"That is a bit harsh, Pulsie." the Fae, or half-Fae, pointed out. "And spying is still wrong. Weren’t you the one that said that a few days ago?"

"Ok, fine." the plant conceded. "But the point had to be made. There are a lot of spies going around here. There is a reason Althea and I have our conversations telepathically, making it harder to intercept and overhear. And even if they do it, we have a better chance of detecting them."

The half-Fae boy gave the plant an irritated look. Matty could sympathize. But she was still reluctant to trust a mind Fae. That was what he had to be. A royal mind Fae. The creatures that could fool your minds and make captains sink their own ships. For fun.

The stories were exaggerated, and she did not know what to believe. The tales of Fae tricking old housewives into sleeping with them were probably not true. Looking at this guy, there was a far higher chance that said housewives had been very willing to go along with it. And then blamed it on Fae tricks.

But the stories had one thing in common: A warning, to stay far away from Fae. To not trust them. And she had every intention of following that sound advice. There would be no mind reading and mind manipulation in her schedule, thank you very much.

"How about we just calm down and tell me what you're talking about?" she asked.

"Oh sure." the plant said. "The Empress asked Althea to get you a manual from the Diery family's special collection. Not the soldier one like we told the Duke."

"And why would she do that?" Matty asked, suspicious.

"I don't know." the plant said. "The Empress didn't have time to clarify."

"And you are just handing over the manual because the Empress said so?" Matty asked, still suspicious.

"Oh no, we're not handing it over. Just letting you use it. And the Empress has done a lot for us. Letting you use the manual is easy enough, plus we were already considering it." the plant said as the door creaked open.

"Oh, look, Althea is back."

The Countess stepped into the bedroom, heading towards the garden. Matty had to give it to her, she was something else. The way she carried herself, the way her steps seemed to have a purpose, and the sheer natural beauty of her. There was barely a jewel on her body, and yet she did not look out of place among the highest nobility of the Empire.

"Do I want to know wha-" the Countess began before looking at the half-Fae.

"Nathan, why aren't you wearing your pendant?" she asked. The half-Fae removed a golden necklace from his pocket and put it on, the necklace disappearing with his wings.

"Pulsie told me to try to use an illusion." the half-Fae, 'Nathan' replied.

The Countess turned towards the plant. "Pulsie, why are you asking Nathan to practice illusions when we have a guest?"

"I just wanted to pressure him a little. Perhaps not wanting to be exposed would let him overcome whatever barrier he has." the plant said. Matty didn't buy it.

"Pulsie." There was a warning in the Countess’ voice.

The plant was silent for a few moments as the Countess stared at it.

"Ok, fine, I was testing Lady Matilda here. I wanted to see her reaction to non-human." it admitted.

A test? What? Why did that need to be tested?

"I see. Please tell me about any 'tests' in the future." the Countess said, turning towards her.

"I apologize for Pulsie, he gets overenthusiastic sometimes." she said.

"That's…ok?" Matty replied. The plant wasn't ok, and probably insane, but she wasn't about to say that.

"There have been a few unpleasant incidents. Pulsie is just trying to make sure you weren't a bigot." the Countess continued on, holding eye contact with her. "I have a strong policy about those."

The Countess then smiled, dispelling the atmosphere. "But now that the unpleasantries have passed, I have something to share with you."

"I already told her about the manual." the plant said before Matty could get a word in. The Countess turned to the plant.

"Pulsie!" the Countess rolled her eyes.

"Did he at least do it satisfactorily?" the Countess asked.

"No." Matty answered honestly. The plant groaned.

"I know that the Empress told you to give the manual, but I don't know why. In fact, there are a lot of things I don't understand." she said.

"How about you tell me one by one, and I will try my best to answer them?" the Countess replied, turning towards the half-Fae who quickly walked away, giving the plant an angry look.

Matty spent the next hour going through the real version of the recent events. The conversation had quickly shifted to the Countess' own encounter with the Duke's machinations, and it wasn't pleasant.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The Duke had gone so far as to weaken an important spell and put the entire county at peril just to weaken the Countess? Perhaps she should have taken old man Garron's warnings a little more seriously.

"This is the way of nobles, Lady Matilda." the Countess said. "To the Duke, the entire world is a chessboard. And the royal family is his enemy. Do not worry about yourself, I will make sure he doesn't go too far."

Matty narrowed her eyes. "How will you do that?"

The Countess smiled. "I have been practicing writing cryptic declarations. What do you think of this one?"

The Countess took out a pen and paper from her spacial storage and wrote on it.

Battle in gold, not blood, Duke. For even if you are stronger now, that may not be the same in the future. And then you will regret.

Matty looked at the words suspiciously.

"The Duke can't kill me, not without drawing the ire of the Empress and putting the Empire at peril. So I will threaten him with my future. This should limit him to competing in less lethal matters." the Countess said.

Matty looked at the woman four years younger than her.

"The Duke won't stay silent if you threaten him like this. That man has a lot of pride." she said.

The Countess laughed. A gentle laugh, not a boisterous one. "Oh, don't worry, I intend to hurt more than his pride. The Diery family will be entering a stage of rapid expansion. In both economy and military.

The Serolian Duchy is using the recent war and political shifts to expand its influence. I intend to do the same. If the Duke wants to play a game, then let the continent be our board."

"And what am I, a pawn?" Matty asked, looking at the Countess. A pawn was not something she wanted to be. But if she was being honest, she already was one. This game was just a small part of a bigger one. The entire continent played it. The grand game that was politics. The grand joke of politics. But it was what it was.

"No, you are a friend." the Countess said. "How can you win a game if you play like your enemy?"

Hmm, she would see about that. Treating people as friends and playing a game like this didn't really mesh together. But she needed the help. And she already intended to ask the Countess for help to begin with.

"But will the Duke really restrain himself? What about when he starts losing?" she asked. The Duke might choose to compete in resources when he had a chance at winning, but if he started losing, then an overly proud man like him might just go berserk.

The Countess smiled. "That is why we are going to be strengthening our faction this entire time. The Garron family still has quite a few Adept stage mages, you just need to gain their approval. Even if you are just a puppet, you are still their leader in name, and the daughter of the late Admiral. As long as you show that you are capable, you will soon take your position as leader."

The Countess really overestimated her. This wasn't a random group of people, but Captains and strategists that had been the backbone of the family for decades, even centuries. Matty had enough self-awareness to know that she had little to offer them. A few clever ideas, perhaps. But how compelling would those be?

"To that end, this should certainly help." the Countess took out a manual from her space ring, handing it to her.

"Mage of Color" Matty read the title.

"Yes, one of the secondary manuals of my family." the Countess said. "This manual has produced quite a few Grandmaster stage mages back in its day. I think it will be very helpful to you."

Grandmaster stage mages? Matty looked at the Countess suspiciously. The entire continent did not have a Grandmaster stage. There hadn't been one appearing in the continent since the Garron family had been founded five hundred years ago. And even before that, there were barely any records of mages at the Grandmaster stage.

The Countess smiled. "Do not forget that the Diery family is ten thousand years old. There was a time that the Grandmaster stage was as common as the Adept stage. But mana has withdrawn from the continents since then, settling deep in the oceans. And so our power has reduced. Take the manual and practice it well, it will be important to you later on."

Matty turned the manual pages as the Countess left, mana stretching out from the manual and seeping into her body, towards her core. A smile spread across her face as she felt it undergo a change, one she had been wanting for a very long time. Now, she at least had a chance to grow powerful enough to protect her brother.

sc

Althea sagged onto a chair in her office, glad that this day was finally over. The Empress and the Duke had left soon after the meeting was concluded. The Duke didn't really agree, but he had little choice. The Empress' support, with the current situation in the continent as a whole, forced him.

Acting against the Duke with her order back then had given her an unexpected gift. The nobles feared her now. The Diery county controlled their lifeline, food, something that they could not do without. There were quite a few that had started to open up more farmland, but the initiatives were hard to execute. After all, the Diery county had better goods, better conditions, and a better reputation.

The harvest hadn't happened yet, but if reports were right, there should be an increase in quality this year. In this world, quality meant the crop had more mana. The average citizen only had grade 0 food, food with little mana. Now, Diery county may not produce that at all, or in very little quantity. Althea had seen the rice plants actually glow at night. A sign that they would produce mana-filled crops. Grade 1 at least. Althea had a plan with it. A plan that she would use to convince the company heads a week later.

But of course, her work did not end there.

A knock sounded on the door.

"Countess?" Vanessa's voice said.

"Come in." Althea replied.

Isa, Vanessa, and Nathan stepped in, Nathan in particular looked awkward as he tried to avoid the door. Even if the artifact made his wings invisible, they were still there physically. The only good thing was that they were physically made of mana, so it was possible to walk through them, even if it made Nathan uncomfortable. If that weren't the case…the wings would have been exposed very quickly.

"What happened, your gra-Countess." Vanessa asked, still getting used to how nobles spoke. A noble would refer to another by titles, commoners by things such as 'your grace' and 'my lady'. The royal family was an exception, of course.

Althea picked up a card from her desk, presenting it to the trio.

"This is an invitation to a celebration at the Bern March. The eldest young Marquis has finally broken through to the Master stage." she said. The event did not take place in the original timeline till a year later.

But she knew why it had changed. To allow his son to breakthrough, the Marquis had allowed him to change his manual to something more suitable. Perhaps due to the pressure she put on him. A powerful neighbor was a threat for nobles, and she was hoping she qualified.

But the action would leave the first young marquis disqualified from inheriting the march, and put the inheritance line in chaos.

The resulting chaos would probably fester for a year before showing itself, but it would be there. And Althea could not ignore it. The march was still the one in charge of the Northern Fortress, and it was their only neighbor.

The march surrounded the county. If something happened there, it would assuredly spread to the county. At the end of the day, the male lead was not someone she could avoid easily.