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The Light Novel series is the source material for the adaptation of the Anime and Manga series. The information and terminology on the article will be based on the source material rather than the adaptions. |
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A woman’s wrath knows no bounds, and I don’t know what it will drive her to do. | ”
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— Damuel discussing Gloria in Part 2 Volume 3, Chapter 6: Punishment for the Knight’s Order and My Future
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Gloria (グローリエ, Guroorie) is the Viscountess of Dahldolf, a mednoble and first wife of Viscount Dahldolf.
She is the mother of Shikikoza, a former member of the Knight's Order who was executed for attacking Myne during the trombe extermination. After her son’s death, she came to bear a strong grudge against Myne.[2]
History
Gloria married the mednoble Viscount Dahldolf as a second wife, and the couple had a son named Shikikoza. However, the Viscount already planned to make his first wife’s son, Jeremias, his successor.
She plotted to have Jeremias disinherited. However, it became clear at a young age that Shikikoza had a very low mana capacity, barely equal to the average laynoble. The family faced the decision of whether to marry him to a laynoble family or send him to become a blue priest in the temple.
Because Gloria was on good terms with the High Bishop, she chose to send her son to the temple, where she secured preferential treatment for him.[3] She also used the opportunity to spend more time with the High Bishop, and, through him, form a connection with Veronica, the archduke’s mother.
Around the time of the civil war in the Sovereignty, the death of Jeremias’s mother led to Gloria becoming the first wife and taking the title “Viscountess Dahldolf.”
After the political purge and subsequent mana shortage, many of Ehrenfest’s nobles were called to the Sovereignty. To make up for the loss, Ehrenfest recalled many blue priests and shrine maidens back to the nobility, including Shikikoza. Shikikoza was granted the status of a mednoble and allowed to serve in the Knight's Order, and Gloria began planning once again to make him his father’s heir.
Some time later, Shikikoza participated in a trombe extermination as a knight, where he was assigned to guard Myne. However, he put his charge in danger due to his prejudice against commoners. He was later sentenced to death for going against orders.
Aub Ehrenfest signed an agreement with Viscount Dahldolf that pardoned the rest of his family from collective punishment in exchange for their promise never to approach Myne again, and half the cost of Myne's ceremonial robes.
Despite her best efforts, Gloria was unable to overturn her son's death sentence. However, she managed to spare Shikikoza’s reputation by having the official announcement altered to say that he had died in the line of duty, rather than been executed as a criminal.[2]
Gloria developed a strong grudge against Myne and Ferdinand, holding them personally responsible for her son's death. She holds great contempt for commoners, and considers it unjust that her son was be executed for harming someone lower in status.
Story
Part 3 Volume 4
After Shikikoza's execution, Gloria dedicates herself seeking revenge on Myne. Her options are limited by the magic contract signed by the nobles of Dahldolf, which prevents any member of the family from approaching Myne. However, she continues to look for a way to circumvent the contract.
When Rozemyne enters noble society, Gloria holds her in contempt and often slanders her reputation at tea parties and social gatherings.
As a member of the Veronica faction, Gloria is sympathetic to Georgine and is involved in plans to bring her back to Ehrenfest.[3] She informs Georgine that Rozemyne used to be a commoner, and explains that she was responsible for the death of Bezewanst, Georgine’s uncle. Later, she is complicit in plans for Charlotte's kidnapping and Rozemyne’s poisoning.
Part 4 Volume 9
Six years after Shikikoza's execution, Gloria tries to finally enact her revenge on Rozemyne. With the help of the blue priest Egmont, who's family are entirely under Dahldolf's influence, she is able to find out about Ferdinand and Rozemyne being absent from the temple for a visit at the Italian Restaurant and makes Egmont invite her to have a reason to enter the temple. To keep her visit as secret as possible, she has her coach driver pretend to be from the Plantin Company. Being well acquainted with the Plantin Company's driver and the general attitude of all their personnel, which stands in stark contrast to the dismissive behaviour the viscountess' driver displays, the gray priests guarding the gate are not fooled by this lie, prompting Gloria to show herself from the coaches window and personally order the gray priests to announce her arrival to Egmont, which they dutifully do.
Once the gate has been opened, Gloria restrains the four gray priests with magic and has them sent south by her driver, likely to later interrogate them about printing and paper-making. She then proceeds to meet with Egmont.
To gain his help for her plot, Gloria tells him how she intends to switch the high bishop's bible with an empty fake so that once the next ceremony comes up Rozemyne would be humiliated and surely dismissed from her position in the temple as a result, when it became known she has lost her bible. She promises that once this comes to pass, she will advocate for Egmont to become the new high bishop. She presents Egmont with a magic contract to make this promise binding, but secretly presents him with a double-layered parchment with a standard submission contract underneath. Egmont does not notice this duplicity and thus happily signs his freedom away and agrees to help her. Gloria gives him a magic ring, stating that it was a gift to commemorate them getting rid of Rozemyne and that he was now a true noble, since he could now make use of the mana within himself. In truth the ring was a trojan horse meant to give Gloria the ability to kill him at any moment of her choosing, or if certain conditions are triggered, effectively turning him into a devouring soldier without him even noticing. The ring carried Giebe Gerlach's crest, making it likely that he was the one who manufactured it and then gave it to Gloria.
Egmont's attendants manage to successfully distract and draw away all of Rozemyne's attendants, sneak into the high bishop's chambers through the servant access points and unlock in from inside, allowing Gloria and Egmont to enter. Once inside, Gloria uses a magic tool to make a fake bible that from the outside is indistinguishable from the original and registers the bible's key with her own mana. Unbeknownst to Egmont she also applies poison to the fake bible.
After her visit concludes, she sends her coach off to the south with the captured gray priests and flies to the Dahldolf winter estate in the noble's quarter on her highbeast.[4]
Once there, she has one of her attendants wrap the stolen bible in a piece of cloth bought from the Gilberta Company and brought to the castle to be sent to Ahrensbach, disguised as a gift for Ferdinand and Detlinde's wedding.
Just a relatively short time later Rozemyne, Ferdinand and their retainers arrive at the estate to apprehend Gloria, apparently having discovered her plot. Knowing that by her actions she has already doomed herself and unwilling to even attempt to beg for mercy, Gloria quickly scribbles a note re-stating her loathing for Rozemyne and taunting her that she will find it very difficult to find what was stolen. Rather than allowing herself to be captured alive and have her memories searched, she first executes her two present female attendants by exploding their heads and then does the same to herself, committing suicide, before Rozemyne and Ferdinand's knights can get to her.[5]
Trivia
- She is one of only a few nobles who know that Rozemyne is a commoner.
References
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm. Part 2 Volume 4. Prologue
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Ascendance of a Bookworm. Part 2 Volume 3 Chapter 6: Punishment for the Knight’s Order and My Future
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Ascendance of a Bookworm. Part 3 Volume 4. Epilogue
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm. Part 4 Volume 9. Chapter 9: New Perspectives
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm. Part 4 Volume 9. Chapter 10: Viscount Dahldolf's Estate