28 Learning About the Flood

Three days after my engagement party, a flood occured in the eastern part of the nation.

Families lost their homes and many were killed by the flood. This left a huge problem for the empire as refugees from the east tries to find help in the capital. The people flooded the capital asking for help in terms of food and lodging.

Unfortunately there was not enough resources to help all the refugees. People started living in the streets and was begging for even the smallest bit of money or food.

I looked outside my balcony at the street near my manor where people were holed up together for any sign of warmth. The were using holed blankets, but I guess any source of warmth they could get is acceptable at this point.

My face was stern as I looked past the distress of the people.

I thought of how the king tries to help the refugees by giving out food every couple of days. There were stations set up for the refugees to wait in line and get a bowl of plain porridge.

They don't even have nutritious food, but any food at all was already a blessing to those who lost everything.

The nation was in mourning for all the victims of the flood. Soldiers were sent to the east to help bury the bodies of the dead.

'Lisa prepare my clothes, I'm going out alone for a bit,' I told her. I was planning on seeing how bad the situations are around the capital.

Perhaps a part of me still remembers the hard times I went through as an orphan. I knew how difficult it is to live on scraps and was feeling emphaty for those whose lives were practically destroyed by the flood.

I put on my cape to disguise myself as a commoner so I can walk through the city without attracting any attention.

Some people said that the flood was a sign. A sign that my engagement would be a disaster as the flood happened so close after my party.

I chose not to listen to those people because I know for sure that it woild indeed end in disaster. The words were already written in the book.

More than that, I don't even have any desire to marry Alex, when he isn't annoying me he was acting like a pompous jerk. I think I deserve better.

I left the manor and walked in the street. It was filled with the people who lost their homes. A woman was hiddling together with her child. As I walked past her she grabbed the bottom of my coat and yelled.

'Please help us. Anything would be useful. Please!'

I was startled and pulled back my cape walking backwards from the woman. The child was quiet and looked very pitiful. Unfortunately I did not bring any money or food with me as I did not plan to go out for very long.

I continued my way past the starving people in the streets and felt guilty for not helping each person I passed by.

Their clothes was in tatters, the smell of their bodies was pungent as they probably have not had a bath in a while.

Eventually I reached the middle of the town where most of the refugees stayed. I saw the station giving out the free porridge for the people. The big bowl of porridge was almost empty by then. Not even half of the people had had their fill yet and they were already running out of food to feed.

Feeling powerless I ran back to the manor.

(┬┬﹏┬┬) (┬┬﹏┬┬) (┬┬﹏┬┬) (┬┬﹏┬┬) (┬┬﹏┬┬) (┬┬﹏┬┬) (┬┬﹏┬┬) (┬┬﹏┬┬) (┬┬﹏┬┬)

I hate feeling powerless. There must be something I can do for the people. Maybe not money since our family is poor, but something to get the empire back on its feet.

The Castelle family was not known for our generosity. Of course now I know that is because we don't have anything to give.

I also know that there was no mention of a flood in the book, perhaps because we are not yet where the book started. But the feeling in my gut is that my presence here might have had a butterfly effect that caused this flood.

Or maybe I'm just being paranoid.

I also know that I can use this situation to my advantage. Not that I'm happy the people are suffering, but this could be a chance for the Castelle family to get a good reputation by helping the flood situation.

I was pacing back and forth in my room.

Giving people food and money is not going to help them in the long term. To create a real impact we have to go back to the root of the problem which is rebuilding the homes that were destroyed.

When people can go back to the east then the capital won't have to carry the burden of the refugees for long and it will help the overall economy of the nation.

But the question is how can we do that? Perhaps the soldiers can help with rebuilding the homes but then we will lack manpower. Not all the soldiers can be taken away from the capital, that will render us defenseless.

Maybe the refugees can help to rebuild their own homes, this will ease the stream of refugees in the capital as well as help return things to the way they were again.

But simply having this idea is not going to cut it, I need to have the Castelle family be the saving grace of the empire for us to get any credit.

Oh, maybe I can ask Elaine's brother to help. He was not mentioned a lot in the book, but I know he works in the castle as some sort of accountant and that he is well versed in earth magic. If he can help restructure the land in the east to make it habitable, then we the Castelle family will get a commendation for our help.

I wished I could do more by myself but having allies will be beneficial to me.

This way all the noble families will look up to us and maybe not be so vindictive to me so nothing bad like me being put in the guillotine will happen in the future.

Though I know that this time I have the king on my side since he wants me to be the future queen of the nation, I still don't trust that he will protect me when I need help. He did help in killing Elaine after all.

'Lisa prepare the carriage we are going to the castle.'