Rozemyne also keeps getting sucked into games of ditter. She doesn't ever want to play but she somehow gets forced into them and then goes all-out in ways only Myne can. I can't believe Lestilaut tried to get Rozemyne as his wife. But I loved the scene where Rozemyne shatters his black feystone shield. Myne's mana just cannot be contained! OMG, and when she tells Sieglinde to, "Be silent, as losers should be," I was grinning from ear to hear with this stupid face:

But it turns out Sieglinde was actually TRYING to be thoughtful and helpful but because nobles never speak bluntly everything got lost in translation. It really makes you wonder how noble society even functions if people can never say what they mean.

Wilfried started to REALLY piss me off after they got back home after the purge. Even Rozemyne's retainers in previous side-stories had expressed their grievances about Wilfried but when he basically started throwing tantrums non-stop during his little rebellion I just wanted to slap him. Him coming around at the end once it was decided Rozemyne would leave Ehrenfest to be adopted by royalty was a good chance of pace though, but I still worry he's too naive and emotional. In that sense, he's a lot like Myne.

At the end of Part 4 there was foreshadowing that Myne would become not just the Saint of Ehrenfest but the Avatar of Mestionora so it was pretty much obvious that she was going to get the Grutrissheit. But I must admit that I caught on quite a bit later that Ferdinand also had part of the Grutrissheit and that he had a different name. As soon as Erwaermen mentioned another, I was like "that MUST be Ferdinand!" And then when he said "Quinta" I was like "Ferdinand isn't his real name?!" And then I realized WHY Ferdinand had wanted all that fey paper: he was trying to make a physical Grutrissheit to give to the Royals. When Ferdinand admitted that in Volume 8 I was like "NAILED IT!"

Speaking of other theories I got right, I was absolutely correct that the Duchy Foundation was under the temple with the entrance in the bookroom! And I was mostly right about the statue of Mestionora holding the real Grutrissheit. Sure, it wasn't the ACTUAL Grutrissheit just like the divine instruments aren't the ACTUAL instruments of the gods, but it basically serves the same purpose.

What I found fascinating is how intricate the history of the Grutrissheit was! When Rozemyne pointed out that multiple people had once had a Grutrissheit in history and that some who had obtained it couldn't possibly have been royals - and therefore would have been denied entry into the special room in the hidden archive - I seriously started to doubt what actually was in the archive. At the same time, while it made sense that a person's Grutrissheit was just their schtauppe, other things didn't make sense with that sole explanation. For instance when the 2nd prince was killed, the of course HIS Grutrissheit would have been lost because it was his schtauppe. But if history said that the Grutrissheit was passed down, that shouldn't have been the case since Rozemyne couldn't copy a divine relic that was formed from someone else's schtauppe as was shown when she tried to create Verfuhremeer's staff by touching Hannelore's weapon. Also, we know that the royal family didn't have anyone omni-elemental which is a requirement to get the Grutrisheit. And it was told that the Royals visited the Royal Academy AFTER the new Zent was chosen and they had presented their Grutrissheit. If they already had the Grutrissheit then there wouldn't be a need to go to the Royal Academy to get the book or perform the rituals.

Also it was pretty obvious that religion and prayer was SUPER important in society at one point as it was required to get divine blessings, the Grutrissheit, and a bunch of other things. Yet now almost no nobles ever prayed and the Temple was shunned. That didn't make much sense either.

Anyway, fast forward to Rozemyne saving Ferdinand (we'll talk about in a bit) and omg, they explained pretty much everything in their discussion of Yurgenschmidt's history. There were actually two types of Grutrissheit, the "real" one made from one's schtauppe, and a magic tool that was passed down from Zent to Zent apparent. Add in the fact that people found shortcuts to getting the Grutrissheit without having to talk to Erwaermen and it's easy to see how society changed so much. You could just offer mana to the Mestionora statue to get an empty Grutrissheit, then go to the archive to copy from a transcribed Grutrissheit until their Grutrissheit became a working copy.

One thing that wasn't made exactly clear was why Rozemyne and Ferdinand couldn't each get a full copy of the Grutrissheit. History had mentioned that multiple Zent candidates could appear with the Grutrissheit yet Erwaermen only gave them each a part of the knowledge. Is it that there could only be one "real" Grutrissheit at a time and when there had been others they were just transcribed copies? Or was it because Rozemyne's and Ferdinand's mana was so similar that they appeared as the same person and therefore could only have one copy between them? The latter seems more likely but I don't think it was adequately explained.

AAAANNNYYYWAY... wow, all that text and we haven't even talked about Anwachs making Rozemyne grow and her saving Ehrenfest by becoming Aub Ahrensbach. When I saw the cover of Part 5 Volume 7 I assumed there was going to be a time skip. Like "Rozemyne moved to the Sovernity and then 2 years later..." but NOPE! Anwachs makes her grow so she could get the Grutrissheit. And what had seemed like a few hours at most for her turned out to be a whole season. It was a bit sad that she didn't get to come first-in-class again, breaking her streak. But at the same time, it was pretty badass reading how everyone, and I mean, EVERYONE was taken back by how beautiful she was. I'm sure that only gave more weight to the stories of her being the avatar of Mestionora.

The side-story from Georgine's perspective really painted a clear picture to her motivations but also had some big surprises. Everyone seemed to think that Georgine was fond of Veronica and that's why she employed her methods but it turns out Georgine actually loathes Veronica. That explains her reaction to seeing Veronica in the Ivory Tower and not making a fuss. She was actually pleased, even if she still loathed Sylvester. I had also gathered that Georgine didn't care about anything other than becoming Aub Ehrenfest and the short-story explained her single-minded obsession pretty well. And while it was pretty obvious that Georgine was the reason the first and second wives and Aub Ahrensbach all died, seeing it confirmed only made her madness that much more clear.

As for the war, Rozemyne's unique upbringing as a commoner leads her to make one unusual decision after another and just shows how her unpredictability has thwarted Georgine's plans at almost every turn, even when she wasn't trying to. And now there are so many body doubles being discovered that it seems crazy. Personally, I'm not convinced that Georgine actually perished. She could have just crushed the namestones she had when she realized her double had died, which would make people think the real Georgine had perished. We've already seen that no sacrifice is too great for Georgine to get what she wants. Plus an off-camera death is very anti-climatic. I'm SURE this isn't the last we've seen of her. However, I do believe that Rozemyne killed the real Grausam. For one, that was on camera. Two, I don't think he would have let a double try to take on Bonifatius since that was such an important mission. But seeing all the other Grausam body doubles turn up was pretty funny.

Speaking of funny war shenanigans, Fraularm getting her just desserts was great. And omg, watching her try to convince people that Myne was a commoner while everyone looked at her like she was crazy. I think Leonore said it perfectly. "If she IS a commoner, then a commoner just stole your foundation. How embarrassing for you."

One final side note, I had already gathered at Raubaut was a bad guy considering all the crap he's pulled casting doubt on Ferdinand's allegiance, killing potential witnesses because Detlinde (of all people) asked, and how all the trug soldiers were part of the sovereignty, the Royals not getting key information, his inciting of Hildebrand to commit treason, Hortensia going missing, etc. It really is strange that no one suspected him at all. But then he bends a knee to Lanzenave and says that they're his one true lord.

• The royals have not searched the Academy (and specifically the Academy Library) for the Grutrissheit nor would they have thought to since supposedly only lay and mednobles ever go there personally.
• IIRC, Mestionora's shrine in the library is depicted holding the Grutrissheit
• The Archnoble librarians who might have been privied to royal secrets were purged.
• "Gramps" would mean something even older than the Schumils in the library and the only thing we really know of thus far that would be older than them is the Grutrissheit
• When Rosemyne touches the Grutrissheit on the statue it sucks an enormous amount of mana from her
• After the magic is sucked out nothing of note happens. The only other time a huge amount of magic being consumed without anything immediate happening is with mana offerings
• The Schumils assume Rosemyne - as their owner - is royalty and therefore supplying the country with magic would be part of her duty

I also suspect that Ehrenfest's Foundation is located in the Temple bookroom behind the shelf with Mestionora on it. If Mestionora is responsible for giving the Grutrissheit to the first King then it would make sense that aspects of government would depict her. This would also explain Ehrenfest adopting prayers and other Temple customs into their culture when other duchys do no such thing. Further, Ehrenfest's Bible seems to be an extremely accurate version given that it has the extra magic circle and hidden messages, implying that Ehrenfest was originally founded with very strong ties to religion/the Temple.

This was the first part that I read past the anime and it was such a trip getting into it. At the time I was somewhat overwhelmed by all the new sights and people once she got to be a noble. Looking back at it now, it has become the norm. I love that her fake family took her in right away and then so did her adoptive family. Yet even with two very welcoming families she still missed her commoner family.

The fact she becomes the High Bishop is SUPER cool and I love how that one tiny decision way back here continues to have profound effects all the way up to where I'm reading in part 5 volume 1. She also makes her juvere but right before she can use it to become a real girl again ANOTHER dastardly plot my the Former Veronica Faction poisons Rosemyne and forces her into her juvere... for two years. When she wakes up and you find out about the timeskip it blew my mind. Oh, and surprise, she's still not fully healed!

The side-stories were amazing too and set up Part 4 really well. Seeing how Wilfred and Charlotte view Rosemyne once they have to fill her shoes... I cannot describe how nuanced and amazing that was. And all these tiny things come together to form a story that is so incredibly deep and makes so much sense on such a fundamental level.

The academy arc was everything I wanted and more. Right from the onset Rosemyne is already causing a ruckus despite her best efforts to be just an ordinary normal little girl with her only desire to be to go to the library. What I found really cool was that this didn't just feel like "Rosemyne goes to Hogwarts" and instead feels like something truly unique.

A number of things didn't make sense in Part 2. The purge is a HUGE plot point but from a world standpoint it doesn't make much sense since it left the country so mana-starved in every capacity. But okay, that can just be attributed to war not making sense. But then we look at the Temple. Rosemyne is able to wield magic because she knows prayers so she understands magic to be divine intervention by the gods. However most nobles not only shun the Temple but also don't believe in the gods which seems illogical based on what we know.

But things start to come together when we the Royals and the Sovern Temple interact with each other in an antagonistic fashion. It can be implied from history that some kind of power struggle happened in the past resulting in a firm separation between church and state. Furthermore we can see that part of the reason Rosemyne is so amazing is because of her upbringing in the temple.

Through all the school shenanigans we also see Lady Georgina making moves with the Former Veronica Faction. But largely due to Rosemyne's compassion we see the children of the Veronica faction switch sides which helps lead to the Purge. Really good thrill-ride there.

And finally, I cannot mention Part 4 without talking about the huge and magnificent duo that is Rosemyne and Ferdinand. It is slowly revealed how much of a profound impact the two have had on each other. Rosemyne becomes powerful in noble society from Ferdinand's lessons and support and Ferdinand's heart heals from Rosemyne's compassion and love. This culminates in the second saddest scene in the series where Ferdinand leaves Ehrenfest and Rosemyne behind. I still get teary-eyed when I think about Ferdinand giving Rosemyne the key to his estate for her library. The estate which was given to him by his father. The estate given to Rosemyne to fulfill a promise he made to her when she was a blue shrine maiden.

And then Rosemyne's emotions explode again just like at the end of Part 1... except this time she's more in control and knows what she's doing. And she ends up giving a most beautiful and powerful blessing.

Considering what happened with Damuel at the end of Part 1 with her blessing, I'm curious what will happen with Ferdinand with this supercharged version of her blessing. I also love how everyone thought that at that moment she looked just like a Saint. Initially the "Saint of Ehrenfest" was just a publicity stunt but as time has gone by it has become more and more true to the point where I finally am starting to understand the "Ascendance" in the title... more than just ascendance to nobility, ascendance to sainthood and beyond.