?"Hmm..." Riz sees a clear reflection of his entire body, standing tall at the height of 180 centimetres.
He is currently in his room, alone and shirtless. Turning left and right, his eyes inspect every inch of his body carefully.
The well-defined muscular body of his is far better than his flimsy body on Earth. Four years of continuous exercise bore a great result.
While staring at his reflection, he made a remark. "Since I can see my face and body clearly, it means this tall dressing mirror or cheval glass has no problem in them of quality. The only thing that concerns me is..."
He brings his face up close to the mirror, "Am I looking a bit older than my age?"
Is it because of stress? He pondered.
In the past, he read an article mentioned that stress could fasten the ageing process. Perhaps his duty as a king significantly impacts him.
'Does it really matter though? Let me enjoy this handsome face of mine,' He brushes the subject off, not wanting to burden his mind with minor thoughts.
Riz's face has lost a considerable amount of baby fat. He now looks mature, especially with the chiselled jawline that he couldn't even imagine having in the past. Along with his piercing eyes, he exuded an air of menace and danger.
"This kind of face is good to exert pressure on both friends and enemies." He mumbles by himself.
Riz continues staring in the mirror or the cheval glass as they're called.
This intricately designed mirror was sent by the glass factory for his own use.
The mirror will enter the market next month as a luxurious item. It'll be the first product developed to truly bring profit to the glass manufacturing company he invested in.
Another affordable version would be released in two months with ordinary citizens as target consumers including many small variants of the mirror at a low price.
Up until now, the factory one and only customer is the government which is not good for the long run. The company can't truly soar high relying on the government alone.
The idea of glassmaking came across his mind after his visit to the salt factory two years ago.
Due to glass's vast application in many types of industries, he decided to invest a lot of money into developing glassmaking technology.
There are many types of glass like barium glass and aluminosilicate glass. But, those kinds of glass aren't on top of the list. The main priority was to produce borosilicate glass. It's a type of glass resistant to thermal shock and has a low coefficient of thermal expansion.
This glass is very suitable for making laboratory glassware.
After continuous hard work and research, they finally managed to create it.
Under his order, the mathematicians work around the clock to provide the specifications measurements for beakers, test tubes, burettes, droppers, volumetric flasks et cetera.
These items were then supplied to the scholars to help assist with their research.
Riz sincerely had to thank his supervisor for this knowledge. If not for him who instructs Riz to focus on green and sustainable topics, he wouldn't know a thing about glass.
"I wonder how he reacts upon hearing news about my death...That's if he remembers me. Nah!! Probably not though, considering I have a weak presence and easily forgettable type of person."
Riz let out a dry laugh.
His nostalgic reminisce ends there. Time moves forward and people have to move on.
Riz has been here for four years now and life here is much better. Albeit not very convenient, he is trying his best to improve the standard of living and technology here.
After tidying himself, Riz makes his way to the dining hall where the usual participants for breakfast await him.
Like Riz, Theodora and Charlotte grew up into beautiful and charming women over the past two years. Countless eyes fell on them every time they appeared in public.
In simplest terms, they're celebrities admired by thousands of young girls. To ensure their safety, Riz assigns a group of bodyguards to protect them in the shadows all the time.
As for Josephine, she's in her early forties this year. Despite her age, her beauty hardly fades. Her face got brighter after he informed her about Reina's whereabouts and her son. He felt somewhat bad to continue to keep her in the dark when she is Reina's birth mother.
Knowing how emotional women can be, he decided to take a preventative measure. He increases the surveillance on Josephine through SIN agents who are also working as a maid.
He hoped it was just him being paranoid.
Even so, the possibility of Blackout agents lurking inside his mansion still exists albeit low. He fears these agents might use Reina to bait Josephine into leaking some intelligence.
As a former engineering student, he was taught to always think of the worst case scenario that could happen.
Frankly, Josephine only knows about the information related to the House of Ryntum like family financial status, food preferences, habits or other personal stuff. They may sound trivial but these details can be used against the family if it is well manipulated.
Unlike Rachel, he can't put his stepmother under total confinement. Otherwise, his own reputation would be damaged.
A such, Riz tried to minimize the information concerning the government when talking to her. He also implored Theodora and Charlotte to do the same. Though it is impossible to completely avoid the subject, the damage can be lessened.
If he hadn't decided to build the plaza a few years ago, his fear of information leakage may double or tripled.
Turns out, separating house matters and administration matters is the best choice he has made in this life.
However, this method couldn't last long. His stepmother isn't stupid either.
To keep his stepmother distracted, he use another additional measure. That is the most anticipated event this year, his wedding.
Yes, the wedding at which he sealed the deal with Count Tetherswest. Now that he's eighteen years old, he'll definitely honour his promise.
In fact, he never plans to back out to begin with. There are several reasons for this.
First, he was already familiar with Theodora's presence around him.
Second, it is a hassle to find a replacement who can stand to toe with the princess of Tetherswest in terms of look, intelligence, attitude and noble background.
Third, Theodora knows too much of the internal matters and inner working of his government.
Breaking up with her means that he had to dispose her. No matter how cruel he might be, he couldn't bring himself to give such an order.
Nevertheless, Riz never announced it whether verbally or in writing.
Unbeknownst to him, his action has caused Count Tetherswest to send him letters multiple times since last year to seek confirmation.
Sensing the count's anxiety, Riz deliberately ignored most of the letters and delayed the reply.
All in order to agitate the count.
He knows it's a petty move and pretty childish but thinks of it as a payback for his audacity to request the vassalage from him.
It was not until Theodora made a fuss about it that he wrote the reply to his future father-in-law.
"So, Riz. Have you decided on the date? Did you want me to pick it for you?" Josephine ask. She put down her fork and knife.
"Huh?" Riz freeze. His mouth was wide open as he was about to take a bit of his sandwich.
Putting down his sandwich, he looks at his stepmother, "Mother Josephine, I'll leave the decisions in your hand. You can discuss it with Theodora if you have to. Don't worry about money."
Truthfully, he doesn't really care about the details. He just wants to get over it.
Resting her cheek on her palm, Josephine expressed her slight disgruntlement. "Hmm~ I do hope you could participate in the planning process though. I don't have a chance to hold a ceremony for my own children."
He was unaffected by her solemn tone, "Come one, Mother Josephine. Please don't guilt trip me. You know I'm not good with this stuff. I better leave this stuff to professionals like you."
"Still, what about—"
"Alright, I gotta go. I have a meeting with my ministers. See you later, Mother Josephine." Riz swiftly exited the dining hall. The longer he stays, the more she pesters him.
"Sigh~ This boy always runs away whenever I bring up this topic. I wondered why he wasn't so interested in his own wedding."
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶