They found the body a few weeks later, terribly disconfigured, is what Aveline heard. It was found in a forest north of the Eryndale Duchy, mauled by animals. However, it was without a doubt Alden Eryndale.
His face and body were unrecognizable. But it had all the right belongings. The sword, clothes, and even rings. There was no need to conduct an investigation on who it was.
The funeral happened quickly. He was laid to rest, and the world moved on. Except for Aveline.
It was as if time had gone quiet itself. She didn't feel the ache very strongly at first. Just a quite pain tugging at her heart, begging for attention. But she ignored it. However, Anna could tell something was wrong. She had tried talking to her multiple times, but Aveline would never give a clear answer.
A few days after the funeral, Aveline tucked herself into bed. The voices crowding her immediately. She wondered if it was really her own mind. Racing. Thinking. Talking. She wanted it to quite down. After what felt like hours did she finally start to drift. As she did, she felt a hand on her forearm, and a gentle familiar voice, "Wolf cub"
She immediately jolted awake. It took her just a couple of seconds to realize it must have been a dream. A faint imagination that felt all too real. She couldn't sleep after that. Looking outside, it was already dawn. So she decided to walk to the one place that gave her calm. The one place they shared together. The forest.
The place was unbearably quiet.
Too quiet.
Aveline sank to the ground where she and Alden had sparred countless times. Her fingers curled into the soil, clinging to something-anything-to ground her.
Only then did her breath break, jagged and painful.
"He said he'd come back…" she whispered. The words felt small, foolish, and yet they tore her open. "He always comes back."
The forest didn't answer.
The emptiness did.
Tears blurred her vision, dripping onto the dirt. Her shoulders shook as she bent forward, forehead pressing against the earth he once stood upon.
It wasn't dramatic.
It wasn't loud.
Her grief came quietly, like something that had always been waiting inside her, patient and cold. Tears streamed down her face, unforced. Her shoulders shook quietly. She was aware of it all happening. She was aware of the tear rolling down her cheek, aware of her back shaking up and down as if she was having a seizure, aware of the cold ground on her forehead. That is the thing about grief, you become aware of it, but you still can't do anything about it.
Footsteps approached slowly.
Everett stood at the edge of the clearing, face pale.
"Aveline…" His voice cracked.
She didn't lift her head. Anna must have sent a letter. She didn't want him to see how broken she was. But Everett walked over anyway and knelt beside her. He didn't touch her-he knew better-but he stayed close, grounding her presence with his silent comfort.
"I'm so sorry," he whispered. "I know he mattered to you."
Aveline swallowed hard. "He mattered more than anything."
Everett closed his eyes. "I know."
Silence stretched between them, heavy with the things neither could say. Aveline shivered, tears falling again despite her efforts to contain them.
"He was… he was going to show me the North," she murmured. "He promised we'd climb the Frostlight Ridge. He said I'd love the snow there, that it shines like starlight at dawn…"
Her voice trembled.
Everett's hands tightened into fists. "He was a good man. Too good for what this world gives back."
Aveline let out a choked breath, almost a laugh but breaking halfway. "He taught me everything. Not just the sword. He taught me how to stand. How to breathe. How to fight without… without hesitating."
She pressed her forehead deeper into her knees.
"And now he's just… gone."
Everett bowed his head, unable to hide the tears in his eyes. "I wish I could undo it for you."
Her voice softened with grief, but also with the tiny warmth she felt only for him. "Thank you. For being the only one who… who sees me."
He gave her a sad smile. "I always will."
The wind rustled the leaves above them, cool against her skin—gentle, as though carrying a memory of Alden's steady voice, his laughter, his teasing remarks.
Aveline finally lifted her face, looking at the clearing through blurry eyes.
"This place won't ever feel the same," she said.
Everett nodded. "But it's still yours. And so is everything he taught you."
She inhaled shakily. The ache in her chest didn't lessen, but her breathing steadied enough to speak.
"I won't let his life be just a death."
A vow. Quiet, but unbreakable.
"I'll carry forward everything he gave me."
Everett placed a hand briefly on her back—not touching too long, but enough. "He'd be proud of you."
Aveline closed her eyes.
"I hope so."
The forest was silent again, but this time it felt like it mourned with her.
For the rest of the day, she stayed in the clearing-Everett at her side, saying nothing more. She didn't return to the estate until the sun had nearly set.
Alden was gone.
But the part of her he shaped…
That, she would never let the world take. And she knew just where to use it.
Alden had only a single goal in mind. To make the North prosper. Whatever conspiracy the North was under, it was no doubt what took his life. Mauled by animals my ass. Whatever-whoever-you were looking for there, I'll find it.
So Aveline would take on that role for him. She would make sure the North prospered. But for that, she needed more than just the sword at her hip and mana in her veins.
"Everett, I need your help with something." She spoke, eyes staring forward. Determined. Unbroken. Angry.
********************
Aveline would need everything she could get to fight. Her magic abilities were growing stronger, and she had talent in swordsmanship. But what she lacked was money, resources, and power. You only need one to get the others.
Fortunately, she knew exactly how to get one of them: money.
Being from a different world, she had experience luxury and comfort unlike what her current world had seen. And she planned to make use of that. She didn't know how to invent electricity to be honest, or how to create the internet, make a tv screen, or a camera. She didn't know a majority of whatever her previous world had. Damn do I know anything?
But she could start small. Maybe start from something the entire world used. There were over a million people in Velmoria. If even a quarter of them bought what Aveline was selling, that is still a huge sum.
So she started with targeting the commoners. They made a majority of the population. The issue was what it was that she could use to target them. She could go for bakery good, but that would require a large number of employees, a building, and raw materials. She could go for clothing, but that would require much of the same, and she would have to hire talented individuals who already know how to sew.
If only she had some sort of AI system that she could use to ask. Everything would be so much simpler if there was something to do the work for her.
And that's when it clicked. Making something that does more than half the work. Labor is extensively used in this era. A lot of the things are hand crafted, and there aren't any factories or machineries at a lower level for different industries.
So maybe that was where she could start.
**********************
"A sewing machine?" Everett raises an eyebrow at his little sisters suggestion, tea cup in hand.
Aveline nods excitedly. "Its an invention that takes most of the work of sewing out of the process, making it faster and easier for people."
"A sewing machine?" Everett repeats, unable to comprehend the idea.
Aveline sighs. "For God's sake"
"Listen. How is sewing done generally?" Aveline asks, starting as slow as possible.
"How should I know? Do I look like a seamstress or a dressmaker? They have a needle and thread and use that to make clothes." Everett spoke back. As a young lord, he had little to any need of knowing how clothes are sown. All he knew was that the tailor came, took his measurements, poked some clothes with needles, and took a few weeks to bring back his clothes.
"Exactly. And that takes a lot of time. Sometimes it would take weeks or months."
Everett nods, following her sister's words so far.
"And what do you think takes the longest? It's the stitching. The painstaking effort of needling the cloth again and again in different places. So what if we made it faster?" She winded down.
"And how do we do that?" He questions back.
"WITH A SEWING MACHINE." She yells, exasperated.
"AND WHAT IS A SEWING MACHINE" he yells back, equally exasperated.
"You know what forget it." She says, giving up. "I'll show it to you once I make it. What I need from you is something else"
"I need money" she says.
"Okay."
"I know it might sound ridiculous when you don't even know what it is I will ma.. Wait what?" She says, brain not comprehending that Everett just agreed.
"I said Okay" He says, casually.
"What do you mean okay? You don't even know how much money and what for."
"Yeah but if you're the one asking I'm sure there's a reason."
"What you do you mean there's a reason! You can't just say okay when people ask for money!" She scoffed.
"Why are you angry at me for agreeing to give you money? I don't just hand it over to anyone who asks, by the way. It's my little sister who's asking so I'll give her money if I want to give her money damn it." His voice went higher in octaves mid sentence, confused as to why they're arguing all of the sudden.
"Oh.."
"Yeah Oh. so.. How much money?" he asks, voice calmer now after gauging his sister.
"Well, that's the thing. I'm not sure." She says, eyes drifting down. "I need materials. Mainly wood. I also need the solen quartz. I'll engrave the runes myself. I also need needles. Varying sizes. I also need a building for the business, and employees. I have an idea about who I want to hire. Oh I also need someone who knows how to stitch clothes to teach the others. I can teach them how to use the machine I make. We'll also have to look into contracts to ensure the idea doesn't get stolen. I want to make clothes. Fast clothes." She says in one go.
"Okay okay relax. Breathe. I'm with you so far. I can manage to find a building and the solen quartzes. It's not going to be cheap, but if you idea works then it will be ground breaking." He says, calming her down.
"But its not for free. I'll make you my business partner." She says firmly, not one to take favors from anyone. "This is an investment. And its not going to stop at just clothes. I have many plans it mind. But this is where we start."
"Sounds good" he smiles back, proud of his sister. "And what you do want to call your business?"
"Well I'm thinking of creating a bigger company, breaking it down into smaller companies. I don't want anyone to know I am the one behind it. God knows what will happen to a company started by the cursed child of the Faylinn family. I'll change my name to Evora. That is what I want to call my company. And for the clothing shop, I'll call it Evora Atelier." She says, plan all thought out.
"It seems you pretty much have it all figured out, except for the logistics of course."
"Well thank the heaven's that I have a fairly resourceful brother who can handle the logistics for me."
And that is how the legendary business woman, Mistress Evora, came about. A name which will be known not only in Velmoria, but even outside the Empire. A name revered by people all around, commoners and nobles alike.
*************
The slums of Velmoria's capital didn't smell of hope.
They smelled of wet dust, stale bread, and the quiet resignation of people who had grown used to being unseen.
Aveline Faylinn walked through the narrow alleyways with a hood drawn over her hair, the Solen Quartz in her pocket softly humming against her palm. She had been coming here in secret for weeks—observing, listening, trying to understand what the common folk needed most.
What they needed wasn't charity.
They needed opportunity.
Today, she intended to create it. The men almost seemed hopeless. Drunk and depressed. But it was the women who Aveline was focused on. These women, some with children, had to resign themselves to a fate they had no control in. So Aveline chose to give them control.
********************
Aveline stepped over a broken bucket and tightened her cloak, keeping the hood low as she made her way toward the abandoned building Everett had purchased for her. Not too far from the slums, but not to close to keep the customers away. It wasn't part of the main shopping district, but it was the perfect place for her first business.
Purchased, quietly. And in cash. Her brother always did understand the meaning of secrecy.
The building loomed at the end of the street, a two-story warehouse with shuttered windows and vines curling around its stone walls. It looked forgotten-exactly the way Aveline wanted it.
Everett was already waiting inside, sleeves rolled up, hair a mess from dealing with workers since dawn. He looked up when she entered.
"There you are," he said with a tired grin. "I sent a group of cleaners away half an hour ago. They would've made this place too tidy. Would've ruined your aesthetic."
Aveline set her satchel on the table. "My aesthetic is functionality."
"That's exactly what I meant." He tossed her a key. "Your workshop. Our workshop."
She caught it reflexively. It felt heavier than metal-more like responsibility.
The inside of the warehouse had been partially cleared, revealing wide open floor space. Sunlight streamed through cracks in the roof, illuminating the dust motes drifting lazily in the air.
And in the corner sat the crate containing all the supplies Everett had quietly gathered: metal alloys, wooden boards, coils, small tools, and at the center-
Several fist-sized shard of Solen Quartz, glowing faintly like a captured star.
Everett noticed her gaze. "Took me half a month to track all the pieces of that size. Almost got myself stabbed over it."
Her eyes widened. "Everett-"
"I said almost." He raised a hand. "And besides, you're planning to use it to change lives. Worth the trouble."
Aveline approached the crystal. The moment she laid her fingertips on it, warmth hummed through her. Mana, thrumming and waiting to be shaped.
This was the beginning.
*****************
Hours passed in the rhythm of work.
Aveline stood over a wooden table littered with metal scraps as she carved runes with a fine-tipped engraving tool. Tiw for direction. Yr for motion. Beorc for stability. Each rune was delicate, carved with both precision and mana flow.
Everett leaned against a support pillar, watching. "I have no idea what you're doing, but it looks complicated."
"It is," she muttered, not looking up. "And it needs to be precise. If the runes misalign by even a hair, the Solen Quartz could release unstable arcs."
He paled. "…Explosive arcs?"
"Potentially."
"Good to know. I'll stand farther away."
She shook her head with a smirk and set the quartz inside the copper housing Everett had commissioned. With careful mana infusion, sigils glowed and locked into place.
Then came the assembly:
A spool mechanism.
A reinforced needle.
A rotational spindle forged from the alloy Everett found in the eastern markets.
Piece by piece, the machine took shape.
It was ready.
Aveline stepped back. The device looked like a compact, simplified sewing machine: wooden frame, metal spindle, needle set in place, and in the center—a small copper plate for mana activation.
Everett exhaled. "So… will it blow up?"
"I don't think so," she said, rolling her sleeves. "But if it does, you take responsibility."
"Absolutely not-"
She pressed her fingers to the copper plate.
The Solen Quartz inside pulsed- once, twice, and then a soft bluish arc rippled through the coil. The needle moved.
Slowly at first, then faster.
Rhythmic. Smooth.
Aveline laughed—an unrestrained sound she rarely made. "It works!"
Everett blinked. "It actually works."
She ran a strip of cloth through it, guiding the edge with practiced fingers. The machine stitched a perfectly straight line-clean, even, strong.
Magic and engineering. Mana and metal.
Her dream, tangible.
************
The next morning, they brought the women.
Everett had quietly spread the word: free work, stable wages, training provided. By noon, a dozen women stood uncertainly inside the warehouse-thin, tired, calloused from years of menial labor, some hiding children behind their legs.
Aveline stepped forward, hands clasped behind her. "Thank you for coming."
They looked at her with equal parts hope and suspicion. A noble girl in the slums was never a good sign.
She continued, "I'm not here to give charity. I'm here to give opportunity. If you want it."
That earned a few raised brows.
She uncovered the machine. Gasps erupted.
"This device," Aveline said, resting a hand on the wooden frame, "can sew faster than a professional seamstress. With minimal effort. It uses mana—but only a tiny amount. Every human has enough to activate it."
A young woman near the front hesitantly raised a hand. "What do you want us to do?"
"Learn to use it," Aveline replied. "And then help me produce clothes-affordable and well-made-so we can sell them across Faylinn."
"Will we be paid?"
Everett stepped forward. "Generously," he said firmly. "You'll work indoors, safe from the weather. Regular shifts. Hot meals provided."
The women looked at one another.
One finally spoke. "When do we start?"
Aveline felt something warm spread in her chest. "Now," she said.
She guided the first woman—a seamstress named Lira—toward the machine.
Aveline placed Lira's hands on the fabric. "Lightly. Let the machine do the work."
Lira hesitated, then pressed the copper plate. Her eyes widened as the machine hummed to life beneath her fingertips.
"It feels… like it's alive," she whispered.
Aveline smiled. "It's powered by your mana. In a way, it is alive."
"But.. I don't have mana."
"Well no I mean everyone has mana, it's just more about how much you have and how to use it. Beside this machine won't really require that much man- you know what forget it." She stopped herself from going on a tangent and discuss how brilliant her creation was. "Just focus on learning how to use it, not how it works."
Around the room, excitement sparked. The other women watched with mouths open as the machine stitched row after row in seconds.
Everett leaned beside Aveline, whispering, "You realize this is going to change everything."
Aveline exhaled softly, watching Lira's expression turn from fear to awe.
"That's the plan," she murmured.
By evening, the warehouse-once silent and dusty-was alive with laughter, chatter, and the rhythmic hum of machinery.
Women learned.
Women worked.
Women earned.
Aveline stood in the center of it all, surrounded by the creation she had built from nothing.
Everett nudged her shoulder. "You did it."
"We did it," she corrected.
Their eyes met in silent understanding-partners, siblings, conspirators in changing the world one thread at a time.
Aveline inhaled deeply, letting the scent of fabric and copper and hope fill her lungs.
This was more than a workshop.
It was the beginning of her revolution.