Lord: Marry the villain's daughter at the beginning?

"My Lord, can I wander around the territory at will?"

Caroline lifted her skirt gracefully beside Claire, and then added: "I don't like socializing very much. I want some private space. I don't need guards. After all, ordinary guards can't beat me."

Although the etiquette was standard, Caroline's tone was somewhat aggressive, as if it was not a request but a demand.

Linde wanted to complain about why he followed Claire to the North if he didn't like socializing, but he finally held back. Facing the NPC he had never seen in the game, Linde nodded and said, "Miss, please feel free to do what you want, but please be careful not to leave the territory. You know, the North is not very safe."

Caroline nodded and smiled, then left the group.

Lind was not worried about any secrets being leaked in the territory, except for the gunpowder. However, the security of the gunpowder factory was already at the highest level. Reina's knights were stationed there in full armor, and if they couldn't stop them, there was really nothing they could do.

Watching Lind and others leaving in the distance, Caroline took out a pen and paper and a magic scroll, ready to record everything she saw and heard in the Gray Collar, to uncover the darkness hidden in this Lars territory. She was even ready to sacrifice for this moment.

The first ones were the houses near the dock. Caroline walked straight to the edge of the territory without even looking at them.

These must be all face-saving projects that Lena used to confuse me. The North must be like the hell on earth that Prime Minister Kodick described. Maybe everyone in the territory has already started selling their children to survive, and I can just save some innocent children here.

Caroline held this thought in mind, but the more she walked, the more she felt something was wrong. Why were there only houses like this along the way?

Not only that, the Gray-Collared Clan did not have the disgusting smell of swill that was found on the edge of the royal city, and there was not even an ordinary beggar, let alone the cruel dismemberment described by Codick.

Everyone I met was busy with their own things in a hurry and full of energy, and they didn't look hungry at all.

"Excuse me, sir."

Caroline stopped a worker pushing a wheelbarrow.

The wheelbarrow was filled with bricks, obviously for building a new house.

"I would like to ask you a few simple questions, is that okay?"

Although the other party was a commoner, Caroline still used honorifics. This was not only a habit she had developed over a long period of time, but also because the other party's dress did not look like that of a serf or a slave.

Only serfs and slaves were not human beings. When facing some free people, educated nobles did not mind showing more respect to show their generosity.

"Sorry, I still have to transport stones, and I'm waiting at the construction site."

Although this simple worker didn't know who Caroline was, he knew she was a noble from the way she dressed. Otherwise, for the sake of work points and performance, he might not have paid any attention to her.

Caroline didn't say anything more, but took out two silver leaf coins from her pocket.

The worker's eyes lit up when he saw the silver leaf coin, but he quickly retracted his outstretched hand.

"I'm sorry, I have to transport rocks. I was late and was overtaken by the group next door, so there will be no broth for dinner."

After saying this, the worker pushed the wheelbarrow and left immediately.

Although the start was not good, Caroline became more convinced that these people were all actors, otherwise it would be hard to explain why everyone was dressed so well and even looked down on two silver leaf coins.

But Caroline remembered a saying in her family: money is omnipotent. If it doesn't work, it means you haven't spent enough money.

Finally, after the price was raised to ten silver leaf coins, which was half a year's income for a rich peasant family, a worker who had just come out of the logging camp and was about to take a break after his shift stopped.

“Tell me, did Reina get the news in advance and let you put on new clothes and perform in the territory?!”

Caroline went from being gentle and polite at the beginning to becoming a little irritable and even a little eager for quick success.

After walking around here, not only did I not see anyone selling their children, there wasn't even a beggar. Everyone was working.

"Act? What kind of act? The Lord just said that there are guests coming to visit today and asked us not to go near the dock."

The lumberjack looked at Caroline in confusion. He didn't understand why this noble woman would give silver leaf coins to everyone she met, and the questions she asked were even more confusing.

"Then have children already been sold in your territory? Has the North become a living hell?"

Caroline took a step forward with full force, scaring the lumberjack so much that he stepped back repeatedly.

"What are you selling? Does the Lord forcing my child to go to school count?"

After saying this, the woodcutter seemed to open up and continued, "Ah, the Lord and Lady are good in everything, but they have too many rules."

"The Lord requires that children over the age of seven must go to school for half a day every day. Those who don't go will have their performance deducted, or even their work points deducted. You said that a seven-year-old child can help with housework. My kid has no future anyway, so why doesn't he come back to help his mother farm? But it's okay, he only has to study for half a day, and he can also help the family."

Although the lumberjack's face was full of sorrow, Caroline took a step back in surprise, as if she had heard something completely incomprehensible.

Are these people really all actors? Otherwise, how can they afford to send their children to school? How can a family that can send their children to school have one person working in a lumber mill and one person farming at home?

You have to know that this is an era of elite education, and there are only two choices for studying: the best and not studying.

Even though the Vatican has recently been setting up some church schools to teach basic knowledge, the main content they teach is theology.

Caroline could not understand or imagine that all the children in a territory were forced to study.

That's right! This must be the way that Reina, the shame of the nobles, exploits the people! Relying on high tuition fees to squeeze these people, and then brainwashing their children in school, making these people their slaves for life.

That's so vicious, Reina!

Just as Caroline began to imagine, the lumberjack showed a relieved smile on his face after he finished speaking.

"But after all, school is free, so it would be a waste not to go. Besides, the school also provides breakfast and lunch, so we still have to go to school. Teacher Nebet is also a good teacher. My kid even secretly brought his lunch eggs to my wife before. He is indeed more sensible than before."

"But I still beat him up. This egg was given by the Lord, and our family doesn't need this egg right now. But he actually dared to disobey the Lord's order!"

Looking at the happy look on the woodcutter's face, Caroline suddenly felt as if her worldview had collapsed. Why did these people seem to be talking differently from what Lord Kodick said? These civilians were even bragging to her that their children had become sensible in the school in the territory.

To be honest, Caroline didn't hate this feeling. She hoped from the bottom of her heart that what the lumberjack said was true.

But the ideological stamp is not so easy to break.

Caroline was also increasingly confused. Not only did this territory require children to attend school, but it also didn't charge tuition? And the surname Nebet, wasn't this the senior schoolmate who had rebelled under the banner of the White Saint, as reported by the Vatican before?

Thinking of this, Caroline took out two silver leaf coins and asked the woodcutter, "Can you take me to your school?"