PrePub - Ascendance of a Bookworm

I'm not surprised about Ferdinand choosing to look into Alstede's memories over Detlinde. Acidity of personality aside, I'd also expect Alstede to know better. Alstede is a diligent person and was the one who actually dyed the foundation, while Detlinde is often too arrogant to recognize the gaps in (or complete lack of) knowledge and shirked that duty to her sister. If anyone had the complete knowledge, it'd be the older sister, even if Detlinde could be trusted, wasn't layered in such unpleasant memories for Ferdinand and wasn't so unpleasant a person. With Alstede being a rather meek person, she also probably had less resistence to the mental interrogation.

I wonder who they'll make the knight's commander. Cornelius is a bit young, but definitely can be trusted by Rozemyne and Ferdinand and has the support of his soon-to-be wife Leonore, who complements his skillset quite nicely with her own. Eckhart could be trusted even more by Ferdinand due to being namesworn, but his personality and propensity to extreme actions at a moment's notice and disregard of anything that isn't Ferdinand's will don't strike me as ideal for the job. Strahl already has experience on the job and would know the former Ahrensbach nobles and the lay of the land better than the two Ehrenfest boys, but would also be least familiar with either Rozemyne's or Ferdinand's way to do things and despite having amply demonstrated his allegiance and loyalty, is still less trustworthy than Rozemyne's brothers. I suppose with two former Ehrenfest nobles in charge of the duchy, putting a local, rather than yet another Ehrenfester on the top of the knight's order would probably be a good political move, to keep the other nobles mollified.

The execution magic was already scary and horrific enough without knowing the full details, but assuming the gods grant the request, even the souls of those executed are affected...