I entered the lodging assigned to me, but there was no sign of Noxia anywhere.

Turning to Ascan with a puzzled expression, I asked,

“Where’s Noxia? Didn’t you say she’d be waiting for me?”

Before Ascan could answer, Jerin, who had been busily unpacking my luggage, overheard me and spoke up with a confused look.

“Huh? Miss Noxia? I haven’t seen her at all.”

What? So it was a lie?

I stared at Ascan incredulously, but he lowered his head without the slightest change in expression and said,

“I must have been mistaken.”

Since Ascan had no reason to deliberately deceive me, I found it somewhat absurd—but not serious enough to scold him harshly.

It was odd that someone as sharp as him would make such a mistake, but my mind was already crowded with various matters, so I decided not to dwell on it.

“Ascan, if you’re getting things this mixed up, maybe tomorrow the sun will rise in the west.”

Feeling slightly weary, I plopped down onto the bed.

Today marked my first participation in the academic fair, where I presented K01 and received far more attention than I had anticipated.

I had only meant to sit down briefly to rest, but the mattress felt so luxuriously soft—just like my own bed—that I instantly wanted to lie down.

“The bed’s nice. I’d heard rumors, but the lodging really isn’t bad at all.”

“Yes, Miss. I’d heard it was called the ‘VIP suite,’ but I was surprised by how good it is—hardly inferior to the Brellof mansion.”

“You worked hard today sorting everything out. Let’s eat dinner quickly and get some rest.”

“Yes, Miss. They said meals are provided in the dining hall—where would you like to eat? Judging by the time, it’ll get crowded soon.”

Though I could have requested meals be brought to my room, I didn’t want to burden Jerin or Ascan with extra chores.

I forced my increasingly sluggish body to stand up and declared,

“Let’s go. We need to eat before we rest.”

“Yes, Miss!”

Jerin smiled brightly, apparently quite hungry. Ascan, whose thoughts remained unreadable, simply nodded in agreement.

Descending into the dining hall—which resembled an entire upscale restaurant relocated indoors—I found more people already eating dinner than I had expected.

Groups of acquaintances dined together, or quietly with their accompanying servants. Truly, a diverse mix of scenes.

Round tables were generously spaced, with more than enough seating available, so I sat down without hesitation at the nearest table.

No sooner had I seated myself than a waiter approached promptly and said,

“Please review this menu and select your dishes—we’ll prepare them immediately.”

I was slightly surprised by the menu handed to me. Although I expected thorough preparations for an international academic fair, every dish listed was rare and valuable, unavailable in ordinary markets.

After choosing what I wanted to eat, I passed the menu to Ascan and Jerin.

“Anything here you’d like to try?”

“Hmm, I’ll…”

Jerin carefully examined the menu with sparkling eyes.

Once we placed our order with the waiter, the table was soon laden with an abundant spread of food.

The taste was also excellent, easily comparable to top-tier restaurants.

Just as the three of us finished our satisfying dinner and were about to rise from our seats,

“Are you Lady Brellof?”

A group of women approached me, acting familiar. Since I’d never seen any of their faces before, I didn’t hide my puzzlement and asked,

“Who are you?”

“Oh, I’m Celinje. We’re all from the Lazent Empire. We saw Lady Brellof’s K01 at the exhibition hall—it was astonishing. If possible, we’d love to become friends with you.”

In the Arwen Empire, noble ladies my age possessing special abilities were rare—which was precisely why Noxia and Reiana were so frequently compared.

But it seemed the Lazent Empire had many noble ladies around my age.

After a brief moment of thought, I nodded. Forming connections with many people wouldn’t hurt, especially if it might help prevent future wars.

“Alright. How about we take a walk and chat a bit?”

At my permission, the noble ladies from the Lazent Empire beamed with delight. They gathered around me in small groups and began walking alongside me.

Somehow, the mention of the Lazent Empire brought to mind Dekain, the secondary male lead I’d met earlier.

Just as I was about to leave the dining hall with the noble ladies…

Suddenly, I spotted Reiana seated with a group of women—all of whom I clearly remembered sneering at me in the exhibition hall.

“They say you meet your enemies on narrow bridges—but here I am, encountering them in an unexpected dining hall.”

I already knew Reiana, but the other three women were complete strangers to me.

They all appeared slightly older than me, but that didn’t bother me. What mattered was that they had looked down on me—and I wouldn’t feel satisfied until I repaid them in kind.

As I walked toward Reiana’s table, one of the women conspicuously let her dress trail long across the floor.

The noble ladies from the Lazent Empire walking beside me carefully avoided stepping on it—but I was different.

Squish─

I deliberately stepped right onto the dress hem blocking my path.

“Ah! What’s this?”

The woman dining with Reiana turned her head sharply and shouted irritably.

She flinched slightly upon meeting my eyes—but that reaction came far too early. I hadn’t even begun yet.

“Lady Brellof, watch where you’re going. How can you step on someone else’s dress?”

Hearing her reproachful tone, I lifted my foot from her dress—and gazed at the clear footprint left behind.

“Oh, my mistake. The fabric looked so cheap I thought it was a carpet, not a dress.”

“Ugh…”

“And before blaming others, shouldn’t you consider whether you’re obstructing the walkway yourself?”

The woman’s face flushed crimson, and she couldn’t muster a reply.

I appeared to step backward as if to withdraw my foot—but instead, I deliberately stepped again on her dress, still trailing across the floor.

This was entirely intentional.

‘Exactly three times she sneered at me, wasn’t it?’

I had carefully counted how many times they’d mocked me with dismissive glances.

And I left exactly that many footprints on her dress.

Truthfully, I’d called her dress “cheap” on purpose—but anyone could plainly see it was a carefully chosen gown prepared specifically for the academic fair.

That was precisely why her dress hem was so extravagantly long.

“Lady Brellof, please stop this—ah!”

As another woman seated with Reiana tried to speak, I pretended to step back—and “accidentally” knocked over a wine glass on the table.

Red wine spilled directly onto her dress.

“Oh my, I startled at your sudden words and made a mistake…”

I exaggeratedly covered my mouth with my hand and offered her a napkin from the table.

‘This lady sneered at me twice.’

I’d successfully repaid her once with the spilled wine; I planned to settle the remaining debt next time I got the chance.

Though I pretended it was an accident, anyone could see my actions were deliberate—and I had no intention of hiding that.

I wanted them to clearly understand: if you provoke me, I won’t let it slide.

Reiana, watching the scene unfold, turned from red to pale blue with fury.

I looked at her with a pleased expression and said,

“Then, enjoy your meal.”

I hadn’t fully settled the score yet—but I intended to repay the rest another time.

I straightened my shoulders and walked proudly out of the dining hall. The noble ladies from the Lazent Empire, who had been silently observing my actions, followed me.

I thought they might be intimidated by my behavior—but instead, their faces looked even more animated than before.

‘What? Do they enjoy villainesses?’

The thought crossed my mind briefly—but in any case, this was part of who I was.

If they didn’t dislike this side of me, then I certainly didn’t dislike them either.

“Lady Crisha, are you really going to endure this? Even if she’s from the Brellof family, isn’t this going too far?”

The woman who spoke was Shasha—the only one among the three seated with Reiana who hadn’t yet received retaliation from Tanashia.

The woman whose dress had been stepped on grimaced and snapped irritably,

“She attracts attention with some worthless magical engineering toy and acts like she’s someone important.”

Her name was Ryuren.

She was a viscount’s daughter from the Arwen Empire, possessing such feeble magical power it was almost embarrassing to call it an “ability.”

“I’m going mad! Do you know what kind of dress this is?!”

The woman drenched in red wine trembled with rage as she frantically dabbed at her dress with a napkin to prevent further staining.

Her name was Kayuna—the one Tanashia was waiting to retaliate against one more time.

Reiana silently stared at the spot where Tanashia had exited—or more precisely, at Ascan, who had followed behind her.

In truth, even aside from Reiana, many quietly admired Ascan’s striking appearance and secretly watched him.

“…I understand everyone’s angry that Lady Brellof abuses her family’s status.”

The Brellof Marquis family, beyond its high rank, was among Arwen Empire’s most powerful noble houses in terms of influence and wealth.

Compared to Tanashia, the eldest daughter of the Brellof house, Reiana, Shasha, Ryuren, and Kayuna all came from far humbler families.

Reiana continued in a low voice,

“I’m upset too, but realistically, we can’t openly retaliate.”

They had already completely forgotten the fact that they were the ones who provoked Tanashia first.

What mattered now was that they all felt humiliated by her—and they desperately wanted revenge, but lacked any viable method.

Reiana had known from the start that provoking Tanashia wouldn’t be easy.

She wasn’t some moth blindly flying into fire—she couldn’t recklessly charge at Tanashia without considering consequences.

To properly retaliate, she needed an equally proper opportunity—and this wasn’t it.

“Of course, I’m not saying we should just endure it. I have an idea.”

“An idea? Is there really a way we can teach Lady Brellof a lesson?”

Shasha asked doubtfully. Reiana nodded and replied with a deep smile curling at her lips.

“Lady Brellof’s attendant.”

At Reiana’s words, Shasha, Ryuren, and Kayuna all nodded knowingly—they understood exactly whom she meant.

In truth, Ascan’s appearance was unforgettable at a single glance. More and more noble ladies were beginning to envy Tanashia for having such an attendant.

“The last time I saw them, Lady Brellof seemed quite fond of him.”

In fact, it seemed more than mere fondness—he appeared special to her. After all, she had even turned Reiana into an enemy just to protect Ascan, her slave.

Reiana still vividly remembered Tanashia’s words from that day:

—I’m clearly warning you: this is the last time I’ll let it go. If you dare lay a hand on Ascan again, you’d better be prepared.

People sometimes unwittingly reveal their greatest weaknesses through their own words.

When Reiana used violence, many begged her not to touch their children—that alone revealed their deepest vulnerability.

Whenever that happened, Reiana relentlessly targeted precisely what hurt them most: if it was their child, she struck the child; if it was their wife, she struck the wife.

There was a certain pleasure in shattering what someone held most precious—

It felt like proof that she possessed the power and authority to crush someone else’s hope without hesitation.

Tanashia herself was difficult to touch directly—but if the target was Ascan, that changed everything.

No one could officially hold Reiana accountable for killing a mere slave. At most, she’d just have to pay the slave’s market value—especially considering what Tanashia herself had already done at the Crisha estate.

Ascan was precisely the person Tanashia had warned her not to touch.

Reiana had no intention of leaving him alone.

“Instead of Lady Brellof, I plan to vent my current feelings on that attendant. After all, he’s just a lowly slave—she won’t make a big fuss over it.”

At Reiana’s words, Ryuren, whose dress had been trampled, laughed loudly.

“Hohoho! As expected of Lady Crisha. That’s a brilliant idea.”

Shasha, Ryuren, and Kayuna all shared personalities similar to Reiana’s.

Just as Reiana had been friends with the original Tanashia in the story, they frequently relieved stress by assaulting those of lower status—so this posed no moral dilemma for them.

As Reiana gazed at these like-minded companions…

Suddenly, the metallic clang from when she had struck Ascan echoed in her mind.

‘But what was that sound?’

At the time, she’d been too focused on Tanashia to think deeply—but no matter how she considered it now, it made no sense.

‘Could he be hiding something?’

In fact, it seemed more plausible that Ascan held some special secret—rather than Tanashia merely protecting him out of affection.

A deep smile spread across Reiana’s face as sudden curiosity arose.

She would find out soon enough. If Tanashia and Ascan were hiding something, she might be able to seize it as a weakness.