Motivation is a strong thing. Motivation moves mountains, recurves rivers, raises up civilizations, and razes down others. To a certain Edith, motivation came from duty.

What is duty? It is a sense of responsibility that originates from listening to a higher calling as a source of belief. Some see their jobs as their duty from the belief that they become better people through it, thus it acts as the motivation to push them further and further through the golden path of glory.

Edith Black is nothing but that, a force driven by belief and a perfectionist chasing after a dream. She is a patriot who believes in the Empire despite the fact that her family does a lot of dirty laundry for the King.

That was also used in the most cunning way by her brother Edmond, who kindly suggested that she may lead the investigation of the Murder of the Baron's Son. Why would he be so kind? Well, aside from the fact that someone as diligent as he likes to keep throwing his tasks around for his overqualified underlings, he knows how his sister's mindset works.

Edith Black is a loyal fanatic for the Empire even among her family that is considered to be the most loyal to the Crown. To her, the existence of a person whom the Royal Family cast away is the most abhorrent thing in the world.

Vivian Moore is such a person to Edith.

She was the Prince's Fiancée until she acted out of manner and disturbed the Prince, causing her to fall out of favor and be cast away. Even when the Royal Family decided to get rid of her, she refused to go down without a fight and her family assassinated the groom picked by the Crown.

Now Edith wasn't an idiot or a simple-minded person. She would have done the same, but she is not the same. House Black doesn't only protect the Empire from the outside but also from the inside as they are the only House aside from the Royal Family that can confront and punish other aristocrats.

Also, House Moore is important and strong, they have a lot of wealth and they fund the Empire's most crucial operations. But Vivian, she's a bad weed. A family is normally driven to protect its members and no matter what, the Empire must not have someone like that in the High Society.

With those thoughts in her teenage tomboy head, Edith walked down from her carriage accompanied by ten knights of her family that may be necessary to act as an arrest force.

"Standby." She spoke as she stepped forward on her own.

"Yes, your Ladyship."

She came into the light displaying short hair and a fit figure with a sword dangling from her side and dressed in a Knight's coat and a mantle rather than a lady's dress. In the High Society, Edith was one of the few exceptions among the ranks of the ladies to dress in such a manner as she was known to have received training as a Knight.

In front of the door, the one receiving her was her classmate Robert Moore.

"So you have come." Robert spoke.

"Good afternoon, Sir Robert." She said, looking at him with reserve.

"Good afternoon, Lady Edith. I hope the matter in your hand isn't keeping you from studying for the finals." Robert said with a caring smile.

"You are too kind, Sir. I am here on an official business just to fill a boring report. It is you who should focus on your studies in this… stressful time." She replied in full manners.

"Ah! Don't worry about me, I'll manage. We are both second-year students so not much stress anyway. It is just… my sister… sigh! I hope everything goes well."

"Sir, I have yet to meet her for anything to go anywhere."

"Indeed, indeed. I am just saying… My sister can be a handful. Stubborn if you put it plainly but she… she is… was a good person. She was never this Angry or… Violent. It is the stress…"

"I am sorry, Sir Robert, I understand how much she means to you but nothing you say would sway my report. I'll ask questions and write answers. Nothing more." Edith smiled and wanted to walk past him but Robert spoke further.

"Just know, my Lady, that House Moore is always proud and loyal even with my sister's actions, this house will…"

"This house will what?"

As Robert was giving a heated speech, a cold voice interrupted him and a very unamused man stepped out past the front door. He was a knight with wavy hair, an unshaven chisled chin, and a clear foul mood.

He was a second away from relieving his stress on Robert but he looked away before doing something he might regret.

"Hmph! What are you doing here, Logan? After last night's blunder, shouldn't you be shipped somewhere far away?" Robert glared at Logan.

"Lord Julian hasn't spoken my judgment yet, until then, I serve Lady Vivian." He grunted at Robert and turned to Edith, "You must be Lady Edith, a pleasure to meet you. Lady Vivian is waiting for you inside."

Logan bowed slightly to Edith as she stared at him coldly. No matter what it seemed, her judgment was already affected by Robert. Without much thought, she was staring at Vivian's Knight as if she was gazing at Vivian herself.

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"Sir Robert, it was a pleasure. I am going in."

Edith simply walked past Logan who exchanged disdainful stares with Robert before following in.

Speaking of Logan, he was the most stressed person in the whole Empire at the moment. His failure to protect Vivian was a black stain on his record and judging by the troublesome situation, there was no time to speak of his punishment even though he received some very harsh words from Count Julian. Vivian hadn't spoken to him yet as if she was keeping him on hold for some reason and he was feeling too guilty to initiate a conversation.

Meanwhile, Vivian sat in front of a mirror applying her own make-up minimally, dressed in a beautiful gown with Esmeralda fixing her hair.

"Girl, feeling alright?" Vivian asked.

Esmeralda nodded and was about to step back for Vivian to stand but the latter held her hand and pulled her closer.

"I am sorry for being such a troublesome employer." Vivian said.

"What… no! Not at all, my Lady. You can't apologize to me… it is I…"

"What? You were brave." Vivian turned around and held Esmeralda's two hands, "Your bravery saved me. I could see you swinging the sword at the man who tried to harm me a moment before I passed out. I felt safe with you around."

Vivian spoke the warmest words to comfort Esmeralda whose eyes were tearing up.

"My Lady… You were very brave too. It is just if it weren't for me when those women held knives at us, you… you would have dealt with them without worrying about me."

Rather than fear, Esmeralda was feeling guilt. It surely surprised Vivian and made her smile strangely.

"No! No, you dummy. I couldn't have dispatched two women in public… I would have still followed them to a quieter place either way before… you know." Vivian said as she passed her finger over her throat and made a silly face.

Esmeralda seemed a bit concerned about Vivian's ability to "dispatch" people to the afterlife so easily. Vivian noticed where it went wrong and apologized with a smile.

"Of course I would cripple them first to question them then I would hand them to the Knights. I don't just… you know." She nervously let the psycho back in and laughed it off.

Esmeralda seemed more concerned now than before but Vivian still had to address the elephant in the room.

"Listen… I know working for me is… eventful. I wouldn't blame you if you ever want to reconsider our agreement. I promise you…"

"It's alright, my Lady. Nothing will change." Esmeralda urgently stopped Vivian from continuing.

"You sure? Well… I won't blame you later. Now… let's get going, shall we?"

Vivian put away the gloomy mood and walked to the door herself as Esmeralda followed.

It was indeed too stressful and too eventful to work for Vivian as a maid. The accident is one thing but the situation right now is evolving as if everyone was trying to put Vivian's head on a spike. More to that, it would be very bad for Esmeralda to leave Vivian only after a week of working for her.

The situation was like this; Esmeralda is a southern Hulkling with bronze skin, a trait in Elgard that is rather more appreciated in a casino, a circus, or a slave market as the Albionese are not fond of other races that much.

Also, serving for only one week would worsen her standing in the employment agency, eventually turning into the worst-case scenario. No matter how consuming and dangerous working for Vivian may be, it is Esmeralda's only option.

With that in mind, Esmeralda only had to trust a capable person such as Vivian and hope things turned out for the best.

While knowing so, Vivian shifted her focus to her System and opened the Shop menu while going down. She finally decided to exploit the System Shop to its full potential regardless of the cost. She scrolled down to the "Miscellaneous" section and added a few items to the shopping cart while keeping it on hold for now. She will buy that certain item only if needed despite how cheap it is.

Anyway, they were both down in the reception hall but Edith Black wasn't present yet, rather, it was Jane and Mr. Harry the Gunsmith.

An hour ago, the man was summoned by Lord Julian and got his fair share of scolding for giving Vivian an antique gun that couldn't kill properly. For all its worth, this man's career is on the line and the Lord is considering firing him.

On the other hand, Vivian requested four standard pieces of Flintlock Pistols from Jane and ordered her to assemble them herself. That was just this morning.

"Jane, Mr. Harry."

"Lady Vivian." "My Lady."

"Was my order assembled so soon?" She asked, looking at the wooden box nearby.

"Yes, my Lady. As you ordered, Four standard class pistols, in perfect condition, assembled them myself and tried them each. They should serve you more than well." Jane replied.

"Perfect."

"This box contains 40 rounds of exceptional grade bullets and a gunpowder container. You can always refill from our store. It would be an absolute honor serving your Ladyship." Mr. Harry added as he passed an exceptional-looking box with some of his best materials.

"Alright." Vivian accepted it and put it beside the Four Pistols' box, "I will be relying on Jane's services from now on so please, feel free to come to me whenever you need anything."

"Thank you, my Lady." Jane bowed.

"Aaaand… regarding this Antique Pistol." Vivian recovered the pistol she had, "I like the Wheellock but I would appreciate it if it can kill anything… other than the mood."

She passed it back to Mr. Harry who was on the verge of tears. The white pistol was charred black after it fired for the first time. It wasn't made to fire a lethal amount of gunpowder so its beautiful appearance was now miserable.

The man nodded and promised to fix it and change the core parts for it to be more effective. If it wasn't for the fact that Vivian has shown favor towards Jane, the Count would have had him shamed among the gunsmiths of the city.

Jane and her father left and Vivian held one of the new guns admiring them as if she was getting high on the gunpowder smell they had.

"Look at those babies, Esmeralda. Holding one of those makes you feel really safe."

"My Lady, please refrain from holding such a thing close to your face." Esmeralda urged her to put them away.

"Come on, I just need a tricorne with a long feather and we can conquer the high seas together. We'll be a legendary duo." Vivian said as she held a pistol in each hand.

"Lady Vivian Moore."

"Captain… Captain Vivian Moore." Vivian replied without dropping either the act or the two pistols she was holding up.

Speaking of first impressions, that was the worst to date.

Imagine going to a place to interrogate someone about a murder case, only to find them holding a gun in each hand and speaking like a pirate in an era when pirates are executed on the spot.

Yes… that bad.

"Esmeralda, make sure that none of Robert's toys stay here. Go, take them away. And don't forget the torture devices and those dangerous blades. Tsk tsk tsk, boys have strange hobbies indeed."