Noble Lady Reformation Guide - Chapter 142: How the Sun Rises (2)

A long darkness had fallen over the Duplain family.

It was a succession of nights that seemed to have no end.

Leigh, the next heir of the crumbling family, was sitting in the dark family office, letting out a deep sigh from time to time.

The night was long.

When would sunlight reach this corner so dark?

It was an uncertain time.

*

“A new 4-star mage has emerged.”

“Is it the eldest son of the Grodel family in the south? From what I heard, his progress was rather slow.”

“No, he is from the Ravenclaw barony, in the southwest of the continent.”

The royal magic adviser, Kohella, who had been flipping through the books left behind by the great mage Adelbert, set the book aside for a moment and frowned.

The personal research chamber of the chief magic adviser of the Imperial Palace of Gremfort, known as the heart of the continent.

When one of her most loyal subordinates, Roen, reported that, the wrinkled corners of Kohella’s lips drooped.

“It’s a surname unfamiliar to me.”

“He is someone who recently received a title from Lord Melverot himself. He is a lord who governed the region of Rodellen in the southwest of the continent, and I understand he celebrated his coming-of-age ceremony not too long ago.”

“…Dereck Lydorf Ravenclaw?”

“Yes, you remember correctly.”

Kohella, well-versed in the noble affairs of the continent, remembered the name of the one who recently received a title.

She did not remember every person with weak power, but she remembered Dereck’s name because he was under the protection of Lord Melverot, a 6-star combat mage.

The ruler of the north, who rarely stepped in to protect anyone, had actively granted him a title, so his name stuck with her.

From what she knew, Dereck was the magic instructor of Melverot’s most beloved daughter, Siern, so she had not paid much attention to him.

It was common for renowned nobles to secure useful magic instructors by offering all kinds of incentives.

However, it was a bit surprising that even Melverot, known as a lone wolf, would go so far to support the magic instructor in charge of his daughter’s education.

“Hmm…”

Kohella thought for a moment, resting her chin on her hand. She felt she had heard his name in one more context.

With her excellent memory, she quickly found the source of that déjà vu.

He was the one who protected the nobles when the Duplain family became entangled with necromancy. His contributions had carried significant weight toward him being granted a title.

Furthermore, his name resurfaced because he was apparently involved in the great incident at the Beltus mansion.

‘Too many coincidences to call it mere chance.’

Only a few years had passed since his coming of age, and he had already risen to a 4-star mage. The significance of that fact was enormous.

As far as Kohella knew, only two people on the continent had reached magical advancement so quickly—Melverot and Drest.

It was an extraordinary achievement, any way one looked at it.

‘If the imperial family awards him a merit medal and announces it, it will cause a major uproar. It would be good to meet him before that happens.’

A 4-star mage was practically equivalent to a quasi-lord.

When a mage reached that level, the imperial family personally verified their numbers and sent them a merit medal to acknowledge their magical accomplishments.

Of course, the merit medal carried multiple meanings.

It implied that, from that point on, they would be placed under strict imperial supervision and should not act recklessly.

“Even though the political situation in the southwest is chaotic, the appearance of another quasi-lord mage is significant. I will have to visit the Ebelstein area soon and review what happened in the Beltus mansion.”

Kohella let out a small laugh.

That woman was obsessed with magic.

Her desire was so intense that she had twisted even taboos and moral codes in her pursuit of knowledge, to a point ordinary people could not even conceive.

Feeling she had found a kindred spirit for the first time in a long while, she smiled even more sinisterly.

*

In the noble district of Ebelstein, centered around the Rose Hall, news of major political shifts spread.

There were two main pieces of news.

The first was the fall of the Beltus family, and the second was the rise of two emerging families.

The three traditionally influential families of the southwest were Duplain, Beltus, and Belmierd.

However, while Duplain and Beltus staggered due to necromancy, the Renouel family, led by the heroine of Rodentz Island, was on the rise.

And the next name mentioned was the Ravenclaw Barony.

The baronial family of the remote region of Rodellen, which produced a 4-star mage—a quasi-lord-level mage—was not originally influential enough to alter the political landscape, but the fact that its leader, Baron Dereck, was a commoner from the slums was shocking.

“Did you hear? It seems the title of the Ravenclaw Barony will be elevated even further.”

“They say His Majesty Gruttel mentioned his name personally—truly surprising.”

In the academic debate hall of Elfontaine Hall, where a meeting of the Rose Hall was being held, two noble young ladies whispered to each other.

The youngest of the Duplain family, Diella Katherine Duplain, was sitting in a corner with a sulky expression, resting her chin on her hand, listening silently to their gossip.

The fame of the magic instructor Dereck had long been well established.

The Ravenclaw training center he founded was flourishing, and the young nobles who learned magic from him were showing evident progress.

Since Dereck had risen from the bottom solely through magical achievement, the theories he taught were also easy to understand and efficient.

Therefore, his rise to the rank of 4-star mage and becoming a figure important enough to attract royal attention inevitably led to an even higher evaluation.

“I heard the Ravenclaw training center is in recess, but once spring arrives and the weather improves, they’ll surely accept new students.”

“I already talked to my mother. Although there’s much to learn in the Rose Hall gatherings, I think I should also attend the center’s classes if I want to improve my magical fundamentals.”

No matter what was said, the social center of the southwest was the noble district of Ebelstein, and its most prestigious academic circle was the Rose Hall.

Even so, among the young noblewomen of the hall, several were already interested in enrolling in Dereck’s training center.

Trends appeared in an instant, and if you fell behind, you were left behind.

Since the opening of the training center, Derek had accepted many students, but only four could be considered his direct disciples.

And at this point, those four were seen as Dereck’s greatest accomplishments.

Diella of Duplain.

Ellen of Belmierd.

Denise of Beltus.

Siern of Rochester.

Each was so exceptional that it was easy to predict that Dereck, with his deep teacher-disciple relationship with them, would hold considerable influence over the southwestern nobility in the future.

In short, it was a sign that authority was beginning to form behind Dereck’s actions.

And the ones most sensitive to this were the young ladies of the Ebelstein noble district.

“U-um… Lady Diella.”

Perhaps because of that influence, some absurd changes were indeed happening around Diella.

“I-I’m very sorry about the other day… Lady Diella…”

“…”

When Diella looked at her with a growling expression, one of the young noble ladies who had previously fought with her approached and bowed her head awkwardly.

For a moment, Diella could only furrow her brow in confusion.

In truth, she had clashed with so many young noblewomen that she couldn’t remember all of them. She even struggled to recall why she had become enemies with this particular one.

Supreme and self-centered. There was no better phrase to describe Diella.

In the noble district of Ebelstein, the only people capable of controlling this young lioness were Aiselin and Dereck.

Both were busy, so there was no one to restrain this rampaging tyrant.

From trivial power struggles, to fights over seats in the hall, to childish pranks—Diella had never lost to the insistent stares of young noblewomen who dared challenge her. As a result, she had accumulated numerous enemies.

But one day, when she least expected it, the most arrogant and dominant girl of the group was bowing her head before her.

“I-I think… I misunderstood Lady Diella back then…”

“…What are you plotting?”

“I-I’m not plotting anything. It’s just… I wanted to gather the courage to clear up the misunderstanding and… maintain a good relationship from now on…”

Just by looking at her, Diella radiated the impression of a growl.

Fierce, uncontrollable, with an aura that said she might bare her fangs at any moment.

She was a rabid dog who wouldn’t hesitate to throw tea at someone or slap them if something displeased her.

And yet, trembling, the young lady with her head bowed didn’t move from her spot.

Seeing that, Diella slowly began to understand. There had to be a reason why the noble young ladies of Ebelstein—the most obsessed with social hierarchy—were bowing their heads like this.

‘She must want to establish a connection with Dereck.’

Dereck was someone who devoted himself to teaching magic in detail to each student of the training center, but he treated his four direct disciples with special care.

He taught them more than magic; he imparted wisdom, values, direction—they seemed to receive from him more than anyone else could.

Enduring a bit of humiliation, if it allowed them to become his direct disciples, seemed worth it.

“…”

But it was obvious that the beast called Diella would not respond well to such transparent attempts.

Diella smiled faintly, but a cross-shaped vein bulged on her forehead.

She placed her hands on the shoulders of the young lady who kept her head lowered and whispered in her ear:

“Do you want to die?”

“…”

“Did you think I was going to laugh and say sure just because you did something so obvious? Do you think I’m going to introduce you to Dereck?”

The truly pitiful part was that Diella was not the generous type of person who would introduce Dereck to other girls.

To be honest, she herself was frustrated that she couldn’t see him as much as she wanted because of her duties, and such provocations only irritated her more.

“You knocked on the wrong door and by a lot. But seeing your humble attitude, I’ll say it kindly. Could you get lost, please?”

With an empty laugh, she walked out of the hall.

Diella scoffed while she crossed the corridor of Elfontaine Hall.

In any case, it seemed that more and more people wanted to get close to Dereck.

The safest way would be to connect with his four direct disciples, but at least Diella had no intention whatsoever of acting as a gatekeeper.

She wasn’t the least bit interested in helping anyone.

*

They say no flower lasts ten days, and indeed, no one knew what turns life could take.

In recent years, the political situation in the southwest had been extremely turbulent.

Even the Duplain family, which once aspired to dominate the world, wavered, and now even Beltus found itself with an uncertain future.

Of course, time had passed since the great misfortune of the Duplain family, so their power had shrunk a lot compared to before, and they seemed to be entering a stage of decline, although they had managed to stabilize a bit.

They say even a wealthy family endures at least three generations.

They sold part of their assets, asked for help from their collateral branches, and with that, they seemed to endure better than expected.

Even so, the size of the mansion and the number of servants were reduced to less than half, and their territory had been devoured by peripheral nobles. Their former greatness was only a memory.

Leigh, who inherited the position of head of the family, did his best, but it wasn’t enough to reverse the trend of slow decline.

Thus, Duplain would slowly sink until disappearing from historical records.

That was what most nobles predicted.

Until Aiselin rolled up her sleeves.

“Hello, brother. I earned some money.”

“…”

After inheriting the position of head of the family and formally starting to lead the senior servants, Leigh stared silently at Aiselin, who was dropping several leather pouches filled with gold coins onto the desk.

“This is my share of the operational profits from the Ravenclaw Training Center, and this is part of my personal tutoring fees. They paid me in high-purity Altram gold coins, but I’ll have to exchange them to use them in Ebelstein.”

“…”

“With this we can cover all the food expenses for the servants next month, and we can also fully pay the restoration costs of the mansion that we covered with bonds. We already repaid the money our relatives lent us last month so it would be good to replenish the soldiers’ equipment and reclaim the artworks we left as collateral.”

Aiselin had always worked hard at the Ravenclaw Training Center.

When she began to bring small amounts of money to help the family, Leigh was on the verge of tears.

Leigh, who had been withering in apathy, came back to himself upon seeing Aiselin working so hard to revive the Duplain family, saving every last silver coin.

“It’s not much, but I want to do more for Duplain. I think someday, brother Leigh will come out of this state and work hard for the family again.”

Aiselin, smiling and fulfilling her duty, looked like the strongest person in the Duplain lineage.

Watching Aiselin, who spent even small sums for the family, Leigh gradually began to fulfill his duties as head of the family.

He managed the servants, sought help, and little by little tried to restore Duplain’s prestige.

He was always grateful to his lovely sister, who helped him stand up, and he tried to reciprocate her efforts.

But.

Thud.

At some point, the amount of money she brought began to become a little strange.

“This month we also received part of the payment for the magical items sold at the Training Center. Fortunately, Sir Dereck shared a part of the profits with us.”

“…How much is all this…?”

“Well… I haven’t counted it all yet, but it should cover the mansion’s operational expenses for this month.”

“…It’s more than enough. We don’t need that much.”

“Oh, really? Then shall we expand the stables? It seems we need to hire more gardeners too…”

In Duplain’s golden age, Leigh had strong muscles, but after so many troubles, his appearance had become thin and exhausted.

While he silently watched Aiselin, she seemed to have brighter skin and a more radiant presence than even when the family was at its peak. It was as if she were in full bloom.

He knew Aiselin was capable, but he never imagined she was this capable.

To exaggerate a little she was the one carrying the Duplain family.

“The… Ravenclaw barony seems to be having an unexpected boom.”

“Yes. Thanks to that, I’m also in a position where I can pursue my own ambitions. You can’t imagine how happy I am to help the Duplain family.”

It was no longer simply “helping” she was practically sustaining it.

Leigh rubbed his face briefly, not knowing what to say. Although he was a duke, it was embarrassing to rely on the progress of a barony to survive.

Creak.

“Oh, sister Aiselin. It’s been a while since you returned to the main mansion.”

“Diella! You’re just as beautiful and adorable as ever! It breaks my heart not being able to see your face more often!”

“Y-yeah…”

Diella, who was returning from her social activities in the noble district of Ebelstein, appeared in the patriarch’s office.

She always looked haughty and ill-tempered in the Rose Hall, but in front of Aiselin she lowered her head like a meek lamb.

For anyone who had seen the “beast” Diella used to be, this was shocking.

Aiselin approached Diella with a bright smile and hugged her, burying her between her chest and her blonde hair.

Diella lowered her gaze shyly, her cheeks tense.

“I heard the news. There was a big clash between the Ravenclaw barony and Beltus.”

“Yes. Sir Dereck led the resolution, but he was gravely injured and is recovering.”

“H-gravely injured…?”

“I was very worried too, but when he returned to the barony and we checked his condition, it seems the worst has passed. He’ll recover in winter and return to work at the training center in spring.”

Diella immediately tensed with anxiety.

Dereck was the type of man who risked his life if it meant achieving magical advancement.

Diella knew that better than anyone, and she couldn’t help but stomp her foot on the ground, tense.

“I understand your concern. But there’s no need to feel overwhelmed. He told me he’d come to the Duplain mansion once he recovers.”

“D-Dereck… is coming?”

“Yes. He mentioned he wanted to speak with brother Leigh about something related to magical achievements…”

Leigh also raised an eyebrow, confused.

He didn’t have a close relationship with Dereck.

However, since Aiselin worked at the Ravenclaw Center and since the Duplain family owed so much to the barony’s boom, they couldn’t treat him lightly.

Leigh rested his chin on his hand and fell into deep thought.

And Leigh was not the only one lost in thought.

‘Dereck… Dereck is going to come…?’

Diella grabbed her head without realizing it, moving it side to side anxiously.

The thought of seeing him again after so long made her extremely nervous.

They had met several times before and had talked, but Dereck always had a way of making others tense.

His status and position had completely changed since Diella first met him.

Around him were dazzling disciples like Ellen, Denise, and Siern. Each one extraordinary.

To be able to stand on equal footing with them she felt she too needed to show something.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelCet