Chapter 22: Chapter 21: Admit nothing!

It was only once Rian returned to this suite in the Rosewood manor that he suddenly realised he forgot to ask Ayden Rosewood about what happened to his younger sister, Alyssa Rosewood! The existence of Ayden and the death of Alyssa Rosewood was what had signalled to Rian that something had changed in this second chance at life.

But for now, Rian quickly sat behind his desk and pretended to complete his homework. His homework had been completed before his meeting with Ayden Rosewood, but he couldn’t let Count Aegean know he was that good.

Just on time, the Royal Guards outside his door announced Count Aegean’s arrival.

Rian put down his quill. “Good afternoon, Count Aegean. Did you have a good nap? I have finished my latest reading, as you requested.”

Count Aegean picked up the papers and looked over them with a critical eye. “…Good,” he said reluctantly. “Was this all you’ve been doing while I was asleep?”

Rian put on a sheepish smile. “Oh, I was thinking about the Rosewood murders. We’re questioning Baron Cordovan tomorrow, aren’t we? Which means I won’t need to do as much work.”

“The Capital Investigators will be questioning Baron Cordovan,” Count Aegean corrected, disgruntled.

“Yes, Count Aegean,” Rian agreed. He opened a geography textbook, opening to the section on the Angio Kingdom. “By the way, Count Aegean, Angio Kingdom is well known for their healer mages, just like the Schauss fief. To improve Sedaveria, we should learn from the Angio mages.”

Count Aegean narrowed his eyes. “What brought this on? Sedaveria’s healer mages are even better, you of all people should know that.”

“My duel with Earl Rosewood today showed me that I still have much more to learn,” Rian said. “And if I learn good healing spells, my Imperial Mother would never know I had a scratch on me.”

Count Aegean: “…” As expected, the prince wants to be naughty!

“If his Highness is so worried about healing spells, then I myself have knowledge of them.” While light mages were the best at healing, water mages came second. “Is that what you want to learn next?”

Rian nodded, giving his best puppy-dog eyes.

“Very well. Stand up. Repeat after me.” Count Aegean needed no book to teach these spells.

“Yes, Count Aegean.”

The attentive look on Rian’s face hid his thoughts as he mused about what he would do next. (He didn’t need to learn: he already knew these spells from his past life, taught by Count Aegean himself.)

From both his lived experience after death and knowledge of the novel, he knew the people behind the Rosewood murders. He had been wavering on just how much nudging he should give to the Investigators. But now, his resolve solidified. What he needed to figure out was how to turn this into an opportunity to have others—like his Imperial Father—help carry out some of his and Ayden Rosewood’s plans.

 

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Maybe it was because of his talk with Rian yesterday about zombies, but the next morning, Ren Xiyang felt like gagging.

The ghostly scent of burning zombie and human flesh had crawled down his throat.

Or maybe it was just the lingering smell of someone burning meat elsewhere, but he couldn’t get rid of the feeling.

That was why, later in the morning, the Rosewood servants found their new Earl ankles and hands deep in mud as he worked on the next vegetable plots. Seeing that Earl Rosewood had no intention of returning to the manor, Kel and a group of servants carried breakfast and furniture out.

“Earl Rosewood, this morning, the cooks have prepared some sweet pancakes, assorted berries, and a glass of milk,” Kel said.

“Thank you.” Ren Xiyang picked up the knife and fork. The sweetness of the pancakes and tartness of the berries filled his mouth, clearing away the last of the phantom zombie scent.

“Earl Rosewood, what would you like for us to do today?” Kel asked.

“Bring the new farmers over first, I’ll instruct them on their new tasks. The other groups will meet me in the Rose Meeting Room.”

“Yes, my Lord.”

In the summer, the people here had the habit of waking up early with the sun. After Ren Xiyang finished breakfast, ten new farmers—five men and five women—came over. Ren Xiyang gave them a brief overview of the fields and their salary payment schedule. For the time being, they could live in the Rosewood summer manor if travel was inconvenient. After that, six of them were sent to work on the new fields, while the rest were split up to help the existing farmers.

With that done, Ren Xiyang returned to the manor to bathe.

Another effect of his little meeting with Prince Rian yesterday was that he was more aware of this body he was now occupying. The early he could start transitioning physically, the better. But he had a sneaking suspicion that trans people didn’t ‘exist’ in this het novel world, which could mean that the medical technology/magic might not yet exist either.

He smiled wryly. Prince Rian might be happy if he knew that Ren Xiyang really did want to check out that Royal University Library in the Capital.

With a sigh at his lengthening work list, Ren Xiyang rose from the bath, dried off, and got dressed.

He gathered some of the papers he wrote on last night and went down to the Rose Meeting Room to begin today’s round of meetings. While delegation reduced Ren Xiyang’s direct workload, he still needed to prepare and deliver all the instructions.

For example, with the group of stoneworkers and (flour) millstone makers, he needed to explain the altered structure for a new stone mill for soybeans he wanted made.

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For example, with the group of blacksmiths and carpenters, he needed to show and explain his designs for an improved plough and relatively portable manual blenders.

For example, with a group of scholars, he needed to give them some direction to develop a basic curriculum to teach the Rosewood employees and check whether they knew percentages or not.

For example, with the current general Rosewood employees, he needed to give them direction on new mundane tasks and make purchases for the manor, such as writing implements and books and soap and food.

Not to mention that there were still new people coming to be interviewed for jobs.

All in all, it was a long day of meetings ahead.

 

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Cassiopeia Schauss spent most of her time with other young noble girls her age. She didn’t notice her father’s brooding mood.

Light mages were rare, and Duke Caelum Schauss was the most powerful light mage in Sedaveria. His abilities were mostly noncombatant, with focus on healing and support. The Schauss family had always been the premier light mages in the kingdom. The Schauss Dukedom sponsored the training of essential healers who were all protected by Imperial decree. In normal—previously assumed—circumstances, Ayden Rosewood wouldn’t dare offend him.

But then Ayden Rosewood turned out to be a legitimate child. Then, Ayden Rosewood became the Earl of the Rosewood fief. And then, Ayden Rosewood duelled with Prince Rian Azure, both of them throwing nonverbal spells around the field with frightening ease.

This disrupted multiple plans and forced the nobility to formulate new ones.

All information suggested that Prince Rian hadn’t duelled with the new Earl Rosewood from dislike: instead, it was from favour. In the future, Prince Rian could well promote the Rosewood family up single-handedly. And when noble families rose, they often clashed with other families that they perceived had insulted them in the past.

If Earl Rosewood ever found out that Duke Schauss had been preparing a petition to be his regent Lord, Duke Schauss was confident that his dukedom wouldn’t fall, but he didn’t know if it would be an easy defence. Instead of taking control of a noble estate and ‘earning’ some extra money, Duke Schauss had offended an up-and-coming rising power instead.

And that power was already much stronger than his children. Orion and Perseus and Cassiopeia were all good light mages for their age, but even his eldest Orion couldn’t cast nonverbal spells, let alone heal a fraction of the injuries the new Earl Rosewood could inflict.

Duke Schauss brooded. How could he ‘apologise’ to Ayden Rosewood without admitting anything?

His only consolation was that certain other nobles must be regretting the development of events even more. There were other noble families with competent fire mages who had been aiming to rise, but they wouldn’t be able to take that route now if they couldn’t show greater ability than the genius Earl Rosewood—among the upper ranks of the peerage, there could only be one family possessing any particular magical element.

And unlike the Schauss Dukedom, Earl Ayden Rosewood could crush the Cordovan fief without too much trouble.

 

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That afternoon, Rian unfortunately couldn’t meet with the Earl Rosewood.

In a building located halfway between the Rosewood summer manor and the Cordovan’s equivalent summer house, Rian Azure sat quietly to the side as Lead Investigator White and Junior Investigator Bennett questioned each of the Cordovans in turn.

Baron Cordovan barely held back a disgruntled look towards Rian.

Rian noticed and smiled innocently.

The Cordovans had been very careful. They had sent hidden servants with encrypted messages to hire the assassins. And the assassins hadn’t known who had hired them. In the questioning phase, all of the Cordovans had denied any involvement in the murders. Baron Cordovan even pretended to look extremely sad about the deaths.

Unfortunately for them, Rian knew the truth.

 

 

 

 

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Ren Xiyang: Admin >_>

Cassiopeia Schauss: Hanging out with my friends ^_^

Rian Azure: About to ruin someone’s life ^_^

Cassiopeia Schauss: Σ(°△°)

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