Chapter 17

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Chapter 17: Between Light and Shadow

"Oh no…no money again."

Leader One received letters from the Prussian Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Engineering, asking for additional funding.

But Leader One was also out of money. He looked around his rundown small apartment, living in poverty, scrimping and saving every day to support the two academies, but it was still not enough.

The royal allowance was meager, and the royalties from his three best-selling books were his main income. The expenses of the academies were burning through money at an alarming rate, and his personal funds could not support them for long.

In addition to the academies, Leader One also sponsored many impoverished inventors, craftsmen, artists, economists, historians, as well as aspiring young thinkers and politicians.

The fact that these projects could receive continuous funding for several years without interruption showed that Leader One’s novels were truly selling well. If he had used his royalties for extravagant pleasures, it would have been like living as extravagantly as an emperor.

"Where can I get some money?"

This has become a recent worry for Leader One.

Because Leader One has been talking a lot about money recently, Anna heard it and worked harder.

In the past promise, if Anna could earn a thousand pounds and pass the civil service exam, Leader One would marry her.

Anna started to study hard, but she was not studying law, she was preparing for the civil service exam. Despite Professor Savigny’s disapproval, she focused on studying.

Apart from studying, she worked ten hours a day in a dark and dull factory, ran on the street to distribute leaflets, and served as a waitress in restaurants.

But it was still not enough, earning a thousand pounds was too difficult.

When Anna realized that Leader One truly needed money, she became anxious too, afraid that Leader One would be enticed by some bad person.

Especially at times like this, Catherine would put on a disgusting smile.

Anna felt that Leader One didn’t really like Catherine, but he needed money. Catherine probably offered a thousand pounds to buy Leader One, and Leader One was considering it.

One thousand pounds is a huge amount of money, enough to exchange for at least forty thousand Prussian silver coins, and three Prussian silver coins are enough for an ordinary person’s monthly living expenses.

In 1816, Beethoven became the music teacher of Prince Redel, with the original annual salary of eleven pounds from King Frederick Wilhelm III, which was later increased to twenty-eight pounds upon young Redel’s strong request.

In 1821, the famous Prussian general Gneisenau became the knight tutor of Prince Redel, with an annual salary of fifty pounds, in addition to the special allowance of seventy-nine pounds given by Prussia to a general.

In 1830, the Bismarck family’s eight hundred hectares of farmland produced crops worth a total of 34 pounds, with a net profit of -0.22 pounds.

Anna’s duel with Catherine happened last autumn, and now six months have passed. During this time, Anna studied and worked hard, but she only managed to save four pounds, still far from her goal of one thousand pounds.

"Ah… Grand Aristocrat is really nice, Catherine must find it easy to come up with one thousand pounds."

Anna leaned her chin on both hands, staring blankly out the window, unfocused.

In reality, Catherine is not a "grand" aristocrat, but rather a middle-class noble, whose wealth mainly comes from her mother’s side of wealthy merchants. The family head of Catherine has already squandered most of their fortune.

Leader One needs about three thousand pounds to overcome his financial difficulties this time. Catherine even had to sell the ancestral castle of the family to barely cover this hole.

The Bittenfeld family is really out of money. Even the wealth from the maternal merchant family has been used up. By this time next year, Leader One will still have to give money to sponsors of the Academy of Engineering. Catherine will have to sell Divine Equipment armor and weapons by then.

Leader One’s principle is to never stop funding research, no matter how poor they are. Even if they have to sell the Estate of Brandenburg Prince-elector, he must support those people in their research careers.

In modern and feudal Germany, if you are a noble, you can live comfortably. If you are a Junker military officer, you can eat and drink well. But if you are a scientist or inventor, life is tough. Artists have it worse.

Artists usually have a sad ending, dying young, falling seriously ill, or living a life of poverty and struggle.

Scientists have it slightly better, but only the famous scientists can live well. Those unknown have a tough life, risking starving if they don’t get help from kind people.

Leader One spends all his wealth to support them, including every famous person in history, as well as the unknown individuals, as long as Leader One sees they have dreams, talent, and determination.

Throughout history, there are numerous exceptional geniuses, but most of them don’t leave a name.

They become poor because they chase their dreams. Some give up research and art for a different job. Some persist and eventually starve.

Leader One wants to help them survive on the path to their dreams, providing research funds for them to try and giving them a chance for success.

Continuous effort will bring rewards, in history, famous people can be considered as a bottom line, while unknown individuals may be inspired to become a generation of great masters, which can be considered a profitable venture.

As the sun sets, Leader One and Catherine walk out of the school campus.

The two walk in the streets and alleys of Berlin, observing the brilliance of the wealthy areas and the gloom of the slums. As night falls, most of the city is engulfed in endless darkness, but places like the opera house, ballrooms, and high-end salons still have beeswax candles lit.

Beside each candle stands a servant, they must stay up all night, trimming the wicks at intervals to keep them bright.

The nobles and wealthy are enjoying the beautiful night, splurging to savor the simple pleasures, deriving their enjoyment from comparison. When they see the misery of the poor, they then think about their own lives, feeling extremely delighted.

"What are you thinking, Your Highness?" Catherine asked.

"I am thinking about the future," Leader One replied.

Sometimes Leader One feels like just chopping off this group of feudal aristocrats and bourgeoisie.

But reality does not allow him to do so. When thinking about the present times, reflecting on how young Karl is and the various factors blocking the imagined path… it’s just not feasible now.

Leader One also didn’t want to choose the path of the Iron Chancellor because Anna is even less reliable than Karl now. Even if Anna becomes more reliable as she grows up, her extremely conservative feudal thoughts are too damn reactionary.

"Let’s take the neutral route, and I’ll figure out a path for Prussia on my own."

Catherine, "Your Highness, what are you talking about?"

Leader One, "I was thinking before, whether I want to be the one hanging on the lamppost, or the one hanging someone else on the lamppost."

Catherine, "And what’s the result?"

Leader One, "I have decided to be the lamppost."