She had hoped to manage even something small. She had thought it would be wonderful if she could make something that moved on its own, like the curious objects around the residence that Luna had shown her. But as time passed, disappointment was all that grew.

Still, there was no need to show Luca how she felt. It would be rude to Luca, who was putting real effort into teaching her. And though she didn’t know the details, it seemed Diego and Luca were researching ways to make use of the magic stones she created, along with that technician Annie.

Someday, my ability might be useful too.

When that day comes, I should be ready. And I need to keep working hard so I don’t disappoint Diego, who arranged for me to receive private lessons from Luca.

“For now, it would be best to focus on making magic stones. Growing more comfortable with using your magical energy through that process may eventually allow you to do other things.”

“Understood. I’ll do that.”

“Then, my lady, is there anything else you’d like to learn? Besides magic?”

“Something else?”

“Yes. The educational facility offers a variety of classes to help with self-sufficiency, not just magic. Commerce, cooking, farming, crafting, and more.”

“You could also learn swordsmanship, like me.”

“No. Swordsmanship and physical combat are not recommended for beginners. Didn’t Diego explain this to you?”

Luna shot a glare at Luca, and Luca ignored it. Ribeta shook her head. What Luca had described was all new to her. Diego had only suggested she try the magic lessons.

“It has nothing to do with the contract, so do whatever feels right to you. I don’t want to put pressure on you.”

“I see. Let me look into it a little more and get back to you.”

Luca took out a thick book on magical theory and set it on the table. Ribeta had the sense that he was trying to change the subject, but she didn’t press it and turned her attention back to the lesson as he intended.

Learning new magical theory was genuinely enjoyable, and Ribeta quickly forgot about the other classes and lost herself in the lesson.

❀❀❀

Alec Costa returned to his office with a bottle in his hand.

The office was utterly silent. The steady stream of visitors that had never let up before the trouble started had dried up the moment the rumors spread. His secretary, too, had stopped coming in entirely from the day Diego filed a claim for ownership of Loctus mine.

Opportunistic rats. Just you wait.

It was all solvable with borrowed money. Pay Diego back the advance, keep the mine from being taken, turn a profit, and pay off the debt. Yes. That was all it would take.

The problem was who to borrow from, and how. Diego was a walking scandal in human form. Nobles treated picking apart his every move as a hobby, whether they knew him personally or not.

But lately, with Diego Ruperto going quiet after his marriage, people were desperately hunting for fresh material to tear apart. Into that climate had come the rumor that Alec had gotten tangled up with Diego Ruperto and was about to lose his mine, and no one was going to let that pass without comment.

In fact, today Alec had been turned down by several people in a row, and had come home drinking to keep from exploding.

“Worthless pieces of trash, drop dead. All of you, just drop dead!”

“Eek!”

The moment he hurled the bottle at the carpeted floor, a woman’s scream rang out. Alec tore his gaze from the rolling bottle and looked around with a shout.

“Who’s there!”

“It’s, it’s me. Alec. It’s Melissa.”

Only then did he notice Melissa getting up awkwardly from the sofa. But the look Alec gave her was not a kind one.

“What are you doing here without any notice?”

“That’s what I should be asking. You haven’t been in touch, so I came to find out if you’d forgotten about me.”

“Look, Melissa.”

Alec let out a sigh heavy enough to sink the floor.

She got the feeling he was looking down on her, and it put her in a bad mood. He was, in fact, looking down on her.

“Don’t you know what kind of situation I’m in?”

“That Loctus mine is about to pass to Count Ruperto?”

“Yes! My head is already splitting, so now that you know, go home. I don’t have time to argue with you.”

“Why did you do business with Count Ruperto in the first place? Even a five-year-old knows that man is vicious.”

Melissa’s tone was sharp. The accusatory words pushed Alec over the edge.

When he thought about it, the situation being what it was had something to do with Melissa too. He had gotten engaged expecting to use Count Razey’s influence, and then her family had gone completely bankrupt and that plan had dissolved into nothing. He had heard that the remaining assets of the count were being inherited by Melissa, and had tried to at least get something out of that, only to find out it was all debt, not assets.

And then there was that slave. Even the pretty slave Alec had had his eye on, Melissa had sold off to the slave market. She had ruined his plan to take her as a mistress, and then had the nerve to gloat that she had used the money from selling her to buy a new dress.

He had reached his limit. Alec raised his hand toward Melissa. Melissa looked up at him with a sharp gaze.

“Hit me and you won’t hear the good idea I have. If that’s fine with you, go ahead.”

“A good idea? What idea.”

“Count Ruperto has a new weakness. We use it.”

A new weakness?

Alec frowned, clearly having no idea what she meant. Melissa looked at him with an expression of mild contempt and whispered.

“Think about it. I mean the countess.”

“You want to kidnap the countess?”

“You could call it that. Making sure Diego Ruperto doesn’t see it as a kidnapping is what you need to handle, Alec.”

Melissa whispered with a sweet, coaxing tone. The reason she was clinging to Alec this desperately was simple. He was the last foothold she had left.

Melissa had nothing left now, not after selling even Ribeta. Her parents had run off in the night and said they would contact her once they were settled, but there was no sign of that happening. Even if they somehow managed to get on their feet, the chances of reaching them were slim.

The money from selling Ribeta had been a decent sum, but nowhere near enough to live on for the rest of her life.

Honestly, Melissa had regretted it quickly after selling Ribeta. With Ribeta gone, there was no one to manage her daily life. It had felt so satisfying and refreshing in the moment.

Ribeta had been her maid, and yet she had always been one step ahead, infuriatingly so. Whenever Melissa brought Ribeta along, people always sought Ribeta out before Melissa. That was why she had stopped taking her to parties and events, but the resentment never faded.

She had felt like her own existence was being swallowed by Ribeta’s shadow. And Ribeta was only a slave.

Even so, I sold her to Lerbacia of all places. She won’t have come out of that unscathed.

She might have been sold to some depraved noble and used as a plaything until she died, but that wasn’t Melissa’s fault. She hadn’t personally handed her over to someone like that.

Still, the moment she realized there was no one to take care of her after Ribeta was gone had been genuinely distressing.

Melissa had no choice but to use the money from selling Ribeta to hire a new slave every day just to get by. The lie she had told Alec about buying a dress was out of pride. Alec had always had a soft spot for Ribeta. She could already hear him asking why she had sold her, telling her to get her back. She would sooner starve than bring Ribeta back. That was something she refused to do, even if it killed her.

Either way, Alec was Melissa’s last remaining hope. With the Razey comital family thoroughly ruined, no noble man would come to propose to her.

In truth, Alec had probably been preparing to drop her regardless, given how things had turned out.

Melissa was not wise, and she was hot-tempered, but when it came to her own livelihood, she was relentless.

Lose Alec, and her life would fall into the gutter. Which meant she also had to keep Alec’s life from falling into the gutter. For her own sake.

“Have you ever met Diego Ruperto in person?”

“No?”

“I thought so. That’s why you can think something like that.”

Alec scoffed. Melissa bristled for a moment but held herself back. Provoking Alec when he was out of his mind right now could get her thrown out before she got what she came for.