The Youngest Prince Of The English Royalty House [EN]: Chapter 81

81. It’s Not Plagiarism (2)

―1188, Ireland―

I am Great John, the High Lord of Ireland.

In Europe, I’m just a lord, but at least in Ireland, I’m a great noble who reigns like a monarch.

However, great power requires great responsibility.

The responsibility I had to bear as one who reigned over the people was great, and one of those responsibilities was taking care of my beautiful mother, who pouted easily for her age.

[John, I think you should go see your mother]

A safe zone that I rush to whenever my wife signals!

‘To think I have to play the part of a filial son with a burning heart at this age.’

To be honest, it was annoying.

I, the youngest son who had never received even a speck of love from my mother in my childhood, now have to create a loving and harmonious family atmosphere with my aging mother. It’s not an easy task.

But still, it’s something I have to do. I went to my mother right away.

“Tell the Queen Mother that I have arrived.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

A lady-in-waiting to the Queen Mother would be a noblewoman of proper lineage. Naturally, I spoke politely to the lady-in-waiting.

Not long after, a sulky voice was heard.

“You’ve come.”

There was my mother, Queen Mother Eleanor, wearing a stern face but actually making an expression that said, ‘I’m upset!’

“Mother, are you still not in a good mood?”

“Don’t you know the reason better than anyone else?”

“Mother, how long are you going to keep this up? You’re not eating, and you’re not drinking wine.”

“Because I’m upset.”

She doesn’t use the roundabout way of speaking of ‘nobles,’ but bluntly states her feelings. Doesn’t this woman recognize her good son?

“I’m more upset, Mother.”

“John, you don’t understand people’s hearts.”

Right now, Queen Mother Eleanor is sulking. Very, very sulking.

I know the reason. It’s because when I received Baldwin’s call and went to Normandy, I didn’t take her with me.

I, who know very well why Father dumped Mother in Ireland, why would I bother taking her to Normandy and create trouble?

Besides, I know her purpose all too well.

“Isn’t it because you want to make your sister-in-law Sibylla suffer through the in-law life?”

“Would I ever do that?”

“And you’re using Richard as an excuse to stay in Normandy for good, aren’t you?”

“Would I ever… your mother do that?”

Of course, of course, European heroine!

Of course, the in-law life in medieval Europe is very different from the in-law life in Goryeo [ancient Korean kingdom], which is now Korea.

There’s no case where a mother-in-law torments her daughter-in-law to forget the hardships of life.

Besides, I heard that our mother’s mother-in-law was a very scary mother-in-law when she was alive.

Born as a princess of England, I heard rumors that my late grandmother, Duchess Matilda of Anjou, who had limited control as the mistress of England, was subjected to harsh in-law life.

I understand how my mother feels as if Sibylla, a pretty cat-like woman, has stolen Richard, whom she loves and cherishes so much.

Ah, now that I think about it, I’m starting to feel more upset.

“Mother, if I had received just 1 percent of your love for Richard, I could have grown taller.”

“Aren’t you tall enough now?”

“I should have been taller!”

“You’re as greedy as your father.”

“Where did you learn to say such harsh things?”

That’s a big insult in another sense, Mother.

Anyway, I had a childish and sulky argument with her like that. I feel like my heart is getting petty. What are we doing at our age?

“So, what is the reason our sulky youngest prince came to see his mother? If you want my opinion, I don’t like it.”

“I haven’t said anything yet?”

“It’s obvious what you’re going to say. You’re going to build something strange in the territory again, aren’t you?”

As expected, it’s my mother, Queen Mother Eleanor. She knows my intentions and makes that face that demands a ‘price.’

“Then, let me tell you my plan first.”

“But if I don’t like it, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear it.”

My mother is pressuring me with sharp eyes, but right now I’m in leverage zone.

* * *

―The Lord’s Castle in Ireland―

Anyway, I had a fierce conversation with my mother, like playing table tennis.

In the end, I received my mother’s permission, saying, [Because you’re still my beloved son, I’ll trust you just this once~].

I called not only the Internal Affairs Trio but also the SAFE 4 Knights.

In addition to the seven favored vassals, I called my illegitimate children and youngest children, who are the foundation of my political power.

And I said to them with great vigor.

“Ireland has given you much. You won’t deny that, will you?”

The world is give and take.

There’s a reason why my support base and local forces in Ireland work hard, even though they don’t want to. It’s because they have something to gain.

‘If you ignore the alpha and omega of the Middle Ages, the bilateral contract, something big will happen. Whether it’s a territory or a country.’

If I hadn’t given my vassals a proper price, there would have been a riot in Ireland when I went on a crusade, or my support base would have collapsed on its own.

“We have given Your Highness proper loyalty, and we have received many rewards compared to that loyalty. All of this is thanks to Your Highness’s benevolence.”

―Thanks to Your Highness’s benevolence!

Aymar, one of the Internal Affairs Trio and from the Kingdom of France, bowed down and acknowledged that fact. The vassals beside him also acknowledged that fact.

“But that won’t be enough. So, I have prepared one more thing for you.”

As I told them a sweet story, the expressions of the vassals changed positively.

“What is it?”

At Godfrey’s question, I said with a kind face.

“I am thinking of creating a new council for the youngest and illegitimate vassals in Mortain and Ireland who show ability.”

The Internal Affairs Trio had already heard about it and were not surprised, but many vassals, including the SAFE Knights, were surprised by my sudden words.

“It is a grand assembly of three classes consisting of clergy, nobles, and prominent illegitimate children and youngest children residing in Ireland and Mortain. That is….”

That’s how I roughly explained the Estates-General [a representative assembly of the three estates of the realm: the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners].

Godfrey, one of my close aides and a ‘former’ top illegitimate child, sparkled his eyes.

Godfrey himself, as an illegitimate child, realized what ‘carrot’ was contained in what I was saying now.

Of course, it’s limited to ‘my territory,’ but it’s the same as giving them an opportunity to raise their political voices legitimately.

I think that the illegitimate children of prestigious families, and the youngest and illegitimate children who live alone in a harsh world without territories and family businesses, should have ‘rights’ as the third class.

“A new council that has never existed before, I will call this the Estates-General.”

―Estates-General!

The eyes of my vassals began to change more touchingly.

In particular, Ak Bul-hoi, from the Song Dynasty [a historical Chinese dynasty], where special privileges for the gentry were taken for granted, had the most positive reaction in the expression I had seen.

He had an excited expression like, ‘Yes, this is a country!’

Of course, if you introduce this heterogeneous political system in ‘Britain (England),’ there will be opposition. But this is Ireland, my area!

So, the magistrate, no, SAFE John’s way works!

* * *

―1188, Europe―

The original Third Crusade, which started on a huge scale but ended in various unsatisfactory ways, is different.

The Third Crusade in the current history, which was caused by Safe John, started on a more enormous scale and ended with a definite victory for the Crusaders.

The Islamic forces were weakened. The European nobles were eagerly swallowing the fruits of their labor.

Anyway, thanks to that atmosphere, Europe began to change rapidly.

In the Middle Ages, there was a change in ‘Catholicism’ in that it was an era of faith and priests.

At the end of the Crusade, Prince John used a cheat key to eliminate the atmosphere of framing him.

That is, he brought up the issue of ‘Limbo,’ which had been a long-standing controversy in Europe.

Hundreds of years later, there is a ‘썰 [Korean slang for “story” or “rumor”]’ that even ‘moral pagans and atheists’ can enter this Limbo.

Strictly speaking, the meaning of Limbo now is a kind of army waiting area, neither heaven nor hell, where the ‘righteous’ of the Old Testament era, who did not know Jesus, temporarily reside.

However, the Limbo of Infants, which would accept pitiful babies who died shortly after birth in the middle of this Limbo, was a matter of controversy, and when John lit the torch, this controversy flared up.

While others were distributing the treasures obtained from the Crusade, the clergy were still arguing and busy writing related literature to support their claims, so their mouths and hands hurt.

In the end, they gradually felt tired of the Limbo issue.

So… many clergymen argued.

‘Christ will not ask babies who die without being baptized before committing sins for the sin of original sin.’

Speaking of God’s mercy.

Of course, it was not an argument that received the full agreement of all the clergy, which became a new mainstream.

However, there are many babies who die without being baptized because they cannot afford to find baptism. It was a humane interpretation because of that reality.

Although they do not eat with other people’s donations, unlike the future when Martin Luther was active, there were still many clergymen with at least a minimum of conscience in the 12th-century Catholic Church.

This is because the ‘knowledge’ full of the scent of Egypt, which the Coptic Christians, who were on the verge of complete collapse, conveyed to Europe, spread.

The Westerners, who grew up eating Greek and Roman culture, fell into the new world of ‘Egypt.’ Because John, who took Champollion’s achievements, found out the decipherment of ‘hieroglyphs.’ The wave of Egypt has come.

Of course, Catholicism, which would freak out as ‘heresy’ even if it went a slightly different path, accepted the ‘Coptic Church,’ which was competent in many ways, as brothers because of the Limbo issue and the distribution of bishoprics.

This is because of the lords who tacitly support the Coptic Church.

After acquiring new territories, the interests of the lords who needed the cooperation of the Coptic Church, who were close to the locals, and the Coptic Christians who wanted to receive ‘protection’ of their status from their Western Catholic brothers coincided.

[The miracle created by Safe John.]

[It was a miracle that would not have been achieved if His Holiness the Pope had not been wrongly (assassinated) during his time as bishop.]

But when I thought about it, everything was related to John.

So, it was natural that the person of the hour these days was John Anjou―Plantagenet. No, it was Safe John.

At first, Prince John himself called himself ‘Safe John!’ But now, Europe’s [Safe John!] has become a fairly famous nickname.

Europeans knew. John is an unexpectedly dangerous youngest prince of England who pretends to be safe. Well, as the son of King Henry II and Queen Mother Eleanor, there is no way he would not be cunning.

[Safe John has started doing strange things in Ireland again.]

At that time, the new eccentric behavior shown by John, the youngest prince of England, was known to the world.

That is, Prince John created the Estates-General system in his territory, Ireland.

The news began to flow from the Irish territory to London, Paris, Rome, Venice, and Constantinople.

Here is the Kingdom of France.

At first, Philip thought of John as a punching bag, but he had suffered so much that he now elevated John to his nemesis.

Philip became a pitiful person who freaked out even when he heard that John had drunk wine.

“Damn Safe John!”

“Your Majesty, please calm down.”

“I need to know what the hell he’s doing!”

Philip II still remembered the humiliation of that day.

He still remembered that bizarre melody.