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“Balthazar just told me that food prices had started to rise.”

Mia returned the cup of tea she had just taken up to the table after learning this information.

“Oh, so it’s finally here.” Her voice was about to tremble. She halted it before it could.

The sporadic reports of crop failures from the previous year had finally culminated, seeming as an unmistakable sign of impending famine. She had dreaded this situation. Yes, she had prepared for it, but she also hoped it wouldn’t happen. That optimism had been definitively destroyed.

Ludwig stated, “At the moment, it’s not a problem, but in the near future, we’ll probably start to see people going hungry.”

“Hm… And? What is the strategy then?”

Before her, he set a bundle of parchment.

“Please take a moment to review these first.”

The results of Ludwig’s two years of nonstop work were condensed onto the pages. It provided a wealth of information, including estimates of the quantities of food needed to feed the empire’s subjects, market prices for food currently available, predicted inflation, and the likelihood that each administrative region would face famine. The figures were very specific as well.

It wasn’t as simple as distributing their stockpile and calling it a day to end a famine of this magnitude. That was far from sufficient. In addition to allocating the foreign imports, they also had to take into account the meager but still important local harvests. They could only start addressing the issue of how to divide their reserved supplies optimally after taking everything into account.

“Hmm…”

Before moving on to the next parchment, Mia held up the first one and made sure to thoroughly scratch her chin. For all the other pages, she followed the same pattern. She appeared to be closely examining each and every piece of info from the outside. She wasn’t looking at all on the inside.

“I see. Interesting.”

Saying she didn’t comprehend the material would be a huge understatement. Even worse, she wasn’t even aware of what she didn’t understand. It was a typical scenario that had perplexed innumerable students and instructors over the years. Ludwig had actually given her a lot of solid reprimands in the past for being in a predicament like this. But could she really be held accountable? After all, tables of numbers may as well be written in code or another language. And Mia undoubtedly really found it undecipherable.

She laid the big stack of parchment down after flicking through it and sighed in disappointment as she remarked, “I…still have no idea.”

She bowed her head and waved the white flag of truth. It was either her second-best or second-worst choice. It certainly wasn’t the worst choice, though. She had learned the hard way that pretending to know something when she didn’t was the worst thing she could do when speaking to knowledgeable people like Ludwig. Even while she didn’t enjoy the inevitable series of furious complaints that would follow, it was better than being in the dark.

She then made the decision to come clean, to which Ludwig responded, “My heartfelt apologies. I understand that the data is not perfect.”

He bowed his head and grimaced bitterly.

“Sadly, there is a lot of uncertainty in the information obtained from the different nobility across the empire… Although we now have a good idea of the amount of their stockpiles, it is just impossible to forecast how they will use them. Although it’s not ideal, there is a lot of uncertainty in our predictions of the population’s impact. We will be able to survive this famine, I am confident of that.”

“Oh, I see, That’s encouraging news.”

Even if the figures were still perplexing, she now understood what they indicated. Instead, she was content with the fact that she understood what Ludwig had claimed they meant.

“Ludwig, there is one thing I would want to add.”

She gave him her full attention.

“Yes, Your Highness?”

She looked genuinely wise, as if she were articulating a universal truth, and urged, “Don’t make any enemies in the process of doing this.”

Mia understood the horrible price of wronging someone through food. She regarded herself as a kind-hearted, refined princess. She frequently identified herself as being gentle, merciful, and kind. She probably ought to add “a lack of self-awareness” to the list as well. The key aspect is that she believed she was generally a lovely person. However, even someone as friendly as herself was helpless in the face of the all-consuming indignation of food shortages. She would have a tantrum if her cake was dropped on the ground in front of her, and if she was then told it was the last one, she would just erupt in a fit of utter rage.

She cautioned Ludwig because of this. Just one person being harmed by food was wrong enough. It would be a nightmare to mislead the entire public.

“In fact, I’d prefer it if you made friends over the food. As many as is practical. Ideally, all of them.”

She was speaking honestly. She had really taken to the sentiment after learning from her history. She was aware that this was the best strategy for avoiding the guillotine.

She added, becoming petty out of worry, “Please bear this in mind. You must never, ever allow yourself to forget this fact.”

“Understood. I’ll make sure to engrave it to memory.”

As he bowed, she grinned blissfully.

“Okay, then. So that’s it. Prior to returning to Saint-Noel, I don’t believe there is anything more to do.”

“Not that I’m aware of. Your Highness, feel free to head back whenever you like. This is the route that the Princess Guard planned to take. Please have a look.”

“Hm…”

Mia pursed her lips as she read the parchment.

Ludwig claims that everything is under control and that the famine hasn’t yet begun, but I would be lying if I claimed I wasn’t still concerned.

There was a strong, primal fear of having nothing to eat. A scarcity of food caused severe anxiety. Mia’s stomach ached at the mere thought of it. And it wasn’t because she had just eaten too much. Well, that wasn’t the only reason.

They would need people to have faith that the harvest would be just as good as it was this year if they wanted to relieve that concern. People could only savor the food on their tables today if they had faith that it would be equally filled tomorrow.

I can’t keep taking money out of my savings if I want peace of mind. That would be too stressful. Naturally, we’ll be relying on Perujin and Chloe’s father to do their best, but I think there should be more. Some sort of…

“…Fundamental solution that’ll give me peace of mind.”

“Hm? Please explain, Your Highness.”

“Huh? Ah, nothing at all. On the way back to Saint-Noel, I’d like to take a diversion, therefore this schedule will need to be modified, I was just considering.”

“A diversion to where?”

“To the domain of Viscount Berman.”

Ludwig raised an eyebrow, “Viscount Berman… You’re going to the academy city then?”

Nodding, Mia replied.

“That’s right. I have a topic I want to discuss with Arshia.”