The Villainous Young Lady Would Even Risk Her Life for Her Beloved ～ Her Fiancé, the Prince? By All Means, Please Be Happy with the Heroine! - Chapter 1.8 (2)

Realizing she had been lost in thought, Mother quickly straightened up.

“Let’s get to the point. What I set my sights on was ‘pharmacology.'”

“Not doctors… Not medicine, but pharmacology?”

Even in places without healers or doctors, local herbal medicine and remedies had developed independently. However, their effectiveness was often questionable.

“Of course, I want to establish the profession of doctors as well. But that would take time, and the resistance would be overwhelming. So I thought that focusing on medicine—something affordable for the common folk—would be the best first step.”

Mother seemed pleased that I knew the word “doctor,” but honestly, it felt more familiar to me than healing magic ever had.

(Resistance, huh…)

In our magic-centered nation, that was only natural. Many nobles viewed non-magical technology with distrust—no, even disgust.

“I figured if we started with medicine, we could import it from countries with advanced pharmacology and distribute it steadily. After all, healers only cater to the wealthy, and most nobles don’t care about products meant for commoners.”

That hit close to home.

Before regaining my past life’s memories, I had been exactly like that.

Mother had planned to bring in apothecaries and open a school for pharmacology.

She had dreamed of developing medicine tailored to different regions and the unique diseases and herbs found there—for the sake of this country’s future.

“But it was all shut down. Your grandfather and the Calvina family made a huge fuss, saying the spread of medicine was unacceptable. They didn’t want anything to lessen their value.”

The Calvina family was another prestigious healer lineage, just like ours. It was also the family of Liza, Iris’s best friend.

“So first, I pulled your grandfather down from his position. He also opposed my marriage to Roy, after all.”

She said it so casually, but that was terrifying.

Grandfather was strict, known for his imposing presence and unyielding nature. How had she managed to overthrow him?

“Then I spent years persuading the king. The royal family was struggling with public support, so I used that to my advantage. You see, even though Lady Lione came from common origins, her family was incredibly wealthy, so it didn’t help much in winning the commoners’ favor.”

I had met Lady Lione before.

Despite not being a noble by birth, she adorned herself with more jewelry than any of the other queens.

At the time, I had envied her. But in reality, that extravagance was her weapon—her way of asserting her status.

“Now, here’s where your engagement comes into play. The Flores family is terrible at business, right? We ourselves are practically the product.”

“Ha… Ha ha…”

I could only laugh.

“Medicine imports from Roy’s homeland were already decided, but the problem was distribution. Every noble family involved in trade and the key ports were under the Calvina family’s influence… The only ones who extended a hand to help were Lady Lione’s family, the Austin Trading Company.”

Father’s homeland was modeled after Japan—a secluded island nation where sea routes were the primary means of trade.

Our kingdom was quite far away, making land routes inefficient.

“For some reason, the Austins already knew what I was trying to do. And that’s when they proposed the engagement to the First Prince… I’m sorry, Lidi. I used you for my own goals.”

“That’s not true! I was the one who ultimately agreed to this engagement.”

In reality, I had accepted it eagerly.

The thought of being engaged to the First Prince was thrilling.

And Mother had always given me the choice.

“If you don’t want to, you can refuse.”

I still remembered those words.

(Back then, I didn’t understand why she would say that about such a perfect match…)

I hadn’t known about the political struggles.

I had only heard that Lady Lione’s son, Prince Leonhart, was brilliant, and above all, incredibly handsome.

Even Luca, who met him often, spoke highly of him.

Who else could be the rightful king?

(I guess growing up in this family kept me from developing those noble prejudices…)

In the original story, that had changed over time.

Mother’s face hardened with regret.

She believed she had doomed me to an unhappy engagement for her own ambition.

Her lips pressed into a tight line.

“No… As a mother, it was my failure to allow you to suffer in this engagement.”

“Just knowing that you care means everything to me.”

I truly meant that.

In this world, there were countless arranged marriages for the sake of family interests.

Many daughters weren’t given a choice at all.

“I knew Prince Leonhart was ignoring you… but I didn’t know how to approach you about it without wounding your pride. That’s just an excuse, though.”

In my past life, I had refused to acknowledge the situation.

My pride wouldn’t let me admit that my fiancé had no interest in me.

“So, if you don’t want this engagement anymore, let’s break it off.”

“Thank you… but I’ve changed my mind. For now, I’d like to keep it as is.”

“Lidi!”

“At least until I find another solution.”

“But that means you’ll—!”

Would I end up in an unhappy marriage? Or perhaps never marry at all?

Maybe.

But marrying Leonhart was out of the question, and it wasn’t like I had a strong desire for marriage in my past life either. If causing a public scandal by breaking off the engagement was what it took to avoid dragging my mother down after all her efforts for this country, then it wasn’t a big deal.

“Ah! What if yesterday’s commotion causes them to stop importing the anthelmintic!?”

The Austin family must have been in an uproar over it by now.

“That won’t be a problem. The first shipment has already arrived in the country, and more importantly, there’s no way the king would allow this treatment to be dismissed at this point.”

That was a relief.

I never expected my engagement to Leonhart to be tangled up in all this… I really needed to be more careful with how I handled things.

“Lidiana, truly, thank you… And not just for the engagement matter. Because of everything that happened, we were able to demonstrate the effectiveness of medicine in this country sooner than expected. This gives me hope for the future.”

“It’s all thanks to your hard work, Mother! It’s because of the foundation you’ve built that things have gone so smoothly!”

Without all of Mother’s careful groundwork, simply requesting medicine imports wouldn’t have gone nearly as well. The way people received it would have been completely different.

“Thank you… Lidiana.”

Seeing Mother tear up was enough to make me feel like crying, too.

“As for that situation, leave it to me! I won’t let you feel humiliated ever again!”

“Huh!?”

Her sudden burst of energy caught me off guard.

Wait. That situation? Which situation, exactly?

“Oh, I already wrote the letters! You can ask Eliza for details… I was too angry when I wrote them, so I might have gone a little overboard!”

“Um… who exactly did you send them to?”**

I hesitated to ask.

“The Austin family, Lady Lione, and Prince Leonhart! I had them delivered last night!”

So that’s why his letter arrived so quickly.

“Listen to me, Lidiana. Don’t you dare just let this go! If anything happens, you tell me immediately!”

“Thank you… but I’ll handle this on my own!”

“That’s my daughter!”

Mother flashed a mischievous smile, and seeing that reassured me.

At the very least, I wouldn’t get in trouble for making the prince cry.

Now that I had Mother’s full support, it was time for Round Two with Leonhart tomorrow.