Roxy snapped out of her daze as Anastasia waved a delicate hand in front of her face.

  A deep blush crept up Roxy’s cheeks as she realized she had been staring.

  She stammered, her usual composure crumbling for a brief moment—

  "Y-Yes, ma’am!"

  The moment the words left her lips, she immediately regretted it.

  A child.

  She had just addressed a child with the same formal deference she would use for a noble matron.

  Anastasia, however, merely tilted her head in amusement.

  "It seems our guest is affected by the weather," she remarked, her golden eyes gleaming with quiet mirth as she gauged Roxy with mild curiosity.

  Then, with effortless grace, she turned to the red-haired woman.

  "My dear Lilia, we should serve her tea."

  Lilia nodded, immediately moving to prepare it.

  Roxy opened her mouth to protest, but—

  The weight of Anastasia’s presence made her hesitate.

  Her poise.Her elegance.Her command over the situation.

  Despite her young age, Anastasia exuded the aura of someone far above the ordinary.

  Unable to resist the sheer force of her aristocratic bearing, Roxy simply sighed and nodded.

  "If it’s not presumptuous of me to ask..."

  Anastasia’s voice was silky smooth as she led Roxy toward the dining room.

  "Where did you study, Miss Magician?"

  Roxy straightened her posture, pushing aside her flustered state as they entered the tastefully decorated room.

  "I studied at Ranoa Magic Academy, Young Lady."

  She hesitated for a fraction of a second, carefully choosing the right form of address.

  She had no idea what rank or status Anastasia held, but treating her as a noble seemed like the safest option.

  As Roxy took her seat, Anastasia’s lips curled into a knowing smile.

  "Ranoa Magic Academy, hmm? So, Central Continent..."

  She tapped her fingers lightly against the table, her expression cool yet intrigued.

  "It seems you are not a normal graduate either."

  Anastasia gestured for Roxy to sit as well, her posture fwless.

  Then, just as Lilia set down the tea, Anastasia’s golden gaze locked onto Roxy’s.

  "Let me guess... Saint Rank?"

  Roxy stiffened.

  Anastasia leaned forward slightly, her tone calm yet impossibly sharp.

  "And you specialize in a rather saturated magic—that would be...Water, correct?"

  A shiver ran down Roxy’s spine.

  Her fingers curled slightly, her mind racing.

  How?

  How had this child, someone who had never met her before, managed to read her like an open book in mere moments?

  There was no logical reason for her to know this.

  And yet—

  Sitting across from Anastasia, under her steady golden gaze, Roxy couldn’t help but feel an inexplicable dread crawl up her spine.

  Anastasia chuckled softly, her golden locks shimmering under the light.

  Then, with an air of amusement, she spoke—

  "Your hair is blue."

  Roxy blinked, momentarily caught off guard.

  "And when someone is born, their hair color often indicates their affinity for elements," Anastasia continued smoothly, tapping a delicate finger against the table.

  "Which means water is your strong suit."

  Roxy’s lips parted slightly, but Anastasia wasn’t finished.

  "Moreover, one cannot easily leave the academy unless their term is finished or they possess a sufficient rank—which, in this case, means Saint Rank or above."

  The logic was undeniable.

  Roxy found herself unconsciously gripping her teacup tighter as Anastasia calmly dissected her background with unsettling precision.

  "And of course," Anastasia tilted her head, a knowing smile pying at her lips, "you might argue that hair color isn’t a definitive indication of elemental affinity."

  Roxy nodded slightly, about to interject—

  But Anastasia raised a slender hand, silencing her without a word.

  "That’s true."

  Her golden gaze gleamed.

  "However—"

  "If a Saint-ranked mage struggles to find a job in the city, that means the element they wield isn’t in high demand... which, in this case, is Water."

  Silence hung in the air as Anastasia took a delicate sip of her tea.

  Roxy, meanwhile, sat there completely still.

  She was—

  Stunned.

  Not just by the accuracy of Anastasia’s deduction—

  But by the sheer ease with which she had arrived at it.

  This wasn’t a child guessing.

  This was someone who knew.

  Who observed.

  Who understood the world around her with terrifying crity.

  And somehow—

  That was more unsettling than anything else.

  Lilia, standing silently to the side, hid a faint smile.

  "It seems the Young Lady was simply testing her," she mused internally.

  "She wanted to know whether this woman had any bad intentions—so she chose to intimidate her, just a little bit."

  Roxy, meanwhile, finally let out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding.

  She forced a small, nervous ugh.

  "Ahaha... Young Lady Anastasia, you are... quite sharp."

  Anastasia simply smiled.

  A small, knowing smile.

  "Why, thank you."

  She took another slow sip of her tea.

  Roxy, for the first time in a long while, felt like she had just lost in a game she didn’t even know she was pying.

  Roxy sipped her tea, allowing the warmth to settle her nerves.

  The pressure that had been bearing down on her moments ago had completely vanished—

  As if it had never been there in the first pce.

  And yet...

  She couldn’t shake the feeling that it had been deliberate.

  "Anyway, you seem harmless and don’t appear to be plotting my family's destruction."

  Anastasia’s casual decration made Roxy nearly choke on her tea.

  "I allow you to work here."

  Just like that.

  As if she were the one making the decision, not her parents.

  Before Roxy could fully process the sheer audacity of those words, Anastasia’s expression shifted completely.

  Gone was the sharp-eyed noble, repced instead by—

  A pouting young dy who turned toward Lilia with an expectant gaze.

  "Lilia, can you add some milk to mine? I don’t like pure tea."

  Lilia sighed quietly, but without hesitation, she reached for the heated milk she had prepared beforehand and poured it into Anastasia’s cup.

  Roxy watched, stunned by the shift in atmosphere.

  Just seconds ago, Anastasia had been a towering force of presence, effortlessly testing, evaluating, and dictating terms to a Saint-ranked magician like it was nothing.

  Now—

  She was acting like a spoiled little princess, entirely unconcerned with the woman she had just made nervous enough to question her own existence.

  "Drink it."

  Anastasia’s voice brought Roxy back to reality.

  "Lilia makes great tea."

  A command. Soft, but undeniable.

  Roxy, for some reason, felt compelled to obey.

  She brought the teacup to her lips and took a small sip.

  …It was, in fact, very good tea.

  Roxy cleared her throat, choosing to focus on something else.

  Lilia, meanwhile, turned to her.

  "Miss, please take a seat. Paul-sama and Zenith-sama are still out."

  Roxy hesitated.

  Paul Greyrat… and his wife.

  If their daughter was already this dominant, then what kind of people were they?!

  Could she even handle such a family?

  Still, refusing now would seem strange.

  She quickly forced a faint smile.

  "It's fine, I can wait."

  She sat down anyway.

  This time, she told herself—

  She could look at Anastasia without being accused of acting like a creep, right?!

  …Right?