Chapter 113
I continued reading the letter.
It’s me, Angela. It’s been a long time since we last saw each other.
Angela? Was she one of Idel’s childhood friends?
Both the envelope and the letter only had a name written on them, so I had no idea what her surname was.
Because of certain circumstances, I can’t write it in a letter, but there’s something important I must tell you. It has to be said in person.
For some reason, that line drew my attention.
The letter then unilaterally set a meeting: one week from today, in front of the fountain inside Spring Flower Park.
I’m sorry. I’m not in a situation where I can leisurely arrange a meeting with you right now. I’ll wait until you come.
The letter ended with a sentence that sounded quite desperate.
This concerns an incredibly important matter in your life, so please come meet me just once.
I checked the envelope again.
Just as before, there was no sender’s address. Only the name Angela.
The only other information I could gather was from the postmark—it had been sent from the Central Post Office in the capital.
“Oh, that letter.”
Laura spoke when she saw the one I was holding.
“The contents seemed strange, so I wondered if I shouldn’t give it to you. But I thought she might be someone you know, so I included it. Was that unnecessary?”
“No, you did well.”
“So she really is someone you know.”
From the contents, she didn’t feel like a complete stranger.
But it doesn’t sound like they were that close.
It had already been more than two years since I possessed Idel’s body, yet I had never heard that name before.
Still, she didn’t seem like someone approaching me for money after hearing I had become rich.
After all, I had already been the Duchess of Cassius before this.
If Angela’s goal were simply money, she would have contacted me much earlier.
“So are you going to meet her?” Laura asked.
I thought for a moment before answering.
“Yes. I should leave that day free.”
There was a high chance she might be someone insignificant, but something about it bothered me.
Especially the phrase: “an incredibly important matter in your life.”
I was curious what that meant.
After that, I stored Angela’s letter in a drawer and returned to checking the rest of the mail.
There were so many letters that even with Laura’s help, it took a long time to reply.
Time passed in a blur.
Most of my days were spent wrestling with the wave of letters that kept pouring in.
During that time, the most memorable incident involved Count Wallace and Samuel.
Even though they had previously signed a document promising never to appear before me again, they still tried to enter the imperial palace to meet me.
“My daughter refuses to see me! I’m the father of Idel Wallace, the owner of the top-grade magic stone mine!”
Laura had personally witnessed the commotion at the palace gates and reenacted it for me with uncanny accuracy.
When the guards tried to drag him away, Count Wallace reportedly threw himself onto the ground and shouted:
“That ungrateful brat stole the mine from me! She knew it was valuable all along! Give it back! That mine belongs to the Wallace family!”
Except now it was undeniably mine.
The mine had regained its old name—Luciviu Mine—and I was now Idel Luciviu.
Unlike his father, who was beaten and thrown out for causing a disturbance, Samuel tried to act cleverly.
At least in his own mind.
According to Sharon, Samuel had been visiting various lawyers ever since the news about the mine appeared in newspapers.
He wanted to know if there was any way to invalidate the agreement they had signed and reclaim the mine through a lawsuit.
The result?
Every lawyer turned him away.
Such a convenient solution wasn’t going to fall from the sky.
And since I was now backed by the imperial family, accepting Samuel’s case could cause trouble for any lawyer.
Moreover, Samuel was completely broke and insisted he would only pay legal fees after winning the case.
What lawyer would welcome such a client?
Only after causing all that trouble did the two finally realize the situation and send me a long letter.
It was full of self-pity about how poor they had become, begging for my sympathy.
I skimmed through it briefly before throwing it straight into the trash.
Since they had broken the agreement first, I had no reason to show them mercy.
Instead, I contacted a debt collection agency famous for recovering unpaid money.
I showed them Samuel’s loan certificate and hired them.
After paying the advance fee and promising a success bonus, the company vowed to recover the money by any means necessary.
I gave them one firm warning.
“You must work strictly within the law. Everything must be legal. Understood?”
They nodded enthusiastically, clearly understanding what I meant.
The company began working immediately.
Thanks to them, neither Samuel nor Count Wallace had been seen in the capital for two days.
Fortunately, the Countess seems to have come to her senses somewhat…
This was also something Sharon told me.
The Countess was now her client.
Her goal was obvious: divorcing the Count.
Because lawyers must keep confidentiality, Sharon didn’t tell me the details.
But I could guess easily enough.
After I left the Wallace household, the most powerless person remaining there was the Countess.
She probably couldn’t endure it any longer.
The day the Countess came to Sharon’s office, Sharon had told me:
“I know how badly she treated you. But I can’t turn away someone who needs my legal help.”
Sharon was truly an excellent lawyer.
And a good friend.
I told her she didn’t need to worry about my feelings.
Rather than being upset, I felt lucky to have a friend like her.
“More letters arrived today.”
At that moment, Laura placed another basket overflowing with letters on my desk.
“Ugh… when will I ever finish reading these?”
“Huh? Even though you say that, you seem happier than usual.”
“Is it that obvious?”
“Yes. You’re smiling. Did something good happen?”
Something good had indeed happened.
Not only did I have a good friend like Sharon—
I was finally going to see Terrence!
This morning, Terrence had sent a message.
He had some free time for the first time in a while and wanted to have dinner with me.
Apparently an urgent schedule had suddenly been canceled, giving him free time tonight and tomorrow.
It was the perfect opportunity to tell him the truth.
I felt nervous thinking about how he might react to such an unbelievable story.
But right now, the joy of being able to see him outweighed that anxiety.
There were many things I wanted to talk about leisurely.
Like what had happened with the Wallace family.
With him—someone who always listened carefully to what I had to say.
Hoping evening would come quickly, I hurried through the letters.
Then—
“Th-this is…!”
I suddenly froze in shock after picking up one letter.
“Oh, that one arrived at the embassy residence while you were away,” Laura explained.
“Lady Diana gathered them and sent them here.”
“…I completely forgot about this.”
“It looked like a private letter, so I didn’t read the details. Is it something serious?”
“No.”
The serious problem wasn’t the letter.
It was my memory.
How had I completely forgotten about my moving plans?
The letter had been sent from the Kingdom of Soro, a distant country far from the Empire.
It was the place I had chosen to start my second life after my divorce.
About a month ago, I had sent an agent there.
He was a professional who handled relocation matters for people moving to foreign countries.
The letter was from him.
It said he had already prepared a house that perfectly matched my request, along with furniture and daily necessities.
All I had to do was arrive.
It also included detailed travel instructions to reach the Kingdom of Soro, along with flattering remarks about how he looked forward to meeting me soon.
Thinking back carefully—
The date I had planned to go there was very close.
And to arrive on time, I would have needed to leave the Empire today.
Back then, I had no idea the meteor would fall at the mine earlier than in the novel.
Because of that, everything had spiraled into chaos.
I rushed to the mine, fought the divine beast, confronted Baron Kainberg, dealt with Riena, stopped the schemes of the Empress and Mikhail…
After so many dramatic events, I had simply forgotten.
“Well, it can’t be helped.”
Since the time for my appointment was approaching, I left the letter from the Kingdom of Soro on the desk and stood up.
A week had already passed since receiving Angela’s mysterious letter.
Today was the meeting day.
Besides, now that I owned not just a magic stone mine but a top-grade one, the Emperor and the Empire wouldn’t easily allow me to leave for another country.
If I became a citizen of another nation and changed my mind, it would cause huge problems.
Of course, if I insisted on going with the divine beast under my command, they probably couldn’t stop me.
But they would definitely try to persuade me not to go.
Unless I secretly ran away, leaving the Empire today would be difficult.
And I still need to talk with Terrence… I’ll think about this problem later.
With that thought, I got into a carriage and headed to Spring Flower Park, the meeting place.
I didn’t want to meet a mysterious person in a crowded public place, so I asked Vineta to bring her to the carriage instead.
A little while later, Vineta returned with the person who had been standing in front of the fountain.
The woman only boarded the carriage after undergoing a thorough body search by the imperial knights guarding me.
“H-hello… Idel. It’s… it’s been a long time.”
She kept glancing nervously at Vineta beside me.
She was a poorly dressed middle-aged woman, with rough skin and a thin body.
“You remember me, right? I’m Teacher Angela.”
Teacher?
Had she been Idel’s teacher?
But Idel had never attended school.
Then Angela said something that shocked me.
“When you were little, you stayed quite a long time at the orphanage where I worked… We were close back then.”
