It was the morning of June 22nd and Charlton was currently in their ducal mansion's drawing room with Alexander Bell, discussing the way forward for their telephone business. His father was at the house of lords attending another session before he leaves for Suffox in the afternoon. Kylo was out, doing God knows what.

"Basically, the telephone is like the telegraph only that instead of receiving codes, one would be receiving the voice of the speaker from the other end and vice-versa. As you can see here, this is the instrument. It has a power source, a switch hook, a dialer, a transmitter, a receiver, and an anti-sidetone circuit." Alexander explained.

"Yes, I understand those things from the documents you sent me. Though I suggest that we hold a public demonstration to make people understand the use of this instrument once we launch it. Now, my main concern is, how would this telephone business work? Have you already set up a centralized telephone network?"

Alexander really could not help but appreciate Charlton's capability. He doesn't need to explain much, for he already understands everything just by reading. "Yes, we already have one here in Windsor. I'm just thinking of how we could set up the wires for the telephone lines. It's easy from one town to another because the telegraph lines have already been set up and we can just follow that. However, within the capital itself, I'm not sure how to move forward."

"Regarding the wiring, I think you can follow the electricity lines. It would be simpler and more cost efficient that way."

Alexander chuckled, "Yes indeed. I haven't thought of that one."

Charlton smiled, then continued, "I suggest you write to the ministry of works regarding this product. To be honest, I see massive potential here and if we get the ministry to back up this product, it will become a natural monopoly."

Alexander nodded then sighed, "That's a very good suggestion. But uhm… I'm afraid that… it would be quite difficult as the family of the vice minister of works monopolizes the telegraph business and to be honest, he wants me to surrender my invention and make it theirs."

"I see. Alright, then let's do it this way. You can draft the letter and I'll sign it together with our finalized contract by Sunday. The minister for the ministry of works is my maternal uncle so yeah, I think it will work out just fine." Charlton finally said.

Alexander beamed. "Thank you, Lord Daniel."

Charlton shook his head while smiling, "No thanks necessary. I will be taking share in your company anyway."

--

When Charlton's father has returned home from the session at half pass noon, Alexander has already left. Kylo also just returned about 10 minutes ago and so, they all had lunch together. After, since the grand duke's presence was no longer be required in the house of lords starting next week, Charles got ready to leave for Suffox.

Charlton and Kylo walked together with the grand duke to send him off.

"Take care on your way home, Uncle Charles! Also, thank you for letting me stay over." Kylo enthusiastically said. Well, he can never act princely in front of Charlton's father. He was the idol of almost every little boy in the empire while growing up. He was like some kind of a superhero. Well, he was a war hero.

Charles nodded at Kylo. "You're welcome." Then he looked at Charlton. "Do take care of yourself and write to me if you encounter any problem. Also, make sure to be home by the 2nd week of August at the latest. Any longer and your mother might tear my ears off."

"Yes father. Thank you very much for this. And you too, please take care on your way back." Charlton replied.

Charles nodded and gave Charlton's shoulder a light squeeze before he turned to climb his horse. He prefers riding on horseback than inside his carriage. It was faster to get back to Suffox that way. It takes a week to travel by carriage while on horseback, it would only take 4 days at most. 2 days if you're really on a rush but your horse might die upon arrival in Suffox.

Anyway, Charles left with 10 of his men with him as guards. Not that he needed them, but he was already in his 50s. Hardly a youth, so his battle skills certainly were not in their peak anymore. Of course, this does not mean that just anyone can beat him on a one-on-one battle.

Kylo whistled, "Your father really is the man of all men. Hehehe… anyway, where are you off to this afternoon? Can I come along? I'm a getting a little bored waiting for the 26th to arrive already."

Charlton looked at his watch to check the time. It was 2:00 in the afternoon. Thinking that his discussion with Ben Ringer later would be inconsequential, he agreed to bring Kylo along. "I'm meeting a friend of mine for our business partnership regarding automobiles at 3:00 pm. If you're ready to go, we can leave now."

"Yes, I'm ready. Anyway, automobiles? What's that? And since when have you started engaging on business? How come I was not informed about that?" Kylo asked in one go.

"Let's go inside the carriage first." Charlton said when the door of his carriage was opened for him to enter.

The two of them went inside, Charlton took the seat facing front while Kylo sat in front of him.

Kylo groaned, "I hate seating facing the rear. Anyway, you can start explaining now."

Charlton shook his head with Kylo's complaint. He did not ask to change position though.

"An automobile is a road vehicle that is powered by an internal electric motor. You can also think of it as a carriage that runs without a horse. I'm not sure yet how to operate it though as this will also be the first time for me to see one in person. Anyway, Edward introduced me to Ben Ringer. By the way, he's the real owner of this business and I'm just a partner. I do have some shares though."

"I see. Anyway, that sounds cool." Kylo replied. Although he finds it strange for Charlton to involve himself with other people's business, he knew that they were all adulting. So, he did not question him any further.

--

TBC