The sky over the Royal Capital was as gloomy as ever. Lena, as usual, had her maids help her put on her dress, preparing to attend Prince Klan’s ball.
It was hard to tell when it started, but the warm and kind old king suddenly began to look at her with cold eyes, and her childhood friend, Prince Klan, showed no disguise of the disgust and contempt in his gaze.
But Lena still patted her face, cheering herself up, and wore the same smile as always.
Since the disappearance of her parents, Lena had consciously taken on the responsibility of the eldest sister, caring for her younger siblings, even taking up lessons in etiquette that she had previously been unable to master.
However, the internal strife for succession within the family soon began, with her siblings all being sealed away, and Lena could only focus on her own duties — to be a qualified fiancée for the crown prince.
“How can that guy still have the face to come here?”
“I feel so sorry for Prince Klan when I think about him marrying that person.”
“The shame of nobility! How could the Lars Family have such a descendant who doesn’t understand etiquette?”
“The Lars Family is not good either; she’s just a butcher’s daughter.”
For some reason, on the way to the ball, the voices of those nobles commenting were particularly loud, showing no regard for Lena.
Lena dared not look at the faces of these nobles and could only greet some acquaintances with a forced smile.
At this moment, the entrance of the ballroom was crowded with people, but it seemed they were watching something rather than entering the venue.
Curious, Lena squeezed into the crowd and found that the nobles were marveling at two deformed beggars on the ground. These deformed beggars appeared to be a brother and sister, huddled together, looking fearfully at the surrounding nobles.
Suddenly, Caudic, the chancellor holding the neck collars and ropes of the two beggars, pointed at Lena and shouted: “It’s this girl! This is what the Lars Family has turned children into like this!”
The nobles, who had just been excitedly watching the two deformed children, began to transform into righteous figures, pointing fingers at Lena.
“This is too much! How could it be like this?”
“I even thought Duke Lars was a hero guarding the borders.”
“Can it really be that Prince Klan intends to marry a descendant of such a family?”
“Go die! Go die!”
The nobles began to get agitated, attacking Lena.
“Go die!”
“Someone like you doesn’t deserve the prince!”
“How can you do such cruel things to innocent children?”
Pushed around by the nobles, Lena kept explaining.
“I’m not! I didn’t do it!”
But it seemed the nobles couldn’t hear Lena at all.
“I didn’t! I really didn’t! The Lars Family didn’t either.”
A broken Lena shouted loudly when, finally, the fourth prince Klan arrived at the scene.
“Your Highness!”
Lena rushed towards Klan as if she had found her anchor, but unexpectedly, Prince Klan directly pushed her away forcefully, cursing: “You barbaric witch, get out of here!”
In an instant, Lena felt as though the ground had vanished beneath her feet, and she fell into an endless abyss.
In the fall, Lena suddenly opened her eyes wide and found herself lying on a reclining chair in the lord’s main tent, cold sweat soaking her back.
“Did you have a nightmare? Are you alright?”
Lind was sitting at his usual desk reviewing documents while also kindly asking.
Although this was just a casual remark, Lena felt an unprecedented sense of security; she was still in Graythorn Territory, and her brother was working as usual.
“It seems I remembered something from the past, but I can’t quite recall if it ever happened.”
Lena scratched her head with a silly smile, as she often did.
“Maybe if you regret not following the Duke to the Royal Capital, it’s still not too late.”
Lind finished organizing the documents and glanced at the midday sun outside the tent while saying this.
But Lena shook her head.
“Actually, I already feel that going to the Royal Capital wouldn’t change anything; only if I truly became the heir of the Lars Family would those people perhaps take me seriously.”
“And, if I leave, grandfather might stop sending you supplies.”
After Lena said this, she noticed Lind looking at her with a shocked expression.
“What’s wrong, brother?”
“No, nothing.” Lind suddenly felt a sense of relief, as if the household’s foolish son had grown up; it seemed Lena wasn’t as foolish as the game portrayed her to be.
However, why would Lena, who could think this way, rebel in the future?
Suppressing the doubts in his mind, Lind called for lunch and began to talk to Lena about the happenings in the territory today.
“There’s a head of the student council from the Royal Capital who is staying to work in our territory.”
That student council president was Caroline, and Lind had learned about this halfway through the banquet. After all, since Caroline did not have household registration in Graythorn Territory, she needed to report to Lind to apply for a position.
However, after seeing that the application had been obtained from Isha, Lind gave her the green light, as he wanted to know what the nobles from the Royal Capital thought of his current vertical management system.
But after meeting Caroline, how to put it, it felt like Caroline had a bit of zealotry and had even requested to take on extra duties that very day.
“Why would she stay here? It’s poor and desolate with nothing at all.”
As Lena spoke, she squatted down, and after her etiquette teacher saw her posture, her blood pressure skyrocketed as she started picking up leftover food from the banquet yesterday.
Although Lena said this, her tone was still filled with pride; in just a few short months, Graythorn Territory now managed to attract high-end talents from the Royal Capital, which was something Lena could hardly imagine.
“Indeed, there’s nothing at all; we must think of ways to generate income.”
Lind sighed, following Lena down to the ground. The two top leaders of Graythorn Territory squatted down to eat leftover food in a very unrefined manner.
Even though the sugar was incredibly sweet, even if Graythorn Territory only served as a supplier, they had already made a fortune. However, relying solely on sugar exports was certainly unhealthy. Furthermore, the current sales channels were basically all dependent on the downstream Fasen Town.
This made Lind feel particularly insecure.
Perfumes and soaps, which were essentials for traversers, Lind had previously asked the head maid Lila about, but unfortunately, Lila’s answer was that making these things was too hard to make a profit.
In reality, due to the body odor of Westerners, the development of perfume in the medieval period happened quite early, but it was only at the level of incense in churches until later when dedicated perfumers began producing perfume.
However, this was a different world with alchemy; not only were there perfumes, but even soaps for bathing already existed.
Even soap makers had become a profession dedicated to serving the nobility, and most commoners were unaware of such a profession. Like the perfumers, the truly excellent resources were only circulated internally and could not be accessed by ordinary people.
So why hadn’t Lena brought along dedicated soap makers and perfumers?
Well, looking at Lena beside her, finishing her roast duck and licking her fingers, Lind felt a bit foolish for thinking about this question.
Just then, as if summoned by the mention of her name, Lila walked in with a document in hand and looked at both Lind and Lena with a bit of disdain. By that expression, Lind could imagine how the etiquette teachers must have collapsed at the sight of Lena’s posture.
“Lord, do you really want to allow that noble from the Royal Capital to work in our territory?”
Lila, who had already been promoted to the head of human resources and part-time head maid, had a status and workload that were worlds apart from before.
“Is there a problem? Or did you find out she’s a spy?”
Lind quickly wiped his hands with a handkerchief and took the document Lila handed over.
“No, it’s not that.”
Lila adjusted her glasses and said: “But she really is a bit… a bit too zealous, so much so that I’m somewhat scared.”
“Younger people having plenty of energy is fine.”
Lind’s words came out with an air of authority, reminiscent of the speeches of leaders from his previous life.
“As long as she follows the rules, her background doesn’t matter. Haven’t you also expressed a few times your hope that someone could share some work with you?”
“But Lord, she is coming from the royal family as one of the nobles from the Royal Capital.”
As a dedicated maid, Lila could understand the connections between the royal family and the nobles of the Royal Capital better than anyone else.
“Indeed, then let’s send more people to watch her, but if she deserves a promotion, then give it to her, and there’s no need to hide her work.”
After pondering for a moment, Lind ultimately decided to allow Caroline to shine in the territory. He had also discussed Caroline with Isha.
Isha believed that Caroline and Lena were similar people, although Lind completely disagreed with the notion that Caroline’s poised manner and Lena, who was sitting beside her eating duck legs and gnawing on bones, had any similarities. However, Lind chose to trust the main character’s judgment.
“What’s wrong, brother?”
Lena noticed Lind’s gaze and innocently looked at him while holding a duck bone.
“No, it’s nothing.”
Indeed, it seemed that the female protagonist in front of him sometimes had poor judgment regarding others.
“Lord, there is another thing; the list of people monitoring the young lady as you mentioned before is now compiled.”
Saying this, Lila took out a list from a pile of documents and handed it to Lind.
Upon hearing it was related to her, Lena quickly joined in after finishing her duck leg.
“Let me see!”
Lena snatched the list, looking serious, but the more she read, the more shocked her face became.
“How is this possible! This knight has been with me since I was little; how could he be grandfather’s person?”
“This maid too! I found her on the road; how could she also be grandfather’s person?”
“What? Even Susan? Lila, is that you too?”
Lena looked at Lind in disbelief and asked: “Could it be that you also knew? Does grandfather already know about me slacking off every day?”
After saying this, Lena nervously blocked Lind’s view of the remaining roast duck.
Although Lind wanted to ask Lena: Are you awake? He still explained:
“If I were, then why would I need this list?”
“Oh, that’s true.”
After that, Lena sat back down, enjoying the remaining meal on her plate.
“Wait a minute, brother, grandfather wouldn’t harm me; why are you investigating this?”
Didn’t she realize something was off when it came this far? Lind had no idea how to retort.
“Don’t worry, it’s just that some matters in the territory are inconvenient for the Duke to know. You remember last time when you wrote a bit too much about the situation in the territory, the quality of the craftsman who was sent over dropped? If the Duke finds out we can make money in our territory, how can we let Duke Lars continue sending us supplies?”
Hearing this explanation, Lena didn’t hesitate to believe it and said: “Then you should have those people monitoring me say more good things, just let them say I’m learning every day and that I’m not slacking off at all!”
That would surely expose a flaw, as Lena’s daily routine was slacking off and bullying the children in the territory, stealing their toys. If those spies reported that Lena was studying diligently, Duke Lars would probably realize at a glance that it was a failure of his eyes on her.
Yet Lind still nodded, giving a reassuring look.
