Noble Lady Reformation Guide - Chapter 227

"One thing's certain—both Kochella and Damon are hiding something."

Empress Rozelyn adjusted her attire neatly before stepping into the corridor with Derek.

Draping a linen shawl over her shoulders and gathering a few simple accessories, she headed toward the office in Gremfort Palace despite the late hour, accompanied by over ten elite guards.

Derek, dressed in mercenary garb, nodded beside her as they walked down the hallway with her long coat trailing.

"I've been sensing something off too."

"Indeed. While I dislike magic itself, that's rejecting its inherent nobility—not denying its value as technology and scholarship."

Though Empress Rozelyn clashed with Kochella, their conflict stemmed from palace power struggles rather than debates about magic's fundamental nature.

"The empire should celebrate if a 7-Star mage emerges. If Kochella truly cares only for magical research without worldly power... coexistence might be possible."

"..."

"Gathering 6-Star mages? I could help arrange that. Issue direct orders to assist preparations too. No reason to suppress pure academic pursuit. Only... I can't trust Kochella."

Walking past antique artworks lining the corridor, Rozelyn turned to Derek.

"If the 7-Star Realm truly exists, I'd want to prevent that power from going to Kochella."

Having grown up sensing Gremfort Palace's undercurrents, Rozelyn always found Kochella inscrutable. The thought of granting her humanity's unprecedented power made Rozelyn balk.

"Count Ravenclaw. If anyone should glimpse the 7-Star Realm, I'd prefer it be you."

"Me?"

"Yes. At least to my eyes, you're someone deeply immersed in magical research yet never abandoning altruistic principles. I'm a good judge of character."

"With all respect, that's inaccurate. If anything, I'm quite selfish."

The surrounding guards gulped at Derek's bluntness. Since her coronation, Rozelyn wielded near-divine authority in Gremfort Palace—yet Derek kept refuting her casually.

"Without utterly selfish survival instincts, I'd have never lasted in the slums or mercenary underworld."

"Perhaps in youth. Didn't I say? My judgment is precise. You think your desperate struggles made you self-centered, but that very desperation taught you others'pain."

Rozelyn poked Derek's solar plexus, stopping him. Under moonlit corridor shadows, she tilted her head up at him.

"The truly self-absorbed don't teach others."

"..."

"As Head Magic Advisor, Kochella spent decades surrounded by disciples who mostly got exploited or stagnated. She never intended proper teaching."

Rozelyn had observed Gremfort's power players walking divergent paths.

"That old mage looks only upward. But rulers... must look downward too."

"..."

"You feign indifference, yet rush to aid close associates in crisis. I know you were present during House Duplein and Belmierd's troubles too. Once someone earns your trust, you never discard them lightly."

An empress'intelligence network revealed Derek's entire history.

"Playing the cold egoist keeps others wary and compliant."

"..."

"Did you think such posturing would work on an empress? How insulting."

Rozelyn smirked and opened her office door—where a visitor already waited.

Despite the midnight hour, the elderly mage in crimson-edged robes smiled serenely by the moonlit window.

"Come to kill me, Kochella?"

Rozelyn's half-joking question drew a gentle headshake from Kochella, her demeanor unusually tranquil.

The imperial office's vaulted ceiling framed a starry sky through arched windows. The full moon shone brightly, outshone only by the vivid Big Dipper above.

Beneath those stars, the empire's greatest mage gazed upward.

History brims with star-chasers.

To rise above them requires abandoning everything. Talent alone can't reach those heights—only ruthless sacrifice determines who prevails.

Kochella sacrificed much for 6-Star mastery—family, love, health—living like an ascetic. Even then, she kept striving higher.

She believed:

Life is fleeting; death equalizes all.

Thus meaning lies in striving itself.

Magic is the noblest pursuit; dedicating one's life to it, the purest existence.

-'To reach this mountain's peak requires abandoning much.'

Her first mentor's words echoed from memory.

History records little about Kochella's teacher—only her prodigious talent.

But she remembers:

A dungeon-like laboratory where her mentor, wreathed in magic, told young Kochella:

-'As you discard things one by one... you'll eventually wonder: What's left to sacrifice?'

-'When that comes—are you prepared to abandon absolutely anything for magic's sake?'

Watching her mentor's back at the research desk, young Kochella nodded.

If I could touch those stars—grasp the Big Dipper itself—

I would discard everything I possess.

-'Then look upward.'

That memory surfaced as she gazed at the stars.

True to her word, Kochella sacrificed everything to climb.

Even House Elvester's destruction pleased her more than grieving.

Kochella the Researcher.

Having sought only truth for decades, she now looked down at Empress Rozelyn from the windowsill with uncharacteristic serenity.

Behind her, guards lay gasping on the floor—overwhelmed by magic too swift to perceive.

"Count Ravenclaw's influence runs deep. Both Chairman Damon and Empress Rozelyn covet you desperately."

"..."

"Yet from my perspective... what a waste. Clinging to worldly bonds instead of reaching for the stars."

Kochella's lips curved.

Though always smiling slyly, her moonlit expression now held childlike transparency—rarely showing her inner fanaticism so clearly.

"Those heaven-touched should always look upward."

Kochella lamented Derek's squandered genius.

In all her years, he alone showed potential for Adelbert's Seventh Realm—Time Magic.

Fate granted him this destiny.

A chance to challenge magic's pinnacle.

Yet he clung to human connections, distracted by teaching and leading.

Possessing transcendent potential while neglecting it—focusing instead on lifting others—was, to Kochella's values, an unforgivable sin.

Thus she said:

"With such gifts, I'd never waste them so."

Smiling, Kochella leapt down from the windowsill, magic cushioning her landing. Her next words came softly:

"Your Majesty misunderstands. I didn't come to kill you."

"What?"

"...I came to say something important."

With that, Kochella swept aside her robe—revealing a magic-imbued dagger embedded in her chest.

Derek and Rozelyn's eyes widened.

Now fully visible, Kochella's face glistened with sweat as she endured agony.

- Plip, plop

Raindrops began falling.

In Gremfort Palace's storm-looming night, an old mage emerged from a secret passage in the outer walls.

"Hack... wheeze..."

Chairman Damon, barely escaped from his quarters, clutched his bleeding arm while rising unsteadily.

Brushing off the increasing rain, he glanced back where a woman sealed the passage behind them.

Marilyn—regicide, 6-Star Confusion Mage, and summoned entity bound by Kochella's artifacts—could still wield 5-Star magic despite her restraints.

"Guh... even for me... this is taxing..."

"Kochella won't give up. Having shown her fangs, she'll see this through."

Kochella had recruited Marilyn by offering freedom in exchange for aiding her 7-Star ambitions—a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Yet Marilyn betrayed her, helping Damon escape instead.

"I always said—to survive, stay hidden in the shadows. Age has made me careless..."

Never reveal yourself fully.

To endure this political arena, never show all your cards.

Damon, who lived by this creed, now played his final hand openly.

"Let's go, Marilyn."

"Yes."

He was the summoning magic mastermind behind Emperor Gertrel's assassination.

Supported by Marilyn, Damon staggered through the rain toward the outer walls as Gremfort Palace's conspiratorial night deepened—with dawn still distant.

Tonight, many things would be decided.