The Crownguard Princess Had Arrived

Three days later, Lux, once again restored to her noble bearing, finally arrived in Silvermine City amid much anticipation.

To welcome "their little princess," members of the local Crownguard family held a grand welcoming ceremony and banquet at the highest point of Silvermine City Castle.

Lux smiled and declined the speech the organizers had prepared in advance, then delivered a splendid "impromptu" address that won a burst of enthusiastic applause.

At the banquet, glasses clinked and guests mingled. Lux was only twelve and barely came up to most guests' shoulders or chests, but her grace made her the center of the entire gathering.

No one knew that behind Lux's poised, confident smile lay a sorrow she couldn't shake. She couldn't enjoy the banquet without a care; so many things made her uncomfortable.

Fortunately, thanks to Karya's training, she had gradually grown used to putting on this sort of act.

Lux didn't like pretending. She didn't like lying.

But now, she had discovered that there were many things worse than lying. And so she was visibly, rapidly becoming more like Karya.

Not lying—just telling the truth selectively, and throwing in a few meaningless remarks from time to time.

Between those carefully chosen truths and empty remarks, Lux and Karya gathered a great deal of information.

From clothes and appearance to words and mannerisms, as long as Lux was willing to observe, she could always find the information she wanted. Under normal circumstances, no one would stare fixedly at someone at a banquet, or stand there looking dumbfounded while thinking. But with Karya's help, Lux could analyze a huge amount of useful information from an utterly ordinary banquet!

Even using the methods of the nobility, Lux still had an overwhelming advantage!

By the time the banquet ended and Lux returned to her lodgings, she and Karya had already analyzed a wealth of intelligence.

As for their clothes, many nobles had mismatched finery. Some of their conspicuous accessories, like brooches and necklaces, were expensive, but they weren't so lavish with the little details most people wouldn't notice, like their bootlaces or the chains on their ceremonial armor.

Dyed silk laces or gold-plated armor chains weren't improper, but they were clearly of a different quality from the other accessories they wore.

Yet these small details weren't especially costly, and they were often the sort of things that could be passed down and never went out of style. These nobles were probably people who had suddenly come into money.

There were plenty of nouveau riche at any banquet, but there were especially many today.

Clearly, quite a few people had made a fortune recently.

And since the jewelry and accessories of the nobility usually needed to be engraved with their family crests, they took a long time to make.

So the time they'd come into money had to be pushed back by a year or two...

Good. That fit, too.

Besides, although Lux had been constantly chatting with all sorts of people, under normal circumstances, after exchanging a few words with her, everyone should have taken advantage of the occasion to chat with others.

A banquet was, after all, a social gathering for the nobility.

Yet among the busy nobles fluttering about like butterflies among flowers, two people had been silently watching Lux the whole time.

One was an elderly man. He was also exchanging pleasantries, but much of the time it seemed as if he was simply receiving greetings. Most of his attention was on Lux, as though he were studying her every move.

The other was a handsome middle-aged man. He politely, yet distantly, dealt with the noblewomen who approached him while keeping his eyes on Lux. He didn't even look away when she left, as if he wanted to find out where she was staying.

That was interesting.

As a little test, Karya described the two men to Lux and asked her to identify their roles—which one was really in charge, and whose attitude was still unclear.

After thinking it over briefly, Lux quickly reached the right conclusion.

The old man was the one in charge. She didn't know why the middle-aged man was watching her.

"Judging by the look of them, you'll probably be busy again tonight," Karya chuckled. "Look how impatient they are. I bet they'll come calling before the night's over."

"That's fine, too." Lux smiled faintly. "I've had a good rest these past few days. I don't mind spending the evening talking with an old man."

Just as Karya had predicted, Lux had barely finished getting settled when someone knocked on the door.

"Little Lux, are you resting?" The visitor spoke in a gentle but serious tone. "It's Codora. Do you remember me?"

"Oh, it's Great-Uncle!" Lux quickly matched him to the old man who'd been watching her. "I'm still awake..."

"Would you have time to talk with your great-uncle about disaster relief?" The other man sounded quite earnest, as if he were acting solely for the public good. "You've finally arrived. The frost here in Silvermine City has been so severe that tax relief alone won't be enough to put the people of the territory at ease!"

"Of course I have time!" At Karya's instruction, Lux put on a flustered look. "I'm coming, I'm coming."

When she opened the door, she found Codora standing there with a solemn expression. The old man was holding a rolled-up map.

"Those little bastards still have the nerve to throw a banquet... Sigh, Lux, you have no idea. The frost here gets worse every year!"

"Great-Uncle Codora—"

"Call me Codora. You've come here as the representative of the main branch of the family. In Silvermine City, you're the lady of the house!" Codora waved a hand. "All right, Lux, enough of that. Let me explain the frost problem over the past few years..."

Then Codora spread the map out and talked at length for nearly an hour. In his telling, Silvermine City had been plagued by one misfortune after another in recent years, with one thing going wrong after another. Agriculture, in particular, had been hit especially hard.

Fewer than three out of ten winter wheat plants survived the winter!

Clearly, the old man had carefully observed and gotten to know Lux. From the way she stuck to proper etiquette, he'd concluded that she must care deeply about it. So from the very beginning, he'd seized control of the conversation, presenting himself as someone who seemed not to care much for noble etiquette but was exceptionally warmhearted.

This sort of head start worked well on noble young ladies who were strict about etiquette. By disrupting the rules of engagement they were used to, he could make them follow his rhythm completely.

With Karya's guidance, Lux perfectly acted the part of someone thrown off balance because the other person wasn't following the rules.

Under her superb performance, Codora was convinced he'd completely fooled the young girl who'd come from Demacia City.

As for the content of the conversation, Codora peppered it with agricultural knowledge and terminology, deliberately speeding up to overwhelm Lux with information and make her lose her bearings.

Lux's performance lived up to his expectations perfectly. Her anxious uncertainty, as if everything had gone off plan, and her repeated questions of "Why?" made Codora secretly rejoice!

Hahaha, that's it. What could a young lady who's never been to a field possibly know about frost?

Soon, Codora showed his hand. Under Lux's "helpless questions," he took the initiative and began planning where she should go for an on-site inspection.

"This is the best place." Codora casually picked up a pen and circled a spot on the map. "The damage here is representative..."

"I see..." Lux blinked, putting on a look as though she still wanted to resist. "But I'm not ready yet!"

"What's there to prepare? Just change into your riding clothes and go take a look in the fields. You can tell whether the wheat's been hit by frost by digging up the roots and feeling them with your hand!" The old man looked extremely anxious. "Once we've confirmed the situation, we can hurry up and provide relief!"

"Oh, right!" Lux seemed to be letting him lead her by the nose completely. "Disaster relief is what matters most!"

At last, satisfied with her answer, Codora nodded. He left the map behind, reminded Lux of a few more things, then strode out in a great hurry, even closing the door behind him.

Once she was sure he'd left, Lux finally flopped onto the bed, buried herself under the covers, and laughed out loud.

Although she'd been in a bad mood lately, watching that little performance had made her feel much better.

"Karya, Karya, you should've seen the look on his face!"

"So eager to help! So kindhearted!"

"But I'm really unlucky to have a bastard like that for a great-uncle!"

"Though honestly, if I hadn't gone to see that place beforehand, I really might've been fooled!"

"Hehehe, he must have no idea that was the first area I visited. I checked it myself—there's been no frost there!"

"And he really took me for some noble young lady, teaching me a way to tell whether there'd been frost that doesn't work at all—digging up the roots! I can't believe he came up with that!"

"When I expose him in front of everyone, what's he going to do then?"

"..."

"..."

Lux seemed to want to release all her pent-up frustration at once. Clutching her sword, she rolled around on the bed.

Only after she'd laughed her fill did Karya finally speak, unhurriedly.

"Do you really think he's stupid? Or do you really think he didn't prepare anything else?"

"What do you mean?" Karya's tone left Lux uncertain. She blinked, puzzled. "Isn't he stupid? He came right to my door, picked a place that hadn't been hit by frost, and tried to fool me with a fake way of checking—"

"He chose that spot because it's closest to the main road and easiest to reach," Karya chuckled. "And although you saw that it hadn't been hit by frost before, that doesn't mean it hasn't been hit now!"

"It hasn't gotten much colder these past few days, has it?" Lux blinked. "There was no frost before, so there won't be any now."

"The weather hasn't gotten colder, but what about people?" Karya's voice was colder than ice. "Now, blow out the candle."

Lux did as he said and blew out the candle.

"There's no candle in the room, so naturally there's no light." Karya's voice was utterly calm, like an unfathomably deep spring. "But... is that really true?"

Lux instinctively wanted to say that of course it was.

But the next moment, she thought of herself, and the whole world seemed to turn to ice around her.