My Sweet Deceiver - Chapter 24
Chapter 24
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“So, you’re going to build an academy?”
“Yes.”
Denis, who entered Elliot’s tea room after a long time, wondered. There were always maids standing behind the King, but they were all removed.
‘Is it a whim?’
“How are you going to raise funds?”
Elliot said, reading carefully some of the reports Denis had brought. He had a serious attitude when looking at the file.
“These are donations and my personal wealth.”
“Possession?”
“Yes.”
“What kind of money do you have?”
Elliot asked so out of sheer curiosity. For Fabrice had a lot left to him as mines and estates, but Denis had nothing but one of the western estates. The territory was not so large that the yield was small.
“I’m going to make it now.”
Denis, who only said so, smiled quietly.
Elliot was silent for a moment as if he were thinking at Denis’ words that the national treasury would not be spent for this. There was no reason to refuse. Instead, the plan was in good shape to include his achievements.
Academy for the common people.
After ripping off the serious expression, Elliot opened his mouth as if he had thought for a moment.
“Hahaha, make it an official approval. You’re going to make some appearances now.”
“Thank you, and I want to do a small social contribution project. I’m going to do this on my own.”
“It’s up to you to do that. Wouldn’t it be better to do it in practice?”
Elliot readily approved.
“Thank you.”
Denis bowed his head politely.
He came out of Elliot’s tea room.
He got permission sooner than expected.
Denis stopped and looked up at the sky for a moment.
The sunlight coming through the window was no longer hot.
The wind was changing its direction.
The season was changing.
He walked out, greeted by courtiers passing by the main palace.
Denis’ offer to build an academy for commoners was not a coincidence.
As most of his approval ratings came from emerging aristocrats and commoners, he decided that he would have to come up with policies for them. The establishment of the Academy was just the first step.
Previously, there were many educational institutions, but the threshold was high for ordinary people to enter. It was because the tuition was so high that only aristocrats could not afford it.
The goal was to lower the tuition fee and improve the quality of education so that commoners could study for anyone who wanted. His goal was to produce progressively educated people. Although it would take some time, he thought the path was the right one.
Besides, if the talented people who studied at the Academy he founded were to take on important posts at the Royal Palace of Valloise… it would be of greater strength and help to him.
Denis looked down at the report in his hand once again. Even though it was just a few sheets of paper, it felt heavy. Maybe it was because of his will that was in it.
What was more important than the Academy was the social contribution project. He was glad Elliot didn’t notice.
It was intended to actively raise the support of commoners and lower aristocrats through social contribution. The first was to create a public medical institution so that commoners could easily enjoy medical benefits.
What Richard, his wife’s brother, said crossed his mind.
‘The Marquis of Ingeliger will not leave Tehez alone. Please divorce her before that.’
Denis stopped walking.
He had come to a conclusion after a long thought.
Neither the throne nor the woman gives up.
Somehow he didn’t even know the order was reversed.
She was just a trophy woman to ascend to the throne, but now he needed the throne to have the woman.
If he were to sit on the throne, there wouldn’t be many people who would harass the woman by talking about divorce.
The woman will become a Queen.
Anyway, the woman was the bloodline of Ingeliger.
The youngest daughter of a venerable noble family and the only Queen in Valloise.
Denis was quite satisfied thinking about the throne and picked the name the woman would have.
The woman’s well-being would not be in jeopardy, and she would not have to get her hands dirty. And if the woman’s situation stabilized, maybe their heir would come.
It wasn’t without that thought.
He thought it was right for him to reap.
He got the answers to the questions he struggled intensely with when he was immersed in the water.
Compassion and homogeneity were both correct answers.
With that conclusion, he felt a little more excited than usual.
It was also worth paying for his responsibility for the woman as he had spent the past few years with her.
Whatever the outcome, the woman was working for him. That was true. Not once had it cost him any trouble. He never wanted it, so he thought it was entirely up to the woman to endure.
But it was a different story when it came to the opponent he had to win against.
Denis turned around and went to a large man-made pond near the main palace. It was the pond where he once fell into the water when he was a child. The water near the pond was not deep, but the centre was quite deep.
The pond was full of lotus flowers and weeds, and birds were living in a large tree nearby. He rummaged through his pocket and found a few peanuts. He put peanuts in his palm and raised his hand high.
Unknown birds came up and circled around his head, stealing peanuts and running away.
Denis smiled a little.
Taking care of the woman was like taking care of homeless birds.
He felt as if a wounded kingfisher had been held in his arms.
So small and fragile, so it was like it could crumble if he held it hard.
No human being could easily pass by a wounded creature.
The birds soon lost interest in him when all the peanuts on their hands disappeared. Instead, they circled near the pond and hunted fish.
He brushed his hands off the crumbs and looked at his face reflected in the water.
He was going to do the bare minimum for the woman.
Unlike before…
He’s got a goal.
In the midst of meaninglessness and helplessness, significant things had happened.
There was no need to think about what the woman meant to him anymore.
However, to ensure that the woman was not thrown out, he had to quickly seize the throne.
This was the biggest problem he faced.
To do so, he would also have to avoid getting his hands dirty.
He concluded so.
The whole stream of thoughts was clear.
The problem and its answer.
Amid all the opacity of the past days, he felt like he had finally gotten a clear answer.
He was in a good mood for the first time in a while.
Denis decided to leave the palace after standing by the pong for a long time.
There was a place he had to go.
Denis said to Sylvan, who was accompanying him from behind.
“Sylvan, can you bring me a bottle of whiskey?”
“Whiskey…”
Sylvan was about to respond to his words, but he quickly changed his expression and replied, “Okay.”
The only time he looked for whiskey… was when he went to Queen Charlize’s grave.
Denis got into the carriage with a bottle of whiskey that Sylvan had brought.
Sylvan sat across from him in silence.
“You don’t have to follow me.”
Denis lightly patted Sylvan and smiled.
“No, Your Highness.”
Sylvan sat silent for another lengthy time after simply rejecting his words.
The carriage arrived at the foot of Mt. Phi before they knew it.
Since the mountain was rather steep, they could only go on foot after that. Denis and Sylvan silently walked up the mountain. When they reached the top of the mountain, they saw a small stone monument. Sylvan was gasping for breath, probably because it had been hard on the mountain climb after a long time.
Denis swept the tombstone with his hands. It was covered with white dust. It was because he hadn’t found it in a while.
The tombstone placed alone on the top of the mountain looked particularly lonely. He poured the whiskey he had brought into the glass and put it in front of the tombstone.
Sylvan did not appear to have moved from his place.
Denis smiled bitterly and offered his greetings.
For generations, members of the royal family were buried in a royal cemetery inside the temple. So did Queen Charlize.
Next to Queen Charlize was Queen Marianne’s tomb. It was paradoxical that the two people, who were reluctant to even stay in the same space during their lives, were lying right next to each other.
The two were buried side by side for eternity.
So Denis made a vow every time he went to the royal cemetery.
He promised to set his mother free someday.
Thinking of his mother, who couldn’t rest even after her death, Denis had a hard time sleeping every night.
The first thing he did when he became an adult was to move the tomb of Queen Charlize. Denis took her ashes from the royal cemetery and buried them at the top of Mount Phi. Instead, the royal cemetery contained not the remains of the Queen, but the clothes she wore during her lifetime.
Denis looked down from the mountain.
A cool breeze brushed his hair.
From the top of Mount Phi, you could even see out of the capital if the weather was good. His mother’s ashes were buried there, hoping that his mother, who had never left the capital for the rest of her life, could look far away.
He hoped his mother could see this scenery.
Denis sat on the dirt floor without dignity and captured the farthest view as far as his eyes could reach. Actually, he wanted to bring his mother’s favourite things, not whiskey.
Flowers or food.
But he didn’t know…
He didn’t know what colours she liked during her lifetime, what books she liked to read, and what songs she often sang.
In his memory, his mother was just drunk and distracted.
Whiskey was the only thing his mother liked at that time.
Why was it so easy for a person’s life to be ruined?
Queen Charlize was just a young lady who had just become a saint when she first met Elliot.
The person took a woman, who was determined to throw herself at God, and eventually made her throw herself at him in the end.
She was the one who gave him half her blood.
How ridiculous and absurd.
When he first learned the truth, he held onto his mother and cried. As a child, he knew no other way to soothe his mother than to cry. It was, of course, Queen Charlize, his mother, who comforted him when he cried.
What did his mother think to endure that time?
Did she blame him for being seated in her stomach, or did she feel betrayed by the temple that gave up a saint to Elliot through political judgment, or did she hate the King who had torn her peaceful life to the core?
Perhaps if Denis hadn’t been born, all this tragedy wouldn’t have happened.
If Elliot hadn’t fallen in love with her after encountering her at the temple…
Or if the priest’s immunity in the temple was not guaranteed in exchange for handing over her body as a vessel for the King.
‘Did you regret having me, or were you happy?’
It was all a mystery.
He crammed the emotions that were rising inside of him.
He stroked the old envelope inside his coat pocket. He found it last night while cleaning her belongings.
This will be the first step to starting over.
Denis got up and brushed off the dirt on his clothes. He turned back and looked at the tombstone.
It was the last greeting for the next time.
It was time to climb down the mountain.
Sylvan, who had been sitting quietly like a statue, opened his mouth.
“Your Highness, may I ask you one thing?”
“What?”
“Is there a change in your heart that I am not aware of? You’ve been looking for the Queen, haven’t you?”
Since they had been together for a long time, Sylvan seemed to have noticed something.
Denis raised his eyes and looked at Sylvan.
His green eyes contained a light that had never been seen before.
“I truly decided to become a king. Do you understand what this means?”
“…Until now, it was not the Prince’s true intentions. However, you must have had a reason to make up your mind.”
Sylvan nodded his head as if he felt relieved.
“I plan to do my best. I have something to take.”
“I will do my best to assist the Prince.”
“Thank you.”
Denis looked at Sylvan and smiled.
(To be continued in the next episode)
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