0&1 Ch 17.4

I drew my sword from my waist and struck the box. The tip of the sword pierced the seam precisely, but the box did not open.

There wasn’t even a scratch.

I put the sword back in its sheath and shoved the box into a drawer.

It was just a shot in the dark. 

It wasn’t as if I desperately wanted to return to reality. I wasn’t disappointed.

I kept telling myself that. There was no problem.

“Your Highness?” Dot poked his head in from outside the door. ““There’s no more room to put your things. I think we need to tidy up.”

“Can’t you put them in an unused room?”
“They’re guest rooms or rooms for other purposes. I’m sorry. What should I do?”
“Just take them.”
“Sorry?”
“Take whatever you want. Tell the servants to take whatever they like too. It’s almost harvest time. Tell them it’s a reward. If they don’t want it, just throw it away.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” Dot left, looking around nervously.

I sank into the sofa and stared at the box. All I could hear was the ticking of the clock.

It was probably something I couldn’t use anyway.

I ran my fingers through my hair. I’d taken my anger out on Dot for no reason.

I didn’t really care about the things I’d bought. There were some high-quality fabrics from the fabric store, and there were also some cheap things that I wondered if I could even sell on the street.

I had paid more than their market value for all of them. Joffrey would look stupid. It would be nice if he got a reputation as a foolish Prince.

But that wasn’t enough. The luxury of the nobility was beyond imagination.

Let’s ask the Queen to let me dig a pond and bring in some koi fish.

It was almost winter. It would be difficult to find koi fish, and it would be difficult to build a pond.

The Queen’s private funds would be greatly reduced.

No matter what anyone said, the garden construction was extravagant.

Would the Queen allow it? Or would she finally hold me back and say something?

I felt like I was holding the end of a taut string. Eventually, the string would break. I just didn’t know when.

Dot’s words about the storeroom being full were no exaggeration. There were many empty rooms and storerooms in Joffrey’s palace. Even on a normal day, they were never completely empty.

As a Prince, you often received valuable gifts for your birthday. Things you didn’t know what to do with, things you would use someday but not now, and things you played with as a child, such as a rocking horse, were left in the storeroom.

Newly purchased items were piled up in the storerooms alongside the precious gifts that had been received in the past and left unused. Some of the precious items were taken by the palace servants as rewards, but there were still many items left over.

“It’s a bit of a waste to throw them away, isn’t it?”

“Yes, Your Highness.” Dot agreed with me.

I came from a country where expired food from convenience stores was handed out to part-time workers as meals. Throwing away nonperishable goods just didn’t sit right with me.

“Should we donate them?”
“That’s a wonderful idea, Your Highness.”
“Anonymously.”
“What?”
“It’s more impressive that way.”

“Oh, I see. So, the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing?” Dot said as if he’d just realized something.

“That’s right.”
“That’s really cool, Your Highness.”
“So, you can’t tell anyone.”
“Of course not, Your Highness. I wouldn’t do that.”

Dot and I gathered blankets, rare toys, and dolls in the middle of the night and tied them up neatly. We wrapped the shiny items in a large cloth, but it didn’t look very good.

There were piles of suspicious-looking bags. If we left them in front of an orphanage, wouldn’t people think someone had thrown out trash?

“How about writing a letter? Convince them that it’s not trash.” Dot suggested.

Do we have to convince them?

It did look like something that required some convincing.

“That’s a good idea.” 

I went to the study and took out some stationery and ink. I wrote the letter politely.

After finishing the letter and reading it over, it seemed even more suspicious.

The part where it said not to suspect anything was particularly suspicious. Was it just my imagination?

Maybe it looked more sketchy because it was anonymous.

“How about using a pseudonym?” Dot suggested.

“That’s a good idea.” We decided to name the donor Mr. Line, an anonymous wealthy individual.

It wasn’t really anonymous since we had already given him a name.

I wasn’t great with names, so I just tweaked Dot’s name. It felt like beginner English homework. Dot praised me, saying, “That’s so cool, Your Highness. Prince. How did you come up with that name?” 

Was he serious?

I couldn’t say anything because I felt like he had high expectations.

Anyway, the anonymous wealthy Mr. Lane planned to donate various items to the orphanage in the future.

This seemed to solve the problem of the overcrowded warehouse, but there was another problem.

“Who’s going to deliver all this?” We needed several carts. Dot and I racked our brains again.

We needed a reliable courier. In this world, merchant guilds handled transportation.

The Montblanc Trading Company?

I sat down in my study again and wrote a letter. It was addressed to Lowell Montblanc.

It feels like this is getting too big.

No, even if I brought Lowell in, the only people who knew about this were Dot and Lowell. Besides, neither of them knew my real purpose.

Damaging my reputation would be no small matter.

Why is nothing easy in this world?

It was time for tea, and I was on my way to the Queen’s Palace. Duke Pie was approaching from the opposite direction.

Duke Pie’s travel route overlapped with Joffrey’s. The classroom where the Duke’s lessons were held was located between Joffrey’s palace and the Queen’s Palace. If I wasn’t careful to avoid him, I would run into this kind of awkward situation.

“Hello, teacher.” I greeted him first.

Duke Pie must have spotted me from ten meters away. Our eyes met. If I avoided him, it would be obvious.

“Your Highness Joffrey. It’s been a long time.”

Duke Pie looked me over slowly. He always did that when he saw me, with a look of surprise at how tall and old I had become.

Despite his cold expression behind his glasses, I could see the surprise in his eyes.

“Yes. How have you been?”
“Thanks for your concern, I’ve been fine. I hear you’re doing well.”
“Did the rumors reach you?”

“Yes. Rumors are usually unreliable, and there are so many rumors about you that it would be impossible to recount even the smallest ones. Even if you avoid people’s eyes and ears, you cannot avoid gossip, and rumors reach one’s ears.” Duke Pie replied without a smile.

“Yes… There are many rumors about me?” I asked only what I understood.

“That is correct,” Duke Pie replied.

“What kind of rumors?” I wondered if the rumors I wanted to be heard had already spread, but Duke Pie remained silent. It seemed that they were bad rumors.

The Duke looked at me intently over his glasses.

After all, it would be awkward to mention rumors of extravagance and foolishness in front of the person concerned.

The temperature was dropping day by day. I gathered workers to build a pond and purchased flowers and trees for landscaping.

The landscape designer said that in order to build a pond where the gazebo could be seen, the roses would have to be moved.

I gave my permission.

The work of tearing up the garden was progressing smoothly. Rumors that the Prince was doing such a thing were probably spreading smoothly as well.

“I know what the rumors are. Thank you for your concern. But I’m not your student anymore.”

“I have no memory of giving up being your teacher.” Duke Pie said something unexpected.

“Well, I didn’t mean that I gave up on you as my teacher.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”

Really? I almost asked him to repeat himself.

“If you ever need my help, please come see me. I’ll be waiting.”

Duke Pie was not a very affectionate teacher. But his words were surprisingly warm.

Are the rumors really that bad?

It was difficult to hear rumors outside the castle. The inconvenience of living in the royal palace was that it was difficult to leave.

There were also problems with access to information.

Dot and the other servants of the castle did not want to tell me the bad rumors about me. It wasn’t as if they would be punished for spreading rumors.

Persuasion didn’t work either. After all, the palace servants were people who had lived their lives pleasing others. They wouldn’t want to upset their superiors.

In fact, I didn’t want to hear the bad rumors either.

There was a difference between expecting someone to say bad things about me and actually hearing them say them.

Come to think of it, the servants were quick to pick up on things.

“Are you doing garden work?” Grey asked.

The outdoor charity event was crowded with people, but there was no one around Grey and me.

The good thing about being with the son of the Prime Minister was that I didn’t have to talk to anyone else.

Many people came to greet the Prince and the Duke, but not many tried to strike up a conversation between us.