The fires ran out eventually. The mana eventually returned to her. But that did not wake her. No, she lay there, curled into a ball, her tears spent.

In the end it was Nathan who broke her trance.

"Countess," he said, shaking her gently. Althea broke out of her trance, evaporating her tears away as she blinked a few times. Oh fudge, she could not be seen like this.

"Oh, yes, um." she stumbled. "I- ugh, we need to talk."

"Oh, don't worry I won't-" he began.

"I am talking about you being Fae." Althea coughed, her throat was too parched. "Or half-fae, whatever. Pulsie didn't want to tell me. I figured it out."

Even she did not know why she just said that. But it was something other than what had just happened.

"Don't worry, I won't expose you, but we need to talk." she blinked her tears away and had the wind fix her hair and scatter the ashes off her dress. "The Empress is waiting."

And just like that, she ran. Ran right into a conference. A conference where she was Countess Guarding Diery again. The mask slipped back on, and so did her logic.

The Steward connected the orb wordlessly, his face a mask.

"Althea-" the Empress began.

"I don't want to talk about it." Althea interrupted. The mask was suffering a severe debuff. The ‘I am too emotional’ debuff that stopped her from acting her way through the meeting.

The Empress sighed. "Do not take the letter too seriously. Mia had a particularly difficult pregnancy-"

"Do you think I did not know?" Althea basically screamed. "Mother didn't try to hide it. Not once did she hug me. Not once was she there when I cried. Not once did she tuck me in. Not once was she there when I was scared and needed my mother. Not once, your majesty. I am sorry, but you can’t convince me that she did not mean what she wrote."

"Not once did Countess Mia Diery, my beloved mother, tell me that she loved me. Not once in the twelve years we had together." Althea felt her anger run out. How was there so much still in there?

"I knew, your majesty. I am not a fool, no matter what my dear mother thought." she finished. "Now, can we move on? Is there anything else you wish to speak to me about?"

The Empress just looked at her and sighed. "No."

Althea saw her gesture to end the communication and decided to interrupt, feeling a little guilty. "I am sorry, your majesty. I appreciate what you have done for me, it is just…"

"I know, Althea." the Empress said, softly. "I know."

"And if it matters, I remember your first steps. I remember when you charged at the stairs as if it were an enemy." A reminiscing smile appeared on the Empress' face before her face turned serious again. "I don't know if Mia loved you. I would like to think she did. But I did. And still do. Now, I do have work to do. The Empire is quite chaotic right now."

The communication orb cut off, leaving her alone in a room with a Steward who looked almost regretful.

Wait, why was she crying again?

sc

A few hours after she was done crying again, Althea called Nathan to her room.

"I am sorry for my abruptness last time. I was…not in the best of conditions." she said, trying to regain her composure for real this time.

"I…see." the boy replied, standing next to his friend? Lover? Althea wasn't sure.

"The thing Pulsie was unaware of is that you being half-Fae disqualifies you from holding citizenship or becoming a noble." Althea said, keeping her voice level and calm.

"I see." he said, his voice cold and cautious.

"Now, I can either allow you to become a noble anyway, and claim ignorance if you ever come out. Or promote Vanessa directly to Viscount if you accept the offer." Althea said.

Nathan's eyebrows rose right into his hair. A Viscount was technically just one step above Baron, but it was a massive jump. A Viscount could easily have a power of five, even ten Barons.

"The manual is secret, but that can mean anything from some people knowing it, to it being practically public knowledge. I already know that the Empress is aware of its existence." she said.

Nathan's face froze. "The manual is-"

"Restricted to half-Fae? Yes. A mind type half-Fae with the Poison element to be exact." Althea said.

Nathan looked hesitant. "I have not activated my fae heritage. The power is-"

Althea waved it away. "The manual is still part of human cultivation. And as for powers, I can understand. The powers of the mind are hard to use."

"Oh." Nathan said. Vanessa was just standing next to him, content to let him speak just like before. The trust she had in Nathan was quite admirable. Althea wasn't sure how she felt about the dependency though.

"I hope the Countess isn't offended that I will not give you an answer at this time," he said.

Althea rolled her eyes. "I expected that. Take your time. "

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Nathan hesitated, as if debating whether to ask something.

"What is it?" Althea asked, hesitantly.

"The mana sense. I think I figured it out, but I am not sure." he said. Althea sighed in relief. Not related to her breakdown then.

Two parallel gusts of wind blew.

"Which of these uses land mana and sun mana?" she asked.

Nathan closed his eyes, sensing them closely. The sense felt like tickling. Wait what? How did she sense that? Maybe the breakthrough.

"The left is sun mana and the right is land." he answered finally.

"Correct." Althea nodded, getting back into her groove.

"How about you Vanessa? Can you sense it?" she said, sending two other types of wind.

"The right is sun, left is land." Vanessa replied. Althea raised an eyebrow. Well, that was unexpected. "Why are you helping us?"

Not so meek then. Was it an act, or was Vanessa just having a moment?

"Don't you know?" Althea asked.

"The Space element." Vanessa said. "And what if I told you I can't teleport? That my element is too slanted for me to pull it off?"

"Then I would ask you to focus on something you are good at." Althea replied. Now she knew what was going on. An element had slants, parts of the element a person had more and less affinity to. At times, that stopped people from using certain spells.

"I would be willing to fund your education in special artifacts."

Vanessa's eyes widened and Nathan took a step back, mana appearing around his eyes.

"How did you know that?" words emerged out of Vanessa's mouth faster than Althea could process them. But her mind had been enhanced by cultivation. Now she retained what she heard for a slightly longer time.

"I do not know what you think I do. A spacial artifact is simply the first thing that came to my mind." Althea replied calmly, letting a little mana circle around her. The two were not a threat to her, the wind stopped the poisons, and without spells Space was nearly useless. The element was mostly non-combatant to begin with.

Vanessa nodded slowly. "I will consider your terms and give an answer to you."

"I recommend you hurry." Althea said. "The longer you wait, the more time you have to spend in the Novice stage."

"I will have an answer for you by tomorrow." Vanessa said, marching out, Nathan hurrying behind her. Ok, that was weird.

Althea took a deep breath, her eyes closing on her own. The sun was still high in the sky, and she was already tired. But there was much to do. The tears might have worn her eyes out, but the beast hordes were still around. The lists still had to be compiled.

The manuals still had to be sent out. Hmm, no, she should do that herself. Taking a tour of the county like that, and visiting Sentinal would probably help.

Mira popped her head in.

"Countess, Steward Ga wanted to let you know that young master Leo will arrive on Monday. And the Minister of Justice wanted to let you know that the retired commanders are ready to meet you."

"Thank you, Mira." Althea replied. "I will be right along." So her brother was getting here soon.

Taking a deep breath, she called on mana to fuel her. And then she walked towards the hall.

A row of old men were waiting for her there. That was a repetitive theme. A bunch of old men. What happened to the women? ALthea knew what, sexism. How had she forgotten it?

"Thank you for coming." she said, taking her seat without much fanfare.

The commanders looked at her assessingly.

"I heard you fired the Minister of Defense, your grace." the commanders asked.

Were they angry she had touched their representative? Or happy because they hated him? Althea did not know.

"No, I gave him a week-long break." she said, her voice firm, daring them to argue.

The commander that had asked broke into a smile. "Would you be looking for a replacement then?"

"No, but I will be sure to announce it if I were." Althea said, giving textbook answers as well as she could. The late Countess might have thought her unable to rule, but she didn't care. That woman could go fuck herself.

"I see." the commander's eyes were filled with anticipation.

"I will be clear to you, commander, I am not looking for a new Minister of Defense at this point. If you came here expecting that position then please leave. I can do the work yourself."

The commander laughed again, his power unfolding. Althea did not flinch as the Journeyman aura hit her. After the Adept level ones just wandering around here, what was this one?

"I see that you have fire within you, Countess Guarding Diery. I will help you." the commander said. "And so will my comrades."

"I thank you for your aid. I can offer you one gold a week for your services. Is that agreeable?" she asked.

The commander raised an eyebrow at that. "That is agreeable, yes."

Althea nodded. "Then I will have to trouble you to start right now. The situation is rather urgent."

The next few hours were spent planning it. The Steward would prepare a carriage for tomorrow so that she could leave. The hall in Deadre had already opened, just the other two were left.

The night was fitful, but she still had to wake up the next day. The college students would be coming with. Althea figured the tour would help their training.

The carriage ride went by quickly, she fell asleep in the middle of it. A thing she was glad of, because there were problems when they arrived at Marile.

"What do you mean the city lord isn't allowing us in?" she demanded.

"The city lord states that he thinks the Countess should stay in the fortress now." the guard said.

"Is that so. Well then, we will have to see how the fortress is doing then."

The fortress was, as expected, doing horribly. The city lord wanted her to fix it for him. Althea had the sudden urge to fire the city lord of Marile. But no, she could not do that. Not yet, she needed someone to take his place. Now that gave her an idea.

"Steward Ven." she turned towards the Steward.

"How can I help, Countess?"

"If I wanted to put someone in charge of the fortress and leave a presence here, who would you suggest?"

"Necorin Lavaster, he nearly made it directly into the officer of the Bern army. But then failed because he could not cultivate the manual." And now he cultivated the Diery manual. That went without saying.

"Tell him that he is in charge of the Marile region. In this time, he can use his authority to use city funds to protect the city. And, if required, take control of it." she ordered.

The Steward looked surprised. "What exactly will that accomplish, Countess?"

"Perhaps nothing. Perhaps we can have someone to take over Marile."

"Lavaster would be better served in Sentinal, a military city." the Steward noted.

"Perhaps. But I require someone now, and the military officers are the only ones I can trust. The people here are too involved for me to trust." she said. But she also knew that it would be a problem if she gave too many positions to outsiders. After all, this was the Diery county, and its own people wanted the positions.

"I see." the Steward nodded. "I will do what I can."

Althea made a speech. A rather boring one that barely anyone paid attention to. But she was supposed to make one.

After that was done, she ordered the city lord of Marile to hand over funds. The city lord was not happy about that. But what did he seriously think? That she would just fix the fortress for him. The guy could go to heck, she didn't have time for his games.

After all, she hadn't stopped receiving reports. The journey to Sentinal would not be peaceful. Another beast horde had appeared, and this time she did not want to embarrass herself. The college students were watching. And hopefully learning.