The packed crowd split to either side, opening a passage a little over two meters wide.

Professor Moses walked in front; behind her Vina, held aloft and pushed forward by Wind Magic, drifted helplessly. No matter how she struggled she couldn’t break an advanced spell’s restraint.

Luo Wei and Amy stepped aside, watching Professor Moses guide Vina past them toward Rose Castle.

As they drew level, Vina suddenly spotted Luo Wei in the crowd; her swollen, reddened eyes widened.

“Wait!” she shouted urgently. “Put me down—wait, Professor Moses!”

Professor Moses remained unmoved—no glance back, no pause.

Vina pleaded in panic, “Let me down! I’ll walk on my own! I won’t go out, I swear it!”

Professor Moses hesitated, then finally turned. “How do I know you won’t use the chance to run?”

Tear-stricken, Vina begged, “Please, Professor. I don’t want to stay in that dorm room. Don’t lock me in there. Let me go—I won’t run again, Professor Moses, please!”

Soft-hearted in the end, Professor Moses relented. “Fine—I can put you down.”

But she set a condition. “For your safety I’ll place a Binding Spell on you. You cannot leave the academy.”

Vina nodded rapidly. “Don’t worry. I absolutely won’t leave. I’ve thought it through.”

“Very well.”

Professor Moses lifted her wand, sent a Binding Spell onto Vina, then dispelled the Wind Bind.

Freed, Vina wept with relief. “Thank you, Professor—thank you…”

Professor Moses gave her a worried look, lowered her wand, and turned away.

The surrounding students gradually dispersed; the blocked academy gate finally cleared. Luo Wei withdrew her gaze and lifted a foot to step outside campus.

“Luo Wei!”

A hoarse voice rasped behind her. Luo Wei turned to see Vina hurrying up.

“Don’t go, Luo Wei—I need to talk to you!”

Luo Wei frowned and quickened her pace.

She didn’t have to guess what Vina wanted. She had no desire to invite trouble.

Yet Vina, drawing on some hidden reserve, sprinted forward and clamped onto Luo Wei’s sleeve like a drowning person clutching a straw.

“Let go.”

One step from the gate, Luo Wei pried her fingers off.

“Luo Wei!” Vina panted, breath ragged. “I know Escore Dessert Shop is yours. If you walk away I’ll—”

“Say whatever you like,” Luo Wei cut in. “It’s nothing shameful. I don’t care.”

“Then the mulberry orchard?” Vina rattled off in a volley. “You have an estate outside the city. You’re secretly raising Magic Silkworms. I heard it from your workers when I went out of the city!”

Luo Wei’s eyes narrowed. “Which worker?”

“I won’t tell you. If I did you’d ‘handle’ them,” Vina said stubbornly, staring her down. “Unless you listen to me first.”

Luo Wei held a dangerous look on her for two seconds. “Fine. What do you want?”

Vina drew a deep breath. “Let’s talk in that grove. Too many people here.”

A few minutes later they were in the small grove on the square’s east side.

Luo Wei leaned against a plane tree, voice cold. “Talk. No one’s here.”

Vina bit her lip, then committed. “My father holds nine thousand acres. He promised when I came of age he’d give me a castle and eight hundred acres of farmland. That farmland is much better than the land outside Siria.”

Luo Wei straightened. “So?”

“I know on the Misty Plains you’re a royal princess—you must have wide fiefs there. But now you’re on the Western Continent; local lords won’t hand land to outsiders.”

“If you help me save my father, I’ll give you my fief and castle.”

She finished and watched nervously.

“I thought you were about to say something meaningful. Turns out you want to trade a few plots for your father’s rescue,” Luo Wei said lazily, leaning back again. “What would I do with that much land?”

Vina grew anxious. “You could raise Magic Silkworms—raise any magical beasts. No taxes to a city lord, no land rent—you could do anything!”

“The offer sounds pretty,” Luo Wei said carelessly, “but can you even authorize it?”

In this era even noblewomen with land couldn’t freely dispose of it; a guardian oversaw their property.

If Vina’s family held its fief, her guardian would be her father—or the brother who inherited the title.

If her father, brothers, uncles all fell, another lord would become guardian—free to arrange her marriage and control her assets. Her “gift” would mean nothing.

Besides, Gore City has already fallen to the enemy. ‘Your’ land?

It’s no longer yours.

Pressed, Vina scrambled to assert herself. “I can decide! My father loves me—I’m his only daughter!”

Luo Wei sighed at the lack of comprehension. “You didn’t grasp my point. If your father can’t hold the fief, your promise is worthless.”

“Even if he holds it—what if he dies of his wounds?”

“You may be his only daughter, but if he dies the title passes to your uncle or male cousin. Would they let you hand land to an outsider?”

“I—I…” Vina’s lips trembled; bewildered helplessness washed over her face.

“I sympathize,” Luo Wei said, smoothing the crease her sleeve had taken. “But listening to you has already wasted enough of my time. I’m leaving.”

“Oh—if you want to use Magic Silkworms to threaten me, suit yourself. I welcome you to bring people to inspect my estate.”

Mages raising magical pets was common. She just raised more than most. Problem?

As long as she didn’t release them to hurt anyone, even the Church had nothing to say. Besides, Vina’s so‑called “Magic Silkworms” did little besides spin silk—they didn’t even have biting mouthparts.

Shallow green grass brushed over her shoe tops as Luo Wei lifted her skirt and walked unhurriedly toward the grove’s western edge.

A dozen meters on, Vina’s voice rang out again.

“Wait!”

Vina shouted after her retreating back, “If land’s not enough—what about a mine?”

“A Magic Stone Vein. It’s my family’s private property. Only each head of house and the heir know. My father passed the vein map to me!”

Luo Wei’s steps slowed. At the last sentence she stopped. “What kind of Magic Stones?”

“Everything except Light-element Magic Stones!”

Luo Wei turned. “On your father’s lands?”

“Yes,” Vina nodded, jogging up. “Those veins have existed two thousand years. The ancestor who found them laid a powerful Concealment Array over them—only his bloodline descendants can enter.”

“If you save my father, I’ll give you the location—and the method to enter!”

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