Scary Guy, Bad Guy, Reckless Guy (2)
The newspaper article was only the tip of the iceberg.From what he'd read in the manuscript, by the time the press restrictions were lifted, the survey and valuation of the mine's reserves had already been completed.
"If things have come this far, then the talk about building a train station must already be circulating under the surface. Perfect. The timing's just right."
Cleio didn't care that the newspaper in his hand was crumpling as he grinned from ear to ear.
If the future went as expected, he would soon receive an enormous windfall.
"Not only will I be the landowner, but I'll be collecting rent too. I should tell Mrs. Canton to keep an eye out for any letters or telegrams."
At this rate, he would soon hear from Chell's mother — the hotel queen, Katarina Tampette de Neige.
"Hopefully, the land prices will have risen enough by then. I'll make sure to charge a hefty rent."
After carefully reading the article about the Tifraum Mine, he skimmed the rest of the newspaper.
For someone who didn't yet know all the fine details of this world, reading the paper was quite educational.
Today's front-page photo showed Crown Prince Melchior visiting the military camp of the Viscounty of Kishion.
He was said to have commended the brave soldiers guarding the border, bestowed special bonuses for their service, and so on.
"So even royalty do the same kind of PR work as politicians."
In the picture, the crown prince, smiling among the soldiers, stood taller than most. His hair looked lighter, though the rough printing made it hard to make out his features.
Cleio found the perfectly aligned military camp behind the people far more striking.
"The soldiers must've worked their butts off weeding and cleaning just for this photo. Tsk, tsk."
That was when—
Bang!
Dione came dashing down the hall and threw open the bedroom door.
With a large black-and-white striped ribbon on one shoulder and a dress cut snugly from waist to knee, she looked as radiant as a freshly bloomed flower.
As she hurried forward, her wide skirt fluttered brightly around her knees.
"Cleio! Cleio! Cleio!"
Setting the newspaper aside, Cleio answered flatly,
"You only need to call me once to get my attention."
"I thought you might still be sleeping, so I made sure to wake you properly!"
"It's still morning. How is that oversleeping?"
"Other people are already eating lunch! If you want to get rid of that month-long country bumpkin air, you're already late! Get up right now and take a bath first!"
"Ugh… you're not making me go through that again, are you?"
Remembering what happened before Novantes' party, Cleio hunched his shoulders defensively.
Dione's voice rose another pitch.
"What do you mean that again?! Are you planning to show up at His Majesty's birthday banquet looking like a beggar? And with that filthy long hair?!"
"I was just too absorbed in my magic studies to get a haircut…"
"Enough excuses! Up and into the bath in ten seconds! Ten, nine, eight, seven—"
It was a battle he couldn't win.
Cleio quickly climbed out of bed and slipped into the bathroom—if he didn't, Dione might very well come in to supervise the washing herself.
"Hahahahaha! Lady Dione really is a great woman."
"Will you stop laughing already? What's so funny?"
"Come on, she worked a miracle here! I should be singing her praises even louder! Your tutor must have hands blessed by the gods!"
Across the carriage, sprawled out with one leg resting on his knee, Arthur was chuckling uncontrollably.
"Gods' hands or not, this outfit's so tight I can barely breathe."
"Think of it like wearing armor to the battlefield. If you show up improperly dressed, you'll attract the wrong kind of attention. People will gossip about it for thirty years! You should bow to Lady Dione in gratitude."
Cleio, sighing heavily, wanted to tear off his stiff gloves and waistcoat right that second.
Apparently, the dinner suit from the last party hadn't been enough for Dione—she had brought an even more complicated outfit this time, full of buttons and layers he'd never seen before.
"Why do men's clothes have so many damn pieces?"
The stiff cuffs itched at his wrists, the high collar choked his neck, and worst of all was the ribbon tying off his ponytail under the top hat.
That part was downright humiliating.
This time Dione had been even more merciless than before, finishing him off with a silver silk bow tie and a matching ribbon.
When he tried to escape, she had ended up shouting at the top of her lungs—
"If you hate it that much, you should've gotten a haircut sooner!!!"
"I could still go into town—"
"It's the King's birthday today! Any decent barber's been summoned to the nobles' houses. You think there's a single open shop left?!"
Remembering that exchange, Cleio leaned his forehead against the rattling carriage window, grimacing.
"Stop acting embarrassed. It's better this way—you'll blend into the crowd at the ball."
"You're dressed like that, though. Why didn't Dione throw a fit about your clothes?"
Even though they were riding in a six-seater carriage bearing the royal insignia, Arthur's outfit was so plain it was nearly shabby.
He wore the same wrinkled jacket, scuffed boots, and even his old sword belt.
"I'm not going into the main hall. I only came to the capital as your escort. Honestly, having a prince as your bodyguard—you've really made it big."
"You're the one who insisted on coming. Don't twist it."
Cleio glanced at Arthur, scratching his head with a sheepish grin.
"He clearly used me as an excuse to run away from the viscounty. If he'd stayed in Kishion territory, he'd have run right into Melchior."
Shuliman Kishion, the Viscount of Kishion and father of Isiel Kishion, was the first noble to openly support Arthur.
The Kishion lands, home to the royal family's summer palace, were Arthur's stronghold and childhood home.
Cleio recalled the newspaper article he'd read that morning.
"So Melchior's visit to the viscounty at this exact time wasn't just for encouragement. He must've gone to sniff out what the Viscount and Arthur are plotting. The crown prince really has good instincts."
"How did you know?"
"Your patterns are predictable."
"So, you've come to know me quite well."
"Don't say it like that—it's creepy. You're just a simple-minded person, that's all. Anyway, isn't Isiel coming to the ball too?"
Cleio lifted the curtain covering the carriage window slightly.Mounted on horseback and keeping vigilant watch ahead with her usual upright posture, Isiel was still wearing her school uniform.
"The Viscount of Kishion is going, so of course Isiel has to go too."
"Is it even allowed to wear a uniform to a royal banquet?"
The uniform of the Royal Capital Defense Academy was the same for both male and female students—white shirt, dark gray tie, light gray vest, and black jacket and pants.Although skirts were permitted for female students, Isiel always wore the pants version.
"Hey, you and Isiel aren't in the same position. She's making a statement by wearing that uniform. It's going to draw a lot of attention."
"Why?"
"She's declaring that she's a student of the Capital Defense Academy—and a swordswoman. She's cutting off the idiots' filthy gossip before it even starts."
"Filthy gossip…?"
Arthur tapped his temple lightly with a look of pity.
"Use that smart head of yours. It's hard enough for a woman to become a knight, but if she's seen hanging around a guy like me, what kind of dirty things do you think people say?"
"They say things like that about you two?"
Cleio activated his [Memory] and quickly recalled the manuscript.Yes, there had been noble families spreading filthy rumors about the stunningly beautiful girl who followed a notorious, delinquent prince around.
'Right, I'd forgotten about those scumbags since they all got brutally wiped out anyway.'
"No matter how things stand politically, the Viscount's family still has the status to intermarry with the royal family."
"Even so, anyone who actually sees Isiel and you together would know that's absurd."
"My point exactly. We've known each other since we were little kids, training under the same swordmaster—sweating, crying, throwing up from exhaustion, all of it. She's like a sister to me."
Even though the street was noisy and the wheels rumbled loud, Arthur lowered his voice.
"People don't know this yet, but Isiel swore her knight's oath to me when she was twelve.Since then, she's gone everywhere with me and endured every humiliation imaginable.It'll take decades to avenge all the wrongs done to her."
The prince, who had grown up confined to the royal family's summer palace in the Kishion territory, had been discovered by the viscount's sword instructor by chance—and that's how he and Isiel began learning the sword together.
The manuscript had only briefly mentioned their childhoods, so Cleio hadn't known such detailed circumstances.
Seeing Cleio listen with genuine attention, Arthur spoke without his usual mischief.
"Just as Isiel swore loyalty to me, I made an [Oath] to treat her as a knight—nothing more, nothing less. A pure, noble knight. And I swore to ensure she inherits what she rightfully deserves."
Cleio's jaw dropped.
"You don't mean… you made that [Oath] with Ether words, did you?"
"Of course I did."
The [Oath] was a vow knights made to the king after completing their apprenticeship and being officially knighted.For a lord to make such an oath to a knight was unprecedented—something that hadn't even appeared in the manuscript.
It changed how Cleio saw Arthur Leogunan.
"Because the House of Lords and my father ganged up to enact an inheritance law that stripped Dame Rosa Fehite of her lands, Isiel was barred from inheriting her own territory. That needs to be set right."
"Rosa Fehite… the swordsmanship professor at the academy? What does she have to do with that law?"
"What, you've never heard of the Rose Rebellion? That was only twenty-seven years ago."
"I know of the Rose Rebellion. It was tied to your father's coronation… wasn't it?"
Cleio chose his words carefully—it was, after all, the story of Arthur's father murdering his own brother.
'That was when Philip stabbed his brother Edward and seized the throne, right? I remember that much from the manuscript.'
"You don't know the full story then?"
"No. How would I?"
"Well, I suppose that's fair. It's one of the darkest stains in the Riognan royal family's history.So listen carefully—because it's the mess my father made, and now I've got to clean it up."
Arthur pulled back the curtain, gauged the distance to the royal castle, then let it fall again before continuing quickly.
King Philip hadn't been the firstborn—nor had he ever sought the throne.
Thirty-two years ago, when the late King Edward ascended, everyone believed his wise and capable reign would last a long time.
But only a few years later, Edward fell into madness. Philip, with the unanimous consent of the House of Lords, deposed his brother.
They called it a deposition, but in truth, it was murder.
At that time, the commander of the Capital Defense Knights was none other than Rosa Fehite.Even though Edward had lost his sanity, she opposed taking the life of the anointed king.
Guarding the tower where Edward was imprisoned, Rosa found herself crossing swords with her own knights who had chosen to side with Philip.
Unable to kill the subordinates she had personally trained, Rosa was defeated.She lost her left eye at the hands of her vice-commander, Pierce Clagen.
It wasn't that she lacked skill—her mercy and humanity had dulled her blade.
After Philip seized the throne, Rosa retired under the guise of resignation—but in truth, she had been exiled from power.
To legally strip her of her fief, a new law was created: The Amended Clause on Martial Inheritance, which prohibited women from inheriting military commands or knightly orders.
The Fehite territory was transferred to a distant relative, and Rosa remained only as an academy instructor.
"When we were twelve, Viscount Shuliman Kishion was ordered by the King and the House of Lords to bring in a male cousin to replace Isiel as heir. The Viscount resisted for as long as he could, but what could he do against that kind of pressure?"
It really was a disgusting law.Thinking of Isiel's record in the manuscript—her skill and loyalty—it was absurd that someone like her could be denied inheritance because of politics.
'Though, ironically, it's that injustice that made her Arthur's most loyal knight. I'd just assumed the "no female heirs" thing was standard medieval fantasy stuff… but there was an actual story behind it.'
Arthur sought the throne.Isiel sought to reclaim her family's estate and command of the Eastern Army.And so, the two had sworn a lifelong oath together.
"Tell me that's not insane. Isiel's the greatest swordswoman of our generation. There's no one her age in the East who can match her. When I become king, I'll abolish that damn law for good."
When he finished, Arthur fell silent, as if to say, the rest is for you to judge.
Cleio looked at him with new eyes.
Arthur wasn't striving for the throne out of mere defiance toward his brother—He desired the crown as a means to set right what was wrong.