Chapter 62
The elders and branch family members all shot up from their seats and started desperately begging.
There wasn’t even a shred of dignity left in them.
“W-where should we write?! T-the paper—! We don’t have paper!!”
“What are you talking about?! Use this if you have to!”
Some of them flipped over the opening-statement papers they had brought to attack Sharon Abner with.
Watching that scene, I swallowed.
“…I expected this, but still.”
It was incredible. Truly incredible.
Copying that thick rulebook was NOT an easy task.
And they had to write it five times.
“Even doing it nonstop… it’ll take at least a full week.”
But for the branch families, that was a blessing from heaven.
Copywork was infinitely—no, billions of times—better than dying.
“Your Grace, we were wrong! We were arrogant! We dared to doubt Your Grace!!”
Maybe because they had just escaped death by the skin of their teeth, the branch families’ expressions now showed signs of genuine remorse.
When a rope is thrown to a drowning man, anyone becomes desperate.
And the one who had tossed that rope to them…
It was me.
“W-we’ll apologize to you too! Y-your name was Annelia, right?!”
Lady Larien shot up and rushed toward me.
Her voice trembled miserably.
“I-I’m sorry. Y-you’re better than us. Really, you’re far better—
You’re even far more brilliant than my daughter Clara!
I take back what I said earlier, okay?”
“Um… well…”
“H-how did you memorize all the rules like that?
I want to learn too! All of us retainers should learn from you!”
“She’s right! As expected of Your Grace—the Duchess’s eye for talent is extraordinary, to discover such a gem…!”
Of course, not everyone looked pleased.
Viscount Kainton, for example, was glaring with a stiff expression.
But that didn’t matter.
I glanced at Jaden once —
And quickly looked away.
“Grandpa… I can’t save you even with a rope.”
Judging from Jaden’s expression, even if Sharon didn’t intervene, Kainton’s end was already decided.
* * *
The review meeting finally ended.
Afterward, we moved to Sharon Abner’s office to discuss the weapon contract.
“Currently, Abner weapons are produced in two places.
One is beneath Mount Weiron in the northwest.
and the other is on the Tiboris Plains in the northeast.”
“Tiboris Plains has higher production, correct?”
“Yes.
And if you plan to transport weapons to the Eastern Continent,
it would be best to gather all products at Tiboris before shipping them out…”
Tiaan and Sharon were talking very seriously.
Well, that made sense.
“The fate of Abner, and even the Empire—and the Eastern Continent itself—depends on this.”
Not only that—
This was Tiaan’s first major achievement.
The Emperor had finally recognized him.
Of course he wanted to work hard and prove himself.
Not wanting to get in their way, I quietly slipped out of the office.
Sharon gave a subtle look to Wendell, signaling him to follow me.
I walked quickly toward my room, aware of Wendell’s presence behind me.
Now that the tension of the meeting was gone, fatigue washed over me.
“Still, everything turned out well.”
Preparing for the Elder Council’s attack wasn’t too difficult.
After all, everything the branch families did was basically childish tantrums.
“But that’s why I had to correct them clearly.”
I needed them to understand—
That they had crossed a line.
That above the rulebook stood the family head,
and the authority of the family head must reign at the top.
Everything had gone exactly as I planned.
The branch families seemed to have learned their lesson well.
And while preparing, I had discovered several unexpected treasures, which made things even easier.
“The only troublesome thing was the contract cancellation…”
Empress Karin had betrayed Abner completely.
She had renewed the contract just months ago, yet suddenly overturned it.
All because she didn’t like that Abner was getting close to the Crown Prince.
“She’s so petty. Seriously petty.”
I had worried over what to do, and then—
A good idea came to mind.
I remembered what happened in the Eastern Continent around this time in my past life.
Back then, the Eastern Continent fell into chaos because of the war Tiaan mentioned during the meeting—
the Eastern Unification War.
“And the Allied Forces are guaranteed to win.”
If I didn’t know that, I wouldn’t have nudged Tiaan toward them.
In my past life, the Magic Tower had been the one to supply the weapons.
“The Emperor was furious about that, wasn’t he?”
The Taranta Empire had plenty of weapons then.
Not an enormous surplus, but enough to support the East because of the Abner contract.
“But the Magic Tower snatched the opportunity.”
The Tower discovered the Allied Forces first and sent huge amounts of battle artifacts and weapons.
Thanks to that, the Allied Forces soon won.
The Emperor regretted it for years.
They had the perfect chance to gain enormous influence without doing much—
but the Tower took all the credit.
“Originally, that should’ve happened again.”
Only the Magic Tower had the information.
Only the Tower should have supported the Allied Forces.
But because I passed a hint to Tiaan, the entire situation changed.
“I didn’t mean to meddle this deeply…
but Empress Karin played dirty first.”
Honestly, I didn’t care about anything except my own survival.
I had zero desire to get involved in the Eastern war.
“What I really cared about was the Magic Tower.”
The Tower was rumored to have mountains of rare magical research materials.
But Empress Karin’s petty revenge had forced my hand.
“And if her pettiness endangers Sharon Abner?
Absolutely not.”
Sharon was my partner.
My chosen protector, responsible for keeping me safe until I grew up.
“I’ve been working hard to reinforce her position, and she dares interfere?”
So I immediately wrote Tiaan a letter.
I believed he would pick up the hint.
“If I just mention something suspicious about the Eastern Continent,
He’ll definitely figure it out.”
And my Tiaan did exactly as expected.
He noticed the signs of the Allied Forces forming
and jumped ahead of the Magic Tower in offering support.
Naturally, Empress Karin’s contract cancellation was exposed.
“He’s only eight, but Tiaan is seriously smart.”
And this time, the timing was perfect.
Empress Karin got knocked down a peg.
Sharon regained her authority.
and Tiaan gained the Emperor’s trust.
“Come to think of it…”
Originally, Tiaan should be ignored by everyone at this point.
People should be calling him a “useless prince.”
and the Emperor should be growing more distant.
But now?
“Tiaan might actually become successful.”
He made direct diplomatic contact with the Eastern Continent—
That was a huge achievement.
“Good. Works out well for me.”
Whether I end up working at the pharmacy academy or joining the Magic Tower,
Having close ties with a prince will never be a bad thing.
And Tiaan clearly thought of me as a good friend.
“Let’s stay good friends forever.”
Even after I leave Abner someday, we could still meet often and stay close.
Maybe even ask him for rare ingredients in the future.
Thinking about all that, I reached my room.
But as soon as I opened the door—
My eyes widened.
Mika was sitting on the floor, completely slumped.
“RIA!!”
As soon as she saw me, Mika shot up to her feet.
“Hic…! UWAHHHH!!”
She burst into tears and ran toward me.
“Did you hear?! Did you hear?!”
She grabbed my shoulders and shook me.
I glanced around in confusion.
We weren’t alone.
Teacher Anne and Soya were also inside, their faces full of worry.
“Annelia… I tried to calm her down but…”
Anne began to explain, looking troubled—
But Mika cried out first.
“WE ONLY HAVE THREE DAYS LEFT!!”
I peeled Mika off me, frowning.
I had no idea what she was talking about.
Mika hugged me again, sobbing.
“Me, and Tom, and Lulu! All of us leave in three days!
W-we only get three more days here!”
“……”
“Hic! I liked it here with you! Huwaaah…
I don’t need a new family!
I wanted to live here with you!!”
Tears and snot soaked into my shoulder.
But I just stood frozen, blinking.
Three days?
New family?
Is everyone leaving?
I looked at Mika and hesitated before speaking.
“Mika, are you…”
I swallowed.
“Are you… getting adopted…?”
