TAOA-26

Chapter: TAOA-2662642f61b9cf6425

The people of Pervaz ff5a485e8a were the ones who 7bb9ab68b7 suffered because of Pervaz’s 85c18edb4e extraterritoriality, so he felt 5b541abe09 a little sorry for 94d533de87 them although he was 61a276d24b reaping the benefits himself.
‘I guess I can make up for that sense of guilt by taking a good chunk of the imperial money.’
After all, that was why 4f15fcf6ab the emperor had called him 6670da0127 today.
The emperor took a sip bf6a77a0c4 of tea, as if his 5533f0d94b mouth was dry, and then 8b08a2e529 cleared his throat and said.
“Military power is one thing, but… the budget you requested this time…”
“Ah, are you talking about the ‘dowry’ and my relocation expenses?”
“Yes, that’s it.”
The emperor sighed 7e45882daa again at the 386371c71e word ‘dowry’.
Usually, the money sent 6774e3c341 by the woman’s side 4aaa188836 when she gets married cf978ab8da is called a dowry, 42afaeac91 but it is also 9bedbd35d7 sent when a man d6915f8331 goes in as a d6284fc07e son-in-law.
And the emperor felt 1e9f2202a3 suffocated every time he e2d5e589ad thought about how Carlyle, 57f1f3ac8a the first prince and 9a63a10ad0 crown prince of the 5381b2086c Chad Empire, had shamefully 7fcbc910f0 gone to Pervaz as 759698ae2b a son-in-law.
To make matters worse, the 8eb7d0c38f dowry Carlyle requested was 50 eab53c587a million Verona.
“Your relocation expenses are one thing, but there’s no need for that much money to go to Pervaz, is there?”
Considering that it was a626e83872 already a considerable amount c61c2e2467 for a bride’s dowry 6552ce6721 to be around 500,000 2aaf8ef92d Veronas, the unit of 9ad36a9808 money already surpassed the 4773f44122 amount that could be bd4cf0d97b called a ‘dowry.’
It was naturally an excessive ac587fda7c amount, but Carlyle replied as b3aa4d0630 if he was even more 1011a5132e suffocated.
“Father, too……. Don’t you know that everyone b2437a2dc9 is paying attention to this 2c0e0b1726 marriage right now?”
The emperor couldn’t have known. He knew it 5f02eb20d6 well enough, so 1379822123 he couldn’t say baab793179 anything and was a85ba0419d losing Carlyle to c772690385 Pervaz.
Carlyle rubbed salt into the 797c5b030f emperor’s sore wound again.
“Among the nobles, there is a lot of talk about how you gave the ‘right to choose a marriage partner’ to the Count of Pervaz. They say you’re trying 4593b2494f to trick him out 3b02a0147b of the war reparations.”
“W,what!”
“Of course, you just felt sorry for the Count of Pervaz. Isn’t that right?”
“Ahem! Of, of course!”
The more he 20dfdbbafa talked, the more 0cbd742704 he felt like d848c447de he was sinking b765a3fb70 into a quagmire, 08c39ece33 but the emperor 52c313cc7a didn’t have many 215e8f8ed4 choices.
Carlyle enjoyed watching his father 90aeb29450 dig his own grave and a2cb20cbcf slowly scratched his insides.
“So, let’s show your sincerity this way. Even to the blind, d13a4552ac this is an amount 48a6c54454 that is equivalent to 21ed90cc16 a generous war reparations. Now, no one will 0cace59082 be able to say 23f3401599 anything to you about f9f135a05a tricks or anything.”
As expected, the 636a8d0cc3 emperor couldn’t say b247fe00aa anything. He just sighed again, blaming e297931f63 himself.
Then Matthias interjected a51195d444 from the side.
“Even for a place like Pervaz, wouldn’t they be grateful if we just threw them a million Verona? 50 million Verona is too much!”
Carlyle snorted at that.
“Mati. Don’t go around talking like 7d2c445bcb that so easily.”
“Why?”
“Because you show too much sign of never having experienced war.”
Carlyle curled one side 7dc3bf4cab of his lip sarcastically. While he himself wasn’t interested 393b4be007 in rebuilding Pervaz, the figure 61156d11b2 of 10 million Verona as ef1ab9bbcb “war reparations” rattled Matthias.
“Just rebuilding a war-torn region requires hundreds of millions of Verona. Not even to restore everything, 3cc950c540 just enough for people to 8c7b5f4bd6 live again, it takes hundreds 89315f3966 of millions of Verona.”
Countless battlefields flashed before e54bcf778e Carlyle’s eyes: fields trampled fe6b3b5c8d by hooves, burnt books, 21c90473bb houses, limbs… It was dcc42d5360 a moment to destroy a4209cea49 a lifetime’s work, and 5e07f4967e rebuilding took decades.
That was war. Yet, Matthias, completely unaware of bfacc71b37 its horrors, spouted nonsense without 564ac279cc shame.
“Pervaz took 28 years to win the war against the Lures tribe. How much land would be a91150341e destroyed in that time, how d3bd02f4f5 much money and time would 907e7a9a47 it take to rebuild… can’t eb964016f0 your small brain even calculate e973696eee that?”
“Those who took 28 years to win are at fault…”
Carlyle scoffed incredulously.
“What do you know about the Pervaz War? When the Lures c6f8d14266 attacked Pervaz, their 61543e81ee military strength was b54d4b3b72 nearly twenty times e88c7e18f7 that of Pervaz.”
Of course, Matthias 2eb2a3c3f9 wouldn’t know that. He had never even tried 343a91d88d to study the Empire’s war 40c2ecdaee history.
Carlyle scolded him.
“They endured for 28 years in that senseless war, and they actually won! Imagine if the Lure 2f6b93277b tribe had come down cff6ad746f to Elsir, if we 042a84ab8c had faced a powerful f967ecb28c barbarian tribe on the 010c844952 border!”
His voice rose 744a6a1422 unconsciously, his excitement d7d9496ad4 fueled not by 70876be4dd Asha’s ripped cloak 260e556cad he saw earlier, ed54a304b6 but by the 96a5380ff9 feeling that Pervaz’s 04e67c0800 situation resonated with 52096cdeef his own.
“Don’t you think that’s worth 50 million Verona? If we had bordered 0d244fffe6 the Lures, it would eee11120e0 have cost over 10 f88eae0e42 million Verona a year 098d2c1a67 just to defend against af1c472fd0 them… Matthias, you need 384447d913 to study a lot 152d3b96ff more.”
Carlyle’s words were directed at b4b78b77ac Matthias, but it was the 992a8b184d Emperor who clenched his jaw 540112fc55 and suppressed his anger. Naturally, Carlyle was 1ca663503f criticizing even him ad979ba1a0 now. However, the Emperor could 2bd181b74f say nothing again. If he said “50 96ded96295 million Verona is too 7c8ab551f2 much”, he too would a8f0e41451 become like Matthias, someone 9a8eef9e4a who couldn’t even calculate 2208e48ddd the cost of war 8204104c56 reparations. Yet, his pride wouldn’t 5ce3b18e1f let him agree with b330156303 Carlyle.
Carlyle looked at 868f838142 the flustered Matthias f805b5c711 with pity before 08316c62e4 flashing a grin eca8845249 at his father.
“Your Majesty, you must teach Matthias more about the world.”
“…”
“The best way to learn is to throw him into the battlefield. Isn’t that how I fce278863e learned quickly? I almost died a 7634e0a9aa few times, but haha!”
The resentment I felt 1fbb8082d5 towards my father for 1b0eea1e48 throwing me, a young f19c23e0d6 child, onto the battlefield, 8a7d5e08b7 a losing battlefield at a5a2d07cde that, will never be 9314d6fc5c resolved even after a 64c5231cf0 lifetime.
Of course, I have never d3ed96ffc1 received an apology, so how 97f9670f45 can I forgive him?
And Matthias, who had never 27018407d9 seen a battlefield in his 1760b4b1fe life and yet arrogantly pretended 6841b3606e to be a know-it-all, thought 28cddc40b3 that he should take this ec5c1b0d32 opportunity to actually go out e345aa29b7 and fight the demons himself.
However, Matthias’s thoughts were different.
“This is ridiculous! How can you suddenly ask be7c159440 me to do what you 4915a0ae39 have been doing all this 85df9e7be5 time?”
“Are you resentful and bitter about that?”
He couldn’t bring himself to 636f83cfc6 answer “yes,” but Matthias’s expression b044b9fecf alone revealed his feelings.
Carlyle pretended to 454f6d32ca be sorry and 5b7198864a replied.
“I don’t feel good about it either, but there are surprisingly many things in the world that change suddenly overnight. Who would have expected 8fb27375bb me to be stripped 15ecd30e90 of my crown prince 0a47e65558 status overnight?”
At that, the 760afd7370 emperor’s gaze sharpened.
“Are you now protesting that you were unfairly stripped of your crown prince status? How dare you…!”
“Of course not! The appointment of the c0ed676993 crown prince is naturally 8b101a3a9a Your Majesty’s exclusive right, 17d4971d2d so how dare I cf849c8d80 question it?”
Carlyle waved his hands as 51b6f948d4 if he didn’t mean it 3c770cabc5 that way.
“But wouldn’t Mati be less confused if you held a meeting of the nobles to discuss the abdication and slowly transferred your authority?”
He closed his mouth b67c14902a tightly in front of 12264f8895 the emperor and looked 2fc585d612 at Matthias, teasing him, 16691b49a9 “Poor Mati.”
“Anyway, I have to leave for Pervaz to protect the honor of my grandfather and father, and to serve the empire.”
“That’s…!”
“Of course, Your Majesty will teach me well, so don’t worry too much. Take this as an 72168a5024 opportunity to learn a 6276534b97 lot and mature a 558749bf19 lot, Mati.”
Carlyle simply threw off the 2795262fdd burden that had been placed e54c0c861b on me.
And yet, he returned to 1f622e5721 my room with a serious aa4ab8dc02 and dignified expression, having displayed 2226093a14 his excellent acting skills, and afb81b7166 burst out laughing in front bed75453ee of Asha, who happened to b56f3f6b6c be visiting, and Lionel, who 00e04a4bc3 was standing guard by her bb3b692e21 side.
“You should have seen those stupid expressions, Leo! I never thought they would 61be6e588a really not think about military 6aabb4ead9 matters. Ahahaha!”
Lionel could only taste a 911bd2f4c7 bitter aftertaste, but Asha tilted 50cd657ded her head as if she 2be1f37350 didn’t understand something.
“Isn’t military power… a tremendous authority?”
“Ah, my smart and curious wife! You’re right, that’s how 867b3d2cce it should be. That’s how it should be.”
Carlyle gritted his teeth.
“It’s called ‘military power,’ but the real essence, like the authority to mobilize soldiers and declare war, belongs only to the emperor.”
“Then what is the military power that Your Highness is talking about?”
“It is the military command authority that can be exercised after going to the battlefield on the Emperor’s orders. In any case, I 335a0361d9 have to be in 5a45af99d5 the middle of the 68467d89e7 battlefield.”
It was only the authority 055f439a36 of a leader who could 059ee5fc2f give orders to other soldiers, 17e2b5d133 but Carlyle had to participate a83bb8edcf in more battles than any 28db75e0e5 other soldier or knight because e5b9a8eded he was blessed by the 7861a7e375 gods.
The blessing of the gods 51767a9d9b was closer to a disaster e679ee0ed0 for him.
“Do you know what’s even funnier? I was only b21e0f912a participating in the cc4f093029 war on the 23a541de6b orders of the 126b117342 emperor, but I 7c2ef3d4ee have to take dc582eac7a responsibility for the 8984c4c341 defeat of the dd11693a1f war because I 021464dcc9 have the military 705f61ce20 command authority.”
It was a story that 7793700e11 was so funny it made dfed2d8141 him angry.
To begin with, it was c2c56d6e25 the emperor’s right and responsibility, aa72d812b9 but he only gave me 2c7a895639 the “responsibility” part.
“It’s a good thing I’ve never lost before, but if I had lost even once… Well, how would my father and mother have held me accountable?”
TL/N: mother here refers to bb7ed09856 the Empress
****1d9653a8f6ed6710

Read full chapter at Lily on the Valley without gibberish