So This is Love (Disney Twisted Tales) - Elizabeth Lim Page 0,83
hear, that I’ll be around to see my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren!” George snorted. “Quacks, the lot of them. I’ll be lucky if I see the boy married at this point.”
“You mustn’t talk like that, Your Majesty.”
“I will talk however I please!” the king roared, only to fall into another coughing fit. Once he recovered, he sighed. “This kingdom could use a little magic. I could use a little magic.”
“Your Majesty, listen to yourself,” pleaded the duke. “Magic has expressly been forbidden. That was my father’s recommendation and your law. For good reason, too! Think of how dangerous it can be when wielded by someone with evil intentions.”
“Yes, but maybe if we hadn’t forbidden magic, we wouldn’t have to worry about war with our neighbors. Or within our own country. Charles wouldn’t even have to consider marrying a foreign princess.”
At that, the duke hid a smile. He took out his monocle and pretended to clean it, a habit he was expressly aware he indulged in whenever he needed to deliberate before speaking.
He pulled his chair closer to the king’s bedside, patiently waiting for his concoction to take effect.
“I was listening during the council,” said George. “People are angry with me for not making Aurelais a fairer place for them to live. There isn’t much I can do for them now, but Charles . . . Charles will right my wrongs.”
“And I will help him, Your Majesty.” A pause. “If he lets me.”
The king trusted him. Depended on him. If Charles were to rise to the throne soon . . . The Grand Duke shuddered at the reality of it. He would lose years of hard work and decades of manipulating the king into depending on him for guidance on how to rule Aurelais. Ferdinand needed to strategize his next moves very carefully, and he’d begin with the secret assembly of his most trusted men.
Prince Charles certainly wouldn’t listen to him the way his father did. At first, Ferdinand had resigned himself to the young prince going off to university. Maybe Charles would come back ready to listen to men with far more tact and experience at running a kingdom.
But alas, when the prince returned, full of ideas and disdain for Ferdinand, it became evident that things had changed at the Royal University; it had started accepting students based on merit rather than their upbringing, and engaging professors with “ideas.” Why, he had even heard that Charles had studied under a false identity so he could experience his schooling like a commoner instead of the privileged royal that he was.
Ferdinand had suggested to George that his son return home at once when word came that riots near the university had taken place.
“Let the boy be a boy,” the king had said. “What are they rioting about, anyway?”
“Taxes,” Ferdinand had responded automatically.
“Taxes?” The king frowned. “What about? Did we raise them recently?”
“No,” the duke had lied. When, in fact, he had authorized a 20 percent increase in taxes, and during a particularly harsh winter at that. The people had been angry because there was no food. The new taxes were meant to discourage the people from rebelling against the kingdom, but they seemed to have had an opposite effect.
So while borrowing the king’s royal seal to hide his error, the duke had sent a garrison of troops to quell the rebellion. How relieved he’d been when the entire catastrophe disappeared.
Until months later, when the prince—newly returned home after finally completing his studies—brought it up during the council meeting.
Charles’s conduct had been a terrible surprise, the prince unwilling to listen to reason and logic. King George had immediately asked his son to join him in listening to the day’s proceedings, but the first thing Charles did was criticize the council’s composition.
“All of your advisers are lords,” the prince had said, lashing out.
“They’re men I’ve vouched for,” replied the duke, keeping his temper in check. “Men who have served the council honorably since before you were born.”
“They’re men with only their best interests at heart. Men who are willing to extort the poor until they have nothing left. I was there during the riots when the new tax was imposed. I’ll never forget them.”
Confusion had etched itself on the king’s features. “Ferdinand, you told me we hadn’t raised taxes.”
“Only by an insignificant amount,” the Grand Duke blustered. Thank heavens at that moment he remembered the king’s plans to throw a ball. “Perhaps we should discuss the ball tonight.”