Chapter 350: Chapter 350: The Well-Fed Man Doesn’t Know the Hungry Man’s Hunger
Henry Hartwell nodded. "Exactly. This also concerns what Princess Morinka will be able to take back with her from Aridia."
"What does she want to take back?"
"If you were Princess Morinka, what would you want?"
Claire Sinclair thought about it carefully before answering, "Money... and friendship?"
"You got the first one right, but the second one wrong."
"Not friendship?"
Henry Hartwell chuckled. "Don’t forget, on their public records, Young Master Quincy’s marital status is listed as ’unknown,’ while Ethan Kingsley’s is ’unmarried.’"
Upon hearing this, Claire Sinclair immediately caught on. "Are you saying she’s here looking for a boyfriend?"
"Not a boyfriend—a husband. She’s here for a marriage alliance."
"Huh?" Claire Sinclair exclaimed. ’So it’s a marriage alliance!’
"Teacher Hartwell, who do you think she’s more likely to go for?"
"It’s all the same to her, regardless of who it is. However, there’s no way Young Master Quincy would accept her. Ethan Kingsley, on the other hand, has always been unpredictable, so it’s hard to say with him."
Claire Sinclair muttered under her breath, "Then is it possible she’ll leave empty-handed?"
Henry Hartwell was amused by her words. "Whether or not she leaves empty-handed depends on what you do."
Claire Sinclair raised an eyebrow. "What does that have to do with me?"
"From the fact that Ethan Kingsley donated millions to your novel, it’s clear he’s very friendly toward you. You could try using your charms on him and create the illusion that you’re his girlfriend."
At his words, Claire Sinclair was immediately displeased. "Teacher Hartwell, why should I create that kind of illusion? I don’t want to have anything to do with him."
Henry Hartwell calmly explained, "If Princess Morinka forms a marriage alliance with Ethan Kingsley, Young Master Quincy’s chances of winning the election will drop by thirty percent. Yarrow is the foremost power in the Skadia Region, representing the stance of all of Skadia. You can weigh the pros and cons for yourself."
"But... wouldn’t that be too despicable of me?" Claire Sinclair had never done something so underhanded before, and she felt a natural resistance to the idea.
Henry Hartwell retorted, "Ethan Kingsley... can you guarantee that every single cent he has was earned cleanly?"
"I don’t know." Claire Sinclair hadn’t seen it for herself, so she didn’t dare make assumptions.
"Well, I personally saw him shoot and kill someone. It was abroad, though. We were schoolmates when I was studying overseas."
Although she was surprised that Teacher Hartwell and Ethan Kingsley were schoolmates, Claire Sinclair was even more shocked that Ethan Kingsley had killed someone. "He killed someone abroad?"
"It was in a bar. Someone was making racist insults about our skin color. Ethan Kingsley didn’t say a single word the whole time—he just shot the man dead. He was later acquitted on the grounds of self-defense. A lot of our countrymen petitioned for the judge to be lenient, too. The whole affair was a huge sensation. You would have only been fourteen or fifteen at the time."
Claire Sinclair yearned for peace and had a natural aversion to things like murder and arson. "Killing someone just for being insulted... isn’t that going too far? He’s so rich, couldn’t he have just taught the guy a lesson by beating him up?"
"Aridia eight years ago was a completely different place. You’ve never been abroad, so you don’t know the injustices we endured. But if I had to name one good quality about Ethan Kingsley, it would be that unyielding pride in his bones. The blood of our Aridian civilization runs through his veins. Beyond that, I see nothing to admire in him."
"Teacher Hartwell, if Ethan Kingsley becomes president, what will happen to our country?"
"’The well-fed will never know the hunger of the starving.’ Figure it out for yourself."
’Right. That’s what she’d figured.’ Ethan Kingsley was a businessman who only ever looked out for his own interests. How could he possibly care whether the common people lived or died?
