Adrian, upon hearing that he had been granted the administrative and taxation rights of Valewood, was overjoyed.
Elara, however, was not very happy.
She was confused as to what it had to do with anything, but she didn’t want to get in the way of Adrian’s happiness.
Adrian was very happy, but it soon all came crashing down as soon as he learned that the Finance Minister had modified his gold-backed currency model into an unbacked fiat currency that only worked on the King’s words.
He wanted to curse.
But upon thinking more about it, Adrian’s happiness went through the roof.
Ronald, seeing Adrian go from happy to sad and then to overjoyed, he was extremely confused as to what was even going on.
But rather than asking Adrian about it, he let it pass and simply enjoyed the day with him, celebrating their first big win.
Now Adrian wanted to go to Valewood as soon as possible.
But he couldn’t.
If he went there, he would need to take Ronald with him because he was still just a child, and his mother would be left here alone.
To counter this, Adrian thought he should hire someone specially for his mother—someone who would be as loyal to her as Ronald was.
So, he went searching for such a person around the whole palace.
He thought he would find someone around him.
While wandering around the Royal Palace, he saw the mansion of the 7th Prince.
Some people were throwing a maid out of the mansion.
Adrian was with Ronald at the time, and he hid behind the boundary wall of the mansion and observed what was going on.
The head butler shouted that the maid had tried to make a move on the master and seduce him so that she could bear his child.
The maid, lying on the ground, replied with nothing.
She was then thrown out of the mansion, and guards began taking her out of the Royal Palace.
Adrian stopped the guards shortly after and asked them to release the girl.
He then asked what had happened.
The girl immediately replied that the 7th Prince had tried to sleep with her, but when she resisted, she was thrown out of the mansion.
For a second, Adrian thought she could be useful, as the royals were essentially pigs.
But he couldn’t help noticing that something was off.
He told the guards to take her away.
Upon seeing this, Ronald asked,
“Your Highness, she would have been very useful to Lady Elara.”
But Adrian told Ronald that her clothes were very well maintained, unlike someone who had just been assaulted.
He continued,
“There is a very high chance that she was the one who initiated it first and the Prince rejected her. And I cannot even know the full story to make any conclusion. It’s better not to take risks.”
With that, Adrian left the palace with Ronald to search again.
They went to the market.
It was the first time Adrian had come to this world’s markets after being reincarnated, and he was in awe of how organized the market looked on the surface.
He thought the kingdom was a great one to have such an organized market.
He saw a big clock that rang every hour to show the time.
The air was very clean and easy to breathe, unlike on Earth.
But soon, they reached the outer aspects of the market.
And it was like any other market he had seen.
Vendors shouting.
People bargaining.
People pushing each other to get ahead.
People fighting over bad goods.
Adrian internally apologized for thinking that the kingdom was great.
It was just like any other country on Earth.
Great from the outside.
Bad from the inside.
Thinking this, they soon reached the slave market.
Adrian was looking for someone worthy enough to serve his mother, and his sights fell upon a young girl barely looking eighteen.
Adrian bought her.
He then made a deal with the slave trader to make it look like she had not been bought, but rather forcibly taken away while being transported.
To enact the plan, they loaded the unconscious girl onto a carriage and took her to a nearby forest.
When she woke up, she thought she was being transported to another market or had been sold.
But then some armed guards attacked the transportation vehicle.
The slave traders ran away, leaving her behind.
She was freed by the guards and saw a child ordering the guards around.
One of the guards told the girl,
“It is His Highness who ordered the slave traders to be raided.”
He then told the girl to bow to him.
She thought that she would simply become the Prince’s plaything next.
With no feelings of her own left, she bowed down to Adrian.
Adrian asked,
“Who are you?”
The girl replied,
“I am Talia from Rosewick.”
Adrian continued asking,
“How did you end up being a slave?”
She answered,
“My husband put me up for a wager and lost. The other party sold me off to recover their losses.”
After hearing this, Adrian told her,
“You are free to go.”
Talia looked very confused as to what had just happened and why the Prince didn’t keep her as his slave.
She asked Adrian,
“Your Highness, I am your possession now. You may use me however you see fit.”
To which Adrian replied,
“You may go now. I don’t need you.”
Confused, Talia stood up and began walking away from Adrian and the guards.
After walking just a few steps, she noticed that it was the middle of the forest, and it was night time.
She could be killed by wild animals or hunters, or she could become a slave again.
And most importantly…
She had nowhere to go.
Ronald was watching all this with a very confused look, wondering why Adrian had gone through all this drama and bought her only to free her.
But Ronald’s confusion didn’t last long.
Talia came back and bowed down to Adrian.
“Your Highness… Please employ me.”
Adrian looked at her.
She continued,
“I am ready to do anything for you.”
Adrian asked her why.
She replied,
“I don’t have any family. I don’t have any work. There is no one waiting for me. I have nowhere to go.”
She lowered her head.
“You saved me from slavery. I have decided to dedicate this life to my saviour.”
Hearing this, Adrian had a huge smile on his face.
All those tv dramas have finally paid off.
Adrian had purposely brought her to the forest and that too in middle of the night for 2 reasons that is to test her intelligence that what she would do if left alone with no security in middle of the forest and make her come to him of her free will.