Epilogue

Epilogue

Epilogue

Warm sunlight streamed into the Royal Academy’s forest, where Gervasio was resting a hand against the door of a dimly lit shrine. He had finally obtained the last tablet he needed. It might not have equated to obtaining the Grutrissheit, but the most essential part of the process was now complete.

Gervasio let out a hushed sigh, only to have Detlinde hurry him on from behind. “Lord Gervasio,” she said. “Please be quick, if you would.”

The woman’s urging aside, Gervasio had yet to finish playing the role assigned to him. He made his schtappe, cleaned the shrine’s door with waschen, and then descended the steps so that Detlinde could take over.

“Expertly done,” Raublut said, having elected to wait near the bottom of the shrine.

Despite the circumstances, Gervasio looked somewhat displeased. “I should not need to say it, but your words have cost me a lot of mana...” he groused.

At the very start of their shrine tour, Raublut had explained to Detlinde that Lady Rozemyne had simply washed the shrines with waschen and then prayed. It was a necessary lie, since Detlinde wasn’t able to enter the shrines, but Gervasio had needed to waste so much mana to uphold it.

“And that’s that!” Detlinde exclaimed, sounding as pleased as ever. Her voice rang out just as an ordonnanz came into view.

“This is Hirschur, Ehrenfest’s dormitory supervisor. It would seem that outsiders have gained access to the Royal Academy. A report indicates they were last seen near the scholar building. I am requesting that the Sovereign Knight’s Order look into and capture them.”

Everyone paled. Someone was nearby.

“Hide in the trees. Now ,” Raublut snapped while the ordonnanz spoke its message again. The forest would shelter them from anyone patrolling the sky. “We need to return to the dormitory without being seen.”

Raublut then clucked, outraged that someone had ventured outside the dormitory—against his orders, no less. He picked up the ordonnanz’s feystone and said, “This is Raublut, the Sovereign knight commander. We will search for them at once. Return to your dormitory until further notice.”

The others had already moved away from the shrine to retreat into the forest. Raublut urged them to go deeper when another ordonnanz arrived.

“This is Rauffen, Dunkelfelger’s dormitory supervisor. It has come to my attention that there are intruders on the Academy’s grounds. Please allow me to serve as a guard or join the fighting. I will demonstrate my worth.”

“This is Raublut. Though your consideration is appreciated, it is the duty of the Sovereign Knight’s Order to find and imprison outsiders. I must ask that you wait in your dormitory.”

It was bad enough that Rauffen was trying to get involved—but then another ordonnanz arrived. Raublut shot his arm out for the bird to perch on, annoyed to be dealing with yet another interruption.

“This is Solange. Professor Hirschur just informed me that outsiders have infiltrated the Royal Academy. Could she have mistakenly been referring to your retainers? The ones you brought to retrieve Hortensia’s belongings, I mean. Would you allow me to explain to Professor Hirschur that Hortensia passed away?”

Indeed, Raublut had told the librarian that he needed to collect his late wife’s possessions—the perfect excuse to head straight to the library once Gervasio had visited all the shrines.

“This is Raublut. Thank you for your message. I intend to announce my wife’s passing during the next Archduke Conference, when I shall ask the Zent to send you another archlibrarian. My apologies, but please continue to keep this a secret. I will contact Professor Hirschur to explain things.”

Once the ordonnanz had departed, Raublut groaned in frustration. If only Solange had contacted him first, he thought; then he could have wrapped Hirschur into the deception.

“In any case... we have finished circling the shrines,” Raublut announced. “We should hurry along to the library. As I said, I must collect my late wife’s belongings. Lord Gervasio, would you care to meet Professor Solange?”

“The name does ring a bell,” Gervasio replied. “Greeting her sounds like a worthwhile endeavor.” They had gone over their plan well in advance, so he knew their next step was to head to the underground archive.

“Oh my...” Detlinde murmured. “Allow me to come with you, then.”

Everyone started. Letting her tag along would ruin their cover story.

“That isn’t an option, I’m afraid,” Raublut finally said. “Lord Gervasio is a fresh face here, so I can claim he is my attendant. But someone as famous as Yurgenschmidt’s next Zent would never go unnoticed.”

“Yes, that certainly is true.” She gave a proud nod, suddenly convinced. “My status as a Zent candidate is known so widely that I stand out wherever I go.”

“Consider our trip to the library a distraction for you—the means by which you can safely return to the villa. Everyone, ensure she makes it there without incident.”

Having dealt with Detlinde, Raublut gave Gervasio the signal that it was time for them to go. They headed to the library with his attendants, who were disguised as knights.

“Raublut, those ordonnanzes seemed concerning...” Gervasio said.

“Professor Rauffen might be wise to us, in which case Dunkelfelger will question the Zent and start calling for aid. The threat of that happening is precisely why we need to obtain the Grutrissheit now, before they come charging in.”

As far as Raublut was concerned, there was a good chance Dunkelfelger would take their side once Gervasio had the Grutrissheit. The greater duchy seemed far more open to negotiating than Klassenberg, whose greatest priority had been returning Eglantine to the royal family.

“I see. Then let us hurry.”

Raublut and those disguised as members of the Sovereign Knight’s Order formed a circle around Gervasio, and the group started toward the library. Anyone who spotted them now would think the Order was marching a captured prisoner.

“This place is exactly as I remember it...” Gervasio murmured, watching the scenery beyond the forest with a warm look in his eyes. “The memories are all coming back to me.” The blooming flowers—a pleasant reminder of spring—drew his attention to the gazebos dotting the land near the scholar building. There had been a time when he would eat lunch and enjoy tea in them between study sessions at the library.

Raublut chuckled. “I remember being told to go with you to the library not long after receiving my initial assignment.” He had just come of age, and his features had betrayed that youth.

“Yes, I can still picture the shock on your face. Not that it was warranted. There’s nothing strange about having to guard your charge on a day out.”

“Well, I was unaware of the villa’s circumstances. I thought I was being assigned to guide Lady Valamarlene after her baptism, not serve House Loeweleier in its entirety.”

There were three special rooms in the Adalgisa villa, each bearing the name of a Yurgenschmidt flower: Koralie, Schentis, and Loeweleier. Those born there were moved from the main building to the side building once they were baptized. Because paternal half-sisters weren’t recognized as family in Yurgenschmidt, the children were divided into three separate groups, each with its own mother.

Legitimate members of the royal family had their own guards, but those assigned to the Adalgisa villa had to serve one of its three groups. There was no need to give the villa’s residents their own knights; they seldom went beyond its grounds and needed guards only when going to the Royal Academy. As a new recruit of the Sovereign Knight’s Order, Raublut had been ordered to serve Loeweleier after Valamarlene, Gervasio’s younger sister of the same mother, was baptized.

“You would do well to know that I acted for your sake,” Gervasio remarked. “Outside of winter, you knights had nothing to do but watch the villa. I thought a new recruit would find it suffocating.”

“Is that so? Was it not because you thought a younger knight would be more lenient and allow you more peace?” Raublut was nearly the same age as Gervasio, so he had always accompanied the boy when he’d traveled to the royal palace or the Royal Academy’s library.

Even once he was ten years old, Gervasio had been forbidden from attending the winter Royal Academy for a number of reasons: the next king of Lanzenave didn’t need the full education of a Yurgenschmidt noble, there was nothing to gain from letting him get attached to the country he was due to leave upon coming of age, and the existence of the Adalgisa villa needed to be kept private. Instead, he had studied during other seasons, with royals or members of a branch family as his instructors.

Gervasio hadn’t socialized with any nobles outside the royal family, but he had been encouraged to associate with the Zent and their children at the time. It had been necessary to learn of the villa’s history and purpose and to keep it alive as time marched on.

“I remember it clear as day...” Gervasio said. “You told me time and time again that I was better suited to becoming the Zent than Prince Waldifrid, did you not?”

“I stand by those words even now,” Raublut replied, one eyebrow cocked in surprise. “In fact, King Gervasio... I would say that nobody is better suited to the role than you.”

Raublut had disliked the power struggles within his house—a branch of Gilessenmeyer’s archducal family—and aimed to become a Sovereign knight to escape them. He had come to believe it was better to judge people based on their talents than the circumstances of their birth, so it had frustrated him to no end when Yurgenschmidt’s royal family had mistreated Gervasio, a man of such great mana and intellect.

“For years, I’ve worked under King Trauerqual,” Raublut continued. “I understand his struggle and the heroics of his continued dedication to Yurgenschmidt, but my time in his service has only reinforced my conviction that a Zent must have the Grutrissheit. He who wishes to rule must have the means to do so, which is why I pray from the bottom of my heart that the seat becomes yours.”

“I see. Then I shall reward your loyalty.”

The two exchanged smiles as they arrived outside the entrance to the Royal Academy’s library. Raublut took out and presented a feystone, and the door opened in response to Hortensia’s mana.

“Hortensia is back.”

“Welcome, Hortensia.”

The black and white shumils came over, having also reacted to the feystone’s mana. Solange was with them. She had aged considerably from when Gervasio had seen her last, but the same went for him as well. If nothing else, he was relieved to see that her bright smile and peaceful blue eyes hadn’t changed.

“Solange. Ah, how much time has passed... It is I, Gervasio, of the royal branch family. Do you remember me?”

“Goodness! It really has been a while! I was told your sickness required you to go somewhere far away. It warms my heart to see you well.”