Chapter Text
Even though I hadn’t officially become the Archduchess husband, I was staying in the chambers assigned for such purpose in the second floor of Alexandria’s dormitory at the Royal Academy. Rozemyne’s influence was clearly present throughout all the rooms. Entwickeln had not only been performed in the duchy, but also in the dormitory.
There were no longer those ugly violet tapestries hanging at every corner. Instead, elegant dark blue flags adorned the corridors. All the wood furniture remained, as Rozemyne was strongly against spending money changing things, but the way it was reupholstered made it feel brand new. “I will only allow to update the colors and crests decorating the palace, so we can communicate Alexandria is a new territory. Anything else would be an excess, and we don’t have enough money to throw it away.” I had to agree with her position, and given the experience at the Orphanage Director chambers, I knew nothing I said to her would change that position. She was the Archduchess after all.
Besides, mattresses were one of those few things that were changed, so I had no real objection.
I was sitting on my bench, just finished reading the latest report Justus had collected on the students before the graduation ceremony. Yesterday during the tournament, Rozemyne and I had focused on socializing with other Archduke couples. Therefore, I wasn’t able to inspect the different investigations that were done during the year, I wanted to continue some of them back at my workshop in the duchy’s laboratory, so I had to be familiar with everything that was presented.
Last year, I spent more time on research than I had expected. I thought establishing a new duchy would demand far more time and effort, but I was pleasantly surprised. Thanks to Rozemyne and my retainers working long hours, everything “sailed smoothly” her words, not mine
Detlinde and Georgine were ruining Ahrensbach. Detlinde was delusional with grandeur, and every decision she made only worsened her standing with the nobility. Georgine was no better; her obsession with Ehrenfest drove her into disastrous strategies that ultimately allowed Rozemyne to seize the foundation and, eventually, control of the duchy. Ahrensbach was so unstable that it took only a hundred soldiers, large-scale healing magic, and a touch of brainwashing, courtesy of Harmut, to sway most of the population’s support.
I had to give Detlinde some credit, she managed to deceive both Letizia and me. I would have climbed the towering staircase in the replenishing hall, but as I lost consciousness, my only regret was knowing I would never feel that familiar warmth again.
After months without seeing Rozemyne, I was stunned by her appearance when I awoke on the floor of the replenishing room. She explained that Anwachs, the God of Growth, had caused her sudden growth spurt, and I could see the divine influence clearly, not only in her physical transformation, but in the aura she radiated.
Following our intervention against Lanzenave’s invasion of the Royal Academy, she proposed a political marriage. She made it clear our relationship should remain platonic, and I agreed. At the time, it felt right to give her space. I even insisted that she keep my name, as a shield against any action I might otherwise take toward her
Eventually the inexperienced Archduke Candidate changed, but the Royal Order remained, and I was more than willing to comply. Over the past couple of years, Alexandria has been consolidated as the strongest rising duchy. Having the Incarnation of the Goddess as Aub, along with a genuine Grutrissheit, though divided into two tomes, certainly helped. Yet it was the collective effort of everyone, and their faith in Rozemyne, that truly made it possible.
I stood and walked toward the desk to place my report with the rest of my documents, but my gaze drifted to the window. The God of Darkness’s cape had already covered the sky, and the golden moon cast her light over the snow-covered grounds. Somewhere out there stood a gazebo, rumored to be the favored spot for Archduke Candidates to speak with their beloved. During my years at the Academy, back when I was still a student, I had seen that place, though I never considered taking anyone there. Now, I finally had someone I wished to share it with, yet after last year’s time-related misfortunes, I found myself reluctant to do so.
Our Starbind ceremony was just around the corner, and unwanted thoughts had begun to invade my mind. Normally, the ceremony would be held during the Archduke Conference in late spring, but the unusual circumstances of our duchy had moved the celebration to the earliest possible date. It was scheduled for three days after Rozemyne’s graduation from the Academy, allowing most students to return to their respective homes beforehand. All Archdukes were expected to attend the Starbind ceremony of the Archduchess of Alexandria. Nearly all of Ehrenfest Archducal Family was coming as well, along with Rozemyne’s classmates and friends.
As a special consideration for my fiancée, Harmut and I planned a second ceremony in Alexandria’s temple for our downtown family, the temple attendants, and the Gutenbergs to attend. We presented it under the pretense that the entire duchy should offer prayers of gratitude to the gods for the miracles granted by the Divine Avatar of Mestionora.
Despite my stance toward Erwarmen and the rest of that nosy bunch, I had to acknowledge that she was godsent, my own personal miracle. She was the first person with whom I truly felt at ease.
I remember our first hug in my hidden room at the temple, just after I searched her memories. Among nobles, physical contact is never sought without first taking a synchronization potion, as mana is naturally repelled between all living beings. Only an extensive dyeing process can reduce the nauseating sensation it causes. Yet after her memories and nostalgic feelings flooded my mind, she sat on my lap and held me tightly. At the time, I assumed I felt no mana resistance because she had taken my potion. But it was only later that I wondered why she hadn’t recoiled, since I had not taken hers. That winter, when she stayed in the temple, she even sought out more of those moments of closeness.
She was a newly baptized girl, suddenly forced to live apart from her family. My own experiences softened me, and I allowed her to seek comfort in this way. When she became Rozemyne, I convinced myself that the pain of loneliness outweighed any mana repulsion she might have felt from me.
During her first year as a noble, I taught her everything I could to shape her into an exceptional Archduke Candidate. She needed every weapon at her disposal to navigate noble society and dispel the doubts about her origins that Bezewanst had made public. This meant spending even more time together. By then, I had already confirmed my theory that she possessed all seven attributes, but it took me nearly six years to realize she had already been dyed with my colors.
It shouldn’t have been a surprise. She always wore the amulets I crafted for her, including the hair ornament set with five rainbow feystones. When I gave her my juvre as a last-minute solution, she remarked that it tasted sweet, so unlike the bitterness one expects when taking another’s potion. Even drinking a parent’s potion is considered an extreme measure, given the inevitable rejection it causes.
At one point, several people around us, or rather, one lazy Aub, suggested that we should become engaged. But she was still far from attending the Academy, let alone reaching the proper age. Her rejection of the idea matched my own stance at the time. She was my student, and I was her guardian, any other relationship between us was unthinkable, even if we already expected her mana level to one day rival my own.
A few months later, I experienced one of the worst moments of my life when she nearly died during a failed kidnapping. I silently thanked her stubbornness in insisting we prepare her jureve as soon as all the ingredients were gathered. That determination of hers, and my willingness to indulge her, ended up saving her life. The two years I spent waiting for her to awaken felt like an eternity. My only comfort came from remaining in her hidden room, beside her motionless body. All the while, her body released an inconceivable amount of mana. I had to constantly empty the feystones floating in the jureve alongside her, and even the air of the room grew thick with mana, much like the interior of her unorthodox highbeast. If I hadn’t been so consumed with worry for her recovery, I might have studied the strange phenomenon unfolding before my eyes.
Fortunately, she awoke in time to attend the Academy, but as we received reports of her dealings with other duchies and the Royal Family, it became clear she needed to be engaged as soon as possible to prevent a high-ranking duchy from forcing a match outside Ehrenfest. Wilfried was the natural choice, given Sylvester’s wish to make him the Aub. Once the union was authorized by the Zent, we had to limit the time we spent together. Even so, I always managed to steal moments alone with her, usually under some flimsy excuse, given her tendency to throw herself into dangerous situations.
My feelings remained unchanged during those first years. Then came the Zent’s order for me to move away. I couldn’t tell my brother the real reason, as I had vowed to bury my past, but when I tried to deceive Rozemyne, she saw straight through me. By then, she knew me so well that I no longer had any chance of fooling her. I was astonished by her ability to read my expressions; despite the decades I had spent training myself to mask my true feelings.
I had prepared a departing gift for her, but she surprised me first—not only with an extraordinary lunch at the Italian Restaurant, but also with a talisman crafted from the same type of feystones as her hair clip. Days later, she outdid herself again by bestowing a blessing with all seven elements. I had known she was capable of it, as she had done so before, but this time she used one of the most intricate magic circles ever devised. From then on, we fell into a peculiar rhythm of exchanging gifts. She sent me food, and I answered with clothing. She shared music sheets, and I offered her my bench. We even managed to send secret letters with invisible ink. Yet communication was so scarce that I ached for the rare moments when we could finally see each other again.
That was when I first began to recognize my feelings. But she was still a child, by far the youngest-looking student in the Academy. And yet, somehow, the Royal Family considered her a viable match for that fool Sigiswald. When I learned of it, I immediately understood why. After her second year at the Academy, she had become a potential Zent candidate. It was only a matter of time before she obtained her Grutrissheit, and given the Royal Family’s pitiful state, it was reasonable for the King to consider adopting someone from a mid-ranked duchy.
Then her body changed to match her true age. She was no longer the frightened little gremlin who once hid behind my sleeves, but a radiant goddess who had stolen a duchy for my sake. I found myself constantly searching for excuses to be near her, to touch her, to ride with her on my highbeast with my arm around her, to breathe in the scent of her hair. I gave her frequent medical checks just for the chance to hold her face in my hands, and to my delight, she accepted every single one of those interactions…
A knock on my door pulled me from my wandering mind.
“My Lord, are you ready to change into your nightgown?” Justus voice asked from behind the door.
“Yes, come in” I replied.
It was better to distract myself with the night routine than to torture myself thinking about the what ifs.
***
After Justus pulled the canopy, I closed my eyes, hoping for the blessing of Schlaftraum. But as I had long since realized, wishing for divine involvement without another’s blessing was futile, you needed their willingness to intervene, and I was hardly on good terms with any deity. I expected no real result.
I kept turning in bed, unable to clear my mind. Last year, Myne would have come of age. When we visited our family in the lower city, Tuuli had styled her hair up, transforming her appearance once again. And tomorrow, Rozemyne would officially become an adult. I could hardly wait to see her mature beauty revealed anew.
It was when she began transcribing her Book of Mestionora into mine that I realized I could never feel the same for anyone else. With every surge of her mana flowing into my book, I felt the heat rise within me. It was as if her touch lingered everywhere, tracing across my face, my neck, my chest…
I am ashamed to confess that during that half bell in my workshop, I paid little attention to her actions. Instead, I was consumed by the sensations running through my body and the images pressing into my mind. I tried to picture her new form, subtle curves that marked her growth. The faint swell of her chest rose and fell with each breath, and the sash around her waist revealed what my heart had long resisted acknowledging: she was no longer a child.
I also pictured how easy it had been to find myself pressed against her body in the Mana Replenishment Hall after my rescue. My legs astride her, our faces separated by mere inches. At the time I was still disoriented, only just regaining consciousness, yet there she was, immobile, gazing up at me with that worried expression of hers. Her lips, soft and slightly parted, gleamed with Geduldh’s noble hue. For a fleeting instant, it felt as though I could taste the sweetness I had missed for so long… and that realization shook me even more than our closeness.
How tempting it would have been at that moment in my hidden room to loosen her sash, to undo the endless layers of noble finery one by one, until nothing remained but her ochre cape and the cascade of her lustrous hair veiling her form…
I could hardly bear to look at her as she continued her work. She began to hum, a habit of hers, though she never seemed aware of it. Her voice, once pitched like a child’s, now carried the soft melody of a young maiden, and it set my pulse racing. I drew a long breath to steady myself, but the heat within me was difficult to master. We were alone in this hidden room, untouched by the world outside, and the thought itself made restraint feel impossible. We were alone in the hidden room, not a single soul would ever be able to enter this room…
Then she called to me, and I became abruptly aware of the warmth burning in my ears, betraying feelings I could no longer hide.
It was more than I could withstand. Heat surged through me until my garments clung damp against my skin, my breath shallow and unsteady. Beischmacht’s influence still lingered, searing low within me, and I dared not step beyond the shelter of my canopy. Justus was to remain in my chambers that night, and I could already imagine the merciless teasing he would unleash should he glimpse the state I had been reduced to.
“My lord, is everything all right?” Justus’s voice was soft, but the smug undertone was unmistakable.
“Yes. I simply have much on my mind.”
“Shall I prepare a sleeping potion?”
“No. Rozemyne would be furious if she learned of it. She specifically insisted that I rest properly before tomorrow.”
“Ah yes,” he murmured, lips twitching. “My lady is… quite attuned to how you smell.”
“What exactly are you implying?” I asked, my tone sharp.
“Nothing!” he replied at once, feigning innocence. “I am merely glad you’ve found someone you cannot overrule when it comes to your health.”
“She is Aub,” I conceded.
“Indeed she is,” Justus remarked, eyes gleaming with amusement. “In that case, if not a potion, shall I fetch you some tea?”
“That would be acceptable.”
I seized the moment of Justus’s absence to cast Waschen over myself and the bedding, erasing all traces before he returned. By the time he stepped back into the room with a tray of tea and a small plate of cookies, I was seated on the bench as if nothing had happened.
They were the tea leaf cookies Rozemyne always sent me. Once, they had been my favorite indulgence. Tonight, they were nothing but another reminder of the feelings I tried and failed to set aside.
“That will be all. You may leave me for the night,” I said curtly.
“As you wish, my lord.” He inclined his head, then hesitated. “Before I go, perhaps this may aid Schlaftraum’s blessing.”
I turned to see him place something on my pillow, a small shumil, sewn of midnight-blue cloth.
“What is that?” My voice carried more steel than confusion.
“A gift from Lady Rozemyne,” he explained carefully. “She sent it before returning to the Academy, instructing me to give it to you… if ever I thought you missed her. I confess, I lacked the courage until now. But after watching you today, unable to take your eyes from her, I thought it might help.”
Heat rose in my chest, sharp and unwelcome. I fixed him with a glare that left no room for argument.
“Leave. Now.”
He bowed quickly, eyes cast down, and departed.
Left alone, I drew the canopy closed and lifted the little shumil into my hands. Its fabric was soft, and it carried the faint scent of her hair. Against my will, my arms tightened around it. I cursed Justus for keeping it from me so long… and cursed myself even more for the relief I felt.
That night, I slept more soundly than I had in years.