The ladies pushed down the row of square tiles in front of them, turning each one face down.
Then, four pairs of hands began to shuffle them together.
Amidst the clattering sounds, the next round of the game began.
These ladies were all of noble birth and the matriarchs of their respective households.
They were far from mindless; they knew how to carry a conversation without prying too deeply into uncomfortable truths.
By unspoken agreement, they chose to gloss over the previous topic.
Once the tiles were shuffled and stacked, they continued to chat while playing.
“What do you think that girl, Henna, is playing at? Why would she allow those foul-smelling commoners into a place like a school? They should stay in their own filthy homes, and their children should do the same!”
Mrs. Pulan looked displeased.
It was clear she was deeply opposed to the initiative of integrating the schools into a single Crimson Academy for both nobles and commoners.
She belonged to the Conservative faction of the nobility.
Even though several Viscounts had been caught in a rebellion recently, the purge had not reached the middle-tier nobility.
They remained a vital component of Red Pine City and were not a group that could be easily slaughtered or discarded.
This noblewoman had also inherited the ideology of noble supremacy. As a Baroness, she believed she and her children were far more exalted than those…
Pariahs!
If she were not concerned with her own image, Mrs. Pulan would have surely referred to those commoners and their children as “untouchables.”
At that moment, Mrs. Nora chimed in.
“Indeed. She became the Lord at only 15 years old. What could she possibly understand? At the end of the day, she is just a puppet meant to draw fire.”
She was a lady from a rising noble family who had married into an old noble family.
Her background was slightly different from Mrs. Pulan’s, leading to a subtle distinction in her thinking, though the difference was not particularly vast.
Mrs. Nora did not possess such a heavy sense of noble pride, but she thoroughly enjoyed the superiority of being a noble.
She frequently ordered her servants and maids around, finding joy in seeing their fearful expressions as they tried to please her.
That was why she spoke up in agreement.
Hearing her friend support her, Mrs. Pulan’s elegant eyebrows arched as she looked toward the slender, beautiful woman beside her and asked, “Mrs. Harry, what do you think? Don’t you feel that letting those commoners into the school pollutes the very air of the Crimson Academy?”
“Me? Mrs. Pulan is quite right…”
Mrs. Harry was from a completely new noble family.
When facing Mrs. Nora and Mrs. Pulan, she displayed the humble timidness of a subordinate.
She smiled pleasingly, choosing to agree with the two under their watchful gazes, though she refrained from being too extreme in her words.
Having received her answer, Mrs. Pulan laughed happily and slammed a tile onto the table.
*Clack!*
A flash of cunning crossed Mrs. Nora’s face.
She turned toward Phil, who had yet to give an answer, and leaned in closer.
“Madam Phil, what is your view on this?”
“Oh, Madam Phil is a celebrity. She is different from those lowly commoners. I heard the line of people waiting to see her could stretch from the south gate of the city all the way to the north gate.”
Mrs. Pulan raised an eyebrow, teasing Phil with a smile.
There was a hint of resentment in her voice.
The reason was simple… her husband also wanted to see Phil.
Fortunately, Phil did not see outsiders and accepted no invitations, except for playing tiles with them.
Phil was looking at her own hand, holding a rectangular tile and slowly flipping it between her fingertips. After a moment of thought, she played it.
“My view? I just watch with my eyes.”
These three ladies essentially represented the three types of noble factions in the city.
They were able to come together largely because of Henna, the former Lord, who provided them with a common target for their criticism.
As for Phil—she was a god!
Well, a god of sorts to the people of this land. Did they really want to hear what their god thought about their petty squabbles?
Her thought was—’Alas—humans, alas—’
The smile on Mrs. Pulan’s face dimmed.
Facing Phil’s indifferent attitude, she felt a sense of discomfort, as if she were being treated like an ant.
However, she did not dare fall out with Phil.
After all, she still needed Phil’s help. Her happiness depended entirely on her.
At the thought of that matter, a blush crept onto Mrs. Pulan’s face.
She chuckled quietly and let the subject drop.
Mrs. Nora, who enjoyed a good spectacle, shifted the topic and asked Phil, “Madam Phil, have you gone to see the former Lord?”
“No. She refuses to see me.” Phil shook her head.
She had certainly seen her, but what she saw was the Henna who called herself Lilith.
Not only had she visited as Ms. Moth, but she had also visited Henna in her current form as “Phil.”
“She refuses to see you? Perhaps her injuries are quite severe. They say the fight was intense, spanning from inside the city all the way to the outskirts.”
Mrs. Nora curled her lip. Violence was so inelegant and did not suit the noble status of an aristocrat.
And so, while playing tiles and engaging in subtle power plays, the ladies enjoyed themselves. In the blink of an eye, time slipped away.
Phil glanced out the floor-to-ceiling window and suddenly realized the sun was about to set. She stopped her hands as she was shuffling the tiles.
“I can’t stay. I have to go back.”
“Eh? Not one more round?”
Mrs. Pulan frowned and reached out to grab Phil’s hand, trying to keep her for one more circuit. As long as they played quickly, a round would not take long. Phil stood up and declined.
“Mrs. Pulan, I have to return to refine a potion. I’ll come back tomorrow.”
“Is that so? Then hurry along!”
Upon hearing that Phil was going to refine a potion, the three noblewomen immediately withdrew their hands from the table. Potions were a serious matter; how could they delay Madam Phil’s work?
Phil smoothed out the skirt she had been sitting in for so long, waved to her three playmates, and walked straight out of the room.
The moment she left, the atmosphere among the remaining three noblewomen turned significantly colder. All of them had favors to ask of Phil.
Mrs. Harry’s health was poor.
Mrs. Pulan’s husband was underperforming.
Mrs. Nora envied Phil’s smooth, delicate skin and had spent a fortune buying skincare and beauty potions from her.
Phil was making a massive profit.
After Enya handed over the management of all the storefronts at the North Gate of Red Pine City to Anna, Phil had requested one.
She created a shop of her own called “Madam Phil’s Alchemy Workshop.” It specialized in custom-ordered potions.
Then, Phil encountered these wealthy ladies, each with their own problems.
Earning money from them was countless times easier than dealing with those stingy adventurers.
High pay and low stress—who wouldn’t do it?
Consequently, only three days after opening, Phil was already avoiding the shop, preferring to drink tea, chat, and play tiles to cultivate her mind.
It was worth noting that the demand for potions had recently skyrocketed, especially for auxiliary potions used to advance from the Fourth Rank to the Fifth-Tier.
According to the latest news from the Zephyr Empire, Princess Vivienne had stepped into the Legendary realm, the Ninth Rank! She had relied on the Potion Cultivation Method.
The Potion Cultivation Method had replaced traditional bloodline cultivation methods, using potions as a supplement to allow people to enter high ranks more easily.
Furthermore, rumors suggested that the legendary dragon slayer, the illegitimate daughter of the Frontier Duke, Enya Frennard, had also used this method to reach the Ninth Rank as a Mortalblood.
She had become the world’s first Ordinary-blood Sword Saint.
The spread of this news made Alchemy and potions the most popular topics of conversation.
Later, the priest Milly, who had gone to the Imperial Church, had been stuck at the Fourth Rank for years.
After receiving help from Madam Phil’s potions, she successfully entered the Fifth-Tier.
The word of this spread like wildfire, creating a massive sensation.
Due to these various factors aligning, Madam Phil’s reputation grew louder and louder. Coupled with the grand opening sale at Phil’s shop, the place was packed from day one.
When Anna saw the spectacle on the opening day, she couldn’t close her mouth. Was this deliberate marketing or a lucky coincidence?
Phil was also bewildered by the dozens of orders.
‘A coincidence. It’s definitely a coincidence!’
There was no marketing involved; it was entirely a natural result of the current trends!
Initially, Phil was quite energetic, but there were simply too many orders.
She couldn’t keep up alone, so she eventually decided to take it easy.
On the third day after opening, Madam Phil’s Alchemy Workshop implemented a lottery system.
Even if you were rich, you couldn’t skip the line. Everyone had to wait their turn.
Phil was ceremoniously escorted to the front gate of Mrs. Pulan’s house.
A carriage was offered to take her home, but she refused.
She strolled down the street.
As she passed, some people who recognized her would stop and proactively greet her. Phil responded to each with a smile and a nod.
Upon returning home, she went to her bedroom and sat before the mirror, staring blankly at the beautiful silver-haired woman reflected in it.
“Madam Phil, Mrs. Phil, Phil, Phil, Phil… That’s what they all call me. Oh, and some call me Ms. Moth.”
Phil let out a soft chuckle.
As the smile faded, she looked closely at herself in the glass.
She was still dressed in a white top and a long black skirt.
Her silver hair fell over her shoulders, and her pale blue eyes were as bright and soft as clear water.
The aura she projected was one of gentleness. Phil didn’t make people feel pressure; instead, she made them feel a sense of fragrance and tranquility from the bottom of their souls.
It made people admire and love her, even craving a sense of motherly affection.
‘It’s strange… truly strange…’
“I am clearly the incarnation of a dream, so why do mortals crave motherly love from me? Do I have the constitution of a natural-born mother?” Phil grumbled helplessly.
During the days Enya was away, she tried traveling through various dreams. In people’s subconscious, she left the image of “Ms. Moth” and used suggestions to make them recite her name.
Phil discovered she could hear their voices and even extend her power to them. It was practically indistinguishable from being a god!
As she experimented more, Phil found herself becoming increasingly real.
‘Who am I?’
‘I am Phil, Enya’s avatar, an illusion born from a lie—a fictional character who shouldn’t exist.’
‘But is that true? I am also Enya, and Enya is also me…’
‘If a lie is told enough, does it become the truth?’
Phil clutched her head. She was very confused.
She shared the same memories and even the same life experiences as Enya.
Yet she had to take the name Phil and become an avatar of her other self. Why?
There was no reason…
‘If I become real, what is the purpose of my existence?’
Phil felt as if she were falling into a void. she felt an indescribable pain and oppression, and her breathing gradually became rapid.
She was unable to break free from the chaotic thoughts.
She was being dragged into an unknown abyss by the sudden ideas popping into her head.
Even though Phil realized this was some kind of pollution, she was powerless to resist.
Suddenly, a young girl’s shout came from outside the house.
“Mom, I’m back!”
Phil felt as if she had suddenly transitioned from a state of drowning back to dry land. She gasped for air, her forehead drenched in sweat.
Now, her beautiful eyes were filled with gravity.
“What was that? It was pollution specifically targeting me!”
Enya’s departure had taken away the soul firewall known as “Survival’s Conception.” Because of this, Phil was experiencing mental issues.
Phil clutched her chest. After her breathing steadied, she realized the pollution was not external.
Rather, as she became more real, this mysterious pollution had begun to take root and sprout.
In other words, this virus had existed since the moment Enya separated from her!