Enya handed Lucia over to Wendy, letting Wendy teach her some skills.
As for whether Lucia could learn, that was no longer Enya’s concern; the opportunity had been given, and the rest was up to her.
Enya finished these tasks and, as usual, arrived at the Lily of the Valley Chamber of Commerce office building.
Although things weren’t quite as she had initially imagined, since she had started, she intended to see it through properly.
Shortly after arriving at the office, Katherine, the head maid and secretary, gave her a brief report.
The issues at the factory had been resolved by Wilder, who stepped in successfully.
Coming from a lower-class background, he could connect better with the rioting workers, which allowed him to resolve the conflict in a short time.
The so-called conflict was ultimately instigated by someone deliberately stirring up trouble, so resolving it wasn’t difficult.
In fact, Wilder went a step further and used this incident to break up some small cliques.
Enya listened to this part of the report and nodded calmly without making any comment on Wilder’s abilities.
Katherine paused briefly, then immediately moved on to the next topic. Rumors about Enya had been increasing over the past few days, and some people within the chamber of commerce had secretly contacted members of other factions, seemingly plotting something.
Katherine placed a list on the table. Enya glanced at it but remained uninterested.
This list contained the names of everyone who might betray the Lily of the Valley Chamber of Commerce at a critical moment.
At this point, it would be wise to purge them—either kick them out directly or offer more benefits to secure their loyalty.
But Enya had no intention of doing that.
She looked at the maturely beautiful head maid across the table and said with a light smile, “Would losing these people be beneficial or harmful to us?”
“……”
Katherine lowered her head slightly, avoiding her gaze.
Enya gave her a sharp look, sighed, and added, “Tell me what you think.”
“To the Lily of the Valley Chamber of Commerce, it’s detrimental because they would take some of our production resources.”
Katherine clasped her hands in front of her stomach, eyes slightly lowered, her expression respectful and meticulous, embodying the utmost grace and elegance.
Lucia would be utterly outclassed in her presence.
Enya rested her left elbow on the armrest of the chair, propped her head with her palm, and yawned as if bored.
“Mm, you’re right.”
“……”
Katherine lowered her head even more.
Enya said in a soft, lingering tone, “Where’s that spirit from the night you kissed my foot to pledge your loyalty, Katherine? Has someone warned you off?”
“No one has threatened me, Lady.”
Katherine replied calmly.
Enya couldn’t be bothered to press further.
She covered her mouth with her hand and yawned again. “If there’s nothing else, you may go.”
“Yes, Lady.”
Katherine lifted her skirt in a curtsy and withdrew from the room.
But she hadn’t gone far when she encountered a woman hurrying over.
The woman, upon seeing Katherine, spoke to her with great deference.
“Secretary Katherine, Representative Ivan wishes to see the Great President.”
“I understand.”
Katherine frowned slightly.
The woman clearly felt the air grow heavy and became even more nervous than before.
She lowered her head, not daring to breathe too loudly.
Katherine thought for a moment, then sent the woman back.
She turned and walked back to the entrance of the President’s office.
Raising her hand, she knocked and, after a moment, received permission to enter.
She pushed open the door and walked to the desk.
“Lady, Representative Ivan from the Star Sea Chamber of Commerce wishes to see you.”
“He’s not qualified. Tell him to get lost.”
Enya said flatly.
Katherine wasn’t surprised by this.
She acknowledged with a “Yes,” then left the room once more and headed downstairs.
Clang!
The sound of blades clashing rang out.
The longsword spun in the air, fell, and embedded itself into the ground.
The silver blade reflected two beautiful figures a few meters away.
Lucia was kneeling on the ground, looking down at her hands.
She had changed out of her usual maid outfit into finely crafted leather armor and a set of gray-white trousers and top.
Her black hair, damp with sweat, clung to her fair, delicate face.
Her thin lips were slightly parted as she exhaled warm breath—she looked utterly exhausted.
Not far away, Wendy, still in her usual maid outfit, was freely showing off her light green hair in the estate. Wendy held a longsword in her hand.
Clearly, she had been sparring with Lucia, and the result was obvious—Lucia, who lacked foundation, had been easily defeated.
As a member of the Forest Elf patrol team responsible for guarding the border, Wendy might not be a master of both scholarship and martial arts, but she could at least heal, attack from a distance, and handle both magic and swordsmanship.
Though she wasn’t especially skilled in any one area, dealing with a novice like Lucia was easy.
Wendy saw Lucia sitting on the ground, her hands trembling nonstop.
She felt a pang of guilt, thinking she might have been too harsh.
“Lucia, are you all right?”
“I’m fine. I told you to go all out, Wendy. You did great.”
Lucia looked up at Wendy, who had approached, wiped the sweat from her cheek with the back of her hand, and forced a smile. “Let’s continue.”
As she spoke, she pushed herself up from the ground with her hands.
But just as she got up and tried to straighten her back, Lucia suddenly lost consciousness and her body went limp.
Fortunately, Wendy caught her in time and used a healing art to treat her a bit, allowing Lucia to finally recover.
Wendy looked at Lucia, who kept her head down, then raised her hand and patted her on the shoulder, putting on a bright smile.
“The mistress said not to push yourself too hard. You just drank the potion today. Your body and bloodline are merging well, but your soul hasn’t fully controlled that bloodline yet.”
Normally, the soul doesn’t need to control the bloodline within the body, but Lucia’s case was special.
Her bloodline was granted by Enya—a bloodline power without its own will.
Almost all bloodlines in this world conceal a trace of the original owner’s will.
Inside a body, it’s merely a cooperative relationship.
Using bloodline power is just sending a call and waiting for a response.
But the bloodline in Lucia’s body, with its will erased, was like having no operating system.
The bloodline couldn’t function on its own anymore.
In this situation, she had to control it herself.
This was very difficult—almost entirely reliant on her slowly comprehending it on her own.
But if she succeeded, her future achievements would be no less than Wendy’s current level, and perhaps not even inferior to Wendy’s future potential.
Lucia wiped the sweat from her forehead, looked up, and stared into Wendy’s eyes.
If even after drinking the potion she still didn’t make significant progress, she might be stuck in this place forever.
Lucia had a feeling that Enya wouldn’t be staying here for long.
If she couldn’t perform well enough to satisfy Enya during this time, she would be abandoned.
“Phew…”
She let out a long breath, turned, and walked over to the sword.
Reaching out with a hand that trembled from overexertion, she grasped the hilt of the longsword, pulled it from the ground, and then turned to face Wendy.
Lucia narrowed her eyes and raised her head as she spoke.
“Wendy, sometimes I really dislike you. Do you know why?”
“Why?”
Wendy asked curiously.
Lucia bit her lip, then smiled. “Because you’re a beautiful elf, and I’m just a human.”
“Huh?”
“That’s all.”
“……”
Wendy didn’t quite understand why the other girl would dislike her for being an elf, especially since they had gotten along well before.
Seeing Lucia take a stance, Wendy stopped thinking about those irrelevant issues and focused on completing the task Enya had given her.
Enya had said that if Wendy taught Lucia well, her salary would increase by one gold coin.
So Wendy was still very motivated.
The two maids resumed their swordsmanship lesson.
Around the open area, some young maids were secretly watching and gossiping about the two.
Although they all supported Lucia—since she was familiar and clearly the underdog—they also liked Wendy.
Why? Because Wendy was a beautiful elf.
As dusk fell, Enya returned to the estate, checked on Wendy’s work, gave a passing evaluation, and handed a book to Lucia.
It was the Book of Memories of a Dark Hall assassin.
Enya had edited some parts and compiled it into a Bloodline Manual. Lucia was so excited that she nearly knelt down to kowtow to Enya.
Afterward, Enya sent both maids to rest.
At night, Enya sat alone in front of her dressing table.
She hadn’t changed into her nightgown.
Instead, she wore a form-fitting black mermaid dress.
The soft star gauze fabric clung closely to her body curves.
It was custom-made, with a small window at the chest covered by black embroidered lace, but the soft white skin beneath was still visible.
At this moment, Enya was in her true form, not using “Thousand Faces” to become human. A pair of wings emerged from a diamond-shaped opening on her back.
Behind her, a slightly thick dragon tail swayed back and forth, indicating that its owner’s mind was very active.
Her silver-white hair was loose on her shoulders but well-combed.
She wore no makeup—just her natural features.
However, she had shimmering, iridescent tiny scales as decorations, making her look as if she were wearing makeup.
Paired with her noble golden-red dragon eyes, a cold and proud aura instantly emerged.
But Enya couldn’t keep a straight face looking at herself.
She covered her mouth and laughed, ruining the image of the aloof silver-haired dragon princess, while a hint of nervousness appeared in her eyes.
“Ah, do I really have to do this?”
Enya asked herself.
After looking at herself in the mirror for a long time, she made a final decision and took out the mirror that Antiros had given her.
In the blink of an eye, Enya found herself in a corridor—the same corridor from the Mirror Meeting last time.
The door at the end of the path was identical, without any difference.
Enya raised her hand, and a white wooden door appeared before her. She grasped the handle, pushed it open, and walked inside in her high heels.
Inside the door was a balcony under a starry sky—another scene familiar to Enya. Only someone she knew well could have built this scene.
A table and two chairs.
On the table were a teapot and teacups.
On one of the chairs, a pink-haired woman had been waiting for a long time.
She slowly turned her head to look at Enya, who had entered through the door.
Vivienne’s pink eyes appraised Enya for a long time.
“……”
“……”
Then, both of them fell silent.