The Alpha Prince's Purchased Maid
Chapter 199: Profiting from Human Nature

Chapter 199: Profiting from Human Nature

“No...” I replied honestly.

I didn’t quite understand enough about the country’s arms trade for me to develop any feelings towards it and that included fear as well. I didn’t know enough about it to decide whether or not I was scared of it.

I truly appreciated his efforts and I wanted to tell him that it was working; however, I had a feeling that being far away from him while he was still somewhat within reach was having the complete opposite on me from what he may have envisioned. I never knew that the feeling of seeing what you really want to touch and taste right in front of you yet not being able to reach out your hands to touch it and embrace it could make me feel so frustrated and irritated like this. The mixture of feelings that budded up in my chest felt uncomfortable and bordered on becoming painful and I began to wonder how much longer I could deal with it.

“That’s the spirit. Be openminded and you’ll learn many new things all the time,” the prince advised.

“Tell me more...” I urged as our eyes locked from across the room.

Prince Leonard’s beautiful lips curved into a slight smile, and he seemed quite pleased that I was showing interesting in his lesson. I didn’t want to disappoint him by telling him that he was probably only around half right. I was in fact interested in his lesson and what he was about to teach me; however, there was also a blunt yearning in me just to hear the sound of his voice.

“This kingdom’s economy is heavily reliant on our arms trade. In fact, we’re the largest exporter of arms in the world. The industry is large and very exhaustive. Many lives are involved in this industry from research, design and development, mass production, marketing and sales all the way to after-sales services. Just like many other industries nowadays, technology plays a very important role. We pride ourselves in our innovation and that is what makes our weapons outstanding compared to our competitors’,” the prince explained energetically.

The prince’s voice as he spoke of the country’s arms trade and weaponry industry felt like soothing music to my ears. Every word that came out of his mouth reminded me of just how much I love the sound of his voice. It made me feel like I could sit here and listen to him speak about anything at all for my whole life if that was what he wanted me to do.

“Various parts of the countries are dedicated to support various parts of the industry’s value chain. For example, the south is where the largest mass production factories are,” the prince continued to explain.

Of all the businesses that this kingdom could have chosen to get involved with, I couldn’t help but wonder why and how this came to be. I decided to continue listening to the prince as he described the extraction of raw materials required for the production of weapons. After listening to him for a moment longer, I started to feel so excited. Apart from learning about the economy of this kingdom, I managed to learn two new things about the prince. Firstly, he is extremely knowledgeable about the production and trading of arms and it seemed like he could continue lecturing me on this forever. My lips wouldn’t stop smiling when I thought about the second thing that I picked up on about the prince.

“Do you like it?” I asked.

“Like what?” he asked while sounding quite clueless as to what I was referring to.

“Arms...weapons...this industry as a whole...” I replied.

“Hmm...I’m not sure. Our kingdom has always been involved in this industry, so it is quite natural for me to know a lot about it...” he replied while sounding quite hesitant.

“I think you like it...more than you realize. Well, at least, I can feel that you like it...” I said before laughing a little.

“Maybe you’re right...” he muttered after a short moment of thought.

“Does your work have a lot to do with this industry?” I asked before I could rein in my curiosity.

“Sometimes, not all the time. The royal family is the biggest shareholder of all the largest companies in the country after all so it’s a little bit like our family business...” the prince explained.

“A family business...” I murmured in wonder.

“You’re probably wondering how this kingdom got involved in this kind of business in the first place, right?” Prince Leonard asked with an understanding nod of his head.

“I am...quite curious...” I admitted honestly.

“The past kings must have realized the sad truth a long time ago about humans and the nature of mankind, and I have to say that it is quite unfortunate that the truth that they realized still holds very true today. Just the wealth of this kingdom is proof enough that the principles that they discovered was in fact solidly correct...” the prince said before he chuckled.

“And that is?” I asked as I leaned forward in my chair.

“War will always persist regardless of the times,” Prince Leonard said before his eyes narrowed.

The grim thought that seemed to be the constant truth sent a chill throughout my body. Prince Leonard grinned like it was too bad but there wasn’t anything that any of us could do about it. His face pretty much told me that we had to just live with the truth.

“War...” I murmured without knowing what else to say.

“Even before the times of the first king there was war and up until this very moment, there is still war. Disagreements, fights, battles, and wars of various different scale in various different geographical locations around the world. The past kings were right in thinking that people would always fight. Instead of sitting there being all depressed about it, they probably decided without much difficulty to profit from it instead. Of course, this never started out as such a big and complex industry that it is today,” Prince Leonard began educating me again.

--To be continued...