Althea didn't know what had prompted her to announce it like this. The appointment had already been decided, but it would usually be done more privately. Not in a public place like this.

And the birthday song…was just cringe. Of course this world did not have the song, she should have known that. But the second she saw Mira moving to cut the cake, she went ahead and sang it. An instinct she had built up over the years, singing so many birthday songs.

The singing was incredibly awkward. Not at all like she remembered it. But if she were telling the truth, the memories were dim. The longer she spent here, the dimmer her life on Earth became. Karen's face had long since faded into her memory…and so had that woman's.

The one that made her do chores she did not like doing. Althea didn't even remember her name anymore. Earth didn't seem like home anymore, this world did. For some reason, the county was important to her. From the second she'd gotten here, it held a place in her mind, as if a part of her yearned for it her entire life.

"I-I hope this is not too much to ask, your grace." Mira said, looking hesitant.

"Just ask, worry about other stuff later." Althea replied, trying to give her a reassuring smile. To think Mira was the one giving her the smile just a few months ago when she didn't want to marry. How things had changed. How the transmigration changed things.

"I wish to cultivate, your grace." Mira said, bowing. "Please grant me a manual, so I may grow stronger and serve the county."

Althea looked at her friend, thoughts spinning through her head. A request like this… was unexpected. There was no problem with giving her a manual, at worst it was a gift to a friend, at best it was another powerful ally. But people that made such requests usually had something they wanted to accomplish. A thing that could only be accomplished by strength. And as far she knew, Mira did not have anything like that.

Now that she thought about it, what did she know about Mira? The girl supposedly was the old Althea's friend, but she hadn't mentioned how she'd changed overnight. What exactly was the reason for that?

There were quite a few questions…and not many answers. This wasn't the place to ask Mira about things like this. Not after she just offered to give her whatever she wanted.

Althea reached out to Pulsie, feeling the plant's irritations at being interrupted. The familiar had become something of a shut in, a very busy shut in. Althea was to blame for the latter. There were far too many things she assigned to him.

"Can you sense Mira's element?" she asked. Now that Mira was 18, perhaps Pulsie could tell her what element she had.

"Hmm, no." The answer was curt, and for a second Althea feared the plant would cut the connection after that. Thankfully, he didn't.

"The element has remained the same to me. I still don't know what it is or what she can do. Try sensing her with your Skill, your power is better at differentiating types of mana. Or else we will have to use an older method." Pulsie suggested.

Althea nodded, sensing towards her friend. The quest for the Journeyman level fragment hadn't come yet, and it might not come at all. The System was barely a part of her life,and most of its parts seemed broken in some way. The books about it were weird too. There were functions listed there that didn't seem to be around anymore.

Mana swirled around her as she sensed, splitting into thin threads as she peered closely. Mira had a lot of mana around her, but Althea could not recognize what type. Earth, but more compressed, as if frozen. Ice? No, it wasn't cold.

Heck, it seemed to be hot, there was definitely some fire mixed in. Hmm, hard too. The feeling she got from the mana was of stillness, of being hard even against the biggest foes.

But that still did not give her any idea what Mira's element was.

"Pulsie, you mentioned older methods?" she asked.

"Yes, tell her to close her eyes and go towards whatever feels good to her while calling on her mana. If her element is something in this room, and something she can touch, then she might find it." Pulsie said.

Althea relayed the instructions to Mira, only now realizing that she had just been standing there without answering. but the girl still followed her words, doing as she asked without question.

The reaction with mana was instant. Just like Matilda's younger brother, Mira did not have much affinity in any other element, but her affinity in this element was great. Mana rolled around Althea as Mira walked towards her. Althea let her, wanting to see what it was that was attracting her.

Mira startled as she bumped into someone, nearly causing Althea to curse. The process was nearly complete. But she still had some clues. Now, what was in this direction that was hard, compressed and had a relation with...fire.

Althea looked down towards her neck, staring at the ruby necklace she was wearing. Of course. Jewel. Mira liked jewelry, and it seemed, jewelry liked her back. Althea removed her necklace, causing gasps around the ball.

"What are you doing, your grace?!" Mira protested.

"Touch this." Althea interrupted. "What do you feel?"

Mira tried to protest again, but Althea practically shoved the necklace into her hands. The second the jewel touched Mira's hand, she knew she was right. mana coiled around them, not doing anything, but showing that it could.

"Mira, you have the Jewel element." Althea said. "That is why mana reacted when you touched the ruby. I am not sure what exactly it is that you can do, but that will be for later. I will see what I can do about the manual."

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"Pulsie?" she asked mentally, "Do you know-"

"No, there isn't any record of this element in the library. I suspect this is a new one. Or at least a very rare one." Pulsie said.

Althea sighed. A new element wasn't that rare, but something like this meant that it was nearly impossible for Mira to get a manual. Just like Matilda's younger brother, neither of them could reach the Apprentice stage.

Mira looked down on the ground, as if she had taken a great shock.

“I-I wish to step out, your grace.” she said, and then promptly ran away. Althea just stood there for a few seconds, stupefied that she had run away, and then chased after her. What was going on?

The Steward ran after her, while some of the maids tried to stop her. But Althea was a Journeyman now. As long as the Steward or the Emperor's guards did not act, she could not be stopped. The graceful image could go die. Mira was more important.

Finding Mira wasn't hard, the wind showed her the way. The girl had run out of the palace into the public garden, and was crying behind a tree. Althea approached her slowly, nervous for some reason.

"Mira?" she asked. "Are you alright? What happened?"

Mira froze, and then suddenly began wiping her tears. "Oh- your grace! Why are you here? I just had to come get some air. The ball was getting stuffy."

“Wait! I didn't mean to say that I am ungrateful-”

Althea sighed. Mana flowed around her as the earth rose up into two chairs facing each other.

"Sit." she ordered. Mira watched her hesitantly for a second and then sat down.

“Is there something you need, your grace?" Mira asked. "I am sorry if my request put you in a difficult position. I just-"

"Mira." Althea interrupted. "I wasn't kidding when I said that I think of you as a friend. Please know that you can tell me if there is anything that is troubling you."

And then she sat there, waiting for Mira to respond. But she didn't. The girl just stared at her nervously. A nervousness that was uncharacteristic of her. Althea hadn't seen her like this before, usually she was upfront about what she wanted to say.

Why was she hesitant? Did she not understand what she was talking about? Well…perhaps Mira just wasn't used to reading between the lines.

"Mira. I know that there is something that you are keeping secret" Althea said, reaching out her hands to hold Mira's shivering ones. "The reason why you ran out of your own birthday party crying. If there is anything I can do to help, just tell me. This is the least I can do."

Mira shivered, and Althea stepped closer, breaking into her private space to hug her. The hug was awkward, and something that she shouldn't be doing. But this just seemed like a good idea right now.

The shivering grew stronger as Mira tried to suppress her tears. The reaction was quite huge for something that Althea hadn't even noticed till now. Perhaps she had just been a bad friend.

"Just cry." she said, doing what she thought she should. Then the Steward had to go and clear his throat. The disapproval in his expression had her frowning at him.

"Th-this is inappropriate, your grace." Mira said, trying to step out of Althea's embrace. Althea sighed as she stood up. “I was serious about my offer, Mira. Please tell me if there is anything I can do for you. I will look for what I can do-"

"Power."

"What?"

"I wanted power, your grace." Mira said. "I wanted to be a noble, to spend my life living in luxury without having to worry about anything.”

Althea paused, sitting on the chair in front of her maid.

“I admit, I did not approach you with the purest of intentions. When I looked at you, I felt pity, and I thought it was an opportunity. If I served you well when you were so weak, then perhaps you would reward me when you were stronger.”

“I am sure it's somewhere in my file, but I lost my family to monsters. I wanted power to fight them. To be able to look those fanged bastards in the eye and run a sword through their neck. To not have to ever be afraid of them again. I felt, no, I still feel that having more power is the only way to be successful in life."

"That must have been hard." Althea said. To be honest, she did not find Mira’s confession troubling. Of course, her intentions weren’t completely pure, but so what? The girl herself did not seem to realize that, even then, she had chosen to serve her well instead of taking advantage of her. Not even thinking of taking a darker path. A sign that she was a very good person.

"I- it isn't anything special, your grace. Dying to beasts is the most common cause of death there is. There are hundreds in this palace alone that have lost people to the monsters. Even your grace lost your uncles to them."

Wait, uncles? Oh, she must be talking of the Empress' brothers. The two of them did die when their ship encountered a Whaling Shark. Althea’s other relatives had mostly died in wars.

"That doesn't mean you can't grieve." Althea said. Now she could understand a little of what the problem was. Mira wanted power to avenge her family. Or perhaps she just wanted it so she could survive a random monster attack.

Mira scoffed. "When I encountered you, your grace, I thought you were pitiful. I apologize if it offends you, but you reminded me of me when I lost my parents. I am glad you were able to recover."

A sentence remained unsaid between them. Just like me. But had she recovered? Did a recovered person also run away crying like this? Was this even something you could recover from?

Althea knew, on an intellectual level, that monster attacks were common. That Diery county had been unusually peaceful for centuries. But this gave her a whole new impression of it.

Mira had protected her from the start. If Neil's letters had found their way to her, then the old Althea would not have been able to bear it. The novel did not mention her, but this girl was an important part of Althea's story.

This was the person that had protected her even when she did not know she needed protecting. But protecting took power in this world, power that she had just been denied.

"I-I don't know what to say, your grace. I am just a fool that wanted too much. Please just ignore me, the likes of me are just not fated with power. That much is clear. I will just serve you as before."

"Mira." Althea was at a loss. There wasn't anything she could do for her. The only way the girl could cultivate was a manual that did not require elements. And most of those had been lost in the burning. The rest…weren't things that even she could access. At the end of the day, the element you were born with influenced your life.

"I cannot do much to help you. But know that you have my support in whatever you want to do. "

Mira smiled. "Thank you, your grace. Now, we should get back."

" Of course," Althea said, getting up as she extended a hand to her friend.

The two of them headed back into the ball, her thoughts heavy. The event made her wonder how much she had missed.

Althea had readily sacrificed every living moment of her day, to the county. Not thinking twice to take an increasingly huge workload. But what was it that she had given up?

When was the last time that she just had a simple conversation with someone? A conversation that didn't involve some part of work, death, and trauma?

How was it that she didn't even know that her 'friend' had lost her family to monsters?