Helena is blocking His Highness the Grand Duke’s marriage. That is the real problem……

Backed by the Archangel Empire and the Holy Order, she was the most dangerous presence within the principality.

Marrying Grand Duke Evander was no different from declaring a willingness to stand against Helena.

“That was the biggest topic at the social gathering too…… and now this of all things has to happen.”

“Yes, you heard it as well. The story of the Shteng family, who fell out of favor with Helena.”

Countess Emily slowly nodded.

The story of a family that had vanished overnight sent a chill down the spine just thinking about it.

“To think that could become our fate……”

Count Gallien sank into anguish. The more he weighed the dangers the marriage to the Grand Duke could bring not only to Alicia but to the entire family, the more only one conclusion came to mind.

“No matter how I think about it, the only way for us to survive is to stop this marriage. His Highness the Grand Duke frightens me, but falling out of favor with Helena is even more dangerous.”

A desperate situation where the second-best option was the only one available. For the sake of the family’s future and safety, some degree of sacrifice was unavoidable.

“You are right. We have to stop it somehow. Whether by persuading Alicia or finding another way……”

A conclusion reached with great difficulty.

But his torment was not yet over.

“Count, the carriage is ready.”

Another source of worry was waiting for him.

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

Clop clop clop.

The carriage rolled without pause and arrived at a small coal mine on the outskirts of the Darlington domain.

“Is this not the mine managed by Viscount Tymon?”

Count Gallien asked as he stepped down from the carriage.

Just as he said, it was an old mine within the domain, one whose coal output had dropped sharply in recent times and was being considered for closure.

“Alicia, do you truly believe there are magic stones here?”

Count Gallien still could not bring himself to believe Alicia’s words. He had come only reluctantly, out of deference to his changed younger sister. Meanwhile, a few miners spotted the group and looked startled.

“What brings you all the way to this humble place, my lord?”

The miners, surprised to see the count visiting for the first time in years, bowed their heads low. The escort knight spoke up.

“The Count has come to visit. Go and fetch Viscount Tymon at once.”

“Please wait just a moment.”

A miner ran off in a hurry.

A short while later, the man in charge of the mine came rushing over.

“My lord!”

A man with narrow eyes and a short brown mustache. It was Viscount Tymon, the man responsible for the northern mine.

“What brings you to such a humble place?”

Viscount Tymon’s forehead was slick with sweat from how quickly he had run over. Watching him, a faint smile formed on Count Gallien’s lips.

“I felt I had been neglecting this place for too long and wanted to come see it for myself. Nothing out of the ordinary, I hope?”

“Goodness, what could possibly happen at a backwater mine like this?”

Viscount Tymon smiled his affable smile. The very picture of a loyal retainer. He was a lower-ranking noble, the eldest son of a viscountal family with no fief granted to them, managing the mine and drawing a stipend through Count Gallien’s generosity.

That man, the moment her parents died, ended up seizing the Darlington domain.

A promotion so extraordinary it could never have happened without connections at the top of the principality. At the time, she had been too consumed by grief over her parents’ deaths to pay it any mind, but now she understood the reason perfectly.

It was because of the magic stones mined from this very place.

The report Rina had brought listed the names of the outsiders Viscount Tymon had met with recently.

A mine manager with no fief of his own would have no ordinary reason to be meeting with a middleman trader.

A traitor who had sold out her parents and tipped Helena off to the existence of the magic stones.

“You’ve really worked hard out here in such a remote place.”

“Goodness, it’s nothing I’d call hard work. The only trouble is that coal production keeps declining.”

“How could that be your fault? It must all be Delpiro’s will.”

“But I’ve been diligently searching for new veins, so I expect good news soon.”

“Yes. I’m counting on you.”

A warm exchange between lord and retainer. But the voice that cut through it was cold.

“Could it be that production dropped because you were up to something else?”

Viscount Tymon’s brow furrowed at Alicia’s icy tone.

“Pardon? What do you mean by that? Surely…… that isn’t why you came today, my lord?”

Count Gallien stepped in quickly.

“No, no. I know better than anyone that you wouldn’t do such a thing.”

“But it seems the young lady thinks differently.”

“You know what Alicia is like. Don’t let it bother you. We simply stopped by to see how you were getting on.”

But Alicia, the very cause of the tension, calmly surveyed the area around the mine. Her gaze landed on a haystack piled higher than a person’s head.

“What is this?”

Viscount Tymon answered in a sulky tone.

“We had nowhere to put the weeds cleared from around the mine, so we stacked them here.”

“Is that so? For something like that, it looks rather like it was piled up to hide something.”

Viscount Tymon’s face went rigid in an instant.

“Ha, are you interfering in mine operations now? With all due respect, Miss, this is our area of expertise.”

A faint smile touched the corners of Alicia’s lips at that.

“Nowhere to put it, so you stacked it here…… then I suppose this should be fine.”

“Pardon? What do you mean by—”

Before Viscount Tymon could finish, Alicia plucked a burning piece of wood from the bonfire the miners had lit to keep warm and threw it toward the haystack.

Whoosh.

“Miss!”

Viscount Tymon’s frantic cry rang out as the dry haystack caught fire in an instant.

Billowing white smoke, the haystack was engulfed in flames and collapsed into ash moments later. And what it revealed was the narrow entrance to a cave.

“What is this?”

Viscount Tymon rushed to block the entrance with his body as Alicia asked.

“Ah, that…… it’s nothing. As I mentioned earlier, coal production has been declining recently, so we were searching for new veins…… but there was nothing to show for it, so we sealed it off.”

“Strange. A mine sealed off for having nothing to show, yet kept this clean.”

Viscount Tymon swallowed hard under Alicia’s cold stare. In that moment, Alicia slipped past him and stepped inside the cave.

Crunch. Crunch.

Alicia walked into the dark cave and emerged again shortly after.

“Well, you weren’t lying. I looked everywhere and there’s not a scrap of coal to be found.”

Viscount Tymon exhaled with relief.

“As I told you, Miss.”

“Instead, there’s this.”

What Alicia held in her hand was a small mineral.

A substance that shimmered with a blue glow. A magic stone.

“……”

Viscount Tymon’s face drained of all color.

Count Gallien stared at the sight, unable to conceal his shock.

“Viscount Tymon…… how did this come to be?”

“I, I know nothing of this. Th, that’s right. This is a frame-up! Someone has framed me! You know my loyalty better than anyone……”

“Who exactly is supposed to have framed you?”

“That…… there was a middleman trader who came from the capital not long ago. This is his scheme!”

He shouted, rattling off excuses in a panic.

Alicia stepped forward from where she had been watching.

“Could that person be someone named Hellman?”

“……”

A name Alicia could not possibly have known came from her lips, and Viscount Tymon’s eyes shook violently.

“How do you know that name, Miss……”

“That isn’t what matters. What matters is what he said about you.”

“……”

“He told a somewhat different story from yours. He said you contacted him first. That you had something very valuable you wanted to sell……”

Evidence and a witness, both perfectly in place.

Viscount Tymon’s face began to go pale.

“Even now, will you keep lying?”

Alicia asked in a measured tone. The cold edge in her voice brought Viscount Tymon to his knees in a rush.

“I, I was blinded by greed. Please, forgive me just this once……”

Alicia watched him with cold eyes and held the magic stone out toward Count Gallien.

“See for yourself, Brother. It is a high-purity magic stone, the kind the Empire would covet.”

Only then did Count Gallien accept that Alicia’s words were true.

“If this were to become known outside these walls, what do you think would happen?”

“……”

Count Gallien could not say a word.

A precious resource indispensable for alchemy and magic. But there was no room for simple joy.

Without the strength to protect it, it becomes a poison instead……

There was no telling what might happen if a magic stone deposit coveted even by the Empire were found within the domain.

“Haa……”

A deep sigh escaped Count Gallien’s lips on its own. Then,