In the midst of her repentance, Clea decided to entrust the business to Rupia.

She believed it was important to place talented individuals in the right positions.

As Clea spent days sitting in repentance, she realized there was someone around her suitable for business.

When she first heard that Oberon had a younger sister, she couldn’t remember anything.

She thought it wasn’t mentioned in the original work, but then she recalled that her story had been mentioned.

‘People thought she would become a scholar.’

Rupia publicly stated her intention to pursue academics, graduating early from the Imperial Academy with top honors and even studying abroad.

Because of this, people thought she would focus on nurturing talented individuals at the academy.

Or if not that, then perhaps she would follow Oberon and become an official to showcase her abilities.

However, contrary to people’s expectations, the introduction of Rupia in the original work was surprising.

‘The oddball of the Philip family, the Empire’s unparalleled genius businesswoman.’

Unexpectedly, a businesswoman emerged from a family known for producing officials and scholars.

And not just any businesswoman, but the Empire’s unparalleled genius at that.

At the time, no one understood.

They said she was wasting her talents by merely becoming a businesswoman after all her studies.

But as time passed, people gradually fell silent in the face of her success story.

Of course, there might be some uncertainty since it was before she was called a genius businesswoman, but Clea didn’t particularly care.

Even if something went wrong and it failed, the main goal was for the Odoi family not to hold the business rights.

Clea was relaxed, thinking that as long as they succeeded in taking over completely, the business operation could be postponed.

“Are you really going to entrust her with full authority over the business?”

It was a question that might seem doubtful to others if they heard it.

Barwin looked at Clea with drowsy eyes.

In fact, he didn’t care who was in charge of the business.

He just wanted to confirm who this person was if Clea trusted them enough to entrust them.

When he first opened the door and entered, Barwin had already noticed Rupia’s presence.

Every noble valued information.

Because she had been away from the Empire for a long time, people only remembered her childhood appearance.

Therefore, nobles anticipated her grand return while wanting to know her adult appearance.

They wanted to build a close relationship with her upon her return, no matter what.

But among the nobles, regardless of high or low status, no one could find out any information about her.

Except for Viscount Rokin, who ran the information guild.

“I believe she’ll handle it well. Don’t you think so, Lady Rupia?”

“If I have become Your Highness’s person, it is only natural that I should follow.”

“I’m not the Crown Princess right now.”

“I misspoke. Please forgive me.”

Rupia showed no particular reaction to Barwin’s attitude.

She was just happy that Clea trusted her and entrusted her with something.

Suddenly, Rupia’s gaze turned to Barwin.

“Viscount, are you dissatisfied with me taking charge?”

“I have no objections. I just thought you might want to rest a bit since you’ve just arrived in the capital.”

“I appreciate your concern, but how can I rest when there’s so much to do?”

“Having lived abroad for a long time, there must be many changes to adapt to.”

“Not much has changed, so I don’t need time to adapt.”

A silent gunfire was exchanged.

However, both seemed more interested in testing each other than fighting.

Amidst the suffocating atmosphere, Clea continued her questions.

“Is there any other news?”

“Well, if you’re asking about other news, how about the fact that the Duke has learned of the Young Master’s misconduct?”

“So the Viscount knew about it.”

Clea clicked her tongue at the new information.

From the perspective of knowing the original work, Clea had known about his misconduct for a long time.

She had no particular feelings towards Lloyd.

She didn’t like him, so she didn’t feel betrayed or resentful when he approached Aria, and she didn’t dislike him, so she didn’t feel elated seeing him fall apart.

Clea thought.

‘Wasn’t the original Clea like a brake, preventing him from falling apart?’

Although she was mean to Aria, she didn’t want the person she loved to fall apart.

The more Aria showed interest in Admund, the more inferior Lloyd felt.

To alleviate that inferiority, he tried to reach out in the wrong places, and each time, Clea stopped him.

However, unlike in the original work, the current Clea left Lloyd to do whatever he wanted.

Perhaps because of this, Lloyd’s behavior became even more outrageous, and the time it took for him to fall apart shortened.

“The Duke and Duchess must have a headache. Finding out that their only heir is rotting and emitting a stench.”

Barwin almost laughed at Clea’s words.

He wondered if she was deliberately emphasizing that he was the only heir, or if she was completely unaware of the current situation.

‘It seems the Crown Prince hasn’t told her yet.’

Now, there was more than one person qualified to be the heir to the Duke’s family.

It just hadn’t been announced to the public yet.

If one paid a little attention and looked closely, they could notice something strange.

‘That the woman before me is the Empire’s only Grand Duchess.’

However, everyone, like her, seemed to think there was only one heir to the Duke’s family, so they didn’t bother to find out.

Realizing that Clea was unaware of the situation, Barwin noticed that Admund was planning something.

Barwin chose to pretend not to know and quietly changed the subject.

“Other than that, the nobles’ reactions have changed.”

“Oh? I’m curious how they’ve changed.”

The nobles’ reactions.

Hearing those words, Clea was excited.

There was a time when the nobles hurled all sorts of insults at Clea.

The reason was simply that she was cast out by her family and abandoned by her fiancé.

In reality, she knew they were doing it to curry favor with Aria.

“Those who wanted to be on good terms with the Hersher family suddenly started criticizing them.”

“That’s the reaction I expected.”

“And they seem to be looking for opportunities to meet with you, my lady.”

“The capital’s nobles are disgusting and shameless. How can they suddenly change their attitude after hurling all sorts of insults before?”

It wasn’t unusual for nobles to change their stance as easily as flipping their palms.

Therefore, it was a reaction that could be easily anticipated.

For them, they wanted to board a ship that was sailing well, not stay on a sinking one.

Up to this point, it was all a picture that could be imagined.

It was easy to predict Lloyd’s downfall and other people’s reactions.

The really important thing was from now on.

“What about approaching Aria?”

Perhaps even more important than the business.

It was about approaching Aria’s side.

Barwin nodded and said.

“She told me. She wants the relationship between the Hersher family and the Rokin family to become close.”

A close relationship.

It seemed she wanted them to play a role in helping Aria become the Crown Princess, just like in the original work.

“Then we should do as she wishes. If she wants a close relationship, that is.”

Clea snorted.

The relationship between the two families was already close, if not completely intertwined. The problem was that it was in a bad way.

“Did you find out what she wants?”

“From what I’ve heard recently, she said she would give you pain to the point of wanting to die.”

Clea found it absurd that Aria now wanted to personally inflict pain on top of the terminal diagnosis she had already received because of her.

The clock hand on her hand was still ticking relentlessly.

Perhaps because Admund wasn’t by her side, she felt a pressure in her chest.

The sensation she had forgotten thanks to his presence for the past few days now felt awkward.

She sighed at Aria’s ambition to inflict even greater pain.

‘I wonder who’s calling who a villainess.’

Aria’s growing wickedness, which made her previous accusations of Clea being a villainess seem pale in comparison, gave her a headache.

“Then do you know how she plans to inflict pain on me, and what method she’ll use?”

“Ah, about that.”

Clea had asked out of simple curiosity.

But as if responding to Clea’s curiosity, Barwin quietly smiled and approached her.

Rupia was startled by his sudden approach and unconsciously tried to block him.

But contrary to Rupia’s concern, Barwin’s hand went elsewhere.

He grabbed the teacup that Clea’s lips had touched and said.

“I heard she’s looking for objects with memories of you.”

“Memories with her?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Clea was dumbfounded at his words.

Was there anything that could be called a memento between her and Aria?

Thinking about it, they hadn’t met at all except during their academy days.

Even during the academy days, apart from the first year, Clea had always kept her distance from Aria.

Even in the original work, there wasn’t much about Clea and Aria’s past.

If anything, it was just a line or two.

The content was mostly about how their relationship had been poor since childhood.

Moreover, Clea didn’t remember much besides her academy days.

She hadn’t paid much attention to things before that because she wasn’t interested until now.

But now that Aria was bringing up memories, Clea became curious about her own past.

More precisely, the parts that weren’t introduced in the original work.

“Do you know where Steve is? It seems I have something to ask him.”

The only person who had shared her childhood years.

She had considered looking for the servants from that time, but it was unlikely they would give her the staff roster from back then, and even if she found them, they probably wouldn’t tell her.

Steve, who was legally family, would at least know about her past.

To Clea, who was looking for him, Barwin confidently said.

“If you wish, my lady, I can bring him immediately.”