Lena was busy because this was the first time the tank was deployed in actual combat, and all the data related to it had been funneled to Lena. Lena still needed to make improvements regarding the issues that arose during the tank’s debut.
However, Lind seemed to take it lightly. Honestly, he was quite satisfied that there was such an effect in the first real battle. As for crossing the too-wide trench, that wasn’t a problem with Lena’s design nor something that could be resolved at this moment. The intended function of the tank was not to charge into the enemy and engage in close combat or to perform tailing attacks on the enemy.
Despite this, Lena still wholeheartedly dedicated herself to her work. Under these circumstances, the noblewomen in the Royal Capital simply couldn’t schedule a meeting with Lena.
These nobles gave up on using Lena as a breakthrough point and instead prepared to start currying favor with her. However, it took a long time for Lena to realize these nobles’ hints.
In the end, Lena finally realized that as the wife of the Chancellor, it wasn’t right not to know any noble in the Royal Capital. Lena’s social circle in the Royal Capital had always been very narrow; although many people recognized her, very few were willing to befriend her. It was time to broaden her social connections.
The main reason was that recently, the number of nobles bowing to Lena had increased, yet Lena didn’t recognize a single one, which was extremely awkward. Moreover, it wasn’t easy for her to get to the Royal Capital, and Lind had become the biggest official in Lena’s imagination, so she wanted to show off a little.
So, in the end, at Lena’s suggestion, Lind finally met with these nobles at the ball.
If it weren’t for Lena’s suggestion, Lind actually didn’t enjoy participating in these noble social activities. Unlike the nobles of this era who preferred to discuss matters at balls, Lind always believed in handling things officially—anything that needed to be addressed should be clearly explained in a submitted document or report. The Graywhite Territory had always operated under this model.
These nobles clearly realized this, and at the ball, they didn’t feel relaxed at all; it felt more like being at work. The originally imagined subtle probing to test Lind’s attitude didn’t occur at all. By the time these nobles gathered their wits, they found they had neither tested anything nor gained any advantage and were instead arranged to do a bunch of thankless tasks.
On Lind’s side, it was like a large interview scene. The nobles approached him, talking about their backgrounds and capabilities, while Lind assessed their mannerisms and speech to assign them work. Occasionally, he would pull out documents related to these nobles from the shadows. Lind’s intention was clear: this was essentially a test. Those who performed well would be hired, while those who couldn’t should seek other paths.
Well, at least they had jobs, right? It was better than being completely stripped of power and reduced to a decorative figure. And it wasn’t as if no information had been gathered; Lind’s message was clear: they could court favor, but they needed to accomplish tangible tasks and show some results first.
They had no choice but to buckle down.
On Lena’s side, the noblewomen had it much easier. Lena carried an attitude of “wealthy and not returning home,” emanating a vibe of “come praise me.”
After wildly probing and employing various insinuations and deceptions, these noblewomen confirmed that Lena hadn’t improved at all compared to when she left the Royal Capital. All their emotions were written on their faces, and they quickly realized that Lena had not developed any social acumen—she didn’t even have a hint of cunning.
The noblewomen’s hints fell on deaf ears with Lena.
In the face of a significantly noticeable gap in status, Lena quickly became intoxicated by the compliments, especially as former acquaintances from the Royal Capital continually attempted to ingratiate themselves with her.
Previously, these noblewomen would have laughed at Lena’s foolishness behind her back, but now, they only dared to say that Lena possessed a kind of innocent beauty.
Just when these noblewomen thought they could easily manipulate Lena, their rigorous training approached its outset.
As the ball progressed into the later stages, Lena began to yawn in exhaustion. This was entirely impolite for a noblewoman, but clearly, in this venue, Lena was the definition of etiquette.
As soon as Lena showed a hint of fatigue, Lind looked over at her as if sensing her discomfort.
The fact that this ball could take place was entirely due to Lena’s influence. It was simply because Lena wanted to show off just a little in front of the nobles of the Royal Capital. If Lena were to display fatigue, the ball would likely conclude immediately.
Seeing Lind’s reaction, the nobles grew anxious.
Even though Lind acted like a cold machine at this ball, only discussing civilian life and administrative matters with the nobles, for these nobles, the opportunity to become familiar with Lind was extremely precious, so they absolutely could not let Lena feel bored. They couldn’t let that happen.
Especially those nobles who initially had no right to appear before Lind, not possessing even a single administrative task, were frantically signaling their wives, their eyes nearly twitching. Although Lind assigned them some thankless tasks that the real nobles looked down upon, for these lower-tier nobles, this was an incredibly important opportunity. After all, anyone could see that this governor did not particularly like the nobles; they might not get another chance like this for a long time.
Once, Lena had desperately wanted to integrate into the circle of noblewomen in the Royal Capital, so at first, these noblewomen thought it would be easy to spark Lena’s interest. However, they soon discovered that the Lena who had meticulously learned the etiquette of the nobility and the topics of conversation among noblewomen had now lost interest in those subjects. In fact, listening to these topics made her feel increasingly exhausted and overwhelmed.
After changing the topic several times and even revealing some top-secret gossip, Lena remained unmoved. The noblewomen grew more anxious, but given their acumen, they quickly changed tactics and began to guess at Lena’s preferences.
They knew that the Lena from her time in the Royal Capital was no longer a good reference; soon, one of the noblewomen thought back to the Lena she had seen during the military parade and tentatively broached the topic of the “steel monster,” that is, the tank.
The noblewoman thought this topic would be relatively obscure, and even if Lena were genuinely interested, she wouldn’t share much. But to their surprise, Lena’s eyes lit up, and she grabbed the noblewoman’s hand to start chatting away.
This included discussing some of the current issues the tank was facing, such as its lack of maneuverability and its insufficient capacity to navigate terrain. Of course, Lena was discreet and didn’t delve into specific parameters, but when the conversation picked up, she somehow pulled out a piece of draft paper and began sketching in front of the noblewomen.
Even though many of the noblewomen had received basic education and some had even been exposed to higher-level studies, they still couldn’t keep up with Lena’s thoughts and could only express that while they didn’t understand, it was indeed impressive.
Lena seemed to have returned to her Graywhite Territory days, able to converse with any noblewoman, especially since the noblewomen of the Royal Capital were better educated, which created an illusion for her.
“Let’s wrap it up here for today,” Lena said, raising the draft paper filled with her sketches and looking at the visibly fatigued noblewomen. “We can discuss the rest at the next tea gathering.”
When the exhausted noblewomen heard there would be another tea gathering, their eyes finally brightened. But when they realized it would still involve discussing those mechanical theories that sounded like foreign language, they stepped back a bit in fear.
“Um… Governor’s Wife, these tea gatherings generally don’t involve these kinds of topics.”
A noblewoman, thinking about how future tea gatherings would revolve around this pile of technical drawings, courageously reminded Lena.
“Is that so? But our tea gatherings in the Northern Border are all about discussing these topics!”
“……”
The book “Mechanical Theory Explained So Clearly Even a Goose Can Understand,” which had been popular in the Northern Border, unexpectedly sold out overnight in the Royal Capital.
