Chapter 2

Gone were the days when one’s rank guaranteed riches. Sick and tired of suffering constant discrimination, wealthy commoners and lower-ranking aristocrats had boldly broken away from the Norfolk Continent and founded their own nation on new territory: The Republic of Faulder.

The Republic was a milestone signifying the collapse of a stringent class-based system. In less than a century, it had seen staggering growth. It had now reached a level where even the most powerful nation in Norfolk, the Herod Kingdom, could no longer turn a blind eye.

The former king of Herod had chosen to maintain diplomatic relations with Faulder. As a token of their alliance, he had constructed the campus of Herolington University—Herod’s prestigious cradle of academia—on Faulder territory.

While Noah was on his way to the royal palace, a woman was sitting in a meeting room of a hotel on the edge of Faulder’s capital. Her name was Olivia Liberty. Her cotton blouse and simple skirt looked out of place in this exclusive hotel that catered only to the most esteemed of guests. If not for today’s appointment, Olivia would have never stepped foot in such a place.

Seated on a large velvet sofa, she took several gulps of water to quench her thirst as she carefully considered what she’d say. As her waiter refilled her glass for a second time...

“Olivia.” She heard a deep voice as a dark shadow fell over her head.

Looking up, her eyes landed on a dashing young man—Ansen Wilhelm, head of the Wilhelm Company and one of the world’s wealthiest men thanks to his groundbreaking invention of the Magic Dome.

“Ansen.”

Olivia made to get up, but the man stopped her with a smile. “You stay put. No need to stand for me.”

The waiter pulled out a chair for him. He sat, took off his gloves, and then quickly scanned Olivia up and down. Her cobalt blue hairband, voluminous black hair, fair and round forehead, pointed nose, and full lips—everything about her appearance radiated grace.

In her white short-sleeved blouse and blue flared skirt, she looked like she’d stepped straight out of a painting. It was clear why papers in places as far away as Herod had been raving about her for several days straight.

With a warm smile, Ansen pointed at her glass of water. “I thought you liked iced coffee. Why didn’t you order some?” He turned to the waiter beside them. “Two coffees, one iced and one hot.”

“Yes, sir. Just a moment, please.”

Once the waiter left, Olivia unabashedly stared into the man’s brown eyes. Beneath her placid expression was a quiet discomfort, like she was sitting on a cold lump of rock. This was the pair’s first meeting since Olivia Liberty, the hidden mastermind behind the success of the Wilhelm Company, had declared she no longer wished to remain hidden in the dark.

A stifling and uncomfortable silence hung in the air. Ansen quietly met her gaze, his composed face as stiff as a wooden mask.

Finally, it was Olivia who could no longer stand the silence. “So, is it a no?”

Ansen nodded, frowning apologetically. “I’m afraid it is.” The rejection was quite straightforward. “Olivia, there isn’t a single woman working for the company, let alone on the research team. Joining us would only be hard on you. Let’s just keep our system as it is—you give me the blueprints, and I’ll review them and pay you accordingly. It’s no different from what you’d do as an employee anyway.”

The waiter returned to serve them their drinks. Olivia stared down at the black coffee and crystalline ice cubes floating in the porcelain cup. She then raised her gaze to Ansen, her eyes darker than the coffee in front of her. “It is different, Ansen. You can’t possibly say it’s the same.”

Ansen didn’t respond.

“I designed the Magic Dome,” Olivia continued. “But everyone credits some man named ‘Oliver.’ When I said I wanted to join the company, I meant that I wanted to come out of hiding.”

“You do get the credit. I gave you co-ownership of the patent, it was just under the name ‘Oliver.’”

“Don’t act like you did me a favor. I have every right to own that patent outright.”

Ansen’s expression hardened as he leaned back in his chair. “Have you forgotten the risk I took for you? You know the patent office in Faulder doesn’t recognize women. If word ever gets out that a woman designed the Magic Dome—which is a military facility, I might add—sales are going to plummet. We only sell as much as we do because people believe I’m the designer.”

Olivia felt like she was trapped in a thick fog. It was suffocating, and she couldn’t breathe.

As the only female student at the university, she had suffered all forms of discrimination. She’d consoled herself with the belief that things would get better after graduation, but discrimination outside of school walls turned out to be far more refined yet uncompromising. On top of that, she now had her income to worry about.

“This is because you graduated and you’re no longer receiving a scholarship, isn’t it?” Ansen asked, his voice filled with tenderness.

Olivia’s breath caught in her throat.

“I did think there had to be a reason you suddenly wanted to be an official researcher,” he added. But a product released by a company with a woman as their head engineer... Even in a nation where class was less important, it was a step too far.

Ansen subtly shook his head. He pushed a thick envelope across the table, his eyes crinkling in a smile.

Olivia held her breath as her eyes fell on the envelope. Her fists were white as a sheet and trembling as she clenched them above her lap.

As she glared down at the envelope, Ansen sweetly whispered, “Let’s keep things the way they are, shall we? I’ll make sure your living expenses are taken care of.”

Olivia could detect the truth hidden behind his words: So don’t cause any trouble and just stay hidden behind the name “Oliver.” Just how easy did he find it to throw away his shame and make such a suggestion?

“‘Living expenses?’” she said, slowly raising her head. She tried her best to look firm and intimidating, but she knew that Ansen only viewed her as fragile. Nevertheless, she put aside her shaking and steeled herself to spit out the words she’d come to say. “Those are profits I’m rightfully entitled to, not living expenses you pay out of pity.”

She quickly opened the envelope and counted the bills, then stuffed the exact amount she was owed into her bag. She pushed the rest back to Ansen. How was it that after all these unbelievably humiliating experiences, she couldn’t stop herself from feeling hurt?

“Now that I have your answer, I think I’ll be on my way.” She rose to her feet as calmly as she could manage, then turned and headed for the door. Her bag felt unusually heavy. The money must be laden with contempt, she thought.

She couldn’t even remember which way she’d left the meeting room. She strode past the majestic door and was aimlessly walking down the hallway when she heard a woman call her name. “Miss Liberty?”

She stopped in her tracks, breaking out in a cold sweat. Whipping her head around in alarm, she saw she was being approached by a middle-aged woman who bore a striking resemblance to Ansen.

“Hello, Madam Wilhelm,” Olivia greeted her.

Ansen’s mother slowly swept her gaze over the young lady. She arched an eyebrow, musing that Olivia seemed to be getting more beautiful by the day. She checked their surroundings to make sure the hallway was deserted, then said, “I must say, I don’t like that we keep running into one another.”

Olivia was too exhausted to muster a reply.

“Oh dear, was that too vague? Let me be a little clearer. I didn’t want to say it like this, but do listen closely.” Madam Wilhelm enunciated every syllable, her expression frighteningly stony. “It’s not right for a young lady to be seen going in and out of hotels. If my own daughter was caught meeting a man alone at a hotel, she’d never get away with it.”

Olivia’s face turned pale. “I’m only here to discuss a matter with your son. The meeting room at this hotel is used mainly for business deals.”

“What matters could you and my son possibly have to discuss?” the older woman hissed. Her eyes glittered coldly. “Go ask anyone on the street. Whether you came to discuss business, or whether you were trying to seduce the head of the Wilhelm—”

“Mother?”

In the blink of an eye, Madam Wilhelm’s contorted features went soft. “Oh, Ansen, my son.”

Olivia took a step back. “Well, Madam Wilhelm, you can ask your son whether or not we were discussing business.” Before the noblewoman could snap back, she turned to Ansen. “Next time, don’t ask that we meet at a hotel. I’ve heard it gives people the wrong impression. Although... I suppose there won’t be any reason for us to meet again. Goodbye.”

“How dare you!” Madam Wilhelm shrieked.

Ignoring her, Olivia turned away. Her legs wobbled uncontrollably, but she couldn’t stumble now—not in front of these two.

“Spiteful girl,” Madam Wilhelm muttered nastily, glowering at the spot where Olivia had stood just a moment before. It was already insulting enough that a poor commoner had graduated from Herolington University, an elite school for aristocrats—the only possible explanation for such a thing was the girl being spiteful and stubborn.

Madam Wilhelm hated that such a lowborn and ill-tempered girl would hang around her son, but what she disapproved of even more was Ansen’s behavior. The look in his eye, his tone of voice, and each one of his small gestures made it clear that he had a soft spot for Olivia. She couldn’t exactly pinpoint why or how, but it was simply her maternal instinct that told her so.

“Ansen, if you want to expand your business, you can’t get involved with trifling girls like her,” she warned him. She reached for his hand and squeezed it. “Faulder may be a republic, but a class system still exists. The aristocrats are the people who hold all the power in politics and finance. You mustn’t forget that.”

Ansen wondered what expression his mother would make if she learned that the core of his business, the Magic Dome, was all the work of that “trifling girl.” She probably wouldn’t think much of it and simply respond with a comment like, “Don’t be silly.”

Chuckling to himself, Ansen nodded. “You’re fretting over nothing, Mother. Let’s go.”

As he escorted her down the hallway, his gaze naturally trailed out the window. Outside, he saw Olivia boarding a carriage. Olivia Liberty—the beautiful but unfortunate genius.

* * *

Inside the dimly lit carriage, Olivia tried with all her might to put Madam Wilhelm’s verbal attack out of her mind. Her hands trembled as she tightly clutched her bag, but she swallowed her grief, knowing she had nobody to share it with.

Olivia was an orphan with no money to her name, meaning that she was left high and dry without a comfortable support system. Most of the time she could forget that fact and steadily progress through life, but on days like this she found it absolutely heart-wrenching.

She stared vacantly out the window for a while before pulling an old notebook from her bag. She opened it to the first page where she’d drawn the sketches for the first Magic Dome prototype. For a fleeting moment, she was transported to the past, back to when she and a young Ansen would put their heads together in deep discussion as they pored over this very notebook.

“Attacking monsters using the gravitational pull of mana? Then mages wouldn’t have to take them out one by one like they do now!”

“Exactly. One mage’s mana will be enough to take down scores of monsters. I’ve come up with a name for it already.”

“What is it?”

Ansen’s had gleamed as he leaned over the notebook. Olivia flashed him a meaningful smile.

“The Magic Dome.”

Her eyes stung with tears. “Don’t cry,” she told herself. “You can’t cry.” But she couldn’t help it. She burst into silent sobs, a fistful of crumpled money sitting on her lap.