After sending Carrick away, Dien examined the documents he had received. As expected, most were ambiguous and troublesome civil petitions stuck between the Chancellor’s Office and the Ministry of Finance.
“This is awkward…”
While organizing solutions for each one, a particular petition caught Dien’s eye.
“Why would they submit this kind of petition to the central department?”
Dien picked up a document that had come from a rural village in the southern part of the Kingdom of Delos. The content stated that Kobolds coming down from the mines frequently plundered the village, so they were requesting funds to build a fence around the settlement.
Normally, such a request would not come to the Royal Castle; it was standard to ask the Lord to whom they paid tribute. His brow furrowed deeply.
“Who is the Lord here?”
There was usually only one reason why such a petition would reach the Royal Castle. It was a case of a corrupt official, a Lord or Governor who ignored the people’s livelihood and committed acts of tyranny. Since the matter could not be resolved within their own jurisdiction, the petition was sent up to the Royal Castle.
Dien checked the territory on the map and shook his head.
“Baron Ramms’s territory, under the Duchy of Duke Bronin.”
It was a magic family serving as vassals to Duke Bronin, known for having a quite serious and respectable reputation. Furthermore, the Ramms territory was famous for its favorable climate and annual bountiful harvests. This meant the territory’s finances were plenty.
With a Lord of good reputation and a wealthy estate, there was no reason to send such a petition all the way to the Royal Castle. Moreover, no matter how large the village was, would a Lord not build a simple fence when his people were suffering?
“Does Baron Ramms specifically dislike this one village?”
Unable to find a reason, Dien became even more concerned about the fence petition.
Dien read the document over and over again. He wondered if there was something he had missed. His gaze slowly moved from the top to the bottom, eventually resting on the name in the sender’s column.
“Rebecca?”
The sender had written her name in particularly large letters. It was as if she wanted her name to be recognized.
‘Since she has no surname, she’s definitely a commoner…’
Dien pondered her name repeatedly.
“Rebecca. Rebecca…”
Hoping someone might know her, he went around the Royal Castle to inquire, but no one in the Chancellor’s Office recognized the name.
At that moment, Dien’s gaze froze on the servants moving in and out of the palace.
“No way.”
Fueled by a sudden hunch, Dien rushed to the royal archives and borrowed King Lonas’s autobiography.
“I knew it!”
Dien clapped his hands as he flipped through Lonas’s autobiography. Every noble who came to the Royal Castle for the first time would read the biography of the former King and Lonas’s autobiography at least once.
Their biographies and autobiographies were a great help in understanding the atmosphere of the Royal Castle. In fact, Dien had also read Lonas’s autobiography recently at Persian’s suggestion.
Dien traced the name of Rebecca mentioned in Lonas’s autobiography with his finger.
“That’s right. Lady Rebecca’s hometown was likely the Duchy of Bronin.”
“Hahaha. So that’s what it was!”
Dien raised both hands as if he finally understood the entire situation.
“The Ministry of Finance people are going to get absolutely wrecked…”
Dien felt fortunate that he had received this petition from Carrick. If they had overlooked this document, the aftermath would have been astronomical.
Without hesitation, Dien headed toward the Construction Department for quick processing. This matter had to be handled by the Chancellor’s Office, not the Ministry of Finance.
***
Persian returned to his office after finishing a meeting.
“You’ve worked hard, sir.”
“It’s just the usual work.”
Persian replied flatly to Dien’s greeting and took his seat. Dien stood up as Persian sat and approached him.
“Chancellor, please take a look at this petition.”
“A petition?”
Persian took the document Dien handed over. His eyes were stiff from the tight schedule, but since it was a petition Dien had brought urgently, he read through it immediately without a word.
Once he finished reading the whole thing, he clicked his tongue as if it were absurd.
“It’s a simple fence construction. Why wasn’t this resolved internally within the territory?”
As expected, Persian skipped over the part Dien had agonized over.
“And besides! If it’s a simple budget request, isn’t it the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance, the disbursement department?”
The reason he clicked his tongue was likely because of this.
“I believe the Ministry of Finance delayed the petition, thinking it was more related to our Department of Public Welfare.”
“Tsk! Those Ministry of Finance bastards!”
Persian slammed the document down on the desk roughly. However, Dien shook his head with a serious expression, indicating that wasn’t the correct reaction.
“What… are you saying we should handle this?”
Persian looked up at Dien with furrowed brows. Receiving that gaze, Dien looked back at him with even more intensity.
“We must be the ones to handle it, Chancellor!”
“Sigh… I’m already busy enough as it is…”
“No, Chancellor! You must personally go to the Ramms territory to handle this!”
“What? Me, personally?”
“Please look at the sender’s name written at the bottom.”
Dien spoke firmly, pointing to the name Rebecca at the bottom of the petition.
Persian adjusted his posture at Dien’s unusual stubbornness.
“Hmm… Rebecca?”
“Yes.”
Persian wore a puzzled expression as he looked at the sender. It seemed he also didn’t remember Rebecca. After all, it had been a very long time since he read Lonas’s autobiography. It was only natural not to remember.
“Who is she?”
The expected question followed.
“Do you not remember?”
“Uh… Is she a retired castle aide? Who is it? I don’t know…”
Persian questioned Dien again.
Dien considered teasing him for a moment but decided against it, seeing how tired he looked.
“She was a servant belonging to the Internal Affairs Department and was His Majesty’s childhood wet nurse.”
“What?”
Surprised by Dien’s words, Persian stood up, slamming the desk.
“I’m talking about the wet nurse His Majesty yearned for even in his autobiography. I understand the two of them are still in contact. His Majesty must have promised Lady Rebecca that if she sent a petition, we would build the fence.”
“Good heavens!”
Persian slapped his forehead at Dien’s explanation, and the sound echoed quite loudly in the office.
“Let’s take this chance to give the Ministry of Finance a taste of their own medicine.”
Soon, Persian’s eyes began to gleam. He also looked as if it were a stroke of luck that the petition had ended up in their hands.
“His Majesty must have been waiting anxiously.”
King Lonas was famous for not letting personal feelings interfere with state affairs. That was likely why he didn’t personally command a fence to be built in the village where his wet nurse lived. Clearly, Lonas was watching to see who would take charge of this matter.
“I will send word to the First Prince immediately to go there with me tomorrow. You find out how many personnel from the Construction Department are available tomorrow and let me know. Oh, right! Scout some technicians, too!”
“I’ve already looked into it. Two Secretaries and about five Aides are available for the business trip. The Construction Department agreed to have the technicians ready by tomorrow.”
“Good work.”
Persian grabbed Dien’s shoulders with both hands at his quick response.
“You… no. Let’s talk after the fence project is finished.”
Dien was startled by Persian’s words. Now Persian was even speaking comfortably and dropping honorifics. It was a bit overwhelming…
“Yes. I will send word to the First Prince’s palace that the Chancellor is coming.”
“No, I’ll go there personally right now!”
Persian finished speaking and hurriedly packed the report documents.
‘As I thought, he’s going with the First Prince.’
Persian had been looking after the First Prince quite a lot lately.
Although the succession competition among the princes was not yet fierce, it didn’t mean there was no power struggle between factions.
From the look of it, Persian seemed intent on siding with the First Prince, and rumors said that La Pierre, the Minister of Finance, also supported him. If that were the case, the First Prince essentially held the kingdom’s administrative cabinet, making the succession race meaningless. The future political battle would be about who among Persian and La Pierre could get into the First Prince’s good graces.
After sitting still and organizing his thoughts, Dien stood up.
“I shall take my leave now, Count!”
Dien approached Persian and spoke.
“Hahaha. You certainly keep your clock-out time!”
“Ahem. I am still in the middle of my succession training.”
“I know, I know! I’ve heard it so much I have scabs in my ears! Go on, get going! Hoho.”
Dien cleared his throat and bowed to him. It wasn’t that Persian was pressuring him, but strangely, Dien found himself checking his superior’s mood whenever it was time to head home.
***
“Young Master! Are you not going to perform anymore?”
“Hmm. I think it’ll be difficult.”
Nue was out to meet Dien in front of the Royal Castle again today.
“It seems like everyone in the Central Plaza is just waiting for you…”
“It can’t be helped.”
Recently, Dien had stopped going out for busking. It was because many spectators had been injured during the fight for spots.
Furthermore, at some point, merchants had even started appearing, reserving the front seats for busking and selling them.
The busking, which had started lightly as a small escape, had grown uncontrollably large, leading to such incidents.
“There won’t be any busking for the time being, so leave the guitar behind.”
“Yees…”
Nue, holding the guitar, pouted her lips. Since she loved Dien’s songs more than anyone, her disappointment was great.
“Instead, there’s somewhere we have to go today.”
“Today?”
“It’s my first payday. I want to give gifts to you and the servants of the Portran family.”
“Really?”
The advantage of succession training was that one received a salary just like any other official. Although it was half of what a normal Secretary received, the amount was still massive, equivalent to one year’s living expenses for a commoner family.
“Call the Portran servants and let’s all go together.”
“Wow! Young Master is the best!”
An excited Nue spread her arms wide and ran along the road. Dien smiled as he watched her. He didn’t expect to feel the thrill of a first paycheck again.
Thus, Dien led the servants of the Portran family toward a boutique in the Central Plaza.
***
“Young Master?”
“Oh! Aide! Why are you here… I thought you had moved out?”
“I came to help my mother for the first time in a while.”
Dien entered the boutique with a swarm of Portran servants. Carrick, surprised by Dien’s appearance, rushed over to him.
“It’s my first payday, so I’m here to buy gifts for my family.”
“Huh? For all these people?”
“Yes! You know well that the first paycheck isn’t really mine. I should share it!”
“Truly, Young Master… just what are you…”
“Who is this?”
At that moment, Carrick’s mother spoke from behind him, looking at Dien.
“Mother, this is the eldest son of the Portran family, Young Master Dien Portran.”
“You are Aide Carrick’s mother? Hahahaha. I thought you were his older sister. Mother, why are you so young! I am Dien Portran.”
“Oh my! So you are the Young Master!”
At Dien’s sweet talk, her mouth curled up toward the sky. And her mouth fell open as she saw the servants—no, the customers—who followed him inside.
“So this is the most famous boutique in the Central Plaza. Mother, please provide a set of clothes for each of my people, from head to toe!”
“My goodness. So many…”
“Hahaha. Mother! Since I am a noble, I have ve~ry much money!”
Dien jingled a pouch full of gold coins and made a playful face toward Carrick.
“Pfft!”
Carrick burst into laughter. Dien’s expression was quite ridiculous. However, while he laughed on the outside, many emotions were swirling in Carrick’s heart.
“Take a look around! This is an opportunity that won’t come again!”
“Yes!”
Dien bantered with the servants, and the excited servants began to rummage through all the clothes in the boutique.
“Young Master.”
Carrick spoke as he watched Dien smiling warmly.
“Yes?”
“From now on, I will even pretend to die if you tell me to.”
He said those playful words with a serious expression. And then came his overwhelming gaze. Goosebumps began to rise on Dien’s arms.
“Don’t look at me like that. It’s my first paycheck, so I just wanted to treat my people. And your boutique just happened to come to mind.”
Despite Dien’s dismissal, Carrick did not change his expression.
“Even if you cause trouble and get exiled, I will follow you.”
“Tsk. This is really…”
Dien burst into laughter at his words.
“What about your mother here in the capital if you say things like that? Aide, then… do me one favor.”
“Tell me anything.”
Carrick answered loudly, pounding his chest.
“Please stay over there. It’s overwhelming.”
Dien pushed him away with his arm, wanting to avoid that burdensome expression. But his following action was a spectacle.
“I don’t want to.”
Contradicting his words, Carrick stuck even closer. He even tried to link arms in a disgusting manner.
“Hey!! How can the discipline of the Royal Castle be so loose… Touching the body of a noble…”
“I’ll cross the line coolly today and take the punishment!”
Eventually, horrified by his actions, Dien stepped backward, and the ridiculous sight of Carrick constantly chasing after him continued.
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.