Cordula gave a half-smile. The first wife had retained the strong spirit of her youth. “Perhaps he should have spoken more clearly, then.”
“I assume he will try again—though not until the next Interduchy Tournament, at the earliest.”
As more time passed, Sigiswald would no longer need to mention his divorce. And as his new duchy, Korinthsdaum, had such a small archducal family, he would need a second or third wife posthaste. It was only natural that he would seek assistance from the highest-ranking duchy he could.
“As it stands, his duchy ranks below ours,” Cordula said. “But the former royals still enjoy a great deal of power, so we might be hard-pressed to refuse any future advances.”
“Quite... Next year, alongside the other duchies, Blumenfeld and Korinthsdaum will receive rankings based on their harvests and authority. I doubt they will remain where they are now, but who can say how long the prestige of being former royalty will matter to noble society at large.”
Had a Zent arisen from a family entirely unrelated to the royals in power, then the previous royal family would have lost all status in the blink of an eye. Only because the divine avatar had seen fit to grant the Grutrissheit to Eglantine were they clinging to even a fraction of their former authority. Eglantine had taken Anastasius as her groom, and Cordula expected their immediate family to hold inflated ranks for quite some time.
“Milady’s position certainly has changed.”
Only a year ago, the stain on Hannelore’s honor had made her feel out of place even at home. Now, however, she had cleared her name by taking part in true ditter, made friends with the divine avatar, and proven her worth as an archduke candidate of the country’s top-ranked duchy.
“She has done so well that even Drewanchel inquired about taking her hand in marriage,” Sieglinde said. “We refused them on the spot, of course.”
“Oh my. Is that so?”
Because of her duties as Hannelore’s head attendant, Cordula had not gone to the Archduke Conference and was somewhat out of the loop as a result. On the one hand, she wished to have faster access to news relevant to her lady’s future, but on the other, she understood that refused proposals were anything but urgent.
“We cannot yet say how Lord Sigiswald and Lady Adolphine’s separation will impact Drewanchel and its relationship with the new duchies, and their drop in rank makes their interest in such an engagement perfectly understandable,” Sieglinde explained. “However, their interest in Hannelore came while they were chastising Lord Sigiswald for attempting to remarry so soon. I could not help but feel they were committing the same shameless act.”
Sieglinde sighed, shook her head in exasperation, and continued, “I asked Lord Anastasius about the matter. As it turns out, when the divorce was settled, Drewanchel asked for a royal decree that would secure them a marriage with Alexandria. Then, when they were refused, they asked for a marriage with the Zent.”
“And when they were refused a second time, they sought to marry Hannelore...” Cordula mused. “Even for a political engagement, that sounds far too self-serving.” It was not unusual to start with one’s best option before approaching less ideal alternatives, but Cordula could not stand the thought of her lady being looked down upon.
Sieglinde went on: “Zent Eglantine has made it clear that she intends to prioritize Dunkelfelger and Alexandria over Klassenberg. In that regard, we should expect more greater duchies to seek an engagement with ours. We must be even more on guard during this year’s Interduchy Tournament and the next Archduke Conference. Even at the Royal Academy, we will need to keep our distance from other duchies. By choosing Hannelore’s suitors now, we shall give ourselves the means to deflect with bride-taking ditter if another duchy should propose.”
Cordula nodded; sorting out a potential partner for Hannelore would make her next academic term all the more manageable. “I see now why this has to be done. But why take this approach over arranging an actual engagement?” Hannelore’s father could always decide not to wait for his daughter to work things out with Ehrenfest and choose her future husband for her.
Sieglinde responded with a wry smile, “To light a fire under her, first of all. She has become far too complacent as of late. But I also wish to give my daughter some choice in whom she marries, especially with all that Lestilaut has put her through.” A proper engagement would deter other duchies far better than mere suitors, but Sieglinde wished to compensate Hannelore for all that she had done.
“Even if we took the other approach, and Werdekraf chose Hannelore’s partner for her, the engagement would not be set in stone until the Zent approved it during the next Archduke Conference,” Sieglinde continued. “Choosing only suitors should at least give Hannelore a chance to make her own selection.”
Sieglinde intended to be fully considerate of her daughter’s wishes. Hannelore could choose one of the Dunkelfelgerian suitors her parents picked out for her or, if she was proactive enough, move things along with Ehrenfest.
An onlooker might see this as merely an act of compassion between a mother and her daughter, but Lady Sieglinde also means to repay Lady Hannelore for the damage her brother caused.
Hannelore had wiped away the shame of her past defeat and strengthened her personal value through her friendship with the divine avatar. She could stay in Dunkelfelger if she so wished or marry into any other duchy of her choice.
“The problem is,” Sieglinde ruminated, “no names come to mind. Can you think of anyone, Cordula? I think choosing archnobles would be ideal, to help quiet those who would argue that Hannelore should be the next aub now that she has taken part in true ditter. It is law that female aubs must be married to archduke candidates, so pairing her with an archnoble seems an excellent solution.”
“These men would marry into her house, not the other way around, correct?”
“Correct. It would be too great a loss for our duchy to reduce her to the rank of archnoble. Other duchies might even consider it a weakness to exploit.”
Cordula nodded, tapped a finger against her cheek, and cast her eyes down in thought. Dunkelfelger had its share of unattached men who could match Hannelore’s mana. Someone from an archducal branch family would be ideal for marrying into her house and supporting Lestilaut with his duties as the next aub.
“You have some understanding of what is going on beneath the surface, do you not?” Sieglinde asked. “Although I see all of the engagement requests sent to the aub, I cannot fully grasp the circumstances behind them.” In her capacity as Hannelore’s head attendant, Cordula was better able to acquire such knowledge.
“Ohoho... Even my information network has its gaps. Gathering intel about Lady Reichlene’s faction has been troublesome, for a start. The second wife remains as vigilant as ever.”
“We need not consider such people. In the interest of keeping things simple, let us only choose suitors from among our own faction. I do not want Hannelore being swayed this way or that by our rivals.”
Perhaps due to her kind and rather timid nature, Hannelore had trouble ignoring others’ opinions and tended to bury her own thoughts rather than express them freely. On countless occasions, people had mistaken her silence for tacit agreement, and she had ended up on the verge of tears as she attempted to correct them. It took her a long time to make decisions, but she refused to change them once her mind was made up.
“Marrying someone from another faction would place too great a burden on milady’s heart. But if we restrict ourselves to her faction... That leaves us only her and Lord Lestilaut’s retainers.”
“Indeed. They will merely be potential grooms, so I will not require them to cancel any preexisting arrangements they might have. In the event that Hannelore succeeds in her negotiations with Ehrenfest, they will return to their previous engagements.”
Aub Dunkelfelger would acknowledge those deemed worthy to marry Hannelore, but none of them would actually be engaged to her. They would be free to prioritize anyone else they had already made plans with.
“Among my daughter’s retainers, who would make ideal candidates?” Sieglinde asked.
“I am told that Luitpold is rather deep into arranging his own engagement, which puts him out of the question. We need someone who can reinforce Lord Lestilaut’s power base, do we not? In that case, I would expect his own retainers to be ideal. Neither Kenntrips nor Rasantark should be taken at the moment.”
Kenntrips and Rasantark were Hannelore’s cousins. Both were sons of Aub Dunkelfelger’s elder brother, though they did not share a mother. Even before their baptisms, they had frequently been brought to the castle to help teach Lestilaut and Hannelore to socialize with the other children their age. In that regard, one could say they were longtime friends as well as family.
“From what I have seen, both are rather fond of Lady Hannelore.”
“Oh my... Is that so?” Sieglinde asked, eyes widening with surprise.
“Kenntrips consoled and protected milady whenever Lord Lestilaut lashed out at her. As for Rasantark, I could see the admiration in his eyes as he watched her tearfully push through her intense training.”
“You speak of when they were children, do you not? Does their fondness for Hannelore remain even to this day? It was my understanding that a wedge has since been driven between her and Lestilaut’s retainers.”
Lestilaut had wagered his sister’s engagement without her permission, and she had thrown the game for love. The outcome had done much to change Dunkelfelger’s relationship with Ehrenfest but also severely damaged Hannelore’s relationship with her elder brother. In the event of such controversies, retainers had a tendency to side with their lord or lady.
“For milady’s sake, Kenntrips and Rasantark strove to keep the dormitory in order during Lord Lestilaut’s absence,” Cordula explained. “Although, as you know, she is stubborn to a fault, and their concern ended up being for nothing.”
The two brothers had taken issue with Ehrenfest’s refusal to marry Hannelore despite winning their ditter match. They felt that someone precious to them was being looked down upon, as did Cordula and all of Hannelore’s other retainers.
“The ditter match started it all, which means the blame rests primarily with Lord Lestilaut,” Cordula said. “Still, Ehrenfest played their part by refusing milady’s hand.”
Had their opponents accepted the proposal, as per the rules of their game, then Hannelore would never have been thought of as the archduke candidate who brought about her duchy’s defeat. Instead, she would have been the expert tactician who exploited even her elder brother for the sake of love.
“Milady’s failure to grasp this, coupled with how desperately she defends Ehrenfest, has produced this unfortunate situation where others’ concerns do not properly reach her. Still, their feelings for her remain the same.” Kenntrips, Rasantark, and Hannelore’s retainers all still cherished her dearly.
Sieglinde’s lips curled into a relieved smile. “I see. I shall consider Kenntrips and Rasantark, then.”