The chair in the library was as comfortable as always. Neris naturally looked up when she sensed someone’s presence.

A calmness that was hard to believe had so casually occupied the other person’s seat. Cledwin smiled at that face, which looked innocent and youthful as if just out for a light breeze.

“What do you want to say?”

Having already made an appointment through the usual letter, it was as good as having permission to occupy the chair from its owner. Thinking this, Neris spoke confidently.

“Please spread some rumors for me.”

“Rumors.”

Cledwin repeated the word and plopped down in front of the chair. Neris was momentarily taken aback.

He was the heir to Maindlant, so legally he outranked everyone in this country except the direct imperial family. As far as she knew, he must have spent his childhood in wealth incomparable to even the McKinnon family.

Yet the way he casually sat down on the cold stone floor seemed so natural, as if he always did it.

Was it because he was in the fencing club, used to training? After all, they don’t provide fancy chairs in the training grounds.

But there was a naturalness to Cledwin’s attitude that was difficult to explain just by that. To begin with, it was unlikely that the fencing club of Noble Academy would put Cledwin Maindlant through such harsh training. Abelus would have made sure proper instructors weren’t assigned to him.

“Yes. Make the source of the rumors Alecto.”

“The content?”

“Here.”

Neris pulled out the paper she had prepared. Cledwin unfolded it and quickly scanned the contents. His attitude showed no sign of displeasure at being instructed by a child far below him in both status and grade.

If someone who didn’t know their true identities had been watching from the side, they would have thought it looked like a lady giving orders to a servant.

Cledwin must be a very fast reader. It took him almost the same amount of time as Neris would have needed to read that much text.

Soon taking his eyes off the paper, he tucked it into his breast and raised one corner of his mouth.

“It seems you’re using her thoroughly, but this time the target was that girl. When the hunt is over, do you boil the hunting dog?”

“If it’s a wolf that could attack me at any time. You might keep someone by your side who’s likely to harm you because you’re kindhearted, but I’m not like that. I have no defense ability, so if I allow even one attack from an opponent, I’ll die.”

The words of the girl who seemed impossible to kill even if one tried to do so monotonously rang in Cledwin’s ears. He looked up at Neris with calm eyes.

The chair, finished with carvings and velvet, was clearly a luxurious item, but it was only at a level that wouldn’t look too out of place in a library.

However, with her sitting naturally on it, it looked like a kind of throne. The kind that symbolizes authority and power, passed down for generations by direct imperial family members in the imperial palace.

Even for direct imperial family members, a throne would naturally feel awkward at a young age. In fact, Neris’s body was small, not even filling half the chair, and her toes were floating in the air.

Nevertheless, she dominated the air of the place as if she were an adult who had been making many decisions for a long time.

It was a strange thing. Cledwin liked strange things. His life had been quite boring by his own standards and didn’t seem likely to change much in the future, but Neris Trude appeared and caught his interest.

Now, how much of a variable would her existence provide…

“As you wish. Is that all?”

“There’s more. Please get me some land. I’d like it to be nearby, but security is the most important. It can be a bit far.”

“Land?”

Cledwin tilted his head and then smiled strangely.

“Do you want to become a lord? It seems like it’ll take a few years.”

What is this person saying? Neris glanced at him slightly. Of course, what she was asking for was not the position of a lord somewhere. Jokes like this.

“For now, a small plot of farmland will do. Of course, it can’t be in my name. It would be nice if there’s a house attached. I’d like it to look like a place some idle noble is leaving unused. The fewer passersby, the better.”

It was clearly a statement that came with a very clear picture from the beginning, but Cledwin found it difficult to guess Neris’s plan. He voiced the most likely guess he could make.

“Is it a house for your mother to live in?”

“No.”

Of course, Neris would do so if she could ever relocate her mother somewhere difficult to find. However, she couldn’t yet hand over her most important weakness to Cledwin. It would be enough after she got to know what kind of person he was a little better.

It wasn’t yet time for a fatal threat to approach her mother. That was also one of the reasons why she was still trying to please Nelrysion.

“Don’t ask what it’s for. Deduct the cost from my salary later.”

Common sense would suggest that it would take years before Neris could officially work for Cledwin. And she even said to get it under a different name and that security was important, so it was a job that required a lot of processing.

She was telling him to wait indefinitely for the day when a low-ranking noble girl without background could pay for all that effort included.

Despite saying such things that defied common sense, Neris was confident. Watching her, Cledwin suddenly burst into light laughter.

Neris was confident in her own words. Who else would know their own abilities and trustworthiness as well as she did?

She could do a great many things and always repaid what she promised to repay. She intended to repay much faster and more than he expected.

Cledwin, with a smile on his lips, raised one of his beautiful eyebrows.

“Alright. The details.”

“I’ll send them by letter. I didn’t expect you to accept so readily, thank you.”

She had called him out prepared to lie in answer to several questions if necessary. Although it was disconcerting that today’s business ended much faster than she had thought, Neris concluded with a prim thank you.

Cledwin shrugged and looked at Neris. To the point where she felt uncomfortable.

“What?”

“Was stoking the conflict between Alecto Islani and Rhiannon Berta for today?”

Neris looked at him strangely. Her mind stopped for a moment.

Of course, his words were true. But he shouldn’t have known the truth.

The fact that Neris had anticipated the day when children would feel uncomfortable just hearing Rhiannon’s name, when they would be sick of it, when they simply couldn’t bear their own discomfort anymore.

In her previous life, Rhiannon’s luck – which was unfairly good luck to some – didn’t spread into such unpleasant whispers as it did now.

Rhiannon wasn’t hated then, and she was somewhat well-regarded among the upper-class noble children.

The lower-class noble children accepted that Rhiannon’s family background was different from theirs, and the upper-class noble children accepted her presence because she was a quiet child.

But this time it was different. Because Neris had twisted everything.

Everyone was secretly looking down on Rhiannon, and everyone had gossiped about the ‘presumptuous commoner’ at least once.

So how could they not find it distasteful that she was becoming a real count’s daughter?

When jealousy and distaste mix, people rotate stories surprisingly quickly. Something similar happened in the previous life when Neris became a duke’s daughter.

The children, who had turned the same complaints over and over among themselves so many times that if it were a wheel it would have worn out and become unusable, came to hate and finally avoid even topics related to Rhiannon. It was a convenient psychological escape mechanism for noble children who believed themselves to be noble and dignified.

What could be done? They would have to tolerate Rhiannon’s presence in social circles in the future.

The same solution didn’t apply in Neris’s case. It was well-known that Valentine, who entered the academy a year later than Neris, that is, the ‘real daughter’ of the duke’s family, openly ignored and despised Neris within the school.

In her previous life, after becoming a duke’s daughter, Neris was hated a little less blatantly to her face, and in a much more vulgar way behind her back.

If one had to say, Count Berta was a man who played the role of a father much better than Duke Elandria played the role of adoptive father. And he was a man who had the power and affection to give a diamond necklace to his young daughter.

It was time for wise people to realize that they should start keeping their mouths shut and digest things internally.

So Alecto’s wit in constantly bringing up uncomfortable topics quickly became unwelcome. Neris knew well how complex these seemingly simple children were and how quickly they could change their attitudes.

However, how did Cledwin know that Neris had carefully manipulated things behind the scenes for this day to come?

Neris replied in a more irritable voice than she had wanted.

“How could I have known that Count Berta and Sir Berta would pass away? Am I a prophet?”

“I don’t know.”

Cledwin looked up at Neris and grinned. A handful of sunlight came in and illuminated his face.

A smooth forehead and bridge of the nose like marble, gray eyes with a subtle golden tint only where the sunlight hit.

Cledwin was truly a handsome boy, and this became even more evident as the contours of his face were dramatically revealed by the angle of the sunlight. Even Neris, who had seen quite a few beautiful people in the imperial palace, had never seen such beauty as his.

But what good is a handsome face? Abelus liked beautiful women, but Neris didn’t have the hobby of making friends based on looks.

She suppressed her momentary agitation and faced Cledwin. For an instant, she sensed him scrutinizing her.

After a moment, Cledwin got up with a light laugh.

“I’ve bought the seeds you mentioned. I’ll send them, so try making a flower bed or something.”

“Thank you.”

That was good news. Neris smiled with a clean face and stood up.

Cledwin watched the small, elegant retreating figure for a long time.

Alecto couldn’t believe the situation she was in.

It had been several days already. The children she used to play with would avoid her as if seeing a plague patient when she approached, and if she tried to join any group, all the children there would get up and leave.

At first, she thought she was just being overly sensitive, but when there was only a cold silence in response to her witty joke during class time, she could no longer doubt it.

“Do you have a problem with me?”

Idalia looked troubled at the question Alecto had thrown after much consideration.

Alecto, who had been one of the few friends of the shy Idalia, was surprised and somewhat angered by this response. Shouldn’t they have spoken up straight if they had a problem? So that if there was a mistake, it could be corrected, and if there was a misunderstanding, it could be resolved?

‘This is why you don’t have friends.’

Sighing at Idalia’s inadequacy, Alecto asked kindly.

“It seems you do. What is it? Tell me, you have to speak for it to be fixed.”

However, the person who actually answered wasn’t Idalia.

“Ha.”

One of the boys sitting nearby snorted loudly. Although the classroom was noisy as the teacher was away, Alecto could hear that sneer painfully clearly.

“Looks like she doesn’t know what she did wrong.”

Idalia and Alecto’s faces turned bright red simultaneously. Idalia shot a gentle glare at that boy.

“Hiss.”

Hiss Angerson had a crush on Idalia. Idalia was pretty, delicate, and kind. Moreover, her family was good.

There was no reason why such a girl couldn’t say what she wanted to say, but did he have to see her unable to say anything and squirming in front of the mere vile Alecto Islani?

He didn’t think so.

“What do you mean?”

Alecto asked, dumbfounded. Even someone less perceptive than Alecto would have found it difficult not to grasp the contempt and hostility that had just been in Hiss’s voice.

Hiss snorted once more.

“It’s really sad that Beni Shire trusted you, calling this kind of thing a friend! Do you know how angry the kids are right now?”

“What?”