Characters / Ascendance of a Bookworm - Ehrenfest Nobles

Ascendance of a Bookworm Main Character Index
Myne | Ferdinand
Commoners and Temple Members | Nobles (Ehrenfest (Archducal Family))

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WARNING: Several characters in this section have a connection to Rozemyne and/or Ferdinand that spoils the end of Part 2 (The Apprentice Shrine Maiden arc and Season 3 of the anime), including some of those who were introduced before that point. One of the characters below is also Freida's contractor. Several categorizations and descriptions are going to be spoilers in themselves.

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Ehrenfest Duchy

Archducal Family

This page was getting crowded, so they have been moved to their own estate.

Archnobles

House Linkberg

Karstedt

Karstedt

Debut: Part 2 (Volume 2)

Voiced by: Kenji Hamada (Japanese, Drama CD 1+), Toshiyuki Morikawa (Japanese, Anime and Drama CD 3+), Bill Butts (English, Anime)

A 37-year-old archnoble who's the commander of the Knight's Order. He thus also serves as the personal guard of Ehrenfest's archduke.

As one of the few nobles Ferdinand trusts, he spends some time being Myne's prospective adoptive father before winding up passing Rozemyne off as his own Sent Into Hiding biological daughter to cover up her commoner origins.

His father is the older brother of Sylvester and Ferdinand's, making him the two's older cousin, while his mother was a daughter of House Leisegang. Before Sylvester's birth, Karstedt and his younger half-brother were also raised as archduke candidates due the lack of male heirs.

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• Action Dad: Karstedt is an accomplished knight who has raised three sons that are part of the Knight's Order as well. That makes him this to Rozemyne, as well.
• Big Eater: Karstedt loves good food and eats quite a lot. He visits the Italian restaurant at the start of Part 3 and notes how he could keep eating the fluffy bread without ever feeling filled.
• Bodyguarding a Badass: Downplayed. As an archnoble and commander of the Knight's Order, Karstedt is no slouch either compared to his liege. He's also a definite case of doing double duty as a Cloudcuckoolander's Minder.
• Chekhov's Gunman: He doesn't have much of a role the first time he appears, but he later helps Myne in a big way by accepting to become her adoptive father to allow her access to noble privileges, and later her official biological father when she needs to change identities.
• Childhood Friends: Played with. Given the great trust and closeness he shares with both Sylvester and Ferdinand it is obvious that they had known each other since long ago, as it turns out they are both his much younger paternal cousins.
• Clashing Cousins: As is later revealed, Karstedt used to be an archduke candidate. As Veronica first gave birth to two daughters and her husband was in frail health, Georgine was raised to rival Karstedt. Once Sylvester was born, Karstedt was demoted to an archnoble.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: He's one of the few people who can get away with voicing his true thoughts to Sylvester, so he's in a "keeping Sylvester in check" tag-team with Ferdinand.
• Colonel Badass: Karstedt is the commander of the Knight's Order, though he may leave the authority to Ferdinand, if he accompanies the order in missions. It's implied that he is like A Father to His Men.
• The Confidant: Since Karstedt is one of the few people Ferdinand can trust, he often discusses matters with him privately.
• Cultured Warrior: As is expected of an archnoble, Karstedt displays a number of cultural talents. Like all nobles, he can play the harspiel instrument, though he is much better at his flute. As shown in Part 2 Volume 3, he can also elegantly perform sword dances.
• Frontline General: He is generally leading his order from the front.
• Heroic Neutral: Karstedt is a man who doesn't care much about politics and tries to avoid trouble if he can. However, he does get involved with Myne because Ferdinand asked him for help. His neutrality is the reason why he is annoyed about his marriage with Elvira, as it was arranged to protect Elvira from Veronica. Since Karstedt didn't want to keep dealing with Veronica's harassment now that he was no longer an archduke candidate, he ended up marrying Veronica's attendant, Trudeliede, and another mednoble from her faction, Rozemary, which did not sit well with Elvira and is one of the reasons why their relationship is strained when Rozemyne enters his family.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Karstedt is in his late thirties, while Ferdinand is in his early twenties, so they are practically one generation apart. His son, Eckhart, attended the Royal Academy with Ferdinand and is much closer in age to him.
• The Kirk: Of the trio he forms with Ferdinand and Sylvester. He holds the position somewhat by default due to Ferdinand having the cold rationality fit for The Spock and Sylvester's "in private" personality having the level of impulse control expected of The McCoy. In practice, he's just as likely to join Ferdinand in teaching Sylvester a little discipline as he is to join Sylvester in lecturing Ferdinand on about how hard he's being on someone else.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Karstedt is of high status, honorable, valiant, reliable, and utterly loyal to the archduke. Ferdinand and Sylvester trust him more than anything, and Myne quickly warms up to the idea of him becoming her adoptive father during the period for which it's considered. When Rozemyne offically becomes his biological daughter, he and his family welcome her with open arms and treat her with love.
• Papa Wolf: He is very concerned about Rozemyne, which is why he often invites Brigitte to his room to give him her report on how Rozemyne is doing. Brigitte interprets this as a father who is concerned about his daughter, who has to live away from her family.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He realizes that Damuel and Shikza failing to protect Myne after being ordered to do so is a big deal even though Myne is a commoner, and accepts that part of the fault lies with him picking the wrong people for the job. Later on, he values Damuel's opinion and is aware how important he is to Rozemyne, which is why he rejects Bonifatius' suggestion to replace Damuel eventually.
• Secret-Keeper:
  • Karstedt is fully aware of Myne's Past-Life Memories from another world. As he's pretending to be Rozemyne's father, he naturally also knows who her real biological parents are.
  • The fact that Damuel benefitted from Myne's last blessing and, as a result, his mana is still growing when it should have stopped doing so, is a special case in that he's hiding it from Sylvester and Ferdinand. Sylvester because it would be ripe bullying material (because he didn't get the blessing and is a little jealous of those who did). Ferdinand because he's so coldly pragmatic that he tends to easily hand over information that can convince a teasing-mood Sylvester to bother anybody else besides him or Myne (on account of the latter's bad health).
• Shipper on Deck: Sylvester may be the one who first joked about Ferdinand and Myne getting married, but Karstedt is the one who watched the two people joked about interact and decided that the idea wasn't that farfetched.
• Worthy Opponent: Georgine regarded him as such back when he still was an archduke candidate and one of her goals was beating him fair and square.

Elvira

Elvira

Debut: Part 2 (Volume 3)

Voiced by: Masumi Asano (Drama CD 2+), Kikuko Inoue (Drama CD 6+)

Karstedt's 36-year-old first wife and the matriarch of the house. She is the mother of Karstedt's three oldest children Eckhart, Lamprecht, and Cornelius. After being told the Sent Into Hiding cover story about Rozemyne, she accepts to pass her off as her daughter due to potential problems attached to her alleged real parentage and have a hand in raising her alongside Florencia.

Elvira is a trained scholar. In Part 4, she is given charge of the printing industry and cooperates with the Plantin Company to spread it throughout Ehrenfest.

Elvira's grandmother was a daughter of House Leisegang and her mother is Veronica's older half-sister. Her older brother is the current giebe of Haldenzel. She's also cooperating with Florencia as co-leader of the noblewoman faction that is in direct opposition to Lady Veronica's faction, and is an influential member of the Leisegang faction.

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• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Elvira is an accomplished author and writes a lot of love stories based on real relationships, though she changes the names and a few details a bit to make it not too obvious. She then prints the stories and sells them to her faction. This is why Lamprecht and Cornelius have no intention to tell their mother or Rozemyne more details about their love lives, as they fear that their mother will publish them in a book.
• Connected All Along: Ever wondered what happened to Veronica and Bezewanst's Wicked Stepmother from House Leisegang? It turns out that she and Elvira's maternal grandmother are one and the same, making Elvira's mother one of Veronica and Bezewanst's half-siblings.
• Cool Big Sis: A bonus manga that comes with the second Short Story Collection shows that Florencia sees Elvira as a reliable older sister and sometimes even as a mother figure.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Elvira and her eldest son Eckhart are briefly seen talking to Ferdinand in Part 2. They properly meet Rozemyne at the beginning of Part 3.
• Excellent Judge of Character: Elvira generally has a good eye for picking the right allies. She thoroughly investigates the people she or her family associate with, often subjecting them to a Secret Test of Character (such as when she told the Plantin Company to keep a secret, even from Rozemyne). She readily accepts Rozemyne as her daughter and the people she assigns to Rozemyne like Ottilie (and by association Hartmut) are people Rozemyne can trust. She thus does not object to Rozemyne taking children of neutral nobles like Philine and Judithe as her retainers after confirming that their loyalty to Rozemyne is genuine.
• Fangirl: She adores Ferdinand and very likely likes him more than her own husband. This may have something to do with the fact that he acknowledges and respects her abilities and decisions. They also both had to suffer under Lady Veronica, so Ferdinand is like a kindred spirit to her.
• The Fashionista: Being fashionable and setting trends is one of her duties as an archnoble. She is quite happy to have a girl in her family with whom she can discuss these things, which is why she quickly warms up to Rozemyne being her daughter.
• A Father to His Men: She cares about the noblewomen in her faction and takes great interest in protecting them, which is evident in the way she treats Brigitte by frequently inviting her to tea parties, protecting her as a guardian from her ex-fiancé and supporting Brigitte's romantic relationship with Damuel. When things don't work out between them, Elvira offers to find a suitable husband for Brigitte, in accordance to Brigitte's own wishes. Though the way Viscount Illgner sees it, Elvira only supports Brigitte's own wishes because she deems Brigitte unfit for Rozemyne and this would be a clean way to relieve Brigitte of her services.
• Good Stepmother: She acts as Rozemyne's mother officially. Contrary to Karstedt's fears, she readily accepts Rozemyne as her new adoptive child and treats her very well. Ferdinand's frequent visits probably have a hand in this, and there is also the fact that she only has sons and never had the joy of raising a daughter. It helps that Rozemyne is well-mannered, intelligent, learns quickly, has great amounts of mana, knows about fashion and beauty care, and she brought a chef that could make trend-setting sweets. Elvira isn't as wicked as Karstedt thinks, he is just a bit biased because she sided against his beloved third wife.
  
  Part 5 Volume 6 goes into detail what she feels for Rozemyne and why: Elvira almost crossed the Despair Event Horizon, as her family was in a dire state after Sylvester's father died and Veronica became more and more oppressive. Haldenzel was starving, Eckhart lost his wife, unborn child, and master, Cornelius grew apathetic and lazy, and Veronica and Trudeliede were plotting to make Nikolaus Karstedt's heir. But suddenly Veronica was overthrown and Ferdinand and Eckhart could return. Karstedt would spend more time at home and their relationship improved, Cornelius started getting serious with his studies (to help Angelica and protect Rozemyne), Rozemyne's trends broke the Veronica faction and won over the noblewomen, and she later also saved Lamprecht's reputation when she saved Wilfried. On top of all that, printing gave Elvira the opportunity to become a romance novelist. Elvira feels endless gratitude and fully views Rozemyne as her daughter, even if she never can show this in public.
• Gossipy Hens: Elvira frequently holds tea parties, where the women exchange the latest rumors. It's actually part of Elvira and Florencia's information network, which is why Elvira, for instance, knows that Philine is absolutely trustworthy even before Rozemyne can tell her mother about her.
• Jerkass Has a Point: It seems strange how Elvira, who was neutral, decided to support Karstedt's second wife, Trudeliede, despite Trudeliede being from the opposing faction, against Karstedt's third wife Rozemary and her family. However, this is justified because she needed to act as a balancing factor against her husband, who was clearly siding with his favorite wife. Rozemary's mednoble family didn't know their place and opposed an archnoble family. This conflict almost tore apart Karstedt's family and could have badly influenced the archduke and the duchy itself, so Elvira had to act. Ferdinand thinks that her behavior makes perfect sense, but Karstedt is initially too biased to accept this.
• Kindness Button: Ferdinand. Elvira's mood lightens whenever he is around, and she always enjoys talking to him.
• Mama Bear: She does worry a lot about Rozemyne, even if she doesn't express it much.
  • In Part 3 Volume 5, she sends Ferdinand a list of nobles that are part of Georgine's faction, who are dangerous to Rozemyne. She also is furious when Rozemyne is almost killed in a kidnapping/assassination attempt on her at the end of Part 3. She only stays calm because Ferdinand promised her that Rozemyne will recover.
  • She is one of the people who thoroughly investigate and select Rozemyne's retainers. For instance, at the start of Part 3, she asks Cornelius, her own son, and Ottilie, her friend, to look after Rozemyne. When Rozemyne later wants to tell her about Philine and Judithe, Elvira notifies her that she already knows they are trustworthy people.
• The Matchmaker: One of Elvira's duties as a faction leader is to find suitable partners for her people. This is what she does for Brigitte after it's deemed impossible for her and Damuel to marry.
• Perpetual Smiler: A master of this and Emotion Suppression, Elvira never reveals her feelings and hides it with a smile. She shows her real emotions and cries for the first time in Rozemyne's presence in their Secret Room in Part 5 Volume 6. Even if she can never show this, she is endlessly worried about her children and very sad to see Rozemyne and Cornelius leave Ehrenfest.
• Proper Lady: Rozemyne is encouraged to use Elvira as an example of how a proper noble lady needs to act.
• Secret Secret-Keeper: Ferdinand and Karstedt think they successfully made Elvira believe that Rozemyne is Karstedt's third wife, Rozemary's, child, but she isn't actually buying it at all. It's later revealed that she instantly saw through their lies and knew Rozemyne was commoner-born from the start, but played along because she knew it must have been important if Ferdinand and Sylvester were involved. Rozemyne helped eliminate Veronica, Ferdinand personally asked for help, and Ferdinand and Eckhart could return to noble society. That is why she was willing to accept Rozemyne as her daughter when she was asked.
• Shipper on Deck: She supports Damuel and Brigitte getting together, touched by the romantic feelings they have for each other. She is also very invested in her children's love lives, to the point that she is more interested in the romantic aspect of the engagement between Eckhart and Angelica than either of them actually are.
• Silk Hiding Steel: There is a lot more to her than what she is willing to show to people. It's worth noting that Karstedt frequently spends time at the Knight's Order or acts as the personal guard of Archduke Ehrenfest, and the one who has to manage Karstedt's family then is Elvira. She also leads the noblewomen faction that directly opposes Lady Veronica.
• Unwanted Spouse: Karstedt never made it a secret that he isn't exactly happy with his Arranged Marriage with Elvira. They have an icy relationship, though Veronica's fall and Rozemyne's presence help mend old wounds. By Part 4, it's more than evident that their relationship has improved considerably for the people close to them to plainly see it.
• invokedWrite What You Know: In-Universe example. Elvira picks up love rumors and stories like no other and then prints books about them. She changes some details and the names of course, but anyone who knows about the stories will instantly recognize the characters.

Eckhart

Eckhart

Debut: Part 2 (Volume 3)

Voiced by: Yūsuke Kobayashi (Anime and Drama CD 4+)

Karstedt and Elvira's oldest son, an 18-year-old member of the Knight's Order. As a widower who has yet to recover from his wife's death, he divides his time between training recruits, doing paperwork and being Ferdinand's bodyguard when he's needed.

After he gains Rozemyne as a younger sister, that last job tends to concretely mean being an extra adult knight in her entourage.

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• Adaptational Early Appearance: A bonus episode set between Seasons 1 and 2 of the anime puts his assignment to help Justus get information about Myne in its proper chronological place, resulting in him debuting before Karstedt does.
• Aloof Big Brother: Eckhart is an exceptional knight, but he is very distant to all of his siblings, probably due to his fanatical devotion to Ferdinand. In the few scenes he is seen alone with his brothers, he gives both of them Brutally Honest advice. What lets him bond with Rozemyne is mostly their shared concern for Ferdinand.
• Big Eater: Rozemyne notes in Part 3 Volume 3 that Eckhart is as much of an eater as Karstedt.
• Birds of a Feather: He comes to respect and appreciate Angelica as she too is a knight who is absolutely devoted towards her master.
• Bodyguarding a Badass: The same downplayed case as his father. His mana is comparable to Karstedt's, but the person he's expected to protect is Ferdinand. This is acknowledged when he becomes Ferdinand's bodyguard on a permanent basis again and remains the sole member of his security detail precisely because Ferdinand can take care of himself. Rozemyne, by comparison, was assigned a total of four guards on account of her physical weakness.
• Broken Ace: Eckhart is an exceptionally skilled knight, but all he cares about is serving Ferdinand. The death of his wife has left him broken, and he has sworn off romance. And deep inside him is an anger towards Veronica and her faction, after his wife Heidemarie died to poison. When Karstedt mentions in Part 3 Volume 2 that Eckhart only wants to serve Ferdinand and therefore wouldn't want to serve Wilfried, he is only telling half the truth. Karstedt didn't let Eckhart guard Wilfried, because he could have tried to find an opportunity to assassinate Veronica.
• Combat Pragmatist: As is shown in a side story from Angelica's point of view, Eckhart isn't afraid to use feints and sneak attacks to win. He also can resort to Good Old Fisticuffs as he was taught by Bonifatius.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Downplayed. He is astounded how quickly Ferdinand warmed up to Rozemyne and how deeply he trusts her, when it took him much longer to earn Ferdinand's trust.
• Fanboy: He's almost as bad as his mother when it comes to Ferdinand, complete with being one of the people who owns all three printed illustrations from the concert. One of his younger brothers even gets the impression that he likes Ferdinand more than their own father.
• Genius Bruiser: Eckhart is a strong knight, but he is also perfectly capable of paperwork. Rozemyne frequently sees him working in Ferdinand's room in the temple after Ferdinand rejoins noble society.
• The Mourning After: Eckhart was already married, but his wife Heidemarie passed away some time before Rozemyne met him. He is still mourning her, which is why he isn't interested in looking for a new wife.Though later on he gets engaged to Angelica, as his grandfather wished for her, his favourite student, to become a member of his family.
• Practically Different Generations: With Rozemyne. He's much closer to an extra guardian than a sibling to her.
• Psycho Supporter: Somewhat. Eckhart is prone to go for Murder Is the Best Solution if anyone threatens his master. His loyalty to Ferdinand is undisputable, but Ferdinand warns Rozemyne that a loyal retainer like Hartmut can be very useful... or terrible if left unattended. He has experienced this with Eckhart in the past.
  • His reaction to hearing about the Hasse incident makes him come across as overly eager to execute those responsible. In a room that also contains Ferdinand, who is the only one who knows the spell used for for the type of execution planned, and Justus, who later turns out to have been looking forward at seeing the aforementioned spell being perfomed for the first time.
  • In the past, after losing Heidemarie, he was plotting to kill Veronica when it became apparent that Ferdinand would have to go to the temple. Later in Part 4 Volume 8 and 9, he wants to kill the king, who gave Ferdinand the order to go to Ahrensbach and marry. In the Part 4 Volume 8 epilogue chapter from his perspective, it's made clear that he thinks everyone who opposes Ferdinand should die, and that he wouldn't care about the fallout of the deaths if he was allowed to go through with them.
  • A short story that was published in the first short story collection mentions that the reason he didn't become Wilfried's guard after Ferdinand joined the temple wasn't lack of will on his part, but Karstedt refusing because he knew he wanted to use the position to get close enough to Veronica to kill her.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red oni to Justus' blue oni. Eckhart is zealous, serious and strict, while Justus is more relaxed and accommodating.
• Remember the New Guy?: Justified. Eckhart secretly investigated Myne together with Justus at the end of Part 1 for Ferdinand, which is only briefly alluded to when Benno told Lutz that some suspicious people have asked about her. As a high-ranking member of the Knight's Order, Eckhart was also part of the squad that was sent to exterminate the trombe in Part 2 Volume 2, but Rozemyne didn't recognize him in Part 3 because his helmet hid his face.
• Secret Secret-Keeper: Ferdinand asked him to guard Justus while the latter gathered information about Myne back when she applied to be a blue shrine maiden. Because of this, Eckhart knows who Rozemyne is from the first moment they properly meet. While preparing for his first proper trip in her company, he graduates to a proper Secret-Keeper.
• Shipper on Deck: Much later in the story he starts to ship Ferdinand and Rozemyne. Eckhart realizes how important Rozemyne has become to Ferdinand after he, Ferdinand, and Justus leave Ehrenfest for Ahrensbach. Rozemyne disappears for multiple weeks in her fourth year at the Academy, and her absence makes Ferdinand endlessly worry. He also shuts up Cornelius, who insists that Rozemyne shouldn't ride a highbeast together with Ferdinand, as people will surely interpret it as them being lovers.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Eckhart is said to look like a young Karstedt, except he didn't grow a mustache and his hair color is closer to his mother's.
• Undying Loyalty: Ferdinand joining the temple wasn't enough for Eckhart to resign as his bodyguard. His father suggested to find a new master (like Wilfried), but Eckhart refused everyone. He is waiting for the day Ferdinand returns to noble society, so he can serve as his guard once more. His wish comes true in Part 3 Volume 4.

Lamprecht

Lamprecht

Debut: Part 3 (Volume 1)

Voiced by: Kazuki Narumi (Drama CD 2)

Karstedt and Elvira's second oldest son, a 16-year-old member of the Knight's Order. He's Wilfried's bodyguard and hence has a significant portion of his place in noble society riding on his charge staying Sylvester's heir. Unfortunately, he lacks his father's assertiveness and finds himself on the receiving end of Ditch the Bodyguards on a regular basis.

The love of his life is both from another duchy and three years younger than him, so he's waiting for her to enter adulthood when first introduced.

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• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: He is supposed to be one to Wilfried, but is not nearly as successful as his father was with Sylvester. When Wilfried and Rozemyne trade places for one day, he gets humiliated and Crushed by Ferdinand for failing to raise his charge properly.
• Conflicting Loyalty: As Karstedt and Elvira's son, Lamprecht is part of the Leisegang faction, but as Wilfried's guard knight, he also leans towards the former Veronica faction. His wife, Aurelia, is the niece of Aub Ahrensbach, which overall puts him once again in a difficult political position.
• Everybody Hates Mathematics: He does at least. When he finds himself needing to do paperwork usually handled by Rozemyne and Damuel because Wilfried is spending a day in the temple in Rozemyne's place, he struggles with it.
• Happily Married: Having seen the troubles of his parents' marriage, Lamprecht resolved to never make the same mistakes as his father and always treat his future wife with the love and respect that she deserves. He even prioritizes her happiness over what would be more political sensible for him as a Leisegang noble... Luckily for him, his marriage ends up being a very happy one.
• Lazy Bum: Lamprecht is probably the laziest of Karstedt's sons.
  • As Wilfried's head guard, he is supposed to keep an eye on his master and make sure he receives a proper education, but Wilfried always manages to Ditch the Bodyguards, and Lamprecht doesn't seem to mind too much, since Wilfried's position as the future aub is not in danger. Ferdinand calls him out for this, and his behavior only changes when Wilfried is threatened with disinherison if he fails his assignments and winter debut.
  • In a side story that plays after Rozemyne and Wilfried's Swapped Roles day in Part 3 Volume 2, Lamprecht contemplates serving Rozemyne instead. Karstedt talks him out of it, as serving Rozemyne means indirectly serving Ferdinand, since they lend out each other's attendants and retainers all the time. Both train their retainers and attendants mercilessly and their expectations are so high, that they will quickly cut anyone off that cannot meet their demands. Lamprecht would not know how to handle this.
  • In Part 4, when it's decided that Lamprecht is allowed to marry Aurelia, Elvira warns him of the still ongoing faction war and that he has a duty to protect his wife, which means he needs to prepare things to make her stay in Ehrenfest comfortable and integrate her into the noble society of their duchy. Lamprecht largely ignores how serious and precise Elvira's advice is, while relying on the hope that Wilfried and Rozemyne's engagement will smooth the conflict between factions. Meanwhile, Aurelia refuses to take off her veil, since she is very self-conscious about her face. This causes Elvira, who is worried about her family and correctly suspects Aurelia was sent to Ehrenfest to spy, begins to view Aurelia negatively. Lamprecht doesn't do much to sort out this misunderstanding and it's only because of Rozemyne's innocence and good-heartedness that Aurelia opens up and decides to join Florencia's faction.
• Nice Guy: He is very amiable and has a relaxed demenaour. Even if he is the older brother who has spent the least amount of time with Rozemyne, he thinks very highly of her and praises her achievements and efforts. He proudly tells Aurelia all the things Rozemyne did not only for the orphans but for Wilfried's sake as well.
• Opportunistic Bastard: Downplayed, but Lamprecht's loyalty tends to lean towards whoever is in power.
  • In a side story that plays after Rozemyne and Wilfried's Swapped Roles day in Part 3 Volume 2, when he is given the opportunity to leave Wilfried's service, he briefly considers quitting and instead switching to Rozemyne. He is called out for this by Eckhart, who says his behavior resembles more that of med- and laynobles.
  • In Part 4 Volume 5, he gets married to Aurelia, an archnoble from Ahrensbach. Since Wilfried is engaged to Rozemyne at that point already, Lamprecht believes that the two factions would eventually merge. As he doesn't want to trouble Aurelia, he considers switching to the former Veronica faction, if it's what she would like and it would make her in Ehrenfest life easier. His wife talks him out of it after Rozemyne and Elvira show her a way to integrate into noble society without having to reveal her face.
• Remember the New Guy?: A minor case. As a high-ranking member of the Knight's Order, Lamprecht was part of the squad that was sent to exterminate the trombe in Part 2 Volume 2, but Rozemyne didn't recognize him in Part 3 because his helmet hid his face.
• Shipper with an Agenda: One of his reasons for liking the idea of Wilfried and Rozemyne getting married is that it makes his political position much simpler. If Rozemyne is seen as a competitor to Wilfried for the archduke position, the Leisegang faction will support Rozemyne because she's officially a blood relative to its namesake family, while Veronica's faction will support Wilfried, which would put Lamprecht in a Conflicting Loyalty situation. If Rozemyne marries Wilfried and acts as his sidekick, being both Wilfried's guard and Rozemyne's older brother is much less of a problem.
• Starcrossed Lovers: As is revealed in Part 4, Lamprecht didn't have the necessary mana to be accepted by the parents of the girl he is courting. When he managed to increase it thanks to Rozemyne's mana compression method, the other problem was that the girl is an archnoble from Ahrensbach (specifically Aub Ahrensbach's niece), forcing his parents to refuse because of the ongoing tension between Ehrenfest and Ahrensbach. He gets his wish in Part 4 Volume 5, after Aub Ahrensbach imposes the marriage on Sylvester.
• Token Good Teammate: Downplayed. Most of Wilfried's retainers were chosen by Veronica from her own faction, but Lamprecht is part of the Leisegang faction.
• Yes-Man: Lamprecht only compliments Wilfried at the beginning and doesn't put much of an effort to force him to study. This changes after Rozemyne and Ferdinand admonish Lamprecht and his fellow retainers for doing so and threaten to make Sylvester disinherit Wilfried if he doesn't make any progress.

Cornelius

Cornelius

Debut: Part 3 (Volume 1)

Voiced by: Natsu Yorita (Drama CD 1+), Seiichirō Yamashita (Drama CD 3+)

Karstedt and Elvira's youngest son, an 11-year-old apprentice of the Knight's Order. He is at first not happy to learn that he has a half-sister who was raised in the temple and would soon live with him in his family's estate. He is even less enthusiastic when he learns that Archduke Ehrenfest would adopt her, and his mother forces him to become Rozemyne's guard in the Noble's Quarter. However, he soon warms up to his little sister and is determined to keep protecting her.

He's young enough for his last two years at the Royal Academy to overlap with Rozemyne's two first in Part 4.

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• Being Personal Isn't Professional: While on official guard duty, Cornelius will act like a strict retainer and keep his respectful and subservient distance to Rozemyne, which is why he always addresses her as "Lady Rozemyne" publicly. Privately, he is more relaxed and treats her like an older brother would treat his little sister.
• Big Brother Instinct: He initially only agrees to guard Rozemyne on the condition that he will be allowed to quit once she is old enough to be enrolled into the Royal Academy and choose her own retainers. Seeing how fragile his little sister is, he gets overprotective of her and later searches for reasons to keep being Rozemyne's knight, which for Lamprecht is proof enough that he has no intention to leave her side.
  • He is vehemently against Hartmut becoming Rozemyne's retainer, due to Hartmut's fanaticism. However, he quickly changes his opinion when Rozemyne starts thinking about taking in children that belong to the former Veronica faction.
  • Aware of Rozemyne's naivety and her willingness to bond with her siblings, he warns her to stay away from Nikolaus, their half-brother, mostly because his mother Trudeliede cannot be trusted.
  • In the second half of Part 5, he constantly protests that Rozemyne and Ferdinand act too intimately, which would damage her reputation. Even after he figures out that Rozemyne has become Ferdinand's fiancée and that she doesn't mind marrying him, he still frequently warns her not to go too far until they are married.
• Big Brother Worship: Despite Cornelius' accomplishments, he does not view himself as great after seeing the difference between himself and Eckhart. Although he doesn't like Eckhart's fanaticism, he acknowledges how much more experienced and alert Eckhart is, which he looks up to to eventually protect his sister as well as Eckhart protects Ferdinand.
• Brilliant, but Lazy:
  • Elvira used to complain that he only did the bare minimum of what is expected of an archnoble at the Royal Academy, but the reason for his laziness was that he didn't want to stand out too much, as he had no desire to serve the archducal family like his father and brothers do. Part 3 Volume 4 proves that he can be an excellent student with the right motivation. Said motivation being an exclusive sweets recipe, if he manages to help Angelica pass her exams.
  • In the two years that pass between Part 3 and Part 4, Cornelius has worked hard to become a guard knight who can protect Rozemyne. Elvira is quite proud of how devoted Cornelius is to his little sister. When Rozemyne enters the Academy, Cornelius is noted to be one of the top students in his year.
• Character Development: Cornelius develops in a way where he initially is more influenced by Lamprecht, but as the years pass takes more after Eckhart. When Rozemyne enters his life, he is noted to be lazy (or at least very unmotivated), but after spending time with Rozemyne and being faced with his failures, he changes in a way that makes him want to dedicate his life to protecting his little sister. When Rozemyne enters the Royal Academy, Eckhart warns him to not become complacent and idle, as his responsibilities at the Royal Academy will increase, while he has no other adult knight to consult with. Cornelius takes it to heart. In fact, Leonore started developing feelings for Cornelius after seeing him working hard for his sister's sake.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder:
  • Despite being younger, Cornelius is practically Angelica's caretaker, who makes sure she doesn't fail her subjects. He knows how lazy and empty-headed she is, which is why he supervises her whenever he can. Rozemyne learns that one of the reasons why Cornelius' grades have so dramatically improved is that he practically studies one year ahead to teach Angelica and make sure she doesn't fail again.
  • Having grown accustomed to Rozemyne, he is one of the few people that make sure his bibliophile sister isn't acting out of line or causing too much trouble for everyone else at the Royal Academy.
• Covert Pervert: He can't help but stare when he sees Rozemyne's head placed right between Brigitte's very big breasts.
  Rozemyne: (thinking) ...I see you there, Cornelius. I know you're of a spry young age, dear brother, but don't stare at us all slack-jawed. Learn from Damuel and politely avert your gaze.
• Cultured Warrior: Cornelius performs in the sword dance at his graduation. He also can actually draw pretty well, even if he claims that he cannot.
• Hidden Depths: He can be quite a romantic. His private moments with Leonore reveal a much softer side of his.
• Jack of All Trades: Cornelius is strong, fast, has superior mana and is not unintelligent. However, Angelica is faster, Damuel has more efficient and precise control (and a very good scholar), Leonore is the better strategist and has more knowledge, and Eckhart is battle-proven and experienced. In Part 4 Volume 9, Cornelius bemoans that he doesn't excel at anything in particular, but Leonore assures him that being good at everything is a quality in itself.
• My Greatest Failure: Every time Rozemyne collapses, he blames himself for failing his duty, which is the reason for his overprotectiveness. It happens twice in Part 3 Volume 1, once when he wants to take her to his family's book room, and again at Rozemyne's baptism. At the end of Part 3, he is so greatly depressed for averting his eyes for a moment, which led to Rozemyne being abducted and poisoned, that he can't find any sleep and Elvira allows him to eat his beloved tanieh cream to cheer him up.
• Secret-Keeper: His side chapter shows him being told by Elvira that Rozemyne is Rozemary's daughter, so he's aware of the official secret about Rozemyne's origins.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: After becoming Rozemyne's guard knight, Cornelius becomes a diligent, strong, and loyal retainer. This differentiates him from Lamprecht, who is notoriously lackadaisical and whose loyalty is a bit flimsy, but also from Eckhart, whose loyalty to his master is too extreme and dangerous.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Rozemyne notes that Cornelius looks quite a lot like Elvira, though as he gets older he starts to resemble Karstedt more.
• Sweet Tooth: He has a fondness for sweets. In Part 3 Volume 3, Rozemyne offers to give him a recipe for tanieh (chestnut-like) cream, if he helps Angelica with her tests, which he enjoys so much that his mother forbids him from eating it without her permission.
• Took a Level in Badass: Cornelius was probably already Karstedt's most talented son, but by the time Rozemyne attends the Royal Academy, thanks to her compression method, Cornelius has already reached the mana levels of his father.

Retainers

Rihyarda

Rihyarda

Debut: Part 3 (Volume 1)

Voiced by: Kumiko Nakane (Drama CD 1+), Kiyoko Miyazawa (Drama CD 3+)

A 60-year-old noble attendant who is assigned to be Rozemyne's head attendant during her stay in the Noble's Quarter. She manages the castle's attendants together with Norbert. In the past, Rihyarda tutored Karstedt and later on became Sylvester's wet nurse and head attendant. She also seems to have had a hand in raising Ferdinand, as she still addresses him informally and seems to be the only person he cannot deal with.

She is later assigned to attend Wilfried whenever Rozemyne is not in the Noble's Quarter and becomes Rozemyne's chosen adult retainer during her stay at the Royal Academy.

Rihyarda is the granddaughter of the third Aub Ehrenfest. She has several children and grandchildren. One of the former, Justus, is a scholar who faithfully serves Ferdinand.

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• Apron Matron: For the Ehrenfest archduke's castle. She's old enough to be the mother or grandmother of many of the retainers who work there and all of them know they are in deep trouble if they have made her angry. She has also known the trio of Karstedt, Sylvester, and Ferdinand since they were children, so she's more of a maternal figure than an attendant to them. It's to the point that when Rozemyne tells Hirschur that she needs the permission of the six most powerful people in Ehrenfest to learn the Rozemyne mana compression method, Hirschur correctly guesses five of them (Sylvester, Florencia, Karstedt, Elvira and Ferdinand) and considers Rihyarda as a possibility for the sixth. To put that in perspective, Hirschur's other idea for person number six is Bonifatius, who is the previous holder of Karstedt's position and the former archduke's older brother.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder:
  • She seems to have had that role towards Sylvester in the past, as he was prone to running away when he didn't want to study.
  • She makes sure Rozemyne properly eats, stays healthy and doesn't try to do anything reckless. If Rozemyne is too distracted reading a book, she will just take the book away, no discussion, which is why she is assigned as Rozemyne's attendant at the Royal Academy. However, Rihyarda notes at the beginning of Part 4 that she hasn't spent much time with Rozemyne and just followed Ferdinand's advice, which is why she considers herself a third-rate attendant for Rozemyne. She doesn't understand Rozemyne's motives and thought process like Lutz, Benno, Fran, or Ferdinand do (who know much more about Rozemyne's past and have spent years with her), which is why she struggles to stop Rozemyne from doing something she isn't supposed to do, nor can she assist and advise Rozemyne in her endeavors. She considers Rozemyne her most challenging master, since Rozemyne behaves so much differently than all other nobles she served before.
• Honest Advisor: Her status as an archnoble with blood ties to the archducal family allows her to be this, which is why she is valued as an attendant. She will make sure her wards are not slacking off and will kick out any retainer who is not doing their job properly.
• Loyal to the Position: She is loyal to the archducal house. Rihyarda's loyalty isn't exactly personal, she serves whoever she is ordered to serve by the archduke. For instance, she has attended both Georgine and Sylvester in the past, and now she is serving Rozemyne. Traugott misunderstands this and assumes that he could just switch masters willy-nilly, which is why he is not attached to Rozemyne. In Part 5 Volume 4 she asks Rozemyne to let her return to Sylvester's side after Sylvester conducted a purge of the former Veronica faction and is short on retainers.
• Mama Bear: Rihyarda is really protective of her wards. She gets very angry when she sees the bedridden Rozemyne for the first time, thinking that Ferdinand pushed her too far.
• Meaningful Name: Her name is a female version of "Richard", which is derived from the Old High German words for "rich" and "strong".
• Never Mess with Granny:
  • She isn't usually very harsh towards Rozemyne, but that's mostly because Rozemyne is very well-behaved and smart, so Rihyarda doesn't have to lecture her much. However, she is probably the only one who can talk down to Sylvester and Ferdinand, the archduke and his half-brother respectively, and get away with it. Seeing Wilfried's poor education and that he is surrounded by retainers who spoil him makes her furious.
  • In Part 4, she is absolutely livid when she realizes that Traugott does not respect Rozemyne as his mistress and has no intention to serve her. She recommends to him to quit before he is dismissed, and when he refuses to do so, reports to Rozemyne and arranges a meeting to discuss Traugott's punishment. She even suggests to Rozemyne to strip Traugott of his status as a noble and send him to the temple, though Rozemyne refuses.
• Old Retainer: Including Rozemyne, Rihyarda has served four generations of the archducal family. Amongst the people she served is the trio of Karstedt, Sylvester, and Ferdinand since they were children. Sylvester specifically tasked her to attend Rozemyne because he completely trusts her.
• Parental Substitute: Her present-day interactions with Ferdinand indicate that she's more of a mother to him than Veronica ever was. She goes as far as refusing to stop treating him like a child until he gets married. And not only him, but in Georgine own words Rihyarda was more of a mother to her than Veronica ever was. Georgine considers Rihyarda to be the only person, besides Bezenwanst, to have given her more love and real care than her own parents ever did.
• Secret Secret-Keeper: She has known Karstedt, Sylvester, and Ferdinand since they were toddlers, so it didn't take her long to figure out that Rozemyne isn't actually Karstedt's daughter.
• Servile Snarker: Rihyarda is prone to snarking if she is in a particularly bad mood. She is actually really angry when she sees in what state Wilfried's education is and doesn't miss a single opportunity to chew out his retainers or Sylvester.
  Rihyarda: My my! Are you saying [Wilfried] cannot even write the alphabet yet?! Should I take that to mean he is merely a math prodigy, with all his talent resting in numbers?

Norbert

Norbert

Debut: Part 3 (Volume 1)

Norbert is an archnoble that manages the castle's attendants together with Rihyarda. He is also blood-related to the archducal family and his elder sister's daughter, Hirschur, serves as the Dorm Supervisor of Ehrenfest at the Royal Academy.

Before Sylvester was born, he served Karstedt as his head attendant.

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• High-Class Glass: Just like his niece does, he also wears a monocle. It compliments his prim and proper appearance as the person in charge of the castle attendants.
• Old Retainer: He has served the archducal family since long ago. To Rozemyne his appearance is very "butler-esque".

Justus

Justus

Debut: Part 3 (Volume 2)

Voiced by: Junji Majima (Drama CD 2), Toshihiko Seki (Anime and Drama CD 4+)

Rihyarda's 32-year-old son, who is Ferdinand's personal attendant and scholar, and unofficially acts as his personal spy. He's Rozemyne's match in terms of hunger for information and is much less reluctant than her to get his hands dirty to obtain it.

The information he collects unfortunately tends to be stored in his mind in a jumbled mess that only Ferdinand is able to convert into a form that is both useful and comprehensible to anybody else. He frequently tags along with Rozemyne on trips that require any of his talents.

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• Adaptational Early Appearance: A bonus episode set between Seasons 1 and 2 of the anime puts his assignment to gather information about Myne in its proper chronological place, resulting in him debuting before several nobles that the novel introduces before him.
• Admiring the Abomination: If the abomination is something he hasn't seen before, this will definitely happen.
• Badass Bookworm: He has gained decent combat experience because of his love of gathering materials and now considers that he's at least good enough to protect himself.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Justus is usually very easygoing and often acts as Plucky Comic Relief in the story, due to his silly interactions with Ferdinand and Rozemyne, but there are indications that he can be very scary when things get serious.
  • As easygoing as he usually is, he makes a serious face and warns Rozemyne that she shouldn't mention to anyone how easy it is to bribe her with books in public.
  • In Part 4 Volume 3, Traugott learns the hard way that Justus is more than he appears, when Justus is assigned as his attendant after the former left Rozemyne's services. Before this happened, Traugott only ever heard complaints about Justus from his mother (Justus' sister) and Rihyarda. Not only can Justus physically overwhelm Traugott easily, he finds Traugott's stupidity so aggravating that he threatens to kill Traugott if he doesn't fix his behavior.
• The Bore: He has odd ideas about what constitutes interesting trivia, to the point that many people end up drained if they have to listen to it for too long. Rozemyne is one of the few people who actually finds it interesting, at some point asking Justus to blurt out a bunch of trivia about the Royal Academy's library to keep her awake, which actually works.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Justus is quite eccentric and can be terribly annoying to Ferdinand and Rozemyne, but the fact that he is working for Ferdinand as his attendant, scholar and spy is a testament to his competence, and he was able to flawlessly keep the printing business going during Rozemyne's absence.
• Childhood Friends: Subverted. He is the same age as Georgine, and he and his sister Gudrun used to play with Georgine, as the children of Georgine's head attendant. However, unlike Gudrun, Justus refused to become Georgine's retainer and deliberately chose the attendant course instead of the scholar course, which infuriated Georgine, who thought he wanted to serve the newly born Sylvester.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder:
  • He acts as one to Eckhart. Eckhart is often in a Suppressed Rage state and when he is near his Rage Breaking Point, Justus tries to calm him down.
  • In Part 4 Volume 3, Justus is assigned to attend his nephew Traugott, after Traugott resigned as Rozemyne's guard knight. However, Justus isn't really attending Traugott, he just makes sure Traugott behaves, since the latter caused a lot of trouble and irreversible damage to his family. Justus was sent to assist Rozemyne and gather information, re-educating Traugott is the least of his priorities.
• Constantly Curious: Similar to Sylvester, he asks barrages of questions like a kid if he finds something he deems interesting. For instance, Rozemyne has to tell him to shut up because he can't stop asking her questions about her highbeast, which distracts her too much while driving.
• Creepy Crossdresser: A downplayed "played for weirdness" variant. If his willingness to make use of Disguised in Drag to gather information is commented on in-universe at all, it's treated as one of his bigger quirks. One such instance comes from Rozemyne herself, who changes from not wanting him in the orphanage without Ferdinand around to not wanting him inside it at all after he seriously offers to cross-dress to be able to enter the girl's building of the orphanage alone without making the adult shrine maidens uneasy.
• Disappeared Dad: Justus was married to a woman who was part of the Veronica faction. He divorced her after he became Ferdinand's retainer. Justus also has a son with his ex-wife, but since he didn't attend his baptism as his father, he officially is still without child.
• Fanboy: It's well-hidden by his general quirkiness and the more pragmatic reasons he has to like working for Ferdinand, but it doesn't change the fact he purchased all three of the concert's illustrations of him.
• Gender-Concealing Voice: He can make his voice sound feminine to make his Disguised in Drag more realistic.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: The fact that he manages to be this to Ferdinand, of all people, shows how competent he truly is.
• Loon with a Heart of Gold: He's one of the few members of the cast able to match Rozemyne in terms of weirdness, but also lacks any real sense of superiority towards commoners due to often needing to blend in as one for his spy work:
  • Upon finding out that the merchant in possession of the first book Myne ever saw got cheated out of money by a noble, he genuinely feels bad for the man and regrets not being able to buy the book from him at its true value because of he and Eckhart were sent out with a limited amount of money by noble standards.
  • When he messes up paper from Rozemyne's workshop and gets yelled at for it by Lutz, he responds by both compensating for the lost money with his own and bribing the supervisors to not tell Ferdinand.
• Master of Disguise: He often acts as Ferdinand's spy, which sometimes requires him to disguise himself as a commoner, and he occasionally even disguises himself as a woman. That includes being able to change his voice to sound feminine.
• Mellow Fellow: Downplayed. Justus is generally more relaxed and easygoing than Eckhart. As he spent some time with commoners, he is more understanding of them and their customs. However, if he finds something interesting, he will get very excited about it.
• Motor Mouth: In addition to what he says not being particularly interesting, what other people don't like about Justus is that he constantly talks and never shuts up.
• Nightmare Fetishist: As long as he finds something interesting, he will come to love it. For instance, unlike Rozemyne, who is abhorred, he reacts with delight when Ferdinand uses his authority as a member of the archducal family to use magic that turns the traitors of Hasse to stone and shatter them. He eagerly wishes to accompany Rozemyne more often, as she would eventually have to use this spell too.
• The Nondescript: Enough of his features are common or within the average that he can easily disappear into a crowd.
• Older Than They Look: For all his generic traits, he's actually a little below average in terms of height. He also remains clean-shaven, look androgynous enough to qualify for Attractive Bent-Gender and has a demeanor that leans on the childish side by noble character standards. Between those elements, it's hard to tell that he's supposed to be around a decade older than both Ferdinand and Eckhart. The few in-story reminders of his actual age consist almost entirely of mentions of him already having been an adult when Ferdinand entered the Royal Academy.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He can sew, which is usually something only women do. It's a skill he requires for his disguises.
• Reasonable Authority Figure:
  • Justus takes Rozemyne's background in consideration and is very understanding when he is briefed about what happened in Hasse and why. He is also a lot more pragmatic about Hasse's punishment and agrees with Rozemyne's idea to increase their taxes to squeeze them dry compared to Eckhart's opinion that Murder Is the Best Solution.
  • At the end of Part 3, he is called to the temple to help the workshop with paperwork, as Ferdinand cannot handle it alone anymore. While visiting the workshop, he damages unfinished paper sheets, which gets him a harsh admonition from Lutz. Instead of being offended, he shrugs it off and quickly pays for the paper he damaged, though Fritz calmly threatening to report this to Ferdinand may have played a role in this.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue oni to Eckhart's red oni. Eckhart is zealous, serious and strict, while Justus is more relaxed and accommodating.
• Secret-Keeper:
  • He knows who Rozemyne really is due to having investigated her for Ferdinand as Myne. His time as a Secret Secret-Keeper is much shorter than Eckhart's, as the latter spent more than a volume pretending to buy that Rozemyne is his younger sister, while Justus is revealed as knowing the secret within a chapter of being introduced.
  • Justus is one of the few people who are aware that Ferdinand made a name stone that is still in Ehrenfest. In Part 5 Volume 8, he asks Rozemyne to claim Ferdinand's name to keep him alive with her mana.
• Seeker Archetype: Justus is a man who has an endless thirst for knowledge and picks up any information he can find. The only one who seemingly can make sense and use of this information he gathers is Ferdinand, which is why Justus happily serves him.
• The Social Expert: As is necessary for his work as a spy, he can easily fit in in an unknown environment. It doesn't take him long to make the orphans in the workshop get more comfortable around him, due to his amenable personality despite being an archnoble.
• Strong Family Resemblance: He actually does look a lot like Rihyarda. When putting on his female disguise, he is said to look almost just like his sister, Gudrun, and Rozemyne thinks that there are two Rihyardas around when he and his mother start arguing.
• Undying Loyalty: Justus was assigned to Ferdinand shortly after the latter's baptism, but he eventually became one of the only retainers Ferdinand kept and trusts. Like Eckhart, Justus offered his name to Ferdinand. It's also the reason why he is no longer married, since his ex-wife is part of the former Veronica faction.

Ottilie

Ottilie

Debut: Part 3 (Volume 1)

Elvira's same-aged friend and a noble attendant. By the time Rozemyne is baptized, all of her children are old enough to attend the Royal Academy, which is why Elvira asked Ottilie to look after Rozemyne in the castle once she is adopted by Sylvester.

Ottilie is part of Elvira's and Florencia's faction of noblewomen. Her husband is Count Leisegang's half-brother, Leberecht, with whom she has three sons. Her youngest son, Hartmut, later becomes Rozemyne's retainer.

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• Character Focus: Downplayed. Ottilie is largely a background character and doesn't play a relevant role in the story besides being Hartmut's mother. However, starting in Part 5 Volume 4 she is asked to look after Clarissa in the castle and becomes Rozemyne's head attendant after Rihyarda asked to return to Sylvester's side. Ottilie accompanies Rozemyne to the Academy during the Archduke Conference and remains her head attendant until Rozemyne leaves Ehrenfest.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Ottilie is very concerned about Hartmut's fanatical views of Rozemyne and curbs his enthusiasm as long as she can. In fact, she did not recommend her son to Rozemyne on purpose because she feared Hartmut might go overboard. She later has to keep an eye on Clarissa, too. When both Hartmut and Clarissa offer their names to Rozemyne, Ottilie resignedly offers to stand as witness and even tells Rozemyne that it would be better to accept to keep them under control.
• Love-Obstructing Parents: Subverted. She clearly doesn't like Hartmut's engagement to Clarissa, mainly because they both are Rozemyne fanatics, but since they are both adults, she doesn't oppose this.

Leberecht

Leberecht

Debut: Part 5 (Volume 4)

An archscholar who is Otillie's husband and the father of their three sons. As he is also the half-brother of the current Count Leisegang and Leonore's mother, he is a member of the faction that opposed Veronica.

He works as one of Florencia's retainers and is noted to be very competent.

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• Strong Family Resemblance: He looks like an older Hartmut.
• Undying Loyalty: He is very loyal and devoted to his mistress. He has succesfully protected Florencia's first wife status by preventing Sylvester from taking a second wife and always directed Veronica's anger at Ferdinand, so as to protect Florencia from her. He also plans with his mistress to go against his own family and faction to weaken their influence.

Oswald

Oswald

Debut: Part 3 (Volume 2)

Wilfried's 30-year-old head attendant who was selected by Lady Veronica and initially trusted by Florencia to counter Veronica's extreme doting on Wilfried. Since he is also related to the archducal bloodline he has the status to correct his charge's behaviour.

The fact that Wilfried had already been selected as heir instead resulted in neither Oswald nor any of his fellow attendants punishing or restricting Wilfried in any meaningful way. It was only when his position came under threat due to Wilfried's shortcomings becoming visible between his baptism and his winter debut that Oswald began to become serious about his work.

Oswald's deceased father was Sylvester's head attendant at the Royal Academy.

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• Anti-Mentor: Oswald is so incredibly incompetent at his job, it's a miracle that he managed to not get fired. Although in Part 5, Florencia eventually forces Oswald to resign (or else be dismissed) after Charlotte told her mother what a bad advisor and mentor he is to Wilfried.
  • He initially doesn't raise Wilfried properly to the point that Wilfried almost commits political suicide twice within two years after his baptism.
  • In Part 4 and 5, it doesn't get better. Oswald needlessly antagonizes both Charlotte and Rozemyne, as well as their retainers by badly advising Wilfried. For instance, he advises Wilfried to order Brunhilde around and prepare for the tea party Wilfried is supposed to attend in Rozemyne's place, which infuriates Brunhilde. He also later demands from Rozemyne and Charlotte to let Wilfried take credit for their achievements, something that may be common practice in Ahrensbach and for Veronica, but is frowned upon in Ehrenfest, which is the last thing Wilfried should do to win over the Leisegang faction.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: He should be Wilfried's main one, but as Sylvester has already stated that Wilfried will be his heir, Oswald doesn't feel any need to correct his charge's behavior.
• Improperly Paranoid: Zig-zagged. Oswald deeply distrusts Rozemyne, constantly thinking that she plots to become the next aub, which he should have realized is not the case considering Rozemyne saved Wilfried from disinherison or worse twice in Part 3 alone. He is very displeased that Charlotte and Rozemyne do not give Wilfried the support he expects them to give and Rozemyne's continued achievements in the Royal Academy lead to him suggesting to cancel Rozemyne's adoption contract to demote her back to an archnoble. His behavior towards Rozemyne's retainers is also extremely arrogant and repugnant, since most of them are part of the Leisegang faction, whom he doesn't trust. To be fair, he is absolutely right to suspect House Leisegang, who aim to make Rozemyne the next aub. It's Oswald's mentoring and antagonism that lead to Wilfried's increasing unpopularity, though.
• Undying Loyalty: Understandably to Wilfried, but in general to Veronica and her faction. He is a former attendant of Veronica's and even gave Veronica his name. His plan is to eventually revive the former Veronica faction with Wilfried at its center. Even after his dismissal, he speaks ill of Rozemyne in favor of Wilfried.
• Yes-Man: The Yes-Man in chief. He just tries to please Wilfried and his grandmother, as he was selected by Veronica and initially didn't fear losing his position, since Sylvester decided to make his first-born his heir.

Royal Academy students

Brunhilde

Brunhilde

Debut: Part 3 (Volume 3)

Voiced by: Natsu Yorita (Drama CD 2), Manaka Iwami (Drama CD 3+)

The oldest daughter of Giebe Groschel and his first wife, who is two years older than Rozemyne and first meets her at Rozemyne's first winter socializing. They later meet again when Rozemyne enters the Royal Academy and recruits Brunhilde as one of her noble attendants.

As her father's heir presumptive, Brunhilde is eager to do things that will make her province prosper and help her a as future Giebe. She also wishes to make Ehrenfest's new trends popular within the Royal Academy and make other duchies stop looking down on Ehrenfest.

Brunhilde is descended from the Leisegang daughter that regained her first wife status after the first Count Groschel's wife from Ahrensbach's archducal house passed away, thus making her family a part of the Leisegang faction. She also has a sister, Bertilde, who is five years younger than her.

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• Adoptive Peer Parent: Eventually in Part 5 after the birth of her half-brother she is no longer guaranteed the position of the next Giebe Groschel, so Brunhilde decides to propose to Sylvester and becomes engaged as his future second wife. By the time this happens, she and a couple of her future husband's children from his first marriage have overlapped at the Royal Academy, something that usually means an age gap of five years at most, even if the existing age gap is in Brunhilde's favor. While the setting doesn't seem to give wives many rights on each other's children by default, stepmother situations have been shown to arise if a woman with at least one child dies or is otherwise unable to raise her offspring.
• Childhood Friends: As they are relatives, she has known and been close friends with Leonore since she was very young. She has also known Hartmut and Cornelius since childhood.
• Early-Bird Cameo: She makes a brief appearance in Part 3 Volume 3, where she is introduced as Giebe Groschel's daughter who takes an interest in the books Rozemyne's workshop have produced. Her name is first revealed in Part 4 when Rozemyne enters the Royal Academy.
• Family Theme Naming: Both she and her younger sister have names that start with a "B" and end with "ilde".
• The Fashionista: Similar to Elvira, she focuses a lot on setting trends and fashion. At Rozemyne's request, Brunhilde gathers information about the Royal Academy with a focus on the latest fashion of the other duchies.
• Fiery Redhead: Her striking crimson hair befits her passionate and outgoing personality. She is not happy how Ehrenfest keeps getting mocked as a backwater duchy and aims to change this.
• Innocent Bigot: While she is an archnoble with strong ties to powerful houses like Ehrenfest and Leisegang, Brunhilde is generally a friendly girl who treats her noble colleagues and underclassmen like Philine with kindness. However, due to her upbringing, she is extremely prejudiced against the temple and commoners. She does not want to interact with commoners, nor does she care much about them and only expects them to follow her orders. She is forced to change her views after accompanying Rozemyne to the temple, and when her father tries to establish a papermaking and printing business in their province.
• Ojou: Besides Rozemyne, she is the only other young woman rich with Leisegang blood who is referred as a "Leisagang Princesss"... Which fits Brunhilde quite nicely, as she is not only a model archnoble who knows how to interact gracefully as expected of a noblewoman but since she is descended from the First Giebe Groschel, she also has blood ties to the archducal family thus making her quite a high ranking noblewoman within her duchy.
• The Social Expert: Brunhilde is the one who organizes a lot of Rozemyne's tea parties and she interacts with a lot of nobles for her. Besides Rihyarda, she is also the one who advises Rozemyne on how to act more like a Proper Lady. That is why she is perfect for consolidating and pacifying the Leisegang faction under Sylvester as his second wife.
• Took a Level in Badass: As one of Rozemyne's closest retainers, she learns her lady's mana compression method. Since Brunhilde is a high-ranking archnoble, she raises her mana capacities from archnoble level to archduke level over time.
• Undying Loyalty: Brunhilde takes her work as Rozemyne's retainer very seriously and does not allow anyone to insult her. In Part 5 Volume 1, when Roderick explains that many female apprentice attendants of the former Veronica faction do not wish to give their names to Rozemyne because she collapses quite often (which would lead to a worse grade) Lieseleta uses waschen to shut Roderick up. If she hadn't done so, Brunhilde would have done it. Also part of her reasoning for becoming Sylvester's second wife had to do with her being able to offer assistance to Rozemyne in the future when she married Wilfried as his first wife as it had been planned.

Hartmut

Hartmut

Debut: Part 3 (Volume 3)

Voiced by: Shun Horie (Drama CD 2), Yūma Uchida (Drama CD 3+)

The youngest son of Rozemyne's attendant Ottilie. Hartmut is in his fifth year at the Royal Academy when Rozemyne enters the Academy. She recruits him as one of her scholars to gather information about other duchies and to help educate Rozemyne's other scholar, Philine.

His father, Leberecht, is the half-brother of the current Count Leisegang and Leonore's mother, meaning that his family too is part of the Leisegang faction.

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• The Ace: Hartmut is overall Rozemyne's most competent scholar. Whether it's mixing potions, the creation of magic tools, or socializing to gather information, he excels at it, and all of Rozemyne's other scholar retainers look up to him.
• Ascended Fanboy: Hartmut has an obsession with Rozemyne and her status as the Saint of Ehrenfest. He has witnessed both of Rozemyne's blessings at her baptism and her winter debut and has made it his goal to serve her and spread her legend. He is actually not happy when Rozemyne states her intention to lay low and enjoy a quiet life at the Royal Academy.
• Badass Bookworm: Hartmut is noted to have trained with the apprentice knights, which is why he can defend himself and bodyguard Rozemyne to a degree.
• Beware the Nice Ones: While generally a friendly person, one should never show any signs of disrespect to Rozemyne in his presence. A few blue priests who are antagonistic to Rozemyne learn this the hard way, and in Part 4 Volume 9 he looks veeeery angry after learning that Rozemyne was almost poisoned by someone.
• Birds of a Feather: With Clarissa, an archnoble apprentice scholar from Dunkelfelger. They are both obsessed with Rozemyne and want to serve her, which makes them a good couple.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Hartmut is a Rozemyne fanatic, but in terms of competency, he is on par with Justus who is a role model for him. Hartmut wouldn't mind crossdressing, either, if it could help him gather more information (although Rozemyne forbids him to do this). His managerial and social skills are excellent, as is noted by both Roderick and Philine, who he mentors. He also runs the temple without flaw as High Priest, such that Ferdinand's absence does not affect the temple business too much.
• Childhood Friends: With Cornelius. Their mothers are friends and they are of similar age, which is why they grew up together. He has also known Brunhilde and Leonore, who is his cousin, since childhood.
• Connected All Along: In Part 3 Volume 3, he introduces himself to Rozemyne as Leberecht's son. Part 4 reveals that his mother is actually Ottilie, Rozemyne's other noble attendant in the Noble's Quarter of Ehrenfest.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: He is a bit disappointed and jealous when he realizes that Rozemyne does not see him as her most-trusted retainer. The one she trusts the most is Damuel.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Like many of the other students Rozemyne meets in Part 4, he already appeared in Part 3 during Rozemyne's first winter socializing.
• Everyone Has Standards: He considers the Sovereignty's High Priest, Immanuel, to be a dangerous fanatic. Rozemyne's own internal narration points out that getting called a dangerous fanatic by Hartmut, whose level of fanaticism is scary in her own eyes, is a huge red flag.
• Fiery Redhead: Hartmut has red hair and he is very passionate about serving Rozemyne. His burning desire to serve Rozemyne creeps her and some of her retainers out.
• Foil: Hartmut is basically Rozemyne's Justus with Eckhart's devotion to their master. He is a very competent, if somewhat eccentric, scholar and information gatherer.
• Friend to All Children: He treats all the orphans in the temple well, which makes Wilma very happy. Although this may have something to do with the children practically worshipping Rozemyne as their goddess and Hartmut approving this...
• Hero-Worshipper: He already reveres Rozemyne after witnessing the blessings she gave, but this turns up to eleven after Part 4 Volume 6, when he sees her restoring the land with mana with Flutrane's staff, which is reflected in the rumors he spreads in the Academy and the reports he sends to Ehrenfest.
• Like Father, Like Son: He resembles in some aspects his father, Leberecht, who is a scholar and one of Florencia's retainers. Both are loyal to their mistresses, but they can be very extreme in their actions. This can be seen in Hartmut wanting to crush Wilfried to eliminate one of Rozemyne's aub rivals (back when Wilfried could have been disinherited in Part 3 Volume 2), and his tendency to do things his mistress didn't ask him to do, such as spreading her legend as a saint or withholding information and only revealing it when he thinks it's the best moment. Rozemyne curbs this behavior somewhat, but Leberecht is not stopped by Florencia. He is one of the reasons why Sylvester successfully doesn't take another wife for a while (which would likely demote Florencia to second wife) and he directed Veronica's anger at Ferdinand to protect Florencia.
• Manipulative Bastard:
  • In Part 4 Volume 6, he uses Roderick's wish to become Rozemyne's retainer to assess how other students from the former Veronica faction view Rozemyne and Roderick who will switch factions. Matthias and Laurenz see through this, but nonetheless help Roderick, as they want to leave the option to join Rozemyne open.
  • As High Priest, he slowly wins over the orphans in the temple and makes them devoted to Rozemyne. Rozemyne is quite creeped out about this when she notices this.
  • In the latter half of Part 5, he and Clarissa brainwash the Ahrensbach nobles into worshipping Rozemyne as their goddess who saved them from Lanzenave and will bring salvation to them.
• Motor Mouth: If he ever gets the chance to talk about Rozemyne, he will run his mouth off, which even his own fellow retainers find incredibly annoying (and is the reason why Brunhilde is vehemently against marrying Hartmut). In his fifth year, while Rozemyne is absent, he regularly meets with other apprentice scholars from other duchies, who wish to get more information about Rozemyne. Except for the Dunkelfelger scholars, everyone eventually cuts him off whenever he starts his excessive rambling. In Part 5 Volume 7, even Justus eventually gets annoyed when he asks for an explanation about Rozemyne's Plot-Relevant Age-Up.
• Number Two: He is effectively Rozemyne's leading retainer, along with Rozemyne's head attendant Rihyarda. Hartmut directs the rest of Rozemyne's retainers and acts as a spokesman for her. It helps that starting in Part 4 Volume 9, he replaces Ferdinand as High Priest, meaning he can accompany Rozemyne to the Academy for temple rituals, despite being an adult. While she is absent, he leads the temple.
• Secret Secret-Keeper: Since he is Childhood Friends with Cornelius, it didn't take him long to see that Rozemyne isn't Elvira's daughter. After talking to the orphans and seeing Rozemyne interact with commoners, he figures out that Rozemyne is actually of commoner origin and that she's Gunther's daughter. He reveals this to Ferdinand before Rozemyne's second year at the Academy begins, although Ferdinand makes him sign a magic contract that forbids him from revealing to Rozemyne that he knows, at least until Rozemyne allows Hartmut to enter her hidden room, which happens in the middle of Part 5 after he gives her his name.
• The Social Expert: Part of his skills as an information gatherer is knowing who to interact with and befriend them. He is noted to be quite popular with women. He also excellently leads the temple as High Priest in Rozemyne's absence. His people skills also allowed him to see who Rozemyne's real family is.
• The Smart Guy: Hartmut is one of Rozemyne's most intelligent retainers. He is a great information gatherer and deduces very tightly-kept secrets based on very few hints. He thus eventually finds out about Rozemyne's commoner family. He also figures out where the foundations are located based on Rozemyne's actions.
• Strong Family Resemblance: He looks remarkably similar to both his mother and father.
• Undying Loyalty: He is absolutely devoted to Rozemyne. When the subject of name offering is brought up, he proudly proclaims that he would offer his name to her in a heartbeat. After Ferdinand departs Ehrenfest, Hartmut decides to become Rozemyne's High Priest until she leaves the temple. He also doesn't mind at all that Rozemyne is of commoner origin. He still views her as the avatar of a goddess.

Leonore

Leonore

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 1)

Voiced by: Sumire Morohoshi (Drama CD 3+)

An apprentice knight who is in her fourth year when Rozemyne enters the Academy. Rozemyne recruits Leonore on Angelica's recommendation to guide and support Rozemyne's other female knights.

Leonore's mother is the current Count Leisegang's fullblooded sister and the half-sister of Leberecht, Hartmut's father. Leonore and her family are thus also part of the Leisegang faction.

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• Action Girlfriend: She eventually becomes Cornelius' girlfriend and they later get engaged.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Don't insult Rozemyne or trample on her kindness. She retaliates when a child of the former Veronica faction starts acting disrespectful, due to a purge that Sylvester is conducting at the start of Part 5. The boy does not realize that he is spared at Rozemyne's suggestion, as she does not want innocent children to be punished with their parents.
• Childhood Friends: With Brunhilde, as she has known her since they were both very young and they have been very close since then. She has also known Cornelius and Harmut, her cousin, since her childhood.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Downplayed, but after seeing Cornelius being close with Angelica, she asks Rozemyne whether the rumors that Angelica is set to marry one of Karstedt's sons are true. Rozemyne assures Leonore that Angelica is not a suitable first-wife choice, and advises her to use Elvira as a role model.
• Dogged Nice Girl: Since we first meet Leonore we can see her quietly pinning for Cornelius and being very curious in who his future partner could be, meanwhile he seems to not notice her feelings nor being much focused in finding a partner yet... Luckily for Leonore the girl Cornelius ends up getting interested in turns out to be her.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: As shown in Part 4 Volume 2, after seeing how badly trained Ehrenfest's apprentice knights are, she decides to gather data about their fitness and mercilessly lets them physically exhaust themselves. She also agrees to a ditter rematch with Dunkelfelger (without her, Angelica, Cornelius, and Rozemyne, basically their strongest assets) to crush their unwarranted overconfidence.
• Genius Bruiser: Leonore is very diligent in her studies. Unlike other apprentice knights, she doesn't mind going to the library to expand her knowledge.
• The Strategist: Amongst the apprentice knights, Leonore is the person who studies potential feybeasts for ditter, which proves to be crucial to find their weaknesses and develop a strategy.
• Undying Loyalty: To Rozemyne. Leonore has great respect for Rozemyne, who shows excellent leadership and skill as she treats people fairly and promotes unity. Leonore and Cornelius are also willing to leave Ehrenfest to stay by Rozemyne's side.
• Younger Than They Look: She gives off a mature and calm appearance, also due to her well-developed body.

Traugott (Spoiler)

Warning: This character is a Walking Spoiler (Part 4 Volume 2) and had so many tropes whited out that it just became redundant. As such, all spoilers about him are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

Traugott

Debut: Part 3 (Volume 3)

Voiced by: Yūma Uchida (Drama CD 3)

An apprentice knight who is two years older than Rozemyne. During Rozemyne's first winter socializing, he is seen hanging around with Wilfried a lot. After Rozemyne enters the Academy, she makes him one of her guard knights.

Traugott is the son of Bonifatius' second son (Karstedt's half-brother) and Rihyarda's daughter, Gudrun. He is also a member of the Linkberg family.

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• Aloof Ally: Traugott does not get along well with any of Rozemyne's other retainers and earns their ire when they realize that he is not loyal to Rozemyne. He also is a terrible liability in battle because he ignores orders and values proving himself more than teamwork and cooperation.
• Clashing Cousins: A product of the Sibling Rivalry between Karstedt and his half-brother. Traugott views Cornelius as his rival and can't stand being weaker than him, nor does he follow Cornelius' orders.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Traugott is first mentioned in Lamprecht's side story in Part 3 Volume 3. He is amongst the children in the playroom that Wilfried should get closer to, to secure him as a future retainer.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • Pride and arrogance. It's All About Me for Traugott, and he has a huge superiority complex. While he wants to become Ehrenfest's knight commander, he doesn't want to act as a guard knight to anyone, like Bonifatius. The difference is that Bonifatius can't serve under other people because of his status as a former archduke candidate. He would have gladly become Rozemyne's guard knight if he could.
  • Traugott is also unable to hide his true intentions and he is incredibly short-sighted.
    • He believes the only reason Cornelius outclasses him is because he has used Rozemyne's mana compression method to increase his capacity, completely ignoring the fact that Cornelius is two years older.
    • Traugott doesn't want to serve in general, but especially not a woman. However, when he was offered a position as one of Wilfried's guards, he refused, because unlike Rozemyne or Charlotte's guards, Wilfried's guards weren't taught Rozemyne's mana compression method (yet). After Rozemyne woke up, she immediately agreed to teach Wilfried's guards her method in the next spring, so if Traugott had accepted back then, he would have gotten the mana compression method, the training from Bonifatius, and he would have served a man, like he wanted.
    • All he ever talks about is trying to learn Rozemyne's mana compression method. Rihyarda and Hartmut eventually come to the conclusion that Traugott has no intention to genuinely serve Rozemyne. Traugott also doesn't hide his contempt for Rozemyne, since he repeatedly questions her orders. He even told Hartmut, who is devoted to Rozemyne, that he would quit as a guard once he got the compression method, and is genuinely surprised when Hartmut reveals this to Rozemyne.
    • Once Rozemyne promises to teach him her mana compression method, he happily accepts her wish for him to resign as her guard knight, not realizing that he tarnishes his own reputation and future. The only reason she wanted him to resign willingly was to protect Rihyarda and Bonifatius' families.
• Foil:
  • Traugott is a guard knight who is incredibly self-centered and arrogant, ignores his superiors' orders, and looks down on people below his status. This makes him incredibly similar to Shikza, except Shikza's actions were far more extreme, which is why his "dismissal" was lethal.
  • Like Cornelius, Traugott is family to Rozemyne, but Cornelius is able to separate his private and public relations to his mistress. Since she is so weak, Cornelius wishes to protect her. Traugott on the other hand couldn't care less about Rozemyne and does not want to serve her exactly because she is so weak.
  • Traugott and Angelica are very aggressive Blood Knights, but Angelica knows that Rozemyne is far smarter and will obey her commands. Traugott on the other hand dismisses Rozemyne's tactics and ignores her orders.
  • His family relation to Rozemyne is also different compared to Hartmut, Brunhilde, and Leonore. While Traugott is part of the Leisegang faction, his blood ties to House Leisegang are relatively thin, and he doesn't get along with Rozemyne or any of her other retainers.
  • Damuel is a weak laynoble, who Rozemyne grows fond of, as they have spent a lot of time together. He is humble, friendly, loyal to Rozemyne, a hard worker, and over time became stronger and earned Bonifatius' approval. Traugott on the other hand is practically the complete opposite. He is an arrogant archnoble who is not loyal to Rozemyne and resigns as soon as he gets what he wants.
• He-Man Woman Hater: A side story from his point of view reveals that he doesn't like serving under women. He thinks them weak and guarding them is boring, since they mostly participate in tea parties for social activities. He would rather go hunting with a male master.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Traugott thinks Rozemyne is a naive, weak and forgiving girl, which is why he has no problem with leaving her service. Justus is the one who tells him the harsh truth that she has such a low opinion of Traugott that one of the reasons why she didn't send him to the temple as punishment (as Rihyarda suggested) was that she doesn't want to see him any more than necessary.
• I Just Want to Be Badass: Above all, Traugott wants to become stronger than anyone else. He dreams of becoming commander of the Knight's Order one day (like Bonifatius, that is, not Karstedt). This is why he became Rozemyne's guard knight, so that he could learn her mana compression method.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: Traugott suffers from a major superiority complex. He finds it unacceptable that Cornelius and even Angelica are stronger than him, blaming it on the fact that they were taught Rozemyne's mana compression method and that Bonifatius focused on training them in the two years that Rozemyne was asleep. He ignores orders from Rozemyne and Cornelius (who is practically leading Rozemyne's guards) and is always eager to prove himself. The straw that broke the camel's back for Rozemyne was Traugott belittling Damuel because of his low status.
• Leeroy Jenkins: His only plan to fight is Attack! Attack! Attack! He thus often recklessly charges into battle, which has dire consequences for his teammates.
  • In Part 4 Volume 2, he almost ruins Ehrenfest's chances for victory against Dunkelfelger by ignoring Rozemyne's instructions.
  • In Part 4 Volume 6, after learning Rozemyne's mana compression method, he becomes overconfident and ignores Matthias' warnings to fight a feybeast with a big charged attack, which the feybeast absorbs, causing it to grow in size and power. He learns from this experience and later follows Matthias' orders in the Interduchy Tournament.
• Narcissist: Let's see: Superiority complex and overblown ego? Selfish and entitled? Check. Wants validation from his father and grandfather? Check. Thinks he did nothing wrong? Check. Strives for power? Check. Thanks to a series of humiliating events he gets better, but by that time he is already considered a failure and irredeemable.
• Opportunistic Bastard: His chapter in Royal Academy Stories shows that his plan for life boils down to "stick with whoever can help me accomplish my goals". It's best shown when after resigning from Rozemyne's service because he doesn't want to serve a woman and got what he wanted out of it, he changes his mind upon realizing that she's doing a better job at leading the Ehrenfest dormitory than Wilfried is. Unfortunately, he resigned without fully understanding the fact that he was doing so for good.
• The Resenter: Traugott resents Cornelius and Angelica, jealous of the training they were given by Bonifatius in the two years that Rozemyne was asleep. Both are far stronger than him, which he blames on the fact that they were taught Rozemyne's mana compression method.
• Small Name, Big Ego:
  • Traugott's father is Bonifatius' son from his second wife. Being descended from Ehrenfest's archducal line, this makes Traugott believe that he is more important than he really is, as he does not view Rozemyne as someone of higher status. In his arrogance, he believes that he could become knight commander without having to serve someone directly, just like Bonifatius did.
  • He also believes he should be stronger than Cornelius, and Cornelius only got so far because he learned Rozemyne's mana compression method. This is based on an offhand compliment Bonifatius once paid him, which Rozemyne believes was meant to motivate Traugott to train harder, but instead made him arrogant. Even if Traugott hadn't caused his own ruin, Angelica would not have wanted to marry him, since he's weaker than her.
• Undying Loyalty: Inverted. He is not loyal to Rozemyne at all. In fact, he hates serving her because he thinks she's weak and views her, as Karstedt's daughter, as someone of similar status, who only is above him because she was adopted into the archducal family. Traugott revealed to Hartmut in private that once he learned Rozemyne's mana compression method, instead of loyally serving her, he wanted to quit being her guard knight.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Traugott wants his father's and grandfather's approval. Traugott felt quite proud of the fact that Bonifatius once said he had talent (more than Cornelius, or at least that's what he thought) and being trained by his grandfather earned him his father's praise. This all changed when Bonifatius focused on training Angelica, his new favorite disciple, and Cornelius instead, since they are Rozemyne's guard knights and training the archducal family's guard knights took priority.

Alexis

Alexis

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 1)

An apprentice archknight who is 3 years older than Rozemyne and Wilfried. He is also the son of Giebe Kirnberger and his second wife. Ever since he was young he has trained with the knights guarding their province, with Judithe and Theodore's father been one of those who instructed him.

Though Alexis identifies himself as neutral like his father and the rest of the inhabitants of their province, his mother is actually a Leisegang who married his father to escape from Veronica's abuse with the help of Bonifatius' first wife, also a Leisegang. It was partly due to this blood relation that Lamprecht invited him to serve Wilfried.

The manga adaptation showed that he was one of the students that recollected information during the time Rozemyne was sleeping.

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• Being Personal Isn't Professional: He tries. Alexis begins his p.o.v. chapter reminding himself that he is speaking to his father not as parent and child but as Giebe and Archducal Retainer, but as their talk goes on and his feelings overflow Alexis ends up reverting back to a son asking for his father's advice.
• Cultured Warrior: In his final year Alexis manages to both obtain honour student status and be chosen as one of the 20 students performing the graduation ceremony sword dance.
• Genius Bruiser: He is quite good at gewinnen. Wilfried often practices by playing games against his retainers and Alexis comes out on top most times, with Wilfried only managing to win occasionally.
• Heroic Neutral: While he chose to serve Wilfried and he is the son of a Leisegang noblewoman, he aligns with his father as someone who is of the Neutral Faction.
• Strong Family Resemblance: He looks like a younger version of his father.

Bertilde

Bertilde

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 8)

The second daughter of Giebe Groschel and his first wife. She is three years younger than Rozemyne and first meets her when Brunhilde introduces them with the idea of having Bertilde as a future attendant for Rozemyne.

Before being presented as a possible retainer for Rozemyne, she had been diligently training under Elvira. Since she is younger she does not join Rozemyne and her entourage until Part 5 Volume 7.

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• The Fashionista: As she looks up to her sister and shares her same interests, she is also focused on fashion and new trends.
• Family Theme Naming: Both sisters have names that starte with a "B" and end with "ilde".
• Hime Cut: As befitting of the daughter of an archnoble Giebe who also has blood ties to the archducal family.
• Rose-Haired Sweetie: Bertilde has pink hair and is sweet and cute.
• Strong Family Resemblance: She looks like a younger pink-haired version of her older sister.

Leisegang Faction

General

A faction of nobles centered around a family of archnobles who have existed long before House Ehrenfest began their rule. Known for their fertile lands, the Leisegangs had wide influence throughout the duchy. Their influence began to wane when Gabriele, an archduke candidate from the greater duchy Ahrensbach, married an archduke candidate from Ehrenfest (the first Count Groschel) and started to accumulate power and allies within Ehrenfest. At the same time, Count Groschel's Leisegang wife was demoted to second wife, incurring the anger of the Leisegangs. After Gabriele's death, her faction was taken over by her daughter Veronica.

When Veronica became the sixth Aub Ehrenfest's first wife, the Leisegangs and their associates were suppressed further, which only became worse after Aub Ehrenfest passed away and Sylvester became aub. However, at the end of Part 2, Veronica was arrested and shortly after Sylvester adopted Rozemyne, Karstedt and Elvira's child, who is descended from the Leisegang line and has no connection to Veronica. With Veronica's faction being incapacitated, the Leisegangs have once again become the most powerful faction in Ehrenfest.

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• The Clan: The Leisegang family has existed for centuries and has strong familial ties to other powerful nobles like Haldenzel and Groschel. What gave the Leisegang family so much power is their foothold on agriculture and their food supply in Ehrenfest, which remained strong even during Veronica's reign. Compared to Haldenzel or Groschel, the people of the Leisegang province actually don't need a printing industry, for them it's pastime during winter.
• Feuding Families: The Leisegangs hate Ahrensbach's archducal family, since one of their daughters and her descendants have caused trouble for the Leisegangs for generations. They have no intention to see Wilfried becoming aub, especially since the much more talented Rozemyne, who is related to them (seemingly), is eligible as well.
• Foil: Rozemyne is on their side due to coincidentally being related to them via her "parents". Once they gain back power, they try to influence the archducal family and make Sylvester overly dependent on them, not unlike Veronica.
• Grumpy Old Man: Especially the older generation of Leisegangs is extremely conservative and resistant to changes. As shown in Part 5, many of the older Leisegangs are actively trying to curb Rozemyne's efforts to raise Ehrenfest's ranking. This is in sharp contrast to the young Leisegangs, like Rozemyne's retainers, who want to put an end to factional wars and make Ehrenfest as a whole prosper.
• Manipulative Bastard: In Part 5 Volume 4, it is revealed that some Leisegang faction members manipulate several members of the archducal family (except Rozemyne and Charlotte) to do their bidding, with their end goal being Rozemyne becoming the next aub.
• Social Climber: The Leisegangs are determined to rule Ehrenfest and make Rozemyne the next Aub Ehrenfest, despite Elvira and Karstedt repeatedly telling them that Rozemyne doesn't want to. Many of them are also against Sylvester raising Ehrenfest's ranking in the country and establishing better interduchy relationships, as they fear losing their influence again, just like when Gabriele came to Ehrenfest.

Previous Count Leisegang

Previous Count Leisegang

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 3)

The former giebe of Leisegang, he is the grandfather of the current Count Leisegang and both Rozemyne's great- and great-great-grandfather. He had to witness one of his daughters being ousted by Gabriele of Ahrensbach after she married the first Count Groschel. While he was able to send Bezewanst to the temple after Gabriele's death, he could not prevent Veronica's rise to power and the continued oppression of his family, and the only thing he could do to protect them was to help arrange marriages to powerful nobles.

Despairing at the thought of his family's decline, he regained hope and life when he heard of Veronica's fall and the adoption of his descendant, Rozemyne, into the archducal family. He has made it his goal to seat Rozemyne on the throne and has mobilized the Leisegang faction to get rid of Veronica's ilk.

Rozemyne's brothers via Karstedt, Hartmut, Leonore, Elvira, Claudio and the third Count Groschel are all his great-grandchildren.

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• The Chessmaster: Despite his old age, he is shown to be still quite cunning. In Part 4, he secretly amasses support from Leisegang, Haldenzel, Groschel, and Illgner to make Rozemyne the next aub. His plan was to marry Ferdinand to Rozemyne and thus eliminate all traces of Gabriele from future ruling generations, but Ferdinand and Sylvester see through this and quickly betroth Wilfried to Rozemyne to foil his plan.
• Irrational Hatred: While his hatred for Veronica, and to an extent Sylvester, is justified, his hatred for Wilfried is not. He hates anyone that is related to Veronica, and Rozemyne's status as an archduke candidate has only reinforced his resolve to remove Gabriele's entire line from the archducal seat.
• Long-Lived: He is Rozemyne's still-alive great-great-grandfather from Elvira's side, meaning that he is at the least in his 90s. However, he is very weak and frail, and during his first meeting with Rozemyne he collapses, ironically showing her what it's like when she collapses in front of others without warning. He dies in Part 5, after Sylvester's purge against the former Veronica and Georgine factions is conducted.
• Obfuscating Disability:
  • He's more than old enough to legitimately display quite a few signs of old age, such as poor hearing and eyesight. However, those signs are prone to being at their worst right when something he doesn't want to hear is being said or someone he'd rather ignore is in the room.
  • The trope is zig-zagged with his tendency faint: it has been shown to be genuine, but it gains in intensity when his "hard of hearing and legally blind old man" act becomes too hard to keep up, allowing him to exploit Faint in Shock as a means to force a change in topic.
• Properly Paranoid: He doesn't trust Ahrensbach and anyone related to them at all understandably. As is revealed in Part 4 Volume 9, he kept eyes on Georgine, who was on her way home to Ahrensbach, and thus later finds out that she met with Viscount Gerlach in his mansion.
• Shared Family Quirks: He's prone enough to losing consciousness out of nowhere to give Rozemyne a taste of what she puts others through when she's the one doing it.
• Thicker Than Water: He believes strongly in family, but in return does not trust people who don't share blood ties with him. He puts his hopes in Rozemyne one day ruling Ehrenfest as aub, but couldn't care less about Wilfried.

Count Haldenzel

Claudio

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 3)

Elvira's older brother by six years and the giebe of Haldenzel, the northernmost province of Ehrenfest. During Rozemyne's jureve sleep, Elvira began the development of the printing industry in Haldenzel together with the Plantin Company and her brother. After finishing her first year at the Royal Academy, Rozemyne, her parents, and her Gutenbergs visit Haldenzel for Spring Prayer.

For generations, the people of Haldenzel have kept close relations with House Leisegang. However, like Elvira he is a moderate Leisegang.

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• Benevolent Boss: Giebe Haldenzel is a ruler who is determined to protect his lands and people. The nobles and commoners in Haldenzel, similar to Illgner, are close enough that they celebrate the festivals and rituals together, in sharp contrast to House Groschel. One of the reasons Haldenzel is determined to keep a close relationship with House Leisegang is that House Leisegang provides Haldenzel, which is located in the Grim Up North, with food aid.
• Foil: To his aunt Veronica. Even though he also displays Thicker Than Water tendencies and a dislike for his blood related kin's spouse, it never goes into Obnoxious In-Laws levels, and his resentment of Karstedt ties with his reprehensible behavior towards Elvira and is not a product of a petty distaste like Veronica's towards Florencia.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: What differentiates Claudio mostly from other extremistic Leisegangs is that he shows a fair amount of pragmatism. His side story in Part 4 Volume 4 shows that while he believes the most capable candidate should rule (which is Rozemyne), he is aware that Rozemyne is physically weak and may not be able to have children. Furthermore, should anything happen to her, what he believes to be her real family, the former rulers of Joisontak, cannot offer any support because they were all executed. Wilfried also turned out to be better than he initially believed and Rozemyne has no intention to be aub, so he is willing to support her wish and can temporarily convince the Leisegangs to stop pushing for Rozemyne as aub.
• Remember the New Guy?: A minor case. Rozemyne apparently met him and his wife at her baptism, but he is first seen in the story in the first half of Part 4.
• Secret-Keeper: Claudio has a good relationship with Elvira and has always been a part of her sons' lives, to the point of meeting them before their baptisms. He is thus convinced that Rozemyne isn't Elvira's daughter, instead suspecting she is Rozemary's biological daughter.
• Shared Family Quirks: Karstedt notices that Claudio's face slightly changes when he tries to mask his true motives, which is not unlike Elvira.
• Thicker Than Water: Claudio values family a lot, and in turn resents people who neglect theirs.
  • Claudio loves his sister Elvira, which is why he grew to dislike Karstedt, who didn't treat Elvira well and married two women related to Veronica. Furthermore, Karstedt neglected his first wife's family, while Veronica cut Haldenzel off of mana and food aid from Leisegang, leading to a famine that cost many of his people's lives. Although initially angry at Karstedt for making Elvira stand in as Rozemyne's mother at her baptism, he changes his opinion of Karstedt after seeing the positive effect Rozemyne has had on Elvira and Karstedt's relationship.
  • Rozemyne has provided Haldenzel with mana, and thanks to her introducing printing to Haldenzel and rediscovering the ritual to completely melt the snow (which usually only happens in summer), has shown Haldenzel a path to a brighter future. Despite being aware that Rozemyne can't be Elvira's biological daughter, he has come to view her as kin.

House Groschel

Gabriele

Gabriele

An archduke candidate from Ahrensbach and the mother of Veronica and Bezewanst. One day Gabriele fell in love with Ehrenfest's heir presumptive and used her family to force a marriage between her and the Ehrenfest archduke candidate. Due to her high status, she demoted the Ehrenfest archduke candidate's Leisegang wife to second wife, incurring the wrath of the Leisegangs.

However, Gabriele and her husband were demoted to archnobles and he was given land to rule as the giebe of Groschel. As her husband didn't love her and she wasn't welcomed, Gabriele started to build her own political faction in Ehrenfest by introducing new trends and garnering the support of ambitious mednobles who married the retainers she brought from Ahrensbach. Gabriele also educated her daughter Veronica, and her faction was eventually taken over by Veronica. Shortly after giving birth to Bezewanst, she passed away.

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• Familial Foe: Gabriele managed to make the entire Leisegang family and their allies her enemies. As she had no support otherwise, she built her own faction to oppose them. To this day, the Leisegang faction hates Gabriele and her direct descendants.
• Foil:
  • Gabriele's great-niece Aurelia, who looks almost just like Gabriele, marries into Ehrenfest as well. Her marriage was forced upon Aub Ehrenfest, too, and she has trouble integrating. The difference is that as an archnoble, her marriage does not lead to wide-ranging consequences, Aurelia is Lamprecht's first and only wife, and Lamprecht and Aurelia love each other, which is why it's much easier for her to get along with her family-in-law.
  • Gabriele resembles in some ways Hannelore. Both are archduke candidates of a greater duchy who mistakenly believe to love an Ehrenfest archduke candidate who is the heir presumptive.... But unlike Gabriele who forced her way to get married to the man she fancied, Hannelore although wishing to marry Wilfried, and trying to get him to propose to her, understands why Wilfried declines, as not only is he no longer aiming to be the next Aaub and thus unsuitable of someone of her status, but Hannelore marrying into Ehrenfest would cause unnecessary political turmoil.
• Loving a Shadow: The future Giebe Groschel she fell in love with didn't make any romantic advances, he was merely very polite to her (as was expected of a lower-ranked duchy's archduke candidate). Gabriele forced him to marry her, which did not sit well with anyone in Ehrenfest.
• Missing Mom: Gabriele is long dead in the story. It was presumably a mix of being ill and in poor health during her pregnancy and later the cost of giving birth.
• No Social Skills: She could have become Ehrenfest's aub's first wife, except her social skills were terrible. That is why instead it was contractually agreed on that one of her children (provided they have the mana) would either become archduke or the archduke's first wife. As one of her sons passed away and the other one, Bezewanst, didn't have the necessary mana, Veronica ended up becoming Adelbert's first wife.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Lamprecht's wife Aurelia, Aub Ahrensbach's niece, is said to look almost exactly like Gabriele. Something that both Georgine and Elvira confirm to be true in different occasions.
• Unwanted Spouse: The first Count Groschel was already Happily Married to his Leisegang wife and didn't seek Gabriele's hand at all. Their marriage would end up costing him his future as the next archduke and while he treated her with respect as she was the first wife, he didn't have any emotional attachment to her and it was purely a political relationship to him.

Count Groschel

Giebe Groschel

Debut: Part 3 (Volume 3)

3rd Count Groschel

The current Giebe Groschel, father of Brunhilde and Bertilde, and first cousin of Elvira and Claudio. As the grandson of the first Giebe Groschel and his Leisegang wife, he is a prominent member of the Leisegang faction and thus a supporter of Rozemyne. Like his cousins and their close relatives, he and his family too were harrased by his aunt Veronica and her faction.

As most nobles do, he too harbours prejudice and ignorance about the commoners, which brings a bit of trouble to his desire to introduce the printing industry into his lands, as unlike Illgner or Haldenzel the nobles of Groschel do not properely interact with the commoners.

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• Doting Parent: He bought the learning materials Rozemyne was selling just because his children wanted them.
• I Have No Son!: He does not acknowledge his uncle Bezewanst as a member of the Groschel House, hence he ended up with no grave.
• No Name Given: Unlike with Claudio who is referred by name in the narrative or even with Helfried who is named in one of the Fanbooks, we still do not know Giebe Groschel’s first name.
• Parental Favoritism: While he seemingly loves and cares for his children evenly, by Part 5 after his second wife gave birth to a son, he practically decided to name him his heir despite up to that point Brunhilde had been preparing to succeed him as she was brought up as the heir presumptive. While the world setting has shown us how the society has a clear preference for male heirs and that daughters have to work much harder to achieve the right of succession, it is baffling that Brunhilde's father appears to not take into account all of her hard-work and the benefits that it brought to their province, especially since it was thanks to her connection to Rozemyne, nor does he even seems to care that she managed to raise up her mana capacity to an archduke's level.

Neutral Faction

Count Kirnberger

Giebe Kirnberger

Debut: Part 3 (Volume 3)

Voiced by: Toshihiko Seki (Drama CD 6+)

A neutral archnoble who carries himself with the bearing of a knight, as he is tall and has a muscular build, and currently serves as the Giebe ruling Kirnberger. He is devoted to his role as Giebe, Count Kirnberger patrols personally his province quite often.

An unusually direct speaker who also shows his emotions quite openly, unlike most nobles who are conditioned to hide their true intentions behind euphemisms and emotionless facades. While Giebe Kirnberger takes a neutral stance, he is a wise leader that knows he still has to be keeping an eye on the squabbling of the other nobles and the goings-on within the castle.

His son with his second wife, Alexis, serves as one of Wilfried's knights.

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• Cool Old Guy: He is a charismatic and wise leader for the inhabitants of his province, with many of them wishing to serve him and work for him personally.
• Early-Bird Cameo: He appears briefly in part 3 when they are selling the learning materials to noble children, as Wilfried is talking about them to him. He is not properly introduced into the story until Part 5 (Volume 4).
• Heroic Neutral: He wants nothing to do with factions, he believes that leadership figures have to look out for the wellbeing of their realm above everything else.
• Hero-Worshipper: He looks up to Bonifatius and, as his own father did, he believes that he is the one who should have been Aub.
• No Name Given: He is only called by his title.
• Mr. Exposition: When Rozemyne visits his province and the gate he then tells her more about Eisenreich, the previous great duchy that was divided into modern day Ferebeltag and Ehrenfest. Not only does he expand on the meager official records that Rozemyne has read but he also does tell her more about their neighbouring country Bossgeiz that incited Aub Eisenreich to usurp the Zent of his time, and how his own daughter seeing what a terrible idea it was ended up betraying her father to the Zent, only to end up losing everything herself in the end.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Since he rules a province far removed from the Central District, he is also removed from the faction feuding that controlled the direction politics in Ehrenfest took. This gave him an outsider looking in view of the archducal candidates, in which he saw that Rozemyne was a superior candidate for aubship through her spreading of trends and industries by her own designs. In comparison, the Leisegang only supports her as a form of revenge against the Veronica faction and would much prefer that she would enforce the status Quo once she obtained the position.
• Strong Family Resemblance: He looks remarkably like an older version of his son Alexis.

Mednobles

House Dahldolf

Shikza

Shikza

Debut: Part 2 (Volume 2)

Voiced by: Haruki Ishiya (Japanese), J. Michael Tatum (English)

A medknight and the second son of the viscount house Dahldolf. Shikza is assigned to guard Myne against injury during a fight against a trombe. He has grown bitter towards Myne after learning of her existence, and acts on the sentiment by attacking her.

Before the purge he used to be a blue priest apprentice himself, only being able to return and be accepted as a rightful member of his mednoble household as the mana shortage made it possible.

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• Dehumanization: Attacks Myne while ordered to guard her. The reason for the attack is because he was told by the High Bishop that Myne is a commoner who's acting above her station and disrupting the temple.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: After Shikza's execution, his mother Gloria has made it her goal to kill Myne and avenge him, even if that would mean the ruin of her house.
• Inferiority Superiority Complex: As a former apprentice blue priest, he is bitter that a commoner is given a blue robe. He acts on his resentment under the assumption that Myne is showing off her great mana quantity to them, an insult to his pride as a real noble.
• It's All About Me: "Incredibly self-centered" is how people describe how he was like as an apprentice blue priest. This is why Fran thinks his former gray priest attendant, Fritz, must be a really patient person if he was capable of handling Shikza.
• Meaningful Name: The Japanese version of his name is "Shikikoza", which spelled backwards means "Small-Fry Knight" (zako kishi). The English translator was going to change it to a different name in English with a similar meaning for localization, but the author requested a name that sounds similar to the original because of the anime.
• New Meat: Like Damuel, Shikza has just come of age. Due to his low mana level and lack of experience, he is ordered to guard Myne instead of participating in the fight against the trombe.
• Original Position Fallacy: He assumes he can treat Myne as he pleases due to being of higher status than Myne herself, Damuel and Fran. He completely forgets that the person who personally asked him to protect Myne is of higher status than he is, which means he really shouldn't have been messing around with Myne.
• Small Name, Big Ego: He makes a big show of lording over the lower-born people around him during the trombe extermination, but it's made very clear that he is all talk. Besides his pitiful display of mana when asked to show Myne how to restore the land's mana, he was initially sent to the temple for lacking mana and only returned to noble society because of the civil war relaxing the standards for the amount of mana necessary to be part of it. His mana capacity reaches laynoble levels, so mocking Damuel as a laynoble is the height of hypocrisy.
• Smug Snake: Once he, Damuel and Myne are alone, Shikza immediately harasses Myne and tries to hurt her. However, he panics after he cuts Myne with his knife, which creates a new trombe that he can't get rid of. After the situation is resolved, he regains his smug composure, his only defense for attacking Myne being that she is a commoner. He doesn't even think that he committed insubordination until Ferdinand admonishes him for it.
• Too Dumb to Live: Part 2 Volume 3 reveals that Shikza was executed, as he pulled off a Bodyguard Betrayal against Myne, when he was ordered by Karstedt and Ferdinand to not let any harm come to her. He thought he could get away with it because Myne is a commoner hated by the High Bishop, but it never occured to him that he was directly disobeying his superiors' orders. Ferdinand also explains that Myne was given her blue robes with the explicit permission of the archduke, which means that dismissing her status as an apprentice blue shrine maiden is tantamount to treason.
• Unfortunate Names: The name the translator decided to use to adapt his Punny Name sounds too similar to the word Shiksa, which is of Yiddish orgin and is partly derived from the Hebrew term shekets (meaning: "impure" or "object of loathing"). This word is an often denigrating way to refer to non-Jewish women or may also be used to describe a Jewish girl or woman who fails to follow Orthodox religious precepts.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Post-execution at least. Shikza's father signed a contract to never interact with Myne again and paid for half of her new ceremonial robes. In exchange, the rest of House Dahldolf is spared any further punishment and Shikza's death is recorded as an honorable one in the line of duty.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Due to his actions while ordered to protect Myne, he is executed as punishment and his family is required to pay half the cost of Myne's replacement ceremonial robes.
• Would Hurt a Child: Worse, he tried to hurt the person he was supposed to protect.

Gloria

Gloria

Debut: Part 2 (Volume 4)

Voiced by: Akane Tomonaga (Japanese)

The viscountess of Dahldolf, Shikza's mother and a former second wife turned first wife by her predecessor's death. When Shikza died, Gloria had recently secured Veronica's support in making him the heir to Viscount Dahldolf instead of his half-brother.

She is now single-mindedly seeking revenge against Rozemyne without any care in the world for the consequences for the rest of her family. As a long-time ally to Veronica, she adheres to her version of reality in which Ferdinand is a scary and cruel person who is manipulating Sylvester.

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• Devilish Hair Horns: Her hairstyle seems to be designed to establish her status as an antagonist.
• Meaningful Name: Gloria is a female name based on the Latin word for "glory" or "fame", which fits someone so obsessed with her status and who seeks to climb the social ladder.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Shikza is already dead by the first time she appears on-page.
• The Resenter: On top of being responsible for her son's death, Rozemyne is now much higher in status than herself, which Gloria finds unacceptable.
• Revenge Before Reason: She's so vocal about avenging Shikza no matter the costs that even her enemies know about it. She comes up in conversations between Rozemyne's guardians for a reason. In Part 4 Volume 9, she enters the temple and steals the temple's bible to replace it with a fake that is coated in poison. When Rozemyne and the archducal family knock on the doors of her estate in the Noble's Quarter, she blows her head off in a Spiteful Suicide, to prevent her mind from being read.
• Small Role, Big Impact: As it turns out in Part 5 Volume 7, besides her murder attempt on Rozemyne in Part 4 Volume 9, Gloria replaced the key of the temple's bible with Ahrensbach's key and sent Ehrenfest's key to Grausam, who delivered it to Georgine. The key is necessary to access a room in the temple where the foundation is hidden. Without the key, Georgine's invasion would have been futile from the start. However, since Gloria left behind Ahrensbach's key to not cause suspicion (or give Georgine an excuse to attack Ehrenfest), Rozemyne is later able to take over Ahrensbach, when she invades the duchy to save Ferdinand.
• Social Climber: After Shikza was born with not enough mana for a mednoble, Gloria was given a choice on what to do with him, and she decided to send him to the temple to get closer to Veronica via Bezewanst. This was all done to get more mana for her province and strengthen Dahldolf's position within the Veronica faction, which ruled Ehrenfest at that time. After Giebe Dahldolf's first wife died and the civil war happened, Shikza miraculously was able to return to noble society and attend the Royal Academy. All that was left was to depose her stepson, Jeremias, as Dahldolf's heir and replace him with Shikza, but right before Veronica could make that happen, Shikza was executed for his Bodyguard Betrayal, which has ruined all her plans.
• Wicked Stepmother: The narration doesn't go into how she actually treats her stepson, but the fact that she was trying to have him disinherited from his future title and the place her thoughts go when she hears his name point in that trope's direction much more than they point to Good Stepmother. That's before even going into the fact that her stepson is one of the people who will almost certainly get executed if her revenge is carried out.

House Ambros of Illgner

Brigitte

Brigitte

Debut: Part 3 (Volume 1)

Voiced by: Mutsumi Tamura (Drama CD 8)

The only daughter of the viscount house that rules Illgner. Brigitte becomes one of the personal bodyguards of Rozemyne after her baptism, working in tandem with her same-aged fellow guard, Damuel. Between her career choice and growing up in one of the outer provinces, she's more open-minded about what constitutes proper female behavior than many noble ladies.

Some years ago, her older brother became the head of their family right after reaching adulthood and she broke an engagement off to keep her fiancé from pulling an Heir-In-Law. Rozemyne wants to help her find a new a husband before the little time she has to do so runs out.

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• Action Girl: As is required to be a full-fledged member of the Knight's Order. Graduates to Action Mom by the time of Ahrensbach invasion of Ehrenfest.
• Amazonian Beauty: Brigitte is described by Rozemyne as a Statuesque Stunner with a well-trained body. Unfortunately for her, the popular noble dresses are designed for petite women with slim limbs, making them appear fluffy and soft, which Brigitte is definitely not. Rozemyne works with the Gilberta Company to create a dress that accentuates Brigitte's beautiful bosom and muscles while masking the not-so-attractive parts. When she shows up in the dress at a party in Part 3 Volume 4, she immediately is surrounded by many men who wish to court her.
• Babies Ever After: Her goal. Brigitte wants to marry a good man willing to support her brother and Illgner, and then retire to raise children. Which she exactly ends up doing with her husband Viktor, giving birth to a daughter they name Lilaroze.
• Big Sister Instinct: Inverted. Her big brother was not in a strong position, and she could see that her former fiancé, Hassheit, was aiming to marry Brigitte so he could take away the position of giebe for his own family. That is why she canceled their engagement, though as a consequence many nobles left Illgner and she gained a bad reputation.
• Childhood Friends: With a commoner girl named Carya, who serves her family. Brigitte is very happy to hear that her old friend will be able to marry the man she fell in love with.
• Locked Out of the Loop: She is the only personal adult guard around Rozemyne who is not aware of her commoner origins. As a result, she wonders why Rozemyne is so close to commoners like Gunther (her biological father) and she is never invited to Rozemyne's sealed room in the temple to stand guard. Due to being partnered with Damuel, she sometimes winds up being in a group of half a dozen people in which she's the only one who doesn't know of Rozemyne's origins.
• Nice Girl: Downplayed. She is from a rural, relatively small province, where nobles don't mind eating in the same room as their servants or peasants. When Rozemyne decides to eat in the same room as a large number of lower-rank people, she's more worried about Rozemyne's other guardians, who were raised in the central province, finding out than the fact it forces her to eat in that very same room. Brigitte even considers the commoner girl she grew up with, and now works for her family, a dear friend.
• No Social Skills: It's not apparent, but Brigitte doesn't fare much better than her brother when it comes to political and social skills a noble is supposed to have, as she comes from a region where the nobles are very modest. Since she has spent some time in the Noble's Quarter, she has learned to behave differently than she does in her home province, but she is still rather naive and does not understand subtlety.
  • In Part 3 Volume 4, Brigitte doesn't know how to handle her ex-fiancé Hassheit when he starts making advances on her again at the Starbind Ceremony. Damuel has to bail her out by confronting Hassheit.
  • At the beginning of Part 3 Volume 5, Rozemyne shows Brigitte how the gray priests at the workshop work and behave. She has to inform Brigitte of the consequences of making Illgner a part of the duchy-wide paper and printing business. Brigitte initially doesn't understand what Rozemyne is implying until Rozemyne spells out that showing closeness to commoners is not appropriate, regardless of their intentions, and the Illgner commoners must be educated about proper etiquette if they don't want to end up like Hasse's former mayor.
  • At the end of Part 3, Elvira asks Brigitte how she intends to respond to Damuel's planned marriage proposal at the next Starbind Ceremony, and Brigitte tells Elvira that she intends to accept and then go back to Illgner with Damuel. Her brother is shocked to hear Brigitte's response, as his sister apparently didn't understand Elvira's Secret Test of Character. While Brigitte's response would usually be appropriate for a land-owning noble like her, she forgets that her case is special because she is a guard knight of the archducal family. Viscount Illgner thinks that Elvira, as Rozemyne's mother, wanted to see how loyal Brigitte is, and since Brigitte is not as dedicated to Rozemyne as Elvira hoped, she basically allowed Brigitte to return to Illgner to cut her off as she deemed Brigitte unfit as Rozemyne's retainer.
• Old Maid: She blew off her previous engagement due to family circustances and now worries that she may get too old to marry. The cutoff age for noble ladies is 20 years old.
• Poor Communication Kills: It's the different expectations and points of view that end up ruining her possible marriage with Damuel. Had they both talked about it more deeply and shared what each of them thought for their future together, maybe things could have turned up differently, or at least avoided much heartbreak.
• Retired Badass: What she will become once she finds a suitable husband a starts to have children.As she planned from the start, Brigitte is relieved of her duties as Rozemyne's guard knight after Elvira finds a husband for her at the end of Part 3. In Part 5, she temporarily takes up arms again to defend Illgner from Georgine's invasion.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Downplayed. Brigitte already looks stunning, but the trendy noble dresses at the start of Part 3 don't suit her. When Rozemyne designs a more modern dress to fit her body type, the effect of it is so striking that Damuel promptly falls in love with her.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Brigitte's goal is not just to find any marriage partner, but one who would support her region and her brother. Damuel rescues her from her slimy ex-fiancé during a party by proposing to her. While she assumes that he wasn't serious, given their vast mana differences, she later learns that he can still increase his capacity. During his stay in Illgner, she sees that he doesn't look down on her or Illgner for being a modest and rural province, which touches her heart.
• Tomboy Princess: Well, tomboy daughter of a giebe, anyway. Commoners of her hometown have fond memories of her hiking up mountains with a knife in hand. She grew out of it, or at least can hide it in polite noble society.
• Undying Loyalty:
  • To her family and the province of Illgner. Her going to the dreaded temple and the lower city to guard Rozemyne and finding a suitable husband is all for the sake of her province. In fact, she refuses Damuel's marriage proposal at the end of Part 3 after she learns that he won't give up his position as Rozemyne's guard knight when they marry. Brigitte however does not wish to stay in the Noble's Quarter after she retires as a knight and wants to return to Illgner. Elvira then finds a mednoble willing to marry Brigitte who is interested in expanding Illgner's paper-making business.
  • In a way, she still views Rozemyne as her lady. Rozemyne and her retainers are the first ones she reaches out for for the defense of Ehrenfest against Georgine's forces in Part 5 Volume 8 and 9.
• Uptown Girl: Damuel is smitten with her and she does consider him a good man, but the chasm of mana levels between a laynoble and mednoble makes them being together impossible. The blessing Myne gave him before being officially adopted into the archduke's family gives him courage to ask for her hand in marriage, an act compared to chivalry tales in-universe. The blessing also extended his mana growth period and she teaches him her mana compression method, making Brigitte seriously consider him a potential partner.

Viscount Illgner

Helfried

Debut: Part 3 (Volume 3)

A young man who became the ruling lord of the Illgner province after his father's death. Because of his youth and inexperience, other nobles tried to take over the province by marrying his younger sister, Brigitte. This led her to cancel her engagement as a countermeasure, but this unfortunately backfired as it left Illgner looking rather poorly and in a questionable situation in the eyes of other nobles.

After Brigitte became Rozemyne's guard knight, Illgner received the protection of Rozemyne and her family. Since the province has a large lumber industry, Rozemyne becomes very interested in starting the expansion of the printing industry in Illgner first by developing new types of paper unique to the region.

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• Benevolent Boss: Just like Brigitte, he has a friendly relationship with the commoners of his land. He was willing to buy the gray priest Volk who had fallen in love with Carya, one of his subjects and servants, so they could marry.
• Big Brother Instinct: He worries about Brigitte as much as she cares and worries about him.
• Fatal Flaw: Viscount Illgner is too honest, inexperienced, and naive for a land-owning noble. His naivety is the reason why Brigitte's ex-fiancé's family tried to overthrow him and take over the Illgner province in the first place. After the negotiations to purchase one of Rozemyne's gray priests fail, Rozemyne notes to Ferdinand that his negotiation skills are rather pathetic and he has no business sense. Since Illgner would likely have been ripped off by Benno and the Plantin Company, Rozemyne later acts as middleman to ensure Illgner gets a fair price for the paper they produce.
• No Name Given: No one in the novel ever calls him by his name and he is only referred to by his title as the giebe of Illgner. Supplemental material reveals that his name is Helfried Ambros.
• No Social Skills: People mock him for being a country bumpkin who knows nothing about nobility, but it's partially true. Viscount Illgner is too honest and direct, which in the world of nobles is frowned upon and leaves him vulnerable. Even Volk, the gray priest Rozemyne sent over to help Illgner establish a paper-making industry, has often times better noble manners, and Ferdinand warns Illgner that he will be easily exploited if he doesn't work on this.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Is noted to look very similar to Brigitte.

Viktor (Spoiler)

Warning: This character is a Walking Spoiler that spoils the resolution of two central characters's arcs from Part 3. As such, all spoilers about him are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

Viktor

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 3)

A medscholar that Lady Elvira personally introduced as a good husband-to-be for Brigitte, after her romance with Damuel ended up in mutual heartbreak. Viktor was the candidate part of the Leisegang faction that was chosen, since as a capable scholar he would be able to help Illgner grow their paper idustry and support the rather inexperienced Giebe Illgner.

Soon after getting married into his new wife's family that Viktor departed to his new home province. Once there and largely in charge of the paper-making industry, he got a lot of work to do given the small number of nobles that there were living in Illgner at the time, though since then some laynobles have settled in the province again, relaxing the situation.

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• Babies Ever After: In the autumn before Rozemyne's third year at the Royal Academy, Brigitte and Viktor are blessed with the birth of a healthy girl, they name Lilaroze.
• Benevolent Boss: He sincerely worries about the commoners of Illgner and their livelihoods, especially after they are informed of Georgine's incoming invasion.
• The Consigliere: Specifically chosen as Brigitte's husband to fill this position for her brother. Viktor supports Helfried, the Ambros House and looks for the well-being and benefits of Illgner.

House Schleich

Angelica

Angelica

Debut: Part 3 (Volume 1)

Voiced by: Masumi Asano (Drama CD 1+), Kaede Hondo (Drama CD 5+)

A 12-year-old apprentice knight working as a bodyguard for Rozemyne and Cornelius' partner. She doesn't like to use her head much, to the point that she went against her family's tradition of becoming attendants to become a knight so she would have to study as little as possible. For that same reason, she sees serving Rozemyne as a Brains and Brawn dynamic in which she's the brawn.

Her parents work as attendants in the castle. Her mother specifically is one of Florencia's attendants.

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• Action Girl: One in training, at the very least. By Part 4 she is recognized by all to be a most capable knight.
• Best Her to Bed Her: One of the conditions for her marriage partner is that he should be stronger than her. Which is another reason why Traugott isn't suitable for her, but Eckhart is. After her engagement with Eckhart has to be canceled, Bonifatius tries to find another husband for her. Cornelius, Lamprecht, and Karstedt immediately refuse, meaning that if Traugott turned out to be too weak before Angelica turned 20, Bonifatius would have to marry her or take her as a concubine... And Angelica would actually be okay with that!. Though in the end she gets engaged with Eckhart once again.
• The Big Girl: Angelica is the pure muscle within Rozemyne's group of knights, which is why she is almost always assigned as Rozemyne's guard knight.
• Birds of a Feather:
  • With Bonifatius. They both are strength-obsessed knights who don't like thinking and rather listen to their Gut Feeling.
  • Also with Eckhart. Both are absolutely loyal to their respective master and will not leave their side. This is why Eckhart deeply respects Angelica. And why he wouldn't mind marrying her.
• Black Sheep: Angelica's family consists entirely of attendants, but she is the only one who wanted to become a knight. When Rozemyne meets Angelica's parents for the first time, they immediately assume Angelica did something wrong.
• Blessed with Suck: Rozemyne determined that, more than anything, Angelica lacks wisdom and common sense, so she (accidentally) imbued her manablade with intelligence. Not with knowledge, so the sword needs for its owner to study to actually have the knowledge necessary to fulfill its function.
• Blood Knight: What Angelica enjoys the most is a good fight. She prefers to go on the offensive, but she will listen and hold back if commanded.
• Book Dumb: With how little she likes to use her head, she unsuprisingly has bad grades in her writing-based classes. It eventually turns out that her lack of academic skills is serious enough that she would have had to repeat part of her education if not for Rozemyne putting serious effort into getting her grades up.
• Brainless Beauty: Over the course of the story, Angelica develops from a cute girl to an absolutely stunning woman. However, she remains as airheaded as ever.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: There are later indications that she is not truly dumb and is only lacking motivation. Anything that is directly related to becoming stronger is something she wholeheartedly memorizes, such as complicated magic circles.
• Broken Pedestal: Angelica is admired by her sister and younger female knights like Judithe for being one of Bonifatius' disciples and one of the archducal family's guard knights. While Lieseleta is aware of what her sister is like, Judithe is not. She seems a bit disappointed when her role model is reprimanded and dragged around by Cornelius and Rozemyne because Angelica doesn't want to use her head.
• Celibate Heroine: Angelica is largely uninterested in romance and marriage. Although she isn't opposed to marry, she would have to retire if she got pregnant, which is why she would rather stay a knight as long as possible. In Part 4, she lets Bonifatius and her parents decide her marriage partner. Bonifatius originally wanted to make Traugott Angelica's partner, but this engagement was canceled after Traugott resigned as Rozemyne's guard knight. To fulfill Bonifatius' wish to bind Angelica to his family, Eckhart instead is betrothed to her, which suits Angelica, since Eckhart is strong and not interested in love or children, either.
• Cultured Warrior: She isn't particularly good with musical instruments, but her sword dance is beautiful and she is skilled enough to participate in the dance at her graduation ceremony, when this is usually reserved to archnobles.
• Dumb Muscle: All of Rozemyne's other bodyguards had their reasons for becoming knights (e.g. branching out their family connections, helping protect their own homeland or family tradition). Angelica simply didn't like to study.
• Foil: To her liege lady, Rozemyne. Rozemyne is physically weak, which she makes up with her intelligence. Angelica isn't very smart at all, but she is very physically apt. However, especially in the early parts of Part 4 it is often pointed out that Rozemyne and Angelica are actually very similar. Both have no interest in romance and just let others choose their partners for them, and both charge in recklessly to get what they desire (book/more strength and power), while they lose their motivation quickly if it doesn't have anything to do with what they want.
• Kindhearted Simpleton: Angelica is not particularly smart, nor does she know much about how to behave like a proper noblewoman, but she is one of the nicest nobles in the story. For instance, she isn't prejudiced against the temple and the priests at all. When she starts accompanying Rozemyne to the temple, she treats Fran and the rest of the orphans normally without disdain.
• Magic Enhancement: Angelica's body makes it necessary for her to use her mana resources on physical enhancement. Since that means she doesn't have the reserves to use a schtappe in battle, she instead wields her manablade Stenluke, which grows with mana and was given attributes that she lacks, mainly intelligence and common sense.
• Obliviously Beautiful: She doesn't seem to care nor notice that her looks are absolutely gorgeous.
• Rank Up: As result of her Took a Level in Badass below, once she marries Eckhart she will be considered an archnoble.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Angelica and her little sister Lieseleta look very much alike. The main difference is their hair and eye color.
• Tomboyish Ponytail: As befitting of a female knight who is not interested in anything but becoming stronger, she wears her hair in a ponytail.
• Too Dumb to Fool: Zig-zagged. Angelica's loyalty to Rozemyne comes in part from any attempt to make her act otherwise requiring her to use her head to succeed. Although at one point Ferdinand lured Angelica away by proposing to train with Eckhart, leaving Rozemyne completely alone with Ferdinand. She was later scolded by Rozemyne and Damuel for interpreting Ferdinand's offer as an order and leaving her post without permission.
• Took a Level in Badass: Between Part 3 and 4, thanks to training under Bonifatius and increasing her mana capacity, she is on the same level as archnobles, to the point that outside of status there is no problem with her marrying and having children with an archnoble like Eckhart.
• Undying Loyalty: Angelica might not be the brightest of Rozemyne's guards, but she takes her duty to protect her lady very seriously. She doesn't care about status (that would require her to use her head), she will defend Rozemyne from anyone who means her harm. For instance, in Part 3 Volume 5, when Wilfried barges in past Damuel to confront Rozemyne after he talked with Veronica, Angelica immediately restrains him without hesitation, only letting him go after she is ordered to. She also moves between Rozemyne and Ferdinand after Ferdinand draws his wand and threatens Rozemyne (non-seriously). In Part 4 Volume 8, as Eckhart is set to leave Ehrenfest with Ferdinand, he asks Angelica if she wants to marry and come along with him, but she refuses, as she wishes to stay by Rozemyne's side and keep serving her, so they decide to cancel their engagement.
• Unkempt Beauty: Angelica doesn't take much care of her appearance, but she still looks gorgeous. She Cleans Up Nicely, too, as shown in Part 4, when her parents and Lieseleta beautify her for her graduation ceremony.
• Waif-Fu: In contrast to the tall and imposing Brigitte, Angelica is described as small and slender. The fighting style contrast between the two of them is put on a strength/speed dichotomy, with Brigitte being the strong one and Angelica the fast one.

Stenluke

Stenluke

Debut: Part 3 (Volume 4)

A manablade Angelica has grown to compensate for her lack of mana to use a schtappe. Due to being bestowed with Ferdinand and Rozemyne's mana, with Rozemyne wishing for the sword to compensate for Angelica's lack of common sense and intelligence, it has gained sentience and now talks with Ferdinand's voice.

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• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Angelica doesn't think too much, which is why Rozemyne gave Stenluke intelligence so that it may advise and warn Angelica whenever she tries to do something stupid.
• Conflicting Loyalty: The blade is mostly filled with Angelica's mana. However, since Rozemyne also contributed to its creation and since she is Angelica's master, it will sometimes defer to Rozemyne's orders.
• Punny Name: Accidental. Stenluke sounds very similar to "stern look", which fits since it acts as Angelica's Cloudcuckoolander's Minder. invokedWord of God actually says that the first half of its name is based on the German word for "star" (Stern). The other part of his name could come from the German word "klug" (smart).
• Talking Weapon: Stenluke speaks with Ferdinand's voice and is an intelligent sword that learns along with Angelica.

Lieseleta

Lieseleta

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 1)

Voiced by: Manaka Iwami (Drama CD 5+)

Angelica's sister, who is two years younger than her. Following her family's tradition, she is an apprentice noble attendant and is noted to be very competent and a worthy inheritor of her family's ways. When Rozemyne enters the Royal Academy, she makes Lieseleta one of her retainers.

Although always appearing prim and proper when performing her duty, in private however she can be quite cheerful and talkative. Shumils are so far the only thing that ever managed to make Lieseleta's work facade briefly slip and openly show her true emotions.

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• Being Personal Isn't Professional: Lieseleta is strict and quiet during work or in the presence of Rozemyne. She is otherwise a social and talkative person, though she gives in to excitement if she encounters cute things like shumils or fashion.
• Big Sister Worship: Lieseleta is very proud of her older sister, who has become one of Rozemyne's trusted guard knights and was trained by Bonifatius.
• Inconsistent Coloring: Just like with Tuuli, You Shiina would at Lieseleta's first colored Illustration portray her with an aquagreen shade of eyes and hair, but in subsequent illustrations she is shown with an emerald or mint green shade instead.
• Rank Up: The Spin-Off shows that Lieseleta becomes Rozemyne's head attendant. What makes this possible is her engagement to an archnoble (as Elvira suggested to her), which means that once she's married she will also be viewed as an archnoble.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: They may look alike, but Angelica and Lieseleta behave very differently. Lieseleta seems fairly intelligent and is a very competent attendant, which is the complete opposite of her older sister. They do have a few Shared Family Quirks though, such as the face they both make when they find something they are very interested in.
• Spare to the Throne: Lieseleta is the heir of her family, as her family doesn't have any sons and unlike her older sister (who is set to become Eckhart's second wife), Lieseleta has chosen the attendant course and thus follows her family's tradition.
• The Stoic: Lieseleta is usually very calm and composed. Rozemyne however notices that when it comes to fashion and cute things, she gets very excited, not unlike Angelica when Angelica talks about training and becoming stronger.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Rozemyne immediately notices how she looks like Angelica, except for her hair and eye colors which are green instead of blue.
• Undying Loyalty: Towards Rozemyne. Lieseleta has been eagerly awaiting Rozemyne's arrival at the Royal Academy to serve her to repay her for saving Angelica from a failing grade. Rozemyne saved Angelica from jeopardizing her future as a noble, and with it the reputation of her entire family.
  • In Part 5 Volume 1, when Roderick explains that many female apprentice attendants of the former Veronica faction do not wish to give their names to Rozemyne because she collapses quite often (which would lead to a worse grade) Lieseleta gets angry and uses waschen to shut Roderick up.
  • Lieseleta learned Rozemyne's mana compression method and actively practiced it to the point that she has risen to the levels of an archnoble. This forced her to cancel her engagement with her mednoble fiancé that her parents picked for her, but she increased her mana willingly for Rozemyne's sake.
  • In Part 5 Volume 6, she cancels her engagement with Thorsten, Wilfried's retainer, to serve as Rozemyne's head attendant, when Rozemyne is later requested to leave Ehrenfest. In a side story from her view it is also revealed that Lieseleta tried getting a doctor's license for Rozemyne's sake, but couldn't finish the courses in time, which only Hartmut, Cornelius and Elvira were aware of.

Royal Academy students

Roderick

Roderick

Debut: Part 3 (Volume 3)

Voiced by: Hiroyuki Endo (Drama CD 3+)

The son of a mednoble's second wife who is the same age as Wilfried and Rozemyne. His family is part of Veronica's former faction, and at his father's behest Roderick got closer to Wilfried during their first winter socializing. Roderick was part of the group of friends that lured Wilfried into a trap and made him commit a grievous crime.

In the two years that Rozemyne recovered, Roderick was ostracized by everyone, even those from his same faction as they laid all blame on him as the sole scapegoat for the Ivory Tower incident. He still gathered new stories for Rozemyne in that time, and Rozemyne has expressed her desire to recruit him as one of her scholar retainers. His strong motivation to become Rozemyne's retainer results in him carving the path for other children of the faction who are considering leaving it, as well.

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• Abusive Parents: Roderick was regularly beaten by his father after the Ivory Tower incident and his mother is completely subservient to his father. One of the reasons he became Rozemyne's retainer was to escape his family.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Roderick is representative for all the noble children that are part of the former Veronica faction, but he is affected the most by it. Following Wilfried's punishment and the kidnapping attempt on Rozemyne, he is isolated and ostracized. Anyone not related to Veronica's faction avoids him due to his family's allegiance, while the other children of the Veronica faction blame him for jeopardizing their future relationship with the archducal family. Rozemyne nonetheless tries to involve him in her organized study groups to raise the grades of Ehrenfest's nobles and rewards him for providing her with the new stories he gathered for her.
• Foil: He is a bit of a male counterpart to Philine in several ways.
  • The two spend a lot of time together in their first year at the Royal Academy, as both barely pass the history and geography exams, which is why they still partake in the lessons. But in terms of status, Philine is near the bottom of the laynobles, while Roderick is near the bottom of the mednobles.
  • Both are scholars who collect stories for Rozemyne, though unlike Philine, Roderick is not allowed to become Rozemyne's retainer because his family belongs to the Veronica faction, while Philine's family is neutral. Rozemyne later lets Philine keep gathering stories for her, while Roderick one year later becomes Rozemyne's retainer and writer.
  • Both suffer from Abusive Parents and both are saved and taken in by Rozemyne. Both cut ties with their families, but Roderick needs to give his name to do so.
• Heel–Face Turn: He is technically part of the former Veronica faction, which is opposed to both Florencia's faction and House Leisegang (the faction Rozemyne belongs to). In the Royal Academy, Rozemyne ignores the conflict between the Ehrenfest factions and treats the isolated Roderick fairly, for which he is grateful. In Part 4 Volume 5, on behest of Matthias, he warns Philine that an attack on Rozemyne is planned and eventually switches sides by becoming Rozemyne's retainer.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Roderick and the other children of the former Veronica faction aren't actually aware why exactly they are ostracized. While they know of the faction war within Ehrenfest, they react with confusion when Rozemyne warns Wilfried to be cautious around Ahrensbach nobles, when their parents before pushed to get closer to Georgine, who is Aub Ehrenfest's sister.
• Pen Name: In Part 5, Roderick uses the pen name "Schubort" (シュボルト) for the ditter books he is writing.
• The Resenter: He resents Philine a bit for becoming Rozemyne's retainer, which he can't, since his parents associate with Veronica. He knows this isn't Philine's fault and hates himself for doing so.
• The Runaway: When he offers his name to Rozemyne to become her retainer, he specifically asks to cut ties with his family as well. Seeing as his father is an Opportunistic Bastard who was isolated after the Ivory Tower incident in Part 3 Volume 5, Roderick does not want his father to trample on Rozemyne's good will.
• The Scapegoat: After what happened in Part 3 Volume 5, Roderick was made to be the main reason Wilfried entered the Ivory Tower, even though Roderick only did as his father told him. Matthias and Laurenz are some of the few people within the Veronica faction who don't blame him for this.
• Secret-Keeper: He's smart enough to realize that him getting all seven elements during his divine blessings when he should only be getting two can be explained by the combination of Rozemyne having all seven elements and him being name-sworn to her, at a point of the story where Rozemyne is keeping the former fact on a need-to-know basis. Given the circumstances, Rozemyne decides that the pros of confirming to him that he's right outweigh the cons.
• Undying Loyalty: A side chapter reveals that he was almost suicidal after he suffered abuse and isolation in the two years that Rozemyne was asleep. Her printing the story he told her and rewarding him for his efforts at the start of Part 4 is what gives him the recognition he always wanted and he eventually offers her his name in Part 4 Volume 7, a vow to serve Rozemyne for the rest of his life.
• The Un-Favourite: He was ignored by his father and treated as worthless. The only reason his father started treating him better was because he got closer to Wilfried, but this went all down the drain after the incident at the Ivory Tower happened and Roderick was shunned by Wilfried as a result.
• Unwitting Pawn: Roderick wasn't aware that he would make Wilfried commit a crime. All he was told by his father was to go play in the forest with Wilfried.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Roderick seemed to desire the love his father in the past. This has switched to Rozemyne, who recognized his efforts in his worst moments, thus saving his life.

Judithe

Judithe

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 1)

Voiced by: Yuka Terasaki (Drama CD 3+)

An energetic apprentice knight who is one year older than Rozemyne and whose family hails from the province of Kirnberger. At home Judithe often trained with the knights of her province even before starting the course at the Academy. She aspires to be a skilled guard knight like her idol, Angelica, and so she is thrilled when Rozemyne makes her one of her knights when she enters the Royal Academy.

Judithe's father is a knight in the service of the neutral Count Kirnberger, and while she originally also planned to serve her father's lord she has since shifted to being Rozemyne's guard knight. She has a younger brother, Theodore, who insists on becoming a Kirnberger knight and only serves Rozemyne as a guard knight at the Academy.

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• Brats with Slingshots: As seen in Part 4 Volume 2, Judithe uses a slingshot as a ranged weapon.
• Early-Bird Cameo: By proxy. While selling the learning materials to noble children, Rozemyne briefly focuses on Wilfried to check how he's doing on his side right as the latter is telling Count Kirnberger about how well the materials worked for him.
• Friendly Sniper: Judithe is an upbeat girl, who is very sociable and deadly accurate with her slingshot.
• Hero-Worshipper: Judithe practically worships Angelica, who has made a name for herself as one of Rozemyne's chosen guard knights who was trained by Bonifatius. Angelica doesn't really appreciate being viewed as a flawless role model and calls Judithe a weirdo. And despite having since learned of Angelica's true nature, Judithe's admiration of her only grew since then.
• Shared Family Quirks: She and her brother Theodore really don't like it and start to pout if they are excluded from some activities because of their young age. Their motivation for becoming Kirnberger knights is also very similar. They just want to see what is beyond the border gate.
• Sheltered Aristocrat: Judithe is a rather innocent girl, as is shown in Part 5 Volume 9, when she suggests to Rozemyne to literally go see some flowers, as that is what she heard soldiers and knights apparently do after a battle. She has no idea that it was a Sexual Euphemism, but everyone around Judithe doesn't have the heart to tell her the truth.
• Tomboyish Ponytail: As she deeply admires Angelica, she also copies her hairstyle.

Matthias

Matthias

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 5 ^note Although not confirmed, it's likely he already had a line in Volume 1 and 2.)

Voiced by Yuichiro Umehara (Drama CD 3+)

Matthias is an apprentice knight who is two years older than Rozemyne and the youngest son of Royella and Grausam, the giebe of Gerlach. As his family belongs to the former Veronica faction, Matthias and Laurenz are the center of the children that were ostracized in the two years that Rozemyne was asleep.

His family is actually loyal to Georgine and aims to make her Ehrenfest's aub. However, Matthias does not share his family's resentment for the archducal family and comes to admire Rozemyne.

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• Almighty Janitor: Matthias' grandmother was an archnoble from Ahrensbach, who married the then Giebe Gerlach. Thus, compared to Roderick, who is on the lower end of mednobles in terms of mana, Matthias is on the higher end and is on par with archnobles. In addition to that, Viscount Gerlach has taught Matthias Georgine's mana compression method. He also has an aptitude for three elements, when most mednobles only have an aptitude for two elements.
• Antagonistic Offspring: After swearing his loyalty to Rozemyne, Matthias actively opposes his father, who escaped Sylvester's purge.
• Cannot Talk to Women: Downplayed. He can talk to women normally, but when it comes to romance he gets shy and starts getting nervous. This can be seen in Part 5 Volume 3, when he is asked to record some romantic lines for a recording magic tool to advertise Ehrenfest's newest romance novels and gets too embarrassed to say his lines. In his final year, he can't manage to ask a girl out for his graduation ceremony and ends up asking Ottilie to be his escort.
• Childhood Friends: With Laurenz, whose fathers are neighboring giebes and part of the former Veronica faction.
• Conflicting Loyalty:
  • On the one hand, Matthias' parents and his brothers are loyal to Georgine, who resent the archducal family. On the other hand, Matthias likes Rozemyne, who views people individually without concern about faction. He knows he will eventually have to take a side, but tries to delay his decision as long as possible. A side story in Part 4 Volume 9 reveals that Georgine already asked for his name and plans to steal the foundation very soon. Seeing Wilfried and Rozemyne again in the dormitory makes him realize that his time to voluntarily choose a side is almost up. He then decides to betray his family and soon after gives his name to Rozemyne.
  • The prologue of Part 5 Volume 3 shows a major difference between how he and Laurenz view loyalty towards one's lady and how Brunhilde and Leonore view it: Matthias will do anything Rozemyne asks for, while in Brunhilde's opinion Rozemyne's wishes must sometimes be ignored if her safety is at stake. Matthias has to admit that he takes Rozemyne's contributions for granted and that he has neglected her health and safety, viewing her collapsing and being in poor health as normal.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Chronologically, Matthias can be first seen in a short story from Cornelius' view at the end of Part 3, where he is seen talking to Judithe and Lieseleta. In the main story, Matthias probably had an unnamed early appearance in Rozemyne's first year in the Royal Academy, as he is one of the most outspoken students of the former Veronica faction. The prologue of Part 4 Volume 5 is from Matthias' view and he becomes a more prominent figure when Roderick states his wish to offer Rozemyne his name and become her retainer.
• Genius Bruiser: Matthias is a very intelligent and cautious person, who does not rush things and thinks them through. In Part 4 Volume 6, he coordinates the apprentice knights fighting a dangerous feybeast and figures out its abilities quickly. In his fourth and fifth year, he is commended for his excellent grades at the Academy. He also came up with the idea to feed feybeasts feystones to get higher quality feystones (which is based on a trick Rozemyne pulled off against Dunkelfelger in Part 4 Volume 2).
• Last of His Kind: Matthias believes he is the last member of his family, as the rest of his family died in the purge conducted at the start of Part 5 (including his pre-baptism nephew who was accidentally killed during Bonifatius' assault). Following his father's death in Part 5 Volume 8, this is really the case.
• Like Father, Like Son: Commented on by Laurenz in the prologue of Part 4 Volume 5. Matthias is a very cautious person and always plans ahead before making a move. He doesn't actually like being told that he takes after his father.
• Real Men Eat Meat: Inverted. Matthias prefers vegetables over meat, although he later on tries to eat more meat to get a stronger physique.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue oni to Laurenz' red oni. Both are apprentice knights that belong to the former Veronica faction, whose parents are actually loyal to Georgine. Matthias is more of a shy and serious person with a slender stature, who always prepares himself for the worst, compared to Laurenz who is rather tall and stout, occasionally flirts with other people jokingly, and is rather outgoing and optimistic.
• Undying Loyalty: To Rozemyne. Matthias respects and admires Rozemyne's leadership, as she advocates unity and cooperation, and has no interest in factional conflicts. She treats and judges everyone fairly, which is why he desires to serve her. This is why he leaks information about his father and Georgine's plan to take over Ehrenfest to Rozemyne at the start of her third year and then gives her his name. At the awards ceremony in the same year, he kneels down to her in gratitude for saving his life, which allowed him to participate in the ceremony in the first place.
• White Sheep: Unlike the rest of his family, he feels no loyalty for Veronica or Georgine. There are multiple signs that show his willingness to switch to Rozemyne's side instead.
  • In Part 4 Volume 5, he warns Rozemyne through Roderick about a planned ambush on her way to Lamprecht's wedding.
  • In Part 4 Volume 6, after Roderick decides to dedicate his name to Rozemyne, Matthias and Laurenz assist Roderick in securing the necessary feystone to see how Rozemyne treats Roderick once he becomes her retainer. Due to Matthias' contributions in felling a dangerous feybeast, he obtains the necessary materials to dedicate his name, but hides it from his family. When Georgine asks for his name, he lies and tells her that his mana is still growing and he hasn't found good materials yet.
  • At the end of Part 4/start of Part 5, he tells Rozemyne that Georgine has possibly found a way to Ehrenfest's foundation. This revelation forces Sylvester to accelerate his plan to purge all nobles who are loyal to Georgine. Matthias does this because he believes that he can at least save the lives of the children this way, since Rozemyne judges people individually and does not punish children for the crimes of their parents. Matthias then gives Rozemyne his name and becomes her guard knight. According to the author, if Matthias hadn't acted, Georgine would have successfully taken over Ehrenfest, which would have been the end of Sylvester's family.

Laurenz

Laurenz

Debut: Part 3 (Volume 3)

Voiced by Katsunori Okai (Drama CD 7+)

Laurenz is an apprentice knight who is one year older than Rozemyne, the son of Viscount Wiltord and the younger brother of Freuden, the mednoble who married Aurelia's fellow Ahrensbach bride Bettina. Together with Matthias, he leads the students of the former Veronica faction in the Royal Academy.

His parents are actually loyal to Georgine. Laurenz however does not share their enthusiasm for Georgine and he instead has great respect for Rozemyne.

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• Adaptational Early Appearance: Laurenz appears very late in Part 4 in the web novel. In the light novel, he is first mentioned in Part 3 Volume 3 and makes his first proper appearance in the prologue of Part 4 Volume 5.
• All of the Other Reindeer: Following the events in Part 3 Volume 5, Laurenz, who was playing with Wilfried near the ivory tower where Veronica is imprisoned, is among the children that are ostracized and shunned.
• Almighty Janitor: Similar to Matthias, Laurenz comes from a family who have more mana than their status indicates. Laurenz is closer to an archnoble in terms of mana, and he has also been taught Georgine's mana compression method.
• Barely-Changed Dub Name: His name ラウレンツ (Raurentsu) was initially romanized as Laurentius in Part 3 Volume 3 of the official English translation. The Latin origin of his name was chosen because it's longer and helps not making Cornelius and Bonifatius stick out with their Latin names in a setting that predominantly uses German names. However, starting in Part 4 Volume 5, it was changed to Laurenz.
• Big Brother Instinct: His main concern regarding Sylvester's purge at the start of Part 5 is his unbaptized half-brother, Bertram. Seeing Bertram being treated well in the temple and being given the opportunity to become a noble eases his mind.
• Big Eater: He quite enjoys eating, especially meat.
• Childhood Friends: With Matthias, whose fathers are neighboring giebes and part of the former Veronica faction.
• Close-Range Combatant: As is mentioned in Part 5 Volume 2, he is especially strong in close combat.
• Conflicting Loyalty: Laurenz faces the same dilemma as Matthias, as his family is loyal to Georgine. Like Matthias, he offers his name to Rozemyne before the purge in Part 5 is executed, with the only family he has left being his half-brother, Bertram.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Laurenz is among the children of the former Veronica faction that are seen playing with Wilfried in the winter's playroom in Part 3 Volume 3.
• The Gadfly: In contrast to Matthias, Laurenz has a teasing nature and occasionally flirts with other people. While Rozemyne doesn't mind him joking like that, she warns him not to talk to Gretia this way, as Gretia Does Not Like Men.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red oni to Matthias' blue oni. Both are apprentice knights that belong to the former Veronica faction, whose parents are actually loyal to Georgine. Laurenz is tall, stout, and outgoing, while Matthias is a shy and more serious person with a slender stature. Laurenz is also more relaxed and optimistic than Matthias, but they balance each other out well.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Laurenz is rather extroverted, in contrast to his half-brother Bertram.
• Undying Loyalty: Together with Matthias, he is the first of the former Veronica faction students who swear their loyalty to Rozemyne at the start of Part 5. Similar to Matthias, he has come to respect and admire Rozemyne's harmonious leadership and does not agree with his parents' views at all.
• White Sheep: Unlike his parents, he feels no loyalty towards Georgine, thinking she is an outsider from Ahrensbach. He has observed Rozemyne since her winter debut and throughout Part 4 contemplates becoming her retainer.
  • In Part 4 Volume 5, he and Matthias send a warning to Rozemyne via Roderick that Veronica loyalists intend to ambush her on her way to the Ehrenfest-Ahrensbach border.
  • In Part 4 Volume 6, he and Matthias are asked by Roderick to gather the materials he needs to dedicate his name to Rozemyne. While Laurenz knows they are being used by Roderick and Hartmut, he is ultimately the one who convinces Matthias to accept Roderick's request. As Laurenz contributed greatly to the extermination of a dangerous feybeast, he obtains precious materials, but hides this from his family. When later asked, he does not agree with giving his name to Georgine, saying it's too early.
  • At the start of Part 5, he joins Matthias in rebelling against their families and informs Rozemyne of Georgine's plans. He then gives his name to Rozemyne and becomes her guard knight.

Gretia

Gretia

Debut: Part 5 (Volume 1)

Voiced by Maria Naganawa (Drama CD 7+)

An apprentice attendant who is one year older than Rozemyne. Gretia's family belongs to the former Veronica faction. She is actually the child of a mednoble blue priest and blue shrine maiden. After Gretia's mother got pregnant, she was sent back to her family, and at Gretia's baptism, her uncle and his first wife attended the ceremony as her parents. However, Gretia was harassed by her family and was only supposed to be used as a pawn in a political advantageous marriage.

After a purge in Ehrenfest was executed, Gretia approached Rozemyne and asked to become her retainer. Since her family's punishment wasn't severe enough, she asked Rozemyne to accept her name in order to escape her abusive family.

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• All of the Other Reindeer: Her siblings/cousins mock her for being the child of blue robes, for her gray hair, and for her voluptuous body. This is why she wants to get away from her family.
• Celibate Heroine: Gretia was only supposed to be a political pawn for her family and her childhood has led to her avoiding men. Unless ordered to by Rozemyne, she won't marry.
• D-Cup Distress: Since she is well endowed and developed earlier than most people her age, she has faced ridicule and harassment from both her own family and strangers alike.
• Does Not Like Men: Gretia mostly interacts with women. She is afraid of men, possibly due to how most men she met harassed her and looked at her with lecherous eyes. She is friends with Matthias and Laurenz, but even they make her a bit uncomfortable.
• Foil: To Rozemyne. Rozemyne is said to be temple-raised, while Gretia's parents were an actual blue priest and shrine maiden. In both cases, both hide their real birth parents by having someone else stand as their baptismal parents. Gretia was always mistreated by her parents and siblings, while Rozemyne was warmly welcomed, loved, and accepted by her new family. After hearing about Gretia's miserable life, Rozemyne can't help but feel grateful to Elvira and her brothers.
• The Runaway: The reason she wants to become Rozemyne's retainer is to escape her family.
• Shrinking Violet: Gretia is a very shy and insecure girl, due to how she was treated by her family.
• The Social Expert: Unlike Brunhilde and Hartmut she does not have a broad application to this trope but instead excels in one narrower application. Due to her upbringing she has become an expert on knowing when a person is mocking or belittling another despite it seeming otherwise.

Muriella

Muriella

Debut: Part 5 (Volume 1)

An apprentice scholar who is two years older than Rozemyne. Muriella is the biological daughter of Viscount Bessel and his third wife. After her birth, her father gave her to his sister, and Muriella's baptismal parents became her aunt and her husband.

Muriella's baptismal mother gave her name to Georgine, which is why she was executed in Sylvester's purge at the start of Part 5. As Muriella's baptismal father disowned her, Muriella was treated as the child of Viscount Bessel, who also was eliminated in the purge, forcing Muriella to give her name to one of Sylvester's children. Muriella decided to give her name to Rozemyne, although she asked to give it to Elvira once she graduates, as Muriella is a big fan of Elvira's romance novels.

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• Birds of a Feather: With Lueuradi, an archnoble from Jossbrenner. Both love romance novels and wish to become novelists in the future. Both also obtain the divine protection of Bluanfa the Goddess of Sprouts.
• Bookworm: Of romance novels. Due to her family hating the Leisegangs, she was not allowed to buy Rozemyne's books, though she loves reading the books that are available in the Ehrenfest dormitory in the Royal Academy. She is a bit disappointed to find no one amongst Rozemyne's retainers or Rozemyne herself who shares her passion, until she meets Lueuradi.
• Fangirl: Of Elvira and the stories she writes. This is why she asks Rozemyne to return her name and offer it to Elvira when she graduates.
• Interclass Friendship: While Lueuradi is an archnoble and Muriella a mednoble, they still become incredibly close friends.
• Parental Abandonment: Her baptismal mother was executed by Sylvester, while her baptismal father quickly cut ties with Muriella to not get involved. Since her biological parents were also purged, Muriella was left without parents.
• Shipper on Deck: After watching their interactions and hearing more about their shared past, Muriella starts shipping Rozemyne and Ferdinand strongly. She even encourages her friend Lueuradi, who also shares those sentiments and wants to write a love story between the two, but is unsure about it, to do it.

Barthold (Spoiler)

Warning: This character is a Walking Spoiler (Part 5 Volume 6) and had so many tropes whited out that it just became redundant. As such, all spoilers about him are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

Barthold

Debut: Part 5 (Volume 1)

An apprentice scholar two years older than Rozemyne and Wilfried. Though his parents were members of the Veronica Faction their true loyalty was with Georgine, to whom they had given their names to. For this, his parents were killed in a purge that Sylvester ordered at the start of Part 5. Barthold and his sister were then forced to give their names to one of Sylvester's children to avoid execution. While his younger sister, Cassandra, chose Charlotte, Barthold chose Wilfried.

Unlike his younger sisters, his cousin Matthias, and the other children part of the core of the former Veronica Faction, he was quite aware of what their parents were planning and shared their desire to bring Georgine back to Ehrenfest.

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• Big Brother Instinct: Subverted. He seemingly cares about his younger sisters, but his actions might as well lead to their deaths, as he intentionally sabotages Wilfried.
• The Chessmaster: He attempts to be this, but he is not as smart as he thinks. After Rozemyne's third year in the Royal Academy, Barthold serves as Wilfried's closest advisor and starts giving Wilfried terrible advice while antagonizing the Leisegangs, which more and more alienates Wilfried from the rest of his family. However, as revealed in Part 5 Volume 6, Florencia sees through this and decides to use Barthold later to teach Wilfried a lesson.
• Jerkass: Barthold is overall a very unpleasant person. Muriella doesn't like him at all due to his arrogance and attempts to control others.
• Narcissist: Due to their parents being friends, Barthold was a possible marriage candidate for Muriella. Muriella was never really fond of him, though, due to his very controlling nature and his arrogant attempts to make her obey him. He also shows signs of self-centeredness, as he always wanted to be in the center of the group and mostly was jealous of Matthias for being able to directly introduce himself to Georgine, something he was not allowed to despite also being an honor student.
• Theory Tunnel Vision: He firmly believes he's a good person and that him still trying to make Georgine aub would not be harmful to Ehrenfest. Never mind that if Georgine became aub, she definitely would execute Sylvester and all of his children. For someone who claims to care about his sister, he also seems to try his best to get her executed with his actions.
• Treacherous Advisor: To Wilfried. Wilfried is led to believe that Barthold is absolutely trustworthy because he gave him his name. Barthold loathes Wilfried, as Oswald bemoaning how "unfairly" Wilfried is not supported by his (more talented) sisters reminds Barthold of how Georgine was mistreated by Veronica which led to Sylvester becoming aub, while Georgine was sent away to Ahrensbach. From that point on, Barthold starts giving Wilfried bad advice on purpose to the point that Wilfried starts to distrust his family and his actual loyal and somewhat competent retainers, Lamprecht and Alexis, which makes Alexis want to quit, as he confesses to his father in Part 5 Volume 4.
• Underestimating Badassery: Subverted. Unlike Grausam or Georgine, he does acknowledge that Rozemyne is far more capable than they care to admit and that it's not solely because of Ferdinand. Justified, as he has observed her for several years in the Academy.
• Undying Loyalty: Just like his parents he feels loyal to Georgine, even though he hasn't been able to meet her in person.
• Ungrateful Bastard: If not for Rozemyne, he and his sisters would have been executed as well. While he himself doesn't think he is evil, nor does he harbor wishes to harm Rozemyne (which allows him to stay inside Schutzaria's shield instead of being thrown out), he has every intention to ruin Wilfried and Ehrenfest's archducal family's lives and seat Georgine on the archducal throne.
• You Killed My Father: Villainous version. He hates Ehrenfest's archducal family for the death of his parents, and Matthias, who betrayed his family and the Georgine faction. He doesn't directly try to avenge his parents, but he wants to set Wilfried up against his own family.

Veronica Faction

Viscount Gerlach

Grausam

Debut: Part 2 (Volume 3)

Voiced by Kenji Hamada (Drama CD 1), Kenyū Horiuchi (Anime and Drama CD 8+)

The giebe of the Gerlach province, who Myne first meets during her first Spring Prayer. While he has kept good relations with the neighboring duchy Ahrensbach, the Gerlachs and Leisegangs have been in a conflict for many years.

Grausam is a scholar. He has three sons - his youngest being Matthias - with his wife Royella. His mother was an archnoble from Ahrensbach who accompanied Gabriele to Ehrenfest when the latter married the first Count Groschel. He is a central member of the Veronica faction, but his true loyalty lies with Georgine.

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• Almighty Janitor: As his mother was an archnoble from Ahrensbach his mana is more akin to that of an archnoble than what it is expected from a mednoble.
• Archnemesis Dad: To Matthias. Matthias has a very positive opinion of Ehrenfest's archducal family, specifically Rozemyne, which is why father and son end up being on opposing sides.
• Badass Bookworm: A scholar he may be, but he is not weak at all. At the Battle of Gerlach he replaced his lost arm with an artificial one made of feystone that can absorb mana, and not even Matthias, a trained knight who is given several protections by Rozemyne, is able to defeat him alone.
• Body Horror: As a measure to an eventual fight against Bonifatius, he somehow turned more and more of his body into feystone. By the end, his body was almost all gone.
• The Chessmaster:
  • Grausam is the one who in Part 3 Volume 5 came up with the plan to test Ehrenfest's reaction to Wilfried entering the ivory tower. Using this information, he developed another plan to attack the castle and kidnap Rozemyne. While he was suspected to be involved in the attack, no evidence of his guilt could be found and he successfully shifted the blame to Viscount Joisontak.
  • In Part 4 Volume 9, he devises a plan that allows Gloria to steal the temple's bible and its key by manipulating Egmont, while leaving a fake copy behind that he coated in poison to kill Rozemyne. He almost got rid of most of the evidence too, as he would have blown up Egmont with the submission ring Egmont was given, if Ferdinand hadn't immediately cut off Egmont's arm.
• Doppelgänger Attack: As is shown in the latter half of Part 5, Grausam uses Devouring soldiers and dyes them to make shadow doubles of himself. In Part 3, he used this technique to fool Ehrenfest's nobility by letting one of his doubles participate in the winter socializing (thus giving him an alibi), while he led the attack on the castle and poisoned Rozemyne.
• The Dragon: Grausam is Georgine's staunchest and most dangerous supporter. It was him who tried to kidnap Myne in Part 2 Volume 3. He also attacks Rozemyne at the end of Part 3, and he leads the invasion of Gerlach and the surrounding provinces in Part 5 Volume 8.
• Evil Counterpart: To Hartmut. He is to Georgine what Hartmut is to Rozemyne: an absolutely loyal scholar who deifies his lady and would do anything for her.
• Evil Genius: Grausam is a very intelligent man who is both The Strategist and a Gadgeteer Genius, as shown in the Battle of Gerlach. As is shown in Part 4 Volume 4, when Wilfried and Rozemyne's engagement is announced, he doesn't show any surprise, as he saw it coming a long time ago.
• Handicapped Badass: At the start of Part 5, Bonifatius and a squad of knights attack his home. Grausam barely escapes with his life to Ahrensbach, but he loses one of his arms in the process. Afterwards, his medal is destroyed, which means his schtappe can no longer be used. He still turns out to be extremely dangerous in battle.
• Manipulative Bastard: Grausam shows excellent skill in manipulating people. It doesn't take him long to win Gloria over to his side and in Part 4 Volume 9, he quickly got Egmont's help after promising to make him High Bishop after Rozemyne is eliminated, which he sealed with a magic contract (it was a submission contract).
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: His name means gruesome or cruel in German.
• Undying Loyalty: He gave his name to Georgine and is absolutely loyal towards her. His aim is to make her Ehrenfest's new aub.
• Worthy Opponent: He considers Bonifatius to be this due to his strength and intuition; large parts of his plans in part 5 are just intended as a diversion purely to lure Bonifatius away from the main attack.

Viscount Joisontak

Viscount Joisontak

Debut: Part 3 (Volume 3)

A viscount of a province close to Ehrenfest's central district. He is the brother of Rozemary, Karstedt's deceased third wife. After witnessing Rozemyne's winter debut, where she was hailed as a saint, he comes to believe that she is the secret daughter of his deceased sister and tries to approach her.

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• Asshole Victim: The author heavily implies that Joisontak acts like such a clueless buffoon because he was under influence of drugs that someone forced on him. He was nonetheless a nasty person who harassed Karstedt's family for a long time.
• Engineered Heroics: With some help of Viscount Gerlach, who gave him Count Bindewald's remaining Devouring soldiers, he planned to abduct either Wilfried, Charlotte or Rozemyne, only to later rescue them to appear like a hero to Rozemyne.
• Jerkass: The first time he tries to speak with Rozemyne, he interrupts Rozemyne and Viscount Illgner's conversation and insults Viscount Illgner by calling him a country bumpkin. He also doesn't introduce himself nor does he give a noble greeting, which gives Rozemyne the right to just outright ignore him.
• Obnoxious In-Laws: Ever since his sister, Rozemary, married into an archnoble family, House Joisontak has grown arrogant and harassed Karstedt's other wives. Things became quiet after Rozemary's death, but he immediately causes trouble after seeing Rozemyne, which is why he is on a list of nobles that are forbidden from meeting her.
• Punny Name: His name in Japanese is ジョイソターク (Joisotāku). It's an anagram for そくたいじょう (sokutaijou) as in 即退場 meaning "immediately expelled (from the story)".
• Social Climber: Joisontak and his family actively try to raise their position and he thinks he has done so after his younger sister married an archnoble close to the archducal family. He tries to get closer to Rozemyne, whom he "correctly" suspects to be his sister's daughter, for the same reasons.
• Too Dumb to Live: His "flawless" plan to stage an abduction and win Rozemyne's favor has so many holes that even Bonifatius, who admits he is not the smartest person, is amazed how stupid Joisontak is. Even if he had no intention to harm Rozemyne, he assaulted a member of the archducal family, for which he is executed. However, it's very likely someone else made him believe this "flawless" plan of his was all his idea and the flaws were intentional to use him as an easy scapegoat.
• Unwitting Pawn: His abduction plan was used as a diversion to get Rozemyne. Officially, Joisontak is made responsible for Rozemyne's kidnapping and poisoning as well, as Ferdinand and Sylvester are unable to find the real culprit.

Bertram

Bertram

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 9)

Laurenz' younger half-brother. Bertram was planned to get baptized as Laurenz' full brother, but everyone in his family but him and Laurenz fell victim to Sylvester's purge at the end of Part 4 and Bertram is sent to the temple. Later on, he is allowed to be baptized without parents with Sylvester acting as his guardian.

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• Foil: To Dirk. Bertram is proud of his noble heritage, while Dirk lacks this pride as a Devouring commoner, yet when they are baptized, they are equal in status as mednobles without parents. Since Bertram has noble common sense, he is asked to look after Dirk.

Laynobles

House Bernett

Damuel

Damuel

Voiced by: Yuichiro Umehara (Japanese and Drama CD 3+), Christian La Monte (English), Atsushi Tamaru (Drama CD 1+)

Debut: Part 2 (Volume 2)

A 16-year-old layknight who's first seen when assigned to guard Myne against injury during a fight against a trombe. He fails in that assignment and his punishment requires him to spend some time being Myne's bodyguard. He becomes an obvious choice when personal bodyguards need to be chosen for Rozemyne.

Coming from a family that is of low status even by laynoble standards, he got used to being the lowest-status person in the room and gets a few pleasant surprises from being part of Myne and later Rozemyne's circle.

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• Almighty Janitor: Damuel is the lowest of the layknights in terms of status, on top of being forcibly demoted for failing his first real mission. However, due to training under Rozemyne, Ferdinand, and Bonifatius, he becomes a knight with the strength of a mednoble, and his scholarly abilities are acknowledged by Charlotte and Melchior to the point that they intend to take Damuel in as their retainer after Rozemyne leaves Ehrenfest. To prevent this from happening, Rozemyne asks Bonifatius to temporarily take Damuel in until he can move to Rozemyne.
• Badass Bookworm: Damuel is a knight who is very competent at administrative work, which surprises other nobles like Charlotte. He was actually more suited to be a scholar, though he also becomes a better knight after he increases his mana capacity to mednoble levels and is trained by Bonifatius.
• Blessed with Suck:
  • Being one of the people who met Myne allowed him to become Rozemyne's bodyguard, but it turns out that leaving her service, even with her permission, would be a bad idea for his life expectancy. Ferdinand is ready to enforce this himself if it ever becomes necessary.
  • For a much more literal case, he got a few benefits from Myne's last blessing, including at least one that has yet to show up in any of the other people it reached, but exposes himself to a lifetime of teasing from Sylvester if the latter ever finds out.
  • The more serious problem of raising his mana capacity is that his high mana levels don't befit his status of a laynoble. To have children, the parents need to have similar levels. Damuel thus needs to marry into a mednoble family or a laynoble that has similar mana to him, who would almost certainly have to be on the higher end in terms of status. As the second son of a bottom-of-the-barrel family from the Noble's Quarter with a criminal record who can't leave his mistress' service, it's extremely unlikely for him to find a suitable partner.
• Butt-Monkey: Myne not-so-nicely describes him as having the face of a Bully Magnet. Indeed, due to his low mana levels and status as a laynoble, Damuel is pushed around by higher-ranked nobles, not being able to fight back or argue against them.
  • Part 2:
    • In Volume 2, Shikza bullies Damuel into not helping Myne. He then gets an earful from Karstedt and Ferdinand for failing his task to protect Myne, which caused another trombe to appear.
    • The aftermath of the trombe extermination becomes a Humiliation Conga for him, as is shown in Volume 3. Not only was he demoted back to an apprentice and received a pay cut, he also is deep in debt now because his brother (actually his brother's mistress's family) had to pay a quarter of the cost of Myne's horrendously expensive ceremonial robe that was ripped and torn during the mission. His fiancée canceled their engagement without paying back any of the expenses he already paid in bride wealth, and Damuel has to stay as Myne's personal guard in the shunned temple for a year. He also gets the "shock of my life" treatment when he witnesses Myne collapsing after jumping for joy because Johann completed the type letters she needs for printing.
    • During the Spring Prayer rituals, he is one of the unfortunate victims of Sylvester's merciless teasing.
    • In Volume 4, he has to face an archnoble. He gets mocked for being weak, and is wounded so deeply that he loses consciousness.
  • Part 3:
    • In Volume 1, Rozemyne always needs a guard around her, and whenever she visits the workshop in the temple orphanage, she takes Damuel with her. When Brigitte asks why Rozemyne seemingly trusts Damuel far more than her, Rozemyne replies that she can actually blackmail Damuel (with the fact that she blessed him at the end of Part 2). If she were to tell this to Ferdinand or Sylvester, the latter would forever tease Damuel.
    • During the Night of Schutzaria, he fails at his job to keep any feybeasts away from Rozemyne, which contributes to a failed mission. From all the guards that accompanied him, he is pointed out to be the weakest and least helpful, and Brigitte suggests to Karstedt to replace Damuel with someone stronger.
    • During Rozemyne's first visit to Illgner, Damuel struggles to defeat the effon feyplants unlike Brigitte. After the feyplants are defeated, he complains in frustration that he isn't getting any stronger despite increasing his mana capacity. Rozemyne immediately understands that he uses as much mana on each attack as before and begins to explain it to him like she would explain to a child.
    • At the end of Part 3, on top of his heart being broken because Brigitte cannot accept his marriage proposal, he had to go through two years of Bonifatius' Training from Hell until Rozemyne woke up.
  • Part 4: Whenever he can't accompany Rozemyne, he is subjected to more brutal training by Bonifatius. He also still can't find a marriage partner, and when he begs Rozemyne to ask Elvira for help, Rozemyne is so busy that she forgets about Damuel.
  • Part 5:
    • In Part 5 Volume 4, Bonifatius "requests" from Damuel to observe him doing the blessing ceremony to obtain blessings from the gods. Everyone else was allowed to do it alone, Damuel just had awful timing because Bonifatius arrived in the temple when it was Damuel's turn.
    • As for what Damuel obtained, besides the blessing of the Goddess of Time, he also got the blessing of the Goddess of Marriage (because he prayed for good fortune regarding his marriage with Brigitte) and... the Goddess of Partings (because he Did Not Get the Girl). Damuel thinks he will never get married.
• Connected All Along: As is revealed at the end of Part 2, Damuel is the younger brother of Henrik, who has signed a contract to accept Freida as his mistress once she comes of age.
• Cool Teacher: His method to teach Angelica military tactics is something his brother once taught him, by playing the chess-like board game "gewinnen" with her. It proves to be very effective.
• Easily Forgiven: Myne doesn't take it too harshly that Damuel didn't come to her defense against Shikza, understanding that he felt like he couldn't defy a noble above his status. Myne defending Damuel and pointing out that he initially protested in her defense and tried to free her from the trombe (as well as asking for forgiveness instead of blaming the victim) ends up saving his life from execution, for which he is genuinely grateful. He does his utmost to guard Myne henceforth, and she genuinely begins to get closer to him. At the end of Part 2, after Damuel risked his life to defend Myne and received horrible injuries, Myne's great blessing reaches him, fully healing his wounds. The blessing was meant to reach her loved ones, which means that Myne cares a great deal about Damuel.
• Foil: Damuel contrasts Rozemyne's other male guard knights. He is the only one who knows her before her noble baptism, which is why their bond is especially deep. Damuel may be the weakest of them, but Rozemyne trusts him more than Cornelius, her own brother, and Matthias, who gave her his name.
• Grew a Spine: He is used to being pushed around because of his low status, with his first scene being mocked and told by Shikza, a mednoble, to "know [his] place" as a laynoble. In Part 3 Volume 4, when Brigitte's former mednoble fiancé, Hassheit, demands Damuel to back off, Damuel instead stands firm and defends Brigitte, having once been punished for neglecting his duties as a knight and not protecting the people around him.
• Hopeless Suitor: Zigzagged. He starts to fall for his fellow guard, Brigitte, but has to accept that he is too low in status and mana to possibly marry a mednoble like her. However, Rozemyne supports him and tells him how she is using mana compression to increase her level. She encourages him to practice it to become a strong enough suitor. He Did Not Get the Girl because he needed to marry into the Illgner mednoble household, but due to being one of Rozemyne's closest Secret Keepers, he couldn't just get dismissed from her services.
• Impoverished Patrician: Heavily implied, since coming up with a quarter of the cost of Myne's replacement ceremonial robes requires him to borrow money from his older brother's mistress, and he also more than readily accepts to educate Angelica for the "low" price of one small gold as a reward. He offers Rozemyne the perspective of a poor noble, allowing her to revise her plans to bring her books to poorer noble families too.
• Innocent Bigot:
  • After speaking with Ferdinand in his side chapter in Part 2 Volume 3, Damuel realizes to his horror that he and Shikza were similar: He looked down on Myne after learning she is merely a commoner who was given blue robes and hence wasn't willing to put as much effort into protecting her as he would have if she had been of noble descent.
  • He tends to get jealous of commoners fed and educated by Rozemyne or Rozemyne's mana capacity. She has to remind him that this is certainly not normal and that she was lucky. He has it much better than he thinks.
• My Greatest Failure: He initially mostly blames everything that happened during and after the trombe extermination on bad luck, as he couldn't possibly talk back to a mednoble like Shikza. However, Ferdinand gently tells him that his way of thinking is a fallacy and points out what he did wrong: If he couldn't defy a higher-ranked authority, the least he could have done is call for help with his wand. Ferdinand also makes Damuel realize that he subconsciously looked down on Myne when he learned she was a commoner, neglecting his duty to protect her. And now instead of reflecting, he is bemoaning his bad luck and blames everything on Shikza. Damuel sees the error of his ways and promises to fulfill his duty to protect Myne when she is in danger. He keeps this promise by protecting Myne from Count Bindewald, an archnoble, with his life, though it is not enough and he ends up losing miserably to Bindewald. Myne has to be saved by Ferdinand in the end.
• New Meat: He recently came of age and graduated from the Royal Academy when Myne meets him for the first time, which is why Karstedt orders him to stay back and guard Myne, as he has no experience.
• Nice Guy: He is very friendly to Myne and explains what is going on during the trombe extermination. He can get along well with commoners in general, which is why the merchants and the soldiers respect him very much. It seems to run in the family, as his brother, Henrik, is also a genuinely nice person, to the point that it's the reason Gustav chose Henrik in the first place. Gustav needed a noble who would treat Freida nicely.
• No-Respect Guy: Subverted. Damuel's low status and demotion initially make him an easy mocking target who no one would take seriously, but Ferdinand, Rozemyne and their retainers quickly acknowledge his intelligence and diligent work. Cornelius and Angelica often ask Damuel for advice, Bonifatius praises Damuel's precise and efficient use of his mana and endurance, and Karstedt and Ferdinand value his opinion and believe in his judgment. The commoner soldiers also look up to him, as he is very approachable and humble.
• Oblivious to Love: Philine develops a crush on Damuel after he and Rozemyne save her and her brother, Konrad, from their Wicked Stepmother. However, presumably due to her age, he misses all cues that she is interested in him, which earns him scoldings from Lieseleta and Judithe. He is so oblivious to her feelings that he even comes to believe that Philine is interested in Roderick instead.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: The fact that he was punished after his first mission in the Knight's Order has given him a permanent criminal record that makes him undesirable for noblewomen. Even if Rozemyne favors him and allows him to stay as her guard knight, due to his past and his status as a laynoble, everyone expects him to be let go eventually.
• Poor Communication Kills: It's the different expectations and points of view that end up ruining his possible marriage with Brigitte. Had they both talked about it more deeply and shared what each of them thought for their future together, things could have turned up differently, or at least avoided much heartbreak.
• Secret-Keeper:
  • His on-page reactions to Sylvester during the Spring Prayer indicate that he knows his real identity, but has figured out that he's not supposed to tell Myne.
  • Damuel is one of the few people in the Noble's Quarter who are aware of Rozemyne's commoner origins. He is therefore assigned as her guard, and since he knows Rozemyne's biological parents and siblings, he accompanies Rozemyne in her hidden room and makes sure she doesn't break the magic contract that she signed to not treat her commoner family as family anymore. Him being one of Rozemyne's biggest secret keepers is a double-edged sword though. Being close to the archducal family raises his status, but it also makes it impossible for him to leave their side. If Rozemyne had given her permission to relieve Damuel of his guard duties so he could move to Illgner with Brigitte, Ferdinand would have quietly had Damuel killed because He Knows Too Much.
• Sweet Tooth: Damuel is very fond of sweet things. During his assigned guard duty at the temple, he begins to miss the pound cake he once got to eat at his brother's mansion, and he takes a liking to the parue cakes the orphans make in winter.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Damuel's mana level is rather low, even for a laynoble. However, as it turns out in Part 3, his mana capacity is growing again, almost reaching mednoble levels, which should not be possible for someone his age. Karstedt assumes it's because Myne's final blessing not only healed Damuel, but also increased his potential. However, it takes time for him to get used to his new levels of mana, as he initially still uses his energy reserves sparingly, which leads to his attacks still being rather weak.
  • Between Part 3 and 4, not only does he further increase his capacity by using Rozemyne's mana compression method, as her personal guard he received training from Bonifatius.
• Weak, but Skilled: While Damuel lacks power due to his limited mana capacity, he is an expert in preserving his energies and using his mana in the most efficient way, which even Bonifatius acknowledges.
• Wrong Line of Work: Damuel is actually far more suited to be a scholar, but nonetheless became a knight, because his brother Henrik already chose the scholar path (and he's better at it), so Damuel wanted to become a knight to widen the family business. Ferdinand still employs him to do paperwork when he doesn't have to guard Myne, which he happily accepts. Ferdinand practically gives Damuel scholar training at the temple, which is why he is more competent at paperwork than other actually trained scholars.

Henrik

Henrik

Debut: Part 2 (Volume 4)

A laynoble scholar-official who is not only Damuel's older brother but also Freida's contracted noble. As his father died when he was 18, Henrik is the head of his house.

He is also already married to a woman called Juliane, with whom he has two children.

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• Cool Big Bro: He gets along very well with his younger brother and used to teach Damuel the things he needed to know for the Academy in a fun way. As their parents passed away early he also plays a bit of a Promotion to Parent role towards Damuel, advising him and trying to take care of him when needed.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Downplayed. He is several times mentioned by Freida and her family to be her noble partner in the future and his name is first mentioned in a side story at the end of Part 1. He makes his first real appearance at the end of Part 2.
• Impoverished Patrician: While he is from a noble family, his family is not only from the lowest strata within the nobility, it's also hinted that his family's status is even lower than other laynoble families, as their estate is closer to the gate that separates commoners from nobles. Also it's all but stated that his future concubine's family is richer than him.
• Nice Guy: Gustav chose him to contract with Freida because he knew he would treat her well. Unlike Sylvester's scholars, he has no problem interacting with commoners, which is why he becomes an important asset to communicate between the nobility and the commoners, once Sylvester starts spreading the printing industry throughout the duchy.
• Strong Family Resemblance: He looks very similar to his brother Damuel, except for his eyes and hair which are a darker brown.
• Sympathetic Slave Owner: His deal with Freida is ultimately just a step up from the sort of submission contract Myne was trying to avoid in Part 1. He is, however, shown to treat Freida and Gustav as proper guests when they need to visit him to empty the mana-absorbing bracelet he gave Freida.

House Melvius

Philine

Philine

Debut: Part 3 (Volume 3)

Voiced by: Manaka Iwami (Drama CD 3+)

A laynoble girl from the Noble's Quarter whose winter debut is the same year as Rozemyne and Wilfried's, which makes her their future classmate at the Royal Academy and a potential future retainer for Rozemyne.

Her interest in books and wish to make some to record the stories told by her deceased mother result in her getting more attention than other candidates for the job.

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• Abusive Parents: Philine lives with a Wicked Stepmother, who at first treated her and her brother Konrad kindly, but after giving birth to her own biological son, started beating them and stole her money and her deceased mother's belongings, while her father neglectfully lets it happen. In Part 4 Volume 3, Rozemyne makes Philine move to the castle, while her brother is taken in by the temple as an orphan.
• Big Sister Instinct: She has a little brother, Konrad, who is very frail. She desires to protect him, but has to acknowledge that she doesn't have the power to do so. She also can't support his life as a noble because she hasn't come of age and thus no access to her mother's inheritance. Konrad thinks Philine doesn't have to worry about this anymore, as he instead wants to become a blue priest.
• Birds of a Feather: Her love for books, specifically Rozemyne's picture books, lets them bond with each other, and when they enter the Royal Academy, she wishes to become one of Rozemyne's scholar retainers. She later gets along well with Roderick for the same reasons.
• Hates Their Parent: As shown in Part 4 Volume 3, Philine has nothing left but contempt for her father and stepmother; her stepmother for almost killing Konrad, and her father for willingly letting it happen.
• Impoverished Patrician: Rozemyne has to set up a lending library system in which the fee can be paid with stories for future books to enable Philine to bring some of her existing books home. In Part 4, Rozemyne wants Philine to transcribe books from the library at the Royal Academy for her, so that Philine can earn enough money to pay for Rozemyne's very expensive mana compression method.
• Missing Mom: She tells Rozemyne that she wishes to be able to write the stories her deceased mother used to tell her to not forget them, as her stepmother doesn't know the same ones.
• Precocious Crush: Justified. Philine develops a crush on Damuel, who is roughly ten years older than her, after he saves her and her brother in Part 4 Volume 3. She intends to propose to him once she comes of age.
• Shrinking Violet: Philine is very shy and withdrawn, as she is aware of her very low status. Her fellow retainers encourage her to defy the envy other nobles show her by proving her worth.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: What makes her fall for Damuel is him saving her and her brother like a Knight in Shining Armor.
• Spare to the Throne: Philine is the heir of her family and her mother's belongings, as her brother fled to the temple and gave up on being a noble. While her father has another son with Philine's stepmother, Jonsara, he married into the family, so that child has actually no right to inherit. Once Philine comes of age, she can rightfully claim her inheritance.
• Tragic Keepsake: The magic tool that was given to her little brother, Konrad, was re-registered for her stepmother's own child. When Rozemyne visits Philine's home, she buys it off and gives it back to Philine. The reason why Philine cares so much about this tool is that it was made with the savings and the feystone of her mother.

Kashick

Kashick

Debut: Part 3 (Volume 3)

A layscholar and Philine and Konrad's father, who married into his first wife Theresia's family, House Melvius.

When Theresia passed away shortly after giving birth to Konrad, he decided to marry his relative Jonsara, who would act as a mother to his children rather than hire a nanny for them, as that would have been much expensive.

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• Adaptation Name Change: His original name in the web novel シッカーク (Shikkāku) was a bit too on the nose, so it was later changed in the light novel.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Kashick is shortly seen in Part 3 Volume 3 during Philine's baptism, when he gives her her Ring of Power. His name is revealed in Part 4 Volume 3 when Rozemyne visits Philine's home.
• Extreme Doormat: As a laynoble, he has learned to be obedient to anyone higher in rank and he has taught Philine to be the same, which is why she acts like a Shrinking Violet. Since he is such a pushover, he also is a Henpecked Husband towards Jonsara. Ferdinand makes use of that personality trait by forcibly buying off Philine's magic tool heirloom.
• Punny Name: カッシーク (Kasshīku) is an anagram for シッカーク (Shikkāku) meaning "failure" in Japanese. He's a failure of a father.
• Useless Bystander Parent: Jonsara abuses Konrad physically, starves him out, and eventually takes away his magic tool, which would have eventually killed him. This all happened while Kashick was away during winter socializing and Philine was at the Royal Academy. However, he knew another magic tool was needed and didn't buy one, silently saying he favored his second son over Konrad, so he is guilty of near-Murder by Inaction. When Philine calls him out for this, he openly says it's normal to prefer the child with more mana.

Jonsara

Jonsara

Debut: Part 3 (Volume 3)

Philine's stepmother. After Philine's mother passed away, her father decided to marry Jonsara, who recently lost her relatives, and took Jonsara's aunt in as a servant.

After her son with Kashick was born, she started mistreating her stepchildren in favor of her own son.

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• Early-Bird Cameo: Jonsara already makes an appearance in Part 3 Volume 3. She is the music teacher who hands Philine her harspiel over at her winter debut.
• Gold Digger: After she married into Philine's family, she slowly took away the belongings of Philine's family for herself and her son. This includes Konrad's life-saving magic tool that siphons his mana (which was made with Theresia's feystone). When Philine returns home from the Academy in Part 4 Volume 3, Jonsara also takes away the money Philine earned at the Academy for the mana compression method. Philine wonders if there is even anything left of her inheritance when she comes of age, as her father and Jonsara have sold many of the assets to stay afloat.
• Mugging the Monster: Jonsara has no qualms abusing Philine and stealing her money for the mana compression lecture, not believing that Philine became Rozemyne's retainer. She is shocked speechless when Rozemyne appears and confirms that Philine is indeed her retainer and under her protection.
• Punny Name: Her name ヨナサーラ (Yonasāra) is an anagram for さよなら (sayonara), meaning "goodbye". In Jonsara's last scene, Philine says goodbye to Jonsara and her father, promising to never return home.
• Wicked Stepmother: She started out nicely after marrying Kashick and even taught Philine how to play music, but this all changed after she became pregnant with her own son. She eventually steals her stepchildren's money and inheritance for her own son and clearly shows that she Would Hurt a Child, as she physically abuses Konrad with her schtappe and starves him out. She would have killed Konrad eventually if Philine hadn't returned and Rozemyne hadn't come to Philine's aid.

Other

Lasfam (Spoiler)

Lasfam

Debut: Part 3 (Volume 2)

Ferdinand's laynoble attendant who is one year older than his master. Lasfam was originally assigned to Ferdinand by Veronica as an insult, as Lasfam's low status did not befit serving an archduke candidate. Lasfam nonetheless gained Ferdinand's trust eventually and Ferdinand let Lasfam manage his estate in the Noble's Quarter after he moved to the temple.

Unlike Eckhart and Justus, Lasfam is left in Ehrenfest after Ferdinand moves to Ahrensbach and is ordered to keep managing Ferdinand's estate until Ferdinand is married. As Ferdinand gifts his estate and library to Rozemyne at the end of Part 4, Lasfam assists Rozemyne whenever she visits.

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• Adaptational Early Appearance: Lasfam makes an unnamed early appearance late in Part 4 in the web novel. In the light novel, Lasfam already appears in Justus' side story in Part 3 Volume 2.
• Bully Magnet: Lasfam's laynoble status and low mana levels are the reasons why Ferdinand tries to keep him away from places where he can't protect himself. After Ferdinand moved to the temple, Ferdinand let him manage his estate in the Noble's Quarter, as there was no work left for Lasfam in the castle and it was a too dangerous place for a laynoble loyal to Ferdinand. For the same reason, Ferdinand doesn't take Lasfam with him to Ahrensbach.
• Early-Bird Cameo: In the web novel, Lasfam first appears late in Part 4. In the light novel, he already shows up in Justus' side story in Part 3 Volume 2. He is properly introduced in Part 5.
• Identical Stranger: In Rozemyne's opinion, despite the different hair and eye color, Lasfam looks like a younger Mark.
• The Jeeves: Lasfam serves as an attendant to Ferdinand and later Rozemyne and manages the estate. His similar behavior and looks to Mark are some of the reasons why Rozemyne quickly warms up to him.
• Secret-Keeper: As one of Ferdinand's closest associates, he naturally knows about Rozemyne's previous identity.
• Token Good Teammate: Of all the nobles sent by Veronica to work for Ferdinand, Lasfam did not participate in badmouthing and bullying Ferdinand. He ended up gaining Ferdinand's trust and became his retainer.
• Undying Loyalty: Despite being sent by Veronica, Lasfam never did anything to Ferdinand, which displeased Veronica and led to Lasfam being bullied himself. When Ferdinand told Lasfam that he should just keep his distance and do what the other nobles do, Lasfam refused. However, Ferdinand still didn't trust Lasfam until Lasfam gave his name to Ferdinand. In the present, Lasfam is heartbroken that Ferdinand doesn't take him to Ahrensbach and at first fears that Ferdinand wants to return his name.

House Blon and House Glaz

House House Blon and House Glaz

Debut: Part 1 (Volume 1)

The laynoble houses whose heads are the barons of the neighboring minor provinces Blon and Glaz respectively. They make sparse appearances throughout the story.

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• Hufflepuff House: As of the end of Part 3, they have yet to have a major impact of the plot.
• Recurring Extra: As of the end of Part 3, they have been mentioned or appeared in the following instances:
  • The issue Myne resolves in Otto's place on the day of Tuuli's baptism involves someone coming to visit Baron Glaz with a letter of introduction from Baron Blon.
  • The Blon family is among Corinna's noble customers according to a couple of side chapters.
  • During Myne's first Spring Prayer, the first blue priest lodging building in which her group stays is the one on Baron Blon's estate.
  • It's not rare for higher-ranked nobles to push the hosting of secret meetings on laynobles. It happens to be Baron Glaz's turn for the meeting Bezewanst attends in the prologue of Part 2 Volume 4.
  • Rozemyne is officiating the marriage between Baron Glaz's son and Baron Blon's daughter during her first noble Starbind Ceremony.