NOVEL NEXT Chapter 59: Ren Xiyang reveals…
Mateo Cordovan sneered. “Well, Earl Rosewood is under His Highness Prince Rian’s protection, of course!” He hated Ayden Rosewood, he loathed him. Everything would have gone to plan if Ayden Rosewood didn’t exist!
Lucia Cordovan cried. “Nephew, nephew, how could you hate us like this?”
Ren Xiyang ignored their noisy words. None of this would have happened if they hadn’t decided to murder the Rosewoods.
A group of Imperial Prison guards surrounded the ex-Baron Cordovan and his wife. “Please remain quiet. His Majesty has given your punishment.”
The two Cordovans immediately quietened, sneaking a glance at King Edric.
“Now please stand up and come with us.” The guards escorted Mateo Cordovan and Lucia Cordovan out.
The three Cordovan children’s eyes stared at their parents until they couldn’t see them anymore. The youngest child, Felipe Cordovan, hugged his sister Susana Cordovan while crying.
King Edric descended from the front raised stage. The tension in the room broke as the Imperial Councillors and audience stood up and headed to the exits.
There had been a lot of information in this trial and a lot to gossip about! They hadn’t been able to tell that ex-Baron Cordovan had been plotting to kill the Rosewoods—Mateo Cordovan had acted normal! Both he and Lucia Cordovan had been polite, courteous nobles. And hard labour as a punishment! They had expected either execution or exile, or at least lifetime imprisonment! And Earl Rosewood was even more mysterious than they thought if even the Capital Investigators hadn’t been able to find his background! How did the late Earl Roland Rosewood do it, and why?
Cassiopeia had been sitting in the audience with her mother and brothers. Her jaw was tight. Everyone could see that there was something wrong with Earl Rosewood, right?!
Rian, meanwhile, made sure to catch Ayden before he could escape. The two coincided just outside the Parliament.
“You’re planning on leaving soon now, aren’t you?” Rian asked.
Ren Xiyang nodded. “Tomorrow. I wasn’t planning on leaving without saying anything. Are you free this evening? Come over to the Rosewood house and I’ll make dinner.”
“Yes,” Rian immediately agreed. “Regardless of my schedule, I’ll be there.”
That evening, an Imperial carriage arrived at the Rosewood Capital House.
Rian stepped out, looking quite proud of himself. He brightened further when he saw Earl Rosewood waiting for him at the door (along with his aide, Kel).
“Good evening, your Highness.”
“Good evening, Earl Rosewood. Before you leave, I want to give you some things.” Rian signalled to his servant. The servant took a pile of gift boxes out from the carriage.
“Kel, help him take those up to my rooms,” Ren Xiyang said.
Kel nodded. “Yes, my Lord.”
“Your Highness, are you hungry?”
Rian smiled. “I am.”
And so, Earl Rosewood cooked in the kitchens at the Rosewood Capital House while Prince Rian watched in interest. Now the Rosewood cooks at the Capital house had the opportunity to feel perplexed and stunned and confused!
Ren Xiyang didn’t have the full suite of Asian ingredients he was slowly building up at the Rosewood fief, so instead, he decided to make sourdough pizza, with sourdough he had prepared right after he returned from the trial. With his fire magic, the pizzas were cooked in under three minutes. He made some extras for the Rosewood staff.
He and Rian headed up to his rooms to eat. The pile of gifts had been placed in the front room.
Once the door closed and Rian cast his privacy spell, he said promptly, “By the way, I have spurned my Imperial Mother for you.”
“Oh? Then I hope this pizza is worth it, Your Highness.”
Rian took his first bite, and he fell in love. Crispy on the bottom, soft on the top, with decadent rich toppings!
He seriously considered whether he should have one of the Imperial Palace cooks frequently ‘visiting’ the Rosewood summer manor so that they could cook this kind of food for the Imperial Palace too.
He ate two slices from the three different pizzas that Earl Rosewood had made before he slowed down to talk.
“So, you requested gold at this morning’s trial,” Rian said with a meaningful look.
“And the King granted it.”
Rian pursed his lips slightly. “Mateo Cordovan and Lucia Cordovan will hate you for life. My Imperial Father has used you as a cover to punish them for treason too.”
Earl Rosewood had requested community service, but King Edric had set down hard labour. Mateo Cordovan and Lucia Cordovan were the kind of people who bullied the weak and feared the strong. Earl Rosewood was strong, but he was an easier target to hate than King Edric Azure.
“I don’t care if they hate me and dream of killing me,” Ren Xiyang said calmly. “As long as they don’t try it again. Have this slice next.”
Rian put aside politics for food. “Hm, delicious!”
After eating pizza and a refreshing sorbet dessert, a Rosewood servant cleared away the dishes. The Royal Guards standing outside Earl Rosewood’s suite looked in.
“Your Highness, will you be departing soon?”
“No, not yet,” Rian said simply. He closed the door again, locked it, and cast a different privacy spell.
“What about my sleep?” Ren Xiyang asked. He slouched lazily on his favourite sofa.
“Before that, go and open your gifts,” Rian ordered.
Ren Xiyang didn’t move. “Are you trying to bribe me, Your Highness?”
“Well, maybe you should decline any forthcoming duels from other people—”
“Who am I to deny other people’s defeat?” Ren Xiyang said.
“If Duke Storm challenges you, you’d lose,” Rian said.
“But would he?”
“No,” Rian reluctantly admitted. Duke Storm was the head of the elite offensive lightning mages, and he was too busy on military matters to challenge Earl Rosewood to a duel.
“Those who can truly defeat me do not care to challenge me. The ones who would challenge me are those who think they can defeat me,” Ren Xiyang said.
Rian narrowed his eyes. “What are you implying about me?”
Ren Xiyang smiled slightly in response.
Rian snorted. “We’ll have a private duel, and then we’d see who loses and who wins.”
Ren Xiyang stood up and walked over to the pile of presents. “You haven’t given me more clothes, have you?”
Rian suspiciously cleared his throat. “Have I?” He walked over to Earl Rosewood’s side. “Come on, open them up.”
Ren Xiyang indulged the ‘domineering’ prince. He opened the various boxes, finding books, a magical green jewel that improved plant magic casting, and indeed, more clothes.
“You really shouldn’t have,” Ren Xiyang said drily.
“That’s not all,” Rian said. He picked up one of the books. “Given my actions lately, my Imperial Father ma have become suspicious,” he said lightly. He opened the book. Inside, instead of proper pages, there was a small mirror on a bed of velvet. “This functions like a crystal ball. But, it is strictly only connected with my equivalent mirror, improving their security. Just in case my Imperial Father decides to do something, you understand.”
Ren Xiyang raised an eyebrow.
Rian gave the instructions for use and taught Earl Rosewood some improved privacy spells.
Then, he placed the mirror back in the false book and closed it. “Now, only I can open this right now. Place your hand on the book.”
Ren Xiyang placed his hand on the front cover of the book. Rian placed his other hand on top and said a small spell. This way, only Ren Xiyang or Rian could open the book and reveal the communication mirror inside.
“Thank you, I’m in debt to you,” Ren Xiyang said sincerely. He knew that crystal balls were extremely expensive, and this must have been even more expensive.
“In debt to me? I’ll be leaving to speak to the nobles about your agricultural innovations sometime in the next few weeks. It would be great if you can return to the Capital for it,” Rian said.
“It’s almost harvest time, I’m too busy,” Ren Xiyang declined. “You can have the mirror back.”
Rian narrowed his eyes. “Perhaps my Imperial Mother is correct, you want to betray me!”
“Or better, you can come to the Rosewood fief during the Harvest festival. There should be plenty of food.”
Oh, Rian thought, that was a better idea, especially since it meant Rian could get away from his Imperial parents’ direct eyes. “Are you planning to cook something new then?”
The two of them moved back to the sofas.
“Some of the cultures in my previous world had many mid-autumn, harvest-time dishes,” Ren Xiyang mused. “There are many things I could choose from, provided I remember their recipes.”
“Were you a cook or chef in your previous world?”
“As a hobby. I was an agricultural scientist, working on how to optimise growing conditions for crops, minimising environmental impact and maximising yield and nutritional content and so forth. Not quite a farmer, but close. I did participate in some farming during the apocalypse, though.”
“Oh, really?” Rian blinked in surprise, unconsciously leaning forward.
“Say, your job description is to rule over fiefs and kingdoms. You can rule the Rosewood fief and I’ll return to my previous job,” Ren Xiyang said.
Rian raised his eyebrows in scepticism. “Don’t you dare try to weasel out of working, Earl Rosewood!” He propped his arm on the sofa arm and rested his chin upon his hand. “Tell me more about your previous life. I don’t want to hear about your peculiar technology. I want to hear about you, about your background, everything. You know what my childhood was like—is like—but what was yours like?”
Ren Xiyang’s heart jumped a nervous beat, his body tensing slightly. His previous life? His childhood?
He glanced at Rian’s relaxed, warm gaze.
Maybe right now was a good time.
Rian gave him a look. “Do I need to bribe you for further information? No, wait, let me guess. You must have had straight black hair previously, correct? That’s why you’ve dyed your hair now.”
“It’s because red hair would make me look too much like a main character,” Ren Xiyang deadpanned.
“Pfft,” Rian gave a short laugh. “Afraid you’d become a love interest?”
“Would you like to fight with your brother over the female lead, Your Highness?”
“Do not even entertain the thought, Earl Rosewood! Now, were your eyes black in your previous world too?” His guess was based on the fact that the majority of people had matching hair and eye colours.
“No, they were dark brown.” Ren Xiyang took in a steadying breath, trying to calm his inexplicable nervousness. “And my name wasn’t ‘Ayden’ either.”
Rian’s eyes widened. “What?! It’s not Ayden? No, I’m not going to try to guess.”
“It’s Ren Xiyang,” Ren Xiyang said.
“Ren Xiyang,” Rian repeated, his tongue twisting over the unfamiliar sounds and accent. It sounded foreign. “So I should call you Ren in private?”
“Some names in my previous world were ordered differently. ‘Ren’ is my family name, while Xiyang is my given name.”
“Xiyang,” Rian said. “Xiyang. Ren Xiyang. Then ‘Ayden’ was the name of the person, of the body, that you took… Ayden, who was the child of Roland and Marie Rosewood.” Rian’s lips curved up. “Now, Xiyang, is there any more world-shattering information you want to tell me?”
Ren Xiyang felt a conflicting sense of disjointedness and closeness from hearing Rian address him as ‘Xiyang’.
Perhaps it had been too long since Ren Xiyang had heard his name out loud, or perhaps it was because Rian hadn’t gotten the sounds and accent quite right.
But hearing his name also felt more direct and familiar, like one more barrier was being removed between them, like Rian was now talking to him, instead of to the Earl Rosewood persona. There was none of the slightly off feeling of being called ‘Ayden Rosewood’.
When Ren Xiyang first came to this world, he didn’t feel any sense of belonging and connection to the world. He only felt a grudging responsibility.
But slowly, over the days, weeks, and months, he worked with and became friends with Rian and Kel and many others. These connections with people in turn connected him to the world. And Rian was the strongest of those relationships. He was the closest friend he had, in both this world and the last.
Ren Xiyang sighed slightly. He consciously leaned back in a relaxed position, even though his heart was thudding faster and faster as he approached the proverbial edge, the line between lying by omission and the truth.
“You’re right, there’s more.”
Rian looked expectant and exasperated at the same time. “Xiyang, you’re an infinite library of world-shattering information.”
Ren Xiyang didn’t smile. “It’s not something that should be told to anyone outside this room.”
Rian’s liveliness turned to seriousness. His casual sitting posture became upright again. “I understand.”
Ren Xiyang arranged his thoughts and words.
Rian waited patiently. The longer Ren Xiyang took, the more serious Rian became.
Finally, Ren Xiyang spoke.
“Roland and Marie Rosewood didn’t have a son named Ayden. They only had two children, Silas and Alyssa. In the novel, in your first life, all of the Rosewoods died except for Alyssa. In a technical sense, that is true in this life too. So, I died in my previous world, and I came over to this world, taking over Alyssa Rosewood’s body.”
Rian sucked in a sharp breath as his mind whirred. Multiple implications popped into this head, all fighting each other for importance.
Ren Xiyang’s rapid heartbeat slowed down. Rian was taking it well; it was also quite nice to see him speechless.
Finally, Rian gathered a coherent line of thought in his head and was able to speak. “So…so that’s why you were found to be the blood child of both Roland Rosewood and Marie Rosewood. Because you were Alyssa. There was no secret pregnancy twelve years ago at all! Marie Rosewood never had a secret pregnancy, and Roland Rosewood never hid you so tightly that the Capital Investigators couldn’t even find out!”
“Hm,” Ren Xiyang agreed.
“You must know that many nobles have thought about how Roland and Marie Rosewood had done it,” Rian said sternly.
Ren Xiyang raised an eyebrow. “Oh.”
Rian huffed. “And Alyssa is meant to be ten years old. Then you’re ten too, that’s why you look so small!”
“I was almost thirty when I died,” Ren Xiyang countered. “I’m technically older than you.”
Rian’s gaze became complex. “…And you’re now in a girl’s body. That must be a big change.”
“Being in someone else’s body is a big change enough,” Ren Xiyang said drily.
“True,” Rian conceded. While he had returned to his own younger body, Ayden—no, Ren Xiyang—had come from a different world altogether. But there was still a clear problem. He frowned. “But then, what are you planning to do as you grow up?”
Rian suddenly had a bad (?) premonition when Ren Xiyang’s lips curved up slightly.
Rian: (@o@) *mind blown*
Ren Xiyang: *sips his tea* Heh, I did it again. And there’s more ^_^
Rian: Σ(°ロ°)
Meanwhile, Queen Mira: “...………..Prince Rian is where now?”