This was a wild one.
The first half was so nice and lighthearted. I wanted to write: "The biggest tragedy of this volume was that Hartmut has agreed to slow down spreading the church of Rozemyne". Alas, that turned out not to be the case.
Going in to this book blind. The first image of the book quickly revealed that I could expect some wet eyes during the book. So I went in expecting the worst.
And then it was just absolute bliss. Melchoir is such a sweet child, It seems to me that he will join Hartmuts efforts to spread the word of Rozemyne. At the beginning of the book he sees her nearly as a god already.
It was interesting to hear about how archduke candidates are taught. It seems quit nice that they build a little "mini duchy" complete with borders, buildings and everything. Rozemyne off course continues to amaze with her mana manipulation skills. Leaving Wilfried, Charlotte, and Melchoir in the dust.
The visit to the Leisegang was quite interesting. It is always good getting new printing workshops up and running. The amount of wrath spraying toward Wilfried and Charlotte was very intense indeed. Is this the first time we hear about Rozemynes wish to be second/third wife? I think she might have mentioned it once before, but only in passing, and it doesn't seem to be something she consistently pesters Ferdinand with.
Eating fish was a nice experience for Rozemyne. I hope she can get the chefs to combine her cooking with fish.
I guess that's most of the good stuff. Then the action happened.
NOOOOO, how will we do without Ferdinand? How will Ferdinand do without Rozemyne? I hope they will both be fine. But they have so little time, and so much knowledge to pass on between them. As we know now, my guess from last volume on the seed of adalgsia was completely wrong. And the evil Ahrensbach is taking our beloved head priest.
Also, we must spend a least a little while here admiring Ferdinands foresightedness. He probably ordered the exact ingredients needed for Rozemynes second Jureve for her sake already during the interduchy tournament. Now that Rozemyne is completely healthy, she will hopefully start growing. It will also be exiting to see if her mana affinity shoots up due to the treatment. It did seem so during the tea party.
I really don't like Ahrensbach people (except Aurelia). They seem very hostile, even internally as a group. So we can just hope Ferdinand will be fine. I do understand Ferdinands choice however. He could never live with killing Sylvester. I wonder how much of a "heart to heart" Ferdinand and the king had. I suspect that the king would have let Ferdinand staid, if the circumstances had been fully explained.
I think that covers my thoughts on the volume so far. I do have a comment I forgot last time: What is up with Ferdinands arch rival being literally named "Hot Shit" (Hot=Heiss, Shit = Shitze) (I know his name is spelled Heisshitze, but it is just not how that name is read)
See you in october 8-)
Edit:
I had forgotten something really important that I wanted to mention:
I really enjoyed the way Rozemyne blackmailed Ferdinand in this book (and the way Ferdinand used it against her). I think this book showed a great deal of character development in two ways for her:
Her willingness to oppose those above her. Previously she would just accept what Ferdinand said, but not anymore. Now she is ready to oppose even the king if he crosses her to gravely. This seems like a very important milestone for her.
while she has accepted the gods more willingly than others previously. It seems that she is also beginning to be more interested in speaking up about her beliefs. Previously when praying, she would often mention it being hard not to laugh, and be slightly sceptical. I think the prayer for Hartmut is the first time we have heard her consciously going all out for a prayer (she has done so subconsciously previously)
Overall these developments seem like they will be super important for where the story goes in the coming volumes.