Chapter 77
“I was too arrogant… Lady Orcana.”
[Very well. I will grant your wish. Offer the price.]
As if she had been waiting for this moment, Grand Duchess Christina reached into her robes and took out a glass orb.
Inside the shimmering orb floated a lump of light that rippled with rainbow hues.
“I offer the purest of souls.”
She held out the orb with both hands. Orcana took it, swallowed it whole—
And for a moment, her body rippled like dancing waves.
Then, as if calm had returned to a disturbed pond, Orcana’s body grew still again.
She pressed her palms together.
From within her body, soft threads of light began to flow.
The beams pierced the ceiling and shot up toward the sky, stretching far, far away.
Moments later—
[The Guardian resides in the north.]
“The north…?”
[Yes. The Guardian stays beside the ruler of the north.]
Grand Duchess Christina immediately dropped to her knees.
“Thank you, Lady Orcana.”
With a shrrrkk! sound, Orcana’s form melted back into the spring from which she had emerged.
Lifting her head, Christina looked at the now-quiet water and rose to her feet.
“Beside the ruler of the north…?”
There was only one ruler of the north—
The Duke of Cartellani.
“So, it’s been near the Duke all along…”
A thought suddenly flashed through her mind.
“That’s why the Duke’s estate has been on such high alert—because of the Guardian.”
She had tried to plant spies, but all had failed—every one discovered and permanently exiled.
She had even attempted to abduct some of the maids, but they had been well-trained and had fought back or escaped.
It wasn’t as though there hadn’t been opportunities, but with knights escorting even the maids to and from work, it was nearly impossible.
She had wondered why they went to such extremes—
and now berated herself for failing to consider the simple reason.
The Next Day
Grand Duchess Christina summoned Roen.
“Roen, I’ve discovered the Guardian’s location.”
Roen looked up at her, startled.
“I should have done this sooner. I’ve been foolish.”
Christina looked at him with a serious expression.
“The Guardian is in the north. It seems the Duke of Cartellani is protecting it.”
“Then… that means—”
“Yes. The increased security around the Duke’s household is all because of the Guardian.”
Roen nodded, understanding dawning on his face.
“Investigate those who have grievances with the Duke. We’ll recruit them and create a rift in the north.”
“As you command, Your Grace.”
Now that she knew where the Guardian was, the next step was to draw it out.
“So, it’s been hiding like a rat all this time.”
Now that she knew, she had no intention of holding back.
The price had been high—but the result was worth it.
The pure soul she had offered was extremely difficult to obtain—
for it had belonged to a candidate for sainthood from the Holy Kingdom.
Those saintess candidates were bound to remain pure in body and mind, possessing sacred power and untainted souls—
souls meant only to serve the divine.
To acquire such a soul, Christina had poured enormous sums of money into the hands of a cardinal from the Holy Kingdom.
She had never wanted to rely on Orcana, but nothing had been going right lately.
She’d had no choice.
Still, Orcana always produced results worthy of the price.
This time, she had revealed the crucial truth—that the Guardian of the World Tree was in the north.
Christina had meant to save that saintess’s soul for something even greater,
but now it was spent.
“If I can seize the Guardian of the World Tree, I can overturn everything.”
She could eliminate the troublesome Duke of Cartellani once and for all—
and solidify Raul’s power beyond question.
Meanwhile…
In Alexis’s office, Elia was reviewing documents when a sudden chill ran down her spine.
“Ugh—why do I suddenly have goosebumps…?”
A sense of danger.
Her instincts were warning her.
“I have a bad feeling… something’s about to happen.”
Alexis was at the training grounds teaching Noah, so Elia was alone in the office.
“Am I missing something…?”
Setting the papers aside, she fell into thought.
Even Stella, her spirit companion, spoke for the first time in a while.
[Master, I sense danger.]
‘You feel it too?’
[Yes. I can feel malice directed at you… from afar.]
Stella was a spirit beast with divine power—
and such beings were especially sensitive to evil intent.
If she could sense malice from afar,
it meant someone had discovered Elia’s presence.
‘If someone has found out I’m here…’
Then they would surely move soon—
to capture her.
Whatever it was, Elia needed to prepare.
She immediately contacted Lapis.
—What’s wrong, my lady?
“How are things in the Grand Duchy lately?”
—Word is that the Grand Duchess has been very anxious.
“That’s all? What about the Empress’s side?”
—The Empress is becoming increasingly arrogant. Prince Serhi’s abilities grow by the day, and the nobles speak of his advantage.
“That must make the Grand Duchess desperate.”
—Indeed. Compared to Prince Serhi, Lord Raul has achieved nothing notable.
In swordsmanship, Serhi surpassed him.
Academically, Raul hadn’t shown any particular brilliance either.
All in all, it was a precarious situation.
Christina, being who she was, would surely make a move to turn things around.
“She might act soon.”
—I think so too.
Her once-proud cosmetics business had collapsed under the Beautiful Line,
and the northern region she considered a nuisance remained strong.
“Keep monitoring the Grand Duchy closely.”
—Yes, my lady.
After ending the communication, Elia recalled the past.
It was after her cosmetics line had become a massive success—after she’d destroyed Queens.
When Queens fell, the Grand Duchess had shut down her business, withdrawn her stores,
and Elia had bought those very stores to use for her own brand.
“I thought she’d do the same this time…”
But something told her this time would be different.
“She won’t just fold, will she?”
The only way Queens could recover was to create a product that surpassed the Beautiful Line.
“The researchers at Queens are all brilliant talents she gathered from all over the empire.”
They were scholars she had funded, molding them into loyal workers.
Elia had met them in her first life.
They hadn’t looked happy—
always nervous, always watching the Duchess’s expression.
They’d been sponsored to study, but lived in fear of their benefactor.
And rightly so—
Christina discarded anyone who failed to meet her expectations without hesitation.
Those she abandoned met horrible ends—forced to repay every coin she’d ever spent on them,
sometimes even sold into slavery to “repay their debt.”
The empire had long abolished slavery,
but across the sea, in another continent, it still existed.
That was where they’d been sold.
“If the researchers fail again this time, she’ll destroy them.”
In her past life, Elia hadn’t been able to help them—
she had believed Christina’s talk about clear rewards and punishments.
“Is there any way to stop it this time?”
This time, she wanted to save them.
It might be meddling,
but those people had been raised, educated, and owned by the Grand Duchess since childhood—
like livestock trained to serve her.
“The only way… is to devour Queens entirely.”
But how?
“There’s only one person I can turn to.”
The chief researcher of Queens,
the man who ran the business in Christina’s stead—
The same man who had once ignored his colleagues being dragged away,
and the man who possessed all of Queens’ research data.
In her second life, that man had come to Elia himself—
bringing all the company’s data with him.
Even then, Elia’s business had triumphed over Queens,
and the Grand Duchess had blamed that man for the company’s downfall.
The enraged Duchess had turned her wrath on all the researchers—
and they were nearly sold off as slaves.
Because her fury had been that immense.
