Aobara-hime no Yarinaoshi Kakumeiki Chapter 6

Chapter 6 (2 – 4)

"Oh, I see. So it was you two who Naizel wanted us to meet?"

"Thank you for granting us an audience, your Majesty."

With a delighted narrowing of his almond-coloured eyes, King James looked hardly at the two young men who had taken part in the observation group—Robert Fonbert and Clovis Cromwell. The two men, who were once again introducing themselves before the King, wore nervous expressions and had their heads lowered.

(Why are you here?)

Speaking of Alicia, she was subtly hiding behind her father's back, glaring at Clovis' hatefully good-looking face. Just how was she in one night becoming so entangled with a man whose face she didn't even know in her previous life?

Whether he noticed the gaze piercing through him or not, Clovis' violet eyes quickly flicked upwards and caught Alicia. At that moment, Alicia flashbacked to the sight of Clovis' eyes flaring up as he brandished a sword and her blood oozing out, dyeing the marble crimson. A s.h.i.+ver ran through Alicia's entire body.

Clovis must have surely questioned why the princess younger than him turned pale and quickly averted her eyes. However, right now Alicia did not have the composure to smooth things over. Hiding her trembling hands, she only wished that Clovis would disappear before her eyes as soon as possible.

"So, Naizel? By purposely arranging to bring these two along, despite me having met them at the ceremony before their departure and also just a while ago, I wonder if this is something you feel quite strongly about?"

"Yes, I am confident that I a.s.sembled talented people suited for the role of supporting the kingdom in the future for this observation team. However among them, these two are promising and stand out from the group, which is why I have brought them along."

I hope this ends quickly. Alicia's wish was fruitless, as King James was very curious about the two young men.

"Fonbert, you were a representative from the Knights Order, yes? And Cromwell, you took part as the top graduate of the Royal Academy."

"We are honoured that you would remember such things!"

Robert unintentionally raised his voice in astonishment. Fitting of his status as a member of the Knights Order, he was a young man with straight silver hair tightly tied together into one, giving off a beautiful and gallant impression.

"I sent you to the neighbouring country as a representative of the Kingdom. I cannot forget about your personal backgrounds."

"That was insolent of me. Please, forgive me."

Robert's face flushed red as King James chuckled without a care. Advisor Otto then took over and opened his mouth to speak.

"And like this, they have a bit of a tendency of being blatantly honest, but the reports on the neighbouring country that these two submitted were very to the point. They not only wrote a multifaceted a.n.a.lysis from a broad perspective, but displayed audacity in putting forward proposals to our country, which I think merits all the more praise."

"I see. Naizel, you made me read two reports while you hid the names of the authors. Those reports belonged to these two, am I right?"

The Chief Advisor silently smiled, affirming what the King had pointed out.

King James seemed to be enjoying himself more and more, as he leaned forward and made the two young men lift their faces.

"As for your reports, I greatly enjoyed reading them. There were some slightly less refined sections that stood out, still, your reports nicely compared our country with the neighbouring one and pointedly identified each and every good and bad aspect. A common proposal by the two of you was the 'abolition of social rank disparity with regards to the appointment system'. I liked that a lot."

The two young men looked at each other with their eyes wide open. Even Alicia was similarly taken by surprise.

The cla.s.s system in Heilland was absolute. It went without saying that there were differences between commoners and aristocrats, but even among the n.o.bility, ranks were strictly divided according to the peerage of one's family. It was not unusual that the high officials close to the King were related to him by blood.

Despite all this, Alicia's old teacher had taught her that it had become more relaxed than before. For example, here and there you could see individuals from families with the rank of baron within the middle echelons of management in government departments now, while there was no such thing just going back two generations of kings.

The proposal for the "Abolition of Social Rank Disparity" in such a kingdom was extremely radical. She somewhat could not believe her ears that the current King would say he liked it.

"Of course, those of authority in this Kingdom who have sworn their loyalty to me would probably faint if they saw your proposal. However, our proud history cannot become the shackles that keep us from the future. I'm most pleased to hear opinions and suggestions that look ahead to the future from young people responsible for the world to come."

"Indeed," let out Lady Fourier. While taking the brilliant head court lady who even the King greatly acknowledged by surprise, the King continued with a smile at the dumbfounded young men.

"Naturally it cannot be put into effect immediately as it would be too radical of a change. Reforms that are too rushed could even ruin the country. …Still, it's not bad for a future to aim for. Continue to work hard from here on out, and then let's discuss this matter again someday."

"T-Thank you for your gracious words!"

After nodding at the deeply moved pair, King James impishly looked in the direction of his personal right-hand advisor.

"Well now, my advisor. What are you planning to do with these two?"

This is completely different from my previous life. Alicia knitted her pretty brows slightly. It was obvious from the conversation up until now that Otto had brought the two young men along in order to appoint them into important positions in politics and military affairs.

Still, Alicia didn't know of Clovis at all on the night of the revolution, meaning it was likely that he was in a position in which he could not appear in the vicinity of royalty, and needless to say, did not hold an important office in the kingdom's politics.

Of course, maybe there was no opportunity for a government official and a queen to meet because it was her husband Fritz who had succeeded to the throne. Yet at the same time, it was strange that there was never an opportunity for him to meet Alicia, given that he was someone that King James had such great expectations of.

"Yes. Your Majesty, I most humbly-"

"…Well, well! Some very interesting faces we have here, don't we?"

Despite Alicia's confusion, when Naizel was about to advise the King about the two young men, this voice interrupted from the side.