“My family, Sotia, have been advisors to the imperial family for generations, and we know how to forge and use tools, which is why I can wield this ancient artifact.”

“But Grace, you don’t forge tools, do you?”

“My family’s powers were extinguished after my grandfather’s death. Even Sienna was born with little ability…….”

Grace reached out and grasped the Sotia family ring. She touched it affectionately.

“Now that I think about it, I was a bad person. I gave Sienna the family ring too soon. I was like Raul when I was younger. I had a sense of honor, if you want to call it that. I thought the only thing that mattered was keeping the family name alive and regaining power in my generation. I loved Sienna dearly, but I emphasized duty. She must have been under a lot of pressure.”

Nicole once saw Grace sitting drinking one night, staring at something for a long time.

She didn’t realize it at the time, but what she was looking at was the family ring. Nicole had a hunch.

Grace muttered the same thing then as she does now.

<Maybe it’s all me> she muttered.

Nicole didn’t want to see Grace in pain.

So she simply squeezed Grace’s hand, and then changed her tone.

“Come to think of it, the seven great noble families have almost all lost their titles, so we’re in a similar situation.”

“Yes. YvesChapel is one of them, and House Rodrias has been wiped out.”

“I’ve heard of the Rodrias. Apparently…… an accident killed everyone in the family, so they were abandoned and most of their wealth was returned to the Imperial family. Do you know…….”

“Yes. The Rodrias were very powerful. The Rodrias were small, but they could control the weather. I told you. They are very jealous. When the Rodrias fell apart, there were rumors among the informants that the Imperial Family was behind it.”

“Well, if you think about it, you shouldn’t feel so lonely. Yves Chapel isn’t the only one whose family was destroyed, and compared to both of them, Grace became the Countess Sotia, so I’m so jealous of you. You’ve got a nice mansion, you’re a retired civil servant, you have the most powerful man in the country in your pocket, and Raul wouldn’t dare go against you.”

Grace was stunned, and then realized that Nicole was teasing her.

“Oh, you’ve run out of things to say. Have you always been like this?”

Nicole realized that Grace’s look of bewilderment was much better than her look of sadness. Nicole gave a small laugh.

“Since you said you’d give me anything, I’ll take Grace’s family ring for a while. How about you give me this?”

“You’re going to leave all these valuable pieces of jewelry for that ugly, cast-iron ring? Why don’t you just pull up the roots of the pillars of my family’s mansion?”

“Well, it’s pretty for a man’s ring, so I’ll take it with me, since it’s heavy.”

Grace ended up laughing.

“I lost, do what you want. I’ve raised quite a bully.”

“Isn’t that what you said about Grand Duke Valentine? Now I see you’re a tamer, Grace, and you’ve turned both your fake and real pupils into troublemakers.”

Grace shook her head in disbelief.

“I wouldn’t be able to wear my family ring anywhere, so even if I did, it’s useless, and besides, it’s broken.”

“What do you mean it’s broken?”

Nicole knew the ring had a hidden function. It had the ability to store documents.

She wondered if Grace’s ring had the same features. Just then, Grace spoke up.

“This ring was given to each of the seven great families of the Empire. Some say it was given to each of the seven families, including the Imperial Family, during the Great War. They’re called magic tools, but ours is broken and doesn’t do anything, and hasn’t done since my grandfather.”

Nicole was a little disappointed, but she wasn’t really coveting another family’s ring.

She just needed an excuse to make Grace smile for a moment.

‘It’s true that I joined the Sith to protect my family and survive, but Grace, who called me her disciple and took me under her wing, I’ll carry her honor with me so I don’t become a noob to such a person.’

Nicole thought to herself.

***

In the end, Grace gave Nicole not only the family ring, but also a necklace and hairpin made of rubies.

‘Take care of them and give them back.’

And tomorrow morning, Nicole will finally be working as an agent for Raul. Perhaps that’s why she couldn’t sleep easily.

Nicole slipped the Sotia family ring on her finger and stared at it for a long time, remembering the death of Raul she had watched in her last life.

‘No matter how many times I think about it, I can’t figure out why you died for me.’

When Nicole first became a grand duchess, people gave her a lot of training. Some were about aristocratic manners, including etiquette.

‘I barely remember the first year of my marriage, and for good reason. I had a psychotic break after Jay’s death, and my memories before that are hazy.’

But the memories of being educated about Raul and the Valentines are strangely vivid.

From Raul’s dislikes to his favorite foods, to his pet peeves and misfortunes. Things that are taboo…….

In the eyes of the servants, Raul was a god, and they feared that the lesser Grand Duchess would turn mar him. No wonder they gave her a thorough education.

‘But…… I didn’t learn anything important.’

The things Nicole wanted to know most in this life.

What he’s thinking behind that inscrutable face? Why he lives for the honor of his family………….

‘I don’t know why I do this. I keep losing my cool when I think about him.’

It was getting worse by the day, especially after her last lewd dream.

Finally, Nicole sighed, stood up, opened a drawer, and pulled out the calculator she always used to calm her nerves.

Tick. Tick, tick, tick.

Out of habit, Nicole pressed it.

<Emotions are foolish, pain and suffering can be forgotten when the mind is in control. Don’t rejoice too much, don’t mourn too much. Emotions prevent you from making important decisions and cause things to go wrong. Many people have fallen to the emotions of the moment. You have to be calm.>

When Nicole was younger, her mother wouldn’t let her cry or be overjoyed.

She’d make her press the countdown until she calmed down, and her mind would slowly calm down.

This didn’t mean that Nicole had to be a sterile person. It was the full YvesChapel method: first calm her emotions, then teach her kindness and gentleness.

But Nicole got a half-assed education and grew up to be an insensitive adult who didn’t even know what her own feelings were.

But for a moment, she was different. The day she smashed this counter with her hand.

‘It was because of Raul.’

In her past life, Nicole was taken by force by Raul. Only later was she able to beg the Grand Duke’s people to allow her to take some of her belongings from the cabin.

They carefully inspected her belongings and returned only a few items they deemed unimportant.

One of them was a counting machine. From then on, whenever Nicole felt the slightest bit anxious, she would hide in her room and nervously dial the number.

She managed to keep her emotions under control for about a year after she got married…….

Afterward, she learned that her younger brother had died. When she confronted Raul about it, Nicole exploded.

<You’re a murderer, you’re the devil!>

In a fit of rage, Nicole picked up the calculator, threw it, and smashed it. Raoul stared at it in disbelief. But only for a moment.

‘What did he say then?’

At the time, she thought he hated that she was threatening him. Now…… she couldn’t even remember what he said.

Anyway, there was something she realized then. Nicole was not a calm, unemotional person. She just suppressed her emotions.

And Nicole would later channel all her emotions into hating Raul.

‘I was so sad and hateful at the time.’

But in the end, it wasn’t Raul who indirectly killed her brother. It was Celia, the youngest princess of the imperial family. Nicole resented herself for it.

‘I should have tried to get to know the real him. Or at least not just hate …….’

In retrospect, she realized that Raul wasn’t all that evil.

The inheritance of the YvesChapel family was not only a fortune frozen by the imperial family; it was a vast knowledge of pharmacy.

But he never used that knowledge…….

‘I never gave it much thought either. I hated him blindly, almost like a madman.’

Now that I think about it, it’s quite questionable.

‘Why did I do that? And why is my memory so incomplete?’

Nicole tossed and turned for a while before finally falling asleep.