Ch.114Apple

Recently, after His Majesty warned the vassals not to arbitrarily distribute military achievements, I abandoned all the underground operations I had been working on.

Judging by the contents of the letter, it seemed His Majesty’s patience had reached its limit, so I spent my time quietly breathing, trying not to draw any attention.

“His Majesty sent another letter? Give it here.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

So today His Majesty has sent another letter?

Hmm… This is concerning. No matter how I think about it, I can’t imagine why His Majesty would send me a letter.

‘No, it might not be anything serious.’

Since receiving the first letter, I’ve been living in seclusion, practically like a corpse. There’s absolutely no way to find fault with me.

Yes, that must be it. I was needlessly afraid. It’s probably just a simple greeting or perhaps—

“…Huh?”

I made a mistake.

When someone associated with you takes action, politically speaking, no matter how still you remain, you are never truly inactive. It’s no different from someone moving passionately.

[—This is the crime your son has been committing.]

‘What…? He formed a faction…? But why wasn’t I informed of this? No, that’s not important right now.’

Why had I forgotten that I needed to keep my son in check as well?

The other side probably knew about our situation to some extent thanks to the servants who run errands back and forth. Since he’s my son, the servants would have had no reluctance in sharing related information.

And my son, with that shallow information and misplaced pride, caused a major incident.

Disobeying His Majesty’s decree by still not disbanding political factions, and similarly disobeying by continuing to engage in duels.

The faction matter might receive some leniency since it didn’t directly cause problems, but the duels are the issue.

Every lord has the right to establish laws in their domain, and the position of king can be seen as that of a massive lord.

And Dijon is clearly within the domain of that massive lord. It’s the law that when you enter someone’s domain, you follow the lord’s will.

[Punish your child with your own hands. This is my final mercy.]

“Th-this…!”

Moreover, the justification of preventing unnecessary harm and prohibiting unauthorized use of force is a legitimate reason that cannot be refuted.

If His Majesty were to use this maliciously, he could easily interfere with my domain. I absolutely cannot allow that.

How dare, how dare he… Who did he learn this from…!

“Send someone to Dijon University immediately, no, I’ll go myself!!”

“Your Excellency?”

“That little brat, what does he think he knows to act so recklessly!!”

Why would His Majesty entrust me with my son’s punishment? It’s to prove my loyalty through my son.

I’ll need to impose a punishment severe enough to satisfy His Majesty, but the problem is I have no idea what level would satisfy him.

Then there’s only one way. I must make the punishment as severe as possible.

…Kuk, this reminds me of the scripture where a son is offered as a sacrifice, making me laugh bitterly.

“Prepare the carriage, quickly!”

“Y-yes!!”

No, even without His Majesty’s intentions, I would have given my son the maximum punishment.

He’s not a commoner, how dare he fail to distinguish between what should and shouldn’t be done? I’ve taught him all wrong.

Since he’s fully grown, it might be too late for education… but if I don’t correct his behavior now, I can’t trust him to take my place with peace of mind.

……….

“This should keep him in line for a while. We’ll also be able to get a lot of cooperation on policies.”

According to reports from servants I’ve placed around, it was quite a scene. Some nobles even came personally and beat their sons on the spot, which suggests that such scenes would have occurred even if I hadn’t assigned the punishment.

Most of the nobles who came personally had even witnessed with their own eyes that their sons were still participating in political factions or preparing for duels, resulting in a catastrophe too extensive to fully describe in writing.

BANG—!

[I beg for your forgiveness, Your Majesty…!]

The most remarkable punishment among the nobles was when one dragged his son before me after beating him and made him press his forehead to the ground.

Only slaves press their foreheads to the ground, so such a gesture shows how desperate that noble was.

“Good grief… I delegated the punishment to avoid causing a stir, but it’s draining me. Wow, pressing his forehead to the ground.”

“…Brother.”

“What?”

“Sigh… No, it’s nothing.”

“?”

Suddenly, Chloe looked at me with a contorted face, then let out a deep sigh.

Even when I kept asking what was wrong or if she needed anything, Chloe just said it was nothing and didn’t give a proper answer. What’s going on with her?

……….

“Ahhh… It’s been a while since I’ve been outside.”

As time has passed and the trauma from that incident has faded, and since Claudia has grown enough to be left in the care of maids, I’m taking a walk in the garden alone with Chloe for the first time in a long while.

It’s late autumn, so there are many fallen leaves on the ground, but since this garden prioritizes aesthetics and is planted mainly with evergreens, it hasn’t lost its freshness. Moreover, the maple trees scattered throughout create a wonderfully harmonious scenery.

“Hehe, it feels a bit empty without Claudia in my arms, but I’m happy to be able to hold your hand and walk together without worrying about others’ eyes.”

“You should have left her with the maids from the beginning. It pained me to see you confined to your room all the time.”

“It’s fine, I did it because I wanted to. Claudia is very healthy now, but back then I felt like the slightest mistake could be disastrous, so I didn’t want to entrust her to others.”

Both Claudia and Lilianne have grown up well.

They might still be too young to say they’ve “grown up,” but they’re already walking on two feet, recognizing me with bright smiles, and though they can’t speak yet, they try to imitate our speech in their own way. They mimic our tone and pitch, babbling as if they’re humming a song.

It feels like just yesterday when they could barely open their eyes, and comparing them now to back then fills me with emotion. I truly made a good marriage.

Rustle—

“Ahhh…”

With each step, the fallen leaves crunch under our shoes. The rhythmic sound is almost like music.

Since Chloe loves the sound of stepping on fallen leaves, I had instructed to leave some in the garden as long as they didn’t impede movement, and it seems that was a good decision.

With only the sound of crunching leaves and occasional breaths, Chloe and I walked hand in hand for a long time without speaking.

“Uh… umm…”

“Ahem…”

However, the long-lasting silence suddenly disappeared in an instant.

Because that bench appeared before our eyes.

“Ahaha… Brother, are you okay?”

“Uh, well… it’s all in the past anyway…”

“Then let’s rest there!”

“What? What are you—hey!”

Before I could say anything, Chloe grabbed my hand and started running. She gripped my hand tightly, afraid I might pull away.

“Come on, let’s sit together.”

“Seriously… you could have just asked…”

“If I had asked, you wouldn’t have agreed. Sit down quickly.”

After sitting on the bench, Chloe pulled on my hand, forcing me to sit beside her. I could have resisted, but I went along with it to avoid hurting her.

“The weather is pleasantly cool… How about it? Feeling sleepy? Would you like to use my lap as a pillow?”

“…Don’t tease me.”

“Hehe…”

At my response, Chloe just smiled broadly and didn’t make any more suggestions. She leaned back completely on the bench, her gaze turning upward toward the autumn sky.

“…I’m truly sorry about what happened back then, Brother.”

“…”

She seemed to have made up her mind, taking a deep breath before speaking those words.

Since she didn’t appear to be expecting an answer, I decided to listen quietly.

“Back then, I was so anxious, fearing I would lose you. Looking back now, I was truly… foolish. I paralyzed you when you were refusing to connect with me and forced myself on you—no excuse can justify that. I kept telling myself I should apologize someday, but it’s taken almost two years… I’m sorry. It’s far too late.”

“…Come on, why bring that up now? I was certainly very sad at the time, but it doesn’t matter anymore. Just think of it as… a somewhat intense first encounter with Chloe as my wife.”

“Is that… so…”

Whatever Chloe did to me in the past doesn’t particularly matter. After all, wasn’t it an accident that happened because she loved me too much?

Hmm… Well, I am quite pleased that she apologized.

“Don’t worry about it. Ugh! Let’s go. This is our first outing together in over a year, we shouldn’t be having such stiff conversations.”

“…Yes.”

Unlike before, this time I pulled Chloe up from the bench.

Though we hadn’t been sitting long, I decided to leave quickly before the atmosphere became any stranger.

“”…””

After getting up from the bench, Chloe and I walked together in silence just as before, listening only to the sound of crunching leaves, and ended our walk after circling the garden twice.

Although not a word was exchanged between us during that time, we could clearly understand each other’s feelings. After all, they were plainly visible on our faces.