Chapter 427

About Duke Roberaud Family’s Marriage Prospects and the Northern Situation
It seems that Young master Cordle’s rampage reached the ears of both Duke Roberaud and Marquis Vardmoi, and I was suddenly summoned for a meeting in the reception room.
Duke Roberaud was profusely apologetic.

“I am terribly sorry, Lady Lily. My son has caused you trouble.”

“Not at all. But… is he really going to be okay like that?”

“He’s not. For now, I’ve ordered him to be confined, but whether that will cool his head or not…”

“Is it really that serious, Duke Roberaud?”

Marquis Vardmoi, who had only received an explanation of the situation, looked deeply puzzled.
Well, unless you were actually there, it’d be hard to grasp just how strange it was.

“Ever since his engagement with the girl he was head over heels for fell apart, he’s been approaching any woman of appropriate age that he sees. If he tries to force a marriage proposal on a commoner, it’ll be seen as abuse of noble authority. If he does it with another noble, it’ll be taken as taking sides with one of the countries. Being a noble of Vinraud, which claims neutrality, makes it all the more difficult for him to act.”

“That is… how should I put it—quite unfortunate.”

“No, there are many cases like his—engagements breaking down, family split between enemy and ally—due to the division of the country. In some places, they say daughters who married from enemy lands and their children have been executed to raise morale for the war.”

That’s awful… They went that far?

“You could say war is the root of it all, but in the lands north of Vinraud, the effects have cast long shadows. With the men taken for the army, some fields have been abandoned, and villages left undefended against bandits. If the power struggle between the King’s brother and the Third Prince were resolved, things might calm down to some extent… but that seems unlikely at present.”

“Are those two really on such bad terms?”

“They’ve gone past the point of no return. With vast amounts of soldiers and provisions poured into the conflict, only the northern part of the old kingdom has become impoverished. The money has flowed into the newly formed eastern and western nations, while their own lands continue to weaken. Now, the only path to restoration is to defeat the other side, assert legitimacy, and confiscate the wealth of the enemy territory under the label of rebellion.”

Hmm… To think things have deteriorated so much in just a year.
Even though this is the town closest to the north, for someone like me who lived in the southern nation, it had all felt like a distant issue.
But now the question is, how can this situation be turned around?

“Lily, what are you thinking?”

“Oh, I was just wondering if there’s a way to save the common people from all this.”

“A way to save the common people…? Then, first we’d have to take the heads of the King’s brother, the Third Prince, and all the pro-war nobles. As long as the rulers want war, it won’t end.”

So basically, eliminate the core figures of each faction…
I’m sure Talat could easily do it, and Marquis Vardmoi must know that too.
The fact that he hasn’t proposed that method likely means it’s better not to use it.
Now then, what should be done?

What do you think about this chapter?