Another stroke of luck followed. It always comes suddenly, without warning. The problem is that it barges in as it pleases even when I don’t want it to.

It appeared in the form of a familiar old man.

The message from the Magic Tower came when the design of the suburban villa was roughly complete. What remained was the actual demolition, construction, and decoration work, so all I could do was wait.

Just when I was thinking of focusing on preparing for Rashid’s birthday celebration in earnest—

“They want me to come because the research results are complete?”

“Yes, my lady.”

Macy reported Pilgrim’s message. It was a request to visit the Magic Tower as they had achieved research results.

“Why are they doing unnecessary things?”

“Pardon?”

“Nothing.”

I unconsciously grumbled at the unexpected news. What should I do about this? Well, nothing’s really wrong. But no news would have been good news.

“So what exactly did they complete?”

“I’m not sure of the details.”

Really now, if you’re going to summon someone, you should give precise information. It better not be nothing when I get there. No, come to think of it, maybe it’s better if it’s nothing.

What could be happening at the Magic Tower?

Not knowing this, I had no choice but to respond to Pilgrim’s request.

When I arrived at the Magic Tower, he greeted me with a broad smile. Hmm, smiling doesn’t quite suit him.

“Thank you for coming, my lady.”

“Not at all. I heard there’s good news.”

“Yes, indeed. This way, please.”

I followed him inside.

“Did you notify Her Highness the Imperial Princess as well?”

“We did, but she is too busy to come today.”

“Then we could have viewed it together later.”

“Yes, but I wanted to show you first, my lady.”

“Me?”

“Don’t you have priority rights to use the magic formula?”

Ah, right. That’s true.

“And since this is the first result after your sponsorship, I really wanted to show you first.”

In other words, he’s saying he wants to keep his word.

When I enetered the room, there were unfamiliar faces. Pilgrim said they would explain the tool that used their newly developed magic formula.

On the table were two small stones, gleaming transparently in different colors.

“What are these?”

“They are tools that can track each other’s location from long distances.”

The mage went on with his explanation. He said if you have one of the paired stones, you can know where the other person is.

‘So it’s like GPS?’

I easily understood their words. It was familiar technology in the real world, but seeing it here again was somehow fascinating.

“Could you show me an example of how to use it?”

“Ah, that…… Unfortunately, at present, once it’s activated it can only be used once. But if we continue our research……”

The mage explained, almost apologetically.

“I understand what you mean.”

So it’s disposable. Well, since it’s their first creation, that’s perfectly understandable.

Pilgrim continued where he left off.

“And there’s something else to tell you, this magic circle requires sunstone and moonstone, and pigments made from grinding them into powder.”

I see.

Huh? What did he just say? What stones did he mention?

“Why do you need to use those? Aren’t there many other materials?”

“These paired stones are made of sunstone and moonstone. We need to imbue the sunstone with moonstone’s energy, and the moonstone with sunstone’s energy…… That’s why it only works for one day……”

And so on, a lengthy explanation about the principles of magic followed. So basically, this magic borrowed some kind of natural force, and they used sunstone and moonstone as tools for that, which is why it only works for one day, or something like that.

Pilgrim’s reason for mentioning this was clear.

“So we need a considerable amount of sunstone and moonstone to make these magical tools.”

You have a source for supplying these materials, don’t you? That was the meaning behind Pilgrim’s words.

‘Are they asking for material support instead of gold coins? Is that better than just buying them with gold?’

I pondered deeply.

It wasn’t until some time later that I properly understood what Pilgrim meant.

The Magic Tower’s new research results soon spread widely throughout the world. Since it was a tool that could be useful not only in military areas but also in everyday life, there was tremendous demand for commercialization. The Imperial family praised the Magic Tower’s efforts, and Jeanne was very excited that her investment had shown such meaningful results.

“I’m glad I helped make the world more advanced.”

Jeanne looked very happy saying that. To be able to find joy in such things, she truly is an Imperial Princess.

I wasn’t particularly happy. Rather, I was tired and disappointed. The Magic Tower and Jeanne would be shocked if they knew.

“Lady Penvernon has priority rights to use this magical tool.”

So, the Magic Tower’s public declaration was the problem.

I had asked for priority rights thinking I could use it to display my vanity.

Like the talking golden bird or the mysterious glass rose, I wanted to tell others ‘I have this, I got it first, this is why I spent that money on the Magic Tower.’ Then people would think, ‘Seriously, just for something like that?’

If it wasn’t a tool worth boasting about, I had no intention of claiming priority rights. But before I could express my opinion, Pilgrim had already announced it to the world.

And the result was…

“So Lady Penvernon had such a grand vision when she made that investment!”

“It’s amazing. Honestly, I thought she was spending money uselessly.”

“Lady Penvernon’s foresight is remarkable.”

“That must be why His Grace the Duke of Penvernon didn’t say anything!”

……I ended up hearing such unexpected comments.

Thanks to Madame Kruger’s excited chatter when she visited the mansion about a new design, I learned about these stories.

「People marveled that they now understood Lady Penvernon’s previously incomprehensible actions.」

No, please don’t. You don’t have to.

However, the problem didn’t end there. More unwanted admiration followed.

When the Magic Tower began producing magical tools with stabilized technology, the prices of moonstone and sunstone skyrocketed.

The convenient magical tools being disposable was a drawback. But because the advantages far outweighed this disadvantage, they reached the conclusion that ‘Then we just need to make lots of them!’

Nobles who owned mines hurriedly resumed production or increased quantities. Idle mines began operating busily again. Villages with mines regained their vitality after a long time.

The mine in Samoa County, no, now Penvernon Duchy, was the same.

I actually wanted to keep the mine idle. But Benjamin went ahead and told Rashid on his own, ‘For these reasons, we’ll activate production,’ and Rashid just agreed!

I wanted to grab Benjamin by the collar and shake him, but he had only done what he should as the secretary of House Penvernon. All I could do was curse him to fall backward while walking.

And so what remained for me was,

「People began to think that Lady Penvernon wasn’t foolish, but rather had eyes that could see far ahead.」

……It was truly unnecessary fame.

‘Ugh, this isn’t what I wanted……”

My head throbbed from these unexpected developments.

Something was going wrong.

* * *

“These are the purchase requests addressed to you, my lady.”

Benjamin placed the documents on the table.

“And here is the purchase receipt from the Magic Tower.”

Another stack followed.

“This is a letter from Marquis Gaeld. He insisted it be delivered to you.”

A message from the Marquis who runs the merchant guild.

“Count Samoa as well.”

A pleading letter from the original owner of the mine……

In an instant, piles of papers stacked up like mountains.

I skipped over the others and checked the purchase receipt first. The Magic Tower seemed to be thriving with their first decent invention in a while. A considerable amount of money was expected to come my way. And this wasn’t the end. More ore would be sold in the future, which would increase profits even further.

‘I don’t know how much more will come in, but I might earn back what I spent……’

According to Pilgrim, even if they worked the mages to the bone, they couldn’t keep up with demand. Meanwhile, since I had the first rights of use, House Penvernon would get a certain quantity first. It was beneficial in many ways.

Rashid and Benjamin had discussed and decided everything regarding the acquisition of magical tools. I had merely agreed when they told me what they would do. Since it was militarily useful, they seemed very excited.

‘Should I be happy about this or not.’

Obviously I shouldn’t be, but… The content I planned to write in the divorce papers had become rather strange. What should I do about this?

While I was pondering this, Rashid came to visit.

Benjamin greeted him and left the reception room.

Sitting across from me, Rashid examined the documents on the table, then tore up Count Samoa’s letter.

“Huh?!”

Before I could even be surprised, Marquis Gaeld’s letter was also torn in half.

“Why, why did you do that?”

“There’s no need to read such things.”

“Those might have been serious letters to them.”

“Not really.”

He had an attitude of complete indifference. Rashid crossed his legs elegantly and smirked.

“Thanks to my wife’s great success, military operations will become much more convenient.”

“……”

I glared at him with triangular eyes. But Rashid seemed to like that look. His expression brightened even more.

At that moment, a sudden thought flashed through my mind. I clenched both hands and opened my mouth.

“Wait a moment. What if we just give up these rights? That might be better……”

“No.”

“Why?!”

“The deal is already done.”

We could just cancel it!

“This is a more useful tool than you think.”

He said firmly. He really had no intention of giving up. While he didn’t care much about how much money I spent where, he was absolutely strict about this. Though it was an admirable attitude as the head of a ducal house……

“I think I made a really good marriage choice.”

I pouted at Rashid’s words, which were clearly meant to provoke me.

“I don’t think so.”

“Everyone else will think so.”

This demon! That’s exactly the problem! I wanted to pull his hair out.

The following sentence skillfully added fuel to my displeasure, as if it’s conspiring with Rashid.

「Rashid laughed pleasantly.」

You terrible person!

* * *