Aww, it looks like Aisha is buying her own rope to hang herself with. How sweet. Now the question will be once she embarrasses herself, will her lovely and devoted brother stay with her or drop her like a hot potato?
This series got bad habit of taking extended break when preparing new volume. This time it’s not even new volume.
Let’s see how long this group last doing the cursed series until real life caught up to them like the previous... 3 groups.
Not low-ranking, but just not important enough to bother.
Similar to Hayate’s explanation above.
Serena’s father does international business, so he put priority on international engagements. He did socialise, but not with his neighbours.
Serena’s mother is a recluse who doesn’t want to go to those mentally exhausting ladies gathering.
But network of allies are important because you can cover each other’s back, or coordinate to harass your enemies. They can also petition the king together.
In their view, if conflict breaks, Violets will have to defend themselves on their own. Normally, even a single ducal family won’t be able to do much if dozen of other lords make decisions that “happens to be harming” for the Violets. When the King have to be arbiter, he would rather cut off one ducal family rather than risking mutiny from many other territories.
They never expect the Violet’s influence abroad is enough to embargo their kingdom and this got nothing to do with their rank directly.
And their neutrality makes them difficult/not interesting as ally.
Just don’t bother them and they’re neither beneficial nor harmful.
Also, practically dukes aren’t always the most powerful.
Margraves (border guards) are allowed to amass powerful military force because they need to quickly respond to neighbour’s invasion. So they’re held in high regards. There are also earls who hold important national posts (such as minister).
Dukes’ can just be historical, such as being closest aides of the kingdom founder hero-king, or being relatives of the royal family (Narou type stories often use these kind of set up). But that’s just tradition, power map change with time.
Just wanted to add that historically, margraves usually had the right to hold land they win in battle. So their power is generally second only to the king.
In terms of the lore surrounding that. Iirc…
From the novel
Their family is neutral in terms of factions. The reasons I believe why they are “low-ranking” is because they don’t interact much with the other noble families because of that neutrality and that whole issue of them adopting a commoner.
They basically stayed out of the whole first prince faction second prince faction mess for the most part.
It was only because MC’s somewhat dumb mom accepting her adopted daughter being engaged to the second prince at the time that caused the first prince to get close to MC. So that the family stays neutral. And that tense status quo happened until second prince lost his position and adopted daughter got sent to convenant.
Nobles in these settings have kind of social ranks based on who they have social and/or family ties with. Noble families knows who has ties with who and the whole complicated mess that is when it comes to alliances, feuds, etc. And since MC’s family refuses to do that, its mainly why they are considered “low ranking” because many would stupidly think that MC’s family was “too good” to mingle with the lower noble houses because they are a ducal family. Also another reason is because as a ducal family, adopted members are supposed to be from other noble houses by some kind of agreement between families or their own branch families. Not commoner children that one parent decides to adopt on the whim. So another reason for the “low ranking” since they adopted a commoner with no blood ties a noble family.