Ch.112Vested Interests (4)

“…? What exactly do you want?”

Recently, His Majesty was so alarmed by the knife fight at the university that he banned all duels within royal territories and also prohibited political factions.

Yet Father tells me to reform the social faction I had disbanded and gather the children of noble families from the former Duchy of Bourgogne. He wants me to exclude those with strong political views as much as possible.

‘Social factions weren’t banned, but… the atmosphere is still terrible.’

What His Majesty prohibited was solely political factions; purely social gatherings have never been banned.

But that’s just semantics. Social factions have long since disbanded on their own, fearing what punishment might come from His Majesty, who is known for his temperamental nature.

In this situation, even if I try to create a faction, it’s clear that few people would join. If I form a faction and hardly anyone shows up, I’ll just be humiliated.

‘Tsk, everything’s completely backward.’

Meanwhile, political factions are refusing to disband, claiming they’re merely social gatherings.

Political factions survive while social ones dissolve—this directly contradicts His Majesty’s decree and will surely cause problems eventually.

If I know that political factions are surviving by wearing masks, wouldn’t the university know too? Reports must have already reached His Majesty.

Sigh… In times like these, creating a faction under the banner of social gathering would draw suspicious glances. Forget about gathering people—even if I did manage to gather some, if any of them had been involved in political factions, it would be the end of me.

“Young master, is something troubling you?”

“Ah, Marco. Father wants me to reform the faction.”

“Hmm…”

Marco, seeing my concern, came over and, after hearing about Father’s intentions, let out a sigh.

That’s understandable. Having served me and witnessed the university situation firsthand, Marco likely shares my thoughts. Being around Father’s age, he has plenty of experience and insights.

“Why not carry out His Grace’s order?”

“Right, I should refuse with a proper reason—what?”

But Marco gives an answer I never expected.

Follow Father’s orders? How could Marco not understand the dangers of forming a faction in this volatile situation?

“May I ask why?”

“Well… when a ruler commands, isn’t it natural for a subject to obey?”

“…Stop joking.”

“Haha, I apologize. Hmm… where should I begin…”

Marco pauses, slowly walking toward the window.

Sunlight from outside reflects off his white hair and beard, while his faded eyes stare blankly into space.

“His Grace is certainly impulsive, hot-blooded, and aggressive. Do you know what these traits have in common?”

After contemplating deeply for a while, Marco finally speaks.

Common traits? Well… just that he’s difficult, I suppose…

“I’m not sure…? That Father can’t be stopped? Are you suggesting we should just resign ourselves to following his orders because we can’t stop him?”

“It’s true that His Grace cannot be stopped, but that’s not why I suggest following his orders. His Grace only shows such traits when he’s certain he can obtain something. In other words, it’s impossible for His Grace to wait when a meal is fully prepared and ready to be eaten right away.”

“But if there are numerous unavoidable traps before reaching that meal, he wouldn’t show any desire for it at all.”

Marco takes a slight deep breath before saying this.

Hmm… I understand what Marco is trying to say.

“So you’re saying Father is certain I can gain something by forming this social faction?”

“That’s correct, young master.”

“I’m still uneasy though… Father doesn’t know the situation on the ground, so he might have made a wrong judgment.”

“…Your Highness, I’ve served the Vermang family for decades, and His Grace has always revealed this side of himself only after calculating all possibilities and being certain of success.”

“Alright, alright. Why are you suddenly speaking so formally?”

He says he’s been a servant for decades, longer than my age, and he’s implying he knows Father better than I do.

Suddenly getting serious and reproaching me makes me feel awkward. He started the joking first, after all.

“Ahem… Anyway, I should follow Father’s orders. I’ll restore the disbanded social gathering and send invitations to the nobles we used to associate with. I’ll clearly specify that it’s not for political purposes, though honestly, I’m not sure who will believe it.”

“Then I’ll prepare the stationery for your letters. You’ll be quite busy.”

I just hope this doesn’t put me in His Majesty’s bad graces.

“Ah, shall I also prepare a love letter for that young lady?”

“*Cough!!* What? What young lady?”

“Lady Medici, who teaches medicine. Don’t you fancy her?”

“…Mind your own business.”

……….

“About sixty percent of political factions have refused to disband, claiming they’re for social purposes. In contrast, over ninety percent of genuinely social factions have disappeared—it’s practically annihilation.”

“Hmm… I wonder why social factions disappeared when I said they were fine, but I’m pleased that political factions have survived as intended.”

“…”

What’s with that look?

His eyes seem a bit… judgmental?

“Do you have something to say?”

“…No, Your Majesty. I was just thinking about future matters.”

“Is that so? Then tell me. How should we deal with them?”

It’s such an obvious deflection, but I decided to go along with it. I was curious about the “future matters” Leclerc used as an excuse.

“Those still remaining in political factions surely know they’re in the wrong. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have changed their faction’s banner to social gatherings.”

“That’s right.”

“Then the duels Your Majesty has forbidden might also be ambiguously overlooked, similar to the factions. For example, they might duel in completely sealed rooms where no one can see. In fact, reports indicate that several students have been mysteriously injured.”

Leclerc is right.

People naturally want to do what they’re forbidden from doing, don’t they? Young nobles who have never taken orders from anyone except their family elders and are full of vigor are unlikely to obey properly.

Of course, I outrank their parents and grandparents, and disregarding my words would lead to disaster, but humans—especially the young—find it difficult to truly comprehend how powerful and frightening something is without experiencing it firsthand.

So… yes, it’s similar to how many people find bears cute.

“You’ve recorded all their names, I presume?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Keep monitoring them and record any crimes or unusual activities. When the time comes, we’ll expose everything at once and pressure their guardians.”

When dealing with vassals, the first principle is that the more pretexts you have, the better.

Of course, since they’re emotional humans and not AI, it’s not good to make them obey solely through threats and pretexts. But even when simply placating or persuading nobles, it’s good to have pretexts ready for any unforeseen situations.

Ah, of course, those still in political factions will all get a taste of their own medicine. I’ll overlook those who promptly left political factions because they were sensible, but those who merely changed names while remaining in factions have deceived me.

‘Hmm… but it’s a bit tricky.’

Since most of their guardians are prominent regional nobles, too harsh a punishment could cause major problems, but too lenient a punishment might make them underestimate me and violate my decree again. I’ll need to carefully calibrate the severity of the punishment… hmm…

‘Huh? What’s this?’

While pondering this and skimming through the faction list Leclerc gave me, I notice one faction with a conspicuously different establishment date. It’s the only faction created after I issued my decree. Moreover, the founder is the son of Duke Vermang.

Looking at the notes, it appears to be a socially-oriented faction…

“Leclerc, is this truly a social faction?”

“Which one, Your Majesty? Ah, I was curious about that too and investigated thoroughly. It does seem to be genuinely social. Although some nobles who were previously in political factions have joined, they avoid political topics and engage only in social conversation. Additionally, the founder has previous experience establishing social factions.”

Quite a lot of nobles have joined this faction. It seems all the ordinary nobles who were left wandering after social factions disbanded have flocked there.

My goodness, how admirable. I was sad when all the social factions suddenly disappeared, but to think there was such a good noble who understood my intentions so well.

‘Yes, I can use this.’

I’ve thought of a way to teach those nobles who ignored my decree a lesson at an appropriate level. Moreover, it’s a method where I won’t receive any resentment because I won’t be directly punishing them.