Chapter 9 A New Strategy

Pretending to like him.

Although Lydia was offering evening prayers beside Byron, her mind was filled not with God but with the new plan.

From now on, Lydia had to pretend to like Arsen. And she had to do it so perfectly that even their allies would be fooled.

It might seem like she could just follow him around claiming to like him, but it wasn’t that simple.

Just as there are stages to liking someone, there are also stages to winning someone’s heart.

If Lydia, who had been acting uninterested in Arsen until now, suddenly proclaimed her love and showered him with affection, someone would certainly become suspicious.

‘Maria and Nella have a sixth sense for these things.’

And that wasn’t all. Kedrick might have the build of a bear, but inside sat the cunning of a fox.

What about Mallan? He was a merchant. Perceptiveness was an essential virtue for merchants.

So she needed to build up the stages properly, creating a believable situation.

‘Maybe I should start by showing light interest?’

What was it like with Richard?

Richard and Lydia had known each other since childhood, but they merely knew of each other’s existence without any other points of contact.

The occasion when they truly became close was separate. It was the day of Lydia’s debutante ball, which happened to fall on the anniversary of the Marchioness’s death.

Lydia, who particularly missed her mother that day, simply couldn’t bring herself to dance with a smile and fled to a secluded garden in the palace.

In a place she thought would be empty, Lydia encountered Richard, who seemed to have escaped there just like her.

For some reason, as soon as Lydia saw Richard’s face, she burst into tears.

Richard was flustered and panicked, but in the end, unable to leave Lydia crying alone, he quietly stayed by her side.

When Lydia’s tears stopped, he handed her a handkerchief, and when she felt embarrassed, he softly whispered that he sometimes missed his mother too.

That was the moment. The moment Lydia’s heart began to lean toward Richard.

‘So what did I do then?’

It wasn’t a memory she particularly wanted to revisit, but for the sake of the plan, Lydia diligently went back to when she was fifteen.

At first, it was just simple interest and curiosity about Richard.

Curious about Richard, Lydia found excuses to meet him and began frequenting the Third Prince’s palace.

Through the palace servants who witnessed Lydia coming and going, rumors about Richard and Lydia’s relationship spread.

Yes, she should start like this.

Lydia planned to visit the Edis mansion so often that she would wear down the entrance.

Then naturally, others would notice Lydia coming to see Arsen, and rumors about Lydia’s suspicious behavior would spread quite naturally.

“May Anastasia’s gracious light illuminate the world.”

“……May it be so.”

Before she knew it, the prayer had ended while she was planning. Lydia hurriedly repeated Byron’s words and bowed before Anastasia’s symbol.

Having nearly been caught thinking about something else, Lydia smiled awkwardly at Byron.

Fortunately, Byron smiled back at Lydia. But then he was inwardly surprised to see Lydia’s reddened eyes.

Today’s prayer was meant to ask for Anastasia’s grace to spread to this remote border region, and for them to play their part in spreading the goddess’s mercy.

He too had felt emotional during the prayer, and it seemed Lydia had as well.

In truth, Lydia had briefly teared up thinking about her mother’s death, but Byron, not knowing this, misunderstood that while Lydia might lack knowledge of doctrine, her faith was overflowing.

‘Yes, lack of knowledge can be filled. But sincerity cannot be learned.’

Byron vowed before Anastasia that he would raise Lydia to be a proper priestess.

* * *

The next day, when Lydia went to find Arsen to implement her plan, he wasn’t inside the mansion but in the front yard.

There were three cargo wagons, and Mallan, who hadn’t been seen for days, was also there. As she got closer, she could hear harsh words mixed with curses.

“Sir, what’s happening?”

Arsen’s expression wasn’t good. Though his face showed the usual lack of emotion, a chilly aura swirled around him.

“What is all this?”

Lydia asked, pointing at the wagons.

“Grain purchased from Count Wonde’s territory.”

“Grain we were swindled on.”

Kedrick cut in behind Arsen’s low, sunken voice.

“Swindled?”

“They charged ten gold coins for one sack of flour, those damned bastards.”

At his explanation, Lydia nodded, understanding on her own that this was an extremely unreasonable price.

That was because, throughout both her past life and current one, Lydia had never purchased flour with her own hands.

As the Marquis’s daughter, she had never even touched flour, let alone bought it. In the labor camp, she had only eaten the bread distributed each hour.

Lydia suddenly realized how ignorant she was about the ways of the world.

And seeing Lydia rolling her eyes, everyone there realized it too.

Our lady here doesn’t know the price of flour.

“One sack of flour can be bought for one gold coin, Priestess Lydia.”

Mallan quietly explained so only Lydia could hear.

“So they paid ten times the amount?”

Though ignorant of market prices, Lydia could still calculate, and finally understanding the true meaning of the swindle, she frowned.

“Do we have to buy from Count Wonde’s territory at such a high price? Can’t we buy within the marquisate?”

“As you saw on your way here, that road has frequent demonic beast appearances. We need to move with maximum mobility, so we can’t bring large quantities of grain.”

Additionally, there were demonic beasts that responded to the smell of flour or beans, making it difficult to procure food within the marquisate.

In contrast, Count Wonde’s territory, adjacent to the border region, was just across the river, and since there were no demonic beasts in the river, transportation was much easier.

The problem was that the merchants in Count Wonde’s territory knew this fact too.

They exploited the fact that the border people had no other options if they didn’t sell food, and always charged exorbitant prices.

“This time, they thought Sir Arsen had returned with merit and had ample funds, so they quoted an even higher price.”

Mallan said bitterly.

“With this, we won’t last until autumn—we won’t even make it through summer.”

“Is the situation that dire?”

“The month before last, demonic beasts appeared and burned down our grain storehouse. Even the seeds we had were all burned up.”

The bigger problem was that the merchants in Count Wonde’s territory were united in rarely selling seeds or seedlings to the border region.

They did this because if the border people grew their own crops and became self-sufficient, the merchants wouldn’t be able to charge exorbitant prices.

“Does Count Wonde know about this?”

“Count Wonde hardly ever visits his territory. I’ve heard he mostly stays in his townhouse in the capital.”

Lydia tried to recall Count Wonde among the nobles she knew. She had certainly heard the name, but couldn’t remember his face.

“I think I’ve seen the Count’s daughter.”

Again, she couldn’t remember the face, only that she was one of many young ladies who had wanted to talk to her.

That meant Count Wonde wasn’t from a family powerful enough to be invited to important balls, tea parties, or imperial banquets.

“Anyway, so the Count doesn’t know about this?”

“He must know. At the very least, the Count’s representative definitely knows. Every time we trade, we have to slip him something to get space at the dock.”

A family that wasn’t particularly powerful, and the Count wasn’t even present, only his representative?

“Well, I’ll have to step in.”

Lydia raised one corner of her mouth as she looked at the wagons. The conditions were just right for an intervention.

“Miss, do you have some plan?”

“That is the plan, Sir Kedrick.”

Lydia was now a priestess, not “Miss.” But that didn’t mean Lydia was no longer “Marquis Evansi’s daughter.”

It was a very subtle point, and Lydia intended to use exactly that.

“You may not know, but I once made quite a name for myself in high society.”

When Lydia spoke confidently, the people around her looked at her as if to say, who doesn’t know that?

They knew too. In the past, Lydia had been the epitome of a pampered, demanding noble lady.

Even during the special circumstances of the coup, she had been surrounded by servants attending to her needs. This was because without them, Lydia would have caused a scene, and the Marquis didn’t want to deal with that.

Lydia had treated Giselle like a maid, and the Black Wolf Knights like servants. That was why the Knight Order had a higher opinion of Devon than Lydia.

Feeling slightly embarrassed, Lydia blushed.

“How dare some no-name Count’s family charge ten times the price for flour that I’m going to eat?”

Ha! Lydia snorted and haughtily tossed her hair back.

“I’m going to Count Wonde’s territory right now, so pre—”

She was about to say “prepare,” but Lydia suddenly looked down at her attire. A plain priestess robe without any accessories, and unkempt hair.

She could still prove she was from the Evansi family dressed like this, but it wouldn’t establish dominance. And in matters like this, establishing dominance was crucial.

“Where’s a shop that sells lace around here?”

So Lydia thought about adding some lace decorations to her priestess robes.

“……”

“Why isn’t anyone answering?”

That was because there wasn’t one. The border region was a place where even basic survival was difficult.

The women here preferred making chainmail armor rather than lace.

Lace was utterly useless for protecting against demonic beast attacks and surviving.

“It’s alright, yes, that’s understandable.”

Having gained a better understanding of the local reality, Lydia tried to appear cheerful as she thought.

“I’ll need to go to Count Wonde’s territory and show them exactly how wealthy the Evansi family is.”

In other words, a money-flaunting strategy.

“Who wants to come with me to cause some trouble in Count Wonde’s territory?”

Lydia called for volunteers. Finding it interesting, Kedrick was the first to raise his hand. Then other knights present also subtly raised their hands.

Money-flaunting—what an interesting task for knights without money.

Arsen wanted to send volunteers if possible. If only Randel hadn’t been among them.

“Everyone lower your hands.”

“What?”

“I’ll go with you.”

* * *