To The Traitor in My Bed - Chapter 41 - What Mother Never Taught Me

Chapter 21. What Mother Never Taught Me

Daymond Havisham, who dared to pursue the king’s woman, had it coming when he died like the fool he was. But the one who made that fool’s death look like a robbery and threw him into the Monterey River was none other than Lysander, who didn’t particularly enjoy recalling that incident.

The Glenwell family was not as prestigious as the Havishams. So, there was no need to go through the trouble of framing them only to clear their name.

Christian spoke up.

“So, Captain—no, Major, I need you to take care of the Glenwell situation. If Antwerp nobles appear to be plotting rebellion all the time, it’ll be a problem. Be creative if you must.”

This meant framing Glenwell and their family with charges of treason and having them executed. To ask a royal dog to be creative in such a task was an unreasonable request.

However, Lysander did not miss the fact that Christian had referred to him as ‘Major.’ He stood and saluted with proper form.

“Understood, Your Majesty.”

Only then did Caroline raise her violet eyes to look at Lysander. Lysander deliberately ignored the silent plea in her gaze.

The queen’s inability to bear children was her own fault, and she alone should bear the consequences. He was the king’s dog, not the queen’s knight on a white horse.

Christian narrowed his golden eyes.

“With this, we’ve avoided the risk of tainting the Leonthart bloodline. So, show a little more effort, Caroline. If you don’t want to keep watching your lady-in-waiting’s family be destroyed.”

* * *

Marianne Fairchild, the former Countess Fairchild, would often tell her only son that. The former Count Fairchild had cherished his son, but due to his constant busyness, Marianne and the governess she hired took on the task of raising the boy.

Marianne was a frail woman but strong-willed and upright.

When news reached Rochepolie that King Roderick had dissolved the 15th Parliament, Frederick asked, ‘Should we serve a king if he dissolves Parliament to avoid hearing the advice of his ministers?’ Marianne had responded with those very words again.

<You’ll need to develop discernment. Would you like another slice of cake? I took the raisins out.>

To young Frederick, this sounded like a circular reasoning fallacy.

To do the right thing, you must surround yourself with good people, and to recognize their goodness, you need to cultivate sound judgment.

Despite this, he greatly respected his mother, so he followed her teachings.

It was always hard to know what was right, but by the time he was twelve and entering the Royal Academy, he began to understand his mother’s words.

By the age of fifteen, he could distinguish clearly what was obviously wrong.

It was during the age of fifteen, that the twenty-year-old crown prince brutally murdered a prince who was four years younger than him. That it was not an accident was widely known, and for Frederick, there was even the testimony of a certain witness.

[Christian is mad. Please help me, Frederick. One day, Brother will kill me too.]

The world did not believe that Frederick and Princess Sabrina were lovers. However, he had been a long-time friend of Sabrina. The terrified princess had sent a letter, risking her life, but there was nothing a fifteen-year-old boy could do in that situation.

All he knew for certain was that the crown prince was wrong. If such a crown prince ascended the throne, the future of Antwerp would not be bright.

Since he didn’t have many good friends who could tell him whether he was right or wrong, Frederick spent several sleepless nights contemplating what he should do.

To save Princess Sabrina and the kingdom from the mad Christian, he knew that simply standing out on his own wouldn’t help. Princes Franz and Ashley had been removed precisely because their potential might one day threaten the throne, so showing too much ability could backfire.

Thus, he decided to hide everything about himself for the time being. Regarding this decision, he only sought a slight bit of advice from his mother.

<Mother, what would you think if I suddenly couldn’t do sword fighting or horseback riding? I mean, if it looked like I couldn’t?>

<… Would you and father be embarrassed because of me?>

<We’ve always been proud of you, Frederick. We will continue to be. And if you act all shy like a little girl, it will feel like I’ve gained another daughter at this age. Now, have another piece of cake. I’ve taken the raisins out.>

From that point, Frederick began to act like a fool. He pretended to stop all the sports he loved and, while everyone else slept, he practiced twice or three times as hard.

During class, he secretly read books. Every history book from every country in the Odellum continent.