A sigh escaped her rosy lips as she got up with a growling stomach and stretched her slightly stiff limbs. A quick glance at the clock revealed that it was now ten in the morning. "Time for a snack?"

She looked down at her hands, feeling the strength in them, and was in awe. She hadn't expected anything, but the body she traveled into had a better mana path than her original body. As if it was meant to use magic.

There wasn't much for her to do except clean out the impurities. 'It's like doing a spring cleaning in your dorm after the holidays left everything covered in candy wrappers and tacky decorative trash.'

Rebuilding one's body with Mana had its ups and downs. On the one hand, of course, you would be able to use magic. You could use Mana to turn yourself into a weapon if necessary, strengthen your skin, muscles and bones, become faster and more agile. You would also start to appear healthier, with clear skin, a brighter complexion, full hair, and a good set of nails and teeth. Getting sick was also quite difficult.

At the same time, the moment you had Mana flowing through your veins, your body would use it. The fact that a magician would live many years longer than a non-magician was a telltale sign of this.

Since Mana was essentially a byproduct of the Life Force that Visitors consumed, only thicker in the ether when there were more Visitors around, it meant that it carried a form of Life Force itself.

The Visitors didn't like it because it could be bent and shaped out of proportion, making things possible that could not be done by human hands - turning it into a blessing that would actively repel them, for example.

But using that kind of energy meant that the body had to constantly feed it energy in reverse. That was why Rowena had made a new schedule for herself over the past week.

After getting up at seven, she ate a large breakfast, then a nutritious snack around ten, lunch around twelve, tea time with another nutritious snack two or three hours later, and dinner around five or six in the evening. Sometimes she would have a late night snack as well, but that depended on how desperate she was.

Of course, she wouldn't have to go that far if her body wasn't in such bad shape to begin with. So just getting her weight up to a viable level was going to be a chore, but now, while Mana was helping her get there faster, it was making her consume a ridiculous amount of calories every day.

'Well, it's no big deal, since I get to eat delicious stuff here.' Unlike before, when she got enough calories, but they were all empty to her. VAULT usually traded quality for quantity to keep her going.

But that wasn't all. In the mornings, after breakfast, she would excuse herself and run laps around the underground facilities. She would use the flow of her mana to stretch her limbs, making her tendons and ligaments more flexible and durable.

A skilled Enforcer would be able to use her agility and dexterity without any warm-up, as her body was in a constant state of "readiness", so to speak. While a Spellkeeper was mostly in a static position, providing buffs, debuffs, healing, and possible area of effect spells, they could still run if they had to. Most of them looked scrawny and thin because they didn't train physically, and their Mana consumed a lot of calories.

When Rowena lived as Celia, she was an Executor. You could say it's like a cross between the two professions mentioned above. She had to be on call at all times, something she didn't want to miss in the situation she was in now.

It's not like she was trying to become a pawn of the Empire's army or anything like that, she was just trying to get a last resort for herself and also secure a way to escape if it was ever necessary.

Anyway, after her initial training, she would have a second breakfast, then a lesson with her teacher, Louis Ballinger, on the history of the Empire and Imperial etiquette.

After that, she would go to lunch, and after lunch, she would go to gather more Mana so that she could continue to help her progress by strengthening her entire physique to full capacity. She felt good.

Let's see... The afternoon snack was tea time in the garden. The garden wasn't actually part of the annex, but since the servants didn't want to deprive her of some fresh air, they let her into the common garden. It wasn't like it was specifically against the rules anyway.

As Liza helped her change into something fresh and appropriate for the garden, her steps became lighter. She was wearing a simple white dress made of soft silk. She didn't hate it, but to make an impression, she should wear something more form-fitting and pretty.

Looking into the bright face of her blonde maid, she had to ask. "Did something good happen, Norina?"

Surprised, the maid lifted the teapot she had just filled with a cup onto the table under the gazebo. "My lady, you are quite on time today," she said, beaming at her mistress, "I just thought it was a wonderful day."

It was indeed a wonderful day. The flowers were in full bloom as it was still summer and the breeze was warm as it hit her face. Smiling, she sat in the white lawn chair, admiring the bed of pink roses by her side.

Ava was there as well, helping her adjust to the table after she sat down, before she took her cup to smell the light fragrance of her tea. 'Wait a minute, is that really how I'm supposed to act?'

It wasn't that she questioned her manners, as tea time had been one of the first things she'd learned this week. It wasn't hard for her at all. Honestly, her body probably already had all those things down, right? It felt like riding a bicycle. It's something you supposedly never forget how to do.

Still, it felt so peaceful that she couldn't say that she deserved it. Or that she should be able to enjoy it while Rowena was probably struggling in her body.

'Would VAULT try to keep her, even after she didn't have Pan anymore?' Sighing into her cup, she gazed into the distance, searching for that little tinge in her mind when she thought of her old friend. 'Pan, do you know… what happened to the real Rowena after the switch?'

She sipped her tea, not really expecting an answer until she heard his voice. 'Do you wish to know?'

'Why ask if you already know the answer?' was her only counter.

Yet he seemed to had logged out of the conversation, not willing to respond to her any further. She was annoyed, yes. She knew he meant the best for her, but his thinking was just too different from hers, so sometimes, the best wasn't what she needed.

It didn't feel as if she would like the answer. But "not liking it" and "not needing it" were two different things. And this information was something she needed, even if she didn't like it.

But as he was the way he was, he wouldn't understand, even if she explained it to him. He was, after all, a Numbered, not a human.

She had been aware of the fact that the Numbered were a specific group of Visitors, marked with a number on their skin that acted like a shackle. No one really understood the so-called "Divine Principle", it was just something that kept the world going.

It wouldn't stop something humans got themselves into, like a war or a pandemic. Even a meteorite destroying the entire planet wouldn't be stopped.

But a Visitor gaining enough power to be considered basically a god, that's where they drew the line. Something that, when left alone, could have a far greater impact than a simple meteorite. Though nobody knew what type of impact that might be.

They would then give them a stamp with a number on it to show that they were sorted out, unable to interact directly with the world from then on, unless those people were on the same wavelength as them.

The number itself was determined by simply counting - the first was Number 1, while the highest Rowena had ever seen from when she was still Celia, was Number 530.694.

But only a handful of numbered ever appeared in the world in the first place. Now that she knew there was another world, what possibilities would that open up in the grand scheme of things? She could only imagine.

Through the latter part of the marking's curse, they would be able to establish a contract with the living, so that they would still be able to consume Life Force, just not randomly from every person they could get their hands on.

However, since they could actually talk to the people with whom they made a contract or merely a mental connection with, they were gagged as well. There are things they couldn't talk about. And sometimes they just didn't want to talk about certain things.

If anything, the humans were lucky to get to know what they told them at all, since all the knowledge they had about the World Beyond the Surface came from several Numbered.

On the other hand, the way her partner had phrased his words, it seemed as if he really didn't want to tell her what he knew. That annoyed her, even though she knew they thought in different ways, she still couldn't help her feelings.

'You know,' she started prying into him again, only to frown and look up as a high-pitched squeal cut into her eardrums. Even Norina and Ava looked at the new arrival in confusion.

A girl with long, shiny golden hair and clear blue eyes hopped across the stone path through the garden in their direction. "Sister!" Her call made even more people around the pavilion turn their heads. "I didn't think it was really true, but I'm so glad to see you're healthy!"

Blinking, Rowena slowly put down her cup and thought. 'It must be Arabella, right? The stepsister.' There was no one else who would look like that and call the socially inept Rowena "sister".

But as far as the novel told her, their relationship wasn't exactly amicable either. Rowena treated her pretty badly, because she couldn't stand the fact that her father found her new sister, who didn't share a drop of blood with him, more lovable. Some said it was his grief because Rowena looked so much like his dead first wife that it was eerie.

Arabella wasn't very important, to put it mildly. She was described as a supporting character who wasn't even given a personality, other than the Crown Prince referring to her as a naive child who just wanted a family.

Since she couldn't exactly place her character anywhere, it was better to be careful first. "It's good to see you too, Arabella."

For a split second, there was a certain glint in her "little sister's" eyes that she couldn't pinpoint, as it was gone long before she had a chance to observe it. "Yes, I actually wanted to ask you something, but I thought you would get mad at me again if I visited you of my own volition."

''Mad'? 'Again'? Did something happen?' It was annoying not to know what might have happened before she woke up in that bathtub. 'Just what did you do, Rowena?'

Her brow furrowed even more than before, making Norina flinch slightly. She had heard those rumors as well, but she didn't want to believe them after spending a few days with her lady. She was trying hard to come out of her shell and improve herself. Would she have any reason to be jealous of Lady Arabella?

'Sure, Lady Arabella was lovely and charming, but our Lady is much more beautiful! Even with her cheeks a little hollow looking.' It was also a fact that the Duke adored his biological daughter.

In fact, because Rowena looked the way she did, he constantly urged them to treat her better, even though it was something they couldn't control. Many of the maids didn't take kindly to her for that very reason, including her own nanny!

Norina didn't enjoy the prospect of the two of them fighting, so she set the table with the food she had prepared. Sandwiches, sweets and fruit were placed on the table in front of Rowena, presented on a layered tray.

'Awesome!' Her eyes lit up and the intruder was already forgotten. "This looks amazing, Norina."

"Sister?" There was an annoyed undertone in Arabella's voice. "Can I sit down as well?"

Rowena tried to understand her intentions. Arabella's smile was open and her eyes closed, so she couldn't tell what was on her younger sister's mind. Not that she could read people any better than before.

Without waiting for an answer, the fifteen-year-old simply sat down at the table and motioned for one of her own maids to bring her a cup of Rowena's tea. "My feet hurt from all this standing around. You don't mind, do you?"