Fridge / Ascendance of a Bookworm

As a Fridge subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

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Fridge Brilliance

General

• Why are nobles taught to not show their emotions and be in control at all times? Because mana is tied to emotions. Have too strong emotions, not control them yourself and mana will spill out of you. And it works the other way around as well, because having too much mana sloshing inside you makes your emotions unstable. To prevent both spills and emotional outbursts, children of nobles use magic tools to extract the excess mana. Because they didn't have any magical tools, Myne's parents have completely accidentally conditioned her to control her mana and push it down because they treated her mana outbursts (when her eyes turn rainbow colored and her mana gets out of her as an oppressive aura) as just a regular temper tantrum and emotional outburst. Basically, "Stop acting like a baby, calm down and have a nap. You're being cranky and rude! Control your emotions!" despite the fact that the cause of her emotional outbursts is having too much mana and to get back in control of her emotions she would have to control the mana inside herself as well. So that's exactly what Myne did!
• A recurring theme in the story is that preparation means everything. The outcome of a meeting will usually already be decided if one prepares enough. Meetings that Myne arranges with High Priest Ferdinand are thus mostly just a formality, she often conveys through Fran already what she plans to do. Starting in Part 3, Ferdinand teaches Rozemyne something similar, like when he starts to pry Kantna for information by blackmailing him, and as she learns in Part 4, Ferdinand did the same when it comes to ditter matches. He always won because he was Crazy-Prepared.
• At the end of Part 2, Fran mentions that Arno must have "climbed the towering stairway". The explanation comes two volumes later, but the author has actually already given all hints needed for the reader to understand the meaning. Upon being baptized, Myne notices the staircase in the back of the temple's chapel and wonders if it's supposed to lead to the heavens and gods. When Myne is inaugurated as an apprentice blue shrine maiden, the guess is more or less confirmed, as the altar in the temple is made to look like a stairway with the Goddess of Light and the God of Darkness standing on the top. During Myne's funeral, it is mentioned that the deceased are guided by the king and queen gods to the land of the dead. Mid-way between the first use of the euphemism and the explanation, Cornelius' side chapter has him use it to talk about the deceased Rozemary. In other words, "climbing the towering stairway" is a Deadly Euphemism, similar to someone saying they will "meet their maker".
• Living in the temple isn't the only reason Bezewanst grew up to be a lazy and entitled old man. Veronica is the closest thing he has to a parental figure and those character traits have shown up in people Veronica has raised in a more official manner.
• The Ehrenfest duchy took no side in the rebellion and subsequent executions of nobility, which led to their temporary rise in rankings, from near the bottom to slightly above the middle in power. So why did Ehrenfest take a hit to their mana pool and had to lower their standards for acceptance into noble society despite their neutrality and complete non-involvement in the fighting? Georgine and Dirk's situation gives a clue, alongside the fact that the Sovereignty was able to ask for all decently-powerful blue priests and shrine maidens to be sent to its temple without protest. All nobility in Ehrenfest and other duchies is related by blood and there were losses both on winning and losing sides in that conflict. Basically, the way for the stronger duchies to replenish their ranks is to pilfer the nobility of the other, weaker duchies, such as, for example, taking in the son of a younger brother the previous archduke banished, who now works as an Ehrenfest knight... and so on. Being on the smaller side, Ehrenfest had no way to refuse such requests from stronger provinces without provoking another war. And for some of those taken from Ehrenfest, it would occasionally be like returning to their ancestral seat and a rise in personal status. Better to be a small lord in a larger duchy than a middling landless knight in a small duchy.
• In Part 3 Volume 2, Rozemyne tricks Sylvester and Ferdinand into accepting a Swapped Roles day with Wilfried to teach him a lesson. When Sylvester asks Ferdinand who taught her to be so manipulative, Rozemyne claims that it was all due to Ferdinand's teachings, while Ferdinand says that Rozemyne has been this way from the start, which visibly confuses her. However, upon further review, Ferdinand is actually right and Rozemyne simply lacks self-awareness. She has used Puppy-Dog Eyes on her family many times, tricked Benno and Otto into giving her what she wants, used money to get her and Lutz's families to work for her benefit, and used clever wording and gifts to win over Fran and the rest of her attendants. And this happened all when she was Myne, before Ferdinand decided to educate her.
• Thinking back on what Lutz's father, Deid, said back in Part 2 Volume 1, it becomes clear who makes a good father... and who doesn't. It's a "The Reason You Suck" Speech directed at Benno, but it also applies to Sylvester, who wanted Myne for the mana and knowledge she could offer, and more importantly to Ferdinand's father, who brought Ferdinand into the archducal house to support Sylvester and Ehrenfest.
  Deid: You're good at running a business and I'd bet you're a skilled merchant. You've even got the heart to forgive all the trouble Lutz's given you. But you wouldn't be a good father.
  Ferdinand: Please explain why you think he wouldn't be a good father. Does Benno have a bad reputation or something of the sort?
  Deid: This would be easier if he did. No matter how good at your job you are, you're trying to adopt a kid not for his sake, but for your business. Nobody like that would be a good father. Parents can't think about everything as pluses and minuses. Am I wrong?
• At the start of Part 4, Rozemyne attends the winter debut of Nikolaus, Karstedt's son with his second wife Trudeliede. Rozemyne would like to get closer to her half-brother, but is warned by Cornelius to keep her distance. In Part 3 Rozemyne learned that Ehrenfest's nobles were split into three factions: Elvira/Florencia's faction (associated with House Leisegang), Veronica's faction, and the neutrals who mostly consist of med- and laynobles. At this point, Rozemyne doesn't know which faction Trudeliede belongs to, but it's heavily implied to be Veronica's. This can be inferred from the fact that Elvira stayed neutral during the whole conflict with Rozemary and Trudeliede. If Rozemary or Trudeliede had been part of Elvira's faction, she would have immediately sided with one of them, and if both had been part of Elvira's faction, she would have had an interest in ending the conflict quickly to not weaken her own faction. Elvira staying neutral, at least until Karstedt decided to side with Rozemary, is a hint that she didn't care which one of them would win, since Rozemary and Trudeliede were part of the same faction, i. e. Veronica's faction. Therefore, it makes sense that Cornelius does not want his sister to associate too closely with someone from the enemy faction, especially when she is supposed to be Rozemary's daughter unofficially.
• The colors that represent the duchies and gods are very fitting.
  • Ocher (which is similar to yellow) represents Ehrenfest, and Ehrenfest is the duchy where the printing industry is born. Yellow is also Schutzaria's color, and her subordinate goddess, Mestionora, represents wisdom.
  • Blue is Dunkelfelger's color, but also the color of Leidenschaft the God of Fire. The people of Dunkelfelger are a Proud Warrior Race, and Leidenschaft (the name itself meaning passion in German) and his subordinate gods represent among other things passion and war.
• In Part 4 Volume 2, Rihyarda explains to Rozemyne how she rates attendants: third-rate attendants only act when ordered, and they can't implicitly understand their master, second-rate attendants do understand their master when ordered, and first-rate attendants can carry out the will of their master before even being ordered. Based on this standard, it can be determined how Rozemyne's friends and attendants come to understand her:
  • When introduced, Fran was a third-rate to Ferdinand and even worse to Myne. He followed Ferdinand's order, but greatly misunderstood them. It is only after sorting out his insecurity that he regains his composure and follows Ferdinand's wishes. By the end of Part 3, he could be regarded as a first-rate attendant to both Ferdinand and Rozemyne.
  • Having read Myne's memories and spending the most time with her, Ferdinand comes to understand her better than anyone else (even Lutz eventually). He is the one who instructs Rihyarda, Cornelius, Hartmut, etc. on how to handle Rozemyne.
  • At the start of Part 4, Hartmut does a lot of things on his own, based on what he believes is best for Rozemyne. However, after the incident with Traugott, where he reveals crucial intel only when it suits him, Rozemyne starts calling him out for withholding information from her. At that time, Hartmut didn't understand Rozemyne's thought process yet. He also is not happy at first how she interacts with commoners and how she doesn't care about status that much, such as when he criticizes the interior of the orphanage director chambers, which at best fit a mednoble. He comes to understand her much better once he starts commuting to the temple, at which point he finds out that Rozemyne is commoner-born.
  • Lieseleta is given more training by Rihyarda than Brunhilde for instance. That is because Rihyarda quickly realizes Lieseleta's talent to read Rozemyne correctly, so she assesses Lieseleta to be a future first-rate attendant. While Lieseleta does not give Rozemyne her name, she eventually becomes her head attendant.
• It's shown that having a healthy mix of retainers from all classes and factions will help someone receive valuable feedback that influences their decision-making. This is where Rozemyne and Wilfried largely differ.
  • Wilfried's retainers mostly consisted of either neutrals or Veronicans, who mostly were just lazy, Professional Butt Kissers or Yes-Men. While he had Leisegangs (besides Lamprecht), they were forced to serve him by Veronica to be later used as scapegoats, so Veronica could eliminate the rest of Leisegang influence in the duchy, and all but Lamprecht quit after Veronica was imprisoned. Due to the imbalance, Wilfried doesn't know that Oswald, who mostly pushes to act like Veronica would, antagonizes everyone around him, and in Part 4 Volume 9, Charlotte recommends to Florencia to assign some Leisegangs to Wilfried to help him see things more clearly (which does not happen, further worsening Wilfried's situation).
  • In contrast to Wilfried, Elvira was very careful about who to select as retainers for Rozemyne. She even told Cornelius and Rihyarda not to give Rozemyne too many Leisegangs. Rozemyne has nobles from all ranks, and especially Damuel gives her great insight about laynobles. Furthermore, at the start of Part 4, her entourage in the Academy strikes a healthy balance between neutrals ^note Rihyarda, Angelica, Lieseleta, Judithe, and Philine and Leisegangs ^note Cornelius, Hartmut, Brunhilde, Leonore, and Traugott. Rozemyne doesn't care about factions in general, which is why she immediately wanted Roderick, too, though her guardians didn't let her until later, but Rozemyne eventually gains highly competent Veronicans/Georginans as well, when Roderick, Matthias, Laurentius, Gretia, and Muriela join her.
  • Although Ferdinand has few noble retainers, they all come from all factions as well. Justus is an archnoble and a former moderate Veronican, Eckhart is an archnoble and from a moderate Leisegang family, and Lasfam is a neutral laynoble.
• Only a very small number of people know Rozemyne's origins as a commoner, and an even smaller number know her real origins from another world. While Myne at first wonders if her adult mentality will creep people out, it only appears to do so a few times; at each stage, there are numerous explanations that could explain why nobody questions her maturity.
  • As Myne in the city, most of the workmen and other adults she interacts with assume she's Benno's relative and being trained to take over the shop one day, so it makes sense she's business-savvy; they just don't realize how much so.
  • As Rozemyne, people chalk her behavior up to living in the temple. At the same time, it's known that she was taught personally by Ferdinand, who is well known for his many talents. From the perspective of many nobles, especially Ferdinand's fangirls like Elvira, it only makes sense that Rozemyne is so intelligent for her age - after all, she was trained by quite possibly the most competent man in Ehrenfest. And of course, those that would be a bit freaked out have to keep their mouths shut about the adopted daughter of the archduke.
• Rozemyne feeling at ease and comfortable when Ferdinand medically examines her makes more sense when one learns that the more similar their mana is, the better it feels (which is why she always thinks his mana tastes sweet). Whenever Ferdinand examined Rozemyne, he sent his mana to her. Since they have nearly identical mana, she obviously finds his mana rather comfortable.
• Technically, the gods answered Original Myne's plea for help. They just had a Blue-and-Orange Morality approach to it.
• While it is not shown in the light novel, the manga and the anime give a glimpse of the bible the High Bishop is holding at Myne's baptism. The cover is ordained with several strange symbols and circles and as readers would later learn, every symbol is representative of one of the seven main gods. The placement of the symbols and the circle are not arbitrary. The big circle represents Yurgenschmidt, which itself is a magic circle, and the symbols show where the respective country gate is placed. Thus, Ewigeliebe's gate is in the center, Geduldh's gate is in the north (in Klassenberg), Schutzaria's gate is in the north east (Ehrenfest), etc. Opposite to one gate is its complementary season or element. So opposite of Geduldh (winter) is Leidenschaft (summer), opposite of Flutrane (spring) is Schutzaria (autumn), and opposite of the God of Darkness is the Goddess of Light.
• Ferdinand having such a delicate tongue that he can precisely discern what exactly he is eating makes a lot of sense after learning that Veronica and other people tried to poison him several times in the past.

Part 1

• One of the first stories we get to hear, all the way back in the first chapters of Part 1 and the first episodes of the anime, is the story of star children. Myne wants it to be the first story she publishes and everyone gets to read. It is later forgotten, but we as readers do get to read and see it. It is the first tale from that world we read! It also counts as subtle foreshadowing. Star children come from the sky to the world below to play. They like it so much they decide do stay. Urano!Myne comes out of the blue and has to stay whether she likes it or not and she does have many ideas which people at first dismiss as playing.
• Season 1 Episode 12 explains the setting's Creation Myth which can be interpreted as an allegory to the main story.
  • "The God of Life fell in love at first sight with the Goddess of Earth.... However, his love was a jealous and possessive one. He stole her power and sealed her in ice and snow thus bringing winter." - Replace "God of Life" with Myne's Devouring and "Goddess of Earth" with Urano (who had lost her life from an earthquake), and that's exactly how this story begins too.
  • "The Goddess of Light thawed the ice and the Goddess of Water swept the ice and snow away along with the God of Life thus allowing their progeny to bud in the coming spring." - The Goddess of Water here is Myne's immediate family who are the first to keep her Devouring in check (unwittingly so). At this point, Urano (who is the hypothetical Goddess of Earth here) has been brought back into the story as Myne.
  • "The God of Fire helps the budding lives flourish during the summer..." - The God of Fire here is actually represented by two people: Benno and Ferdinand as they are the ones who are most able to accomodate Myne's ideas and needs respectively.
  • "...while the Goddess of Wind uses her gusts to keep the God of Life at bay thus our harvests are completed in the fall." - Lutz and later Fran are Myne's Goddess of Wind since they (with some training) are the ones who keep watch over her general frailty while she is away from her family, especially on matters pertaining to Myne's workshop.
• Due to Myne's influence, Freida starts to use kindness as a tool to accomplish her goals as a merchant, explicitly noting that if you are kind and polite then people you interact with (especially Myne) have a tendency to give you more information and details as a freebie. Who is the kindest, nicest and most polite merchant we meet in the story? Corinna. And she nearly gets the flower technique worth large golds from Tuuli, Myne and Effa that way until Myne figures what is going on and stops them. She still got the multilayered dress sewing technique from Effa while Myne and Benno are negotiating, just by being polite, praising Effa's work and showing Myne's family more respect than they thought they deserved. Corinna is still a merchant with similar goals to Freida and Benno, she is just decades more experienced than Frieda and is much subtler when accomplishing them as a result.
• For a commoner, Benno seems strangely knowledgeable about the Devouring and what it really is. Coupled with his extraordinary concern for Myne and Mark's remark that Myne isn't his deceased fiancée, Liz, it's implied that Liz died to the Devouring, which was later confirmed by Word of God in a Q&A. The cause of death being the Devouring is usually only discovered after a commoner died, and Liz's mana was low enough that she died in her mid-teens, before she and Benno could marry. Benno had personal experience, which is why he quickly understood Myne had mana, when she asked him about her illness back in Part 1 Volume 1.
• Another instance is during Myne's and Lutz's registration in the merchant's guild. Benno and the guildmaster are shown talking in the background in hushed voices. Myne pays more attention to the books, of course, so she doesn't hear a thing. It is much later revealed that Benno was negotiating the price for Myne's life, as in, trying to get the use of one of magical tools the guildmaster got for his granddaughter Frieda.

Part 2

• It seems odd how Benno, with all his planning on how to help Myne gain a favorable position in the temple, didn't think of presenting her parents in better clothes (as this immediately ticks off the High Bishop and makes him drop his façade), but not only were they short on time, this can all be explained with one sentence he says at the start of Part 2: "Nothing but trouble will come from wearing the clothes of a social class higher than yours." Even if he tried to make them dress like higher-ranked commoners, while Myne can blend in just fine, it's obvious that her parents cannot. This goes all the way back to Volume 1 of Part 1, where Benno and Otto wonder where and whom Myne learned her manners from, as she doesn't act like a typical low commoner at all, especially compared to Tuuli. This also explains why he was annoyed during the baptism: Myne wearing an outfit suited for someone much better off than she is increased her chances of getting in trouble out of nowhere from his perspective.
• At the beginning of it, the reason Ferdinand gives Myne for giving her a noblewoman's education is that her education will make the difference in whether she'll be a wife or a mistress. His own mother is a mistress, so it's likely his decision to give her that education isn't only for her own sake; he may be already thinking of her future children.
• In the real world, The Bible is famous for being the first book printed with the Gutenberg press. Due to its location in the temple orphanage, the first book to come out of the Myne workshop is a children's bible.
• Throwing taue fruits at newlyweds has a hidden practical aspect, whether people are aware of it or not: it gets many taue fruits removed from the forest and promptly destroyed at the hands of commoners, which greatly reduces the number that can potentially become trombes in late autumn.
• At an after-dinner entertainment evening happening during the Spring Prayer trip in Part 2 Volume 3, Myne thinks that "Nobles are scary", "Nobles are too overpowered" and "Nobles are too high level" after witnessing Karstedt, Ferdinand and Sylvester all being able to play musical instruments extremely well and do high-level sword dances. Unknown to her, she is in the company of the highest level of nobles in the duchy, as in "You can't go higher than that" in the Ehrenfest hierarchy, with them being the leader of the Knight's Order (son of an archduke candidate and a temporary archduke candidate, as well as the archduke's bodyguard), the High Priest (an archduke candidate and country-wide known genius) and the archduke himself.
• One of the more subtle hints given to the reader that Sylvester is specifically Ferdinand's older brother: If one pays attention, he spends his stint as a blue priest mooching off Ferdinand (riding his highbeast, having Myne called to Ferdinand's office when he wants to talk to her). This isn't the first time this story has an "older brother mooching off the younger one" situation, e.g. Lutz having to deal with his older brothers eating food meant for him and taking his stuff.
• In the Volume 4 prologue, Bezewanst complains about there being heavy rain on the one day he's traveling by wondering about Flutrane's timing. As revealed during Kamil's birth at the end of the previous volume, the Goddess of Childbirth is one of Flutrane's subordinates, while Bezewanst is responsible for the death of several gray shrine maidens who have given birth. Flutrane deliberately hindering his travels upon getting the opportunity to do so isn't that far-fetched.
• During the confrontation with Count Bindewald, Myne is a little surprised to see Fran pull out a dagger. It actually makes sense for him to have gotten his hand on one off-page when one realizes that he may have been able to help a little more during the trombe extermination incident if he'd had a blade and that Fran himself probably came to that same conclusion.
• At some point, it's explained that blue is basically the setting's cultural equivalent of red on Earth. The noble-born priests and shrine maidens wear blue robes. Flip that to red, and the parallel with Catholic cardinal robes becomes obvious.
• The anime's third ending consists of various pictures related to the evolution of printing, shown in chronological order. Most of the pictures represent a relatively small upgrade compared to the one that came before, but the two last jump from a mechanical typewriter to a Turn of the Millennium electronic computer with a separate printer. That season ends as with our protagonist's biggest boost in status yet.

Part 3

• During the trombe extermination incident, it was made clear that the bodily fluids of people with mana contain mana. If that also holds true for the stuff that usually ends up in the toilet when it comes to humans, it would make sense for an organism that feeds on it to naturally exist.
• Volume 1 spells out that Wilfried's seventh birth season was the spring during which Sylvester joined Myne for Spring Prayer. This means that Sylvester had a very good frame of reference for the size of a baptism-age child.
• A chapter from Eckhart's point of view establishes that the people he knows to own the full set of Ferdinand illustrations from the charity concert consist of himself, Elvira and Justus. Elvira and Eckhart are established to be present at the concert when it's happening at the end of Part 3 Volume 1, but what about Justus, who only debuts in Volume 2? While Eckhart simply getting him a set while buying his own is entirely possible, Justus is a Master of Disguise and is implied (confirmed in Part 4 Volume 3) to make a convincing Disguised in Drag, so assuming he wasn't at the concert may be incorrect.
• Why does Sylvester think in Part 3 Volume 2, that Rozemyne isn't doing much work and it's actually Ferdinand who does everything and lets her take credit for it? Because this is what Sylvester is doing. A lot of the archduke business is actually done by Ferdinand, but he quietly lets Sylvester take credit for it.
• When Rozemyne plans to meet the families of her guard knights in Part 3 Volume 3, she ponders whether she should meet the families of her attendants, too. Rihyarda talks her out of it, as she claims that the only person who would want to meet her is Justus. However, Part 4 introduces Hartmut as Ottilie's youngest son and a fervent Rozemyne worshipper. As it later turns out, Ottilie didn't like Hartmut's sudden change in behavior after seeing Rozemyne, so she told him to calm down and wait a year before he can offer his services to Rozemyne.
• In Part 3 Volume 4, Rozemyne learns about mana aptitudes and elemental affinities. Angelica has aptitudes for Fire and Wind, but she failed to get Schutzaria's divine protection (which usually doesn't happen). One of Schutzaria's subordinate gods is Mestionora, the Goddess of Wisdom. A Dumb Muscle like Angelica not getting Schutzaria's protection makes perfect sense.
• Considering how Veronica seems to value family above all, it is strange how she clearly seemed to favor Sylvester over Georgine, but when one thinks about the fact that Veronica is also a manipulative and controlling person who had Sylvester (and later Wilfried) under her thumb for years, it makes perfect sense. Georgine is notoriously strong-willed, stubborn, rebellious and independent, Veronica would not have been able to control her daughter like she could control Sylvester. This would also explain why she hates outsiders like Florencia or Ferdinand, who give Sylvester the support he always needed and weakened her influence on her son.
• It might not be noticed during the first time reading, but by the end of Part 3, Rozemyne has successfully executed several plots right under Ferdinand's nose (trombe cultivation, picture printing, Operation Grimm), with him none the wiser. Thus proving that she has indeed been thoroughly "painted the color of a noble" and his lessons to her were very effective.
• It's heavily implied and later confirmed that Ferdinand has far more mana than Sylvester. One of the reasons for that becomes obvious once Rozemyne teaches Ehrenfest's leaders her mana compression method in Part 3 Volume 5. Sylvester immediately shows progress after learning the second step, but Ferdinand is disappointed, since he can't compress his mana further (at least until Rozemyne teaches him the third step). Ferdinand already figured out at the Royal Academy how to compress his mana further, and since he was doing it during his growth phase, it was more effective.
• With the fact that Ferdinand figured out his own mana compression method during his Royal Academy years established, a potential question for the reader arises as to why Ferdinand never taught other people his compression method when he supports the idea of raising Ehrenfest's level. Well, Ferdinand isn't exactly the best teacher and his explanations are not good, either. He probably futilely tried to explain to Sylvester and Karstedt how his method works. Rozemyne on the other hand is shown to be an excellent teacher, who can instantly present results because of her vivid imagination.
• Failing to collect her autumn ingredient on the first try results in Rozemyne collecting her jureve ingredients following the order of seasons as presented in the Creation Myth: winter, spring, summer, autumn.

Part 4

• When Angelica's parents try to convince Rozemyne to let Angelica go in Part 3, Rozemyne internally wishes that they would do what was best for their daughter rather than themselves. Lieseleta's existence and reasons to want to serve Rozemyne indicate that they probably were doing what they thought was best for their daughter — just not the one who was present in the room at the time.
• The existence of Dedication Whirl practice, a class that is for archduke candidates, indirectly reveals that Sylvester had some experience with the prayer position prior to impersonating a blue priest.
• In Leonore's side story in Volume 2, Brunhilde and Leonore are furious that Wilfried tries to order them around. As the Year 1 Side Story Collection reveals, Wilfried wasn't actually sure if he could do this. It was Oswald who told him that he absolutely can. Looking back at Part 2 Volume 1, Myne notes how it usually would be rude of Ferdinand to order Fran, who has become Myne's attendant, around if she were a noble, and as shown in Part 3 Volume 5, even when Wilfried was restrained by Angelica, Sylvester explicitly asked Rozemyne to tell Angelica to let Wilfried go. This goes to show how badly Oswald is advising Wilfried and that he allows Wilfried to order Rozemyne's retainers around because he has a personal issue with Leisegang nobles.
• On further inspection, Rozemyne is a Foil to both Anastasius and Eglantine:
  • Anastasius infamously can't court Eglantine because he can't get his feelings across to her. So Rozemyne suggests to him to act less like a noble and be more direct. What is Anastasius' advice to Rozemyne? Be less direct and act more like a noble.
  • Eglantine is The Kingmaker in Yurgenschmidt, as she can choose which prince she will marry. In Volume 3, Rozemyne learns that she also ultimately decides who would become Ehrenfest's next aub.
• As it turns out, tie-dyeing and resist-dyeing were indeed dyeing methods that once existed in Yurgenschmidt. Volume 4 is when Rozemyne starts reintroducing things from the past, from dyeing methods to ancient rituals.
• In Volume 6, Ferdinand reveals to Sylvester that Veronica has taken away Hirschur's budget that is usually allocated to her, because she protected Ferdinand in the Academy. Ferdinand repays this debt by providing her with money from his personal funds. This explains why she only does the bare minimum of her duties, keeps her distance from Ehrenfest, and acts like an Apathetic Teacher to everyone but her disciples despite being Ehrenfest's dorm supervisor. Her loyalties are personal and she has partially worked without being paid.
• Veronica raising Georgine properly and teaching her how to gain control and power seems weird, since she eventually tried to get rid of Georgine after learning that her daughter stole nobles from her that she wanted for herself. However, women are at a disadvantage of becoming aub and at that time Veronica only gave birth to two daughters, which is why Karstedt was still an archduke candidate. Georgine was raised to rival Karstedt. But once Sylvester was born, Veronica could argue that there already was a male archduke candidate, and having so many archduke candidates was unnecessary, which led to Karstedt's demotion to an archnoble. Since Georgine turned out to be too competent and Veronica wanted a Puppet King, she subsequently convinced her husband to send Georgine away.
• The second fanbook's reveal that the only woman in Ehrenfest whose mana Ferdinand can sense is actually Veronica (not Florencia as Rozemyne assumed) also means that Veronica can sense him. This means that Veronica knows just how much mana Ferdinand has on a very personal level. This is very likely to have contributed to Veronica's and her faction's internal narrative of Ferdinand wanting more power for himself, with them assmuing that he wants the status to match his mana level.

Part 5

• As is the case with Adolphine (and later with Sylvester), marrying someone while one's wife is pregnant means that the new marriage will be left unconsummated for around two years, to not mix the fetus' mana with foreign mana other than their parents'. Considering Rozemyne is officially three years older than her half-brother, Nikolaus, it becomes apparent why his mother Trudeliede is so angry at Rozemary and her supposed daughter. Karstedt consummated the marriage with Rozemary long before he did with Trudeliede. He prioritized his marriage with his third wife (whom he loved) over his second wife, who was harassed by Rozemary's family.
• Why is it that greater duchies like Klassenberg and Dunkelfelger wear the primary colors of red and blue respectively, as is associated with the color of the primary god of their border gate, but Ehrenfest, which guards Schutzaria's border gate, wears bright ocher-colored capes and not yellow ones? Volume 4 gives a possible answer: One of the original duchies was Eisenreich, and Eisenreich rebelling led to it being split into one half becoming Frenbeltag, while the other half was taken over by a new archducal family (Ehrenfest). Thus, it is possible that yellow was originally the color of Eisenreich. To erase all traces of Eisenreich, the foundation was moved and besides being taken over by a new family and being renamed, Ehrenfest must have chosen a slightly different color for their duchy.
• Florencia being even more submissive to the royal family and the Sovereignty than Sylvester (who at least wanted to protest about Ferdinand and Rozemyne being taken away from Ehrenfest) makes sense, considering she was never made out to be archduchess material. She is an archduke candidate from Frenbeltag, a very weak duchy, on top of being the child of a third wife.
• Throughout the series, Rozemyne encounters the divine instruments of the gods, which are all named after the god that wields them (Leidenschaft's spear, Schutzaria's shield, etc.). Strangely, Mestionora's book has a specific name: Grutrissheit. Then it later turns out that this hinted at people misunderstanding something. Mestionora's instrument is simply called "Book of Mestionora"; "Grutrissheit" is just the spell to transform one's schtappe into the book, much like one would say "Finsumhang" to transform a schtappe into the God of Darkness's cape. So strictly speaking, someone like Ferdinand can claim he doesn't own Grutrissheit without having to lie due to Insistent Terminology (which he does near the end of Part 5).
• Rozemyne's diptychs are a very popular product among scholars and her temple attendants, as it saves paper and ink. However, Ferdinand never wanted one for himself. While this might be explainable due to his apparently nearly perfect memory, Part 5 reveals that he is in possession of the Book of Mestionora, which can always be taken out and even be used as a notebook. He basically always has a diptych with him, so he doesn't need one from Rozemyne.
• The Creation Myth introduced in Part 1 gives deeper insight once the reader learns that Yurgenschmidt was founded by a repentant god who wanted to save mankind from Ewigeliebe. Ewigeliebe grew jealous of his children with Geduldh and robbed them of their powers (with Mestionora being the sole exception). Humans were found by Erwarmen in a place of white sand. But Ewigeliebe still tried to kill his children. Those who were on the verge of death are known to bear Ewigeliebe's mark, which is the hardened mana inside one's body, as was the case with Myne. Thus, Ewigeliebe claiming back his children is caused via the Devouring (mana) and nobles are the mortal descendants of Geduldh and Ewigeliebe.
• Mestionora is described to have long midnight-blue hair and golden eyes, blessed by her grandparents. Interesting to note is that unlike her relatives, her hair isn't bundled up, which makes her appear to be Older Than She Looks (similar to Rozemyne). However, this is possibly deliberate on Mestionora's part. Considering how her parents' marriage ended up and her speculated love residing in Yurgenschmidt, she is probably a Confirmed Bachelor and deliberately lets her hair down.
• Ferdinand once said at the end of Part 2 that he only fights a battle that he knows he will win. While this sounds like a Badass Boast, it also reveals his insecurity to things. He is very cautious and indirect with his feelings for Rozemyne, often not sure if she feels the same, despite being aware that Rozemyne really doesn't understand noble euphemisms and likes directness. Up until the very end after he shares his memories with her, he is led to believe that Rozemyne has romantic feelings for Lutz, which is why he gives her the choice to return to a commoner, despite clearly needing and wanting her for himself.
• Some of Ferdinand's internal proof that he only comes after many others in Sylvester's eyes is that he was the one sent to the temple when he could have sent Veronica there instead of him. Pragmatically, there were some downsides to having Bezewanst and a resentful Veronica under the same roof.

Fridge Horror

Part 1

• Original Myne's fate. She was a small, bed-bound child who was tortured by visions she had no way to understand of a world much different from her own (implied to be the last 5 years of Urano's life, while she was in college and starting work as a librarian while helping her mom with her hobbies). Unable to read Japanese and Urano being a bookworm, the parts she could understand were that she could walk outside, do things and eat delicious food, which only served as a cruel reminder of the harsh reality of the real world. She was only five years old when she died. It is indeed "Rare for children with devouring to survive until their baptism". She didn't.
• The first thing Urano hears when she became Myne is the original Myne's thoughts: "It's hot, it hurts, I hate this... I can't take this anymore....Help, someone help!". The voice fades away as Urano tries to reach out to them. The existential horror of hearing the pained and suffering last thoughts of a 5-year-old begging for help and then discovering you are now in their unfamiliar body is, frankly, unfathomable.
• During her first contribution to winter preparations, Myne accidentally forces Gunther to replace a mostly-rusted window shutter hinge he would have liked to keep on just a little longer due to lack of money. During the following transition from spring to summer, one of the surprise obstacles in Myne's clay tablet making is a storm so strong they can't even go to the well. Such storms are stated to be rare in the area, as in "once every few years" rare. Anyone want to take bets on how much of a difference replacing that hinge may have made?
• Doting Parent Gunther is an exception, not a rule in this world. When we read chapters from Deid's, Benno's and Guildmaster Gustav's points of view, we find out that most other commoners would have either let Myne die to free the resources for other children because she is sickly and "useless" and would die anyway or kick her out and leave her outside to die because she is a "weird freak" , having alien thoughts and desires.

Part 2

• Delia and Wilma's conception circumstances, alongside their respective stories, makes one wonder just how many generations of temple Sex Slaves they are the product of. Especially if one considers that a gray shrine maiden fathered by a blue priest may have just a little more mana than one who was originally an orphaned commoner and hence be more likely to become pregnant from a blue priest with low mana.
• Gray shrine maidens are old enough to "offer flowers" when they reach fifteen years of age. The story has introduced higher-class characters who are in their sixities. Blue priests who can get gray shrine maidens pregnant see some turnover in their female personnel by design and may simply decide to replace a shrine maiden growing old with a younger one. The new gray shrine maiden may be a Child by Rape orphan. Hopefully, there is something in place to avoid Surprise Incest.
• In character, it happens to Myne occasionally, thanks to her tendency to speak her mind and unfamiliarity with the customs of the land.
  • When she realizes what would have happened if she was found by some other merchant and not Benno.
  • Meeting with Shikza wakes her up to what kind of society she has reincarnated in, after he threatens to poke her eyes out.
  • Karstedt discussing with Ferdinand, Benno and Damuel in Part 2 Volume 3 about how easy Myne would be to kidnap and hide. During the discussion Myne realizes that 1) she would die if that ever happens, because she is that fragile and her kidnappers would not know how to deal with that and 2) Karstedt has had almost certainly kidnapped, hidden and kept people jailed before.
• When Myne uses Could Say It, But... to tell Karstedt what happened while she was in Shikza and Damuel's care, but doesn't specify who did it, Karstedt promptly asks Damuel, the one of lowest status among the two guards, if he's the one who did it. The reason Myne used Could Say It, But... in the first place is that she was afraid she would be blamed for the whole incident due to being a commoner. Karstedt's response to her statement hints at two things: he still tends to assume the person of lowest status is at fault when something bad happens and being the one fingers are pointed at when things go wrong has probably been happening for Damuel's entire life.
• At one point, Ferdinand describes what happens to those whose body overflows with mana beyond the body's ability to handle it. It could have happened to Myne multiple times and there were a few very close calls. Original Myne even dies from Devouring; it is not hard to imagine Myne's parents witnessing the horrible scene Ferdinand described.
• According to Ella's side chapter, the fact that female commoner orphans tend to end up becoming Sex Slaves to blue robes is well-known in the lower city. During the negotiations for Myne's working conditions, one of the things asked of the temple is to not give Myne any of "the hard labor of a gray shrine maiden" on account of her poor health. On top of this, Myne's apparent age means that the adults around her avoid discussing certain topics in her presence. Chances are that Myne collapsing on the temple's floor while cleaning it or similar incidents weren't the only sort of thing Benno and her parents were worried about.
• Ella also indirectly states how easy it is to be taken by someone if she were to work as a waitress, and it wouldn't be very different if she went to work for nobles. In later chapters, Rozemyne makes sure Ella and Rosina, her personal commoner personnel are never left alone or at least in safe hands, even in the archduke's castle.
• The temple makes it a policy only to aid commoner children with mana if they devote themselves to the temple; the nobility only aids such children if they’re nobles or wealthy and connected. These both appear to be rare events. The Devouring seems to be fairly well-known, so how many commoner children die every year of it? On that subject, could it be the cause of the death of at least one of Gunther and Effa's lost children?
• Before Myne's arrival, the temple orphanage's pre-baptism children were being neglected, but priests still knew which ones were becoming old enough to get baptized. This means that there was some sort of record of them, which means that whoever was keeping it knew all too well that they were slowly dying one after the other, especially the youngest ones.
• In Part 2 Volume 3, Ferdinand is concerned what kind of impact Myne's revolutionary ideas of printing could have on society and forbids her from going any further until she's become a noble. Sylvester casually mentions at the end of Part 2 that it would be too much of a hassle to crush the Gilberta Company and all its associates to stop printing from happening, which alerts Myne. However, Sylvester assures her that he doesn't intend to do this and instead tries to use the momentum that is coming to his advantage. If Myne and Benno hadn't quickly spread the technology throughout Ehrenfest, and if a rare opportunity hadn't opened for a backwater duchy like Ehrenfest after the civil war (which also allowed Myne to save her life by joining the temple), Myne and all her friends would have been destroyed by the nobility by the end of Part 2. It's no wonder Benno jerked in fear at the Myne Workshop in the orphanage when he saw Sylvester being King Incognito. He feared for his life.
• Ferdinand notes at the start of Part 2 that it was nearly impossible to find any information about Myne thanks to Benno making sure of that. Sylvester also values secrecy, and the fewer people are aware of Rozemyne's commoner background, the fewer people he has to silence. If Gustav had taken Myne in, he would have paraded her around and promoted her to everyone. Not only would this have drawn the attention of Veronica's associates much earlier, Sylvester and Ferdinand would not have been able to cover up Myne's identity so cleanly. Who knows how many people they would have eliminated...?

Part 3

• At first, Ferdinand's negative reaction to Rozemyne teasingly asking him if she can call him "Uncle Ferdinand", now that she's Sylvester's daughter might seem quite excessive. That is, until one realizes who the "Uncle" figure in Ferdinand's childhood was, via Sylvester as proxy, and would hence be the person he connects the word "uncle" with: High Bishop Bezewanst, who was fond of saying to Sylvester, in Ferdinand's presence "As your uncle and elder, I advise you... It would do you good to take heed of my advice and respect your elders." for years. And it is a heartwarming moment and an example of Ferdinand's personal growth when Rozemyne wakes up from her two year coma and hears Wilfried (Sylvester's oldest son) calling him "Uncle Ferdinand" without any problems and Ferdinand smiling.
• Upon Rozemyne meeting Henrik, it's mentioned that he would have probably been executed alongside Damuel if the latter had gotten the same punishment as Shikza. That would have cut Freida's Devouring lifeline. This also means that the possibility of Henrik himself changing his mind isn't the only reason she needs those back-up magic items: the contract with Henrik becoming void because of events Henrik himself has no control over, including other nobles changing their minds, is a very real possibility, as well.
• Rozemyne being Forced to Watch Hasse's mayor's execution is a lesson to teach her about her thoughtless actions having consequences for others. But it also teaches her that the one who has her medal can kill her at any time should she ever defy the archducal family.
• Devouring soldiers can be remotely detonated by the person who has their submission contract or their new owner, if the person they originally signed the contract with is arrested. Remotely detonated means "exploded from the inside with their own mana". Even a mednoble like Joisontak can do it easily. Boys with Devouring become soldiers and slaves. Girls become mistresses, used for the purpose of breeding the next generation with greater mana capacity. Ferdinand is a son of one such mistress.
• Sylvester is sometimes seen blaming Ferdinand either for things that are his own fault, or, when it comes to Rozemyne, things that can be safely assumed to have been there since she was Myne, if not Urano. Regularly blaming a person for things they are not responsible for is a frequent form taken by abuse and Veronica is shown doing her best to convince people that Ferdinand is responsible for her imprisonment. This makes the moments mentioned above come across as Sylvester having internalized Veronica's "everything is Ferdinand's fault" attitude on some level, despite his affection for Ferdinand.
• The Devouring soldiers who attack the castle at the end of Part 3 being the remnants of Count Bindewald's little army makes one question where he actually found so many commoners with mana, when most commoners don't even realize they have mana before it's too late. However, taking into account the fate of poor laynoble families like Konrad's, it makes more sense to assume that some noble children were sold by their parents and signed submission contracts.

Part 4

• Damuel was smart enough to understand Elvira's Secret Test of Character (Brigitte did not). He knew he would have died if he had accepted to move to Illgner with Brigitte. As a Secret-Keeper who knew Myne before she became Rozemyne and has actually met her commoner family, that would have been the only way for Sylvester to keep that as a secret. Because Illgner is a far away backwater province of Ehrenfest duchy, there is no way for anyone to keep an eye on Damuel, both for spying (in case Damuel accidentally reveals that secret) and safety purposes (in case somebody sends a strike team to Illgner, kidnaps him and tortures/magically reveals the secret out of him). In the capital, there is plenty of people to watch over Damuel and protect him if anybody attempts anything, including Bonifatius, who is spending most of his time training Damuel and other adult knights while the children of the archduke are in Royal Academy. But that is not Fridge Horror part. The horror part comes from Ehrenfest leadership planning the assassination in case he does decide to move to Illgner. They would have given him a month before assassinating him, enough time for Damuel to sire a child, because Illgner and Ehrenfest as a whole are already lacking in nobles and there is no reason to make that shortage worse. In other words, a honeymoon amount of time. Imagine Brigitte if that happened. She is pregnant, it is just after the happiest month of her life and her husband just dies in front of her.
• Another piece of Fridge Horror concerning Damuel's Resignations Not Accepted situation: one wonders if Rosina rejecting the idea of returning into Christine's service is an act of loyalty towards Rozemyne, or if she's simply aware that she wouldn't be allowed to both leave her service and live.
• Because everyone is acting so mature, it is easy to forget that Rozemyne's attendants and apprentice guard knights while she is at the Academy are teenagers. That includes hated characters like Traugott. Ferdinand's warning to Rozemyne rings very true and it makes the world a very scary place: "Some mistakes can stain you forever and ruin your future beyond repair." Traugott was only slightly older than twelve when he was banned from his dream career and his prospects of marriage destroyed. Wilfried was only eight when he was tricked into disobeying Sylvester and almost disinherited. Or, to put Traugott's life story in a different light: Due to a series of misunderstandings, a teenager screws up his first apprentice job and ruins his whole life while still in high school.
• Rihyarda is revealed to be loyal to Ehrenfest and the archducal seat in later chapters, and as shown with Fran and Zahm, attendants that were assigned by someone else to Rozemyne aren't entirely loyal to her. In retrospect, Rozemyne dodged a bullet when Rihyarda asked her in Part 4 Volume 1 whether she wants to become aub. If Rozemyne had confirmed this, Rihyarda would have likely reported this to Sylvester or Ferdinand. Neither of them want Rozemyne to be Aub Ehrenfest, so if she had stated her wish to be it, they would have removed Rozemyne from the race, by annulling her adoption contract for instance or by killing her (which is still possible despite the mana compression method contract they signed).
• In Part 4 Volume 4, the previous Count Leisegang is worried that Rozemyne was threatened by the archducal couple to not become aub. While Rozemyne really doesn't want to become aub, he is absolutely right. If Rozemyne is deemed a danger to Ehrenfest or to the archducal seat that Ferdinand wants Sylvester and his line to keep, Rozemyne would be removed, one way or the other. Myne was aware of this since Part 2.
• Sylvester's blatant Parental Favoritism hits Charlotte very hard. Despite her clearly doing better than Wilfried, she is largely ignored and put on the sidelines by her father. While their circumstances are obviously not the same, Charlotte could have turned into another Georgine, if she hadn't been raised properly by her mother and met Rozemyne.
• Snippets here and there reveal that Ferdinand has such major trust issues and became so cold because Veronica made his life a living hell. She verbally abused him constantly, and he found more peace at the Royal Academy than at home. Veronica and her faction harassed him in the Academy too, as she threatened Hirschur and cut funds, but Hirschur ignored this and shielded Ferdinand from Veronica. Veronica also took away his cape that his father gave him when he entered the Academy. When Sylvester hears of all this, he asks Ferdinand why he didn't tell him, and Ferdinand responds that just remembering anything about Veronica is unpleasant. He's sparing Sylvester from the guilt and has probably omitted far more cruel things that Veronica did to him.
• Ferdinand didn't even trust Eckhart and Justus (the sons of his cousin and his brother's wetnurse respectively) for a long time, and it's very likely that he only started trusting them after both offered their names to him. Eckhart is also surprised in Part 3 Volume 3 that Ferdinand immediately eats and drinks the things Rozemyne prepared for him after she does the obligatory poison test, instead of letting his attendants taste-test first. As is revealed in Part 4, poison can have a very delayed effect, like when Eglantine's entire family died long after they ate dinner. Eckhart's surprise also makes far more sense once the reader learns that there were several poisoning attempts on Ferdinand as well as at least one on Eckhart and another retainer of Ferdinand's, Heidemarie (Eckhart's wife), in the past. Eckhart barely survived, while Heidemarie and their unborn child died.
• Following Heidemarie's death, Eckhart planned to get closer to Veronica to assassinate her. Ferdinand and Karstedt put a stop to that. Later on, after Sylvester has Veronica arrested, he shows mercy and only locks her in an ivory tower. Unbeknownst to Ehrenfest's leaders, if Veronica had been killed, Ehrenfest would have been in ruins. Why? Because Veronica's method to ensure absolute loyalty to her was to demand names. Most of the arch- and mednobles who belong to Veronica's faction actually gave their names to her. And giving someone your name means that if your master dies, you will die with them.
• Fran's side story from Volume 9 establishes that the temple only became a "poison-free" zone some time after Ferdinand entered it. In fact, the incident that scared Bezewanst into enacting the policy that resulted in this consisted of Ferdinand non-lethally poisoning him after an attempt on his life. Now, remember the "divine gift" system? The fact that some poisons take a while to act? That a dose that isn't that dangerous to an adult might kill a child? The gray robes who made it to adult age may very well have Acquired Poison Immunity.