ALL NOVEL chapter 27
27 – Richard
“Daughter, it seems that Count Silverwood is arriving at the palace today.”
“Finally! Finally, the knight is coming to the palace!”
Eleanor rejoiced, jumping around at her father, Richard’s, words.
Despite not talking separately all this time, Richard was actually very grateful to Edric. It came with a heavy burden because destroying Westburne all at once was a heavy burden on its own. The sin of Gaites, threatening the royal bloodline, was a very serious offense, but there were different thoughts about whether it was enough to wipe out an entire family.
Some people suggested cutting off Gaites’s head and letting his son take over and some suggested that the death penalty was too harsh, instead opting to simply divorce Olivia and confiscate all privileges given to Westburne with a significant fine. Even loyal nobles were confused and thought ‘this is a bit much.’
However, it was Edric who legitimized the annihilation of Westburne.
Edric, just 15 years old, had defended the territory and the people from the attacks of the savages, and was admired by all knights. Edric!
As reports emerged that Edric had been attacked by the heathen savages hired by Westburne, preventing them from making an honorable surrender, and unilaterally attacking to exterminate all the people of Silverwood, the loyal nobles were furious and criticized the clergy for endorsing a condemnatory stance such as ‘Gaites is the minion of the Devil,’ ‘Westburne is the headquarters of the demon.’ As a result, Gaites was officially excommunicated from the Changseongkyo papal office, despite having already lost his head; the office could not ignore it.
When the papal office got involved, other nobles were afraid of excommunication and ultimately failed to prevent the Westburne’s dismantling by Royal decree.
The eastern nobles of Yurmania were known for not being loyal to the king, and were well known for their defiance to the king’s orders in the region, part of Yurmania for less than a century, but protected Yurmania from the heathen savages; it was not easy for the King to restrict them militarily.
So it was at this time that a noble family named Westburne in the east offered a deal to the King, “We will be loyal no matter what, so please raise us.” And the King accepted the deal.
For this reason, even though Westburne was causing trouble in the eastern part of Yurmania, Richard helped them. They were kids who didn’t listen to them anyway, so it was much better to raise the status of a noble who listens to them and control the east, isn’t it?
Furthermore, there was an incidental benefit in being able to control and calm the eastern nobles who were burning at Westburne’s ruthless attacks and make them on their side.
It is a story that Richard did not push Westburne away because he fell head over heels in love with “Olivia” and gave away everything.
If Westburne had been more careful, they would not have completely failed. Actually, Richard immediately attacked Westburne as soon as Gaites’ attempt was uncovered because Westburne had already gained too much notoriety on all fronts.
Moreover, contrary to Richard’s wishes, Westburne was gradually expanding its sphere of influence from the east to the central, western part, etc.
Richard couldn’t tolerate the Westberun who looked down on the Easterners without caring for the Chira, who were from the same region. This was because there were many loyalists to the country’s king in the central and western regions. If Westberun continued to cause havoc, even the nobles who were originally loyalists could turn into anti-king factions.
Moreover, Richard’s patience was at its limit when the barbarian mercenaries brought in by Westberun indiscriminately plundered the towns and cities of the entire kingdom, causing it to deteriorate more and more.
Therefore, Richard had been eagerly waiting for a chance to get rid of the hunting dogs that were no longer useful. At that time, Gates’ attempt to rob was caught, and Westberun was destroyed in an instant.
Anyway, Edric was a grateful presence who helped Richard handle such burdensome Westberun “without difficulty.”
Furthermore, Richard tried to allow Duke Lurein to temporarily manage Westberun as a reward for helping conquer it (which means that resources, troops, and taxes that come from Westberun can be used freely while managing it). However, Duke Lurein even made himself give up this right to go save Edric, so Richard was very grateful to him.
Recently, Richard felt jealous since it seemed like his daughter liked Edric more than him. But it wasn’t strange for Seleneor night girls like her to have fantasies about knights like Edric.
Richard was worried that Edric might not be the ideal knight that Seleneor had imagined, so he didn’t want to disappoint her.
While Richard watched Seleneor picking out a gift for Edric, he suddenly heard a dull sound of footsteps in the distance.
“Your Majesty, it is time for Princess’ study session.”
The owner of the footstep sound was none other than the court teacher, Godmilla.
“Oh, it’s you.”
“Yes, I’m sorry, but I must take the Princess with me now for ‘education.'”
Seleneor violently resisted being grabbed by Godmilla when she suddenly appeared while picking out a gift.
“Let go of me! I haven’t decided on the gift yet!”
“You can do that before going to bed.”
Richard watched his daughter resist Godmilla and thought if he usually would have let Godmilla take Seleneor away, but for once, he took Seleneor’s side.
“Godmilla, let Seleneor go.”
“Your Majesty! How many times have I told you that your weakness towards your children ruins them?”
“Enough!”
Unlike usual, Godmilla was slightly startled when Richard shouted at her.
Seeing Godmilla, Richard spoke softly.
“I forgot to tell you earlier. From today, a guest that I invited myself will stay in the palace for about a week. I plan to introduce my children to the guest and make them friends, so their education will be paused while the guest stays here.”
“Your Majesty!”
“As a member of the royal family, receiving and greeting guests is an important duty and public service. Remember that one day, my children must be skilled enough to do this. It’s much more important experience than just sitting and studying! And if the guests don’t see my children studying or even their faces, what will they think of our royal family?”
“…”
“I trust that you know what I mean since you care about the honor of our royal family.”
“I will follow Your Majesty’s orders.”
Godmilla let go of Seleneor’s arm and bowed her head. Richard felt a headache.
“Did I talk too harshly to Godmilla? Come to think of it, there was no need to make everyone stop studying… Well, if my kids become friends with Edric, they’ll gain something. Unlike Godmilla, Edric isn’t always in the palace…”
Richard was a pro as a king, but an amateur as a father.
**
“That’s the royal palace of Urmania.”
“It’s quite big…”
As Patricia said, the palace was about twice as big as the duke’s castle.
It truly seemed like a grand castle symbolizing the authority of the King of Urmania itself.
“Let’s start descending now.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
I and Patricia, along with Nircera, opened the carriage door and got out.
Outside the carriage, Duke Lorraine was standing. He seemed to be waiting for us to get off the carriage.
The Duke smiled when he saw me and spoke.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes. Probably… Sir.”
“What’s ‘probably,’ what’s that?”
Grandfather chuckled at my response.
“Stand up straight, shoulders back. From now on, mind your manners carefully.”
“Yes.”
“Let’s go. To the palace.”
We headed towards the wide-open doors of the royal palace fortress.