07: An Hour in the Mornings

Aullène Kingdom was located in the middle of Eesh continent, facing the ocean and it prospered because of its marine produce and shipping.

To the north was the Kingdom of Lakshurusu, to the west was Dioatol Empire, to the east Einn Kingdom and the south faced the sea. Aullène Kingdom currently had a dispute with the Kingdom of Lakshurusu and have had many conflicts with them.

The Kingdom of Lakshurusu doesn’t face the sea, so they wanted territory that did, therefore they came into conflict with Aullène Kingdom.

Aullène Kingdom and the Kingdom of Lakshurusu had the same amount of land, however Aullène Kingdom had a better military force. Therefore Aullène Kingdom was able to successfully defend against the Kingdom of Lakshurusu’s invasions.

In the West, the Dioatol Empire was in civil war because of successor disputes. So they couldn’t afford to shift their attention elsewhere and interfere with another nation’s problems. Aullène Kingdom has amassed a good relationship with Einn Kingdom in the east since long ago.

A Kingdom’s territory was made up by those controlled directly by the royal family and noble territory. The ratio between that was 1:9. Indeed, 90% of the territory belonged to nobles. However, the royal family held the most important piece of land within the kingdom, so their power was never weak.

The nobles each managed their own fiefs but they didn’t do it all year around. For half the year, in spring and autumn, they gathered at the Royal Capital to socialise. This was a custom and they weren’t obliged to attend, however social interactions were an important part of noble life, so there was hardly anyone who didn’t attend. During those times, the magistrate would manage the fief.

The nobles all had their own residences in their fief, but they also had a separate residence in the Royal Capital, that was where they stayed during the social season. Then they would go to tea parties, hunt and night balls.

It was current the spring social season.

Julius Rosenberg woke up in a room in the residence that Earl Rosenberg owned in the Royal Capital.

◊♦◊♦◊♦◊

“Oh…… It is morning already?”

The sunlight from outside shone through the gaps of his curtains, hit him in the face and woke him up.

He rolled in bed for a while and sat up on the bed when he was fully awoken.

Then a knocked sounded on the door with exquisite timing as if the person on the other side knew that he would be up.

“I’m awake, come in.”

“Excuse me.”

Julius faced the door and said. Then, the door opened and a woman wearing a maid outfit entered and bowed deeply.

“Good morning, Julius-sama.”

“Ah, morning, Parla.”

The woman, who had entered Julius’s room, was a middle aged lady. She worked as the head maid at Earl Rosenberg’s House.

Her dark brown hair tied at the back showed her calm personality, which suited her age.

She was already working as a maid when Julius was born and has worked with them for a long time.

She was also one of the few people that knew that Julius was a man.

Parla basically took care of Julius’s possessions.

The person with the head maid position would usually be in charge of Earl Rosenberg or his wife Elizabeth, but they learnt from the past that if they had other maids take care of Julius, then those maids would become infatuated with him and wouldn’t do their work. So this arrangement came to be.

Earl Rosenberg put things under control by establishing this arrangement.

“I brought you a change of clothes.”

“Ah, thank you.”

Nobles, royals and people who held a high rank didn’t normally change their own clothes, they would get a maid or servant to dress them.

Julius, however, didn’t do that. He received the clothes from Parla and began changing on his own. This wasn’t something that only occurred today, he did this on a normal basis. He tried to dress himself on a daily basis.

This wasn’t because he believed that you should do things by yourself as much as possible…… It was because of Elizabeth’s order.

She had done this because if he had asked someone on the road to change his clothes for him then it was high likely that they would discover that he was a man. He had been dressing himself for a long time and he had already grown accustomed to it, so he didn’t plan to change it now.

“Julius-sama. Today’s schedule.”

“Ok.”

“You have training until lunch time. After that is Viscount Verjus’s tea party.”

“I see. It’s already time for it, is it?”

Parla read his schedule for him as he continued to change. Julius muttered as if he recalled something on the schedule.

A formal invitation was sent by Viscount Verjus’s House for the tea party that he had promised Emilinne he would go to the other day at the ball. The day of the party was today.

The venue was Viscount Verjus’s residence at the Royal Capital.

“I want to have a quick bath after training and put some clothes out for me to wear.”

Parla nodded when Julius told her this while changing.

“Certainly. I will make the preparations.”

“And did you prepare the thing I asked for?”

“Yes, it has arrived. I will give it to you when you leave.”

“Okay. That’s all.”

Julius finished changing while they were talking and Parla quickly folded his night wear and put it on her arm. Then she opened the door as if guiding Julius through.

“I will prepare breakfast so please wait in the dining room.”

“Ok, thanks.”

Parla gave Julius’s night wear to another maid, who was standing wait by the door, and walked to the dining room behind Julius.

…… They decided that they didn’t see the maid rustling her face into Julius’s night wear behind them.

◊♦◊♦◊♦◊

“Good morning, father, mother.”

“Yeah.”

“Morning, Julius.”

When he arrived at the dining room, there were already two people sitting on the dining table, eating breakfast.

Julius greeted the two and sat on a vacant seat. Then a waiter quickly arranged breakfast in front of him.

Sitting on Julius’s right was Ernesto Rosenberg, Earl Rosenberg, the current head of the Rosenberg House.

He had short trimmed hair, lighter blonder than Julius’s. He was at the prime of his life.

He was also good looking because he was Julius’s father, but his appearance also reflected his age. His appearance was suitable as the current head of the Rosenberg House.

The person sitting opposite Earl Rosenberg was of course, Elizabeth Rosenberg, his wife and Julius’s mother.

She had light blonde hair and looked very young. She didn’t look like she was someone who had given birth to a nearly 20 year old son. Her age was close to Earl Rosenberg’s but it wouldn’t be unusual for people to believe that they were parent and child instead of husband and wife.

Actually, people suspected that Earl Rosenberg had paedophilic tendencies because of her appearance, but that wasn’t true.

“You’re attending the tea party at Viscount Verjus’s today, aren’t you?”

“Yes, father.’

“Give my regards to the Viscount if you see him.”

“I understand.”

Earl Rosenberg spoke to Julius while he was eating. They talked about Emilinne’s tea party, which Julius would be attending today.

The Verjus House had a good relationship with the Rosenberg House, and their respective head of house were also friends.

“Give my regards to Emilinne as well.”

“Yes, mother.”

Elizabeth also mimicked Earl Rosenberg’s words.

She liked Emilinne, who was going to be her future daughter-in-law and worried about her.

“Who else is attending?”

“I’ve heard that Maxián and Lady Servan will also be attending.”

“I see. I haven’t seen Lillyshia in a while.”

“Julius is the one who is attending the tea party, not you Elizabeth.”

“Oh my, that’s right. I’m sorry.”

“Fufu.”

His parents were a little strange, [especially his mother], but Julius respected and loved them from the bottom of his heart.

He was stumped that Elizabeth had raised him in a strange way because of her hobby, but he didn’t resent her for it. Although he couldn’t deny that he was a little surprised and resigned himself to the situation.

Both his parents were busy during the social season, so the only time he could talk to them was for an hour in the mornings.

Julius, who had finished eating while talking with his parents, left the estate and went to the plaza at the back for training.

Translator: Blushy
Editor: Readers

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