Duke Klein looked at the two children in front of him, and an idea suddenly flashed in his mind, so he said: "There are more than a dozen poor villages in the Lavia area. You can choose any number of villages for practice. After half a year, I want to see a new look.”
"Father, what do you mean?" Victor was shocked. His father was asking Vivian to compete with him for the position of heir!
If the territory managed by Vivian develops better than his own half a year later, who will recognize him as the future duke?
Although men have inherited the family business in the Klein family for more than a hundred years, it does not mean that women do not have the right to inherit. Now Victor is the first heir, and Duke Klein has not adopted any collateral, so Vivian is the second heir.
"Victor, are you afraid of losing to me?" Vivian snorted coldly, as if she didn't take her brother seriously.
"Sister, you misunderstood." Victor smiled.
"Victor, you have received the education of an heir since you were a child, while Vivian has received the education of a lady. I hope you will not waste the careful teachings of the teachers, do you understand?" The Duke was very touched by his hidden daughter. Interested, of course he also wants to know how far his sinister son can go to win?
In short, he doesn't care whether the heir is male or female, he only cares about whether the other person can bring greater benefits to the family. Vivian has been studying flower arrangement, embroidery, and poetry since elementary school... If she can beat Victor, it means that she is more talented, that's all.
"Father, everything will go as you wish." Vivian grabbed the hem of her skirt and bowed. This attitude showed that she was willing to accept the challenge.
Victor gritted his teeth and glared at her. This woman was so ambitious that she wanted to steal everyone's attention and the only thing he had!
Vivian glanced at Victor's twisted face with her peripheral vision, and suddenly felt in a good mood. In Victor's view, he is the iron-clad heir, and his father will protect him even if he kills people and sets fire to others.
Now the situation has changed. If his father no longer lets him go, his position will become very embarrassing. In the next half month, Victor personally went to Lavia to select villages.
The north mainly grows potatoes, corn, and barley. If there is enough land, they can barely maintain food and clothing even if the harvest is not good.
The reason why the Lavia area is poorer than other places is that it has more mountains and less arable land; it pays a lot of taxes; and it is close to the Leith Mountain.
There is a group of barbarians living behind Mount Leith, who often enter the village to snatch food when the crops are ripe. Duke Klein once sent soldiers to suppress the bandits, but they were too cunning and they escaped every time.
Vivian chose the four villages closest to Leith Mountain and asked the Duke to transfer the land to her name. The Duke agreed without further questioning and let them choose their own assistants.
Vivian took five knights, three maids, two housekeepers and Karna and set off. On the other side, Victor also chose two villages, but they were farther away from Leith Mountain.
"Your Excellency, who do you think will win, the young master or the young lady?" Gilman was very curious about the young master's choice.
"Victor will not give in easily. Vivian seems to be hiding a lot of things." Duke Klein knew very well what his son had done over the years. The reason why he pretended not to know was because Victor was a smart child. .
The nobles of the empire all have shortcomings more or less. For example, some like to be imprisoned, some like to torture, and some like to hunt. It is not surprising that Victor likes to watch people bleed.
The Duke drove him to the countryside, not because he believed Victor could change for the better, but because he didn't want anyone to discover that there was a lunatic in the Klein family. After six years of education, the darkness in Victor's heart has not dissipated but has accumulated deeper, but it doesn't matter because he has learned to hide the darkness.
Even if he doesn't take the initiative to mention it, the Duke will send someone to bring him back after a while. After all, as an heir, the sooner he gets involved in the family business, the better.
The only thing that made him lose control was Vivian. She went to the royal capital and came back, her temper seemed to have completely changed.
"Miss, the road ahead is inaccessible for carriages." Evans and others sighed after returning from exploring the road.
"Then let's ride into the village." Vivian looked at the dilapidated road. If the carriage was forced to be pulled in, it would probably be broken down in less than half an hour.
"What about the things in the carriage?" Vivian will live here for half a year. Laura, Annie, and Fia packed a lot of things, and the carriage was filled to the brim.
"Mark, Evans, and Karner followed me into the village. The others are guarding the luggage here." Vivian said after getting off the car.
"Yes, miss." Everyone replied quickly.
When the four of them entered the village on horseback, everything they saw was dilapidated gray, gray sky, gray thatched houses, gray villagers, gray land...
"Okay, give me something to eat!"
"Give me some food, we haven't eaten for three days!"
"My two children are so pitiful, they are about to starve to death!"
When the villagers saw the richly dressed nobleman entering the village, they immediately rushed towards him. Evans and Mark stood in front of Vivian, and Karna bared his teeth and roared.
After two months of teaching, he already knew that Vivian was the master. As long as he is obedient, his master will praise him and let him eat delicious food.
For Karna, the lady who lets him eat well without beating him is the best master in the world.
"Mark, tell them to build roads if they want to eat." Vivian patted Mark's arm.
Mark and Martin are both steward candidates and are brothers. Mark is tall and good at disciplining servants; Martin is handsome and good at accounting and doing business.
"Quiet!" Mark took out his long whip from his waist and flicked it, scaring all the villagers to take two steps back.
"This is Duke Klein's daughter. She will be managing the Vinia region from today on. Because the roads are too bad, the princess's carriage cannot come in. If anyone is willing to repair the road, the princess will be happy to provide you with food."
After Mark finished speaking, the villagers became dejected. They thought they would get relief food directly, but they didn't expect they would have to work!
"If no one is willing, then we will go to the nearby villages and ask. Anyway, there are many people who want to work. Also, be careful not to offend the ladies. It is a capital crime for poor people to attack nobles!"
Mark made a "pop" sound and cracked the whip again, and the villagers looked at each other. A woman came forward, with three children aged seven or eight beside her. She heard that her husband was ill.
"I am willing to build roads, and my children are also very capable." The woman said loudly.
"Okay, young or old, as long as they can work, they will be given food." Mark put on a hearty smile, as if the person who looked so fierce just now was not him.
The villagers went to build the road. If they had tools at home, they would use them. If they didn't have tools, they would move them by hand. Vivian took a quick look and found that there were only about 20 households in this village, with a population of less than 100.
However, there were only twenty people, large and small, who went to build the road. There were seven or eight people who pretended to be working, but in fact they were secretly watching them.
The village chief is a seventy-year-old man. He is wrinkled and looks like a dried plum. He is very dark.
Vivian learned about the situation from the village chief and learned that all the young people in the village had run away, leaving only the elderly and children, so they became increasingly poor. The situation in nearby villages is similar. Some people starved to death a few days ago.
Vivian's plan is to save the villagers here through greenhouse cultivation and business.
