NOVEL NEXT Chapter 109: Hope
Night fell across the land. The Sedaverian convoy camped outside, while King Augustus returned to his rooms at the top of the Angio castle.
Many people went to bed, but the night was not still.
A breath.
A footfall.
“Who’s there?”
King Augustus’s eyes snapped open. His fist clenched, but no lightning gathered.
ZZ-BANG!
Thud!
King Augustus lurched out of bed and grabbed his sword. “Tell me what happened!”
The door opened, revealing Prince Marcus who was currently on for him. “Don’t worry, Your Majesty.”
King Augustus stalked forward and peered outside. A body dressed in black was slumped against the wall.
An assassin! He knew this would happen! “Is he alive or dead?”
Prince Marcus shrugged. He didn’t care.
“You!” King Augustus turned to one of the castle guards. “Get Aurelia here and investigate this matter!”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The night became a lot less still in the Angio castle.
With how King Augustus ordered the guards and Princess Aurelia to search every last nook and cranny of the castle, Prince Pollux heard about the assassination attempt that morning, as one of his servants suggested that he take breakfast in his quarters instead.
“No, I will go to the dining hall,” Prince Pollux said. He wasn’t (that) scared of his father anymore.
And he wanted to see his father’s face.
Attempted assassinations were common around here. While most assassins never got as far as the door of King Augustus’s quarters, King Augustus usually didn’t care about it. Assassins were a useful excuse to persecute the alleged mastermind (whether they were guilty or not).
The way King Augustus behaved this time wasn’t usual.
Prince Pollux’s servant helped him into his new wheelchair. He directed the chair himself using the controls placed subtly in the armrests.
Being the one to directly control where he went was a huge difference from being pushed by someone else. He felt more powerful and in control than ever before.
While there were wheelchairs designed to be moved by its user, it had not seem proper for a prince. And Prince Pollux had hated the entire affair. He had hated his father, and he had hated himself.
But now…heh, who was the one making a fool of himself?
Prince Pollux arrived at the dining hall for breakfast.
King Augustus sat at the front, his eyes scanning the hall constantly, and his overall demeanour frazzled.
Princess Aurelia stood behind him with blank eyes slowly sweeping across the scene in front of her.
“Can’t you pour anything correctly? Fix your expression! You, go and get me a status update!”
The poor servants and guards hurried to obey King Augustus’s demands.
Prince Pollux bowed his head. “Your son greets His Majesty, King of Angio,” he said.
King Augustus snorted and subsequently ignored him.
Prince Pollux took his usual seat location at the dining table and kept his head down. So that his father wouldn’t see his enjoyment of his suffering.
He ate, and then after an ignored “Please excuse me, Your Majesty”, Prince Pollux left.
Aside from the day of the duel when all the princesses and princes acted as guards, Prince Pollux had never been called again. Only Princess Aurelia and Prince Marcus were given that ‘honour’.
This suited Prince Pollux perfectly. King Augustus was best kept at a distance.
After breakfast, Prince Pollux had private classes, followed by lunch, ‘free’ training time, dinner, and private time.
Classes now felt useful, and he now had things he wanted to do during his free and private time.
The more he used his new chair, the more he liked it. He kept discovering new functions, including being able to adjust the height. With this, he could view the world from a higher vantage point if he wanted. He wouldn’t need to look up so much. The chair could move very fast. It could float up and down stairs. It might even be able to fly down from the castle hill, if he was brave enough to try.
Why hadn’t he thought of a magically-powered wheelchair like this earlier?
He soon realised that the floating chair was much more complicated than it looked, with its easy controls hiding all its complexities. Unfortunately, making that exoskeleton would be even more difficult—he first needed to understand how the floating chair worked.
He found at the Earl Rosewood not only had floating carriages that were made with Prince Rian, but also floating desk chairs that he made with Prince Alexius of Sedaveria. His floating chair was essentially a combined version of those floating carriages and floating chairs.
And he heard that Earl Rosewood could fly using magic, and use any object, such as a sword, to fly upon. If Prince Pollux learnt that, maybe he could use any chair he wanted, or even ‘stand’ by floating.
His new broadened understanding of the possible uses of magic brought up something from his past.
Maybe he could have some hope about something he had previously given up on.
Maybe, instead of working on magical modes of transport, he could find a healer who could heal him. Maybe, he could be like Prince Rian, and invest in healers to research a cure.
The idea of hoping made Prince Pollux uneasy. He had been unable to find a successful healer all those years ago. All the trying, hoping, and dismal failures had thrown him into a pit of despair.
In the end, Prince Pollux put that idea of hoping aside.
It was easier to investigate the floating chair some more. It was more invigorating to learn new magic and improve his abilities, now knowing that King Augustus wasn’t even the second strongest person on the continent.
Watching that duel and receiving this wheelchair had given Prince Pollux a new sense of independence.
He didn’t want to rule Angio. He didn’t like the nobles and they didn’t like him. But now with the ability to go where he wanted to go, maybe he could prepare and finally escape this hellhole of a castle.
Now that was something he could hope for.
Duke Ignis sat on his horse, watching as the Sedaverian convoy was led away by Viscountess Venenum, out of his lands.
It was true that the Sedaverian convoy hadn’t dragged their feet. Their floating carriages were fast, smooth, quiet and efficient, and the horses pulling the normal carriages and carts did not seem to tire as quickly as the horses pulling Duke Ignis’s carriage. They were able to cross Duke Ignis’s land in one long day without complaint.
But Duke Ignis had complaints in his heart.
What he despised the most regarding the Sedaverians was how they seemed so calm, or in Prince Rian’s case, even happy.
It was as though they had planned everything and were happy about it. It was as though they didn’t care or respect King Augustus.
That Prince Rian especially, always smiling.
Duke Ignis didn’t trust a smiling royal. Prince Rian should smile less and be more serious like King Augustus and his children.
After the convoy was suitably far away, Duke Ignis nudged his horse back. He needed to return to the Capital to report.
Rian was sitting in the Imperial carriage next to Ren Xiyang—
—but it wasn’t for fun.
Rian wasn’t oblivious. Count Aegean and Duke Mauveine had cooked up a plan regarding him and Ren Xiyang.
Case in point number 1: in the morning portion of the travel, Count Aegean was tutoring them both.
Count Aegean was planning to tutor Rian, and he wanted Earl Rosewood to sit in and learn too—Earl Rosewood acted like an adult and didn’t get tutoring from anyone aside from Rian, and that was a problem!
(Rian didn’t think that was a problem, but he wouldn’t turn down time with Ren Xiyang.)
Case in point number 2: In the afternoon, Duke Mauveine came back again to ask them more questions about their plans.
(And he didn’t even ask about the marriage laws!)
Then, in the late afternoon portion of the travel, and evening after they stopped for the night, Rian didn’t have time to spend with Ren Xiyang. He had too much assigned work from Count Aegean and other things to do.
Viscountess Venenum had led them to stop at one of the manor houses of the residing noble family in this particular fief. The presiding head of the family was in the Capital, so one of the family members travelled out to this manor house to welcome them in for the night. They didn’t seem interested in talking and declined to meet with Rian. But they were still more polite than Duke Ignis, allowing the convoy to stay in the manor.
It reminded Rian that he and Ren Xiyang should meet with Viscountess Venenum regarding the local bandit problem. But throughout the trip so far, Viscountess Venenum had been distant and unapproachable. They still had a week’s travelling time together, so Rian would monitor the situation for an opportunity. In the worse case, he can approach Viscountess Venenum directly with some excuse for a meeting.
Count Aegean and Duke’s Mauveine scheme continued the next day.
Case in point number 3: that next morning, Count Aegean tutored Rian and Ren Xiyang together again.
Case in point number 4: in the afternoon, Duke Mauveine questioned them on their plans again.
Later in the day, Rian spent time with Ren Xiyang in the Imperial carriage…quietly doing their own work
Rian was internally pained.
He was starting to feel impatient.
Ren Xiyang had been glancing and looking at him a lot more lately, without saying anything. Rian felt the pressure to give him his best side at all times, but he also felt hope.
Something had changed.
Maybe he could confess right now. They had privacy. Ren Xiyang was right there, with a slight frown of concentration as he worked.
Rian’s stomach twisted nervously.
Nervously! Rian was rarely nervous.
He rejected the thought of confessing right now, and his stomach settled.
No, no, he needed a romantic set-up, a scenario where he could confess and seduce Ren Xiyang at the same time, just to be sure.
His mind wandered from his work to all the confession fantasies he had had over the last two years.
Ren Xiyang had shown time and time again that he liked farming and money.
Rian could confess by giving Ren Xiyang five chests of gold.
Rian could confess by pouring all of those gold coins in front of Ren Xiyang. He could confess by lying on top of a pile of gold coins. He could confess by lying artfully-near-naked on top of a pile of gold coins.
Or he could confess with an array of potted plants. Or perhaps while holding a garden hoe. A gold garden hoe? Should he be naked?
Which of these things would be successful?
Oh, Rian knew he was being fanciful. He didn’t have a pile of gold coins or a roomful of plants to give Ren Xiyang right now.
And the timing was unsatisfactory. He wanted to be back in Sedaveria before confessing. He wanted to have time to do things after the confession.
So in the end, Rian didn’t confess that day.
They stopped overnight at a roadside inn and continued onward the next day.
Count Aegean tutored them both again during the morning, and Duke Mauveine came to critique their plans some more in the afternoon.
And that evening, they finally reached Viscountess Venenum’s fief.
Look at this art from Klin_2_0!
Handsome! I also love Ren Xiyang's eyes XD
Now, for today’s homework question—
What should Rian do next?
A: Screw politics, and just confess!
B: Prepare marriage papers and five chests of gold and just hand them to Ren Xiyang without explanation.
C: No, no, the confession/proposal must be romantic! Prepare, set up, and find the perfect moment!
D: None of the above, answer in the comment section!