Chapter 1: Slave Merchant VS Lady Reite-sama!!!!
During teatime after breakfast.
“—Reite-Hungaria commands you! Servants, bring me a newspaper!”
[Yes, Reite-ojousama~~~~~!!!]
With a single command, dozens of servants came running, each carrying a newspaper.
N-no, I don’t need that many~
“One is enough, so go back…”
[Yes~!!!]
I took one newspaper from a random servant and sent them all away.
Even the gardener came rushing over—you people should do your jobs.
“Honestly, just how much do they want to fawn over me? Well, more importantly than that…”
While drinking black tea, I spread out the [Strain Kingdom Newspaper].
This is the only newspaper permitted to be published in this country. It arrives here in this [Hungaria Border Territory] half a month late from the royal capital. So slow.
“Now then, first let me check the four-panel comic [Oho-chan]… wait, what’s this headline? Eh… EH!?”
“The Second Prince started a revolution and killed the First Prince and the King”!?
“And then the Second Prince became the new king…!? Wha…?”
What is this article!? S-some shocking information just suddenly appeared!?
“Ah, what’s this?”
“According to the new government’s announcement, the First Prince and former King were extremely evil people who were secretly lining their own pockets”?
“…Is that seriously true?”
I’ve never heard any bad rumors about His Majesty the King and such.
Hmm… it clearly seems like fabrication to justify the revolution, but if I dig too deep into it, that’ll be the end of me.
“Things are going to get rough from now on. I absolutely refuse to get caught up in political strife.”
This Reite-sama is extremely evil, you see. I love tormenting weak commoners, but I hate serious duels with powerful authority figures.
When that happens, I’ll use the territory’s people as shields to protect my life.
“I bet nobles supporting the Second Prince will ostentatiously attack nobles who supported the dead king and usurp their territories.”
Well, I think Hungaria Territory should be safe on that front.
We don’t belong to any faction, and as a margrave, we have the job of suppressing monsters that come from the [Uncharted Territory].
The land itself is quite vast, but if someone took over our territory, they’d have to deal with monster suppression, so unless we do something really stupid, we probably won’t be attacked.
“Hmm, I should issue a warning to the people not to go to the royal capital for a while. It’s probably chaotic over there right now, and it would be troublesome if they got caught up in incidents and created problems.”
Haah~ The Second Prince really did something troublesome with this revolution.
Eventually an envoy from the royal castle will probably come asking, “Will you serve the new king?” I should stay quiet until then. I don’t want to die.
“…The murdered First Prince was also unfortunate. I believe he was still only eighteen years old.”
I know his face, at least. He was supposed to be an incredibly handsome man with black hair and golden eyes.
Despite being a prince, he was apparently quite skilled in martial arts and often won sword tournaments in the royal capital.
Because of that, realistic paintings of him holding trophies were frequently published in newspapers, but…
“His features are well-arranged, but he always had such a stern expression… How is that supposed to work as a future ruler?”
As a result, he earned the nickname [Ice Prince]. I think there was probably some sarcasm mixed in.
Well, he may have been such an unlikable man, but suddenly having a revolution started against him and being killed by his younger brother is just too pitiful.
I’ll pray for his soul. Just as I, even I, was feeling pity for the dead prince,
the bespectacled butler who poked his face through the door called out, “Ojousama.”
“What is it? I won’t grant your request to be stepped on, you know?”
“That’s not… well, that’s not it. A merchant has come saying he absolutely wants to meet with ojousama.”
“A merchant?”
The butler nodded. After he said, “He apparently came from the royal capital,” he let a feeling of disgust show in his eyes behind his glasses.
“…He’s apparently a slave merchant. Moreover, he seems to be an unscrupulous merchant who deals with many injured and sick people.”
“Oh ho.”
Here my extremely evil brain started spinning.
I had just been thinking, “Revolution is scary~”
After all, I’m an extremely evil female lord. There are probably many commoners who bear grudges against me. Even the ones who act subservient are only being obedient because they want money.
That’s precisely why I wanted slaves who would absolutely obey this Reite-sama…!
“Very well, tell that slave merchant to bring all his merchandise and come to the guest room.”
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Guest Room.
“──Heeey, thanks for seein’ me even though I didn’t make an appointment!”
The so-called slave trader turned out to be a young man with a shady, frivolous vibe.
His long bangs completely covered his eyes, making his head look like a Kinoko cap. …Seriously though, can he actually see where he’s going like that?
And behind him were—
[Uuugh…]
—slaves radiating the aura of the walking dead.
Most of them were wrapped entirely in bandages, barely able to stand.
“Alright then, why don’t we start with introductions?”
Completely unconcerned about the pitiful state of the slaves, the man gave a polite bow.
“The name’s Knox Reinhart, humble slave trader at your service. I look forward to doin’ business with ya.”
“I’m Reite-Hungaria. Pleased to meet you, um… Kinoko-kun.”
“…That ain’t even close to my name.”
Eeeeh, so whiny. Who cares about your name, just get on with the business already.
“Well then, let’s talk shop. What I’ve brought today is, as you can see, about thirty male slaves.”
“I’ll take them all.”
“They’re basically a bunch of ragged, injured deserters, so maybe yer ladyship can use ‘em for torture practice or somethi—wait, huh!?”
What’s with that stunned look, Kinoko-kun? Hurry up and hand over the contract papers already.
“W-wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Even if they’re injured slaves, buying them all at once is gonna cost a lot, ya know!? And, not to mention, though it’s weird comin’ from me, some of these guys are practically on death’s door…”
“Yes, I can see that. Especially the black-haired one on the far left. He’s covered head to toe in burns and pus-filled wounds. He’ll probably die tomorrow. Septicemia with multi-organ failure.”
“!?”
Oh please, I didn’t even need to explain that. The fearsome villainess, Lady Reite, just knows these things.
“You can see it…!? Don’t tell me, that’s a [Gift]!?”
That’s right. Among those of noble blood, there are rare individuals who awaken special abilities known as Gifts.
And of course, the beautiful and brilliant Lady Reite, beloved by the gods themselves, is one of those rare Gifted. Fufuun.
“My Gift is called [Queen’s Mirror Eye]. It lets me see how weak someone is… and where their weaknesses lie.”
Ufufufu. The perfect power for a supreme villainess, isn’t it?
Being able to spot the frail and torment them further— Ohhh, that’s downright evil! Uhi-hi-hi-hi!
“So that’s why you’ll leave all of these injured slaves here and go.”
“Wait, wait, wait, hold up! If you can pinpoint the ones who are about to die, wouldn’t it make more sense to just not buy those ones—”
“Silence, Kinoko-kun. Do you honestly think this Lady Reite would stoop to something so petty?”
For a noble, bulk buying is the only option!
Who cares about the other buyers? I’ll just spend the money my domain’s peasants earned and buy them all in one go!
Ahhh, so wicked! So gloriously wicked!
“Well? Are you selling or not? Which is it?”
I asked, and Kinoko-kun made a strange face before finally saying,
“…Fine, I’ll sell ‘em all. The rumors about Lady Reite… they were true, huh.”
Oh my, oh my.
It seems even the merchants in the royal capital have heard of my infamy.
Oooooo-hohohohohohohohoho!
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