Chapter 010: Averia, The Queen of Bastards
It's now been two months since the new Queen's coronation party. Esther was getting used to living with Arthur. Arthur is now six years old.
According to the rules of the Nightingale Kingdom, noble children, especially the Crown Prince, must start studying at the age of six. Therefore Arthur must also learn. Esther began to find out which teachers were great at teaching Arthur.
After several days of searching, Esther finally found some names. Then she sent a letter to the people she had chosen as Arthur's teacher that she asked them to teach the Crown Prince.
A few days later, Esther got a reply from the letter she had sent earlier. All the letters contained rejection from those people. An annoyed Esther immediately burned all the damn letters and started grumbling. Arthur, who had just finished his sword lesson, sat down next to Esther. He seemed worried about seeing Esther like that.
"What's the matter with you, Madam Beatrice?" Arthur asked with a face that showed that he was worried about Esther.
Esther, who had been ruffling her hair like crazy, immediately smiled when she noticed Arthur's arrival. "I've just been frustrated with that damn Averia's influence ever since she became queen."
Arthur giggled as he heard Esther swear at the queen. "You shouldn't carelessly pronounce the queen's name like that. If outsiders hear about it, they will immediately report it to the queen and you will be immediately lashed."
"It doesn't matter. After all, it's just you and me. If I'm accused of slandering the queen's name, it means you're the one who reported it," joked Esther.
Arthur was made to laugh again at Esther's joke. "So what else did the Queen do?"
"I sent letters to people of high potential and peerless intelligence in this Kingdom to become your teachers. However, they all refused my request. It must be because Averia threatened them to refuse my request the same way she cut my palace budget," Esther said casually.
Actually, a few days after Averia took over as queen in place of Caroline, she immediately cut the budget of Esther's palace. It seemed that the woman had a bitter grudge against Esther or that she did it on purpose to make Arthur stranded for lack of money. Many possibilities could be the reason the queen did that.
Arthur seemed to be deep in thought. "I think you're right. She must have done that so that I would be stupid and deemed unfit to be the Crown prince, so she would easily dethrone me and her son would become the Crown Prince."
Although still a child, Arthur was very different from the children of nobles or other king's children. He has a more mature mind than normal children his age. Even adults lose their minds. That was why Esther used to say that the child was very much like her.
"Should I study on my own? But I think it will be difficult since I don't have the textbook," Arthur muttered in a voice loud enough for Esther to hear him.
"By the way, how about your sword master now?" Esther asked wanting to confirm something.
"Actually, I feel a little strange about him. From what I observe, he only teaches me things that are not important. It seems that he has also become Queen Averia's person," Arthur said.
Esther took a deep breath and then stood up. "Because no one in this kingdom can teach you because of Averia's intervention, then I will teach you all the knowledge you need to become a crown prince. For matters of royal etiquette, let Anne teach you. Then Helena will teach you about types of drugs and treatment."
Arthur laughed at Esther's rambling. He thought all of Esther's words were very funny because as she knew that women in the Nightingale Kingdom only learned basic things like etiquette, embroidery, and other things that were only needed to support them when they got married.
"I know that you are feeling stressed because of the Queen, Madam Beatrice. But somehow your joke makes me want to laugh out loud," Arthur said with a laugh. Esther looked at the boy with an even expression.
"I'm not kidding, Tiny."
"If it is you who will teach me to study. Where will we get the books?" Arthur asked.
Esther took out a necklace she wore with a pendant in the form of a gold-plated key. "This is the key to the library in the King's palace."
Arthur was suddenly surprised when he saw this. How come? The library key Esther brought was the key to the largest library in the Nightingale kingdom.
"How did you get the key to the library? Don't tell me you secretly took it without His Majesty's permission."
"Hey! Actually, how bad am I to you? Of course, the king himself gave it to me." Arthur took a deep breath. Either way, he still doesn't believe that Esther could teach him.
"What are you going to teach me anyway?"
"Swords, tactics of war, economics, geography, history and culture, foreign policy, and other knowledge needed by you to become king in the future," said Esther excitedly.
Arthur couldn't help but smile seeing Esther who first looked excited after her mother's death. "Okay. Can we start studying tomorrow morning?"
"Wow, you seem very excited! If you want to start studying tomorrow I think that's fine."
"Okay then." To be honest Arthur greatly underestimated Esther's abilities. So, he wanted to try to embarrass Esther tomorrow as a form of revenge because Esther often called him 'tiny'.
The next day Esther, who was wearing her usual black long-sleeved dress and a long silk cloth of the same color as her dress wrapped around her arms, walked into Arthur's study.
Inside there was Arthur who seemed to be very ready to start the lesson. Esther sat right next to Arthur and put the books she had just brought on the table. Arthur secretly showed his sly smile.
"So what are we going to study today, Madam Beatrice?"
"War tactics and foreign policy," Esther replied curtly. Arthur nodded his head.
"In that case, okay." Esther gave Arthur two books.
"Since this is the first time you start learning, I'm going to teach you the hard way right away. You can learn from the book I gave you."
"Aren't you upside down, Madam Beatrice? Usually someone will teach from the basics first before diving into the most important," Arthur criticized as he looked at Esther's face with her trademark smirk.