Each Royal Road

On the way there, Arthur felt the gazes of the people they passed and heard them whispering rumors about him, but he paid it no mind.

After all, he could tell there was no malice in their eyes.

Knock knock

“Who is it? I’m busy right now…”

“Ah, sorry. I needed to talk to you for a bit.”

That was something that would normally never happen. Even though they were now engaged, Arthur visited Morgan of his own accord, despite not being in a dire situation.

And as for Morgan…

“Good grief… if you were going to come, you should have told me beforehand. I have preparations to make too, you know…”

Her once cold demeanor was nowhere to be seen. Her face flushed red as she subtly checked in the mirror at the edge of her vision to make sure her hair and outfit were not disheveled.

A little maidenly instinct.

“I need to ask you a favor.”

Of course, Arthur didn’t notice Morgan’s behavior. As he tried to get to the main point, Morgan replied as if she already understood.

“It’s fine. I’ve already made the necessary arrangements with Prince Rod’s faction regarding the treatment of Edward’s daughter, Prim. And, considering the possibility that Lord Glutton may have ordered the attack on her, I’m also investigating whether he has hired the assassin or criminal guilds. Now that he’s lost your backing, information should start to come out. That man will be ruined soon.”

“That’s… impressive…”

Arthur couldn’t help but voice his admiration at Morgan, who had arranged all this without him giving any instructions.

She smiled shyly in response.

“I’m nowhere near your level. I simply did what I thought you would do. More importantly… I received a letter from a Dwarf named Gazeff. He’s asking me to let a Dwarf named Gale live at your orphanage. In exchange, he says he will teach you all the techniques of the Dwarves. This is incredible. Dwarves, who love their freedom, coming to the capital just to teach the children? What kind of magic did you use to make that happen?”

“No way…”

Arthur had found it odd that Gale would come all the way for Prim’s treatment, but now it made sense… He muttered in disbelief at the unexpected turn of events.

“You’re amazing, Prince Arthur. To earn not just the trust of the Saintess of the Church, but even that of the Dwarves… I wonder what kind of king you’ll become. I’m looking forward to your future.”

“…Morgan, I need to ask you something.”

“What is it, all of a sudden…? If it’s something I can do, I’ll do anything for you. After all, I’m your fiancée.”

Morgan said the same words she had in the previous life, but her expression this time was different. Unlike before, when she had looked at him with cold eyes, Arthur now felt deep trust and a passionate warmth from her.

If he said what he was about to say, her attitude might return to how it had been in the previous life.

But Arthur did not waver.

“Could you teach me politics?”

“What are you talking about? You’re much smarter than I am.”

“No. Up until now, I’ve only succeeded by sheer luck.”

He pushed further at the bewildered Morgan. That was the truth: everything so far had only gone well by chance.

This time as well, if Arthur had gone along with Lord Glutton’s schemes, he would have been manipulated. This time, things had worked out. But what about next time? He couldn’t count on luck forever.

That was why he had to gain the ability to think for himself.

In this incident, Arthur had witnessed the unreasonable actions of the nobles. He realized that his thoughtless compliance, healing as the nobles requested, had led to tragedy.

And one day, this might be directed at Kei or the children of the orphanage. Arthur hated that idea.

“Luck… what are you talking about…”

“I’m still just an ignorant fool of a prince…”

He wouldn’t tell her about the Good Deed Notebook, but Arthur had decided to ask Morgan for her guidance, even though he didn’t know how this would turn out.

Still, Arthur had taken a step forward, determined to find his own path as a king.

This was the royal cemetery where only members of the royal family were buried. There, a boy and a maid stood alone. The boy laid flowers at a grave and muttered a prayer.

“The wind is starting to pick up. If you stay here, you’ll catch a cold, Lord Rod.”

“Silence. Who said you could speak? Maid Number Fifteen. Don’t interrupt my conversation with Mother.”

Rod spat the words at the girl called Maid Number Fifteen. Then, after finishing his prayer, he turned to her.

“It seems the foolish Arthur is giving commoners opportunities too. Was he persuaded by that nagging Morgan? Honestly… being kind to those useless cattle is sheer stupidity, don’t you think?”

“…”

Maid Number Fifteen did not respond to Rod’s words. It wasn’t because she was dissatisfied, but because she knew it was pointless.

He wasn’t truly speaking to her. He was simply venting words of hatred at the entire commoner class through her.

“Some of the nobles from Arthur’s old faction seem to plan on backing me as king. Hah! Once I’m king, I’ll never show kindness to the commoners. I’ll keep them like livestock. If you’re even halfway kind, those foolish commoners will start demanding rights they don’t even have…”

Rod’s eyes burned with even greater hatred than when he looked at Arthur as he continued.

“I will never forget!! The foolish commoner who tried to steal the jewelry from my kindhearted mother when she was distributing bread to the slums!! And the foolish commoner who killed her!! I will create a kingdom for nobles, ruled by me!! A world for our privileged class!! The foolish commoners can just work like livestock!!”

“…”

Maid Number Fifteen didn’t answer the hate-filled Rod. But the emotions in her eyes were deeply sorrowful…

This was the room of a certain person within the royal castle.

“It seems Arthur went to Dorf. Do you know anything about it, Mordred?”

“No, this is the first I’ve heard of it, Agravain.”

Mordred answered calmly to the man with the stern expression—Agravain—sitting before him. Hearing this, Agravain frowned and said,

“Apparently he went there right after you visited Arthur’s private quarters…”

“That’s just a coincidence. I simply warned him not to get involved in unnecessary trouble with everything being so noisy lately. Or do you think I betrayed you?”

“…”

Agravain stared at Mordred for a moment before looking away, turning his gaze toward Arthur’s quarters.

“Fine. You understand, don’t you, Mordred? You’re going to be king. I saved you for that purpose.”

“Of course. I understand. Brother Arthur isn’t fit to be king.”

“Yes, exactly. That man lacks insight!! He lacks ambition!! He lacks kindness!! He lacks capability!! He lacks political skill!! He lacks everything!! That’s why we must kill him and pass on his healing ability to someone else!!”

As Agravain spat words filled with all the hatred in the world, Mordred nodded with his usual smile.

“Phew, finally finished cleaning. But I wonder what present Lord Arthur will give me? Maybe he’ll give me another share of that smoked meat he brought back as a souvenir?”

Having finished cleaning Arthur’s room, Kei recalled the taste of the smoked meat and grinned. She didn’t know that Arthur was planning to give her an accessory made from Orichalcum. She’d probably faint if she knew.

“But lately, he’s seemed so busy. As his personal maid (onee-chan), I’m worried.”

Arthur had been very busy recently. He was often helping Morgan with her work and learning various things from her.

“Well, she is his fiancée, so it’s not strange for them to be together… but as his personal maid (big sister), it’s a little lonely.”

Muttering this, Kei felt a small, sharp pain deep in her chest.

‘Could it be… am I jealous of Lady Morgan? No, no, that would be far too presumptuous. Besides, Arthur is like a little brother to me.’

She convinced herself of that as she opened the window for ventilation and stepped outside.

Then, a gust of wind flipped through the black notebook on Arthur’s desk.

Flip, flip. The pages turned again, revealing words written in red ink.

By taking actions Arthur had not originally taken, the future was changing for better or worse. And no one yet knew the future of the man who, having fully allied with Morgan, now aimed to be a king who would save the commoners.