Level 99 Villainous Daughter

Chapter 1

VOL . 2 CHAPTER 01: THE FUTURE

About a year after the Demon King’s resurrection’s commotion, I graduated from the Royal Academy and was able to focus on my work as a Lord .

I succeeded the title Countess when I was still studying at school, and the reforms that required lordship approval are already progressing . Most of it was left to Damon and he has began to work on the road maintenance and other projects that hadn’t been done before .

But that is a common practice in every territory . Right now, if we don’t develop Dolknes’ territory a distinctive feature, it will gradually decline .

「 Even now, they are growing wheat in most parts of the territory, right? How about switching to commodity crops like cotton? 」

「Cotton is a specialty from the neighbouring territory, Cottnes . Their other crops include tea leaves and fruits, but either of these will take time to stabilize . 」

「It doesn’t have to work right away, but… 」

I’m planning and discussing with Damon on how to improve the territory and move forward .

The Dolknes territory has no specialties and no other resources that could be put to good use . There is nothing but ordinary plains and mountains .

「You can’t always beat the existing suppliers by dabbling in that kind of thing either . 」

「That’s true . You can’t beat a traditional local specialty, especially when it comes to luxury products all because of the value added by the land . 」

What we’re talking about is the lack of brand power . I don’t have the know-how to grow crops and starting from scratch will be a tough road .

At first I thought I might be able to use my knowledge from my previous life, but it was difficult to do so . To begin with, this world is in a medieval European style, but the standard of living is quite high . There is a steady supply of sugar and spices and their food culture is advanced .

「I wish there was something that we could do that isn’t being done in every territory… 」

「I’m sure Lady Yumiela, who is capable of coming up with new ideas, will have a better one . 」

Damon looked at me expectantly but I can’t think of anything . It also feels like I’ve been called insane without saying the word . Am I being paranoid?

Hmmm . My skills, something only I can do… maybe something that is combat related .

「How about attracting people to the dungeon like Barias? 」

「Dungeons… I’m not an expert, but I have a feeling that dungeons with dark attribute have a high level of danger, don’t they? 」

「Oh, that’s correct . It’s a disadvantageous attribute for most people . 」

No dungeons, huh? My other skill… leveling up?

「Maybe raising the soldiers’ level to make them a mercenary army? Oh, I knew that was a bad idea . 」

「Really? I’m sure it would work if Lady Yumiela is in charge . 」

It’s no good because it seems like it will work too well . They’ve been wary about me even without armed force, even more so if I have an army .

「Hmmm, I’ll have to ask Patrick about that . 」

「 Mister Patrick came from a frontier Count house and might have an idea . Which brings me to a different question, I don’t know if I should call Mister Patrick “Master” or “Mister”— 」

I left the office in a hurry as the conversation was getting shady . Neither of them yet!

◆

Patrick has never returned to his parents’ home since graduating from the academy . I told him to leave but he wouldn’t listen to me because he was concerned about the Dolknes territory . I thought it would be nice to exchange letters .

I roamed around the mansion to find Patrick . He’s usually in the office with me to help with the paperwork…

Wandering down the hallway, I found Patrick chatting with the servants .

「Patrick, I need to talk… 」

The servants, who noticed me as I called out to him, hurriedly bowed and went back to their work . You don’t have to run away so obviously… it hurts me too .

「Hey, they’ll need some time to get to know you . 」

I’m not that happy to be comforted by him who’s getting along with them .

「This is my house, right? I think Patrick is more familiar with it . 」

「Because eventually, it’s going to be my home too . It’s not a bad thing . 」

「Y-yeah . 」

When I said a sarcastic half-word, he returned it unexpectedly . I don’t know whether he’s being natural or, come to think of it, if he’s expecting me to be more mature .

「So what did you want to talk with me about? Are we going to talk in the office? 」

「Umm… not in the office but in my room . 」

Damon must still be in the office . I can’t come back there or else he’s going to talk about it with Patrick .

「Okay, what’s up? It’s time to talk . 」

Oh, apparently Patrick had a viable plan for territorial reform .

We moved to my room and I quickly got right to the point .

「So, about the future… 」

「Yeah, we should talk about the future . I’ve been trying to talk to you about it for a while now, but you’ve been deflecting it . 」

Is that so? It was true that I entrusted Damon with the territory, but it was difficult to do many things while in school . And I’m sure he never told me about how to run the territory .

「I thought about it a lot, but I couldn’t come up with a good idea, so what do you think, Patrick? 」

「Since we came from a noble house, you have to visit my parents’ house first . 」

「Do I have to go? 」

「That’s the way it is . Since you’re not only the one who brought it up but also you are the head of family . 」

Will we be working together with the Ashbaton house? There shouldn’t be much that they can do though, since we are so far away from their territory .

「And then what? 」

「Then we need to pick a date for the ceremony and make the guest list… 」

「Ceremony? Guests? 」

「I know you won’t be too thrilled about it, but the ceremony has to happen . Oh, we need to work on the dress too . Do you have any designs in mind? 」

The dress? I don’t really want to wear a dress because it restricts my movement . Since I can no longer wear the school’s uniform, I’m still wearing something that resembles a uniform .

It would seem like a mix between the school uniform and a knight’s uniform . It was custom made and it was cheaper than the dresses out there .

「Do we need a dress? I was considering cotton and mercenaries . 」

「Eh? 」

「Damon and I were talking about how commodity crops might not be a profitable idea . And I’m not going to touch any mercenary business . 」

「Haa? 」

Patrick gives me a look of confusion . I’m unclear on his territorial reform plan too, so I’d like to see him elaborate on it .

「…What are you talking about? 」

「I was talking about the future territory management from the start? 」

「The territory’s future, huh? 」

Patrick said, emphasizing the ”future” part .

「So, what are we going to do once we get to Ashbaton territory? 」

「Before that, why did you bring me into your room instead of the office? 」

That’s because… Damon has been asking me whether he’s going to refer Patrick as the master of the house or my husband . It’s been over a year since we shared our feelings with each other, but our relationship has not progressed at all .

I mean, have I ever verbally expressed my love for him?

「I mean, you know, we are a thing, aren’t we? So it’s normal to invite you to my private quarters . 」

Once again, I’m embarrassed to say it and I’m slurring my words . What is it? What thing?

「Huh? 」

It’s strange to say that we are… a couple . Is it because we are both nobles? What’s that aristocratic way of saying it… fiancé? Lover? Which would be less embarrassing to say?

「Lovers… fiancé? 」

My voice became much quieter . But it seems that he understood the message .

「Fiancé？ We’re not engaged yet . 」

「…Eh . 」

What does that mean? Does that mean I was rejected? Are you saying you don’t want to get married with me?

「Because the engagement happens between houses . The heads of the houses need to talk to each other . 」

「Oh… well, I’ll have to go meet him soon . 」

I was totally blindsided . Patrick should have told me sooner .

「…I’ve been talking about it for a while . 」

「What am I going to do, what if Patrick’s father is upset with me for greeting him late? 」

What should I say when we meet each other? Father-in-law, please give me your son… no, maybe not like this .

「I’m sure it’s okay . I’ve written to him and told him that you’ve just taken over the estate and it’s a mess . 」

It’s a relief, but I said fiancé on the spur of the moment .

「Hey, fiancé means we’re going to get married in the future, right?」

Why am I asking the obvious?

「Why are you asking for the obvious? 」

「I was wondering if Patrick was really okay with that . 」

I haven’t said or been asked to marry him . I’m sorry I keep fumbling around in embarrassment .

「Wow, you’re really… just close your eyes . 」

「Wh-what are you doing? 」

「I don’t want to get pushed away like before . 」

I closed my eyes as Patrick’s hand landed on my shoulders and pulls me towards him .

Like before? As I recall, it was on our second date that I pushed him away . At that moment, I was about to kiss Patrick but the closeness of our faces caused me to freeze . When I couldn’t comprehend it, I pushed him away .

Here’s what I figured out, I was fine with it as long as he couldn’t see my face . In hindsight, the first time we kissed was in a dark place .

「L-let me just go check t-the garden for a minute! 」

My face must have turned bright red as I jumped out of the window and into the garden . Nope, I still wasn’t okay with it . What kind of nerves do the lovers in this world have?

「Don’t jump from upstairs! And get used to it! 」

I made up my mind as I heard his voice in the background . For now, let’s go to Patrick’s parents’ house .

The territorial reform stuff will have to wait . If we can’t do anything else, we’ll build the most powerful army in the world or whatever it is .