Tea Party with Dunkelfelger

Tea Party with Dunkelfelger

Tea Party with Dunkelfelger

“I am beyond pleased that you made it through the tea party without falling unconscious, milady, but simply writing that you had fun will not do. There is much you must report to Aub Ehrenfest before reading the books you have borrowed, is there not?”

Upon returning to the dormitory, my first instinct had been to delve into my stash of new books—which had earned me a few choice words from Rihyarda. I would have rather remembered only the enjoyable parts of our tea party, but apparently that wouldn’t fly.

“I will write the report in my hidden room.” I stood up with a sigh, then headed there as stated. I was also going to be writing to Ferdinand. The most important things to mention were the royal family asking me to be the High Bishop for Prince Sigiswald and Adolphine’s Starbind Ceremony and the Library Committee’s new job looking after the forbidden archive’s keys.

I wrote my letter to Ferdinand first, putting all of the most sensitive details in disappearing ink. At the end, I added, “They said they’ll let me read whatever’s in the locked archive after the librarian has checked over it. Eheheh.”

Next, while the disappearing ink on my first letter was drying, I penned my report to Sylvester. It was largely the same as my letter to Ferdinand, with the main difference being a small addition at the very end: “I asked the royal family to get your permission, so do all that you can to put them in your debt.”

By the time I was done, the disappearing ink on my first letter had dried. I wrote a bland message over it with normal ink, talking about the sweets at the tea party, the books I was lent, and so on. After some thought, I elected to avoid mentioning the books that I’d given out myself.

Ferdinand wouldn’t scold me about those anyway, right? Right.

I reread my letter to Ferdinand multiple times, then sealed it, picked up my report, and exited my hidden room with both papers in hand.

The day after our tea party for bookworms, plans for another tea party arrived from Dunkelfelger; it seemed their aub had granted them permission for the joint research. Brunhilde came with a letter of invitation.

“They are asking to hold the tea party in the morning two days from now,” she explained. “Furthermore, Lord Lestilaut is going to participate, so they have asked for Lord Wilfried to attend as well.”

Lestilaut would be present to discuss our joint research and the delivery of the hairpin he had ordered, but it would be awkward with him as the only boy. I turned to Wilfried, who was with me in the common room, and said, “You have no classes that day, correct? Will you be joining us?”

“I know just how awkward it is being the only boy at a tea party for girls, so... yes, I’ll be going. Not to mention, I need to help with this joint research too.”

Back in our first year, Wilfried had been forced to attend a bunch of tea parties for girls while I was in Ehrenfest for the Dedication Ritual. Remembering his awkward suffering from back then had made him sympathetic for Lestilaut’s plight.

“Furthermore,” Brunhilde continued, “Dunkelfelger’s knights seem highly interested in A Ditter Story . They are asking to borrow it.”

That was fine; we had been intending to show Dunkelfelger first anyway.

And so, I spent the run-up to our tea party deciding what sweets we would bring and other precise details with Wilfried and his attendants. I also took the apprentice scholars who would be doing the collaborative research to Gundolf’s lab to introduce them, then made my way to Hirschur’s lab to give Raimund my new letter for Ferdinand. I prompted him to encourage a fast response.

“I thank you ever so much for inviting us,” I said upon arriving at the tea party. Wilfried and our retainers were with me, as well as several scholars—more than we would usually bring with us, since we were going to be discussing our joint research project. Muriella was here too, even though she hadn’t given her name yet.

“Lord Wilfried. Lady Rozemyne. We’ve been waiting. Please come this way.”

Hannelore and Lestilaut welcomed us, and we exchanged lengthy greetings before taking our recommended seats. It just so happened that I could see Clarissa from where I was sitting. I glanced at Roderick and gave a curt nod, prompting him to give her Hartmut’s letter.

All we’re doing is communicating in the Royal Academy, but everything takes so much time. So many days have passed already, and I’m guessing it’s going to be even longer before Ferdinand gets back to me.

Lestilaut cleared his throat, then fixed me with a glare. “Now, might I see the hairpin I ordered?” Why was it that he seemed so annoyed...?

Hannelore gave an exasperated sigh. “Brother, I understand your enthusiasm, but you can at least wait for the tea party to begin.”

So his cocky, irritated attitude was actually his way of masking his anxiousness and impatience. I almost laughed out loud at this realization—though actually doing so would have been rude, so I tensed my stomach in an attempt to keep the laughter contained.

“Brunhilde, the hairpin,” I said. There was no harm in letting him see it now, especially when he was so unmistakably eager.

Brunhilde handed the box containing the hairpin to one of Lestilaut’s attendants, who checked it and its contents before passing it to their lord. The process was boring and tedious, but it needed to be done. I was intimately aware of the danger of poison.

Still, the process was a long one, and there was nothing for me to do, so I subtly watched Lestilaut. I was pretty sure that only those very close to him had deduced that his irritated, displeased attitude was just him being anxious. He had put on a noble smile without issue during our greetings, which was why his apparent displeasure was so noticeable.

Once he finally had the hairpin in hand, Lestilaut furrowed his brow and started investigating its every detail. He had ordered flowers to suit the divine colors of autumn. The main flower, which reminded me of a dahlia, started red at the center and gradually turned yellow toward the petals. It was surrounded by what looked like tea olives and decorated with round, colorful—and presumably autumnal—fruit.

The hairpin looked as though it had been made exactly according to the illustration, but would it meet the standards of the cultured and profoundly sharp-eyed Lestilaut? I watched him carefully... and soon enough, his stern expression gave way to a momentary flash of satisfaction.

“Hmph. It is not bad.”

“My brother means to say that he has found nothing to criticize,” Hannelore explained, but I could tell that Lestilaut was satisfied just by looking at him.

“The flowers and fruit you requested are not found in Ehrenfest, Lord Lestilaut, so the craftswoman who made your hairpin said it was a valuable learning experience,” I noted. “She also said that you have excellent taste.”

Lestilaut gave a short chuckle. “If she reproduced flowers and fruit she has never seen before, then she must be even better than I expected.” He then gave me a scrutinizing look that seemed to say, “I like your craftswoman, so give her to me.”

I smiled. “Your praise honors us. I take great pride in my craftswoman and entrust the creation of all my hairpins to her.”

And no matter how much you want Tuuli, she works for me . I’ll never give her to anyone.

Lestilaut was giving me his usual glare, which I took to mean that he found me “cheeky” or “cocky” for rebuffing him, but there were some things that I just wouldn’t budge on.

I decided to move our conversation along, maintaining the same pleasant smile. “As you are satisfied with the hairpin, let us move on to discussing Dunkelfelger’s history—”

“Hold on, Rozemyne,” Wilfried interjected. “You always prattle on forever once the topic turns to books. We should discuss the joint research first.”

I turned to look at Wilfried and saw that he was just setting down his cup. Hannelore must have taken her first sip while I was talking to Lestilaut, and now the both of them were enjoying their tea.

“We’ll need to discuss the history book eventually,” I protested. “It’s an important topic.”

“Sure, but you tend to lose sight of everything else when books are involved. We should save it for later.”

Unable to argue—Wilfried had more than enough evidence to prove that he was right—I resigned myself to talking about the joint research first. But I wanted tea and sweets before that. I picked up a Dunkelfelger pastry at Hannelore’s recommendation—a cream-covered galette with wine-soaked rohres—and took a bite. It had a rustic flavor that I just loved.

“You mentioned wanting to eat rohres in this manner before, did you not?” Hannelore asked me. She had evidently heard my mumbling about how I would make a sweet like this if we had access to rohres and jumped at the chance.

“I thank you ever so much for remembering a stray comment of mine.”

“So she really does like sweets of this manner...” Lestilaut said to himself. He had apparently been opposed to serving them, saying that they were ill-suited for a Royal Academy tea party. Hannelore had forged ahead anyway, though, arguing that she had prepared sweets that their guests would enjoy.

“Lady Hannelore, I can feel your kindness and consideration overflowing from this tea party,” I said. “It truly fills me with joy.”

Wilfried nodded in agreement. “I also like your duchy’s sweets more than the sugar-hardened ones served in the Sovereignty.”

“I am glad you both enjoy them,” Hannelore replied with a smile.

“Dunkelfelger’s food is made with the best ingredients,” Lestilaut added with a sniff. “So, how do you expect this joint research to develop? Our apprentice knights certainly have a high rate of receiving Angriff’s divine protection, but not everyone actually does.”

“We already have a hypothesis,” I explained. “We just need to ask you and your apprentice knights a few questions to help us prove it. For example, have you noticed a difference between pre-ritual students who performed poorly in their written lessons and regularly prayed to the gods during their practical lessons, and those who did well in their written lessons and passed immediately? Or between archnobles who had enough mana to fill the entire circle and laynobles who did not? I also wish to know which ceremonies are done and how often, among other things.”

At that, Lestilaut called over and then took something from one of his scholars. “My father has given me permission to show you the ceremonies we perform before and after ditter. However , there are two conditions. One, our duchies must play a serious match. There would be no need for the ceremonies otherwise, and, as we are praying to the gods for success, it is out of the question for us to not play at all.”

“The ceremony that Dunkelfelger archduke candidates perform is held after a match, and we can hardly offer up mana without doing anything first,” Hannelore added. I could tell that she was feeling concerned for us but also thought it obvious that a game of ditter needed to be played to justify the ceremonies.

Is this really happening?! I can’t believe we need to play ditter for joint research!

I could only blink in disbelief. Maybe I was naive for not having expected this—we were talking about Dunkelfelger, after all—but the possibility hadn’t even crossed my mind.

“We are the ones who proposed this research,” Wilfried said. “For that reason, we have no choice but to accept.”

Upon hearing this, the Dunkelfelger apprentice knights in attendance all seemed to brighten up considerably. In stark contrast, I was hanging my head, dejected.

“We will not be able to play ditter until our apprentice knights and the apprentice scholars due to be involved in the joint research have finished enough of their classes,” Lestilaut noted. “Simple questions will suffice for the time being.”

“Professor Rauffen is quite enthusiastic about this joint research,” Hannelore added. “If you contact him by ordonnanz, he will invite you to the knight dormitory and answer any questions you may have.”

I nodded at them, then asked, “And the second condition?” I really couldn’t imagine anything more troublesome than having to play ditter, so I was ready for anything.

Lestilaut cleared his throat a second time. “You are to show us your ceremonies as well.”

“My ceremonies?”

“Yes. If one obtains divine protections through performing ceremonies at the temple, then you must have performed them as well, no? We ask that you include the ceremonies that blessed the Saint of Ehrenfest with such an abundance of divine protections in our research, and that you perform them before Hannelore and me.”

In other words: Dunkelfelger was going to publicize its historic ceremonies, so it was only natural that Ehrenfest do the same. I didn’t really mind that, but I also wasn’t sure what they wanted to see.

“The temple has many traditional ceremonies,” I said. “There are the baptism ceremony, the coming-of-age ceremony, and the Starbind Ceremony, to name a few. What exactly would you like to see? Blessings related to the milestones of one’s life require people to be blessed, and the rest are prayers for abundant harvests meant for farming towns. They are not well suited for the Royal Academy.”

“There is no need to go to such lengths. We simply wish to know the manner in which you pray.”

A ceremony that I can do in the Royal Academy, hm...?

The only one that came to mind was regenerating our gathering spot, but that wasn’t exactly something for me to be showing off. It was a tough decision.

“I shall think about which ceremony to show,” I said.

“You do that. I want to see you acting a bit more like a saint for once.”

“Brother!” Hannelore exclaimed. She glared at Lestilaut, but he merely turned his head away.

“Incidentally, can I ask that you select Clarissa as one of the apprentice scholars helping with our joint research?” I asked.

Clarissa started nodding over and over again, her eyes sparkling with delight. Lestilaut caught sight of this, then turned to me and said, “Why?”

“Our main reason is her existing connection to Ehrenfest, since she is engaged to my retainer Hartmut. Furthermore, I am confident she will take research that is due to improve the reputation of the temple very seriously. Reason being... Hartmut is now our High Priest.”

“What?!” Lestilaut shouted. “You mean to say he entered the temple?! What foul act did he commit?!” His reaction didn’t come as too much of a surprise—entering the temple was still considered a source of great shame among nobles—but the “foul act” part caught me a little off guard.

“Hartmut did nothing wrong. Rather, his new position is because of Ferdinand’s departure from Ehrenfest.”

Lestilaut’s face twisted in a way that indicated a complete lack of understanding. I would clearly need to elaborate.

“Prior to his departure, Ferdinand assisted me with my High Bishop work as the High Priest. However, as you know, he is being married into Ahrensbach. This left us without a High Priest until Hartmut was chosen to fill the role.”

“So, in Ehrenfest, one really can be sent to the temple and made High Priest without committing any misdeeds...” Lestilaut muttered. The nearby Dunkelfelger students appeared to be thinking the same thing.

“I cannot speak for the temple in a greater duchy such as yours,” Wilfried said, “but, embarrassingly enough, our own temple has very few blue priests. We do not have enough to fill our chalices, so we assigned Rozemyne and my uncle to be the High Bishop and High Priest, respectively. This was so that they could perform the ceremonies. Charlotte and I similarly participate in Spring Prayer and the Harvest Festival throughout our Central District. In other words, the temple is like a second home to us and the rest of our archducal family.”

“I see...” Lestilaut replied under his breath, still wearing a frown.

“I anticipate that society’s view of the temple will improve if we can show that the frequency, contents, and sincerity of one’s prayers has an effect on obtaining divine protections,” I said. “Thus, if Clarissa wishes to continue her engagement to Hartmut despite his new position, then I would appreciate her assistance.”

Lestilaut turned to Clarissa. “Well? What will you do? Your engagement can easily be canceled if you just express that Hartmut is a man who would join the temple despite already having a fiancée in another duchy.”

Clarissa vigorously shook her head in refusal, causing her long braid to swish from side to side. “I could never scorn his decision. I am proud that he would enter the temple without hesitation for his lady.” She then broke into a radiant smile that made her resemble Hartmut terribly. “In fact, had I been in Ehrenfest at the time, I would have battled him for the position of High Priest myself.”

I met this proclamation with wide eyes, not wanting it to be true.

“Lady Rozemyne, please allow me to work on this research,” Clarissa continued, a distinct glimmer in her blue eyes. She balled her hand into a determined fist, crushing her letter from Hartmut in the process. “These apologetic words are not even worth reading. No matter what my family says, I will charge down my own path and take him as my husband. And then, I shall witness the Saint of Ehrenfest perform her ceremonies with my very own eyes!”