NOVEL WEB Chapter 246: [Extra] Side-side characters
Ren Xiyang and Rian had a long honeymoon, travelling around the kingdom and popping up where people lest expected it. They visited meadows, forests, mountains, villages, towns, cities, they enjoyed the lingering warmth in the south and saw the first snow of the north.
After two months, they finally returned to work with renewed vigour about this new stage of their life and (intimate) collaboration. Step by step, they changed the country and touched upon the lives of many people.
Baltasar Cordovan still remembered the fateful series of events. The murder of the Rosewood family. The arrest of his parents. The court verdict and criminal sentence.
That meeting with Ayden afterwards.
Over those years, Baltasar grew older, wiser. In retrospect, that meeting with Ayden had drastically changed what could have happened. The shadow of his parents’ crimes remained, but the Cordovan fief grew wealthier and more prosperous.
Baltasar cared for his siblings, and they grew up lively and energetic, with friends, hobbies and interests. They attended the Imperial Magical Academy, and then decided that they wanted to help Baltasar run the fief.
Baltasar regularly visited his parents in jail. Sometimes his siblings came, and sometimes they didn’t.
His parents had been sentenced to hard labour for forty years. Visiting them always felt uncomfortable. A small part of his heart still blamed them and hated them; a darker part of his heart wished that, if his parents had insisted on killing others, then they shouldn’t have left traces.
When he visited them, he gave them news about what was happening. Occasionally, he showed them new magical-technologies, so that they could stay in touch with various advancements.
At first, his parents pretended to be as unaffected as possible, ignoring the situation they were in and ordering Baltasar to do this and that in the Cordovan fief for the family.
Then, they complained to him and told him to go to His Majesty King Edric to re-assess the evidence and let them go. They argued that they had been framed by their servants, by rival nobles, and by Angio.
As Ayden and the Rosewood fief grew in prominence, becoming the third highest tax-paying fief, his parents seemed to break down. They started hating each other, blaming the other person for all the mistakes, blaming the other person for wanting all the rewards without any of the risks.
All throughout, they hated Ayden Rosewood.
When Baltasar tentatively mentioned that he was talking with Ayden, his parents berated him.
Baltasar kept quiet, suppressing himself.
But one day, when he was telling them about the new developments in the Cordovan fief, only to be interrupted, Baltasar couldn’t hold back anymore.
“If you don’t improve your behaviour, you’re not going to be let out early!” he snapped.
His mother and father gave him annoyed looks.
“You’re already so old, you should be finding a wife, not tinkering around with a school for commoners,” his mother said.
“You haven’t been listening to us,” his father said.
Baltasar looked at them through the bars of the cell and clenched his fists. A few years ago, the cells had changed, with the walls embedded with a magical extraction array. Staying here meant Baltasar’s own magic was drawn away, which now enhanced his irritability.
“Then I have two pieces of shocking news for you,” he said coldly. “Firstly, Ayden is my good friend, and I won’t have you insulting him any longer. He’s also the consort of Crown Prince Rian now, so if you continue to curse him, that could count as treason.”
His parents were stunned. “What? They truly married?!”
“Did I lie?” Baltasar snorted. “Second, I already have someone I like. But how can I marry her when you’re both like this?”
“Which family is she from?” his mother asked.
“She’s not from a noble family.”
His mother sucked in a sharp breath.
“No,” his father said immediately. “You’re not allowed to marry a peasant!”
“I believe Marquis Rosewood would gladly officiate that wedding for me,” Baltasar said.
The person Baltasar liked was a commoner mage. Through Ayden, she came to work at the Cordovan fief. Baltasar slowly liked her, and he believed that she liked him too. But he hadn’t been willing to step into courtship, for numerous reasons. But now, he wanted to consider it seriously.
Baltasar wrapped up the meeting with his parents and left, feeling both heavier and lighter. He straightened his back. He was Baltasar Cordovan. His parents didn’t define him. He had made his own contributions and he would choose his own path.
Whenever Kel thought back to where she started and compared it to where she was now, it felt like a fairytale.
She had been just a small and insignificant maid-servant. Instead of a prince sweeping her off her feet, a young boy gave her increasingly more work and responsibilities, until she ended up becoming one of the key senior figures in the Rosewood Group. As Ayden Rosewood’s executive assistant, she knew every project that he was working on, liaised with hundreds of people, organised his calendar, organised materials, arranged projects and coordinated meetings.
Each year, her income rose. Given all the benefits provided by the Group itself, and living wherever her lord lived, Kel barely had any place to spend her money aside from her family. Her family had no worries, living comfortably with the latest Rosewood Group products. All her siblings and cousins went to school.
These days, her parents had too much time and were urging her to marry. They kept asking her whether she had met any suitable men during work. Kel always shook her head. How could she have the energy to think about prospective suitors during work?
Fundamentally, her parents didn’t quite understand her work, nor its difficulty.
There were times when Kel felt overwhelmed, when she felt that it was impossible to juggle. There were times when she had to face nobles much more prestigious than her and tell them that, no, sorry, but Marquis Rosewood cannot meet with you, no matter how much you threaten me.
At those times, Maria grounded her.
Kel greatly admired Maria. Maria was more outgoing, more outspoken, more confident, more observant, and more adept. Maria had noticed that Ayden was courting Prince Rian long before anyone else.
Sometimes, Kel wondered why Ayden didn’t make Maria his executive assistant.
Maria smiled fondly when Kel asked her about it.
“I wouldn’t have the patience. I like being able to work on specific projects. You’re good, Kel. I bet His Highness Prince Rian would like to steal you, if it weren’t for the fact that you’re Ayden’s assistant.”
Kel blushed. “No, don’t exaggerate. His Highness has better people around him—ow!”
Maria flicked her on the forehead. “I think you’re the best.” She suddenly pulled out a yellow rose from somewhere and presented it. “For you.”
“Thank you.” Kel didn’t stop blushing, but she felt warmed and boosted by Maria’s words. Maria never failed to lift her spirits.
Maria was Marquis Rosewood’s deputy executive assistant and the lead on certain projects—especially the ones related to so-called “LGBT+” matters, as Cassiopeia had called it.
Maria would be the first to admit that she wasn’t as hard working as Kel. She liked to enjoy life. However, she was very grateful for the opportunities that Ayden had given her to make a difference to the fief and the kingdom. Her work supporting Kel and those LGBT+ initiatives was the right spot for her.
After Ayden and Prince Rian married, Kel’s parents started trying to introduce her to men, and Kel came to Maria to complain.
“I don’t think they actually like me, they just want to get close to our lord!” Kel said.
Maria gave Kel a hug and a pat on the head. “I believe they would like you. Who wouldn’t? You’re smart, hardworking, and attractive.”
Kel blushed. “You’re just saying that.”
“Have you told your parents that you like women?” Maria asked.
Kel’s eyes grew wide. “Huh? I like women?”
“Have you told your parents you’re secretly courting someone and don’t want to tell them yet?”
“Huh? I’ve been courting someone?”
“Me.”
“???!!”
Maria sighed in her heart. Oh, Kel’s innocent and dumbfounded look was so cute! “You haven’t been leading me on, have you?”
Kel was shocked. “No, what—”
Maria chuckled and patted Kel on the head. She took Kel’s hand and led her to a more private location. “Let me explain why I like you and you like me…”
Oh, her Kel was so adorable, following her with such a confused and blushing expression.
Maria had been quietly planning Kel’s future, from date plans to their future home for retirement. Kel was so sweet and busy, it sensible for Maria to prepare everything for Kel, so that Kel wouldn’t need to worry about a thing.
Solicitor Charles Carmine hadn’t had big goals for his life. As a magic-less child in a noble mage family, his parents didn’t have high hopes for him. Charles became a lawyer and secured a modest job as a solicitor for the Rosewood family, which thus formed a connection between the Carmine family and the higher ranked Rosewood family.
But it had just been a job. How strange that Ayden Rosewood would be the person to make Charles develop expectations for the future.
Ayden Rosewood gave meaning to the work that Charles did. Yes, there was still a lot of paperwork and bureaucracy, but the new and amended laws changed people’s lives; the contracts led to the creation of goods, incomes and livelihoods. His work and his name would go down in history. As time passed, Charles eventually led a large team of lawyers and managers for the Rosewood Group. In the end, he would be more famous and well-regarded than his older mage brother, Baron Carmine.
Redmond town was expanding, and it would reach the Rosewood manor in his lifetime. There were new developments across the fief and an admirable amount of forward planning. There was data collection across the fief, predictions of future growth, construction of amenities, the laying down of pipes, wide roads with trees, housing and town squares and public buildings.
Ayden Rosewood inspired innovation and creativity, and crucially, helped fund it. This was most visually seen in new development area of the extended Redmond town. There, the housing team had divided up several dozen plots of land, and on each plot of land were building(s) with unique designs, made by different architects and builders. Each year, there were more. There were traditional ornate buildings, traditional ‘commoner’ buildings, colourful buildings, monochrome buildings, buildings that had a courtyard in the middle, buildings surrounded by lot of trees, and even buildings that had trees growing through them.
It was a hint for the future of the Rosewood fief.
Working in Ayden Rosewood’s team, under Ayden Rosewood’s leadership, also helped Charles make friends beyond transactional connections. It was the collaborative culture that Ayden fostered. Now, he could count people such as Kel, Maria, Otto and Count Aegean all as good friends.
Otto Silvercharm liked to believe that he was suffering quite a lot, thank you. While Marquis Rosewood made a lot of money, he spent a lot of it too! And, as the Rosewood Group expanded and as Marquis Rosewood’s range of work expanded, there was more and more administration and accounting to do.
Hence, Otto was the person who suffered the most in the entire Rosewood Group.
(Yes, he enjoyed his holidays, only to return to more work. Yes, he accepted money to hire more people, but now that meant managing more people!)
Marquis Rosewood’s initiatives sounded grand—‘wow, a university in the Rosewood fief about agriculture and technology? Amazing, Marquis Rosewood is so young!’—but where did people think the money for the construction of a university campus came from??
Otto was forced to do smart and tricky accounting to move funds from one place to another, and then cry poor to Marquis Rosewood’s face.
He left happier afterwards, when Marquis Rosewood gave hm a several chests of gold coins from his private funds and promised to spend the equivalent of two weeks building on site; he was even happier when Crown Prince Rian provided co-funding.
(Later, Otto would meet with Prince Rian’s finance people, as he regularly did, and they would commiserate together.) ((Though it was mostly Otto commiserating, Prince Rian’s people were much more reserved.))
Tax-census time every year was when Otto suffered the most, though. More people lived in the fief and more people made money and more people were being involved in Marquis Rosewood’s convoluted tiered taxation system. This meant that data and money collection was twice as complex, and subsequent reporting four times more difficult.
Oh, the Rosewood fief being the third-highest tax paying fief was a badge of honour, but did anyone pause to think how much work was involved??
Otto liked complaining to best friend, Charles Carmine, whenever they could catch up.
“You could relinquish your responsibilities and someone else can take over,” Charles said.
Otto patted his chest. “I’ve been here from when the Rosewood Group was still just the Rosewood Estate. No one knows its finances better than me!”
“You should consider separating the tax team and census team,” Charles said. “There are others who like the census more than you.”
Otto pouted. Why was Charles so frequently right? He knew it was useless to argue on. As a poor accountant, he couldn’t defeat a powerful lawyer!
Later, Otto did was Charles suggested and separated his team into two. Someone else was promoted up to lead the census team.
However, as the Rosewood Group grew, his accounting team grew again…
Oh, Otto really suffered the most in the entire Rosewood Group!
Mrs. Cooks was possibly one of the oldest still-serving staff at the Rosewood manor. She could really feel the changes in the Rosewood fief; the people were happy, clothed and well-fed. Fear of lack of food was no longer an issue; the variety of food available was bigger than ever.
Ayden was rising and rising. After his marriage, his new position as consort of the crown prince gave him more authority in other fiefs, meaning that he expanded his work impact into other fiefs. He travelled all around the kingdom, but he always made time to return home to the Rosewood fief and give her a hug.
She was getting older, she knew it. These days, she took on a supervisory role in the kitchen. If she cooked, she only cooked smaller special portions for her favourite people.
Eventually, she’d retire with her husband, Mr. Baker, and leave the Rosewood kitchens to the next generation (including her daughter). In the future, she’ll become the local grandmother, making treats for the local young children and for Ayden whenever he came by to visit with his husband.
Not every day was easy, but she felt that her life was a joy, and one she was satisfied to have experienced.
The_other_Abe and lazy cat Kohaku had asked about Solicitor Carmine and Otto Silvercharm ages ago! There are so many side-side characters, so I can’t go through them all @_@
Four more chapters to go!
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