Miss Eliza did not want her.

Lilia lowered her gaze.

That presented G6 with both information and an opportunity.

“If you’re not comfortable there,” she said, “stay here.”

Lilia’s head snapped up.

“Now that I have my energy back, Tina clearly needs assistance.”

Tina looked immediately offended.

G6 ignored her.

“And you’re lucky I find you… adorable.”

Lilia’s face turned bright red.

“A-adorable?”

G6 looked toward Tina.

“Problem?”

Tina adjusted her glasses.

She had already heard whispers about Lilia’s situation in Annex-Duo. The child had not been mistreated so much as constantly made to feel unnecessary, which could hurt badly enough at eight years old.

“No, Lady Reise.”

Tina paused.

“Another set of hands would be helpful.”

“Then it’s settled.”

Lilia stared at her.

“I-it is a great honor. Thank you…”

G6 gave her a small, closed-lipped smile.

Having another servant within the West Villa who could move through places G6 could not would certainly be useful.

But at least the girl would also stop staring at pastries like a neglected alley cat.

A fair arrangement.

Another question occurred to G6.

“Come to think of it…” G6 frowned as another question occurred to her. “I’ve been surrounded by nothing but fleas. Why the fuck are they all here?”

Lilia’s mouth formed a tiny o.

Tina’s eye twitched.

Ah. There she is with that filthy mouth again.

“The barbarian returns,” Tina muttered.

G6 stared at her. “What?”

“Nothing.” Tina adjusted her glasses. “It was chosen by Her Majesty. And your language.”

G6 rolled her eyes, but Tina continued before she could argue.

“The West Villa has always been closely connected to the royal household and the Three Pillars. The eldest children of the Pillar families often stayed here while undergoing training or carrying out duties within the palace grounds. Her Majesty has also spent a considerable amount of time here.”

G6 listened without interrupting.

That much explained why the place seemed to hold more importance than an ordinary noble residence.

“It was also how you, Prince Dio, Lord Earl and Lord Keith spent so much time together when you were younger,” Tina added. “You and the young lords often came because of your older siblings. His Highness came because of Her Majesty.”

So there was history here long before the events described in the novel.

Useful history.

“And now they’re back here because of their work,” G6 said, deliberately phrasing it as a conclusion rather than a question.

“Exactly,” Tina replied. “The West Villa is the closest palace residence to the Royal Collegium of Sorcery and Steel.”

G6’s attention sharpened, though she kept her expression neutral.

She knew the name.

That was about all the book had given her.

Reise Worthon, however, was supposed to know considerably more.

A woman educated to become Grand Duchess would not need someone to explain one of the kingdom’s major professional institutions from the beginning. Asking Tina outright would be the fastest possible way to expose a hole that should not exist.

So G6 did not ask.

Instead, she glanced toward Lilia.

“Go on.”

Lilia blinked.

Then visibly brightened.

Tina looked between them, apparently assuming Lady Reise was allowing the child to participate in the conversation.

“The Collegium has three Professional Departments,” Lilia said eagerly. “It is behind the West Villa. There is a paved path through the rear gardens, and it leads straight toward the ivy wall.”

“The residents of both annexes have been reporting there for the past three days,” Tina added.

G6 leaned back slightly.

“So Prince Dio, Lord Earl, Lord Keith and Miss Eliza are all stationed there now.”

It was not really a question.

Tina nodded. “Yes.”

That confirmed one piece.

G6 continued casually, “And the ivy wall still requires Professional clearance, right?”

Tina gave her a brief look.

“Of course. Only those carrying an authorized Professional Card may pass through it, regardless of family.”

G6 had not asked what the card was. She had simply verified the restriction.

Even a Worthon could be denied entry.

“Meaning my name alone won’t get me inside.”

“No.”

G6 tapped one finger lightly against the table.

“And registration still requires Her Majesty’s authorization?”

“Yes. You would first register through the Professional Guild, but the Queen’s explicit approval is required before a card can be issued to someone in your position.”

There it is.

Another missing piece filled without forcing Reise Worthon to suddenly forget her own government.

G6 nodded as though Tina had merely confirmed something she already knew.

Then a familiar word caught her attention.

“Professional Guild…”

Pisces had once spent an entire evening explaining fantasy guild systems to her while she ignored approximately ninety percent of it.

Apparently, some of that useless information had survived.

“There’s still an Adventurers’ Guild operating in the Capital, right?”

Tina blinked at the sudden change in direction.

“Yes.”

G6’s interest sharpened.

“And the Merchant Guild.”

“Also in the Capital.”

She nodded slowly.

Now she had three names, but the relationship between them was still incomplete.

She could not ask what they were.

Reise should know that.

Instead, G6 rested her elbow against the table and asked, “Remind me how much overlap the Professional registration gives me.”

That sounded considerably safer.

Tina’s expression relaxed, taking the question exactly as G6 intended—as clarification rather than ignorance.

“The Professional Guild is the palace registry. The Merchant and Adventurers’ Guilds operate independently in the Capital, but the Professional Card carries privileges recognized by both.”

“How much?”

“A registered professional may exercise merchant privileges and accept licensed adventurer work without maintaining three separate registrations. Professional accomplishments are recorded under the same credential.”

G6 went quiet.

That was much more interesting.

One card would grant access to the Royal Collegium while also connecting her legally to systems outside the palace.

Trade.

Adventurer work.

Professional credentials.

Mobility.

It was the first thing she had heard since waking in this world that resembled something she could actually build upon.

“So if I register through the Professional Guild,” G6 said, “I retain access to the other two systems without registering separately.”

“That is correct.”

G6’s mouth curved faintly.

She lifted her gaze toward Tina.

“How do I get the Queen’s approval?”

Tina stared at her.

“You truly intend to do this?”

G6’s expression answered before her mouth did.

“Tina.”

She stood.

“Make me presentable.”

A faintly cunning smile appeared.

“We’re seeing my mother-in-law.”

Tina sighed.

“Hmm… but Edmund is not here.”

G6 stopped.

“Who the hell is that?”

Tina stared at her for a second before answering.

“Butler Edmund Saiden. He oversees the West Villa on behalf of Her Majesty and manages the residence as a whole. He is also expected to assist you while you are carrying out your household responsibilities here.”

G6’s expression became increasingly unimpressed.

Tina’s mouth curved into a suspiciously smug smile.

“However, since you locked yourself away, Butler Edmund appears to have become… discouraged.”

“What does that mean?”

“He vanished.”

G6 stared at her.

Tina allowed the silence to linger before adding, “And you cannot formally request an audience with Her Majesty without going through him. Protocol.”

G6’s face became perfectly neutral.

“So the butler whose job is to be here… isn’t here.”

Tina wisely said nothing.

“And that same person is now interfering with my plan.”

Something about G6’s calm delivery made the statement more threatening than shouting would have.

Lilia immediately straightened.

“Do not worry, Lady Reise! I will find Butler Edmund!”

G6 looked at her.

“You’d do that?”

Lilia nodded fervently.

“Yes! Excuse me. I will find him now. Please begin your preparations!”

Then she hurried from the room with enough determination to make it look as though G6 had assigned her a military operation.

Her first mission.

G6 watched her go.

She had never been particularly interested in fantasy. That had always been Pisces’s territory. He could spend hours sprawled across a couch explaining magical systems, monsters, guild structures and whatever animated series had captured his attention that week while G6 practiced the highly refined skill of ignoring him.

Still, the Adventurers’ Guild was one fantasy concept she could appreciate.

Accept a task, complete the task, receive compensation.

Straightforward.

She could work with straightforward.

And then there was magic.

According to everything she had read, Reise possessed Wind affinity through House Worthon. House Nocturne was associated with Earth, House De Lune with Water and the Royal Family with Fire.

But the book had focused on those bloodlines because they mattered to the romance. It had never bothered explaining whether those elemental affinities represented the entirety of magic or merely the most important inherited branches among the kingdom’s ruling families.

G6 looked down at her hand.

Wind Slash.

She knew the technique existed.

That did not mean she knew how to produce it.

G6 made a small experimental motion with her fingers beneath the table.

Nothing happened.

Naturally.

Knowing the name of a weapon had never taught anyone how to fire it.

Still, the idea stirred something she recognized immediately: interest.

Magic was another weapon system.

And if this body already possessed access to one, G6 intended to learn exactly what it could do.

Across the room, Tina watched her expression change.

One moment, Lady Reise looked bored enough to fall asleep at the table. The next, something unseen caught her attention and her grey eyes sharpened with an intensity Tina had already learned not to interrupt.

With a resigned sigh, she walked toward the wardrobe.

She opened the doors.

Then stopped.

Tina stared at what had once been a carefully arranged collection of dresses.

It now looked like the aftermath of a violent struggle.

Elegant gowns had been crushed into wrinkled bundles and shoved into whatever spaces would accept them. Shoes were scattered beneath the skirts, and a knotted bedsheet had been forced into one corner.

Something inside the bundle clinked.

Tina slowly opened it.

Broken porcelain figurines stared back at her.

She closed the wardrobe again.

Very slowly.

Then she turned toward G6.

G6 remained seated at the table, still thinking about magic and apparently unaware that judgment was approaching from behind.

Tina marched toward the vanity.

The first drawer contained hairbrushes, jewelry and ink pots thrown together without any recognizable system. The next had sheet music crushed beneath ribbons and an inkwell balanced precariously on top.

When Tina opened the bottom cabinet, half its contents spilled onto the floor.

Slippers, trinkets and a forgotten book scattered around her feet.

The noise finally pulled G6 from her thoughts.

She looked over.

“Ah.”

The memory of the previous night returned.

Tina slowly turned toward her.

Of course the room had looked clean when they entered that morning.

Lady Reise had not cleaned anything.

She had simply hidden the evidence.

G6 scratched the side of her neck.

“That’s why I got you another pair of hands.”

Tina’s stare became murderous.

G6 responded with a confident smile that suggested the entire disaster had been part of a carefully calculated strategy.

It had not.

Lilia was useful for completely different reasons, and G6 had no intention of admitting otherwise.

“I do not think I can make you presentable,” Tina said flatly. “All of your dresses have been… brutally abused.”

“I’ll wear this.”

G6 gestured toward her nightdress.

“You think something as irrelevant as clothing can stop me?”

Tina stared at her.

Then she remembered the previous two days and apparently realized G6 might genuinely attempt to visit the Queen dressed for bed.

“You have an adjoining dressing room.”

G6 paused.

“Most of your seasonal clothing is stored there,” Tina added quickly.

A smug look crossed G6’s face.

“That’s what I thought.”

❈.❈.❈

A few minutes later, G6 stood in the center of the adjoining dressing room and slowly reconsidered every decision that had brought her there.

Pastel gowns filled the racks from wall to wall. Silk, satin, lace and ruffles appeared in quantities that seemed less like clothing and more like a coordinated assault.

Her gaze moved from one dress to the next.

Each somehow managed to offend her more than the last.

The fingers of her right hand flexed unconsciously, searching for a trigger that did not exist.

A low sound of genuine revulsion escaped her throat.

She turned toward Tina.

“Tina.”

Something in her voice made the maid straighten.

“Bring me a match.”

Tina stared at her.

G6 looked back at the endless rows of pastel fabric.

There was no humor in her expression.

“I will burn all of this.”

—To Be Continued…—