The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

The sky over the capital was as gloomy as ever. Rena, with the help of her maids, dressed in her gown as usual, ready to attend Prince Cran's ball.

It's unclear when it started, but the once kind and amiable old king suddenly turned cold towards him, and his childhood sweetheart, Prince Kran, made no attempt to hide the disgust and contempt in his eyes.

But Lena patted her cheeks to cheer herself up and put on her usual smile.

Since her father disappeared, Lena has consciously taken on the responsibility of being the eldest sister, taking care of her younger siblings and even starting to learn etiquette lessons that she could never learn before.

But soon, the war for succession within the family began, and all the younger siblings were given fiefdoms, leaving Lena with nothing to do but fulfill her duty as the crown prince's fiancée.

"How dare that guy show his face?"

"The thought of Prince Crane marrying this guy makes me feel very sorry for His Highness."

"A disgrace to the nobility! A disgrace to the nobility! How could the Lars family have such an ill-mannered descendant?"

"The Lars family isn't any better; this guy is just an executioner's daughter."

For some reason, on the way to the ball, the nobles were talking very loudly, without any attempt to hide it from Lena.

Lena dared not look at the faces of these nobles, and could only force a smile and greet some people she knew.

At this moment, a large number of people had gathered at the entrance to the ball, but they seemed to be watching something rather than entering the venue.

Lena curiously squeezed into the crowd and found that the nobles were marveling at two deformed beggars on the ground. The two deformed beggars seemed to be a brother and sister, huddled together, looking at the nobles in fear.

Meanwhile, Chancellor Cordick, who was leading two beggars by collar and rope, suddenly pointed at Reina and shouted, "It's this girl! It's the Lars family who turned the children into this!"

The nobles who had just been gleefully watching the two deformed children suddenly transformed into righteous individuals, pointing fingers and gossiping about Lena.

"This is outrageous! How could they do this?"

"I even thought that Grand Duke Lars was a hero who guarded the frontier."

"Does His Highness Kran really intend to marry a descendant of such a family?"

"Go to hell! Go to hell!"

The nobles became enraged and began attacking Lena.

"Go to hell!"

"A man like you is not worthy of His Highness!"

"How could you do such a cruel thing to innocent children?"

Lena kept explaining as the nobles kept pushing and shoving her.

"I'm not, I didn't!"

But the nobles seemed completely deaf to Lena's words.

“I didn’t, I really didn’t, and neither did the Lars family.”

A distraught Reina kept screaming, and finally, the fourth prince, Crane, arrived at the scene.

"Your Highness!"

Lena leaned towards Kran as if she had found a pillar of support, but unexpectedly, the fourth prince Kran shoved her away forcefully and cursed, "You savage shrew, get out of here!"

In an instant, Lena felt as if she had stepped into thin air and fallen into a bottomless abyss.

As she fell, Lena suddenly opened her eyes and found herself lying on a recliner in the lord's tent, her back soaked with cold sweat.

"Did you have a nightmare? Are you alright?"

As usual, Lin De sat at his desk reviewing documents, while also asking a question out of concern.

Although it was just a very ordinary sentence, Lena felt an unprecedented sense of security. She realized that she was still in the gray-collar class, and her brother was still working as usual.

"It seems like I'm remembering something from the past, but I can't even remember if it actually happened."

Lena, as usual, scratched her head with a silly grin.

"If you regret not going back to the capital with Her Highness the Princess, it's not too late now."

After Linde finished organizing the documents, he glanced at the midday sun outside the tent and said...

But Lena shook her head.

"Actually, I've already sensed it. Returning to the capital now won't change anything. Only when I truly become the heir of the Lars family will those people possibly take me seriously."

"And if I leave, Grandpa might stop delivering supplies to you, brother."

After Lena said those words, she saw Lind looking at her with a look of utter disbelief.

"What's wrong brother?"

"No, it's nothing." Lin De suddenly felt a sense of relief, as if his silly son had grown up. It seemed that Lena wasn't as stupid as she appeared in the game.

However, if Lena could think of this, why did she later rebel?

Suppressing his doubts, Linde called for lunch and told Lena about what had happened on the territory that day.

"A student council president from the capital has stayed on the territory to work."

The student council president was Caroline. Linde found out about this during the banquet. After all, Caroline didn't have a gray-collar worker status, so she would have to report to Linde if she wanted to apply for a gray-collar worker position.

However, after seeing that the application form was obtained from Isa, Linde gave it the green light. Linde also wanted to know what the nobles of this world thought of his current vertical management system.

But after Lind met Caroline, well, he felt that Caroline was somewhat fanatical about converts, and she asked to work overtime that very day.

"Why stay here? This place is dirt poor, we have nothing."

As she spoke, Lena squatted down on the ground and started grilling the leftovers from yesterday's banquet in a posture that would make any etiquette teacher's blood pressure soar.

Although that's what Lena said, her tone was still full of pride. In just a few months, the gray-collar workers had actually managed to attract high-end talents from the capital to stay, which was something Lena couldn't have imagined at all.

"We really have nothing, so we have to think of a way to generate revenue."

Lin De sighed and squatted down on the ground with Lena. The two top leaders of gray and white-collar jobs were grilling leftovers in such a tasteless way.

Although white sugar is extremely profitable, even white-collar workers who only work as suppliers have made a fortune. However, relying solely on white sugar exports is definitely unhealthy, especially since current sales channels are almost entirely dependent on the downstream town of Fasen.

This made Lind feel very insecure.

Linde had previously asked the head maid, Lila, about perfumes and soaps, things that every time traveler would inevitably get their hands on. Unfortunately, Lila's answer was that it was difficult to make money making these kinds of things.

In fact, due to the body odor of Westerners, perfumes developed very early in the Middle Ages, but in the early stages they were only used for incense burning in churches. It wasn't until later that professional perfumers emerged to make perfumes.

But this world with real alchemy is different; not only does it have perfume, but it even has bath soap.

Soap makers, like perfumers, have become a profession that exclusively serves the nobility. Most commoners are unaware of this profession because soap makers and perfumers, like the nobility, control the same resources. Truly excellent resources circulate only internally, and ordinary people have no access to them.

Why didn't Lena bring her own soap maker and perfumer?

Well, after glancing at Lena, who was licking her fingers after finishing her roast duck, Lin De rubbed his head and thought the question was a bit silly.

Speak of the devil, and he appears. Just as Linde remembered what Lila had said, he saw Lila, who was carrying a document, looking at him and Lena, who was squatting next to him, with a somewhat disgusted gaze. Judging from her expression, Linde could roughly imagine how dismayed the etiquette teachers must have been when they saw Lena's posture.

"My lord, are you really going to let that nobleman from the capital do things in the territory?"

Now, Rila has been promoted to Minister of Human Resources and part-time head maid, and her status and workload are vastly different from before.

"Is there a problem? Or have they found out she's a spy?"

Linde quickly wiped his hands with a silk scarf and took the documents from Lila.

No, that's not true.

Lila adjusted her glasses and said, "But she's just a little... a little too fanatical, so fanatical that it scares me."

"It's a good thing that young people are full of energy."

Lin De’s words sounded old-fashioned, reminiscent of a leader’s speech in his previous life.

"As long as you follow the rules, we don't care about your background. Haven't you mentioned several times that you hope someone can share some of your work?"

"But my lord, she is a noblewoman from the capital who came with the royal family."

Having started as a full-time maid, Lila understands all too well how close the ties are between the royal family and the nobility of the capital.

“Indeed, then let’s send more people to keep an eye on her. But if she deserves a promotion, then promote her. And there’s no need to hide the jobs that should be given to her.”

After thinking it over for a while, Linde decided to let Caroline shine in the territory. Linde also talked to Isa about Caroline.

Isa believed that Caroline and Lena were the same kind of people. Although Linde couldn't understand how the elegant Caroline and Lena, who was slurping duck bones after finishing her duck leg, were similar, Linde chose to believe the heroine's judgment.

"What's wrong brother?"

Lena noticed Lind's gaze, and looked at him innocently with a duck bone in her mouth.

"No, it's nothing."

Well, it seems this female lead also has her flaws when it comes to judging people.

"My lord, there is one more thing. The list of people who were secretly monitoring the young lady, as you mentioned before, has been compiled."

After saying that, Lila took out a list from a pile of documents and handed it to Lind.

Hearing that it was related to her, Lena finished slurping her duck leg and came over.

"let me see!"

Lena snatched the list and began to look at it intently, but the more she looked, the more shocked she became.

"How could that be! This knight has been with me since he was a child, how could he be Grandpa's man?"

"And this maid, I clearly picked her up on the street, how did she become Grandpa's woman?"

"What? Even Susan is one? Lila, you too?"

Lena looked at Linde in disbelief and asked, "Are you one of them too, brother? Does that mean Grandpa knows I'm always slacking off?"

After saying that, Lena nervously stood in front of Linde, blocking his view of the remaining roast duck.

Although he really wanted to ask Lena, "Are you conscious?", Lind explained instead:

"If I were one of them, what would I need this list for?"

"Oh, too."

After saying that, Lena sat back down and began to enjoy the rest of her food.

"Wait a minute, brother, Grandpa wouldn't harm me, why are you investigating this?"

Did they only realize something was wrong now? Linde was even at a loss for words.

"Don't worry, there are just some things about our territory that we can't let the Grand Duke know. You see, last time you wrote a letter and mentioned a few more things about our territory, and the quality of the craftsmen that were sent over became worse. If the Grand Duke knew that we could make money on our own in our territory, how could we expect Grand Duke Lars to continue sending us supplies?"

Upon hearing this explanation, Lena believed it without hesitation and said, "Then tell those people who are monitoring me to say some good things about me, that I study every day and haven't been slacking off!"

That would definitely expose her weakness. Lena's daily routine involves slacking off, bullying the local kids, and stealing their toys. If her spies report that Lena is studying diligently, Grand Duke Lars would probably know immediately that his spies have been exposed.

But Lind nodded and gave him a reassuring look.