Surviving as a Writer in the British Empire

＜ Agatha All Along(3) ＞

—Are you, by any chance, a child who knows the future?

In an instant, that line popped into my mind. That’s how crazy it sounds.

The one sitting in front of him is definitely a gentle-looking woman, but it looks like a tyrant who built a huge conglomerate kingdom with his bare hands.

The terror that occurs when a person who thinks he understands does not actually understand, just like when he sees liminal space.

Maybe, maybe… maybe—

“Otherwise, how could we have boosted our immature son’s business so much?”

“Ah, yes. Uh… was that what you were talking about?”

At the same time as the shade covering Madame’s face was lifted, I returned to London in the 19th century.

Well, before I came, Mr. Miller’s business portfolio was really central heating.

“Van Gogh, Cézanne, Munch… To be honest, I don’t know if it’s because I don’t know much about art, but I never believed that those artists would be so successful.”

“Isn’t that what art is in the first place?”

Success or failure is not determined only by the artist’s ability, nor by the quality of the work, only the result is true.

Therefore, it is natural that it feels like a person who has seen the future first since he is on a winning streak with everything he touches.

No, that’s actually true.

“And your novel too. It was a very innovative… and strangely strong form. Each and every one, in a different format.”

As if they had come after seeing a successful future——I had no choice but to look away.

Mrs. Margaret Miller looked at me and smiled lightly.

“There is nothing to be humble about, Hanseul.”

“Um, rather than being humble… Yes, what.”

Let’s just say it’s like that.

Come to think of it, just as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle got the motif of Sherlock Holmes from his college teacher, Agatha Christie said that she got the motif of Miss Marple from her grandmother.

“Anyway, I think a person who can see a little farther… has a little bigger duty. That’s why I said I’d take care of Clara when I was little.”

“I see.”

“But to be honest, the reason I stopped there was also because the scope of what I could do was that far.”

She smiled lightly and stared this way. A strange feeling to feel again.

“But, are you different? Should I say I can’t see the wall or ignore it…? Oh, if you look closely, there are many times when you look cool and dangerous.”

“Keuheum, thank you for caring.”

Well, I didn’t know, but I guess there was something like that.

In fact, in this era, there is no such thing as the rights of women and minorities. But I went about it confidently without it.

No, but isn’t it unusual that you felt such a subtle difference?

“So, please.”

Mrs. Miller reached out to me.

“Can you treat them the same as you do now?”

“Sure.”

If that’s the case, it’s that simple. I answered right away.

“Even without saying it, it was my pleasure. madam.”

“Yes, that is enough.”

She closed her eyes and held my hand tightly.

***

“Welcome, long time no see.”

“Have you been healthy? Her Majesty the Queen.”

At that greeting, Victoria snorted.

Since when do you ask the health of this potato proboscis monkey for being so polite? Be cheeky.

So, she fired lightly.

“I must have failed to raise my disciples very well. Lord Gladstone.”

The great Commoner, William Ewart Gladstone.

At her words, the greatest prime minister of the Liberal Party only bowed his head with a bitter smile.

“A small person is a commoner and cannot be called Sir, Your Majesty the Queen. However, the disciple’s virtue is due to the lack of teaching of the small person, so I have nothing to say.”

“Are you going to refuse the Countess after all?”

“Now, how many more years will you enjoy the glory? However, I hope to spend the rest of my life in the same place as my friends.”

The words are really good.

Victoria chuckled and looked down at him with a mixture of love and hatred.

Although she was a cheeky and irritating person… Now that Disraeli died, the only one who could look at the same realm as her was this cheeky commoner in front of her eyes.

“It’s done. Then, do you know who will be the Prime Minister?”

“Aren’t you appointing me as the Marquis of Salisbury?”

Gladstone said that as if it were natural.

Originally, according to the strict law of the British Parliament, even if the Prime Minister resigns, it is correct that a member of the ruling party takes over.

However, if it is nominated by Her Majesty the Stern Queen, who exists above the law, the story will be different.

That’s what makes a person from another party able to become prime minister.

Wasn’t the reason why his younger pupil, Primrose, was able to become Prime Minister in the first place because of the Queen’s internal affairs?

Originally, the Liberal Party at this time had more experienced and experienced leaders such as William Harcourt and Henry Campbell-Bannerman.

The reason why he eventually became prime minister even though they opposed Primrose’s becoming prime minister, which was close to ‘destroying the flag’.

In the end, this was the result of the Queen, who hated the commoners and the Liberal Party, with the half-hearted feeling of ‘it would be a little better since she was an aristocrat’, and the half-hearted desire to accelerate the internal strife of the Liberal Party.

So now he will take steps to appoint the Earl of Salisbury, the leader of the Conservative Party, to completely end the life of the Liberal Party…

Gladstone was judging that.

but.

“Tsk. Has your heart already been broken? Aren’t there people like that in the Liberal Party?”

“······yes?”

Gladstone’s eyes widened.

So, now.

Does she mean that the Liberal Party should nominate the next prime minister? Is that Queen Victoria?

The supreme being who looked at the Liberal Party like a bug and tried to catch it whenever he had a chance?

Receiving a suspicious look, Victoria casually turned her gaze out the window and said,

“Was it the year after? Jim’s 60th anniversary (Diamond Jubilee).”

“Yeah, that’s right. Her Majesty the Queen.”

“In other words, Jim is already seventy-six.”

Since she was 18 years old when she ascended the throne, it is natural if it is natural. But on the other hand… it was also said that it was really old.

Besides, Gladstone couldn’t take the age of 76 lightly.

A senior five years older, an enemy, a man who was a lifelong rival… and the Queen’s right-hand man, The Earl of Beaconsfield. Disraeli died at that exact age.

“After that, it will be the reign of Edward. I don’t think he’ll ever succeed me.”

“Don’t worry. You will be a good king. The crown prince degraded.”

“Hmph, a ‘good’ king. He is not a ‘good’ king.”

Victoria grumbled like that. Of course, Gladstone had no choice but to agree.

Prince Edward, who was no less obsessed with horse racing and socializing than Primrose, and more so with infidelity, publicly declared that if he succeeded to the throne, he would not rule with the same severity, dignity, and seriousness as his mother.

As befits a free-spirited and sociable personality, he would focus only on diplomacy and leave it to the parliament.

Thanks to this, the number of lawmakers who agreed with it, regardless of the ruling and opposition parties, was quite high.

After all, it’s better for them to let them go freely than Victorian rule.

Honestly, it was best for them to struggle to avoid being trampled to death under her reign.

Victoria let out a deep sigh.

“Eventually he will hand over power to Congress. My grandson, who only loves stamps and hunting, will eventually follow suit.”

“It is indeed so.”

“But after that, what if someone like Jim appears again?”

Would the parliament at that time be willing to return power to the royal family?

The Queen asked, and Gladstone could not answer.

“that······.”

“Yes, probably a bloody power struggle.”

It was her new concern, brought on by her old age.

Even if it’s not her son and grandson… She knows her blood very well. I’m sure there will be a guy who can’t control his blood.

In fact, it’s fine up to there. If it properly reigns over the empire like her, I can cheer for it.

However, what if you have greed but are incompetent?

Yes, what if it was like Gregory Villiers in ＜Vincent Villiers＞? If it’s someone who just wants to wield the power she created…

“Now do you know what I want?”

You just can’t see it.

Thinking that, Victoria’s eyes lit up.

She loved the empire she had built. as much as her dead husband. No, maybe more than that.

That’s why, if descendants fight for power needlessly and the empire festers inside… it would be better to hand over power little by little to the council.

‘······joy. upstart.’

It is the duty of a popular writer to make the public grow and prosper, la…

Then, it would be the duty of the monarch of the empire to make the empire fruitful and prosperous.

As a mother of the British Empire, she couldn’t help but think so.

“But bear in mind. Just because Jim appoints the next prime minister from the Liberal Party, there is no guarantee that you will be the ruling party in the upcoming general election.”

“I keep that in mind.”

Gladstone nodded.

Anyway, before the Primrose, the Liberal Party’s internal conflict is already in a catastrophic state. It takes more effort to seal this and seize victory in the upcoming general election.

And fortunately, Gladstone knew the Liberal Party had the talent to do that.

“If you do, I recommend the current Secretary of State for War.”

“Aren’t you thinking of doing it yourself?”

“your majesty. Sosin is already eighty-five.”

“this.”

Queen Victoria laughed involuntarily. Could this be that he wrinkled in front of the chrysalis?

“Yes, then Sir Campbell-Bannerman.”

Still, should we consider it fortunate that we recommend a man appointed to the rank of knight?

No matter how much she put it down, she couldn’t change the fundamentals she had been thinking about for a long time, she thought for a moment.

***

From noble mtl dot com

“Honey, are you really going to be okay with a place like this?”

“I can’t help it. Even at a place like this, it’s the best musical instrument store in London.”

‘A place like this?’

Musical experts at Tottenham Court Road, known for handling the best musical instruments in London, could not hide their emotions.

No matter how much they say they came from Germany, the birthplace of music, wasn’t it the couple who made an unreasonable request by asking for an out of the blue musical instrument modification?

-I’d like to entrust you with remodeling the Horn, is that okay? Ah, not just a Natural Horn. It’s a valve horn.

─What? Group F? How dare you be so blasphemous…! Big, big. All I want is a B♭ horn! At the same time, it would be nice to be able to change the range more dazzlingly but simply by adding more valves to make it easier for musicians to play.

─Huh? can not? Anyway, this is why island monkeys… Oh, okay. then there is nothing you can do I would like the piano, violin, and other orchestral instruments without the horn.

My God, where in the world is there a horn that can use both B♭ and F pipes at the same time?

It’s like being told to look left and ask for glasses to see right.

And the unlucky German couple, Richard Strauss and Pauline Strauss, also complained as they returned to the hotel.

“Neither can I. The skill of the instrument masters is too low. I don’t know anything else, but I think we’ll have to ask the German master craftsmen directly for the horn.”

“But honey, is that really possible?”

“Coming to think of it, I heard about it before I came, but I think I heard that Edmund Gumpert was trying to develop something similar. I want to send a letter to him.”

Even if there was none, he had to come up with a solution, because it would not be an exaggeration to say that he risked his life on this work.

There was not much left until the promised date… Now, special measures were needed.

Didn’t that troupe also tell you? It’s hard to find people with such skills.

Of course, later, at the request of writer Hanslo, he said he would find it somehow, but he didn’t believe it.

The entrepreneur he knew was because human beings were like that.

Obviously, without doing anything, the naive writer would say, ‘Oh, I tried to make my feet sweaty, but it was impossible.’

He knew it very well because he had been through a lot in Germany.

Capitalists used to react frantically to being told they needed to spend more money.

‘Huh, I can’t help it.’

If it doesn’t work, I have no choice but to go to Germany for a while. It was then that the two of them stepped forward while thinking so.

“Wait wait wait!! You guys, from what I’ve heard, you look like Germans, and famous musicians! Right?!”

“Yes, yes?”

“What, what is this person!”

What a beggar it was. No, but what’s the face like? I think I’ve seen it somewhere.

Of course, he was only a beggar for flowers, but at any rate, for a very short time, Pauline stopped moving.

And in that moment, the flower beggar spoke quickly.

“Look! You don’t know me!? My God, the wicked British judiciary is persecuting this poor genius poet! I hope that the cruel persecution of this art will be widely known throughout Europe!!”

“Who are you!!”

“Oscar Wilde!!”

······what?

The Strauss couple looked at the self-proclaimed beggar, Oscar Wilde, with dazed eyes for a moment.

And the man, who enjoyed the look of wonder and suspicion, spoke with a very dignified gesture.

“I am Oscar Wilde, the greatest poet of all time, born in Dublin and worthy of God’s praise. Nice to meet you!”