TWO DAYS after the execution of Mia, the Rozenreff Duchy came back to normal. A day after the execution, the Duke held a grand but quite private dinner for the three of them to celebrate her achievement in the entrance exam although Sabina declined the invitation saying she had a prior party to attend, the Castaña Duchy's banquet.

Tori didn't mind since it was very clear that Sabina would use this opportunity to gather the Duchess into her team. But she still had Rowan at her disposal. Sabina may get the favor of the Duchess, but Tori would get the favor of the Duke once he learned about Rowan's situation under Tori. This was putting aside the fact that Rowan was the only son of a patriarchal family of the Castaña Duchy.

Tori still had three more days before going back to Trifecta Academy. The admittance of every student would start three days from now. After the admittance, the new students would have classes after the Winter Solstice. That was also the time that she would celebrate her birthday.

After the Winter Solstice, she would move to the dorms of the Trifecta Academy. She would have to spend three days in the dorm since there would only be three days of classes in a week and the rest of the day she would spend at the Rozenreff estate. She would take care of her school matters in three days, but now she still got a whole aristocratic faction to impress.

Dress in her coat with no belongings that would identify her that she's the heir apparent of the Rozenreff Duchy, Tori took Rowan with her in the Pivet Alley. Their destination was the Turvy.

Walking with her head covered by the hood, Rowan guided Tori until they were inside the Turvy. Unlike before when they came here, there were no people inside save the one woman at the counter, Lady M.

"You came. Everyone didn't expect you to come, but I know you will, knowing you. Come on, everyone was there waiting for the second prince." Lady M led them to the same room where they talked before.

"Prince Corean is still not here?"

Lady M looked back at her. "Yes, he needs to tie some loose ends first. The king summoned Prince Corean last day."

The information took aback Tori. It has to be about topping the entrance exam. After all, Prince Lauren didn't get to be in the top 3 when he took the test.

The three of them stopped when they reached the door. Behind this door were aristocrats that served the second prince. Lady M finally opened the door and when she stepped inside, all the family heads under the banner of the aristocratic faction were present.

"It's good that you came." A familiar warm voice spoke behind the three of them. She sharply turned and was welcomed by the brilliant amber eyes of the second prince.

"Blessings to the Empire's star, Prince Corean." Tori's voice was buried by the voices of the aristocrats who also paid respect to the arrived prince. She stepped back to make way, but Prince Corean stopped in front of her.

"Shall we, my lady?" Prince Corean held out his hand and offered it for her to take. Tori wanted to decline, but he didn't want things to get worse. She didn't like to make the aristocrats have malicious thoughts about them, she couldn't deny him in front of these people.

You are such a headache, Prince Corean.

Rowan stayed outside the room just like any other knight. Tori got guided by the second prince to an empty seat beside him at the round table. "Thank you, your highness."

I didn't see this round table before.

Lady M also took her seat to begin the meeting. Now that Prince Corean had finally taken his first step towards the crown by taking the entrance exam, it was prime time for the aristocratic faction to step up their game too.

"Before we begin our meeting for today, let me introduce to you the lady who supplied us with the exact location of the Elysian Crown and the one who helped us earn the good side of the king, Lady Victoria Rozenreff." Lady M introduced her to the aristocrats who sat with them at the round table. Just as expected, their eyes looked down upon her.

"Is it true that this young lady, who's yet to come of age, is on our side?" Lord Sozeni, dominated the trading of weaponry in the Eckrett Empire to the neighboring countries. As a sign of goodwill, the king gave him the title of Count. His estate was located near the northern mountains. He's a powerful old man with eyes and ears everywhere.

"Lord Sozeni, I understand your concern, but please know that I am the legitimate daughter of Duke Rozenref. By law, should anything happen to the Duke, I will become the head of my family. The Rozenref Family can push the Castaña Duchy if we see fit."

A mocking laugh answered Tori's confident reply. "If you become the heir. I heard that you have a half-sister, and she's about your age. What more, she was dearly beloved by your daddy dearest."

Lord Wolfgang, he's the empire's lifeline in the field of medicine. He had a hefty number of hospitals around the empire with vast research for medicines which opened a commerce thread between the Empire and the other countries. The king gave him the title of Baron and let him marry a noble lady from House Helisos. His eldest son was the heir apparent to the current head, Count Helisos.

If only I won't use you when the plague comes, I would have bashed your head for laughing at me.

Red eyes sharpened that stopped the mocking laugh midway, "If she'll live that long to take something that is meant to be mine. I told you didn't I, the Rozenreff Duchy is mine to hold and mine to destroy."

"You are openly discussing murder in front of us, how can we trust you?" Lord Tofera looked at Tori with wonder and curiosity.

"You don't. You can be wary of me as much as you want, Lord Tofera. As long as I am of use to this faction's purpose, that's the most important thing. And, you can't rectify me with openly discussing my plot to murder my family when the aristocratic faction itself is affiliated to the Assassination Guild."

Silence engulfed the room until a laugh broke it once and for all. Prince Corean was openly laughing at the smiling Tori. "Now you see why I let her join our cause."

Every member of the aristocratic faction couldn't believe that a sixteen-year-old girl was talking to them like that. They finally understood that she still had a lot of cards left up in her sleeves.

"So, shall we begin?" A smirking Lady M finally started the meeting. "Let's start by destroying Marquess Zoliel."

A wicked smile appeared on Tori's ruby-red lips.

Yes, let's do that.

"THE POWERHOUSE of the noble faction that supported the faction from the outside is the Marquess House of Zoliel. He is loved by the common folks and is well respected by the noble families because of his love for his wife, the Marchioness. Marquess Zoliel holds the Trading Union, which is an assembly of noble and aristocratic proprietors in the Empire. In short, he supports the pocket of the noble faction. If we weaken him, we weaken the noble faction. That would give us the opening to strike the Rozenreff Duchy and Castaña Duchy." Count Helisos explained the main agenda of the meeting. Everyone at the round table was thinking deeply before opening their mouths. Prince Corean was seriously listening to the Count and was also lost in his thoughts. Tori observed them interact with each other

.

Lord Tofera's bald head glistened under the chandelier, "So what do we do? As a merchant myself, he will be difficult to strike down. Especially that the king is backing up the Trading Union."

The Trading Union's goal was to gain a monopoly. This was the reason why most newly established businesses went bankrupt. First, they monopolized the trading places like the capital's square or the seaport cities. Then, they would pull some strings to monopolize suppliers. Everyone knew marquess Zoliel for being a snake in the trading industry. The aristocratic merchant like Lord Tofera would not risk just antagonizing the Marquess alone, hence he supported the aristocratic faction secretly. The only one who could dare publicize his disdain to the Marquess was Count Sozeni, who was very silent the whole time. His sharp eyes were calculating like a military man. He was after all the second biggest arsenal trader in the Empire but still before the Count was still the Marquess. But even with this, the Marquess couldn't touch Count Sozeni since his iron mine was impenetrable, though Count Sozeni disliked the Marquess for conquering a part of his mine with the covert help of the king.

The king may try not to show it too much, but he was supporting the noble faction from the shadows.

"We can target his shipments. I say we sink his ships."

"We will be suspected immediately. That is too risky."

"Then we can stage a natural phenomenon. Let's destroy his part of the iron mine, it wasn't his in the very first place."

Lord Sozeni strongly opposed, "Exactly. It's not Marquess Zoliel's because the mine belongs to me, so if you destroy it then you're destroying my property."

"Enough. Let's hear what our newest member has to say about this." Lady M's voice boomed in the room. All bickering stopped with no second thoughts as all the eyes looked at the young lady sitting beside the smiling prince.

Finally, all those nonsense stopped. To think that I once respected them, but hearing their plans made me think twice about them.

Tori clasped her hands together on the table and looked at each of the members sitting at the round table. "Lords and lady, did you know that fifty percentile of the Trading Union is being managed by the Marchioness?"