PrePub - Ascendance of a Bookworm

Hartmut is making a public announcement of Rozemyne's disappearance in the dining hall, rather than talling the archduke candidates in private to let THEM make the decision of how to handle it? What are you doing?! Okay granted, at this point he already got the royals' seal for pretending Rozemyne was merely absent due to illness, but still, come on dude... even if Charlotte and Wilfried decide to let the other students know the details, this is neither your decision nor is it your place to make the announcement. Not to mention that by now he should be very aware that Rozemyne herself wouldn't want the attention and would much prefer to keep things at a minimum possible fuss.

If I had been Cornelius or Leonore, I'd have bound him up in bands of light, gagged him and dragged him to a private meeting room the moment he raised his hands.

I'm also starting to worry about Charlotte's ability to be a proper archduchess. She isn't even trying to reign in Hartmut and Wilfried and just let's things happen. This is one of the issues over which others - including herself! - rightrully critizices Wilfried, when he was still the successor and now she's doing the very same thing. How is she supposed to direct and entire duchy's worth of nobility, if she can't even be bothered to try to reign in one overzealous retainer and just lets her brother do all the negotiating and talking with Sigiswald, while sitting in the metaphorical corner, quietly panicking, but not doing or saying anything?

"We would need a way to divert his attention"... you are an archduke candidate and almost asured to be the future Aub. Just give him a freakin order to shut up and if he still doesn't, have your guard knights restrain him!

If the alternative wasn't Wilfried, I'd say Sylvester was right to not even give her the chance to compete. Right now she looks quite unqualified and she'll have to improve a whole lot to meet the requirements of being a proper Aub one day. I really like her as a person, but sympathy can't change the harsh reality of the situation. She really needs to step up her game, or she and all of Ehrenfest will suffer in the future. It feels like she can't even function without relying on Rozemyne anymore.

Were did the interim Aub come from anyway? I mean, considering how unsuitable she showed herself to be for the position, in her current state, in this chapter, I'm starting to think that Melchior might well be the better choice too, but this hasn't even been hinted at so far. In past volumes I got the impression that with Wilfried opting out of the race, Charlotte has the successor position near enough for sure. At least with Melchior, they still have plenty of time to properly raise and educate him to be a good archduke, while he's still in his formative years.

I hope that Charlotte will be able to overcome these issues, but if she can't, she really should not become Aub. She might cut it as the Aub of a lesser or maybe even regular middle duchy, but with the elevated circles among which Ehrenfest now moves, he inability to act and resist people like Wilfried and Hartmut are going to seriously bite her and by extension her duchy in the butt. It feels like ever since Rozemyne saved her, she dedicated her entire being to help Rozemyne and now has no clue what to do with Rozemyne gone.