Danae responded sharply. She searched the bedroom more recklessly. The well-organized bedroom became a mess in an instant. After searching through the dressing room, bed, and bedside table, her gaze turned to the last remaining vanity. She strode towards it. Then, after opening each cosmetic and perfume bottle arranged in a row in front of the mirror, she opened the drawers from top to bottom, rummaged through their contents, and threw everything that seemed useless onto the floor.

In the midst of this, Danae found that the last drawer of the vanity wouldn’t open.

Danae tried to force open the locked drawer, but it only rattled without opening. Clicking her tongue in annoyance, she spoke to the maids.

“You there! Come here and open this drawer right now.”

The maids exchanged troubled glances. The oldest-looking maid among them slowly spoke.

“We cannot open that drawer, young lady. Only Lady Christine has the key to that drawer.”

“Ha, what?”

Danae asked irritably. Then she kicked the locked drawer with her foot and spoke to the maids in an imperious voice.

“No choice then. Call the knights immediately. If it won’t open, I’ll break the drawer to see inside.”

“Ah, young lady… That’s a bit…”

“Can’t you hear me? I said call the knights!”

When the maids hesitated to speak, Danae glared at them with sharp eyes and shouted. The maids hesitated, not knowing what to do in the face of her attitude.

“…Um, young lady.”

At that moment, Emma, Danae’s maid, appeared, and Danae responded with a sharp voice.

“What!”

“…Well, a gentleman named Sir Emlyn has come to see you.”

“…What? Emlyn?”

At those words, Danae’s sharp eyes widened. She alternately looked at Christine’s locked vanity drawer and Emma. She seemed to be considering whether to call the knights immediately to force open this drawer, or to give up for now and meet Emlyn first, then try again later.

“Where is that Emlyn now?”

“We guided him to the reception room in the annex, young lady.”

“You mean my annex? Huh, alright. …I guess I can open that damn drawer after meeting Emlyn.”

Danae said as she stood up. She roughly pushed aside Christine’s maids gathered at the door and left. When Danae’s and her maid Emma’s footsteps faded away, the maids heaved a big sigh. Looking around Christine’s messy bedroom, they spoke as if lamenting.

“Whew, that was chilling. I thought I was going to die of fright.”

“But even if they’re as close as real sisters, is it okay to rummage through her elder sister’s room like this?”

“That’s what I’m saying. …No wonder. Christine young lady spent the night before she left organizing her bedroom without sleeping. I guess she knew Danae young lady would do this.”

“Why is Danae young lady acting like this? She has much better dresses and jewels than our young lady, so why does she want to take the few things our young lady has?”

“I guess so. She’s always been extremely jealous. She doesn’t even realize how ridiculous she looks, the more she acts like this.”

“…Hey, lower your voice! The young lady might hear! …Sigh. Let’s talk about this later and clean up the bedroom first. How shocked would our young lady be if she returned and saw this state?”

After a round of gossiping about Danae, the maids began to tidy up Christine’s bedroom.

* * *

When Danae, heading to her annex, opened the reception room door, she saw the sorcerer Emlyn sitting on the sofa. With his long ivory-colored hair braided into one, he was drinking tea when he saw Danae standing at the door and shouted with mischievous apricot-colored eyes twinkling.

“Wow! Long time no see, interesting young lady of the Yusten ducal family! Have you been well?”

“…I’ve been fine. But what’s with your appearance? Did you slay some dirty monster before coming here?”

Danae said, looking him up and down with a sour gaze. Emlyn looked down at his clothes and robe, which were a mess with dark green liquid stains, then laughed and said glibly.

“Haha, I had some business that warranted it. Sorry, interesting young lady. I thought about changing clothes before coming, but I figured it would be better to come to the capital as quickly as possible. …A worthless magician like me couldn’t keep a beautiful and precious lady waiting, could I?”

“…Hmph. That’s true, but.”

Danae spoke to him with a sulky expression, though she didn’t seem entirely displeased with his words. Emlyn looked at her as if finding her cute and said.

“So, why did you call me here? Did something happen to the Duke?”

“It’s not that, there’s something I want Emlyn to help me with.”

“Oh, what is it?”

Emlyn asked, looking at her with curious eyes. Danae answered in a cheerful voice.

“I have some idle land, and I was thinking of planting Paenax flowers there to make some money. …So, Emlyn. Can you go to the fallow land of Yusten Castle, summon the earth spirits living there, and help restore the land’s fertility? Oh, and the fallow land of Klein Castle too! If you do just that, I’ll make sure to compensate you generously. What do you think?”

At those words, Emlyn’s smiling expression stiffened awkwardly. He slowly opened his mouth, choosing his words while looking at Danae.

“…Interesting young lady. Do you know what you’re saying?”

“What do you mean?”

“The land that has given its all to nurture plants throughout the lifecycle of all living things regains strength to sprout new buds next year with the help of underground life and nutrients willingly shared by life forms that have completed their lifespan. That is the law of nature, and all spirits in this world must follow that law set by the goddess.”

“So?”

“What you’re saying is tantamount to ordering the spirits of that land to defy the natural law set by the goddess. And spirits that violate the law set by the divine will be annihilated and can never be revived. In other words, asking to restore fertility in that way means asking me to kill all the spirits of that land and offer them as sacrifices.”

Emlyn added those words, but Danae snorted and said.

“So what? What’s wrong with that?”

“…What?”

“If I want to plant crops on my land and sell them, isn’t the sacrifice of some spirits unavoidable in the process? I’m the future owner of that land. So not only the territory’s people and livestock, but even the spirits living on that land are all mine. Have you ever seen property telling its owner what to do when the owner wants to do as they please with it?”

“…The spirits of that land are not yours, interesting young lady. Rather, they are the true owners of that land.”

Emlyn glared at her straight on, gritting his teeth, but Danae pretended not to hear.

“Nonsense. That land belongs to my father, and it will soon be mine. This right is guaranteed by Her Majesty the great Empress Maria of this empire.”

“You’re the one talking nonsense. Do you think you’ve gained the right to do as you please with the spirits created by the divine with just a piece of paper made by humans? Before the divine and the great nature created by the divine, spirits and humans are all equally mere creations. Equal beings.”

He rebutted in a cold voice, but Danae paid no heed and shouted at him, slamming her palm on the table.

“Ha! Stop with that nonsense and give me a straight answer! Will you do it or not?”

Emlyn looked at Danae with a gaze of contempt and said.

“Fine, I’ll answer. No, absolutely not. I’d rather die than do it. If you must do it, you’d better find another magician.”

He said that and stood up without hesitation. Danae glared at him as if she wanted to burn him alive.

“You’ll regret this. Do you think anyone has survived in this empire after defying me and my father?”

At those words, Emlyn stopped leaving and turned to look at her. He twisted one corner of his mouth into a sneer and said.

“You’ve become quite boring since I last saw you, young lady.”

“…What?”

“Those words about regret, I’ll return them to you as they are. …The fate that awaits humans who dare to defy the divine law is nothing but miserable ruin. It will be useless even if you wail with those beautiful lips spitting blood then. No one will lend an ear to your pleas.”

“Ha! You lowly old man, how dare you! Are you done talking?”

Enraged, Danae raised her voice and threw the teacup in front of her at him. However, Emlyn twisted the direction of the flying teacup towards Danae with a single hand gesture. Danae covered her face with both arms and collapsed to the floor, letting out a piercing scream.

“Kyaah!”

The teacup shattered with a crash as it hit the window behind Danae.

Emlyn glared at Danae with a cold gaze and said.

“I didn’t understand why the Duke trusts and relies on your boring elder sister more than you, but now I think I get it.”

“…!”

“After today, I will never respond to your letters again. Tell your father, Duke Yusten, as well. Don’t even think about seeking my help in the future.”

With those final words, Emlyn left the reception room.

Danae lowered her arms that were covering her face and stared blankly at the closed door. Soon, her beautiful face contorted horribly.

She screamed and swept the teacups on the table onto the floor.