Amalie Mainbach is the widowed sister-in-law of Wendelin Baumeister, having been married to Kurt Baumeister prior to his death.
While married to Kurt, she took his surname, Baumeister. However, after his death she chose to revert to using her maiden name, for both herself and her children, to avoid some of the stigma and ostracization associated with her deceased husband's actions.
Appearance
Personality
Amalie is a very kind and soft-spoken woman. She is abundantly aware of her social standing, and how women don't typically have a voice in matters, and therefore stays out of the matters despite being one of the best educated people in the territory.
Because of the inability to connect on an intellectual level with so many within the Baumeister Knighthood, she cherishes contact with her brother-in-law Erich, who is about as educated as her, and her other brother-in-law Wendelin, who despite being 12 years her junior, is far more knowledgeable than her. When they are away from the territory, she writes and receives letters as often as the merchant caravans allow.
Synopsis
Amalie was the daughter from another Knight peerage household, and was arranged as a wife for Kurt between the households. She was 18 at the time, making her 12 years older than Wend and six years younger than Kurt. She provided Kurt with two children, sons Karl and Oskar.
A few months after her husband's death, her father-in-law, Artur Baumeister, arranges for her to become a sex-teacher for the soon-to-be-married Wendelin, but the relationship continues as she falls in love with him, and she ultimately becomes one of his mistresses. She would eventually give birth to his daughter, Rosina.
Abilities
Amalie has normal human mana, which means she cannot use magic. At one point in the novel, Wend discovers that sexual relations with him cause the other wives to increase in mana beyond their previous upper-limits, however he notices no such increase in her mana, causing him to surmise that a person must have magical talents first to allow that effect. He is somewhat saddened that even with such a discovery she will not be able to learn magic.
- The discovery that intimate relations between magicians of different power levels allows for an increase over previous mana capacity caps is considered a critical secret that could dramatically alter politics from local to international levels if it were to become more widely known; for this reason, the only people who know about it right away are Wendelin, his wives, Amalie, his retainers Erwin and Rhodrich, Brantark, and Christoph von Armstrong; Margrave/Duke Bleichröder and King Helmut are also informed a short time later.
Amalie was raised to be able to read, write, and perform even relatively complex math calculations, and can do so at a level similar to that of fifth son Erich. Once Erich and Wend leave the domain, she and the main-village chief, Klaus are the only people at the head of the territory that can reliably do so, with Kurt's ability being particularly bad.
- The fact that she can read and write is why, in both the novel and anime, the older brothers comment to Wend while at Erich's wedding in the capital that the letter from Artur indicating they have no money to send wedding gifts was almost certainly written by Amalie.
Relationships
Kurt Baumeister
Amalie is the widowed ex-wife of Kurt. She shares two children with him.
Amalie met Kurt at the age of 18 for the first time on their wedding day. Since this was an arranged marriage between two different Knight peerages with only sporadic contact, this was not seen as unusual.
According to her own account, she was treated well by Kurt for the first three years, but then mostly ignored for the remaining six in favor of him having a mistress once she had provided him with heirs. She is not sure whether he ever really loved her or whether he stopped loving her at some point, and feels inclined to believe the truth is somewhere in the middle because since he acted like a proper and caring husband at first, but his personality suddenly turned toxic quickly.
At the time Kurt died, she was 27. She became deeply concerned for the future fate of her two children, at least one of which would have likely been heir to the Baumeister Knight peerage after Kurt.
Wendelin Baumeister
Amalie met Wend for the first time on the occasion of her wedding to Kurt. Over the next six years, she interacts with him cordially, and respects his ability to read and write, which is much better than even her own. When he leaves the territory at age 12, she gets permission from Artur to write occasional letters to be transmitted to Wend and/or Erich via the merchant groups that Duke Bleichröder sends to the territory 3 times a year.
After her husband's death, she is mostly concerned for the fate of her children, as the widow and children of an attempted assassin can expect to be judged harshly by society. Instead, Wend, who was made a count, makes a promise to her that they will be treated well. He also promises that he will bestow upon both of them a knight's peerage as the king had granted him the authority to hand out two of the peerages that were previously held by Baron Rückner and his noble allies, as they had perished while conspiring and manipulating Kurt in his attempt to kill Wend (in the novel, he promises to grant one to the older brother, with the younger brother becoming the junior commander, and all 12 noble titles of Baron Rückner's allies were granted by the king for him to distribute).
About two months after Kurt's death, Artur and Duke Bleichröder attempt to find a woman appropriate to teach Wend about sexuality before his pending marriage to his first five wives. The idea is that nobles need to be able to produce an heir, and thus need to be experienced sexually. This is particularly notable, as for more important nobles, the wedding night will be observed by a maid or servant to ensure the wedding is properly consummated. For less-important nobles, such as Artur himself, a book detailing sex is provided instead. The role of sex-teacher is typically given to a woman who is a widow, due to their experience but also because they would not be seen as having an extramarital affair. The teacher is also paid to keep the relationship secret both from society and the soon-to-be wives themselves, even though it is tacitly acknowledged by society and the wives are often aware but merely accept it. Because of this secrecy, the "arranged women" are only to be with the noble until the wedding, and both sides are expected to completely end the relationship at that point.
After failing to find any other appropriate candidates, Artur decides to ask Amalie if she would be willing to take the duty, expecting her to decline. She accepts however, due in part to her desire to see that Wend holds up his promise to confer the peerages to her children. A small, private hut is provided for their trysts. To her pleasant surprise, however, Wend actually courts her by taking her out on dates to the capital city via magic. Using magic to hide their appearances, he would buy her gifts like sensual underwear. He would also purchase luxurious furniture and decor for the hut such as curtains, a nicer bed, and a quality bath and shower. She notes that his care and attention makes her feel "like a woman again," a feeling she had been convinced was gone for good.
Because of that, they did not end their relationship once he marries, and she transitions from being his "arranged woman" to an actual mistress. Their feelings for each other progressively grow into love and affection, though their rate of contact decreases as he divides appropriate time for his wives. Wend's wives are aware of their relationship however, and Elise, as head-wife, gives her tacit consent as long as he does not spend more than one day a week with Amalie. They continue to go on dates and outings in places like Breitburg or the capital, and not just for sexual rendezvous, mirroring the same treatment he gives to all of his wives.
In time, her relationship with him eventually gains full approval of all his wives, rather than just the tacit acceptance of Elise, and she eventually moves in with them in order to remain close to Wend, while her two children she had with Kurt, were both sent to live with the Mainbach family. Amalie now serves as the Baumeister mansion's housekeeper, similar in station to the formal maids and servants but distinct in that she is not officially one of them.