Aurelia/Story

Despite the political situation remaining mostly unchanged, Aub Ehrenfest eventually relents and agrees to allow the marriage between Aurelia and her beloved Lamprecht, as well as another pair. A major part of the argument that eventually managed to sway Aub Ehrenfest, was that the two brides would both marry into Ehrenfest, a great sacrifice for Ahrensbach during this time of mana shortage.

Spoiler from Part 4 Volume 5

But with the political situation staying as charged as ever, the two archdukes decided to forgoe the usual ways of inter-duchy marriages and instead hold a ceremony for the two pairs at the border-gate between the two duchies, with both archdukal families being present, officially on account of it being his own niece that is getting married.

While the respective guard knights of both duchies were clearly on edge during the entire affair, the ceremony nevertheless was finished without any incident on site. There was a minor attempt to ambush the arriving grey priests on the road toward the gate by members of the former Veronica faction, but due to everyone from Ehrenfest arriving via highbeast (even the non-nobles were taken through the air in Rozemyne's highbeast) the people at the ceremony didn't even learn of this failed ambush until after the end of proceedings.

So far Aurelia did not have any contact with members of the former Veronica faction and gave her new husband important insights into the source and the specifics of Ahrensbach's current crisis, which seems to indicate that in the struggles between factions she is more on the side of the Florencia faction. Despite these signs, Elvira still keeps Aurelia somewhat at arm's length due to the high stakes.

When Rozemyne and Elvira discuss the dying-technique competition, Elvira agrees to Rozemyne's suggestion to invite Aurelia.

Upon being informed of the invitation, Lamprecht states that if she wished it, he would even be willing to leave his parents estate and join the former Veronica faction for Aurelia, though since he fully believes that once Wilfried and Rozemyne marry, the two competing factions will merge peacefully and thus any falling-out with one or the other is only temporary.

On the way back from the tea party, Elvira's attetude toward Aurelia softens, since she recognizes that unlike Lady Gabriele back in the past, Aurelia's insistence on wearing a veil was not due to looking down on Ehrenfest's culture and thus being unwilling to assimilate. In the privacy of their coach Aurelia confesses that her face looks almost exactly like Gabriele and even shows her face for a moment so Elvira can judge for herself whether the veil really is so important. After seeing Aurelia's face, Elvira stops pressuring her into forgoing a veil and is satisfied with her wearing a veil in an Ehrenfest style.

After her warm interactions with Lady Rozemyne and her mother-in-law warming up to her, Aurelia makes the decision to join the Florencia faction. Once she receives the newly dyed cloth, Aurelia puts her all into embroidering the magic circles onto it, musing that she has nothing but time on her hands anyway. Despite others apparently feeling that she's locked inside her husband's mansion, Aurelia actully enjoys her peaceful reclusive life.

Her much more pleasant life now has led her to regard being forced into a career path she didn't wish for as a blessing in disguise, since it was only because of this that she was able to meet Lamprecht in the first place.

Come next winter socializing, Aurelia wears the new face-veil made in the style of Ehrenfest utilizing the newly re-discovered dyeing techniques of the duchy. This openly displays her association with the Florencia faction and greatly softens the hard stares she up to that point had to endure from many of the local nobles on the few occasions she left her home. Privately she is also quite happy to be able to wear something she considers to be cute, for which she had few opportunities in the past. She is very thankful to Rozemyne for suggesting this change in style.

Despite being mostly confined to a side building of Karstedt's estate and only allowed visitors carefully vetted by her new family, she still feels more freedom than in Ahrensbach, making Rozemyne wonder just how badly she was treated in her former home.

< Aurelia