Victor returned with his father to the mansion assigned to them. After a short bow, he went to his room. Just outside his door, a servant was waiting to deliver a letter.
When the servant left, Victor unfolded the letter, which was sealed with the Duke's insignia. Inside, he found a message from Sylvia, inviting him to tea in the palace park in three hours.
Surprised by this turn of events, he went to his room and called the chambermaids to prepare for the meeting with his fiancée.
When the time came, he set off, asking the coachman to slow down on the way. Arriving late was unacceptable, but arriving early was considered tactless.
When he got out of the carriage, another footman was waiting for him. The footman escorted him through the house and into the garden behind the palace, where Sylvia was sitting at a table. Next to her was an elegantly dressed young woman, presumably her lady-in-waiting.
These women served as both friends and maids, chosen from noble households. Being a lady-in-waiting to a duchess was a highly coveted position among the nobility.
Such a woman might never marry and would spend her entire life in the service of her mistress.
When he approached and bowed, the lady-in-waiting paid no attention, only waved her hand. Sylvia gestured to a chair across the table.
"I invited you here to make it clear: you are not my husband, and you never will be," the girl said bluntly, an unusual attitude for nobility. "Our engagement, or even our wedding, means nothing. You are just a failure, destined to die far from civilized society."
She spoke without looking at him, treating him as if he were an insect beneath her notice.
"You, a minor baron, dared to think of marrying a princess. Who gave you the audacity?" the lady-in-waiting chimed in.
Victor was angrier than ever. He had never wanted this marriage, but he had no choice.
"You are all tiresome to me. If I knew that I'd return to my humble life on Earth after my death, I'd break your neck right here and now and forget all of this like a bad dream," he thought. Life on Earth might not have been the best, but he could always stand up for himself, even with his fists if necessary.
"I didn't choose this, Your Highness. Once all the formalities are completed, I will return to my estate and you will never see me again. I can guarantee that," Victor said through clenched teeth.
The girl didn't bother to answer; she simply waved her hand for him to leave.
Observing proper etiquette, Victor said goodbye and left.
"Why couldn't they complete their mission?" Sylvia asked her lady-in-waiting.
"Milady, almost all the bandits were killed. They claimed that this baron had some kind of magic, but that's a lie. I've just examined him and there's not a drop of magic in him," the girl replied fearfully.
"Kill all the survivors. We'll find another opportunity. I refuse to become a backwater baroness," Sylvia said irritably.
***
Victor walked briskly to the carriage, clenching his fists. He wanted to get back to his estate as quickly as possible before he did something irreversible.
All he wanted was to get out of here, settle the betrothal, and get to know this paladin better.
Now he had incredible motivation. This world, a world of the strong, if you were stronger than others, you could do almost anything. He wanted to become stronger and break off this engagement that was attacking him from all sides.
Sitting in the carriage, he finally exhaled and began to search his memory for information about the Duke and ways to break off such engagements.
To his dismay, there were simply no such methods. Breaking an engagement with a duke's house practically damaged the family's reputation, and he would be killed without unnecessary discussion.
Returning to the mansion, he stormed into his room, grabbed a pillow, pressed it to his face, and screamed. This was the only way he could release his anger.
Once he calmed down, he started practicing with his armor, testing its flexibility and how long he could wear it. Apparently, there were no limitations without additional weight, but he needed to test it in battle, since it disappeared on its own during the bandit situation.
Four days remained until the engagement, and they seemed to drag on endlessly. He had searched the entire library of the mansion and even asked for permission to visit the library of the main palace, which he received only two days later.
In the library, he read a book about magic, but it contained nothing of interest. As he put it on the shelf, the door opened and Sylvia entered with her maid.
He bowed and greeted her, not even having a chance to put the book down. Seeing what he was reading, the girl laughed - a sound that briefly brightened Victor's mood. But remembering their conversation in the garden, he snapped back to reality.
"Still not losing hope? I would praise you, but the hopeless remain hopeless," the girl said and walked past him.
Victor put down the book and bowed his head. It was the second blow, but he was becoming indifferent to it. All his thoughts were on developing his paladin strength.
Back at the mansion, he never left and spent the days in his room until the engagement.
The engagement took place at a banquet. A person would come even on his deathbed at the invitation of the Duke.
About two hundred nobles gathered in a large hall. When Victor was invited to approach the Duke, who was standing by the stairs in the middle, Sylvia was already standing next to him.
Victor stood to the Duke's left, and the Duke raised his hand, bringing silence to the hall.
"I have gathered you here to announce that my daughter is to be engaged to the son of my friend, Count Alexander Shermanin," Alestor explained. "It was her choice, and I fully approve of it."
He didn't even mention the son's name, a tactic to avoid drawing attention to Victor's title and to convey that this was a political marriage to bring the count closer.
Trying to recall the rules of betrothal from the memory of the previous body, Victor realized that this was all a farce that humiliated him.
He controlled himself, smiled politely, but all he wanted was to escape. Without waiting for the end, he left the palace and returned to the mansion. That night, the Count returned and told them that they would leave in the morning.
Upon his return to the county, his father gave him 2,000 gold coins, an astronomical sum in this world, provided him with servants, and sent him to his estate.
Victor eagerly awaited this event, and as soon as the carriage left, his happiness knew no bounds.
He rejoiced at their departure and smiled broadly, but now he began to think about what to do and how to live in this magical world. Doing nothing was not an option, and if a war broke out, as a noble he would surely be drawn into it.
As a higher noble, one could simply command everything on the battlefield, but barons, baronets, and viscounts could easily be sent to the front lines.
But Victor didn't care. He ordered them to hurry to the castle and finally inspect his holdings.
At 3:00 p.m., the convoy finally arrived at the castle - a typical stone structure with stone walls, huge iron gates, no moat, and no additional structures.
Such a castle could be considered a basic structure. When a territory was marked for you, you were required to have a castle. If there was no castle in the territory, the king could declare it free. Therefore, aristocrats built such simple castles for the sake of appearances.
Walls five meters high could protect against bandits and even attackers of no more than 300 people, but a full-scale siege would not be survivable for even a day.
At the entrance to the castle stood Jin, Lulu, and three other servants who had served him in the previous mansion.
"Welcome home, sir," the butler greeted as he stepped forward.
He used to call him "young sir," but now that Victor was the head of his own family, the address had changed.
"Good to be home, Jin. Unpack my things and transfer the gold to the treasury," he ordered and asked to be led to his office, walking briskly behind Lulu, who volunteered to lead him.
The inside of the castle looked even worse than the outside. Torches in the corridors gave off a foul smell, and without them or windows to let in daylight, it was impossible to see anything in these dark, damp corridors.
Unlike romanticized castles, real castles were more like carved caves-damp and dark.
Upon entering the castle, Victor immediately ordered a meeting of all the village elders the next morning to prepare a report on the holdings.
He spent the rest of the day in his office studying the affairs of the estate. What he found was worse than he could have imagined. These were not serfs; judging by the condition of the reports and the embellishments, they could be considered refugees.
Everything was missing, and the number of refugees was not 5,000 as claimed, but 2,800. The rest had died of starvation and disease last winter.
Victor couldn't believe what he read. Nearly 50% of the population had died, and they were still starving.
He jumped out of his chair, stormed out of the office, and went down to the first floor to find the butler.
"What do you know about this?" he asked, poking him with the parchment containing the report on the inhabitants.
"Sir, I just heard about it. But we have no food for them, and we had no gold. I couldn't do anything without your permission," Jin replied.
"Take whatever is available from the convoy and distribute it to the people. Also, take 50 gold coins and buy food from the nearest nobles," Victor ordered.
In this world, one gold coin was equal to 100 silver coins, and one silver coin was equal to 100 copper coins. A family of four could live on 5 silver coins for a year. Ordinary people might never see a gold coin in their lifetimes.
There were supposed to be 4000 serfs and almost a thousand commoners in his territory. However, according to the report, there were only 2500 serfs and 300 commoners left.
Jin bowed and left, summoning soldiers on his way out and ordering them to prepare wagons.
The tired soldiers regrouped and began to prepare to leave with displeased expressions on their faces.
The nearest estate belonged to Baron Selitas, and his town was 6 hours away from the castle.
Victor returned to his office and thought about what had happened. From the memory of the previous Victor, he knew a lot about this world and even had a plan of which direction to go.
For all these plans, however, he needed people. Buying serfs was an expensive pleasure, and another way was to take prisoners of war. But the last war between the kingdoms of Lantaris and Armandel ended only half a year ago with heavy losses on both sides.
After signing a one-year truce, both kingdoms retreated, and it was unlikely that another war would break out before that time was up.
***
It was late at night when Lulu entered the office with a tray of food.
"Sir, please eat," the girl said worriedly.
Smiling at her, he put aside the scattered parchments on the table and, pushing the tray closer, saw baked chicken and some soup - apparently made from whatever was available.
Not being a picky eater, he ate and after pushing the tray away, he saw something and looked at Lulu, remembering.
"Have you eaten?" he asked her.
"I'm not hungry," the maid replied, but judging by her appearance, she hadn't eaten either.
"Go eat something and don't come back tonight. I'll finish up and go to bed," Victor ordered.
She wanted to object, but when she saw his look, she decided not to argue and left.
When he finished with the documents, he also left and went to the bedroom that had been prepared for him.
***
Early in the morning, Victor woke up and stared at the ceiling, trying to understand where he was. After a minute, he realized that he was in his new home.
He got out of bed and was about to call someone when Lulu walked in the door with two maids, and they began preparing him as usual.
Dressed, he went to the dining room where he met Jin, who had huge bags under his eyes, indicating a difficult night.
Victor sat down at the table, waited for his meal, and decided to inquire about Jin's trip.
"Sir, we brought 51 wagons of grain and paid 28 gold coins. They refused to sell for less," the butler reported.
For 2800 people, that would be enough for several weeks, but the overpayment was insane. All this shouldn't have cost so much. However, Jin also mentioned that they refused to sell for less.
"Sir, the village elders have arrived," the guard announced.
Pushing the food away, Victor stood up and headed for the exit. As he stepped into the courtyard, five people of varying ages fell to their knees.
"M'lord, we came as soon as we heard," they spoke almost simultaneously, a mixture of speaking and whimpering.
Their appearance was even worse than their condition. Judging by their appearance, they were severely malnourished, and their clothes had so many patches that it was unclear what they originally looked like.
"Stand up. I've called you to give you instructions, but first you will go with the knights and distribute food to the inhabitants. Come back in the evening and we'll talk," Victor told them.
The elders didn't understand what they had just heard. Although it was a rule for a noble to support his serfs, as they were his property and couldn't earn for themselves, the estate had been without a lord for the past five years.
"Thank you, my lord," they said with tears in their eyes, and once again they knelt down and touched their foreheads to the ground.
Victor felt uncomfortable with this display and turned and walked back into the castle.