The journey from the City of Knowledge was short because the Grace Residence was nearby.

As the vulture approached it, Michelle looked down, her eyes narrowing.

"Father... why is the layout in the central area exactly the same as the layout of the Archduchy in the Land of Exile?" she asked.

That couldn’t have been a coincidence.

Philip Grace glanced down at the residence and shrugged.

"Is it?" he also leaned over the vulture to look down.

"The Archduchy was built over twenty years ago... Your mother arranged things. I don’t remember the details."

Michelle looked over at her father, disbelief evident on her face.

"And in the twenty years you were in the Land of Exile, you didn’t notice that you were walking the same paths as the ones up here?"

Another shrug came in response.

Philip wasn’t the kind of man who paid attention to unnecessary stuff like the layout of his residence.

He only ever paid attention to what was necessary for his plans and such.

That didn’t mean he didn’t notice tiny details when needed, but when he knew he was in a space where he didn’t need to notice things, he just shut off the part of his brain that noticed small things.

Michelle shook her head a bit when she heard that.

"So, in other words, mother paid close attention to make sure the residence was exactly the same as what you were used to, and you didn’t even notice it?" she questioned.

Philip gave it a momentary thought before answering:

"She probably wanted that.

You see, she knew that in new places, it would take me some time to adjust, and I wouldn’t be able to relax. So, your mother probably did it on purpose in a way I wouldn’t notice, so it would be noticed by my subconscious and not my consciousness, so my consciousness didn’t throw things off balance."

Listening to the explanation, Michelle was suddenly curious about the kind of person her mother was.

Her knowledge about the woman was very limited.

She knew that she inherited her appearance from her, that her father married her for love, that she could use bone-beaten weapons (otherwise known as weapons of corruption), and that she died after Thomas Hillberg poisoned her.

But it seemed that the woman had great character.

Well, that only made sense since she was able to make someone like Philip Grace fall in love with her.

Michelle had never met her mother.

She had died shortly after giving birth to Michelle.

So, coming to the Grace Residence, Michelle was curious if she could see something that would tell her more about her mother.

If Michelle remembered correctly, her mother died back in the Land of Exile and was probably even buried there.

But Michelle doubted that because she never saw the grave there.

So maybe Philip arranged for her mother’s body to be transported back to the upper realm.

All that remained in the Land of Exile that could remind her of her mother were the bone-beaten weapons.

Shortly after taking over the body of Michelle Grace, Michelle found out that one of the weapons (a knife) was in the possession of the Crown Prince of the Land of Exile.

After that guy died, Michelle gave the knife to Ivona, because she found out that Ivona could, in fact, wield the bone-beaten weapons.

That knife was also used to cripple Thomas Hillberg’s children.

But Michelle remembered seeing more such weapons in the Archduchy, but as she couldn’t wield them, she never touched them.

The bone-beaten weapons could be wielded by few people, and if anyone else touched them (especially if they got hurt by them), it would cripple their cultivation.

Remembering how they worked, Michelle wondered if more such weapons would be in the Grace Residence into which the vulture was about to start descending.

The curiosity was literally gnawing at Michelle.

But she couldn’t get the answer right away.

After getting off the vulture, Philip called a few servants and maids who would serve Michelle in the future.

Also, he assigned a few people to attend to Michelle’s friends and Alexander.

But Alexander refused being attended to, and Philip understood that.

Well, he thought he understood it.

The logical thing to think in such a situation was that, as the Dark Lord, Alexander just didn’t want any eyes on him.

Naturally, Philip assumed that too (but only because he didn’t bother to think about it too much).

What was really going on was that Alexander was planning to sneak (or straight up move) into Michelle’s room or courtyard.

There, people assigned to attend directly to him would just get in the way.

Michelle guessed Alexander was planning something like that, and for a moment, she wondered if she should just drag him along with her to stay in her courtyard.

Her father had already guessed that there was something between her and Alexander, so there was no point in secrecy.

She was actually very tempted to do it.

While back at the Ostrich Academy, she got used to dragging Alexander along wherever she went since they were trying to stir chaos.

She didn’t want to suddenly have to be secretive about everything.

Giving it a momentary thought, Michelle looked at her father as he was about to leave.

"Father, my courtyard has more rooms, right?" she asked with a tilt of her head.

"Yes, naturally. My daughter’s courtyard could accommodate your whole group of friends if you wished so," Philip answered with a nod.

"Then," Michelle grabbed Alexander by the shoulder and dragged him closer to her,

"you wouldn’t mind if I let Alexander stay in one of the rooms in my courtyard, right?" she asked with a smile.

Philip was already aware of what was going on between Michelle and Alexander, but he wasn’t expecting Michelle to admit it aloud so suddenly.

Because of that, he was a bit surprised and could only force himself to nod instead of saying anything.

After that, Michelle let one of the maids lead her to her courtyard, Alexander walking right behind her.

"Miss, this may be presumptuous of me..." the maid leading them (a woman looking to be in her thirties) started, glancing at Alexander.

"But are you close with this Young Lord?" she asked.

Michelle had no plans on hiding what her relationship was with Alexander.

"You know, I don’t know if it was today or yesterday, but one of the recent days, he actually asked father what he would think if we got married."

Since Alexander went behind her back to ask her father (though Michelle didn’t mind it), she would get back at him by announcing it to the servants.

Alexander didn’t mind in the least, since it basically tied him to Michelle.

He eyed her in front of him, a smile making the corner of his lips crease up.

The maid was fairly surprised to hear that the relationship between Michelle and Alexander was that serious.

Somehow, to her, Michelle didn’t look like someone who would get attached to another seriously enough to consider marriage.

But the woman only pushed her wrong assumption to the fact that she had only just met Michelle.

She was hoping that in the near future, she would be able to get to know the miss of the Grace family.

When, over twenty years ago, Philip Grace and his wife went down to the Land of Exile, there was no information that the Lady was pregnant.

After that, because of the happenings in the Land of Exile (exactly what Philip went to investigate), communication was very sparse.

It was with great delay that people in the upper realm found out that a Miss was born into the family, and that the Lady died.

The servants were both grieving and delighted after that.

Just like Philip had to be when he both lost his wife and held his newborn daughter.

Because Lady Grace had been very kind to the servants, they loved her greatly.

Hearing she died was a great hit to them. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

But at the same time, hearing that a Miss was born brought them unimaginable happiness.

Even though they had yet to see the baby, they all already loved her and were determined to dote on her once she got to the upper realm.

Back then, the maid leading Michelle at the moment was already working in the residence.

Because of cultivation, people in different realms aged differently.

Though the woman looked to be in her thirties, she was well over seventy.

She had been born just a few years after Philip Grace, and her mother was a servant in the residence.

So, the maid naturally became loyal to the family.

Also, because Michelle had most of her looks inherited from her deceased mother, the maid couldn’t help seeing her Lady in her.

And most of the servants who had been in the residence since twenty years prior probably viewed her the same.

Michelle was welcomed into the estate and led to her room, where maids were ready to help her the moment she lifted a finger.

But there was one thing about Michelle they greatly disliked: Alexander.

They had only seen Michelle for less than a day, and they were already told that she had a marriage suitor.

The maids didn’t like that.

For twenty years, the residence had no woman of the Grace family, so if Michelle got married and left, they would be enraged.

So, Alexander received quite a number of glares from the maids.