Vilanthe felt that something was wrong.
That man had only been human for a day after turning from a cat, so why was he already holding hands with Miss Ina?
She stared at their intertwined hands. If her magic skills weren't up to par, Vilanthe's gaze would have turned into a beam that pierced through that annoying hand.
Seeing Vilanthe's inexplicably dispirited gaze, Ina suddenly called out to her, "Look, Vilanthe, don't we look alike now?"
Vilanthe looked up and saw that Ina had changed her hair color and outfit again. Now she had a dull green wavy long hair, paired with a dark green silk strap dress, and a white lace blouse over it.
Vilanthe subtly changed her hair color to match Ina's more closely, and finally, a smile appeared at the corners of her mouth.
Ina planned to introduce Elvys to everyone, or at least to the few people around her. When Dusì heard that Elvys was the black cat with red eyes from the restaurant before, she couldn't contain her surprise. She snapped off a corner of the table, then bluntly asked Elvys, "So, what's your relationship with Coal?"
Could it be that he came to join Miss Ina with his child?
After hearing that Elvys was temporarily fine, Asland hurried to the restaurant. He looked at Ina and Vilanthe, who had almost identical hair colors and thought of Ina's mysterious identity that remains unknown to this day. His gaze revealed obvious worry: "Miss Ina and Miss Vilanthe..."
Did Elvys fall in love with the queen of an enemy nation?
Ina: Just confirmed the relationship with my boyfriend and was forced to form a happy family of four in the eyes of others. What should I do?
Elvys also didn't expect that when he was a cat, he only had to compete for favor with the dumb Coal. Now that he has regained his human form and has become Ina's legitimate boyfriend, there are even more people vying for attention?
"At night, no." Ina bent over the table to write a teaching plan, "I have to teach Vilanthe magic, Elvys, come see, will this spell conflict with Vilanthe's wood attribute?"
Elvys bowed his head, suggesting Ina change the spell and proposed to move the date to tomorrow morning.
Ina was sketching on the paper and casually said: "It won't work all day tomorrow. In the morning, I have to check the progress of the Rize trib, and by the way, remove a few Magma Hearts from the magic circles, the weather there is also warming up. In the afternoon, go to Mist Town to inspect the fish pond and tea garden. The tea trees can be harvested again. I hired some residents of the town to help pick them."
"Well..."
Ina handed him a piece of paper: "This is the schedule Dusì helped me compile, some things may change, but it's roughly these."
Elvys looked at the full schedule from morning to night: ...
Elvys: My girlfriend is busier than me and needs to manage the whole empire and doesn't have time for me. What should I do?
Busy Asland: People need to be grateful. Why are you so leisurely? Don't you have a clue?
The next day, Vilanthe stopped Dusì who had delivered vegetables: "I saw them sitting on the roof looking at the moon last night."
Dusì raised her eyebrows in surprise: "Miss Ina's schedule is so full, how can she still have free time?"
Vilanthe pouted: "Because they don't need to sleep."
Dusì's eyes suddenly became envious, she subtly expressed her best efforts: "It seems they should be a pair, nothing can stop them." She muttered as she walked: "I really want to exchange my excessive strength for the ability to not sleep..."
Vilanthe watched Dusì's retreating figure: "You gave up too quickly, didn't you?"
Ina indeed felt the inexplicable hostility from others towards Elvys. This was reflected in the significant increase in the number of times Vilanthe came to ask her about magic issues, Dusì brought up various matters that she herself could decide on, and even Coal became particularly clingy, rubbing against Ina's arm while making "purring" sounds.
As for this kind of jealousy, Ina said that they were all minor matters and it would be fine once she got used to it.
---
Helena, the head of the academy, suddenly visited the Dragon Flame Restaurant, looking for Ina. Vilanthe said that Ina was in the room, and she went to call Ina out.
Helena sat at the dining table, seeing a colorful toy house on the side with a note on it saying "Magic Candy House, feel free to use". Out of boredom, she reached in and took a piece of candy.
Just as she tore open the candy wrapper, she saw a tall man coming out from behind the restaurant. Helena stood up: "Duke Elvys?"
Her gaze shifted between the two people who walked out one after the other, Elvys took the initiative to speak: "Headmaster, what would you like to eat?"
"You two?" Helena, who had already figured out the answer in her heart, immediately recalled whether she had secretly spoken ill of Elvys to Ina, um, it seems she did.
"Miss Ina is my fiancée." There was a gentle smile in Elvys' eyes.
Helena popped the candy into her mouth, the expression on her face twisted briefly, why was it lemon flavored, so sour!
"Headmaster, you came to find me, it shouldn't be just to eat, right?" If it was as simple as eating, there was no need to call Ina out.
"I came to thank the Dragon Flame Restaurant's mechanical worker bee for saving a student's life." Helena took out many gifts, "They were entrusted to me by the student's father."
Ina immediately remembered the incident Helena was talking about, it was related to takeout.
Just like when Edith was trapped in a trap, the mechanical worker bee was unable to retrieve the takeout exclusive hand sign and would feedback to the restaurant, another accident happened not long ago.
A student had a small explosion while conducting an experiment, the gas evaporated by the explosion injured his throat, and the splattered fragments caused him severe injuries. As it was during the lunch break, there were no other people in the lab, and the doors and windows were closed tight.
Just when the student was about to lose his life due to the inability to call for help, the good thing among the unfortunate events was that he had ordered a takeaway from the Dragon Flame Restaurant before starting the experiment. The mechanical worker bee flew to the window with the food and waited for the student who was supposed to receive the takeaway. Since the student was not there, the bee sent an abnormal signal to the restaurant.
Upon seeing this, Ina immediately had the worker bee emit a loud alarm, attracting nearby students and teachers, and saving the injured student.
Dramatically, the student's father happened to be a senior official of the academy who voted against the proposal of "Whether to allow sponsors' private magic machines to enter the academy area and place some facilities". He believed that using magic machines to deliver food was a complete disregard for magic and should be strictly prohibited.
If the Dragon Flame Restaurant's mechanical worker bee really couldn't enter the Star Academy, this mage who staunchly defends the noble characteristics of magic might have lost his son. Ina hadn't met him, but she could imagine that his expression when he found out that the mechanical worker bee saved his son must be quite interesting.
Helena went on to say: "The academy is also very grateful and hopes to reward..."
Ina immediately interrupted: "I don't want a reward, I only have a small request - let Vilanthe be able to borrow books from the academy's library."
Helena pondered for a while and agreed: "I can give her the same rights as ordinary students."
Vilanthe on the side looked over gratefully: "Thank you."
Ina reminded Vilanthe: "You can't just bury your head in the library, you need to go out more, there is a lot of knowledge you can't learn from books."
Vilanthe spoke with a hint of coquettishness: "I have listened to your words. A few days ago I went to a tea restaurant to listen to the noble ladies chat, and I heard that many noble ladies hope to become widows. I think this is very important information."
She said bitterly: "Unfortunately, the bishops of the church don't get married."
As expected of a princess aiming for the throne, even a trip to a tea restaurant gives her such insights.
Vilanthe suddenly thought of something, she bluntly asked Elvys: "When I was in the tea restaurant, I found that many noble ladies are very talented, they have been educated, and some are even proficient in magic. But besides managing family affairs, they just go to the tea restaurant to chat and drink tea, it's such a waste! Doesn't the Silver Empire have a policy to allow women to become officials too?" Since Vilanthe learned that almost everyone knows her identity, she no longer hides her views.
Elvys first looked at Ina, sure enough, he saw Ina with a "give her a good lecture" expression. He pointed out to Vilanthe the Helena headmaster sitting in front of her: "Isn't Headmaster Helena also a woman? Don't I recognize her as the headmaster of the Star Academy?"
"Of course, the Silver Empire does not prohibit women from becoming officials. Among the six seats in the governing council of the Empire, two are occupied by women: Lady Lowen and Miss Miller. The former is a powerful vampire, who has been in the governing council since the establishment of the empire. The latter is due to the strong power of the Miller Commerce Guild, which allowed the Miller family to elect a leader to enter the governing council. At the request of the founder of the Miller Commerce Guild, Yuana Miller, this person must be female.
These two seats each have their own special reasons, so indeed it can't be called fair. But at least it's better than the Olan Empire, where even a female cat is not found in the church, as if that would stain the chastity of the bishops." Elvys sarcastically said.
Vilanthe agrees with this. She heard Elvys continue to say: "The reason why those noble ladies you saw could not become officials, in addition to their own wishes, is also because, in the selection of officials, civilians have higher priority than nobles. If all the instructions issued at the checkpoints of the empire represent the will of the nobles, then the situation of the civilians would certainly be very miserable. Therefore, what prevents these noble ladies is not their female identity, but their noble identity."
Vilanthe looked thoughtful, at this moment, Helena, the dean, suddenly expressed her thoughts: "For civilians to become officials, they must first be able to access knowledge. The proportion of civilians among the officials of the empire began to increase only after the implementation of welfare policies such as free enrollment for orphans and delayed tuition payment for civilians, and the effects would not be visible for decades. If we forcibly promote illiterate civilians, it will only make everything a mess."
Ina reminded Vilanthe: "Elvys has been in control of this country for a long time, but you are still a weak princess, and you don't need to rush to draw a line with the nobles. Like the noble ladies and misses you saw in the tea restaurant, they live in a similar environment to you, and they are women who are also excluded from power in the Olan Empire. You are natural allies."
Elvys listened carefully and remembered. She has been a princess for over a decade and has never dealt with anything related to government affairs. However, in this small restaurant, she received guidance from the highest level.