Lewd King's Bucket List-Chapter 64: History Lesson

"Ixion, Ixion! Why are we here?"

The jester sat in her seat, kicking her legs back and forth.

"My jester," Ixion cried, throwing up his hands. "We’ve come to learn!"

The jester hovered her fingers over her lips.

"Learning? Oh my! Perhaps you could learn how to more easily destroy a kingdom!"

Ixion laughed.

"Hey! The only thing I destroy are enemies."

As for where they were...

They were in the Royal Classroom within the palace, where princes and princesses used to go for their lessons.

Naturally, it had been out of service for some time now, with fewer children being born and most effort put toward the endless war. However, it was still kept tidy by the maids.

Though all the world maps in the room were severely outdated.

Se’van, the emerald-eyed Chancellor of Faith and Education, stood behind the lectern.

Her students: the king who knew more than her, the jester, Runa, Lord of Truth, and Zabaniyah.

Se’van looked over at the calm Royal Assassin. The chancellor slightly shivered before revealing a parchment and setting it on the lectern.

She remained silent for a moment. Then, as her delicate fingers traced the paper’s outlines, she asked:

"Are you sure you need to be here, Your Majesty? Surely you know more than I about history?"

Ixion leaned back in his chair, placed his hands on the polished desk, and gave a haughty laugh.

"Se’van, darling. You may call me Ixion when we are alone. In fact, I order you to. And, as glorious as I am, it’s not like I know everything."

The teacher with purple hair nodded and said:

"Right... Well then, we can get started. Your M—"

Se’van awkwardly cleared her throat.

"Ixion has asked me to teach a lesson on history."

Her emerald eyes darted around the room nervously.

When she was about to speak again, the bird chirped:

"History! History!"

Ixion sniffled.

"My, how they grow up so fast!"

Runa picked up the cage and began swinging it. The bird shut up and fell off its perch, going to sleep.

Se’van waited a moment for it to quiet down, then asked:

"Ahem... To understand history, it is first imperative to understand the difference between it and the past. So let’s start with ascertaining what you know. Runa, what is the difference between the two?"

The cat flicked her tail back and forth.

"Uh... is this a trick question? Are they not the same?"

Se’van smiled politely.

"They share the same principles, but no, they are not the same."

The jester’s hand shot up and she leaned forward, nearly falling over. Her mouth buzzed.

Ixion had only asked her to teach Runa, so she probably had no idea if she should let others interrupt...

Se’van looked over at the desperate jester for a few seconds, then awkwardly pointed.

"Jester... what do you think it is?"

The jester stood up and began jumping, kicking over her chair as she did.

"The past is the past! And history is history!"

Ixion’s eyes widened.

"How intelligent she is! How did I not think of such a thing?!"

Obviously, Ixion knew the answer she actually wanted, but was simply playing along and observing.

Se’van’s eye lightly twitched as she said:

"Well, yes. That much is true... but not the answer I was looking for."

Se’van wrote something on a slate with chalk, then held it up for them all to see.

"The past is everything that has happened prior. History is the study of the past. It is what happened and has been stored and recorded. What we know as ’history’ is simply a historian’s interpretation of the past."

Runa raised her eyebrow as she asked:

"Is that still not the same?"

Se’van, seeing one of the students was acting sensible, grew a pleasant smile.

"If an animal dies and no humanoid ever learns of it and records it, that indeed happened in the past, but it is not history."

Se’van pointed to the slate.

"The main takeaway here is that history is not a fact. It happened in the past, but shifting understanding makes our interpretation of it malleable."

Se’van glanced over at Ixion.

"A shift in culture, technology, or a new perspective on an event can cause history to be rewritten. Or it can even be manipulated to paint a false truth."

The jester’s hand shot up again.

Se’van took in a long breath as she pointed to her.

The jester, sideways in her chair, shouted:

"Se’van, Se’van! Does that mean if nobody writes something down, it never becomes history?"

Se’van paused.

The question, for once, was not entirely foolish.

She folded her hands together on the lectern.

"In a sense, yes," she said carefully. "Or rather... it becomes a forgotten past. It can still be remembered and become history. For example, artifacts we recover from ancient civilizations are historical, but they were once simply existences in the past."

The jester clapped and swayed side to side.

"Wow, wow!"

Se’van waited a few seconds, then erased the slate with her hand and went on.

"The reason why we needed to understand the difference was so we can understand the dominant versus counter narrative..."

Se’van looked over at Runa.

"Any guesses on what either is?"

The cat, who had never received a formal education, shook her head.

Se’van clasped her hands and then explained:

"A dominant narrative refers to history as it is accepted by the societal majority. For example, the people believe that we only won the Battle of The Reach because Hope and Despair pushed back the Scourge alone."

Se’van started writing on the slate again.

"A counter narrative is an alternate view of events that goes against the accepted standard. In the Battle of the Reach, that would be the fact that the battle was only won due to the thousands of soldiers lost that day, and the twin heroes’ impact mattered very little."

Se’van turned the slate around, showing written bullet points.

Runa awkwardly raised her hand.

Se’van pointed at the cat.

Runa said:

"Is this a bad time to mention I can’t read Common..."

Se’van’s smile fell.