episode_0003

Episode 3

“Aren’t you going to tell the Duchess about the Duke’s plans?”

“Maria is a tight-lipped woman, so I can’t tell her about my plans, and most of my problems now would be solved if she just gave birth to a son.”

“I see.”

“By the way, how are you doing?”

“Take care.”

“You really are an old man. Are you really an old man cursed to grow old?”

“Actually, I started recalling memories from my past life.” If I say something about memories from my past life or something like that, I think I’ll be treated like I’m mentally ill.

“…I don’t know either, I just suddenly became wise one day, don’t you like it?”

“No, I like it, it’s not that I want a child, it’s more important that you are someone I need in my plans, so I don’t care if you’re a child or an adult.”

“Aren’t you too indifferent? What if I have other thoughts…”

“Then I have to kill him.”

In an instant, the air around me became chilling, my hair stood on end, and goosebumps appeared.

“I was joking.”

“I was joking too.”

“If you make another joke, I think I’ll have a heart attack.”

“Then it seems like neither of us are good at joking.”

“I guess it’s a secondary battery.”

“…Let’s get to the point. As I said before, from now on, you will learn the conduct and knowledge of a nobleman, and until Duchess Maria gives birth to a son and becomes an adult, you will be treated as the heir to the throne. ”

“What if I can’t have a son?”

“I need to have a son even if it means taking a concubine, but my health is not good, so I need you just in case.”

No matter what, I felt like it was a bit too much to ask my adoptive father to try harder at night, so I just left it as a thought.

“From now on, I will write a ‘will’ in advance so that if a son is born, you will take over as successor until the child turns 15 years old and then hand it over. ”

“If you do not have a son, you will become the successor to the dukedom, but internally, all real power will be passed on to the eldest daughter, Tania. When that child becomes an adult, you will bring a son-in-law and ultimately, Tania will become the duchess.”

“In both cases, you, known as the successor, must block all incoming assassination threats and attacks from other nobles who are after the dukedom until I die and the dukedom is stabilized.”

“You seem to have a lot of enemies.”

“There are countless of them. The atmosphere inside the mansion has changed a lot while I was on the battlefield, so there must be a lot of spies among the servants. ”

“So that’s what I need.”

“That’s right, that’s why I can’t tell the loose-lipped Maria why I brought you here. Either way, you’ll be the one exposed to the threat of assassination.”

“Umm…”

You intend to use me as bait to assassinate the successor, so from now on I will withdraw my support for the Duke of Normandy.

“Of course I won’t leave you to die without a fight, so don’t worry too much. I’ll make sufficient preparations, so unless you act carelessly, you won’t be assassinated. ”

“So what happens to me after all my plans succeed?”

“You can take whatever you want from the Duke of Normandy, the lands, and the manor, except for the title. Of course, you won’t be excluded from the family register, so you can still use the name of the Duke of Normandy.”

“I will do my best, Father.”

And I, Leon, have become one with the Duke of Normandy, and any attack on the Duke of Normandy will be considered an attack on me, ‘Leon de Normandy.’

Ahh… Norman my light… my salt…

#

Meanwhile, Serena, who had run out of the dining table, and Tania, who had chased after her, were locked in the room they were sharing, venting their anger.

“This is ridiculous, Sister! How could Dad do this to us!”

“I think so too.”

“Did you say Leon? That guy is a total thief! This duke’s house is our family’s, and why is he meddling in our family?”

“That’s right, he’s even an orphan from a lowly family. And an orphan is a term for a child abandoned by their parents.”

“Then you took my father away from me, a commoner who doesn’t even have a mom or dad? I can never forgive you.”

Tania, who had been thinking about something for a while, twitched the corners of her mouth as if a good idea had come to her.

“I have a good idea, let’s make an example of those lowly commoners and kick them out.”

“How?”

“Listen, the two of us keep harassing that guy without his father knowing, and then he can’t stand it anymore and runs out of the mansion crying and never comes back, right?”

“That’s a good idea, sis. And wouldn’t it be better if we had the maids listen to us and play tricks on our food and clothes, so that even if they get caught, they wouldn’t know that we ordered them to do it?”

“My little brother is smart, isn’t he?”

“Hehehe, let’s make a plan to tease you starting tomorrow, sis.”

Burning with vengeance, the nine-year-old and seven-year-old girls spent some time locked in their room, thinking of all the evil things they could think of.

##

Maria de Normand, she was a sword master and a renowned Chevalier (knight) of the Frankish kingdom who became the Duchess of Lyon de Normand, the ruler of the Duchy of Normandy, after beating out many competitors who wanted to become her husband at the age of 15.

It has already been nine years since she gave birth to her first daughter, Tania, less than a year after getting married.

She, now 24 years old, was sighing in front of the Duke’s office after returning from a three-year war with the Empire with injuries.

The biggest worry that makes her sigh at this ambitious time is, of course, the new boy the Duke brought in named Leon.

My heart ached at the thought that perhaps the duke had adopted a boy because he was worried about a successor because he had not been able to have a son himself.

Even though she had been feeling sad that she had not been able to have a son for a while, her anxiety finally reached its limit when she was suddenly given the opportunity to have an adopted child without telling her.

‘This can’t go on. I can’t hand over the Duchy of Normandy to some commoner who doesn’t even know where he came from.’

-Knock knock knock…

“Lyon… It’s me.”

“…Come in.”

The Duke, who was sitting at the desk in the center of the office, working on paperwork with a tired face, took off the glasses he was wearing when she came in.

“I have something to tell you.”

“Me too… That’s a wine from the Bordeaux region.”

“I think this story will be a bit long, so let’s have a drink and talk?”

“If your wife is like that…”

‘The one who will inherit this ducal family must be my child.’

-Slurp…

Her nightgown, which was no different from her usual one, was pulled down, revealing the provocatively designed underwear hidden underneath and the white flesh that had not been covered, under the soft light.

“It’s a little hot, so please understand…”

“…”

The Duke’s office was usually well-soundproofed, but today was a particularly quiet night around the office.

###

I automatically opened my eyes in time for the orphanage’s early morning wake-up time, but the soft and fluffy bed and blanket held onto my body like a swamp and did not let go.

When does the morning of the nobles begin?

I don’t need anything else, right now I just want to close my eyes and bury myself in this soft blanket.

-Knock knock knock…

“Your Majesty, it’s time to wake up.”

Not long after I closed my eyes, the maids knocked on the door, came in, and began to carefully wake me up.

‘As expected, even nobles wake up early in the morning…’

If you were a noble in the Middle Ages, you might have thought that you could eat, sleep, and do whatever you wanted, unlike commoners, but that wasn’t possible.

“Yeah, I’m awake.”

“The Duke has given orders to serve the young master according to his morning schedule when he wakes up.”

“If it’s on the market, what kind of…?”

“Now our job is to help you with bathing and grooming.”

“Even a bath?”

“If we fail to uphold your dignity, we will be punished, so please understand.”

“Um… Okay.”

I’d like to at least do the washing myself, but it’s a bit difficult to refuse when you ask me to do so.

For the time being, I’ll just do whatever I’m told and ask that I do the things I can do on my own.

“The bath water is ready, so I’ll help you right away.”

“…Okay, please.”

After I finished answering, the maids skillfully took off my clothes and put a bathrobe around my naked body.

As soon as we got to the bathroom, the maids started taking off my robe. Even though I was a 7-year-old child, I felt a bit uncomfortable showing my naked body to another person, especially the opposite sex.

But the maids showed me a nonchalant expression as if they were used to it and guided me to the bathtub, and skillfully began to help me bathe.

‘Honestly, it’s comfortable.’

Rather, seeing the maids acting as if nothing had happened made me relax a little, and after a while I was able to comfortably finish bathing and getting ready.

After I was finished getting dressed, the maids took me to the dining room.

“You’re late, idiot!”

In the restaurant I arrived at following the maid, there was an old-looking maid and two girls sitting there looking down at me with their heads raised with arrogant expressions.