The Villainous Lady Doesn't Speak Chapter 153

The Lure and the Destination 1

One year had passed since Duke Abram Clark’s death, and his wife, Duchess Belinda, had been living on an estate far from the capital under the pretext of convalescence.

Liliana’s brother, Clyde, had begun to visit her estate on the outskirts of the capital frequently. That day, after finishing breakfast, Liliana was relaxing in her room with a book when she heard Marianne’s words and her eyes widened.

“My lady, the Duke has arrived.”

“Goodness,” Liliana murmured. Not again.

After killing her father, Abram, and having the fact that she could speak revealed to Clyde, Liliana had decided to tell Marianne, Olga, Gild, and the rest of the household staff. To her surprise, all the servants had wept with joy, and she had been at a loss for what to do. Even now, the servants would light up every time she spoke.

And Marianne, who spent the most time with Liliana, had finally gotten used to her speaking recently. She would catch the words her young mistress let slip as if by accident and offer soothing replies.

“He is worried about you, my lady.”

“I suppose so.”

Liliana nodded obediently, though she didn’t fully agree. She understood that Clyde was concerned for her, but it was in his nature to worry about others. He had other things to do; he didn’t need to come all the way to check on her. Once, she had said as much, and Clyde had frowned and asked, ‘Would you be happier if I didn’t come?’ In truth, when Clyde came, Liliana had less free time. That meant her secret search of the various estates would not progress. But she couldn't say that he was a nuisance. If she did, he would surely ask why, and it would undoubtedly become a hassle. In the end, Clyde continued to visit her regularly. Even if he had no plans, if he happened to run into Liliana on her way back from meeting with Riley at the palace, he would sometimes say, “Let’s go home together.” For Liliana, who had been living freely, albeit busily, until now, it was a slight burden.

“Preparations are complete. Let us go to the drawing room.”

Prompted by Marianne, Liliana rose from her chair. Her hair was neatly done, and her dress, though simple, was of high quality. When she went down the stairs and entered the drawing room, Clyde was already seated there. As expected, he was busy; there were documents on the table. After greeting him, Liliana let out a wry smile.

“You’re as busy as ever. You should take a little rest.”

“I don’t think it’s good to neglect family for the sake of work,” Clyde replied.

Hearing his words, Liliana sat down on the sofa, a faint, wry smile still on her lips. She glanced at the documents on the table and opened her mouth.

“You’ve been influenced by Austin-sama, haven’t you?”

“I believe in adopting good ideas.”

Indeed, Clyde was always incorporating and practicing various ideas and knowledge. What he was particularly focused on now was having more conversations with Liliana. But it was impossible for a brother and sister who had never talked much to suddenly have lively conversations. Their interests and daily experiences were different. Still, Clyde persisted in trying to connect with her.

“What were you doing today?”

“I was reading. Are you heading to the domain now, Onii-sama?”

“Yes, I’m going to the Fortia estate first. It seems a plague has started to spread in a part of the domain.”

Clyde nodded with a serious expression. Philip, the butler, was at the Fortia estate. Although Clyde went back and forth between the ducal estate in the capital and the Fortia estate, Philip basically never left Fortia. The ducal estate in the capital had some of the necessary documents, but to grasp and manage the vast domain, he had to go to the Fortia estate, one of the bases of their directly managed lands.

“You’ll be seeing Philip, then.”

“That’s right. He might know something about the plague.”

“What kind of plague is it?”

When Liliana asked, Clyde answered flatly. It started with a fever, lethargy, and a headache, and eventually, the skin turned black, leading to death. Clyde blinked and asked, “Do you know anything?” Liliana hesitated for a moment, then gave a small nod.

“I have read about that illness in a book. It appears frequently in history books.”

So Clyde should know about it too, Liliana thought, looking at him. Clyde, questioned silently by his sister, stared into her eyes for a while, then let out a sigh with a wry smile and dropped his shoulders.

“—The Black Death.”

“Yes, I believe so as well.”

“But I don’t know how to deal with it. I hear the only way is to quarantine the patients, but history has proven that’s not enough to stop it.”

That was only natural, Liliana thought with a nod. The Black Death was caused by a bacterium called Yersinia pestis. Since it was mainly transmitted by rats, dogs, cats, and fleas, in a world without antibiotics, quarantining patients was not enough. The extermination of animals carrying the bacterium and the annihilation of fleas—in other words, improving sanitation—was the top priority. Since the most common mode of transmission was thought to be from person to person via fleas and lice, dealing with the animals could be left for later. If they started with the poor, who were more likely to come into contact with animals, they should be able to get it under control in time.

“That’s right. Quarantining the patients is important, but we should also improve sanitation.”

“—Sanitation?”

“Yes.”

Liliana nodded. The Black Death had not been eradicated even in her previous life, as she recalled. There was no vaccine, and if one contracted it, the only way to survive was through antibiotic treatment and supportive care. If one could receive that treatment, the mortality rate would drop, but without it, death was almost certain.

Yet, in that world, the spread of the Black Death had been contained to localized outbreaks because they had improved sanitation. They had thoroughly exterminated the fleas that carried the bacterium.

The problem was that the concept of “bacteria” or “viruses” did not exist in this world. It was thought to be a disease caused by the miasma emitted by monsters. Therefore, it was said that wherever the Black Death appeared, a monster attack would sooner or later follow. A perusal of history books showed no such causal relationship, but only a very small number of nobles recognized this as fact.

“I’ve heard that the cause of the Black Death is a tiny insect, invisible to the naked eye. That insect lives on animals. A person who touches an animal gets sick, and then another person who touches that person gets sick.”

At Liliana’s remark, Clyde fell into deep thought with a serious expression.

Nobles and wealthy merchants rarely touched wild animals, so the spread of the Black Death among them was slow. But that didn't mean they wouldn't get infected. The food that nobles and wealthy merchants ate was harvested by poor peasants, and the clothes they wore were made from fabric dyed or woven by the poor. In this world with its lax sense of hygiene, food and clothes were not sterilized. The poor didn't stop working just because they had a slight fever, so the fleas spread before they even realized it.

Liliana’s explanation was logical and very easy to understand. Clyde grunted deep in his throat.

“I don’t have proof, but it sounds plausible. Lily, where did you learn all this?”

“—Once, in another country, there was someone who wrote that the cause of a disease was an invisible creature.”

She had been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to read that book, Liliana answered modestly. Clyde blinked.

“We had a book like that in our mansion?”

“Yes, I believe it was in the mansion. I only read it once a long time ago, so my memory of where it was is a bit fuzzy.”

When she spoke vaguely, Clyde didn’t press her further. Of course, Liliana didn’t expect him to be convinced by her explanation. In a world where most diseases were explained by miasma or magical energy, Liliana’s words could be condemned as heresy. In fact, she was more surprised that Clyde had accepted them so readily. Just as Liliana was hoping he wouldn’t question her further about the source of her knowledge, Clyde changed the subject, his tone shifting slightly.

“By the way, about this.”

As he spoke, Clyde opened his bag.

“There were a few points in the documents I received that I didn’t understand.”

“Points you didn’t understand?”

Liliana tilted her head. “Yes,” Clyde replied. He handed her a document, which she accepted. It was a copy of a part of the tax ledger. The numbers written on it were familiar to her.

“Does anything strike you when you look at that?” Clyde asked, watching her expression. Liliana, her face unreadable, answered serenely.

“The farmland and residential areas have expanded quite a bit, haven’t they?”

“That’s right. But we haven’t been pushing for agricultural reform that much recently. And there haven't been any groundbreaking advances in farming tools either.”

The farming tools used in the lands governed by the House of Clark were different from those in other domains. By increasing the number of artisans who could use magic at the blacksmiths, they had succeeded in mass-producing sturdier plows with iron wheels. Thanks to that, the three-field system had taken root faster than in other domains, and once they ran out of manpower, the expansion of farmland had been temporarily completed.

“And the population hasn’t increased either—on paper, at least.”

The Clark domain managed its people through a tax ledger. It was rare for a domain in the Kingdom of Slibegrad to maintain such an accurate ledger, but the House of Clark was one of those rare lords. Still, they couldn't keep track of every single resident. There were people who settled in the domain without the lord's knowledge. A typical example was the “northern immigrants,” but there were also mercenaries, people who had fled from other domains, and even some from neighboring countries.

“—Onii-sama, do you think someone has settled in our domain without our knowledge?”

Liliana asked. But that was impossible. If they knew the land was increasing, they would inevitably know the people living there—in other words, everyone should be recorded in the tax ledger. The fact that the population hadn't increased despite this made it more natural to think that the land was being developed with some other intention.

As expected, Clyde shook his head, denying Liliana’s question.

“No, if that were the case, the increased population should be recorded in the tax ledger. But there’s no record of the population increasing. I thought Philip might know why the farmland and residential areas were expanded.”

“You’re going to ask Philip, then.”

It would be better not to, Liliana thought, but she didn’t stop Clyde.

Philip had been uncooperative with Clyde for a long time. Recently, he had shown some signs of acknowledging Clyde, but he was still far from friendly. Their late father must have known about this matter, which meant Philip couldn’t possibly be unaware of it. But that didn't mean he would tell Clyde the truth.

As if reaching the same conclusion, Clyde didn’t nod right away. He thought for a moment, then shook his head.

“I don’t think he’ll tell me if I ask him directly. So I’m trying to think of another way, but I can’t come up with anything. To be honest, I’d like to check all the documents in his office when he’s not around.”

Clyde dropped his shoulders with a wry smile. Liliana gave a vague nod.

It would be difficult to check the documents without Philip noticing. The Fortia estate was under his surveillance. If Clyde were to go through a large number of documents, Philip would surely find out. Of course, Liliana had been sneaking in to examine the documents when no one was around, so she shouldn't have been discovered. But if she was careful not to be noticed, the investigation would take a lot of time. Even now, Liliana hadn't been able to check all the documents. Although there wasn’t much left, she was coming to the conclusion that the documents left out in the open didn’t contain anything of great importance.

“—I see.”

Liliana tilted her head, looking troubled. She had a hunch.

To uncover all of her father Abram’s schemes, she would probably have to break into the hidden rooms in the main estates and find the documents or diaries stored there. The problem was that even with her abilities, it was difficult to enter those hidden rooms.

She had tried several times at the Fortia estate, where she knew the location of the hidden room and how to enter it, but not only the room itself but also the entrance door was protected by advanced magic and curse-craft. The formulas used were ones she had never seen before, and they were too complex to be easily analyzed. The “key” to open the door itself was designed to recognize individuals, and only those who were authorized could even touch it.

“Do you have any ideas, Lily?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

“I’m sorry I can’t be of any help,” Liliana said, bowing her head. Clyde shook his head with a wry smile.

“It’s nothing to apologize for, Lily. Thank you. But I see, even you can’t think of anything.”

The subtle phrasing made Liliana narrow her eyes ever so slightly. When she looked up at her brother, he was looking back at her with a gentle smile, but his eyes held a wary glint. The moment she noticed the strangeness, Clyde’s expression returned to that of a perfectly gentle brother.

Liliana pretended not to have noticed his gaze and offered him tea and sweets. Clyde smiled and picked one up. Liliana rarely ate sweets. This mansion, with almost no visitors, had never kept sweets on hand. It was always enough to prepare them after learning a visitor was coming. But since Clyde started visiting, guest sweets were now always available. The cook was full of motivation, saying it was worth the effort, and the young maids and servant girls were apparently delighted at the prospect of getting some leftovers.

Liliana, who didn’t have much of a sweet tooth, took a bite to keep Clyde company, but that was enough for her. As she drank her tea to wash away the sweetness, she casually flipped through the copy of the tax ledger she had just received.

The copy was an excerpt from the tax ledger she had examined when she had infiltrated the Fortia estate before, and it contained more information than last time. It was then that she noticed a strange trend.

(—Come to think of it, why is there no change in the amount of iron ore purchased throughout the year?)

The uses for iron ore were limited. Of course, it wasn’t just used to make farm tools, but even with artisans who could use magic, there were limits to the current iron-making technology and knowledge. Moreover, there weren’t many opportunities to invent something out of necessity. Basically, both the lords and their people were satisfied with their current lives, and few had the luxury to think about making groundbreaking inventions to make their lives more comfortable. Curing illnesses and injuries was far more important than improving daily life.

Considering that, it was strange that the amount of iron ore purchased remained unchanged throughout the year. Looking at the changes over several years, it hadn’t just remained constant; it had actually increased slightly.

Farm tools were consumable, but they didn’t need to be replaced in the same number every year. Once made, they could be used for several years with repairs, no matter how roughly they were handled. The farmland was expanding, but the population was not increasing. That meant the number of required farm tools was not increasing either. Furthermore, even if the tools they made were defective and broke quickly, they shouldn't need to be produced all year round. The three-field system, as its name suggests, was a method of effectively using farmland by dividing the year into three periods. Crops were planted in the summer and winter, but the remaining period was left fallow. In other words, new farm tools should not be needed during the fallow period.

(What on earth are they buying all this iron ore for?)

Suddenly, an image of her late father flashed through her mind. When her grandfather Rodney died, at the dinner table, Clyde had spoken about the possible inspection sites for Prince Roland of the neighboring country. When her brother suggested the duchy's forge as one of the candidates, their father had said, ‘I cannot permit the forge,’ and stubbornly refused to budge.

At the time, Liliana and Clyde had understood his concern to be that showing the forge, which could produce weapons, might be seen as the House of Clark supporting Prince Roland. But what if there was another reason—why had Abram Clark opposed the inspection of the forge?

Liliana casually returned the document to its original place. When she looked up, Clyde was watching her intently. Meeting his gaze head-on, she smiled sweetly.

“Do you like the sweets, Onii-sama?”

“Yes, they’re delicious. The cook here is very skilled. I’ll come again.”

Clyde replied gently. The two continued their pleasant, idle conversation. It was mostly Clyde asking questions and Liliana answering sparingly, but they didn’t mind, as it was always like this. Clyde hadn’t intended to stay the night and left the mansion before lunch. After seeing him off, Liliana headed to the library. There was a map of the duchy there. She intended to check the location of the forge.

—-

ToC

Chapter 154