PrePub - Ascendance of a Bookworm

Ever since the shrine tour, I've grown suspicious of Eglantine and find it difficult to read her. Is her shock about being called out due to genuinely having forgotten to consider the definition of joint research and that she's now a royal, rather than a Klassenberg noble, was she shocked for Rozemyne just calling her out on it, rather than eating it up like a good middle duchy noble, or was the apparent shock just acting for the sake of either covering up her own mess up or to manipulate Rozemyne?

I'm surprised that Murrenreue would be the one to try to demean Rozemyne. Immerdink was down to at least 12th or maybe even lower last year and she's picking a fight with the 8th?

Even if Rozemyne were to be demoted to archnoble, it is well known how well she gets along with her siblings and how liked and respected she is by her duchy, so it seems really stupid to try to put the verbal smackdown on her in this situation. If it had been true, it would only pour salt into the wounds of a duchy 4 or more ranks above her own, which is not a particularly wise thing to do, especially with how Ehrenfest is still clearly rising.

While Ehrenfest might have stayed at the 8th, them being treated as a winning civil war duchy surely means they are now more influencial and powerful than the previous year, in spite of the unchanged rank and a clear signal that they would have risen, if not for a deal with the royals.

Rozemyne's counterattack was quite satisfying.