Mila slipped into the room looking nervous and soft, this was her first time going through something like this.
But the lord showed her no mercy. He grabbed her by the tail and got right to it.
Rohan played the conqueror, and Mila's true nature came out in full before him that night.
The next morning…
Rohan woke up. The fox-girl in his arms was still trembling slightly, her lashes fluttering, she looked like she was caught in some uneasy dream.
[Mila — Obedience 40% — Submissive]
Rohan reached out and stroked those soft ears. The warm, fluffy texture came through with every touch.
"My lord…" Mila's voice came out slow and drowsy, the way it does right after waking up. Then something seemed to come back to her, and her face flushed all over again.
Rohan didn't say anything. He got up, got dressed, and sat down for breakfast. His daily routine hadn't changed: a glass of red wine and a roasted chicken. That was his minimum standard for every meal.
And he had no intention of changing it.
Money didn't come from cutting corners. If pinching pennies was the path to wealth, then families that had been scraping and saving for generations would all be rich by now.
Reality didn't work that way.
The people of his territory were starving, sure, but this was the life of a noble.
Mila watched quietly from the side, used to it all by now.
Rohan sipped his wine and thought through what it would take to actually develop this territory.
It was just a barony, passed down through the family for generations, roughly equivalent to a large village and the scattered farmland and woodland around it.
The fields were worked by serfs, who were legally the lord's property. No matter how much they grew, they barely got enough to survive on.
If nobody was eating enough, nobody had the energy to fight.
And a fight was coming. Selina's behavior made that obvious: she'd been nudging the original owner to weaken the territory from the inside, piece by piece.
This world's technology was underdeveloped, because magic and battle aura had pulled everyone's attention in that direction instead. Rohan was no engineer, so starting an industrial revolution was off the table. Besides, most things that would take technology here could already be done through magic.
Flying? No aircraft needed.
Developing technology would honestly just waste time.
And a single first-rank warrior could wipe out a dozen regular soldiers without breaking a sweat.
"Go tell the council hall…" Rohan drummed his fingers slowly. "I'm waiving land rent for the serfs for the next year. Starting next year, they hand over sixty percent of their harvest. Whatever's left, they keep or sell, their call."
Mila's eyes flickered with surprise when she heard that.
She'd expected him to keep drifting through the same extravagant routine, completely checked out from the territory's problems.
She still had no idea what had gotten into him, but an order was an order.
Rohan just wanted to give the serfs a reason to actually work. At this rate of low morale, the territory was never going to go anywhere.
He took a look at the treasury. Eight hundred gold coins left.
He nearly gagged. And that was money squeezed out of his people through excessive taxes. Raising an army from scratch would be nearly impossible: nobody was going to follow a man they despised without a serious incentive.
His people had completely given up on the old lord. They'd starved themselves so their lord could chase a woman. Who wouldn't be bitter about that?
Rohan sighed and picked up a quill. He began to write:
"Selina… my darling, I've kept you waiting far too long, and I'm sorry for that. Unfortunately, I'm still two thousand gold coins short. I've decided to travel to sell the territory's warhorses. I believe that if I make that long journey to Count Whirlwind's territory, raise the funds, and return with the Bloomheart Gems they're known for, gems that can strengthen magic power, your father will finally see how serious I am. The only problem is I'm still two hundred gold coins short for the trip, and I have no choice but to ask you, my darling. Your future husband, Rohan."
Rohan was applying a principle he knew well from Earth: the sunk cost effect. When people are too attached to what they've already put in, time, effort, money, they keep doubling down even when the logical choice is to walk away.
Back in Galecrest Territory, Selina actually hesitated when she read it.
The silver-haired, red-eyed beauty hadn't expected this idiot to actually go through with it, selling warhorses to travel all the way to Count Whirlwind's territory for Bloomheart Gems. Those gems could boost magic power.
And once he sold the warhorses, Argentmere Territory's defenses would weaken even further. Then he'd bring the gems back to her, strengthening her side in the process.
Two birds, one stone.
She brought the idea to her father, and the two of them agreed without a second thought: this lovesick fool couldn't possibly be running a con. The thought didn't even cross their minds. They sent the gold.
When Rohan received the coins back in Argentmere Territory, he broke into a wide grin. The letter that came with them? He didn't even read it. Tossed it straight in the trash.
The commander of the garrison watched the whole thing in silence.
Had getting beaten up actually knocked some sense into this lord?
Ares served as the Hillenford family's sworn knight and doubled as the commander of Argentmere Territory's forces. When he'd heard that Rohan had nearly been beaten to death by a mob, he'd been furious.
Because if Rohan died, the empire would just send a new baron to take over, and everything Ares had built here would be handed to someone else's people.
Best case, he'd end up as a lackey's lackey. Worst case, he'd be the first one the new lord made an example of.
Still, he had to admit that his lord had been acting like a real piece of work lately.
"Ares." Rohan tossed the coin pouch, two hundred gold, from hand to hand. "I want to get the soldiers outfitted with new gear. War could come any day now."
It was only a matter of time before Galecrest Territory figured out they'd been played. When they did, they'd come to collect, and they'd been planning to move on Argentmere anyway.
"Understood!" Ares dropped to one knee. This lord was different now: he was actually thinking about the territory's future. "I'll see to it immediately."
"Good. And first, round up the rioters who attacked me." The uprising had run its course. Now it was time to settle the score.
He needed them to understand that not just anyone could come at him and walk away.
Ares carried out the order. Before long, he was back with a squad of soldiers and a group of a dozen or so rioters in tow, the ones who'd taken part in the attack.
They were bound, terrified, and on their knees in front of Rohan.
Rohan looked them over, his gaze cold and sharp. "Under imperial law, a commoner who attacks a noble faces death by slow dismemberment, for the entire family."
The moment those words landed, every face on the floor went white as a sheet.
A few of the more timid ones just collapsed on the spot, completely losing control of themselves.
"My lord, please, spare us!" one of the rioters cried out. "We had no other choice. Our children were starving. We weren't in our right minds, we just didn't know what else to do!"
The others joined in, begging, sobbing, the hall filling with the sound of desperate voices.
Mila stood to the side and watched. She couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy.
If she was being real with herself, Rohan had backed these people into a corner. They'd only taken that risk because they had nothing left to lose.
Things were different between her and Rohan now, which meant she felt like she could say something.
The worst he'd do was lecture her. That was still better than watching the people's trust in the territory collapse completely.
Because once things fell apart from the inside and outside at the same time, there'd be no coming back.