"Oh, do stop making that face. Practicality wins out over decorum." Li Mei sighed, casting a withering glare at Teresa. The girl's face was red as a tomato, slightly puckered from a look of disapproval usually only seen on prudish maiden aunties surveying indecent youths.

For ease of movement, Li Mei gathered her long skirt and tied it in a firm knot around her waist, exposing legs sheathed in stockings cut from the same lace as her moon-and-star motif shoulder shrug. Her shoes were exceedingly plain compared to the rest of her outfit: flat slippers, with no heel or ornamentation to speak of, inky black without even a bit of shine on the toes.

Catching the direction of Teresa's gaze, Li Mei chuckled and wiggled her foot back and forth playfully. "What's the point of a skirt that touches the floor if I can't make use of it to obscure my comfortable footwear? Comfortable shoes are necessary in case of emergencies, such as this one. Imagine fighting something that big while wearing heels? Truly obnoxious."

While the logic of her words rang true, the sight of Lady Li Mei swiftly dispatching another illusory beast with just her folding fan made Teresa feel as though it were a moot point. Rather, Teresa had the distinct feeling that Lady Li Mei was having quite a bit of fun with the situation...

'But of course, Lady Li Mei is a proper heiress. She'd love a chance to show off her capability, as any proper noble should! It's me who's weird...' Teresa fought the urge to wring her hands, fingers twitching at her sides. Training sessions with her mother and sisters only served to drive home just how weak and untalented she was compared to the rest of them. Contests of strength only ever ended in humiliation...

Lady Li Mei leaned to glance briefly around the corner, then tapped her chin with her fan. "Lady Teresa. What's your preferred weapon?"

Teresa jumped. "I... Beg your pardon?"

Seeing Teresa hesitate, Lady Li Mei shook her head and gave the girl a small smile. "I told you to borrow confidence from your future, Lady Teresa. But the best way to earn some confidence of your own is through experience. And experience is best earned not through success, but through failure."

"What!?" Teresa's head jerked up, her startled gaze meeting Lady Li Mei's much calmer one. Once again, the Yueluo delegate made proclamations in direct opposition to everything Teresa grew up learning! And she said it with such confidence, such surety, as though she already knew her truths to be the one correct path. "That's...!"

"Experience built on carefully cultivated success is feeble, a brittle foundation easily toppled by adversity. If you always win, you won't know what to do when you finally lose." Lady Li Mei flicked her wrist, summoning a horizontal barrier of cyan light and placing several weapons from a hidden storage artifact on the barrier's flat surface. "Take your pick, Lady Teresa. I favor the staff myself, but I'm also quite skilled with throwing daggers. Hana enjoys close combat with daggers or short swords."

"But... My talent is..." Teresa muttered, dropping her eyes to focus on a particularly fascinating inch of grass just in front of her dress hem.

"Talent, huh." The derisive snort that followed those two words made Teresa pale, eyes widening in confusion. Lady Li Mei just shook her head, something like a sneer shadowing her lips. "If you don't work hard to polish and refine your skills, so-called talent becomes worth nothing in the end. It just makes people overconfident and lazy. Inversely, working hard can absolutely compensate a total lack of talent. A lazy genius will always amount to less than someone with no talent who never gives up."

Lady Li Mei grinned, spinning a dagger easily between her fingers. "I'm not just trying to cheer you up, so erase that doubtful look off your face, hm? Despite what one might think... I, myself, am not a talented genius when it comes to fighting."

Seeing the incredulous look on Teresa's face grow more pronounced, Lady Li Mei's small adjutant let out a snort strongly reminiscent of the one her mistress so often used. "Milady... Does not lie. She trains... Every day. Hours. And Hours. Sick. Hungry. Tired. Injured... Doesn't matter."

Teresa was startled by how breathy and soft the little girl's voice was, as though each word was a hard-fought struggle to release upon the world. Contrasting her difficulty speaking, the girl's scarlet eyes were narrowed into determined slits that seemed to demand an explanation as to why Teresa thought Lady Li Mei would bother lying about such a thing.

To be threatened by such a tiny little thing was a new experience, but the intimidation she felt from that deep red gaze was no joke. Hana was just a child, but so was Lady Li Mei. Neither of them should be underestimated based on their age or appearance.

"I'm... I... Didn't mean to offend," Teresa said slowly, stopping herself from apologizing when she caught the glint of warning in Lady Li Mei's gaze. "You just... Seem so strong. Is that not... The result of inborn talent?"

Shaking her head, Lady Li Mei's expression changed to one with a rueful smile. "I... Was a sickly child. It took a long time to overcome my body's weakness, but I crawled out of that cold abyss. I've never shirked hard work. The more someone says I can't do something, the more I want to excel to spite them, and the harder I work to do just that.

"Anything they can do, you can do better. You just have to want it enough, and be patient enough. You can't be a coward who accepts things as they are, meekly bowing your head and waiting for scraps from your betters. They'll never give you enough to reach their level, they enjoy holding power over others too much. You'll have to claw your way up like I did, step by step, fighting for each breath, each advantage, biding your time until you're so far above them they won't even have the qualifications to shine your shoes with their tongues."

Teresa shivered, a thrilling chill trickling down her spine. The air felt colder, frost crackling on the tip of her nose, and Lady Li Mei's eyes seemed to shine brighter the colder it got. She glanced at the simple weapons arrayed on the barrier, a strange sense of trepidation and longing growing in her chest.

After the silence dragged on for a few moments longer, Lady Li Mei opened her mouth again. Her words were a soft whisper, dragging across Teresa's skin like the finest, most decadent of silks. "How about it, Lady Teresa? How badly do you want to prove the world is wrong about you?"

'None of these beasts are above mid-Rank 1,' Li Mei thought, hiding a derisive scoff behind her fan as Hana twirled a dagger in each hand before stabbing them into a chest of some weird giant chicken-lizard monster. 'Such a complex weave of arrays can only produce enemies of this level?... Or perhaps the opponents are limited by the skill of the one using the magitech orb? That seems more likely.'

With such weak opponents, Li Mei didn't have to exert herself clearing their path as they wandered the maze, carefully avoiding other party guests along the way. They all fought enthusiastically, and seemed delighted by whatever treasures they discovered from glowing illusory chests hidden around corners and behind the corpses of the fake monsters.

In the distance, beyond the walls of the maze, Duchess Marilyn stood watching the spectacle with an imperious, almost amused expression on her face, one obvious even from afar. Li Mei frowned, making sure not to stare for too long in the nasty woman's direction.

Revealing her ability to pierce through illusions wasn't something she was willing to unveil so easily.

Aside from Duchess Rosethorne, Duchess Lilyvale, and Duchess Goldclover both seemed unaffected by the illusion as well. They merely watched, imperious and aloof, as the other party guests fought with pretend monsters.

'This is really too cunning. Under the pretense of a fun combat game, those three top tier noble ladies can watch their rivals and subordinates display combat proficiencies. Luckily none of the beasts in here are enough to force a trump card out of me. But more concerning... Who's that feathery weirdo with the spyglass who keeps looking over here? It feels like she's staring at me.'

"KYAAA!"

THUMP!

Li Mei quirked an eyebrow as Teresa's small body flew past, slamming into a shimmering illusory maze wall with surprising force. The weird chicken-lizard landed a solid blow on the girl's torso with its long, scaled tail, lashing out in the last moment before its eventual collapse. Hana retrieved her daggers and snorted, staring at the noble girl who whimpered in pain with a condescending sort of amusement.

Poor Teresa dropped her weapon in the skirmish, a short metal sword that clattered to the floor near the chicken-lizard's feet. She seemed winded more by the impact with the wall than from the monster's blow, a dazed expression on her face. It took a few seconds for the girl to reorient herself and jump back to her feet.

"You were just as bad, once." Li Mei's admonishment made Hana click her tongue and glance away, a small pout on her cute little face. The little girl's movements were almost petulant, even when dragging her daggers across the illusory creature's neck to finish it off. 'Whatever. If they're watching to see what I can do, I just won't do anything too remarkable. Let them draw their own conclusions from what they've seen so far. It's a good opportunity for Hana and Teresa to train.'

The illusory creature took its last shuddering "breath", then disappeared in a puff of smoke. Li Mei flicked her folding fan open and waited for Teresa to retrieve her weapon before their little group resumed navigation of the maze.

From what Li Mei could see, numerous small chests were scattered throughout the maze. Since the chests were also illusions, she was able to discern their contents at a glance, and ultimately the value of said contents thanks to Scan, and dismissed most as minor trinkets. Baubles with low-grade circuits enhancing beauty, hiding blemishes, increasing one's ability to speak in public...

'They're worse than sugar pills. 1% increase to perceived beauty, 5% color reduction on blemishes... At that point, why even bother wearing those trinkets? It's just for them to feel good wearing something shiny and expensive, while making Marilyn look good for giving out a bunch of enchanted items. These people are really obsessed with face, huh? Just as bad as Earth...' Li Mei shook her head, glancing around a corner before abruptly changing direction. If she moved toward the exit without making mistakes, it'd be too suspicious. She forced their group to double back several times, and lingered at dead ends catching their breath.

And every time a monster appeared, Hana and Teresa were directed to attack it. Hana was instructed to slow the monsters down, attacking their weak points only after Teresa was able to get a few hits in.

Her blows were weak, often glancing off the beast's hide without leaving so much as a mark. She was also slow, and lacked awareness of when to move to avoid a sweeping talon or sharp beak. Hana spent more time bumping Teresa out of the way than actually attacking the monsters, something that made the tiny adjutant's face look more gloomy with each passing moment.

'She wasn't kidding about not having talent,' Li Mei lamented in her heart, watching Teresa's sword go flying as she lost her grip mid-swing. The serpent she was facing bared its fangs, lashing out with its tail to knock its attackers back a few steps. 'Even Otto's better than this, and he closes his eyes when pulling the trigger on a gun! It almost feels like... Hm? Could it be...'

Her eyes narrowed. Deep in the blackest pit of her belly, a vicious monster stirred, baring its fangs in the direction of the beautiful Duchess Marilyn and her beloved daughter Alba.

Li Mei snapped her fan closed, stepping in to block the serpentine monster's bite attack. Her rage was channeled into one fist, the impact of her punch crashing into the side of the serpent's face and sending it flying over a maze wall into a different group in the middle of opening a chest. Its flailing, whipping body knocked the entire group over, but Li Mei didn't bother feeling sorry for interrupting them.

'They didn't teach Teresa how to fight. They taught her how to lose.'

Teresa stared, open-mouthed, as Li Mei closed her eyes and circulated her mana to compose herself. The surrounding temperature plummeted, until even Hana was shivering from the cold, but neither girl could gather the courage to speak in the face of whatever dark mood clung to Li Mei's stiff shoulders.

Finally, Li Mei exhaled a cloud of misty vapor and opened her eyes, frost crackling on her eyelashes. "Teresa. Who taught you... To fight?"

Shivering from the cold, as well as the frigid anger contained in Li Mei's voice, Teresa didn't even notice the breach of etiquette regarding proper noble address. She opened her mouth to speak, gasped for air, then tried again. "Ah... I... My m-mother... S-She, um... Teaches all... All her daughters how... To fight. We um, have tutors for, for everything else, but..."

Li Mei turned, locking eyes with Teresa. Her expression was so cold, so furious, it visibly knocked the wind out of the other girl. "Is that so."

Tears welled in Teresa's emerald eyes, blurring her vision before rolling slowly down her pale cheeks. "I... I t-told you... I don't... Have talent..."

"This isn't about talent." Sighing, Li Mei turned away and tried to force herself to calm down. "In fact, your instincts are good. The problem..."

Everything about Teresa's stance and attacks were wrong. Her grip was wrong, how she held her arms was wrong, the placement of her legs was wrong. There wasn't any hint of proper instruction - worse, Teresa's own instincts for combat seemed to be suppressed! She would automatically try to lower her stance when blocking an attack, only to forcibly straighten her stance as though mentally correcting herself with whatever bullshit garbage she'd been taught.

It wasn't a matter of not having talent. It was a matter of being taught entirely the wrong things.

But why?

"What you've been taught... Doesn't suit you. I can teach you how to fight, but you'll have to forget everything you've already learned. It won't be easy, but... I did teach Hana how to fight, if that gives you an idea of what we can do for you." Li Mei gestured toward Hana, who looked very proud of herself, her tiny little wings rustling behind her shoulders to emphasize the smug expression on her face.

"My... Instincts are... Good?" Teresa muttered, absolutely baffled by the very concept.

"You keep correcting yourself to fit into whatever stances and forms you've been taught, when your initial instincts were more suited to your situation." Li Mei tried to keep her voice mild, restraining the urge to reveal the truth to a young girl who still very much loved her horrible family and probably wasn't ready to hear it just yet. "I'm sure the style works for... Someone else, but you're more suited to a different kind of combat. Here, give me back the sword. I'm gonna teach you how to use a staff, after all."