferdinand answered. 

“Do not trouble yourself with such formality,” the Archduke said and then he gestured and Ferdinand nodded to allow him to sit. “We actually were acquaintances during your academy days, I had not ascended to my current position yet but we always have the most intellectually stimulating discussion during Interduchy Tournaments.” He smiled softly. “Although I imagine you do not remember.”

“I’m afraid not,” Ferdinand answered as politely as he could. “I am eight, and all that entails. I am not even in possession of a Schtappe any longer.”

“How fascinating.” He smiled, noble and calm. “Several discussions have occurred within the upper territories, since Lady Rozemyne has become the temporary guardian of the library tools, it appears you will be the recipient of a royal order to continue your research into… other topics.”

Ferdinand very quickly reached out and grabbed Rozemyne’s hand to keep her from springing up and praising the gods. “Rozemyne has several duties to Ehrenfest as High Bishop when the seasons change, and it is my duty to accompany her, but we will gladly serve at the Royal Family’s pleasure on the topic.”

Archduke Drewanchel nodded, indicating his approval of their enthusiasm. “And it seems the two of you are quite conversant with the ancient dialects of Yurgenschmidt.” He then added, “Ancient language is an esoteric topic, not taught beyond the most studious scholars and archduke candidates of grand duchies…” 

“I was raised in the temple,” Rozemyne explained after a few moments. “As there is little in the way of reading material variety, comparing older and newer scriptural texts was something of a hobby of mine.”

“And I learned from my guardian,” Ferdinand added.

“Well, then I wish you both all the best,” Archduke Drewanchel said with a slightly amused smile. “Do feel free to call on Drewanchel if you have any need of further scholars, a few first year students will gladly assist in your research.”

“I thank you for your kind offer.” He was not empowered to agree or decline, and the Archduke didn’t push him to do so. Even though Drewanchel was an upper territory, they did still have a certain amount of courtesy to assure they didn’t entirely trample over lesser territories.

“And you, Lady Rozemyne, I see that there was no mistake in declaring you an incarnation of Mestionora.” Ferdinand internally bristled at the Archduke apparently making such glowing praise for Rozemyne, who was his future fiancée. “May you find wisdom in your books.”

Rozemyne took a moment to recover from the praise, but eventually offered a kind smile. “I am ever so grateful for your praise, Archduke Drewanchel.”

As this was not a proper meeting, more of a quick attempt for the Archduke to run into them ‘accidentally’ most likely, they did not continue to talk much more than that, with the Archduke excusing himself and allowing them to get back to work while his and Rozemyne’s heartbeats slowly returned to normal after the surprise run in with an Archduke of such a high territory.

Chapter Text

Rozemyne - New Title New Trouble

Rozemyne was torn between terrified and elated at the prospect of being allowed to stay in the library as amazing as one in Royal Academy a bit longer. However if she and Ferdinand were ordered to stay by a royal decree, that sounded like a very bad premonition. Ferdinand was certainly uncomfortable interacting with the Royal Family. He was fine with upper territories but apparently a royal was a bad flag or something. 

Justus then explained, while making a good connection with the Royal Family was preferable, it was quite dangerous to deal with them. Sylvester’s father might have used his failing health to avoid supporting a particular side in the previous civil war, but considering the aftermath both sides suffered, whether the previous archduke had predicted the outcome correctly, it was the right move. Something Rozemyne knew well from her position as High Bishop was that the royals had deprived them of precious human resources and then given nothing in return. 

“Basically we should expect to work a thankless job for them?” 

Sylvester groaned, “Correct, the royals wouldn’t care we need you both when we’re so busy with our internal problems. However… the bigger problem is what they want you to look for and how upper territories react to it.” 

Rozemyne couldn’t help but ask, “I know the rumor of me being saint of Ehrenfest has spread outside of Ehrenfest, but how come I am now the incarnation of Mestionora?” She glared at Sylvester with suspicion, the saint title was his idea after all. 

Sylvester shook his head, holding his hands up in a defensive manner. “I have no role in that one, but you should know since we ‘enlightened’ the royals about the underground library… the grand duchies and sovereignty have been keeping an eye on the library vigilantly. So when a tiny girl that looks like Mestionora floods the place with yellow blessings…” He trailed off. 

Rozemyne paled, recalling how Hartmut ranted about awakening of faith upon witnessing her blessing. There would be no new Hartmuts right? 

“So Rozemyne became the ‘incarnation’ of Mestionora just like that?” Ferdinand narrowed his eyes. “This title to elevate her is also some sort of pressure to keep us tied to royal issues…”  Ferdinand then added, “Aub Drewanchel was quite generous with his hint… he complimented Rozemyne who is rumored to be the incarnation of Mestionora and found wisdom in her books.” 

Rozemyne was still confused, “Mestionora’s book… oh, the Goddess of Wisdom has a book as her sacred tool according to the scripture.” 

Silence fell in the room, Ferdinand’s expression was grim and Sylvester looked sick. “Nonsense… is the Royal Family trying to kill us all? Asking us to find Grutrissheit for them?!” Sylvester sounded very angry. 

Her history lessons had not reached the sovereignty so Justus gave her a brief explanation. Grutrissheit was the proof of kingship in this country, a book needed to wield foundational magic to run the country. The book was lost in the previous civil war due to a family feud among the Royal Family and their country suffered from this  mana crisis due to the missing wisdom. 

Now she understood why her new title became a big issue, the expectation that came with it. “Wait- how could they make us look for it on their behalf? Isn’t that super bad?” She would have been happy at the prospect of reading a book, but it seemed it was just a magical tool shaped like a book. Kinda like the sword in the stone, but a book. 

Sylvester nodded, “Not just that… several duchies, Drewanchel in particular, are quite displeased that the Royal Family is not only clueless about the existence of the underground library but also not making a decisive move to find Grutrissheit.” 

“What do you mean, brother?” 

“Remember I had to report to Zent about Rozemyne’s accident?” Rude- he made it sound like she was a natural disaster! “Instead of dispatching three librarians the library needed, Zent Trauerqual opted to allow Rozemyne to keep the automatons with the reason that he needed time to pick a suitable person.” 

Ferdinand cupped his chin, “Basically… to other territories it seems like the Royal Family is leeching mana off of Rozemyne to keep the automatons running, only willing to spare minimum personnel, then make us look for their precious Grutrissheit…” They were completely taken advantage of!

“Is it so difficult to find suitable personnel to be a librarian?” Rozemyne probed about her future profession. 

Justus could tell what she was thinking, “Unfortunately Milady, I believe the issue is the classic… chronic lack of human resource. Especially so since the Royal Family has just displeased their supporters with their ignorance.” 

Sylvester nodded in agreement, “Yeah, no wonder Drewanchel of all territories is unhappy with the royals now. The problem is… I can’t see whether it’s good or bad if you fail or succeed in finding the information they want.” 

Anything pertaining to Grutrissheit was very confidential, and considering nobles' common sense in regards to information leaks… Aub Drewanchel’s offer to have students of his territory around was actually a lifesaving boat! 

“...Aub Drewanchel is a good person after all.” 

Sylvester was less optimistic: “Or he intends to have you do the work in collaboration and then take the results. That is often the outcome of joint research in the Academy when an upper territory deigns to collaborate with a lesser one.”

Noble society was scary… “So he’s either helping or not?”

“That’s exactly why nobles speak the way they do,” Ferdinand answered. “He strongly suggested the Royal Family wants us to find Grutrissheit, Drewanchel won’t like that since they think work should be done by the person reaping the rewards… and he said he would offer people from first grade…”

Justus seemed to realize something: “Aub Drewanchel’s eldest daughter just entered the Academy; she might be considered a second year now, but she just finished her first…”

Sylvester grabbed his stomach and moaned a bit pathetically, so Rozemyne gave him a little fist pump to help cheer him. “Well, I’ll likely have the order shortly, hopefully your answer means the Royal Family will accept you need to perform the spring coming of age and summer baptisms before returning… You two are an absolute menace.”

Rozemyne rolled her eyes, “We were in the library to look for materials your people wanted in the first place.” Sylvester was still rubbing his stomach. “On the brighter side of things, we found what we need to bring early spring.” 

“Right…” 

“I think northern regions should be busy gathering materials for the stage and won’t bother you anymore, and also- we will score points with northern duchies who want early spring too!” 

Sylvester gave her a weak smile, “I am not sure what you mean by scoring points but yeah… it’s a good contribution to the country that puts us in their good grace.” 

Ferdinand chimed in, “Brother… Brenyus is one of the important materials to create the stage so soon it will be priced highly, so it’s a good opportunity for Haldenzel and Ehrenfest.” 

Their Archduke gave his brother a very long stare, “...My sweet adorable brother has been corrupted by your merchant education, Rozemyne!” 

“Ehrenfest stands to gain profit if you’re more business minded too, Sylvester!” They were quite poor and Sylvester was the one who had to work extra hard to get a good deal from exports and imports! 

Sylvester gave her a flat look in response, “You can sell Brenyus, I will worry about business education when we rank above tenth…” 

“It’s a deal.” 

Her adopted father scoffed, “You can go Rozemyne, but Ferdinand stays.” 

Ferdinand - Illusion of Family

He was reluctant to let Rozemyne go back to the temple by herself but she had all her knights with her so she was relatively safe. His half-brother seemed to have something important to talk about with him and Sylvester didn’t want Rozemyne around. Ferdinand wondered what it could be, considering it wasn’t like there was anything he wanted to hide from Rozemyne. 

Sylvester cleared his throat, “Ferdinand, I am grateful for your suggestion to welcome other faction nobles as my officials… and the old aides of my father are especially a great help for me.” He sighed, “It’s no wonder… Mo- Veronica wanted to keep them away from me, old or not they know Ehrenfest better than anyone.” 

His brother had stopped calling that woman mother, it seemed problem after problem Sylvester faced because of Veronica’s years of tyranny had worn Sylvester out. “Sylvester… are you alright, Brother?” 

“As fine as I can be I suppose… it’s just something I tried to ignore but I can’t avert my eyes any longer.” He inhaled deeply, “There’s no doubt that Veronica’s hostility towards Leisegang is justified to an extent, she did suffer because of them… but I can’t bring myself to think everyone who suffered because of her deserves it. Most of our people don’t deserve her hatred… and our duchy was on the brink of ruin.” 

Sylvester’s smile was full of pain. 

“You of all people should not have suffered because of her hatred and our ignorance…” He inhaled deeply, “Father of all people was misled by his favor for her, just because she was bullied by Leisegang doesn’t mean she can ruin our people and duchy or torment you just for being born from Father’s mistress.” 

Ferdinand struggled to not look down, “Sylvester, I understand your regret but what brought this up?” 

“My own son I suppose.” Sylvester chuckled softly, “He was just a little baby, a few months old… and she… Veronica demanded to be given Wilfried to raise.” He shook his head, “She was already displeased I wouldn’t accept a Veronican or Ahrensbach lady as my wife, I feared for Florencia… for Wilfried if I refused so I just took the easy way in the hopes she would grow to love Wilfried and look upon my wife more favorably.”  

Sylvester added Veronica also ‘deceived’ them by saying it was proper as Sylvester’s mother to raise his heir. He had been told it was wrong, and father’s aides had tried to stop the deceit, but their own father supported this idea. 

“I think… it’s because I went against her wishes and chose the light goddess my heart longed for.” Sylvester murmured sadly. “Father was… afraid I would betray her again.” 

And Sylvester did so, when Veronica crossed the line. They had trapped her with a cunning plan, catching her unaware so she couldn’t use Wilfried as a hostage. 

Had Ferdinand been so blind before to believe Veronica loved her son? She had terrorized Sylvester in ways Ferdinand couldn’t understand, and used her position as Sylvester’s mother like a weapon. For all the torment Ferdinand had to endure, at least he held no love for Veronica but Sylvester did. 

“Wilfried didn’t have any choice in any of it… he didn’t choose to be my son or be raised by Veronica as a tool, our mistakes ruined him…” 

The boy was an idiot and lazy but that was how Veronica wanted him to be, because Veronica didn’t want the boy to have a mind of his own so he would marry the woman she chose and rule the way she wanted. 

“And like you said, this duchy has suffered from pettiness, ignorance, and the vindictive whims of our family.” Sylvester concluded. “I was never the best Archduke myself, Father picked me because of my gender and my sister had a sadistic streak that rivals the woman who gave birth to us… if only that woman obeyed father’s command like a good wife and vassal, you could have been Archduke.” 

Ferdinand blanched, “Sylvester I-” 

“I am not running away from my responsibility… not anymore.” He shook his head, “I will marry a second wife, add more people from different factions to my entourage and make amends with our sovereignty nobles…” He listed on, “I will do everything I can to heal this duchy from all the pain my- Veronica caused, but as long as I am recognized as a puppet Archduke who inherited the blood of Ahrensbach… my very existence will keep reminding our people of the dark past.” He shook his head, “They need reprieve and so… I want you and Rozemyne to be our relay Archduke after you graduate from the Royal Academy.” 

Sylvester couldn’t be serious!

“I will try to solve our economic problems and our lack of human resources in a decade or so… hopefully after another decade the old coots who remember Gabriella and Veronica will climb the towering height by then and we can marry my grandchildren to your children or something… I don’t know.” Sylvester shrugged as if he was not talking about their not yet born descendants. 

He could feel the heat gathered in his ears already. “...You- your wife won’t be happy you decide to cut off not just Wilfried but all your children from succession.” 

Sylvester rolled his eyes, “I am sure but she can see how unhappy I am to be reminded everyday I am the son of a Chaos Goddess, and nothing I do can wash away her sin… I don’t like dealing with old coots from Leisegang and I’m certainly not going to subject my children to the same fate of being irrationally hated just because they have her blood in their veins.”  

“So your solution to that is have me and Rozemyne, who have no Veronican blood, rule Ehrenfest until the older generation climbs the towering height?” 

Sylvester nodded, “Have you met Rozemyne’s great-great grandfather? That old man has become so frail that a light breeze can knock him over and he doesn’t even remember his own name but he has a long memory about Gabriele and Veronica.” 

“...”

“He is a living fossil by now and stays alive just to see Veronica and her bloodline’s downfall.” 

“...Are you wishing he would die from sheer happiness if I or Rozemyne become Archduke?”

Sylvester grinned, “Partly.”

“...I am not sure-” 

“When you become Archduke, you and Rozemyne can make your own lab and library if you want. Then retire at 25 or 30…” Sylvester make a quick calculation on when the elders of Leisegang would climb the towering height. 

Ferdinand had a headache, since he was taken by his father he was raised to be Sylvester’s minister not his heir. “Sylvester… I don’t know.” The course of his life had taken an unexpected turn.  

Sylvester grinned, “You don’t have to say yes now but think about it…” He nodded numbly, “And with all this exposure, I will try to speed up the approval of your engagement to Rozemyne.” 

He would get engaged to Rozemyne so soon? Their courtship could progress to formal engagement?!

“Well, the ceremony would wait until you learn how to make the engagement stone… or we can just teach you how.” Sylvester shrugged. “Whatever works.” 

“Thank you, Brother!” 

Sylvester glared at him, “I offered you this duchy and you want to refuse but you perk up about getting engaged to Rozemyne.” 

His ears reddened again at how obvious he had been. 

“Not that I don’t understand… I would pick Florencia over Ehrenfest.” Sylvester declared, and obviously such words were not getting out of this room. 

“Brother.” 

“This will be our little secret.” Sylvester grinned, and Ferdinand grinned back at his brother, they were like minded brothers indeed. 

Rozemyne - Spring Heralding Project 

In hindsight it was too early to rejoice that they found how to remake the Stage of Early Spring, she had experienced it herself how troublesome it was to collect materials for Jureve. This was even more difficult as they needed a Lord of Summer’s feystone, and it was as precious as the Lord of Winter's material and their Southern neighbors would not part with such a precious treasure without appropriate compensation. 

The northern giebes lost their complexion when told how much those ruined structures were worth, and how at some point some idiotic ancestor decided to dismantle it to make space for who knows what.

"We need to trade with other duchies for summer material…"

Those of the former Veronican faction suggested negotiating with Ahrensbach for Werkestock’s feystone. Which was quickly countered by Leisegang, "Didn't they try to abduct our Lady Rozemyne because they lack mana? Imagine what they would ask in exchange, perhaps one of our Archduke's children?"

They went silent in an instant, now that they had lost favor with the Archduke and also Wilfried most of their support had evaporated. The one who treated them neutrally was Rozemyne so they dared not make an enemy of her either. 

Sylvester ignored the banter, "Negotiating with Ahrensbach is out of the question, if anything this is our chance to silently declare we are no longer under their patronage. Ahrensbach has attacked our people, and thus is a danger to us all."

Rozemyne didn't need to be a mind reader to see the Leisegangs and some Neutrals thought Sylvester was a decade too late to realize his mother was a parasite and Ahrensbach was just an unreasonable patron that gave no merit to Ehrenfest. She had hoped his hard work for the last few months would be appreciated some more. Sylvester was doing his best to grow up from the manchild he was used to be, so praise him a little! Their Archduke was growing up! 

Rozemyne handed Sylvester an eavesdropping tool from under the table and said. “It’s fine Sylvester, you’re doing a much better job! You’re growing up well! I believe in you.” She said as holding the paper fan she made from Ilgner’s paper to hide her mouth. She had Wilma painted the paper nicely with flowers just to look good while hiding her lips like a proper noble women. 

Sylvester shot her an unimpressed look, “You’re the most disrespectful of all, I’m your father not your son.” His lips were quirking as he passed the tool back. “At any rate… Haldenzel has graciously saved their Brenyus as a material… we still have to collect the herald of autumn, but it can wait… the Summer Lord’s feystone however can’t wait because we have to negotiate with our Southern neighbors for it.”

And again- Ahrensbach was out of question, according to Justus, Ahrensbach had deteriorated due to their land’s lack of mana and only managed to hold onto their rank through importing sugar and spice from overseas. They traded for those commodities with mana, and considering the current crisis it was a foolish move to trade unsustainable and vital resources but it kept their rank from plummeting for now. 

Ahrensbach had no escape at the moment, unless they had an alternative it would be just a matter of time until they fell from their high position. She had said so to Sylvester, Ferdinand, and Justus about Ahrensbach’s doom. The former tax collector was laughing so gleefully about the future of the high and mighty Ahrensbach Veronica longed so much. 

Some Veronican was foolish enough to suggest they had a better chance with Ahrensbach because Georgine was the first lady. 

“Are you not aware of the decline of Ahrensbach?” Sylvester proceeded to enlighten the idiots about Ahrensbach’s crisis. “They can’t afford to spare us the feystone of the Summer Lord, and that assumes Dunkelfelger won’t claim it.” 

Leisegang looked gleeful at the prospect of Ahrensbach’s misfortune. 

It was not the best move to announce the misery of their neighbor but it was the most effective way for former Veronicans to stop clinging to an Ahrensbach that was just the shell of its former glory. Rozemyne was actually quite surprised nobody noticed Ahrensbach’s crisis earlier, which explained why they exploited Ehrenfest so thoroughly through Veronica. 

“We will handle the negotiation with Southern territory to acquire the feystone of the summer lord, do your best to collect and carve the stage in the meantime.” The thing was huge and it would take time even with magic to put together. 

This should give the Giebes some work to keep them busy and not bother him for a while. 

Ferdinand- Spring Heralding Project 

Ferdinand didn’t like what he just heard from Justus. 

“Dunkelfelger is our best bet because they owe us a debt.” Justus declared with a grin. 

Sylvester winced at Justus’ choice, “Is this over Ferdinand’s canceled engagement?” 

Ferdinand looked at Rozemyne nervously, how could his older self have ever been engaged to another woman at all when she was his one and only Goddess? Rozemyne didn’t seem upset- she looked… fascinated. 

“Milord… no need to be so upset with your adult self, the engagement was recommended by a thoughtless Heisshitze who thought my research loving master would love to move to Dunkelfelger where they can pester you all the time for Ditter. It was always one-sided, Bluanfa never danced in delight for you and my only regret was the lady canceling as she pleased and putting a blemish upon you.” 

He sighed in relief, thanking Jugereise for the blessing.  

“Ferdinand, it’s fine… you have me.” She hugged him as patting his back. 

“And I don’t want anyone else.” 

Sylvester cleared his throat loudly, and they let go of each other. 

“On the brighter side the current Archduke and previous Archduke still know shame, so while it’s not official it’s almost a public secret that Lady Magdalena was disowned by her family for bringing dishonor upon their family.” 

Ferdinand frowned, “I don’t think Dunkelfelger cares that much about me to disown their daughter much less one who became the Zent’s third-” He trailed off. 

A Dunkelfelger Lady as a mere third wife? That did not make any sense, unless Dunkelfelger did not give any backing to Trauerqual. Then again their late entry to the civil war suggested they took their title as sword of the Zent seriously, and thus no book- no army until their Lady Magdalena arbitrarily decided to get involved by marrying Trauerqual. The Zent who was still missing Grutrissheit. Lady Magdalena’s fault was two-fold in the eyes of Dunkelfelger. It was just conjecture but if they asked, Dunkelfelger was indeed the duchy that was likely to say yes to their request. 

They would not mind adjusting the compensation to what Ehrenfest could offer, considering their past. 

“It still won’t look good to bring up the past to blackmail Dunkelfelger.” Sylvester pointed out. 

Rozemyne clasped her hands, “Then we can compensate Dunkelfelger with something they would like and want very much.” 

“Not my brother.” 

“Of course not.” Rozemyne huffed, and Ferdinand chuckled softly. “So what kind of territory is Dunkelfelger, any specialties or favorite food their people love?” 

Justus grinned, “They’re a militaristic duchy so they respect power, their speciality is their wide variety of fruit… Vize made of loule is their main favorite alcohol. Their cuisine is geared towards sourness and meaty dishes.” The informant went on and on. 

Rozemyne frowned, “I have many recipes using wine and fruit but…” 

“As valuable as your recipe is… trading them with summer lord’s feystone is a bit…” Recipes were nice and all, but they were worth coins not mana. 

Rozemyne then muttered, “Justus said… it’s a land of hotblooded men so their women became adept tacticians to keep them in line.” 

“Yes, Milady…” 

“...That sounds a bit like Angelica and Eckhart.” She trailed off. 

“Ah.”

“Oh.” 

Their gaze wandered to the manablade on Ferdinand’s waist. 

==

His research on intelligent mana blades made of their mana had been halted due to more pressing matters of their internal politics and also their lack of wish to increase the number of their children beyond their closest circle. However it was still a worthy endeavor now that Ferdinand had seen the royal artifacts and how Schwartz and Weiss talked and behaved. Rozemyne had described them as ‘robotic’ which apparently referred to some sort of high end invention in her previous world that was stiff and unemotional. On the other hand their… intelligent mana blades, according to Rozemyne, were closer to artificial intelligence, more human like in mind and personality. 

“So in some senses Stenluke and his fellow talking mana blades are even more awesome than Schwartz and Weiss, the royal artifacts?” Sylvester asked in disbelief. 

“They move, talk? and are capable of thinking to a certain extent but you can’t call them life like.” Ferdinand pointed out. “Angelica’s Stenluke can speak as fluently as a human and according to Eckhart and Justus if they get past the voice, Stenluke’s personality is not an exact likeness of my adult self at all…”   

Sylvester nodded sagely. “Oooh… and your Roselion?” 

“I am not sure if it’s my thinking of them as children but Roselion has a child-like personality so the owner’s wish has an influence to a certain extent.”

Sylvester glanced at Eckhart nervously, “And… Eckhart’s Heidemarie?” Apparently the death of Eckhart’s wife was connected to Veronica so Sylvester was very uncomfortable about it.

“Heidemarie is the only mana blade with a personality that closely matches the voice’s owner.” Ferdinand concluded calmly, “we think it falls under the category of the owner’s wish.” 

Eckhart was beaming from where he was guarding the door with Angelica. “Now we can always serve Lord Ferdinand together!” 

“Yes, Eckhart… our wish has come true.” 

“Indeed Heidemarie.”

“Father, don’t forget about Judichel.” 

Eckhart was very happy with how his family was complete, and it was no wonder Elvira was looking for Eckhart’s match with urgency nowadays. Bonifatius had taken a liking to Angelica and it seemed the placid girl was the only one Eckhart didn’t mind marrying as a second wife; they had gotten along well since Eckhart received his manablade. Heidemarie had taken a liking to Angelica too, which was why instead of engaging Angelica to Bonifatius’ other grandson that was closer in age she was passed over to Eckhart. Elvira had insisted on this as well. 

Then again Angelica was perhaps the only lady in Ehrenfest who was willing to be the second lady to a mana blade. It was doubtful there would ever be the third lady for Eckhart. 

They had four mana blades and that should be enough material to determine how the artificial intelligence part came to be and the ‘voice’ it would have. Sylvester was disappointed he wouldn't get Florencia’s voice for a mana blade. 

“You’re our Archduke, you don’t have spare mana to grow a mana blade.” 

Karstedt vehemently refused when Sylvester suggested him, because he had no wish to have a sword that talked in Elvira’s voice at work.   

So after the summer baptism they contacted Aub Denkelfelger through the water mirror and asked to negotiate for their summer lord’s feystone. Lady Sieglinde had sharp eyes when they mentioned needing the stone to test the method of recreating the stage to welcome early spring. It seemed the first lady was wary Ehrenfest would use his canceled engagement as a weapon to corner her husband.     

In the past the former Archduke himself had apologized to Ferdinand for his daughter’s behavior, which was apparently quite humiliating but the fault laid in Lady Magdalena. Even so there was no reason for Dunkleferger to swallow an unreasonable demand from a middle ranked territory, especially in the time of mana crisis across the country. 

Sylvester then had Angelica step forward with Stenluke, and the sword greeted the first lady of Dunkleferger. Much to the surprise of Aub Dunkleferger and Lady Sieglinde. 

“My teachers said I am devoid of Mestionora’s blessing so Stenluke serves as my Erwachlehren, Lady Sieglinde.” 

“Indeed… I serve my Master to fill where she lacks-” The sword continued to speak eloquently in many ways one such as him could serve as adviser, tactician, and even just a listening ear. 

Aub Dunkleferger’s interest was piqued, “What a wonderful mana blade! Are you giving this wonderful sword to Dunkleferger?” 

Sylvester quickly corrected, “Stenluke is grown with Angelica’s mana… for us to craft a suitable mana blade it has to grow through your mana, Aub Dunkleferger. We’re still researching intelligent mana blades ourselves but we assure you that we would return the blade as a worthy companion in battle.”  

“Instead of exchanging the method to create the intelligent blade for the feystone?” 

This first lady was sharp. 

“So far the creator had made four mana blades with successive success, however we have not determined the deciding factor to awaken the stored mana’s personality yet. Considering the existence of the royal artifacts Schwartz and Weiss in the Royal Academy, we would like to keep this craft a secret for now…”

It would look bad if Ehrenfest could make something smarter than the Royal Family’s automaton. 

Aub Dunkleferger opened his mouth to agree but Lady Sieglinde drove a hard bargain. “Three… we desire mana blades with intelligence for our Archduke and my two children.”  

Ferdinand, who was out of sight from the water mirror, gave a nod to Sylvester. They accepted three intelligent mana blades in exchange for the Summer Lord’s feystone. Sylvester then began to relay instructions of what Dunkleferger needed for the vessel before he and Rozemyne worked their magic to the blades. Which they learned from four existing blades. 

First of all the mana blade had to grow to a certain appropriate length and filled with the owner’s mana. It seemed the owner had to have an emotional attachment to the mana blade, so filling the blade with mana when feeling emotional was recommended. Then they could add mana of desired personality to merge with the existing mana, drinking tuning medicine beforehand. Then Dunkelfelger could send the blades to Ehrenfest for the final step. 

The first blade was sent via the transfer circle of Royal Academy in a few days, which belonged to Aub Dunkelfelger. It seemed the two belonged to their children who would arrive seasons later to grow the blade first. Ferdinand and Rozemyne were accustomed by now to channel their mana to the blade to give ‘birth’ to the special sword. 

By right they should only confirm the birth of ‘persona’ within the mana blade, but he made the mistake of allowing Justus and Sylvester around this time. Sylvester couldn’t resist, “So, how did you come to be?” 

‘I am born from Lady Sieglinde’s desire to always keep her dear husband in check.’ 

Justus, Sylvester and Karstedt broke out laughing. 

“We don’t need to know, we will give you back to your owner as soon as possible.” Ferdinand decided before the mana blade spoke too much, they had to ensure the next ones would be more tight lipped. 

Apparently the knights they sent as courier for the mana blade almost had a heart attack when the Aub of Dunkleferger himself borderline ambushed them on their way to Dunkelfelger Dormitory. The knightly Archduke was said to be very pleased by his new mana blade, and even more pleased by the two jars of rumtopf and sangria Rozemyne added as a bonus together with the recipe tied in a wooden board around the lid. Both recipes used plenty of alcohol and fruit the Dunkelfelgers loved. 

According to Rozemyne, freebies were the most effective way to sweeten the deal with business partners. 

Rozemyne- Engaged!

As it had always been her dream to live in a library full time, Rozemyne couldn’t quite believe exactly how exhausting it was to actually (almost) do so. It was also how she quickly realized exactly how awful the Royal Family’s future orders were going to be to them. She and Ferdinand returned to the temple for the Spring coming of age ceremonies, the Summer baptisms, and then she had to meet with Ferdinand’s two blue robes and Hartmut to discuss everything that had happened in the late spring, she discussed the printing with Fritz and Gil and Lutz, the preparations for the study materials by Hartmut, and whether or not she could realistically offer a position to even more aides because she needed them.

“I am quite happy to be worked like a horse,” Hartmut said, but even he was looking a bit worn around the edges. 

Rozemyne quickly ordered the necessary work done to finalize the materials for the first and second year student study guides, including assuring that Wilma was able to make a copy of a delicately drawn map of Jeurgenschmidt for the geography lessons, and then several sketches of family trees for certain parts of history that were focused on for the first two years.

“Is the workshop prepared for full text printing?” she asked Gil as he made notes about her requests.

“We are ready and waiting, Lady Rozemyne,” Gil assured her. “We have also begun the preparations for a… um ‘special edition’ of the seasonal gods and children’s scriptures with color printing for when we are ready to move forward with that. Information from Haldenzel also shows they are preparing their first print run of a romantic knight story book.”

“I am so very grateful that my aides and Ferdinand’s aides are so excellent that we can leave you to work and still have such outstanding performance,” Rozemyne cheered them all on, but… now it was time for the bad news. “Unfortunately, there is news that Ferdinand and I may be required to return to the Royal Academy again for much of the summer. We will return for the Star Binding Ceremonies, but it may be a royal order this time.”

The nobles of the group, largely Hartmut and Damuel, looked absolutely confused and concerned over the news, but it was well known that such orders couldn’t be ignored or even delayed without a severe risk to life and limb.

After spending about four weeks making sure that the downtown and temple were organized, and that Hartmut was doing well despite the fact as an archnoble he was occasionally taking instructions from commoners and laynobles, she and Ferdinand were summoned back to the palace.

Just before she left, however, she was able to receive her order from Johann, and so the laborious task of embroidering Ferdinand’s cloak would soon begin!

Mother and Father were at the palace, Sylvester and Florencia, and even her grandfather Bonifatius was there.

Sylvester looked as though he was prepared to be ill. “The royal order has come as expected,” he told them all. “Rozemyne and Ferdinand were ordered by the Royal Family to… explore the contents of the sealed underground library to search for clues about how to obtain the Book of Mestionora.” 

Karstedt and Elvira, who hadn’t been privy to the initial speculation, were obviously shocked.

“Thankfully, the Zent has agreed to support our attempts to recreate the seasonal magic, and approved our deal with Dunklefelger, so Bonifatius and several knights will be heading to assist with the subjugation of the Summer Lord in Dunklefelger to obtain the feystone. At Rozemyne’s recommendation, several Ehrenfest knight apprentices will accompany Bonifatius and members of the Knights Order to observe the subjugation and begin to improve our practical knight standing within the Royal Academy.”

Sylvester then let out a particular undignified sigh. “Aub Drewanchel has requested that his daughter and several of her aides assist with the research, and the Royal Family agreed, and due to the increased exposure of both Ferdinand and Rozemyne to others outside of the Ehrenfest duchy, we made the request to… move up the official approval of their engagement. The two of you are now officially engaged, congratulations.”

Ferdinand reached out and took her hand, and Rozemyne squeezed it in return, while Elvira made what must have been the noblewoman’s equivalent of an excited fangirl squeal - largely a surprised ‘eep’. That was a weight off her shoulders, since that meant that Ferdinand wouldn’t be stolen away from her, and for Ferdinand because she wouldn’t be stolen from Ehrenfest, or him. 

“You have my sincere thanks, Brother,” Ferdinand answered, trying to suppress his obvious grin and happiness at the news. “We will do everything in our power to be worthy of this boon, and do our best to succeed in our royal order, and socialize with Drewanchel if possible.”

After the formality, she and Ferdinand were congratulated by Mother and Father. Elvira’s hand had traces of gold dust before she wiped it with a handkerchief. “Congratulations, Rozemyne… as expected of my daughter to make Lord Ferdinand my future son in law.” 

Rozemyne was sure someone behind Ferdinand was gasping, ‘Brother in law- me…’ She pointedly ignored her oldest brother gushing to his mana blade how they were going to be in laws with Ferdinand. 

Karstedt looked resigned, “I knew this would happen for sure since…” 

Do not remember the event where your daughter was no longer eligible to marry anyone else because of a medical examination, Father!!! 

She belatedly remembered that her grandfather was near, she had seen him in the distance before and had been discouraged from approaching the man because of her frailty. Rozemyne couldn’t understand their precaution, he sounded like a very nice person from what she heard. 

“Grandfather, allow me to bless you under this glorious day as ordained by brilliant sunshine of Leidenschaft.” 

“You may.” 

She was still over blessing, but since this was her grandfather she believed this was fine. She had to train better to compensate for her smoother mana flow! Her thought was cut off when a pair of big hands lifted her up from the ground. “Oooooh my cute granddaughter! What a wonderful blessing for a grandfather!” 

The ceiling of the castle was high but she could feel her back briefly touch the surface. 

“Rozemyne!”  

Her descent was saved by her father’s swift light rope slowing down the fall and catching her. The shock was too much and she almost passed out. If she was as unhealthy as she used to be, she would have. Now Rozemyne understood why the Linkbergs kept Bonifatius away from her. 

They still had to talk with Bonifatius so she couldn’t just go home but after the fright she just couldn’t not cling to Ferdinand for dear life.

“Rozemyne is just nine years old this year, why did she have to get engaged so soon!” 

Karstedt looked pained, “Father… the Aub has told you it’s necessary to protect her.” 

“I can protect her!” Grandfather declared, which was not reassuring after the heart attack he gave her. 

Mother sighed, “...From a safe distance maybe… but the protection is so we can fend off higher territories from proposing to her, with Lord Ferdinand we can keep our dear Rozemyne near.” 

“Why does it have to be Ferdinand?” 

Rozemyne clung to Ferdinand tighter and her fiancé just smiled, “Uncle Bonifatius will complain for the sake of complaining… he has nothing against me.” 

That was a relief, she didn’t want anyone who hated Ferdinand as her grandfather. Still… this grandfather she had never met before turned out to be the idiot parent type. It seemed because he only had sons and grandsons, Bonifatius had longed for a girl in his line to dote on. Rozemyne believed this was Wigenmiche’s blessing, unless it was the likes of Angelica most girls couldn’t handle Bonifatius’ pampering. 

At last Bonifatius calmed down but he was warned to keep six feet distance from Rozemyne for her safety. This felt a bit like being in the same room with a bear rather than a human. On a more serious note Bonifatius had the typical repulsion against the temple, maybe the strongest she had ever seen since he was from the previous generation. 

Former High Bishop, it was all his fault! 

“It’s for the best result that the final blow will be done through the spear of Leidenscaft.” They wanted to use it as a summer ingredient after all. 

“Still-” 

Time to use the cute granddaughter card. “Grandfather… I have done my best to purify the temple with Ferdinand, it’s no longer dirty and even Mother visits me without hesitation.” Then again Elvira was tough. “You don’t want to come see me in the temple?”

Bonifatius’ struggle didn’t last. “If it’s for Rozemyne’s sake…” 

They received Bonifatius’ visit the next day to start dedicating his mana to the spear, and she treated him to a hearty lunch. Angelica was over the moon to have Bonifatius around and very happy to know that she would be one of the apprentices to come to Dunkleferger with him.   

“I want to pray to Leidenschaft too.” 

“Angelica…  Grandfather needs to fill it by himself.” 

“I mean… I feel like I can get stronger if I pray to the God of Fire.” The girl said dreamily. 

Rozemyne remembered in her previous life, many students went to Tenjin temple for success in exams. She did too as Urano in high school. Love and matchmaking temples were especially popular for girls. They also collect donations and sell charm. 

“Oh! I have a good idea!” 

==

As was the way of trends, Rozemyne knew she first needed to make them popular herself, so she began with a huge number of trash feystones from the downtown store, and using some of Justus’ instructions she made her first attempt at prayer charms. Brigette and Damuel received charms for Ribesquehilfe. Eckhart, Angelica, and Cornelius three charms to the gods of bravery, swiftness, and marksmanship - with an added one for the goddess of luck for Angelica with the idea that if she wasn’t smart she could at least be lucky!

“Sister, this seems like a waste of mana,” Cornelius complained, but he still put the strung together charms into his spun magic basket.

“Milady has made Lord Ferdinand’s life excellent—” Eckhart began to protest, but Rozemyne shook her head.

“It collects the mana into the larger stone,” she explained. “You can transfer it later or similar, but really you could donate it to the temple.”

Cornelius gave her a firm look to show she wasn’t fooling anyone.

“I don’t really know if they’ll do anything,” Rozemyne admitted to Justus later and Cornelius had left. “But making prayer even a bit trendier will help the temple a lot I think.” She had explained in lengthy detail how religions in her previous world thrived to Justus. They certainly were not going to knock every noble’s door out there for money, and tithes were certainly not going to be a thing considering the poor perception about the temple. So they just had to go the way Shinto Temple does, sell charms to help people get what they want. 

Her brother would be going to the subjugation with his grandfather so that would be a good time for learning and prayer. 

Meanwhile since Johann had finished her punch needle, that was another product Benno demanded to be sold by Gilberta but since it was detailed work again it was not a good product for mass production but it would be incredibly popular for noblewomen. Rozemyne was not sure that all the glue to keep the embroidery together was made of bugs she and Lutz had opted out for their papermaking. Apparently it was one of few adhesives that would work well with fabric. 

Zack also wanted something to make a blueprint out of, and while she wanted them to work on better printing technology she had to admit it must be a dull job for Johann especially. As their patron she also had an obligation to keep their skill sharp. They were not called to the temple for a new project though, Benno said Johann had a problem with his next task as her Guttenberg. 

“Johann, you need to pass down your skill to craft metal types. Consult with your master on getting more metalsmiths to gain the skill, as soon... you need to teach smiths from Haldenzel.” 

Zack nodded, “Yeah, Johann is notorious that he is bad at teaching… that’s why at his age he has not given a disciple yet… Milady.” 

She glanced at Ferdinand who had a frown at Zack’s not so eloquent speech. Rozemyne could imagine, the likes of Ferdinand and Johann were terribly skilled in their field but lacked the empathy to teach the less talented. “That won’t do Johann, for now we only have one proper printing workshop in an orphanage but in near future there will be more and you can’t be the only blacksmith to make every set Ehrenfest needs.” 

Johann went pale at the idea of having to make them all. “I will do my best to impart my skill, Milady!” 

Now all the time remaining until they had to return to Royal Academy was spent embroidering Ferdinand’s cloak. Thankfully Justus had Ferdinand’s old cloak when he was ten so they could use the same length. She refused to begin her own cloak now, because she believed she would grow taller! 

Chapter Text

Adolphine - Royal Trouble in Library

It was with joy she accepted the invitation for a private tea party with her father that spring, and it was after the Archduke Conference to boot! He only had these meetings disguised as tea parties with adoptive children slotted to be future ministers, as Adolphine and Ortwin were still young. So she didn’t expect this, not until she was in her third year at least. 

Her joy turned to shock. Adolphine could scarcely believe what her father had told her, the Royal Family apparently was so incompetent as to not look for a book in the academy’s library! And worse than that they were entirely ignorant of the existence of a library exclusively for foundation magic mana suppliers. It was only due to a bizarre little girl that they could even use it at all while there were no librarians. To add even further insult, apparently they were demanding a pair of middle duchy archduke candidates (who weren’t even enrolled in the Academy yet!) search for the Grutrissheit.

“But that means they were mana suppliers at such a young age, no?” 

Adolphine herself was not a mana supplier of her duchy, simply because with her father, his wives, her grandfather, uncles, and there were no slots left. There was hardly any room in the box for the stones of those registered. It was insane to expect a minor to supply when even an archduke candidate in their first year tired quickly in practical classes in the academy. 

Her father, Aub Drewanchel just sighed. “Ehrenfest has… unique circumstances. The previous archduke never took another wife for reasons unknown, but some have speculated about his wife being influenced by Eifersuneid.” 

It was because of how vicious she was towards Lord Ferdinand—to the point the abuse became a public knowledge. 

“While on the other hand, the current archduke is young and is so in spring for his Light Goddess he refuses to take another wife.” 

That was bizarre to Adolphine: why have an exclusive love match and choose to be aub? It was uncommon, though not rare, to marry under Bluanfah’s protection instead of Gebordnung. However, usually a nobleman who chose such a match would subsequently refrain from taking positions of power that required expanding his family and making extensive political connections through marriage. In short: being in a position of power and sustaining a monogamous love match didn’t go together. 

“Their limited family made it the norm in Ehrenfest to have their children to supply after baptism.” Her father went on, “The Ehrenfest lineage does have mana capacity beyond their rank, which might be a factor. Aub Ehrenfest’s sister is Aub Ahrensbach’s first lady now, and he is also within my mana detection as a greater duchy aub.” 

“I see…” Ehrenfest was beneath her notice even with their improved grades, but perhaps she should have kept closer eyes on them. 

“I have to follow their unorthodox method and reserve a slot for you, it shouldn’t pose any problem.”

She was surprised by the decision but caught on: why would father go that far? “You wish for me to investigate the underground library?” 

Their aub nodded, “Well… Drewanchel can’t stay our hands on this issue. The lack of Mestionora’s protection in those who sit on the higher throne is appalling for all to see.” 

She should not have been glad at how incompetent the royal family was, but it did mean that her father was seriously reconsidering offering her hand in marriage to one of the princes. Adolphine had been sent both to research the extent of the library proper and to assess the strange little archducal children from Ehrenfest.

.·:*¨ ♚ ¨*:·.

The pair were night and day, literally: a tiny girl who didn’t look old enough to be baptized with midnight blue hair and moon eyes, while the other was a young boy around Ortwin’s age with sky blue hair and sunny eyes.

“Lady Adolphine, please allow us to pray in blessing of this meeting ordained by Leidenschaft’s bright rays,” the boy—Ferdinand—intoned. This was the living legend who had surpassed many an archduke candidate of Drewanchel in academic pursuits. Yet, his thread had been spun backward and he was once again in his youth! He certainly made the euphemism of Dregarnuhr’s unwillingness to spin threads backward obsolete. Perhaps he had the abundance of protection from the Goddess of Time?  

“You may,” she replied. 

The younger archduke candidates gave their blessing, and Adolphine noted Rozemyne’s was unique. It was practically showering her in beautiful blue lights and looked divine. With her looks and beautiful blessings, it was no wonder that she resembled a younger Goddess of Wisdom. 

After further greetings within the library proper, Rozemyne introduced her to Schwartz and Weiss, who would be their aides in the retrieval of documents.

Rozemyne then offered the choice of search to her. “We need information regarding Grutrissheit.”

“Adolphine, not allowed,” Schwarz and Weiss responded in unison. 

They all blinked at the shumil.

“I’ve never heard them say that,” Rozemyne said apologetically and tried it herself. “Search information on Grutrissheit for me.”

They responded again, not even missing a beat with the same impassive tone. “Milady, not allowed.”

How interesting, not even their master would change their answer. “Well… I suppose that would have been too easy,” Adolphine admitted. “Do you have any thoughts?”

The girl pondered for a moment, before coming up with a clever way to circumvent the restriction. “Bring us histories or biographies of ancient kings,” Rozemyne said.

“Will fetch!” “Please wait!” And they waited for the artifacts to bring them information.

“So they either have tablets they are forbidden from removing at all, or we simply cannot look for the relevant information directly,” Adolphine concluded, feeling both challenged and concerned. 

“Hopefully the latter,” Ferdinand answered. “Otherwise there is little point in us bothering until we have three librarians.”

Which could take a while. From what Adolphine heard, the Zent had been resistant to greater duchies offering personnel. He couldn’t trust them to give librarians the royal family could rely upon with confidential information. Adolphine was allowed at all because of her young age. Even then, Adolphine was aware there were sovereignty knights stationed in strategic points to keep an eye on them.  

Truly, Father, you gave me such a challenging task. 

The pair were unusually dedicated to research, even when compared to scholar apprentices, willing to sit and discuss translations, reading, magic circles, and other minutiae for extensive stretches of time. The only breaks the pair took were Ferdinand forcing Rozemyne to stop reading approximately once every half-bell and walk around the library browsing books rather than sitting. After a few days of the behavior, she realized it was because Rozemyne was rather frail, and it was an effort to gain endurance in a ladylike fashion.

It was approximately two weeks after their first meeting that Rozemyne offered an invitation to lunch: “Lady Adolphine, I hope you would be inclined to consider an invitation for lunch at some point in the coming days.”

That was a surprise, as usually lower ranking duchies offered food that was… rustic, to say the least. It was unusual for a middle or lower duchy to invite a social better to a meal, but it was not improper, and she was curious if the girl was brazen or actually had decent food to offer. With a glance, she made it clear to one of her aides she would accept, which was acknowledged.

“I would be delighted, Lady Rozemyne.” 

.·:*¨ ♚ ¨*:·.

Afterward, their attendants had their own meeting to discuss Adolphine’s preference, and she had them inquire Rozemyne’s and Ferdinand’s tastes for future reference. Her attendants reported that Ehrenfest’s attendants seemed very confident their cuisine could satisfy Adolphine, which was intriguing. 

They also brought back interesting tidbits about the two Ehrenfest archducal children. Lord Ferdinand had a preference for fresh, clean and nuanced flavors. It was noted by a scholar who was once Lord Ferdinand’s peer that this information was news for him, because from what they know he was known to not like sweets like most lords and avoid spicy food. He was actually famous for… avoiding eating at all in his youth due to the previous first lady’s harassment. 

Lady Rozemyne’s attendant revealed their lady was not a picky eater, but she preferred her food saltier than most and sweets less sweet. It was quite an unusual preference for a noble lady.  

It was almost a week later that they actually met, and the meal exceeded each and every one of her wildest expectations: crisp, flavorful greens in a brightly herbaceous oil; the most exceptional soup she had ever eaten. A sweet and fluffy bread; tender meat with pillowy soft starch accompaniment, and a thinly layered sweet of cream, cake, and drizzled with syrup with amber color like honey but far smoother than Klassenberg’s prized sweetener. 

In short, it was without a doubt the most impressive meal she had ever eaten. Even Sovereignty’s dishes couldn’t compare.

“So, it would seem Ehrenfest has been experimenting with the culinary arts the last few years,” Adolphine noted as they had their after-meal tea.

Lady Rozemyne responded brightly, “I have been cultivating chefs for a few years now in the hopes of finding new flavors to share once Ferdinand and I enter the Royal Academy in winter next year.”

So she was aware of exactly how unusual the food was and did intend to use it to expand Ehrenfest’s influence. The girl was not at all brazen, in fact, she was quite tactical. 

After tea, instead of returning to the library, they l enjoyed a game of gewinnen, her against Ferdinand, with Rozemyne declining as not being as familiar with the game since she was raised in the temple. 

“What do you make of the biographies so far?” Adolphine asked them after inspecting Ferdinand’s pieces.

“Quite fascinating,” Ferdinand answered, inspecting hers in turn. “My concern is that although there do seem to be several accounts that are suggestive of… the book, the descriptions of how they acquired it are distinctly lacking. What is there is so mired in euphemism as to be almost incomprehensible.”

Rozemyne nodded. “We may be able to use Schwartz and Weiss to look up the terms further, but so far that has reached a dead end. Was the Royal Family perhaps more extensive thousands of years ago?”

“Why do you ask?” Adolphine asked in response.

Momentarily taken aback, Rozemyne rallied just after: “There seem to be few family trees available, and less bold statements of lineage in the autobiographical accounts. I suppose I would have thought that, give or take a few decades of turmoil here or there, the pedigree would be tracked.”

An interesting thought, Adolphine reflected on that, and although she could hardly rattle off a thousand years of her own ancestors, she did know that they could be referenced in the archives if there were questions, and that was even given how unusual Drewanchel’s inheritance laws were. Noble registries were used for exactly that, especially when it was important to ensure that matrilineal ancestry was known to avoid intermarriage. 

“Not to my knowledge,” Adolphine answered after considering. 

Lady Rozemyne seemed to be contemplating something and looked quite anxious afterward.*

.·:*¨ ♚ ¨*:·.

A few days later, the Sovereignty finally sent a single librarian, Hortensia, who was apparently the wife of the Sovereign Knight Commander. The woman was a Klassenberg native distantly related to their archducal house and married the commander to elevate his status. Adolphine’s scholar also noted that Hortensia used to serve Zent Waldifried, and was one of the few survivors of the massacre by the First Prince. 

The first task Hortensia took upon herself was retrieving the keys for archlibrarian, which took a while due to the inauguration ritual needed for her to become a “Guardian of Knowledge”. She had retrieved the key from the librarian's quarter which was restricted from outsiders, but they had the keys at last. 

Lady Rozemyne had a dreamy look on her face as they waited, “Restricted librarian’s quarters?! How wonderful!”  They were seated on the second floor, right next to Mestionora's statue. Adolphine was amused because the serene look on her face mirrored the statue exactly. 

When Hortensia returned, her palor was not very good. “There are three keys but it would take a while for us to find worthy individuals to take ownership, my apologies… I would need your temporary assistance to take ownership so the research can be started with haste.” 

Adolphine just nodded to herself, “As expected, this kind of magic tool restricts a single individual from owning all of them…” 

Hortensia had a serene look on her face, but she certainly heard Adolphine’s pointed critique on behalf of Drewanchel. This was the obvious outcome Drewanchel had already guessed would happen but their counsel was ignored by the royal family.  

The tension was palpable but Adolphine decided to spare the new librarian from further discomfort when she noticed Lady Rozemyne had something to say. After a nod from Adolphine, Lady Rozemyne asked somewhat nervously. “Professor Hortensia, traditionally arch librarians are meant to be the master of Schwarz and Weiss. After I received news of your appointment three days ago, I ceased supplying the royal artifacts with mana. Will you be taking over as their master?” 

The automatons were called over, and they were hungry for mana so they ignored Hortensia in favor of pleading to Lady Rozemyne for mana. It was quite pitiful to see and Lady Rozemyne’s expressive eyes were wavering. 

“Oh dear, my deepest apologies but I am on my own as archlibrarian and wouldn’t be able to take over right away…” she admitted, “I am afraid we have to depend on you for a bit longer for these children.” And just like that, she left the task of offering mana to Schwartz and Weiss to Rozemyne.

It was clear the girl had been told she should get rid of ownership of the royal artifacts, and it was impossible not to see why, but Hortensia ignored her euphemistic pleas. A few days turned into a week, and then more. Shamelessly continuing to let a girl as young as Rozemyne provide mana to the royal artifacts. 

Adolphine invited Rozemyne and Ferdinand for tea the day after, and Ferdinand finally asked the question they had doubtless all been wondering: “Is it not quite obvious one librarian couldn’t shoulder the burden of three librarians. So why is it being attempted at all? Professor Hortensia’s burden for Sehweit to witness without Verbergen’s blessing is quite… reckless.”

She nodded. “I am pretty sure she attempted to dye the second key in spite of knowing there are dozens of instances where such magic tools are barred from being held by the same person. Professor Hortensia wasted her mana to claim the second, and it took a toll on her body… I hope she recovers soon.” 

A scholar who was trusted to serve Zent Waldifriend must be aware of this restriction; she was likely ordered to attempt this futile endeavor. They left it unsaid how stupid the Royal Family was to behave as though this would work at all, and it didn’t seem they could provide more librarians for this important task in near future.** 

The Royal family was rightfully paranoid to accept scholars from greater duchies to fill the position, even if it was counterproductive to let Dregarnuhr spin her thread slowly in search of Mestionora’s blessing. The royal family was a shell of their former glory after the fifth prince ascended to the throne with scant support of grand duchies, and was looked down upon for his failure to find the wisdom and end this prolonged mana drought. The greater duchies still supported him out of obligation to keep this fragile peace they won in the civil war, but then Zent Trauerqual displayed his ignorance of the underground library for all to see. Whatever faith they had in his ability hit a new low, and in return he couldn’t trust them either to not usurp him if he gave their people access to search the Grutissheit. After all, the royal blood spread quite thickly in most of the greater duchy archducal families, especially Klassenberg. 

While current stagnancy in search of wisdom was understandable, it didn’t make it any less frustrating. Adolphine couldn’t do anything about it other than wait, so she turned her attention back to their conversation, moving the topic to their future plans. 

“Ferdinand and I will be returning to Ehrenfest in a week or so in order to perform the starbinding ceremonies,” Rozemyne explained as they continued to enjoy tea, Drewanchel sweets, and the pound cake that Rozemyne had brought covered in that same honey-like syrup. Again, Rozemyne proved that she had more than a few tricks up her sleeve when it came to trends in sweets.

“It seems a shame to force two such talented archduke candidates to perform the duties of a High Bishop,” Adolphine noted, also probing for the reasoning behind the arrangement. Aside from the unusual ‘minor as mana supplier’ habit, the duchy was also famous for undervaluing talented people, unlike Drewanchel. 

“Reading the scriptures, blessing new unions, and welcoming the new children of Ehrenfest all brings me great joy,” Rozemyne protested immediately. “But I would be lost without Ferdinand.”

Adolphine doubted that a great deal, but she did notice that the boy’s ears blushed just a touch, which was endearing. It reminded her of her younger brother Ortwin, who struggled to maintain his own noble dignity and was still occasionally betrayed by flushed cheeks when she teased him.

“Aub Ehrenfest will also be announcing Ferdinand and my engagement, which was recently approved by the Royal Family.”

Adolphine’s own composure was immediately tested by that news, as she was both surprised and not. Father had always told her that Ferdinand was an exceptional archduke candidate, worthy of a greater duchy, and she also knew that her grandfather had tried on more than one occasion to offer an adoption, marriage, or both to Ferdinand. She also knew that he had used an engagement with Lady Magdelena of Dunklefelger to dodge most of those attempts. Rozemyne’s pedigree was less known; apparently she was a daughter of the archduke’s cousin and had been declared the Saint of Ehrenfest, a title that she fit when it came to her apparent piety, but she must have also had mana befitting an archducal candidate as well. She was also bestowed the title of Mestionora’s avatar by those who witnessed her abundant blessing that awakened the royal artifacts and informally made obligated to help the Royal Family in this search of wisdom. 

It was impossible not to realize what the move was designed to do: keep both of them tied to each other and Ehrenfest, and make it impossible for other duchies to force Rozemyne or Ferdinand’s hands. Becoming engaged at nine was not unprecedented, but it was uncommon.

“My congratulations to both of you. I look forward to Forsernte’s greeting and for you to greet the Supreme Couple under Sterrat’s blessing,” she said. It was easy to see from Rozemyne’s faint flush and the even deeper red of Ferdinand’s ears that it was not an unhappy engagement. 

The two had been gone for barely a half day when Hortensia explained that, as Adolphine, and most anyone else with any intellect, had assumed already, the royal family didn’t have resources to send more people to hold the key. The Sovereignty’s crisis of human resource was an excuse that had become so worn down since the end of civil war, even a child like Adolphine knew of it. 

They could send scholars of Zent Trauerqual to hold the key, but they were also needed elsewhere so it would be inconvenient if they had to stay in Royal Academy constantly just to open the library for them.  

The professors were also out of question because while they were part of sovereignty, they were even more closely affiliated to their native duchy. 

“Lady Rozemyne, Lord Ferdinand, or both will likely be needed to hold the keys, then.” Hortensia declared. There was an apologetic look in her face but the fact remained she accepted the unreasonable order. 

There seemed to be nothing the Sovereignty nobles would not stoop to. Hortensia didn’t even dare suggest that Adolphine, an archduke candidate of a greater duchy, should hold the key, but it seemed they were only too happy to demand, once again, that Ehrenfest provide the mana that should have been provided by the Royal Family and their closest retainers.

She wrote to her father, and made her perspective abundantly clear: I beseech you to not continue to consider the royal family as a match for me. It was becoming more and more obvious that the royal family saw their inferiors as unwitting tools, they didn’t even have the dignity expected of their station to earn respect from their people.  Being subjected to such a life would only bring her sorrow, and place Drewanchel in the position to be used just as Ehrenfest was now.

They also thought lightly of her as Drewanchel’s archducal candidate who had been placed to protect the two Ehrenfest fledglings. Adolphine had made it clear she disapproved of the treatment and was still ignored. This was a disrespect of the highest order to Drewanchel and Adolphine specifically.

.·:*¨ ♚ ¨*:·.

Sylvester - Heralding Chaosfliehe and Verdraeos

Ferdinand, and Sylvester’s adopted daughter, were off to the Royal Academy, therefore he took this chance to finish, reluctantly, the business he had delayed many times over. Karstedt, who was escorting him, asked if he wanted to do this tomorrow instead, which felt like a sweet whisper of temptation to escape…but he could not. 

“I have to do this sooner or later.” 

The Ivory Tower was desolate, and Sylvester had questioned himself many times whether he would truly banish his mother to such a place. He had hardened his heart and done so because she had done too much, and as Karstedt and Ferdinand told him—repeatedly—over the years… his compassion was wasted on Veronica.

She used their father to ruin their duchy. 

She despised Ferdinand, who happened to be Father’s illegitimate child. 

She rejected Florencia, the woman Sylvester loved. 

She robbed them of Wilfried, so she could raise a better puppet to sit in the position of next Archduke. 

As Sylvester took a seat across from the woman named Veronica, he couldn’t feel any love from a son to mother anymore. He just felt numb as a child and righteous ire as an Archduke. “I have removed Wilfried from succession,” he announced solemnly to her. 

“Sylvester! How could you do such a thing to my cute Wilfried?! He is your son and the grandson I raised with all my heart as the next archduke!” 

Sylvester wondered how he could have ever deluded himself that Veronica ever loved her children sincerely.*** She sold her oldest daughter to Aub Ahrensbach, who was as old as their father. Constanze married out because she couldn’t stand Veronica’s cruelty. As for him… she made him archduke, but also raised him in such a way so he was more obedient and less capable as a puppet. 

“So you can hope that my son will release you from this place?”

Veronica froze before speaking up, “...You have been manipulated by that bastard child, of course I can only rely on my cute grandson!” 

A means to power to subjugate Ehrenfest, had they ever been anything else to this woman? 

“Your wish will not come true… did you think there would be no consequences for coming here without the aub’s permission? Did you not warn him of his crime?”

Veronica gasped.

“It’s my grace as a father and archduke that my nine-year-old son is not occupying the room next to you.”  It hurt to say this about his pitiful son, but he had to drive the point home. “Your beloved grandson somehow found his way to the White Tower and all you could think of was to provoke him to scream conspiracy at the top of his lungs and announce it for all to hear that he has come here.” 

“He is the next archduke-” 

Sylvester slammed his fist hard on the desk, startling Veronica. “What do you think the position of the archducal family is? You raise my son to think Ehrenfest is a playground where he can do whatever he wants?! Including defying me?! The archduke of Ehrenfest?!” 

Calm down… Crushing this woman would get me nowhere. 

“You of all people should understand that he had lost your protection, and the Leisegang would do everything in their power to make sure Wilfried would never become the next archduke… not just his position, even his life is in danger.” 

“Those hateful Leisegangs…” 

“They must be grateful.” Sylvester smiled ironically. “Their desire to ensure Wilfried lost his right of succession came true because of you.” 

Veronica began to tremble, now realizing the weight of her begging to the ignorant and clueless Wilfried. “You are the archduke, how could you do this to your son?” 

Sylvester scoffed, “Father must have spoiled you rotten. Do you realize his excessive favor and permissive behavior towards you always put our duchy on the edge of civil war? There was only so much Uncle Bonifatius, Karstedt and Elvira could do to restrain the Leisegang… you might not care what became of this duchy, but who do you think they will try to eliminate first?” 

She didn’t answer. 

“Not that it matters… from now on, Ehrenfest will walk towards prosperity and peace. That’s why I have renounced Wilfried, who is too influenced by you, and made Ferdinand my heir.” 

That brought Veronica back to life, screeching with hate. “NO! Not that bastard child, Sylvester! If it can’t be Wilfried, you still have two other children from that Frenbeltag woman!” 

Sylvester scoffed, “Do you even know my other children’s names? This is the choice I made because of your actions. I would have to abdicate in a decade or less after mending everything you broke as much as I can as the archduke of Ehrenfest, but ultimately… I am still the son you raised as a puppet aub and have stayed my hand over the years because I needed your political support and couldn’t stop you from ruining our duchy from the inside…” 

“I did what I had to do to protect you! I did nothing wrong!” 

He snapped, “Don’t you realize you have avenged your mother and brothers beyond those who are guilty?!”

“They inherit the blood of that hateful Leisegang woman!”

Sylvester’s father had allowed her to have her fill of vengeance and turned away their pleas for justice.Thus began the decades-long feud between Veronica and the Leisegang faction that wore down Ehrenfest in spirit and mana. 

“What about those Leisegang children and women who weren’t even born yet when Gabriele and your oldest brother died? Those people you forced to give up their names… “ Sylvester was devastated when former Veronica faction nobles looking for asylum confessed about the forced name swearing in her faction. It was a blatant disrespect to an aub’s authority, and in her advanced age she could have taken out at least a third of their noble population in her demise. 

“ What about the people of the land you deprived of mana? What did they ever do to you?!” She had used her bloodline and position as first lady to bind the previous archduke with guilt, allowing her run free to torment the Leisegang faction, even at the cost of their duchy. Sylvester’s father was foolish enough to believe one day her hatred would be sated, but it never was. 

“I-” 

“You stir so much hatred towards us all… and all they can see in me and my children is your hateful face,” Sylvester said coldly. “What do you think will happen if I let Wilfried be my heir?” 

“Ahrensbach wouldn’t stay still! We inherit their blood!” 

At last, the name of the glorious and mighty Ahrensbach came out. “Veronica… Ahrensbach is dying.”

Veronica looked stunned.

“Oh, they still rank among the greater duchies but their land is desolate and their economy is propped up by the import of the sugar they trade with mana.” He chuckled softly, “Mana they’re so lacking in… they’re maintaining their standing on borrowed time. Ahrensbach is just a shell of their former glory.” 

“Sylvester, that must be a lie concocted by that hateful Ferdinand and Leisegang-” 

Sylvester rolled his eyes, “Veronica, you just need to see a bit beyond our border gate to find that their land is barren. Anyone with eyes could see Ahrensbach is suffering a serious mana crisis… and what did they trade their imported commodity with?” It was not that hard to figure out if one looked beyond Ahrensbach’s rank. 

Veronica was pale with fright now, apparently she still had hope that the high and mighty Ahrensbach would come in anger over a daughter from the third wife’s line being treated this way by Ehrenfest. 

“Lady Georgine would not care about your fate. You sold her to Aub Ahrensbach years ago to protect the puppet aub of your choice… and from what little we could hear about her promotion to being the first lady of Ahrensbach… it’s not Greifechan smiling at my dear sister.” Veronica looked up in shock, “She learned too well from you, and never forgets a grudge… what do you think she is doing to the already dying duchy?” He wasn’t talking about Ehrenfest, “Her new Geduldh.”  

Sylvester actually only had vague ideas but no concrete proof, but his sister had many similarities to Veronica, and Georgine had no love for Ahrensbach just like Veronica had none for Ehrenfest. She was certainly not working hard for Ahrensbach’s prosperity as their first lady. If anything, Veronica’s longing for Ahrensbach would just make Georgine try harder to destroy the once great duchy out of spite. 

Veronica despaired, hearing the fate of Ahrensbach. “My children… all of you have betrayed me…” She trembled in anger. 

“Bold words… Considering what you have done to us, you still expect us to be thankful?” And Veronica had the gall to accuse them of betraying her? 

Veronica became silent. 

“So again… there’s nobody to blame but yourself. I will have to abdicate in a few years and pass over the Archduke’s seat to my dear brother to avoid further conflict within our duchy. It’s a wonderful irony if I have to say…” Perhaps he would go down in history as the shortest reign in Ehrenfest or even the country.  

Veronica trembled again, this time in disbelief and regret, “I… did this… that dirty bastard will be archduke… ”  

Sylvester placed a medal on the table, stopping Veronica’s mad rant. “This is my last mercy as the son you gave birth to… I will not run away from this responsibility.” 

“No-no… Sylvester don’t!”

“This is my judgment as Aub Ehrenfest… You can no longer call yourself a noble, and if you want to keep your miserable life you’d better give up names dedicated to you by your own will before we use force.” There were many forced to give up their names to Veronica, corrupting the sacredness of dedicating names. 

Veronica of course refused vehemently, thinking the dedicated stones she was hiding in her hidden room were her last lifeline. 

Sylvester swiftly corrected her misunderstanding. “On the contrary, Veronica. Once your medal is gone, you will have no hope of returning to noble society. Let’s say… if I let you out of the tower, what life awaits you? Will your people treat you with respect?” He wondered out loud with a cruel smile on his lips. 

“My… my people-” 

“Whose life you hold hostage, a heresy against Gebordnung…” Sylvester reminded her. “They can’t be mine or Florencia’s unfortunately as long as their loyalty is divided to you, which means… they hold no value. Who knows when they will turn on me?” He wondered out loud. 

The woman he used to call mother was not a fool, she was so much smarter than him and so she understood why he went as far as threatening her with the medal. 

“You won’t dare!” 

“You dare drag my son down with you!” Sylvester shot back at her with fury in his eyes. “I let you raise my son, thinking he would soften your heart for my light goddess… that you would finally see she has no hostile intention towards you. Yet… you continue your tyranny, you deprive Wilfred of Ewarchlehren and Anwachs! Then… when he, the only person who still sees you as his Weigenmilch, weeps for you, all you see is a means to save yourself.” Sylvester spat. “So help me Veronica… what will it be? Climb the towering height with all your namesworn, or survive by destroying the chain of servitude you tie them with?” 

She didn’t relent easily, and Sylvester was not feeling very generous. Especially when the mention of Wilfried didn’t elicit any guilt, now her face was bare without a veil, Sylvester could see very clearly that Wilfried was nothing more than a collateral damage to Veronica. To think… even Ferdinand used to believe this woman ever loved her family!

Sylvester was the son of this accused Chaoscipher, unlike Veronica, Sylvester truly loved his family. Like Veronica however, he knew he had the capability of being very cruel to his enemy.  

However as he was still new with the intricacies of the faction, Sylvester discussed the issue with none other than Elvira. “As soon as the sound barrier was erected and their aides except Karstedt turned their back, Sylvester pleaded for her wisdom. 

“I want to make use of the Chaoscipher, Elvira… like she used her children and Wilfried.”  Elvira had a very sad look on her face, and Sylvester did his best to keep his composure. For all the disappointment he had been as an Aub, Elvira still felt sorry for him. 

“Please become my Anhaltung.” 

Elvira nodded and told him the painful truth. “...Usually a public punishment could destroy the dignity of our archducal house, but the criminal in question has destroyed it almost beyond repair throughout your father’s ruling and yours, Aub Ehrenfest.” 

A mere puppet Aub, the Dark God whose cloak was pulled like a leash around his neck by Chaoscipher. 

“That’s quite true.” Sylvester never realized how pathetic she had made him. 

“Your entourage now… they are not truly yours.” Elvira told him. “They are an extension of old factions in Ehrenfest, Sehweit who do not trust the Dark Cloak is really your own.” 

“...” 

“Make it a demonstration if you have to, but show it to your people… to the Sehweit, your resolution to end the tyranny of Chaoscipher and make the Dark Cloak yours.” Elvira narrowed her dark eyes. “But that’s only a starting point, Aub Ehrenfest… a puppet that has cut the threads could still be a cloakless Dark God your people will not trust to lead.” 

He didn’t like what he heard, but with words from two wisest children in his duchy echoed in Sylvester’s head, from Ferdinand, he had to hear from all sides and from Rozemyne, trying to look from the perspective of his people. 

Would Sylvester trusted himself as to be a competent aub? Punishing Veronica was something he should have done ages ago, perhaps from as soon as she harmed Ferdinand and then his own son by holding Wilfried hostage against him and Florencia.

The day after, he gathered his entourage and moved to take action. They were very confused when he led them to Ivory Tower but soon all of them understood his purpose, when they all laid eyes on Veronica who had been stripped from all finery and dressed in a simple white gown. He specifically requested for a torture specialist of the Knight Order to work on Veronica, not a neutral but a Leisegang born knight. 

Veronica screamed, questioning why they were all here and the indignity of being watched as the female knight in charge dragged her to the center of the room. 

“Begin.” Sylvester mustered his coldest voice, trying to think of himself as Ewigeliebe whose heart was frozen over and was watching the woman who had hurt his Geduldh pay for her mistake.  

Her complexion changed immediately, a woman who lived a pampered life since she married the previous archduke wouldn’t be able to stand the torture. “I- I am your mother, a noble! You can’t do this to me!” 

He just raised an eyebrow at that statement, “You are not a noble, Veronica.” He told her, “What dignity is there to preserve? Even if I have the knight strip you down like an animal, it can be done… and I am Aub Ehrenfest.” 

She was the one who placed him in this throne, her and the man who was as guilty. 

Veronica began to tremble as the knight began, they poisoned her with special concoctions that made her skin irritable. It won’t kill her, but even the simplest touch like pinching made the woman scream as if she was being butchered. The torture continued, but Sylvester found no joy in it. He didn’t understand how Veronica could derive joy from the pain of others. 

After the second time she fainted from the pain and awakened by a slap on the cheek, Sylvester didn’t pay attention any longer. He diverted his attention to his entourage, he didn’t see joy in the Leisegang aides’s eyes, they seemed unable to believe the sight of Veronica being tormented. While the neutral nobles were distressed, the remaining Veronican were sweating like mad and didn’t even hide their holding onto feystones to settle their nerves. 

He heard the seventh bell of the day when Veronica stammered out her surrender. Her white dress was now the color of Geduldh with patches of white. Sylvester felt his heart clenched at the sight but from disgust, because the blood she shed was nowhere near the amount their Geduldh shed due to her. 

She begged for the pain to stop and she would give up the nameswearing stones. She also begged to be healed. 

“No, not after you open your hidden room, undo all the traps and show us where you keep the namesworn stones. Only then… you will be free of this pain.” 

“How could… you… Sylvester… cruel-” 

A former aide of his father, and now his scholar, Meinrad spoke up. “...Veronica, you are the one who made the archduke be cruel to you. You suffered in your childhood because of your mother’s disrespect to her new Geduldh, and now… you suffer because you scorned your children.” He was grieving, “You distance us from your son… deprive him of Erwachlehren, you could have lived peacefully if you let go of the Dark Cloak… but you won’t give in even to your own son when your time has passed.” 

She was still not sorry and even provoked the old scholar. “If Adelbert sees my pain…” 

“We will choose the Dark God who sees Geduldh’s pain over him.” Meinrad stated with finality. 

They left the tower, the sky had darkened and Sylvester led the way to locked wings for predecessor that had not been used since Veronica’s imprisonment. They had ordered even knights to stay away from the premise so it was just Sylvester, his entourage and Veronica walking through the hallway to her former room. 

It had been left as it was and the woman let out a pathetic cry when she saw what was left of her former glory. Sylvester just wanted to see the end of this madness that stemmed from Chaocipher called Veronica. She opened the hidden room with her mana before being cuffed once more and she told them how to undo the security measure using her feystone. Veronica resisted for a moment but gave in once more when the female knight, without even flinching, corrected her attitude. 

Veronica pointed her shaky finger at the jewelry box, which was full of the namesworn stones. After they confirmed there was no other trap within, Veronica was tied up and left outside. She sobbed and began to feel sorry for herself. Sylvester ordered the sorry sight to be removed from his vicinity. 

Meinrad sighed at the figure the knights carried out of the room. “She seems to think she didn’t deserve any of these. Your father… Lord Adelbert sheltered her too well.” 

Sylvester believed Rozemyne had mentioned it several times in the office whenever he had to deal with the chaos Veronica left in her wake. The spiritual principle of cause and effect, those who do bad would one day receive their due. 

“I believe Lady Rozemyne coined this euphemism:  a person's thread has been delivered from Dregarnuhr’s loom onto Gebordnung's hands,” Meinrad recited. 

Or as she called it privately, “Ah, karma. How very fitting.”

By the end of the night, other than stones, he found the barrette with lion carving belonged to his brother, the one their father gave him and his brother as a matching pair. Adult Ferdinand looked impassive when it was taken by Veronica, but Sylvester knew he must have been hurt. “I’ll return this to Ferdinand.” Rozemyne had crocheted a simple hair tie for his brother to use; perhaps Ferdinand didn’t need this matching barrette anymore, but it was his. There was also an ochre cloak belonging to adult Ferdinand,his brother would prefer the one Rozemyne was embroidering but this was still a keepsake from their father. 

“Heh… I should have done this sooner.” Why should he prioritize a woman who gave birth to him but spread misery to his family over his loyal and cute brother? 

Yes, this was right… This was how Sylvester had to act as Aub Ehrenfest and Ferdinand’s brother.  

.·:*¨ ♚ ¨*:·.