Marrying the Villainess Noblewoman at the Start – Chapter 43

In the royal capital, countless people were crowding on both sides of the King’s main road, completely ignoring the fetid smell emanating from the overnight garbage and waste on the ground and around them. They waved their hats frantically and shouted enthusiastically, welcoming a horse-drawn carriage as it slowly passed by.

Inside the carriage, Chancellor Caudic opened the window and waved to the gathered crowd. Many people, upon seeing Caudic wave at them, became so excited that they fainted.

When the carriage reached its destination, the Royal Academy of Magic in the royal capital, Caudic slowly stepped out of the carriage amid the throng of people, while a band that had been waiting for a long time began to play cheerful and exhilarating music.

Amidst this atmosphere, Caudic began his speech.

“I can feel that this visit to the Northern Border to meet the Demon Clan is one of the greatest outings of my life. I have said before that I would solve the problems of the Northern Border, and now, I have truly accomplished it!”

The surrounding students and nobles erupted in intense applause.

“I believe this is just the prologue to a greater solution that will bring peace to the entire kingdom.”

“Last month, I, as the Chancellor of the Kingdom, held a meeting with the Demon King of the Demon Clan. Now I have a document signed by both of us.”

As Caudic pulled out a document filled with the details of the agreement and waved it, the atmosphere in the venue reached its peak.

“Long live! Long live peace!”

The cheers rolled in waves, and everyone was immersed in this joyful atmosphere.

After Caudic stopped waving, he pressed his hands down to signal for calm, and the crowd quieted down.

“Some of you might have already heard about the contents of this document, but I still want to read it to you.”

Seeing the crowd quiet down slightly, Caudic continued.

“On behalf of His Majesty the King of the Cape Kingdom, the great Augustine III, and His Excellency the Demon King of the Northern Demon Clan, we held an in-depth meeting a month ago. We reached a consensus that the issues regarding the relationship between the Cape Kingdom and the Demon Clan are of utmost importance to both parties.”

“We believe that the agreements signed earlier and the troop withdrawal agreement from the Northern Border symbolize the wishes of the people of both our nations—never to wage war against each other again!”

The crowd erupted into enthusiastic cheers once again.

“War is incredibly cruel; those who die do not come back to life, and it doesn’t mean you can keep going after being stabbed a few times as in knight novels. You won’t even have the chance to speak your last words while lying on the ground.”

Caudic clenched his fists and said passionately, “The enemy is not some criminal with deep-seated hatred against you, but a farmer, a stonemason, a shoemaker—ordinary people just like you! Every time the slaughter begins, it brings only the pain of mothers, the wails of wives and children, and the cackles of vested interests!”

Clearly, this vested interest referred to the Lars Family.

“You are talking nonsense!”

Two commoner students from the Northern Border stood up and loudly rebutted, “The Demon Clan is not innocent! They plunder our lands, violate our families, and massacre our kin. How can there be no deep hatred? On the battlefield, we would love to kill a couple more as collateral damage!”

These two students pointed out the flaws in Caudic’s argument, asserting that the war between the Northern Border and the Demon Clan was defensive in nature, whereas Caudic skillfully portrayed it as both sides being equally culpable.

Caudic frowned and rebuked, “Do you not have a shred of conscience? Do you not feel any pain for those who have died? I understand now; you must be vested interests!”

Afterward, guards immediately dragged the two disruptive students away.

Clearing his throat, Caudic continued:

“Therefore, in order to prevent any further meaningless casualties, we have decided to resolve any issues concerning the relationship between our two nations through negotiation.”

Although Caudic unknowingly admitted to the existence of the Demon Clan as a nation by discussing it in those terms, no one detected any issue, as it had always been promoted this way.

“We will continue to work towards reconciling our differences, thereby ensuring contributions to future peace.”

“I bring a generation of peace for the Cape Kingdom!”

As Caudic delivered his concluding remarks and raised the contract in his hand, the crowd roared in cheers again and again.

The bards of the royal capital incessantly sang praises for Caudic and the King’s great achievements, including some embellishments, such as the Lars Family’s constant schemes to obstruct the talks between Caudic and the Demon King—but all were cleverly resolved by Chancellor Caudic.

As a result, many even went to provoke the Duke’s mansion in the Northern Border, while some small nobles took pride in their ability to anger the Lars Family.

The contract brought by Caudic was also specially sealed and framed for display in the academy for students to observe.

It could be said that except for the Northern Border, the entire kingdom was in celebration.

Meanwhile, Duke Lars, residing in the Duke’s mansion, was not as anxious as rumors suggested; the other three Duchies united against the Northern Border were entangled in a futile effort that made the loss of lands meaningless. After the death of the firstborn, who was also Lena’s father, Duke Lars had actually been adhering to a strategy of contraction and stability.

Duke Lars felt that he was truly aging; if he were a bit younger, no matter what, he would personally seek out the initiators of this performance and tell them the true situation of the Northern Border—that the Demon Clan was somewhat insane, and a portion of the Northern Border’s territory could not satisfy their insane ambitions.

However, after experiencing the loss of his son in his later years, Duke Lars no longer had the energy to embark on actions that seemed utterly meaningless, and the power of public opinion was already no longer in his hands.

Moreover, Duke Lars was somewhat affected by the public opinion in the royal capital, believing that this agreement could indeed alleviate the external pressures facing the Northern Border, which was being squeezed from both sides.

What troubled Duke Lars even more was the unresolved conflict regarding the heir.

Now, Duke Lars resembled an elderly man in twilight years, no longer caring about external affairs, solely hoping that a suitable heir could be quickly found within his family.

Duke Lars could directly announce that the designated heir, Sean, Lena’s brother, had won due to having the largest and richest territory, but it seemed that Sean’s uncles had unwittingly formed an alliance, their combined strength not much weaker than Sean.

Moreover, Sean’s territory was originally the most prosperous; imposing a forced decision would not garner public support. The Lars family is a large family, and while Duke Lars possesses the most power, it does not mean that internal decisions are made unilaterally. Without sufficient prestige and evidence, forcibly uplifting Sean to the position of heir would only invite disaster.

This, however, was not what Duke Lars considered the most troublesome issue.

From the letters sent by various lords and heir candidates from the Northern Border, Duke Lars finally discovered something he had previously overlooked.

Lena has made her move.

Duke Lars had long known about the trade of white sugar but had not paid much attention to it, thinking that her husband must have some secret recipe to earn some extra money for the territory.

Even if a territory with hundreds of inhabitants could produce snowflake sugar, how much could it earn?

It wasn’t until he received information about the Graywhite Territory from the remarks of various lords that Duke Lars realized the Graywhite Territory was becoming increasingly unusual.

Originally thought to have only hundreds of inhabitants, unexpectedly the Graywhite Territory was continuously absorbing refugees and had now developed into a normal size barony of over a thousand people, with numbers still on the rise.

Next was the magic stone mine. Upon hearing this news, Duke Lars’s first reaction was to take over the Graywhite Territory directly and have Lena manage it, transforming the Graywhite Territory into a territory specialized in mining to prevent the coveted magic stone mine from falling into the hands of others.

However, he soon learned that the magic stone mine in the Graywhite Territory was already jointly exploited with the High Ger Empire, that is, the Elves. Anyone who made a move on the magic stone mine would be considered an attack on the Elf’s patrol forest.

No one dared to exploit loopholes in front of the rigid Elves, and the surrounding lords could only stare blankly at the magic stone mine of the Graywhite Territory, including Duke Lars.

The main reason was that this information was obtained by Duke Lars from other lords; Lena did not mention this at all in her letter, and even the surveillance he had arranged around Lena was a cover for this matter.

At this moment, Duke Lars finally realized that his vassal’s vassal was not his vassal, and that even his vassal might not necessarily be obedient. The feudal system was just an illusory facade— the Graywhite Territory had effectively become independent.

Lena was fully qualified to participate in the heir conflict; however, due to personal reasons, she had remained on the margins. Once the magic stone vein was discovered, participating in the heir conflict was no longer something Lena could decide.

Duke Lars could sense that he had made a masterpiece by choosing that grandson-in-law. If his granddaughter had such ambition and capability, what need was there for an heir conflict? With that granddaughter’s intellect, Duke Lars strictly suspected that she had been sold out by her grandson-in-law and was helping him count the money, after all, such matters were not unprecedented.

Especially when Duke Lars saw that the Graywhite Territory was still producing recovery potions and no longer needed his aid economically.

Voices were already emerging within the Lars family, stating that they no longer needed to transport resources to the Graywhite Territory, and some even began to regard Lena as a candidate for the heir.

After much thought, Duke Lars decided to continue supporting the Graywhite Territory, albeit with reduced aid.

Regardless, the heir conflict must now be accelerated. Lena and Sean were siblings, naturally in the same camp, able to confront those uncle figures who were eager to stir trouble.

In Duke Lars’s vision, Lena should ideally take on the role of a supportive sister, ensuring that her grandson-in-law shed some blood.

Even if they acquired independent capital, it was after all merely at the scale of a barony. White sugar, magic stone mines, and potions were profit-driven industries, but they could never compare to the century-long accumulation of the Lars family. After all, could a greenhorn really stir up significant waves?

Although the progress of the future heir conflict did not unfold as smoothly as Duke Lars had hoped, and could even be said to be in a retrograde direction compared to his expectations, at least this was how Duke Lars thought at the moment.

Marrying the Villainess Noblewoman at the Start?!

Marrying the Villainess Noblewoman at the Start?!

领主:开局迎娶恶役千金?
Score 8.2
Status: Ongoing
Lind is transported into the world of the last game he played before his death—and inexplicably chosen by the royal family, no less. Just like that, he becomes the tragic fiancé who, in the game, gets dragged into a rebellion by the villainess noblewoman. To avoid the doomed ending of the original story, Lind must struggle to survive in this increasingly magical world. Years later, fringe races begin to whisper among themselves: "Why do barbarian hordes keep respawning on the empire’s borders?"

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