Crown Guard Princess Arrives

Three days later, Lux, having regained her noble demeanor, finally arrived in Silvermine City amidst much anticipation.

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

Lux smiled and rejected the speech prepared by the organizers, delivering a brilliant "impromptu" speech that earned her thunderous applause.

During the banquet, amidst the clinking of glasses, Lux, though only twelve years old and barely reaching the shoulders or chests of most guests, captivated everyone with her elegance, becoming the center of attention.

No one knew that behind Lux's proper and confident smile lay an unshakeable sorrow—she couldn't comfortably enjoy anything at the banquet; many things made her feel uneasy.

Fortunately, through Karya's training, she had gradually grown accustomed to this feeling of pretense.

Lux disliked pretense, disliked lying.

But now, she had discovered many things far worse than lying—therefore, she was visibly and rapidly developing in Karya's direction.

Not lying, but selectively speaking the truth, and occasionally speaking nonsense.

And between these selective truths and nonsense, Lux and Karya had gathered a large amount of information.

From their attire to their speech and mannerisms, as long as Lux was willing to observe, she could always find the information she desired—normally, to maintain etiquette, no one would stare intently at someone at a banquet or stand around lost in thought, but with Karya's help, Lux could analyze a vast amount of usable information from an utterly ordinary banquet!

Even by noble standards, Lux still held an overwhelming advantage!

When the banquet ended and Lux returned to her lodgings, she and Karya had already analyzed a significant amount of intelligence.

In terms of dress, many nobles had mismatched elements—their conspicuous accessories like brooches and necklaces were very expensive, but in details that ordinary people wouldn't notice (like bootlaces or the chains on their ceremonial armor), they were not as lavish.

Dyed silk laces or gold-plated armor chains weren't outright rude, but they still showed a clear disparity with the level of their other accessories.

However, the items used in these details were not actually that expensive and could often be passed down, remaining timeless. Therefore, these nobles were likely individuals who had suddenly acquired wealth.

Such nouveau riche were common at any banquet, but there were exceptionally many today.

Clearly, many people had recently struck it rich.

And considering that noble jewelry and accessories often required the engraving of family crests, their production cycles were also quite long.

Thus, the time of their newfound wealth would have to be pushed back one or two years...

Excellent, this point also aligned.

Furthermore, although Lux had been frequently interacting with various people, normally, after a brief chat with Lux, everyone should seize the opportunity to converse with others.

Banquets were, after all, social occasions for the nobility.

However, among the nobles bustling about like butterflies, there were two individuals who were silently watching Lux.

One was an elderly man. Although he was also exchanging pleasantries, he mostly seemed to be passively receiving greetings, his main attention fixed on Lux, as if scrutinizing her every move.

The other was a handsome middle-aged man. He politely but distantly engaged with the noble ladies who approached him, all while keeping an eye on Lux. He didn't even shift his gaze when Lux left, seemingly trying to ascertain where Lux was staying.

This was very interesting.

As a small test, Karya separately described the situations of the two individuals to Lux and asked her to identify their identities—which one was the real decision-maker, and whose attitude was still unclear.

After a moment's thought, Lux quickly reached the correct conclusion.

The old man was the decision-maker; the middle-aged man was staring at her for some unknown reason.

"Judging by their demeanor, you might be busy again tonight," Karya chuckled. "Look at how impatient they are; they'll probably come for a late-night visit."

"That would be fine too," Lux smiled slightly. "I've been resting well these past few days, so it's no trouble to chat with the elder for a while tonight."

Karya's guess was spot on. As soon as Lux finished tidying up, a knock sounded at the door.

"Little Lux, are you resting?" a voice inquired, warm yet firm. "I am Codora, do you remember me?"

"It's Uncle Grandfather!" Lux quickly matched him with the old man who had been staring at her. "Not yet..."

"Do you have time to discuss disaster relief with Uncle Grandfather?" the other party's tone was quite serious, as if solely dedicated to public service. "You're finally here; the frost in Silvermine City is too severe. Merely remitting taxes is not enough to reassure the residents of the territory!"

"Ah, of course, I have time!" Lux, as instructed by Karya, put on a flustered act. "Coming, coming."

Opening the door, Lux saw a stern-faced Codora holding a rolled-up map.

Then, amidst Lux's "helplessness," Codora kept the door open and strode into Lux's room, unrolling the map onto the table.

"Those brats still have the mood for a banquet... Sigh, Lux, you have no idea, the frost here is getting worse every year!"

"Uncle Grandfather Codora—"

"Call me Codora. You represent the main family, and in Silvermine City, you are the matriarch!" Codora waved his hand. "Alright, Lux, let's not talk about that. I'll explain the frost problem of the past few years in detail..."

Next, Codora, using the map, spoke at length to Lux for nearly an hour. In his account, Silvermine City had been plagued by bad luck in recent years, with everything going wrong, especially severe blows to agricultural production.

The survival rate of winter wheat even fell below thirty percent!

Clearly, the old man had observed and understood Lux meticulously. Judging from Lux's adherence to etiquette, he deduced that she greatly valued propriety. Thus, from the outset, he proactively seized control of the conversation, presenting himself as a seemingly impolite but extremely enthusiastic figure.

This tactic of preemptive strike was very effective against noble ladies who strictly adhered to etiquette; disrupting their usual interaction patterns allowed him to dictate the pace entirely.

And under Karya's guidance, Lux perfectly displayed a sense of being overwhelmed by the other party's unconventional approach.

Underneath her exquisite acting, Codora believed he had completely fooled this young girl from the Imperial Capital.

In the specifics of their conversation, Codora interspersed a large amount of agricultural knowledge and terminology, deliberately increasing his speaking speed, intending to overwhelm Lux with information and make her lose her judgment.

And Lux's subsequent performance perfectly met his expectations. The anxiety, as if everything was beyond her control, and her repeated questions of "why," made Codora inwardly ecstatic!

Hahaha, just like this—what would a young lady who's never been to a farm know about frost?

Soon, Codora's true intentions were revealed. Under Lux's "helpless questioning," he began to proactively plan the location for her field inspection.

"This place would be best," Codora casually took out a pen and drew a circle on the map. "The disaster here is very representative..."

"Is that so—" Lux blinked, putting on a show of wanting to persist a little longer. "But I'm not ready yet!"

"What's there to prepare? Just change into hunting attire and go into the fields to see—whether the Komugi has suffered from frost, dig out the roots, and you can tell by touching them!" The old man seemed very anxious. "Once the situation is confirmed, we can quickly start disaster relief!"

"Oh, oh, yes!" Lux seemed to be completely led by him. "Disaster relief is the priority!"

Having received the answer he wanted, Codora finally nodded. He left the map, reiterated a few more instructions to Lux, and then bustled out, closing the door behind him as he left.

Once she confirmed he was gone, Lux couldn't help but throw herself onto the bed, completely covering herself with the blanket, and burst out laughing.

Although she hadn't been in good spirits lately, she felt much more relaxed after watching that clown's performance.

"Karya, Karya, look at him!"

"So public-spirited, so warm-hearted!"

"But, I'm really unlucky to have this scoundrel as a great-uncle!"

"But honestly, if I hadn't gone to that place beforehand, I might have actually been fooled by him!"

"Hmph, hmph, hmph, he definitely doesn't know that I went to that area first. I personally confirmed that it wasn't affected by frost!"

"He really took me for some noble lady, teaching me a method that doesn't even determine if it's frost—digging up roots, how could he even think of that!"

"I'll expose this in front of everyone then, let's see what he does!"

"..."

"..."

Lux seemed to want to vent all her recent negative emotions at once, rolling around on the bed while hugging her dress sword.

It wasn't until she had laughed enough that Karya slowly spoke.

"Do you really think he's stupid? Or rather, do you really think he hasn't made further preparations?"

"What do you mean?" Karya's tone made Lux uneasy. She blinked, looking puzzled. "Isn't he stupid? He came to me willingly, chose a place not affected by frost, and hoped to deceive me with a fake method of determination—"

"He chose that place because it's closest to the main road, making it the most convenient to get to," Karya chuckled. "Besides, you didn't see any disaster there before, but that might not be the case now!"

"There hasn't been a sharp temperature drop these past few days, has there?" Lux blinked. "If there was no frost before, there won't be any now."

"The weather hasn't dropped, but what about people?" Karya's voice was chillingly cold. "Now, blow out the candle."

Lux did as she was told and blew out the candle.

"There's no candle in the room, so naturally there's no light," Karya's voice was incredibly calm, like a bottomless, deep spring. "But... is that true?"

Lux instinctively wanted to say, of course.

But the next moment, she thought of herself and instantly felt as if she had fallen into an ice cellar.