Oh no! After I Reincarnated, My Moms Became Son-cons!

“Of course. I am just putting it out there. God does not force anyone, nor will he threaten anyone. You did what you did for the sake of the people. We too do what we do for the sake of the people.” This time, I sat at the side of the table mortified. The archbishop wore a generous smile and looked at me. He leisurely sat opposite me and drank his tea. Nier stood behind me. She looked at him and said: “Even if you force his majesty, his majesty will never kneel. He represents the royal family’s dignity and honour. I won’t allow you to insult the royal family even if it means that I have to draw my sword.”

“That is exactly why I won’t ask his majesty to kneel down. I was just joking.”

The archbishop laughed like a beaver, tapping his belly as he laughed. He then looked at me, handed me a small container and said: “Your majesty, please do not take what happened today to heart. It is the fortune of the people to have you concern yourself for their sake. We as the servants of god do need to feed ourselves, so let us end today’s matter here. You saw it too, our finances are indeed tight. We need to repossess that block of land. This is our compensation. Please accept it. We shall proceed as planned and repossess the land.”

I looked at the gold coins in the small case in front of me. I clenched my fists tightly, almost enough to stab into my own flesh. My gut felt wrenched, making me feel sick. I resisted my impulse to jump up and get in his face. I was filled with mortification and I felt wronged, as well as feeling the pain of being humiliated.

I thought I could grasp their weak-point, yet I had mine caught instead. I didn’t kneel down as we agreed. If I knelt down this matter would be over. But since I didn’t, they’ll be able to blame me and bad-mouth me behind my back. I represent the royal family’s dignity and honour. If I kneel, it would be the equivalent of the royal family kneeling before the church. If I don’t kneel, the church will accuse the royal family of not keeping its word. So what could I do? I had no choice but to suck it up and drop the matter.

I’m the prince. I can’t joke around with mom’s honour. People might not say anything about me, but her majesty’s honour cannot be tarnished. If her majesty loses her honour and dignity, the people will become frightened. In fact, they might even do something.

I don’t have any plan I can use right now. I don’t have any way of salvaging the current situation. I’ve completely lost. My plan was wrong right from the start. The moment I mentioned wanting to check the church’s current finances, the archbishop had figured out what I was planning. And here I thought I was the one running circles around the archbishop. In reality, he was the one ensnaring me in his trap.

I was like a rat that thought it managed to steal a block of cheese, only to find out the trap had fallen down on me, leaving me in a bloody mess.

I’m out of ideas now. I can only accept this container and then shut my mouth, never asking about the orphanage again. I came here because I wanted to resolve the orphanage’s matter, but my arrival was actually the best way for them to make me give up.