She saw Leone’s back as he approached the door to call Benjamin. A strong back, an upright posture and an elegant gait… The appearance of Leone, who used to walk on all fours, was far away.
‘Ah. Away.’
“Le-Leone!”
Unknowingly, she called him. Leone looked back at her. It was still a warm look.
“Huh?”
“If you don’t like… if you don’t like it! You can say no.”
She didn’t think he hated it, everyone said so. But in her opinion, the change was too fast. The child she was always worried about grew up so quickly… There were obviously side effects.
“Really. Don’t put up with it if you don’t like it, Leone.”
“Trixie.”
“Huh…”
“I- really.”
Leone said forcefully.
“I don’t like it. All study. That way, I’m talking to you and have fun.”
“…”
“So don’t worry.”
She felt a sense of distance from that dignified answer. That child grew up so fast alone, and she felt like she was worried about what was left in her hands that she couldn’t keep up with. Was this really okay? She was…
What was she worried about and anxious about?
* * *
Adler was good at teaching. He often taught the children of the Knights, and most of them grew up to be good knights. However, the lord, who did not even know the concept of money, kept coming to him and saying, ‘What is this, did I have this too? How do you write this? What’s the use?’
He could give any number of answers, but he wasn’t sure if he was a good teacher to teach the prince’s economic ideas. Moreover, Leone didn’t stop with questions about money, but asked a lot of things. Adler had no choice but to answer these questions because they were questions that would be considered ‘uncultured’ by the teachers attached to the prince. So Leone kept coming, and Adler, who couldn’t refuse him, accepted him.
Like that… Leone took his place in Adler’s office.
Knock, knock.
“Knight.”
“Yes, Lord Leone.”
Today, too, before he could answer, the door slammed open. Adler was overjoyed by Leone’s friendly behavior. As for Leone, Adler answered what other teachers did not answer, so he was just settled here. However, now that he had noticed, he didn’t spit at Adler’s happy face like he used to.
“Welcome.”
While Adler got up from his desk to greet him properly, Leone walked over and sat down on the sofa next to Adler’s desk.
“Greetings, it’s okay.”
“How could I not show respect to my lord?”
“Okay.”
Adler looked at Leone with a happy face. As the days went by, he became smarter and more affectionate. He even paid attention to whether his greeting would be annoying…! Seeing the unexpected future come true in reality, Adler even wondered if he was dreaming these days. If this was a real dream he’d rather live in a dream forever. One day, when he opened his eyes, he thought he would really want to die if he was in the Meto Mountains again. Surprisingly, this time, it was not Adler’s misunderstanding that he thought ‘Leone was worried about him’.
Leone thought it would be annoying for Adler to stand up and bow his head every time, so he wanted to stop him. Maybe it was because when he was learning how to greet, he was shocked by the words, ‘If you go to a banquet, you have to repeat this kind of greeting a hundred times’. Anyway, greetings didn’t seem very good.
“Is your status something you can buy and sell?”
“Yes?”
Leone, stretched out on the sofa, asked Adler, placing his thick book on his lap.
“Anything can be done with money.”
Since he was the prince, he wouldn’t be hit in the back anywhere, but the world was very harsh and Leone didn’t know the world well. With that kind of heart, he told him all about the tricks of the bad guys and worldly things, and he even made him realize that there was nothing that money couldn’t do.
‘I misunderstood the concept of economy, I…’
There were definitely things that money couldn’t do. However, most of Leone’s questions could be solved with money.
“Leone. Did I say that money is omnipotent? There are things in the world that money cannot do.”
‘Is it? Trixie said there’s nothing that can’t be done with money.’
Didn’t Adler even say that he could pamper Trixie? Now he knew that Trixie was not Adler’s concept of ownership. It was the relationship between the employee and the employer. In the first place, Trixie was hired for Leone, so there was no Adler’s property or anything like that. According to Leone’s.
But Leone was jealous.
‘Humans, they live very complicated lives.’
The more he read the books, the more strange they were.
“What is that?”
“Hmm… Mmm. People’s… mind?”
“Mind?”
“There must be a heart that can be bought with money, but if you are a person with upright convictions, you will not sell your heart for money.”
“Huh.”
Leone did not fully agree, but nodded his head. As Adler said, there may be other cases. Leone didn’t carelessly ignore or forget any words. He absolutely lacked experience. Even if he read the book and learned it, it was different to use it in practice. Therefore, he would not be quick to jump to conclusions about anything and would remember even trivial stories.
“Status can also be bought with money. It’s not even illegal.”
“A title of nobility?”
“Yes. There are quite a few cases in which a wealthy commoner buys the title of Viscount or Baron on the verge of ruin.”
It’s been a week since he focused on conversational skills ahead of the banquet. He took a lot of classes, and because Leone read books from all fields, his words and vocabulary quickly improved. Despite Adler’s complex explanation, there were no questions asked. Leone absorbed knowledge like a person with a purpose. These days, he was no different from an ordinary young man, except for the slightly slow tempo of his speech and occasional muffled pronunciation.
“But why? Need another identity? Are you trying to go undercover?”
In Adler’s eyes, Leone was already seen as the image of a ‘monarch wishing for peace and prosperity’. He nodded his head.
“Roughly, yes.”
“Omg! You’re wonderful, Lord Leone!”
“So- knight. If I want to buy an identity, what should I do?”
Now Leone had a lot of money. He looked at the inventory and realized that he had no ‘cash’ to buy this and that. After consulting with Adler, Leone sold a small part of the inventory. That was what he said after sending Trixie out. A story about the money Adler sold and how Leone wanted to manage it. Leone didn’t want to talk about money in front of Trixie. What Leone wanted to do was not to brag about money, but to protect Trixie with it and build an environment so that she could stay with him. So he didn’t want to tell her until he was ready, until he was a more advanced person. Adler thought Leone must have realized right away that the details of the property were extremely private. And he thanked you for discussing such a private matter with him.
“Hmm. Leone, in fact, you don’t really need to buy an identity when going undercover. Because the main thing is to disguise and leave no traces.”
This was unexpected. At Adler’s objection, Leone was silent for a moment. What should he do to get access to ‘buying status’? Leone, who was rolling his head, soon found the answer.
“Curious.”
“What?”
“I want to know more about how the world works, knight.”
This was especially true of Adler. Since Leone had been consistently indifferent to the human world and was close to an idiot, the word ‘I want to know’ had a considerable impact on Adler. In addition, Leone took a step further and brought out an all-around line that worked not only for Adler but for all teachers.
“Because I am a prince.”
These were the words he said to those who he wanted to convince to teach him something whenever they tried to stop His Highness the Prince from constantly going too far in class. Speaking so much, the pronunciation, pitch, and speed were perfect. It was something he didn’t mean to say.
“Lor…!”
Adler looked at Leone with a moved face.
‘You’ve grown up so quickly before I know it, and even said that you want to experience the world firsthand…! Besides, you’re a prince…!’
“Lord Leone…!”
After learning the concept of the position of the prince, Leone thought of his family. Parents who led the herd, brothers who led the new herd on their own. It was similar to them. And what they always had was ‘responsibility for their position’. Everyone was moved by what he said, just in case. He thought he had really changed. Seeing him withdraw at a single word, he thought it was complicated, but it became simple. Humans were really strange.
“Then… We’ll show you how. It’s not illegal, but it’s perfect to see people trading status in and out of the imperial castle. So, we have to leave the imperial castle.”
When he leaves the castle… In Leone’s mind, the countless crowds that welcomed him came to mind. It was noisy and hectic, but not in a bad mood. Leone thought nothing of it and nodded his head.
“Okay.”
