Entwickeln

Entwickeln

Entwickeln

Inside the castle, rarely used rooms were stripped of their contents, including carpets and tapestries. This region seldom used carpets during the summer, in any case, so the attendants saw it as a chance to mix things up a little earlier than usual.

The nobles were in quite an uproar about having so little time to relocate their furniture; the entwickeln was only five days away. I was fine with it, since my chambers were still mostly bare, but it was yet another job on top of our preparations for the Archduke Conference. I was told that all sorts of documents were being moved to the dormitory.

Because of all the bustle, I was working in my archducal chambers; everything not used on a daily basis was being teleported to the giebes’ estates and external storage buildings, so I would only have gotten in the way in the aub’s office. My location also meant that bad actors couldn’t approach me under the guise of work. For safety’s sake, I was staying in these living quarters as much as I could, since only a strictly limited set of people could enter them.

“Lady Rozemyne, one of the knights stationed in the teleportation hall received this letter from Zent Eglantine about her visit,” Clarissa announced as she came into my room, indicating a single letter atop the vast stack of documents she was carrying. “Otherwise, these need your signature, and these need to be looked over by Roderick. I have been told to assist you here until lunch.”

I took Eglantine’s letter from the mountain of paperwork upon which it rested. She planned to visit us two days after the entwickeln. Ferdinand had attached a note that said, “You may agree to this.”

“Please send this confirmation letter to Zent Eglantine.” I gave Clarissa my response and then started going through the other documents.

As it stood, Clarissa spent most of her time working in Ferdinand’s office, but her top priority was ensuring the safe arrival of important documents. Retainers from Ehrenfest were inevitably looked down upon for being members of a lower-ranked duchy, but Clarissa, being from Dunkelfelger, encountered no such issues. She was better equipped to stand against the nobles of Old Ahrensbach and was a capable fighter to boot; I pitied whoever tried to steal the documents she was tasked with transporting. My knights were on edge because nobles were pulling all sorts of tricks to reach me.

“Lady Rozemyne, now that we have a date for the Zent’s arrival, we can organize your engagement ceremony as well. Should we not inform Ehrenfest at once? Your parents and the archducal couple will surely want to attend. I propose asking Roderick to write the invitations.”

“I concur,” Roderick said timidly.

Clarissa’s gaze was rather intense, for she was training Roderick in scholarly duties beyond just writing fiction. Preparing invitations was an appropriate task for him, so I decided to leave him to it.

“Lady Rozemyne, if the date of your engagement ceremony is decided, then what about your clothes?” Leonore asked. “Were you not going to retrieve some from Ehrenfest?” We didn’t have time to make new ones, which greatly limited our options.

“I think the clothes I wore to my meeting with the royal family would work nicely—the ones made of both Ahrensbach and Ehrenfest-dyed cloth. What do you all think?”

Lieseleta gave an approving nod. “A most wonderful embodiment of your desire to unite Ehrenfest and Alexandria. And as they were designed to be worn around royalty, they will not look out of place at an engagement ceremony.”

“Indeed,” Gretia added. “They were made of the best cloth available, and you have the perfect hair ornament to go with them. I shall contact Lord Justus about preparing matching clothes for Lord Ferdinand.” She wasted not another moment before sending an ordonnanz to him.

Of all the clothes to wear for my engagement... Ahaha.

A smile arose naturally on my face. Now that my lost memories had returned, I understood the significance of wearing a hairpin made by Tuuli and clothes made of cloth from both Ferdinand and my mom.

Clarissa smiled as well. “I am glad to see that your engagement to Lord Ferdinand brings you such joy.”

I almost corrected her but held my tongue. This wasn’t the time or place.

“Would you approve of making Lieseleta your feystone bearer?” Clarissa asked. I saw nothing wrong with the idea, so I turned to Lieseleta and asked if she would take the role.

“Um, hold on...” Roderick interjected. “Does that mean you decided on your engagement vow? Lord Ferdinand ordered me to inspect it.” He must have been chosen for being a talented author.

I turned away from the girls to meet Roderick’s gaze. “It is unfortunate, but no, I am still working on my vow. Rarely do women propose, so there are few sources I can draw from. I will need to reference the history of past queens, biblical verses, or perhaps Ehrenfest’s love stories, but which will work best? I suppose I should read them all to find out.”

The words of one’s proposal are deeply important, so... Yippee!

I made my signature “How troubling...” pose, though I couldn’t keep a smile from playing on my lips. My internal celebration was short-lived, however, as Roderick pulled me down from cloud nine.

“Fear not. Lord Ferdinand instructed me to walk you through your ideal proposal and draw from the bible in your place.”

“Oh, but that would be...”

Unsure how to continue, I turned to Lieseleta for assistance. She smiled, inspected a board, and said, “The words of a proposal are important for an engagement ceremony. But did Lord Ferdinand not say to focus on the entwickeln and ensure it can be performed without issue?”

“He did, but...”

“You have also been told to practice with an adult harspiel, as you have grown too much for your old one,” Leonore interjected. “Shall I summon Rosina?”

“Wait, Leonore. I wish to read, not practice the harspiel.”

Cornelius put a hand on my shoulder. “Good news. If you’re bored of paperwork, I was told to get you used to touching feystones without wincing. I doubt you’re going to read anytime soon.”

“Is that a grin?!” I spat. “I’m dying here and you’re grinning ?!”

Hmph! Curse you, Ferdinand, and your never-ending contingencies!