TBRFC 20

“I can’t believe it. I truly don’t understand what it is I just witnessed.”

Inside the room after Annelia had left.

Wendel spoke in a slightly heated voice.

Sharon Abner stared blankly at the paper the child had left behind.

Magicology was, by nature, a discipline so difficult that merely memorizing the symbols and formulas used within it was already overwhelming.

On top of that, the symbols themselves changed depending on the structure of the formula’s expansion, making it neither easy to learn nor easy to teach.

A hollow laugh escaped her.

Just as Wendel had said, this made no sense.

“…Yes. Even Isabel wasn’t like this.”

Her daughter, Isabel, had always been deeply interested in magicology.

She had learned the symbols used in magic formulas at an early age and displayed talent from childhood.

Whenever people asked how a child who had never been taught could understand everything so naturally, Isabel would always answer the same way.

“I can just see it. It’s easy.”

Sharon Abner stared at the closed door in thought.

‘Can that child simply see it too?’

Just as Isabel had been born with exceptional intelligence and insight.

For a long while, Sharon Abner could not take her eyes off the door.

Then she headed toward the office where Camilla was waiting.

What happened during the thirty minutes before she met Camilla was this.

* * *

‘What in the world is happening?’

Camilla blinked rapidly, her face drained pale.

Sharon Abner’s gaze was just that sharp.

“So the heir of House Abner… was going to come from House Coel?”

At the moment, she had been caught red-handed slandering Sharon Abner inside the Abner estate’s reception room.

Her scheme to push her daughter Ruby as Abner’s successor had also been completely exposed.

At this point, she had no choice but to admit she had been reckless.

“S-sister-in-law. I didn’t mean—”

“On my way here, I heard some rather absurd things. Apparently your daughter struck both the child I’ve taken in and her maid.”

“That’s not true!”

Ruby also stepped forward with an aggrieved expression.

“T-that’s right, Lady Head! That commoner acted rude to me first! Do you know how upset I was?!”

But Sharon Abner merely looked down at her expressionlessly.

Camilla quickly stepped between them.

“Sister-in-law, our Ruby would never do such a thing. She merely wished to correct the wrongdoing of an insolent servant—”

“And who exactly are you claiming has the right to correct someone else’s wrongdoing?”

At the icy voice, Camilla snapped her mouth shut.

“I tolerated whatever you did until now because I considered you a benefactor. But now you dare crawl all the way up to stand over my head.”

“Sister-in-law, I truly didn’t mean—!”

“Silence.”

Camilla instantly shut her mouth.

Sharon Abner glared at her as she spoke.

“I never permitted you to call me sister-in-law.”

“……”

“Nor did I permit you to open your mouth.”

Camilla’s complexion turned deathly pale.

“So I’m merely an old woman with no blood heir to inherit my house?”

Fighting tears, Camilla answered hurriedly.

“M-my lady. No, Duchess. That’s not what I meant. It was a childish slip of the tongue. I-I was only worried about House Abner’s succession—”

“Be grateful your tongue is still attached. Get out of my house immediately.”

Having driven the final nail in, Sharon Abner turned away from her without hesitation.

Then added coldly,

“Our contract is terminated as well. If you wish to speak of accountability, then I too shall hold you accountable.”

“…!”

“For attempting to insult a ducal house.”

* * *

As she hurried through the Abner gardens, Camilla bit anxiously at her nails.

“M-Mother. Can’t you walk a little slower? My legs hurt…”

Ruby whined, but Camilla did not even have the attention to spare her daughter.

She climbed into the carriage and immediately asked,

“My husband. Where is my husband?”

The servant looked at her in confusion.

“The marquis is in the residence study, my lady.”

“Take me there immediately.”

Camilla trembled violently as she stared out the carriage window.

The words Sharon Abner had spoken so casually at the end continued pressing heavily on her mind.

At the time, Camilla had chased after the departing Sharon Abner and desperately clung to the hem of her clothes.

“P-please at least tell me why you suddenly want to terminate the contract! Please!”

She absolutely needed to know the reason behind the cancellation.

“Because I intend to halt mining operations for the time being.”

“What?!”

But the answer she received was absurd.

It was true that profits from the mines had decreased because of contamination, but Camilla was still purchasing large quantities of Abner’s mana stones.

And the money involved was far from insignificant.

Even stopping mining for a single month would certainly cause damage.

Yet they intended to halt operations?

Camilla doubted her ears, but the next words shocked her even more.

“After that, I plan to conduct another investigation into the contaminated vein.”

“R-reinvestigate the contamination?”

This was something that had not happened in nearly ten years.

And something that absolutely should never happen.

“W-why all of a sudden…?”

“I simply felt like it should be done.”

“But House Abner doesn’t possess the means to reinvestigate contamination—”

The technology did not exist.

That was why, years ago, she and the inspectors from House Coel had personally participated in examining the mana vein.

And that was how they had finally succeeded—

By falsely claiming that perfectly fine mana stones had become contaminated, allowing them to seize control over Sharon Abner’s financial lifeline.

“Must I report every trivial matter to you simply because our families once had a contract?”

“……”

“I won’t repeat myself. Leave my house at once.”

And so she had been thrown out.

Without even fully understanding what exactly was happening.

‘Who was the Abner retainer overseeing the refinery again?’

If memory served, he was a greedy old man.

Which made bribing him all the easier.

‘Do I have to bribe him again this time? But how?’

If everything came to light—

If it became known that the contamination reports had been nothing but blatant lies she fabricated—

Camilla bit hard on her lip and held her breath.

She didn’t know why, but it was obvious that Abner had found something to rely on.

Which meant she too needed to prepare somehow, immediately.

* * *

A week passed after Lady Camilla’s visit.

“…I’m doomed.”

I dropped the notebook I had been hugging onto the floor with a thud.

Its pages were filled chaotically with mana stone purification formulas and countless calculations.

‘After bragging so confidently too!’

I had acted as though purification formulas were easy.

As though I could complete one in no time.

As though I could immediately produce a brand-new purification formula if asked.

Yet now, staring at the formula that abruptly cut off midway, I nervously bit my nails.

‘If I make this myself, it’s going to look way too suspicious…’

It was true that purification formulas themselves were simple.

And it was also true that modifying formulas often began from very minor insights.

‘But that’s not the real problem.’

In my previous life, I had done everything alone, so there was no need to worry about what others thought.

But now the situation was different.

Once a purification formula was completed, a special solution would then be created based on it.

The refinery’s role was to process raw mana stones using that solution.

“Right. I can handle the formula expansion myself.”

But completing the solution itself based on the formula—

In other words, actually creating the chemical reagent from the theoretical equation—

“…That’s something I absolutely cannot do.”

Leaning against one wall was a large full-body mirror.

Reflected in it was a tiny child wearing oversized pajamas, hair completely disheveled.

‘If I do that in this body, they’ll suspect me of being a dark mage. Guaranteed!’

Just then, while I was deep in thought, noisy commotion drifted in from outside the window.

Tilting my head, I hopped onto the bed.

Narrowing my eyes, I spotted someone arguing with the guards right in front of the main building.

“Just a moment! I only need a moment, I’m telling you!!”

“Come on now, sir, you should know better than this! You need an appointment to see the duchess!”

“There’s no time for that nonsense! Hah—do you idiots even know who I am?!”

“Doesn’t matter if you’re a viscount, sir! Rules are rules!”

“If my younger sibling dies because of this, are you going to take responsibility?! Huh?!”

As the man struggled against the guards holding him back, a thick bundle of parchment slipped from his hand and fell to the ground.

The moment I saw it, my eyes widened.

Messy brown curls fluttered wildly.

A handsome face with a cold impression, glasses perched on the bridge of his nose.

And in his hands—

research papers.