Chapter 2: Journey to the Middle Ages 002

Chapter 2: Journey to the Middle Ages 002

The fictional medieval country that Louisa transmigrated to is called the kingdom of Vason, a major power among the surrounding regions, likely modeled after medieval France. Fortunately, her father, Count Brundo, is among the most prominent nobles within the kingdom, so her life is relatively comfortable compared to her peers. At least, she doesn’t have to worry about reincarnation.

Count Brundo's lands are in the eastern part of the Vason Kingdom, centered around a fertile plain, where the ruling center, Troyes, is located. After leaving the convent, Louisa arrived here, escorted by Father Mario and a group of knights. A day before they reached Troyes Palace, knights sent by the Count were already stationed by the roadside. After paying their respects, they returned to the castle to report.

So when Louisa arrived at Troyes Palace, the castle’s inhabitants were already awaiting her.

Early in the morning, in a grand, beautifully decorated room on the upper floor of the castle’s southwest tower, Countess Brundo sat by the west-facing window. Leaning against the leaded glass, she gazed out at the bustling courtyard and remarked to her only daughter, "Look, everyone in this castle is eager to please that little nun from Fontevraud!"

"They seem to think that a young girl with no noble education can still govern Brundo, simply because she’s the eldest daughter." The Countess turned to her daughter: "And you, my child, just two years younger, are left with no claim to Brundo’s vast lands and wealth."

Eva Balzac, the Count’s daughter from his second marriage, remained silent, her face tense. She clearly understood her mother’s meaning. Though only 10, in an era where noble girls are often betrothed before 10 and married by 14, she understands everything.

For instance, she once had several suitors. Many lords sent envoys to Troyes to propose marriage for their sons. But after learning Count Brundo planned to bring his eldest daughter back from the convent, the envoys stayed, shifting their proposals to Louisa Balzac, her unseen sister.

"Men always seek a wife with land..." The Countess continued indignantly. "Originally, you could have become a queen, but now that is almost impossible."

Brundo is famously wealthy, but the problem is, if Eva is not the future Countess, she is no different from an ordinary noble girl.

The Countess kept talking, but soon someone came to report, sent by the Count. He had already gone to the great hall on the west side of the lower castle, ready to welcome his heir. After so many years, this first meeting had to be formal. On such an occasion, the family naturally had to be present, even though the Countess had no desire to see Louisa at Troyes Palace.

Count Brundo understood his wife's feelings, but he didn’t care. Like most men of his time, he believed that "only a foolish husband would let his wife influence him." In fact, the more dissatisfied the Countess was, the more he had to make her show kindness to her stepdaughter, because she would be his heir.

The Countess and her daughter Eva descended the wooden staircase to the castle courtyard, then passed through the cloister walkway and several doorways before reaching the great hall. Count Brundo was already waiting—a man in his fifties with rough skin but neatly trimmed beard, clearly a handsome man in his youth.

Just three or four years ago, he was still personally fighting on the battlefield. But aging seemed to happen in an instant. One day, he suddenly felt that he was truly running out of energy—before that, he had still held a little hope that he might have a legitimate son to inherit his title and lands.

At such times, one must consider the future. After thinking for three or four years, he finally decided to bring back his eldest daughter as his heir.

Well, the legal tradition of Brundo's land is quite ancient, and its inheritance system is therefore somewhat different from the surrounding areas, being based on primogeniture. For example, now that Count Brundo rules this land, the heir would first be his son. If there is no son, it would go to his daughter. If there are no children, it would then go to other relatives.

When the Countess arrived at the great hall, she noticed that the royal envoy was also present. This envoy had previously come to Brundo with the king's sincerity to propose marriage, and the object of his proposal was Eva. But now, clearly, everything had changed.

Before the Countess could approach, she heard the Count saying, "...So, according to your words, you wish to propose marriage to my daughter for the prince. Well, I have no objection to that, and we can even skip negotiating the marriage contract—the only thing is, the bride has changed."

The envoy naturally understood that the Count was mocking him. Although the Count fully understood that the king only wanted to find a female heir with land for his son to marry, and that choosing the younger daughter as the prince's bride would be foolish if she couldn’t inherit Brundo, why should he think from others' perspectives?

From his own perspective, someone picking and choosing his daughter was always quite irritating.

The envoy swallowed his pride and even managed to speak in a light tone about the latest "change": "Oh, no, Count. I think there is one more thing to change about the marriage contract—our groom will also be changed."

This was something the Count hadn’t expected: "What about our King Riadom?"

"Prince Guillaume is fine, but the king believes that Prince Guillaume already has his own lands, whereas Prince Philip is more urgent in this matter..." The envoy explained somewhat awkwardly.

The Count quickly understood. It was probably not the king who thought so, but the queen—the current King Louis III of Vason has had three marriages, and these three marriages have brought him seven legitimate children, not counting those who died young or daughters!

The current Queen Anna alone has given birth to Prince Philip and Prince François.

In the royal family, having many children is a blessing, and they can afford to raise as many as they have. But resources are always limited, and it is only natural that Queen Anna wants to secure more for her own sons.

Louisa truly didn’t expect that her first serious matter upon returning to the Brundo court would be discussing her marriage with Count Brundo—right after the welcoming family dinner.

"Overall, replacing Prince Guillaume with Prince Philip isn’t a bad thing. Prince Guillaume is brave and skilled in battle, but Prince Philip has the queen’s support and will not lack lands and wealth in the future. But we can’t simply accept the royal family’s change of groom without conditions. What do you think about this?" While asking his unfamiliar eldest daughter, the Count was also observing her.

Louisa replied without hesitation, "Of course, you can take this opportunity to demand some benefits, such as allowing our currency to circulate freely in Vason."

"That’s unlikely," the Count shook his head.

"But there’s still room to negotiate, right, Father? If not throughout Vason, then perhaps limited to the eastern region? That’s where our currency circulates heavily anyway," Louisa suggested. Though she grew up in a nunnery, she had modern habits and always took the chance to gather outside information, so she knew her stuff.

In present-day Vason, the royal family, nobility, and even some bishops and monasteries had the right to mint coins. Facing this situation, the king had a solution. A few years ago, he enacted a law despite opposition, allowing lords to retain their minting rights while stipulating that the coins could only circulate within their respective territories.

The law didn’t have a huge impact, as the coins were made of precious metals and had intrinsic value. Merchants still traded with different coins, ignoring the king’s decree. However, it wasn’t without effect. When the quality was similar, royal-minted coins naturally had an advantage.

This advantage seemed minor, but over time, other mints would find it increasingly challenging to compete with the royal mint—unless the royal family made a grave mistake and produced coins of significantly inferior quality.

Louisa's conversation with Count Brundo didn’t last long, and it was ultimately decided that she would be engaged to Prince Philip... This was essentially a foregone conclusion, and switching princes last minute wasn’t a big deal. As long as it was a legitimate son of Louis III, politically, it made no difference.

However, back in her room, Louisa knew it was very different!

On the surface, both princes were Louis III’s legitimate sons, with three older brothers above them (originally four, but the eldest died of typhoid last year, and the crown prince had been replaced). Excluding the one who entered the church, there were still two! The likelihood of either of them ascending the throne was low, so it didn’t matter which one.

But who knew both would end up as kings of Vason? Louisa knew this because this world was actually a fictional one from a novel she had read in her previous life—a medieval fiction novel.

If nothing unexpected happened, the two elder princes would die one after the other, and the crown would eventually fall to Prince Guillaume. However, he would also die young, and without heirs, the throne would pass to Prince Philip. Prince Philip was the protagonist of that medieval fiction novel, with the heroine being a princess from a small duchy east of Vason.

As for Louisa’s role in the original book—well, there was no Louisa Balzac. However, her half-sister Eva in this life had a minor role as the third female lead in the original book.

In the original story, since Louisa didn’t exist, the one who became engaged and married to Prince Philip was Eva—but she wasn’t his true love. She had once been jealous of the heroine and eventually died in childbirth. After Eva’s death, Prince Philip could no longer suppress his feelings and remarried the heroine, who had become a widow of a nobleman.

Later, Prince Guillaume (by then the king) died young, Prince Philip ascended the throne, and the heroine became the queen of Vason, assisting Philip in becoming a wise king.

As for marrying a future king and becoming queen, Louisa wasn’t opposed. Given the times and her status, she couldn’t freely decide her fate. Marrying someone the book described as a decent guy and a king was already a win.

As long as she didn’t die in childbirth due to ‘plot inertia,’ replacing Eva—compared to that, her future husband having a true love was a minor issue. Living in a feudal era where men dominated, being overly concerned about that would seem naive and even pretentious.

Louisa was somewhat naive by nature, but she had the advantage of being easygoing and content. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have adapted so well to this era. Only God knew the mental torture of growing up in an isolated nunnery, spending every day chanting prayers.

Many women of this era couldn’t endure it, let alone Louisa, who came from the modern age... Having seen the light, it was even harder to bear the darkness.

Of course, part of the credit went to the golden finger she brought with her from her previous life—Louisa had a portable space in this life. This space wasn’t magical; it simply brought along the small supermarket from her previous life.

Although the supplies in the supermarket wouldn’t regenerate once used (time in the supermarket space was static, so the goods didn’t "expire"), using modern products to improve her life from time to time brought Louisa a lot of happiness. These small pleasures in life were really comforting.