I Inherited a Beautiful Wife and a Territory - Chapter 126

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Inheriting a Beautiful Wife and Estate Episode 126

126. Noblesse Oblige

“…There were people trying to enter here?”

“Yes. It seems they thought they could get more to eat if they came here. It almost became a huge problem. Why would they want to come to this cold place in winter…”

Priscilla’s face darkened at Sophia’s words.

It was clear that the outside situation was very difficult. Moreover, people almost froze to death outside again in winter.

‘In the past, such things were commonplace.’

From a place where people used to die in winter, it had become a land that people sought out to avoid death.

It was a moment that made one feel the vicissitudes of time.

“Still, it seems to have been resolved well.”

If they accepted them blindly, there would be no place to stay and nothing to eat anyway.

Just last year, even well-off nobles couldn’t find accommodations, couldn’t they?

“If it was resolved, how so?”

“It seems the nobles who settled here decided to employ them.”

“Phew.”

A sigh of relief escaped from Priscilla’s lips after receiving Sophia’s report.

When Sophia first brought up the refugee issue, she had been troubled about what to do about it.

‘It was resolved well.’

And this method of resolution.

In whatever way, there was always someone involved in the outcome.

“The nobles voluntarily proposed this to His Grace the Duke… but seeing that they met Count Jade beforehand, it seems His Grace the Duke was behind it after all.”

Priscilla nodded upon hearing those words.

Her expression changed.

‘It’s His Grace after all.’

Cliff.

He was a problem solver.

The person who had relieved this estate of its various problems.

And whenever she thought about this, Priscilla felt herself becoming too small.

‘I can’t just keep having such thoughts.’

Still, things had changed a lot now.

She couldn’t stop at the level of just thinking he was amazing like before.

“That’s good. Please invite the nobles who accepted the refugees this time.”

“Eh? Are you thinking of meeting them directly?”

Sophia asked back in a surprised tone.

Priscilla nodded with a smile.

“…Yes. Please help me a lot, Sophia.”

Meeting with nobles.

In other words, Priscilla had never experienced high society.

And this wasn’t much different for Sophia either. But Sophia certainly had aspects that differed from Priscilla.

‘The Princess Consort wants to host a social gathering?’

Even if not a full banquet, a tea time.

Since they couldn’t invite noble men, they would invite the noblewomen in Elimis.

Sophia’s mind worked hard.

Originally, she had a lot of ambition or desire. She came to this estate as Cliff’s spoils of war, but she viewed that event favorably in her own way.

‘If I had stayed with the Ballard Family, I would never have reached this position in my lifetime.’

The position of the Princess Consort’s maid.

That alone made her envious of no noblewoman. She had actually received several requests.

They were all requests from nobles who wanted to meet Priscilla. So Sophia could speak confidently.

“If Your Highness calls them, any family would consider it an honor.”

“…That’s quite fortunate. I still don’t know well how I should treat them.”

Priscilla’s somewhat awkward words.

Sophia’s eyes lit up as she spoke confidently.

“You don’t need to worry about it. Even if you just served them lake water, they would take pride in it being given by Her Highness the Princess Consort.”

Sophia had already grasped the characteristics of high society.

In the end, it was all about trends, and those trends followed power. And Priscilla, who was at the center of power, was the woman who decided all trends.

“If Your Highness says it’s something you usually eat or drink, that would become the most precious food in this principality, wouldn’t it?”

Soon the preparations were complete.

Naturally, it was welcome news for the nobles in Elimis.

‘I’ve been invited to the Princess Consort’s tea time.’

The Royal Family.

It was an invitation from Priscilla, one of those at the pinnacle.

‘I must create a connection with the Royal House.’

‘To think I’d be invited to the Princess Consort’s social gathering just for taking in a few lowly people this time…’

The noblewomen of Elimis.

It was truly a situation they had dreamed of.

Even though Cliff hadn’t called them directly, it was a gathering hosted by the second most noble person in the principality.

Naturally, they dressed up most splendidly. And watching these noblewomen, Priscilla had to hide her trembling inner feelings.

“This is my first time inviting nobles from outside, so the hospitality may be lacking, but please understand.”

Glamorous people.

They seemed like people who had been in a different place from herself. Right now, Priscilla’s attire was the most modest among everyone there.

On one hand, she felt regret.

‘I didn’t decide to do this for no reason, did I? If I had known it would be like this, should I have dressed as Sophia suggested?’

It might be a misunderstanding.

But somehow, in the gazes looking at her, she could read emotions that seemed like doubt or contempt.

‘Could it be that she’s not receiving the Duke’s love?’

‘She was originally a woman too unworthy to sit in that position. The daughter of a small, failing estate becoming a lord’s wife… how absurd.’

Would it be overthinking if such thoughts could be read from the noblewomen?

‘At times like this… what should I do?’

Cliff’s face came to mind in the troubled Priscilla’s thoughts.

The Cliff in her mind was smiling.

‘Right.’

Cliff would have been confident in any situation.

Priscilla recalled the first day Cliff came to this estate, and the demeanor he showed afterward.

“…Was it today?”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Upon hearing Nigel’s answer, Cliff rose from where he was sitting.

There was a place he wanted to visit, even if briefly.

“How’s the atmosphere?”

“It’s not bad.”

“Not bad means it’s not good either.”

Nigel smiled bitterly at Cliff’s words.

“Well… you know. High society is a place she has never experienced until now.”

“I know. The fact that she directly attempted such a gathering is remarkable progress.”

It wasn’t just the estate that had changed.

She might not have realized it, but she had changed too.

Cliff began walking.

There was one concern.

‘Anyway, Priscilla would have dressed as usual…’

Priscilla was at the pinnacle of all noblewomen.

This meant she was in a position to receive both respect and envy from all noblewomen. The desire to bring her down would have been mixed among the women today.

‘But as long as it shows no gaps, it would never become an outburst.’

Noble women have a tenacity to dig into even the smallest thing.

That was high society.

“It’s not a place where people meet with purely innocent hearts.”

That’s why high society is a tiresome place.

Of course, it could also become a very comfortable place.

‘You just need to reign over it.’

That’s how his past biological father, the Prime Minister, and the people of that Duke’s house did it.

Unless you were an illegitimate child like himself, just being of ducal bloodline was enough to become the center.

‘I hope Priscilla understands this well…’

She was naturally tender-hearted.

He was worried whether she was doing well among people who were already strong-willed.

However, that worry seemed to be unfounded.

A clear voice that could be heard the moment he approached near where she was.

“…There was something His Grace always said from the very first day he took office in the estate.”

Cliff stopped without going any closer.

He listened intently to the interesting voice.

“He taught me the value of noblesse oblige, which I had been ignorant of.”

“Eh?”

“Those who have must share with those who have not, those of high position must step forward first to set an example, and the educated must teach the uneducated, but must not look down on them.”

Cliff crossed his arms and listened to her words attentively.

The corners of his mouth twitched.

‘I did say such things.’

In fact, this was an unfamiliar concept in this world.

The nobility of this world is quite authoritarian. And this was even stronger in the Yusta Peninsula.

Perhaps it was due to some inferiority complex toward the homeland nobility.

‘It felt like they squeezed even harder to surpass the homeland nobility…’

The poorer they are, the worse it gets.

Though the church preaches compassion and mercy, the nobles who learned this did not practice it.

In fact, perhaps because of this, the church had changed a lot too.

The church taught authority.

-All authority comes from God, so people should rightfully submit to it

God’s doctrine contained various teachings.

The noble way was to use it like a nose ring when hung on the nose, an earring when hung on the ear.

‘The saying that whoever wants to be served among you should become a servant… they just don’t bother to mention that.’

His own theory could be said to contain precisely such doctrine.

But the amusing point was that in fact, he himself wasn’t so confident either.

‘That was actually just something I said because there were no people to squeeze right away…’

It was a kind of statement made to look cool.

Pretense, hypocrisy.

That sort of thing.

But Priscilla’s heart seemed to have felt differently when hearing this.

And what she was saying at this moment wasn’t just words that pierced the noblewomen.

“So I’m delighted. Because I heard that it wasn’t due to His Grace’s orders, but that the noble people here stepped forward first to save and share with the people who had nothing.”

She neither made excuses for her modest attire nor pointed out the noblewomen’s splendor.

However, at this moment she became the most dignified woman.

At the same time, Priscilla praised her opponents.

“His Grace the Duke’s spirit of noblesse oblige has greatly changed Elimis today. The fact that there are many nobles with such heart and spirit is a great blessing for this duchy.”

These were words that satisfied the women’s pride and vanity.

“Hoho. Compassion and mercy are proper duties for nobles who have received God’s teachings. Our family has merely followed these teachings.”

“His Grace had such wonderful and admirable concepts. My husband is the same. He would consider it a great honor to realize that he shares the same intentions as His Grace.”

The women competed to say pleasant things.

‘Ah, is this the otherworld version of grooming?’

That thing women do for each other?

Cliff watched this and laughed.

At least the situation he had been worried about didn’t seem to have occurred.

“…Won’t you go over?”

“I don’t think there’s any need to go.”

Cliff answered quietly to Nigel’s quiet question.

Nigel made an awkward expression.

That was understandable.

From this distance, Nigel wouldn’t be able to hear what Priscilla was saying properly.

‘Come to think of it, I’ve changed a lot too.’

Though skills helped greatly, he was no longer his past self who lacked mana.

If it had been himself when he first came here, he wouldn’t have been able to hear Priscilla’s voice from this distance.

‘We’ve both grown a lot.’

Feeling pleasant emotions, Cliff turned around.

“I’m sorry.”

Priscilla apologized.

The reason being that she had used his name at today’s gathering.

Hearing those words, Cliff laughed.

“You didn’t say anything untrue, did you?”

“That’s true, but…”

It reminded him of the day he first came to this estate.

The show he had put on after gathering people that day.

‘It started with earnestly selling the Duke’s house name.’

Her actions today would have been similar to that.

Cliff laughed as he kissed her lips.

“If you’re sorry, there’s a place I’d like to go together.”

This time, he invited her.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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