Veronica

This Article is based on the Official Translations of the Light Novel series! 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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“	Even when a woman asks your opinion, know that her heart is already set on something. She simply wants you to agree with her, so she will only be disappointed if you pick or compliment something other than her preference.	”
— Veronica's advice to her grandson Wilfried, Royal Academy Stories - First Year

Veronica
Name
Katakana:	ヴェローニカ
Romaji:	Veroonika
English Name:	Veronica
Debuts
Light Novel:	Part 3 Volume 4
Physical Characteristics
Gender:	Female
Hair:	Blond
Eyes:	Green
Location
Country:	Yurgenschmidt
Duchy:	Ehrenfest
City/ Province:	Ehrenfest City
Personal and Professional
Alive?:	Alive
Faction:	Veronica (Leader)
Status:	Archnoble Archducal Family
Education:	Royal Academy
Occupation	Prisoner Aub's First Wife (Former)
Dislikes:	Ferdinand Florencia Liesegang Nobles
Family members
Father:	First Count Groschel (Deceased)
Mother:	Gabriele (Deceased)
Brother(s):	Bezewanst (Deceased) Unnamed Older Brother (Deceased) Bonifatius (In-Law)
Sister(s):	Irmhilde (In-Law, Deceased)
Spouse(s):	Adelbert (Deceased)
Daughter(s):	Georgine (Deceased) Constanze Florencia (In-Law)
Son(s):	Sylvester Aub Frenbeltag (In-Law) Aub Ahrensbach (In-Law)
Offspring:	Wilfried (Grandson) Rozemyne (Granddaughter, Adoptive) Charlotte (Granddaughter) Melchior (Grandson) Henrietta (Granddaughter) Wolfram (Grandson, Deceased) Detlinde (Granddaughter) Rudiger (Grandson) Alstede (Granddaughter) Benedikta (Great-Granddaugher)
Uncle(s):	Fifth Aub Ehrenfest
Relatives:	Elvira (Niece) Claudio (Nephew)

Veronica (ヴェローニカ, Veroonika) was formerly the first wife of Adelbert, the sixth Aub Ehrenfest. She is the mother of Georgine, Constanze and Sylvester.

Personality

Perhaps due to witnessing various misfortunes befalling her mother and brothers, Veronica is awfully neurotic, self-centered and paranoid. She takes great pride in her Ahrensbach lineage due to her mother's influence. She is also extremely possessive, not allowing Adelbert to marry second and third wives despite the political necessity.

Veronica is the living embodiment of favouritism and nepotism -- spoiling people in her favour rotten while being outright cruel towards those that aren't. She would pamper people she likes so much, such that she turned a blind eye towards Sylvester and Wilfried's bratty behaviour, and even connived at Bezewanst's various crimes over the years. On the other hand, she would relentlessly bully and oppress those that she viewed as a threat, regardless of they are actually antagonistic or not.

To make matters worse, Veronica is outrageously delusional in a self-serving manner. She truly believed that Florencia seduced Sylvester for ulterior motives, and that Ferdinand was plotting to take Sylvester's position. Even after being imprisoned, she never repented for any of her countless crimes. Instead, she victimized herself and blamed it as Ferdinand and Rozemyne's conspiracy. She is also delusional enough to believe that Georgine would save her, despite the fact that Georgine clearly viewed her in contempt during her visit.

History

Veronica's political faction was the most powerful and influential in Ehrenfest. It was in a power struggle with both the older Leisegang faction and Elvira's Florencia faction. She was powerful enough to manipulate things behind the scenes, which caused a lot of friction within Ehrenfest nobles. She was very protective of her little brother, the former High Bishop Bezewanst, and used her power to protect him from any issues caused by his corruption and criminal activities.

When her first child Georgine was born, Veronica began a brutal training regime to prepare her for the position of archduchess from an early age and regularly beat her as part of the education, so she wouldn't lose to her cousin Karstedt. Upon the birth of her second child, Veronica openly showed her disappointment at having just "another girl" and neglected Constanze almost completely. However, when her third child Sylvester was a born a boy, she endlessly doted on the boy. Whenever Georgine scolded her younger brother for not working as hard as she had been forced to at his age, Veronica would scold Georgine and make her apologize to Sylvester. Likewise she would reprimand anyone else, except Rihyarda, if they voiced any criticism of Sylvester, causing the boy to became a spoiled brat and fostering envy and hostility in Georgine for her brother.

When her parents made it clear to Georgine, that she would never become the Aub and they expected her only to support her brother, Georgine once again tried to educate the boy and turn him into a worthy successor, but since she considered the brutal methods that Veronica used on her as normal, this was perceived as bullying by Sylvester and many of the duchy's nobles.

At Sylvester's baptism, Veronica loudly declared before the entire nobility of Ehrenfest, that he would be the next archduke, despite the current Aub not having made any such decision. But to keep up the impression of a united front within the archduke's family, Adelbert refrained from contradicting her right there and then. Rumors of Georgine dropping out of the competition for the Aub's seat soon reached her fiancé's family and they canceled the engagement. When Georgine went to complain and beg her parent to do something about it, Veronica immediately shot her down, stating that there was no need for a foreign archduke candidate to marry into Ehrenfest to Georgine, since she'll never be Aub anyway and instead she should put her efforts into marrying into a higher ranked duchy's archduke family to better support Sylvester.

Not long after, Veronica and her husband discover, that Georgine had began to build a power base and make noble give their names to her in the shadows, while carefully spreading rumours about Sylvester to undermine him. Disappointed that their she would work against her brother, rather than supporting him, they prepared to marry her off into another duchy. Veronica reached out to her relatives in Ahrensbach and eventually managed to arrange for Georgine to become Aub Ahrensbach's third wife. The girl was very unhappy with the prospect of having to marry a man as old as her own father and being forced to leave her home, but Veronica wouldn't hear any of it and just scolded her about how lucky she was to marry in the archducal family of a greater duchy and that she should be thankful to her mother for arranging such a beneficial match.

At a dinner soon after, Sylvester falls victim to an assassination attempt, utilizing the very same kind of poison, that Veronica herself often used in the past to rid herself of perceived enemies and obstacles. While Veronica herself is frozen in terror, one of her retainers immediately springs into action and administers an antidote, barely saving the boy's life.

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 held dear and plotting to take over the duchy for himself. While her husband was still in relatively good health, he prevented things from going too far, resulting in Veronica only antagonizing and bullying Ferdinand, but as Adelbert's health declined, Veronica's abuse grew ever worse, eventually escalating to outright assassination attempts, as Adelbert was lying on his deathbed. 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.

However, Ferdinand was not the only target for Veronica'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, almost 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 by imposing harsh taxes on them, leading Elvira to gather all the 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, claiming that Florencia was not skilled or dedicated enough to properly prepare Wilfried for his future position of archduke. His grandmother's coddling of the boy, as well as Sylvester designating 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.

After he married Florencia, Veronica was very insistent that Sylvester take a second wife, but he stoutly refused. This was the first open sign of defiance that he ever showed to his mother, even leading to some nobles thinking that Veronica's influence might wane, though that did not happen.

Likely due to the girl's close resemblance to her mother Florencia, Veronica was very harsh to Charlotte, though thankfully she didn't go so far as to outright bully her granddaughter, like she did with so many other people, including her own half-siblings, their descendants, and Florencia herself.

Story

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 have easily led to a serious diplomatic incident with the Count's home duchy 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 Ivory 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 how everything bad that happened is all their fault, leading to dire consequences for the boy.

Trivia

• According to the Fanbook 2, Veronica is the "one married woman" in Ehrenfest that Ferdinand mentioned had enough mana to match his. It's unknown whether this still holds true after Ferdinand learned the Rozemyne Mana Compression Method.
• Whenever Wilfried voiced his disinterest in fashion to his grandmother, it triggered a lengthy rant from Veronica, or "blabber on for what felt like an eternity" as Wilfried put it.