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She asked for it?

When did she ever ask for this?

Had she casually arranged it without thinking while she was in a bad mood?

But… the times she’d seen the beastfolk before had all been on the front lines, right? She’d never paid them any attention.

“That’s complete nonsense! When did I ever say that?”

Alice was displeased. She waved a hand and glared.

Alice still held a grudge against the beastfolk over what had happened before. If she weren’t considering the reality of the situation, she’d never reconcile with them—not even if it meant fighting to the death.

If they were going to act like this, Alice had no reason to show them any courtesy.

Her hands tightened around the sword hilt, ready to draw.

Steel flashed, and blood would spill in every direction in an instant.

“I’m telling the truth. Those were the exact instructions I received.”

The beastfolk envoy began to panic. Before he came here, Mu'er Aotiliya had specifically ordered him not to cause trouble. Otherwise, he’d face a punishment hundreds of times more painful than having the fur plucked from his tail!

Hundreds of times more painful than having your fur plucked…

Just hearing about that punishment made your hair stand on end.

With swords at his throat and unsure what to do, Lin Ge suddenly arrived.

The moment he saw the pitch-black produce, his eyes lit up.

Without a word, before either of them could react, he slipped between them and excitedly scooped up the black produce in both arms.

“Thank goodness, they finally arrived. You’ve worked hard.”

He patted the beastfolk envoy on the shoulder, beaming. As he sent him on his way, he also told him to let Mu know he was very pleased with the delivery.

The beastfolk envoy nodded quickly. At last, he was free to leave. There was no way he wanted to stay in such a dangerous place any longer.

But then Alice blew up…

“You bastard! You’re the one who specifically asked for all this?”

“Who else would it be? I’ll have you know, I had to ask Xiao Mu over and over before she finally agreed. Honestly, she’s so stingy. I only asked her for a few hundred pounds of potatoes and sweet potatoes. Anyone who didn’t know better would think I’d asked for everything she owned.”

Lin Ge rambled on without pause.

It was as if he hadn’t even noticed the indescribable fury on Alice’s face… He was completely lost in his own world.

That was the last straw for Alice.

“Y-you… You really are something else! Just look at what you’ve done!!!”

You can’t keep a lid on things forever.

The anger she’d been holding back for so long finally found its spark. Alice unleashed all her pent-up frustration at Lin Ge in one go:

“Why would you waste such an important chance to demand compensation on something this useless? Do you have any idea how much we could do with that money? Buy food, rebuild the army… All of it takes money! We need money! And you actually dare to… How long are you going to keep getting in my way before you’re satisfied?!”

She said it all in one breath, without even pausing to breathe.

Pointing at Lin Ge, Alice let loose a furious tirade, not caring who was watching. She even knocked the black potatoes and sweet potatoes off the cart and onto the ground…

Yet Lin Ge remained completely unmoved.

Still wearing the same smile as before, he crouched down, picked up every potato and sweet potato that had rolled onto the ground, put them into baskets, and carried them back to the cart.

His expression was enough to make anyone wonder if he even had the capacity to get angry.

Fuming, Alice could only click her tongue and storm back to the lord’s manor.

“Lady Alice, regarding how we should distribute the compensation sent by the beastfolk to each household… Lady Alice, what’s wrong?”

On her way back to the lord’s manor, she passed Rosetti, who was checking some documents.

Alice didn’t answer Rosetti. She simply waved a hand and shouted:

“Ask him!”

“Him?”

Rosetti raised an eyebrow.

Then Rosetti went over to Lin Ge, who was checking the potatoes and sweet potatoes that had been delivered.

With a helpless look, she said:

“You… What did you do this time to make Lady Rosetti angry?”

“I’m innocent! I really didn’t do anything this time. I swear it on my life, wi—”

“Hm?!”

“…R-Rosetti…”

Rosetti fixed him with a fierce, icy glare. Lin Ge got the message, stuck out his tongue, and didn’t dare tease her any further.

Something like that was better saved for when they were alone.

After all, Rosetti was the kind of girl with a gap moe side to her!

“You bastard. What awful thing are you thinking about now…?”

She’d gotten to know Lin Ge well enough that one look at his smile was almost enough to tell what kind of awful thing he was thinking about.

Rosetti’s cheeks turned faintly red as she gave his waist a coy pinch.

She cleared her throat, composed herself, and said:

“Tell me what happened just now.”

“Well, here’s what happened…”

Scratching the back of his head, Lin Ge explained what had happened from beginning to end in as few words as possible.

And then…

“Honestly, you’re unbelievable. This is all your fault!”

Rosetti raised her staff and bonked Lin Ge with it. She was furious—she should’ve known it would turn out like this.

“Uh, I just forgot to explain, that’s all. I didn’t do it on purpose.” Lin Ge gave her an innocent smile.

“You didn’t do it on purpose?” Rosetti raised an eyebrow, not looking the least bit convinced. “Are you sure?”

“Uh…”

Under her stare, Lin Ge started to feel uneasy. He looked away, cleared his throat, then clapped his hands and called out:

“All right, all right! Let’s hurry up and unload the goods. I’m swamped, I’m swamped!”

He kept saying he was swamped, but whenever he helped move things, he always picked the lightest cargo and left all the heavy stuff to everyone else.

Watching Lin Ge find a chance to slack off no matter the situation, Rosetti could only shake her head helplessly and sigh to herself:

“Am I blind? What’s so great about this man? Why did I fall for him?”

Rosetti looked utterly troubled. There probably wasn’t anyone who could answer that question for her.

…

…

Night fell. It was late.

Yet the lord’s office was still brightly lit.

Her silver hair, which reached her waist, was tied into a single braid and draped over her right shoulder. The pen in her hand scratched across the paper as she wrote and sketched, crossing things out and making revisions again and again.

Beneath the flawless full moon in the silent night sky, the girl seemed like an unshakable tower—noble and sacred.

Anyone who saw her couldn’t help but be captivated.

And yet, this very girl had a face full of worry…

“Still no good…”

Her pen stopped. Her eyes lowered, and she let out a heavy sigh.

She’d considered and tested the ideas over and over, drawing up dozens of plans based on the public opinion surveys she’d received that day. But not one of them was workable…

And the infuriating part was that every single plan failed for the exact same reason.

No money…

The reason was simple, plain, and easy to understand: they just didn’t have any money.

Whatever reforms she wanted to implement, the lack of funds would stop her before she could begin.

The assets left behind after Carnegie and his gang died were available for her to use, but they were still a drop in the bucket. Even adding Alice’s personal savings wouldn’t be enough.

Faced with this situation, all she could do was collect taxes from the people or borrow from another territory…

Collect taxes from the people? That was out of the question. Doing so would only speed up the territory’s collapse.

Then what about borrowing from another territory?

Ha. If there really was anyone willing to lend her money, she’d love to see what they looked like.

With no guarantee whatsoever, who’d lend you money for no reason?

If anyone was willing to lend her money, there was only one place left to turn…

“Count DeWitt… Mm, I really don’t want to ask that man for help.”