After leaving the palace in his carriage, Ron André shifted his consciousness into the puppet beside Sylvie.
"Sylvie, find some time tomorrow to come over. Also, bring me a map of the empire, marking the territories of all landed nobles."
"Your Highness Ron? I was just about to report to you—about today's court meeting…"
"I already know," Ron said. "Someone proposed granting me a title—a territorial one."
Sylvie froze, surprised that Ron—who usually didn't pay much attention to such matters—already knew.
"Your Highness, this is likely a scheme by those factions. If you're granted a territorial title, they may deliberately target you regarding your land," she warned seriously.
"If necessary, our people can voice opposition and try to delay the process."
"What do you think?"
"No rush," Ron replied. "Bring the map tomorrow. I'll take a look first."
"Understood."
"How's the progress at the Card Research Institute? Will it be ready in time?" Ron changed the topic.
"No major issues. We have sixth-tier mages for all four elements. It'll definitely be completed before the Magic Duel tournament."
"Once the recordings are done, bring that Mimic Grass back to me. Don't let anything go wrong."
"Rest assured, I'll handle it carefully."
"That's all for now."
So many things to deal with…
Ron withdrew his consciousness and rubbed his temples.
Today alone, he had finalized the Mimic Grass recording plan at the institute, then rushed to Chaos City Magic Academy to personally record legendary-tier magic.
After that, he visited the private experimental zone, then headed to the magic battle arena.
In just one week, the tournament preliminaries would begin—handled by Nora.
The nationwide promotion of Element Cards was underway, with Kiel working intensively on preparations.
At the private lab, Puppet Ron was still discussing details of the Element Car with Illya, while Harper remained immersed in experiments.
The hot pot restaurants were expanding across the empire, with Lyle steadily advancing plans in the southern region.
The all-purpose healing potion had entered mass production, and Guy was busy not only with Tansen City but also negotiating sales with major factions.
If not for all these people sharing the workload, Ron would probably have collapsed from exhaustion by now.
Meanwhile, on the fourth floor of Ron's Wonderful Flower Shop…
After enjoying Nora's delicious cooking, Mia dragged Nora, Eileen, and Yuna down to the third-floor mahjong room to play a few rounds of War of the Gods.
"Huh? What's this?"
As Mia entered, she noticed a notice posted on the wall titled First War of the Gods Cup, with two columns of sixteen names each.
"Oh, that was last month's tournament," Nora explained. "Those are the top sixteen rankings. There were two brackets, so two lists."
"Ah~ what a pity, I wanted to join too," Mia sighed—then her eyes lit up as she pointed to the bottom. "Hey, isn't that Sister Sylvie? She's pretty good—she even made the rankings!"
"Ahem…" Yuna coughed softly. "There were only sixteen participants."
"…Oh."
Mia froze, then looked at Nora awkwardly. "Last place in both brackets… that's… a kind of talent too… right?"
Skipping past the awkward moment, the four began happily playing.
With Eileen—whose skill might rival Sylvie's—present, the other three had a great time.
Around 9 p.m., Mia finally stood up.
"Shall we get to the main event?"
Eileen, who had been suffering all night, immediately agreed.
The four returned to the fourth floor and entered the only bedroom, laying clean white towels across the large bed.
Mia and Eileen removed their outer clothing and lay down, enjoying a full-body resin spa.
After applying it for them, Nora and Yuna helped each other as well.
Soon, four smooth, golden "ice creams" lay across the bed, chatting happily while waiting for the resin to absorb.
"How old are you, Nora?" Mia tilted her head.
"I-I'm seventeen this year…"
"That's not what I meant~" Mia grinned mischievously, her light golden hair spilling over the edge of the bed.
Having read The Rise of a Viscountess, Nora instantly understood, her face flushing red.
"I—I don't know…"
"Don't know, huh~" Mia's eyes sparkled as she sneakily reached over. "Then I'll measure it for you."
"Ah! Mia, don't."
"Hahaha! So soft"
"Princess Mia… you bumped into me…"
"Let me check Eileen's, too!"
Yuna lay off to the side, watching the chaos with a sideways glance, slowly shifting toward the edge of the bed.
She rolled her eyes, thinking: If I switched to my mature form, I'd scare you all to death.
But at her age, she didn't care much—this all just felt like watching younger kids fool around.
At that moment, footsteps approached outside.
The noise inside the room was so loud that no one noticed.
Then—
The door opened.
Springtime scenery flooded the room.
Ron stood at the doorway, frozen for a second. His gaze swept across the golden scene—
Then he immediately stepped back and quietly shut the door.
Click.
"Y-Your Highness Ron!"
"Big Brother Ron!!!"
"Boss…"
"…Pervert."
If Mia and Eileen were flustered, clutching towels and shouting in embarrassment, and Nora shyly covered her face while peeking through her fingers—
Yuna remained completely unfazed, lying there as if nothing had happened, only muttering those two words.
After all, she'd already been seen once before—in her mature form.
Compared to that, this form wasn't worth reacting to.
Outside the room, Ron was just about to make a quick escape after that "accidental" glance—
When the system voice rang in his head.
---
System: "Daily quest triggered."
[Daily Quest] — [Enter the fourth-floor bedroom to enjoy the view]:
["Objective: Boldly enter the bedroom and enjoy a resin bath with the young ladies!"]
["Reward: Dynamic Skin Bundle including 'Pout,' 'Shy,' 'Spoiled,' 'Head Tilt,' and more!"]
---
Ron paused… then turned back.
Well… there's a reward.
Might as well try?
Knock knock knock.
Ron knocked on the door.
"Um… can I come in now?"
"NO!!"