Prologue

Prologue

Prologue

“I pray that you live well with the divine protection of the gods until Dregarnuhr the Goddess of Time weaves the threads of our fates together once again.”

“Indeed. I pray that her weaving is smooth and swift.”

Georgine climbed into her carriage with a smirk, then left with the rest of the Ahrensbach caravan. Traveling along their flanks were members of the Ehrenfest Knight’s Order, who would be accompanying the group until they exited the city.

Even after the carriages faded into the distance, Florencia couldn’t shake Georgine’s final smirk from her thoughts, nor could she forget the “We will meet again soon” she had chosen as her farewell. Her hands went from being clasped together politely to completely white-knuckled as a shiver ran down her spine.

Truly, what a discomforting smile.

During her previous visit to Ehrenfest, Georgine had given her mother Veronica a similar smile while visiting her in the Ivory Tower. The hunting tournament had followed soon after, during which nobles had deceived Florencia’s son Wilfried into entering the Ivory Tower himself. After hearing about the nobles who had moved to save Veronica and the series of events from her son’s perspective, Florencia couldn’t help but feel that Georgine was responsible—that she had been pulling the strings in the shadows all along. Naturally, she had not a shred of proof, but she couldn’t shake the fear that something else was going to happen.

Even Sylvester is on guard...

Florencia looked to her husband, who had been keeping a very close eye on Georgine for the duration of her visit. He had treated the woman with what could only be described as superficial politeness—in stark contrast to how he behaved with his other older sister Constanze, who had married into Frenbeltag. It had taken Florencia by surprise during their last visit.

Knowing that the carriages were out of sight served to lower Florencia’s guard at least somewhat, but before she could so much as exhale, Rozemyne turned to Sylvester. “What was the urgent summons they received from Ahrensbach?” she asked, drawing everyone’s attention.

“Don’t know,” Sylvester replied, waving away the question. “It came from the border gate. I even read it myself, but all it said was that they need to return at once. Something must have happened that they don’t want us to know about.”

From the border gate...?

Florencia gulped on instinct. Emergency messages to members of an archducal family visiting another duchy were traditionally sent via water mirrors, which only archdukes could use. In other words, it was safe to assume that Aub Ahrensbach wasn’t in good enough condition to use one.

To think that everything would go as Lord Ferdinand predicted...

Back when Sylvester had attempted to stop the forced marriage, Ferdinand had apparently informed him that Aub Ahrensbach would most likely collapse during the engagement period. He had noted that his source wasn’t particularly reliable, but even then, Sylvester had put his faith in Ferdinand without question.

Florencia had assumed that the warning was simply to convince her husband to agree with the forced marriage and stop him from asking questions. Aub Ahrensbach had seemed in good health when she last saw him at the end of spring during the Archduke Conference, and the fact that Georgine and Detlinde had come to Ehrenfest meant that he couldn’t have seemed sickly before they left.

“We’re moving to the meeting room,” Sylvester instructed, prompting the Ehrenfest higher-ups who had come to see off Georgine’s group to move to the archduke’s office. There, they would begin sharing the intelligence they had gathered during Ahrensbach’s stay.

Florencia shot Sylvester a sideward glance as he started escorting her. Is he feeling well...? Upon hearing about the royal decree, he had raged against the king for giving his order without hearing the thoughts of all those involved, his half-brother for accepting without asking his opinion as the aub, and the nobles of other duchies who had been manipulated into doing Ahrensbach’s bidding.

I can only hope that Lord Ferdinand’s engagement proceeds without issue.

Ehrenfest was a low-ranking duchy without any means to defy a royal decree. Florencia wanted things to go peacefully, but at the same time, her heart was a storm of unease.

“So, what have we learned?” Sylvester asked, beginning the meeting.

Those attending began exchanging intelligence acquired from tea parties and meals that Georgine and her retinue had attended. The bulk of participants in meetings like this were usually men, but today, there were a great number of women as well. The two visitors were women of the archducal family; they had gone to many girls-only tea parties, where Florencia and Elvira had taken the lead with intelligence gathering.

If possible, I would have liked to speak with Rozemyne and Charlotte before this meeting to organize everything we know...

Georgine had left the task of accompanying Detlinde entirely to Ferdinand, instead focusing on her own socializing. As a result, Florencia had needed to delegate one job after another to the noblewomen she could trust—leaving her with almost no time to speak with her children. Most notably, she had yet to receive a detailed report on their gathering in Ferdinand’s estate. Given that the meeting had been about purchasing a hairpin, it seemed wiser to ask Rozemyne or Charlotte about the matter than Wilfried. Florencia listened to Elvira’s report while forming a schedule in her mind.

“We can infer much from Lady Georgine’s departing smile, but I believe the tea parties and meals she attended during her stay will prove more important,” Elvira said, having fully devoted herself to gathering information at Ferdinand’s request. “During tea parties attended mostly by those of the former Veronica faction, she would explain how Lord Sylvester is seen as a cruel and terrible archduke by other duchies, and she regularly asked for everyone’s thoughts on Lord Ferdinand becoming her daughter’s husband. She also seems to have learned about books and printing. Most nobles of the former Veronica faction believe that Lord Ferdinand is behind Lady Rozemyne’s trends, so I imagine that Lady Georgine thinks the same.”

Investigation had revealed that many of the former Veronica faction believed that Ferdinand was creating Rozemyne’s new trends from the shadows. Only now that Veronica was gone was he able to see the light of day, they had said; he had clearly taught his secrets to a former blue shrine maiden to secure her adoption by the archduke. They believed that Rozemyne was being exploited so that Ferdinand could secure power in Ehrenfest.

If only they were closer to her, they would immediately see the truth—that Lord Ferdinand is desperately containing Rozemyne’s rampages.

Ferdinand already seemed to know what the nobles thought about him. He nodded at Elvira and said, “Indeed. Detlinde even asked me how many of my personal craftspeople I intend to bring when I move to Ahrensbach as her groom.”

“How did you answer?”

His response here was crucial. It was hard to imagine that Ferdinand would do anything to harm the duchy, but it wasn’t rare to bring one’s personnel along when leaving one’s duchy through marriage. The number of craftspeople he decided to take with him would have a considerable impact on trends moving forward.

Ferdinand acknowledged the countless eyes on him, then scoffed. “I said that I would act with Ahrensbach, the greater duchy, in mind.”

There were two very distinct ways in which this answer could be interpreted: “I shall bring as many as is appropriate for a sizable greater duchy” or “I shall follow Aurelia’s example and bring only the bare minimum.” Given his sardonic smile, it was likely that he had meant the latter, but that was an issue in itself. Ahrensbach intended to take Ehrenfest’s trends through this marriage, so bringing fewer retainers risked damaging his relationship with the duchy and promoting his poor treatment there.

Lord Ferdinand was chosen specifically for his administrative skills, so this is far from being a normal marriage...

Florencia wasn’t the only one worried about Ferdinand’s future; Elvira and Rozemyne were no doubt even more concerned.

“Would it not be wise to have more cards to play, if necessary?” Elvira asked. “Perhaps you could bring some craftspeople with you...”

“No,” Ferdinand replied, refusing the idea outright. “The king did not order me to bring craftspeople, so there is no need. We do not know how commoners might be treated in Ahrensbach, and they would serve only as dead weight as I would need to devote some of my focus to protecting them. Ehrenfest craftspeople need only work for Ehrenfest.”

Florencia sighed at this obstinate response; it wasn’t unusual for Ferdinand to reject the good-natured suggestions of others, but as always, it was hard to keep up with him.

Nobody knows what might happen in Ahrensbach.

Florencia decided to report what she knew. She wanted Ferdinand to put at least some thought into protecting himself.

“Bear in mind that I acquired this information from a laynoble of the former Veronica faction, but... as Ahrensbach plans to return Lord Ferdinand to Ehrenfest once their duchy has stabilized, it seems they are more or less stealing him for his mana and administrative talents.”

“Come again?”

“It may not be the most reliable news—it was stated during a meal attended only by the core of the former Veronica faction, so this laynoble did not hear it themselves—but I find it most curious nonetheless.”

Everyone furrowed their brows. Given the current state of Ahrensbach, it was clear that it wouldn’t stabilize anytime soon.

“But who knows how long that’ll take?” Sylvester said, crossing his arms with a confused frown. “What must Georgine be planning to have said something like that?”

Ferdinand was drumming a finger against his temple, wearing a similar frown. “The meaning of those words changes greatly depending on whether they mean stable from an outside perspective or stable from Georgine’s point of view. Not to mention...”

He fell silent.

“Not to mention what?” Rozemyne asked. She was prompting him to continue, but he merely shook his head and said that it was nothing.

Florencia saw no need to question Ferdinand any further. Although he was a cautious man who said only what he was confident was the truth, if something of great importance was on his mind, he would report it anyway with a preface that he wasn’t sure about its veracity.

Rozemyne was different, however. She glared up at him, determined not to let him avoid the matter, and said, “No secrets. We need to consider every possibility here.”

It was true that Ferdinand’s insight would be of great use, and for that reason, everyone joined Rozemyne in imploring him with their eyes. He grimaced but spoke nonetheless.

“I simply thought that, in the first place, I am unlikely to be alive by the time they would send me back,” he explained, causing the air in the room to freeze over.