“No matter what, Princess Liana, before taking action, you must! You absolutely must consult with Princess Mephilia,” Minoga said.

“I know, I don’t want Mephilia to dislike me either.” Most importantly, if she did something knowing Mephilia would be angry, it might not just be swallowing a thousand fingers anymore.

Besides, for her fake death plan, she definitely needed Mephilia’s help. Perhaps not telling her would yield better results?

But Liana didn’t want to be too mischievous now, otherwise it might be impossible to make amends afterward. And with Mephilia’s personality and how much she valued Liana, she might truly do something irrational.

Just like... Sephirena.

Upon hearing Liana’s words, Minoga breathed a sigh of relief. If Princess Liana had refused to inform Princess Mephilia, Minoga would have been in an awkward position.

Not telling Princess Mephilia would be irresponsible regarding Princess Liana’s safety, but telling Princess Mephilia would anger Princess Liana. Minoga had it tough.

“Anyway, let’s go see if there are any suitable slaves,” Liana got down from the carriage.

She extended her hand, and a snowflake landed on it. Liana had never seen snow before, so she became entranced.

“It’s starting to snow. The Venus Dukedom is located in the north, so the winter is a bit colder than in other territories,” Minoga produced a coat from nowhere and draped it over Liana’s shoulders.

Liana watched the snowflake melt in her palm, feeling its coolness.

“Put on some gloves, Princess Liana. Don’t get frostbitten.” Because Liana needed to conceal that she couldn’t use magic, she couldn’t use magical power to resist the cold.

Just moments after getting out of the carriage, her fingertips had already turned red.

Minoga held an umbrella, standing beside Liana. Liana put on the fur-lined gloves, feeling much warmer.

Soon, a sales associate from the Angus Commerce Guild approached Liana. “Princess Liana, welcome to the Angus Commerce Guild.”

“Is Tari here?” Liana asked directly.

“I’m very sorry, but even for Princess Liana, without a prior appointment, you cannot see Lady Tari,” the sales associate said.

“Huh?” Since when had Tari’s status become so high?

Could it be that after acquiring Liana’s cosmetics line, her status had suddenly skyrocketed?

This wasn’t impossible. After all, her two-piece set could change the current monopoly situation of cosmetics at the Angus Commerce Guild. It was normal for Tari to receive a promotion. Plus, Tari was originally the top salesperson at the Angus Commerce Guild in the Venus Territory, so having such status was understandable.

However...

“You don’t understand what I’m saying? Are you aware that you’re opening a store in our territory, and I am the young lady of the Venus Dukedom?” Liana looked at the person with some dissatisfaction. “Let alone Tari, even the president of this Angus branch wouldn’t dare to keep me waiting.”

“I’m very sorry, Princess Liana. I know your status is somewhat special, but Lady Tari is now the president of this Angus branch, and not everyone has the qualification to see the president, even if you’re from the Venus Family,” the sales associate said.

“Oh?” Liana looked at the person curiously. Being able to mention the Venus Family meant that this person had an unusual identity. “I guess you’re a member of the Angus Family, or have some relationship with the Angus Family?” If they had no connection and dared to speak to Liana like this, they must be living too comfortably.

“I am indeed a member of the Angus Family, my name is Pecola Angus. I’m just a bit dissatisfied with Princess Liana’s approach,” it seemed that the person was not only a member of the Angus Family but also held a high position, probably sent by the family to learn at the branch, which explained their arrogance.

“It looks like the Angus Commerce Guild’s saying that ‘the customer is always right’ is just empty words,” Liana said with dissatisfaction.

“The customer indeed is always right, but this is also a rule of our Angus Commerce Guild. To see the president, you must make an appointment. Otherwise, if everyone who comes directly asks for the president, the entire guild would become rather chaotic,” Pecola said.

“Or does Princess Liana have our membership card? Even the lowest silver-level membership card allows you to see the store manager without an appointment,” Pecola suggested a solution to Liana.

“Membership card?” Liana remembered that Tari had indeed given her a membership card before, but Liana hadn’t brought that silver-level membership card with her. After all, Liana didn’t often go shopping, so naturally she was too lazy to carry it around.

Moreover, with magic existing in this world, it should be better than the internet, right? Whether she was registered or not could be checked with magic.

“Oh? With Princess Liana’s status, you surely wouldn’t be unable to produce a membership card, would you?” Pecola seemed to want to provoke Liana into making a purchase to obtain a membership card.

“No, I don’t have one,” Liana wanted to see what Pecola was up to.

“Then I’m very sorry, Princess Liana. Please make an appointment. However, Lady Tari is now quite a celebrity in our Angus Commerce Guild, so it might be difficult to book an appointment. If Princess Liana wants to purchase something, I can be your guide and show you around. If you had an important transaction or a large order, you would have made an appointment in advance, and since Lady Tari hasn’t mentioned anything about this lately, it proves that you’re visiting suddenly,” Pecola explained.

Very reasonable, but Liana wasn’t listening.

“So, what is Tari doing now?” Liana asked.

“Lady Tari has matters to attend to. If you have urgent business with her, I will relay it to her,” Pecola said.

“Is that so?” Liana nodded indifferently. “Then just tell President Tari that I came looking for her, but she doesn’t seem very welcoming.”

“I will convey this to Lady Tari.”

“By the way, remember to do it quickly, otherwise... the consequences might be a bit serious,” Liana kicked over a nearby chair to express her dissatisfaction, drawing many glances.

“I understand, Princess Liana.” The person naturally knew about Liana’s reputation in the Venus Territory. Although recently there seemed to be a trend of reversal, most people were still willing to believe that Princess Liana was a bad person.

Pecola was the same. In her eyes, Liana’s words were a threat. If she didn’t comply, Liana would take some action to retaliate against her, but she wasn’t worried about this. Her background wasn’t small either; after all, this was a commercial territory, and not many people wanted to mess with it.

But in reality, it wasn’t Liana who would punish her. If she reported too late, someone else would be the one to retaliate.

“Forget it, let’s go back,” Liana turned and left.

“Mm-hmm,” Minoga nodded.

At this moment, Pecola finally noticed that there was another person beside Liana.

When had she appeared there? She hadn’t noticed at all. Had she been there from the beginning? Or had she appeared instantaneously? Either possibility was terrifying.

Pecola just looked at Minoga curiously for a moment, then felt her back starting to sweat, experiencing fear deep in her soul.

What height of power was this...

“Gulp,” Pecola swallowed.

After they left, Pecola realized that despite the cold weather, her back was drenched with cold sweat.

To ensure her own safety, Pecola hurriedly ran inside and found Tari lying in a pile of gold coins.

Tari was now making money hand over fist. Because she had secured Liana’s deal, she had been rapidly promoted, directly becoming the president of this branch.

At that moment, she was comfortably bathing in gold coins. Despite it being the middle of winter, the cold sensation of the gold coins against her skin made her even more excited.

She listened to the pleasant melody of the gold coins colliding with each other. “Finally! I’m finally about to reach that goal!”

“One hundred thousand gold coins! If I can get one hundred thousand gold coins, I can...!”

“Lady Tari!” Pecola’s panicked voice from outside the door interrupted Tari’s thoughts. A gold coin fell on Tari’s forehead. “Ouch!”

“What is it!” Tari’s tone was obviously impatient. She emerged from the gold coin pool, patting down her clothes which had been wrinkled by the gold coins.

She had just closed a deal that morning, and now was her rest time. Tari hated nothing more than someone coming to disturb her moment of peace.

“Didn’t I tell you not to disturb me during my rest time unless it’s extremely important? You’ve been here from headquarters for half a month already. Don’t you understand the rules here yet?” Tari scolded impatiently.

“I’m sorry, Lady Tari, but Princess Liana just came looking for you. Since she didn’t have an appointment, I asked her to leave, but she had a terrifying person with her. I just looked at that person once and felt extremely uncomfortable...” Pecola looked up to see Tari sprinting out of the room, not even taking the time to put on shoes.

“What? You drove Princess Liana away?” Tari couldn’t believe her ears.

“Yes, because she didn’t make an appointment in advance. Even noble children cannot break the rules, as it would set a bad precedent,” Pecola said.

Tari felt like her world was collapsing. Was this person here to learn? She was practically here to destroy the place!!!

Tari directly lifted her foot and kicked Pecola hard in the lower abdomen with the soft pads of her feet. “You’ve been here for half a month and you still haven’t remembered the rules of our Risade Square branch?”

“I know the Angus Commerce Guild’s rules by heart. Without a prior appointment and a membership card, even noble children cannot directly see the president,” Pecola looked at Tari with grievance, not understanding why Tari was so ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) angry. What had she done wrong?

Tari directly cursed without regard for her image. “Huh? Open your damn eyes and look clearly. What does the last rule of our Risade branch say, highlighted in the most eye-catching red font? And use your pig brain to think about it. Considering Liana’s identity and status, which one isn’t stronger than a damn silver membership card? Is your brain filled with nothing but rules? The most important thing for a merchant to learn is flexibility! No wonder your family sent you out to learn!”

Tari had no patience to waste words with Pecola now. She needed to immediately, right now, catch up with Princess Liana. Tari left Pecola with one sentence: “If Princess Liana is in any way displeased, you’d better watch out. Don’t think you can be arrogant just because you have the Angus name. You’d better pray that Princess Liana isn’t angry.”

Pecola clutched her stomach. It hurt so much...

And this was the first time she had seen Tari so angry. Plus, that person beside Princess Liana just now—she had only looked at them once and felt incredibly anxious...

Pecola hurriedly went to the rules of the Risade branch and saw the most conspicuous paragraph at the bottom: “No matter when, no matter what I’m doing, if Princess Liana comes looking for me, immediately take care of Princess Liana, then notify me. Never, ever, ever, ever make Princess Liana angry or dissatisfied in any way.”

“Oh no...”

Liana returned to the carriage.

“Princess Liana, do we need to wait a bit, or should we head back to Venus Manor now?” Minoga asked.

“Five minutes. Give her five minutes. She should come running,” Liana wasn’t worried that Tari would ignore her. If that happened, there was only one possibility: that the person called Pecola hadn’t informed Tari of her visit.

That would be Tari’s problem to deal with, and Liana couldn’t be concerned with such matters.

Besides, just the few seconds when Minoga appeared at the end probably made Pecola realize something was wrong.

“I remember that Lady Tari’s status wasn’t this high before, and Princess Liana seemed to have a good relationship with Lady Tari. It looks like Princess Liana has helped Lady Tari considerably to reach this position?” Minoga asked.

“I suppose so. She also showed her sincerity. However, let’s see how she performs today. I helped her reach this position, and I can also make her lose all of it,” Liana looked out the window.

Outside, snowflakes were falling, making the view somewhat blurry.

The Risade branch glowed with warm light. Who knew if Tari had received the “good” news yet.

One minute passed, and there was no sign of Tari.

Two minutes passed, still no sign of Tari.

At the three-minute mark, a dark figure suddenly dropped from above, landing in front of Liana’s carriage window.

She bowed her head, with both hands and feet buried in the snow, kneeling before Liana. “I’m sorry, Princess Liana, for keeping you waiting!”

Liana looked out the window and saw that Tari had rushed over without even having time to put on shoes or proper clothes, wearing only a thin shirt. The pink pads of her feet were red from the snow. She really was a cat...

“I had already told the Angus branch that once Princess Liana arrives, no matter what I’m doing, they must inform me immediately. Pecola just arrived recently and might not be familiar with our regulations here. When I get back, I will definitely discipline her. I hope Princess Liana can forgive her discourtesy.

If Princess Liana doesn’t believe me, you can come with me to verify this. This is a unique rule of our Risade branch, which was written down some time ago.” Tari was afraid that Liana might be the slightest bit unhappy.

After all, Liana was practically Tari’s savior now. Without Liana’s products, she wouldn’t have stood out among her competitors, especially given her racial disadvantage. Her current position was entirely due to Liana, so she dared not cause any delay.

Liana understood that Tari definitely didn’t have the courage to ignore her. “Come up, I have something to discuss with you.”

“Yes,” Tari didn’t dare show any relaxation and quickly entered the carriage, not forgetting to pat her feet before getting in, worried about dirtying Liana’s carriage.

Once inside, Tari didn’t sit down but stood facing Liana.

Her clothes had gotten dirty while running, and sitting down now would dirty the carriage.

Liana looked at her, like a frightened kitten, afraid of causing Liana even the slightest dissatisfaction. Her toes were red from the cold; she had clearly rushed over in great haste.

After boarding the carriage, with the increase in temperature, her previously shivering body began to calm down.

“Sit down,” Liana said.

“Princess Liana, because I rushed over just now, my clothes got dirty. I’m fine standing. I don’t want to dirty the cushions,” Tari said timidly.

Even as a branch president with some authority at the Angus Commerce Guild headquarters, Tari was being excessively humble now.

“I told you to sit down and speak slowly,” Liana’s commanding tone made Tari’s heart skip a beat.

“I understand, Princess Liana,” Tari hurriedly sat across from Liana, her hands nervously pinching the hem of her clothes.

“Princess Liana, do you have any instructions? Whatever I can do, I will do my utmost to help you. Even if I can’t do it, I will find a way,” Tari quickly said.

But Liana wasn’t in a hurry. “It seems that in less than a month, your position has risen rapidly. You’ve even become the president of the Risade branch. Very impressive.”

“Princess Liana, please don’t tease me. I’ve reached this position entirely due to Princess Liana’s help. If it weren’t for Princess Liana’s amazing cosmetics, I could never have achieved this status,” Tari attributed all the credit to Liana.

Of course, Liana knew that even if her products were excellent, without Tari’s own abilities, she couldn’t have become president.

“You seem to enjoy belittling yourself?” When they first met, Tari wasn’t like this. Back then, she seemed more like a cunning merchant. It seemed that profit could indeed thoroughly change a merchant.

Liana said, “If a person lacked ability, the Angus Commerce Guild wouldn’t entrust a branch to an outsider, as it concerns their reputation, which is what the Angus Commerce Guild values most.”

“Thank you for the compliment, Princess Liana...” Tari lowered her head sheepishly, her tail swaying happily.

“You’re quite interesting,” Liana meant this sincerely. Since coming to this world, Tari was the first person of her kind. “Others are terrified when they first see me, but you were the opposite. When you first saw me, you weren’t afraid of me at all despite my status and behavior, but now you’ve started to fear me.”

Of course! Before, they had been complete strangers, but now Liana was practically her savior. How could Tari dare to make Liana angry?

“When Princess Liana says ‘the opposite,’ does that mean that people who were initially afraid of Princess Liana later become less afraid?” Tari asked cautiously.

“...” Tari’s question silenced Liana.

Since coming to this world, the first few people she met who was very afraid of her, stayed by her side for a long time, and gradually became less afraid...

It seemed there was only Loraviel.

“Princess Liana?”

Liana snapped back to reality, not wanting to continue on this topic. Why did she suddenly miss Loraviel...

“Go change your clothes, then take me to the Angus Commerce Guild headquarters. I want to buy something,” Liana said.

“I understand,” Tari knew not to ask too much at this point, just to satisfy Liana as much as possible.

“By the way, Princess Liana, I will definitely make sure that the person who was disrespectful to you receives the punishment she deserves,” Tari said.

“Wait.” Mentioning this, Liana became somewhat interested.

“What was that rule about me at the Risade branch that you mentioned earlier?” Liana asked curiously.

“No matter when, no matter what I’m doing, if Princess Liana comes looking for me, immediately take care of Princess Liana, then notify me. Never, ever, ever, ever make Princess Liana angry or dissatisfied in any way,” Tari answered.

A very interesting rule. And Liana thought of something particularly amusing, something she had always wanted to do.

“As for the punishment, let me decide,” Liana said.

“...Alright.” Although Pecola had some background, it clearly couldn’t compare to Liana’s, especially now that Liana had contributed to the Angus Commerce Guild’s monopoly.

But if the punishment was too severe, Tari would still plead for leniency on Pecola’s behalf.

“Have her copy that last part of the Risade branch rule about me one hundred times. She can’t use magic, and there can’t be any errors. If there’s a single mistake, she has to start over,” Liana said.

“Princess Liana... huh?” Tari was about to plead but was surprised by Liana’s unusual request.

“What’s wrong?” Liana still remembered the painful memories from her previous life—being punished to copy ancient poems ten times, or copying words one hundred times for dictation errors!

Was one hundred times too many? After all, this was a magical world. Perhaps they were already accustomed to writing with magic and rarely wrote by hand?

“Nothing, I’ll relay it to her,” Tari nodded repeatedly, worried that Liana might change her mind later.

Tari quickly ran down from the carriage. “Princess Liana, I’ll be back very soon.”

Tari hopped down from the carriage. “Eek! Ow!”

Her bare feet landed on the cold snow, causing her to cry out, but she quickly realized that Liana was nearby. She promptly covered her mouth and bowed her head apologetically to Liana, afraid of disturbing her.

“What did Princess Liana do to make Lady Tari so obedient?” Minoga almost thought Tari was Liana’s slave or pet. She was too obedient.

“Didn’t I explain? About the cosmetics deal. Because my cosmetics could cause trouble for the Angus Commerce Guild’s monopoly, which is what they care about most, combined with my status, even if they have opinions about me, they can’t do anything. So naturally, they can’t allow me to have any dissatisfaction,” Liana said.

“I feel that Princess Liana is quite terrifying...”

In private, she appeared harmless, but when taking action, she was more decisive than many people, like with Countess Rose, and now with these matters.

“Is that so?” Liana tilted her head, her cute twin tails shifting to one side. She didn’t feel there was anything scary about herself.

“By the way, Princess Liana’s punishment method is quite unique. Is it because you didn’t want to impose too severe a punishment? Were you concerned about causing trouble for Lady Tari?” Minoga asked.

That was indeed one reason, but the main thing was that Liana wanted to experience this feeling, since she had always been the one punished with copying before.

“Having her write with a pen is to make her remember the rule more deeply,” Liana said.

After Tari returned to the guild, she glanced at Pecola, who was holding her stomach.

“I’m sorry, I was a bit too impulsive earlier.”

Tari had truly been furious at that moment. If Liana had gotten angry, she would have wanted to die.

“What did Princess Liana do to make President Tari care so much?” Pecola was just a bit rigid, and it was indeed her fault for breaking the rules first. If she had known the Risade branch had such a special rule, she would have definitely let Liana through, even if she was somewhat dissatisfied with Liana’s behavior.

“Have you forgotten the rules again? Inquiring about a merchant’s transactions is extremely impolite,” Tari warned.

Now that she knew Princess Liana wasn’t angry, Tari’s mood had relaxed considerably.

“In the future, be more respectful to Princess Liana. The Princess Liana you see may not be the real Princess Liana,” Anyway! Tari was now Liana’s bootlicker! No, cat-licker!

“Princess Liana isn’t very angry and has only given you a small punishment. Copy that rule I mentioned earlier one hundred times by hand. You can’t use magic, and there can’t be any errors,” Tari said.

“I understand,” Pecola nodded.

“By the way, I need to leave here for a while to go to the Angus Commerce Guild headquarters. You’ll be in charge during this time,” Tari had already changed clothes and packed her luggage, ready to depart.

“I understand.”

“Sorry, Princess Liana, I didn’t keep you waiting too long, did I?” Tari quickly walked into the carriage.

“I’ve never left the Venus Territory before. All the necessary procedures and items will be handled by you. Is that alright?” Liana said.

“Of course it’s no problem,” Tari nodded. “What does Princess Liana want to buy at headquarters?”

“A slave.”

“A slave?” Tari quickly remembered Liana’s first visit to the Risade branch. “The slave Princess Liana wants to purchase wouldn’t happen to be that elf lady, would it?”

“Yes,” Liana nodded. “She should be doing quite well at the Angus Commerce Guild, right?”

“Yes, after all, she’s an elf, belonging to a higher race. Whether she can be sold or not, she will be carefully cared for,” The Angus Commerce Guild wouldn’t dare let anything happen to an elf. If the Elf Forest came looking for trouble, even a major territory couldn’t withstand it.

“Princess Liana, the elf you mentioned, could it be... Miss Sephirena?” As Mephilia’s guardian, Minoga naturally had the right to know these matters and knew about Sephirena.

Moreover, Mephilia had repeatedly emphasized that she must pay attention to whether Liana would go looking for an elf named Sephirena!