An Unexpected Truth Came To Light

Of course, even in situations like this, people often thought, I’ll be fine, right? Because it was something like a custom that had continued for quite a long time, there were those who tried not to follow it.

It was the scene of a factory busily in operation. It was a factory that made small parts, a place where the work was close to simple manual labor. Amid the loud clatter of machines, workers moved about busily at their stations.

Among these adults, small children were also moving around. Some carried baskets filled to the brim with metal parts, while others packed finished products into wooden crates. The number of such children alone looked to be at least ten.

To one side stood a middle-aged man with a turned-up nose, watching the scene with satisfaction, and another middle-aged man with a large nose, fidgeting nervously. As if displeased with the behavior of the man beside him, the turned-up-nose man frowned and spoke loudly over the noisy machinery.

“What are you so restless about?”

“Well, you see, the child labor prohibition law was just enacted, wasn’t it? Is it really okay to keep making the kids work like this?”

“What are you so scared of? Who’s going to come all the way to a small factory like this, anyway?”

“But if someone reports us…”

“Hey now, if everyone who got reported had to shut down, do you think that’d be possible? They all have to make a living, don’t they?”

“That may be true, but among those kids, what if there’s one who reports us?”

“They’re orphans too, with nowhere to go. If they quit here, where would they even go?”

“I heard the country has opened large-scale facilities for orphans.”

“Tsk, tsk. That’s all just for show. What country could gather all the orphans and let them live together? They’d never do it, not when it’d waste so much budget.”

He spoke as if refuting every point. Honestly, the turned-up-nose middle-aged man was extremely displeased with the current situation. A law saying children must not be made to work—how could there be such a viciously evil law?

‘They eat little, and you can pay them little or nothing at all—how can they ban that? This really makes it hard to survive. I’ve thought this before, but the king really isn’t right in the head.’

He badmouthed the king in his thoughts, but he did not dare say it aloud. The moment he did, starting with the middle-aged man in front of him, the words could spread, and an arrest warrant might be issued for him. That was how great the fear of the king was.

And yet, ironically, despite fearing the king so much, he had no intention of following the newly enacted child labor law. After all, this was a small factory, one of countless others like it. He thought there was no way his place would be singled out and caught.

‘I’ll watch for now, and if it really seems serious, I’ll cut them all loose then.’

Just as he thought that, someone entered through the factory door. At first, he wondered who it was, but when he saw them come in together with what looked like police officers, his expression twisted into one of shock.

The newcomers immediately gestured for the machines to be stopped. At that sight, the workers’ faces turned anxious, and they hurriedly shut down the machines one by one. As more and more machines ceased operation, the factory soon fell into silence.

“H-how can I help you?”

“Are you the owner of this factory?”

“Y-yes, I am.”

As the turned-up-nose middle-aged man answered nervously, the man who had entered with the police swept his gaze over the factory, then turned his eyes toward where the children were standing and spoke.

“There are children here.”

“Well, that is, you see…”

“The child labor prohibition law should have been enacted by now. Having them here means you thought it was fine to break the law, doesn’t it?”

“No, that’s absolutely not it! The children said they had nowhere to go, so we had no choice but to take them in!”

He spoke urgently, as if making excuses, but it was useless. Instead, the man’s eyes gleamed as though he had caught a good case.

“It seems you took His Majesty’s orders very lightly. He clearly commanded that children were not to be put to work. And nowhere to go? His Majesty personally prepared facilities for them to live in. To say otherwise only shows how lightly you regarded his command.”

“How could I possibly take it lightly? I was merely—”

“Keep making excuses. Once you’re caught red-handed, there’s no way out.”

“This can’t be! Why me of all people?! Out of all the factories, why come here?!”

“Because this place has the worst reputation. We’ve received many reports.”

That was the truth. No matter how much he tried to hide it internally, there were always outside eyes watching. Especially rival factories—those would have been more than happy to report him. As the turned-up-nose middle-aged man thought of the others running similar factories, anger toward them surged up.

But there was nothing he could do now. The police had already approached and begun placing handcuffs on his wrists. In this situation, the factory owner protested as if he could not accept it.

“T-this can’t be right! What did I do wrong? This evil law—”

“Oh? Are you saying now that His Majesty created an evil law?”

“H-huh! N-no, of course not! How could I ever say such a thing?!”

He desperately denied it. In fact, speaking ill of the king carried a heavier punishment than violating the child labor prohibition. As he frantically tried to deny it, the man spoke with an amused tone.

“How kind of you to raise your own punishment level for me. And once words leave your mouth, you can’t take them back.”

“But I said it wasn’t—”

“That’s your problem. Take him away.”

At those words, two police officers grabbed his arms and began dragging him out of the factory. He struggled, but was pulled away by force, a sight that seemed to show his grim future. Watching this, the man then turned to the workers, who stood there anxiously, and spoke.

“Someone will be coming soon, so that will be all for today. Go home. Procedurally, this place will be seized and soon managed by the state. And…”

As he spoke, his gaze fell on the children. Every one of them looked filthy. It was obvious they hadn’t been properly washed—there were streaks of snot and layers of grime on them. Seeing this, the man spoke in a gentle voice.

“You will soon be taken to facilities managed by the state. There, you won’t have to work, you’ll be able to wash often, and you’ll be provided with meals every day.”

“Is that really true?”

One child spoke, and the man nodded. Of course, he also explained that none of this was free.

“Of course, none of this is free. You’ll have to study there. You’ll also learn skills suited to your individual talents. And once you become adults, you’ll enter society and work at jobs designated by the state for at least five years.”

“I’ll go! If I don’t have to work so hard every day and can eat every day, that’d be amazing! And you said we can study and learn skills too!”

At the child’s bold declaration, the man thought that, somehow, the child might grow up to become a fine talent in the future.

Thus, this became the first arrest made since the child labor prohibition law was enacted. In reality, this fact was widely reported through newspapers and radio, becoming a catalyst that made it unavoidable to prohibit child labor even more strictly.

April 10.

While hundreds of schools were being built nationwide and the child labor prohibition law was being enforced, making life busy for everyone, Ian received an unexpected visit from two women. The gazes fixed on him from right in front were rather burdensome.

“How is it?”

“How does it taste?”

Queen Adrina and his younger sister Charlotte asked him eagerly, their eyes shining. Under those gazes, Ian chewed the cookie in his mouth and nodded. The taste wasn’t bad, and the crispness and texture were good as well. After swallowing, he spoke.

“It’s good.”

“Whew, that’s a relief.”

“Indeed.”

The reason they looked so happy was because the cookie he had just eaten had been made by the two of them personally. Unlike most royalty, Charlotte was currently learning how to cook. Naturally, Queen Adrina was also learning to cook. Perhaps because of that, the two of them were often seen together these days.

“You’ve improved a great deal, haven’t you? Your Majesty Queen Adrina seems to have improved a lot as well.”

“We worked hard!”

“I worked hard too.”

“Is cooking fun?”

“Yes, it’s really fun. I never knew making something myself and feeding it to someone could be such a joyful thing.”

“I know, right? Lately I’ve even been learning Magnia Empire–style dishes.”

“The chef invited from the Magnia Empire—is his skill decent?”

“He’s extremely skilled.”

“That’s good to hear. More importantly, I hear you’ve been bringing the food you make to someone lately?”

“Huh? N-no, that is…”

Charlotte looked flustered. Seeing that, Ian spoke as if he already knew.

“You’ve been visiting Armin quite often lately, haven’t you?”

“Well, there’s something I’m grateful to Brother Armin for.”

“Grateful for?”

“Th-there is. You don’t need to know, Brother.”

As she turned her head away while speaking, Ian felt somewhat shocked.

‘Wait, how big is their age gap again? Armin is my age, so that’s a ten-year difference? Isn’t that too much?’

He didn’t consider himself completely narrow-minded, but an age gap like that still felt a bit much. He suddenly recalled the time long ago when they danced together at a palace party. Could it have started back then?

“Don’t tell me—you like Armin?”

“Huh?!”

“That reaction means you don’t, right?”

“W-well… yes…”

“Yes… you do?”

Her outright admission left Ian flustered. He thought a sixteen-year-old might be jumping to conclusions too quickly. At the same time, he wondered just what Armin had done for Charlotte to feel this way. Given Armin’s personality, it didn’t seem like he had taken the initiative or shown obvious interest.

‘I know Armin isn’t a bad kid, but still—ten years is a big gap, isn’t it?’

Before their feelings grew any stronger, he thought it would be best to call Armin in and talk. Of course, he had no intention of doing something petty like ordering them to break up. As her older brother, he didn’t intend to control his sister’s feelings.

‘For now, I’ll call Armin.’

“…Are you going to tell us to break up?”

“No, I won’t.”

“Really?!”

“More importantly, the fact you say that means you’re already dating, isn’t that so?”

“Yes… that’s right. We’re seriously seeing each other.”

Seeing her speak with her face turning red, Armin somehow began to look like a thief in Ian’s eyes. Even if this wasn’t strange by the standards of this era, from Ian’s perspective—still influenced by Earth’s way of thinking—it wasn’t something he could wholeheartedly accept, nor could he outright reject it.

“More than that, what do you think Mother will say when she finds out? I’m already worried.”

“Th-that’s nothing to worry about. Mother already knows.”

“She knows? She knows you’re seeing Armin?”

“Yes, I told her first. Please take our relationship seriously.”

“Well, I also…”

As Queen Adrina raised her hand and spoke, Ian felt bewildered to realize that he alone had been kept in the dark. No wonder she hadn’t seemed particularly surprised earlier—she already knew.

“I’m sorry. Lady Charlotte asked me not to tell you.”

“There’s nothing to apologize for. I’m fine.”

After saying that, Ian looked at Charlotte, who was still watching his reaction, and after a brief moment of thought, he spoke.

“Since Mother already knows, I should call Armin and talk to him directly.”

“W-what are you going to say? You’re not going to tell us to break up, right…?”

“What did you think I said earlier? I told you I wouldn’t say that. I just want to see if that boy’s feelings are truly serious.”

“We really are serious.”

“Truly?”

“Yes!”

Seeing Charlotte answer so confidently, Ian thought that even children had feelings of their own. He decided not to think, What could kids possibly know? Instead, he felt that meeting face-to-face would be best to confirm whether their feelings were genuine.

“Tell Armin to come see me tomorrow. It’ll be better if you contact him directly rather than me.”

“Okay. I’ll get in touch with him.”

Charlotte’s expression as she replied looked rather complicated. Even though he had said he wouldn’t tell them to break up, she was probably anxious, not knowing what he might say later. Seeing that, Ian decided that for now, it would be best to see Armin’s face first and think things through.