Reborn as a Hated Noble Family, We Start an Industrial Revolution

​Morning at the Iron Hearth Castle arrived far earlier than the biological clock of an ordinary person.

​Rumina had been standing like a statue before her vanity mirror since before the sun had even managed to peek over the mountains. Her slender fingers moved to adjust the collar of her chosen dark gray blouse—an outfit deliberately selected not to flaunt her curves, but because its thick wool weave was sturdy enough to withstand the freezing winds of Frostmere.

​There were no feminine satin lace trimmings. No shiny beaded embroidery details. It was merely a practical business suit that happened to be neatly ironed.

​On top of her wooden vanity, a large brown leather bag sat rigidly—stuffed to the brim with stacks of report files. She likely wouldn’t even have the time to touch them between the ballroom dances, but she was bringing them anyway.

​Just in case. Or, if she were to be brutally honest with her own conscience: she simply wouldn’t be able to close her eyes and sleep without being haunted by guilt if she let a single day pass without touching her work.

​”Are you finished packing?”

​Lucian’s heavy baritone echoed from the threshold of her open bedroom door. The King was already clad in a thick, deep navy wool coat, the silver Wolf emblem pinned proudly to his collar.

​There was no golden crown resting on his head. No sweeping red velvet ceremonial robes trailing on the floor. There was only the figure of a father, ready to embark on a journey with his daughter.

​”Almost done,” Rumina answered without turning around. She grabbed the strap of her leather bag and slung it over her shoulder with a stiff motion. ”You didn’t have to go through the trouble of waiting for me at the door, Father.”

​”On the contrary, that was the only thing I wanted to do this morning as your father.”

​Rumina didn’t respond to the warm sentiment. She merely let out a soft snort—Hmph—and stepped past him, walking ahead down the castle corridor.

​Right inside the study next to the main kitchen, Silas was already standing by. The old steward was hugging a thin stack of documents he had sorted and organized throughout the night.

​”All copies of the daily reports will be transmitted to your crystal pager on schedule, My Lady,” Silas reported briskly. ”As for the final contract documents with the Emerald Union, I will delay sending them until you return from Frostmere.”

​”Do not delay them,” Rumina cut in coldly, leaving zero room for compromise. ”Send the first drafts to my pager tonight. I will review them in Frostmere.”

​Silas nodded obediently, offering an understanding smile. ”Understood, Lady Rumina. Safe travels, may you have a pleasant journey.”

​Rumina spun on her heels, walking out toward the castle’s outer courtyard, where the black royal sedan was already parked neatly, its mana-engine purring smoothly.

​Lucian had already taken his seat in the back. Rumina climbed in after him, sitting right beside her father.

​Blam. The door shut tight. The tires began to roll, grinding against the asphalt, and the silhouette of Iron Hearth slowly began to shrink behind them.

​While the royal car sped eastward, life in the capital continued to pulse.

​On the other side of the city, the first long bell of the Seruni Academy hadn’t even rung when Raphael stepped into the classroom hallway.

​He had deliberately gotten a head start, arriving far earlier than usual this morning. He wanted to be sitting calmly in his chair before Elodie walked in.

​That way, he could busy himself—flipping through book pages, scribbling formulas on paper, doing absolutely anything as long as he had a solid excuse to avoid making eye contact with the girl when she arrived.

​Unfortunately, that master plan failed spectacularly within a matter of minutes.

​Elodie walked into the classroom shortly after. The girl strolled with her usual relaxed rhythm, tossing cheerful greetings to a few passing students, before dragging her feet toward her row of desks—which, to Raphael’s absolute dread, was located right next to his.

​”Morning, Raphael.”

​”Morning,” Raphael mumbled without daring to lift his face from his thick textbook. A textbook whose pages hadn’t been turned a single centimeter since he sat down.

​Elodie pulled her chair out. Sat up straight. Smoothed out her uniform skirt. Pulled out her own notebook.

​Silence.

​Raphael continued pretending to read his book with intense seriousness. Elodie stared blankly at the empty chalkboard at the front of the room.

​The quiet smothered them both once more.

​Two seconds... five seconds... ten seconds...

​Neither of them dared to utter a sound, let alone throw a presumptuous glance at the other. The atmosphere surrounding their desks suddenly felt agonizingly stiff and freezing cold.

​From the desk across the aisle, Lyra Frost narrowed her sharp, observant eyes, scrutinizing the bizarre anomaly.

​”Hey, what is up with you two? Usually, you guys never shut up. Now you’re giving each other the silent treatment. Did you have a fight or something?” Lyra asked bluntly.

​”We absolutely did not have a fight!!” Raphael denied instantly, his voice entirely too fast and pitching an octave too high.

​Lyan, sitting beside his twin, merely let out a resigned sigh without bothering to look up from his magic tome. ”Lyra, please stop meddling in other people’s business.”

​”Hmm, alright. Just curious,” Lyra said nonchalantly.

​Raphael buried his face even deeper into the folds of his thick book. His cheeks were already burning as red as a ripe tomato.

​Beside him, Elodie hugged her notebook tightly. She hid her face, completely lost on what to say. She didn’t even know what was going on with Raphael.

​Lyra looked back and forth between them with an amused glint in her eyes, shaking her head slowly. ”How incredibly weird.”

​Elara’s Mathematics class passed by like normal for the other students, but it felt like time-dilated torture for Raphael and Elodie.

​Elara explained equation formulas on the blackboard, called students up to the front, and occasionally threw out questions. Raphael didn’t digest even half of her explanations.

​Several times over the cramped wooden desks, Raphael’s right elbow accidentally brushed against Elodie’s left elbow as they wrote.

​Bzzzt! Raphael reflexively yanked his arm back at lightning speed, as if he had just been zapped by a static electrical circuit.

​Elara managed to catch the panicked movement from the front of the class, but being the wise woman she was, she chose to feign blindness and merely carved a very, very faint smile before tapping her chalk back against the board.

​The moment the recess bell blared, Raphael snatched his book and shot up from his chair faster than anyone else.

​Elodie could only stare at his retreating back in utter bewilderment. What on earth is wrong with Raphael today?

​Shortly after, she directed her steps toward the cafeteria to buy some wheat bread. The girl walked hurriedly down the school corridors, searching for someone who might be able to explain why Raphael was acting so bizarrely today.

​She finally found Lyra and Lyan sitting casually near a park bench beneath a seruni tree.

​”Lyra. Lyan. Can I ask you guys something?” Elodie asked, slightly breathless.

​Lyra looked up in surprise. ”Ask about what, El?”

​”Do you... do you two know what the word... ’girlfriend’ actually means?”

​The Frost twins exchanged a confused look. Lyra scratched her smooth forehead. ”’Girlfriend’? Well, it just means a friend who is a girl, right? Why?”

​”What’s so weird about the word ’girlfriend’?” Lyan chimed in, perfectly deadpan.

​Elodie let out a long, disappointed sigh. ”No... yesterday evening... Raphael said it, but I didn’t understand.”

​”Oh! So this involves the youngest prince?” Lyra’s mischievous grin instantly bloomed. ”What exactly did he say to you?”

​”He asked... if I wanted to be his ’girlfriend’. But... aren’t we already good friends? Why would he need to ask about our friendship status again?” Elodie asked, frustrated by her own innocence.

​Lyra and Lyan exchanged another look, then shook their heads in unison. ”I have no idea what he meant by that,” Lyra replied with a shrug. ”But if Raphael actually said it with a serious face, maybe it’s something really important.”

​”Or maybe it’s just some stupid term his brain made up,” Lyan added coldly.

​Elodie exhaled heavily once more. Her first experiment was a total failure.

​She didn’t give up. Throughout the entire recess period, Elodie recklessly asked several other male students she ran into. Barret, the burly former mercenary, could only scratch his bald head with a confused expression. ”’Girlfriend’? Hmm, maybe it’s just a fancy term for a female companion.”

​Kell, sitting beside him, shook his head in agreement. ”I don’t know either, El. But it sounds like there’s something specific to it, maybe like a really close friend.”

​Even the much younger students from the Basic class were of absolutely no help. Mira, the nine-year-old girl with round, innocent eyes, stared at Elodie with adorable curiosity. ”What kind of vocabulary is that, Big Sister Elodie? Is a ’girlfriend’ sweet? Can it buy you delicious food with fruit jam?”

​Elodie officially gave up. Her brain had hit a dead end.