Mist Empire’s Rise: Fake Noble to Fog Queen

The gods were not to be pried into, and questions about them were forbidden. But surely she could ask about herself?

Luo Wei gazed at the starry sky and asked her first question.

"Will I be executed for blasphemy?"

The star chart shifted, with the Well constellation flickering between bright and dim.

This constellation was the first of the Seven Mansions of the Vermillion Bird of the South - its brightness heralded peace across the four seas, while its darkness foretold chaos and war.

Luo Wei: ...

Was something wrong with today's divination?

She had asked about her potential death for blasphemy, but the star pattern showed omens about the state of affairs, and the constellation's unstable flickering resembled a faulty light bulb.

However, the Well constellation belonged to the Wood element and formed a net-like pattern. Wood represented vitality, while the net symbolized confinement.

Was this indicating that although she was trapped, there was still hope for survival?

As long as death wasn't certain, having hope meant having a way out. She wouldn't die.

"What should I do to find that glimmer of hope?"

The Well constellation sank as the Extended Net constellation rose.

This was the fifth mansion of the Vermillion Bird, representing good fortune. Its stars formed a bow shape and belonged to the Earth element, which could generate Metal.

Did this constellation suggest she already possessed the key to unlock her salvation, and needed to take up arms and strike proactively?

Luo Wei tugged at her hair in frustration. Why were the star omens becoming increasingly difficult to interpret? Being in this Western-based world made it worse, as no one here could help her understand them.

Why hadn't she studied more divination books in her previous life? If she had learned even a little about Chinese Purple Star Astrology or other forms of divination, she wouldn't be struggling so much now.

She sighed and withdrew from her spiritual realm.

This divination session felt pointless, yielding only ambiguous answers.

The stellar guidance was equally vague, serving mainly as psychological comfort.

Luo Wei caressed the smooth turtle shell, feeling frustrated that she had an Eastern divination tool in this Western world.

Nicole jumped onto the back of her hand, tapping her skin with its legs.

Luo Wei snapped back to reality and raised her hand, meeting the spider's glossy black eyes.

"Is it time? Thank you for reminding me, Nicole."

She needed to patrol the security line - or rather, check in at the entrance to pretend she had patrolled.

As dawn broke, the owl flew back from outside the academy.

Luo Wei had just finished her final check-in and made a show of yawning widely in front of the owl, demonstrating that she hadn't slacked off but had stayed up all night.

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The owl opened its beak and dropped a field mouse at her feet.

Luo Wei's yawn froze mid-action. Looking at the dead mouse by her feet, she quietly stepped aside.

"Thank you, Owl Monitor, but I'm not particularly fond of field mice. Please enjoy it yourself."

She politely declined the owl's goodwill.

The owl stared at her with its bright yellow round eyes for a while. After confirming she wasn't just being courteous, it spread its wings, flew down, and picked up the mouse with its hook-like beak.

"With all that mouse meat available and you won't eat it, no wonder you're so thin," the owl seemed to think.

The owl finished the tasty mouse meat and made satisfied "hoo-hoo" sounds.

The owl's call was truly eerie, thankfully it was already daylight.

Hearing the bell tower chime, Luo Wei hurried back to her dormitory.

She needed to wash her face and freshen up - class started at eight.

Having gotten some sleep last night, she wasn't as drowsy this morning.

Luo Wei attentively attended the entire class, and at lunch break, she left the classroom with Jane.

"You didn't accompany me last time, so today I won't let go of you no matter what!"

Jane clung to her arm like a sloth.

Luo Wei couldn't move with Jane hanging onto her and said helplessly, "I never said I wouldn't accompany you today. Weren't we going to the Escore Dessert Shop? Let go of me so we can walk faster - we won't get seats if we're late."

"Really? You promised!"

"Yes, I promised. Now please let go."

Jane happily nuzzled her face against Luo Wei's before standing straight - she was slightly taller than Luo Wei. "Alright, let's go!"

The two walked arm in arm toward the school gates, matching their pace.

By lunchtime, the Escore Dessert Shop was packed with people, with a long queue forming outside the first floor.

Luo Wei led Jane to a private room on the second floor. She strongly suspected that Jane's constant pestering to have meals together was just to take advantage of her membership card access.

The dessert shop's business was booming, and many customers couldn't even get seats, forced to take their desserts to go.

The refined noble ladies weren't willing to do this - their delicate cream mille-feuille cakes would fall apart on the way home, ruining the beautiful cream decorations.

To gain access to private rooms, they would pool their money onto one card to upgrade the membership level, then take turns using the private rooms.

Jane had already upgraded her membership card to gold status, but with the increasing number of gold members, private rooms were often unavailable.

Luo Wei had her own private room at Escore, as the shop's secret owner, she had the privilege of skipping queues.

After they were seated, Jane eagerly shared the latest gossip with Luo Wei.

"Did you hear? Vina broke off her engagement with Egbert!"

Egbert?

Luo Wei had to think for a moment before remembering - Egbert was Vina's fiancé, who had stumbled through the door during the Paladin's banquet last year.

"Isn't breaking off the engagement a good thing?" she said while washing her hands in the basin. "After all, Egbert didn't like her, and she didn't particularly care for him either."

"Oh, that's not the important part! The key is that after breaking off his engagement with Vina, Egbert proposed to Axina!" Jane said with relish.

Luo Wei dried her hands as the maid removed the washing basin. "When did this happen? How come I didn't know about it?"

"It was yesterday afternoon! I don't know where you were - I looked everywhere but couldn't find you," Jane said regretfully. "Such a shame you missed it. You should have seen how Axina threw Egbert's roses and necklace into the lake, and he jumped in after them."

Luo Wei asked in surprise, "Doesn't a proposal need family approval? Can Egbert make such decisions on his own?"

Jane shook her head. "I'm not sure, but Vina and Egbert's engagement was only broken off after Earl Wesley and Earl Mansfield agreed."

"I heard Vina proposed the breakup first, then Earl Wesley sent a letter to Earl Mansfield, and their engagement was annulled."

"Vina kept it very quiet. We wouldn't have known if Egbert hadn't revealed it yesterday while trying to prove his love to Axina."

Luo Wei commented, "So Egbert lost both the sesame and the watermelon - ended up with nothing in the end."

"Exactly! But Vina got the worst of it," Jane said sympathetically. "Even though she proposed the breakup first, the fact that Earl Mansfield agreed so quickly shows he had already been thinking about breaking off the engagement with the Wesley family."

"I've heard the elders say that while the Wesley family appears prosperous, they're actually on the decline."

"They don't have a single Blessed One in their family, and they didn't receive any divine message when the angels descended last month. They must have fallen out of the gods' favor."

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