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

WARNING: Most of the characters in this section first appear in Part 4. Several categorizations and descriptions are going to be spoilers in themselves.

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Sovereignty

Royal Family

Zent Trauerqual

Trauerqual

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 7)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bookworm_p5v2_trauqual_portrait_upscale.png

The former fifth prince, a son of the previous king with his third wife. He is the father of Sigiswald, Anastasius, and Hildebrand. Trauerqual was raised as a vassal and never had any aspiration to become king. This dramatically changed after the designated heir, the second prince, was murdered, and the first and third prince were engaged in a war that led to both of their deaths.

However, neither of their supporters were willing to give up. With Klassenberg backing him, Trauerqual was made to pick up the fight against Werkestock and the fourth prince. After making Magdalena his third wife and securing the help of Dunkelfelger, Trauerqual won the war and ascended the throne as zent.

For the next decade, Trauerqual has ruled Yurgenschmidt without the necessary magic tools, which is why his enemies and biblical fundamentalists call him a false king.

0% Approval Rating: After Part 5, he becomes the archduke of the newly created greater duchy Blumefeld, which is made up of the former duchies whose ruling families he purged and which had to suffer the most from the mana shortage. Rozemyne has no doubt Trauerqual will have difficulties ruling the duchy.
Barely-Changed Dub Name: His name in Japanese is トラオクヴァール (Toraokuvāru) which would be Trauqual. In the official translation it is extended to Trauerqual.
The Caligula: Subverted. After Trauerqual won the civil war, a purge was conducted that led to a massive mana crisis that affected and still affects the whole country. Trauerqual isn't actually a cruel man, he was forced by the winning duchies to purge so many people after his own daughter was abducted and murdered. He was also clearly disgusted by the existence of the Adalgisa palace, and Anastasius' suggestion to take away Grutrissheit from Rozemyne and lock her up, should she obtain it.
I Gave My Word: Zig-zagged. In Part 4 Volume 8, he makes Ferdinand move to Ahrensbach, marry Detlinde, and make Letizia the next Aub Ahrensbach with the promise to not touch Ehrenfest and never reveal Ferdinand's past. He breaks his promise when he learns that Rozemyne could obtain Grutrissheit and is later convinced to adopt her and marry her to Sigiswald. On the other hand, he absolutely refuses to tell Sylvester how he managed to convince Ferdinand to accept the royal order.
Meaningful Name: His original name Trauqual is derived from either "trauen" (to trust) or "Trauer" (grief/mourning) and "Qual" (agony/torment).
Outliving One's Offspring: His daughter with his second wife was kidnapped by terrorists who favored the fourth prince and later murdered by them.
Puppet King:
- Downplayed. Trauerqual was dragged into the war by others and had no power or resources. The purge that followed after the civil war was largely so excessive because Klassenberg insisted.
- As revealed near the end of Part 5, Trauerqual was drugged with Trug by his own knight commander, Raublut. This influenced his decision to send Ferdinand away and abdicate the throne to whoever can obtain Grutrissheit, even if it's an outsider who doesn't have the country's best interests in mind. It took an extensive waschen spell to remove the influence of the drug and clear his mind.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Trauerqual agrees to many of Rozemyne's suggestions, such as a Dedication Ritual at the Academy conducted by the students, that one should obtain one's schtappe a few years later or that people should be given a second opportunity to do the divine protection ritual to obtain more protections.
Reluctant Ruler: The moment he and Rozemyne meet, she can tell that he is absolutely exhausted and has drunk countless potions to keep the country running, not unlike Ferdinand. Despite the sacrifices he made, Trauerqual doesn't view himself as a good king (although Anastasius would disagree) and he doesn't want to rule. He would Abdicate the Throne as soon as possible if there were another adequate ruler. The pain and anguish and criticism he has endured over the years have shaped his beliefs that only someone who is in possession of the Grutrissheit should rule.
Secret-Keeper: As shown in Part 4 Volume 8, he knows about Ferdinand's past. Part of the agreement he made with Ferdinand was to never reveal to anyone Ferdinand's past.
Spare to the Throne: Trauerqual wasn't actually ever expected to become king. He was never educated to rule one day, which is why he doesn't understand the duties and responsibilities of a zent.
Teacher/Student Romance: This was his relationship with his third wife, Magdalena. Trauerqual was the professor for the archduke candidate course at the time she seduced him and asked him to marry her.
Unfit for Greatness: Unlike his brothers, Trauerqual was raised and educated to serve as the future zent's vassal, not as the zent himself. He feels inadequate for the job and is painfully aware how difficult it is to rule the country without being in possession of the Grutrissheit. A side story in Part 5 implies that even his plan to send Ferdinand to Ahrensbach was partially motivated by his wish for Ferdinand to find the Grutrissheit and then take over his duties as zent. Being backed by Ahrensbach would be better than being backed by a weak duchy like Ehrenfest.
Unwitting Pawn: His upbringing and rulership has deeply shaped his personality. At the end of Part 5, Ferdinand makes use of this to manipulate Trauerqual in a way to accept all of Ferdinand's suggestions and denounce Sigiswald as an unsuitable successor.

Sigiswald

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 7)

Voiced by: Yuichiro Umehara (Drama CD 6+)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bookworm_p5v3_sigiswald_portrait_upscale.png

The first prince of Yurgenschmidt. He is Trauerqual's first son with his first wife and thus Anastasius' fullblooded older brother. He is seven years older than Rozemyne and already married. As Eglantine chooses Anastasius and Anastasius does not desire to be king, Sigiswald is set to marry Adolphine and becomes the crown prince.

All Take and No Give: His relationship with Adolphine, where she gets the short end of the stick almost constantly. Sigiswald only marries her for her mana and for the political power he gains by allying with Drewanchel.
Dirty Coward: At the end of Part 5, unlike Anastasius who was convinced to fight back the Lanzenave invaders, Sigiswald hid himself in his hidden room. This is another reason why Sigiswald is deemed a poor choice for zent.
Happily Married: He genuinely loves his second wife Nahelache and favors her. This is in stark contrast to how he treats both his first wife and his prospective future third wife, who are both means to an end.
Innocently Insensitive: Sigiswald isn't particularly evil, he is just completely unaware how inappropriate his behavior is, as no one ever talked back to him.
- Sigiswald doesn't actually know how badly he treats Adolphine. Near the end of Part 5, he is genuinely surprised she wants to divorce him.
- After Part 5 Volume 5, when Rozemyne agrees to get adopted by Trauerqual and marry Sigiswald once she comes of age, Sigiswald prepares Rozemyne's living quarters. Since Rozemyne is very close to Ferdinand and since Ferdinand is a "seed of Adalgisa", he somehow gets it into his head that it would be nice to let Rozemyne live in the palace where Ferdinand was born. It doesn't even occur to him how unbelievably rude it is to let Rozemyne live in what is mildly speaking a royal whorehouse.
Ironic Name: His name is a variant of Siegwald, which is derived from the words "Sieg" (victory) and "walten" (to rule). He is not a victorious leader.
Leader Wannabe: Sigiswald claims to be the best choice to become zent, but he doesn't actually show any qualities of a leader. He has less mana than Eglantine (and both Eglantine and Anastasius held back to let him have the throne), is outsmarted by both Rozemyne and Adolphine, and does not display leadership abilities like Anastasius. Near the end of Part 5, after rejecting Ferdinand's demands, Sigiswald's own father deems him a failure and refuses to let him have the throne.
No Social Skills: It's actually amazing how completely inept he is at socializing skills. He is terrible at reading people and blurts out secrets without thinking.
Prince Charmless:
- In Part 5 Volume 5, Sigiswald is set to become Rozemyne's fiancé. However, he denies her wish for a personal library and even is against her developing a printing industry until she comes of age. Rozemyne thinking that Wilfried was a better fiancé says it all. In Part 5 Volume 7, after Sigiswald sees a grown-up Rozemyne, he is smitten with her and sneakily gives her an engagement gift one volume later. Ferdinand realizes that this isn't the royal permit Rozemyne thinks it is and later makes Rozemyne destroy Sigiswald's gift in front of his eyes by overloading it with mana and turning it into gold dust.
- After Part 5, after being demoted to an archduke of the newly created Corinzdaum, Sigiswald desperately looks for more nobles to join his family to supply the foundation with mana. He sets his eyes on Hannelore and aims to marry her, but she is not in the least interested.
Royal Brat: Sigiswald for some reason thinks it's his right to rule and he is the most suited person to become king, even when he lacks the Grutrissheit. He mistakenly believes he can rule just like his father, failing to realize that his father isn't doing well and the Grutrissheit is desperately needed.
Sibling Yin-Yang: To Anastasius, who has no real desire to be the next king and only seeks Eglantine's hand in marriage because of his feelings for her, and, much like Sylvester does, can't bear the idea of marrying a woman other than his beloved. Meanwhile Sigiswald desires the throne and wished to marry Eglantine to obtain it, even if he felt nothing for her, and he also feels no conflict in marrying both the woman he loves and additional wives who would bring him additional benefits.
Spanner in the Works: Post Part 5 Volume 5, Sigiswald arranging the Adalgisa Palace for Rozemyne, while incredibly rude of him, turned out to delay Lanzenave's plans by more than half a year.
Unwanted Spouse: Adolphine doesn't want to marry him but has to, and Rozemyne also only plans to marry him because it will save Ferdinand's life. Sigiswald only treats the first woman he married, Nahelache, decently. Adolphine is more than happy to divorce him and Rozemyne would rather marry Wilfried than Sigiswald.

Anastasius

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 1)

Voiced by: Seiichirō Yamashita (Drama CD 5)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bookworm_p4v2_anastasius_lq.jpg

The second prince of Yurgenschmidt. He is Trauerqual's second son with his first wife. Anastasius is in his final year when Rozemyne enters the Royal Academy and thus is 5 years older than her. He is head over heels in love with Eglantine and thus only seeks to be the next zent as he wrongly assumes that she wishes to restore her birthright as royalty. Since he would do anything to be able to marry her, he has no problem in backing off and leaving the throne to his older brother.

Cannot Spit It Out: He is hopelessly in love with Eglantine. However, as a royal, he has to court her indirectly through other people, which leads to Eglantine thinking he just wants to marry her for political reasons, like his brother. Rozemyne advises him to be more honest to Eglantine to make her realize his feelings for her and it ends up working.
Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: He is the royal Rozemyne contacts the most. He will also usually respond even if she sent a message to another royal to deal with Rozemyne. However, he clearly dislikes doing this and in Part 5 at one point complains to Ehrenfest how no one is keeping her in check.
Crazy Jealous Guy: He butts in unannounced on Rozemyne's first tea party with her music professors, since Eglantine is participating, too. Seeing Eglantine paying so much attention to and flirting with Rozemyne ticks him off, which leads to him bullying her by making unreasonable requests to embarrass Rozemyne. His attitude and feelings towards Eglantine end up making him being compared to Ewigeliebe.
Dogged Nice Guy: Interestingly, although he Cannot Spit It Out, it's apparent through his actions that he is very interested in Eglantine. If she wishes for something, he will do anything he can to make it happen.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite all his bickering with Rozemyne and his obvious dislike of her, he never really retaliates against her minor offenses which amount to basically insulting royalty, as he sees that she isn't malicious. He gives Hildebrand the same advice when his little brother takes his place in the Academy as the royal family's representative. In Part 5, he did threaten Rozemyne with Ferdinand's execution once Detlinde will eventually self-destroy with her loose mouth, but he later says that he was bluffing and heals Rozemyne's hands after she hurt herself banging against the barrier that doesn't let her go get to Grutrissheit because she isn't a royal.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Anastasius initially lets his emotions get the better of him during his first meetings with Rozemyne, but he can act reasonable when he wants to. In Part 4 Volume 2, Dunkelfelger and Ehrenfest's archduke candidates have an argument over the ownership of Schwartz and Weiss, and Anastasius is called to mediate. He listens to both sides and does not let his personal bias of Rozemyne influence his decisions. On the other hand, he approves a ditter match between the two duchies to resolve the dispute, despite being aware that the match is somewhat unfair, since Dunkelfelger's knights are known for their skill in ditter.
Royal Brat: From the moment they meet, Anastasius and Rozemyne start indirectly hurling insults at each other. Furthermore, Rozemyne quickly catches Eglantine's attention, a fact to which he reacts with jealousy. It's telling that Rozemyne was lectured that she must not bully someone of lower status like Solange by making demands and at the next tea party Anastasius is seen doing exactly that with Rozemyne. He calms down a bit after Rozemyne advises him to be more direct to Eglantine and tell her that he only wants to Marry for Love and would give up the throne to his brother for her.
Sibling Yin-Yang: Anastasius is in many aspects the opposite of his older fullblooded brother Sigiswald. Sigiswald is ambitious and desires to be the next zent, while Anastasius just fought for the throne to marry the person he loves. Sigiswald has no problem with marrying more wives who would grant him extra benefits whilst also being married to the woman he loves, but Anastasius can't bear the idea of marrying anyone but the woman he loves and won't entertain the idea of having additional wives. Anastasius also shows that he is a far better judge of character and near the end of Part 5 Anastasius shows that he is willing to take responsibility and fight against the Lanzenave invaders. Sigiswald on the other hand is a coward who decided to hide. In the end, Anastasius is forced to rule the country with his wife as zent, while Sigiswald loses his status as a royal.
Sickeningly Sweethearts: In Part 4 Volume 2 and 3, he is very open to Rozemyne about what he feels for Eglantine and his messages about Eglantine contain endless praise to the point that she gets fed up with his rambling.
Vitriolic Best Buds: Subverted. His dynamic with Rozemyne later has shades of this, but due to their difference in status they are never truly friends. Rozemyne would usually like to avoid him if possible and the feeling is mutual.

Hildebrand

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 5)

Voiced by: Kaede Hondo (Drama CD 4+)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bookworm_p4v6_hildebrand_portrait_upscale.png

The third prince of Yurgenschmidt. He is Trauerqual's third son with his third wife Magdalena, the current Aub Dunkelfelger's younger sister. Hildebrand was baptized shortly before Rozemyne begins her second year at the Royal Academy, which makes him four years younger than her. He takes Anastasius' place as the representative of the royal family in the Academy.

After seeing the seemingly similarly-aged Rozemyne, he begins to take an interest in her and wishes to spend time with her. He is later engaged to Ahrensbach's future aub, Letizia.

Born Winner: As his mother is an archduke candidate from one of the most powerful duchies in the country, his inherent mana potential far surpasses the potential of his half-brothers Anastasius and Sigiswald. On top of that, his mother teaches him her mana compression method before he even enters the Academy. Unfortunately, he ruins his own chances to become zent one day because despite the warnings of his mother, he acquires his schtappe before he can gain all colors. As being seven-colored is required to obtain the Book of Mestionora, he will never be able to become zent and his schtappe's potential is severely limited.
Generation Xerox: Downplayed. Like his father, he is the son of the king's third wife, and he thus is raised to serve and not rule.
Hopeless Suitor: He develops a Precocious Crush on Rozemyne the moment he first sees her, as he mistakenly believes her to be not much older than him. However, due to an initial misunderstanding, Rozemyne thinks he actually likes Charlotte, and she never views him as a potential romantic prospect in the first place. Not to mention, he is later engaged to Letizia.
Spare to the Throne: Averted. Magdalena never had any ambition for Hildebrand to rule as king, since despite her high status she remained as Trauerqual's third wife. Hildebrand is raised to serve as a vassal one day.
Unwitting Pawn:
- Unbeknownst to him, his love for Rozemyne is manipulated by Knight Commander Raublut who tells him to get his schtappe early, which grants the Lanzenave invaders access to the Farthest Hall where they can get their own schtappes. After the invaders are arrested, he is forced to wear schtappe-sealing cuffs for his involvement.
- In Part 5 Volume 5, he innocently tells Raublut about Hortensia investigating "Schlaftraum's flower" (Trug). This alerts Raublut, which leads to him murdering his wife.

Magdalena

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 5)

Voiced by: Mutsumi Tamura (Drama CD 6)

A former archduke candidate from Dunkelfelger who became the third wife of Trauerqual and the mother of his third son, Hildebrand. When she was at the Academy there were plans to have her engaged with Ferdinand, at Heisshitze's suggestion, but as she was indifferent towards him, didn't appreciate being used as somebody else's lifeboat and already had feelings for the then fifth prince Trauerqual, she broke her sort-of-engagement and subsequently managed to marry the man she loved. Once she became Trauerqual's third wife her previously neutral duchy had no other choice but to side with him and with Dunkelfelger's backing the civil war came to an end.

Since she is the current Aub Dunkelfelger's younger sister, she is also Hannelore and Lestilaut's aunt.

Action Mom: She's a former Dunkelfelger archduke candidate, so that is hardly surprising.
Hands-Off Parenting: Downplayed, but as Hildebrand is raised to be, just as his father was originally intended to, a vassal for the future zent, she has given him more freedom and raises him less strictly. Unfortunately, she is strict enough with Hildebrand that she makes it clear he has to marry Letizia and forget about Rozemyne, but doesn't pay enough attention to notice that he is being manipulated by Raublut.
Rebellious Princess: Magdalena's father, the previous Aub Dunkelfelger, planned to have her marry Ferdinand (partially motivated to get him away from Veronica). However, not only did she find Ferdinand's personality insufferable, she saw no good reason why should marry someone to "save" him from his Wicked Stepmother, when she knows he's capable to take out Veronica if he wanted to. Magdalena instead decided to marry the person she actually had feelings for and ambushed Trauerqual, her archduke candidate course teacher at that time, with the Dunkelfelger Wallpin Of Love, to make him propose to her against the will of her father.
The Rival: To Ferdinand in ditter strategy during their academy years.
Violently Protective Girlfriend: Near the end of Part 5, she is absolutely furious when she hears that Raublut manipulated her husband. In the battle at the Academy, she and her brother Werdekraf fight Raublut together and defeat him.

Royal Academy

Professors

Hirschur

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 1)

Voiced by: Atsuko Tanaka (Drama CD 2), Akeno Watanabe (Drama CD 5)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bookworm_p4v1_hirschur_lq.jpg

A 42-year-old professor at the Royal Academy and the dorm supervisor of the Ehrenfest dormitory. Hirschur is a former Ehrenfest noble who later joined the Sovereignty due to her talents. She is Ferdinand's former mentor and specializes in magic tools and potion brewing.

Hirschur's uncle is Norbert, who along with Rihyarda manages the staff in Ehrenfest's castle. She is a distant relative of Ehrenfest's archducal family.

The Archmage: She specializes in the creation of magic tools and Ferdinand was in fact her disciple and assistant. It doesn't take her long to figure out that Rozemyne is using a unique form of mana compression, and when Rozemyne reveals her very practical highbeast, Hirschur shows far more flexibility than Ferdinand and promptly imitates Rozemyne by creating a shumil-like highbeast without wings for herself. This demonstrates her strong creative mind, as it's very difficult to abandon the previous mental image of one's highbeast.
Apathetic Teacher: Somewhat. Hirschur doesn't like teaching others, since this takes away time that she could spend on her research. She only wants to teach exceptional students who could help her with her own research, such as Ferdinand, Raimund, and Rozemyne. It's later revealed that she used to be more enganged with the students and what was going on within Ehrenfest, but with Veronica's constant harassment and Sylvester's inability to change the status quo, she grew more disillusioned with her duchy's politics and detached herself.
Badass Teacher: Downplayed. When it comes to her beloved disciples, she will defend them, regardless of political factions. Despite Ferdinand being in a precarious situation because of Veronica and her faction back then, she treated Ferdinand favorably and supported him, and all attempts to harass her for doing so were ignored by her. She also frequently showed up and looked for Ferdinand out of worry, though she stopped doing so after Ferdinand assured her that he can protect himself. She does the same nowadays with her new disciple Raimund, a mednoble from Ahrensbach, and ignores any suggestions from Ehrenfest nobles to distance herself from him.
Birds of a Feather: As fellow researchers, she gets along very well with Ferdinand. They could talk for hours about magic tools and circles.
Character Tic: Ferdinand's tendency to frown and tap his temple with his finger when he has to think? He's got it from Hirschur.
Constantly Curious: Almost everything Rozemyne does fascinates Hirschur. The fact that she personally visits the dorm multiple times to talk to Rozemyne surprises all of the older students who expected Hirschur to be holed up in her workshop for the rest of the school term. Sylvester notices the change, too, since she regularly sends reports to him and all she writes about is Rozemyne, when usually she just writes that nothing noteworthy happened.
Eccentric Mentor: Outside of classes, she usually only shows herself to open or close the dormitory at the start and the end of the school term respectively. Otherwise she only communicates with the students at the dormitory via ordonannz. She also does not care about cleaning up her workshop and frequently Forgets to Eat, just like Ferdinand.
High-Class Glass: Hirschur is the first character who is seen wearing optics, with her monocle indicating her intelligence and her high status as a Sovereign archnoble and professor.
Mad Scientist: Hirschur is just as obsessed with her research as Ferdinand is.
Parental Substitute: She was Ferdinand's mentor, who looked after him during his time at the Academy and protected him from Veronica even at her own personal cost. Ferdinand still respects her a lot and will often help her, and Rozemyne notices that he actually took some of his quirks from her.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Before Rozemyne entered the Academy, Hirschur was informed by Ferdinand, her former student and assistant, about Rozemyne's conditions and her talents, which is why she is immediately more sympathetic and supportive of Rozemyne than other instructors.

Rauffen

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 1)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bookworm_p4_year_1_rufen_lq.jpg

A knight from Dunkelfelger, who is now supervising the Dunkelfelger dormitory as a Sovereign noble. He is also the instructor for the knights course. Being very impressed by Rozemyne, he urges her to join the knights course once she is in her third year.

Anti-Mentor: At least in Rozemyne's eyes. In his classes, she basically ignores all advice he gives her and just does what she believes works best.
Barely-Changed Dub Name: His original name ルーフェン (Rūfen) was changed to Rauffen, since his name was deemed too short for a noble in English, and any attempts to preserve the pronunciation and alter the spelling were deemed silly.
Blood Knight: Like almost all Dunkelfelger nobles, he values strength and is obsessed with battles and ditter. After his dorm loses to Rozemyne in Part 4 Volume 2, he keeps trying to challenge Ehrenfest to more ditter games and wants Rozemyne to join the knights course.
Cool Teacher: He appears like a ditter fanatic like most Dunkelfelger nobles, but his reasoning is perfectly valid. The Royal Academy is the best way for the students to learn, and he intends to give them an optimal and fun education. However, his suggestion to reintroduce treasure-stealing ditter in the syllabus falls on deaf ears, which frustrates him.
Hot-Blooded: The first time Rozemyne meets him, she compares him to Urano's gym teachers from school who tormented her by dragging her outside to exercise.
Meaningful Name: His original name Rufen is German for "to shout", which fits since he is quite a loud and hot-blooded man. His new name looks similar to "raufen", which is German for "to brawl", which also fits, since he is from Dunkelfelger, who are notorious Blood Knights.
No Indoor Voice: When he and his fellow professors need to wake Rozemyne up while avoiding physical contact with her, Rauffen is the only one who manages to yell loud enough to get the desired result.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Royal Academy Stories reveals that in the midst of his quest to bring treasure-stealing ditter back in the syllabus, Rauffen ended up mentioning the merits of the old syllabus to Fraularm. The following year, Fraularm went on to use this as an excuse to give the entire second year an exam covering material that nobody had studied in class.

Fraularm

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 1)

Voiced by: Akeno Watanabe (Drama CD 5+)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bookworm_p5v1_fraulaerm_portrait_upscale.png

A 45-year-old professor and a former noble from Ahrensbach, who now acts as the dorm supervisor for Ahrensbach in the Royal Academy. She quickly starts disliking Rozemyne and, after getting embarrassed by her, outright antagonizes her.

Fraularm is one of the professors for the scholar course. She specializes in the gathering and control of information.

Connected All Along: As it later turns out, she is Count Bindewald's sister-in-law, which explains her hatred for Rozemyne.
Harmless Villain: Evil Teacher variant. She tries to harass Rozemyne however she can in the Academy, but every professor eventually stops taking her seriously because of her blatant hatred for Rozemyne. Her bias against Rozemyne is also the reason why the reports that she sends to Ahrensbach are largely inaccurate, which is why Aub Ahrensbach gets a false impression of Rozemyne and Ehrenfest's capabilities.
Hysterical Woman: It would be more useful to count the times when she's not screaming at someone in her shrilly voice.
- In Part 4 Volume 7, she is among the professors who are present to hear Rozemyne's testimony after Rozemyne and her apprentice knights used black weapons to fell a feybeast. She doesn't listen to Rozemyne and keeps accusing her of lying. When Ferdinand later shows up to confirm Rozemyne's explanation, he eventually tells Fraularm very directly to shut up.
- In Part 5 Volume 7, Rozemyne goes missing for several weeks. She also does not return by the time the Interduchy Tournament begins, and Ehrenfest claims that "she's bedridden". Fraularm interrupts the commendations at the Interduchy Tournament (where for the first time Rozemyne is not announced to be the best student) by continuously screaming that Rozemyne must have died and Ehrenfest is too embarrassed to admit it. Rauffen eventually captures her with his schtappe, drags her away, and all other professors later agree to fire her and send her back to Ahrensbach.
- In Part 5 Volume 8, Rozemyne and her entourage teleport to Bindewald to meet up with Ferdinand's troops. Fraularm and Countess Bindewald openly mock Ehrenfest, which irritates Hannelore who quickly binds them with her schtappe. When they realize that the woman who is leading the knights is Rozemyne, they insist that Rozemyne is a liar and a commoner, but Hartmut (who knows it's true) makes it look like Fraularm is insane. Cornelius eventually gets fed up with Fraularm and kicks her in the head.
Neat Freak:
- While investigating a closed dorm to find hints whether someone used the teleportation device to bring in a dangerous feybeast to the Academy, Fraularm uses a cleaning spell because she doesn't want to get her clothes dirty while walking inside the very dusty dorm. She is called out by her fellow teachers for this, since she could have possibly destroyed evidence.
- As Rozemyne notices in Part 5, her workshop is clean and organized, especially when compared to Hirschur or Gundolf's rooms.
Punny Name: Her name フラウレルム (Furaurerumu) is romanized as Fraularm because "Frau Lärm" is German for "Mrs Noise". She keeps screaming in a very high-pitched and shrilly voice, which annoys everyone around her, students and colleagues alike.
Sadist Teacher: She shows very obvious favoritism towards her own dormitory, while she starts harassing Rozemyne after falsely claiming that Rozemyne attacked her with a dangerous grun (actually her highbeast Lessy), and the "attack" caused her to faint.
- In Rozemyne's second year, she changes the curriculum of her subjects to what her predecessor taught at the Academy to prevent Ehrenfest, especially Rozemyne, from passing on the first day. What she didn't expect was that Rozemyne used Ferdinand and Eckhart's notes as references for her study guides, so everyone from Ehrenfest was prepared.
- In Part 4 Volume 7, she prepares the feybeast for Ehrenfest's feybeast hunt at the Interduchy Tournament. She intentionally picks a very rare one that is difficult to defeat without proper knowledge, though Leonore recognizes the feybeast and instructs her fellow students on how to proceed.
- In Part 5 Volume 1, in Rozemyne's third year at the Academy, Fraularm tries to make Rozemyne fail by giving her an exam for fifth graders. Not only did she not expect Hirschur to be called to make sure that she isn't sabotaging the exam, Rozemyne aced it, since Ferdinand has already taught her the entire curriculum up to the final year.
Verbal Tic: When annoyed, she tends to pout, which is indicated by her "hmphing". In Japanese, it is written as "んまぁ" (nma~), which is why invokedsome fans call her just that.

Gundolf

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 1)

The dorm supervisor of Drewanchel and one of the professors who act as instructors for the scholar course. He was originally an archduke candidate. To be able to keep researching as wished, he was adopted by an archnoble and later moved to the Sovereignty.

By blood, he's the uncle of the current Aub Drewanchel and thus Adolphine and Ortwin's great uncle.

Constantly Curious: Like most scholars are, he too is always thrilled to research and discover new things. He is one of the teachers who inspects Rozemyne's highbeast and is quite an enthusiast of the potentials of Ehrenfest's new paper.
High-Class Glass: He wears a monocle just like Hirschur does. Which displays how he comes from Drewanchel and is also a devoted researcher.
The Rival: To Hirschur, as both are very enthusiastic about their research and investigating new things, though they are on friendly terms.

Primevere

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 1)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/portrait_primavere.png

The dorm supervisor of Klassenberg and one of the teachers in Court Etiquette. Regardless of her gentle demeanour she can be very strict in her classes, she would sometimes ask students to repeat their greetings even if they did nothing wrong, so to judge how they handle unfair criticism and frustration, and it is very unusual that a student manages to pass lessons right away, with only Rozemyne and Wilfried of Ehrenfest achieving this feat in recent memory.

Proper Lady: As she specializes in etiquette and manners she is obviously an example of this.

Pauline

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 2)

A professor at the Royal Academy who teaches music, a former noble of Frenbeltag and now also its dorm's supervisor. She takes a liking to the songs composed by Rozemyne when she starts playing them at the academy, which prompts her to invite her to a tea party with the other music professors.

She also positively enjoys the performance of Rosina, Rozemyne's personal musician.

Ms. Exposition: At their first tea party together Pauline, along her fellow music teachers, reveals to Rozemyne not only the fact that Eglantine is actually a princess, as she was born the youngest child of the former third prince, but also how Anastasius is madly in love with her and competing with his older brother for throne in order to secure her hand.

Librarians

Solange

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 1)

Voiced by: Nodoka Hasegawa (Drama CD 2), Kiyoko Miyazawa (Drama CD 3+)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/portrait_solange.png

A former noble from Klassenberg, she is an affable elderly woman who manages the library all by herself.

As she is only a mednoble she doesn't have the sufficient mana to operate all the tools needed to run the library smoothly, something that saddens her deeply.

Bookworm: She adores books and is very protective of the library and all of its reading materials. She is delighted to be able to read the new Ehrenfest books that Rozemyne lends her at their "Bookworms Tea Parties".
Cute Bookworm: She has the aura of an adorable and sweet grandma.
Last of Her Kind: The only librarian who was left after the civil war. As all of her fellow librarians were archnobles who were executed alongside their families as they were from the losing duchy Werkestock.
Magic Librarian
Shrinking Violet: She is a sweet older woman who is somewhat shy and doesn't socialize much.

Hortensia

Debut: Part 5 (Volume 1)

Voiced by: Megumi Nakajima (Drama CD 6+)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/portrait_hortensia.png

An archscholar formerly from Klassenberg that is assigned to the library at the start of Rozemyne's third year. Since she is an archnoble she is also chosen to be the new master of Schwartz and Weiss, as the library magic tools have historically been manged by the archlibrarians.

Rozemyne guesses, judging Hortensia's age, that as she must have finished raising her children she has returned to work... but as Hortensia is the Soverignty's Knight Commander Raublut's first wife, she was actually sent to work at the library by him.

Bookworm: Solange describes Hortensia as a true bookworm and because of this she assures Rozemyne that they are most likely to get along very well each other.
Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: She used to serve the second prince Waldifrid and was so devoted to him and her duties that she did not even care about getting married. After his death she felt truly hopeless and lost... Until the previous Aub Klassenberg aproached her and asked if she would like to serve the third prince, but then as the prince was also murdered, he once again asked if Hortensia would like to serve the fifth prince now Zent Traerqual, Hortensia agreed as she was searching to give her life meaning once more and she also ended up marrying Raublut to strengthen the connections of the duchies that supported the new Zent.
Hot Librarian: Hortensia is a very beautiful woman that now serves as the head librarian.
Meaningful Name:
- Besides adding to Klassenberg's apparent tradition of Floral Theme Naming for women, Hortensia is both the Spanish word for hydrangea and the feminine form of the Roman family name Hortensius: meaning garden or "gardener". Later in the story Hortensia would start investigating and researching about a particular "flower" called the "Schlaftraum's flower (Trug)" and that ultimately would result in her death.
- Hydrangeas used to be given to people who turned down love interests as signs that they were cold or frigid, which can be associated with how Hortensia didn't really care about love or marriage when she was working for Prince Waldifrid. Also they became associated with boastfulness and vanity because they produce magnificent flowers but very few seeds, which can parallel how Hortensia feels that she failed as a wife as she couldn't give Raublut any children.
Magic Librarian
Old Maid: Played with. While in her youth she did not mind never marrying as she was more focused on her work, she ends up lamenting that since she did end up marrying late she and her husband were not blessed with a child.
Proper Lady: Upon first meeting Hortensia Rozemyne linkens her demeanor to Eglantine's and Primavere's.
Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Not many would expect that a gorgeous woman like Hortensia would be married to a man like Raublut.

Sovereign Knight's Order

Raublut (Spoiler)

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

Raublut

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 7)

Voiced by: Toshihiko Seki (Drama CD)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bookworm_p4v7_raublut_portrait_upscale.png

The knight commander of the Sovereign Knight's Order. He is an archnoble originally from Gilessenmeyer, the same duchy as Zent Trauerqual's first wife.

Rozemyne first meets him during an interrogation after she and her apprentice knights defeated a ternisbefallen by using Darkness-blessed weapons.

Raublut has been acquainted with Prince Hildebrand since the latter's birth and has occasionally gifted the prince toys and whenever he is not otherwise busy with his duties to the royal family, he personally trains the young prince in sword fighting.

The Dragon: He is Gervasio's right hand, who has sworn to serve him ever since he guarded the Adalgisa palace. He leads the knights that support Gervasio and occupy the Royal Academy near the end of Part 5.
Evil Chancellor: As the Sovereign knight commander, he acts as one of the king's most important advisors. However, he actually is drugging Trauerqual with Trug and manipulates the king to make him accept anyone who is in possession of the Grutrissheit as zent, even if it's a foreign invader like Gervasio or someone who is clearly not a good ruler like Detlinde.
Manipulative Bastard: He informs the royal family that Ferdinand is a seed of Adalgisa, as he recognized Ferdinand's face. He makes it look like a lot of Rozemyne's innocent interactions are actually Ferdinand trying to find Grutrissheit and plotting to overthrow the royal family and rule as zent, which leads to Ferdinand being forced to move to Ahrensbach to marry Detlinde.
Meaningful Name: His name combines the German words "rau" (rough, coarse) and "Blut" (blood). The first part of his name could also be taken from the German word "Raub" (robbery). He is a knight and also a traitor who intends to help Gervasio usurp the throne.
Obviously Evil: Despite nobles usually being portrayed as beautiful, he is drawn with a rough and not pretty face. The author later joked that the light novel artist couldn't help but draw him like that, which kind of already gave away that he is not good.
The Lost Lenore: According to Hortensia, Raublut had someone whom he loved and wished to marry, but because of the Civil War and the purge he was not able to. It is later revealed that the woman in question was the younger sister of Seradina and Gervasio, Valamarine, and that because after her older sister's death she had to cover her place in Adalgisa, her engagement with Raublut was canceled.
Treacherous Advisor: Part of his duties as knight commander is to train Prince Hildebrand. He uses their relationship to fill Hildebrand's head with very bad ideas, which leads to Hildebrand committing treason and helping the invaders from Lanzenave.
Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Compared to his wife Hortensia, Raublut just looks outright ugly. There isn't any love between these two, as it was an arranged marriage to deepen the relationship between Klassenberg and Trauerqual. This is why he has no qualms murdering Hortensia after learning that she is investigating him.
Walking Spoiler: The fact that he is actually working for Gervasio and plots to overthrow the current royal family by cooperating with Immanuel and Georgine is a major reason why all tropes describing him are unmarked.

Klassenberg Duchy

Previous Aub Klassenberg

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 3)

The former archduke of Klassenberg and both Eglantine's grandfather and adoptive father. As his daugther married the former third prince, he was obviously a supporter and member of his faction. Once he heard of their deaths he immediately brought his surviving granddaughter Eglantine back to Klassenberg and adopted her as his own daughter to keep her safe and proceeded to back Traerqual's claim to the throne so as to get his revenge.

Believing he stole Eglantine's rightful status as a princess, and that she wishes to reclaim it, he has since made efforts to arrange a marriage between her and one of the current princes, so as to return her to royalty as the next queen.

Disproportionate Retribution: He led the faction that demanded to the current king to punish his opponents and all their allies and associates in the most severe way possible... Arguably the current mana shortage within all duchies in the country being his fault.
Papa Bear: He made sure to avenge the death of his daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren in the most absolute and deadly way possible.
Parental Favoritism: He treats his granddaughter as the princess she was born as and Eglantine mentions that every member of the archducal family acknowledge and accept his blatant favoritism towards her.
Shipper with an Agenda: He wants Eglatine to marry either Sigiswald or Anastasius so that she can regain her status as a royal and being made the rightful next queen.

Eglantine

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 1)

Voiced by: Kikuko Inoue (Drama CD 6)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bookworm_p4v2_eglantine_lq.jpg

^{Click to see Eglantine's adult hairstyle}

An archduke candidate and honor student from Klassenberg, who is in her final year when Rozemyne enters the Academy. Eglantine is the adopted daughter of the former Aub Klassenberg, but she is actually the daughter of the previous generation's third prince. After her entire family was assassinated, she barely escaped with her life and was taken in by her grandfather.

Being former royalty and now an archduke candidate of the most powerful duchy, Eglantine has become a sought-after marriage prospect for the princes of the country. However, she hates conflict and later asks Rozemyne for advice on how to proceed.

Born Winner: Eglantine is a direct descendant of the royal family, born with an aptitude for all primary gods and has one of the highest mana capacities in the entire story.
Broken Ace: Eglantine is beautiful, descended from the most powerful nobles, and excels in everything she does, which makes her a very desirable bride for the princes of the country. However, the deaths of her family and retainers traumatized her, which is why she does not want to be involved in a Kingmaker Scenario and is seriously thinking of joining the temple to escape politics.

Class Princess: Eglantine is by far one of the most beloved students in the Academy when Rozemyne enters it. Her grades surpass Anastasius', and she is popular with the professors and the students.
Devoted to You: Eglantine has a gentle character, which is why it's easy for her to gain allies. Anastasius would do anything for her and Rozemyne immediately wants to be friends with her and promises to be her ally (not Klassenberg's).
Early-Bird Cameo: Rozemyne first meets Eglantine at the start of Part 4 during the gathering of the archduke candidates to greet her. As they are five years apart, she only sees Eglantine in the dedication whirl class practicing her beautiful whirl for the graduation ceremony. She is properly introduced in Part 4 Volume 2 one volume later.
Entertainingly Wrong: She gets the idea that Ehrenfest is maintaing some long-forgotten traditions because of Rozemyne being both High Bishop and an archduke cadidate. The truth is a mix of Sylvester having nobody else to whom he wants to give the job and giving Rozemyne a position that allows her to continue working in the temple. Before that, Ehrenfest was very much walking the same road as the rest of the country when it comes to the temple.

Hot Teacher: Starting in Part 5, she becomes a professor at the Royal Academy for the archduke candidate course.
If It's You, It's Okay: She seems to take a liking to Rozemyne. Rozemyne accidentally woos her by composing a song about the Goddess of Light, which she claims she took inspiration from Eglantine's beauty. The way she is wording the latter statement makes it sound like she just made a Love Confession to Eglantine, who visibly blushes and mentions that if Rozemyne were a man, she would have wanted to marry her. She later expresses her wish to make Rozemyne Anastasius' second wife, so they can be together.
Informed Attractiveness: Eglantine's beauty is often compared to that of the Goddess of Light, which she fittingly represents in the dedication whirl at her graduation. Rozemyne is not only mesmerized by Eglantine's dancing but also by her loveliness.
Interclass Friendship: Despite being an archduke candidate of the highest-ranked duchy, she quickly becomes friends with Rozemyne and even defends her from Detlinde's bullying in Part 4 Volume 3. This also leads to trade between Ehrenfest and Klassenberg. They remain friendly after she marries Anastasius and joins the royal family. However, as Rozemyne realizes in Part 5 Volume 5, they are not really friends. As Eglantine is of higher status, she practically orders Rozemyne to go with her and Anastasius on a shrine tour around the Academy (to obtain Grutrissheit). This realization ends up hurting Rozemyne quite deeply.
Last of Her Kind: She is the last surviving member of the former third prince's family. The only reason she survived the poisoned dinner that killed her family was because she wasn't baptized yet.

Parental Favoritism: Eglantine knows that her grandfather has a blatant favoritism towards her and never stops showering her with praise and everyone else in their family accepts it as it is. Though she also laments that in the end everyone just treats her as a guest princess and not an actual member of the family, as while nobody treats her unfavorably there is a closeness that the other members share with one another that is foreign to her, envying how Rozemyne actually has a close bond with her brother Wilfried even though she is also adopted and not his actual blood relative.
Raised by Grandparents: After losing her parents and siblings, Eglantine was adopted by her maternal grandparents and thus raised as an archduke candidate of Klassenberg.
Royal Brat: Downplayed. Eglantine is not acting like a Jerkass, but she is the opposite of Royals Who Actually Do Something. For her It's All About Me, as she tries to avoid responsibility however she can.
- As she states in Part 4 Volume 2, she initially doesn't want to join the royal family to avoid a war, and the royal family complies by allowing Anastasius to marry her if he forfeits his rights to the throne to his brother Sigiswald. She goes so far to think about joining the temple and swear off politics.
- In Part 5 Volume 3 Ferdinand offers advice on how to obtain Grutrissheit, which the royals ignore. When it becomes apparent in Volume 5 that she is the only royal left who can get it (thus making her the only royal zent candidate), she instead tries to shift responsibility. This leads to Anastasius trying to force Rozemyne to marry Sigiswald and get Grutrissheit for the royal family, going so far to threaten Ferdinand's life if she doesn't comply. Ferdinand later justifiably gets angry about this (especially since he knows they would have made Rozemyne live in what is mildly said a whorehouse built by the royal family). Eglantine only starts acting after Ferdinand threatens to lock every royal in an ivory tower for failing their duties, including Eglantine's newborn daughter.
Secret Secret-Keeper: Between information shared by Anastasius and noticing the reactions of a couple specific people to the event, she knows the "blessing from the gods" she got at her graduation ceremony is from Rozemyne, even if the latter has been asked to play dumb on the subject.
Strong Family Resemblance: She bears such a strong resemblance to her mother that she believes people could have mistaken them for being twins.

Dunkelfelger Duchy

General

A greater duchy located in the south of Yurgenschmidt. In the last civil war, they were on the winning side and are the second-highest ranked duchy when Rozemyne enters the Royal Academy.

Badass Army: Dunkelfelger knights are strong and coordinated, which is why for years they have won the Interduchy Tournament.
- In the last civil war, they stayed neutral for a long time, until one of their archduke candidates married the fifth prince. This union led to the end of the war, making Dunkelfelger The Kingmaker.
- Dunkelfelger nobles were some of the notable people who didn't panic and swiftly dealt with the attacking ternisbefallen feybeasts at the end of Part 4 Volume 7. That includes their apprentice scholars and attendants.
- In the second half of Part 5, Rozemyne gets the help of 100 Dunkelfelger knights to participate in a "real ditter" (i.e. war). They invade Ahrensbach, fend off the Lanzenave invasion, and a few days later assist in the defense of Ehrenfest against Georgine's forces. It is later noted by Roderick that, under the command of Ferdinand, Rozemyne, Hannelore, and Heisshitze, they didn't lose a single knight.
Color Motif: Blue, which in Yurgenschmidt represents Leidenschaft the God of Fire. Among his subordinate gods are the God of Passion and the God of War.
Duels Decide Everything: Their philosophy. Have a dispute? Settle it with ditter. Actually, they just want to battle someone in ditter in general which bothers other people so much that a magic tool was invented which forcibly shuts someone who is wearing it up if they try to challenge someone to ditter.
Foil: To Klassenberg. Dunkelfelger and Klassenberg are the only two original duchies that have endured since the founding of the country. Klassenberg is the greater duchy in the Grim Up North, while Dunkelfelger is the greater duchy in The Savage South.
Geeky Turn-On: Yes, they value strength, but men from Dunkelfelger are often more attracted to smart women for a Brains and Brawn relationship.
Graceful Loser: Dunkelfelger nobles generally take ditter losses in good stride. They even commend their opponents for their strength or cunning if they lose.
Hot-Blooded: Almost every Dunkelfelger noble shown is a passionate hothead.
Proud Warrior Race: Dunkelfelger is a whole duchy of Blood Knights. They love ditter and try to challenge others to ditter whenever they can. There are actually so many who want to take the knight course that a sorting happens before the noble children are allowed to take their specialized courses. This is why many of their scholars and attendants are also perfectly capable of defending themselves.
Strength Equals Worthiness: Dunkelfelger nobles have this mindset firmly ingrained. This is also the way to escape an unwanted engagement: If someone proves their strength (like with a Wallpin Of Love or a ditter battle), they can marry whoever they want.
Women Are Wiser: It's generally shown that the women of Dunkelfelger like Sieglinde, Magdalena, Cordula, Hannelore, and even Clarissa show more sense and catch up on things faster than most of the men. All of them realized Rozemyne's true value and talent quickly, while in the epilogue of Part 5 Volume 1 Lestilaut regrets that he didn't see this until he only had one year left to court Rozemyne, which is why he forces a bride-stealing ditter one volume later.

Archducal family

Aub Dunkelfelger

Werdekraf

Debut: Part 4 (Royal Academy Stories: First Year)

Voiced by: Yoji Ueda (Drama CD 7)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bookworm_p5v8_werdekraf_2.png

The current aub of Dunkelfelger, Magdalena's brother, and father of Lestilaut and Hannelore. A very proud man who is as ditter-obsessed as the rest of his subjects. He sends Rozemyne the history book of Dunkelfelger in exchange for the book that she lent to Hannelore. In Rozemyne's second year at the Academy, he challenges her to a game of ditter for the publishing rights of her revised version of Dunkelfelger's history.

He has two more children with his second wife, and his older brother's two sons serve as Lestilaut's retainers.

Adaptational Early Appearance: Chronologically, he already appears in a side story from Hannelore's view that plays between Part 4 Volume 3 and Volume 4. This side story was moved to the Royal Academy Stories: First Year volume. In the main story, he appears during the Interduchy Tournament in Rozemyne's second year in Volume 7, where he challenges her to a ditter match.

Challenge Seeker: He always loves a good challenge. He interprets Rozemyne lending a book to Hannelore as a challenge and uses any opportunity he can find to make Rozemyne participate in a game of ditter. In Part 5 Volume 7 and 8, he is elated to learn that Rozemyne plans a real ditter (provided she has permission) and he would have accompanied her if his wife hadn't stopped him.
Genius Bruiser: He is definitely a strong fighter and seven-colored, but as a Dunkelfelger archduke also can read ancient texts and shows signs that he has extended knowledge about Yurgenschmidt's history and the significance of the Royal Academy, something that the royal family apparently hasn't.
Gentle Giant: Despite his imposing presence and high status, he is by no means a bad person. Sylvester and Rozemyne make him feel bad in Part 4 Volume 7 when it appears like he's trying to make them give up the manuscript for the Dunkelfelger history book without compensating them. The manuscript was largely meant to be an excuse to challenge Rozemyne to a game of ditter.
Glory Seeker: He readily agrees when Rozemyne suggests to give credit to him for fending off Lanzenave's invasion. He also intends to buy the rights and publish prints of his deeds for all duchies to see (the original plan was to raise his reputation in case he was nominated as zent), though he gets reprimanded by his wife for that.
Henpecked Husband: He has the highest authority in Dunkelfelger. However, if he does something too reckless, his first wife Sieglinde usually will curb his enthusiasm.
Loyal to the Position: The Dunkelfelger duchy prides itself as "the sword of the zent", and Aub Dunkelfelger shows strong loyalty to the zent. This is why he will not move without the order or permission from the zent, although in late Part 5 he tries to work around this when he asks Rozemyne, as the owner of the Book of Mestionora and the goddess' incarnation (and thus the only real zent candidate), to give the order to go to the Sovereignty and defend the Royal Academy from the Lanzenave invaders. He also refuses to acknowledge an outsider as zent, which is why he opposes Gervasio.
Must Make Amends: In Part 5 Volume 4, he quickly approves of Clarissa moving to Ehrenfest and in Part 5 Volume 7, Rozemyne convinces him to send volunteering knights with her to support her invasion of Ahrensbach. While she still needs to show proof that she has the royal family's permission, what wins him over is the fact that she wants to go to Ahrensbach to save Ferdinand. Aub Dunkelfelger was one of the prominent voices who in Part 4 Volume 8 supported the suggestion to send Ferdinand to Ahrensbach and marry Detlinde. He had no idea he made Ferdinand's life significantly worse.
No Name Given: No one in the main story or spin-off ever calls him by his name. He is only called Aub Dunkelfelger. At the request of a fan on Twitter, the author later gave him a name in February 2022: Werdekraf Aub Dunkelfelger.
Punny Name: Werdekraf is likely a name that combines the German words "werden" (to become) and "Kraft" (virtue, strength, power, force, vigor, etc.).
Secret-Keeper: He is aware of the existence of the Adalgisa palace and Yurgenschmidt's deal with Lanzenave and its princesses.

Sieglinde

Debut: Part 4 (Royal Academy Stories: First Year)

Voiced by: Megumi Toyoguchi (Drama CD 5)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bookworm_p5v3_sieglinde_portrait_upscale.png

Aub Dunkelfelger's first wife and the mother of his oldest children, Lestilaut and Hannelore. Sieglinde is a very sharp and intelligent woman who is always looking out for Dunkelfelger's best interest, often having to restrain her husband and keep the order within the archducal family.

She was originally meant to be the second wife, but she stayed as first wife since Werdekraf's planned interduchy marriage didn't come to be due to the political uncertainty as the battle for the throne between the princes ensued.

Adaptational Early Appearance: Similar to her husband, she already appears in a side story from Hannelore's view that plays between Part 4 Volume 3 and Volume 4. This side story was moved to the Royal Academy Stories: First Year volume. She appears in a side story from Heisshitze's view in Part 4 Volume 8 and Rozemyne meets her for the first time at the Interduchy Tournament in her third year in Part 5 Volume 3.
Amazonian Beauty: She shows the beauty and grace of a first lady of a greater duchy, but her body is also said to be quite muscular beneath her dress.
Apron Matron:
- If there is one person who can definitely shut Lestilaut up, it's his mother. When she learns in Part 5 Volume 3 that Lestilaut left out the crucial detail that the bride-stealing ditter was against Rozemyne's will and that he signed a contract illegitimately on Ehrenfest paper (and not on parchment), she decides to take away his paintings and gifts them to Ehrenfest as amends.
- Her intimidating presence unfortunately seems to have had a negative effect on Hannelore, who is rather timid and shy. In Part 5 Volume 3, Sieglinde is very (positively) surprised to see that Hannelore Grew a Spine.
Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: She serves as this to her husband. He rules Dunkelfelger and she rules him.
The Consigliere: Sieglinde is Werdekraf's closest advisor. She and her husband act like a Ruling Couple and any decision on behalf of Dunkelfelger usually also needs her approval.
Hyper-Awareness: After seeing several books that Rozemyne lent to Hannelore, she notices that the "handwriting" always looks the same, which makes her conclude that they must use a technique to exactly copy the writing.
No Name Given: Rozemyne never learns her name in the main story and she is always referred to as "Aub Dunkelfelger's first wife". Her Given Name Reveal happens in a light-novel-exclusive side story from Heisshitze's view.
Reasonable Authority Figure: She is rather irritated at the start of Part 5 Volume 3, since Ehrenfest did not keep their end of the bargain after the ditter match in the previous volume. However, after listening to Rozemyne and Sylvester, she acknowledges that not everyone is aware of Dunkelfelger's unique ditter culture and asks Ehrenfest what they wish to do. She also decides to punish Lestilaut after hearing that he intentionally omitted some details that she wasn't aware of.
Shipper with an Agenda: As Sieglinde notices how valuable Rozemyne and her innovations are, she wants her to be Lestilaut's first wife.
The Smart Girl: Sieglinde swiftly notices that the letters in Ehrenfest books are too uniform and consistent to be handwritten and that the ink is different from what is usually used in parchment, thus she correctly deduces that they must have invented some kind of new technology that allows the creation of multiple copies at the same time. She also quickly realizes Rozemyne's potential value for Dunkelfelger, which is why she would like for Rozemyne to become Lestilaut's first wife. At the end of Part 5, after it's decided that Eglantine would become zent, instead of wanting more land, she specifically requests to put Dunkelfelger above Klassenberg in the duchy ranking, as Klassenberg would otherwise grow too powerful.

Lestilaut

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 2)

Voiced by: Yūma Uchida (Drama CD 5+)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bookworm_p4v2_lestilaut_lq.jpg

An archduke candidate from Dunkelfelger, who is in his fourth year when Rozemyne enters the Academy. He first confronts Rozemyne after she takes Schwartz and Weiss to the Ehrenfest dormitory to measure their clothes and demands to hand them over to him. When Rozemyne refuses, he and Dunkelfelger's apprentice knights battle Rozemyne and Ehrenfest's apprentice knights in a treasure-stealing ditter match, which he ends up losing.

He becomes relevant again in early Part 5, which happens during his sixth year, as he starts seeing Rozemyne in enough of a positive light to get worried about Ehrenfest being an unfit environment for her talents.

Abhorrent Admirer: A male and obnoxious example. In Part 5 Volume 2, Lestilaut tricks Wilfried into a bride-stealing ditter with Rozemyne as the "prize", and he doesn't back off when Rozemyne offers him a way out (by making Hannelore become Wilfried's second wife should Dunkelfelger lose). His motives aren't by any means bad, but he doesn't exactly communicate that well and forcing the issue with a ditter is rather underhanded.
The Ace: Lestilaut is a top-ranking student and a good leader. In the Hannelore Spin-Off, she bemoans that he has graduated already at a time when the political situation is in turmoil and Dunkelfelger has risen up to the highest rank. Since Hannelore is the oldest Dunkelfelger archduke candidate, she needs to keep the other duchies in check and lead her dormitory.
Barely-Changed Dub Name: An alternative way to spell his name would be Lästilaut or Lastilaut. Lestilaut was chosen to make the pronunciation easier for the English-speaking audience.
Big Brother Instinct: It's not very obvious and Hannelore often thinks internally that Wilfried would make a better big brother than Lestilaut, but Lestilaut genuinely cares and worries about Hannelore.
- As far as he is concerned, Rozemyne is dangerous. That is what he determined after he lost to her in their game of treasure-stealing ditter. From that point on, he objects several times to Hannelore socializing with Rozemyne. When Hannelore later insists to go to the tea party in Part 4 Volume 3, he only gives his consent if Hannelore allows his scholar Kenntrips to accompany her, as only one archduke candidate per duchy is invited.
- In a privilege purchase side story that plays at the time of Part 5 Volume 8, it's decided that Lestilaut needs to stay behind to defend the foundation while his father is away. However, Dunkelfelger need to send a high-ranking representative who is ideally below Rozemyne in status and in the worst case can be cleanly "cut off" from Dunkelfelger. Hannelore, who damaged her reputation due to the bride-stealing ditter Lestilaut organized, is deemed to be an ideal representative. Lestilaut is visibly shocked, but cannot protest much. However, he is clearly worried about sending Hannelore to war.
The Chessmaster: At the start of Part 5, Lestilaut comes to realize Rozemyne's worth and that the Sovereignty will eventually target her, which is why he tries to get her himself. However, he is fully aware that his relationship with Rozemyne is terrible and since he is in his last year, properly courting her is impossible. This is why he develops a plan in which he provokes Wilfried openly, and then challenges them to a bride-stealing ditter, while making everyone in Dunkelfelger believe that it's a bride-taking ditter (i. e. Rozemyne actually wants to leave Ehrenfest). His plan fails because other duchies and Sovereign knights interfere, in which Hannelore ends up forfeiting the match during the confusion due to her own feelings for Wilfried. While for Dunkelfelger this still would have been a decent outcome (as Hannelore marrying Wilfried would have given them the connection to Ehrenfest they wanted), Lestilaut's mother eventually finds out that Lestilaut lied to everyone and the contract that he made Ehrenfest sign was accidentally signed on plant paper, making any conditions that they agreed on invalid and thus Lestilaut's plan All for Nothing.
Cool Big Bro: His original motivation for wanting Schwartz and Weiss was him hearing his little sister Hannelore admiring them. He interpreted this as his sister wanting to be their master.
Cultured Warrior: He channels his passion into art. Lestilaut is an accomplished whirler and excellent artist and even Wilfried asks him to provide drawings for the ditter stories Ehrenfest intends to print. He also drew several paintings of Eglantine and Rozemyne, two women he fell in love with, performing the dedication whirl.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He is not really a bad person, he just sounds like a huge jerk all the time and the ways he tries to accomplish his goals tend to be extreme.
- For instance, in Part 5 Volume 2 Lestilaut calls Wilfried out for limiting Rozemyne's potential. While he sounds extremely harsh when doing so, Wilfried has to admit that Lestilaut is right. All he is doing is holding her back, and he can't actually handle her.
- In the same volume, he tries to use this fact to take Rozemyne away and make him his future wife in a bride-stealing ditter. While Rozemyne being useful for Dunkelfelger is one reason for that, the other reason (besides his feelings for her) is that he tries to protect her. Lestilaut knows Rozemyne will inevitably draw the attention of the royal family (where she would not be treated well as Sigiswald's third wife and would have to live in constant danger), and a weak and newly uprising duchy like Ehrenfest cannot protect her. If he had won Rozemyne in a sacred ditter, it would have been much harder to challenge Rozemyne's engagement, especially since Dunkelfelger is a high-ranking greater duchy. He ends up being right, as a few volumes later the royal family attempts to adopt Rozemyne and make her marry Prince Sigiswald, although the author later states that Lestilaut's efforts would have been in vain, as the royal family would have forced their way one way or another.

Punny Name: Also a Meaningful Name. His name レスティラウト (Resutirauto) combines the German words "lästig" (pesky, troublesome) and "laut" (loud).
Reasonable Authority Figure: After his loss to Ehrenfest in Rozemyne's first year, Lestilaut initially doesn't approve of Rauffen's plan to train the apprentice knights in treasure-stealing ditter. He changes his mind once he cools down (after being soundly beaten by Rauffen) and Rauffen makes it clear that change is necessary and Dunkelfelger above all must be prepared, even in peaceful days when everyone is too weak to fight a war. Lestilaut then consents to Rauffen's training plans, even letting his own guard knights participate in it despite their protests.
Sibling Yin-Yang: Compared to Hannelore, Lestilaut is a confident leader who shows his respect, but does not cower before people above him. Compared to his little half-brother, he also is not very enthusiastic about ditter.
Sore Loser: After losing the ditter match against Ehrenfest in Part 4 Volume 2, Lestilaut doesn't show Rozemyne any respect unlike Rauffen or the rest of the Dunkelfelger students. On the contrary, he calls her a coward and a fake saint for using what he deems unfair and dirty tricks. The side stories from Rauffen and Hannelore's point of view show that he still can't get over his loss and tries to belittle anything that has to do with Rozemyne as much as possible. Rauffen eventually calls him out for it and tells him to prepare better next time, because what Rozemyne did may have been unexpected, but was very cute compared to what a real Combat Pragmatist like Ferdinand would do, and reacting to the unexpected is something an archduke has to be capable of.
Spare to the Throne: Lestilaut as Aub Dunkelfelger's first-born son with First Wife Sieglinde puts Lestilaut in a comfortable position as heir, especially because Hannelore isn't ambitious at all and would rather support Lestilaut. However, the events in Part 5 Volume 2 and 3 as well as the fact that he possesses an inferior schtappe put him in a weak position. Despite this, due to Aub Dunkelfelger needing an immediate successor in Volume 8, Lestilaut is left in Dunkelfelger and shown how to access the foundation, which solidifies his position as the heir apparent. While it's speculated in Hannelore's fifth year that he will just be an interim aub or that his children will take over once his father retires, it also helps that Lestilaut's half-brother turns out to be a hopeless case.
Tsundere: At the start of Part 5, he develops a crush on Rozemyne, but when his retainers ask him about it, he denies it.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: Lestilaut's problem isn't so much his motivation but the means.
- In his first appearance, he leads a mob of students to intimidate Ehrenfest and make them hand over Schwartz and Weiss. He attacks Rozemyne and her escort and goes so far to accuse Ehrenfest of stealing royal property (which would be treason) in front of Prince Anastasius, despite Rozemyne stating that she would gladly leave the magic tools to a worthy master who provides them with mana to help Solange. He wanted the library tools for his sister because he heard she wanted them and to improve her reputation.
- In Part 5, he comes to believe that Rozemyne is stuck in an unwanted engagement, and that she would be better off with him. He challenges Ehrenfest to a bride-taking ditter (which can often be a Duel to the Death), but completely circumvents Dunkelfelger tradition, as one, the match takes place at the Royal Academy and not in the duchy he is challenging; two, the family of the "bride" (except Wilfried) is not involved; and more importantly three, the "bride" is unwilling. Lestilaut lies to his family and lets them believe that it's a bride-taking ditter, i. e. Rozemyne wants to be freed from her engagement with Wilfried, when it's actually bride-stealing.

Hannelore

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 1)

Voiced by: Sumire Morohoshi (Drama CD 3+)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bookworm_p4v6_hannelore_lq.jpg

An archduke candidate from Dunkelfelger in the same year as Rozemyne and Wilfried, and Lestilaut's little sister. At their first meeting, Rozemyne mistakenly believes Hannelore to be a book enthusiast and excitedly asks her to join her library committee.

Adaptational Late Appearance: Sort of. She makes an unnamed Early-Bird Cameo in Part 4 Volume 1 (only referred to by her duchy rank), but Hannelore's first named appearance would have been around Part 4 Volume 2 in the webnovel. The chapters from her point of view were moved to the Royal Academy Stories: First Year volume and she instead makes her first named appearance in Volume 3 in the main light novel series, during Rozemyne's tea party at the Academy.
Ascended Extra: Hannelore is a side character in the main novel series, but she is the protagonist of a Spin-Off that depicts her fifth year at the Academy, which is after the end of the main series.
Best Friend: She and Rozemyne become each other's best friends over time. This may have something to do with the fact that Hannelore is of similar age and status to Rozemyne and eventually comes to love books, too.
Badass Bookworm: She is a Dunkelfelger noble, so being able to fight like a knight is par for the course.
Butt-Monkey: Things rarely go the way Hannelore wants. She actually knows she has really bad timing, which is why she regularly prays to Dregarnuhr the Goddess of Time.
- After her blunder that led to a treasure-stealing ditter match between Dunkelfelger and Ehrenfest in Part 4 Volume 2, Hannelore tries her best to apologize. However, every time she comes to the library to see Rozemyne, Rozemyne is either meeting Eglantine or Anastasius or bedridden. When she sends out an invitation to Ehrenfest for a tea party, she doesn't specifically address the letter to Rozemyne, which leads to Wilfried having to go in Rozemyne's place as Ehrenfest's only remaining archduke candidate, since Rozemyne has gone back to Ehrenfest to help Ferdinand with the Dedication Ritual.
- When Hannelore is later invited to a tea party hosted by Rozemyne, Hannelore again tries to apologize. Rozemyne is led to believe that Hannelore is also a booklover who wants to become Rozemyne's friend, which makes her so happy that she collapses, giving Hannelore the shock of her life. That her fellow Dunkelfelger people commend her for seemingly defeating Ehrenfest's archduke candidate with her bare hands doesn't make her feel any better.
Cute Bookworm: Hannelore is shy, small, and cute, and a lover of books. She actually doesn't like reading initially and reacts with hesitance when Rozemyne invites her to the library committee (she only visited the library regularly to see Schwartz and Weiss). However, the reason for her dislike is because Dunkelfelger's books are not updated in the modern language, which makes them hard and unfun to read. Hannelore discovers how fun and exciting it is to read after reading Rozemyne's books, which are very easy to read and understand.
Dude Magnet: In Part 5, Hannelore participates in the invasion of Ahrensbach and helps fending off the Lanzenave invasion and in the defense of Ehrenfest. She also later attends the Archduke Conference (which is usually forbidden for minors) where Rozemyne is inaugurated as Aub Alexandria, since she was invited. Her relationship to Rozemyne, her participation in a real ditter, and the fact that Dunkelfelger rises to the top-ranked duchy make her a tempting marriage prospect. Unfortunately, she likes none of the options she is given.
Early-Bird Cameo: Since Hannelore is in the same year as Wilfried and Rozemyne, she is among the archduke candidates that are greeted by Rozemyne and Wilfried during the fellowship gathering, and she attends the same classes as them in Part 4 Volume 1. She is the archduke candidate of the second-highest duchy, who is called out by Professor Primevere in the court etiquette class for not acting confidently enough.
Foil:
- Hannelore is a relatively small girl, who is of similar age and slightly higher in status than Rozemyne, who also has pink to purple hair that is styled in a twintails-like hairstyle. The difference between her and Freida is that Hannelore doesn't creep Rozemyne out. On the contrary, her rather introverted personality and growing interest in books lets her bond with Rozemyne quickly and she eventually becomes Rozemyne's best friend, something that Freida couldn't achieve.
- In some ways, she is similar to Rozemyne. Hannelore is an archduke candidate who becomes a lover of books, is not very enthusiastic about fighting, and Rozemyne compares her to a cute rabbit (or a shumil basically). In her Spin-Off, she is shown to be a Dude Magnet who is a bit Oblivious to Love and is treated like an incarnation of a goddess as well.

Hopeless Suitor: In her spin-off story Hannelore tries several times to get Wilfried to propose to her using the Wall Pin of Love method common of the Dunkelfelger women, but he fails to understand her intentions at first and later has to reject her as he is no longer suitable for someone of her status, since he has given up on becoming the next aub.
Innocently Insensitive: Not unlike Rozemyne, she misses hints about others' feelings and accidentally hurts them. In the spin-off, she thoughtlessly starts wearing a hairpin she was given by Rozemyne as thanks for helping her invade Ahrensbach and defend Ehrenfest. However, outside of Ehrenfest, hairpins (especially the high-quality ones made by Tuuli) are only given to women by men who propose, so unbeknownst to her she lets everyone believe that Wilfried gifted her the hairpin as a romantic gesture. Furthermore, she later learns in Chapter 9 that she trampled on Kenntrips' feelings back in Part 5 Volume 2 by accepting Wilfried's hand (thus forfeiting the match) instead of using the magic tool he made, which would have unleashed an attack that would have burned everyone around her.

Reluctant Warrior: Hannelore isn't nearly as enthusiastic about ditter as the rest of her people.
Rose-Haired Sweetie: Hannelore is a sweet and shy girl. After Lestilaut battled Rozemyne in a ditter game, the first thing Hannelore wanted to do was apologize for being the cause of the battle. She also felt bad for dragging Wilfried to a tea party that he couldn't refuse (and clearly struggled with), which set the precedent for him to being invited to even more tea parties by other duchies as well.
Shipper on Deck: As is shown in Part 5 Volume 9, she ships Rozemyne with Ferdinand. This is not very surprising, since she sees Rozemyne risking her life to rescue him, and their many interactions make it look like they are very close. Add to that that Rozemyne once told a fib (during a girl talk) and described her first love as someone who has supported her even before her baptism. Rozemyne didn't love anyone at that time, she just made up a person who was a mix between Lutz and Fran, but the description also fits Ferdinand, who supposedly was her guardian in the temple even before she was baptized. Hannelore and Heisshitze then promise to support Rozemyne and Ferdinand, although this ends up being unnecessary as the two of them are technically already engaged.
Shrinking Violet: Hannelore is a painfully shy person, which sadly is not what is expected of a Dunkelfelger archduke candidate. Coupled with her tendency to not speak up against others when she doesn't agree with what they are doing. For instance, in the Royal Academy Stories: First Year volume, she sends an invitation for a tea party to Ehrenfest's archduke candidates, which is clearly meant for Rozemyne. However, since Rozemyne isn't in the Academy, and Ehrenfest is far lower in status than Dunkelfelger, Wilfried is forced to attend the party. Hannelore could have canceled the party, but she felt intimidated by the apprentice scholars of her dorm, and all she later can do is apologize to Wilfried for all the trouble she caused him.
Strong Family Resemblance: Hannelore inherited her hair and eye color from her mother.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: A side story reveals that Hannelore audibly showed interest in the big shumils of the library, which led to her big brother Lestilaut trying to take them away from Rozemyne. When she realized what she had done, she tried to stop her brother, but before she could do so, Prince Anastasius was already called to mediate.
Warrior Princess: In the treasure- and bride-stealing ditters in her second and third year, she doesn't really do much, but in Part 5 Volume 8 she is among the Dunkelfelger volunteers that support Rozemyne's invasion of Ahrensbach. Also, as shown in her fifth year, she is far more indoctrinated in Dunkelfelger culture than she wants to admit.

Archnobles

Clarissa

Debut: Part 4 (Royal Academy Stories: First Year)

Voiced by: Megumi Han (Drama CD 6+)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bookworm_p4v7_clarissa_portrait_upscale.png

An archnoble apprentice scholar, who is three years older than Rozemyne. She failed the test to allow her to take the knight course at the Academy, since she was considered to be too short. Although she was prevented from being one herself, she still trains with the rest of the Dunkelfelger apprentice knights.

After witnessing Rozemyne's game of ditter against Dunkelfelger she became Rozemyne's devout admirer, but laments not being able to serve her as they are from different duchies. It's thanks to Professor Rauffen that she learns that there are ways in which she might still be able to enter Rozemyne's service.

Clarissa's father, Redmond, is a knight who serves as one of Aub Dunkelfelger's retainers.

Action Girl: To a degree. Clarissa is trained in combat and can hold her own. And although she surprised him, she did take down Hartmut quickly and managed to physically overwhelm him.
Braids of Action: She braids her hair and is more than capable of taking action as a Scholar of the Sword.
Birds of a Feather: She worships Rozemyne just as much as Hartmut does, which unsurprisingly makes them a great match for each other.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Like Hartmut, Clarissa is an oddball. She tends to lose sight of everything around her and doesn't think about the consequences of her actions. That said, she is a very valuable information gatherer and Hartmut later accepts her as his fiancée after she successfully proves her worth. She also is experienced in magic circles and helps with making potions and magic tools for Rozemyne.
Clingy Jealous Girl: Downplayed, but she thoroughly made sure to squash the competition and secured being Hartmut's partner, as she knew that many girls were aiming for him.
Distaff Counterpart: Clarissa is Hartmut's female counterpart. She is an apprentice archscholar who is obsessed with Rozemyne and desires to spread her legend.
Early-Bird Cameo: Clarissa chronologically first appears in a side story that plays during Rozemyne's absence at the Academy in her first year. She ambushes Hartmut with a Wallpin Of Love and then asks him to marry her, so that she is allowed to move to Ehrenfest and serve Rozemyne. This side story was later published in the Royal Academy Stories: The First Year volume, which was released after Part 4 Volume 4.
Hero-Worshipper: She became a fervent fan of Rozemyne after watching her not only participate and lead in the ditter match for Schwartz and Weiss' ownership, but also win with her cunning even though she had never ever played ditter before.
I Got Bigger: Clarissa once aimed to become a knight but was rejected because she was deemed to be too short. Unfortunately, her growth spurt came rather late, so while she is now pretty tall for a woman, she already has chosen the scholar path.
Reckless Sidekick: After graduating, Clarissa couldn't wait until the Archduke Conference, where she would be formally allowed to move to Ehrenfest as Hartmut's fiancée. In Part 5 Volume 4, she causes trouble as she rushes to Ehrenfest and passes through the borders with her escort knights without notifying her parents or Ehrenfest first and is eventually stopped at the city gate by Gunther's soldiers.
Undying Loyalty: She decided that even if she was an archduke candidate from another duchy she would serve Rozemyne no matter what. She wholeheartedly believes that Rozemyne is a Saint and is extremely devoted to her. In Part 5 Volume 6, despite not being required to, she later gives her name to Rozemyne and her engagement stone for Hartmut read that they both should strive together to serve Rozemyne.

Cordula

Debut: Part 4 (Royal Academy Stories: First Year)

Voiced by: Megumi Toyoguchi (Drama CD 5)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/portrait_cordula_3.png

The head attendant of Hannelore who also accompanies her to the academy as her adult retainer. Additional material that comes along with the 5th Drama CD mentions that she is a relative of Sieglinde.

Honest Advisor: She is a sensible and capable attendant who always aids and advices Hannelore without sugarcoating things.
Meaningful Name: Her name is of latin origin and means "goodhearted", which can be seen on how her advice to her lady, despite Hannelore sometimes feeling it to be too harsh, is always well inteded and her actions are ultimately for Hannelore'sake. Funnily enough her name also sounds quite similarly to the spanish word cordura that can mean "to think and act with good judgment, good sense and responsibility, etc", which is perfect for someone whose job is to serve and guide an archduke candidate.

Heisshitze

Debut: Part 4 (Royal Academy Stories: First Year)

Voiced by: Toshihiko Seki (Drama CD 5+)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bookworm_p4v7_heisshitze_portrait_upscale.png

An archknight from Dunkelfelger who is the same age as Ferdinand. Heisshitze is Ferdinand's self-proclaimed rival and best friend.

Having attended the Academy at the same time as Ferdinand, the two often clashed in ditter, with Ferdinand always coming out on top. Out of respect, he gave Ferdinand his Dunkelfelger cape, which Ferdinand still wears to this day, promising to demand it back once he has defeated Ferdinand.

Heisshitze's uncle is the current knight commander of Dunkelfelger. He and his uncle are married to a pair of sisters.

Adaptational Early Appearance: Heisshitze first appears in the Royal Academy Stories: The First Year volume in the light novel series. He is among the knights greeting Hannelore on the day of the Interduchy Tournament. Rozemyne first meets him at the Interduchy Tournament in her second year.
Best Friend: Heisshitze is Ferdinand's best friend, or at least he thinks he is. Admittedly, he knows a lot more about Ferdinand's circumstances than most people, being aware of what a terrible life Ferdinand lived during Veronica's reign. He also is not brushed off by Ferdinand's coldheartedness at all and may be aware that Ferdinand only shows his real personality to people he trusts and likes.
Friendly Rivalry: Heisshitze views Ferdinand as his ultimate rival, who through their many ditter matches believes to have bonded with Ferdinand. He gave Ferdinand his own Dunkelfelger cape, which his then-fiancée (now his wife) embroidered for him, which serves as a reason for him to keep challenging Ferdinand to a ditter to win it back.
Master Swordsman: Heisshitze is an excellent swordsman. In his treasure-stealing ditter duel against Ferdinand in Part 4 Volume 7 he actually turns out to be the better swordsman and nearly defeats Ferdinand.
The Matchmaker: Heisshitze tried to find a partner for Ferdinand several times. Unfortunately, he is a walking Matchmaker Failure because he doesn't take into account what the people he intends to get together think of it.
- Heisshitze was the one who suggested a marriage between Ferdinand and Magdalena in the past. It was an attempt to save Ferdinand from his miserable life in Ehrenfest, and since Dunkelfelger respects any formidable knight, Ferdinand would have been warmly welcomed in Dunkelfelger. Unfortunately, Magdalena was completely against the engagement and instead seduced then-Fifth Prince Trauerqual.
- In Part 4 Volume 8, after hearing that Aub Ahrensbach intends to have Ferdinand marry Detlinde, Heisshitze convinces the nobles of Dunkelfelger and Drewanchel to support the notion. He does this under the assumption that Ehrenfest is still abusing Ferdinand by letting him rot away in the temple, and he feels guilty that Ferdinand couldn't be approached by Aub Ahrensbach during the Interduchy Tournament because he challenged Ferdinand to a ditter in the previous volume. What he isn't aware of is that Ahrensbach and Ehrenfest are not on friendly terms, that Detlinde looks and acts like her grandmother, Veronica, Ferdinand's Wicked Stepmother, and that the temple has been reformed into a comfortable place for Ferdinand.
My Greatest Failure: He is shocked speechless in Part 5 Volume 3 and realizes what he has done when Ferdinand gives him back his cape, while thanking Heisshitze with a big fake noble smile for setting him up with Veronica's granddaughter. In Part 5 Volume 8, after Rozemyne asked Dunkelfelger for help to save Ferdinand in the previous volume, he is among the 100 Dunkelfelger volunteers who are invading Ahrensbach with Rozemyne. He views this as his chance to fix his mistake.
Punny Name: Heisshitze's name is derived from the German words "heiß" (hot) and "Hitze" (heat). He's a Hot-Blooded man from Dunkelfelger.
Shipper on Deck: Heisshitze is among the people who support Rozemyne marrying Ferdinand. Having seen the two interact together, he is sure that these two should be together.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: In Part 4 Volume 8, after hearing that Ferdinand could marry into Ahrensbach's archducal family, he convinces Aub Dunkelfelger to talk to Drewanchel and support Aub Ahrensbach's suggestion. Thus, Heisshitze is partially responsible for putting Ferdinand into danger and robbing him of his comfortable life in Ehrenfest, while taking away Rozemyne's last emotional pillar.

Kenntrips

Debut: Part 4 (Royal Academy Stories: First Year)

Voiced by: Yūsuke Kobayashi (Drama CD 5)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bookworm_fanbook_6_kenntrips_sketch_upscale.png

An apprentice archscholar who is one year older than Hannelore and Rozemyne. He is one of Lestilaut's retainers.

Kenntrips is the son of Aub Dunkelfelger's brother and thus Hannelore, Lestilaut, and Hildebrand's cousin. His half-brother, Rasantark, is also one of Lestilaut's retainers.

Adaptational Early Appearance: Kenntrips first appears in Hannelore's Spin-Off in the web novel. However, in the light novel adaptation he already appears in the Royal Academy Stories: First Year volume and in the prologue of Part 4 Volume 7.
Badass Bookworm: He took the scholar path, but that doesn't mean he can't defend himself. At first glance, he would appear like a knight actually.
Childhood Friends: With his cousin, Hannelore. Kenntrips probably knows her better than she knows herself. In the Spin-Off, when Hannelore travels back in time to woo Wilfried, he quickly notices how Hannelore seems to have changed, which leads to Hannelore being sent back to the present.
Honest Advisor: Privately, he is very direct to both Lestilaut and Hannelore, although Lestilaut sometimes thinks he is going too far.
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: He genuinely loves and cares about Hannelore, but decides that if she wants to be with someone else, he will support her. In Hannelore's fifth year, he helps her trying to propose to Wilfried.
Punny Name: His name ケントリプス (Kentoripusu) combines the German words "Kenntnis" (knowledge) and "Grips" (intelligence), which is a fitting name for a scholar.
Sibling Yin-Yang: A Red Oni, Blue Oni case with his half-brother Rasantark. Kenntrips is not as hotheaded as Rasantark, which is also reflected in his job as a scholar compared to Rasantark being a knight. The two of them are also in a Sibling Triangle with Hannelore.

Rasantark

Debut: Part 4 (Royal Academy Stories: First Year)

Voiced by: Hiroyuki Endo (Drama CD 5)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bookworm_fanbook_6_rasantark_sketch_upscale.png

An apprentice archknight who is the same age as Hannelore and Rozemyne. He is one of Lestilaut's retainers.

Rasantark is the son of Aub Dunkelfelger's brother and thus Hannelore, Lestilaut, and Hildebrand's cousin. His half-brother, Kenntrips, is also one of Lestilaut's retainers.

Adaptational Early Appearance: Rasantark's first named appearance is in Hannelore's Spin-Off in the web novel. However, for the light novel adaptation he already shows up in the Royal Academy Stories: First Year volume and he also makes an appearance in the epilogue of Part 5 Volume 1.
Hopeless Suitor: He is one of Hannelore's potential fiancé candidates. The problem is, he is not Hannelore's type at all. The last thing she wants is to marry someone whose head is filled with ditter.
Punny Name: His name ラザンタルク (Razantaruku) combines the German words "rasant" (fast-paced) and "stark" (strong), which is a fitting name for a knight.
Sibling Yin-Yang: A Red Oni, Blue Oni case with his half-brother Kenntrips. Rasantark is an overenthusiastic knight who is just as ditter-obsessed as most Dunkelfelger knights are. Unlike Rasantark, Kenntrips has taken the scholar course and appears to be the more reserved person. The two of them are also in a Sibling Triangle with Hannelore.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He overhears Hannelore muttering to herself how she would like to have Schwartz and Weiss and promptly reports this to Lestilaut. Lestilaut then tried to take the shumils away from Rozemyne, which led to the treasure-stealing ditter match between Ehrenfest and Dunkelfelger in Rozemyne's first year.

Drewanchel Duchy

General

A greater duchy located in the west of Yurgenschmidt, next to the Sovereignty. In the last civil war, they were on the winning side and are the third-highest ranked duchy when Rozemyne enters the Royal Academy.

After the civil war, Drewanchel didn't receive any additional land unlike Dunkelfelger, Ahrensbach, or Klassenberg, due to geographical circumstances. Instead, they widened their influence by sending many nobles to the Sovereignty.

Adopted into Royalty: As is tradition, Drewanchel aubs will constantly adopt talented archnobles into the archducal family. If a giebe's children are not adopted into the archducal family, someone else will govern the province in the next generation.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: The duchy is a brutal meritocracy. While it's preferable to let a giebe's son or daughter inherit a province, they must first be adopted by the aub and go through archduke candidate training to compete for the next seat for aub. The archduke candidates have to constantly prove themselves and show their capabilities, though this has led to a highly developed and flourishing duchy.
Proud Scholar Race: Drewanchel is known for their excellent scholars. A large number of nobles are only concerned about their research and willingly go to the Sovereignty to continue doing so. One example is Professor Gundolf, who is the current Aub Drewanchel's uncle and gave up his status as an archduke candidate to work at the Royal Academy.
Sibling Rivalry: Exaggerated by the aubs. Besides the children they have with their spouses, aubs from Drewanchel will always adopt promising archnobles. The adopted children will thus receive training for archduke candidates and the most promising archduke candidate will become aub. The training is not for naught for the rest, as those who won't become aub will become the next giebes.

Adolphine

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 3)

An archduke candidate from Drewanchel, who is in her fifth year when Rozemyne enters the Academy. She is the daughter of the current Aub Drewanchel with his first wife. Adolphine is first seen at a tea party that Rozemyne organizes, where she is introduced to Rozemyne by Eglantine as a friend of hers.

While Adolphine initially wanted to become aub, her life took a turn when it was decided that she would marry into the royal family to deepen Drewanchel's connection with the Sovereignty. Whichever prince between Sigiswald and Anastasius Eglantine would choose and make king, Adolphine would marry the other prince. However, things become more troubling for her after Eglantine unexpectedly chooses Anastasius, while Anastasius gives up his right for the throne and supports his older brother, Sigiswald.

Big Sister Bully: Downplayed with her younger brother, Ortwin. In one of the rare chapters where they are seen interacting together, she orders Ortwin around and tells him to beat Hannelore in class and win her over as a marriage prospect, while he should establish connections with Rozemyne. Ortwin is a bit scared of her and can't disobey her, and he also has to deal with her unreasonable requests like when she tells him to analyze and reverse-engineer the rinsham that she received from Rozemyne.
Broken Ace: Adolphine is a very intelligent woman with excellent grades, but she is the second choice no one wanted, always in the shadow of Eglantine. This has led to an inferiority complex of hers, going so far as to refuse to be the Goddess of Light at her graduation, instead choosing to dance as the Goddess of Wind, as she doesn't want to be compared to Eglantine. Rozemyne assures her in Part 4 Volume 7 that she doesn't need to compare herself to Eglantine, as she has her own strengths, a compliment that warms Adolphine's heart.
Foil:
- To Eglantine, the other archduke candidate that marries into the royal family. While Eglantine ends up in a happy marriage with a prince who loves her, Adolphine is stuck with an Unwanted Spouse who marries her for political reasons. Eglantine is described as a dreamy, calming beauty with a timid character, while Adolphine as a sharp beauty with a strong will that can sometimes be very intimidating.
- Also to Freida, as both are pink-haired girls of a higher status than Rozemyne/Myne who wish to become closer to her, but their approaches and overall more aggressive personalities rather than enabling it end up intimidating her instead. When in contrast with women of a similar status to them, Eglantine/Corinna, whose good-heartedness may not be as genuine, Rozemyne/Myne shows herself to feel more at ease and naturally friendly because they possess a sweeter and calmer outward demeanor.
Inconsistent Spelling: Her name アドルフィーネ (Adorufīne) is a female version of Adolph/Adolf and can thus also be romanized as Adolfine, which the official English translation wanted to avoid due to the negative association with another famous Adolf.
Lovable Alpha Bitch: Similar to Eglantine, Adolphine is a very popular student with excellent grades, but her own brother, Ortwin, thinks she is a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing. She also shows a side of hers that scares Rozemyne, as she gave the rinsham that Rozemyne gifted her in Part 4 Volume 3 to Ortwin and asked him to reverse-engineer it, which she proudly shows to Rozemyne at the start of the next Academy term. In Part 4 Volume 7, she invites the archduke candidates and archnobles of the six highest-ranked duchies (plus tenth-ranked Ehrenfest) to a tea party, where Rozemyne compliments Adolphine on her qualities. Shortly after, Detlinde once again tries to bully Rozemyne by making unreasonable demands, but Adolphine defends Rozemyne and mocks Detlinde.
The Social Expert: Zig-zagged. Adolphine is shown to socialize very well and is overall a very popular student. Her predictions are usually very accurate.
- She often shows a good understanding of people, as while she can participate in male socializing events like playing gewinnen, she chooses not to, as losing to a woman would hurt a man's pride.
- She predicted that Eglantine would choose the prince that would guarantee peace and stability the most (i.e. Sigiswald), even if Anastasius really loves her, and she would have been right if Anastasius hadn't given up his fight for the throne for Eglantine. Adolphine doesn't like this development at all, as that means she will be the one stuck with Sigiswald, a man who will likely not treat her well.
- She also wishes to socialize with Ehrenfest, and Rozemyne in particular, but seems to have failed to realize that her desire to have rinsham and proudly showing Rozemyne that Drewanchel has found out how to make it, has put Rozemyne on high alert.
Teen Genius: She is so smart actually that she still beats her clever younger brother in gewinnen. At the end of Part 5, she sees the chance to divorce Sigiswald and manages to steal a part of his new duchy as compensation for breaching the contract with her and Drewanchel. She can thus return to Drewanchel and rule the land she is given as a giebe. There she plans to build a Scienceville, taking inspiration from Alexandria's library and research city.
Unwanted Spouse: Adolphine is not courted by Sigiwald or Anastasius, as both aim to marry Eglantine. After Eglantine chooses Anastasius, Adolphine fears that she still will be treated badly by Sigiswald, as he loves his wife Nahelache, while Adolphine is only needed to give him political backing and mana. And she is absolutely right. Despite becoming his first wife, Sigiswald treats her like garbage. He informs her after her graduation that Nahelache is pregnant, which would usually be a reason to delay their wedding as they can't perform their marital duties. However, he still insists on going through with the betrothal and the wedding in the following year, since he needs Adolphine to supply the Sovereignty with mana as soon as possible, which gets worse for her as she also has to take over supply duties for Eglantine, who during the Archduke Conference in Part 5 learns that she is pregnant.

Ortwin

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 1)

An archduke candidate from Drewanchel, who is in the same year as Rozemyne and Wilfried. He is the son of the current Aub Drewanchel with his first wife and thus Adolphine's little brother. Ortwin befriends Wilfried in their first year and he comes to view Ehrenfest as a serious academic rival.

Always Second Best: Ortwin would probably be the best student of his year every time if it weren't for Rozemyne. The one time he wins is due to Rozemyne disappearing into the Garden of Beginning before she could finish her classes in their fourth year. Before that, she was the best student three years in a row.
Big Brother Instinct: Inverted, as he is the little brother. He initially tells Adolphine that he has no interest in becoming aub (especially if his sister were to still command him around as a royal), but hearing that she will likely not be treated well, he makes it his goal to become Aub Drewanchel to properly support her.
Commonality Connection: What lets him bond with Wilfried is mostly the fact that they both are struggling with two very exhausting sisters.
Early-Bird Cameo: Like Hannelore, he already makes an unnamed appearance in Part 4 Volume 1. In court etiquette class, he is the third-ranked archduke candidate who is reprimanded for only talking about himself and not listening to others. He also appears a few times in some of the side stories of the Year 1 Side Story Collection, but his first real appearance in the main novel series is in Part 4 Volume 5.
Friendly Rivalry: Ortwin and Wilfried are friends, and the two of them regularly try to compete in grades, as is shown in Part 4 Volume 6.
Inconsistent Spelling: His name オルトヴィーン (Orutovīn) was initially romanized as Ortuin.
Teen Genius: As is expected of an archduke candidate from Drewanchel, Ortwin is an outstanding student. He shows his skill in gewinnen and reverse-engineers Rozemyne's rinsham after his first year at the Academy. He also regularly wins awards for outstanding performances at the Academy, though he never quite matches Rozemyne.

Ahrensbach Duchy

Archducal family

Aub Ahrensbach

Gieselfried

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 4)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/portrait_giselfried.png

The current archduke, husband of Georgine, father of Detlinde and Letizia's maternal grandfather. Presently his duchy is facing a succession crisis as there are not enough archduke candidates, since Gieselfried's daughters by his first wife, who was from Drewanchel, were all married off, his sons with his second wife were demoted to archnobles and eliminated from the succession because their mother was the little sister of Aub Werkestock and was later executed after the purge from the civil war, their sons only being able to escape that fate under the aforementioned condition, this situation left just his children with Georgine as potential heirs, but with the death of their only son and the marriage of their eldest daughter, it was Detline solely who was left.

Fearing for the future of his duchy he wished to adopt at least one of his grandchildren to have whom succeed him as the next Aub, this led to the adoption of his grandaughter Letizia, the child of one of his daughters with his first wife.

Outliving One's Offspring: While he managed to save the lives of his sons with his second wife, his son by Georgine and presupmtive heir, Wolfram, died in an accident.
Parental Neglect: He barely got involved in how his youngest daughter was being raised, and in Detline's own words the few times they saw each other face to face, Gieselfried would only remark her mistakes and look at her coldly.
Shipper with an Agenda:
- He wanted to get Wilfried as Detlinde's fiancé, as he especifically wants a husband for his daughter who won't challenge Letizia's future rule, and knowing that Wilfried was being considered an archduke candidate with a tarnished reputation back in his home duchy makes him a perfect choice.
- He would also push to make the marriage of his niece Aurelia with Lamprecht happen so as to get more inside information about the current novelties and situation from Ehrenfest.
- And then when he gets the idea of whom the perfect husband for Detlinde could be (actually more for his duchy and inteded heir's sake) he is resolved to make the engagement and marriage happen no matter what, not even if the expected groom has no desire to wed his daughter.

Georgine

Debut: Part 3 (Volume 4)

Voiced by: Mai Nakahara (Drama CD 1), Yuko Sanpei (Drama CD 4+), Rika Kinugawa (child voice Drama CD 8)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/portrait_georgie.png

The oldest of Sylvester's two older sisters. As an intelligent, diligent, strong-willed person and born the eldest child of the archducal couple, Georgine was widely expected to become the next archduchess of Ehrenfest... Until Sylvester's birth. Twenty years before she returned to Ehrenfest in Part 3, she was sent to Ahrensbach to become the archduke's third wife, after Sylvester was formally chosen as heir.

Due to Rozemyne accidentally telling her about her uncle, Bezewanst's, death, Georgine gets the excuse to visit Ehrenfest again, where she immediately picks up the remnants of her mother's faction and starts causing trouble for Sylvester and his family behind the scenes.

Abusive Parents: At first it looks as if she just greatly favored her only son and centered her attention on raising him while neglecting her daughters. But she actually has no qualms to use her daughters as tools to further her agenda, even if that means putting their well-being at risk.

Big Sister Bully: Sylvester has painful memories of her antagonizing him between his baptism and the time at which she left for Ahrensbach. This is why he wants to keep his children away from her.
The Dreaded: To this day, Sylvester still is scared of her. It doesn't help that, now that she is Archduke Ahrensbach's first wife, she is in a stronger political position than her brother.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Bezewanst used to dote on her, as she greatly resembled her mother. She in turn kept exchanging letters with Bezewanst for years after she was sent to Ahrensbach. Rozemyne at one point discovers the letters and mistakes them for love letters.
Faux Affably Evil: Her politeness is a very obvious farce for anyone who actually knows her. For instance, upon meeting Wilfried for the first time, she tells him that he looks so much like Sylvester that she could almost mistake Wilfried for him. Considering how much she hates Sylvester, that is not a compliment.
Hates Their Parent: Both of her parents favored Sylvester and eventually made him Ehrenfest's heir basically just because he was male, then they sent Georgine away to be married as the third wife of a man much older than her because she likely would have caused a civil war within their duchy. She has never forgiven her parents for that. During her visit, she asks to see Veronica, who is imprisoned in a tower, and ignores her mother's pleas to talk to her and leaves as quickly as she came with a smile on her face.
Manipulative Bitch: While casually speaking with her husband she successfully plants the idea of whom could the perfect husband candidate for their daughter be, all while looking perfectly innocent of the whole scheme in Giselfried's eyes.
Outliving One's Offspring: Her only son Wolfram died in an accident.
Parental Neglect: In Detlinde's own words the times her mother had openly and actively cared about/for her are very scarce.
Sibling Rivalry: She was in a battle for succession against Sylvester, which she ended up losing. Georgine views this as more than simple rivalry between siblings.
Sore Loser: Twenty years have passed since she lost to Sylvester, but she still doesn't seem to have gotten over it. It's exactly for this reason that Sylvester's father deemed it necessary to send her away to keep the peace. After Veronica was imprisoned, her remaining followers flock to Georgine upon her visit and immediately start making plans to oust Sylvester's family and make Georgine Ehrenfest's new aub.
Strong Family Resemblance: According to Sylvester and Wilfried, Georgine looks very similar to her mother, Veronica, which is why Bezewanst doted on her. However, given her feelings towards her mother she doesn't appreciate being told that.

Villain with Good Publicity: Those who don't know her too well nor know of her family feud backstory effortlessly see her as a very competent and compassionate woman who is only looking out for the best for Ahresbanch and her family. Even Florencia remarks when spending time with Georgine that had she not known what her husband had told her of his childhood, she could have easily believed that whatever misdeed her sister-in-law was accused of must have been a mistake or an uncharacteristic blunder on her part.

Detlinde

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 1)

Voiced by: Megumi Han (Drama CD 5+)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/portrait_dietlinde.png

Georgine's youngest daughter, who is in her fourth year when Rozemyne enters the Royal Academy. As all of her sisters have married, her older brother Wolfram passed away and her half-brothers were demoted to archnobles she is currently one of the only two archduke candidates left in Ahrensbach, which is why she is trying to find a suitable match to be her husband.

She bears a remarkably strong resemblance to her mother but coupled with her blonde hair it makes her look like a younger clone of her grandmother Veronica, which is especially noticed by Ehrenfest's Archducal family.

Barely-Changed Dub Name: Her name ディートリンデ (Dītorinde) is usually spelled Dietlinde or Ditlinde. Detlinde was chosen in the official English translation because the main audience could associate her name with the English word "diet" and mispronounce it.
The Bully: She antagonizes Rozemyne every chance she gets. From dismissing her origins in the temple to her looking younger than she actually is and her inferior duchy status.
Can't Kill You, Still Need You: She eventually talks about someone of significantly higher status than her badly enough that her words would warrant immediate execution. However, this happens while she is the only person alive able to fulfill a needed role, so she is left alive until she can get properly replaced. This puts her sympathetic fiancé in a bad spot, as he's set to marry her and hence qualify for the country's Family Extermination policy before the execution is to happen.

Faux Affably Evil: She makes it obvious in her behavior that she looks down on Rozemyne, as her interactions are full of her being "sweet" but obviously mocking her and "nice" towards her only when she wants to get something out of it.
Ironic Name: Dietlinde is a German name, derived from the words for "people" and "shield". She is not a protector of her people, just an egocentric brat with an inferiority complex.

Kissing Cousins: From the very beginning she approached Wilfried in a very noble-like flirty demeanor. She later asks him in their cousins-only tea party if he is already engaged. In Giselfried's point of view is basically stated that her parents instructed her to seduce him and make him her fiancé, as they deemed him a suitable partner for her.
Parental Neglect: She was raised receiving barely any attention from either of her parents, her mother seemed to just focus on raising her only son and she seldom had any chances to see her father Giselfried face to face. And probably as Detlinde looks exactly like her grandmother, Georgine may not be very fond of her youngest daugther.
Spare to the Throne: As she was born the third child of a third wife, there never was any expectation that she could ever be seriously considered as the next aub... Had it not been for the Succession Crisis in the archducal family that is. Now Detlinde has to prepare to be a temporary aub until her niece Letizia, who is the actual Spare to the Throne, reaches adulthood.
Strong Family Resemblance: She is blonde, but other than that she looks like a younger version of her mother, which in turn makes her identical to her grandmother.
Thicker Than Water: Like her grandmother Veronica, she does not acknowledge members of her family who she doesn't share blood with as actual members of her family.
Unwanted Spouse: Her eventual fiancé has no real desire to marry her, particularly as she looks identical to his Wicked Stepmother.
"Well Done, Daughter!" Gal: Whenever Georgine asks her to do something for her Detlinde jumps at the opportunity, hoping she can get the attention and recognition of her mother, as Georgine had barely any interest in her.

Letizia

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 5)

Voiced by: Maria Naganawa (Drama CD 7+)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/portrait_letizia_3.png

The granddaughter of the current Aub Ahrensbach and his first wife from Drewanchel, who is four years younger than Rozemyne.

Letizia's mother married into Drewanchel, but due to a lack of heirs Aub Ahrensbach asked to adopt his granddaughter and make her the future aub of Ahrensbach. She is later betrothed to Third Prince Hildebrand.

The Apprentice: Ferdinand is brought to Ahrensbach to act as Letizia's guardian and mentor. Once he is married, the plan is for him to adopt Letizia, as she otherwise would lose her status as an archduke candidate.
Break the Cutie: In Part 5 Volume 7 and 8, Leonzio and Georgine's plot leads to her poisoning Ferdinand inadvertently. Many of her closest retainers that accompanied her from Drewanchel are then killed and Letizia is kidnapped (to become a Living Battery and Breeding Slave). Letizia is eventually rescued by Rozemyne and Ferdinand's forces, but this has left her traumatized.
Early-Bird Cameo: Letizia is first mentioned in Part 4 Volume 4's epilogue. She makes her first appearance in the next volume as one of the guests of Lamprecht's wedding. She has her first spoken line at the end of Part 4.
Foil: She acts as a foil towards both Ferdinand and Rozemyne. Letizia was taken away from her parents and adopted into an archducal family. In Ahrensbach, she is bullied by Detlinde (Veronica's granddaughter), who resents her and forces her to replenish mana for the duchy. She also is mentored by Ferdinand.

Lonely Rich Kid: Letizia was forced to leave her home and parents, which is why she feels deeply lonely. Rozemyne is Letizia's First Friend, who helps her get through her loneliness by giving her a toy with recorded messages of her parents.
Parental Substitute: Her attendant Roswitha has been with her all of her life and to Letizia she is basically a second mother.
Raised by Grandparents: Before Letizia was baptized, Gieselfried asked to adopt her as his own daughter and make her his heir.
Spare to the Throne: Letizia's adoption into Ahrensbach's archducal family is the result of an unfortunate chain of events that has led to a Succession Crisis. Gieselfried's first wife's daughters were all married off, his second wife's sons were demoted to archnobles because of their mother's relation to Werkestock, and his third wife's eldest daughter was married off, while his son died in an accident, leaving Detlinde as the only Ahrensbach archduke candidate of the next generation. Not wanting Detlinde to permanently rule Ahrensbach, Gieselfried negotiated with Drewanchel to leave Letizia in his hands, while asking the royal family to find a suitable partner for Letizia. At the end of Part 5, Ferdinand has no intention to make Letizia Aub Alexandria. He agrees to adopt Letizia once he and Rozemyne are married and still intends to mentor her, but since Ahrensbach doesn't exist anymore, she can't become the former Ahrensbach's aub.
Sweet Tooth: She is very fond of sweets. Rozemyne wins Letizia over with toys and sweets that she regularly sends to Ahrensbach.
Unwanted Spouse: Hildebrand doesn't know Letizia and has no interest in her. He actually has a crush on Rozemyne, which is why he doesn't want to marry Letizia.
Unwitting Pawn: At the end of Part 5 Volume 7, Letizia is drugged with Trug and manipulated by Detlinde and Leonzio to poison Ferdinand. Never wanting to harm Ferdinand, she is later Easily Forgiven by Ferdinand, as she was clearly a victim and there are no other witnesses left who would want to accuse her.

Archnobles

Aurelia

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 5)

^{Click to see Aurelia's face under her veil}

The daughter of Aub Ahrensbach's brother and his third wife, who is three years younger than Lamprecht. She met Lamprecht in her third year in the knight course and started a romantic relationship with him. However, her family refused his proposal, since his mana was deemed too low. After Lamprecht increased his mana, Sylvester vetoed the marriage due to the ongoing conflict with Ahrensbach. However, to learn more about Ehrenfest, Aub Ahrensbach pressured Sylvester into accepting the marriage.

After moving to Ehrenfest, Aurelia refused to send information to Georgine. However, since she constantly wears a magic veil that hides her face, she didn't integrate into Ehrenfest well and isolated herself. She didn't open up until she started talking to Rozemyne, at which point she decided to join Elvira and Florencia's faction.

Action Girl: In the past. Aurelia used to act as a guard knight for Georgine's daughters.
All of the Other Reindeer: Aurelia was not treated well in Ahrensbach, which is why she wanted to escape her duchy by marrying into Ehrenfest.
Defector from Decadence: The main reason Aurelia wanted to marry out of the duchy was to escape the abuse she received at home. Lamprecht sympathized with her and asked to marry him. Georgine later tries to use Aurelia as a spy, but Aurelia completely ignores Georgine and isolates herself at home. She later joins Elvira and Florencia's faction.
Face of a Thug: Aurelia is very conscious of her face. Ever since she was a child, people said that she has evil-looking eyes. She is actually a very friendly, if somewhat shy, woman.
Foil:
- To Bettina, the other Ahrensbach noblewoman who marries into Ehrenfest. Bettina actively spies for Ahrensbach, while Aurelia stays passive and hides inside her estate. Aurelia also decides to side with Elvira and Florencia, instead of joining the former Veronica faction. This is why Aurelia is not targeted in the purge that Sylvester conducts at the start of Part 5. Bettina on the other hand, who is married to Laurenz' older brother, and played a major role in the stolen bible incident at the end of Part 4, is executed.
- To Gabriele, an Ahrensbach archduke candidate, Veronica's mother and Aurelia's great-aunt. They may look alike, but their relationship with their partner is completely different and Aurelia is accepted by her family-in-law.
Identical Grandson: More specifically, identical grandniece. One reason why she refuses to take off her veil is that she looks nearly identical to her great-aunt, Gabriele, Veronica's mother who married the first Count Groschel and caused endless trouble to House Leisegang.
Minion with an F in Evil: Aurelia was part of Georgine's faction in Ahrensbach and was sent to Ehrenfest as a spy. However, not only does she not send any information to Ahrensbach, she joins Elvira's faction and gives useful information about the ongoing crisis in Ahrensbach.
Missing Mom: Aurelia's mother died at some point before her introduction into the story. Aurelia's attendant Riadina who used to serve her mother, and thus has known her since she was very young, seems to be sort of a Parental Substitute to her.
Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: Being Aub Ahrensbach's niece, never leaving her house, and never taking off her veil makes Aurelia suspicious (and she indeed was meant to spy on Ehrenfest's activities). However, she is just a timid woman who is conscious of her face and wants to live a quiet life. Once Elvira realizes this, she lets Aurelia join her faction and makes sure that Aurelia is getting accepted by Ehrenfest's nobility.
Mysterious Veil: Aurelia wears a veil at all times that completely covers her face. The only people in Ehrenfest who initially know what Aurelia looks like are Lamprecht and the attendants she brought with her. She intends to keep wearing the veil at least until the relationship between Ehrenfest and Ahrensbach has improved.
Shrinking Violet: Aurelia is a very shy and introverted person, which is why she rarely leaves her estate. She fears the reaction of her family-in-law (House Leisegang) once they see that she looks like the much hated Gabriele, which is why she refuses to socialize. Ironically, not wanting to integrate makes her appear even more like Gabriele. Rozemyne and Elvira later suggest to make a new veil that promotes the new trends Florencia's faction is setting, to show her allegiance to Elvira and Florencia and that she is willing to integrate into Ehrenfest.
Sibling Yin-Yang: Aurelia's little sister Martina is described to be smart, friendly, and loved by all. Aurelia was bullied and is very shy. At the end of Part 5, they end up on opposing sides, which is why Aurelia escapes unscathed, while Martina has her medal destroyed and will become a Living Battery.

Martina

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 5)

Voiced by: Megumi Nakajima (Drama CD 6+)

Aurelia's fullblooded little sister, who is two years older than Rozemyne. She serves as Detlinde's attendant.

Bystander Syndrome: Martina knows what an incompetent person Detlinde is, who is manipulated by Georgine. She nonetheless stays with Detlinde to avoid trouble. At the end of Part 5, she is arrested as Detlinde's attendant and judged as an accomplice, which is why she is among the Ahrensbach nobles who are punished.
The Fake Cutie: She appears to be a cheerful and friendly person, but that is a fake personality she puts on to avoid being treated like her introverted older sister Aurelia. Beneath that mask is an arrogant and egocentric person who is aware what an incompetent person her lady is, but who doesn't have the will to speak up against or leave her lady.
Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Compared to Detlinde, Martina is actually far more competent at what she is doing. However, she doesn't really want to act as Detlinde's Cloudcuckoolander's Minder, so she just stays passive. However, even she is partially affected by Detlinde's idiocy, as she also fails to notice why Detlinde cannot sense Ferdinand's mana. Detlinde cannot sense his mana because he completely trumps her mana capacity, which Martina, who is weaker than Detlinde, should have noticed because she otherwise would have sensed Ferdinand if he really had less mana.
Identical Stranger: Rozemyne's first impression of Martina is that she looks like Tuuli with her braided hair and cheerful personality.
Ironic Name: Her name is of latin origin and is asociated with the Roman god of war Mars, meaning "dedicated to the god of war(Mars)", "warlike" or just simply "female warrior", which would have been more fitting for someone who actually became a knight like her sister Aurelia rather than her.
Sibling Yin-Yang: Martina is described to be smart, friendly, and loved by all. Aurelia was bullied and is very shy, which is why she fled via marriage. At the end of Part 5, they end up on opposing sides, which is why Aurelia escapes unscathed, while Martina has her medal destroyed and will become a Living Battery.
Wrong Line of Work: Unlike Aurelia, Martina is excellent in gathering information. She was originally intended to become a scholar for Georgine's son, Wolfram, but after his sudden death she instead was forced to become Detlinde's attendant.

Count Bindewald

Debut: Part 2 (Volume 4)

Voiced by: Daichi Hayashi (Drama CD 1)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bookworm_fanbook_1_count_bindewald.jpg

An archnoble giebe from Ahrensbach, who has deep connections to Lady Veronica's faction and acts as a middleman in the correspondence between Georgine and Bezewanst. During Myne's first Spring Prayer, he sends out Devouring soldiers to capture her.

After his attacks fail, he cooperates with Bezewanst and is given a false permit to enter Ehrenfest's capital, where he enslaves the Devouring orphan Dirk and ambushes Myne. However, Ferdinand defeats him and Bindewald is subsequently arrested for illegally entering Ehrenfest and for attacking Myne.

Animal Motifs: Frogs and toads. Bindewald looks like a toad and laughs like one. He's actually the reason Rozemyne really can't stand toads.
Arc Villain: Bindewald is the Big Bad of Part 2. He is responsible for the attacks on Myne in Volume 3 and Volume 4, and even after his arrest the remnants of his troops still cause trouble at the end of Part 3.
Bad Liar: He tries to maintain his innocence and claims he acted in self-defense, instead shifting the blame of the incident on Myne to convince Sylvester that she is a scheming, lying and violent commoner who dares to defy the nobility. Ferdinand is visibly frustrated that Bindewald would tell such obvious lies and Myne thinks he has suffered brain damage.
Evil Laugh: His laugh sounds sinister and horribly throaty, like a frog.
Fat Bastard: Bezewanst of all people thinks he's fat.
Foil: He resembles Bezewanst in appearance and behavior, except he actually can back up his arrogance with sizable power.
Gonk: He doesn't look very attractive at all. Myne thinks he has the face of a toad.
Manipulative Bastard: Bindewald strokes Bezewanst's ego and offers him a black feystone to protect himself from Myne, which secures him Bezewanst's cooperation. Bezewanst and Bindewald also trick Delia into giving him Dirk by presenting her an adoption contract, which is in truth a submission contract.
Obviously Evil: When Bezewanst meets Bindewald, his eyes are described as murky and Bezewanst is immediately convinced that he looks like the kind of man that would not hesitate to do heinous acts. Myne also immediately wants to avoid Bindewald the moment she spots him in the temple.
Smug Super: As an archnoble, his power must not be underestimated and he is the biggest threat Myne has faced at that point. He doesn't take Myne seriously, as she is just a commoner, and he belittles Damuel after easily defeating him. However, he loses his smugness momentarily when Myne starts Crushing him.
Unwitting Pawn: He's clearly one in Sylvester, Karstedt and Ferdinand's plan to make Myne accept to be adopted early. Not only did he do his part as the would-be kidnapper, but his capture makes him a convenient hostage to use against his archduke.
Villainous Breakdown: When Ferdinand draws his wand, Bindewald starts panicking as he realizes that the blue priest he just mocked and disrespected is a dangerous trained noble, who shortly after decisively beats him. He loses the rest of his confidence and stammers in disbelief when Sylvester appears, who reveals himself as Aub Ehrenfest and tells Bindewald that he just attacked his adopted daughter.
Would Hurt a Child: He has no qualms to harm Myne, both with mana and later on with a knife to make her sign a submission contract.

Mednobles

Raimund

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 6)

An apprentice medscholar from Ahrensbach, who is one year older than Rozemyne. He becomes Hirschur's assistant in Rozemyne's second year at the Academy.

Raimund's mother is from Werkestock and used to serve Aub Ahrensbach's second wife.

The Apprentice: He admires Ferdinand's innovative work. Ferdinand later decides to make Raimund his apprentice.
Early-Bird Cameo: Hirschur mentions that she managed to get a new disciple at the end of Rozemyne's first school term in Part 4 Volume 3. He shows up in Part 4 Volume 6, when Rozemyne visits Hirschur's workshop.
Nice Guy: Similar to Aurelia, Raimund exists to show that not everyone from Ahrensbach is automatically evil. On the contrary, Raimund is a very nice person, if somewhat lacking in manners. He helps Rozemyne with her magic circles and in Part 5 delivers Ferdinand's letters to Rozemyne and vice versa.
The Pig-Pen: Similar to Hirschur he doesn't really take too much care of his appearance. His clothes are always dusty and he has Messy Hair.
Weak, but Skilled: Raimund's mana levels are so low that he could have possibly been sent to the temple if there hadn't been a shortage of nobles. He makes up for this with a Gadgeteer Genius mind, as he can make magic tools and circles much more mana efficient, which earned him a place as Hirschur's assistant.

Jossbrenner Duchy

Lueuradi

Debut: Part 5 (Volume 1)

An apprentice archscholar that is the same age as Rozemyne and Wilfried. Since her duchy no longer has archduke candidates attending the academy she and her older sister tend to represent their duchy on tea parties and social occasions, as they are the archnobles with the highest ranking.

Lueuradi is such a fervent admirer of Ehrenfest's romance novels to the point that she wishes to marry within the duchy even if she would have to drop to a mednoble status. Though she believes that is just an unrealistic daydreaming on her part as she will most likely wed whomever her parents choose for her.

Birds of a Feather: Through her fellow scholar Philine, Lueuradi meets her kindred soul Muriella. Both of them share a true passion for Elvira's romance novels and love stories.
Bookworm: She adores the romance novels produced by Ehrenfest and can't wait to read the most recent volumes.
Interclass Friendship: Though Muriella is a mednoble and Lueuradi an archoble, their shared love for romance novels makes them fast and true friends.
Meaningful Name: Her name "リュールラディ" can be romanized in various ways like Lyuluradi, Ruulradi or even Ruhllady. The translator probably opted to base the translation of her name on the french word for light/glow (Lueur) to make it easier to pronounce for the readers.
Shipper on Deck: As a lover of romance stories and after hearing more about their relationship, Lueuradi spares no time becoming a strong supporter of Rozemyne and Ferdinand as a romantic couple. So infatuated with their "doomed romance" that she is inspired to write a story based on them, but is unsure wether to do it or not until Muriella encourages her.

Frenbeltag Duchy

Rudiger

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 1)

An archduke candidate from Frenbeltag who is four years older than Rozemyne. He is the oldest son of Aub Frenbeltag, Florencia's older brother, and Constanze, Sylvester's second older sister. He appears to be a very amiable and polite person.

Rudiger wishes to mantain a close and friendly relationship with Ehrenfest, just as his parents do, though Rozemyne does warn Wilfried that he may just request for help with mana, as Frenbeltag is in dire need of it.

Dogged Nice Guy: It's notable that he treats Rozemyne very nicely, praises her, and defends her against Detlinde's bullying multiple times. In Part 4 Volume 3 Rozemyne learns that Rudiger indirectly asked Wilfried whether Rozemyne is already engaged, which to Sylvester is a blatant sign that Frenbeltag wants to secure Rozemyne's mana for themselves (she was the one who provided Frenbeltag with mana-filled chalices in Part 3).
Inconsistent Spelling: His name is alternatively spelled Rüdiger.
Strong Family Resemblance: As they are a product of Double In-Law Marriage, he looks remarkably like an older version of his cousin. Rozemyne notes that he and Wilfried could pass as actually being siblings. When Charlotte later first meets Rudiger, she is also incredibly surprised at the resemblance, with Rozemyne even noting that Charlotte herself looks even more like she could be her cousin's younger sibling than her own brother does, thanks to sharing eye colors in addition to hair colors.

Characters / Ascendance of a Bookworm - Nobles

Edit Locked

WARNING: Most of the characters in this section first appear in Part 4. Several categorizations and descriptions are going to be spoilers in themselves.

Sovereignty

Royal Family

Trauerqual

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 7)

Sigiswald

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 7)

Voiced by: Yuichiro Umehara (Drama CD 6+)

Anastasius

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 1)

Voiced by: Seiichirō Yamashita (Drama CD 5)

Hildebrand

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 5)

Voiced by: Kaede Hondo (Drama CD 4+)

Magdalena

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 5)

Voiced by: Mutsumi Tamura (Drama CD 6)

Royal Academy

Professors

Hirschur

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 1)

Voiced by: Atsuko Tanaka (Drama CD 2), Akeno Watanabe (Drama CD 5)

Rauffen

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 1)

Fraularm

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 1)

Voiced by: Akeno Watanabe (Drama CD 5+)

Gundolf

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 1)

Primevere

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 1)

Pauline

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 2)

Librarians

Solange

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 1)

Voiced by: Nodoka Hasegawa (Drama CD 2), Kiyoko Miyazawa (Drama CD 3+)

Hortensia

Debut: Part 5 (Volume 1)

Voiced by: Megumi Nakajima (Drama CD 6+)

Sovereign Knight's Order

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

Raublut

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 7)

Voiced by: Toshihiko Seki (Drama CD)

Klassenberg Duchy

Previous Aub Klassenberg

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 3)

Eglantine

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 1)

Voiced by: Kikuko Inoue (Drama CD 6)

Dunkelfelger Duchy

Archducal family

Werdekraf

Debut: Part 4 (Royal Academy Stories: First Year)

Voiced by: Yoji Ueda (Drama CD 7)

Sieglinde

Debut: Part 4 (Royal Academy Stories: First Year)

Voiced by: Megumi Toyoguchi (Drama CD 5)

Lestilaut

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 2)

Voiced by: Yūma Uchida (Drama CD 5+)

Hannelore

Debut: Part 4 (Volume 1)

Voiced by: Sumire Morohoshi (Drama CD 3+)

Archnobles

Clarissa

Debut: Part 4 (Royal Academy Stories: First Year)

Voiced by: Megumi Han (Drama CD 6+)

Cordula

Debut: Part 4 (Royal Academy Stories: First Year)

Voiced by: Megumi Toyoguchi (Drama CD 5)

Heisshitze

Debut: Part 4 (Royal Academy Stories: First Year)

Voiced by: Toshihiko Seki (Drama CD 5+)

Kenntrips

Debut: Part 4 (Royal Academy Stories: First Year)

Voiced by: Yūsuke Kobayashi (Drama CD 5)