The Villainess Is My Cute Daughter

He walked over to the main dining hall instead of his own mansion.

Because this was war. And if he wanted his men to actually fight for him, hiding away in his fancy private rooms was a terrible idea. He had to eat with them to boost their morale.

So he walked right into the noisy mess hall and grabbed a wooden bowl.

The cooks actually made a real effort today. You had to feed a standing army well if you expected them to bleed for you.

Alexander scooped up a huge pile of white rice. He headed over to the pots and dumped a heavy ladle of thick, spiced meat stew right on top of it. He saw the regular soldiers’ bowls and the amount of meat they got was pretty less. But his own bowl was packed to the brim with huge beef chunks.

’My right as a Lord.’ Alexander justified to himself.

He took a seat at a long wooden table surrounded by his tired guards and dug in.

He scooped up some rice alone with a piece of meat and stuffed it into his mouth before he immediately put another huge spoonful into his mouth.

He barely chewed before swallowing, but then, he just froze.

A strange, tight knot formed right in the middle of his throat. It felt like something was stuck inside but it didn’t feel natural. It blocked his airway completely.

He dropped his spoon and his eyes went wide as he grabbed his own neck with both hands.

He gagged and coughed, desperately trying to force the blockage out, but little did he know that he wasn’t really choking. He hammered his fist against his chest. while he struggled, he knocked the wooden bowl right off the table.

He just wanted to take a single breath.

His face turned bright red as the seconds ticked by as he tried to pull in some air but nothing went in. His throat squeezed shut entirely and he finally began to feel this throat go numb.

The soldiers at the table just stared at him in pure shock. Nobody knew what to do, but nobody stepped up to help their dying lord.

Alexander continued struggling and tipped his chair backward. He fell to the floor and kicked wildly while his vision quickly blurred.

And in just a minute or two, his body went completely limp.

Alexander was dead.

It was an incredibly anti-climactic death for a noble who had wanted to keep his neighbors in check using other kingdoms. The man who thought he was a political mastermind had died a dog’s death.

The mess hall was dead silent.

Captain Thorne, the knight commander who Alexander had ordered to prepare the city defenses just yesterday, slowly stood up from his bench.

He looked down at the dead Viscount and then he looked up at the hundreds of soldiers watching him.

”Let us surrender to Lord Adrian.” Thorne said clearly. ”And we will be saved.”

The soldiers muttered nervously among themselves.

Thorne raised his hands to quiet them down.

”Listen to me.” Thorne told his men. ”The Baron has brought incredible prosperity to his territory. Oresfall went from having a small population of two hundred people to having more than ten thousand citizens today.”

Thorne pointed toward the gates.

”He also has five thousand heavily armed soldiers.” Thorne continued. ”We have all seen how huge and disciplined his army is. Alexander said that it isn’t much, but their army was just much bigger than our own.”

He paced down the aisle between the wooden tables.

”Our territory is double the size of Oresfall.” Thorne explained. ”But we have a smaller population and a weaker military. Lord Adrian has only held control of his barony for barely a year and it is already vastly more prosperous than our city, which has been ruled by the Halerius family for decades.”

The soldiers listened intently.

”Surrendering is the best choice for us.” Thorne stated. ”It will keep us alive today, which is the most important part. And it will give us a Lord who is actually fair to his people.”

Thorne looked at the faces of his tired, hungry men.

”I have heard the stories from travelers who visit Oresfall.” Thorne said. ”Lord Adrian pays everyone much better than any other lord in this empire, and he has low taxes. The citizens there do not even have to pay money for their basic food as long as they work on the construction projects that Adrian plans out. They get free meals every single day, and if they want to pay for premium food, it is just a better version of the exact same dish.”

The Knight Captain continued speaking positively about Adrian’s territory for a few more minutes. He listed the safety of the dungeon and the booming trade markets.

Thorne finally stopped pacing. He looked around the room and locked eyes with his tired soldiers. The men just stared back at him in dead silence.

”Is it not better to have a Lord who actually gives a crap about us?” Thorne asked loudly. ”A Lord who gives us opportunities to grow and build wealth of our own? Instead of serving someone who just drains us every single day through taxes and gives us the bare minimum just to survive?”

A heavy pause hung in the air.

Then, one by one, the soldiers slowly nodded.

Thorne nodded back at them. ”Let us surrender. Let us ask him to take over our territory completely. He did not tell us that he wanted to rule this land. He just told us he would kill the Viscount and go back home. But is it not better to have a Lord like him in charge here?”

The soldiers nodded again, this time with much more conviction.

”Let’s go.” Thorne commanded.

He ordered two men to grab Alexander’s body and they dragged the corpse out and followed him until they reached the top of the wall.

Thorne stood at the edge and lifted Alexander’s body up high for Adrian to see.