Earl’s Mansion, small dining room.
At this moment, Lilian had already returned from her outing and was enjoying dinner together with Eleonora.
Eleonora sat pressed close to Lilian.
She was humming a little tune that sounded somewhat familiar to Lilian.
She looked to be in a very cheerful mood.
It had only been a few days, yet Eleonora was already accustomed to sitting side by side with Lilian at meals.
“Here, Lilian, the mushrooms you like.”
Eleonora speared some mushrooms from her own plate and offered them to Lilian.
Lilian hadn’t expected that just because she’d tasted an extra bite that day, Eleonora would remember it for so long.
A warm feeling rose in her heart.
“Thank you…” Lilian had just started to express her thanks when Eleonora interrupted her.
“Lilian!” Eleonora looked at her very seriously, “Have you already forgotten what we talked about this morning?”
“All right.” Lilian could only answer with a trace of helplessness.
“Hmph~” Eleonora let out a soft hum, then turned her head to continue eating from her own plate.
Lilian felt a bit of a headache.
The atmosphere was just a little too good; she was at a loss for how to bring it up.
Judging from Eleonora’s reaction a few days ago, she was clearly quite resistant to Lilian having any contact with Ophelia.
How was she supposed to ask for leave?
Absent-mindedly, Lilian picked at the food on her plate.
In the end, she let out a sigh.
“Master.”
“Mm?” Eleonora looked at Lilian in confusion, her mouth still holding her fork.
“I’d like to take a day off tomorrow.” Lilian stated it very calmly.
“What? Take a day off?” Eleonora took the fork out of her mouth and frowned at Lilian, “What do you want to do? Tomorrow is the day we’re supposed to study the New Rune.”
Lilian thought it over and decided there was no need to lie to Eleonora.
She was going for legitimate business; there was no need to be secretive.
“I need to meet with Her Highness Ophelia…”
“Thud—”
Eleonora, gripping her fork, slammed her fist onto the table.
“No way!” she said with a firm tone.
Eleonora stared into Lilian’s eyes, as if trying to see what she was thinking.
She definitely could not allow Ophelia and Lilian to keep meeting like this!
Just thinking of Lilian and Ophelia chatting and laughing somewhere out of her sight made Eleonora feel like her heart was being clawed by a cat.
Besides, the more often they met, the more things would happen between them, and their relationship might even grow closer.
In order to protect Lilian, Eleonora couldn’t accept that.
“Master, there’s something I have to discuss with Her Highness Ophelia.”
Lilian planned to persuade with logic.
“What is it?”
Hearing Eleonora’s question, Lilian let out a sigh of relief—at least she was willing to listen to an explanation.
“It’s like this. Today, while I was out…”
Lilian recounted to Eleonora the incident where she’d been attacked earlier that day.
“So, the Starlight Grass was bought up in bulk by the Church, and then the whole city ran out of stock. Something must be going on behind the scenes. As a princess, Ophelia is bound to know some inside information…”
“That has nothing to do with us. Why do you care?” Eleonora refuted Lilian.
“Master, after the banquet, you, me, and Her Highness Ophelia became the center of attention in the entire Imperial Capital.”
“These past few days, I’ve noticed when I went out: what happened at the banquet is almost universally known. There’s definitely someone pulling strings behind the scenes.”
Lilian had sensed something was wrong early on. After all, no matter how fast rumors spread, there was no way they could be everywhere in the capital the very next day, not even twenty-four hours later.
“Someone must be targeting the few of us. So, anything that happens in the capital now, we have to be careful and stay alert for information at all times…”
Eleonora fell silent; she felt like the Lilian from her previous life had returned. With her meager political understanding, she couldn’t argue against Lilian.
Eleonora gritted her teeth, then suddenly thought of a good idea.
“I’ll have someone investigate this, then negotiate with Ophelia. You don’t need to worry about it. That woman Ophelia is very cunning. You can’t trust a single word she says—she’ll just use you!”
In short, she was determined not to let Lilian meet with Ophelia outside of Sundays.
“In fact, there’s another reason I have to see Her Highness Ophelia.” Finding herself blocked, Lilian could only try a different justification.
But she couldn’t let Eleonora know she was trying to make money and resolve the contract issue.
Lilian was growing less and less hopeful of persuading Eleonora to let her go to Rayat Academy before resolving the contract.
It felt like her going to Rayat was possible.
But Eleonora agreeing to her going was rather unlikely.
“What is it?”
At this moment, Eleonora was brimming with confidence—no matter what Lilian said, she could argue back.
Lilian thought over her phrasing.
She sat up straight and looked very seriously at Eleonora.
“Master, I must meet with Her Highness Ophelia in person, so that I can conduct a preliminary feasibility assessment for an Application Pharmaceutics Research Project. This project is devoted to exploring the socioeconomic potential of certain non-magical pharmaceutical formulas in optimizing the cognitive productivity of knowledge-intensive groups—such as students, scholars, and magicians. Given Her Highness’s unique position in the sociopolitical infrastructure, she can provide a preliminary, controllable environment to verify the project’s potential value transformation, so that I can determine whether it is practically feasible to convert my intellectual capital into quantifiable, tradable social assets.”
Simply put, she wanted to sell medicine to make money, but there was no way she could tell Eleonora that.
Eleonora was completely stunned, fork in hand, her mouth slightly open, and those beautiful red eyes filled with pure confusion.
Just like a university student.
“…What?”
Lilian nodded considerately, having already anticipated Eleonora’s reaction. After all, she herself didn’t even know what she’d just said.
Lilian explained, “In simple terms, it’s about converting knowledge into a self-sustaining cycle.”
Eleonora’s mind had gone into total overload.
She could understand every word, but when put together, she didn’t get it at all.
She bit her lower lip, not knowing how to refute Lilian.
Eleonora turned to look at her own plate, repeatedly poking at her food with her fork.
“No, I don’t agree. You’re not taking any leave, and that’s final.”
After she finished, she kept sneaking glances at Lilian from the corner of her eye.
Seeing Lilian looking so downcast, Eleonora was overcome by guilt and subconsciously set her fork on her plate.
Was she being too harsh and unreasonable…?
Lilian’s brain began to overheat, frantically searching her memories for a way to get Eleonora to agree to her request.
A scene from the small training ground flashed through her mind.
Yes, that’s it.
The one time Eleonora had suffered total defeat.
If she used that…
Heh, Eleonora.
Since you won’t be reasonable, don’t blame me for not being reasonable either!
“Master…”
“What are you trying to do…” Eleonora, sensitive as ever, instantly picked up on the odd note in Lilian’s voice. She subconsciously tried to stand up and escape, but there was nowhere to run.
From the moment they started sitting side by side for dinner, this kind of situation was practically inevitable.
Lilian leaned down and gently took Eleonora’s soft, fair hands in hers.
“I hope you can trust me.”
Trust?
She lifted Eleonora’s right hand and pressed it against her own cheek, closing her eyes and rubbing gently.
Eleonora could clearly feel the warmth and softness of Lilian’s cheek.
Then, Lilian opened her eyes, looked at her with unwavering determination, and, in the gentlest of tones, smiled as she spoke:
“Everything I do is for the sake of protecting you, Master.”