Pendleton Revolution - Chapter 1.3

From a young age, the Grand Duke of Pendleton was famous for his polite and respectful personality. As the Emperor’s youngest sibling, he grew up without a lack of wealth, but he was a good-natured person who empathized with the poor and impoverished. Thus, when he turned 18, inherited the Grand Duchy, and separated from the Royal Palace, he immediately began to visit orphanages and sponsor young orphans.

Then, one day, he became interested in a particularly unique beneficiary of his sponsorship who sent letters in return for the aforementioned sponsorship. In the end, he appeared in front of the beneficiary while hiding the fact that he was the sponsor, ‘Daddy Long Legs’.” He used his real name, ‘Jervis Pendleton’, and his beneficiary, Jerusha Abbott, only figured out that he was an aristocrat. And, rather surprisingly but regretfully, he fatefully fell in love with the orphaned girl he sponsored.

However, even if he had fallen in love, one shouldn’t force love onto another. That was the kind of person the Grand Duke of Pendleton was from his birth. He worried that by revealing the truth of his identity as “Daddy Long Legs,” what little affection between them would be shattered as well.

Meanwhile, as he was tormented by his emotions, Jerusha Abbott, now the Grand Duchess, busily searched to study abroad and find a new job in a foreign country. Fearful that she’d leave forever and he wouldn’t be able to hold her back, the Grand Duke of Pendleton hurriedly proposed to her. Though he didn’t reveal the fact that he was “Daddy Long Legs,” he revealed his identity honestly before proposing to her. 

Rather unfortunately, the Grand Duke of Pendleton was rejected in a heartbeat.

Not only was Jerusha Abbott afraid of stepping foot into high society and becoming an aristocrat, but also she never imagined that Jervis would be her sponsor. Since she had not revealed to this handsome, charming man whom she’d met in this new world that she was an orphan, she did not wish for their relationship to develop any further. Jervis Pendleton mistakenly thought she was in love with another. That was how the two bid farewell to each other.

Afterwards, Jerusha Abbott wrote a letter to her sponsor about these very concerns. Truthfully, she loved Jervis Pendleton, but the fact that she hadn’t revealed that she was an orphan and Jervis was of nobility kept her from confessing her feelings.

Once he received the letter, Jervis Pendleton lay crying in lovesickness. In the end, they confessed the truth to each other and were engaged in a passionate affair that would be forever etched into history. Jerusha Abbott was now Jerusha Pendleton, the Grand Duchess of one of the three Grand Duchies of the nation.

And this happy and cheery Grand Duchess, welcomed by the Grand Duke of Pendelton, led all the young aristocratic men who saw her to wish for a dream-like romance. In particular, an affair with one they sponsored personally, or in other words, a young, beautiful girl they could nurture in any way they wished. Incidents of those bastards, enticed by the fantasy of engaging in both sexual intimacies and romances with their ward as a method to fulfill their various distinct desires, also increased. There were bound to be storms in the aftermath of a happy ending.

The fact that such vulgar bastards were ruining the lives of commoner girls by playing with sponsorship and charity was even put forth as a societal issue at one point in time. As the state of affairs quickly escalated past an acceptable point, the Emperor stepped forth and told them to stop such “base and unrefined” sponsor play. Unfortunately, a mere statement only served to heighten it further as a trend.

As a result, this patron was rather special for Andie Julinas. He had come to the decision to sponsor her by participating in the recent trend and masquerading as a search for a bride in order to merely avoid the pressing matter of marriage. From the viewpoint of Andie Julinas, it was exceedingly dry reasoning, but the patron sent his apologetic regards for the possibility of having let down Andie’s rather cheerful mindset by his selfishness.

The world was far too malicious for her to take a patron’s words by their face value. However, the situation was too ambiguous to be straight up suspicious as well. After all, her patron’s introduction was rather consistent and persuasive.

The sponsor hadn’t minded his ward’s gender from the beginning, and Andie Julinas was a person far removed from the image of a ‘young female ward’ that the aristocratic males wished for in the first place.

Andie Julinas requested that she be able to learn swordsmanship and martial arts, various military strategies and tactics, and employment of troops, but her patron had agreed easily and even said he would gift her first sword to her as a commemoration. The director of the orphanage must have already shared Andie’s prospects, for he added that it was a relief for the sword to have found its rightful owner at the end.