The "plan" intorduced

"Of course, my lord."

The gray-haired servant hurriedly bowed his head before leaning back and opening the door, making way for the self-centered young Miss of the Fenrioette house.

"?!?!"

"Melinda…!?"

And made her way inside, she did! Causing her older brother to be left there speechless while her father could merely gasp at the sight exclaiming her name.

Instead of the fluffy-haired, teary-eyed girl in a cute frilly dress, still heartbroken over her fiance ditching her on her own birthday party, Brynhild and Lazurii witnessed the entrance of a stern-faced young woman with golden hair slicked back in a threatening manner.

This young woman was dressed in black dress pants and a tucked white shirt with sleeves rolled up over her elbows. She sported a golden necktie and shiny black loafers, which were part of the Brylant Academy's uniform.

"..."

"?!?!"

As she walked to the middle of the office, the young woman with a no-bullshit attitude's eyes slid to the side. After checking Lazurii from head to toe and back without saying anything, she gave him a judgmental look.

"My duke, I have something to discuss."

"..."

As she stopped before the desk, the young woman put her right hand to her stomach and bowed her head slightly before addressing Brynhild, whose almost amber eyes were close to bulging out of his head.

"M-Melinda…?"

"Indeed, my duke. First things first, the position of my personal maid has been vacant for long enough. With your permission, Adrianna will take the spot."

"!!!"

The young woman straightened her back. Her sharp golden eyes locked onto Brynhild and didn't budge even when the girl raised her left hand, showcasing a maid who had entered the room and had been standing by her side this whole time, completely hidden by the slick-haired woman's overbearing presence until that moment.

"She has been aiding me for some time already. Therefore, I am certain that the bonus pay personal servants receive should be paid out to her upfront today instead of the standard procedure of adding it to her next monthly wage."

Melinda made her point and lowered her hands, not blinking even once during the entire speech, all while keeping stern eye contact with the duke.

"..."

The duke's facial expression showed how worried he was at the sudden change in his daughter's behavior.

He glanced over at the timidly curtsying maid, who appeared too shaken at the young Miss's behavior to have anything to do with it and…

"But of course. Sevas, take Adrianna to sign the new contract. It pleases me that you changed your stance on that subject. Zane can be trained into a capable bodyguard, but having him perform the attendant duties for you could spark gossip amongst the drama-loving bunch."

Brynhild would be a laughingstock of a duke if any surprise could throw him off for more than a handful of seconds, so his response was already calm and composed.

"As you wish. Adrianna, allow with me."

"..."

"...yes…!"

The gray-haired butler bowed deeply towards the duke before beckoning the maid, who moved only after Melinda nodded her head slightly in approval.

The trio of nobles stayed silent until the servants left…

"The other point I wanted to make, my duke, is about the Brylant Academy."

"...!?"

As the door closed, Melinda announced, causing Lazurii to stare between her and the duke.

"Sweetie… is everything alright?"

The duke didn't pick up on the subject immediately, instead making an even more worried expression and leaning forward over the desk.

"Of course, my duke. It is just that in light of yesterday's events, I would like to make a suggestion. I hereby request that my admission to the Brylant Academy be halted."

"WHAT!?"

Melinda declared calmly, but her words caused Lazurii to step forward and raise his voice to a shout.

"What do you mean, halt your admission?! You wanted to wait a year so you and your fiance would be in the same year! You were so happy about it!"

Lazurii gasped with a pale face, spreading his arms open as if presenting something invisible.

"Lazurii Fenrioette. Stay out of things that you have nothing to do with, if you may."

"!!!"

Melinda spared her older brother a single cold glance before looking back at their father while reprimanding him in an indifferent voice, causing the unfortunate youth to lower his head as his arms dropped limply along his body, making him appear as if he had suffered a grave wound.

"Do share your reasoning for that change of approach, my dear."

Brynhild also glanced at his son with great concern, but he gulped down his saliva and focused back on his daughter.

"After everything that occurred at the party, I had some time to think and reflect upon my behavior. I am convinced that I ended up drowning the crown prince with affection, which had the opposite effect on my intentions. As such, I have devised a new plan of how to approach him."

"...!"

"And that is…?"

The girl revealed, making her brother flinch, and her father furrowed his brows and inquired.

"An abandonment play."

"..."

Melinda declared with a smirk, making her father's brows shut up.

"I will cut off all means of contact with His Highness. If my prior actions were considered drowning him, now I am going to dry him up, leaving him shriveled."

The girl said, raising her head proudly.

"I see… but wouldn't that work the best if you did attend the Academy and ignored him there at each and every step…?"

Brynhild nodded his head while stroking his braided beard before pointing out.

"My duke, that strategy would end up inefficient in the long run. With countless sweet-talkers affirming the crown prince, he would remain confident in his actions. What's more, if I dared ignore the prince, other students would be quick to talk behind my back, creating rumors and gossip about Fenrioette's ducal house, disrespecting the royal family, and putting both in a troublesome position. Complete withdrawal of my persona has the highest chance of yielding the best results."

The gold-haired girl didn't hesitate in her explanation in the slightest, making the point appear even more reasonable with her confident attitude.

"Similarly, my absence would cause the same students who would talk behind my back to talk about the crown prince instead. I wouldn't have to physically be there and ignore him to remind him of my presence. The people wondering whether the crown prince's cold behavior towards me that sparked such response wasn't too much after all would do all the work for me."

Melinda added without taking her eyes off the duke.

The reincarnated girl was constructing the entire conversation based on the duke's reactions.

Surprising even herself, as in her past life she wasn't much of a people person, she found out that she could easily pick up on the hints in the body language, expression, and tone of voice of others.

As she entered, she had only two objectives - get Adrianna the money and get permission not to attend the Brylant Academy.

The initial reaction of the duke told her clearly that breaking off the engagement with the first prince wasn't among the possibilities… for the time being, that is… so she began stacking the convenient and reasonably sounding arguments one by one, building them all up as she went.

In her own opinion, she was scoring perfect answer after perfect answer.