Red-Eye is leaving!

Tia stood in perfect silence, a ghost of a smile playing on her lips, illuminated by the stark neon lights above as she stared at two showering men. Yet, beneath this facade, a storm of fury and disgust roared through her veins, a molten river of rage.

'They must be punished! They can't get away with what they did to me!'

Her mind, while seething with thoughts of retribution against them, drifted to Red's vow to procure exotic materials from across the empire for her potion research, giving her an idea of how to deal with them.

Her smile widened even further as she thought of all the lifesaving potions she could concoct: 'Swiftness potion, energy amplification, energy neutralizing potion, and finally the advanced regeneration potion.'

These were not the novice-level potions she had concocted until now, requiring only elemental energy; they demanded rare and unique ingredients as catalysts.

To sidestep the tediousness of hopping through dimensions for supplies, Tia considered the potential of local substitutes.

'A careless mistake could lead to a laughably tragic, gruesome, and painful end.' Her eyes pulsed with bright light as she finally knew how to use the two rats. 'They are rats, so they can also be promoted to my lab rats!'

The sharp, authoritative voice of the guard by the door pierced her reverie. "Madam, Her grace requests your presence. Please proceed to her office on the highest floor."

Some time later:

Tia stood silently in the metallic box of the elevator, the silent humming of the machine in the background calming her still-boiling nerves.

'What does she want?'

Suddenly, the elevator stopped, and the doors glided open, revealing a world vastly different from the one she had just left—a majestic corridor, its walls, and a floor adorned with polished black marble that gleamed under the opulent lighting. The long, dark purple carpet stretched across its entire length to the glittering golden double doors at its end.

The sheer opulence made her stagger—the amount of gold used on them made her heart almost stop.

'Even with the decreased value of gold, this is still too much!'

Without any warning, one of the doors on the sides of the corridor opened, and a young man adorned in a black coat that screamed opulence and authority walked out. He paused as his eyes fell upon her, radiating an air of smug superiority and gleaming with disdain, sizing her up as if she were an exhibit rather than a person.

"Well, well, if it isn't Grace's little toy project," he sneered, his voice dripping with contempt. "An outsider, a dirty stray, plucked from the obscurity of this disgusting backwater. Do tell me, how does it feel to be nothing more than a toy in her grand collection?"

His words, meant to belittle and provoke, cut through the air like a sharpened blade. Tia felt a fresh wave of fury surge within her, her hands clenching involuntarily. She didn't know who the man was, but she wanted to crush him and break him. Yet, to the outside, she kept her gentle smile, her eyes glowing and flashing.

'Another one...'

Without a word, Tia locked eyes with the official, her gaze icy and unyielding. She stepped out of the elevator and forward, deliberately closing toward the official. For a moment, the corridor was thick with tension.

"What? Are you going to beat me? Maybe punch me?" He taunted, a sly smile playing on his face.

Tia didn't know what was his goal, but she stopped as she knew the types like him too well: 'No, ignoring him is the smartest choice.' She didn't know who he was, but his presence on the floor housing the highest occupation official assigned to the entire planet made her realize he meant trouble.

She knew too little about the ruling structure of the Empire to cause trouble, even with Red-Eye's backing.

"Tchh," he clicked his tongue. "I am simply unable to comprehend what Her Grace is thinking. To snatch a mentally unstable woman from a street and directly promote her to a post where she can..."

'So that is his problem. He is jealous...' Her anger slightly subsided as she picked up the hidden reason behind his disdain; she no longer thought of him as a brat who provoked her for no reason.

'He likely worked for years to get where he is, yet I just walked in and got promoted out of nowhere. It's no wonder he feels like I shouldn't be here.' She could understand his fury, as she was just like him in her past life—a carries climber, always working hard to rise higher and higher.

"Come in!" Suddenly the familiar female voice rang from behind the golden door, and the official clasped his mouth shut, snickered, and stormed off toward the elevator.

"Good evening; we will meet again." He spoke one last time as the elevator doors closed behind him.

'What an annoyance! Hopefully, he will not cause too much trouble. Hopefully for him, as I doubt Red would like it if someone bullied her... pet.'

Tia tidied and straightened her coat and skirt one last time, then marched straight toward the golden door. Her heart drummed in her chest, the anxiety even drowning out all the anger she felt.

'This is the first time she summoned me like this.'

With each step she took, a tap dampened by the thick carpet reverberated throughout the corridor.

At last, she paused only a step away from the golden barrier, inhaling delectation to calm her nerves.

'What will it be this time? Will she send me on some dangerous mission? Will she humiliate me even further?'

Silently, the door split open, and the sudden influx of bright light made Tia blink.

The entire office behind them was massive, entirely built of black marble, gleaming under the sunset behind the massive window. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the golden table, contrasting with the blackness around her. The red-eyed woman sat in the throne-like leather chair, her ruby eyes glowing as she scanned Tia.

"I will be leaving for the Empire's capital. Unfortunately, I can't take someone as unruly as you with me. Especially without you having the power required from an imperial knight." At last, Red spoke with her posh, aristocratic tone.

She waved at her, "Come in; do not stand out there."

Tia gulped down and took a step forward, and then, with a clap, the doors closed behind her.

'Does it mean I will have some time for my...' she couldn't even finish her thought before Red continued, her tone losing its officialness and turning gentler.

"I called you here to warn you. Behave yourself and be a good girl while I am gone." Red spoke and crossed her arms.

Tia blinked, almost feeling like a small child under the red gaze.

"If I return and find out that you tried some nonsense like running away, you will not escape your punishment this time. On the other hand, behave, and I will reward you."

'What is this? Is she trying some weird training method?!' Tia almost freaked out as the entire thing looked to her like something straight out of a manual about training pets. Yet she couldn't help but gulp down at the thought of a reward: 'Maybe I will get more of those god particles!'

(AN: Yeah, I know this arc was kind of calm and without any big trouble, but that was its purpose—to be a calm segment before the next more chaotic one. (Haha, I wonder what might go wrong while Red is gone.)