Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume Short Story-2 - Chapter 18

Tuuli — Engagement Circumstances

Description: A sales bonus story for Part 5 Volume 4, set before the Gutenbergs’ trip to Kirnberger. It depicts Tuuli and Lutz’s view on marriage from their unusual position as once poor commoners now working for rich merchants. Enjoy their rushed engagement and a look into how such arrangements are made in the lower city. It’s a big family gathering!

Author’s Note: I wrote this story in response to the countless requests for more information about how Tuuli and Lutz ended up together and because so many readers wanted to know more about lower-city engagements.

“Break time,” Gunilla said. “Everyone, hands off your work.”

“Ngh... But I was so close to being done!”

“Nuh-uh.” Gunilla shook her head and smiled. “Not once have you said that and actually meant it.”

I carefully set down my hairpin—which was only halfway done—and went to the break room with the others. Our store contained a lot of expensive tools and cloth, so we weren’t allowed to eat at or even bring food to our workstations.

“I wanted to finish it all in one go...” I grumbled.

“The lehanges can’t take breaks until the leherls do, remember? You’re about to come of age; it would do you well to consider not just your hairpin orders but the future of the workshop as a whole.”

Gunilla was my senior, so my only option was to concede. She was right, anyway—prioritizing my work for Lady Rozemyne meant I usually neglected other things that needed my attention. I waited as she opened the door, and at once, we were met with complaining.

“He won’t talk about anything else. It’s the worst!”

I turned to the source of the noise—Leonie, another leherl. She had participated in the winter coming-of-age ceremony before taking three days off to spend with her family.

“You seem anxious, Leonie,” I said. “Did something happen?”

“I keep telling my dad that I don’t wanna think about marriage yet, but that hasn’t stopped him from bringing man after man to see me! Every day I was at home, he brought me somebody’s son to deal with. Made me wish I’d never gone back at all!”

“Wasn’t it kind of him to give you a choice?” one of the others chimed in. “My dad picked my fiancé for me. I didn’t even know the first thing about the guy!”

“But I was already seeing someone,” Leonie countered. “If my dad were as kind as you think, he wouldn’t have put pressure on my boyfriend’s family and forced him to get engaged to another woman!”

“Well, that’s what all dads do when they don’t approve of the guy their daughter’s seeing. Mine did the same thing.”

The engaged among us began sharing their experiences. They all seemed to have remarkable stories to tell.

“Oh, Tuuli—you’re coming of age this summer, right? Your parents must be on your back about engagements by now.”

“Yeah, this is around when it starts to dominate every conversation...” Leonie said. “My mom and dad sure had a lot to say to me.”

I nodded. Leonie and I were both considered “old enough” for talks of engagement. If you wanted to get married two or three years after coming of age, then you had to find a partner before your ceremony.

“Come on, Tuuli—which business is your suitor from? He’s a leherl, right? Is your dad listening to your preferences, or are you having someone forced on you?”

These questions aren’t exactly relevant to me.

Conversations of this sort reminded me that I lived in a completely different world from my colleagues. The only men my dad and mom could introduce me to were soldiers or people involved with the clothing industry. I would never be introduced to the son of a rich merchant, and strengthening family alliances wasn’t exactly a priority for us.

I put on a smile and gave the vaguest response I could: “My dad is okay with hearing me out, but I don’t know how much he’s going to listen. To be honest... marriage is still totally beyond me.”

“Right?” Leonie said. “My dad is aaall about his store. Though... this is kinda strange. I always assumed you were one of those girls who do everything their parents tell them to. I never thought you’d fight back!” Her eyes sparkled with excitement that she’d found an ally... but I doubted we were on the same page.

“I understand not wanting to think about marriage, but isn’t it important that you find someone?” Gunilla asked, eyeing me with worry as Leonie gleefully took my hands. “You had another weird guy approach you just recently, didn’t you? Master Otto was worried sick.”

Again, she was right. One man had approached me because I made Lady Rozemyne’s hairpins, though my being from the poor side of town meant he’d proposed with the most patronizing expression imaginable. I’d consulted Master Otto and asked him to shoo the guy away, but more were showing up the closer I got to coming of age.

“You’re dating that Lutz guy anyway, right? Why not get engaged to him?”

“Whaaat? Isn’t she older than him? That’s, like, out of the question.”

“Besides, her parents have the final say. Tuuli could be obsessed with him and it wouldn’t change a thing.”

I wore an evasive smile as everyone fought to say their piece. Lutz and I weren’t actually together, but our parents were pretty much guaranteed to set us up with each other. My heart really belonged to Mr. Benno, though my hopes of dating him had been dashed as soon as they’d revealed themselves.

Acknowledging or denying anything the others said would only lead to weird misinterpretations; the best thing I could do was wait for our lunch break to end.

Over the winter, despite my reluctance to even think about marriage, my engagement to Lutz was set in stone. Mom told me the news when I returned home to inform her she was allowed to go to the temple for the measuring.

Lutz had also been told about our engagement; he shot me a concerned glance as we made our way back to our respective stores. “Tuuli... I get that our parents have already made up their minds, but are you sure about this? My mom said we come home so rarely that the next time we see them, they’re gonna gather our families together and make the whole thing official.” He was probably asking me now so we could speak without any interference from our parents.

In truth, Lutz had noticed my crush on Mr. Benno before it had even crossed my mind. He already knew about my heartbreak and gave me advice whenever I asked for it. As it stood, he was worried how I might feel about getting married to someone else.

This can’t be easy for him. He’s fully aware that I love someone else—someone he knows.

“I knew this would happen,” I said. “I mean, I went home this winter instead of staying at the store, right?”

I’d heard that Lady Rozemyne wouldn’t be returning to the temple, and I’d needed to prepare for my own coming-of-age ceremony. My dress had to be good enough for a leherl of the Gilberta Company to wear with pride.

Nobody at the workshop can match my hairpin-making skills, but my sewing is average at best.

Of course, I meant “average” by Mrs. Corinna’s standards, which put me above the vast majority of the girls in my area. I wanted to devote more time to my sewing—there was enough competition that it wouldn’t be easy for me to be trusted with Lady Rozemyne’s clothes—but I always ended up focusing on hairpins. They were the one thing keeping me in contact with my sister; I wouldn’t let anyone take that luxury away from me.

“During my time at home, Mom told me what the other girls my age have been up to,” I said. “I still don’t want to think about marriage, but many of them are already engaged or at least dating someone.”

“Yeah, things at home are pretty different from how they are at the store.”

No other leherls or lehanges at the Gilberta Company were from the poor south of the city. Everyone at work was kind to me, but it always stung a little when something drew attention to my upbringing and education. At the same time, I’d spent enough years immersed in the world of merchants that I sometimes found it hard to relate to how things were done back home. Lutz was just about the only one who understood what I was going through.

“Well, the one thing I made clear was that I didn’t want to marry a soldier,” I noted. “That led to a discussion about who would understand my situation and support my career... and the only option we could think of was you.”

“You’re older than me, though. Does that not bother you?”

The ideal time for a woman to marry was between her coming-of-age and when she turned twenty. Men, on the other hand, usually waited until they were older than twenty and earning a stable income. Most women married men who were three to ten years older than them as a result; it was rare to see a wife who was older than her husband.

“You can pay the bride price, right?” I asked. “That was the decisive factor.”

“Oh, that... Because of all the trips I make, I get paid a traveling fee on top of my usual salary. Then there’s my income from the Plant Paper Guild and whatnot. I don’t even spend much on those trips, so I end up saving most of what I earn anyway.”

It was easy for leherls to build up savings because their stores covered most of their living costs. Lutz’s trips meant he got paid extra on top of that and wouldn’t need to buy clothes for visiting stores on the rich side of the city. As for me, I spent a fair amount of money on necessities and clothes to match my coworkers.

“So you won’t mind going ahead with this?” Lutz asked.

“It sounds better than marrying a soldier. You understand my circumstances, and our families get along well; I can’t think of anyone who would suit me better.”

I wasn’t jumping for joy at the idea, but Lutz wasn’t to blame for that—I wasn’t too keen on the thought of becoming a wife in general. On the bright side, because he was younger than me, moving things forward wouldn’t mean rushing straight into marriage. I was glad to have a little more time to think things through.

“I also wanted to ask about Master Benno,” Lutz ventured. Just hearing that man’s name soured my mood and made my heart ache. I didn’t want to speak about him—not that I had much of a choice.

“He won’t ever see me that way. I mean, think about it—we don’t suit each other at all. I can’t even imagine what our married life would be like. Do you really think I could succeed as the Plantin Company’s matriarch?”

“Dunno... I think you’d find it tough to begin with, and you’d make all sorts of small, unexpected mistakes. Not to mention, you’d need to help him run the store. You’d have to give up on a lot of the jobs you do now.”

Being the owner of the Plantin Company’s wife would make me its matriarch, not a seamstress as I was now. I would end up in the same situation as when I first joined the store—completely unsure how to act. Everyone would expect me to work for the Plantin Company’s sake, think about its future, and support my husband. I would also need to quit making hairpins; even if Mr. Benno told me I could continue, others would surely object.

“Just wanting to marry someone isn’t enough,” I said. “I admire Mr. Benno—love him, even—but I won’t let those emotions control me. I understand all too clearly that he and I don’t belong together. No matter how deeply I care for him, he won’t ever look at me the same way.”

It wasn’t like Mr. Benno reciprocated my feelings. And even if he had, the problems destined to follow our marriage would completely overshadow our romance. They weren’t the sort of problems our love would be able to conquer.

“But with you, Lutz... there’s nothing for me to complain about. I already know our families work well together, and you know as much about being a merchant as I do. It makes me wonder if you’re okay with this arrangement. Are your parents sure they want to go through with it?”

Lutz waved away the question. “My mom and dad were celebrating. ‘You’re lucky to have found someone who matches your salary and understands your situation,’ they told me. ‘Don’t let her get away.’”

“Mine said more or less the same thing. It’s hard to marry up or down in status. The dowries and such would probably bankrupt one family or the other.”

And the problems wouldn’t end with the ceremony—both sides would need to get involved when the couple had children, during baptisms, and so on. Neither my nor Lutz’s family had the capital to meet the expectations of anyone working for the Plantin or Gilberta Companies.

“But that wasn’t what I meant,” I said. “I want to know if you’re okay with marrying me despite knowing who I’m in love with.”

“I gave it a lot of thought, and... it doesn’t bother me.”

“Have you not considered marrying into a merchant family? For obvious reasons, a merchant girl wouldn’t want to marry into your family... but you could always marry into hers, right? You have years until you’re expected to take a wife. Marrying me will deprive you of so many better opportunities.”

Any decent merchants would care too much about familial ties to entrust their daughter to such a poor household, but absorbing Lutz into their family was another story entirely.

“Out of the question,” Lutz said, shaking his head without even pausing to think. “I would need to join their store, right? If not for Lady Rozemyne, I wouldn’t even have made it this far. I’ll never work for any store but the Plantin Company.”

Lutz had made paper with Myne, sold the techniques to Mr. Benno, made more paper in the temple’s workshop, and then spread printing and paper-making technologies to other provinces. They were great accomplishments, but working in the temple and taking orphans to the forest weren’t important to other merchant households—and as Lutz would refuse to reveal anything about Lady Rozemyne or the printing industry in general, he wouldn’t hold much value to them.

“So you don’t mind marrying me, then?” I asked.

“I mean, we’re in the same boat—what other choice do we have?”

“Right.”

We weren’t in love; we just happened to be the most convenient partners for each other.

Still, it’s so easy to imagine a life with him.

We wouldn’t need to push ourselves or try to act more important than we really were. Instead, we could both continue to live normally.

“Mom said we can wait until you come of age or until we feel the time is right,” I said.

Lutz was away each year from spring till autumn, and my own workload shot up as merchants from other duchies came to browse our city’s wares. We were also both underage. It seemed wise to wait for when we were of age and more comfortable with our new roles at work.

“Tuuli, what are you hoping for? Would you rather we get married soon? If not, we have enough money to wait.”

Gunilla’s advice echoed through my mind. “Hmm... Our marriage can wait, but I want us to get engaged sooner rather than later.”

“Really? How come?”

“Well, um...” My next words were hard to utter—I couldn’t shake the fear that Lutz might tell my dad—but I steeled my resolve and said them anyway. “Being from the poor part of the city and all... men see me as their plaything. Some of them are a little forceful with me; others pursue me even when their parents aren’t interested... That kind of thing.”

“Huh?! Are you serious?!”

“I went to Master Otto, who promised to speak to them for me, so I didn’t think much more about it. But I work for Lady Rozemyne, and my coming-of-age is drawing near, so I worry what merchants from other duchies might say and what might happen if more men show up to bother me. The sooner we get engaged, the better, I think.”

To merchants, engagements and marriages were akin to contracts between families. If a merchant started making moves on a woman who was already engaged, then the Merchant’s Guild would get involved. It was a problematic situation to end up in, which was why few men bothered to risk it. I could see why Gunilla and Master Otto wanted me to hurry things along.

“Couldn’t you have told me that sooner?!” Lutz exclaimed. “You haven’t mentioned this to your dad, I assume. If you had, he’d already be rushing us to get engaged.”

“He’d go crazy and start picking fights with everyone. No thanks.”

Dad was really strong and quick to act—exactly what you’d expect of a soldier. I could always rely on him when things got tough, but I needed to be careful of what I said to him; one careless remark could make him go berserk. Lutz must have understood that too because he seemed to be at a loss for words.

“I get how you feel, but isn’t Lady Rozemyne way scarier?” he asked when he eventually recovered. “I don’t even wanna imagine what she’d do if she found out some weirdo got involved with you. Knowing her, she wouldn’t hesitate to use her authority to Crush the life outta them.”

Lutz explained that he had seen Lady Rozemyne Crush several nobles when they tried to act against her Gutenbergs—and those were just the instances he’d witnessed. It was my turn to fall silent. My sister was just as passionate as Dad—and just as prone to going on rampages. She didn’t have his strength, but that didn’t matter when she had all the political power of a member of the archducal family.

“Ahaha... I sure am loved, huh?” I said, averting my eyes and scratching my cheek. It warmed my heart to know that Lady Rozemyne would protect me no matter what, though I wasn’t sure what might happen if she grew angry or impulsive. She was as much of a handful as always.

“Eesh, now I’m nervous. Wanna get all this engagement business over and done with before my trip?”

“I appreciate the thought, but isn’t that kind of rushing things?”

“Yeah, but we’d only be sharing some wine together. It’s not like we’d need to start preparing to get married right away. We’re gonna be hard-pressed to find a time we’re both free otherwise.”

Lutz was preparing for his trip to Kirnberger, while I was about to have my hands full with Lady Rozemyne’s measuring. Not to mention, my schedule was packed with hairpins to be made for the merchants arriving in the summer.

“True, true,” I said. “Mom was pretty relaxed about our engagement for the same reason.”

“If you wanna get those creeps out of your hair, then we should sort this out before I head to Kirnberger. I’ll go speak with Mr. Otto and the others.”

Lutz spoke with Master Otto and Mr. Benno, which led to a family discussion with Dad, which culminated in the decision to accelerate our engagement. We waited until the Earthday before Lutz was due to leave, then made our way home together, chatting about Lady Rozemyne all the while. She was currently away for Spring Prayer.

“I think this goes without saying, but we need to keep our engagement under wraps,” Lutz began. “We don’t want a repeat of the Johann situation, when she got so excited that she gave a blessing and passed out. There are bound to be scholars wherever she goes, and we’d end up doubly screwed if she started pestering us for answers.”

“We sure would. She’d make it so much harder for us to do our jobs. If we’re going to tell her, we should do so in advance of the Star Festival. How about three days before? If we break the news on the day of, she might go wild and cause a scene during the ceremony. Three days should give her enough time to calm down.”

“Yeah, makes sense. Even if she gets a fever, that should give her enough time to recover—and she won’t have enough time to do anything crazy.”

Our engagement would stretch on longer than most, so we decided to tell Lady Rozemyne either right before we got married or whenever she outright asked about it. We said as much to our respective bosses and asked them not to let her find out sooner. I trusted them to hold their tongues—they would feel it most if she went on another rampage, be it through an increased workload or the ruin of existing sales.

“Speaking of Lady Rozemyne, where are you keeping that charm she gave us?” Lutz asked, indicating his on his wrist.

I took a deep breath. “Um... Inside a box. Mom went to the orphanage director’s chambers shortly after we received them. I thought Dad would get jealous if he saw me wearing mine, so I stashed it in my room.” I’d assumed that Dad would get a charm for Spring Prayer and that I could take mine out then. Only... it had completely slipped my mind.

“You really should wear it. Lady Rozemyne made our charms to keep us safe.”

“You’re right. I’ll put it on as soon as I get home.”

The city was peaceful. I doubted I would need one of Lady Rozemyne’s charms, but as she’d gone out of her way to make them, there might have been trouble brewing between nobles that we didn’t know about.

“Welcome back, both of you!” Karla exclaimed with a broad smile as soon as we opened the door. “We’ve been waiting. Let’s get this show on the road, shall we?!”

The rest of Lutz’s family had gathered as well. Mr. Deid, Zasha with his family, Sieg with his fiancée, and Ralph were all right behind Karla.

“We have a whole feast ready for you,” Mom said, turning from in front of the hearth. She insisted that I “come quick,” but the circumstances made me tense up. I’d spent ages gathering my resolve for today—we would only be sharing fruit wine—but I could feel my heart racing.

“Does this mean Lutz is gonna be my older brother?” Kamil asked, happier about the engagement than anyone. Lutz brought him all sorts of picture books and toys, and having a brother-in-law in the Plantin Company would do wonders for Kamil when he joined as an apprentice.

Ralph tussled my little brother’s hair. “How about having me as your brother instead, hmm? I won’t be gone half the year, and I can take you to the forest whenever you want.”

“Huh? No thanks. Lutz is way better. If I went with you, I wouldn’t be able to play with Konrad, Dirk, and the others.” Nobody else in our little part of the city had access to karuta or any of Lady Rozemyne’s other toys, so Kamil was only able to enjoy them with others when he met with the temple kids in the forest.

“Besides, ain’t you moving to Ingo’s workshop when you come of age this spring?” Sieg asked, clapping Ralph on the shoulder and cackling. “You won’t have time to go to the forest with Kamil. How long are you gonna keep acting like a kid, eh? This is why Nanna keeps getting on your case.”

Nanna? Is she Ralph’s girlfriend?

It seemed to me that pretty much everyone was focused on relationships, marriage, and moving to a workshop once they came of age. Lutz and I were technically in the same boat, but the others seemed so much more mature for some reason.

“Can you guys work out the dowry?” Lutz asked Mr. Deid. “Tuuli and I can take care of the other payments.”

“What other payments?”

“As leherls, we have some merchant customs we need to follow for our stores. But you don’t need to worry about all that.”

From there, the conversation turned to our future living arrangements: “You better act quick. If you don’t sort your accommodation out soon, then you’re gonna run out of options!” Zasha and his wife had apparently found it a nightmare trying to secure a new home after their engagement. Sieg, on the other hand, had experienced no trouble at all.

“Well, uh, we’re leherls...” Lutz shot back. “If we ask, we can get ourselves a place above one of our stores.”

“Seriously? You leherl merchants are the worst!” Zasha groaned. He tried to grind a fist against Lutz’s head, but Lutz had grown so much that it wasn’t easy. I couldn’t help but chuckle as I watched them.

“In any case, we’re just getting engaged for now,” I said. “Marriage won’t be in the cards for a long while yet, so sorting out our accommodation can wait.”

“If you’re not in a hurry to get married, then why rush your engagement?” Ralph asked, taking a sharp tone. It must have hurt his pride that Lutz, his younger brother, was beating him to the punch. “Lutz is way too young for this. He’s even younger than Sieg was, and people said he got engaged too soon.”

“We’re rushing it because I want to,” I retorted. “Lutz agreed for my sake.”

“Does that mean—?”

“That’s enough chitchat,” Karla interjected, cutting her son short. “C’mere, Tuuli. The wine’s ready.”

I nodded and went over to them, leaving Ralph with his mouth hanging open. Dad and Mr. Deid were facing each other across the table.

“Right. This is where things get serious,” Karla said. “Tuuli, stand next to your dad. Lutz, come stand here.”

A great big smile on her face, Karla plunked a wooden cup down on the center of the table. She handed a jug of fruit wine to her husband, who accepted it and turned to Dad.

“To the start of Tuuli and Lutz’s new bond,” he said.

Mr. Deid poured some wine into the cup. Then he waited as Dad picked up his own wine and did the same. It didn’t escape my notice that Dad was frowning at Lutz the whole time.

Lutz was next. He took the jug and added to the cup. The wine represented a promise between the two families involved in the engagement. It was pretty much a vow between men, so even as one of the people getting married, the most I could do was watch.

Once the cup was full, Dad picked it up and took a hearty swig. Then he held it out to Lutz. “If you break my daughter’s heart, I’ll make you regret it.”

“C’mon, Dad,” I said. “Was that really necessary?”

“This is meant to be serious!” Karla exclaimed.

Our solemn mood vanished in an instant. Dad was unfazed and refused to change his tone; he put the cup down with a clatter before pushing it in Lutz’s direction.

Lutz accepted the wine, not at all surprised. I was so grateful to be marrying someone already used to my Dad acting out. Anyone else would probably have taken his words to heart.

“I won’t let you down,” Lutz said, then drank the rest of the wine.

And with that, our engagement was official. Food was put on the table, cups were filled with wine, and plates were handed out as everyone started to clap and congratulate us. It was time to feast.

“Lutz!” Karla said. “Oh, I’m so glad we settled all this before you married a merchant girl or moved who-knows-where and never came back.”

“At last, I can relax,” Mom added. “Tuuli, Lutz—keep an eye on your jobs and figure out when you want to get married.”

The pair knocked their cups together with huge smiles. Dad was slouched in the corner, nursing his drink.

“I still don’t agree with this!” he grumbled. “It’s way too soon...”

“Stop being ridiculous,” Karla snapped. “How can you say that when you just approved the engagement?”

“If you weren’t on board, Mr. Gunther, then you shouldn’t have mixed wine,” Zasha said. “I thought you came to an agreement over the winter.”

“It’s way too late to complain,” Sieg sighed. Then he turned to Lutz. “Man, are you gonna have that guy breathing down your neck for the rest of your life? Are you gonna be alright?”

The three of them looked totally exasperated. Meanwhile, Zasha’s and Sieg’s respective partners watched with smiles. Ralph was the only one who agreed with Dad.

“I know how you feel, Mr. Gunther. Lutz isn’t good enough for her.”

“Lutz ain’t the problem. Tuuli’s too young to be engaged!” Dad slammed his cup down. “I know it had to happen, but I’m not happy about it!”

“Gunther...” Mr. Deid said, his frustration clear on his face. “How old was Effa when you started pursuing her? How old was she when you got engaged? And when you were engaged, all you ever spoke about was marrying her right away. I shouldn’t need to say what happened next, but you—”

“That’s enough!” Dad cried. “Gah... I won’t say another word.”

Dad and Mr. Deid went way back, so the protests stopped then and there. I didn’t hear a single complaint from Dad in the days and weeks that followed.

Back at the workshop, I waited until our next break to share the news. Now that I was engaged to Lutz, other men would finally leave me alone.

“Morning, Leonie,” I said.

“Oh! You got engaged?”

“Huh? I mean, yes, but how did you know?” She hadn’t even given me a chance to say it. I must have looked more surprised than she did.

“He gave you that wristband, right?” Leonie pointed at Lady Rozemyne’s charm. Lutz had reminded me about it, but that was all. “A lot of guys have been giving their girls jewelry lately. It all started with that apprentice of the Merchant’s Guild who got engaged to a minor noble. You know about her, right? The girl from the Othmar Company.”

As it turned out, this trend among merchants had started with Freida wearing a necklace given to her by her noble fiancé.

“Nobles make gems to match their partners’ mana, but as commoners don’t have mana, guys have been matching their partners’ hair or eye color instead. Necklaces, rings, bracelets, and even brooches—all accessories are fair game as long as they don’t get in the way of the recipient’s work.”

That was all news to me. If the trend had started after Freida got engaged, then it had to be pretty recent.

“Great work, Tuuli,” Leonie said with a smile. “That should keep those creeps away!”

I tried to smile back, but I was too focused on the charm. Would it seriously stop merchant boys from bothering me?

Lutz! We didn’t even need to rush into our engagement!

I screamed on the inside. If my dad found out, he would cackle and shout, “Great! Let’s cancel the engagement, then!” Not wanting to put the others through another of his rampages, I concluded that it was probably best not to tell anyone.