Eglantine

Eglantine (エグランティーヌ, Egurantiinu) is a sixth year student at the Royal Academy and both the biological granddaugther and adopted daughter of Aub Klassenberg. Her biological father was the former third prince of the country, who died in the civil war, making her a princess, though few people know this.

With wavy golden hair and bright orange hair Eglantine is often compared to the Goddess of Light herself.

Eglantine is a very polite girl, usually reserved, but can become quite animate over the topic of art.

Having lost the entirety of her close family in the civil war, she wishes for nothing as much as peace and is willing to make great personal sacrifices to avoid another such tragedy from occuring again.

She was born the daughter of the third prince of the kingdom. During the civil war her entire family was wiped out when an assassin managed to poison the food, killing all the adults. The only reason why Eglantine alone survived was because at the time she hadn't yet been baptised and thus was still eating seperately from the adults in the children's room.

When this happaned, her grandfather quickly brought her back to Klassenberg and adopted her as his own daughter to protect her. He later came to regret this decision, believing he stole her birthright from her and pushes her to marry one of the princes to regain her original status.

According to Prince Anastasius she is expected to surpass her uncle, the current king, in mana capacity before she reaches adulthood and has more elemental affinities than him.

Due to her elegance and incredible skill in it, she was chosen to pray to the Goddess of Light at the Dedication Whirl of the Graduation Ceremony, one of the highest honours one can receive at the royal academy.

During the two years she and Lady Christine shared at the academy, the two got along very well due to their shared appreciation or art and attended many tea parties together.

When Prince Anastasius gave the usually unreasonable order to Rozemyne to compose a song dedicated to the Goddess of Light for Eglantine for their graduation at the end of the same winter, Eglantine was greatly impressed and deeply touched when Rozemyne, with the help of her personal musician Rosina started to compose the song right on the spot.

During a tea party with Rozemyne, Eglantine started to inquire about Rozemyne's experiences and work at the Ehrenfest temple. To Rozemyne's surprise Eglantine was not disgusted by Rozemyne's position, but praised Ehrenfest for making one of the archduke's children the High Bishop, stating that it used to be tradition for the children of the archduke to join in the spreading of mana throughout the duchy in spring and for one of them to hold the position of High Priest. She praises Ehrenfest to return to this tradition.

She also confides in Rozemyne that both Prince Anastasius and Prince Sigiswald have proposed to her and that she fears that marrying either of them might ignite another civil war. Having lost her entire family in the previous one, she craves peace far more than power and thus seeks a way to avoid having to marry into royalty, a position made all the harder by Aub Klassenberg's desire to return her status of royalty to her.

One of her ideas was to join the temple, but Rozemyne has to disappoint her by telling her that Rozemyne's own family plans to have her quit the temple to marry once she comes of age and that thus joining the temple won't be enough to avoid marriage.

Despite her plans being dashed, Eglantine still appreciates Rozemyne's honesty and advice and expresses a desire for them to become closer friends.

A few days after her tea party with Rozemyne she is invited by Anastasius. There the prince, following advice he received from Rozemyne, opens up completely to Eglantine and directly tells her that he never desired the throne, but only wants her and wants to make her happy. After this outpouring of emotions she agrees to accompany the prince to a social event that is generally frequented by those considering marriage with each other, giving a strong indication that she reciprocates Anastasius' romantic feelings. Upon learning that Anastasius forced Rozemyne into a meeting with him despite being ill, she chastizes him and together they write a letter of apology to Rozemyne.

Spoiler for Part 4 Volume 3

Upon Rozemyne's return to the Royal Academy after a short absence shortly before the interduchy tournament Prince Anastasius gifts Eglantine the hairpin and song he got from Rozemyne.

Eglantine invites Rozemyne to a tea party under the pretext of learning how to properly put on the ornament. At the meeting she inquires with Rozemyne whether Anastasius had forced any more unreasonable demands on her, but is asured that the hairpin was Rozemyne's idea to begin with. Eglantine also expresses her deep gratitude to Rozemyne for being the one to put the events in motion that allowed her to be escorted to her gratuation ceremony by the prince, stating that none of this ever would have happened without Rozemyne.

Apart from learning how to put the hairpin on and testing whether it will properly stay in place even while whirling, Rozemyne also stealthily sells Eglantine a jar of rinsham, something that is usually only ever done at the Royal Academy during the archduke conference.

Due to the lack of remaining time before the interduchy tournament Ehrenfest invites representatives of every duchy all to a single combined tea party. At this party Eglantine is happy to introduce Rozemyne to her circle of friends. When Detlinde treats Rozemyne badly and tried to leverage her status as a member of a higher ranked duchy to get her way, Eglantine comes to Rozemyne's aid and is part of exposing Detlinde's lies to everyone present.


 * Since she's wearing a red ring in the coloured illustration of Part 4 Volume 2 it is very likely her birthseason is winter.