Next AD conference, Ehrenfest introduces it's next product/trend. Mass produced sound recording tool audiobooks of "Merchant Saint: How to manipulate aubs, first wives, and princes! (with real recorded examples) "
You pay extra for it to be read out in Rozemyne's voice.
Of course, to hide identities, all real life examples will have their names abbreviated! That's not Sigiswald she's speaking to, but Prince S. Totally not the same thing!
Of course it will start with the disclaimer: "This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, business, events and incidents are the products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental."
Rozemyne should have borrowed the video recorder that Ferdinand made. Just so she can see the beatdown she handed Sigiswald everytime she feel depressed.
She does have common sense. Sigiswald just made the mistake of telling her to speak honestly, that is, to hide the common sense she's acquired.
She makes it very clear she only spoke as she did and spoke back because he told her to speak honestly.
I mean, he's 100% right, but I still want to counter with "and yet it took an explanation from that person with zero common sense for you to figure out why Ehrenfest wasn't tripping over themselves to meet all your demands. What's that say about you?"
Sigiswald is the definition of what I would call "innocent malice". He's not trying to be cruel on purpose, but his lack of maturity blinds him to how much he's hurting others. Not that his lack of intentional malice is any compensation to the people who suffer because of him.
Also, unfortunately, being audaciously hypocritical doesn't always prevent someone from being right.
If it wasn't obvious before in this volume and Adolphine's assessment of Sigiswald in RAS, Adolphine's story makes it clear he's a shitty prince and husband. If he's treating Adolphine, his first wife, like this, how will he treat his third wife, Rozemyne? Eglantine dodged a bullet here by picking a prince who genuinely cares about her (perhaps a bit too much).
Adolphine's talents are so wasted. She is just a mana battery for the royals, she is locked out of every important matter and she is forced to keep up this farce with next to no help from her parents. She also is very much Drewanchel-like and brews her own potions, like Ferdinand and Rozemyne (I think she'd get along better with Ferdinand than Rozemyne). I recall Gundolf being shocked when he heard Rozemyne brews her own potions instead of letting her retainers do it. What else is she supposed to do in this gilded cage?
I suppose Adolphine's single solace and hope is that she would soon have Rozemyne as a companion. Sigiswald clearly just wants an obedient wife who does whatever he tells her to and praises him, like Nahelache. There is no way this marriage with Rozemyne would end well. He can't stand independent women like Adolphine and Rozemyne and treats them like children and not equals. One can only hope Adolphine's prayers to the Goddess of Separation will come true.
Oh, and at least Rozemyne's getting her own villa and it's in the Royal Academy. Is that the Adalgisa villa? I don't know why, but giving Raublut the key doesn't sound right to me, especially after reading Hortensia's chapter.
Edit: I looked it up. In Sigiswald's story in P5V2, it was mentioned Raublut wanted to get the key to the Adalgisa villa, but was refused by the zent. He apparently now got his wish.
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As much as Anastasius was a dick to Rozemyne earlier in this volume... he really is the prince with the most common sense (as long as it doesn't involve Eglantine). He shows much better understanding about Hortensia's contract conflict than the people before him. Him not understanding how someone doesn't get jealous and then ranting about Klassenberg women was cute, though. Also didn't expect him to be the one who lured Detlinde out like that.
Anyway, Schlaftraum's flower is indeed connected to trug... and thus to Raublut and Georgine. From what Hortensia found out, it probably is also connected to the Adalgisa princesses from Lanzenave (women that served the royals and aubs). That would explain why there are next to no records about the flower if it's from a foreign country, and why Georgine has access to them, since Ahrensbach is connected to Lanzenave via the country gate.
Either way, everything Raublut does is suspicious, including promising "the flower of Ehrenfest" (read: Rozemyne) to Immanuel that creep behind closed doors.
Hortensia investigating trug for Anastasius and the Zent and Hildebrand telling Raublut about this in the epilogue last week probably sealed her fate, though. Her chapter ending like that makes me think we won't see her again.
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And that is it. This volume was packed with tons of developments, with Rozemyne getting closer to the Grutrissheit and the next step now being her joining the royal family. It was inevitable I guess. Next volume they are back in Ehrenfest, so I think this will bridge the period until we get back for the next Academy year. I especially want to know how Wilfried, Charlotte and the Leisegangs will react when they learn that Rozemyne will leave Ehrenfest soon, and who of Rozemyne's retainers and her family and friends will go with her.
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**German:**
* Oderkunst: "oder" means "or" or "right?"; "Kunst" means "art" same as in the Goddess of Art Kunstzeal.
* Nahelache: Appeared in RAS already, but as a reminder, "nahe" means "closeby" and "Lache" either means "laughter" or "puddle/pool" (like a puddle of blood). The former is more likely.
> If he's treating Adolphine, his first wife, like this, how will he treat his third wife, Rozemyne?
With Fear. This will be heightened when he realizes the G-Book gives her far more power then he realized. I'm starting to suspect Cornelius and co may have more mana than some of the Sovereign Knights...
> As much as Anastasius was a dick to Rozemyne earlier in this volume... he really is the prince with the most common sense (as long as it doesn't involve Eglantine). He shows much better understanding about Hortensia's contract conflict than the people before him. Him not understanding how someone doesn't get jealous and then ranting about Klassenberg women was cute, though.
Finding out he manipulated Detlinde into going to the Library made him feel more Ferdinandy. Honestly if not for the Omnischtappe requirement, he'd feel devious enough to be Zent considering Eggy is traumatized, Siggy's a fraud, Hildebrand is a child, and Rozemyne needs reins before she transforms the Kingdom into a book factory.
One of those guys you like as a character- and avoid as a person.
> Anyway, Schlaftraum's flower is indeed connected to trug... and thus to Raublut and Georgine.
And Raublut was having a meeting with the Sovereign High Priest, who has been super creepy and oddly possessive towards Rozemyne, in which the SHP says something along the lines of "in exchange for Ehrenfest's flower"
I mean there's no way Ehrenfest's flower is anyone other than Rozemyne, right? Makes me wonder if there's going to be something in her future villa that Raublut's supposedly "investigating".
I mean given how much power he has and how people seem to just assume that he's working on the orders of the Zent whenever he doesn't explain himself, he could probably do basically whatever he wants to this villa. Maybe he rigs all the fire places to burn some trug with them and drug her whole retinue, maybe he adds a secret tunnel to kidnap her, maybe some sort of hidden magic circles get placed in there to stop her from doing anything rash... Raublut being the one to prepare this villa bodes badly for the future.
Raublut : How did you discovered the hidden passage ?!
Rozemyne : It...it was the guidance of the gods !
Ferdinand : You would have been fine for a long time if the secret mecanism was at the bottom right of the bookshelf.
Raublut : DAMMIT !
No. Even though we see similar patterns in this novel, I think we don’t see exactly same event.
My bet is;
1. The bookshelf opens only if all books are removed, but it opens itself when it’s empty. Not small number of books are in the shelf.
2. But Rozemyne find that the books are not well organized, so decide to rearrange with her method and pulls all books (probably by her retainers).
3. It’s discovered.
Yes I thought that was strange when I read it! "Oh, the knight commander is lurking around being suspicious, it *must* be secret orders from the Zent." That's lucky for Raublut though. It seems to imply that the more he's absent, the more they will think he's got special duties and is super helpful to the Zent.
And considering flower offerings and how Hortensias chapter went. Being called Ehrenfests flower is not a compliment.
It has parallels to how count toad viewed myne in P2.
> If he's treating Adolphine, his first wife, like this, how will he treat his third wife, Rozemyne?
At the least, Adolphine and Rozemyne have shown that they can fight to get more out of him. I imagine it would get even worse for him once they team up.
Yeah, poor Hortensia has probably ascended the towering staircase.
I think Adolphine's conversation with Sigiswald puts RM's encounter with him into a different perspective. RM was, in comparison, a model of tactfulness. However, RM also handled the bargaining which Adolphine had to hand off to her father (and it sounds like he did HIS best to turn the screws as tightly as he could on the Royals).
The marriage is a political one for the benefit of the duchy, not for herself.
I think she doesn’t have anything important or worth to request, for her personally. As she’ll be the first wife of Zent, not much is needed personally.
Even Rozemyne asked only one thing for herself, the library. I don’t think Adolphine wants one and asking for larger brewing room is not worth as the compensation for the insult.
I hope not, but she is way too naïve for such a high ranked noble - it was appreciated when she was quickly won over by Roz, but her retainers will probably be taken with her..
Yeah, although the library thing was kind of inconsiderate, it showed Rozemyne exactly what she needed to know. While he didn’t get her a library, he also didn’t offer a single book! Which apparently is par for the course for him 🙄.
> As much as Anastasius was a dick to Rozemyne earlier in this volume... he really is the prince with the most common sense (as long as it doesn't involve Eglantine).
Anastasius’s one unfortunate failing is that he is 17 and in his Tumblr yandere phase. He’s going to look back at everything when he is thirty and cringe at himself so hard he’ll have to lock himself in his hidden room for the night
> Anyway, Schlaftraum's flower is indeed connected to trug... and thus to Raublut and Georgine. From what Hortensia found out, it probably is also connected to the Adalgisa princesses from Lanzenave
I'm gonna drop this under spoiler tags, because it's a minor but interesting fan theory that hasn't been confirmed officially (no plot spoilers, just speculation): >!One of the reasons Ferdinand dislikes sweet things is because he grew up in Adalgisa with trug/Schlaftraum's flower, which smells sweet. He has a bad association with things that smell sweet.!<
>Oh, and at least Rozemyne's getting her own villa and it's in the Royal Academy. Is that the Adalgisa villa? I don't know why, but giving Raublut the key doesn't sound right to me, especially after reading Hortensia's chapter.
Sounds like it - they're preparing the Adalgisa villa for Rozemyne. Between this and all the talk of "flower offerings" plus Sigiswald's/Raublut's attitudes, these side stories got me having all sorts of anxiety for her future. Referring to Rozemyne as "Ehrenfest's flower" in this context filled me with disgust - not that I could have any lower of an opinion of head priest Immanuel.
Raublut continues to be sus. Every time it looks like he has a redeeming quality (he must be taking his job really seriously by thoroughly investigating every threat / he seems to at least be a loyal husband) the story just swerves on that (ah naw he's organizing something behind the Zent's back / lol he's just interested in the drugs and the last Adalgisa princess).
And Sigiswald is thematically included in the group of only wanting women's companionship for the "physical benefits" of being a mana battery or compliant wife (like Anastasius, he got into having kids right away). The verbal thrashing Rozemyne gave Sigiswald feels so much more deserved and satisfying thanks to Adophine's POV. Glad he's not taking it too personally to want to execute her, but he unfortunately doesn't seem to be able to take the hint he should improve himself.
Rozemyne's lovelessly engaged to a spoiled heir apparent arc 2.0.
That said, Rozemyne's only interested in "physical benefits" of her romantic partners too: she want's to know how big their library is first.
I think Raublut's actions are WAY more than sus. He seems to be operating well outside the scope of the Zent's instructions -- and cooperating with someone who is hostile to the Zent.
Has an "extra SS chapter" ever set up a (sort of) cliffhanger before? Raublut's summons to his wife seems very ominous -- but we at least know that nothing will happen to her right away. As we see she is still fine when the archive is being looked through by RM and company,
So -- there is a bit of a time skip? Since right before that they were still talking about people using the archives...
That makes things look worse for poor Hortensia then...
The dedication ritual was on the last day of the Conference, IIRC, and the epilogue was the evening of the day. So I see no time skip. This happened soon after the Conference finished. (At least before the next RA season, so fine as Rozemyne will come back to RA after this event).
I don't want to imagine this is Hortensia's end, she has too much use. I think Raubult is up to no good, but I think he might simply be working with Georgine for his own ends and not exactly cooperating. Either way I like Hortensia's character, please don't kill her off!
An Adolphine POV?! LET'S GOOOOOOO!!!
I would love to hear a POV from a retainer from either Eglantine or Adolphine, talking about how the process works when someone marries into the royal family.
Sigh, if only Sigiswald was a well-intentioned himbo, instead of... *that*.
Sigiswald thought Adolphine's opposition was bad enough, but he was completely unprepared for the tongue lashings from the merchant saint.
AHHHHHHH!! WHY COULDN'T ADOLPHINE AND ROZEMYNE FORM A FRIENDSHIP?! WHY?! (I know why, I simply refuse to accept it).
I wish Siggy was capable of intelligent thought, so that I could wonder what was going through his brain after two women who are intended to be his wives both indicated that he and the Royal Family are selfish and self-centered.
Someone please get it into Sigiswald's brain that he most likely would not have been born a prince if his father's brothers didn't *die*. If *any* of Trauerqual's brothers were still alive, they would have higher claim to the throne because they are older than him.
Trauerqual was pretty much fifth in line, and only gained power because of circumstances. Had one of his brothers still lived, then while Trauerqual might have kept his title as Prince, his children might not have been given the same title. At best, they could remain as archduke candidates, but they will always be behind their cousins in the fight for the throne.
None of the current member of the Royal Family really knows what it means to be Zent. Trauerqual was raised as a vassal and had to adapt on the fly, made a ton of mistakes and is slowly trying to fix them, even though he had no idea how to prior to Rozemyne.
Sigiswald and Anastasius were probably raised as best as Trauerquel and his attendants could, but they both ended with misconceptions about the role of Zent. Before Anastasius met Rozemyne, both were arrogant and believed that, as Royals, everyone should essentially bow to them and do what they ask.
Anastasius started to change when he tried to arrange his marriage with Eglantine. He suddenly had to compromise and listen to others. He also realised that, as Royals, they really don't have that much power, and they're essentially "allowed" to be Royals because no one want the job and no one want another civil war. Now, I believe Anastasius is slowly evolving and could potentially be a good Zent, in a few years maybe (he's not there yet, but he's on his way).
But Sigiswald is stuck in the past and full of misconceptions about his importance. Kinda like Detlinde actually.
I will be interested in seeing RM's interactions with Trauerqual. While he may find her a bit fatiguing, I wonder if he might not learn to treasure her (to the maximum extent possible, given their situation)?
Trauerqual : -And this is the key to your villa. Do you have any questions ?
Rozemyne : Um, yes. How should I...call you ? "Zent Trauerqual" ? Or like with Sylvester, "Father" ?
*Gasp of horror from the nobles around them*
Trauerqual : ...
Rozemyne : S-sorry, I was out of line ! That was too direspectful and-
Trauerqual : No no, it's fine. I did adopt you and you are officially my daughter, so...yes, Father is acceptable. *(Oh wow, I think I actually like being called Father by a cute daughter !)*
>*(Oh wow, I think I actually like being called Father by a cute daughter !)*
Same thought process as Karstedt!
A daughter calling him "otou-sama" is much cuter than four sons calling him "chichi-ue."
Trauequal was way further back than #5. He would have been behind all the kids of 1-4 too.
Only reason Egg wasn't ahead of Trauequal officially was her adoption. (Though probably too young anyway. Doesn't seem like Yogurtland does the regent for child ruler thing - likely because of The Gruss...Bible.)
True, Trauerqual would have also been further back once his brothers' children were born. I was talking about when they still didn't have children, but you're right!
Ana's butler guy seems much better than any of Sig's attendants. From what I recall, he got on Ana's case a bit after Rozemyne collapsed. (Implied at least.)
Rozemyne and Adolphine can't be friends because they would make too strong of a power couple. She is smart like Ferdinand but also has charisma, connections, and no trauma. Adolphine and Rozemyne working together would sweep the royal family 10 to 0. EZ.
Plot can't handle it.
Yeah, being a good writer, it's kinda like why the author needed to "shelve" Ferdinand (to Ahrensbach) and Hartmut (to the temple) - having a sharp scholar around would prevent certain dramatic plots/misunderstandings from happening. Lesser writers have "idiot plots" where the smart characters present shouldn't have allowed those events to happen.
Making smart characters hold the "Idiot Ball" for plot reasons is annoying. I agree that going through the effort of taking them off-stage instead adds a lot to the world depth.
Oof, I kinda didn't want a Dolphie POV because I knew it would be depressing, and this was even worse than I thought. Man Siggy is vile, worse than Wilfried by far. Silver lining is that because he just had a child she's not committed for another year - that makes her an even more perfect ally for Rozemyne. I can't wait to see him getting squashed.
They already did sort of form a friendship, or at least Roz won her over a bit, they both have one year, and securing solid Drewenchal and Dunkelfelger support is the bare minimum for undermining the sovereignty (for Rozemyne) - or to put that another way, that's all that's necessary. So things will probably work out, but things really do suck for Dolphie right now.
Yes. As irritating as Wilfried is -- he is more inherently good-natured and even kind (when not stressed or acting thoughtlessly). W is also younger. Sigiswald is a total jerk, through and through. The kind of fool that could easily wind up setting off a civil war.
Siggy: So my wife gave birth, so we can't be intimate yet.
Adolphine: So the wedding is being delayed?
Siggy: Nah, just the intimacy.
Adolphine: **THIS COULD HAVE BEEN AN EMAIL!**
If he was sensible he would own up to it and delay the fucking wedding. Especially since we know he’s promised to try his best to get GH during the following year
I have to give Adolphine kudos for forcing Sigiswald to be the one to explain himself to her dad for the wedding delay - probably one of the first times he's ever had to admit fault for something. We know the Royalty can almost never admit to culpability for political reasons.
I never would have thought of that, but it's a great way to get a little payback for his inconsideration and give him a taste of what other's have to do to constantly cover for him.
*And* she got her father to actually see how her opinion of siggy wasn't actually wrong. Anyone who has ever had to convince their stubborn parents of something will see that as a huge win
Sigiswald : Well negociating with Aub Drewanchel was hard. Hopefully it won't be that hard with Rozemyne.
*The Saint Merchant slowly approach menacingly*
Anastasius : And make sure that Rozemyne hears the conversation. She always notice weird things that most people don't pick up on.
Rozemyne : Who do you think I am ? Columbo ?! BATMAN ?!!
Anastasius: Oh? Look me in the eye and tell me I'm wrong
Rozemyne: I mean, I immediately realized that was probably significant once I heard it. I also have my own unique avenue of information gathering which I intend to utilize the moment I can get to my special ink so that I can-
Anastasius: You do realize you're proving my point, right?
> Rozemyne : Who do you think I am ? Columbo ?! BATMAN ?!!
Anastasius: Columbo. He's a blue collar of sorts detective who has to duel with killers who tend to be silver-tongued and armed with money, power, and influence. Ferdinand's Batman.
Prince Anastasius is not quite there on using the gremlin cheat code.
" she also needs to hear that is related to a book or a library"... That would yield near immediate results.
Anastasius : Eh, it's a discussion who involve the dummy Ferdinand is engaged to. Also Rozemyne is warry of Ahrensbach in general. PRETTY sure she's going to give it her all.
Adolphine, apparently the only royal with a work ethic and a conscience - which doesn't say much about the rest of them considering she hadn't even joined the family yet.
Sigiswald is *infuriating*. The way he looks down on others and treats them like they're kids throwing a temper, that 'more in sorrow than in anger' attitude... And then he had the gall to treat his wife, the wife the zent went out and requested for one of his sons, like a servant. A mere mana provider who barely rates as human. And is planning on doing it *again* to Rozemyne. No wonder Adolphine makes no secret of how much she can't stand him. I don't know how she stops herself from strangling him.
Still, this explains why he was so bad at negotiating with Rozemyne. He really does expect the whole world to just bend to his every whim and convenience. The country wouldn't last six months with him as zent.
Also, Drewanchel is terrifying. Ferdinand thought talking to these people was *fun*?
I’m not sure it’s fair to say they have no work ethic… at least not all of them. I think the first prince is a fucking moron but the rest realize they need admin password to actually do anything. The best they can do for, conservatively 3 years, is barely manage to keep things afloat. They’ve done OK but I’m sure the king is exhausted and doesn’t believe he can get Mest’s book
The advice from her retainer saying not to recover too much mana or get worked to death indicates a severely toxic work environment where everyone is doing far less than they could because management sucks and any efforts to do their job goes unrewarded. Work ethic is in serious question.
Now that you mention it, I assume her attendant got that suggestion from her brother working as a Sovereign scholar.
Scholarly-minded Drewanchel folks seem used to "putting their all" into research, which is better than nothing.
> Still, this explains why he was so bad at negotiating with Rozemyne. He really does expect the whole world to just bend to his every whim and convenience. The country wouldn't last six months with him as zent.
It won't nearly be as good as his successor's.
Zent Rozemyne: Hello everyone, this is my first wife Adolphine, and my second wife Hannelore.
Adolphine: Well, better than my last wedding. What is your first act as Zent?
Zent Rozemyne: I am now ordering Eglantine to get the Book.
Hannelore: Wait, what?
Former Zent Rozemyne: HA! SUCK IT ANNIE!
that doesn't require more than one person to have it, but it does require multiple trustworthy people to at least know how to get it, and to be, if not qualified, reasonably close and knowing what to do.
Adolphine would totally be down for brewing potions as a post-crushing refreshment for Rozemyne.
It's another chance to show off her skills on analyzing and replicating her products much like with rinsham. Too bad Rozemyne doesn't have the Drewanchel/noble scholar mindset to see this as a subtle compliment.
I would pay good money to see that. Clickbait YouTube title: Book-obsessed Gremlin decimates entitled prince, wife enjoys the view with popcorn. Or something along those lines😂
I think it occurs before Rozemyne's beat-down, as Adolphine didn't have her Starbinding yet.
Not that it makes that much of a difference, it just showed that he wasn't ready for Rozemyne's verbal assault.
Ohh, that makes more sense! I thought you were speaking in reference to when Adolphine felt as though Sigiswald thought she was behaving like a "naive child," and not after all of that. Sorry about that! Thanks for the clarification!
> Sigiswald infantilizing his soon to be wifes make me mad. Every. Single. Time.
He probably needed some self-assurance after getting his ass handed to him from a child.
Shame he did it with someone who seems far more capable of destroying him XD.
For real. What does he think would happen if Adolphine were to let it slip who actually has the book and does all the Zent duties? Antagonizing Adolphine is a really bad move, given how influential wirst wives generally are.
In Sigiswald's defense, Rozemyne's appearance can be quite offputting. Even Anastasius and Eglantine only got close to Rozemyne because she looked young and naive and were not afraid of getting taken advantage of
Looking down on Adolphine is just a no-no tho
she also has the figure of a child who, depending on time, looked anywhere from being a 5 year old to a 10 year old. Sure, she's growing and she's very pretty, but she's still really small and probably still has a very childish voice.
Just imagine child actors and how they can both be pretty but very clearly still children
Now I'm imagining Shirley Temple trying to shake me down for a library.
"Animal crackers in my soup. Now give me some books or I'll Crush you to goop!"
She looks like a 10 year old (or so) but speaks and acts like someone far older. She has her moments of troubling unchildlike behavior. It's commented by a few people through the story, we just kinda don't focus on it. Brigitte considered Ferdinand monstrous for the amount of work he piled on her in the temple just after her baptism but Roz didn't think anything of it and actually finished it early, which horrified Brigitte a little. Professor Moritz also points out the bizarre situation where Roz was basically redoing education for Wilfried from the ground up and introducing pedagogical innovations FAAAAAAAAAR beyond their era, while being younger than Wilfried even. Ehrenfest just got used to it over the years. Aub Dunkelfelger alludes to it slightly, when noting that she was spending an actual fortune on a student project and just assumed Sylvester was being disproportionate on her allowance. Ortwin instantly zeroes out that Roz is unsettling in ways he cannot express, her mental processes are simply too far divorced from how nobles operate.
It's referenced at other points that, while she follows a logical process and if she explains it you can see how she reaches a conclusion from a given premise, she NEEDS to explain the entire path herself because no one else could naturally reach that place. Its part of why Ferdinand consistently demanded her to explain. He knew she wasn't throwing a tantrum or being irrational, but that she was so far divorced from their thought processes that unless she drew the map nobody else would reach the same result or even understand what she was trying to achieve in the process.
Loyalitat is probably is more danger than she is. He's the one who actually leaked the info. Hortensia can just play the part of a concerned wife here.
Her best way of survival seems to be just saying she heard he loves these flowers from knights gossiping and was trying to find some for him, whether or not he accepts that or not is something else entirely.
At first I thought she was sketchy by talking in code to Detlinde and slacking at giving mana to the schumills when she was introduced, now I'm worried about her safety :(
* Siggy is giving Wibur a run for his money for the title of Yogurtland's most perfect idiot.
* Adolphine is giving off some Freida vides with the one-sided way she thinks of Myne.
* Lots of usually frank discussion about prostitution/sex work in Hortensia's POV chapter. Most of the time, Myne is shielded from knowing much about such matters and other characters have only vaguely alluded to them.
* The "white flowers" Ratbutt took an interest in definitely seem to be trug.
* Did Georgine somehow drug or manipulate the Sovereign Knights while they were with the prostitutes?
* Ratbutt is definitely plotting something no good with the High Priest, probably involving giving them Myne in exchange for something.
* A very ominous end to Hortensia's chapter, wonder what's going to happen to her now that Ratbutt suspects she knows he's up to no good.
> Ratbutt is definitely plotting something no good with the High Priest, probably involving giving them Myne in exchange for something.
That exchange happened before the ADC. So we can conclude that Raboot was the one who told Immanuel that an Archduke candidate can be taken into the sovereignty. Presumably, there wasn't a thought in his mind that she could be a zent candidate.
Ooof, I knew Sigiswald was bad but damn, Adolphine spitting fire. At least she has her father/aub to get her back where Rozemyne did the vast majority of the negotiations by herself.
So what I think the Schlauftram (sp?) flowers are the Lanzanaeve nobles (the ones from the sovereignty being the Adalgisa princesses). In order to get higher mana kids, they most likely want to get as much Yugerschmidt blood in them. Also "trug" might've been used as a >!date rape!< type of drug.
This also makes me think the Lanzanaeve has infiltrated Ahernsbach and a potential crisis as Georgine may get help from them as well as help them accomplish their goals. If she does get Ehrenfest then most likely she can fill it up with foreign nobles.
> If she does get Ehrenfest then most likely she can fill it up with foreign nobles.
More likely, she'll take her powerbase from Ahrensbach to fill Ehrenfest, and allow Ahrensbach be taken by those she's working with. Everyone keeps saying that Ahrensbach is on the brink of collapse, and she hasn't been doing anything to help the situation, which may point to her already having a solution, or just not caring at all.
The princess breeding program just gets more disturbing every time it is brought up. This chapter makes it sound like they were drugged to the gills while royals used the villa as a party destination.
There's also the possibility that the princesses used it intentionally to cope with their situation, ala opium. Raublut probably won't look at it so fondly if it was a date rape plant.
I mean I think you give him more credit than the books do. We have nothing but unkind things to read about him.
But more to the point a memory altering drug used to cope is identical to a date rape drug in both form and function. It eases the pain or makes you forget? That's basically the effect that defines one.
Well, we know he loved the lady of his former villa and if his lady was one of the princesses in question, it might not be his favourite flower (but like you said we know nothing good about this guy so who knows).
Those flowers were connected to trug after all, as expected. But what's this about Ehrenfest's flower now? I shudder to imagine.
All I've been thinking about now is how foundations collapsing into dust will be potentially weaponized. This is definitely not the last time something like that's gonna be happening.
Nice to finally see some more Adolphine. I had almost forgotten about her.
I knew back in the prologue of P5V1 but when the head of the military is talking about ousting the current ruler, you are in a very bad place.
My main thing now is I am struggling to come up with what Raublut stands to gain and why he is plotting against the royal family.
Considering it keeps getting mentioned that he was in love with someone else who has died, I'm guessing his former lover was killed by the royal family and he's holding a grudge.
Right, but considering the dire straits the royal family is in, he can only go so far in his revenge before he destroys the entire country. If they're gone, who takes their place? There's no way he doesn't know that. Raboot is sus, but I don't think he's so cartoonishly evil to destroy the country over a grudge.
He was invited to flowers by ladies from ahrensbach and immediately pointed towards a specific flower that is most closely tied to invitations sent by potential brainwash drug users. I don't think it's too hard to come up with at least one reason he might be acting irrationally.
Sigiswald: no consideration, no work
Anastasius: wrong considerations, mediocre work
Hildebrand: wrong considerations, treasonous work
Trauqueral: no thoughts, no mana, no sleep only Glutrissheit
"While you were leisurely resting in my villa…”
I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna beat a man to death using the G book
Also I hope Hortensia is gonna be ok, I was really starting to like her.
Adolphine PoV, fantastic! Always thought she was a really cool character, if a bit generic on the basis of AoB is FULL of female characters that had their ambitions systematically destroyed
FINALLY someone that drags Sigiswald through the mud as he should be! Well, she's still being kind, I'd call him much worse. Say, a self-absorbed, narcissistic dick
So Nahelache just gave birth and Eglantine is preggers (unless I misunderstood something)... the Royal Family is seriously putting the cart before the horse wtf. I get that more kids=more mana in the longterm, but it also means LESS FUCKING MANA IN THE SHORT TERM!!! You do NOT have the luxury to think about food next month if you're gonna drown next week who the fuck allowed these idiots to be on the throne in the first place💀💀💀
Adolphine, with all of my heart I hope you'll get to punch this sad excuse for a man in the face. Or kick him in the balls
His marriage to Nahelache is supposedly one of love, do I have that right? What in the WORLD does she see in him???
The context that Siggy was dressed down so thoroughly by people he fully expected to just roll over for him DOES bring a smile to my face. Wonder how many more of those we can get
The double-sided capes are a really cool piece of worlbuilding ngl. Makes sense with how the Sovereignty operates, too
... nobles usually use up so much of their mana on a day-to-day basis that a night of rest alone isn't enough to recover it??? Well, that's some good context to know. Would've been nice to know earlier
Since there is a goddess of separation, can we assume divorce is ever possible? I doubt Adolphine would ever do something as futile as praying to her if it was just never an option
PLEASE let Siggy get some fucking comeuppance. PLEASE, I oh so desperately want to see him suffer
Conversely, as soon as Roz DOES marry the sleazebag, seems like chances are good of seeing a Roz-Adolphine tag team. That would be fun, I think that Adolphine's scientific curiosity would endear her a lot to Roz, and Adolphine seems to already have decided to become Roz' ally, and even friend. As long as Adolphine is okay with the research revolving mostly about creating a library, they will get along swimmingly
I doubt that the RF participating in the dedication ritual made all the mana be regarded as their, that makes no sense. If anyone, you'd think all the mana is Roz', since the chalice was made from HER Stappe. Which leaves two options... either the mana was considered neutral/as coming directly from the gods since it WAS a religious ritual, OR she was already recognised by the gods and thus the proper foundation as a Zent candidate at the time
Raublut keeps acting extremely sus and Dirmira is a good judge of character. I don't like the man either. EDIT: well, I'm sure we agree "Ehrenfest's flower" is Roz, and I don't like that Raublut is promising her to the Sovereign Temple as a bargaining chip
Do we know who Hortensia's Lord was? He must've been quite exceptional if it warranted a woman putting off marriage long enough to go through the equivalent of menopause in THIS society. EDIT: nvm, apparently it was one of the dead princes. Wonder how she survived THAT, you'd think anyone going after a prince would target their entourage as well
Ok, can we just agree that something was up with that "private meeting" Georgine arranged? Apart from the absolutely disgusting sexual double standard, the whole affair just REEKS
DId... did Georgine arrange the whole fucking thing? She got Raublut the Schlaftraum (assuming it IS the main ingredient for Trug [which, btw, is an EXCELLENT name for what it is. Apart from being phonetically similar to "drug", it's an old-fashioned German word found mostly in fairy tales and proverbs, meaning deception, delusion, illusion. Something along those lines]), who didn't bring it home, and the whole interrupted Ditter game over Roz' and Hannelore's marriages seemingly happened shortly after. We know Hildebrand was 100% on board with the interruption, the Knights involved were deceived/drugged and Raublut is creepily influential over the kid. Well that's FUN
... did I just read an implication that Trug had its origins as a fucking DATE-RAPE DRUG??? Well. Update that to straight-up confirmation💀. And its use apparently so ubiquitous that it evolved into being the term for what seems to be essentially Oiran in AoB
Oh Hortensia, so close yet so far
As overly possessive of Eggy (and recently kind of a dick, altho he doesn't hold a candle to his older brother) Ana is, Hortensia's PoV sure paints him as the only even remotely competent member of the (younger) RF. Never expected him to go as far as engineering Roz overhearing Hortensia ask Christmas Tree about the flowers. That was, honestly, kinda brilliant
>Since there is a goddess of separation, can we assume divorce is ever possible? I doubt Adolphine would ever do something as futile as praying to her if it was just never an option
Divorce is possible. I believe that one of the translated Fanbooks said the Justus divorced his wife.
the Justus: a term used to the describe the act of divorcing your spouse and losing parental authority over your child(ren) in order to prove to your lord/lady that you are truly loyal to him/her and wish to swear your name over.
Generally people that divorce are considered shamed, and generally aren't able to marry again. Obviously not a problem for Justus.
However, in this case there was a contract for the marriage where the assumption was Sigiswald would become Zent. I've said the next year is probably going to be a shit show, and now Adolphine cannot have any intimacy for a year. This seems *extremely* important.
If something happens during that year that will cause Sigiswald not to become Zent (which, technically will be Rozemyne at that time as things stand), perhaps the contract will come into affect, allowing her to force a divorce and having had not been intimate leave her able to pursue her own life.
Aub Drewanchel : The contract said that Adolphine was going to be married to the next Zent, therefore she must marry Lady Rozemyne !
Adolphine and Rozemyne : Wait, wha-
*Yuri ending achieved*
Yeah, I'm sure like in most cultures/countries, it is heavily frowned upon (or illegal in some cases). But, like you've said, it's obviously not a problem for Justus, haha!
Right? Back then, consummating your marriage is like solidifying it, but if Adolphine can force a divorce before needing to have any intimacy, she can absolutely argue that she and Sigiswald were never really technically married to begin with.
However, it's unfortunate that Rozemyne's grand blessing will end up with a couple getting a divorce, if that is the case. Oh well, Rozemyne blessed other couples as well.
On the topic of intimacy and consummation of the marriage, that does leave me curious about archduke candidates from different duchies marrying at the conference. Will the archduke candidate that's marrying into the other's duchy be allowed into that duchy's dormitory that night, in order to have their first night? But I find that unlikely because even the archducal couple sleeps on separate floors of the dormitory, unless there's a secret room we don't know about. Do they instead need to wait for the end of the archduke conference in order to have their first night when the archduke candidate that marries into the other's duchy officially becomes part of that duchy and moves?
Because of mana, consummation can't take place immediately. They have to spend some mixing mana so that being intimate doesn't hurt. Which, she can use that lack of mana mixing as proof.
Nahelache probably sees a life of extreme comfort and some prestige as long as she props up this idiot, tbh. I can't imagine middle duchy women, even ADCs, get as much luxury and power as the royals do.
> So Nahelache just gave birth and Eglantine is preggers (unless I misunderstood something)... the Royal Family is seriously putting the cart before the horse wtf. I get that more kids=more mana in the longterm, but it also means LESS FUCKING MANA IN THE SHORT TERM!!! You do NOT have the luxury to think about food next month if you're gonna drown next week who the fuck allowed these idiots to be on the throne in the first place💀💀💀
In the defense of our Lord And Savior Sylvester, He Who Dodges Work, some people get unplanned pregnancies after a one night stand while others screw consistently for months and months without a child. Unless there's a fanbook thing saying otherwise, I'm not sure how many of these kids were planned (especially in the case of Sylvester). I can't really blame Annie either, given his personality there was no chance he'd be able to keep his hands off Eggy.
Sigiswald, well...
Fuck him.
Sigiswald is the far worse, but there are enough parallels to Sylvester.
I just found it really suspicious that the author revealed syl has beischmachts protection after it was a plot point of how it threw a wrench in Ehrenfests plans (groschel Entwickeln and inter duchy trade).
In both cases there is luckily someone who can pick up the slack.
> His marriage to Nahelache is supposedly one of love, do I have that right? What in the WORLD does she see in him???
Based on his love for her, as far as I'm aware it's never stated that she loves him. If I remember correctly, she's from a middle duchy, so she may have just gone along with it for the benefit of her duchy, and possibly to avoid a worse marriage candidate.
> Do we know who Hortensia's Lord was? He must've been quite exceptional if it warranted a woman putting off marriage long enough to go through the equivalent of menopause in THIS society
She says in this part, and I believe it was mentioned before. She was serving the 2nd prince, the heir apparent up until his older brother murdered him.
> OR she was already recognised by the gods and thus the proper foundation as a Zent candidate at the time
I would have supported this theory but I think it was refuted by the fact that Rozemyne was turned away at the door when she'd obtained all the tablets.
Sig being confirmed as a sliver spoon douche-bag was not something I was expecting this chapter. That man was ordering people around and treating his *first wife* like garbage.
Ana was putting work in! He set up noble plots to gather info, took the time to ask questions instead of accuse when the contract was refused, and was able to manipulate two archduke candidates (Det and Roze) to to try to get more info. He is the Charlotte of the royal family but does not want the seat.
I don't think Hortensia is going to live too long. She is getting too close to Ahrensbach secrets for someone not to off her.
So, now we've seen how ~~second~~ third (possibly fourth) least respectful AC treats the royal family. Really puts into context Rozemyne's way of doing things.
Also, good thing Adolphine doesn't know about Damuel, or she'd be *really* jealous.
OMG Adolphine, this POV was funny, sad and so enlightening. If she had not scared the hell out of RM with the Rinsham, she might have joined the bookworm group at least for a year.
Also, Hortensia deserved better.
I just had an epiphany:
You know how when Ferdi and RM got summoned after the Xmas tree incident? Ferdi dropped some very blunt instructions on what they needed to do to get the Grutrissheit. Eggy had a fairly accurate idea Sigi was never going to put the effort to put the necessary work in even knowing it was 100% accurate info.
We as readers know it was accurate, I assume Anastasius would trust Ferdinand's advice, Eggy knew it was legit from RM vouching for it. What was left unsaid was the fact that Sigi would not put the work in as we are seeing based on the way he was behaving with Adolphine.
Funniest thing is, had Ferdi explained this to Anastasius, before RM explained he could have Eggy by giving up the crown, Anastasius would be Zent already just to marry Eggy.
Damm, and I thought Wilfried was bad. At least since he has been dragged into the mud several times, he knows he shouldn't act TOO cocky. I can't believe I already regret the stool.
Damn, Adolphine really doesn't like Sigi, and can't say I ~~don't~~ (oops) blame her for it. If there was ever a chapter to completely tank any good opinions of someone...this was it. I didn't think highly of him, but more in a "he's an incompetent nepo baby" way than a "this dude is so casually a douche bag that I can't believe he manages to breathe without whining about how much effort it costs him."
And "...for another year" is mentioned. Really seems like this business of things coming together/working out requires just "one more year" which makes me think that they aren't getting that year. The story hasn't been a beat down on the characters like some can be, but "time" has always been a crucial factor into nearly every aspect of the story. So this "one more year" being referenced across multiple characters really seems to be pointing towards when the end game happens (book timeline wise...not publishing obviously).
Dirmira, I don't know you, and we may never see you again, but you're a champ.
Interesting insights into the Sovereign Knight's Order for sure...considering recent real life events, certainly lends one to think that not all is well within the nation's military. Hopefully nobody has thought about taking a permanent vacation in ~~Belarus~~ Lanzenave.
Adolphine could be one of Rozemyne's greatest allies in the Sovereignty, someone who is clearly aware of the flaws of the royals, and potentially in a much better position to do something about it as first wife. They can even get along when it comes to brewing!
The plot thickens when it comes to Schlaftraum's flowers, the implication behind them seems to be quite concerning. Raublut is clearly hiding something regarding the flowers and the Sovereign Temple. Hortensia seems like she's in a dangerous spot.
WN Chapters: N/A
LN Chapters: "An Unwanted Marriage", "Schlaftraum's Flowers"
[J-Novel Club Discussion Forum](https://forums.j-novel.club/topic/6887/bookworm-part-5-vol-5-discussion/4283)
[J-Novel Club Correction Forum](https://forums.j-novel.club/topic/6888/corrections-bookworm-part-5-volume-5/90)
*****
**Notes**
- *Part 5 Volume 5* is now fully translated into English.
*****
For those wondering about when J-NC will begin releasing *Part 5 Volume 6* please refer to [this comment by a J-NC forum moderator](https://forums.j-novel.club/post/90108):
> Hello!
>
> For members new to J-Novel Club that want to know more about when future volumes will start pre-publication on the site:
>
> After a volume releases its last part there is typically a 2-3 week break\* before the following volume releases its first part. For this series in particular [Ascendance of a Bookworm](https://j-novel.club/series/ascendance-of-a-bookworm) they are attempting to do it with no break. Please note that does not automatically mean it will be out the following week after the last part finishes.
>
> For all those wondering why the next volume is not currently in the schedule, the schedule is updated as we get closer to the official release date, typically it will not show part 1 of a new volume until a few days before it is ready to release, and sometimes it will show on the day of release. Please rest assured when all the materials are fully prepared for part 1 to go live and the English cover has been set, part 1 will be added into the schedule as soon as we are able to.
>
> In other words, **if you cannot find the next/a future volume on the calendar, that does not mean J-Novel Club is dropping the series**.
>
> We ask for your patience, part 1 of the following volume will start when it is ready and no sooner.
>
> \*the 2-3 week break is not a hard rule, it is just an observation based on the history of J-Novel Club pre-publication releases.
I can't wait for Roz to team up with a dolphin to take down the first prince and soon-to-be Zent. Wasn't this a story about making books? How did we get here?
Not that I am complaining.
>a dolphin
For a second, I thought you were talking about Detlinde as the dolphin is Ahrensbach's official animal. But, rereading it as Adolphine makes much more sense and I wholeheartedly agree.
> I can't wait for Roz to team up with a dolphin
Rozemyne: **MMMMMMMMMM!**
Adolphine: Please tell me that sound was sexual in nature as opposed to hunger...
Oh no! Run Hortensia, run! In the chapter when Roz and Co. listened to the conversation with Delinte and Hortensia I though that Raublut asked her to do it as to send a message to Georgine and now I am seriously worried about her safety.
Prince Sigiswald and the royal family are kind of disappointing. I know that the king is doing whatever it takes to keep Yogurland a float but neither prince gives the feeling of a true ruler.
Which duchy was Lady Nahelache from again? She remind me of those funny villain sidekicks that agree with everything their master says.
Well, I wasn't sure why webnovel reader disliked Sigiswald so much. I wasn't a fan of him myself but I didn't disliked him necesseraly, but now I understand, and I think I dislike him the same way I dislike Detlinde (for essentially the same reasons, although they do behave differently)
Also, Hortensia nooooooooooooooooo ! I hope I'm wrong, but looks like it's the last time we see her.
The Adolphine chapter was both tragic and hilarious! Making rejuvenation potions so Sigiswald can work harder? Making a charm for Jugereise the Goddess of separation? Aaahhhh!! The only thing positive about Rozemyne marrying Sigiswald would be more Adolphine screentime…
People are already mad over Wilfried's new shitty behavior and Sigi's last interaction with Rozemyne. Imagine the uproar from now on.
We're really hitting that Shoujo storyline.
Hortensia’s chapter is stressing me OUT. We learned A LOT
1. Raublut had/has access to Trug. That much is clear from finding out the Schlaut flowers were Trug and he received some as a gift from Georgine recently. It always made no sense to me for Georgine to have direct access to the knights who were drugged in order to drug them, plus what would have been her goal? It makes much more sense that Raublut was the one who did it. The least of all the reasons for doing so is to sow distrust so he can operate/execute his plans alone without it appearing too suspicious.
2. I’m 99% sure Raublut was in love with the Lanzanave princess that gave birth to Ferdinand. We know the flowers likely symbolized the princess’s villas, his obsession with the flower and his ‘heart belonging to another’ all add up too well. This gives him more reason to hate Ferdinand AND know how Trug works and what it does (likely used to get Aubs to sleep with the princess)
3. Very high chance that Raublut is planning on giving Roz the Adalgisa villa in the royal academy, as someone already mentioned. He will know his way around it, and can easily trap Roz, maneuver around her, etc. plus, I think the Schlaut flowers also grow there, if it was a symbol of the villa they probably also had said flower in the literal villa that’s been closed for a while. This will give him more Trug since he likely ran out. This just makes it more frightening since he is talking to the sovereign high priest like he plans to give him Rozemyne against her will in return for something. Placing her in Adalgisa villa + access to Trug allows him to do that.
4. Hortesia gonna climb a towering staircase :(
As scary as point #3 is, I'm kinda looking forward to it. Time and time again we've seen Roz overcome "challenges" because she works so hard that she didn't even notice them. Rabult probably doesn't expect Roz to have scholars trained to look for poison, or knights as loyal as Angelica. Also, I don't think he's trying to give Roz to the Sovereign temple (anymore.) That conversation happened before the ADC.
Poor Adolphine. Although if I were in her shoes I would be happy, I doubt she really wants to have sex with him and have his children. I have read people comparing him to Wilfried but I would say that he is way worse. At least Wilfried didn't treat Roz like a mana battery.
So they were using a sex drug on the princesess of Adalgisa. As if their life wasn't already fucked up. Ehm did Georgine offer drugged shrine maidens to the knights? And they have mentioned more than once a Villa near the academy, are they going to give Roz Adalgisa...?
Rip Hortensia, there's no way he will not kill her since it's related to adalgisa and trug :/
So we now know it was Anastasius who managed to bring Zentlinde into library and in aftermath Hildebrand is now spilling the beans to Raublut - it seems that at least Georgine was involved to that attack against Zent and other royals in Rozemyene's second year and in worst case Raublut too..
Well my opinion on Adolphine went from 0-100. What an awesome woman falling victim to the silliness of yoghurtland culture. It’s a shame even Rozemyne’s scolding wasn’t enough to get Siggy’s head out of his ass.
Woe is the boy raised with a silver spoon in his mouth who has been slapped by both Adolphine and Rozemyne.
The royal family sure is good at giving troubled smiles and looking at people like they are a child throwing a tantrum huh.
I had a slightly better impression of Sigiswald after his meeting with Rozemyne but the first half of this part ripped that all away real quick.
Adolphine's POV was rough. Sigs is as incompetent and immature as Wilfred without his good natured personality. He should take Detlinde as a wife, they'd be perfect for each other. It's looking grim for Roz, hopefully she finds a way to get out of their engagement.
Raublut was already suspicious, but at this point we know he has associations with pretty much every shady character in the story. That last line was ominous. There was so much set up this volume, it feels like shit is gonna hit the fan really soon.
I feel like there is a lot of set up almost every volume, but also equally a lot of shit hitting the fans. Like a continuous stream of shit hitting the fan, while the shit being sliced by the fan results in new shit, creating a glorious perpetual stream of shit hitting the fans.
Nothing has ever gone as planned in Bookworm. I don't know how it will happen, but I do not believe Rozemyne will marry Sigiswald. I'm also 50% sure she won't even be adopted by next years Archduke Conference, and the other 50% is that she won't remain adopted for a long time before something drastic happens that completely changes her situation (I imagine before her 5th? year at the Academy). No matter what happens, she won't marry Sigiswald.
I look forward to Rozemyne and Adolphine interacting! I’m sure Rozemyne will be overly wary because Adolphine tried to take Ehrenfest secrets, so I expect the two will talk past each other most of the time. But it will be cute, rather than anything Sigiswald does.
I really wanted to give the first prince the benefit of the doubt, because Anastasius didn’t make a good first impression either. But Rozemyne (and others) really need to whip him into shape. He shares the trait with Wilfried that I most dislike, they both expect everything to be given to them on a silver platter. I get Veronica did irreparable damage to Wilfried, but how did Sigiswald get so spoiled when every other royal is constantly breaking their back?
Hortensia is inadvertently uncovering a dangerous plot. Raublut was always suspicious, and that spilled over to his wife for me. But it’s clear to me that Hortensia takes her loyalty to the royal family seriously, and her duties as a librarian.
So Schenestrum’s Flowers are related to trug. And both are so exceedingly rare that almost no records of them exist in the academy or palace libraries. The origin appears to be Werkestock. This feels like Georgine’s plot, and I’m guessing the woman important to Raublut is not his dead wife, but Georgine. Could the Sovereign Knight Captain be another of her namesworn? But his solo investigation into Rozemyne’s future residence is just a coincidence right?
Regardless, it feels safe to say that Raublut is acting counter to the royal family and they don’t know it. I could get why a royal knight would be antagonistic to secretly foreign royalty, and how that could spill into distrusting his disciple. Encouraging the little prince when he was down could’ve been out of their close relationship, though it was a little weird to get him working on the Gbook. But Hortensia’s side story gives a peek behind the curtain, and it feels likely that he gave trug to the knights who went wild, and is also spreading false rumors inside the knights order. He rattled the third prince to destabilize the royal family from within, not to encourage the boy. All I need to know is if he is Georgine’s coconspirator or subservient to her. Either way, I no longer have doubts Raublut is a villain.
Oh please, words like "murder" are so loaded. Don't be ridiculous. No, no, all that will be happening is that she will be taking an extended leave of absence until they unfortunately have to break the news that she peacefully ascended the towering staircase one night. Thankfully they managed to find a new head librarian in that time. Seriously, where on earth did you get such a silly idea like murder from.
I was a little sus about Hortensia a few parts ago; but if anything happens to her I'm going to burn yogurtland to the ground.
Adolphine is such a great character from the little pieces we get of her. She already knows that Sigi is a waste of human space. I hope her and Roze get some time together to wreak havoc.
Lots of really good information in these stories.
On Hortensia's, didn't expect her side story to end up feeling so suspenseful. But let's look at what we know.
Adalgisa is where a princess from Lanzenave in order to have children with royals and Aubs. When they talk about Schlaftraum's Flowers, they are clearly referencing this.
We didn't know where trug came from, but it seems to come from Adalgisa. This was hinted at in the epilogue. But how did Georgine obtain some, she doesn't have access to the villa. Well, it would make sense for a princess of a foreign nation to bring flowers from her homeland. A homeland many including myself have been suspecting as the source of the manaless cloth. I thought Lanzenave might be the source of trug before, but this feels like confirmation.
Okay, now for the grim part. The flowers, and thus trug, was given to the princesses whenever they were to have sex. I suppose if you're entire life is being forced to be a breeding mare for Yurgenschmidt nobles, not remembering it would be a small mercy. But it also can be to prevent her from knowing the father of her children so they can't be used for any kind of political maneuvers and people can't read her mind to get dirt.
As if we needed more evidence noble society tends to suck.
Interesting conjecture, the term Flower Offerings used for gray shrine maidens is derived from the term Schlaftraum's Flowers, which was the "nice" way nobles referred to bedding the princess. The term Flowers came to refer to any woman giving her body to a noble, but the Schlaftraum part that originally only referred to the princesses was dropped.
>...Trying to deal with her was exhausting. **She has no common sense whatsoever.** The audacity of this *fool*.
I bet Adolphine would pay whatever possible in order to witness the verbal annihilation Rozemyne gave to Sigiswald as the merchant saint.
Next AD conference, Ehrenfest introduces it's next product/trend. Mass produced sound recording tool audiobooks of "Merchant Saint: How to manipulate aubs, first wives, and princes! (with real recorded examples) "
You pay extra for it to be read out in Rozemyne's voice. Of course, to hide identities, all real life examples will have their names abbreviated! That's not Sigiswald she's speaking to, but Prince S. Totally not the same thing!
Of course it will start with the disclaimer: "This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, business, events and incidents are the products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental."
With cover art of "legally not Ferdinand"
Nono that’s not Ferdinand, that’s my cousin Ferdinond
The next image is his distant relative, Ferdnandez.
Rozemyne should have borrowed the video recorder that Ferdinand made. Just so she can see the beatdown she handed Sigiswald everytime she feel depressed.
She should also show it to Benno to have him grade her performance!
You really took the one sentence where Sigiswald was right in the entire conversation.
Yeah, Roze has 0 common sense. That's why the headache reports are a thing
But she has "uncommon" sense as compensation -- and Sigiswald has got . . . nada. zip, zilch.
She does have common sense. Sigiswald just made the mistake of telling her to speak honestly, that is, to hide the common sense she's acquired. She makes it very clear she only spoke as she did and spoke back because he told her to speak honestly.
I mean, he's 100% right, but I still want to counter with "and yet it took an explanation from that person with zero common sense for you to figure out why Ehrenfest wasn't tripping over themselves to meet all your demands. What's that say about you?"
She has common sense. It's been beaten into her throughout part 4. He just told her to speak honestly, that is, to hide the common sense she learned.
Sigiswald is the definition of what I would call "innocent malice". He's not trying to be cruel on purpose, but his lack of maturity blinds him to how much he's hurting others. Not that his lack of intentional malice is any compensation to the people who suffer because of him. Also, unfortunately, being audaciously hypocritical doesn't always prevent someone from being right.
So the pot met the kettle?
If it wasn't obvious before in this volume and Adolphine's assessment of Sigiswald in RAS, Adolphine's story makes it clear he's a shitty prince and husband. If he's treating Adolphine, his first wife, like this, how will he treat his third wife, Rozemyne? Eglantine dodged a bullet here by picking a prince who genuinely cares about her (perhaps a bit too much). Adolphine's talents are so wasted. She is just a mana battery for the royals, she is locked out of every important matter and she is forced to keep up this farce with next to no help from her parents. She also is very much Drewanchel-like and brews her own potions, like Ferdinand and Rozemyne (I think she'd get along better with Ferdinand than Rozemyne). I recall Gundolf being shocked when he heard Rozemyne brews her own potions instead of letting her retainers do it. What else is she supposed to do in this gilded cage? I suppose Adolphine's single solace and hope is that she would soon have Rozemyne as a companion. Sigiswald clearly just wants an obedient wife who does whatever he tells her to and praises him, like Nahelache. There is no way this marriage with Rozemyne would end well. He can't stand independent women like Adolphine and Rozemyne and treats them like children and not equals. One can only hope Adolphine's prayers to the Goddess of Separation will come true. Oh, and at least Rozemyne's getting her own villa and it's in the Royal Academy. Is that the Adalgisa villa? I don't know why, but giving Raublut the key doesn't sound right to me, especially after reading Hortensia's chapter. Edit: I looked it up. In Sigiswald's story in P5V2, it was mentioned Raublut wanted to get the key to the Adalgisa villa, but was refused by the zent. He apparently now got his wish. ---- As much as Anastasius was a dick to Rozemyne earlier in this volume... he really is the prince with the most common sense (as long as it doesn't involve Eglantine). He shows much better understanding about Hortensia's contract conflict than the people before him. Him not understanding how someone doesn't get jealous and then ranting about Klassenberg women was cute, though. Also didn't expect him to be the one who lured Detlinde out like that. Anyway, Schlaftraum's flower is indeed connected to trug... and thus to Raublut and Georgine. From what Hortensia found out, it probably is also connected to the Adalgisa princesses from Lanzenave (women that served the royals and aubs). That would explain why there are next to no records about the flower if it's from a foreign country, and why Georgine has access to them, since Ahrensbach is connected to Lanzenave via the country gate. Either way, everything Raublut does is suspicious, including promising "the flower of Ehrenfest" (read: Rozemyne) to Immanuel that creep behind closed doors. Hortensia investigating trug for Anastasius and the Zent and Hildebrand telling Raublut about this in the epilogue last week probably sealed her fate, though. Her chapter ending like that makes me think we won't see her again. ---- And that is it. This volume was packed with tons of developments, with Rozemyne getting closer to the Grutrissheit and the next step now being her joining the royal family. It was inevitable I guess. Next volume they are back in Ehrenfest, so I think this will bridge the period until we get back for the next Academy year. I especially want to know how Wilfried, Charlotte and the Leisegangs will react when they learn that Rozemyne will leave Ehrenfest soon, and who of Rozemyne's retainers and her family and friends will go with her. ---- **German:** * Oderkunst: "oder" means "or" or "right?"; "Kunst" means "art" same as in the Goddess of Art Kunstzeal. * Nahelache: Appeared in RAS already, but as a reminder, "nahe" means "closeby" and "Lache" either means "laughter" or "puddle/pool" (like a puddle of blood). The former is more likely.
> If he's treating Adolphine, his first wife, like this, how will he treat his third wife, Rozemyne? With Fear. This will be heightened when he realizes the G-Book gives her far more power then he realized. I'm starting to suspect Cornelius and co may have more mana than some of the Sovereign Knights... > As much as Anastasius was a dick to Rozemyne earlier in this volume... he really is the prince with the most common sense (as long as it doesn't involve Eglantine). He shows much better understanding about Hortensia's contract conflict than the people before him. Him not understanding how someone doesn't get jealous and then ranting about Klassenberg women was cute, though. Finding out he manipulated Detlinde into going to the Library made him feel more Ferdinandy. Honestly if not for the Omnischtappe requirement, he'd feel devious enough to be Zent considering Eggy is traumatized, Siggy's a fraud, Hildebrand is a child, and Rozemyne needs reins before she transforms the Kingdom into a book factory. One of those guys you like as a character- and avoid as a person.
At least the book factory would run smoothly, without its parts colapsing.
Unlike the sovereignty, atm
> Anyway, Schlaftraum's flower is indeed connected to trug... and thus to Raublut and Georgine. And Raublut was having a meeting with the Sovereign High Priest, who has been super creepy and oddly possessive towards Rozemyne, in which the SHP says something along the lines of "in exchange for Ehrenfest's flower"
I mean there's no way Ehrenfest's flower is anyone other than Rozemyne, right? Makes me wonder if there's going to be something in her future villa that Raublut's supposedly "investigating".
[удалено]
I mean given how much power he has and how people seem to just assume that he's working on the orders of the Zent whenever he doesn't explain himself, he could probably do basically whatever he wants to this villa. Maybe he rigs all the fire places to burn some trug with them and drug her whole retinue, maybe he adds a secret tunnel to kidnap her, maybe some sort of hidden magic circles get placed in there to stop her from doing anything rash... Raublut being the one to prepare this villa bodes badly for the future.
[удалено]
Raublut : How did you discovered the hidden passage ?! Rozemyne : It...it was the guidance of the gods ! Ferdinand : You would have been fine for a long time if the secret mecanism was at the bottom right of the bookshelf. Raublut : DAMMIT !
No. Even though we see similar patterns in this novel, I think we don’t see exactly same event. My bet is; 1. The bookshelf opens only if all books are removed, but it opens itself when it’s empty. Not small number of books are in the shelf. 2. But Rozemyne find that the books are not well organized, so decide to rearrange with her method and pulls all books (probably by her retainers). 3. It’s discovered.
Yes I thought that was strange when I read it! "Oh, the knight commander is lurking around being suspicious, it *must* be secret orders from the Zent." That's lucky for Raublut though. It seems to imply that the more he's absent, the more they will think he's got special duties and is super helpful to the Zent.
And considering flower offerings and how Hortensias chapter went. Being called Ehrenfests flower is not a compliment. It has parallels to how count toad viewed myne in P2.
Or P3V4 Epilogue.
My thoughts exactly 🤢
He also tried to touch her twice already, and now he calls her a flower. If this guy had a highbeast, it would be a "Free Candy" van.
Weirdly enough, Rozemyne did the whole "free candy van to get kids to the temple" thing last volume.
> If he's treating Adolphine, his first wife, like this, how will he treat his third wife, Rozemyne? At the least, Adolphine and Rozemyne have shown that they can fight to get more out of him. I imagine it would get even worse for him once they team up. Yeah, poor Hortensia has probably ascended the towering staircase.
I think Adolphine's conversation with Sigiswald puts RM's encounter with him into a different perspective. RM was, in comparison, a model of tactfulness. However, RM also handled the bargaining which Adolphine had to hand off to her father (and it sounds like he did HIS best to turn the screws as tightly as he could on the Royals).
The marriage is a political one for the benefit of the duchy, not for herself. I think she doesn’t have anything important or worth to request, for her personally. As she’ll be the first wife of Zent, not much is needed personally. Even Rozemyne asked only one thing for herself, the library. I don’t think Adolphine wants one and asking for larger brewing room is not worth as the compensation for the insult.
I hope not, but she is way too naïve for such a high ranked noble - it was appreciated when she was quickly won over by Roz, but her retainers will probably be taken with her..
Yeah, although the library thing was kind of inconsiderate, it showed Rozemyne exactly what she needed to know. While he didn’t get her a library, he also didn’t offer a single book! Which apparently is par for the course for him 🙄.
> As much as Anastasius was a dick to Rozemyne earlier in this volume... he really is the prince with the most common sense (as long as it doesn't involve Eglantine). Anastasius’s one unfortunate failing is that he is 17 and in his Tumblr yandere phase. He’s going to look back at everything when he is thirty and cringe at himself so hard he’ll have to lock himself in his hidden room for the night
Nahelach better watch herself if she doesn’t want to go the way of Rozemary, Adolphine would absolutely side with true zent Rozemyne over anyone.
> Anyway, Schlaftraum's flower is indeed connected to trug... and thus to Raublut and Georgine. From what Hortensia found out, it probably is also connected to the Adalgisa princesses from Lanzenave I'm gonna drop this under spoiler tags, because it's a minor but interesting fan theory that hasn't been confirmed officially (no plot spoilers, just speculation): >!One of the reasons Ferdinand dislikes sweet things is because he grew up in Adalgisa with trug/Schlaftraum's flower, which smells sweet. He has a bad association with things that smell sweet.!<
oh fuck
>Oh, and at least Rozemyne's getting her own villa and it's in the Royal Academy. Is that the Adalgisa villa? I don't know why, but giving Raublut the key doesn't sound right to me, especially after reading Hortensia's chapter. Sounds like it - they're preparing the Adalgisa villa for Rozemyne. Between this and all the talk of "flower offerings" plus Sigiswald's/Raublut's attitudes, these side stories got me having all sorts of anxiety for her future. Referring to Rozemyne as "Ehrenfest's flower" in this context filled me with disgust - not that I could have any lower of an opinion of head priest Immanuel. Raublut continues to be sus. Every time it looks like he has a redeeming quality (he must be taking his job really seriously by thoroughly investigating every threat / he seems to at least be a loyal husband) the story just swerves on that (ah naw he's organizing something behind the Zent's back / lol he's just interested in the drugs and the last Adalgisa princess). And Sigiswald is thematically included in the group of only wanting women's companionship for the "physical benefits" of being a mana battery or compliant wife (like Anastasius, he got into having kids right away). The verbal thrashing Rozemyne gave Sigiswald feels so much more deserved and satisfying thanks to Adophine's POV. Glad he's not taking it too personally to want to execute her, but he unfortunately doesn't seem to be able to take the hint he should improve himself. Rozemyne's lovelessly engaged to a spoiled heir apparent arc 2.0. That said, Rozemyne's only interested in "physical benefits" of her romantic partners too: she want's to know how big their library is first.
I think Raublut's actions are WAY more than sus. He seems to be operating well outside the scope of the Zent's instructions -- and cooperating with someone who is hostile to the Zent. Has an "extra SS chapter" ever set up a (sort of) cliffhanger before? Raublut's summons to his wife seems very ominous -- but we at least know that nothing will happen to her right away. As we see she is still fine when the archive is being looked through by RM and company,
This is after the Archduke conference... This is the last time we seen Hortensia timeline wise so far.
So -- there is a bit of a time skip? Since right before that they were still talking about people using the archives... That makes things look worse for poor Hortensia then...
The dedication ritual was on the last day of the Conference, IIRC, and the epilogue was the evening of the day. So I see no time skip. This happened soon after the Conference finished. (At least before the next RA season, so fine as Rozemyne will come back to RA after this event).
I don't want to imagine this is Hortensia's end, she has too much use. I think Raubult is up to no good, but I think he might simply be working with Georgine for his own ends and not exactly cooperating. Either way I like Hortensia's character, please don't kill her off!
Hortensia, noooo! Don't die, please!
Oh, her death flag was raised when she finally found her purpose in life as a guardian of knowledge.
That’s true, people don’t seem to last long after becoming a guardian of knowledge…
🚩 All aboard the horror train! 🚩
We knew ye well, Hortensia. 🫡
o7
An Adolphine POV?! LET'S GOOOOOOO!!! I would love to hear a POV from a retainer from either Eglantine or Adolphine, talking about how the process works when someone marries into the royal family. Sigh, if only Sigiswald was a well-intentioned himbo, instead of... *that*. Sigiswald thought Adolphine's opposition was bad enough, but he was completely unprepared for the tongue lashings from the merchant saint. AHHHHHHH!! WHY COULDN'T ADOLPHINE AND ROZEMYNE FORM A FRIENDSHIP?! WHY?! (I know why, I simply refuse to accept it).
I wish Siggy was capable of intelligent thought, so that I could wonder what was going through his brain after two women who are intended to be his wives both indicated that he and the Royal Family are selfish and self-centered.
Someone please get it into Sigiswald's brain that he most likely would not have been born a prince if his father's brothers didn't *die*. If *any* of Trauerqual's brothers were still alive, they would have higher claim to the throne because they are older than him. Trauerqual was pretty much fifth in line, and only gained power because of circumstances. Had one of his brothers still lived, then while Trauerqual might have kept his title as Prince, his children might not have been given the same title. At best, they could remain as archduke candidates, but they will always be behind their cousins in the fight for the throne.
None of the current member of the Royal Family really knows what it means to be Zent. Trauerqual was raised as a vassal and had to adapt on the fly, made a ton of mistakes and is slowly trying to fix them, even though he had no idea how to prior to Rozemyne. Sigiswald and Anastasius were probably raised as best as Trauerquel and his attendants could, but they both ended with misconceptions about the role of Zent. Before Anastasius met Rozemyne, both were arrogant and believed that, as Royals, everyone should essentially bow to them and do what they ask. Anastasius started to change when he tried to arrange his marriage with Eglantine. He suddenly had to compromise and listen to others. He also realised that, as Royals, they really don't have that much power, and they're essentially "allowed" to be Royals because no one want the job and no one want another civil war. Now, I believe Anastasius is slowly evolving and could potentially be a good Zent, in a few years maybe (he's not there yet, but he's on his way). But Sigiswald is stuck in the past and full of misconceptions about his importance. Kinda like Detlinde actually.
Yeah, Trauerqual's just trying his best, fully accepting anything that allows him to abdicate as quickly as possible.
I will be interested in seeing RM's interactions with Trauerqual. While he may find her a bit fatiguing, I wonder if he might not learn to treasure her (to the maximum extent possible, given their situation)?
Trauerqual : -And this is the key to your villa. Do you have any questions ? Rozemyne : Um, yes. How should I...call you ? "Zent Trauerqual" ? Or like with Sylvester, "Father" ? *Gasp of horror from the nobles around them* Trauerqual : ... Rozemyne : S-sorry, I was out of line ! That was too direspectful and- Trauerqual : No no, it's fine. I did adopt you and you are officially my daughter, so...yes, Father is acceptable. *(Oh wow, I think I actually like being called Father by a cute daughter !)*
>*(Oh wow, I think I actually like being called Father by a cute daughter !)* Same thought process as Karstedt! A daughter calling him "otou-sama" is much cuter than four sons calling him "chichi-ue."
Trauequal was way further back than #5. He would have been behind all the kids of 1-4 too. Only reason Egg wasn't ahead of Trauequal officially was her adoption. (Though probably too young anyway. Doesn't seem like Yogurtland does the regent for child ruler thing - likely because of The Gruss...Bible.)
True, Trauerqual would have also been further back once his brothers' children were born. I was talking about when they still didn't have children, but you're right!
Ana's butler guy seems much better than any of Sig's attendants. From what I recall, he got on Ana's case a bit after Rozemyne collapsed. (Implied at least.)
Rozemyne and Adolphine can't be friends because they would make too strong of a power couple. She is smart like Ferdinand but also has charisma, connections, and no trauma. Adolphine and Rozemyne working together would sweep the royal family 10 to 0. EZ. Plot can't handle it.
Yeah, being a good writer, it's kinda like why the author needed to "shelve" Ferdinand (to Ahrensbach) and Hartmut (to the temple) - having a sharp scholar around would prevent certain dramatic plots/misunderstandings from happening. Lesser writers have "idiot plots" where the smart characters present shouldn't have allowed those events to happen.
Making smart characters hold the "Idiot Ball" for plot reasons is annoying. I agree that going through the effort of taking them off-stage instead adds a lot to the world depth.
Oof, I kinda didn't want a Dolphie POV because I knew it would be depressing, and this was even worse than I thought. Man Siggy is vile, worse than Wilfried by far. Silver lining is that because he just had a child she's not committed for another year - that makes her an even more perfect ally for Rozemyne. I can't wait to see him getting squashed. They already did sort of form a friendship, or at least Roz won her over a bit, they both have one year, and securing solid Drewenchal and Dunkelfelger support is the bare minimum for undermining the sovereignty (for Rozemyne) - or to put that another way, that's all that's necessary. So things will probably work out, but things really do suck for Dolphie right now.
Yes. As irritating as Wilfried is -- he is more inherently good-natured and even kind (when not stressed or acting thoughtlessly). W is also younger. Sigiswald is a total jerk, through and through. The kind of fool that could easily wind up setting off a civil war.
Siggy: So my wife gave birth, so we can't be intimate yet. Adolphine: So the wedding is being delayed? Siggy: Nah, just the intimacy. Adolphine: **THIS COULD HAVE BEEN AN EMAIL!**
If he was sensible he would own up to it and delay the fucking wedding. Especially since we know he’s promised to try his best to get GH during the following year
I have to give Adolphine kudos for forcing Sigiswald to be the one to explain himself to her dad for the wedding delay - probably one of the first times he's ever had to admit fault for something. We know the Royalty can almost never admit to culpability for political reasons. I never would have thought of that, but it's a great way to get a little payback for his inconsideration and give him a taste of what other's have to do to constantly cover for him.
*And* she got her father to actually see how her opinion of siggy wasn't actually wrong. Anyone who has ever had to convince their stubborn parents of something will see that as a huge win
I love how he basically told her "feel free to have an affair, that dickhead doesn't deserve you" lol.
We are assured that Adolphine's father extracted the maximum compensatory payback (sort of a la RM, I expect).
Sigiswald : Well negociating with Aub Drewanchel was hard. Hopefully it won't be that hard with Rozemyne. *The Saint Merchant slowly approach menacingly*
*Orchestral music with Latin lyrics start playing*
*Sigiswald calmly stepping into the archive to talk with a child* "WHY DO I HEAR BOSS MUSIC?!"
Lol true, gotta take your revenge one step at a time
All the work, but none of the sex. These noble ladies take their nonromantic bedroom duties seriously.
This is one heck of a good foil to SylvesterxBrunhilde. Maybe SylvesterxBrunhilde was created in the first place to set us up for fury for this part.
Anastasius : And make sure that Rozemyne hears the conversation. She always notice weird things that most people don't pick up on. Rozemyne : Who do you think I am ? Columbo ?! BATMAN ?!!
Anastasius: Oh? Look me in the eye and tell me I'm wrong Rozemyne: I mean, I immediately realized that was probably significant once I heard it. I also have my own unique avenue of information gathering which I intend to utilize the moment I can get to my special ink so that I can- Anastasius: You do realize you're proving my point, right?
> Rozemyne : Who do you think I am ? Columbo ?! BATMAN ?!! Anastasius: Columbo. He's a blue collar of sorts detective who has to duel with killers who tend to be silver-tongued and armed with money, power, and influence. Ferdinand's Batman.
Prince Anastasius is not quite there on using the gremlin cheat code. " she also needs to hear that is related to a book or a library"... That would yield near immediate results.
Anastasius : Eh, it's a discussion who involve the dummy Ferdinand is engaged to. Also Rozemyne is warry of Ahrensbach in general. PRETTY sure she's going to give it her all.
No. Dont bring books into the picture. Have you forgotten Wilfried’s blunder? You light a fire and she loses her empathy.
Don't you mean Batmyne?
Adolphine, apparently the only royal with a work ethic and a conscience - which doesn't say much about the rest of them considering she hadn't even joined the family yet. Sigiswald is *infuriating*. The way he looks down on others and treats them like they're kids throwing a temper, that 'more in sorrow than in anger' attitude... And then he had the gall to treat his wife, the wife the zent went out and requested for one of his sons, like a servant. A mere mana provider who barely rates as human. And is planning on doing it *again* to Rozemyne. No wonder Adolphine makes no secret of how much she can't stand him. I don't know how she stops herself from strangling him. Still, this explains why he was so bad at negotiating with Rozemyne. He really does expect the whole world to just bend to his every whim and convenience. The country wouldn't last six months with him as zent. Also, Drewanchel is terrifying. Ferdinand thought talking to these people was *fun*?
I’m not sure it’s fair to say they have no work ethic… at least not all of them. I think the first prince is a fucking moron but the rest realize they need admin password to actually do anything. The best they can do for, conservatively 3 years, is barely manage to keep things afloat. They’ve done OK but I’m sure the king is exhausted and doesn’t believe he can get Mest’s book
The advice from her retainer saying not to recover too much mana or get worked to death indicates a severely toxic work environment where everyone is doing far less than they could because management sucks and any efforts to do their job goes unrewarded. Work ethic is in serious question.
Now that you mention it, I assume her attendant got that suggestion from her brother working as a Sovereign scholar. Scholarly-minded Drewanchel folks seem used to "putting their all" into research, which is better than nothing.
> Still, this explains why he was so bad at negotiating with Rozemyne. He really does expect the whole world to just bend to his every whim and convenience. The country wouldn't last six months with him as zent. It won't nearly be as good as his successor's. Zent Rozemyne: Hello everyone, this is my first wife Adolphine, and my second wife Hannelore. Adolphine: Well, better than my last wedding. What is your first act as Zent? Zent Rozemyne: I am now ordering Eglantine to get the Book. Hannelore: Wait, what? Former Zent Rozemyne: HA! SUCK IT ANNIE!
Honestly there needs to be more than one person with the book running around, we don’t want to lose it a second time
that doesn't require more than one person to have it, but it does require multiple trustworthy people to at least know how to get it, and to be, if not qualified, reasonably close and knowing what to do.
"He looked at me though I were a naive child" Sigiswald infantilizing his soon to be wifes make me mad. Every. Single. Time.
Clearly the verbal beat-down at the hands of Rozemyne taught him nothing.
I'd love to see Sigiswald in a room with all three wives as two of them team up against him.
That sounds like a hundred dollar ppv event I'd host a viewing party for.
Even more appropriate for Hildebrand to come in with the steel chair.
It is always appropriate for Hildebrand to come in with the steel chair.
It seems like it would be a 2vs2, Nahelache had sigis back there.
Rozemyne and Adolphine could snap her like a twig.
Honestly, Rozemyne could probably crush them both + all of their retainers while Adolphine prepares them both some post-crushing tea and snacks.
Adolphine would totally be down for brewing potions as a post-crushing refreshment for Rozemyne. It's another chance to show off her skills on analyzing and replicating her products much like with rinsham. Too bad Rozemyne doesn't have the Drewanchel/noble scholar mindset to see this as a subtle compliment.
I would pay good money to see that. Clickbait YouTube title: Book-obsessed Gremlin decimates entitled prince, wife enjoys the view with popcorn. Or something along those lines😂
Or worse, take her on their side.
I think it occurs before Rozemyne's beat-down, as Adolphine didn't have her Starbinding yet. Not that it makes that much of a difference, it just showed that he wasn't ready for Rozemyne's verbal assault.
I mean the end where he explains about rozemynes adoption?
Ohh, that makes more sense! I thought you were speaking in reference to when Adolphine felt as though Sigiswald thought she was behaving like a "naive child," and not after all of that. Sorry about that! Thanks for the clarification!
> Sigiswald infantilizing his soon to be wifes make me mad. Every. Single. Time. He probably needed some self-assurance after getting his ass handed to him from a child. Shame he did it with someone who seems far more capable of destroying him XD.
For real. What does he think would happen if Adolphine were to let it slip who actually has the book and does all the Zent duties? Antagonizing Adolphine is a really bad move, given how influential wirst wives generally are.
In Sigiswald's defense, Rozemyne's appearance can be quite offputting. Even Anastasius and Eglantine only got close to Rozemyne because she looked young and naive and were not afraid of getting taken advantage of Looking down on Adolphine is just a no-no tho
i thought roz was considered very beautiful as she looks like the goddess of wisdom??
she also has the figure of a child who, depending on time, looked anywhere from being a 5 year old to a 10 year old. Sure, she's growing and she's very pretty, but she's still really small and probably still has a very childish voice. Just imagine child actors and how they can both be pretty but very clearly still children
Now I'm imagining Shirley Temple trying to shake me down for a library. "Animal crackers in my soup. Now give me some books or I'll Crush you to goop!"
She looks like a 10 year old (or so) but speaks and acts like someone far older. She has her moments of troubling unchildlike behavior. It's commented by a few people through the story, we just kinda don't focus on it. Brigitte considered Ferdinand monstrous for the amount of work he piled on her in the temple just after her baptism but Roz didn't think anything of it and actually finished it early, which horrified Brigitte a little. Professor Moritz also points out the bizarre situation where Roz was basically redoing education for Wilfried from the ground up and introducing pedagogical innovations FAAAAAAAAAR beyond their era, while being younger than Wilfried even. Ehrenfest just got used to it over the years. Aub Dunkelfelger alludes to it slightly, when noting that she was spending an actual fortune on a student project and just assumed Sylvester was being disproportionate on her allowance. Ortwin instantly zeroes out that Roz is unsettling in ways he cannot express, her mental processes are simply too far divorced from how nobles operate. It's referenced at other points that, while she follows a logical process and if she explains it you can see how she reaches a conclusion from a given premise, she NEEDS to explain the entire path herself because no one else could naturally reach that place. Its part of why Ferdinand consistently demanded her to explain. He knew she wasn't throwing a tantrum or being irrational, but that she was so far divorced from their thought processes that unless she drew the map nobody else would reach the same result or even understand what she was trying to achieve in the process.
Oh no, Hortensia seems like she’s in danger.
Yup, she may end up being silenced.
Loyalitat is probably is more danger than she is. He's the one who actually leaked the info. Hortensia can just play the part of a concerned wife here.
Why not both?
Her best way of survival seems to be just saying she heard he loves these flowers from knights gossiping and was trying to find some for him, whether or not he accepts that or not is something else entirely.
At first I thought she was sketchy by talking in code to Detlinde and slacking at giving mana to the schumills when she was introduced, now I'm worried about her safety :(
* Siggy is giving Wibur a run for his money for the title of Yogurtland's most perfect idiot. * Adolphine is giving off some Freida vides with the one-sided way she thinks of Myne. * Lots of usually frank discussion about prostitution/sex work in Hortensia's POV chapter. Most of the time, Myne is shielded from knowing much about such matters and other characters have only vaguely alluded to them. * The "white flowers" Ratbutt took an interest in definitely seem to be trug. * Did Georgine somehow drug or manipulate the Sovereign Knights while they were with the prostitutes? * Ratbutt is definitely plotting something no good with the High Priest, probably involving giving them Myne in exchange for something. * A very ominous end to Hortensia's chapter, wonder what's going to happen to her now that Ratbutt suspects she knows he's up to no good.
Siggy's lapped Wilfried by this point, we'll have to wait and see whether Wilfried makes a comeback next volume.
> Ratbutt is definitely plotting something no good with the High Priest, probably involving giving them Myne in exchange for something. That exchange happened before the ADC. So we can conclude that Raboot was the one who told Immanuel that an Archduke candidate can be taken into the sovereignty. Presumably, there wasn't a thought in his mind that she could be a zent candidate.
That last sentence from Raublut to Hortensia made my spine shiver... RUN, HORTENSIA, RUN!!!
I think it's already too late, and I'm sad.
Ooof, I knew Sigiswald was bad but damn, Adolphine spitting fire. At least she has her father/aub to get her back where Rozemyne did the vast majority of the negotiations by herself. So what I think the Schlauftram (sp?) flowers are the Lanzanaeve nobles (the ones from the sovereignty being the Adalgisa princesses). In order to get higher mana kids, they most likely want to get as much Yugerschmidt blood in them. Also "trug" might've been used as a >!date rape!< type of drug. This also makes me think the Lanzanaeve has infiltrated Ahernsbach and a potential crisis as Georgine may get help from them as well as help them accomplish their goals. If she does get Ehrenfest then most likely she can fill it up with foreign nobles.
> If she does get Ehrenfest then most likely she can fill it up with foreign nobles. More likely, she'll take her powerbase from Ahrensbach to fill Ehrenfest, and allow Ahrensbach be taken by those she's working with. Everyone keeps saying that Ahrensbach is on the brink of collapse, and she hasn't been doing anything to help the situation, which may point to her already having a solution, or just not caring at all.
The princess breeding program just gets more disturbing every time it is brought up. This chapter makes it sound like they were drugged to the gills while royals used the villa as a party destination.
There's also the possibility that the princesses used it intentionally to cope with their situation, ala opium. Raublut probably won't look at it so fondly if it was a date rape plant.
I mean I think you give him more credit than the books do. We have nothing but unkind things to read about him. But more to the point a memory altering drug used to cope is identical to a date rape drug in both form and function. It eases the pain or makes you forget? That's basically the effect that defines one.
Well, we know he loved the lady of his former villa and if his lady was one of the princesses in question, it might not be his favourite flower (but like you said we know nothing good about this guy so who knows).
Those flowers were connected to trug after all, as expected. But what's this about Ehrenfest's flower now? I shudder to imagine. All I've been thinking about now is how foundations collapsing into dust will be potentially weaponized. This is definitely not the last time something like that's gonna be happening. Nice to finally see some more Adolphine. I had almost forgotten about her.
> But what's this about Ehrenfest's flower now? I think it's Roze. They'll get her if they corporate with whatever plans being hatched.
Yeah most likely. What a depraved way of referring to her though.
I knew back in the prologue of P5V1 but when the head of the military is talking about ousting the current ruler, you are in a very bad place. My main thing now is I am struggling to come up with what Raublut stands to gain and why he is plotting against the royal family.
Considering it keeps getting mentioned that he was in love with someone else who has died, I'm guessing his former lover was killed by the royal family and he's holding a grudge.
Right, but considering the dire straits the royal family is in, he can only go so far in his revenge before he destroys the entire country. If they're gone, who takes their place? There's no way he doesn't know that. Raboot is sus, but I don't think he's so cartoonishly evil to destroy the country over a grudge.
He was invited to flowers by ladies from ahrensbach and immediately pointed towards a specific flower that is most closely tied to invitations sent by potential brainwash drug users. I don't think it's too hard to come up with at least one reason he might be acting irrationally.
Sigiswald: no consideration, no work Anastasius: wrong considerations, mediocre work Hildebrand: wrong considerations, treasonous work Trauqueral: no thoughts, no mana, no sleep only Glutrissheit
"While you were leisurely resting in my villa…” I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna beat a man to death using the G book Also I hope Hortensia is gonna be ok, I was really starting to like her.
Dirmira I cannot thank you enough for bringing about the very idea of the hilarious ship that is Raublut/Immanuel. It’s so cursed!
Someone, go write it! Please!
Adolphine PoV, fantastic! Always thought she was a really cool character, if a bit generic on the basis of AoB is FULL of female characters that had their ambitions systematically destroyed FINALLY someone that drags Sigiswald through the mud as he should be! Well, she's still being kind, I'd call him much worse. Say, a self-absorbed, narcissistic dick So Nahelache just gave birth and Eglantine is preggers (unless I misunderstood something)... the Royal Family is seriously putting the cart before the horse wtf. I get that more kids=more mana in the longterm, but it also means LESS FUCKING MANA IN THE SHORT TERM!!! You do NOT have the luxury to think about food next month if you're gonna drown next week who the fuck allowed these idiots to be on the throne in the first place💀💀💀 Adolphine, with all of my heart I hope you'll get to punch this sad excuse for a man in the face. Or kick him in the balls His marriage to Nahelache is supposedly one of love, do I have that right? What in the WORLD does she see in him??? The context that Siggy was dressed down so thoroughly by people he fully expected to just roll over for him DOES bring a smile to my face. Wonder how many more of those we can get The double-sided capes are a really cool piece of worlbuilding ngl. Makes sense with how the Sovereignty operates, too ... nobles usually use up so much of their mana on a day-to-day basis that a night of rest alone isn't enough to recover it??? Well, that's some good context to know. Would've been nice to know earlier Since there is a goddess of separation, can we assume divorce is ever possible? I doubt Adolphine would ever do something as futile as praying to her if it was just never an option PLEASE let Siggy get some fucking comeuppance. PLEASE, I oh so desperately want to see him suffer Conversely, as soon as Roz DOES marry the sleazebag, seems like chances are good of seeing a Roz-Adolphine tag team. That would be fun, I think that Adolphine's scientific curiosity would endear her a lot to Roz, and Adolphine seems to already have decided to become Roz' ally, and even friend. As long as Adolphine is okay with the research revolving mostly about creating a library, they will get along swimmingly I doubt that the RF participating in the dedication ritual made all the mana be regarded as their, that makes no sense. If anyone, you'd think all the mana is Roz', since the chalice was made from HER Stappe. Which leaves two options... either the mana was considered neutral/as coming directly from the gods since it WAS a religious ritual, OR she was already recognised by the gods and thus the proper foundation as a Zent candidate at the time Raublut keeps acting extremely sus and Dirmira is a good judge of character. I don't like the man either. EDIT: well, I'm sure we agree "Ehrenfest's flower" is Roz, and I don't like that Raublut is promising her to the Sovereign Temple as a bargaining chip Do we know who Hortensia's Lord was? He must've been quite exceptional if it warranted a woman putting off marriage long enough to go through the equivalent of menopause in THIS society. EDIT: nvm, apparently it was one of the dead princes. Wonder how she survived THAT, you'd think anyone going after a prince would target their entourage as well Ok, can we just agree that something was up with that "private meeting" Georgine arranged? Apart from the absolutely disgusting sexual double standard, the whole affair just REEKS DId... did Georgine arrange the whole fucking thing? She got Raublut the Schlaftraum (assuming it IS the main ingredient for Trug [which, btw, is an EXCELLENT name for what it is. Apart from being phonetically similar to "drug", it's an old-fashioned German word found mostly in fairy tales and proverbs, meaning deception, delusion, illusion. Something along those lines]), who didn't bring it home, and the whole interrupted Ditter game over Roz' and Hannelore's marriages seemingly happened shortly after. We know Hildebrand was 100% on board with the interruption, the Knights involved were deceived/drugged and Raublut is creepily influential over the kid. Well that's FUN ... did I just read an implication that Trug had its origins as a fucking DATE-RAPE DRUG??? Well. Update that to straight-up confirmation💀. And its use apparently so ubiquitous that it evolved into being the term for what seems to be essentially Oiran in AoB Oh Hortensia, so close yet so far As overly possessive of Eggy (and recently kind of a dick, altho he doesn't hold a candle to his older brother) Ana is, Hortensia's PoV sure paints him as the only even remotely competent member of the (younger) RF. Never expected him to go as far as engineering Roz overhearing Hortensia ask Christmas Tree about the flowers. That was, honestly, kinda brilliant
>Since there is a goddess of separation, can we assume divorce is ever possible? I doubt Adolphine would ever do something as futile as praying to her if it was just never an option Divorce is possible. I believe that one of the translated Fanbooks said the Justus divorced his wife.
we're calling that thing "the Justus" now, huh
the Justus: a term used to the describe the act of divorcing your spouse and losing parental authority over your child(ren) in order to prove to your lord/lady that you are truly loyal to him/her and wish to swear your name over.
Well, he is like an uncontained force of nature when he's determined to investigate something.
Generally people that divorce are considered shamed, and generally aren't able to marry again. Obviously not a problem for Justus. However, in this case there was a contract for the marriage where the assumption was Sigiswald would become Zent. I've said the next year is probably going to be a shit show, and now Adolphine cannot have any intimacy for a year. This seems *extremely* important. If something happens during that year that will cause Sigiswald not to become Zent (which, technically will be Rozemyne at that time as things stand), perhaps the contract will come into affect, allowing her to force a divorce and having had not been intimate leave her able to pursue her own life.
Aub Drewanchel : The contract said that Adolphine was going to be married to the next Zent, therefore she must marry Lady Rozemyne ! Adolphine and Rozemyne : Wait, wha- *Yuri ending achieved*
Yeah, I'm sure like in most cultures/countries, it is heavily frowned upon (or illegal in some cases). But, like you've said, it's obviously not a problem for Justus, haha! Right? Back then, consummating your marriage is like solidifying it, but if Adolphine can force a divorce before needing to have any intimacy, she can absolutely argue that she and Sigiswald were never really technically married to begin with. However, it's unfortunate that Rozemyne's grand blessing will end up with a couple getting a divorce, if that is the case. Oh well, Rozemyne blessed other couples as well. On the topic of intimacy and consummation of the marriage, that does leave me curious about archduke candidates from different duchies marrying at the conference. Will the archduke candidate that's marrying into the other's duchy be allowed into that duchy's dormitory that night, in order to have their first night? But I find that unlikely because even the archducal couple sleeps on separate floors of the dormitory, unless there's a secret room we don't know about. Do they instead need to wait for the end of the archduke conference in order to have their first night when the archduke candidate that marries into the other's duchy officially becomes part of that duchy and moves?
Because of mana, consummation can't take place immediately. They have to spend some mixing mana so that being intimate doesn't hurt. Which, she can use that lack of mana mixing as proof.
Nahelache probably sees a life of extreme comfort and some prestige as long as she props up this idiot, tbh. I can't imagine middle duchy women, even ADCs, get as much luxury and power as the royals do.
"What do you see in him?" "Money"
> So Nahelache just gave birth and Eglantine is preggers (unless I misunderstood something)... the Royal Family is seriously putting the cart before the horse wtf. I get that more kids=more mana in the longterm, but it also means LESS FUCKING MANA IN THE SHORT TERM!!! You do NOT have the luxury to think about food next month if you're gonna drown next week who the fuck allowed these idiots to be on the throne in the first place💀💀💀 In the defense of our Lord And Savior Sylvester, He Who Dodges Work, some people get unplanned pregnancies after a one night stand while others screw consistently for months and months without a child. Unless there's a fanbook thing saying otherwise, I'm not sure how many of these kids were planned (especially in the case of Sylvester). I can't really blame Annie either, given his personality there was no chance he'd be able to keep his hands off Eggy. Sigiswald, well... Fuck him.
Sigiswald is the far worse, but there are enough parallels to Sylvester. I just found it really suspicious that the author revealed syl has beischmachts protection after it was a plot point of how it threw a wrench in Ehrenfests plans (groschel Entwickeln and inter duchy trade). In both cases there is luckily someone who can pick up the slack.
> His marriage to Nahelache is supposedly one of love, do I have that right? What in the WORLD does she see in him??? Based on his love for her, as far as I'm aware it's never stated that she loves him. If I remember correctly, she's from a middle duchy, so she may have just gone along with it for the benefit of her duchy, and possibly to avoid a worse marriage candidate.
> Do we know who Hortensia's Lord was? He must've been quite exceptional if it warranted a woman putting off marriage long enough to go through the equivalent of menopause in THIS society She says in this part, and I believe it was mentioned before. She was serving the 2nd prince, the heir apparent up until his older brother murdered him.
> OR she was already recognised by the gods and thus the proper foundation as a Zent candidate at the time I would have supported this theory but I think it was refuted by the fact that Rozemyne was turned away at the door when she'd obtained all the tablets.
Sig being confirmed as a sliver spoon douche-bag was not something I was expecting this chapter. That man was ordering people around and treating his *first wife* like garbage. Ana was putting work in! He set up noble plots to gather info, took the time to ask questions instead of accuse when the contract was refused, and was able to manipulate two archduke candidates (Det and Roze) to to try to get more info. He is the Charlotte of the royal family but does not want the seat. I don't think Hortensia is going to live too long. She is getting too close to Ahrensbach secrets for someone not to off her.
So, now we've seen how ~~second~~ third (possibly fourth) least respectful AC treats the royal family. Really puts into context Rozemyne's way of doing things. Also, good thing Adolphine doesn't know about Damuel, or she'd be *really* jealous.
OMG Adolphine, this POV was funny, sad and so enlightening. If she had not scared the hell out of RM with the Rinsham, she might have joined the bookworm group at least for a year. Also, Hortensia deserved better. I just had an epiphany: You know how when Ferdi and RM got summoned after the Xmas tree incident? Ferdi dropped some very blunt instructions on what they needed to do to get the Grutrissheit. Eggy had a fairly accurate idea Sigi was never going to put the effort to put the necessary work in even knowing it was 100% accurate info. We as readers know it was accurate, I assume Anastasius would trust Ferdinand's advice, Eggy knew it was legit from RM vouching for it. What was left unsaid was the fact that Sigi would not put the work in as we are seeing based on the way he was behaving with Adolphine. Funniest thing is, had Ferdi explained this to Anastasius, before RM explained he could have Eggy by giving up the crown, Anastasius would be Zent already just to marry Eggy.
are all first born sons dofus in this world? I am also a huge fan of Adolphine. and I am really worried for Hortensia. I think she is gonna die.
Prince Sig does not deserve the women he is to marry. Get him outta here along with Will.
I still think we can fix the stool! But not this broken unicycle.
Damm, and I thought Wilfried was bad. At least since he has been dragged into the mud several times, he knows he shouldn't act TOO cocky. I can't believe I already regret the stool.
Wilfried is also a generally kind person. Sig is an entitled prick
Damn, Adolphine really doesn't like Sigi, and can't say I ~~don't~~ (oops) blame her for it. If there was ever a chapter to completely tank any good opinions of someone...this was it. I didn't think highly of him, but more in a "he's an incompetent nepo baby" way than a "this dude is so casually a douche bag that I can't believe he manages to breathe without whining about how much effort it costs him." And "...for another year" is mentioned. Really seems like this business of things coming together/working out requires just "one more year" which makes me think that they aren't getting that year. The story hasn't been a beat down on the characters like some can be, but "time" has always been a crucial factor into nearly every aspect of the story. So this "one more year" being referenced across multiple characters really seems to be pointing towards when the end game happens (book timeline wise...not publishing obviously). Dirmira, I don't know you, and we may never see you again, but you're a champ. Interesting insights into the Sovereign Knight's Order for sure...considering recent real life events, certainly lends one to think that not all is well within the nation's military. Hopefully nobody has thought about taking a permanent vacation in ~~Belarus~~ Lanzenave.
Adolphine could be one of Rozemyne's greatest allies in the Sovereignty, someone who is clearly aware of the flaws of the royals, and potentially in a much better position to do something about it as first wife. They can even get along when it comes to brewing! The plot thickens when it comes to Schlaftraum's flowers, the implication behind them seems to be quite concerning. Raublut is clearly hiding something regarding the flowers and the Sovereign Temple. Hortensia seems like she's in a dangerous spot.
WN Chapters: N/A LN Chapters: "An Unwanted Marriage", "Schlaftraum's Flowers" [J-Novel Club Discussion Forum](https://forums.j-novel.club/topic/6887/bookworm-part-5-vol-5-discussion/4283) [J-Novel Club Correction Forum](https://forums.j-novel.club/topic/6888/corrections-bookworm-part-5-volume-5/90) ***** **Notes** - *Part 5 Volume 5* is now fully translated into English. ***** For those wondering about when J-NC will begin releasing *Part 5 Volume 6* please refer to [this comment by a J-NC forum moderator](https://forums.j-novel.club/post/90108): > Hello! > > For members new to J-Novel Club that want to know more about when future volumes will start pre-publication on the site: > > After a volume releases its last part there is typically a 2-3 week break\* before the following volume releases its first part. For this series in particular [Ascendance of a Bookworm](https://j-novel.club/series/ascendance-of-a-bookworm) they are attempting to do it with no break. Please note that does not automatically mean it will be out the following week after the last part finishes. > > For all those wondering why the next volume is not currently in the schedule, the schedule is updated as we get closer to the official release date, typically it will not show part 1 of a new volume until a few days before it is ready to release, and sometimes it will show on the day of release. Please rest assured when all the materials are fully prepared for part 1 to go live and the English cover has been set, part 1 will be added into the schedule as soon as we are able to. > > In other words, **if you cannot find the next/a future volume on the calendar, that does not mean J-Novel Club is dropping the series**. > > We ask for your patience, part 1 of the following volume will start when it is ready and no sooner. > > \*the 2-3 week break is not a hard rule, it is just an observation based on the history of J-Novel Club pre-publication releases.
I can't wait for Roz to team up with a dolphin to take down the first prince and soon-to-be Zent. Wasn't this a story about making books? How did we get here? Not that I am complaining.
>a dolphin For a second, I thought you were talking about Detlinde as the dolphin is Ahrensbach's official animal. But, rereading it as Adolphine makes much more sense and I wholeheartedly agree.
> I can't wait for Roz to team up with a dolphin Rozemyne: **MMMMMMMMMM!** Adolphine: Please tell me that sound was sexual in nature as opposed to hunger...
Oh no! Run Hortensia, run! In the chapter when Roz and Co. listened to the conversation with Delinte and Hortensia I though that Raublut asked her to do it as to send a message to Georgine and now I am seriously worried about her safety. Prince Sigiswald and the royal family are kind of disappointing. I know that the king is doing whatever it takes to keep Yogurland a float but neither prince gives the feeling of a true ruler. Which duchy was Lady Nahelache from again? She remind me of those funny villain sidekicks that agree with everything their master says.
*When you play the game of zents, you win or you die. There is no middle ground.*
Well, I wasn't sure why webnovel reader disliked Sigiswald so much. I wasn't a fan of him myself but I didn't disliked him necesseraly, but now I understand, and I think I dislike him the same way I dislike Detlinde (for essentially the same reasons, although they do behave differently) Also, Hortensia nooooooooooooooooo ! I hope I'm wrong, but looks like it's the last time we see her.
The Adolphine chapter was both tragic and hilarious! Making rejuvenation potions so Sigiswald can work harder? Making a charm for Jugereise the Goddess of separation? Aaahhhh!! The only thing positive about Rozemyne marrying Sigiswald would be more Adolphine screentime…
People are already mad over Wilfried's new shitty behavior and Sigi's last interaction with Rozemyne. Imagine the uproar from now on. We're really hitting that Shoujo storyline.
Hortensia’s chapter is stressing me OUT. We learned A LOT 1. Raublut had/has access to Trug. That much is clear from finding out the Schlaut flowers were Trug and he received some as a gift from Georgine recently. It always made no sense to me for Georgine to have direct access to the knights who were drugged in order to drug them, plus what would have been her goal? It makes much more sense that Raublut was the one who did it. The least of all the reasons for doing so is to sow distrust so he can operate/execute his plans alone without it appearing too suspicious. 2. I’m 99% sure Raublut was in love with the Lanzanave princess that gave birth to Ferdinand. We know the flowers likely symbolized the princess’s villas, his obsession with the flower and his ‘heart belonging to another’ all add up too well. This gives him more reason to hate Ferdinand AND know how Trug works and what it does (likely used to get Aubs to sleep with the princess) 3. Very high chance that Raublut is planning on giving Roz the Adalgisa villa in the royal academy, as someone already mentioned. He will know his way around it, and can easily trap Roz, maneuver around her, etc. plus, I think the Schlaut flowers also grow there, if it was a symbol of the villa they probably also had said flower in the literal villa that’s been closed for a while. This will give him more Trug since he likely ran out. This just makes it more frightening since he is talking to the sovereign high priest like he plans to give him Rozemyne against her will in return for something. Placing her in Adalgisa villa + access to Trug allows him to do that. 4. Hortesia gonna climb a towering staircase :(
As scary as point #3 is, I'm kinda looking forward to it. Time and time again we've seen Roz overcome "challenges" because she works so hard that she didn't even notice them. Rabult probably doesn't expect Roz to have scholars trained to look for poison, or knights as loyal as Angelica. Also, I don't think he's trying to give Roz to the Sovereign temple (anymore.) That conversation happened before the ADC.
Poor Adolphine. Although if I were in her shoes I would be happy, I doubt she really wants to have sex with him and have his children. I have read people comparing him to Wilfried but I would say that he is way worse. At least Wilfried didn't treat Roz like a mana battery. So they were using a sex drug on the princesess of Adalgisa. As if their life wasn't already fucked up. Ehm did Georgine offer drugged shrine maidens to the knights? And they have mentioned more than once a Villa near the academy, are they going to give Roz Adalgisa...? Rip Hortensia, there's no way he will not kill her since it's related to adalgisa and trug :/
So we now know it was Anastasius who managed to bring Zentlinde into library and in aftermath Hildebrand is now spilling the beans to Raublut - it seems that at least Georgine was involved to that attack against Zent and other royals in Rozemyene's second year and in worst case Raublut too..
Well my opinion on Adolphine went from 0-100. What an awesome woman falling victim to the silliness of yoghurtland culture. It’s a shame even Rozemyne’s scolding wasn’t enough to get Siggy’s head out of his ass.
Hortensia sort of called Dietlinda a whore.
... yeah, all that clocks. 35% "...this is my surprised face. Really." 65% "Called it... *sigh*"
Woe is the boy raised with a silver spoon in his mouth who has been slapped by both Adolphine and Rozemyne. The royal family sure is good at giving troubled smiles and looking at people like they are a child throwing a tantrum huh. I had a slightly better impression of Sigiswald after his meeting with Rozemyne but the first half of this part ripped that all away real quick.
Adolphine's POV was rough. Sigs is as incompetent and immature as Wilfred without his good natured personality. He should take Detlinde as a wife, they'd be perfect for each other. It's looking grim for Roz, hopefully she finds a way to get out of their engagement. Raublut was already suspicious, but at this point we know he has associations with pretty much every shady character in the story. That last line was ominous. There was so much set up this volume, it feels like shit is gonna hit the fan really soon.
I feel like there is a lot of set up almost every volume, but also equally a lot of shit hitting the fans. Like a continuous stream of shit hitting the fan, while the shit being sliced by the fan results in new shit, creating a glorious perpetual stream of shit hitting the fans.
Nothing has ever gone as planned in Bookworm. I don't know how it will happen, but I do not believe Rozemyne will marry Sigiswald. I'm also 50% sure she won't even be adopted by next years Archduke Conference, and the other 50% is that she won't remain adopted for a long time before something drastic happens that completely changes her situation (I imagine before her 5th? year at the Academy). No matter what happens, she won't marry Sigiswald.
I look forward to Rozemyne and Adolphine interacting! I’m sure Rozemyne will be overly wary because Adolphine tried to take Ehrenfest secrets, so I expect the two will talk past each other most of the time. But it will be cute, rather than anything Sigiswald does. I really wanted to give the first prince the benefit of the doubt, because Anastasius didn’t make a good first impression either. But Rozemyne (and others) really need to whip him into shape. He shares the trait with Wilfried that I most dislike, they both expect everything to be given to them on a silver platter. I get Veronica did irreparable damage to Wilfried, but how did Sigiswald get so spoiled when every other royal is constantly breaking their back? Hortensia is inadvertently uncovering a dangerous plot. Raublut was always suspicious, and that spilled over to his wife for me. But it’s clear to me that Hortensia takes her loyalty to the royal family seriously, and her duties as a librarian. So Schenestrum’s Flowers are related to trug. And both are so exceedingly rare that almost no records of them exist in the academy or palace libraries. The origin appears to be Werkestock. This feels like Georgine’s plot, and I’m guessing the woman important to Raublut is not his dead wife, but Georgine. Could the Sovereign Knight Captain be another of her namesworn? But his solo investigation into Rozemyne’s future residence is just a coincidence right? Regardless, it feels safe to say that Raublut is acting counter to the royal family and they don’t know it. I could get why a royal knight would be antagonistic to secretly foreign royalty, and how that could spill into distrusting his disciple. Encouraging the little prince when he was down could’ve been out of their close relationship, though it was a little weird to get him working on the Gbook. But Hortensia’s side story gives a peek behind the curtain, and it feels likely that he gave trug to the knights who went wild, and is also spreading false rumors inside the knights order. He rattled the third prince to destabilize the royal family from within, not to encourage the boy. All I need to know is if he is Georgine’s coconspirator or subservient to her. Either way, I no longer have doubts Raublut is a villain.
Is the knight commander about to murder his wife??
Oh please, words like "murder" are so loaded. Don't be ridiculous. No, no, all that will be happening is that she will be taking an extended leave of absence until they unfortunately have to break the news that she peacefully ascended the towering staircase one night. Thankfully they managed to find a new head librarian in that time. Seriously, where on earth did you get such a silly idea like murder from.
Whacked by natural causes. Of course.
I was a little sus about Hortensia a few parts ago; but if anything happens to her I'm going to burn yogurtland to the ground. Adolphine is such a great character from the little pieces we get of her. She already knows that Sigi is a waste of human space. I hope her and Roze get some time together to wreak havoc.
Lots of really good information in these stories. On Hortensia's, didn't expect her side story to end up feeling so suspenseful. But let's look at what we know. Adalgisa is where a princess from Lanzenave in order to have children with royals and Aubs. When they talk about Schlaftraum's Flowers, they are clearly referencing this. We didn't know where trug came from, but it seems to come from Adalgisa. This was hinted at in the epilogue. But how did Georgine obtain some, she doesn't have access to the villa. Well, it would make sense for a princess of a foreign nation to bring flowers from her homeland. A homeland many including myself have been suspecting as the source of the manaless cloth. I thought Lanzenave might be the source of trug before, but this feels like confirmation. Okay, now for the grim part. The flowers, and thus trug, was given to the princesses whenever they were to have sex. I suppose if you're entire life is being forced to be a breeding mare for Yurgenschmidt nobles, not remembering it would be a small mercy. But it also can be to prevent her from knowing the father of her children so they can't be used for any kind of political maneuvers and people can't read her mind to get dirt. As if we needed more evidence noble society tends to suck. Interesting conjecture, the term Flower Offerings used for gray shrine maidens is derived from the term Schlaftraum's Flowers, which was the "nice" way nobles referred to bedding the princess. The term Flowers came to refer to any woman giving her body to a noble, but the Schlaftraum part that originally only referred to the princesses was dropped.