I Was Reincarnated as the Prince in a Villainess Story, so I’ll Use My Cheat Knowledge to Create a Noble Lady Harem and Make Them All Happy - 16

Chapter 16: A Wall Called Connection

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A few days had passed since his return to the royal capital. When the door to the royal office in the deepest part of the palace quietly closed, Valis finally gained a moment to himself.

On the desk lay a map of the entire kingdom, spread wide alongside a progress chart for each village. The marks stamped in red formed a continuous band stretching from the outskirts of the capital toward the southern border. That was the region where the introduction of public baths and the state-regulated prostitution system was being advanced.

It was the frontline of the new reforms spearheaded by Crown Prince Valis. The results had been proven in the capital thus far. Improvement of public hygiene, reduction in disease rates, suppression of sexual crimes, and social stability through the regulation of public sex work. These achievements were now being expanded to the southern villages.

However, there was another, more urgent reason for prioritizing the southern territories.

“…The Kingdom of Beltea.”

Valis quietly murmured the name written beyond the southern edge of the map, just outside the borderlines. Ever since a certain incident thirty years ago, internal strife—practically civil war—had repeatedly broken out between the nobility and the commoners who had once stood together in rebellion against royal authority. That political chaos, coupled with the ensuing famine, brought Beltea’s state functions to the brink of collapse, and refugees began to flee into neighboring countries.

Naturally, the neighboring Kingdom of Alveria had seen a massive influx of refugees at the time.

The Kingdom of Alveria was a great power of the central continent, boasting stability and order incomparable to that of Beltea Moreover, its Royal Knight Order, which upheld the kingdom’s military might, was considered among the strongest on the continent. Back then, there truly had been a sense of duty within Alveria, to save those suffering people.

However, five years ago, it had been Valis himself who proposed the policy to halt refugee inflows.

At present, the Kingdom of Alveria was held in high regard, its national strength having grown significantly thanks to Crown Prince Valis’s accomplishments. In addition, the girl known as Milia Elfein—hailed even as a Saint—drew the attention of all surrounding nations.

In such circumstances, unplanned acceptance of refugees could easily make neighboring countries suspect “territorial ambitions.” More critically, among the refugees hiding along the border, there were those deeply influenced by Beltea’s populist factions seeking to overthrow their nobles. Some even formed groups that had begun to devolve into banditry.

And before Alveria had established its regulated prostitution system, the violence, exploitation, and illegal sex trade that worsened public safety had often centered around refugees from Beltea. It was not that they were evil, but rather that people struggling to survive in a land they could not adapt to were often driven into such acts. Thus, allowing an unrestrained influx of refugees would inevitably lead to a decline in security.

To make matters worse, the nobles of Beltea feared national decline due to the outflow of their populace and potential annexation by Alveria, while the populist faction declared that Alveria itself was a land where nobles oppressed the people—claiming that after liberating Beltea, their next goal would be to “liberate Alveria.”

Given such tensions, how many of those crossing the border into Alveria could truly be called refugees? Yet the border was impossibly long. Even the Knight Order could not monitor it all or completely block entry.

“That’s precisely why…”

Valis’s gaze swept across the southern villages encircled in red ink.

He would turn the “village” as a community into a networked, tightly bound unit. A public bath was not merely a hygienic facility. The trust and conversations born from bathing together would become the finest means of uniting villagers.

The licensed brothels, too, were more than workplaces. Protected under law, the women who served there could discern their clients’ true nature, detect strange behavior, and become the first line of awareness. They would serve as a test of whether someone could adapt to the kingdom’s ways.

“To build a system where information naturally circulates among people within each village—to deliberately accelerate what you might call a ‘village society.’ That will allow us to discern who can integrate and who cannot, and consolidate the flow of people and information to the state.”

That was the conclusion Valis had reached. This refugee-control policy of Valis’s—cautious to the point of seeming cowardly—had sparked backlash among the young knights. They argued that Alveria should defeat both the oppressive Beltean nobles and the so-called revolutionary populists, and under the light of Alveria’s glory, liberate the suffering people. Many young knights believed in that ideal.

Valis could understand that sentiment.

To turn away those who suffer. To close the gates while knowing they faced mortal danger. It was only natural that the young knights, proud of their nation and the nobles’ genuine sense of noblesse oblige, could not truly accept such reasoning, even if they intellectually and logically understood the reason behind Valis’s decision.

Some of those very knights had even been second-generation refugees from Beltea, men who had earned their rank through tireless effort. Certainly, with Alveria’s current military strength, an invasion of Beltea could yield results. In terms of warfare, it would likely not even be a contest.

But even so, countless people—knights among them—would die. And though national strength had increased, Alveria still lacked the resources to annex another kingdom without strain. The border would stretch even farther, and if other nations moved, the kingdom would struggle to respond. Moreover, refugees accepted without plan would often be forced into crime simply to survive.

Therefore, it was inevitable that there must be a distinction between foreign refugees and Alverian citizens. It was basically a distinction between whose lives could be saved and whose could not. As if to bear that weight upon himself, Valis let out a long breath.

Meanwhile, his policies had won significant support among the high-ranking nobles and elder statesmen of the kingdom. Even putting aside his accumulated trust and achievements, Valis’s composure—his cool-headedness, even cold-bloodedness—and his willingness to shoulder personal guilt for the sake of the nation had earned him the respect of even the most seasoned, shrewd aristocrats.

“Your Highness.”

At that moment, Reina knocked on the door. Dressed in a deep indigo gown embroidered with gold thread, she carried herself with stately grace, yet her eyes were gentle, focused solely on him.

“The deployment of the knights has been completed. Each village now has sufficient personnel, and the necessary communication lines have been secured.”

“Thank you, Reina. …Truly, you are to me—”

Before he could continue, Reina gently placed her hand atop his, stopping his words. Her slender, pale fingers wrapped around his hand.

“I wholeheartedly agree with what Your Highness is doing.”

Her voice was firm, filled with unshaken resolve. Her blue eyes pierced straight through him. Still holding his hand, she gazed directly at Valis. He nodded at her words, yet could not help imagining the pain that must lie beneath them.

To turn away the Beltean refugees—the truly oppressed. For someone like her, who could show love equally to all, such a policy must carry unbearable contradiction. And she was the same woman whom the young knights revered as the “Valkyrie.”

Even so, she said nothing in protest. She had already completed the knight deployments and now came to personally offer her support. That truth alone stirred Valis’s heart deeply.

Her voice rippled with quiet emotion and Valis gently squeezed her hand in return.

“Reina… Thank you.”

Then, he smiled softly.

“What is it?”

“No, I was just thinking… I’m a little happy.”

“Oh, goodness…”

Her brows furrowed slightly, as though pouting, and while still holding his hand, she stepped closer. Then, she gently pressed her lips to his. It was a fleeting tenderness. But just as Valis started to say something, her lips deepened against his once more.

“…Nn…”

Her tongue slipped in. Hot and wet, it traced his teeth, caressed the inside of his mouth, and entwined with his own.

Wet sounds—soft and obscene—filled the quiet office. The sensation ran electric down his spine. The sweetness eroded reason.

“R…Reina…”

The moment he whispered her name through his breath, her lips pulled away. She exhaled lightly. Her moist lips glistened, her cheeks flushed, and her eyes—shining with moisture—curved in a faint smile.

“If you mean to tempt me like that… Then be prepared for tonight.”

Turning on her heel, her gown fluttered like feathers as she left the room. Valis stood there, dazed for a time, before finally returning his gaze to the desk. Tracing a finger over the map, he stopped on the southern border villages and murmured softly:

“First, I’ll make sure to accomplish what I can… Toward the south.”

To protect this warmth—he reminded himself—he had to do what must be done.

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