Nora finished speaking and smiled brightly.

Naturally, her intention with these words was to take a jab at Arasila, who had recovered her reputation while her husband’s honor had been tarnished.

The young ladies, noticing this, eagerly joined in and began to gossip about Arasila.

“The Duchess Vandermir isn’t one to hold back for the sake of others. She seems to do whatever she wants, doesn’t she?”

“She truly is a talented person. No matter what happens to her husband, she hasn’t suffered any losses from this incident.”

“Indeed. Even after the case was concluded, she persistently worked with the knights to catch the murderer without giving up. She’s been praised extensively for that.”

“If I were Duke Vandermir, I would feel a bit disappointed. It was only possible for her to cooperate with the knights because he allowed it, yet she hasn’t acknowledged that at all.”

Nora smiled with satisfaction as she watched the young ladies skillfully steer the conversation in the direction she desired, even though she had merely set the stage.

Their current words were painting Arasila as someone who acted only for her own well-being without any concern for her husband.

Naturally, this was Nora’s aim, so no one stopped it.

“It was the same during the hunting festival. The Duchess Vandermir doesn’t seem to compromise much with her husband. One shouldn’t be so greedy.”

“Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve seen her properly supporting Duke Vandermir since their marriage. Are her own ambitions to become the Magic Tower’s leader all that matter to her?”

“Oh my, if she’s only going to think of herself, she shouldn’t have gotten married in the first place. They had a love marriage, but there’s a complete lack of basic consideration for her partner.”

“In hindsight, it doesn’t seem coincidental that the Grand Duchess and Duchess Vandermir fought last time. The Grand Duchess must have been worried enough about her grandson to do that.”

The young ladies built up a negative image of Arasila like a runaway train.

Nora brought a teacup to her mouth to hide the smile threatening to spread across her face.

‘No matter how much one claims not to care about their reputation, there’s a limit to that.’

Noble women had to put more effort into managing their reputations after marriage compared to when they were single.

After marriage, they were connected to many people, so even the slightest flaw could have a big impact.

So if the words spoken here today gradually spread through high society, Arasila would undoubtedly suffer damage as well.

Thinking of Arasila, who always acted so unpleasantly aloof like a lone swan, Nora tightened her grip on the teacup.

No matter how capable a magician Arasila was, in high society, Nora had the upper hand.

Arasila’s attitude of always acting superior and indifferent to others would backfire on her this time.

Almost certain of this, Nora opened her mouth brightly to drive the final nail.

“A virtuous noblewoman should wisely support her husband, but the Duchess Vandermir is somewhat lacking in that regard.”

Setting down her cup with a clink to draw more attention, she continued.

“But surely she isn’t doing it on purpose to hinder Duke Vandermir’s future? She must still be awkward since it’s early in the marriage.”

At a glance, it sounded like a sympathetic remark, but everyone knew that wasn’t the case.

Just a few days later, malicious rumors began to circulate in high society that Arasila was failing to properly support her husband and was deliberately hindering his future.

A large hand reached across the table, holding out an invitation stamped with the imperial crest.

Arasila, who had been about to put a bite-sized piece of sausage and salad vegetables into her mouth, set down her fork and took the invitation.

As she unfolded the paper with indifference, her expression soon changed to one of slight surprise.

“…It’s a homecoming party for His Highness, the First Prince?”

The Emperor of the Zetron Empire had many children, but oddly enough, not a single one of them shared the same mother.

It was because the Emperor had only one child each with the Empress and the Imperial Consorts.

Among them, First Prince Lucas, the son of the First Imperial Consort, was the Emperor’s eldest son born before Frederick, the Empress’ son. He had been away for a long time after leaving for another country as an envoy and to study abroad during his minority.

Even after reaching adulthood, he did not return to his home country and instead traveled to various nations as a representative of the empire, serving as a diplomat.

“Yes, I heard he is returning after making the achievement of concluding a peace treaty with the Sillin Kingdom.”

“Is that so? I didn’t know.”

Arasila, who had been too busy recently to pay attention to international affairs, heard the news of the prince’s triumphant return for the first time now.

Still, she knew that the Sillin Kingdom had been threatening the empire’s eastern coast, so she thought it made sense for the imperial family to hold a homecoming party for him.

“So, will you accompany me to the party?”

“Hmm…”

Arasila fell into thought at Demian’s straightforward question.

Just because the Johnny Pattinson case had ended didn’t mean she had become free. She was focusing on inventing a Magical Tool based on her floating stone research.

During such a busy time, she didn’t want to waste time attending a party for no reason.

She was already famous for rarely attending parties. That hardly changed even if it was an imperial ball.

“Do I have to go with you?”

“Not necessarily. His Highness won’t scold you if you decline to attend.”

Demian spoke in a strangely confident voice. It was unusual since he wasn’t the First Prince himself, but Arasila didn’t think much of it.

“Then please excuse me by saying I’m ill. It won’t be strange to anyone since I do that often.”

“Understood.”

The conversation ended there. The two finished their meal in a silence that wasn’t awkward like before and parted ways to their respective workplaces.

Today, Arasila brainstormed with her two juniors about what kind of Magical Tool would be good to invent.

In fact, several ideas had come up so far, but the problem was that none of them were appealing.

Arasila, with her arms crossed and leaning back in her chair, tilted her head all the way back. In her upside-down view, the bright blue sky outside the window caught her eye.

At that moment, Arasila absentmindedly thought:

‘Hmm, it would be fun to have something like a ship that roams the sky…’

This soon transformed into a flash of inspiration.

She suddenly sat up straight and blurted out her exact thoughts to her juniors.

“How about we invent something like a ship that floats in the sky?”

“Pardon…?”

“I mean, there are carriages on land and ships on the sea, but there’s nothing in the sky. Let’s use the floating stones to create a flying vehicle.”

Arasila didn’t want to simply make objects float in the air using the floating stones.

The core of invention was always practicality.

No matter how groundbreaking an item was, if it had no use, people would quickly lose interest, and the value of the item and research would naturally decline.

The three of them had pondered for a long time because they didn’t want to see the results of their hard work reduced to that.

“Ooh, I think that’s a great idea.”

Sally was the first to agree, and Rudy chimed in.

“I like it too. We’d be creating a new means of transportation. If we do it well, we could achieve even greater commercial success than Senior Travis’ lab!”

The rivalry between seniors naturally extended to the juniors below them.

Rudy and Sally were just as determined as Arasila to outdo Travis’ side.

“Since we’ve reached a consensus, let’s settle on this direction and start developing it.”

“Yes, senior!”

“It was sent by the Duchess Vandermir.”

Late in the evening after work, Arasila received a letter from the head maid. She made a displeased face at the unpleasant sender.

Arasila climbed the stairs while reading the letter. She skipped the pointless greetings and went straight to the main point.

The two-page letter, filled with accusations and threats directed at her, could be briefly summarized as follows:

“I heard your reputation in the capital’s high society is in shambles these days. You’re not properly supporting Demian? Do you want a divorce?”

Arasila roughly folded the letter and handed it to Audrey. Her expression was quite serious.

It was nothing new for her reputation in high society to be unfavorable, but judging from the Duchess mentioning divorce, it didn’t seem to be an ordinary situation.

‘What on earth are they saying to make her act like this?’

Divorce was still somewhat troublesome for now, so Arasila felt the need to thoroughly understand the current state of high society. So the next day, she went to see Paula.

Although her elder sister Iris was also well-informed about high society rumors, it felt a bit embarrassing to ask family about her own bad rumors.

After exchanging a light embrace with Paula, who welcomed her, Arasila immediately brought up her business.

“Paula, there’s something I want to ask you.”

“Hm? What is it?”

“Is my reputation bad in high society these days?”

Paula, who had been beaming with joy at her friend’s sudden visit, flinched. She shifted her eyes in a troubled manner.

“You can just tell me honestly. You know very well that I don’t get hurt by such things.”

“…Actually, there are some strange rumors going around.”

Paula hesitated before answering. She had been agonizing over whether to tell Arasila about this.

Usually, knowing that Arasila was someone who didn’t obsess over her reputation, Paula wouldn’t bother conveying the bad things being said about her in high society.

But this time, even Arasila’s husband Demian was being mentioned together, so it was a deep concern for Paula as well.

“You’re not as bad as Lexy Ryterson, but… Well, there are rumors that you deliberately married Duke Vandermir to interfere and obstruct his future.”

“What?”

“They say Duke Vandermir either loves you and is turning a blind eye, or he’s a naive man who doesn’t know women well and is being deceived by you.”

What kind of nonsense is this?

Arasila failed to control her expression and frowned. Far from hindering Demian’s future, she was actually helping him. Yet somehow she had become a villainess seducing and ruining the life of an innocent man.

The absurdity was beyond words, so she gulped down her herbal tea like alcohol.

But Paula’s words weren’t over yet.

“The fact that you beat Duke Vandermir and won the hunting festival, and that you were in charge of the unpleasant incident with the Order of the Crimson Hawk this time…”

“…”

“Because of this and that, there are even people starting to doubt your marital relationship since you only bring misfortune to Duke Vandermir.”

This was all the result of the words Nora had spread through her high society gatherings snowballing out of control.

Thanks to that, Arasila, who had instantly developed a headache, pressed her temples.

“…I understand for now, Paula. Thank you for letting me know.”

“No problem. If you need any help, just tell me anytime, Arasila.”

After leaving Paula’s residence, Arasila immediately went to find Demian.

If left unchecked, the gossip circulating in high society would only intensify and never weaken, so there was a need to suppress the scandal.

“I want to go too.”

Thus, she abruptly flung open the door to Demian’s office and declared.

“…To the internal meeting of the knights?”

Demian, who had been reading documents related to tomorrow morning’s scheduled meeting, asked back in bewilderment.

“No, not that. To His Highness the First Prince’s homecoming party.”

“Didn’t you say you weren’t going?”

“I changed my mind. We’ve only been showing ourselves in opposition to each other lately, so I think it’s time to flaunt our marital relationship a bit.”

Since the First Prince was returning after nearly 10 years, there would be a great number of attendees at the party.

If they displayed the appearance of a loving couple there, the things people were arbitrarily gossiping about would quiet down to some extent.

Arasila explained these circumstances to Demian and lightly gripped his shoulder, asking with a bit of force.

“Demian, do you remember when my mother came to visit me while I was ill?”

“Yes.”

“At this party, you need to act even more in love with me than you did then. That way, they won’t be able to say strange things. Understood?”

Demian showed a momentarily unconfident look, but upon seeing Arasila’s fierce expression, he nodded.