Brainwashing the Revolutionary in a Romance Fantasy (4)
Brainwashing the Revolutionary in a Romance Fantasy (4)
Flora hated Baron Kreutz.
That was because Baron Kreutz was a devil who mercilessly squeezed blood-like food from the poor people of the Kreuz Barony.
All the taxes he extorted were spent on the Baron's lavish displays to curry favor with the Emperor and the high nobility.
'How can a so-called noble live in luxury on the blood and sweat of his own people while they starve to death... is that something a human being would do?'
Quite a few of the Barony's residents had once joined her cause, risking their lives to start a revolution.
Even those who refused to participate out of fear didn't rat her out to the Baron's vassals, knowing it would be dangerous for them if they didn't report her.
Because they all sympathized with her intentions, at least to some extent.
"In just one month, why have people... why have they changed their minds so much...? It's not like Baron Kreutz's crimes have disappeared."
Tears fell from Flora's eyes—ttuk ttuk.
They were tears full of resentment, indignation, and sorrow.
If she had the nerve, she would have liked to ask one of those people directly...
But she was now a traitor who had attempted rebellion against the lord, and a woman who had led several villagers to their deaths.
She didn't have the courage to grab those people and speak to them.
Unable to satisfy her curiosity, Flora kept denying reality.
"That bastard Kreutz, that greedy bastard only thinks about his own profit, he's a bad person... There's no way people can be happy under someone like him... No, they shouldn't be happy... So why? Why in the world?"
She pinched her cheek hard.
Because she wished it were a dream.
But when she pinched her cheek, it hurt.
'This isn't a dream...'
While Flora was turning away from the reality before her, a man cautiously approached.
"Are you not Flora yeong-ae?"
"Max ajeossi..."
Max had been unable to attend the meeting back when Flora was arrested because his child was sick.
Thanks to that, he had avoided being captured.
Feeling a slight relief at seeing him safe, Flora waved her hand to shoo him away.
"If you're caught talking to me, Max ajeossi might get into trouble too."
"There are no soldiers watching right now, so it should be fine for a little while."
Hearing that, Flora finally voiced the words that had been stuck in her throat—the question she couldn't bring herself to ask those people directly.
"Everyone looks so happy... why is that...? Even though Baron Kreutz has returned, he's still exploiting us for his own benefit, isn't he?"
Max sighed upon hearing that.
"We serfs doing corvée labor here for Baron Kreutz naturally don't trust that bastard either. People don't change their spots. But do you think we'd just believe it when he suddenly shows up one day saying he'll start managing his territory and take care of people like us?"
"Right, a man who spent his whole life in the capital sucking up to the Emperor with lavish spending would never take care of the common people... He must have some ulterior motive... So why are they smiling?"
Max listened to Flora's words and sighed again.
"But you see, even though we don't know what that ulterior motive is, we think we hope that bastard keeps doing this forever."
"Why is that?"
"Because thanks to that bastard, at least right now, we don't have to worry about starving to death."
Flora grabbed both of Max's shoulders and asked back in a trembling voice.
"But he's still a bad person... He's still a piece of—a piece of trash who only thinks about exploiting us."
Flora froze on the spot as if she had turned to stone upon hearing those words.
Her mouth hung open, and she couldn't say anything.
Because she remembered the words her parents—once noble children who didn't follow the imperial court's policies and took good care of their territory—had always said to her.
'Nobles have a duty not to let the people of their territory starve.'
"Baron Kreutz is making us work terribly hard right now. We're already not eating well, and it's late autumn so it feels like we're freezing to death, and the labor is making our bodies feel like they're turning to ice... but he does pay us properly for the work."
"Is he really giving you proper compensation?"
"Those who participate in digging irrigation canals and building reservoirs are given lunch and dinner. And even if it's not enough to feed our families to fullness, we're given wages so we won't starve."
"That... that can't be... that man..."
"Why would I lie to you, yeong-ae? Do you think I'd make up nonsense just because I like that baron bastard?"
Hearing that, Flora bit her lip in frustration.
What Baron Kreutz had said.
'The freedom you speak of cannot save the people.'
The fact that those words had been proven right through Max's mouth infuriated her.
Her eyes burned hot with indignation.
But she didn't want to cry in front of Max, who had once shared her ideals, so she struggled to hold back the tears.
It was the last shred of pride Flora tried to preserve.
"Thanks to him, I can at least give my family porridge every day now. Emilia, who was always bedridden, is getting better too. She'll be fine again soon."
"I'm glad you've found happiness... Really glad..."
"Thank you, yeong-ae. Though I couldn't stay with you until the end... I won't forget your kindness."
"Thank you for saying that."
With that, Flora waved her hand at Max.
As soon as Max was a bit farther away, tears fell from Flora's eyes.
"That bastard Baron Kreutz was right... That filthy bastard was right, and everything I argued for was wrong."
Once, Flora had thought that if she killed all the corrupt nobles and a new world came, everyone would no longer have to go hungry.
But even if she wiped out all those rotten bastards, she couldn't save the poor from poverty and starvation.
Because even if you cut out the rotten flesh, you don't have the skill to heal it.
On the other hand, Baron Kreutz was changing the lives of the people, little by little, starting from where his power could reach.
"You can't save people with mere ideals alone... Yes, that's true, but..."
Having said that, Flora looked at the peasants before her.
Until just now, she had only seen smiling faces, but when she listened to their words, she could hear things like this.
"We'll be able to get through this winter somehow. I hope it stays like this from now on."
"I don't know what kind of drug that Baron Kreutz got into, but whoever made him take it is a blessed man."
"If only next year is like this, I'd have no complaints..."
Flora hated the fact that the very people who had listened to her call to overthrow Baron Kreutz just a short while ago now looked positively upon him.
She didn't want to accept that the Baron she loathed was right, and she was wrong.
Overwhelmed with sorrow, she sat down on the spot and sobbed loudly.
Her convictions—which had kept her dignified and unafraid even when her life was in danger—had been proven wrong.
And because everything she had relied on until the end felt hollow...
Flora told Baron Kreutz that she would stay a little longer.
Because she now knew she was wrong, and she wanted to observe how Baron Kreutz would change their lives from now on.
**
That girl Flora said she'd stay in the territory, but what I've shown her so far alone won't completely convince her.
The reforms I'm about to start have only just sprouted—can I really persuade Flora with just this and then use her as my tool?
'I'll have to wait a bit longer.'
So I decided to elevate this territory one step further before meeting her again.
Until I achieve my goal, I intend to leave Flora alone.
"Steward."
"Yes, Baron."
"Among the people working at the blacksmiths, weapon workshops, and armor workshops in Haken County, I want you to find craftsmen who should have gone independent long ago but never did, spending their whole lives working under someone else."
"Understood. But it's fine to recruit craftsmen to work in the workshop—how exactly do you plan to make money from this workshop?"
"I plan to sell mass-produced low-grade weapons and armor to the Blancmont Family. Right now, His Grace the Northern Grand Duke is short on weapons needed to deal with the Barbarians. They'll buy whatever we make."
The Northern Grand Duke in The Fallen Noblewoman is Good at Revolution is a family that prepares for Barbarian invasions 365 days a year.
Even if they don't wage war every single day, it's a family that fights every three days.
It's a living hell where tales of a mere serf occasionally being formally knighted due to so many military achievements are quite common.
Naturally, cheap weapons and armor that can extend the lives of soldiers used like consumables in such a place are bound to make money.
Because a soldier without a weapon can't even be used as a meat shield.