NOVEL NEXT Chapter 81: Prince Rian’s birthday
Ren Xiyang arrived at the Capital a few days before Rian’s birthday. Mrs. Cooks and multiple Rosewood chefs came with him—they were joining the Imperial cooks for Rian’s birthday celebration.
On the evening of Ren Xiyang’s arrival, Rian came over to the Rosewood house. After he entered Ren Xiyang’s room, he immediately went to the sofa and sat down. He was tired from organising the birthday celebration himself on top of all his usual studies and work, but he wasn’t going to delay seeing Ren Xiyang again.
“Oh, Ren Xiyang…” he said dramatically.
“Had dinner yet?”
“Aren’t you going to ask me how I am?”
“I take that as a yes then.” Ren Xiyang levitated over a tray of tea and snacks to the coffee table first and then walked over with a report. “This is the complete census report for the Rosewood fief.”
Rian took it and flipped through it before putting it down again. “Did you know it’s my birthday soon…”
“That’s why I’m here early.”
“I’m going to have a table to display the gifts I get.”
“Good for you.”
Rian looked at Ren Xiyang.
Ren Xiyang raised an eyebrow. He poured himself a cup of tea and took a sip.
Rian huffed. He sat upright again. “Keep your secrets then.” Then he froze. Did he just see Ren Xiyang pull off an ‘I’m-innocent’ smile?!
Ren Xiyang raised an eyebrow. “Cat got your tongue? To think that you can be speechless.”
Rian narrowed his eyes. “Have you gained some bad habits from Alexius?”
“Any bad habits I have will be from you.”
Rian straightened. There! He saw that fleeting ‘innocent’ smile again! It made him feel quite peculiar. But before he could dwell on it, Ren Xiyang moved on to work matters.
“I need your help with trading with the Angio kingdom.”
Rian perked up. “You need my help?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me more.”
After Rian went back to the Imperial Palace, he carried the Rosewood fief report to bed as light reading before sleeping.
The report opened with a brief introduction and summary of the data collection methodology. This was followed by a few pages of overall statistics, and then further breakdowns and analysis.
Population-wise, the Rosewood fief was middle-sized. The younger age groups were larger. There was roughly an even split between men and women, with zero for ‘nonbinary’. There were many families with children. There were many married couples and hardly any divorced residents. There were many male-female couples, some female-female couples and some male-male couples. The educated population was very small…
—Wait a minute.
Rian unconsciously held his breath as he looked back up at the previous lines.
He didn’t misread. There were male-male couples in the Rosewood fief.
This could be a clerical error, or it could be true. His kingdom, his world, could naturally have gay people. It might not just be something from Ren Xiyang’s world.
But he had never heard of gay people in his kingdom throughout his entire first life.
But the data in front of him taunted him.
It was possible.
Rian suddenly had the burning desire to find out about the couples that made up those numbers. Who were they? How did they live? Were they really same-gender couples? He wanted to send some of his agents to look up the matter right away.
But what if his agents already knew that gay people existed in Sedaveria? Wouldn’t it show his ignorance?
If Rian trusted Ren Xiyang, if Rian trusted Ren Xiyang’s people, then Rian didn’t know as much about the people in his kingdom as he thought.
All the kinds of people that Ren Xiyang talked about could exist in his world too.
If it was possible, then maybe…
Rian tried to read through the rest of the report, but his thoughts kept returning to this matter. Eventually, he forced himself to go to sleep.
He had things to do and a thirteenth birthday celebration to plan. But after that, he’d think about it again.
After a busy few days, Rian’s birthday arrived.
Under deceptively clear blue skies on a cold spring morning, Rian and his entourage stood at the front doors of the Imperial Palace. A line of people formed in front of him.
Rian wore a formal uniform of white and gold, with a deep blue cape over one shoulder. He smiled and warmly thanked each of the guests in turn. His servants added the gifts to the table of gifts next to him.
The children and youths part of the association of future leaders stood to the side as they would have a different itinerary from everyone else. The association had grown again, including both legitimate and illegitimate children.
(Some believed that Earl Rosewood felt guilty, since he was basically a semi-legitimate child, so of course other illegitimate children should be included. The reality was that Ren Xiyang didn’t believe in ‘illegitimacy’ and Rian included all the children he wanted to include based on more than just ‘legitimacy’ status.)
By elevating the association of future leaders at his birthday celebration, Rian showed his seriousness. Eventually, those old nobles had to relinquish their power to the younger generation, whether they liked it or not. Rian didn’t need to wait until the Imperial Magical Academy to make connections with his peers: he could do it right now.
Rian still needed to socialise and network with the adult nobles, but those meetings were best done in private with the nobles that wanted to talk to him. He politely declined the nobles who acted as though it was his honour to talk to them when the reality was the opposite.
The line of well-wishes moved up. Eventually, it was Ren Xiyang’s turn to give his birthday wishes.
Rian’s smile brightened as anticipation grew in his chest.
“Good morning, Earl Rosewood.”
“Happy birthday, Your Highness,” Ren Xiyang said formally. “May you have a prosperous year.”
“Thank you. So, did you get me some presents?”
“Haven’t I lent you the Rosewood chefs?” Ren Xiyang said.
Rian gave him a pointed look. “Then what is that you’re holding?”
“It’s a little gift for you,” he said.
Rian smirked. “Oh?” He accepted the cloth-wrapped object. Tugging one corner of the cloth at the top made the knot unravel, revealing a book.
Delights from the Rosewood table - a collection of recipes for Prince Rian Azure, from Earl Ayden Rosewood.
Rian’s eyes brightened for a moment, and then he narrowed his eyes. “Earl Rosewood, I don’t cook.”
Ren Xiyang smirked. “I know. I hope that the description and drawings of the dishes will entice you and frustrate you while I’m not here. Or you can ask your chefs to try to make them.”
Rian flipped open the book. Inside were drawings of the food, along with structured and orderly recipes. He closed the book and passed it to a servant to put on his pile.
“Thank you, Earl Rosewood,” Rian said drily.
Ren Xiyang smiled innocently—a trick he picked up from Rian, regardless of Rian’s protestations otherwise. He leaned in slightly and lowered his voice. “For my second present…I challenge you to a duel.”
Rian’s eyes widened. He beamed as his competitive spirit was set alight. “Good!”
“Acceptable?”
Rian smiled brightly. “You’re forgiven, Earl Rosewood.”
Count Aegean, who heard the exchange: “…”
After all the birthday wishes and gifts were given, Prince Rian led his association of future leaders to a drawing room, while all the other nobles were hosted by the King and Queen.
In fact, a few extra children, some younger, some older, also tagged along with Prince Rian without waiting for an invitation. Some of them came because their parents had pushed them to. Some followed because they didn’t want to miss out. Maybe they could be as powerful as Prince Rian and Earl Rosewood; or if nothing else, it wouldn’t be a loss to ally with those two.
On the one hand, their actions might appear shameless. On the other hand, their actions showed their support for Prince Rian.
Rian accepted them all. Not that all them were suitable as they were, but since they were willing to be led, he would lead them.
Queen Mira held back her gaze when she saw how her eldest son pulled Earl Rosewood to walk alongside him. Earl Rosewood had been leisurely standing at the back of the group until Rian nudged him forward. The white-dressed Prince Rian and the black-dressed young Earl Ayden Rosewood looked unusually harmonious as they walked together.
Queen Mira had conflicted feelings in her heart. Rian sometimes showed astonishing maturity, and sometimes showed surprising immaturity. Even she found it difficult to determine whether all those times of immaturity were truthful or manufactured. Was Rian’s friendship with Earl Rosewood a true boyish friendship? Or was it a calculated alliance, with Prince Rian promising to raise Earl Rosewood’s status in the future?
Although it was becoming increasingly unlikely that Earl Rosewood was a foreign spy, Queen Mira still hadn’t forgotten his obscure background. The Imperial agents could find no information aside from his familial relationship with Roland Rosewood and Marie Rosewood. Yes, the Rosewood fief was becoming more prosperous under Earl Ayden Rosewood’s rule. But Queen Mira couldn’t grasp Earl Rosewood’s motives, and that irked her.
Cassiopeia had followed her parents with the other adult nobles. She had seen the other children following Prince Rian. She had an uncomfortable knee-jerk reaction that she had to push down. She realised now that it was a sort of anxiety response. Not all adults were bad people. Not everything could be in her control and that was okay.
After she was able to suppress that uncomfortable feeling, she was left with a strong sense of missing out. But there was no way she would shamelessly follow. Thankfully, her friends also didn’t join so she could play with them while the adults talked.
Lunch was held in an early-spring blooming garden with big temperature-controlling spells. There were tables and a front podium.
Before the start of the meal, Prince Rian officially announced the existence of the Royal Healers’ Service, led by Mage Vercher in collaboration with Duke Schauss, and supported by Earl Rosewood. The Service would be rolled out in the Rosewood and Schauss fiefs first, followed by the Cloud fief, the home fief of Mage Vercher.
Both Mage Vercher and Duke Schauss stood up and spoke briefly about the Service and their role in it.
Prince Rian’s announcement was another nail in the coffin for the novel canon.
It reminded her of the new crystal communication devices. When she saw them, she immediately recognised them as phones and tablets, even if they weren’t called such. She felt a cognitive dissonance seeing them in this world. It wasn’t like this in the novel!
But this wasn’t a novel anymore. This world could change, there was no guiding plot force.
As she listened to Prince Rian talking about how the Royal Healers’ Service’s mission was to help the common people improve their health and save them from unnecessary death, Cassiopeia felt a sharp pang of guilt in her chest.
Thinking back to how she had ardently defended the canon in front of Prince Rian and Earl Rosewood…keeping with the canon meant people—real people, not fictional people— dying. Thousands of lives would end.
No wonder Prince Rian and Earl Rosewood looked down on her, as though she was a criminal. She was in no position to criticise them about what they were doing to change (improve
) Sedaveria.Cassiopeia didn’t like the feeling of guilt. She had been trying to alleviate it by going out to volunteer as a healer at the Church of the Saintess (which she did a few more times). Now, she resolved to do more.
After the speeches came lunch. The lunch dishes were numerous plates of dishes from around Sedaveria. At Prince Rian’s table, the dishes heavily favoured contemporary Rosewood cuisine.
In the afternoon, Earl Rosewood took the association of future leaders for a fly around the Capital by taking everyone up on his wooden platform.
(This was the fun activity that Ren Xiyang thought up. Alexius approved.)
Prince Rian proudly flew alongside them on a sword, much to the other children’s jealousy.
Adrienne sat on the wooden platform with everyone else. She knew Viscount Obsidian would forbid her from flying solo like Prince Rian.
After that, there was chatter, afternoon tea, plans and discussion. After chatting with Ren Xiyang, Rian announced that he was going to have a duel in a week with Earl Rosewood.
Alexius immediately grinned at Ayden. “Ayden, defeat my brother!”
“I’ll think about it,” Ren Xiyang replied.
Rian: “…”
A grand dinner with decadent cake rounded off Rian’s birthday celebrations.
Many little ‘future leaders’ returned home with their families very motivated to learn and to do. Rather than them convincing Prince Rian to do something, he had convinced them to make a difference—
—Why didn’t they hire people to clean the streets in the main town in their fief too? Not only would it reduce disease spread, but it would smell a lot nicer!
—Why didn’t their parents talk with Prince Rian to get the Royal Healers’ Service in their fief too?
—Look at how much food the Rosewood fief produced, even though Earl Rosewood wasn’t a plant mage! They couldn’t lose out, they need to update their methods!
And very importantly—they needed to study more magic so that Earl Rosewood could teach them how to fly!
Rian’s birthday celebration was a success.
He liked his gifts, but his favourite one took an extra week to come to fruition—his third duel with Ren Xiyang!
He would have liked to have duelled the day after, but his Imperial Mother wanted to check the strength of the shields (given what happened last time) and because Ren Xiyang had a different idea for the duelling field that needed time to set up.
And so, one week after Prince Rian’s birthday, nobles and their associates flocked to the Imperial Palace’s duelling grounds. Unusually, there were opaque shields up around the field, not letting anyone see inside.
“What are they going to reveal?”
“Did they renovate the duelling field?”
“I wonder if anyone is going to win, or if there’s going to be another draw due to a technicality!”
Günter took a seat next to Alexius in the Imperial box while Duke Blewitt sat next to King Edric.
“Hi Günter,” Alexius said reluctantly.
Günter smirked, “Hehe, Earl Rosewood is duelling your big brother again.”
Alexius snorted. What was Günter trying to imply? “And?”
“Do you know what’s under the shields?”
Alexius rolled his eyes. “No, and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you!”
Once most of the seats were filled and no one else was arriving, Queen Mira, once again overseeing the duel, stepped onto a wide wooden platform. At her cue, Earl Rosewood and Prince Rian also stepped onto the platform. A moment later, the platform floated up above the opaque shield over the field.
Rian: *smug*
Thank you to fanfictionaddict13, Turducken, and Swantje for the support! Happy Lunar New Year, everyone ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ ₍ᐢ. ̫ .ᐢ₎