Chapter 37
Blair rode the horse vigorously. The horse he was riding now wasn’t the black horse he had adored in the past. The black horse would come into Blair’s possession some time later. This one was a chestnut horse that his father occasionally rode. It was an exceptionally gentle horse, suitable for horseback riding. Unlike the black horse, it wasn’t capable of forming a mental connection, but its excellent breeding made it perfect for enjoying a ride.
Blair gripped the reins tightly, applying slight pressure with his legs to lift himself up and feel the wind rushing past as the horse galloped.
Blair loved horseback riding. Though he could ride horses at the Academy as well, he didn’t keep a personal horse due to the considerable expenses of purchasing one and the additional costs of keeping it in the Academy’s stables. Money wasn’t an issue, but since the Academy had many horses they managed internally, there was no need to go to such lengths. Of course, there was a vast difference in quality between the communal horses at the Academy and his family’s horses, but the Academy horses weren’t bad for simple riding.
The sun rose high in the sky. Blair felt as if all the vitality of the garden was pouring into him. The scent of grass wafted up dizzily. After riding for quite some time, Blair gradually slowed down, letting go of the reins to allow the horse to walk at its leisure.
The horse began to wander as it pleased. Sometimes it would stop to graze on the soft grass, and when the mood struck, it would trot with a clip-clop, clip-clop. With his hands free, Blair crossed his arms and fell into thought while on horseback. He was now riding solely with the strength of his legs.
In any case, Blair had many decisions to make now.
The first decision Blair made after returning to the past was that he wouldn’t make Kyle emperor again. And even now, Blair had no intention of retracting that choice. He admitted having personal feelings about it. But unless Kyle was destined to be a great ruler who would be remembered for generations, Blair didn’t want to get his hands stained with massive bloodshed again to make someone become an emperor who would ultimately leave a rather unremarkable legacy.
It wasn’t because he disliked Kyle. He simply felt that living such a life once was enough. Part of it was due to being hardened by a life of being thrust onto battlefields, wandering throughout the empire for nearly ten years as a so-called kingmaker. In the end, he received a duke’s title and territory as a reward, but he didn’t think it was worth going through all that hardship again.
If Blair were a commoner who had to make his own way in the world without anything in hand, it might be different. But Blair was the youngest son of Count Monetery even if he did nothing, and was set to inherit a portion of the vast Monetery family fortune. He could live a comfortable, leisurely life just by maintaining the status quo. He wanted to experience a life other than being a kingmaker. This time, he wanted to simply enjoy life without being busy.
With Kyle eliminated from the candidates, the pool of potential successors to the throne naturally narrowed to three: First Imperial Princess Adriana, First Prince Joshua, and the soon-to-be-born youngest prince Dain. If the future flowed similarly and the Emperor passed away before long, Dain would again be eliminated from the candidates. The position of Emperor wasn’t so simple that they would allow the five-year-old Dain to take the throne when there were siblings nearly twenty years his senior.
That left only Joshua and Adriana. Blair’s forehead creased slightly as he pondered for a long time. His thoughts grew increasingly complex. Blair suddenly spoke to the chestnut horse he was riding.
“What do you think?”
Of course, no answer came from the horse, which was busy grazing on the well-maintained lawn.
Having lived his entire life in a faction opposing Joshua, Blair didn’t know much about him. All he knew was that Joshua had dark brown skin and hair because his mother was from the Kalshon ethnic minority.
Ah, there was one more thing.
The source of the arrow that hit him before he died was probably Joshua. Though there was no definitive proof, there was strong circumstantial evidence. It would make sense, since the perpetrator was a Kalshon person. Blair’s teeth ground together. Just when he was finally ready to give up his long unrequited love, step away from complicated politics, and go down to his territory to live an enjoyable life squandering his fortune, some random person had interfered and ruined all his plans. Recalling it made him angry again.
Even setting aside his personal animosity, was Joshua suitable for the throne? When he thought about it, there were indeed some concerns. His mother was one of those reasons. Joshua, whose mother was a Kalshon person. He himself was born with strong Kalshon characteristics. True to being someone attached to his roots, there was a very high probability that if Joshua became emperor, he would step forward to support those people.
While Blair didn’t believe that the persecution of ethnic minorities was right, it would be a different story if Joshua implemented policies to revitalize them. Even now, the Kalshon people were a border nuisance known for looting and arson. The image of the Kalshon people couldn’t be good in the Crassia Empire. Therefore, if Joshua became emperor, there was a high possibility of conflict between the imperial family and the people.
In any case, since his mother’s issue wasn’t critical enough to completely eliminate Joshua from the candidates for emperor, Blair needed to weigh Adriana and Joshua against each other to determine who would be the more suitable successor.
But Blair disliked Joshua. He admitted it. This was personal. No pushover anywhere would like someone who killed them. His pushover behavior was limited to Kyle.
As for Adriana, the last remaining candidate…
“She’s a woman.”
A monotone word escaped Blair’s lips. He thought he was just thinking it in his head, but he was startled when it came out of his mouth.
Yes, that was the problem.
Adriana was a woman.
The Crassia Empire’s principle was primogeniture. The principle was to transfer all the rights of the family to the firstborn, regardless of whether they were a daughter or a son. But this principle was only briefly observed in the early days of the empire’s establishment. As time went on, it became more of a formality, and now most titles and properties were passed on to sons. This was especially so because when women married into other families, they were incorporated into those families, losing their inheritance rights.
In any case, while it had become a formality, it wasn’t a completely abolished law, so Adriana certainly had the right to become emperor. She was the firstborn, so it was even more natural. Moreover, Adriana had the best bloodline among the Emperor’s four children. Her mother was the daughter of Duke Sichen. She was far above Julia Spirenda, the daughter of Baron Spirenda, who boasted about being of noble birth among the empresses.
But in the past, Adriana never had the chance to dip her toes into the struggle for the throne. This was because she died before the Emperor’s passing. If Adriana had been alive, despite the culture that excluded women, she would have had a say with the support of the Sichen ducal family behind her.
The one who killed Adriana was Julia Spirenda, the third empress. The greedy Empress Spirenda had been eyeing the vacant position of empress after the death of the Empress, Adriana’s mother. After giving birth to Dain, the late youngest prince, her confidence grew even more. To her, Adriana, who was acting as the national mother, was a thorn in her side.
The fact that she was effectively the firstborn and thus closest to the throne was also one of Empress Spirenda’s grievances. For her son, Dain, to become emperor, she would first need to become empress and eliminate Adriana, Joshua, and Kyle. If only Adriana had married early into another country or noble family, she might have at least saved her life.
But during her time at the Academy, when the frail Empress fell ill, Adriana had no choice but to hurriedly return to the imperial family. After returning to the palace, she nursed her mother and cut off contact with noble society. After the Empress’s death, she took on the role of the national mother and rejected all marriage proposals. She not only showed her face at all official occasions but also led discussions with foreign diplomats and handled protocol.
The greedy Empress Spirenda planned to poison Adriana. She didn’t like Adriana fulfilling the role of the national mother. That position belonged to Empress Spirenda herself. And for her child to become emperor, Adriana had to disappear.
Born from an Empress who was originally frail, Adriana wasn’t robust either. With continuous, long-term poisoning, Adriana’s weak body couldn’t withstand it.
From then on, everything returned to square one. Three sons of empresses who hadn’t yet been recognized as crown prince. All in equal conditions. Among them, Kyle’s mother was of too humble origin and had no political background. Joshua’s mother was from an ethnic minority.
And the Emperor wasn’t particularly fond of either Kyle or Joshua. In this situation, if Empress Spirenda were to be appointed as Empress, Dain would become crown prince in one stroke. But as fate would have it, the Emperor died not long after. Thanks to this, all of Empress Spirenda’s ambitions were thwarted, and Joshua and Kyle clashed over the vacant throne.
“No matter how I think about it, it seems right for Imperial Princess Adriana to become emperor. Don’t you agree?”
Blair spoke again to the horse that was wandering here and there with him on its back. The horse snorted in response. Blair smiled gently and took hold of the reins he had let go of.
“So you think so too.”
In a country based on primogeniture, the Emperor’s first child, with an impeccable maternal lineage. Imperial Princess Adriana was also very intelligent. Even though it had been a long time since she left the Academy, test papers and assignments said to have been written by Imperial Princess Adriana were still circulating among students. No matter how he thought about it, she was a candidate with no deficiencies for becoming emperor.
And, she was the object of Theodore’s unrequited love.
Having decided to give up on being a kingmaker, this time he was planning to be a Cupid connecting lovers. Blair was very fond of his eldest brother.
With a mischievous smile, Blair lightly kicked the horse’s belly. The horse, having rested enough, began to gallop again, thud-thud-thud-thud.
[To be continued….]
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
