Chapter 12
CHAPTER 12: Ondal or Agrippa (2)
"Throughout all ages, men like you were counted on one hand."
Jan III said.
"So tell me what your goal is. What you dream of."
He asked Jeong-hun. What he will do in the future. The King was curious about whom he would serve later, and what battlefield he would go to. Jeong-hun answered honestly.
"I only want her. I want to build a happy family with her."
It was real. What more could he wish for? Ask to put at least toilet paper in the restroom? Ask for the latest computer fitted with an RTX 4090?
Jeong-hun unexpectedly didn't have a high threshold for happiness. Speaking honestly, he wanted to go back to his previous life. To a life where he could order hamburgers at a drive-thru. What he had done so far was ultimately just struggling to survive. He still wasn't wishing for much. If he couldn't go back, he just needed Ela.
But Jan III misunderstood. He made an ambiguous face, unsure whether to burst into laughter or get angry, and finally burst into hearty laughter.
"Hahahaha!"
He patted Jeong-hun's shoulder.
"Seeing you now, you are a smart guy too. Right, you have to be that clever."
The King laughed like that. He was misinterpreting Jeong-hun's intentions. For this Joseon Tatar to be connected with the Princess, he had to reach a position befitting that. A Princess couldn't marry a mere farmer. He had to become at least a Noble. One with a respectable fief. So the words asking for the Princess sounded identical to words asking to raise him to that level.
Jan III looked at this guy recalling his daughter. These two, who met he didn't know when, were now in a relationship inseparable even if one tried to separate them. His daughter also looked ready to die altogether if he tried to tear their relationship apart more.
Jan III also knew how precious a 'happy marriage life' was. He and Queen Marie enjoyed a truly happy life after marriage. Even for royalty or nobles, enjoying a happy life by marrying a loved one was a blessing allowed only to a few.
In that aspect, if it is for his daughter's happiness, connecting her with this guy might be right.
If only the Queen didn't oppose so much...
His wife, Marie, was looking for her daughter's marriage partner everywhere. She wanted her daughter to marry a powerful noble of the Holy Roman Empire, or a powerful noble of France.
But Jan felt skeptical slightly. Powerful foreign nobles? What the hell would they do for Poland? Encouraging discord in the Sejm? They only made choices for their families, and were people with absolutely no reason or motivation to truly want to make Poland powerful.
Then the great nobles of Poland? Heh, Jan scoffed unwittingly. They were worse. Mentioning the Henrician Articles and Golden Liberty that shackle royal authority, the great nobles gnawing at the Commonwealth were effectively no different from the main culprits who brought ruin upon Poland.
Starting from Bohdan Khmelnytsky's Cossack uprising, the Commonwealth's capability was never gathered properly even once. Just a hundred years after being adopted, the Henrician Articles were ruining the country.
"......"
The solution is one. The neighboring country right next door, the Holy Roman Empire, showed it. They had to unite tightly as one family and implement absolute monarchy. The 'Habsburgs', the most powerful family in the world, showed the path to advance.
So Jan III wanted to gift his son the best vassal who could work for the Sobieski family.
For now, he succeeded in giving one. Principality of Moldavia. The Sobieski family prepared a foundation to maintain a royal standing army based on this region.
But would that be all? Just increasing territory and having many troops isn't everything. Capable people were still needed. There were too many capable people in this era. People with talents that Jakub, who was closer to mediocre than ordinary, couldn't even compare to were blooming everywhere.
In that aspect, this Joseon Tatar was the only existence who could fill his son Jakub's lacking military talent. Jan III wanted this person to become Jakub's Agrippa. Even when he and his vassals left, he wanted to pass down a vassal loyal to Jakub.
"Swear to me."
So the old lion said to the young lion.
"To serve only our family."
It was the word of a King who intuited his own end not far away.
"I swear."
Jeong-hun swore. Actually, could he say other words in front of the King? Still, Jeong-hun's oath was honest in its own way. The King, who saw through that, nodded only then.
"When the day breaks, you go to Kamieniec Podolski."
The King stood up from his seat.
"And you handled it well earlier."
"Pardon?"
"At the banquet hall. If you dared to give a glance to someone other than the Princess..."
The King, trailing off, laughed loudly. The young man passed the father-in-law's screening. If he flirted with another woman even a little, this discussion wouldn't have even taken place. Rather, he would have faced the father-in-law's Saber. And the secret guest would be disappointed too.
The King stood up from his seat and left without saying any more words.
Jeong-hun looked in the direction the King left, and was startled noticing a figure approaching without any presence behind him. When the hell did she approach here like this?
"......"
The figure took off the robe. The glossy chestnut hair looked exceptionally clear even in this situation where the only light source was the moon of the night. And her green eyes even more so. Princess Elżbieta, whose beauty would silence all other women in the banquet hall, approached with long strides and hugged him tight.
"I missed you."
When Jeong-hun enlisted in the Winged Hussars, Princess Elżbieta entered the 'Benedictine Nuns of Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament' in Warsaw under the cover of night.
Jan III and Queen Marie couldn't oppose Ela's decision.
Coincidentally, this convent was a place Queen Marie established for her husband's victory in the Siege of Vienna. There was no justification to stop Princess Ela, the daughter of the two and no one else, from doing religious activities there for the time being. However, Marie kept visiting her daughter who entered even the convent and acted annoyingly.
When time passed and the Polish expeditionary force was in the middle of proceeding with the Moldavian expedition. One day Marie visited Ela holding numerous portraits drawn by painters in bundles.
"Here, look. This person is France's..."
It's tedious. Ela looked at the prayer book and let her mother's words go in one ear and out the other. Actually, it's not a prayer book either. The book she was looking at discussed Polish history and the current status of Nobles.
"Elżbieta! Focus on my words!"
Marie shouted abruptly. Ela sighed.
She couldn't feel affection for this person called mother at all. She is not the real mother she loved all her life either. Furthermore, even if she tried to get attached, her personality was a bit too much.
Marie Casimire had a strong personality to the point of being described as arrogant and was self-centered. Ela wondered why a big shot like Jan III lived held by her.
Is it... a fetish?
The world is wide and people have many tastes.
Ela decided to cut off her words appropriately. It seemed this useless nagging would continue if left alone.
"Mother thinks brother won't be able to inherit the throne, right?"
"......"
At Ela's words hitting the mark, Queen Marie was perplexed for a moment.
"I feel that way recently. That the relationship between brother and mother became very... awkward."
Queen Marie and Jakub were special. Everyone knew how much Marie cherished and doted on her eldest son. She interfered in everything of her son including meals, education, training, and romance. She exerted tremendous effort to make Jakub the next King.
Jakub disliked this burdensome behavior of his mother, but he didn't hate her for that. It's all for your own good. Since she attached such sounds to the end of every sentence, Jakub really believed those words firmly.
But not now. As Queen Marie rather stopped demanding things from Jakub, it was seen that the relationship between Jakub and Marie drifted apart little by little. Also, the relationship between Jan III and Marie was the same.
"Are Teresa and I mother's new exit strategy?"
Ah, does she not know the word exit strategy? While Ela scratched her head thinking so, Marie was looking at her eldest daughter blankly.
"...Yes."
The Queen answered after a long while. It seemed she understood the meaning roughly without explanation of the word.
"Your brother is not your father. Now I admitted that."
Mom was disappointed in the incompetence of the eldest son. So she became obsessed with her two daughters.
She just needs to bring a better man from outside.
She truly believed so. To enlighten these uncivilized Polish bastards, it would be better to bring a French, or German noble if possible. It didn't matter to Marie. Anyway, her 'bloodline' could continue.
Marie's line was a subtly different line from Jan III trying to revive Poland and the dynasty.
"So, you must marry a good! A great person! Not some vulgar Tatar guy rolling around from somewhere!"
Queen Marie's voice raised.
News of the Polish army's victory including the fall of Soroca had reached Warsaw. Ela was relieved seeing Jeong-hun showing tremendous performance. As expected of her thought, Jeong-hun possesses tremendous potential. It felt like he was 'chosen' for this era too.
But to Queen Marie, he was still a lowly Tatar.
Ela realized through the conversation with her mother. Queen Marie was too selfish. Rather than her daughters' happiness, she was more interested in the dowry those daughters would bring. She was obsessed with prestige and honor, origin and wealth.
She calculated profit and loss. She absolutely couldn't stand suffering a loss. Therefore, it was clear that the Queen would absolutely not allow Ela to be connected with Jeong-hun.
That night Ela agonized in her room. In front of her were numerous portraits her mother left behind.
What on earth should I do?
Ela also wanted just one thing.
Living together with the person she loves, is that too much greed?
Her boyfriend went to the battlefield. His fate will be tested. Maybe he could die.
Jeong-hun is doing his best to be with her.
Then what was she doing while Jeong-hun was trying so hard?
Her gaze stayed on the portraits. Prince so-and-so, Duke so-and-so, Elector so-and-so. France, Low Countries, Germany, Spain.
She picked up one portrait. And threw that portrait into the fireplace without even looking properly.
Not even worth looking at.
Princess Elżbieta started burning the portraits one by one, one by one. The room became warm quickly.
Her resolution was simple. Ela was going to be with Jeong-hun no matter what happened.
I won't forgive anyone who interferes.
Family? What affection for people she met for the first time after falling here? She only had a little affection for Jan III who slightly resembled her grandfather, but didn't really have big affection for others. There was no need to have affection either.
Only Jeong-hun completed her. Without him, she was nothing. But it seemed the condition to be with him was harder than thought.
I will make you stand by my side. No matter what happens.
Ela vowed so. Although hard, it's not impossible.
He is lowly? He possesses nothing? Correct. Mother's words were correct. She couldn't deny it.
But...
It doesn't matter.
Prince on a white horse? That is a thought only stupid kids who demand much from the opponent without even thinking about what they will give to the opponent would have. Ela also watched many dramas and liked them, but didn't have such fantasies. She didn't want a perfect man who doesn't even exist.
A relationship where one side gives unilaterally to one side wasn't healthy. It was hard to be maintained beyond that too. Two people with limits and flaws complementing each other and developing was the most ideal and positive relationship.
So Ela, she will do it. She will command the blacksmith to forge a big sword, and make the hardest armor. She will tell the stable keeper to pick out the best horse.
Like that, she will make his fame shake the world. She will make no one able to call you lowly, and make everyone bow in front of you.
Ela stood up from her seat.
Portraits were all burned long ago. Along with her agony.
(End of Chapter)
— Translated by Prime Works —