Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume Short Story-2 - Chapter 9

Tuuli — Self-Awareness amid Everything

Description: A sales bonus story for Part 4 Volume 8 set during the run-up to Karin’s return to Klassenberg. It explores how marriage is seen by lower-city merchants and how Tuuli felt about Benno and Karin’s relationship.

Author’s Note: The bonus short story for the second drama CD depicted the blossoming of this first love, though Tuuli had yet to recognize it. I wrote this installment to pave the way for what comes next for her. Benno’s quite a catch, so he’s sure to have opened many women’s eyes to the world of romance.

We were seated around the fireplace, listening to the wood crackle and pop as we made a hairpin for the royal family. I glanced up from my hands and the complexly woven threads I was working with, decided that the fire needed more fuel, and then returned to my work.

“Tuuli, I’m done,” one of the leherls said. “How’s your work coming along? Think you’ll finish in time?”

“Probably. The order came earlier this year, and we already had the thread we needed, so we have more wiggle room than before.”

“Your prediction was spot-on.”

Before, we’d made these hairpins in a panicked rush, feeling as though the walls were closing in around us. This time, however, I’d expected us to receive an order from the royal family, and the atmosphere was far more relaxed as a result. We even had the leeway to chat as we worked.

“Things have been quite calm this time around, but what about next year?” one of the leherls asked, looking worried. “Aren’t you going to spend the winter with your family? Since you haven’t come of age, I mean. Is that not bound to cause problems?”

Yes, I planned to hole up at home next year to make my coming-of-age dress. My birth season was summer, so I would wear the same clothes when I eventually married. I wanted to put my all into them as a leherl of the Gilberta Company—every stitch needed to be perfect.

“You’re all going to be fine,” I said with a chuckle. “You have Gunilla.”

In terms of making hairpins, Gunilla was one of our better leherls. She was improving by the day and, as an adult, usually accompanied Mr. Benno or Mrs. Corinna when they went to the Noble’s Quarter to take hairpin orders. There wouldn’t be any issues next winter with her around. It was a relief, of course, but it also made me envious.

I need to hurry up and come of age too.

Each time she attended a meeting with nobles, Gunilla’s mastery of etiquette reached even greater heights. As it stood, she could take orders directly from members of the nobility without even batting an eye. I couldn’t shake the feeling that my position as Lady Rozemyne’s personal hairpin craftsperson was at risk.

“Given how much she relies on you, Gunilla, you might not want to get married until after Tuuli comes of age,” one of the other leherls said. “It’d be a nightmare if you both left at once!”

“As if,” another chimed in. “We’d manage just fine without them. If anything, we should all be telling Luki to quit sweating the small stuff. Like, c’mon, pop the question already! Right, Tuuli?”

Gunilla gave a slight smile. Luki was her boyfriend, but he’d said that he didn’t want to propose before his income was larger than hers. Even when two people were in love, there were plenty of obstacles on the road to marriage, it seemed.

“Speaking of marriage, I wonder what Mr. Benno plans to do. He ran this store before switching to the Plantin Company. If, as we all suspect, he’s going to get married this summer, then we should do something to celebrate. It won’t be that long before purveyors from other duchies arrive, so the sooner we start preparing ourselves, the better.”

“Married...? Oh, you mean to that girl from Klassenberg? I saw them wandering between stores this one time. They seemed real close. They’re bound to end up together—especially with how much it’d benefit Mr. Benno’s store.”

Every store in Ehrenfest knew about the Klassenberg merchant who had gone home without his daughter. And as connections to greater duchies were such a valuable source of income—so valuable that even the guildmaster clamored for them—everyone agreed that Mr. Benno would marry her for sure.

Mr. Benno, getting married...?

I’d seen him and the girl from Klassenberg—Karin—together at the end of autumn when I’d gone out to buy thread. Gunilla was right when she said they seemed close, and they certainly were a good match. Still, hearing the others go on about their potential marriage made me annoyed and a little bit anxious, for some reason.

“Lutz said otherwise,” I noted. “Mr. Benno’s looking after her for complex reasons and doesn’t intend to marry her.”

“Really? But she’s the daughter of a greater duchy’s purveyor. There’s no good reason for Mr. Benno to turn her down!”

Lutz’s word as a leherl apprentice of the Plantin Company should have carried more weight, but nobody seemed to pay it any mind. The truth didn’t matter to them—they only wanted to gossip while we worked—so they carried on as though the marriage were set in stone.

“Her name’s Karin, right? She’s a beauty—and a talented merchant too, apparently.”

“A girl from a greater duchy and the head of the Plantin Company... They’ve got so much money between them! I can’t even imagine how fancy their ceremony’s going to be.”

“If that were me, I’d order new furniture from the Ingo Workshop. He’s a Gutenberg, no?”

From there, the others started sharing which stores they’d order from when they married, which turned into excited chatter about the best stores and carpenters, which then led to them gossiping about their partners. I gave half-hearted replies while repeating Lutz’s words in my head over and over again.

Mr. Benno won’t marry a random girl from Klassenberg. No matter how attractive she might be, he’d never risk her getting access to sensitive information and putting Myne in a worse position.

Lutz had given me that reassurance when he saw how anxious I was about the rumors of Mr. Benno getting married. It really had helped to put me at ease.

I trust Lutz and Mr. Benno more than I do irresponsible gossip.

Once the royal family’s order was complete, it was time to make products for summer. We got straight to producing hairpins of all price ranges for the purveyor merchants due to arrive from other duchies. Master Otto and Mrs. Corinna had said that our hairpins were popular now, since they were new and reasonably hard to come across, but that other duchies would eventually learn to make their own. We had to sell as many as we could before then.

I was still making hairpins when winter came to an end.

“A summons for the Gutenbergs came from the temple,” Lutz said. “The High Priest is going to attend, so Master Benno wants to limit participation to select members of the Plantin and Gilberta Companies. Is there anything you want Lady Rozemyne to know? Beyond what we’ve already covered, I mean.”

This meeting would mainly be about the Gutenbergs’ long-term trip and their wishes for the upcoming Archduke Conference. Lutz said there had been a similar discussion during the sales gathering in the castle, when most of the agreements had been worked out.

“Nope, and we appreciate the Plantin Company taking the lead to protect us,” Master Otto said. “We’re in your care.”

Lutz nodded and went to leave. I moved to stop him.

“Lutz... Can you tell me what comes up during the meeting?” I asked.

“Is everything okay?”

“I mostly remember the High Priest from the you-know-what contract. The thought of any meeting that involves him makes me nervous.”

Hearing that he would be there made my breath catch in my throat. I couldn’t help but recall his quiet demand that we give up Myne and let her be reborn as a noble. I was desperate to know what he might say this time.

“I’ll need to drop by home before I go on my trip, so I’ll tell you then,” Lutz said. “As much as I can, at least.”

“Thanks.”

Relieved, I saw him off.

“Blessed be the melting of the snow. May the Goddess of Spring’s boundless magnanimity grace you all.”

Lutz arrived at the Gilberta Company with the usual seasonal greeting. Today was the day we were both going home; he wanted to see his parents before leaving for his trip, and I wanted to hear about his meeting with the High Priest.

I changed into simpler clothes than usual, at which point my colleagues all shot me bantering smiles.

“Well, aren’t you lucky having a boyfriend to walk you home!”

“Bye-bye. Make the most of your time together before he has to leave.”

Lutz and I shared a look, shrugged, and went on our way. Trying to correct them would only lead to more teasing.

No sooner had we stepped outside than the cold wind pricked my cheeks. We’d passed into spring—at least according to the calendar—but snow still covered the city’s roads. A few people were scattering ash to help it melt, and rattling wagons kicked up the resulting slush as they drove by.

“Hey, Lutz... Let’s take this alley to keep off the main street.”

“Sure. We’ll catch colds at this rate, and the fewer wagons we have to deal with, the better.”

At this time of year, continuing south from the central plaza meant having to cross any number of wagon-pullers calling out for help. Lutz wanted to avoid them as much as I did, so we turned a corner and continued on our way...

Until we spotted someone we both recognized.

“Wait, isn’t that Mr. Benno?” I exclaimed, my voice brightening.

It was rare to see him in this part of the city. I went to approach him but froze when I noticed the red-haired woman beside him. She was just tall enough to reach Mr. Benno’s shoulders and trudged along as if she’d never had to traverse a snowy road before. Mr. Benno was doing what he could to assist her.

The young woman ahead of us had to be Karin. From where we were watching them, she and Mr. Benno really did appear to be lovers. Anyone who saw them now would absolutely assume they were destined to get married.

Karin’s slow, awkward lumbering through the snow meant we quickly started catching up to them. I slowed down, trying to keep my distance, but Lutz sped up and called out.

“Master Benno! Are you going to the Merchant’s Guild?”

“Oh, Lutz. You two headed home?” Mr. Benno asked, turning to us with a grin. He stopped so suddenly that Karin almost stumbled.

“Um, Benno! That was dangerous!” she snapped. I’d guessed from the moment I’d seen her that she was as strong-willed as she was beautiful, and it seemed that I was right. She narrowed her blue eyes at him.

Um, isn’t that strange? Why is she addressing Mr. Benno so casually? She might only have a temporary employment contract, but she still works at the Plantin Company.

To add to my surprise, Mr. Benno didn’t even call her out for it. He simply said, “Whoops. My bad,” treating her reaction as though it were the most normal thing in the world. Stranger still, he didn’t seem bothered that we’d caught him out and about with Karin. I suddenly found it hard to breathe.

“So, Lutz, who’s the girl with you?” Karin asked, eyeing me curiously once she was steady on her feet. “Won’t you introduce me?”

Wasn’t she acting far too comfortable around Lutz as well...? Or maybe my anger was just getting the better of me; they were both employees of the same store.

Lutz exchanged a look with Mr. Benno, then frowned. “This is Tuuli,” he said plainly. “We’ve been friends since we were kids.”

That mustn’t have been the answer Karin wanted, as she knit her eyebrows at him. “Friends, hmm? Surely that can’t be all.” She shot me a glance, and her lips curled into the same knowing smile my coworkers always gave me. Even she thought we were a couple.

Blood rushed to my head. I’d come to terms with the others teasing Lutz and me—there was no stopping them, after all—but I didn’t want Karin yapping about us in front of Mr. Benno.

“Yes, friends,” I said. “That’s all we are.”

“Hmm, I see... Childhood friends. How nice!” Karin giggled, completely unfazed by the sharpness of my response. I couldn’t help but feel that she was treating me like a kid.

“Tuuli, this is Karin,” Mr. Benno noted, introducing her at last. “She’s the daughter of a Klassenberg merchant—and right now, she’s a Plantin Company lehange.”

“Nice to meet you,” I said. “You, um... don’t seem used to being out in the snow. Don’t you get any in Klassenberg?” Lutz had told me tales of the weather in Haldenzel, and Klassenberg was said to be even colder. I couldn’t be the only one who thought Karin’s trouble with the snow was a little suspicious.

“I don’t have my snowshoes,” she explained. “We get plenty of snow back home, of course, but we don’t see it much in our subterranean cities.”

Karin pointed at the ground, prompting me to stare down at my feet. The snow in Klassenberg was apparently so bad that its people had moved underground, largely circumventing the need to traipse through it. I couldn’t even picture such a place. Some of the bugs here in Ehrenfest made their nests in the dirt—maybe these “subterranean cities” were a massive version of that.

“So, Master Benno... You’re headed to the Merchant’s Guild, aren’t you?” Lutz asked, purposefully moving the conversation along.

I waited to hear Mr. Benno’s response, barely able to contain my nerves. If he was trying to keep Karin out of the loop, then it didn’t make sense for him to take her to an important meeting.

Mr. Benno waved dismissively and pointed to a used-clothing store. “Karin doesn’t have any clothes for spring. She’s going to buy some while I take care of business with the guild.”

As it turned out, Mr. Benno had only come along to get Karin a discount. I was glad to hear they weren’t going to the same place.

“Be careful on your way home,” Mr. Benno said to us—and with that, we went our separate ways. Lutz and I proceeded down a road where the snow lay thicker than usual, maybe because so few people came here. All was quiet except for the crunching of our footsteps.

“Whew...” Lutz exhaled. “You had me worried for a moment there, Tuuli. I thought you might let slip that you work for the Gilberta Company.”

“Huh? Would that have been a problem?”

“Hairpins are a majorly big deal to those purveyors. Once they learn to make their own, they can dominate the market for them back home. That’s why you were told not to wander around carelessly last summer, remember?”

Lutz was right. Before winter, when the purveyors had still roamed the streets, we’d been told to have someone—preferably a boy—escort us wherever we went. It had completely slipped my mind now that the visiting merchants were gone and we weren’t always being told to be careful. Karin was the daughter of a purveyor; I really should have been more cautious around her.

Instead, I was busy being mad about her treating Lutz and me as a couple in front of Mr. Benno. I need to pay more attention in the future.

“The entire Plantin Company must be on guard against Karin, huh?” I said.

“Yeah. It was always the plan for someone to escort Karin out of the store today, since we had to prepare some documents for Klassenberg. I just didn’t think Mr. Benno would do it, since he had business with the Merchant’s Guild.” There was nothing wrong with Karin seeing clothes or other such belongings, but he wanted to keep documents related to the Printing and Plant Paper Guilds well away from her.

Ooh, I see.

The moment I understood why Karin was with Mr. Benno and that the whole store was working to hide sensitive information from her, my stress vanished. I could feel my footsteps lighten with my mood.

“So, Lutz... what did the Gutenbergs discuss in the temple?”

“Well, we’re going to Leisegang next,” he said, sharing as much as he thought he could. To start with, they had apparently requested a new workshop in Leisegang’s lower city. Lady Rozemyne’s mattress had also been delivered to the temple, and the High Priest had found it so impressive that he’d ordered another. “Zack was raving about how the Verde Workshop was gonna do business with the entire archducal family.”

“Hmm... Was there a reason the High Priest had to be there?”

“He wanted to know about the feystone store and what happens when we mess up butchering feybeasts. It was stressful as heck. I was the only one who had any answers...”

Mr. Benno normally answered questions, since he was used to doing business with nobles, but neither he nor Mark ever hunted in the forest, butchered feybeasts, or patronized the feystone store. Very few craftspeople were educated on how to speak to nobles without seeming rude, so Lutz had been understandably tense when responding to the High Priest.

“You didn’t mess up or get yelled at, did you?” I asked.

“Nah, it was fine. The High Priest has been looking after Lady Rozemyne since her days as a blue shrine maiden, and he never took issue with how my mom and dad speak. He’s not the sort of person to mind if a commoner doesn’t behave exactly as nobles would expect.”

My core memories of the High Priest came from when he’d taken Myne away. Lutz, on the other hand, saw him as someone who’d generously listened to everything his family had to say and helped them stay together.

“Look...” I said. “I get how much he’s doing for Lady Rozemyne’s sake.”

It’s just hard to keep these emotions in check.

I decided to drop the matter and simply continued down the road. The lull in our conversation made the crunching of the snow all the louder. Lutz eyed me from the side, then let his mind wander.

“What did we talk about next...? Oh, right. Lady Rozemyne asked about Karin and Master Benno.”

“Really? What did Mr. Benno say?”

“He declared then and there that he won’t marry her or do anything else to disadvantage Lady Rozemyne or the archduke. At the castle, he even advised them to push for Karin’s father to be punished, both to give Ehrenfest an edge against Klassenberg and to prevent something like this from happening again.”

“Really? That’s wonderful news! Thank goodness for Mr. Benno.”

I was so glad that Lady Rozemyne had broached the subject. Thanks to her, I now had an answer to the question that was preying on my mind. Had she still been Myne, I would have given her a big hug and as many head pats as she could ever want.

I started to hum, but Lutz stayed silent. This time, I shot him a glance. He was watching me closely.

“Er, Tuuli... Do you like-like Master Benno?”

“What?”

Lutz’s question took me completely by surprise. I stared at him, dumbstruck, then burst into laughter.

“Where did that come from? I’m just worried about Lady Rozemyne and the store.”

“Really?”

“Really. Mr. Benno runs a huge store, is way older than me, and would never take an interest in someone who hasn’t even come of age. I think he’s amazing—I really do—but that’s all. Don’t be weird.”

Lutz cocked his head at me, unconvinced.

“Mr. Benno would laugh if he heard you say that out of nowhere. Don’t let anyone know you asked me, okay?”

Not that he ever would. I already knew he wasn’t the kind of boy to gossip.

The snow had finally melted when Lutz and his fellow Gutenbergs departed for Leisegang. The sun grew brighter with each passing day until, on a morning that felt distinctly like the coming of summer, the Archduke Conference began. We commoners couldn’t attend, but it had an enormous impact on our lives.

So important was the conference that a meeting was held to discuss it. I was surprised to hear that the High Priest was marrying into Ahrensbach and that Lady Rozemyne might be in danger again, but what shocked me most was a piece of news about Mr. Benno and the guildmaster. The former’s decision not to marry Karin had apparently been made without the latter’s approval, which had resulted in a fierce argument between the two. The guildmaster had wanted to force their union to strengthen Ehrenfest’s connections to a greater duchy, but Mr. Benno had borrowed the power of nobles to refuse him.

In the end, the guildmaster had turned bright red and said in no uncertain terms that Mr. Benno’s stubbornness had “cost Ehrenfest the best result for the merchantry.”

But, well, there’s no helping that. It just goes to show how little Mr. Benno wanted to marry Karin.

Once the Archduke Conference was behind us, it quickly came time for the purveyors of other duchies to arrive. Karin’s family had since been demoted, so Mr. Benno would entrust her to another purveyor from Klassenberg. Master Otto claimed the negotiations had concluded with Ehrenfest demonstrating it wasn’t at fault, securing Karin’s safe passage home, and leaving Klassenberg to settle its own problems.

And the entire time, our representatives had wielded Lady Rozemyne’s authority like a great club.

“Gotta use everything we can,” apparently.

Under normal circumstances, Master Otto was too focused on Mrs. Corinna to think about much else. But as a former traveling merchant, he knew just how dangerous it would be for a young lady like Karin to attempt the long trip back to Klassenberg alone. His concern for her seeped through his every word.

Summer ended, the wind grew colder, and the purveyors began returning to their homes. Klassenberg’s merchants had prepared to leave earlier than most, as winters in their duchy were particularly rough.

On the day that Klassenberg’s merchants gathered to depart, I got together with the others to see them go. I was a little worried that Karin wouldn’t actually leave and that she’d simply be left behind again. We were joined not only by the employees of the inns where the purveyors had stayed, members of the Merchant’s Guild, and merchants from major stores, but also by a bunch of curious onlookers.

Amid the crowd headed to the west gate, I focused my attention on Karin and Mr. Benno.

“Benno,” she said, “thank you for everything. I’m grateful to have come to Ehrenfest and glad to have spent time with the Plantin Company—not that I’ve forgiven my father for leaving me here in the first place.”

For someone who had been abandoned by her dad, turned down for marriage, and then told to return home, Karin seemed to be doing surprisingly well. Her time in Ehrenfest couldn’t have been easy on her, and she was bound to face plenty of hardships back in Klassenberg, but she still wore an unbeatable smile. Though my opinion of her hadn’t been too positive, I couldn’t deny that she was a strong and incredible woman.

“And don’t ever forgive him,” Mr. Benno said, the kindness in his dark-red eyes a silent declaration that he didn’t want her to leave. “Fight back as much as you can.” The compassion in his gaze was unlike anything I’d seen before, and it hurt so much that it felt like someone had grabbed my heart and squeezed.

Why? Why is he looking at her like that?

The answer was obvious; I just didn’t want to admit it. Mr. Benno had special feelings for her.

“So, what are you gonna do now?” he asked.

“Mm... Your dreams surpassed mine, so perhaps I’ll try to surpass yours.” Karin gave Mr. Benno a teasing smile and kissed him on the cheek, then turned and waved as she went to join the Klassenberg merchants. Mr. Benno placed a hand on his cheek and grimaced, but he never looked away from Karin as she slowly shrank into the distance.

Pain and anxiety swirled in my chest as I watched them grow farther and farther apart.

Once the merchants had departed through the west gate, the crowd returned to their normal routines. A cold autumn wind blew as Mr. Benno lowered his eyes, then finally turned around. That was when he saw me.

“Heya, Tuuli. Didn’t know you were here too.”

He was wearing his usual smile—the kind he reserved for those close to him—but it was completely devoid of the passion he’d just shown Karin. He gave me a casual pat on the head, as he’d done so many times before, only this time it did nothing to excite or embarrass me. It just made me feel pathetic.

“Don’t treat me like a kid...” I managed to say.

“Ah, right. My bad,” he said, grinning as though it were nothing. Then he went on his way.

As I watched Mr. Benno leave, I was overcome with the urge to cry. This was all wrong. I didn’t want him to treat me as his niece or whatever; I wanted the same passionate look he’d given Karin.

But it was only normal for Mr. Benno to treat me like a kid. It had never even occurred to me that he was locking away his emotions to prioritize his duties as the head of the Plantin Company. I hadn’t noticed him pushing down his love so that he wouldn’t inconvenience Lady Rozemyne or the archduke. How cruel must I have seemed for celebrating her return home and her family’s punishment?

I started to follow Mr. Benno, my eyes glued to his back. It wasn’t long before I accidentally bumped into someone—maybe because the central plaza was so crowded, or maybe because I wasn’t looking where I was going. I wobbled and barely managed to stay on my feet, but that brief distraction was enough for me to lose sight of Mr. Benno.

I sat by the fountain, somehow feeling like a lost child. There weren’t even any kids playing in the water.

“I wish I were an adult already...” I muttered. It was a senseless desire—I already knew that growing older wouldn’t change how Mr. Benno saw me. He’d met plenty of women, but he hadn’t looked at any of them in the same way that he looked at Karin. There must have been something special about her.

Still, I didn’t want to be a child anymore.

“I can’t believe I feel this way. I wish I’d never noticed.” I couldn’t stand the thought that I’d been comparing myself to Karin, envying her, seething with jealousy, and jumping for joy over her return home.

Suddenly, I remembered Lutz asking me whether I’d fallen for Mr. Benno. I probably had even back then. I must have come up with reasons to explain it away so that I wouldn’t have to face these doomed feelings of mine.

I feel so stupid. Lutz noticed so long ago.

My cheeks grew hot as I cast my eyes down. Tears fell onto my lap.

“Lutz was right,” I murmured too quietly for anyone to hear. “I do love Mr. Benno.”

As the busy crowd thronged around me, I experienced love—and heartbreak—for the very first time in my life.