Chapter 17: Prepare For The Future (2)

“Nice to meet you. I am Walter Wood, the director of Foundation Orphanage.”

The moment he heard his name, Dominic let out a short, internal gasp.

‘So it’s you, Walter Wood.’

Walter Wood.

The man who would soon establish the secret society ‘Revolutionary Council’ aiming to overthrow the kingdom.

The mentor who taught martial arts to Aiden, the protagonist of <I Will Start a Revolution>, and the one who ultimately led him to join the revolutionary movement.

A character who dies early in the story and thus doesn’t appear much, but has a significant impact on the novel’s development.

That character was now standing before Dominic.

Dominic smiled warmly and extended his hand to Walter.

“I am Dominic Rosenfeld.”

Walter grasped both of Dominic’s hands and said.

“Thank you so much for such a generous donation.”

“Haha, not at all. I merely did what needed to be done. By the way, I’d like to look around the orphanage a bit…….”

“Ah! I’ll show you around.”

Dominic toured various parts of the orphanage under Walter’s guidance.

While doing so, he engaged in various pleasant conversations with him.

‘Should I start talking about Aiden now…’

Just as he was pondering how to ask naturally.

Someone tugged at Dominic’s clothes from below.

Looking down, a girl who looked to be about five? Six years old? Was giggling.

“Are you an official too, big brother?”

The child asked, pointing to the badge pinned to Dominic’s left chest.

It was a badge given to officials, its color indicating their rank.

‘Not uncle, not mister, but big brother…. This kid has excellent social skills.’

For some reason, those two words, ‘big brother,’ made Dominic feel inexplicably good, and he swooped the child up into his arms.

“That’s right. Did you know from this badge? What’s your name?”

“Rachel!”

“Rachel, you’re a smart girl, aren’t you?”

“My big brother told me. He said you get that badge when you become an official!”

“…Your big brother?”

‘Don’t tell me.’

For a moment, the image of Aiden from the illustration flashed through Dominic’s mind.

“Yes! My big brother is an official too!”

Dominic looked at Walter with eyes asking for an explanation.

“Ah, among the children from our orphanage, there’s a young man who graduated from the military academy and became a soldier.”

‘As expected…!’

Anyone would know he was talking about Aiden.

Aiden was the only one from Foundation Orphanage who had graduated from the military academy and become a soldier.

Dominic listened more intently.

“He is currently serving in the Capital Defense Force. That young man is the pride of our Foundation Orphanage. All the children want to be like him.

Since we have a visitor after a long time, this child probably wanted to boast about her big brother.”

In that instant, Dominic felt his heart sink.

‘…Capital Defense Force?’

In the novel, Aiden also ends up serving in the Capital Defense Force.

After participating in the continental war and achieving distinguished service.

He became a soldier wanting to overcome the limitations of his status, but the limitations of status also applied in military society.

Being an orphan, he normally couldn’t have gone to a key position among key positions like the Capital Defense Force.

He was only able to join the Capital Defense Force because of that distinguished service.

‘But he joined the Capital Defense Force? The continental war didn’t even happen?’

He didn’t know what was going on, but it seemed that only the continental war episode had been entirely omitted, and events were flowing in the same direction as the novel’s development.

Rather, the pace had quickened with the omission of the continental war episode.

In the novel, Aiden had joined the Royal Guard only after the continental war, which lasted several years, had ended, but now he was already serving in the Capital Defense Force.

Which meant…

‘Perhaps the revolution will also happen sooner than in the novel…!’

That’s what it meant.

“My sister too! My sister too!”

“Huh? Ah. There’s one more child our children are proud of. Elena, she was incredibly smart since she was young. I tell you, she memorizes every book she sees once! And then……”

Walter continued to boast about another person, but Dominic couldn’t focus on a single word.

His mind was currently busy with other thoughts.

Dominic, who had been letting Walter’s words go in one ear and out the other, spoke as if he had been waiting for Walter to finish.

“That’s really amazing. It must not have been easy at all……. If I get the chance, I’d like to meet and talk with them sometime.”

“Ah, is that so? Then I’ll ask them to visit the orphanage sometime. To match Mr. Rosenfeld’s visiting date.”

Dominic bowed his head in thanks.

Unaware that, having not heard Walter’s latter words, he was referring to Aiden, while Walter was referring to the girl named Elena he had spoken of afterwards.

Thinking his business was concluded, Dominic suddenly glanced at his wristwatch.

“Ah, it’s already this late. I should get going now.”

“No! Don’t go!”

Rachel, who seemed to have grown fond of him already, clung to Dominic, holding him back.

“I’m sorry. Big brother has something to do…. I’ll come again later. Promise. Okay?”

“Oh dear, we’ve kept a busy person for too long. Rachel, come here. Big brother has to go now. Quickly.”

“Hmph…”

Rachel, pulled away from Dominic’s embrace by Walter, pouted with a tearful face.

Dominic caressed Rachel’s soft, mochi-like cheek and repeatedly promised to visit again soon.

“Then I’ll be on my way.”

“Ah, yes! Thank you again for your donation. Please take care.”

Receiving a send-off from the director, caregivers, and children who all came out to the gate, Dominic boarded the carriage.

Dominic, who had been smiling and waving at them until the very end, saw his expression instantly harden as the orphanage disappeared from view.

Although he had made a good impression with the donation and arranged an opportunity to meet Aiden later, Dominic’s heart was by no means at ease.

On the contrary, he felt even more anxious.

Even if he gained Aiden’s favor and deepened his friendship with them, it wasn’t a guarantee that he could completely avoid execution.

The indiscriminate and merciless ‘Great Purge’ that occurred immediately after the revolution.

Was because the revolutionary forces had been swept up in a madness rivaling the Cultural Revolution, due to various upheavals, political conflicts among the revolutionary leadership, and incitement by extremists.

Aiden neither intended nor led the Great Purge.

Rather, he was bewildered by the uncontrollable madness and tried his best to calm it down.

From the beginning, Aiden was on the side that believed sacrifices that could occur during the revolutionary process should be minimized.

But the madness of the revolutionary forces was not something that could be easily quelled.

If one rashly stepped forward to tell them to calm down, they could instead become their target, or be politically attacked by the hardline faction within the leadership that was inciting the revolutionary forces.

Aiden somehow managed to overcome that crisis as well and stabilize the political situation, but by then, many people had already been purged.

In other words, even if one was close to him, they could still be executed.

Therefore, for Dominic, this strategy was only a second-best option.

The best option was still to get fired from his official post before the revolution occurred and leave the country altogether.

That was the only way to completely eliminate the possibility of being dragged to the guillotine.

The problem was that the revolution might happen sooner than in the novel.

His escape was constantly being postponed due to continuous unfair treatment and variables, yet the revolution might be brought forward….

Dominic became anxious.

It felt like being trapped in a locked room where water was slowly rising.

‘I need to quickly devise a new plan to get fired!’

Dominic clenched his fists and made a vow.

***

Meanwhile.

Walter was confused.

Although today was the first time they had met, he already knew about Dominic Rosenfeld.

This was because, being a former official, he knew many people in the royal palace.

The first time Walter had heard the name Dominic Rosenfeld was right after the second round of the high civil service examination.

He heard news of a madman who had submitted a piece scathingly criticizing the King and the kingdom in an exam where the King himself set the questions and graded them.

He even heard the unbelievable news that the King had given that piece a perfect score.

Walter had been secretly overjoyed upon hearing that.

He felt that there was still hope left in this country.

But not long after, news came that he had gone to the Royal Assets Management Bureau at his own request.

Walter despaired, going beyond disappointment.

‘Instead of going to a place where he could help people in difficulty, he went to fill the King’s coffers…. Was he also just someone who only thought of his own advancement? Is there truly no hope in this country?’

But today…

Walter saw a different side of Dominic Rosenfeld.

Dominic Rosenfeld, unlike other upper-class individuals such as nobles or bourgeois, knew how to help those in difficulty. He knew how to generously share what he had.

It was not the behavior one would expect from someone who only thought of their own advancement and, for that purpose, had willingly gone to a place that served the King’s interests.

‘Dominic Rosenfeld. What kind of person is he really… What is his true face… Is there still hope in this country, or not…’

Walter felt the need to reconsider Dominic Rosenfeld.

And furthermore, the future of this country.