Ascendance of a Bookworm P5V3 Drama CD 5 SS: Sylvester’s POV – Drinking time

“Today was a wonderful day. I was able to witness just how much all of you have matured.”

In my role as Aub Ehrenfest, I praised the students for their efforts during the Interduchy Tournament and commended all the award-winning recipients while having dinner in the dormitory’s dining hall. Right now, Ferdinand should be in the midst of dining with Wilfried and Rozemyne in the tea party room. If possible, I would’ve also preferred to be eating there, but I couldn’t just abandon my responsibilities as the archduke.

“Father, if you’re heading to the tea party room later, may I receive permission to accompany you?”

I was covertly asked that question by Charlotte who had also eaten her dinner together with me in the dining hall. With how enthusiastic she had been, it would have been fine to let Rozemyne take care of entertaining Ferdinand by herself, however for appearances sake, it wouldn’t have been a good look for them to be together alone. That’s why they were being accompanied by Rozemyne’s fiancé, Wilfried. Charlotte must’ve also preferred to be in their company.

“Sorry, but after dinner, I’ll be chasing out Rozemyne and Wilfried to enjoy a few drinks together with Ferdinand.”

“In that case, if you hear any interesting stories from uncle, please tell me about them later.”

She must’ve understood that we were going to be exchanging confidential information. Charlotte obediently withdrew with a smile. She really is an excellent daughter. I headed to the tea party room while marvelling at Charlotte’s growth. The moment my attendant opened the door, I was immediately greeted by the sound of Rozemyne raising a fuss.

“No, Justus! Don’t! If you’re going to give it to him, I’d rather you just give it back instead!”

“What’s all this fuss about?”

Just as I walked in exasperatedly while wondering what in Yurgenschmidt they were doing in the presence of attendants from another duchy, Rozemyne appealed to me desperately while pointing to a dark-blue stuffed shumil doll.

“Ah! Sylvester! I made a magic tool for Justus to use, but Ferdinand is trying to steal it away!”

“Is this the magic tool you speak of? What exactly did you record for him?”

When I picked up the dark-blue stuffed shumil doll and tried playing its recording, what came out was the sound of Rozemyne’s nagging tirade. Rozemyne is just about the only person who could pinpointedly berate Ferdinand like this. If rumours about this spread in Ahrensbach, it would undoubtedly be rather embarrassing for him.

“Keep this with you. If you want Ferdinand to obey, all you need to do is threaten to share these recordings with other people in Ahrensbach.”

“Understood, Aub Ehrenfest.”

Justus replied with an amused smile before putting the dark-blue shumil with the rest of the retainers’ luggage. It was funny seeing the contrast between Ferdinand’s astonished expression and the satisfied look on Rozemyne’s face. I inadvertently smiled, reminiscing that it had been a long time since I’d last experienced such warm and peaceful days. I gave instructions for my attendants to prepare the wine and called for the children to leave the room.

“Anyways, from here on out, it’s time for the adults to talk. Back to your rooms, you two.”

After we’d chased out the children and the wine had been prepared, I instructed the attendants to also leave the room. But even though we told them to leave, Ferdinand’s attendants merely moved to the other side of the partition.

“All of the guard knights are to also withdraw. We’ll be leaving too. Don’t be so uncouth as to interfere with this precious opportunity for siblings to catch up with each other”, said Justus as he pushed against the back of an Ahrensbach attendant named Sergius before they disappeared over to the other side of the partition.

“It’s somewhat irritating that Karstedt also has to leave when we order the guard knights to vacate the room.”

“Considering the circumstances, it can’t be helped.”

Due to the need to be wary of attendants from other duchies, we needed all retainers on both sides to leave the premises in order to demonstrate that there was no danger to either of us. Since he was a guard knight and captain of the Knight’s Order, we couldn’t allow Karstedt to stay behind.

I poured some wine into a cup and handed it to Ferdinand together with a sound-blocking magic tool.

“You’re the guest here today. Allow me to pour one out for you.”

“Why even bother? You know that soon enough you’re just going to get drunk and tell me to top up your drink anyway.”

Ferdinand exasperatedly muttered “Goodness gracious” while picking up his cup. As he did so, I could clearly see the traces of fatigue around his eyes. In the span of only a single season, it felt like his face had become a lot more languid.

“Your face looks pale. Are you sure you’re leading a healthy lifestyle?”

“…I just can’t get the hang of eating their cuisine. That’s all. Their food is very stimulating to put it lightly, and it makes my throat and stomach hurt. Even though I didn’t actually think it was that bad when I ate it in Ehrenfest…”

“Speaking of which, whenever mother had the chefs make Ahrensbach cuisine, I think I remember her always saying that the flavours should be stronger. It was always difficult to obtain some of the rarer spices, so apparently whenever the dishes were made in Ehrenfest, the flavours always ended up being more mellow.”

“I see… Personally speaking, the smell and flavour are so strong that it makes it difficult to tell if the dish had been poisoned, so I can never let down my guard.”

I see. So that’s why even though they used rare seasonings from the only foreign country, Lanzenave, Ferdinand never really ate much Ahrensbach cuisine even during Archduke Conferences because he was always wary of being poisoned.

“For the record, since we came from another duchy, they do serve us dishes that are suitable for the palates of those from the Sovereignty, but…”

“Oh, I see. Sovereignty-style cooking is bland, so you ended up losing your appetite?”

I’d already experienced it for myself at the Archduke Conference how Sovereignty-style cooking tastes insipid once you grow accustomed to the dishes that Rozemyne invented. It’s a consequence of our tastes becoming too refined.

“In that case, was tonight’s dinner menu enjoyable? Rozemyne apparently asked the temple’s chefs to prepare your favourite dishes.”

“Yes. It had been a long time since I’d been able to enjoy a meal.”

“It’s also been a long time since I was able to leisurely drink some wine… After all, I was really busy this Winter with all my plans getting thrown into a mess.”

“That looks like it was the case. I’m glad that everything ended up being alright.”

Apparently, the children had earlier told Ferdinand a thing or two about the purge. It seems like Wilfried had stopped her when Rozemyne was just about to explain. I proceeded to tell Ferdinand about some things which I hadn’t even told the children.

“Bonifatius said that the situation would have probably been terrible if we didn’t have the secret information provided by Giebe Gerlach’s son, Matthias. It was apparently a gathering of people who would blow their own heads off in order to destroy the evidence. They must have been trying to do something significant enough for them to pay that price. All in all, it was a narrow escape, but we were able to crush the people who had given their names to my sister.”

“However, judging from what you’re saying, you clearly weren’t able to obtain any evidence or details of the plan?”

Matthias’s testimony let us know that my sister was targeting Ehrenfest’s foundational magic. However, I was in possession of the key to the foundation. It shouldn’t be an easy task for someone to steal it under my nose. Could there possibly be another way? Did she come up with some sort of secret plan? We never ended up learning what that was as the case was drawn to a close.

“It seems like the gains were even less than I thought.”

“That’s not true. We were able to eliminate the dangerous nobles within Ehrenfest, and the archducal family was able to gain loyal followers in the form of the children who had given us their names.”

Normally speaking, it was highly unusual to experience the act of receiving someone’s name. Even if a person were to know about the method itself, they usually wouldn’t go that far to demonstrate their loyalty. In fact, I didn’t even know that my sister and mother were forcing their followers to offer up their names.

“I don’t think power should be abused to force people to give their names like my mother and sister’s way of doing things, but if it’s something that they can do to avoid collective punishment, it should be seen as a form of salvation for the students. They’ll be grateful to the archducal family and will likely become loyal followers who would never betray us. They’ll be valuable assets to the archducal clan in the future.”

“Sylvester, there’s a difference between retainers who gave their names in order to survive and retainers who gave their names in order to demonstrate their loyalty. It can also backfire if you’re too careless when you interact with people who gave you their names. Even if you can bind their actions, you won’t be able to control their feelings. Please be aware of that. You’re being far too optimistic.”

I nodded my head in understanding. Just like Ferdinand said, amongst the criminals we had captured, many of them had given their names to my mother. Apparently, the majority of them were victims who had been forced to give their names before being ordered to commit their crimes. There were also many of them who pleaded for their names to be returned, so the difference between those who were serving of their own free will versus those who were forced to obey was clear as day.

“I’m grateful for the warning, but I do think you’re always far too pessimistic.”

This time around, the plan was to observe the captured former-Veronica faction nobles for a while before gradually releasing them back to society depending on the severity of their crimes. Back when we made that decision, Ferdinand persistently nagged me, saying “We’re obviously including embezzlement of funds, but forgery and illegal modification of official documents are also serious crimes. Don’t let them off easily.”

“Even though it’s been ages since we’ve been able to drink together, you’re going to ruin the taste of this wine. You need to fix that personality of yours that always likes to lecture others.”

“It’s all because you’re being so nonchalant even though you claimed to have had a hard time dealing with the aftermath of the purge. You said you still hadn’t gotten your hands on any concrete evidence, but is there really nothing that can be linked back to Georgine?”

Ferdinand’s golden eyes narrowed sternly as he slightly lowered his voice even though we were using a sound-blocking magic tool.

“As expected, the ones who made the most alarming movements were my sister’s followers who had given her their names. As long as we don’t have any concrete evidence, I would like to be kept up to date on my sister’s movements in Ahrensbach. If their objective is for my sister to usurp control of Ehrenfest, there will be a need for her to target the foundation. In which case, wouldn’t my sister’s location be the number one priority that they would want to conceal at all costs? That thought’s just been nagging at the back of my mind.”

Since they’re not the archduke, they won’t be able to use the teleportation magic circles to move around, but I wouldn’t find it strange if some sort of loophole existed. If there were a loophole that we’d oversighted, I’m sure something will happen again.

“Unfortunately, the only times I ever really saw her were when I first went to the castle. I haven’t even gotten confirmation if she’s really in Ahrensbach.”

“…That’s unusual for you.”

I didn’t think Ferdinand would have trouble keeping track of Georgine, considering he said “I will keep an eye on Georgine” before departing.

“Lady Georgine is from the same generation as Justus, so she’s very familiar with his disguises. She gave him a warning when she discovered him. I’m also not very well acquainted with her, so I was unable to arrange for a meeting. They claimed her attendants were busy because she was currently in the process of moving to her villa, and on top of that, it was also said that she wasn’t feeling well since she still hadn’t gotten over her husband’s death.”

Whenever an Aub passes away, his first wife moves to a villa in order to hand over the Aub’s residence to the next generation. While the villa is being cleaned and prepared, sometimes the first wife would temporarily reside in an empty guest room, but there were also cases when they would start preparing the villa from an early stage when they thought their husband’s days were numbered.

“Everything about it smells fishy. Was it also difficult to slip in during all the turmoil while she was moving homes?”

“Yes. According to Justus, there weren’t many retainers or servants helping her move to the villa because many of them had retired. The security was very strict and any entries or exits were thoroughly vetted, thus making it extremely difficult for him to sneak his way in. On top of all that, whenever any of us go out, there’s always someone from Ahrensbach who accompanies us.”

Ferdinand just simply didn’t have enough pawns which he could move freely in Ahrensbach, and there was always a retainer following him who acted as surveillance. Hence, it was difficult for him to gather information.

“That makes it sound like I was being too careless, considering I never placed any surveillance on Florencia when I welcomed her to Ehrenfest.”

“Surveillance isn’t quite the right choice of words. It would be more appropriate to say that they’re wary of me… It’s a marriage that neither party wanted. Even though it’s a royal decree, I can’t blame them for being apprehensive.”

He was supposed to raise Letizia into becoming the next Aub, but she belonged to a different faction to his fiancée Detlinde who was going to be a temporary Aub as well as Georgine who originated from the same homeland as Ferdinand. As a result, there were apparently many people who were paying close attention to Ferdinand’s movements.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with calling that surveillance. It doesn’t change the fact that you’re not in a situation where you can sip wine in peace.”

“Leave the wine out of this. Anyways, for the time being, it seems they’re following the royal decree and courteously treating me as a fiancé. They also don’t appear to be aiming to take my life. Things are peaceful there.”

I don’t think the peace that Ferdinand speaks of is very peaceful at all. His way of life in Ahrensbach seems plenty difficult to me.

Having finished his sip of wine, Ferdinand placed his wine cup on the table with a light clinking sound. He stared straight at me with a blank, expressionless face.

“Sylvester, should I make my move?”

…The assassination of my sister.

I inadvertently gulped. With the illusion of my throat feeling dry, I reached for my wine cup and brought it to my lips. Rather than moistening my throat, the passage of the wine only left behind a trail of heat.

“What would you like me to do?”

His golden eyes narrowed. I could tell that his sharp pupils were gauging me so that they wouldn’t miss even the slightest reaction.

“…You would be laying your hands on a member of our family. I want to have clear-cut evidence before making a move. I can’t tell you to do anything when all we’ve got is speculation with no evidence.”

“As always, you’re too indulgent towards family members. Isn’t it because you’re always saying things like this, that another duchy’s first wife was able to take advantage of you?”

Even if he looked at me in exasperation like that, I had no desire to cross that line. I don’t want to reap my sister’s life without any evidence, nor did I want to force Ferdinand to get his hands dirty. This was my sentiment as an older brother. As I glared at my half-brother who didn’t understand my feelings, I held out my wine cup in an attempt to shift the topic away from my sister.

“You can call me indulgent all you want, but it’s still a no. Now pour me some more wine.”

“Sigh… Instead of drowning yourself in alcohol, you should just make up your mind already. My goodness…”

Ferdinand muttered his complaints while pouring wine into my cup before topping up his own. I quickly changed the subject in order to prevent the topic from being brought back up.

“You previously told me that the information wasn’t very reliable, but just like you said, Aub Ahrensbach passed away during your engagement. What’s going to happen regarding your Starbinding?”

“Isn’t it obvious that it’s going to be postponed since the next Aub will need to prioritise dyeing the foundational magic with her mana?”

Whenever an archduke passes away, there’s a need for the new archduke to dye the foundation in their own mana as soon as possible. Since marriage causes changes in one’s personal mana, it was common sense to postpone the marriage until the foundational magic had been dyed.

“Hmm. In that case, you should be able to temporarily return to Ehrenfest. Come back once the snow melts and then you can just move again at the end of next year’s Winter.”

“That, I cannot do.”

“Why? It’d be ridiculous to force you to live in a guest room for more than a year.”

There’s no way they could make him live there for more than a year in the position of a noble from another duchy, without even having a hidden room. Usually, the time between moving to another duchy and marriage is only around about a season long. Even if there were special circumstances, it’d take at most half a year.

“They were operating under the assumption that I would be staying when they decided to have Detlinde take over this Winter. That’s the reason why Ahrensbach was searching for a fiancé from an archducal family who had bureaucratic experience. There’s no way I’d be allowed to return.”

“In that case, delay the Aub’s funeral until next year and hold the Starbinding first. It’s beyond unreasonable to make someone in the unstable position of an unmarried guest play a central role in the operations of another duchy for longer than a year.”

Marriage should have been the prerequisite for Ferdinand to be involved in Ahrensbach’s bureaucratic affairs. It’s not like he’d gone there just to give them a helping hand.

“As long as the Aub doesn’t attend the next Aub’s Starbind Ceremony or the Archduke Conference, the only time the position of Aub can be passed on to someone else will be upon the occurrence of the Aub’s death. The king would first need to be informed about the Aub’s passing before any approval can be granted.”

“Since the change of Aub currently can’t be done using Grutrissheit, shouldn’t they be more flexible…”

“Sylvester!”

Ferdinand cut off my words in a strict tone.

“You’re being disrespectful. Now that those in the Sovereignty have their eyes on me, with Ehrenfest’s loyalty currently being suspected, that isn’t the kind of thing you can say out loud. And besides, even without Grutrissheit, it’s important to respect the formal procedures.”

Even though I felt frustrated with Ferdinand who prioritised the royal decree over my concerns for his own wellbeing, I held my tongue and silently raised my drink to my lips.

“However, if the royal decree is going to force you to remain in Ahrensbach, can’t you at least ask them to switch the order of the funeral and Starbinding? Even if you held the Starbinding, there shouldn’t be any problems with dyeing the foundational magic as long as your mana doesn’t blend together.”

Something like a funeral can be held at any time. If Ahrensbach wants Ferdinand to do bureaucratic work as a member of the archducal family, they should first give him the position. However, the subject in question waved off my persistent concerns as if they were too much of a hassle.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine. In a certain sense, I’m actually relieved that the Starbinding has been postponed.

“Huh? Are there any benefits related to the ceremony being postponed?”

“It’s to do with Rozemyne. I received a letter from her. In accordance to the royal family’s wishes, she’s going to be giving the blessings for the next Starbind Ceremony, right? Her blessings change depending on how close she is with the targets of her blessings. Just like how she bestowed more blessings upon Lady Eglantine than Prince Anastasius, there’s a high probability that she’d grant me more blessings than she will for the next king, Prince Sigiswald and his fiancée, Lady Adolphine.”

Fair enough. If the quantity of her blessings is directly correlated to how close they are to her, it could be dangerous. The royal family were the ones who strictly requested for Rozemyne to perform the ceremony as the High Bishop. The aim was to emphasise that the blessings showered upon Lady Eglantine were man-made rather than the handiwork of the gods, as well as to bless the marriage of the future king.

…In which case, what would happen if she were to bestow most of her blessings onto Ferdinand?

‘Is Ehrenfest secretly plotting something’? They would surely be suspicious and direct such accusations at us. It was easy for me to imagine such an outcome. Even though there’s already many duchies which view us as enemies due to our duchy’s rapid rise in the rankings, if something like that were to happen, it would’ve clearly spelled trouble.

“Indeed. I can’t imagine Rozemyne being able to keep her emotions under control. It does sound like something bad would happen. After all, she’s got the track record of getting irritated by the things people said at a tea party and hence organising a Dedication Ritual.”

“Oh…? I would very much like to hear about that in detail. What kind of mess did Rozemyne cause at the Royal Academy this year? It sounds like there’s a lot of things that she refrained from reporting to me in her letters…”

Ferdinand picked up on the words I uttered under my breath and curved his lips into a smile. It seems like he’d switched the target of his lectures from me to Rozemyne. Thinking that this was a perfect opportunity, I proceeded to tell him about all the reports I’d received from the Royal Academy.

“Apparently the fuse which set her off was a bunch of middle and lesser duchies speaking ill of me at a tea party.”

“Oh, you’re referring to those rumours that were spread around at the Archduke Conference last year…”

“Indeed. I was able to understand the report up until that point. After that, I still have no idea how things got to this point, but Rozemyne somehow got the royal family and nobles from other duchies involved in her joint research with Dunkelfelger and held a Dedication Ritual at the Royal Academy with the Zent as a participant.”

No matter how many times I read the report, to this day, I still don’t understand how things turned out that way. My only salvation was that everyone who participated in the Royal Academy’s Dedication Ritual reported that “Everything somehow ended harmoniously”.

“Literally none of that made any sense.”

“Just letting you know, apparently she was being considerate in her own way. Although that wasn’t much relief when I was close to getting a heart attack…”

“That part’s just business as usual. Although with her getting the Zent involved in her antics, the scale has certainly gone up a notch or two.”

I nodded profoundly to strongly express my agreement. The magnitude of incomprehensible trouble that she was bringing to us was growing exponentially year after year. It definitely wasn’t just my imagination.

“Some incomprehensible phenomena also occurred during the Dedication Ritual, but at least it ended relatively peacefully. She didn’t get admonished by the king or any members of royalty and everybody wrote in their reports that things turned out fine. Isn’t that quite the achievement considering it’s Rozemyne we’re talking about?”

Rozemyne’s lifestyle at the Royal Academy was the furthest thing possible from the word ‘peaceful’. I don’t mind how many bad rumours they spread about me, from the bottom of my heart, next year I just want to bring Rozemyne back to Ehrenfest.

“However, just when I was breathing a sigh of relief, this time around, Dunkelfelger challenged us to a bride-taking ditter.”

“A bride-taking ditter? How ridiculous. This is an engagement that’s received the permission of the king. As the Aub, couldn’t you have put a stop to it if you had just made an appeal to royalty?”

I would’ve also done that if I could. However, by the time I learnt about the incident from a report, the children had already accepted the challenge.

“It was written on Wilfried’s report that he had already accepted the ditter. Against an opponent like Dunkelfelger, it was already well past the point of no return.”

“Wilfried did? It wasn’t Rozemyne?”

Ferdinand scrunched his eyebrows into a frown.

“Apparently it started off with Wilfried being provoked. They were saying he wasn’t fit to be the next Aub.”

“That one also hasn’t been educated enough. If you’d left his education to me, I would’ve trained his heart to be strong enough that it wouldn’t waver from some mild provocations.”

“An education which thoroughly shatters his confidence to pieces is unnecessary!”

Who would ever entrust Ferdinand with the education of their child? Rozemyne’s the odd one out for growing attached to him in spite of receiving such an education. Ordinary children would’ve fallen ill long before they could harden their hearts. I’m genuinely worried for Lady Letizia’s wellbeing in Ahrensbach.

“Well, I couldn’t care less about what happens with Wilfried. So, what happened next? I didn’t receive any reports about it, so I’m assuming you won?”

“We somehow managed to scrape together a victory, but that was only just the beginning. Since the talks had proceeded exclusively amongst the children who didn’t have a solid grasp of ditter formalities, there was a bit of a misunderstanding due to Dunkelfelger having a different perception of the events. However, since Ehrenfest were the victors, we were able to push through our demands…”

Starting from the cancellation of Lady Hannelore’s engagement, there were all sorts of misunderstandings such as the type of paper used for contracts and the question of whether there was even a victor at all considering the bout was interrupted by intruders.

“Isn’t there clearly a need to thoroughly scold Wilfried and Rozemyne for neglecting to check everything with the other party before signing the contract? And yet, why did you tell me not to chastise them? Thanks to that, I missed my opportunity to do it over the dinner table.”

With his eyebrows completely scrunched up into a frown, Ferdinand crossed his arms and glared at me. The dissatisfaction on his face made it almost seem as if scolding Rozemyne was his sole hobby and purpose in life. I couldn’t help but slap my hand against my forehead.

“After leaving Ehrenfest, you’re no longer Rozemyne’s guardian. Even though it’s a rare opportunity for you to meet each other, wouldn’t you feel sorry for Rozemyne if she’s just being lectured the entire time? While it’s true that she’s occasionally caused some trouble, she’s still finished first-in-class three years in a row. Once she returns to Ehrenfest, she’s just going to get chastised to no end. I requested that from you because I figured that I’d like you to praise her while you’re here. Did you at least praise her a little bit?”

Ferdinand silently averted his eyes while reaching out for his wine cup. It was fairly obvious that he hadn’t praised her at all.

“Then at the very least, even if you don’t praise her for her efforts at the Royal Academy, praise her for how hard she worked to prepare this room for you. Rozemyne and Rihyarda were all worked up in an attempt to make it as comfortable as possible for you. In Rihyarda’s case, it was probably also because her son Justus would be staying here as well. They made even more demands than usual.”

Rozemyne was the one who requested for all sorts of furniture to be teleported from the temple and castle and specially designed a menu for the chefs to make, while Rihyarda was the one who put her plans into motion as the person who received her orders. Ferdinand was technically supposed to be a guest of Ehrenfest, but the two of them intervened so many times that I decided to just let them completely take over command of the preparations.

“You should at least say a word of thanks to the two of them.”

“…Tomorrow, can you arrange for Rozemyne to have her breakfast here instead of the dining hall?”

I inadvertently smiled, seeing that I’d successfully squeezed a concession out of Ferdinand. Now then, I wonder what kind of expression he would have on his face when he expresses his gratitude to the two of them. I kind of want to tease him about it, but that would only make him even more stubborn.

“I’ll tell Rihyarda about it.”

I’m sure Rihyarda would make everything work out fine despite saying “It’s troublesome if you always suddenly change the schedule”. If I tell Rozemyne “It looks like Ferdinand wants to express his gratitude”, she would surely rush over with a joyous smile filled to the brim with expectations.

“Ferdinand, you don’t need to worry about Rozemyne anymore. The ditter against Dunkelfelger was a hassle, but there were also many valuable things that were gained from that experience. By winning and beating back the marriage proposal, Wilfried seems to have awakened his desire to protect Rozemyne. Besides, he’s also recently developed the ability to sense mana. Wilfried is also growing up.”

“I see. That’s good to hear.”

Ferdinand let show a slight smile as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.