NOVEL NEXT Chapter 61: Anonymous hate, in this economy?
After Ren Xiyang examined the fields, he returned to the Rosewood manor to attend numerous meetings.
There were many projects to catch up on.
He met with the council of workers across the estate and planned out the distribution of the gold Anthony Fulvous gave him. He met with the waste-improvement task-force and gave them directions for improvements to health and safety for the waste collectors. He met with the people in charge of the tofu factory and provided input on production quantity and new soybean based products they could produce.
He even met with Rian in the evening before bed and advised him on agricultural science.
And there were meetings on the next day and the next and the next.
He met with the teaching staff to plan the extended curriculum. He met with the farming staff to plan the temporary hires needed for the upcoming harvest and understand the current food storage options. He met with the soap-making staff and provided ideas on different scents and additives and branding. He met with carpenters and blacksmiths to plan the next technologies to create. He met with the kitchen staff involved in the charity lunches to analyse the trajectory of growth and required funds over time.…
Rian was also busy. His study room door was almost always open for all the different tutors that would come throughout the day to teach him.
(It was as if his Imperial parents and Count Aegean wanted him to be so busy that he forgot about Ren Xiyang.)
(His late-night chats with Ren Xiyang using their special communication mirrors every few days became his time to unwind between going to sleep.)
Not long after Ren Xiyang left, Rian held a conference on agricultural advancements with Viscountess Sage at the Imperial Palace. They showed the plough and the four-crop system, and the fertilisation process.
However, not all the nobles attended, and many that attended didn’t seemed interested beyond standard politeness.
Technically, Rian had minimally fulfilled his Imperial Father’s task. However, he wasn’t satisfied. Many nobles didn’t care about the minutiae of farming—they merely reaped the benefits. To truly improve agriculture across Sedaveria, Rian would need to talk to the people who cared—the farmers in the fields. This meant he needed to travel around the kingdom to visit at least some of the fiefs.
It was more work on the surface: he had to pick which fiefs to visit, he had to plan the route, and he had to notify each relevant noble family. However, it was also a good excuse for him to leave the Capital and his Imperial parents’ intensely watchful eyes.
Before he could go travelling though, he had to continue organising the catering for the next social event in two weeks. Since the menu included new food from the Rosewood fief, it gave him yet more reason to speak with Earl Rosewood.
With everything on his plate, Rian was perplexed to receive an anonymous letter one morning.
The Royal Office of Postage handled the delivery of low-to-moderate security letters. If high-security information needed to be sent, a noble would typically send their own messengers.
His Imperial Parents received frequent anonymous letters through the Royal Office of Postage. However, Rian didn’t receive many letters, and even if he did, much of it was sorted before he could see it.
Before breakfast, as Rian was getting ready, one of his servants would present him with any new letters from other nobles or noble children. However, this time, a Royal Guard also came in, holding a letter.
“Your Highness, you were sent an anonymous letter. We have checked this letter multiple times, but there are no malicious spells, despite the content. Normally, we would not waste your time with a baseless anonymous letter. However, due to its topic, we believe you might be interested in it, your Highness.”
Rian took the letter. It was a half-sheet of paper, roughly torn. The handwriting was oddly neat, with the same letters being identical across the page. He narrowed his eyes.
ARE YOU BLIND? AYDEN ROSEWOOD IS CLEARLY NOT SAD AT ALL ABOUT HIS “FAMILY” BECAUSE THEY’RE NOT HIS FAMILY! AYDEN ROSEWOOD IS A FAKE! HE IS AN ENEMY SPY! DON’T BE BLINDED STUPID BY HIS ACT! THERE IS CLEARLY SOMETHING WRONG WITH HIS ORIGIN!!!!
Rian’s eyes darkened.
There had been many rumours about ‘Ayden Rosewood’ since his sudden appearance; the contents of this letter weren’t particularly out-of-the-ordinary. Earl Rosewood had enemies; Rian had enemies. That wasn’t surprising.
But what kind of enemy would send an anonymous letter like this? Most of the rumours about Earl Rosewood’s lineage had died after the bloodline testing—believing otherwise was directly insulting Imperial Councillor Blewitt.
And sending such a letter like this to him, someone who was publicly Earl Rosewood’s friend, did this person want to offend him too?
Rian looked back at up the Royal Guard. “Has it been traced?”
“Not yet, your Highness.”
“See if anyone else has received similar anonymous letters.”
“Yes, your Highness, I’ll find out right away!”
After the Royal Guard left, Rian put the letter away.
That night, after all the servants were gone, Rian pulled out his communication mirror and connected with Ren Xiyang’s.
“Hi,” came Ren Xiyang’s voice.
Rian pouted. “Why is the mirror dark? Is that your ceiling?”
“I’m lying in bed.”
Rian: “…” He was properly sitting on the sofa in his bedroom with the lights on.
“Well, I see that you are quite relaxed.”
“You could try it too.”
“I have some decorum, Earl Rosewood,” Rian retorted.
“You can waste your energy and be tired if you wish.”
“Ren Xiyang, your body is ten, not seventy.”
“Exactly. Young bodies need a lot of sleep. And sleeping is required to grow. Does His Highness want to hinder my growth?”
Rian huffed. “I gave you my blood. Now, I received a letter today. You have an enemy.”
“Oh.” There was no surprise in Ren Xiyang’s voice.
Rian read the anonymous letter out fully, before adding, “My people are tracking down the original letter-writer.”
“I wondered who I offended this time,” Ren Xiyang said mildly. To think that someone sent a letter about him to other people in this world. Didn’t people have better things to do than send anonymous hate mail? He certainly did.
“The Cordovans?” Rian joked. “If you hadn’t become Earl, they could have taken the Rosewood fief.”
“Or maybe Baron Carmine…”
“In fact, many nobles despise being compared to you, especially given all the changes you’ve made to the Rosewood fief,” Rian contributed. “For example, you now do more charity than the Schauss Dukedom. You have many enemies among the nobility, and even some factions within the Church of the Saintess don’t like you.”
“Oh, I’m so scared.”
Rian gave an amused snort. “Careful, there are many mages who can defeat you.”
“I’ll increase my security.”
“By the way, some nobles have shown genuine interest in your improved agricultural methods. May I bother you to send out a few of those improved ploughs? I can make copies of the blueprints you gave me.”
“Sure. The next step would be to make a version that can be drawn by horses, or even better, a version that can propel itself. I’ve also been thinking about making a harvesting machine or mechanised reaper. It won’t be ready for the autumn harvest though.”
Rian chuckled. “It’s fine to take time, Xiyang. Instead, you should focus on the current autumn harvest and what new dishes you should make for me when I come and visit the Rosewood fief…”
Rian’s Royal Guards dutifully checked matters over the next few days. They found out that multiple nobles—including Prince Alexius—had received similar anonymous letters (some of whom had thrown them out without reading). All of these letters had been sent to the Postal Office in the Capital by various miscellaneous people; the guards hadn’t been able to track down who paid them yet.
The topic made it into the aristocratic gossip for a few days, reviving all the conjectures about Earl Ayden Rosewood’s past.
(There wasn’t much questioning about whether the blood lineage spells had been done properly—one had to be careful lest they incurred the quick temper of Imperial Councillor Blewitt.)
The late Earl Roland Rosewood had sent Ayden Rosewood away and had him raised like a commoner, so it was logical for Ayden Rosewood to dislike or even hate his family.
But where did Ayden Rosewood go? Who raised him? Had he been raised in a foreign country and become an enemy spy, like the anonymous letter purported? Was the Rosewood fief turning into an enemy base in the middle of Sedaveria? Was Earl Rosewood’s plan to disrupt the fabric of society by stirring up discontent among commoners against the nobles?
King Edric, Queen Mira, and the Capital Investigators took the allegations seriously.
The Cordovans had links to the Angio Kingdom. What if Earl Ayden Rosewood also had links?
A small team of Capital Investigators were sent to watch Earl Rosewood and try to uncover his past. However, they were unsuccessful. Earl Rosewood’s current dealings seemed clean.
But how could a twelve-year-old child appear out of thin air? How could there be no traces? Ayden Rosewood couldn’t have been living confined inside a secret room in the Rosewood summer manor for his entire life, could he?
Eventually, King Edric summoned his eldest son to the throne room for questioning.
When Rian entered, his Imperial Father and Imperial Mother sat at the front on their thrones. A team of Capital Investigators stood to one side, while Royal Guards stood to the other side.
Rian bowed. “Good afternoon, Your Majesty, Your Majesty.”
“You received one of those anonymous letters about Earl Rosewood,” King Edric said.
Rian nodded. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Then you know the serious allegation that Ayden Rosewood is a spy. His background is completely unknown aside from his blood lineage.” Their best agents hadn’t been able to find anything about Ayden Rosewood’s childhood. It was as though Ayden simply appeared out of nowhere on that morning of the Rosewood murders.
Rian straightened as his tone became grave. “I trust Earl Rosewood. He trusts me. I am wholly certain that he is not a spy from the Angio Kingdom. If anything, he is one of the more conscientious nobles of Sedaveria, someone who is directly helping our Kingdom become stronger. He introduced the new agricultural techniques that will make a big difference.”
Queen Mira felt a twitch in her heart at her son’s earnest endorsement. He had mentioned Earl Rosewood’s agricultural contributions again.
King Edric looked down on his son. He suspected that Ayden had told Rian something. But Rian wasn’t telling them. For all that Rian was acting more mature lately, he was still a child and prone to bias.
King Edric’s tone was humourless: “Then, if it turns out he is a spy, are you ready to bear all the consequences, Prince Rian?”
“I am, Your Majesty.”
“Was he not the one who persuaded you to send a diplomatic party to the Angio Kingdom?”
“No, Your Majesty.” Rian’s clear and innocent eyes looked at his Imperial Father. “I have read through the history between our kingdoms. We are more prosperous when we are allies than when we are enemies. Rather than being the one who persuaded me, he was the one who agreed with me. Your Majesty, this kind of baseless rumour is being spread on purpose.”
“It is a serious allegation, if true. Rian, you must learn to put aside your biases in front of the interests of the kingdom.”
Despite the subtle oppression and the less subtle chiding, Rian wasn’t afraid of his Imperial Father.
“I understand, Your Majesty. I simply believe that it would a waste of your resources to monitor Earl Rosewood as opposed to the direct matters relating to the Cordovans’ hidden sponsor.”
“That’s not something for you to worry about yet,” King Edric said coolly.
“You previously assigned me matters relating to Earl Rosewood,” Rian said in the same cool tone.
King Edric bristled slightly. “We will consider your words. You can leave now, Rian.”
Rian bowed. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
Rian left that throne room with shadowed eyes.
He didn’t know if standing by Earl Rosewood’s side so clearly was the right thing to do at this moment in time. He wasn’t strong enough yet, wasn’t independent enough yet.
He disliked how he now had a thread of doubt about Ren Xiyang.
Why had he believed all the things that Ren Xiyang said?
Because Ren Xiyang felt trustworthy.
Because it was believable given Rian’s own experience of returning to the past. Because many of the things he said and did worked, like the improved farming methods. Because he cared about his people, much more than the majority of nobles. Because he told Rian many things about his past world, about his past, that he could have chosen to never reveal. Because he had trusted Rian with his secrets.
Who did Rian trust more? Ren Xiyang, or some anonymous letter writer who wanted to offend him?
The answer was obvious.
And unless this letter writer appeared out of thin air like ‘Ayden Rosewood’, their identity would soon be uncovered.
Rian: I trust Earl Rosewood. (You wouldn't understand.)
King Edric: .…..
Queen Mira: .…..…
Count Aegean: Why do you two seem so surprised?