In the evening, before the sun had fully set, we returned to the inn. We had spent several hours conducting the census, and while many houses had rejected us outright, a precious few had permitted an interview.
As we walked, I observed Cailean; he was busy writing a great deal in his memo book, documenting every detail of the day. I glanced back to see the expressions of my escorts; Aldea appeared far from happy, grumbling under her breath about the day's events, while Louis maintained his usual, impenetrable straight face.
Upon entering the inn, we found Elpis and Darryl already seated in the tavern on the ground floor. We approached them, and they immediately noticed our arrival.
Elpis caught sight of Aldea's expression and tilted her head. "~My~, I thought you would be happy to be with Her Highness, which is why I chose Darryl. And now I see you have a grumpy face. What is the matter with your grumpy face?"
"Are you talking about this face?" Aldea asked, pointing a finger at her own scowl. "I was angry because Her Highness was repeatedly rejected when trying to interview the people!"
Elpis turned her gaze towards Cailean. "Is it truly that bad? I knew that Her Highness would be rejected by some, but is it really so bad?"
Cailean flipped through the pages of his memo before answering. "Well, it is really that bad. A lot of houses rejected us. We have not even reached a quarter of the total that accepted us... so we only have a very small portion of information about the people here."
"~My~ My~ That is really so bad," Elpis said, her voice soft with concern. She then turned her face towards me. "But it seems Your Highness has not felt anything about it; your face is not showing any bad state or bad feeling about this at all."
"Ahahahaha," I laughed privately in my thoughts. "I have felt this in my previous world; I was constantly rejected by people because they hated the civil servant who was paid from their taxes. They even used to curse us."
"So, Your Highness," Cailean asked, looking up from his notes, "with what little information we have about the people, what are you going to do next?"
"First, we need to take a seat," I replied, "because we are exhausted from walking and conducting the census."
Louis immediately pulled a chair out for me. I took my seat, and he pushed it forward slightly toward the table. Once everyone had sat down, Cailean produced the ledger we had used for the census and showed it to the group.
"So, what are we going to do with this little bit of information, Your Highness?" Cailean asked.
"Well, this information cannot tell us the full situation of the village very well, because it is just a small portion of the people," I began, leaning forward. "But there is something odd in my view."
"What is that?" Cailean asked.
I reached out and pointed to a specific section in his book. "This..."
Everyone leaned in to look, and Cailean asked, "What is odd about this, Your Highness?"
"For me, this is so weird," I explained. "In the last year, a lot of houses had more people than this year, and the person who has gone away is always the oldest daughter of the house."
"So, what is wrong with that?" Louis asked.
"And the reason for that was that they went away to the county capital to do work," I continued, "but their parents did not know what their daughters actually did in the capital. And all of that was linked to the Count and Rudyard. They were the ones who persuaded these families to let their daughters work at the county capital."
I looked at their faces; they did not seem convinced by my reasoning. It appeared that in this world, such occurrences were considered normal. I let out a heavy sigh.
"So, what did these daughters do in the county capital? Why does the family not know what they do there? Even the family earnings are still exactly the same as they were last year."
"Of course they are working there, Your Highness," Louis answered.
"What type of work?" I challenged.
"Does that truly matter, Your Highness?" Elpis asked.
"Of course it does," I said firmly. "They are my people, my subjects, and I want to know about their conditions."
Cailean spoke up then. "But Your Highness, for me, it is completely normal. The oldest children of a family usually go to the county capital or the nearby city to find a little bit more in the way of earnings than the village they came from."
"Yeah, it is normal, and it is called urbanisation," I said. "But the thing that I felt was not normal is the one who persuaded the family to let the oldest daughter work at the county capital."
Louis raised his hand and asked, "Wait a moment... Your Highness, can you tell us what 'urbanisation' you mean?"
"Urbanisation is where people from rural areas or rural villages migrate to the city; usually, they want to find a steady job or a bit more earning in the city," I explained. "The opposite is counterurbanisation, where people from an urban area or city migrate to a village, usually because they want to find cheap land or peace away from the city."
"~My~, I did not know there was a term for that," Elpis murmured.
"Yes, there is a term for that," I said. "But let us go back to this top—"
Suddenly, a voice came from behind me. "I think I know what Your Highness is looking for."
I turned my body and saw that it was Aalis, who had leaned her head toward me as she spoke. I saw her standing there with Ame, both holding several paper bags; I assumed it was the clothes I had asked them to find. Aalis and Ame took chairs from a neighbouring table, brought them over, and sat down, placing the bags on the floor beside them.
"What do you mean you know what I am looking for?" I asked her.
Aalis looked me in the eye and said, "Because we experienced it."
"What do you mean by experiencing it?"
"Like Your Highness knew, I was from this village, where Miss Bellamy introduced us to you," Aalis began. "The truth is, my family was given responsibility for a big estate in this village, so we were given the title of Laird."
Aldea suddenly raised her hand. "What is a Laird?"
"~My~, as always, you ask everything," Elpis teased. "Cailean, explain it to her."
Aldea's face became even grumpier.
"A Laird is a courtesy title but has no formal status in law or a noble court," Cailean explained to Aldea. "It belongs to the family who has, or has responsibility for, a large estate or land. The rank itself is below the rank of Baron. Usually, the estate they occupy is the estate or land belonging to the highest nobles, like a Duke, Prince, or King, where they were given the responsibility of maintaining the estates."
"So Aalis is a noble," Aldea said.
"A former noble," Aalis corrected, "but the title itself does not mean anything."
I realised something then. "Wait a second... you said a big estate, but the only big estate in this village is—"
"Yeah, like Your Highness thought," Aalis said, "the big estate refers to the Baron's residence right now. My family was given the responsibility of maintaining that estate. The truth is, that estate belongs to the Royal Family, not the Baron."
I became even more confused. "Wait... wait... wait. I do not understand how an estate that belongs to the Royal Family can become the Baron's residence."
"From the beginning, that estate did not become the Baron's residence, but belonged to the Royal Family," Aalis explained. "Specifically, Her Majesty the Queen Isabeu, who was the owner of the estate and gave the responsibility for maintaining it to our family."
"So that estate belongs to my mother," I whispered.
"Yes."
Cailean asked, his voice sharp with alarm, "If that estate belongs to the Queen, how can that estate become the Baron's residence? For someone not from the Royal Family to occupy it without any approval from the Royal Family... that is treason. It is a big crime; you know that, right?"
"Our family knew it would be a big crime for us," Aalis said, her tone becoming more sorrowful, "but we did not have any choice but to give the estate, and we kept it secret for a long time."
"I see," Cailean said. "So your family kept it secret to avoid punishment from the Royal Family for neglecting your duty."
I looked at Aalis; her face was filled with sadness and guilt regarding this estate. I reached out for her hand on the table and held it.
"So that is why," I said in a low tone, "when I invited you to come to this village as my personal maids, I sensed you had something unpleasant about the place, and now I know why. It is alright. Whether you want to tell me or not, I will try my best to make my subjects feel protected and happy, which is most important. I will do anything to defend you if this problem is brought to the Royal Court."
"Thanks for encouraging me, Your Highness," Aalis whispered.
"Take your time," I added. "If you do not want to tell me now, you can tell me another time, anytime, anywhere."
Aalis looked at Ame beside her; her left hand reached out to hold Ame's right hand. She turned back to me and said, "I think this is the right time to tell Your Highness about everything that happened in this village."
"Are you sure, Aalis? You can try at another time, anytime, if you want."
"I am sure, Your Highness."
"Alright then," I said. I paused and whispered to Louis, who sat beside me, "Can you take a look around outside the inn? After that, lock the entrance door and say to the lady owner: 'There are some matters from me, and I need the tavern and inn to stay closed until I tell her to open.'"
Louis simply nodded at me, stood up immediately, and went to perform the task I had given him.
"Let us just wait until Louis comes back," I said to the others. "And for Aalis, I know that what you will tell is hard for you; perhaps it can lead to your family being engraved as a crime. And for everyone here: keep everything that comes out of Aalis's mouth as secret as possible. Because it may be treason to the Kingdom, everyone needs to be prepared."
"Your Highness," Elpis asked, "is it okay for you to meddle in this?"
"What do you mean? Of course it is okay for me."
"But Your Highness needs to know that the Queen is the one who could not be offended in anything, as much as possible."
"My mother?"
"Yes," Elpis said seriously. "If the Queen is offended or if something of hers is taken, it will be a big mistake. She is the reason why the Empire could not annex this Kingdom; her stubbornness and her temper are on a different level. If she finds out about this, I do not know what fate will do around us."
"We can think about my mother later," I replied.
"Alright, if Your Highness wants that."
After a few moments, Louis returned to the table and took his seat.
"Now, everyone is here, except Zoe, but it is okay," I said. "Now, you can tell us the truth."
Aalis took a breath and began to talk. "Well, the story began—"