"Ugh... my head hurts so much..."

Lia slowly crawled out of bed, holding her head.

How much did she drink last night? It felt like part of her memory had disappeared.

In her hazy recollection, Lia could only remember eight empty cups on the table.

So it seems her alcohol limit is eight cups? For her first time drinking, that shouldn't be too bad, right?

As Lia pondered, she sat up in bed.

She shook her head, slightly alleviating the dizziness.

She was wearing pajamas, probably changed by the maid. Lia didn't think about how she got back last night.

After all, with Cocotte around, this fourth-tier mage certainly wouldn't have let her drink too much and then neglect her.

Thinking this, she stood up and pulled the curtains.

In less than five minutes, Lia opened the curtains and walked out.

By now, she had changed into a new outfit, once again becoming a sharp merchant.

She tugged at her collar, revealing her fair neck and delicate collarbone, along with a pair of beautiful, lively eyes.

Lia looked at herself in the mirror, nodding in approval.

"Mm, not bad."

She wasn't used to letting maids do her makeup and grooming.

It was too slow, and often couldn't meet her exacting standards.

After all, Viktor was a family head who completely ignored family affairs.

This arduous task fell on Lia's shoulders.

Even though nominally, Lia wasn't the family head, everyone knew that she was the true mistress of the Kravina family.

Unless she married into another family.

So Lia had to maintain her most perfect and beautiful appearance at all times.

Her appearance represented the face of the Kravina family.

After getting everything in order, Lia looked radiant. Her light makeup concealed her slight fatigue, restoring her previous powerful demeanor.

Lia walked out of her room. The maid waiting outside handed her the financial reports as usual. Lia read as she walked, signing her name on them.

Sitting at the dining table eating breakfast, Lia asked again.

"Anything else from the territory?"

The maid bowed and slowly explained:

"Mr. Helnassen has adopted some more 'children' who had nowhere to go."

Lia nodded, quickly finishing her simple breakfast, and wiped her mouth with a napkin.

Then she said,

"Those old enough, let Leanne and the others train them."

"Yes, ma'am."

Standing up again and walking towards the office, the maid followed behind Lia, trotting to keep up.

"Miss Lia, the batch of goods from the territory needs your inventory check."

...

"Miss Lia, this is the earnings report from the equipment shop from the other day."

...

"Miss Lia, recently there's been some stagnation in the mining area, many workers are dissatisfied with their treatment."

"If they're dissatisfied, have Leanne and the others go over and talk to these workers. Let me see what they have to be dissatisfied about."

"Yes, ma'am."

...

Soon, the morning passed in tedious work.

It wasn't until the sun had risen to the center of the sky and started to descend that Lia finally had time for herself.

She shook her creaking shoulders, relaxing a bit.

Half a day of exhausting labor left her feeling incredibly tired.

But there was no help for it. The entire machine called 'Kravina' could never operate without Lia's control as its operator.

For everything, Lia tried to be as hands-on as possible, even though she rarely returned to the territory now.

Of course, this only made her more tired, as the back-and-forth messages often missed the best judgment time.

She could only rely on her experience to make the most appropriate judgments.

Even so, Lia didn't really want to go back.

She didn't know why.

Lia sat in the rocking chair, lying on it, stretching out a hand to examine the glove on her hand from all angles.

The glove fit perfectly, its six different colored gems particularly eye-catching in the sunlight.

Not every magic stone is priceless, but ones like these, finely crafted and able to perfectly store and release magic, each would be worth millions of Geo on the market.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

She didn't know how Viktor had managed to completely fix the magic-storing power of the magic stones to the glove.

Making it so that magic wouldn't be released for a long time, and the magical power within the magic stones wouldn't dissipate.

Because of this, the price of this glove might be several times higher.

But for Lia, she wouldn't sell it no matter how much money she was offered.

This was the first gift Viktor had given her, and to Lia, it was priceless.

After all,

'This is what Viktor owes me for these years.'

"Miss Lia."

In the sunlight, the maid's figure appeared again in Lia's vision.

Lia had been planning to take an afternoon nap, but hearing the maid's voice, she knew there must be something else.

Sighing, just as she was about to get up, she heard the maid suddenly say,

"This is sent from the royal family, saying it's to express their apologies to you, hoping you can accept it."

The maid handed Lia an especially luxurious gift box.

The gift box looked dazzling in the afternoon sunlight, the entwining golden ribbons seemed to be made of gold thread, the outer shell of the box was painted with exquisite patterns, emitting a refreshing fragrance.

Lia was stunned for a moment, untied the ribbon, and opened the box.

The box was wrapped in a layer of golden silk. Lia lifted the golden silk, looking puzzled at the exquisite pendant lying quietly at the bottom of the gift box.

The pendant had an extremely large and gorgeous diamond jewel inlaid in the center, surrounded by black gems with matching patterns.

Beneath the pendant, there seemed to be a handwritten letter.

—

"I am terribly sorry, Miss Lia Kravina, I feel extremely remorseful for my rudeness.

Although it was Jace Reiser's presumption that caused your dissatisfaction, I am also absolutely at fault.

I wish to express my highest respect to you, and offer this as a gift to apologize to you."

— Aubrey Sol.

In the sunlight, the envelope seemed to shine a bit. Lia sneered.

"Tsk tsk, they say this crown prince is a perfect man, who knows how many young girls he's hooked with this trick."

"Unfortunately, I'm not falling for it."

The luxurious pendant looked very valuable. Lia picked it up and directly tossed it to the maid beside her.

"This thing, find a mage to re-engrave a few magic arrays... oh, no need, we have our own mage at home."

"Anyway, change its appearance, and then take it out for auction later."

"Why not take it when some fool is sending me money?"

After this incident, she didn't even want to sleep anymore.

Stretching lazily, seemingly satisfied with having just earned a large sum of Geo.

She wanted to share this as a joke, and for the recipient...

Lia already had someone in mind.

"Where's Viktor now?"

"Miss Lia, the master is in the garden."

The garden?

That's Cocotte's territory now, because only a lazy dog elf like her would choose to live in the garden.

Lia stood up, waving her hand.

"You go rest, I'll go take a look myself."

...

"You... don't come any closer!"

Cocotte tightly grasped the cloud beneath her, retreating backward in great fear, half of the cloud sinking into the flower bed, without even noticing.

She was so scared that to an outsider, it looked like she was about to be violated.

And Viktor was standing right in front of her.

Finally, Cocotte's voice sounded again.

"I absolutely won't be your teaching assistant!"

"Don't even think about making me work for you every day!"

Viktor looked at her and said flatly:

"In a few days, it's the academy's exam. I need your magic to construct some spaces."

Cocotte was a fourth-tier mage, with enough magical power to open up some small spatial magic.

And she was very proficient in spatial magic. After all, she initially learned this magic just for a good sleeping environment.

Over time, she became more and more proficient in spatial magic.

"So what? If I become your teaching assistant, wouldn't I have to work for you every day?"

As soon as Cocotte finished speaking, a contract fell in front of her.

Lia had appeared beside Viktor at some point, smiling as she spoke:

"Miss Cocotte, don't forget the contract you signed."

"According to the contract, if the Kravina family needs any help, you are obligated to help."

Cocotte's eyes widened.

"Wah! What do you mean!"

But a contract is a contract, and having signed this magical agreement, she had no way to back out.

Viktor spoke again flatly.

"Actually, you only need to work for me for a few days."

"After the exam ends, the academy will have a break, and you'll have time to rest."

Cocotte blinked.

"Really?"

"Really."

She didn't notice Lia holding back laughter beside her, and nodded repeatedly like a bobblehead.

"You said it! After it's over, I don't have to work anymore!"

"If there's anything else later, call me later. I'm going to sleep!"

Cocotte always felt that this pair of siblings was up to no good, but being dependent on them, she could only silently protest by sleeping.

She sat back on the cloud and slowly floated away.

But she hadn't realized.

After the academy's break, classes would start again.

This was also why Lia was holding back her laughter.

Viktor turned to look at Lia:

"What's the matter?"

"Oh, oh, right, it's this."

Lia took out the letter, and with a gust of wind, the letter stood in front of Viktor.

Viktor quickly scanned it twice, and a ball of fire burned the envelope.

"Ignore him."

The calm voice sounded, but it was filled with a sense of reassurance that Lia felt deeply.

Since her mage lord said so, she certainly wouldn't continue to care.

The envelope slowly burned to ashes and dissipated in the air. Lia shrugged.

Just as she was about to turn and leave, Viktor called out to her:

"Drink less alcohol in the future."

"Eh?"

Lia was startled by this admonition, standing dumbfounded on the spot.

A gust of wind coat fluttered in front of her, Viktor had already turned around, and Lia could only see Viktor's receding figure.

Under her gaze, it seemed somewhat dreamlike and hazy.

But Viktor's words still lingered in her ears.

"I won't come to pick you up every time."

"..."

Lia reached out a hand to touch her face.

Her cheeks felt slightly warm.

She didn't dare to find a mirror to look, hurriedly lowering her head, not daring to let others see her current state.

Somehow, she felt a bit happy.

Lia seemed to understand why she didn't want to go back.