Veronica

Veronica (ヴェローニカ, Veroonika) is Sylvester's mother, and was the first wife of the previous Aub Ehrenfest.

She was in charge of a the most influential faction inside Ehrenfest in women's society which was in a power struggle with Elvira's Leisegang faction. She was powerful enough to manipulate things behind the scenes which caused a lot of friction within Ehrenfest nobles. She is very protective of her little brother the High Bishop Bezewanst and uses her power to protect him from any issues caused by his corruption and criminal activities.

When her first child Georgine was born, Veronica raised her to one day become the archduchess. As far as we know this did not change when Konstanze was born either. But once Sylvester was born, the sibling were forced into a fierce competition for leadership, which ultimately Sylvester won.

Traditionally the siblings that lose the run for succession are supposed to support and help their victorious sibling upon them taking over the post of archduke, but Georgine was so resentful and abusing to her younger brother that Veronica and her husband feared for Sylvester's safety and thus married her off to their southern neighbor Ahrensbach, even though it means she would only be the third wife - a rather low position for an archduke candidate.

When Ferdinand was brought into the family, Veronica immediately showed a great antipathy toward him, which over the years grew to outright abuse and paranoia. Despite how helpful and supportive he was to his half-brother Sylvester, Veronica still became convinced that he was plotting the downfall of everyone she holds dear and try to take over the duchy for himself. To escape her mistreatment Ferdinand renounced his position in noble society and joined the temple. While this stopped Veronica from directly interfering with him, it did little to disabuse her of her misconceptions and she remained very hostile to him.

Spoiler from Part 4 Volume 3 But it were not only Ferdinand who was a targets for Venorica's cruelty. Anyone related or affiliated with any of her own half-siblings found themselves constant targets of ridicule and harassment whenever she could get away with it. She displayed a particular hostility toward Elvira and her brother, almsot bringing their entire home-province of Haldenzel to ruin by using her brother's position as High Bishop to deny them Small Chalices for the Spring Prayer and pushing harsh taxes on them, leading Elvira to gather all the many people wronged by Veronica to form a counter-faction for their self protection.

She was also rather hostile to Sylvester's wife Florencia, practically forcing her to join Elvira's faction for protection and support, instead of trying to get her to join Veronica's own faction. When Sylvester and Florencia had their first child, Veronica personally took charge of the child's rearing, practically stealing the boy away from his mother, not believing that Florencia was skilled and dedicated enough to properly prepare Wilfried for his future position of archduke. His grandmother's coddling of the boy, as well as Sylvester setting him as his successor without the need to compete for the position caused Wilfried to become lazy and arrogant, running away from most of his lessons.

She is very close to her brother Bezewanst and always uses her great influence to cover for his misdeeds, even when they reach outright criminal degrees.

When Bezewanst had problems getting a foreign noble into the city in his plan to get rid of Myne, due to heightened security measures Veronica helps her brother by forging a permit with the archduke's personal seal.

This crime is considered outright treason to the archduke and duchy and could easily have led to a serious diplomatic incident with the Count's homeduchy of Ahrensbach, leaving Sylvester no choice but to severely punish his own mother. While she was spared the butcher's block due to her close relation with Sylvester, she was sentenced to imprisonment for life. She is now held in a secret tower in a luxurious room and treated well, but is forced to wear schtappe-sealing bracelets at all times.

When Georgine visits her former home duchy and is granted permission to see her mother under the condition to not say a single word, Veronica pleads to her to rescue her. It seems like she is unable to recognize the severity of her own crimes and is fully convinced that her imprisonment is solely due to Ferdinand's scheming. However Georgine holds true to her promise and does not utter even a single word before turning away and leaving.

During the following Harvest Festival Ehrenfest nobles conspiring to replace Sylvester with Georgine manipulate Wilfried into entering the tower and talking to his grandmother. Instead of realizing what a grave crime her grandson is committing just by talking to her and warning him away, Veronica tells him all her conspiracy theories about how Ferdinand and Myne are out to destroy the duchy and everything bad that happened is all their fault, leading to dire consequences for the boy.