The night of the Empire Capital dresses itself up even more lavishly than the day.
Inside the Duke of White Wolf’s residence, a light, pleasant fragrance filled the air, and the lights were ablaze.
Joen stood before a full-length mirror, calmly and routinely examining his attire.
He had changed into that meticulously designed deep black velvet formal suit.
The cuffs and collar edges were embroidered with intricate wolf-head crests in silver thread, and the proud wolf eyes, inlaid with yellow gemstones, refracted a cold and noble luster under the lamplight.
Truly worthy of an imperial gift.
Even Joen, a “luxury goods idiot,” could sense the vast sums of Gold Kuron wasted in every stitch and thread.
The tight cut outlined his perfect physique of broad shoulders and a narrow waist.
The high, stiff stand-up collar, while making his demeanor appear even more imposing and formidable, also constricted his breathing somewhat.
Joen raised his hand, tugging somewhat uncomfortably at the collar, then helplessly let it drop again.
These past few days of running around the Empire Capital, while dull and tedious, had also been quite an experience.
For the first time, he felt so clearly those unwritten “unspoken rules”—for example, “judge the clothes before the person.”
If one’s attire was slightly lacking, forget encountering disdainful looks or cold shoulders; some places would simply kick people out without even hearing a word.
In this labyrinth constructed of money and power, clothes seemed no longer just fabric for modesty and warmth, but a pass, a face, a strict symbol dividing “those worth speaking to” from “the untouchables.”
Joen had never imagined before that there could be a place in the world with such a stark divide between rich and poor, one that treated this divide as entirely natural.
“Ah…”
Joen let out a soft sigh, a flicker of confusion and helplessness passing through his eyes.
After all, he couldn’t change other people’s perspectives; he could only conform to the rules first.
Tonight, he was going to meet the Second Prince and two Imperial Ministers.
If they felt he wasn’t showing enough respect and offended them, the path to disaster relief would likely become even more difficult.
Anyway, he had never cared much about “what to wear.”
Having tidied himself up, Joen turned to look at Liya on the dressing table.
“Lily, are you ready too?”
Tonight, even “Lily” had been forcibly dragged up and meticulously dressed up.
She wore a newly bought miniature princess dress, its layers of lace like blooming rose petals.
A satin bow was tied at her waist, and she wore an exquisite jeweled tiara on her head—she looked exactly like some family’s adorable young lady.
Except, the usually lively and active girl was now completely wilted.
She lay sprawled on a soft cushion, her little face, the color of rice flour, showing exhaustion, her eyes unfocused as if her soul had long since departed.
“Lily?”
Joen picked her up, heart aching, and rubbed her head guiltily.
“Have I been too busy these past couple of days, not playing with you properly? Are you unhappy?”
Liya raised her eyelids miserably, not even having the energy to retort.
She was just too tired, almost completely burnt out.
Several consecutive days of high-intensity, immersive work had nearly squeezed the “corporate drone essence” out of her, a dignified Demon Lord.
The expanded command chain was just a minor issue.
After all, the “Queen Pupu” post-【Link】was equivalent to an extension of her own body, as easy to command as her own limbs; leaving it to instinct was fine.
The real key was research and development.
The Pu Town Steel Mill, far away a thousand miles, was in the most critical stage of production line construction.
Every detail had to be completed by her independently.
For many parts where she lacked understanding of modern processes or where current material science couldn’t meet the requirements, she could only think of every possible way to fill the gaps with magic and force her way through.
The refractory layer of the heat-insulating magic converter furnace wasn’t strong enough?
Reinforce it!
Double it!
Bring out every improvement she could remember from her memories.
The transmission shaft precision was too poor? Use linked Rock Pupus to forcibly calibrate it!
Every component, every rune circuit, was madly consuming her brain cells.
Liya felt her little pink brain was currently emitting black smoke, her CPU about to burn out.
She even hallucinated the smell of something burning.
But thankfully… that pieced-together, fantastically abstract, bug-upon-bug “Pupu Power Assembly Line” had finally completed its final closed-loop test just moments ago.
Although the failure rate was still… touching, at least it could function normally now.
The rest was about continuously refining the equipment details, lowering the failure rate to an acceptable level, and then putting it into production.
‘Goodness, I’m exhausted. Need to get a few research workhorses out to do the work for me.’
The first method Liya thought of was using enhanced 【Bestowal】 and 【Enlightenment】 on the Pupus, then imparting her own knowledge to them, letting them be apprentices.
But while feasible in the short term, in the long run… it would probably still require “teaching.”
Copying her existing knowledge would, at most, create another her, replicating the legacy of civilization she brought from her previous life alongside her.
To innovate, to go further, required the fierce collision of different viewpoints, picking up sparks of inspiration.
“Lily? Lily?”
While she was pondering, Joen shook her again.
“Mmm… n-no… I’m fine…”
Liya hummed weakly twice, then slumped into Joen’s palm like a puddle of melted strawberry ice cream.
“So tired… friend, quick, give me a massage… my kidneys…”
“You’re a Pupu. Where do you get kidneys?”
Joen couldn’t help but chuckle and tease, but he still reached out, gently massaging Liya, his fingertips tinged with faint magic power, full of concern.
After finally finishing Liya’s massage, Joen carefully placed her on his left shoulder, letting her lean against his cheek to rest.
The two walked out of the main building.
Beside the garden’s stone path, two maids trimming branches heard the footsteps and hurriedly stopped their work, turning to bow.
“Old Master.”
The maid on the left kept her head very low, her voice respectful and restrained, not even daring to glance at Joen, afraid any action might overstep.
“Brother Joen~”
The maid on the right was much bolder.
She raised her head, her watery eyes curved into two crescents, waves of emotion swirling within them, filled with tender affection.
Her posture was actually rather flippant for a maid, both playful and charming, her voice as if just fished out of a honey jar.
Joen’s steps paused slightly, his brows furrowing almost imperceptibly.
He had actually emphasized many times these past few days not to call him “Old Master.”
He wasn’t used to it; they could treat each other as equals, even using his commoner background to bridge the distance.
But the result—
Most people were still like the maid on the left, treating him with reverence and awe as if separated by a thick barrier.
The minority who changed their address, however, were like the one on the right, their eyes always hiding attitudes that made him uncomfortable.
“Good evening.”
Joen ultimately just nodded politely, not correcting the address again, and quickly walked through the garden and out the main gate.
“Ah…” Joen sighed, unable to understand why it had turned out this way.
Liya, lying on his shoulder, saw through it all clearly.
She half-opened her eyes, glanced at Joen’s troubled brow, and felt amused inwardly.
Joen was oversimplifying things.
For these maids who had finally found a generous and benevolent master’s household, there really was no safer address than “Old Master.”
They weren’t foolish.
Regardless of how difficult it was for them to discern whether Joen’s statement about “treating each other as equals” was mere politeness or serious.
Even if it wasn’t politeness, people could change—what if one day the Duke Old Master felt their attitude wasn’t respectful enough?
Calling him “Old Master” would never be wrong.
If Joen was a kind and benevolent person, he definitely wouldn’t get angry over such a small matter.
But if Joen was a hypocrite… well, “I told you to be casual, and you really dared to be casual?”
As for those few girls who happily changed their address, they weren’t unaware of this point.
They had simply misunderstood their relationship with Joen, thinking Joen had taken a liking to them, fantasizing they could get closer this way.
Today it’s ‘brother,’ tomorrow it’s ‘darling brother,’ the day after it’s ‘daddy’…
The Maid’s Promotion Diaries, now serializing, heh.
Poor girls, you simply don’t understand how dense this guy is.
Instead of putting effort into this blockhead, you’d be better off getting a “Century Matchmaking” membership card.
Liya muttered a few lines in her heart, shifted to a more comfortable position, and continued snuggling against Joen’s ear, feigning sleep to rest.
She didn’t know… her soft, delicate, slightly humming breaths were currently drifting into Joen’s mind, tickling his heart.
Joen unconsciously recalled the lovely, slender figures of the two maids from earlier, and their pure, enticing white stockings.
Then, the image changed to Lily.
Lily, wearing only white stockings, kneeling between his legs, looking over with innocent, pure eyes, as bright and pure as spring snow—”Friend~ it’s hot~”
“Hoo…”
Joen took a deep breath, quickly cutting off the power to his fantasy’s big screen.
A slight warmth stirred in his abdomen as he tried to quell those embarrassing desires.
“Sin, sin,” he chanted silently in his heart.
—
Meanwhile, the Second Prince’s residence was brightly lit, as bright as day, the quiet night lending a touch of allure to the window scenes.
The banquet hadn’t officially started yet, but many guests had already arrived early.
Among them was the Holy Maiden Yuna.
Tonight’s Yuna was exceptionally, dazzlingly beautiful.