NOVEL NEXT Chapter 87: Pleasing to the eye
When the clapping lulled, Rian spoke again.
“I am deeply grateful for all your support. It is my honour to be your Crown Prince. The Royal Healers’ Service would be impossible without the generous contributions from all the healer mages, donors, and Duke Schauss. The Service will operate across the Kingdom of Sedaveria, and that will require everyone’s cooperation. Together, we can improve healthcare for everyone. I hope that every citizen of Sedaveria can live longer, healthier lives.”
The audience clapped and cheered.
Rian continued to talk, briefly mentioning some key new initiatives. Not only would the Royal Healers’ Service provide medical assistance, it will also soon have a pool of money for ‘seed’ funding medical research. In the future, the Royal Healers’ Service, in collaboration with the Imperial Family and the Schauss Family, will be constructing a new school to teach medicine to non-mages to facilitate standardised primary-care medical access across the kingdom.
Good health would not be possible without food, so Rian had formed a new group whose aim was to improve agricultural practices kingdom-wide so that no one will go hungry again.
Rian had more plans and initiatives, but these were the ones he deemed the least shocking—they would benefit both nobles and commoners and so shouldn’t face too much resistance.
Rian needed to slowly ease the kingdom into the changes he wanted.
Queen Mira stood to the side, with King Edric and Prince Alexius next to her. Her expression was stable as she watched her eldest son speak.
When Rian spoke, there was solemnity and seriousness in his tone. His back was straight, his voice steady. He was very charismatic. With his growth spurt and his mature clothing, Queen Mira suddenly had the impression that he was older than he looked. His steadiness was atypical of fifteen-year-olds.
Cassiopeia sat near the front with the rest of her family. She was extremely humbled by just how much Prince Rian was doing. Each day, the world history was deviating more and more. Surely, hopefully, the Royal Healers’ Service would be enough to mitigate the devastation of the plague-curse.
After Rian finished, King Edric came to the front and confirmed Imperial support for Prince Rian’s initiatives and concluded the morning’s event.
The Imperial Family descended the stage and re-entered their carriages. The Imperial procession returned to the Imperial Palace, this time followed by all the nobles’ carriages and horses.
There was lunch at the Imperial Palace for the nobles in the outdoor gardens. Large transparent shields blocked the cold wind. Scattered tables and chairs were set up, with servants walking around with small dishes—all this was to allow easy movement and facilitate flexible social interaction. Rian mingled amongst the nobles, accepting their congratulations and birthday wishes and receiving his birthday presents.
Duke Schauss and his family were one of the first people to personally give their congratulations to Rian.
“Your Highness’s Royal Healers’ Service has grand plans,” Duke Schauss said.
“It would not be possible without your support,” Rian said.
Both of them were polite and cordial on the surface; both of them understood their underlying conflict.
“I wish you a happy birthday, your Highness.” Duke Schauss presented Rian with a birthday gift: two rare healing books.
Rian smiled. “Thank you very much, Your Grace.”
Cassiopeia also stepped forward to give Rian a present: an exquisite dessert that she made.
Rian accepted the present with a light smile that didn’t reach his heart. Last year, she had sent a letter apologising for her behaviour and stating that she was willing to work with him to improve the country and avoid any plagues. Rian accepted her into the association of future leaders because it was the rational thing to do and because it would be another hook in Duke Schauss’ flesh.
But she still looked displeasing in Rian’s eyes. It didn’t help that she often glanced at Ren Xiyang during the association’s meetings.
After sufficient pleasantries, Rian greeted the next group of nobles and received more presents.
At long last, after the lunch ended, Rian was able to catch Ren Xiyang. To his dismay, he found him talking with Florence Sage about farming. The two of them stopped talking to each other when he approached, but they were still standing close to each other.
“Happy birthday, Your Highness. Congratulations on becoming Crown Prince,” Florence said.
“Congratulations, Crown Prince Rian,” Ren Xiyang said.
“Good afternoon, Lady Sage, Earl Rosewood,” Rian replied. He gave Ren Xiyang a look. He didn’t want such a stock-standard greeting from his close friend (and future lover).
“I don’t understand why you want more work, but we’re different people,” Ren Xiyang said.
Florence suppressed an exasperated smile. She subtly stepped back.
Rian: “…” It wasn’t for the fact that they were in public, Rian would attempt to slap Ren Xiyang right now.
The corner of Ren Xiyang’s lips went up. Graciously, he said, “For such a momentous moment, I’ve prepared a special present for you.”
This was more like it! “Is it a duel?” Rian asked eagerly.
“Nope.”
Rian pouted. “Then what is it?”
“Clothes.”
Rian blinked.
“You seem to like giving me clothes. This time. I’ve ordered some clothes for you.”
“Did you contact my tailors for my measurements?”
“No, these kinds of clothes don’t need precise measurements and I know your size well enough. Come over to the Rosewood Capital house when you’re free to pick them up and try them out.”
Interesting!!! …But he still wanted a duel.
“But I still want a duel,” Rian said.
“If the Crown Prince orders it, I must obey.”
Rian smirked. “That’s right. Not only I, but everyone else will be expecting a duel too.”
In all of Rian’s past birthdays since Ren Xiyang appeared, they had duelled. It was basically a tradition now.
“Schedule as you wish and send me the details,” Ren Xiyang said.
“Oh, it’ll be in a week, as usual.”
“A tight schedule.”
Rian raised an eyebrow. “Oh, you need to put in some last-minute training before you can face me?”
“A tight schedule for you.”
It was really hard for Rian to restrain himself from rubbing Ren Xiyang’s head right now!
“By the way, Florence’s gift is also at the Rosewood house,” Ren Xiyang said.
Rian felt a surge of jealousy which he stamped down. “Why so?”
Florence smiled. “Your Highness, I’ve sent a selection of foods and ingredients to Ayden’s house for you to enjoy.”
Florence was suddenly more pleasing in Rian’s eyes. “Many thanks.” He smiled at Ren Xiyang. “So, you’re planning to cook for me?”
“You’re expecting it.”
“Very good,” Rian said happily. “Now, come on, we need to have a meeting with the association.”
Rian met with the association of future leaders at every social gathering in the Capital, and today was no exception.
Over the last few years, the association grew in size. There were now subgroups focusing on different topics. They each had a representative, such as the ‘representative for agriculture’ and the ‘representative for infrastructure’ and so forth. These gave the members (mostly children and teenagers) a sense of responsibility and a drive to go and learn more about the topic and how they could improve their area in the kingdom.
The representatives were not fixed. There were even multiple representatives for popular areas, which brought forth competitiveness in some children to present the best ideas to Prince Rian.
At the meeting, different representatives came up to speak about their ideas for improving their area; some of them mentioned how they had convinced an older noble to do something, or how they spent their personal funds.
One of the brightest future leaders was Prince Alexius.
Alexius had two big advantages over the other children: he had more money, and he was very good friends with Ayden Rosewood. If he approached meetings as ‘fun talking time with friends’ instead of ‘boring work’, he was a lot more motivated to do things. He was able to consult directly with Ayden (and avoid his brother), and he even made money with Ayden. While Alexius didn’t have a lot of his own people in the way that Rian did, he made an impact by providing funds to various groups. For example, he donated money to the Royal Healers’ Service and Earl Rosewood’s food charity program.
Rian could see the hints of the man Alexius would become—the kind of man that Alexius did become in his past life when he took up the mantle of Crown Prince and eventually became king.
Rian had to admit that Alexius had become a good king in his first life.
What a shame that Rian was just better.
After the meeting, Rian gave some closing remarks and then announced his duel with Earl Rosewood during the meeting. No one was very surprised.
Then there was more time for mingling between the nobles. In the evening, there was a musical concert, followed by a large dinner feast.
Rian went to bed that night, exhausted.
There had been a few assassination attempts throughout the day, but none of them were able to affect the proceedings. All in all, everything had gone smoothly.
In his first life, he was also instated as Crown Prince at age 15, before attending the Imperial Magic Academy in autumn later that year. The overall ceremony had been the same. But the details were very different. This time, he had his expanding Royal Healers’ Service as evidence of his leadership and care for the people of Sedaveria. This time, he had a solid faction backing him. This time, he had a large network of people, both known and secret.
This time, the ceremony had dazzlingly magical effects and the cheers were a lot louder.
There was a deep smile in Rian’s eyes before he closed them to sleep.
The first few days after Rian’s birthday were busy—there were many more nobles to talk to whom he didn’t get a chance to on his actual birthday—but at his first chance, he headed over to the Rosewood house.
“So, where are my presents?” Rian said the moment he entered Ren Xiyang’s room.
“And I had a good day too, thanks,” Ren Xiyang responded.
There was a very obvious rack of clothing covered by a large white cloth. Rian headed over to it and grasped the fabric. “This is it?”
“Go on.”
With a giddy expression, Rian pulled back the white cloth, dropping it on the ground. There were multiple different pieces of clothing. Rian pulled a piece out. It was a white shirt with short sleeves. “Is this sleepwear?”
Ren Xiyang strolled over. “These are the modern clothes from my old world. This is the underwear, then wear this, then layer with this and this…”
Rian’s eyes brightened with interest. “Help me out of my clothes.”
Ren Xiyang: “…Yes, Your Highness.”
Rian was soon naked, revealing supple skin over firm muscle. He raised an eyebrow. “Why are you standing so far away from me now?”
Ren Xiyang suppressed a certain feeling from seeing Rian. “Hurry up and put on the underwear…” He held out some underwear while firmly looking at Rian’s face.
Rian’s eyelids lowered as he smirked, not taking the white piece of clothing. “Jealous of my body, Xiyang?”
Ren Xiyang rolled his eyes. “Oh, so you don’t want to wear these clothes? Then I’ll give them to Alexius instead. Like I said, these clothes don’t need to be well fitted, he’ll look fine in them too—”
Rian swiped the underwear in Ren Xiyang’s hands. “Don’t you dare re-gift to Alexius!”
With the threat of Alexius getting his gifts instead, Rian obediently put on the clothes as Ren Xiyang directed.
In fact, Ren Xiyang was jealous of Rian’s body. But he would never admit it—Rian was already too cocky.
That jealousy was an old familiar feeling, prominent when he was pre-transition. He used to get a weird feeling seeing certain guys, but eventually he realised that it wasn’t romantic feelings, it was gender envy. He didn’t want to be with them—he wanted to look like them.
Transmigrating had obviously revived that feeling.
Rian finally put on the underwear, a plain white T-shirt, a big navy wool jacket, jean-like trousers and leather shoes—a complete outfit. He stood in front of the mirror, looking at himself.
“Did people in your old world wear clothes like this?” he asked dubiously. It was very uncomfortable, it wasn’t fitted properly at all! It was baggy and loose and plain!
“This is the least outlandish,” Ren Xiyang said.
“It doesn’t fit correctly, I’ll have to tailor it.”
“It fits the way it should,” Ren Xiyang countered. Seeing Rian’s continued expression of dubiousness, Ren Xiyang made a face and said, “It looks good on you.”
Rian slowly smiled. He turned away from the mirror and looked at Ren Xiyang. “Do you mean I look handsome in these clothes?”
Ren Xiyang: “…” There was that uncomfortable feeling in his chest again. He shoved it aside and huffed. “Yes, yes, very handsome.”
Rian’s chest puffed up. “Of course I look handsome.” He swished in front of the mirror again, seeing how the jacket shifted as he moved. He viewed himself from various angles. “I’ve changed my mind, I like it.”
Ren Xiyang: “...” As expected.
After Rian enjoyed looking at himself in the mirror, he went back over to the rack of clothing, as there were other items too.
Ren Xiyang showed him the other T-shirts, a ‘hoodie’, and black trousers with decorative chains.
“I accept your first present,” Rian said. “Now help me change back to my original clothes.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“And I assume you have prepared a meal for me?” Rian added. “I’d also like to enjoy Florence’s gift.”
Ren Xiyang’s lips twitched. “Yes, your Highness.”
Ren Xiyang: *talks a bit to Florence*
Rian: Ren Xiyang doesn't love me anymore
Florence: *gives Rian an opportunity (excuse) to spend time with Ren Xiyang*
Rian: I like Florence ^_^