The Johnston family holds multiple estates. Melissa, who had only ever been to the largest estate named after Johnston, chose to go to the small estate of Lawton near the border with the Empire.

The imperial capital is famous for being the city of music, and due to the multicultural nature of the empire, a wide variety of music can be heard in the streets. Most of the piano pieces Melissa plays are works by musicians from the Empire. She hoped that in Lawton, a bordering territory, she might encounter sheet music that couldn’t be found in the royal capital.

The journey to Lawton, which took three days by carriage, revealed that, unfortunately, the influence of the imperial capital that Melissa had hoped for was absent. However, the estate was a beautiful and peaceful rural town, with half of the territory being occupied by the stunning Lawton Lake, a lake that had once been featured on banknotes.

“Wow, it’s so beautiful… I feel like I could be sucked in.”

“Hehe. Vanessa-sama, who saw Lawton Lake for the first time, said the same thing.”

While Melissa was moved by the vast, crystal-clear lake, the butler of the lord’s residence, standing behind her, chuckled. Melissa, who had been told she resembled her mother, unknowingly smiled. It had been a long time since she had smiled like that.

When she had been ordered to leave the capital, a situation that could hardly be described as anything but being abandoned by her father, she had felt like she was thrown into a dark abyss alone. But now, as she gazed upon the grandeur of nature and the beautiful lake, she couldn’t help but feel that leaving the Johnston family, which had been suffocating, might have been a good thing.

She immediately asked the butler if there were any rare sheet music, to which he replied that she might find some in the neighboring border lordship, and once again, he chuckled. Although she had just met him, Melissa felt a sense of comfort in his frequent smiles.

The lord’s residence was managed by an elderly couple who appeared to be older than her grandmother, and the butler was the husband of this couple. Their son was in charge of the land management, and it seemed that this family had been overseeing Lawton for generations.

Melissa explained to the servants of Lawton that she couldn’t return to the royal capital until she learned to control her magical power because she and her younger sister had poor magical compatibility. The younger sister was her recently adopted cousin, and everyone understood that the real daughter, Melissa, had been sent away from the main residence. Yet, no one looked down on Melissa; they warmly accepted her.

Among them was Rose, a maid who was more attentive than the ones back in the royal capital, and Melissa could now play the piano without restraint. Above all, meeting a young apprentice servant working at the lord’s residence helped heal Melissa’s wounded heart.

Noble daughters attend the noble academy in the royal capital from the age of 13 for three years. The academy teaches essential knowledge for nobles, such as land management, foreign languages, geology, and environmental science. Only graduates from the noble academy can register as nobles. The other way to become a noble is to be directly granted nobility by the king. Afterward, from the age of 16, those with magical abilities are required to attend the magical academy for three years. At the magical academy, students learn how to properly use their magical powers, and if they fail to graduate, their magic is sealed.

Melissa was about to turn 11. The subjects she would study at the noble academy in two years were already covered in her princess education starting at age 6. She planned to review the material to avoid forgetting, but she wouldn’t need much time. She had also started training in magical power control the day after her father told her to go to the estate, but it seemed that there was a limit to the amount of magic she could use in a day. After starting her training in the morning, her magical power would be depleted by lunchtime, and she couldn’t continue the training.

Melissa decided that she would spend her mornings on magical power control training, afternoons playing the piano, and study after dinner. Just thinking about playing the piano more than just an hour a day, something she had only been able to do since age six, made her so happy she almost shivered.

At the duke’s house, they had used soundproof magical tools, but now she was playing the piano freely, and it felt as though her entire body was buzzing with energy. After playing the piano for a while, Melissa paused and looked around to find the servants of the lord’s residence gathered around her.

“I can’t believe I’ve never heard such wonderful piano music before,” Rose said.

Her comment was followed by others.

“Incredible!” “I’m about to cry.” “This is the first time I’ve heard something like this!” “We’ve got a real pianist in Lawton!”

Melissa’s chest swelled with emotion as the servants desperately tried to express their feelings, and tears welled up in her eyes. She thought she heard her mother’s voice, the one who had once said, “The piano will surely help Mel.”

The magical power control training Melissa was doing every day to return to the royal capital was a simple task of repeating the accumulation and release of magic. Normally, this kind of training wasn’t necessary, as magic users would eventually learn to control their magic as they used it. This was a dull training intended only to speed up that process, but Melissa, being serious by nature and accustomed to practicing from her princess education, was able to continue it every day.

She didn’t realize that Amelia would never do a training that didn’t benefit her, nor that she herself was repeating a monotonous task. The fact that both of them had to learn to control their magic, meaning Melissa couldn’t return to the royal capital until Amelia learned too, escaped her.

“Young lady, may I ask for a favor?” said the butler, always wearing a kind smile, as he led a young boy by the hand and approached Melissa.

“This is Nate, an apprentice servant. As you can see, he has severe burn marks. Would you be able to use light magic on him as part of your magic control training?”

Despite his long bangs, it was clear that his entire face was badly burned, and the burn marks on both his hands were also visible. The burn marks on Nate’s hand, which the butler was holding, were still unstable, with blisters that looked painful.

“There’s no need!” Nate protested, desperately trying to shake off the butler’s hand.

“I apologize for his attitude. Nate is the same age as you and has magical power. Eventually, he will attend the magic academy with you. I believe he can be of assistance to you,” the butler explained.

A boy with burns all over his face who possessed magical power—likely from noble blood. It seemed like trouble, and Melissa thought she should refuse.

But she remembered Nate, who had been quietly wiping his tears after hearing the servants’ comments on her piano performance.

“My light magic can only heal minor wounds. I don’t think it will have the effect Josh is hoping for, but I think I can heal those blisters, so I’d like to try.”

Josh, the elderly butler, nodded.

“That’s fine. Nate, this is work. As an apprentice servant, you are ordered to assist the young lady with her magic control training.”

And so, Melissa began using light magic to heal Nate’s burn marks as part of her training.