Wilfried

Wilfried (ヴィルフリート Virufuriito) is the first-born child of Sylvester and Florencia and an archduke candidate of Ehrenfest. He is the older brother of Charlotte and Melchior, and the adoptive older brother of Rozemyne.

Wilfried has dark green eyes and light gold hair that tends to stick up in the front. Other than the color of his hair, he bears a strong resemblance to his father, Sylvester.

As a child, Wilfried has a kind heart, but is irresponsible and childish. Although he is expected to become the next Aub Ehrenfest, he does not take his responsibilities seriously and often runs away from his retainers and tutors. In spite of his poor work ethic, he has a good memory and is a fast learner.

After his carefree attitude almost costs him his position as an archduke candidate, Wilfried’s attitude changes dramatically and he begins to take his studies seriously. The lesson is later reinforced when he loses the right of succession and is forced to take on some of his adoptive sister Rozemyne’s responsibilities.

Having become more mature, Wilfried now works hard to keep up with the expectations of his position. While he’s often exasperated by Rozemyne’s antics, he sees it as his responsibility to watch out for her and ensure that she acts in the best interests of Ehrenfest.

Wilfried was born as the first-born son of Sylvester, the archduke of Ehrenfest, and his first wife Florencia. Although most duchies operate on a meritocratic system to decide the best candidate for the next archduke, Sylvester changed the method of succession. Because he didn't want his own children to be driven apart by the fight for the archduke title like he and his oldest sister Georgine were, Sylvester decreed Wilfried as his successor the moment it was clear he had the necessary mana capacity for the position.

Determined to raise the next Aub, Sylvester's mother Veronica used her influence to take custody of Wilfried and raised him away from his mother, Florencia. As a result, Wilfried rarely saw his mother except during meals, and he felt a strong familial affection for Veronica, his grandmother.

Although Veronica claimed she would raise Wilfried properly, she gave him a free rein. He grew up spoiled and irresponsible, often ran away from his lessons, and soon fell behind in his studies as a result. His retainers were reluctant to reprimand him because they feared losing their position as servants to the next archduke. Even after he was baptized at age seven, Wilfried had trouble reading, was unable to do simple math, and could not play the harspiel, all important skills that noble children are expected to learn.

However, his parents were slow to realize the severity of Wilfried’s situation, since Veronica had reduced their contact with their son to a minimum.

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Oswald - Wilfried's head attendant

Isidore

Lamprecht - One of Wilfried's longest-serving guard knights, and a son of Karstedt.

Ignaz

Spoiler from Part 4 Volume 4
 * As per family tradition, Wilfried's highbeast takes the shape of a winged lion.
 * Wilfried has six elemental affinities. His strongest affinity is water, which makes his mana appear pale green.
 * Wilfried styled his schtappe to have a grip looking like a lion's head with the shaft coming out of the maw. He also added a crest that is currently quite popular at the Royal Academy. His schtappe only has these ornamentations in it's basic wand-shape, but do not carry over when he transforms it into a specialized tool like messer.


 * As a child, his free time began at fifth bell and continued until dinner time. That changed once Rozemyne's studying schedule for him was put in place.
 * During his free time he visited his unbaptised siblings or practiced his swordplay if he was allowed.