When Roland woke up in the morning, it was not Tilly who was serving him, but an elderly maid.
Stepping out of the bedroom, Chief Knight Carter was waiting for him outside the door.
“Your Highness, I have some unfortunate news to tell you,” he said in a deep voice, “Your head maid died last night.”
“What?” Roland’s eyelids twitched. Although he had known this was the outcome, he still felt somewhat uncomfortable. After all, this person had died because of him.
“She fell from the balcony of her room. There were no signs of a struggle at the scene, and the guards did not see anyone entering or leaving. So… it should have been an accidental fall. It was an accident.”
The knight reported the results of the investigation, while looking at Roland with a strange expression. Roland, of course, knew what he was thinking. In Graycastle, it was well known that the Fourth Prince had repeatedly tried to force himself on Tilly. In this era, it was perfectly normal for princes and their maids to fashengguanxi. There were few entertainment activities, and hardly any nightlife. With nothing to do after eating their fill, they would naturally think about creating offspring. Not only did they create their own, but princes and upper-class nobles would also exchange women, and even gather together for creation parties. So, the inner circle was truly chaotic, not just a simple jest.
The Fourth Prince was already considered relatively restrained in this regard. After Roland took over, he had not even touched a woman – except for Tilly, the other maids could be described as wretched. Plus, he had to face the Months of Demons after transmigrating, his mind was almost entirely filled with planting plans, and he had no time to enjoy the romantic noble life.
“What a pity,” Roland said, putting on a regretful look, “Leave Tilly's funeral arrangements to the elderly maid who served me this morning. She will be the new head maid.”
Carter nodded and left after giving a salute.
As soon as Roland stepped into the office, he saw Nightingale sitting on the mahogany table.
“Did you find anything out?”
“Nothing. She zisha as soon as she saw me,” she said in a frustrated tone. “It was too fast, without even the slightest hesitation.”
“You couldn’t even restrain her?” Roland walked around her and sat back in his chair.
“I tied her up,” Nightingale leaned closer, propping herself up with her arm. “Who knew she had poison hidden in her teeth? I had to fake an accidental fall.”
“I thought you were experienced. How dare you accept a reward like this?”
“Hey, don’t say that. Although I didn’t get anything out of her mouth, it doesn’t mean I got nothing at all,” Nightingale chuckled and placed a folded piece of paper in front of Roland. “Found it in her room.”
Roland unfolded the paper. It was a letter from home, in which the sender called Tilly "sister." The content was just ordinary small talk. However, he noticed that the sender mentioned the sea many times, such as how beautiful the scenery was by the sea, and how she loved to sit on the beach and watch the sunset. At the end of the letter, she asked when her sister would be back, saying she missed her very much. Thinking of the territories of his siblings, Roland said uncertainly, “The Third Princess of Clearwater Port?”
“That’s probably the case. Your two brothers can’t see the sea. According to my deduction, Third Princess Garcia Wimbledon is holding her sister hostage, using her as a hidden chess piece. Judging from her decisive zisha, it’s unlikely to be a random arrangement. In other words, she had at least two to three years of relevant training before being placed by your side.”
Roland sighed softly. As expected, the battle for the throne wouldn’t end so easily. Even if he didn’t fight, it didn’t mean he was out of it. For the sake of the throne, his siblings had no scruples. Similar things would probably happen again in the future.
“Ah, someone’s coming. I’ll take my leave, Your Highness.”
Nightingale blew a provocative breath towards Roland and then disappeared into thin air in an instant.
Even though it wasn’t the first time he had seen it, doing something like this in broad daylight still startled Roland. He hesitated for a moment and tentatively reached out his finger towards the empty edge of the desk. Halfway there, his finger was intercepted by a soft hand. “Your Highness, doing this will make Anna sad.”
Okay, so her ability is invisibility, not disappearance, Roland thought, otherwise it would be too terrifying.
There was a knock at the door. “Your Highness, it’s Barov.”
Roland retracted his finger and put on a blank expression. “Come in.”
The Minister’s Assistant walked into the office with a large bundle of documents. Before he had even warmed his seat, he began to report on the political affairs of the past week. Roland also put aside his thoughts and listened attentively to his account. After more than a month of being immersed in it, he found that he could keep up with the other party's pace, instead of being dizzy and completely clueless as he was at the beginning.
In general, the financial situation of Border Town had improved to some extent, mainly due to the sale of ore and rough gemstones to Willow Town, which had earned nearly two hundred gold royals. After using this money to buy food and pay wages, there were still ninety remaining.
Barov was also in high spirits. With extra money in hand, it wouldn’t be too difficult to get through the winter.
However, Roland was destined not to let him idle. “I want to select a group of people from the subjects to fight against the demon beasts. They must be gathered together to receive training from now on. My Chief Knight will be the instructor, and I will explain the specific situation to him. You need to make a purchase plan. These people must have sturdy leather armor and a long spear, as well as two sets of winter clothes that can be changed.”
“Your Highness, isn’t it customary to temporarily conscript the subjects to fight?”
“A team that goes to the battlefield without training is just a rabble. Do you think they can scare away the demon beasts just by having a lot of people? They will only cause more trouble when they collapse.”
“Are you really planning to defend Border Town to the death?” Barov asked hesitantly.
“If we really can’t defend it, we will of course retreat, but I don’t think we can’t even deal with a few mutated beasts.”
“If we do it according to your plan, we will have to spend even more money.”
Roland was amused by the other party’s stingy appearance. “These are all necessary expenses. Go and do it.”
He himself still had more than three hundred gold royals in his treasury, mainly used to pay for the construction of the city walls. He also paid out of his own pocket for the materials and parts needed to order the steam engine from the blacksmith shop. The first one cost nearly twenty gold royals, and he needed at least three more.
It is true that the steam engine drove the First Industrial Revolution, but that doesn’t mean that the steam engine is equal to the Industrial Revolution. Historically, England developed to the point where it desperately needed a new power source to replace humans and livestock to meet the needs of mining production. After Watt improved the steam engine, he immediately received a large number of orders, and this new power source was popularized to various industries in a very short period of time.
Border Town at this time had no foundation for the Industrial Revolution at all, and it could even be said that there was no industry at all. Therefore, Roland did not expect to earn his first pot of gold by selling steam engines. He just wanted to invest this machine in the North Slope Mine to use it for pulling ore and crushing rocks. After the mine output increased, he would then expand the scale of steam engine use, which was equivalent to promoting industrial development from top to bottom.