Chapter 1692 - 235 - The Country Bumpkin Goes to the Capital (2)

I gestured around the private room before continuing.

"I own this place, so you can basically treat it as somewhere you can relax. You don't have to worry about impressing anyone, and nobody here is going to complain because you don't know the proper etiquette for some fancy establishment."

"I-I see..." she replied, although she still looked somewhat uncertain.

It seemed that she was still having trouble relaxing, but I was not particularly worried about it.

Honestly, her appearance alone made it nearly impossible for anyone to mistake her for some ordinary country bumpkin. She was an incredibly beautiful woman, and even if she was standing there looking completely confused about what she was supposed to do, most people would probably assume she belonged there anyway.

"Why don't you take a seat and relax for a while?" I suggested.

"O-Okay," Anna replied.

She sat down after I told her to, although she continued glancing around the room every so often. She looked as though she were trying to understand how everything worked, which was somewhat amusing to watch.

I had no idea why she was so worried about it, but I supposed that was simply how she reacted whenever she found herself in unfamiliar surroundings.

After a little while, Amy entered the room carrying several desserts.

She quietly placed them on the table in front of us.

"Uh..." Anna said, staring at the desserts.

She suddenly looked even more uncomfortable.

I guessed that nobody had really served her like this before, especially in an establishment that looked this refined. She seemed to be searching for something appropriate to say, but nothing seemed to come to mind.

Amy simply smiled at her with her eyes still closed.

"T-Thank you," Anna finally managed to say.

Amy continued smiling before leaving us alone.

Once she had gone, I sat down across from Anna and looked at her for a moment.

I had brought her here for a reason, and there was little point in dragging things out any longer.

"I'm not going to beat around the bush," I told her. "I want you to become the Governor of Lerbia."

The moment I said those words, Anna's eyes widened.

She stared at me as though she had just heard something completely absurd.

"Y-You want me to what?" she asked.

Her reaction was so immediate that I knew she had definitely heard me correctly.

"I want you to become the Governor of Lerbia," I repeated calmly.

Anna continued staring at me for several seconds before slowly letting out a bewildered sigh.

"I-I'm sorry, D-Darling, but... you want me to do what exactly?"

She looked genuinely confused now, as though she was wondering whether I had somehow decided to make a joke at her expense.

"I think you heard what I said quite clearly," I replied.

"B-But that doesn't make any sense," she said, shaking her head. "Why would you want me to do something like that?"

"Currently, the Duchy of Lerbia is without a ruler because their previous ruler has died," I explained. The reason was me, of course, but I was going to leave that out for now. "Because of that, Lerbia is no longer functioning as an independent country and has instead become a territory under the Milham Kingdom."

Anna listened carefully as I continued.

"However, even though it is technically just a territory now, nobody seems particularly interested in taking responsibility for actually leading it. Part of the reason is probably because of their experiences with their former ruler, so I can understand why people would hesitate to get involved."

I paused briefly before continuing.

"Even so, the territory still has to function properly. We cannot simply leave it without anyone overseeing it, because eventually, that is going to create even more problems for us."

Anna continued staring at me.

"Since you have a lot of experience with farmland and agricultural work, I want to put the territory under your leadership," I explained. "You understand how farmland works, you know what needs to be done to keep it productive, and that knowledge is going to be extremely valuable for us."

She looked at me for several seconds with an expression that suggested she was genuinely wondering whether I had finally gone insane.

"I-I don't have any kind of experience with governing!" she protested. "How am I supposed to become a governor when I've never done anything like that before?"

"It doesn't matter as much as you think," I said. "I'm not expecting you to suddenly become some political genius who can handle every single problem in Lerbia by yourself."

I leaned back slightly before continuing my explanation.

"Your main responsibility would not really be governing every aspect of the territory personally. What I need from you is for you to oversee the farmland and make sure agricultural production continues properly."

Anna still looked unconvinced.

"The farmland is important for us," I continued. "We need to maintain it because it can provide a reliable source of food for our people and soldiers. With the war continuing to escalate, and with winter approaching, finding enough food is going to become increasingly difficult."

I looked directly at her.

"Keeping that farmland productive could make a huge difference for us."

"B-But still..." Anna muttered.

I understood why she was hesitant.

She had no idea what she was supposed to do, and from her perspective, I had essentially walked into a cake shop, ordered dessert, and casually informed her that she was going to become the governor of an entire territory.

Admittedly, when I thought about it from her perspective, it did sound a little insane.

Still, I believed she could do it.

I was not asking her to handle everything alone, nor was I expecting her to suddenly understand politics, administration, military affairs, taxation, and all the other complicated responsibilities associated with governing a territory.

What I needed from her was something much more specific.

She understood farmland.

She knew how agricultural work functioned.

Most importantly, she understood the land in a way that someone sitting in a capital city and looking at reports simply could not.

As long as there was something useful she could contribute, I believed the arrangement could work.

In fact, I thought it could work very well.

Anna might not have believed she was qualified to become a governor, but I had not chosen her because I thought she was some brilliant politician. I had chosen her because she had practical knowledge that we desperately needed, and sometimes, having the right person managing something important was worth far more than simply placing someone with an impressive title in charge.

I had no doubt that Anna could make it work if she was given enough support.

She just needed to realize that I was not throwing her into the deep end and expecting her to somehow learn how to swim overnight.