Chapter Text
"Once again, Ewigeliebe, the God of Life has hidden away Geduldh, the Goddess of Earth. We must pray for the return of spring!" Aub Jossbrenner announced on the altar in front of all his noble constituents. Jossbrenner had long been covered in Ewigeliebe's divine color, yet winter officially just began. I raised my shining schtappe along with the others, united in praying for the return of spring.
Soon, I would have to depart for the Royal Academy for my sixth and final year. Dregarnuhr's spinning sure had been swift. It felt just like yesterday when the prospect of going to the Academy for the first time had me reeling in both excitement and anxiousness.
The last five years had been quite eventful due in no small part for attending the academy in the same year as Lady Rozemyne. The young lady whose body appeared to be that of a 7 year old had been the subject of many conversations—both for leisure and for professional reasons. She had gone from being the excellent archduke candidate of a powerless duchy to being a miraculous saint to being the chosen one by the deities. Big changes had come to the whole country of Yurgenschmidt ever since Lady Rozemyne, the Divine Avatar of Mestionora, finally granted Zent Eglantine the long-lost Grutrissheit.
A lot of changes came into my life as well.
It had been during my fourth Interduchy Tournament at the Royal Academy when I was invited to tea by Lady Elvira, my friend Muriella's superior. It was then that she handed me a magic contract, in which they were seeking "publishing rights" of my first work, "A Love Story of The Gods".
"Business contracts are discussed and decided during the Archduke Conference, are they not?" I had asked.
Lady Elvira gave me a wry yet elegant smile after gracefully putting her teacup back onto the saucer. "That would be true for contracts that involve negotiations between two duchies. However, this is not a contract between Jossbrenner and Ehrenfest. This is a contract that Haldenzel's printing business is making with you as an author, Lady Leueradi."
I bit my tongue to keep from muttering to myself as my brain processed the information. Muriella had told me that a few of Ehrenfest's provinces were engaged in the printing business, among which was Haldenzel, which specialized in printing romance stories. I had absolutely no problems with that—after all, they also print Lady Elantura's works! However, what bewildered me was the amount I would get for each copy that was sold, on top of what I would get for giving them the exclusive publishing rights.
"Lady Elvira, I am elated that you wish to publish the work of an inexperienced author such as I; it would be such an honor! Be that as it may, the rates stipulated in this contract are…a bit…"
"Exorbitant?" Lady Elvira supplied. "Rest assured, Lady Leueradi, that this amount is commensurate with your work and your value as our first author outside of Ehrenfest. Our system of paying royalties is quite revolutionary, but I assure you that it was established to ensure that our authors and illustrators are fairly compensated for their work.”
At that point, Ehrenfest introducing revolutionary ideas was just the norm. With Lady Elvira insisting that what seemed usurious to me was only fair, I had signed my first ever publishing contract.
However, the surprises did not end there.
“Say, Lady Leueradi. Muriella tells me that you wish to find a husband from Ehrenfest so that you may one day move into our duchy.”
“Oh, I do, Lady Elvira! Unfortunately, it seems that my prospects are quite limited.”
I had already developed my mana-sensing in the beginning of my fourth year. So far, the only Ehrenfest nobles I was able to sense were its archduke candidates except for Lady Rozemyne, and most of their retainers. Lord Ignaz and Lord Traugott were among the single archnobles within my range. I could sense Lord Matthias and Lord Laurenz, too, but I know my parents would never approve of me marrying a mednoble. My family was a proud clan of nobles with archducal blood in their veins–it had no known history of daughters marrying down for the sake of being the first to read romance stories.
“My, my! It would bring me such joy to assist you in this endeavor! Would you mind sharing your partialities?” Lady Elvira's eyes almost sparkled with expectation.
I hated that I had to let her down. I slightly shook my head with a tranquil smile. "I only ask that he be an archnoble. My parents would never approve of me marrying down.”
Lady Elvira tilts her cheek onto her hand, frowning a little. “Have you no wish for Bluanfa to visit?”
“My limited options leave me to let go of such hopes. I only wish that we will be compatible enough to enjoy a harmonious marriage.”
Growing up in a family that held much influence within Jossbrenner, I had been exposed to a lot of marriages that were purely political. I was more than ready to marry whomever my parents would choose for me. The most I could hope for was that I would be matched with a kind man, even if I have to be a second or a third wife. A love match was something I could easily give up if it meant having a peaceful marriage and in this case, being free to pursue my hobbies. Should my marriage not be pleasant, I believed I should survive by living vicariously through romance stories.
"As a married woman, such opinions from a girl in the cusp of summer make her precocious. However…" I could sense Lady Elvira's excitement subside. She even seemed wistful. "No matter. I have heard your wishes. Do not fret, Lady Leueradi. Dregarnuhr's deft hands will unfailingly bring Tarkus to Verfuhremeer."
Just like that, I have also secured the support of the first wife of Ehrenfest's Knight Commander.
That promise had finally bore fruit during the Interduchy Tournament the previous year, when I met yet again with Lady Elvira to discuss the publishing of my second manuscript. Muriella had placed a document on my side of the table.
"These, Lady Leueradi, are your earnings from the sale of your first book." Lady Elvira said.
The paper was a report of the number of copies sold per season. It took a lot to keep my eyes from growing the size of saucers upon seeing the total computation of my compensation.
It was written in several large golds!
Working the whole year in the Jossbrenner castle would never pay me this much! Had there been a mistake? But how should I point that out without offending?
"These things will prove to be inconvenient upon your graduation, Lady Leueradi. Which brings me to the other highlight of this meeting: I have found you a suitable man!"
"Truly?" All thoughts of erroneous computation got pushed out of my head. "Thank you ever so much! Who is he, Lady Elvira?"
A mischievous expression spread across her face. "That shall be a secret for now. I would like to meet with your parents this coming Archduke Conference to discuss things further."
Since she was the one coming to the discussion, could it be one of her sons? Upon some information gathering, I concluded that it would most probably be Lord Lamprecht, her only remaining son in Ehrenfest and one of Lord Wilfried's guard knights. He already has one wife, a former archnoble of the ruined Ahrensbach.
I guess it's better to be a second wife. I'll have more freedom living in a side building away from the messy world of politics.
Upon coming back to Jossbrenner, I handed the letter of invitation from Lady Elvira to my parents. They, of course, asked who the marriage prospect was, but not even Lady Muriella, who kept in touch with me through letters despite graduating a year before, had given any confirmation as to who it was. I thought it wise to keep my suspicion to myself because I did not have enough information to support my theory.
“Leueradi, did you not say that you have to leave for work after the announcements?” Mother said, pulling me back from my reverie.
I looked at the altar, where children to be baptized were already lined up. “Right, I almost forgot. Thank you for reminding me, Mother. I shall take my leave, then.” I smiled at the rest of the table, including my sister Fairziere and her husband who married into the family.
My sister sighed. “Will you truly be okay in Ehrenfest? I cannot help but worry about sending you to marry so far away from home when you're always this absent-minded.”
Given that we were in a public event, I chose not to retort and simply walked away from the table.
Up until that moment, only my mother and father knew about my marriage prospect. I had been so excited to confirm whether I guessed correctly when they came home from the Archduke Conference. Unfortunately, they were bound by a magic contract to not speak about what transpired during the discussion, except for the fact that my fiancé had already been decided, and that I was to be his First Wife no matter what. Lady Muriella told me that I had nothing to worry about with regards to my partner's character, and that was enough to assure me. Fairziere, on the other hand, would not let up on it. Even as her own Starbinding approached, she would not stop theorizing about my enigmatic fiancé.
"Perhaps your fiancé is the Knight Commander? Or perhaps Aub Ehrenfest himself? Or the next Aub Ehrenfest? He's yet to be engaged again after the dissolution of his engagement with Lady Rozemyne, right?" she had speculated.
"That is absurd, Fariziere. Why would they need a foreign archnoble as a First Wife to people in such influential positions?"
"Demanding secrecy to the point of requiring non-disclosure magic contracts is even more absurd! And for a marriage that everyone will eventually know about anyway! Are you not even worried at all? You might get caught up in some serious political turmoil upon marrying in Ehrenfest!"
I really was naive. My head was just full of thoughts of freshly published romance stories lying in wait to be read. Frankly, even as my sister pointed it out, I could not bring myself to worry. So long as I got to live in Ehrenfest, I would gladly endure whatever political turmoil there might be. Besides, I already had connections with Lady Elvira. I had sworn do my best to be a worthy ally to her and earn her protection.
After that, I happily spent the summer and the autumn preparing for my imminent move and working on my third manuscript, which was based loosely on Lady Hannelore of Dunkelfelger. I used Verfuhremeer as my main character, and it was a story of how the gods of summer competed with each other to earn her hand in marriage.
—
"Leueradi, thank you so much for coming to assist us. You must have been so busy preparing for your final year in the Royal Academy." Upon my arrival, my colleague retired to a corner of the room before tipping a vial of rejuvenation potion into his mouth. It was probably his second one for the day already.
"My preparations ended quite early. I have enough leeway to report to work until today."
Due to my large mana capacity, I had become such a valuable personnel in my team. I was an apprentice archscholar assigned to work on the Teleportation Rooms, specifically to the teleportation circle that handles packages and letters from the provinces. With most nobles gathered in the capital, one would think that winter was our idle season. The opposite was true, however; Winter was just as busy as autumn, due to our team being halved. The other half was loaned to the Teleportation Room that handles the transport of luggages and personnel to the Royal Academy. Had the team not been composed mostly of mednobles, perhaps not even a half would be left to operate the teleportation circle for packages.
Things had improved after we began modifying the magic circle and incorporated the mana efficiency principles presented during the Interduchy Tournaments every year, but not to a point where the scholars and apprentices stopped consuming rejuvenation potions.
"Just imagining how we will manage after you move to Ehrenfest fills me with dread. I doubt any apprentice archscholars will come to join us like you did years ago," my colleague said as he waited to recover.
If I was more suitable to serve the archducal family, I probably would not be working here. But that did not mean that I did not enjoy working in the Teleportation Rooms—it is a treasure trove of information, in more ways than one.
"The other incoming sixth years working here will surely gain divine protections from the Light and Darkness gods. I am certain that there will be improvements."
Operating teleportation circles required a lot of mana. Gaining divine protections of Light and Darkness woild reduce the mana consumption when performing teleportation magic. Ever since Zent Trauerqual decreed the reacquisition of divine protections even for Royal Academy alumni, it had been a practice for us to pray at least once a day when operating the teleportation circles, in hopes that we would gain divine blessings of Light and Darkness. This practice proved to be effective, as evinced by our colleagues who graduated within the last couple of years. However, the number of people the duchy was allowed to send to perform the ritual each year was very limited. We also had to follow the hierarchy, which means that none of the mednobles who were already working here prior to the announcement have been sent to repeat the divine protection ritual.
Just then, one of the receiving teleportation circle glowed. As I was in the middle of pouring mana to a magic circle for sending, another colleague rushed to pick up the new package. Haste was important when standing by the receiving magic circle, since leaving a package sitting on it will stop it from receiving the succeeding packages.
"Letters from Klassenberg border gate," he said.
Muriella's letters often came from that gate. "Is there something for me?"
He did a quick scan of the addresses then shook his head. "None today, Lady Leueradi."
I guess that made sense. Any letters from Muriella around this time would probably be sent through Lady Philine in the Royal Academy.
Muriella's letters had been a source of great comfort these past couple of years. No one around me really understood the beauty of romance stories the way she did. It was amazing how whenever I talk to her, Dreganurh's spinning would be so smooth and swift, and it felt like a whole day would never be enough for us to rhapsodize about our favorites. I was grateful to have made such a good friend; I was aware that sending letters through interduchy borders were costly, yet I had never once felt reluctance from Muriella to continue our correspondence. I was really looking forward to the time when our friendship will not be hindered by border gates.
"Excuse me, could we please have this sent to Giebe Sunnfeld's summer mansion?" came a voice. On his hands was quite a large package. Just what item that large merited enough urgency to be sent through the teleportation circle?!
It was hard to hide my frustration, especially looking at the long line of items waiting to be sent. I sighed furtively. It seems I would need to drink a rejuvenation potion myself within the next bell.
—
My attendant Claudia had a hard time waking me up the next day.
"I knew this would happen. You ought to not have reported to work yesterday."
My body was not in pain, yet I felt so sluggish. It was probably a result of expending too much mana the day before. The cold temperature did not help, too. Claudia had strongly suggested that I take yesterday to rest in preparation for my departure to the Royal Academy, but I did not have it in me to leave my colleagues in such a dire situation. Besides, I was set to move to Ehrenfest soon after my graduation. I wanted to do my best to help as much as I can.
Despite my exhaustion, I smiled at my dear attendant as she untied my night clothes. "I hope I can manage to find an attendant who would care for me as much as you do, Claudia."
"Had you not been so insistent on marrying to Ehrenfest, you would not have to look for a new one, Lady Leueradi."
Claudia was already a married medattendant, so I could not ask her to come with me to Ehrenfest. Thankfully, Muriella offered to start looking for attendants that could serve me upon my move, and who was I to not take her up on such a kind, proactive offer? I figured an Ehrenfest native would be able to help me adjust better.
Claudia made swift work of lathering locally-made rinsham on to my hair. I had taken a liking to the variant that had a mix of floral and fruity scents. After my bath, I was dressed into my black Royal Academy robes and sent downstairs to eat breakfast.
The only people residing in the main building aside from me were my parents. Fairziere was the heir of the house, but she chose to live in another building within the estate upon her marriage, like my Father's other wives. It was unnecessary for the heir to move to another building, but I could understand Fairziere's reasons for wanting to live in a separate building.
I had just barely made it into the dining room's entrance, but I could already hear mother and father engaged in what I could only say was the early stages of a heated argument.
So much energy in such a tranquil winter morning.
I intentionally made my footsteps louder than usual, and greeted the servants who were about to pass through the same hallway as enthusiastically loud as I could.
"Good Morning, Mother and Father!" I greeted upon stepping into the dining room. They were confused by the unexpected level of energy, but they both greeted me back anyway. I faced the chef standing behind my Father and made a show of asking about today's menu, which, as I expected, was just some variant of smoked meat and pickled vegetables.
"Leueradi, I plan to come with you to the castle to send you off." Mother said while slicing a piece of bacon on her plate.
"That would be difficult in this weather," I gently refused. Snow was already piling on thick, that was why I already sent Claudia ahead on a carriage with the rest of my luggages. "I plan on going there by highbeast, so I would rather you send me off here."
One of the best things about being in the same year as Lady Rozemyne was being able to watch Professor Hirschur form a drivable highbeast. I formed mine like a carriage with a door on one side and a shumil design on the front. It really was the most convenient thing ever, especially when commuting to the castle through inclement weathers that started as early as autumn. Mother had not deigned it necessary to change her highbeast since she rarely went outside on long distances. She would just opt to travel via carriage if the weather was not conducive for a highbeast travel.
"I shall go with you, then." Father proposed. I had no problems with that since he would have to go to the castle for work anyway.
The rest of the meal went as peacefully as I hoped. Mother and Father avoided to converse with each other as much as possible. It was awkward, but I guess it was better than having them at each other's throats when we were only a bell and a half into the day. I did notice that the frequency of their arguments became less after my engagement was decided. I guess they would have less reasons argue with each other now that Fairziere and I have grown up. Maybe they would even stop talking to each other entirely after my marriage.
It was just sad.
After breakfast, Mother followed us to the area where we fly off on our high beasts. Most houses in Jossbrenner have two doors on their entrances, and the area in between serves as the buffer for the snow in case we have to leave via highbeast in the middle of a blizzard.
"Now listen, dear," Mother put a hand on my forearm. "I believe your fiancé will make contact with you this winter."
What?
I looked at my Father, and his expression seemed to agree with my mother's statement.
"Do be careful to keep yourself composed when he reveals himself to you. The young man had quite a history, but he himself has promised that he will treat you well and do everything in his power to protect you. Were I to share my impression, I believe he's a very sincere boy."
Young man? Sincere boy? Am I engaged to a first year?! Why am I only hearing this now?!
I knew it was pointless to ask for more details. Questions kept piling up over more questions in my mind, and there was none I could ask that they would have answers to. What history did this boy had? Why did he need me to be his First Wife? Just who was he?
"Quit mumbling to yourself. This is exactly what I was warning you about just now." Mother chided.
"I'm sorry." I bit my tongue to stop my ungraceful habit.
Father then announced that we had to leave, so I bid goodbye to my mother and stepped onto the area between the two doors to board my highbeast. At Father's signal, two servants opened the door to let us outside.
It was just a short trip, but we had to go around the castle to enter through the south entrance. There was a wide, roofed ivory landing supported by thick columns where we could dismount from our high beasts protected from the snow. Father dispeled his feystone helmet and removed his snow-repelling overcoat before entering the main castle.
"You will once again lead the dormitory in the Royal Academy. I do not need to remind you of this, do I?"
"I understand my role very well, Father," I replied, reluctant to make any promises.
Last year was the first year that we did not have Fairziere, so the leadership role automatically fell onto me as the highest ranked noble with thick archducal blood. I could not confidently say that I got the hang of it. There were a lot of times when I almost buckled under the pressure of leading more than one hundred students, some of them even older than I. Being an archnoble, there were students of the same rank who would easily disregard what little authority I had over the dormitory. Letting them take the reins would be dishonoring my family, so I simply did my best to not let them walk all over me. It was nothing short of a miracle that I actually managed to pull through.
"You've lived far too long under the shadow of your sister. I am glad you had your time to shine."
I almost missed the rhythm of my pace. I turned my head to look up to my Father, but he kept his gaze on the hallway we were walking in.
"I have recently come to realize a few things. Loathe I am to admit this, but I have unknowingly been underestimating your capabilities. I hope you will forgive me for that, Leueradi."
We had to stop near the waiting room of the Teleportation Room.
"I believe you will do splendidly this year. Do take care, my dear daughter." He reached a hand towards my head, but I was already too tall for head pats. He moved it to softly tap on my shoulder instead before walking away to the direction of the Aub's office.
That was…
"I see you have arrived, Lady Leueradi." Claudia's voice came from behind me.
"Ah…yes."
"Is something the matter?"
I gently shook my head. "Everything is…splendid."
—