The next morning, Rian saw Ren Xiyang off. When he saw Florence climbing into the Rosewood carriage too, Rian felt a spike of envy (not jealousy! No, definitely not jealousy!). But Rian’s time was strictly planned, and he couldn’t abandon his responsibilities (and affect Ren Xiyang completing his own responsibilities).
So he stood there, eyes fixed on the Rosewood carriage as it moved further and further away from him.
In the carriage, Ren Xiyang kept the curtains open for longer than usual, waving to Rian until they couldn’t see each other anymore.
When he turned back and saw Florence, Ren Xiyang suddenly had the urge to explain himself.
“Rian—Crown Prince Rian—has been more clingy lately,” Ren Xiyang said. “Perhaps we had gotten used to spending more time together during the trip to Angio.”
“I see,” Florence said.
Ren Xiyang also thought about telling her that they hadn’t gotten together as long ago as she thought, but he stopped himself out of embarrassment: what if he had liked Rian for much longer but hadn’t realised?
“But I forgot to say—thank you for telling us about yourself,” Ren Xiyang said. “I’m sure you could have come up with some other reason or excuse when Rian asked you that question. For one, you spend time with us in different settings compared to Queen Mira.”
Florence acknowledged this with a slight nod and a faint smile. “That’s true.” She didn’t say that she didn’t mind seeing Prince Rian’s shocked expression. It was worth it.
“Rian has also been preparing some proposals to put forward to the Imperial Council, to modify marriage laws in line with the Rosewood fief,” Ren Xiyang said. “So, in the future…” He trailed off.
“I see,” Florence said. In truth, she hadn’t thought that far. She thought she’ll follow family tradition when the time came. But if Prince Rian and Earl Rosewood were publicly married, the social and political landscape would change.
If Rian was here, he could probably talk a lot more on the matter. But he wasn’t, so Ren Xiyang switched the topic back to agriculture:
“Anyway, I talked with Rian last night about what we talked about yesterday afternoon. Rian is going to set up some teams before we leave for Hraun, but we would appreciate your paid help…”
When Lord Hadrian Terra, eldest son of Marquis Terra of Angio, told his parents he wanted to go to Sedaveria, they had been surprised but agreed. With such a large order to send to Earl Rosewood, Hadrian’s presence would help ensure that it was safely delivered.
When he told them that he wanted to give up the inheritance of the ‘Marquis’ position to Julia and do something else instead, such as magical research, they were shocked.
Hadrian was the eldest son. Unless something extreme happened, he should become the next Marquis Terra. Marquis Terra and Marchioness Terra had been raising him and teaching him about the fief, preparing him for that role for many years.
What his parents didn’t realise was that something extreme did happen—he met Earl Rosewood and Prince Rian.
Their competency and ability and strength gave Hadrian a big shock and made him reflect what it meant to be a leader of a fief, and made him question whether he was personally suited.
His parents didn’t agree to transfer the inheritance to his sister Julia, but they allowed him to go to Sedaveria.
Perhaps they thought he would rethink it—who wouldn’t want to be the head of the family and control the fief?
Hadrian was hoping to use the trip to find a different career for himself.
When he first crossed the Angio-Sedaverian border, he noticed that the Cedar fief on the other side of the North-South Mountain Range had twice as many trees. But aside from that, and aside from the slightly different language, he didn’t feel that Sedaveria was much different from Angio.
There were still wealthy nobles, rich merchants, and all the common people.
He came to realise the subtle differences more slowly.
The agricultural fields here were full and lush.
The common people smiled more often and chatted together more often, unafraid of strangers like Hadrian nearby.
As he travelled, he heard about the team duel in the Sedaverian Capital, but the Terra team wouldn’t be able to make it. With so many laden carts and caravans, their speed was quite slow.
After a few weeks of travel, they reached the Rosewood fief.
At the border into the Rosewood fief, a group of Rosewood servants were waiting for them. They gave Hadrian and the Terra convoy a warm welcome—the main person in charge of the transport of the goods had been here before so there were familiar phrases of “welcome back” and “long time no see”.
After a brief inspection of the goods, the Rosewood servants escorted them to where the goods were to be stored prior to distribution and use in the Rosewood fief.
Hadrian thought he had seen fields with abundant, healthy crops, but the fields in the Rosewood fief were on an entirely different level.
The greenness and fullness of the fields after crossing the border between the Cordovan fief and the Rosewood fief were clear to the naked eye. The wheat was taller, fatter, and heavier, promising a bountiful harvest in a few months time.
Crop diversity was different, too. All sorts of stable crops and vegetables grew in the fields, and some fields even had two more different types of vegetables growing together!
Another thing that was immediately clear was the road. The road was broader and smoother. Trees dotted the sides of the road, and there were multiple inns and small restaurants along the way.
The Rosewood servants took them to the edge of the Rosewood estate, where the Rosewood warehouses stood. And they were huge—what had seemed like moderate structures from the distance grew bigger and bigger as they approached.
The five warehouses were placed in a row, with a large cleared square in front of them. The Rosewood servants opened the doors of two of the warehouses. Together, they worked with the Terra convoy to unload and arrange the goods.
During the process, more servants came to offer drinks and food.
Once the goods were safely unloaded, the Terra convoy headed to the Rosewood manor to stay.
Earl Rosewood wasn’t in residence—they had arrived the day before Earl Rosewood was scheduled to return from the Capital.
The head steward, Aaron, asked if Hadrian preferred quiet dinners or noisy dinners. After Hadrian said quiet dinners, Aaron arranged for him to have dinner in a small dining room with three others: the head of the Terra convoy, Aaron himself and the head of finance Lord Otto Silvercharm.
It was unexpectedly pleasant.
Aaron and Otto asked him many questions about Angio and about himself and the conversation flowed through the evening. One of the topics of conversation was the food itself, which was served ‘family style’, with multiple dishes on a central turntable.
“When Earl Rosewood returns tomorrow, we’ll cook some of his favourite dishes,” Aaron told him. “How is your chilli tolerance?”
“I have not considered this…normal?”
Aaron nodded thoughtfully. “Don’t worry, the dishes will be spiced at various levels, so you can try each level until you reach your optimal taste level.” He looked at Otto. “I’ve never met anyone who can handle as much spice as my Lord. Have you?”
“That’s right,” Otto nodded. “We used to think it was a fire-mage thing, you know, but since then we’ve had other fire mages come to visit, like the Cordovans next door, and they can’t eat what Earl Rosewood eats.”
“Although, Crown Prince Rian tries,” Aaron said, winking at Hadrian.
Hadrian was taken aback. Were they joking about their prince? Before Hadrian could dwell on it for long though, Aaron changed the topic again by asking Hadrian a question.
After dinner, Hadrian declined to join the manor’s music night and retired to his allocated suite.
As he reflected on his day, he pinpointed what felt ‘off’: the people here were happy, and unabashedly so.
In addition, he had noticed their casualness immediately—it felt like a lack of respect towards nobles—but now, he realised that it was the Rosewood people’s way of expressing friendliness. For their words and praise of Earl Rosewood, it was clear that they deeply respected him.
Hadrian was sceptical that the people of the Terra fief respected him that much. The fact that he couldn’t handle the bandit raids while his father was gone must have worsened his reputation.
Which was yet another reason why Hadrian didn’t want to be Marquis in the future. Which was why he was here, in the Rosewood fief.
He looked forward to seeing Earl Rosewood again soon.
The next day, Aaron asked him what he wanted to do before Earl Rosewood and Lady Sage’s arrival in the afternoon. Aaron presented him with a couple of options, and Hadrian chose to go and see the new building projects in the Rosewood fief, so that he could see where all that building material and glass Earl Rosewood bought from the Terra fief was being used.
There were many more building projects than Hadrian expected. There was new housing for Rosewood Group staff and their families, new housing for Rosewood residents, new community centres, new schools, new libraries, and even a new shopping building. The Rosewood fief was astoundingly active. And the people in the fief seemed to continuously boast to him how much they were grateful for Earl Rosewood for their livelihoods.
Those Azure & Rosewood carriages must have earned a lot more money than Hadrian had expected.
Hadrian was starting to see a trend: all of his expectations relating to Earl Rosewood were being broken, one by one.
He had lunch and was shown some more building projects before returning to the Rosewood estate. Then, Earl Rosewood and Lady Sage arrived.
Ren Xiyang breathed in the familiar air of the Rosewood estate.
Since Ren Xiyang hadn’t been gone for so long, the group of Rosewood Group staff waiting for him wasn’t as exaggerated as last time.
That said, there was the added group from Terra, so the number of people was still large.
When Ren Xiyang stepped out of the carriage, he immediately noticed Hadrian Terra’s gaze—among the cheerful faces of the Rosewood staff and the restrained but earnest faces of the Terra transport staff, Hadrian Terra’s expression stood out.
Hadrian stood stiffly. He looked like he really wanted to say something. There were complex emotions that Ren Xiyang couldn’t understand.
“Welcome home, Earl Rosewood! Welcome to the Rosewood manor, Lady Sage!” the staff greeted.
“Thank you,” Florence said.
“It’s good to be back,” Ren Xiyang said. He met Hadrian’s eyes. “Lord Terra, welcome to the Rosewood fief.”
“We meet again, Lord Terra,” Florence greeted.
“Good afternoon, Earl Rosewood and Lady Sage,” Hadrian said.
“I hope your stay has been good so far,” Ren Xiyang said.
“Yes, it has been good,” Hadrian said.
Ren Xiyang then turned to the Terra staff in general. “Thank you for delivering the goods. Let’s talk later about what goods you’ll take back.” Then, he looked at his Rosewood staff. “Now, don’t tell me you’ve all finished preparing for the half-yearly meeting?”
“We’re taking our afternoon break,” Aaron said, leading to eager nods from the other staff.
“Okay, then I need people who aren’t taking a break to help Lady Sage to her rooms.”
“My Lord, I’ll do this,” Kel said.
“Thank you, Kel,” Florence said.
“My Lord, your luggage—” Aaron stepped forward.
Ren Xiyang raised his hands. His luggage magically levitated up and through the window of his quarters, which he also magically unlocked.
The Rosewood and Terra staff watched in amazement. This was a new trick!
“Alright, continue with your break,” Ren Xiyang said.
The staff laughed amongst themselves and scattered. The Terra staff also left—they wanted to take advantage of this break before they had to make the return trip back to Angio.
After confirming with Kel and Florence about meeting later for dinner, Ren Xiyang walked over to Hadrian.
“Shall we head to my study for a meeting?”
“Yes.”
Hadrian followed Ren Xiyang up to his quarters. A staff member brought them drinks and snacks and thoughtfully closed the door.
Ren Xiyang: Prince Rian is clingy and misses me a lot.
Back in the Capital:
Rian: *feels a tingling in his nose* Someone is talking about me!!
Short chapter because of work trip reasons (the second work trip in three weeks—this is way too much travel for me T_T)
P.S. look at how cool this is!
https://twitter.com/BLPalace/status/1680364193873297409/retweets/with_comments
The next morning, Rian saw Ren Xiyang off. When he saw Florence climbing into the Rosewood carriage too, Rian felt a spike of envy (not jealousy! No, definitely not jealousy!). But Rian’s time was strictly planned, and he couldn’t abandon his responsibilities (and affect Ren Xiyang completing his own responsibilities).
So he stood there, eyes fixed on the Rosewood carriage as it moved further and further away from him.
In the carriage, Ren Xiyang kept the curtains open for longer than usual, waving to Rian until they couldn’t see each other anymore.
When he turned back and saw Florence, Ren Xiyang suddenly had the urge to explain himself.
“Rian—Crown Prince Rian—has been more clingy lately,” Ren Xiyang said. “Perhaps we had gotten used to spending more time together during the trip to Angio.”
“I see,” Florence said.
Ren Xiyang also thought about telling her that they hadn’t gotten together as long ago as she thought, but he stopped himself out of embarrassment: what if he had liked Rian for much longer but hadn’t realised?
“But I forgot to say—thank you for telling us about yourself,” Ren Xiyang said. “I’m sure you could have come up with some other reason or excuse when Rian asked you that question. For one, you spend time with us in different settings compared to Queen Mira.”
Florence acknowledged this with a slight nod and a faint smile. “That’s true.” She didn’t say that she didn’t mind seeing Prince Rian’s shocked expression. It was worth it.
“Rian has also been preparing some proposals to put forward to the Imperial Council, to modify marriage laws in line with the Rosewood fief,” Ren Xiyang said. “So, in the future…” He trailed off.
“I see,” Florence said. In truth, she hadn’t thought that far. She thought she’ll follow family tradition when the time came. But if Prince Rian and Earl Rosewood were publicly married, the social and political landscape would change.
If Rian was here, he could probably talk a lot more on the matter. But he wasn’t, so Ren Xiyang switched the topic back to agriculture:
“Anyway, I talked with Rian last night about what we talked about yesterday afternoon. Rian is going to set up some teams before we leave for Hraun, but we would appreciate your paid help…”
When Lord Hadrian Terra, eldest son of Marquis Terra of Angio, told his parents he wanted to go to Sedaveria, they had been surprised but agreed. With such a large order to send to Earl Rosewood, Hadrian’s presence would help ensure that it was safely delivered.
When he told them that he wanted to give up the inheritance of the ‘Marquis’ position to Julia and do something else instead, such as magical research, they were shocked.
Hadrian was the eldest son. Unless something extreme happened, he should become the next Marquis Terra. Marquis Terra and Marchioness Terra had been raising him and teaching him about the fief, preparing him for that role for many years.
What his parents didn’t realise was that something extreme did happen—he met Earl Rosewood and Prince Rian.
Their competency and ability and strength gave Hadrian a big shock and made him reflect what it meant to be a leader of a fief, and made him question whether he was personally suited.
His parents didn’t agree to transfer the inheritance to his sister Julia, but they allowed him to go to Sedaveria.
Perhaps they thought he would rethink it—who wouldn’t want to be the head of the family and control the fief?
Hadrian was hoping to use the trip to find a different career for himself.
When he first crossed the Angio-Sedaverian border, he noticed that the Cedar fief on the other side of the North-South Mountain Range had twice as many trees. But aside from that, and aside from the slightly different language, he didn’t feel that Sedaveria was much different from Angio.
There were still wealthy nobles, rich merchants, and all the common people.
He came to realise the subtle differences more slowly.
The agricultural fields here were full and lush.
The common people smiled more often and chatted together more often, unafraid of strangers like Hadrian nearby.
As he travelled, he heard about the team duel in the Sedaverian Capital, but the Terra team wouldn’t be able to make it. With so many laden carts and caravans, their speed was quite slow.
After a few weeks of travel, they reached the Rosewood fief.
At the border into the Rosewood fief, a group of Rosewood servants were waiting for them. They gave Hadrian and the Terra convoy a warm welcome—the main person in charge of the transport of the goods had been here before so there were familiar phrases of “welcome back” and “long time no see”.
After a brief inspection of the goods, the Rosewood servants escorted them to where the goods were to be stored prior to distribution and use in the Rosewood fief.
Hadrian thought he had seen fields with abundant, healthy crops, but the fields in the Rosewood fief were on an entirely different level.
The greenness and fullness of the fields after crossing the border between the Cordovan fief and the Rosewood fief were clear to the naked eye. The wheat was taller, fatter, and heavier, promising a bountiful harvest in a few months time.
Crop diversity was different, too. All sorts of stable crops and vegetables grew in the fields, and some fields even had two more different types of vegetables growing together!
Another thing that was immediately clear was the road. The road was broader and smoother. Trees dotted the sides of the road, and there were multiple inns and small restaurants along the way.
The Rosewood servants took them to the edge of the Rosewood estate, where the Rosewood warehouses stood. And they were huge—what had seemed like moderate structures from the distance grew bigger and bigger as they approached.
The five warehouses were placed in a row, with a large cleared square in front of them. The Rosewood servants opened the doors of two of the warehouses. Together, they worked with the Terra convoy to unload and arrange the goods.
During the process, more servants came to offer drinks and food.
Once the goods were safely unloaded, the Terra convoy headed to the Rosewood manor to stay.
Earl Rosewood wasn’t in residence—they had arrived the day before Earl Rosewood was scheduled to return from the Capital.
The head steward, Aaron, asked if Hadrian preferred quiet dinners or noisy dinners. After Hadrian said quiet dinners, Aaron arranged for him to have dinner in a small dining room with three others: the head of the Terra convoy, Aaron himself and the head of finance Lord Otto Silvercharm.
It was unexpectedly pleasant.
Aaron and Otto asked him many questions about Angio and about himself and the conversation flowed through the evening. One of the topics of conversation was the food itself, which was served ‘family style’, with multiple dishes on a central turntable.
“When Earl Rosewood returns tomorrow, we’ll cook some of his favourite dishes,” Aaron told him. “How is your chilli tolerance?”
“I have not considered this…normal?”
Aaron nodded thoughtfully. “Don’t worry, the dishes will be spiced at various levels, so you can try each level until you reach your optimal taste level.” He looked at Otto. “I’ve never met anyone who can handle as much spice as my Lord. Have you?”
“That’s right,” Otto nodded. “We used to think it was a fire-mage thing, you know, but since then we’ve had other fire mages come to visit, like the Cordovans next door, and they can’t eat what Earl Rosewood eats.”
“Although, Crown Prince Rian tries,” Aaron said, winking at Hadrian.
Hadrian was taken aback. Were they joking about their prince? Before Hadrian could dwell on it for long though, Aaron changed the topic again by asking Hadrian a question.
After dinner, Hadrian declined to join the manor’s music night and retired to his allocated suite.
As he reflected on his day, he pinpointed what felt ‘off’: the people here were happy, and unabashedly so.
In addition, he had noticed their casualness immediately—it felt like a lack of respect towards nobles—but now, he realised that it was the Rosewood people’s way of expressing friendliness. For their words and praise of Earl Rosewood, it was clear that they deeply respected him.
Hadrian was sceptical that the people of the Terra fief respected him that much. The fact that he couldn’t handle the bandit raids while his father was gone must have worsened his reputation.
Which was yet another reason why Hadrian didn’t want to be Marquis in the future. Which was why he was here, in the Rosewood fief.
He looked forward to seeing Earl Rosewood again soon.
The next day, Aaron asked him what he wanted to do before Earl Rosewood and Lady Sage’s arrival in the afternoon. Aaron presented him with a couple of options, and Hadrian chose to go and see the new building projects in the Rosewood fief, so that he could see where all that building material and glass Earl Rosewood bought from the Terra fief was being used.
There were many more building projects than Hadrian expected. There was new housing for Rosewood Group staff and their families, new housing for Rosewood residents, new community centres, new schools, new libraries, and even a new shopping building. The Rosewood fief was astoundingly active. And the people in the fief seemed to continuously boast to him how much they were grateful for Earl Rosewood for their livelihoods.
Those Azure & Rosewood carriages must have earned a lot more money than Hadrian had expected.
Hadrian was starting to see a trend: all of his expectations relating to Earl Rosewood were being broken, one by one.
He had lunch and was shown some more building projects before returning to the Rosewood estate. Then, Earl Rosewood and Lady Sage arrived.
Ren Xiyang breathed in the familiar air of the Rosewood estate.
Since Ren Xiyang hadn’t been gone for so long, the group of Rosewood Group staff waiting for him wasn’t as exaggerated as last time.
That said, there was the added group from Terra, so the number of people was still large.
When Ren Xiyang stepped out of the carriage, he immediately noticed Hadrian Terra’s gaze—among the cheerful faces of the Rosewood staff and the restrained but earnest faces of the Terra transport staff, Hadrian Terra’s expression stood out.
Hadrian stood stiffly. He looked like he really wanted to say something. There were complex emotions that Ren Xiyang couldn’t understand.
“Welcome home, Earl Rosewood! Welcome to the Rosewood manor, Lady Sage!” the staff greeted.
“Thank you,” Florence said.
“It’s good to be back,” Ren Xiyang said. He met Hadrian’s eyes. “Lord Terra, welcome to the Rosewood fief.”
“We meet again, Lord Terra,” Florence greeted.
“Good afternoon, Earl Rosewood and Lady Sage,” Hadrian said.
“I hope your stay has been good so far,” Ren Xiyang said.
“Yes, it has been good,” Hadrian said.
Ren Xiyang then turned to the Terra staff in general. “Thank you for delivering the goods. Let’s talk later about what goods you’ll take back.” Then, he looked at his Rosewood staff. “Now, don’t tell me you’ve all finished preparing for the half-yearly meeting?”
“We’re taking our afternoon break,” Aaron said, leading to eager nods from the other staff.
“Okay, then I need people who aren’t taking a break to help Lady Sage to her rooms.”
“My Lord, I’ll do this,” Kel said.
“Thank you, Kel,” Florence said.
“My Lord, your luggage—” Aaron stepped forward.
Ren Xiyang raised his hands. His luggage magically levitated up and through the window of his quarters, which he also magically unlocked.
The Rosewood and Terra staff watched in amazement. This was a new trick!
“Alright, continue with your break,” Ren Xiyang said.
The staff laughed amongst themselves and scattered. The Terra staff also left—they wanted to take advantage of this break before they had to make the return trip back to Angio.
After confirming with Kel and Florence about meeting later for dinner, Ren Xiyang walked over to Hadrian.
“Shall we head to my study for a meeting?”
“Yes.”
Hadrian followed Ren Xiyang up to his quarters. A staff member brought them drinks and snacks and thoughtfully closed the door.
Ren Xiyang: Prince Rian is clingy and misses me a lot.
Back in the Capital:
Rian: *feels a tingling in his nose* Someone is talking about me!!
Short chapter because of work trip reasons (the second work trip in three weeks—this is way too much travel for me T_T)
P.S. look at how cool this is!
https://twitter.com/BLPalace/status/1680364193873297409/retweets/with_comments
