Chapter 14: It’s Called Look the Other Way
Translator: Blushy
Editor: delishnoodles
Today was the day of my language class. Apparently, the noble who will be teaching me will change again. The only teacher who hasn’t changed so far is Count Palatine Vedett, who was in charge of history.
Well, it was my fault. Whenever I felt that something was boring or if the same thing was being repeated over and over, or if it was clearly a waste of time, I would run away. There aren’t any people to stop the tantrums of an Emperor.
… It was agonising to have bloodlust pointed towards me by Timona Renan.
Today, however, Renan’s bloodlust immediately stopped as soon as the teacher arrived.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty. I am Frederic le Renan.”
I see, so that’s Father Renan. His facial features looked the same as Timona’s, but he looked masculine unlike Timona.
“I am going to be your language teacher from today. I look forward to teaching you.”
Thank you for bowing politely towards me, but more importantly, take your son back.
… I can’t say that though. This Baron was from the Regent Faction after all.
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He was an aristocrat in a faction, so I had no expectations, but the Baron’s education was polite and decent.
Most importantly! He’s going! To teach me! Letters!!
Hmm, I’ll forgive him! I’ll forgive Timona’s bloodlust too. I’m really happy to get the education I wanted. This was different from my previous life where I hated studying.
But the way the observing aristocrats were looking at the Baron was…
He was obviously pressured not to teach me letters, so why would he?
… I have a bad feeling about this, but we’ll see how it goes.
Thus, every day, I only took my language, history and horse-riding classes seriously and skipped my arts and culture and religious classes.
I took strolls on my horse when I skipped class. I really wanted to read books and learn more about history and language, but if I’m too blatant people will be wary of me.
I heard that I was considered a ‘riding enthusiast’ because of this. Well, it was actually quite fun to take a stroll on horseback.
… Animals never betray you.
However, I can only explore the grounds of the palace. The palace was mostly surrounded by walls. The walls themselves were low (probably because they couldn’t make it higher due to the sunlight), but there were soldiers on guard, and I probably couldn’t get out. I don’t plan on running away anymore, so it was fine, but if I was going to be a ruler, then I need to see what life was like in town.
I’d like to eventually go there when they eventually put their guard down.
Having escaped from religious lessons again today, I mounted my horse and rode through the large, wasteful open space in the palace. However, I wasn’t allowed to ride at full speed yet. The most I could do was trot.
And I don’t have a favourite horse. They gave me a different horse every time.
I guess they did this to prevent me from running away.
By the way, the guard was in the Chancellor’s Faction. The Regent Faction was in charge of horsemanship, but this was the religious class’s time (The Chancellor Faction). The emperor will be a fool if he skips class, but I guess that means he won’t give time to the other faction. What a pain.
Now, let’s forget about this and enjoy my walk for now. Today I was going to take a peek at the place which I’ve been curious about for a while.
If you go east from the building where I usually live, you’ll find a wastefully huge palace where the 6th Emperor spent his last years in seclusion. Further east of this, on the other side of the wall, was a tall tower.
It was too thin to be a military facility, and I’ve always been curious about it. I spoke to the nearest aristocrat.
“You… Eh…”
I can’t remember his name. I think it was… Earl Bunra? … Which means he was the leader of the Imperial Guards. Oh, so that was why he was guarding me.
The leader of the Imperial Guards, whose eyebrows twitched unhappily as if he had realised that I hadn’t remembered his name, introduced himself.
“My name is Hubert le Alemanne, Count of Bunra, Your Majesty.”
No, I’m not going to remember your name. You minion of the Chancellor.
“Hmm. Count Bunra, what’s that tower?”
I pointed to the tower and Count Bunra suddenly looked pleased.
“Oh, that tower? There are innocent women imprisoned in that tower.”
Oh, yes, yes. I know what it was. I think it has something to do with the old hag.
“Her name is Vera-Sylvie le Chaplier. She is the daughter of Count Chamneaux and was your father’s concubine.”
“I’ve heard something similar before.”
That funeral was something I’ll never forget… You could always say that I can’t forget about it. I was born and she was kept imprisoned because of the Regent’s rise to power.
“You mean Marquess Meldorsa, Lady Norm de Alemanne?”
… Alemanne?
“My family is distantly related to Marquis Maldorsa. I was very saddened to hear about her death as a relative. So, my heart also aches for Vera-Sylvie le Chaplier.”
I see. But I don’t think it was a good idea for you to say you were ‘very saddened’. I’m sure you didn’t think anything of her death.
“How pitiful.”
“Oh! Do you think so too, Your Majesty? The Regent did such a terrible thing.”
I told you not to look so joyful. You’re obviously only thinking about criticising the Regent based on what you said.
“I’ve changed my mind. Let’s go back.”
I felt sick about the Regent’s wickedness, the political strife, and most of all, about my own inability to save even one imprisoned woman.
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My history classes have been getting boring lately.
I wasn’t unhappy about Count Palatine’s teaching style. I was simply not interested in learning about the achievements of previous emperors. It was obvious that he was only teaching me the ‘good things’. I’m sure he was being pressured by both factions.
Or rather, Count Palatine himself wasn’t that passionate about teaching.
Right now, I mainly use the time to practice reading and writing.
Count Palatine only teaches history. However, he said that I would remember better if I read and write, so he lets me read historical texts and write them down.
It was a shrewd move; definitely something that Count Palatine would do. Even the people who were monitoring us from both factions couldn’t complain about this. It wasn’t Count Palatine who had taught me to write in the first place.
The class has now progressed from the 1st Emperor to the 3rd Emperor.
The 1st Emperor was the ‘Founder Emperor’ Cardinal. Because of his achievements, even commoners avoid giving his name to their children as it would be considered impolite, and he was known as a ‘wise ruler’.
He was apparently a good fighter, or rather, very inspiring.
Emperor Cardinal took back the whole Later Giorus Dynasty in just one year and continued on to invade Harlough, the capital of the Seldonal Dynasty. He ascended to the throne on a hill near here… in other words, near the Imperial City of Cardinal, ‘the Founding Hill’. Then, he personally announced this news to everyone in the nation… This was the origin of the founding ceremony.
This was all done to stir up the Seldonal Dynasty. Therefore, he became an Emperor on the frontline and then he left the frontline. When the Seldonal Dynasty saw that Emperor Cardinal was no longer on the frontline, they saw an opportunity. They attacked with a large army.
When Emperor Cardinal received this news, he immediately turned back and rushed to the battlefield. He surrounded and annihilated the forces from the Seldonal Dynasty.
… It was an incredibly unbelievable move. But actually, in the nine years leading up to his demise, Emperor Cardinal suppressed the five independent states (including the Seldonal Dynasty) which had become independent when the Former Giorus Dynasty collapsed.
… Whatever the circumstances may be, that was too fast. He was undefeated in life. I was honestly appalled.
The only remaining conquests from the Former Giorus Dynasty were the Aquicurl Kingdom and the Theanabe Kingdom, but the undefeated general couldn’t overcome his illness and died.
The next to ascend the throne was Edward I, the ‘Obsessive Emperor’. He was the eldest son of Emperor Cardinal and after his accession to the throne, he quickly conquered the Aquicurl Kingdom and the Theanabe Kingdom. He also completed the imperial capital around this time and named it after his father, Cardinal.
However, he suddenly died at the age of 38.
His younger brother, Charles I, the ‘Lucky Emperor’ ascended to the throne as the 3rd Emperor. He defended the invasion from the Ghafur nation. And that was all.
… The bad parts of history were obviously blacked out. He was probably told not to tell me about it. And, Count Palatine Vedett had no intention of hiding this fact.