The following is from the perspective of a former Duke's Daughter.
My name was Erika-teze.
I was once the daughter of a ducal house in a certain kingdom, but I cast all of that aside and fled to the Demon Kingdom. I did not do so officially; I came in secret. It was not that I harbored any ill intent toward the Demon Kingdom. Probably. No, certainly not. I did not have the slightest interest in raising a rebel force or gaining enough power to negotiate with the Demon King as an equal. All I wanted was my own happiness.
Well, as a secondary thought, I suppose I considered the happiness of those who accompanied me as well. But my primary focus was achieving happiness through my own strength.
In this day and age—or perhaps simply because I was born into a noble family in a Human Kingdom—arranged political marriages were par for the course. Unfortunately, my luck was abysmal. My fiancé happened to be the First Prince of my homeland, and he was a truly hopeless fool.
To put it simply, he believed the entire country was his personal property. Even before ascending the throne, he issued reckless promises left and right. Had they been personal matters, it would have been fine, but they invariably involved royal authority or national policy. For instance, he would arbitrarily grant a specific noble permission to join a war, or exempt his favorite companies from transit and trade taxes. Furthermore, he would intervene in the King’s official decrees or agreements between other nobles, unilaterally declaring them null and void. Honestly, he was a simpleton of the highest order.
Of course, he did have his redeeming qualities. He often made a point of interacting with the underprivileged across the nation and, deciding their plight was unacceptable, began distributing money to them. It was a noble deed. Truly wonderful—had he been using his own funds. Instead, he was handing out the national treasury.
Can you imagine how I felt when I discovered this? I was utterly floored. I learned that day that when a person becomes truly incensed, they genuinely lose the ability to speak. Besides, what was supposed to happen after the money was gone? Rather than handouts, those people needed daily food and, more importantly, a stable way to earn a living. Yet there he was, wearing a self-satisfied expression as if he had solved everything with a bag of coins. He was beyond a mere fool; he was a catastrophe. He was a being whose very existence felt like a sin.
That was my fiancé. I trust you can understand why I chose to run.
There was, however, one more reason for my departure: the King. He shielded that foolish prince from every blunder, ratifying his nonsense without a single word of reprimand. Ordinarily, he was an excellent sovereign, but where the First Prince was concerned, he turned into a doting, brainless parent. Anyone who offered candid advice regarding the prince’s conduct was immediately distanced.
I eventually tried to offer my own criticisms in hopes of being sent away, but the King scolded me instead. He insisted that as the prince's fiancé, it was my duty to support him. I honestly felt I deserved a commendation just for the Herculean effort of not punching the King then and there.
As I left the Royal Castle, I received a report that the First Prince had unjustly seized the commercial rights to a shop I had been managing. The prince happened to cross my path at that exact moment. When I confronted him, he simply smiled and said, "A shop like that is not suitable for you. I shall present you with one more fitting for your status."
I had no memory of what followed. However, judging from the fact that the prince was rolling on the ground several yards away and the physical stance I found myself in, it seemed I had sent him flying with a Tetsuzanko. To explain it simply, a Tetsuzanko is a body slam using the shoulder or back. Since one naturally faces forward when approaching an opponent, there is a specific trick to rotating the body to slam one's back into them at the moment of impact. It was a secret technique passed down directly through the House of Duke.
I felt no regret for striking him. In fact, I felt refreshed.
Shortly after, I apologized to my parents and abandoned my country. It seemed they harbored their own grievances toward the First Prince, as they told me they didn't care what happened to the ducal house and made all the necessary arrangements for my escape. Thanks to them, I arrived in the Demon Kingdom unscathed.
That was a story from several years ago, when I was sixteen. At the time, I was brimming with confidence. I was certain I could make a business succeed here, specifically in the fields of beauty and gourmet food. My confidence was not baseless; back in my homeland, I had immersed myself in those industries and achieved significant commercial success. I won’t claim it was entirely my own doing, as the skills of my employed merchants played a role, but the ideas were mine. I created the prototypes. I decided the direction of the shops. While my butlers and maids might have refined the details, I considered all of it a product of my own talent and wit.
However, reality in the Demon Kingdom was not so forgiving. The environment was far too different from the Human Kingdom. While humans were the majority back home, the Demon Kingdom was home to a staggering diversity of races. For instance, my mainstay beauty products—lotions, emulsions, and creams—had to be tailored to each specific race. Researching optimal formulas from scratch was prohibitively expensive, and I couldn't expect high sales from products restricted to a single race.
I considered targeting the most populous races, but the results were discouraging. The Goblin Race lacked even the slightest interest in beauty. The Beastman Race had their own established, unique methods. The Demon Race generally didn't struggle with beauty because of their magic power. While some demons were particular about non-magical beauty treatments, they were almost all nobles who wanted me to become their personal servant. Having once belonged to a ducal house myself, I felt a strong resistance to becoming a subordinate to a foreign noble. Ultimately, I judged that earning a living through beauty was impossible.
Next, I turned my attention to gourmet food. I quickly discovered that mysterious seasonings known as Soy Sauce, Miso, and Mayonnaise held absolute dominion in the Demon Kingdom. I tasted the dishes prepared with them, and they were magnificent. For someone like me, who had grown up thinking only of salt, herbs, and pepper, it was a revelation. I felt as though the possibilities of cooking had expanded overnight.
I was eager to create new dishes with these seasonings, but I soon realized that similar efforts were already well underway. Establishments like Maruura in Shashato City, and Noodle Shop Buritoa, Sake & Meat Niz, Korin Sweets Shop, Cafe Blue, and Kuro and Yuki in Village Five stood before me as insurmountable rivals. Many other shops influenced by them followed suit.
I had no intention of losing, but I realized that without meticulous preparation, I would only end up hemorrhaging money. Furthermore, as I was in an unfamiliar land, I needed to secure a stable supply of ingredients. It was not a problem that could be solved with a single clever idea.
I made a decision. Progress is not always about moving forward; sometimes one must stay in place and build strength. I established a base in a certain village, identifying myself as an exile from a Human Kingdom seeking to avoid conflict. Then, I began working the fields. This was my preparation for the gourmet industry. If I grew the crops myself, I would have a stable supply and no one could interfere with my work. Selling the surplus would provide an immediate income. I was determined to succeed.
...As it turned out, farming was incredibly difficult. It was not something one could master easily. It was far too dependent on the whims of the climate and weather. How was I supposed to know about the heat waves and cold snaps that occurred at specific intervals without living here for decades?
After a few years of struggle, my farming venture ended in failure. The funds I had brought from the House of Duke were nearly exhausted. I was in a crisis. The majority of the people who had accompanied me had already left for Shashato City or Village Five to find work, and by all accounts, they were living much more affluent lives than I was. I ground my teeth in frustration. I refused to accept charity; I still had my pride. Yet, it was a fact that I was out of options.
What did I have left? Only this body. I had never neglected my beauty, even during farm work; I had protected my skin with obsessive care. It might sound like self-praise, but I was a beauty. As for my age... I had matured slightly, but I hadn't even hit twenty yet. I wondered if I could still make it as the wife of a wealthy man. I had no prejudice toward other races, be they demons or beastmen.
While I was pondering these things, the village fell into an uproar. The Demon Kingdom's Parade was scheduled to pass through. The village where I lived had a Teleportation Gate, and while the temporary restrictions on its use were a hassle, I was allowed to use it for free, so I didn't complain. Thanks to that gate, I could make day trips to places as far as Shashato City or Village Five. I could endure a few days of inconvenience.
Wait... the Demon Kingdom's Parade. The people participating in it were bound to be of high status. High status meant they were wealthy. Of course, the Village Head of my village had also been invited, so perhaps not every participant was a millionaire, but there was a certain romantic dream in being noticed by someone in the procession.
Should I try putting my heart into my makeup? It wouldn't hurt to try.
Tetsuzanko: The Iron Mountain Lean.