What Count Wesley could think of, Luo Wei naturally thought of too.

  Though she still wore the disguise of "Misty Plains Princess," a foreign princess had no real authority here.

  To put it bluntly, a phoenix in distress is worse than a chicken. Her status here was lower than an unfavored noble lady's.

  If she had a chance of returning to the Misty Plains and connecting the two continents, people might respect her for her future power.

  But if her chances of returning were slim, her position in the Western Continent would be awkward.

  What kind of princess had no territory?

  Everyone would think that.

  She did have Demon Island, but did she dare announce she was the island's master?

  No way.

  In that case, her best outcome would be accepting the Church's recruitment and becoming a female bishop like Professor Tobias, or joining the Magic Association, choosing a faction to support her while providing them protection.

  Count Wesley had indeed thought things through carefully. He saw her current difficult situation and, considering she'd helped them, offered her the best solution.

  Even his biological daughter, Vina Wesley, only had eight hundred acres of farmland, yet he offered her nine hundred acres.

  What did nine hundred acres mean?

  About 5,400 Chinese mu, or 3.64 million square meters—around 3.6 square kilometers. Didn't sound huge, but this was farmland—fertile land that produced grain.

  In the Western Continent, where some countries were smaller than Chinese county towns, nine hundred acres was enough to make her an independent queen.

  The price was that she'd likely have to support Vina, that useless fool, as a vassal. Even Count Wesley, Vina's biological father, chose to let her fend for herself—the difficulty was obvious.

  So Luo Wei didn't hesitate to refuse Count Wesley's proposal and suggested her own idea.

  "Count, you know how to repay kindness, but I can't take advantage of your goodness. Land is a family's foundation—please take back this gift."

  "If you truly want to repay me, just give me a map of the magic stone mines. Also, I have another request—I hope you'll allow my steward to rent some of your land for a small business."

  Her main reason for refusing the land wasn't Vina, but that she didn't want to become a vassal—even a potential future vassal with only fifty-fifty odds.

  Just accepting that gift would put her one rank below Count Wesley. She didn't want to live at someone else's mercy.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Count Wesley hadn't expected Luo Wei to refuse, but thinking it over, he realized it made perfect sense.

  A woman as noble and powerful as Luo Wei wouldn't put herself in a position of receiving charity. His goodwill was actually an insult to her.

  She was proud, confident, and an ambitious politician with wisdom, ability, and skill. She would never bow to difficulties because she was confident she could overcome anything.

  Count Wesley felt ashamed of his shallowness and admired this princess's noble character.

  "Please forgive me, Your Highness. My presumption has offended you," he sincerely apologized to Luo Wei and promised, "When I return, I'll send you both the mine map and the farmland map."

  "You can select the fields you like on the farmland map, mark them, and send it back. Then I'll write you a lease contract."

  He'd wanted to say he'd rent it to Luo Wei for free, but feared that would tarnish her noble character, so he regretfully swallowed those words.

  If Luo Wei knew what she'd missed, she'd probably clutch her chest in regret for a while.

  Fortunately, they reached an agreement on this matter. The dinner had achieved its purpose, and they could finally enjoy the food on the table.

  After talking so long, the black pepper steak on their plates had cooled down, but since it had only come out of the kitchen seconds before being served, the temperature was now perfect—not too hot, not too cold, ideal for chewing and swallowing.

  While eating, Luo Wei pondered the problem. Count Wesley said only a Grand Archmage could open the mine's magic array. Her dark elf followers in the Misty Plains had lived over a thousand years—might they have reached Grand Archmage level?

  She now had two methods to draw a teleportation array to the Misty Plains.

  The first method was to quickly piece together the academy's magic array, bleed a few more times, and once her magical power increased, borrow that chest of magic stones Count Wesley mentioned. That should be enough for one long-distance teleportation array.

  This method might not work—it depended on whether Count Wesley sent enough magic stones.

  The second method was finding a magic array master who could keep secrets to help her draw the teleportation array. The best candidate was Zachary. Though not a magic array master, Professor Temple had said Minos Family Mystical Smiths all knew how to draw Magic Runes.

  This method had major drawbacks. After Zachary learned her teleportation runes, he might secretly go to the Misty Plains, discover the truth that no one was there, and expose her lies.

  Luo Wei decided to try the first method first, then the second if it didn't work.

  Small goal: Before this semester ends, open a spatial passage to the Misty Plains!

  One month left. She needed to speed things up.

  After dinner, Luo Wei, eager for that chest of magic stones, had Troy send Count Wesley back and bring back what she wanted.

  Count Wesley had come in such a hurry today he hadn't even changed his armor. Plus, he hadn't slept in several nights and was exhausted, so he didn't stand on ceremony with Luo Wei and climbed directly onto the Griffin's back.

  Vina waved tearfully. "Goodbye, Father! Please rest well when you get back. I'll come see you during break!"

  Only now did Count Wesley show a bit of fatherly affection, instructing Vina: "Take care of yourself at the academy. Eat well, dress well. You're my only daughter—I'm not afraid of you spending all the family fortune. If you need money, write me and I'll have a carriage bring it over."

  "If anyone bullies you, dear daughter, write down their name and Father will get revenge for you!"

  "That bastard from the Mansfield family dared to let you down—once I finish handling city affairs, he'll never walk again in his life!"

  "Sob sob sob I know, Father! You take care of yourself too!" Vina cried into her handkerchief. She didn't dare tell her father that only Luo Wei dared bully her at the academy.

  Everyone knew Count Wesley was protective of his daughter. Basically no one at the academy dared bully her.

  Even someone as nasty as Axina didn't dare openly attack her. Her ex-fiancé Egbert had only pushed her once. Only Luo Wei—she dared grab her by the throat!

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