Sylvester

Sylvester (ジルヴェスター Jiruvesutaa) is a character that appears in the Ascendance of a Bookworm series. He is the older half-brother of Ferdinand and an archnoble in Ehrenfest. He is also Aub Ehrenfest, the archduke of the Ehrenfest duchy.

History
Sylvester is the son of the previous Aub Ehrenfest and Veronica. He was raised to succeed Aub Ehrenfest, due to his large amount of mana, that caused internal fights among him and his sibling.

Ferdinand and Sylvester first met after Ferdinand's baptism. They have the same father but different mothers. Sylvester is six years older than Ferdinand and looked and cared for his younger half-brother.

Due to Ferdinand's harassment by Sylvester's mother, Sylvester told Ferdinand to join the temple to escape Veronica's harassment, which would remove him from the family's succession and keep him away from noble politics.

Personality
The opposite of his younger brother, Sylvester often acts impulsively, leading most people to think that he is younger than he actually is. He is a relentless teaser, but he can get serious in a heartbeat when needed. He is described to have a good heart deep down, although he acts like a spoiled child.

Spring Prayer and Tour
Sylvester is introduced to Myne as a blue priest who accompanies her and Ferdinand for the spring prayer. He took a keen interest in Myne and her surroundings and requests a tour through the orphanage and the Myne workshop. There he met Benno and talked with him in secret. He also demands a visit to the lower city's forest to hunt. He joined Lutz and Leon who are responsible to take him and the orphans to the forest. Dressed in the clothes Myne got for him, he departs with a bow in hand with the group. During the time in the forest he interacts actively with the orphans and asked them about Myne. Despite his child-like behavior, he is shown to take Myne's safety seriously when giving her a magical necklace for protection after parting their ways at the end of the forest trip.

Archduke Conference and Kidnapping
While Sylvester is away with Karstedt due to his responsibility as Aub Ehrenfest, Count Bindewald entered Ehrenfest with a forged permission from the High Bishop. A fight occurred in front of the High Priest's room. After Ferdinand stepped in and the fight almost ended, Sylvester made his appearance with Karstedt. He introduces himself as Aub Ehrenfest and acted as judge and listened to everyone's story. There he reveals that Myne is his adoptive daughter and took Count Bindewald and the High Bishop into custody.

Rozemyne's Baptism Ceremony
During Rozemyne's baptism ceremony, Sylvester surprisingly announces Rozemyne's adoption to all nobles in attendance and bestowing the role of the High Bishop to her until she comes of age. They sign a adoption contract which officially makes Rozemyne his adopted daughter. The ceremony finished and the after party begins. He comes up to Rozemyne with his wife Florencia and his first-born son Wilfried for an official introduction conducted by Karstedt.

Day of the Noble's Starbind Ceremony
Sylvester and his family have an early dinner together in the archduke's castle. Ferdinand and Rozemyne are present as well. His two unbaptized children Charlotte and Melchior are not allowed to participate. Rozemyne asks him about the details for visiting the Italian Restaurant, like which day to visit and other things. He proposes three days after the Starbind Ceremony as he will be busy resting the following day and seeing of the married couples the day after that. When everyone was seated he puts on his archduke act and begins the dinner and leads the conversation about the Starbind Ceremony. At the end of the dinner Charlotte and Melchior are brought into to wish each other a good night. That's the only time of a day he gets to interact with his unbaptized children.

Sylvester is in charge of reciting the tales during the Starbind Ceremony, while Rozemyne, present as High Bishop, gives the blessings. He is worried about her not bringing the bible, but she reassures him by explaining that she has everything memorized she needs for the ceremony. They sit together atop the altar, with Karstedt standing guard beside Sylvester, and talk about people they know before the Starbind Ceremony begins. Sylvester gives insight to why nobody approaches Ferdinand and tells her about Brigitte's circumstances. He is startled by her reaction and states that Brigitte's story is common in Noble Society. With the begin of the ceremony the couples lined up and Sylvester started to recite the tales. He had them all memorized. Finished with the recitation Sylvester calls each couple to step forth one after another, confirming their will to marry, and hand them a contract to sign. After all contracts have been signed Rozemyne steps forth and he whispers that she should overdo her blessings a bit, as he also wants to promote her being a saint.

Trivia

 * He is shown to be skilled at hunting, having killed 1 deer, 4 birds (one of which was mid-air) and several scavenging animals
 * He was so unfamiliar with the lives of commoners and orphans that, when hunting in the forest, he did not know how to wash his hands in the river and had to ask the orphans for help.
 * When Myne first finds out Sylvester is the archduke, she briefly becomes very worried about the future of the duchy.
 * He often wears a silver band to tie his hair.
 * Sylvester has two older sisters, Konstanze and Georgine, who married into other nearby duchies.


 * His oldest sister married the archduke of Ahrensbach, to the South. She had been raised to be Ehrenfest's next archduke, so when Sylvester turned out to have more mana she was forced to marry into another duchy in order to quell dissent about him becoming archduke. She was also the person whom her uncle, the former High Bishop, had been secretly communicating with, leading Rozemyne to the incorrect conclusion that there was a love affair going on.


 * His other older sister married the archduke of Frenbeltag, to the West. His wife, Florencia, is also the younger sister of Frenbeltag's archduke, which causes difficulty in either of them declining any requests from Frenbeltag since the ducal couple are both older siblings of theirs.