Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 3.5 - Chapter Ep

Epilogue 

For several days, Rozemyne had been opening her unfocused eyes while soaking in the jureve and looking around aimlessly before closing them again. Ferdinand, who had been observing her closely, knew that this meant she would be waking up soon, but her body still hadn’t risen out of the liquid. It remained submerged. 

Even during the Harvest Festival, Ferdinand raced back to the temple almost every night to check on her, but progress was frustratingly slow. It took forever, but finally, her eyes began to focus. And after rapidly blinking a few times, she rose out of the jureve as if to say that any further healing was impossible. 

Ferdinand sighed in relief, sticking his hands in to help Rozemyne sit up and patting her on the back to help her breathe. She seemed to feel much better upon spitting out the jureve that was stuck in her lungs, and while she spent some time coughing, her breathing soon sounded normal again. 

“That hurt, Ferdinand...” 

Rozemyne looked up at him with an angry glare and complained, but Ferdinand had no idea what he had done to deserve that. She knew nothing of the struggles he had gone through, and the fact that she did nothing but grumble upon waking up was surely a sign that she lacked any gratitude whatsoever. 

“Tell me when you have finished bathing. There is much for us to discuss regarding what happened while you slept. If you have any questions, save them for then.” 

Ferdinand entrusted Rozemyne to her attendants, then returned to his chambers, where his own attendants were waiting with smiles. 

“The High Bishop has awoken, then? I imagine that is her handprint,” one of them said, pointing at a wet mark on Ferdinand’s robes where Rozemyne had grabbed him. His robes were a wet mess in general though, owing to him having stuck his hands into the jureve to help Rozemyne sit up and then having carried her out. 

“I shall arrange a change of clothes,” the attendant continued. 

“Indeed.” 

“This news comes as a considerable relief to us all. We were worried about when the High Bishop would finally awaken,” the priest said with a smile as he returned with the change of clothes. Such small talk was rare for Ferdinand’s attendants; they truly had all been waiting for Rozemyne to wake up. 

Because now that Rozemyne is awake, we will not be disturbed by those messages any longer... Ferdinand thought with a sigh, turning to look at the corner of his desk where a bunch of yellow feystones had piled up. 

They were mostly ordonnanzes from Bonifatius, containing messages wherein he roared, “WHEN IS ROZEMYNE WAKING UP, FERDINAND?!” They had arrived all too often over the past half a year, to the point that every single person in the High Priest’s chambers was dead tired of them. 

Good grief... I was already frustrated at how long it was taking Rozemyne’s mana to dissolve. How many times did I need to refrain from barking back that I was the one who wanted to know when she was going to wake up more than anyone? 

“High Priest, now that the High Bishop has finally awoken, you can spend today resting at last.” 

“No, not yet. Once Rozemyne has been cleaned up, I shall visit her chambers to explain what happened over the past two years. Allow her attendants in, if any arrive.” 

“Understood.” 

Ferdinand finished changing and moved to his desk, where he tapped each of the yellow feystones one by one with his schtappe and poured mana into them. He transformed all twenty-something into ordonnanzes at once, filling the room with ivory birds in an instant. He then faced them and spoke. 

“Rozemyne has awoken. If she is in good health, I will bring her to the castle at third bell three days from now. Do not come to the temple, as she is still recovering from her sleep.” 

With that, Ferdinand swung his schtappe, and the ordonnanzes all flew away at once. Incidentally, over half of the twenty-something ordonnanzes were replies to messages from Bonifatius, and since each one repeated its message three times, he would soon be hearing the news thirty to forty times. Just the idea brought Ferdinand a small amount of satisfaction; it was his small revenge for having been forced to listen to Bonifatius bark about Rozemyne almost every single day for months now. 

However, Ferdinand’s satisfaction was short-lived: as he began organizing a study guide covering what Rozemyne needed to memorize before leaving for the Royal Academy, an ordonnanz returned with an excessively joyful message. 

“HURRAAAAAAH! ROZEMYNE! SHE’S AWAKE?!” 

The yells echoed through the temple three times as Ferdinand could do nothing but listen and rub his temples. As it turned out, Bonifatius was a pain even when Rozemyne was awake. Ferdinand really didn’t want to deal with him any longer, so when the ordonnanz turned back into a yellow feystone, he simply left it there and continued with his work. 

Will things truly go well...? 

Although Ferdinand was greatly relieved that Rozemyne had finally awoken, he also felt some unease. She had not grown at all, meaning her appearance was exactly the same as it had been two years ago—though this was expected, given that she had been soaking in the jureve the entire time. Her understanding of the world and her memories were also all exactly as they had been before her long slumber. 

Ferdinand recalled what had happened when he retrieved Rozemyne from the jureve and handed her to Fran. Her attendants had all eagerly rushed forward to see her after such a long time, but her eyes had merely widened in shock when she saw how much they had all grown. Fran hadn’t changed much, since he had already come of age, but all her apprentice attendants had come of age while she slept. 

Rozemyne had ended up stiffening and looking up at Ferdinand, clutching his robe with a terribly anxious look on her face despite the happy smiles of her attendants. She would now need to adjust to how the world had progressed without her, and that would not be an easy task. 

That said, I am glad she awoke before the start of winter socializing... 

Ferdinand had been agonizing over whether she would wake up in time to attend the Royal Academy at the proper age, but it seemed things would indeed work out as he had hoped. It would have been possible to delay her enrollment for a year, but such a thing was considered a black mark in noble society, which would have led to undue pressure and potential rumors. 

That would have been terrible, given that Rozemyne already has so many weaknesses that run the risk of being spread through other duchies as rumors. 

As Ferdinand organized what Rozemyne needed to learn to enter the Royal Academy, an attendant called out to him. 

“High Priest, it seems the High Bishop is ready.”