Ferdinand, Sylvester, Florencia, and I went to the dormitory’s common room to begin instructing our retinues. My retainers all gathered around me and awaited their next orders.
“Hartmut,” I said, “please help prepare for the Grutrissheit transference ceremony in four days’ time and serve as its High Priest. You will need to hurry back to Ehrenfest’s temple to fetch your ceremonial robes, among other things. From tomorrow onward, I must also ask that you teach Prince Anastasius as much as you can about the ceremonies.”
Hartmut accepted, radiating motivation. “I shall ensure the divine-avatar-led transference ceremony is performed to perfection.”
I went on to ask that the adult guard knights who had participated in the Academy’s ceremonies disguised as blue priests and shrine maidens make their own preparations as well.
“There is no reason we cannot serve as your guard during the ceremonies,” Leonore declared. “But if you would permit me to ask, who is receiving the Grutrissheit?”
“Lady Eglantine,” I replied. “In truth, I wished to assign Hartmut to her before she took over as the Sovereign High Bishop. She had other matters to prioritize, though, so Prince Anastasius is providing his support instead.”
I was explaining the gist of our meeting when Ferdinand came over and gave Hartmut some notes. “These detail the ceremonies in full,” he said. “If you must travel between Ehrenfest and the Sovereign temple on top of assisting Prince Anastasius, then leave the key we discussed with Rozemyne.”
“Understood.”
Hartmut removed the bible’s key from his neck and put it around mine instead. He asked Ferdinand a few questions about the notes he had just received, then turned on his heel and started carrying out his orders.
“We, too, shall return to Ehrenfest. Judithe, Laurenz, Matthias—the rest is up to you.”
“Understood!”
Cornelius, Leonore, Angelica, and Damuel followed Hartmut out of the common room. I watched them go, then summoned Gretia and Lieseleta.
“Sorry to make you go back and forth like this, but I must ask you to retrieve my ceremonial robes and hair ornaments from Ahrensbach. I will use feystones for my shoes, so you need not worry about those.”
“As you wish, my lady.”
The pair departed for the villa; Rihyarda and the others were at the dormitory today, so there wouldn’t be a lack of attendants to look after me. Justus hurried out as well, having apparently received orders of some kind from Ferdinand.
“Philine, take this to Ehrenfest and ask the Rozemyne Workshop to start printing copies,” I said, handing her the manuscript we would distribute once the new Zent was crowned. “The aub has given his permission, but be sure to run it past Mother as well. Twenty-five copies should do. We intend to give them out during the Archduke Conference, so they need to be prioritized above all else. Mother and Muriella can split the work between themselves and even distribute some to Hasse’s monastery.”
“Yes, my lady.”
Roderick watched nervously as Philine left clutching the manuscript. “Lady Rozemyne, what about the Dunkelfelger story I’m writing?”
“Aub Dunkelfelger will not take the throne, so your time constraints have been removed. Do keep at it, though; he was so excited about your work that he mentioned buying up all the copies.”
Roderick had been pulling his hair out over his five-day deadline, so he was understandably relieved to have more time. I’d felt bad about making such an unreasonable request in the first place, but he was the only one capable of completing it.
“I shall take a short moment to embrace the calm and then get back to work,” he said.
“But your panic added such wonderful tension to your writing...” Judithe remarked, giggling. She had agreed to help Roderick by answering his questions about ditter, so she had seen his agony firsthand.
“Well, don’t let our help go to waste,” Laurenz added with a chuckle, having also witnessed the young scholar’s anguish. “Finish the job.”
Once I’d instructed all my retainers, Ferdinand came over and took the seat beside me. “Rozemyne, what do you intend to do about Letizia? If we follow Ahrensbach tradition, she will need to be demoted to an archnoble when you become the aub. She lacks parents, however, and would thus need to live in the orphanage. Your answer will decide whether she can attend the transference ceremony.”
“Could we return her to Drewanchel? I think she’d rather live with her parents than stay in Ahrensbach...”
“Perhaps, if you can find a way to nullify her contract; her adoptive parents both climbed the towering stairway. But that is assuming Drewanchel even wants her back—it might not welcome the return of an archduke candidate who caused problems elsewhere.”
“But she’s their daughter...” I said. Surely they wouldn’t refuse her.
“Yes, I doubted you would understand...” Ferdinand muttered, crossing his arms. “Letizia was baptized as an Ahrensbach archduke candidate. Even if her birth parents welcome her with open arms, the final decision rests with Aub Drewanchel. In light of recent events, I doubt any ruler would accept a member of Ahrensbach’s former archducal family. Maybe for the sake of securing a connection to you—but in that case, she would only be a source of trouble for us going forward.”
To my surprise, Ferdinand actually seemed to be worried about Letizia. “Do you believe it best for her to stay in my new duchy as an archduke candidate?” I asked. “If you would rather keep your distance from her, we can house her somewhere remote. Let me put your needs first.”
As much as I thought Letizia was cute, her actions had put Ferdinand on the brink of death. Coupled with the fact she had escaped the war physically unharmed, it made sense that she was lower on my list of priorities.
“First, there is something I wish to confirm...” Ferdinand said. “You intend to raise the children of those the Lanzenavians murdered in the orphanage, correct? I am including Alstede’s daughter.”
“Yes. Those children did no wrong.” Like in Ehrenfest, I planned to send the kids of assailants and victims alike to the orphanage. Then, when I took over as the aub, I would voluntarily serve as their guardian.
Ferdinand nodded carefully. “In that case, entrust Letizia to me.” I must have let my thoughts show on my face because he cocked an eyebrow at me and slowly added, “There is no need to look so concerned; I will not do anything to greatly displease you. Even if something were to happen, you would need only order me to stop.”
From there, Ferdinand stood up and started inspecting my health. He touched my neck, then frowned. “You have a slight fever. Have you built up too much mana?”
“Perhaps. I did get a tad emotional.”
“‘A tad’?” A sardonic grin crossed his face before he instructed Brunhilde to prepare another sheet of silver cloth, which he then started wrapping around me.
“Ferdinand, what in the world are you doing?” I asked.
“You shall spend the coming days in your room. It would do you well to let out some of your mana. I also wish to see how much divine power is lost in the process.”
The silver cloth soon covered my eyes, plunging me into darkness. Someone picked me up, causing me to yelp, and Ferdinand instructed my name-sworn guard knights to accompany him.
“Lord Ferdinand, her name-sworn knights are all men!” Clarissa called. “Let me come with you!”
“But you’re a scholar, Clarissa!” Judithe cried out in turn.
“Scholars may come as long as they are name-sworn,” Ferdinand replied at length.
“Gahhh! But I’m a guard knight!” Judithe exclaimed. “How come I’m always being left out?! Maybe I should give my name too...”
I didn’t want her to make any hasty decisions. Ferdinand called on our name-sworn retainers only when he was going somewhere or doing something that had to be kept secret, and the pressure that was put on them couldn’t have been pleasant. I didn’t want Judithe to do anything that might make her bright smile fade away forever.
Though I couldn’t see, I could feel that I was being taken somewhere. It wasn’t long before my expert detection skills told me we had arrived at the library—Schwartz and Weiss had just welcomed me. Ferdinand asked Solange to clear the building before taking me upstairs.
“We are here, Rozemyne,” he eventually said. “Can you stand?”
“Yes, I’ll manage.”
My body tilted, and my feet soon touched the floor. The silver cloth was removed to reveal that we were indeed in the library, standing before the statue of Mestionora. There was only one place to go from here.
“Ferdinand, don’t tell me...”
After ordering the knights to turn around, he handed me a sound-blocker and nodded. “I was going to dye the foundation myself, but the drastic change in your mana means I am now recognized as Aub Ahrensbach. The foundation refused me. Our only remaining option is for you to attempt it with your goddess-dyed mana. Its capacity is enormous enough for you to let out as much as you need to.”
In essence, we were killing two birds with one stone, dyeing the foundation enough that Erwaermen would stop complaining while also allowing me to release my excess mana.
“Is this why Hartmut gave me the bible’s key?” I asked.
“I was also apprehensive about him wearing it around Prince Anastasius. The upcoming ceremonies will paint you as a divine avatar of even higher status than the royals; who knows what dangers might follow?”
Ferdinand opened the cover of the book in Mestionora’s hands to reveal a keyhole, then encouraged me to channel mana into the foundation. “Release only as much as you need to,” he said. “If you go too far, Lady Eglantine might have a hard time dyeing over it.”
I slotted the key into Mestionora’s book, causing the statue to move aside without a sound. The descending staircase behind it led to an iridescent barrier, which led me to a room just like the one containing Ahrensbach’s foundation.