NOVEL NEXT Chapter 210: In which Rian is hard at work
It wasn’t proper for them to travel without being announced, so the entire Rosewood fief knew that Prince Rian and Prince Alexius would be visiting.
Residents by the main road kept a keen eye out for the entourage. They weren’t disappointed when their “Hail his Highnesses!” were returned with waves from the two princes.
Their “Welcome back, Earl Rosewood!” didn’t receive any return-waves. But some residents were able to spot Earl Rosewood sitting with Crown Prince Rian in the Rosewood carriage. That was extra good luck!
Upon arriving at the Rosewood manor, many of the Rosewood staff were gathered out in front to greet them.
Mrs Cooks was at the front of the crowd. She gave a good look over Ren Xiyang, and a good look over Rian.
“Good, good, they’ve been feeding you right,” she said.
“I was here last week,” Ren Xiyang said.
“I make sure Ayden is well fed, however, we’re both looking forward to your cooking,” Rian said.
Mrs Cooks’ smile widened. “You won’t be disappointed.”
Ren Xiyang and Rian mingled with various Rosewood staff all the way till dinner, while other staff entertained Alexius and his friends.
Dinner was delicious. No staff batted an eyelid when Ren Xiyang and Rian retired to bed ‘early for the night’.
(Alexius felt weird when his big brother didn’t force him to go to bed early too. He soon forgot the weirdness when Günter asked if he wanted to table-top duel after dinner. The answer was yes!)
Rian gave his Royal Guards an order to stand in place, ignored their complicated expressions, and followed Ren Xiyang into his quarters. There, they put on their disguises and headed out to enjoy the night harvest festival in Redmond, hand-in-hand and engagement rings on their fingers.
This year was more vibrant and livelier than last year. There were more hanging lanterns lighting the streets, more vendors selling a range of crafts and mouth-watering food, and more people on the streets partaking in the festival late into the night.
Rian enjoyed sharing numerous indirect kisses with Ren Xiyang via shared snack foods. They watched the entertainers, bought a small set of matching souvenirs for the night, and danced with other couples in the square.
The final song for the night was slow and sweetly romantic.
Rian’s gaze deepened as he pulled Ren Xiyang close, leading him to slowly sway with the music.
Ren Xiyang gazed back at him.
“Perhaps I’ll have you dancing somewhere more formal yet,” Rian said.
“Our wedding,” Ren Xiyang said.
Rian’s lips curved up. He leaned in the final distance and give Ren Xiyang a kiss.
I don’t want to wait any longer, Rian thought.
Then don’t, Ren Xiyang replied.
Rian blinked. “However…my plans…”
“There are advantages and disadvantages,” Ren Xiyang said. “We can deal with both options.”
Rian put on a brave face. “I’ll wait.” He didn’t want the reveal to be any less than perfect.
“Hm.”
After the dance finished, and the musicians packed up, Rian and Ren Xiyang slowly walked back.
The next morning, Ren Xiyang gave Rian, Alexius, Tierri, Adrienne and Günter a small tour of the manor grounds and nearby areas, especially pointing out the things that had changed since their last tour. Then, while Alexius and his friends went into town to enjoy the harvest festival, flanked with his Royal Guards, Ren Xiyang and Rian returned to the manor house to look through tax papers and census documents.
The population growth and income growth in the Rosewood fief was exponential. The Rosewood Group appeared to throw a lot of money in numerous social security projects, yet they clearly obtained a very good return on investment.
“If the other nobles could see these numbers, they’d be shocked,” Rian said. There was a mischievous sparkle in his eyes.
Ren Xiyang glanced at him. No telepathy was needed to understand what Rian wanted. “Go ahead and release the numbers.”
“Do you think my Imperial Parents would agree to having a public leader board?”
“The nobles will protest,” Ren Xiyang said drily. “Focus on getting the national census operational first.”
With Queen Mira’s agreement, Rian was in charge of the national census. Due to the great scale of the country, the national census was being planned to happen every five years. The Rosewood census would be a template, but they anticipated that many changes would be required to make it suitable for the entire kingdom.
To appropriately modify the census, they needed to understand the local contexts of all the fiefs in the kingdom. To run the census, they needed to coordinate with all the ruling nobles in the kingdom.
With over a thousand ruling nobles, there was many people Rian needed to talk to. Of course, he wouldn’t talk to them just about the census: he also took the opportunity to expand the reach of the healers’ association, the agricultural initiative, and Ren Xiyang’s food charity. And if Rian visited those fiefs in person, then he would also take some time to set down weather-data collection devices.
Rian put away his ideas of stimulating other nobles to work harder and returned to examining the papers Ren Xiyang had given him. Along with the collected taxes was a draft report that estimated the tax that would be collected if the Rosewood fief shifted to a new taxation system with tiered tax brackets.
Taxation was a kingdom-wide matter, so the Rosewood fief couldn’t change their local taxes without Imperial approval. Ren Xiyang hoped to show that total taxation wouldn’t decrease under the new system, while being fairer.
“Before you present this to my Imperial Mother and Father, I have some suggestions,” Rian said. “Firstly, you need to prepare some motivation before presenting the numbers. Secondly, there should be several alternative taxation systems with different parameters…”
Ren Xiyang and Rian buried their heads together to outline revisions. And oh, how convenient it was to sneak a few kisses when Yangyang’s lips were so close!
After the brief festive interlude, Ren Xiyang and the others returned to the Capital and settled back into their daily schedules.
The daylight hours became shorter and the temperature became colder.
Pollux’s legs were recovering more and more sensation.
Every morning, Pollux would have his manservant help him with basic exercise therapy.
Every afternoon, Hadrian came over to assist him into the (stationary for now) treadmill.
Hadrian was always very careful and respectful as he strapped Pollux into the harness and assisted him to a standing position.
Today, Pollux could feel the tension down to his lower legs and ankles. He felt unsteady, like he could fall any moment now. His grip on the handrails tightened.
“Your Highness, should I raise the harness higher?” Hadrian asked.
“No,” Pollux said tightly. He didn’t want to rely on it too much. He needed to work his muscles.
Hadrian nodded and stepped over to the side.
“How does everything feel? Should I adjust anything?" Hadrian asked.
“It’s fine.”
“How were your lectures today?” Hadrian asked.
“They were fine.”
Hadrian always asked him these things, and Pollux didn’t have the mental capacity to converse properly. He was trying very hard to stand up. He didn’t want to collapse the moment the harness slackened.
The end was so close. He couldn’t fail now. Pollux gritted his teeth.
Hadrian’s lips thinned.
Privately, Ayden had told him to stand facing Prince Pollux and talk to Prince Pollux to occupy his mind. The idea was that Prince Pollux needed to unconsciously learn to stand and walk.
But Hadrian wasn’t good at conversation. He would’ve had more friends if he was.
But what other things could he talk about? What would attract Prince Pollux’s attention?
The cats! If he could bring the cats in, they would definitely attract Prince Pollux’s attention. But he couldn’t do that right now, as he needed to keep an eye on Prince Pollux.
“So…did you meet any attractive women at the university?” Hadrian tried.
Prince Pollux’s gaze snapped to him. “Pardon?”
“Did you meet or see any attractive women at the university?” Hadrian repeated. He cleared his throat. “This is a common topic of conversation between men.”
“Oh. I saw a few Angian noblewomen,” Prince Pollux said. “One of them even approached me.”
Hadrian unconsciously frowned. “Is that so? Who was it?”
“Why does that matter?” Prince Pollux said, frowning back. His grip on the handrails tightened.
Hadrian stepped closer. “Your Highness, let me raise the harness and reduce the slack—”
“No!” Prince Pollux exhaled sharply. “I’m trying to focus. Just—stop talking.”
“But…Ayden told me to talk to you.”
“What?”
“Ayden told me to talk to you as you practised standing,” Hadrian said. “He said that you’ll need to learn to walk and talk at the same time.”
“Shouldn’t that wait until after I can walk?” Prince Pollux said tightly. “I can’t even stand yet!”
“Your Highness—”
“I order you to remain quiet.”
Hadrian’s stomach tightened. He gave Prince Pollux a forlorn look.
“Are you more loyal to Ayden, or are you more loyal to me?” Prince Pollux said.
But Hadrian wasn’t allowed to speak. So, the only thing he could do was to get down on one knee and kneel to Prince Pollux. He hoped it convoyed where his loyalties laid.
Pollux’s lips twisted as Hadrian knelt. What was this? Why was Hadrian being so formal. “You can speak.”
Hadrian raised his head. “Your Highness, you have my undying loyalty,” he said seriously.
“Of course, you have to say that,” Pollux said cynically.
“I hope it’s not treasonous to say that we’re good friends now,” Hadrian said.
Pollux felt something twist in his stomach.
“As both your loyal subject and your loyal friend, I wish the best for you, Your Highness. I trust in Ayden, and I trust in you. I know that you will walk again. Maybe not this month. Maybe not this year. But it will happen, sooner or later. And…” Hadrian hesitated.
“Just say it,” Pollux ordered.
“And if Ayden says I should talk to you, then I’ll try my best to talk to you.” Hadrian smiled tentatively. “Look, we’re talking right now.”
Pollux: “…”
Pollux’s legs shook and his weight fell into the harness.
Hadrian’s eyes widened. “Your Highness—!”
“Don’t worry, the harness is supporting me,” Pollux said drily. “I’ll rest for a moment and stand again.”
Hadrian nodded.
“But asking me whether I met any attractive women, really?” Pollux said.
Hadrian looked embarrassed. “I don’t know why I suddenly thought about it. We can talk about whatever you want, Your Highness.”
The room descended into silence.
Neither Pollux nor Hadrian were good conversationalists.
“Assist me,” Pollux said.
“Yes, Your Highness.” Hadrian stepped in close, his sturdy hands helping Pollux shift his weight off the harness and back onto his legs.
Ba-dump.
Pollux almost opened his mouth to talk about the recent booklets before he stopped himself. “Um, have Princess Sasha and Lady Artemis been behaving while I’m away at the university?”
Hadrian chuckled. “Mostly behaving…”
Cats was a much safer topic, and in all subsequent sessions, Hadrian brought the cats over.
After the harvest festival, Rian worked hard to compile statistics from the Rosewood fief and tax information from different fiefs around the kingdom to show the benefit of the Royal Agricultural Development and Food Security Program in increasing crop yield and thus tax. He presented his findings to his Imperial Parents, Prime Minister Duke Mauveine, and Deputy Prime Minister Marchioness Cloud, to convince them to provide more funding to expand the program.
Meanwhile, Ren Xiyang worked on setting up the gender transition clinic.
One of the managers at the Rosewood house transitioned into being the finance manager for the new clinic, on a part time basis.
Ren Xiyang had numerous meetings with both academics and senior staff at the Imperial University and the Capital Hospital. He organised a stakeholder workshop, in which he and Cassiopeia presented their plan for the clinic.
During the stakeholder workshop, a senior female healer brought up a very good point—
“If I understand the key target points of the body correctly, they’re also important in the regular function of the human body in normal men and women. Have you thought about this? This could benefit women in all stages of life and could even allow barren women to have children, correct? Oh, I’m sure there are benefits for men too.”
Ren Xiyang nodded. “You’re right. We haven’t thought about this, but it can be done. The reference healing method is flexible.”
The expanded possibilities grasped the interest of the workshop attendees.
Rian: I do so much work! But why is it never shown, only told?
Author: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Rian: This author is biased against me!
Author: *hides behind Ren Xiyang* I had to cut your scenes to fit in Ren Xiyang’s working scenes!
Ren Xiyang: …
Thanks to Lazy cat Kohaku and Rejn for the mentioning that hormones are useful for cis people too 🤣
And thanks to Hatcubed for making a comment that inspired me to make a cooking ability scale, to complement the productivity scale~
a transmigrator must introduce “new, innovative” food to their new world, it’s a basic law hahaha
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