In the morning, Colin woke up from his dream.
The fireplace was still burning, making a slight crackling sound.
The girl's body temperature and fragrance still remained on the bed, but she was no longer there.
"Good morning, Colin."
Colin sat up and looked, and saw Vera sitting by the dressing table in front of the window.
The most beautiful flower in the St. Hilde family has changed into a bright yellow crocheted dress, and is putting rose gold ornaments on her forehead in front of the mirror.
"Good morning, Vera."
Ke Lin looked at Vera not far away with admiring eyes. In his opinion, after not seeing her for a long time, the former girl seemed to have matured a lot.
The blue and pure eyes are Gu Panshengyan, the makeup on the face is more gorgeous and charming than usual, the bright red lip gloss makes the perfect outline look more three-dimensional, although there is still a shyness of a delicate girl, but more However, it is elegant and dignified, as well as a charming style that is gradually blooming.
"Does it look good?"
After finishing dressing, Vera turned around and smiled at Colin.
The sunlight outside the window was very good, wisps of light shone in and fell on the girl's body, reflecting a faint halo.
"Of course, your beauty eclipses even the warm winter sun!" Colin smiled and offered a flattery.
Vera rolled her lovely eyes, as if she felt that Colin's praise was too exaggerated.
"Queen Aisha taught me this." The girl held up her skirt and turned around in a circle.
Colin thought to himself, no wonder, he felt that this attire looked familiar just now, and it was not Vera's usual style.
"It seems that you have learned a lot during your time in Silvermoon City."
"Yes. And Queen Aisha also told me about her past. After listening to it, I realized that compared to her, I am already very lucky."
Having said that, Vera stretched out her hands to Colin, beckoning him to hug her.
Colin stepped forward with a smile, and hugged the girl into his arms through the thin long skirt.
Only then did he realize that Vera was able to walk out of the previous shadow, probably thanks to Queen Aisha's persuasion.
What a caring lover.
"I have sent someone to Winter City to ask the Duke of St. Hilde to marry you. It won't be long before you can become the mistress of the Red Castle."
I don't know if it was because of the man's words or because of the warm embrace, the girl's body gradually became limp and boneless, and she fell into Colin's arms.
"Colin, even if my adoptive father disagrees with our marriage, I will not leave you!" Vera said firmly.
Colin smiled in relief, tightened the girl's soft and slender waist, and promised: "Don't worry, I will let the Duke agree to our marriage."
Their marriage must be approved by the duke, otherwise, Vera will elope with him, which is obviously not a result that Colin, who has greater ambitions, is willing to accept.
However, judging from the current situation, the Duke of St. Hilde seems to be really reluctant to marry Vera to Colin.
The envoy from Ice Rock City has been waiting in Cold Winter City for more than two months, but still has not been received by the Duke.
So this time, Colin took the opportunity of Baron Lombard's provocation to make an example, and let the son of the baron go to Winter City to test it out to see if the Duke of St. Hilde was really seriously injured and unable to see the guests, or if he deliberately dragged him away The messenger of Ice Rock City.
If the Duke really met the members of the Lomba family, but did not see the envoy from Ice Rock City, then Colin would have to redo his next plan.
If you don't want to give it to me, then I'll grab it!
Feeling some changes in the man's body, Vera suddenly broke away from Colin's embrace in a panic, and changed the subject: "Colin, are you hungry? Let's go have breakfast."
"Okay." Colin smiled narrowly, knowing that the girl might not have recovered from the madness last night.
With Vera's help, Colin quickly got dressed, and then walked to the restaurant together.
After a hearty breakfast, Vera proposed to take a stroll in Ice Rock City, and Colin naturally would not object.
Today happened to be a rare good weather, the warm sun hung high in the sky, dispelling some of the severe winter cold.
Colin and Vera walked hand in hand on the streets of Ice Rock City, but did not cause much commotion.
It's not that the people of Ice Rock City disrespected their lord, but that Colin and the others deliberately hid their identities.
Colin wore a wide three-cornered hat that covered most of his face, while Vera wore a black scarf, restoring Colin's image when he first saw her.
The guards followed the two of them from a distance without much fanfare.
"Colin, the slaves in your territory are a little different from what I saw before."
"What's the difference?"
Vera tilted her head, looked at the slaves who were concentrating on their work, and said:
"The slaves I saw in Winter City all looked lazy, if they didn't have the supervisor's whip, they would even rather lie on the ground and bask in the sun for a day.
But the slaves in your territory are different, even without a whip, they are still very motivated. "
"Do you know why this is?"
Vera pondered for a moment, then shook her head, expressing that she couldn't figure it out.
"Because I gave them hope."
"hope?"
"Yes." Colin recounted the points system he implemented in Ice Rock City.
Vera thought for a while, nodded and said, "It's indeed a great idea! But, Colin, don't you worry that your slaves are getting fewer and fewer?"
"With a quota of ten per month, only 120 freedmen will be produced in a year, and even after a hundred years, only more than 10,000 slaves will be eligible to become freedmen.
But in this process, the wealth created by the slaves has far exceeded the value of the more than 10,000 slaves themselves.
What's more, under the current situation in the northern border, am I still worried about the lack of slaves? "
Vera thought about it carefully, nodded in agreement and said, "Colin, you are a kind and wise lord!"
Colin laughed loudly, and suddenly felt a little lamented in his heart.
This kind of exploitative method can be called benevolent. For a moment, he didn't know whether to be happy or lament.
After walking a few blocks, a group of children caught Vera's attention.
In an open space the size of a basketball court, there was an old gentleman who looked about fifty years old. In front of him, hundreds of children gathered.
The older ones were thirteen or fourteen years old, and the younger ones were only four or five years old. The only thing they had in common was that they were all wearing shabby clothes and iron rings on their feet—this was a group of slave children.
The old gentleman wrote with charcoal on one wall, and then led the slave children to read aloud.
"Colin, did you arrange this too?"
"That's right."
Vera turned to look at Colin with eager eyes.
At this time, the image of Colin in her heart became extraordinarily tall.
But what she doesn't know is that Colin just thinks that these slave children are too weak to do heavy work, so it's better to get someone to teach them literacy, so that when they grow up, they can become more valuable labor force.
At this moment, an old voice suddenly sounded:
"My lord, for those of low status, knowledge is not a blessing, but a curse."
Colin turned his head and saw an old pastor standing behind the two of them.
(end of this chapter)