While being pulled along by Clara to the headmaster's office, Rina was confused by her mistress's actions. So, instead of trying to come to a conclusion herself, she just decided to ask, “Is something wrong?”

As far as she could tell, she had just finished packing their things in their bags when it seemed that the Brefton family's heir had sent his butler to talk to them, maybe to form a connection with the Dragonherz viscountcy. But before it could even come to that Clara, had grabbed her hand and they hurried out of the classroom. It was no wonder that Rina was slightly confused by the this development.

But instead of answering the question, Clara just stopped, turned around, and grabbed Rina by the shoulders. Then, looking deep into her eyes, she said, “You have to stay by my side during our entire stay here, okay?”

This, naturally, increased Rina's confusion even more. However, she was not one to refuse an order or wish from her mistress, which was why she readily nodded her head. Besides, it was her plan and duty to stay by Clara's side all the time anyway, so it wasn't like this order had changed anything.

Seeing her maid obediently nod at her command, Clara smiled in satisfaction and let go of Rina's small shoulders. Afterwards, they continued heading to the headmaster's office, where the Duke was waiting. This time, however, Clara didn't pull Rina along anymore but walked in their usual formation with Clara in front and Rina half a step diagonally behind her.

A few minutes later, as the school building was unnecessarily large and pompous, they finally arrived at their destination. When then Rina knocked on the ornamented, huge door, an “Enter” echoed from the other side, which prompted her to open it and step aside so that Clara could go in first.

Inside, Clara took a seat in the chair across Duke Thalas' desk, whereas Rina stayed close to the exit, trying to blend into the background, as servants were usually expected to do. This time, however, everyone present, meaning the Duke, Clara, and she herself, knew that it wouldn't be needed. It was obvious that the Duke hadn't called them here to scold them for what had happened in the auditorium earlier. Well, maybe for that too, but it was certainly not the main reason.

So, with that in mind, Clara opened the conversation with a haughty and antagonistic voice that Rina seldom heard from her mistress, “Is your job as this country's Prime Minister so boring that you even have the time to act as the Royal Knight Academy's headmaster, Duke Lumiére?”

Usually, Clara's words would have been considered rude and would have ended with her being punished for not being able to uphold the manners required when speaking to authoritarian figures and higher-ups. But thanks to Rina's contract with the Duke years ago, the Dragonherz family was a close ally of the Lumiére duchy. The result was that there had already been several meetings between the Dragonherz and Lumiére representatives. This naturally meant that Clara and Duke Thalas had also had the pleasure to talk to each other in private a few times already. And each time, Clara had made sure to express her displeasure that he would include her maid in his team to kill the Demon Lord. After all, Clara doubted that the Duke's plans would work in the first place.

So, used to the blonde young lady being rude to him, he just shrugged it off. Instead, he looked at Clara, making her flinch slightly just from the pressure he was exerting, and said, “I've not called you here to make small-talk. I don't have time for that, and I'm sure you'd rather avoid this too, so I'll get straight to the point. I want your maid to do something for me.”

Even though Clara already suspected as much, she still couldn't hide her frown and said, “Just because you made a so-called deal doesn't mean I have to accept everything. She is still my personal attendant.”

“You have no say in that matter, so I don't care what you accept and not... However, it's not like I want her to do anything complicated yet.” Having said that, he turned his eyes towards the person in question, who was standing in the background, and said, “I want you to skip all the practical combat lessons for now, at least until I say otherwise.”

Rina, who had only listened to the conversation so far, stepped forward, albeit a bit confused. After all, the Duke's invisible spy had relayed his orders to learn and get stronger at the academy just weeks ago. Now, he suddenly wanted her to sit those lessons out? Not understanding his intentions, she just asked, “Why? Didn't you become the headmaster to change the curriculum to more combat focused one?”

“Yes, that's exactly why I have you sit out for now... I usually don't explain my thought process to everyone, but since I'm quite satisfied with your progress so far, I'll make an exception. It seems that your combat abilities are already far superior to those of the average knight. Is it because of your affinity to the Dark element? Well, it doesn't matter. But because of that, you seem to be much stronger than everyone else here. If you crush everyone in a fight, they'll just lose their motivation to grow, which would be counter-productive. So I want you to hide your strength, at least for now, until the other students here become stronger.”

Hearing this, Rina was slightly confused again, for in her mind she was nothing special except for her Dark element. While it was true that she had defeated Arland, her sword-fighting teacher, for quite some time already during training matches, she was sure that he was holding back. After all, there was no way she could beat a grown man, who was even a trained knight, in a serious duel. At least not if she didn't use her magic. But because this topic only concerned her own self and body, she decided to not dwell on her confusion any further and not question the Duke's words. For her, there were more important matters than the condition of her own body or powers.

Meanwhile, Clara was inwardly cursing. She knew that Rina had grown considerably over the past years, as she had heard reports of her maid crushing Arland in training matches, although he had fought with all his might. However, that information seemed to have reached the Duke.

It didn't take long for her to deduce that it was Arland, her father's personal attendant and Guard Capitan of the Dragonherz residency, who had leaked the information to the Duke once again. Even though she already knew that this was going to happen, she still couldn't help but feel frustrated, which caused her to mutter subconsciously, “I have to find a way to get rid of Arland.”

The Duke sitting not far away from her naturally heard this. For some reason, the young lady of the Dragonherz family knew that Arland was one of his minions. This only meant that the red-haired maid was the one who had reported this to Clara. Not amused by this, he glared at Rina, as he had ordered her not to reveal that information.

Unfortunately for him, his glare, which usually worked on even seasoned nobles and politicians, didn't seem to have any effect on her at all, as she just stared back at him with a blank expression on her face. Somewhat amazed by this, he decided not to pursue this matter any further. After all, he had already heard from his mole that Rina had some screws loose, so it wasn't really surprising that she was different from other easily intimidated people.

Additionally, the mistress-servant pair in front of him had a more intimate relationship with each other than most, so he could have predicted that they would share secrets. However, while he could live with the fact that Arland was found out by the Dragonherz's young lady, the mole with the special ability to become invisible had to be a secret at all costs.

In order to ensure that, he glared at Rina once again and said in a cryptic way, so that she could understand his intentions, while the blonde lady couldn't, “I'll overlook you breaking my order this time, but not a word about the other matter, or there will be consequences.”

However, this was a big mistake on his part, as he had clearly underestimated Clara's wariness of him.

It didn't take long for Clara to correctly guess the meaning of his words, especially since she had already been exposed to the nobles' schemes and trickery for almost three years. Of course, she was not amused by what she had concluded from the Duke's words, which was why she furrowed her brows and confronted him, “Duke Thalas. Have you planted another spy in my household?”

Not expecting this at all, the Duke was so shocked that he inadvertently let his poker face slip for a split second. This was something that hadn't happened to him for quite a while now, as he was usually the one who was pressuring and intimidating others. Luckily, as already mentioned, he regained his composure almost instantly after so that both Rina and Clara didn't realise due to their inexperience that he was inwardly shaken. After all, in a world full of plots and intrigues, showing weakness was a safe way to be devoured by others. Hiding one's own emotions, even from allies, was paramount to survival.

Thinking about this more deeply, Thalas could feel sweat forming on his back. To make matters worse, it wasn't as if the young Dragonherz had done anything special. She had simply correctly guessed that he had another spy and had glared at him, so why was he so shaken?

Not understanding what had happened, he glared at Rina, the seemingly weaker one of the two for the third time already, as if to vent his frustration, and grunted, “You reported his existence!?”

Ever since Rina returned from her trip to Mousa a few weeks ago, she noticed that her mind had been calmer for some reason. No, that wasn't quite it. It was as if she truly stopped caring about what happened to her and her body.

Was it because she had lost her sense of pain?

Either way, it didn't matter to her.

What did matter, however, was that her newfound calmness, or whatever it's called, allowed her to take a step back, removing herself from the calculation, and to see the world around her more clearly.

Thanks to this, she was able to analyse her surroundings more precisely and therefore truly protect her loved ones from harm.

And thanks to this, for the first time in both her lives, she was able to smile wholeheartedly in the face of intimidation and answer serenely,

“You've just admitted it yourself.”