"I have compiled a list of attendees. Lady
Liesereta handed me a list of the archduke candidates, or their representative upper nobles, who would be attending the tea party hosted by Ehrenfest.
It included each duchy's name, the participant's name and physical characteristics, and personal preferences that might come up in conversation.
...Ugh, I have to memorize all of this.
Without photographs, I couldn't put faces to any of them, which made it all the more daunting. As I received the documents, I felt like I was suffocating.
"I've also summarized each duchy's characteristics and specialty products. Might this be of some help?"
"I'll do my best to memorize everything."
"Since Lady Rozemyne returned without having engaged in much socializing, this must be quite difficult."
"On the day itself, Brother
Since we were inviting all duchies, the hosts were listed as Wilfried and me jointly. Because it was known that Wilfried would be participating, it seemed easier for male archduke candidates to volunteer as well, and quite a few men had signed up.
I stared at the list, psyching myself up to try to memorize the guests.
...Let's see,
I'd finished my lectures early, but that was probably part of why I didn't remember even the archduke candidates in my own year. The only ones I remembered even slightly were those with older siblings who were attending instead. The fact that Dunkelfelger was sending Hannelore, a first-year, instead of her older brother Lestilaut might have been because Lestilaut disliked me.
...I hope I can build a friendly relationship with Lady Hannelore. Oh, but she's also crazy about ditter, so if we do become friendly, she'll just go on and on about ditter, ditter, won't she? Hmm.
"Lady Rozemyne, Lord Wilfried, we've received a response from Ehrenfest. They say they cannot provide that many resources for the interduchy tournament. This is what they can currently supply."
Eustachius entered the multipurpose hall with Ehrenfest's reply. We had requested additional resources for the interduchy tournament, but it seemed they had hit a limit and sent back what they could.
"Is that so?! Then what are we supposed to do?!"
Brother Wilfried was glaring in anger, but I actually felt rather impressed that they had tried to help as much as they did.
The interduchy tournament happened every year. The budget prepared for the
"Aren't they working harder than expected? It never hurts to ask, after all."
"Rozemyne? This isn't nearly enough!"
"...Sugar is still expensive, so there's not much they can do. When you consider that they can't just casually increase the budget, they've actually done quite a lot. We'll have to figure out the rest ourselves."
In the two years I'd been sleeping, sugar had become somewhat more available among the nobility, but it was still expensive and tended to be in short supply. It was only natural that they couldn't empty their reserves for the interduchy tournament.
"But with this, we won't be able to satisfy our guests at the interduchy tournament."
"Brother Wilfried, do you know how many members of the royal family will be attending?"
"
From the corner of my eye, I watched Wilfried's attendants begin rummaging through documents as I turned back to Wilfried.
"As long as we have enough quatre-quarts to serve the royal family and the archduke couples, let's consider that sufficient for now. Can we manage that?"
"If it's just the royal family and archduke couples, perhaps. But what about the other nobles?"
"...First come, first served."
"Hm?"
"We'll make it first come, first served, and once we run out, that's it."
Wilfried's eyes widened in shock at my words.
"What? Is such a thing even permissible?"
"Permissible or not, you can't wave a sleeve with no fabric in it. We'll provide full hospitality only to the royal family and the archduke couples. As for other nobles, if there are seats available, we'll serve them, and if there aren't any left, we'll simply offer them a takeaway portion of quatre-quarts. And if even that runs out, we'll politely bid them farewell and say we look forward to seeing them next year."
"Princess Rozemyne, surely that would be far too rude to the other nobles."
Eustachius rejected the idea as well. Apparently, while hosting the royal family and archduke couples was fine, completely ignoring the other duchies' nobles was unacceptable. Since some might be the parents of graduating students' romantic partners, we had to accept them to a certain extent.
"Then how about having my father and mother handle the royal family and archduke couples, while Brother Wilfried and I manage the other nobles? For those whose visits can be predicted in advance, such as parents of romantic partners, I think we could accept them if they reserve seats through a formal application. For nobles who drop in unannounced on the day, we'll make it first come, first served."
"If that's the case, then perhaps..."
"Luckily, since I'm only hosting one tea party and Brother Wilfried has had to turn down most of the ones he was invited to, there's some flexibility in our social budget. Of course, even if we divert that to the interduchy tournament, we still won't be able to prepare everything."
"Hmm..."
Wilfried's face lit up for an instant at the prospect of a larger budget, only to turn troubled again.
"We'll need to think about how to make the best impression with limited resources and satisfy our guests. I'm rather inexperienced when it comes to noble socializing, so I'll leave that to you, Brother Wilfried."
"Me?"
"Since we have a limit on how many we can accommodate, I can only think of refusing people. Of course, I'm planning to offer priority access for next year, or cut the quatre-quarts portions smaller for takeaways, or add something like that..."
"I see. Let me think about it."
And so, while preparing for both the large-scale tea party and the interduchy tournament in parallel, the day of the tea party arrived.
The tea party room given to Ehrenfest was on the first floor, conveniently close to the stairs leading down to the kitchen in the basement. This made it easy to prepare tea and refreshments.
The door facing the central building of the Royal Academy was open to anyone, but the door connecting to the dormitory was the same as the main entrance—only dormitory residents could pass through.
I entered the tea party room where the Attendants had been making preparations, checking with them one by one for any deficiencies and confirming that tea and refreshments were adequately stocked.
Then I discussed the division of duties with Brother Wilfried regarding our guests. Since we had sent invitations to all duchies at once, an enormous number of guests would be coming. There was no way I could circulate through the entire tea party on my own.
"Leave Klassenberg and their acquaintances to me. I'll prioritize receiving the male guests, people I recognize from the first-year lectures, and anyone I've gotten to know from the tea parties I've attended."
"That's a great help, Brother Wilfried."
As I was reviewing the compiled information on the list that the apprentice attendants had prepared, the third bell began to ring. Everyone would now be coming out from their dormitories, so we needed to be in position. Everyone began taking their assigned posts.
Guests had apparently arrived before the bell even finished ringing. The small bell chimed on the other side of the door, and the apprentice Attendant stationed to open it turned toward us with a surprised expression.
"Lady Dietlinde of
The door opened before everyone who had hurried to their positions. Lady Dietlinde gave the room a once-over, and though preparations were apparently in order, she flushed slightly and demurely lowered her eyes, touching her cheek gently.
"Perhaps it's because I was so excited I simply couldn't wait? It seems I'm a bit too early. How embarrassing—I should go back and come again, shouldn't I?"
It was an extremely conflicted expression—should I take this at face value, that she was genuinely excited, or was she being passive-aggressive about us not being ready despite it being the agreed time?
"No, Lady Dietlinde. We're delighted that you were looking forward to it so much you couldn't wait for the bell. Welcome."
"Yes. I was so looking forward to seeing Wilfried."
...Oh, she was being passive-aggressive after all.
Within her smile directed at me, only her deep green eyes remained unamused. In a way, she was a very easy person to read.
"Lady Dietlinde wished to see Brother Wilfried."
"Wilfried, it's been since the cousins' tea party and the one hosted by Dunkelfelger, hasn't it?"
"I'm also glad to see you."
"Oh my, such a formal attitude today. I'd love for you to be as relaxed as last time, but there are so many guests here today."
I left Lady Dietlinde's company to Wilfried, as she wished, and instructed the Attendants to prepare tea and refreshments. Wilfried escorted Dietlinde to a prepared seat and offered her a chair.
While Dietlinde's own Attendant set out dishes and cutlery, Brother Wilfried sampled the tea and refreshments prepared in front of him, one bite at a time.
"Dietlinde, these are quatre-quarts. They're currently very popular in Ehrenfest, and today we have three varieties."
We had prepared three kinds: honey, Ferijine, and Rumtopf. Of course, we also had several other pastries as usual, in addition to the quatre-quarts.
"Rozemyne invented these."
"Oh my. So these are the pastries served at the
"I'm glad you like them."
...Wait, he's smiling proudly, but "pastries that someone raised in the Temple would think of" is actually a backhanded compliment sandwiched between praise. He doesn't even notice, Brother Wilfried.
The cousins' tea party that Brother Wilfried had called perfectly peaceful might actually have been a complete disaster—he had either tuned out or simply not picked up on all the backhanded remarks and hidden meanings. I was starting to worry.
After escorting Dietlinde to her seat, guests began arriving one after another. Wilfried and I stood near the entrance to greet them, then left the seating arrangements to the Attendants.
"Lord
"I'm honored by the invitation, Lady Rozemyne. I've been meaning to have a proper conversation with you."
Rudiger smiled, saying that Ehrenfest and
"I'm an adopted daughter, but do you recognize me as family, Lord Rudiger?"
"I'd like to maintain as warm a relationship as possible."
If this was my adoptive mother's birth duchy, then I wanted to maintain good relations with Frenbeltag as well. While we smiled warmly at each other, Wilfried was greeting yet another guest beside us.
"Lady Hannelore, welcome."
"Thank you so much for the invitation, Lord Wilfried. I was truly looking forward to today. Lady Rozemyne seems... quite busy, so I'll greet her again later."
From my brief glance while talking with Rudiger, Hannelore looked like a gentle girl—nothing like the sister of Lestilaut, who had suddenly launched a ditter challenge. Her hair, in a shade that was hard to pin down between pale pink and purple, was divided into two sections and tied back. Perhaps nervous, her red eyes darted around the room, giving her a rabbit-like appearance.
"Lady Rozemyne, thank you so much for the invitation. Today, I'd like to introduce you to my friends."
When Eglantine arrived with her friends trailing behind her, more than half the seats were already taken. I greeted Eglantine, was introduced to her friends, and promptly found myself surrounded by upperclasswomen.
I left the guests still arriving to Wilfried and began escorting Eglantine and her classmates to their seats. Since Eglantine was a senior student, her friends tended to be older. However, contrary to what I'd expected, there were more friends from medium and small duchies than from large ones. For large duchies, the highest-ranked was a fifth-year from third-ranked Drewanchel.
"I hear you were poisoned and slept in Yurive for two years? And yet, Lady Rozemyne, my brother tells me you're truly exceptional. Today, technically, it should have been the first-years attending, and my brother wanted to come, but I simply had to meet you, Lady Rozemyne."
"Up close like this, Lady Rozemyne really is quite small, isn't she?"
The way they surrounded me reminded me of the "cute" reaction people have when looking at a small child. Of course, as archduke candidates, they must have been calculating various things behind those smiles.
Was their friendliness because I looked small? Or because I was introduced as Eglantine's friend? I was contemplating how to handle them.
The social season was drawing to a close, and the archduke candidates and the upper nobles attending in their stead had already become familiar faces. By the time everyone had arrived, conversation was already well underway. Having been cornered by Eglantine and her classmates, Wilfried naturally gravitated toward where he knew more people.
"The quatre-quarts from Ehrenfest may look plain, but they're truly delicious. Prince
When Eglantine introduced the quatre-quarts, several of her friends brightened as if they'd been waiting.
"I had some at Lady Eglantine's tea party the other day. The Ferijine flavor was lovely."
"That was the quatre-quarts Lady Rozemyne brought. And my graduation hair ornament was something Prince Anastasius commissioned from Ehrenfest. It turned out beautifully."
...Lady Eglantine, you've already been spreading the word among your friends. You're an absolute goddess.
She was better at promoting things than I was, and with far more influence. I wanted to learn from her, but it seemed rather difficult.
"Lady Eglantine, your hair has become so glossy and beautiful—could that be an Ehrenfest effect too? The women from Ehrenfest all have shinier hair than usual today."
Yes, for our Rinsham appeal today, just like the graduation ceremony, we had all used Rinsham together. The Attendants running around serving guests all had beautifully lustrous hair.
"Lady Rozemyne's hair is exceptionally glossy. Would it be all right if I touched it?"
"Of course, go ahead."
One after another, they touched my hair, praised its luster, envied me, and begged for Rinsham transactions. But I had been told not to say anything on that matter here.
"Unfortunately, regarding any transactions, the approval of the Aub Ehrenfest is required, so I can't say anything definitive. However, would you care for a sample? I can share just a small amount."
"Oh, really?"
"Supplies are limited, so friends will be given priority..."
Using material incentives to make friends didn't quite fit my personal definition of friendship, but among archduke candidates, mutual benefit was simply a given.
Ehrenfest was a small, weak duchy. Without some benefit to the relationship, no one would bother getting close. While I still had the influential Eglantine nearby, I needed to build as many connections as possible.
"Let me have my Attendants prepare them, and then I'll go greet the others as well."
"A tea party with this many people gathered together is quite a task. Do your best."
Receiving encouragement from Eglantine and her classmates, I slipped free of the group. Then I caught
"I had wanted to build friendships with everyone earlier, but I was called back to Ehrenfest, and so this tea party ended up being held at such a busy time. I'm truly sorry. I'm grateful that you've taken the trouble to come despite how busy everyone must be."
"Lady Rozemyne, before you became the lord's adopted daughter, you were raised in the Temple, weren't you? You still have to participate in Temple ceremonies. I've never set foot in a Temple myself, so I don't know how demanding it must be, but it sounds terribly difficult, doesn't it?"
The surrounding guests murmured in response to Lady Dietlinde's words, spoken with an expression of great concern. Not many people knew that while I was indeed the lord's adopted daughter, I had been raised in the Temple and was still serving as High Priest.
I caught whispers of "Raised in the Temple?" The tone carried contempt, and a few people wore expressions like they'd found a weakness to exploit.
...Using words of concern as a cover to expose my background. Unpleasant.
Since I would need to return every year for the Dedication Ritual, leaving "raised in the Temple" as an exploitable weakness would cause problems down the line. If it came to this, I had no choice but to stand and face it.
I looked around the room with a smile.
"Yes, Lady Dietlinde is quite right. Due to my family's circumstances, I was raised in the Temple. I currently participate in Temple ceremonies at the request of Aub Ehrenfest. Ehrenfest is so desperate for Magic Power that they had to turn a child like me into a priestess and conduct rituals. I envy Ahrensbach, a great duchy that never has to worry about Magic Power. Don't you, Brother Wilfried?"
"Yes. I also participate in Temple ceremonies to fill the duchy with Magic Power. It's difficult work, but filling the duchy with Magic Power is an important duty for the archduke's family, and it is worthwhile. Of course, I also envy the great duchies that have Magic Power in abundance without even needing their archduke candidates to act."
With Wilfried backing me up, I gazed at Dietlinde with envious eyes, saying "I wish we could have even a fraction of your abundant Magic Power." My jab at Ahrensbach—a large duchy that had nonetheless fallen in rankings—seemed to land. Dietlinde narrowed her deep green eyes in displeasure.
"Medium and small duchies face many hardships, so I envy the great duchies as well."
Rudiger said this with a gentle smile.
"In such dire circumstances, Ehrenfest helped Frenbeltag when we were struggling. Frenbeltag is deeply grateful to Ehrenfest's saint."
"I'm glad you think so, Lord Rudiger."
"I hope that Ehrenfest and Frenbeltag will continue to support each other."
...Does that mean "let's keep working together"? Or was it a lead-in to the marriage proposal that the guardians had rejected?
Frenbeltag's intentions were still unclear. I knew they were grateful, but I couldn't tell what they were asking for going forward.
Rather than pressing Rudiger for a clearer statement, I simply returned his words with a smile.
My first meeting with Dietlinde in a long while turned out quite spirited. It made for a two-part chapter after all.
It was a rare chance to shine. For Rudiger as well.
As for Hannelore... well, the timing just wasn't right. Please look forward to Part Two.
Next time, Part Two.