Chapter 44

Originally, this room was a library, and I wouldn’t have been so surprised if it had been given to me for that exact reason. Knowing the accommodations were made for my needs, the gesture was breathtakingly moving.

I gently touched the spines of the leather-bound books with my hand. It felt good to touch the engraved title of the books. There were so many books that when the windows were closed and the curtains were pulled down, the smell of paper filled up the suite.

These were large books that were difficult to obtain even if you paid a lot of money. There were books related to politics, economy, culture, history, folktales, and novels of the Burg Empire, and Golddina’s magic books and storybooks were also placed at one end.

Without realizing it, I pulled out one of them and held it in my hand. It was a familiar book that I first read in Golddina’s back alley. Having lived so poorly that I couldn’t even think of buying books, I would always read in a secondhand bookstore, gobbling the words hastily. I’d never thought I’d have something like that in my room.

“Do you like it?”

“Ahh!”

A familiar hand came from behind and grabbed the book I had dropped in my surprise. I grumbled when I felt the emperor’s chest against the back of my head, as he returned the book back on the shelf.

“…You were surprised.” He stepped back, a smile in his low voice.

I turned to face him.

“I definitely knocked.”

“Usually when you knock, the other person has to hear it.”

“If I knock, you have to listen.”

I pouted in annoyance, but when I saw the bookshelf again, my mouth curved into a smile without my knowing.

“I’m glad you like it.”

“That’s… who wouldn’t like it? However… it’s too much.”

He grinned at me. “You haven’t realized that I put it there for you, have you?”

“What?”

“I’ve brought these to you so that you can look into anything immediately if I ask you to. I don’t have a hobby of having incompetent subordinates.”

Yeah, he probably didn’t decorate the bookshelf for my viewing pleasure. But it was true that I needed these to fulfill my duties. Being a secretary to the emperor didn’t seem too bad. Not at all.

I looked up at him, trying to hide my happy face as much as I could, full of daydreams about my future. “What brings you here, Your Majesty?”

“I was wondering how the year-end party outfit was going.”

“Is it really okay for you to go there yourself?”

“Am I in the way? It’s really no big deal on my part.”

“No, it’s not like that…”

Honestly, I would be embarrassed if he had been the one to ask me to put my safety first with such sincerity. But it was just so ridiculous that the most important and at-risk person in all of the empire was so brazen so as to attend an academy party.

“How are you going to get a bodyguard into the masquerade?”

“My people know what to do, so there is no concern.”

“You know the academy is protected by magic.” The emperor laughed and sat on the sofa. “Who do you think created that magic?”

I took a step closer to him and covered my mouth. “No way…”

“Yeah, you don’t think it’s just a prop, do you?”

“I see.”

“Then you won’t have any complaints anymore, will you?”

“No, my lord.”

He waved my words away tiredly. “The day I went to the National Assembly, I was faced with deafening opposition. I don’t want to hear anything like ‘you can’t do it’ from my secretary.”

“Yes, sir…” I answered without realizing it.

“You really don’t listen.”

“I’m sorry.”

The emperor, who was lolling around on the sofa, tossed and turned uncomfortably. He looked tired, so why wasn’t he going back to his room? Wasn’t his back uncomfortable?

His eyes roved across my face and glanced at my clothes and badge. “How’s the dress you were wearing last time coming along? I’m pretty sure you’ll need it for the party.”

“Yes, Serena… is helping.”

“What about the others? Do they all fit?”

What do you mean?

“…What?”

“I guess you haven’t checked your closet yet.”

I was mesmerized by the library and hadn’t yet checked out the closet next to him, but I heard him stand abruptly and open the door to the next room. The antique, giant canopy bed, apparently moved from the old room, was now well-matched with other furniture of the same type. A beautifully patterned dressing table and drawers were placed to the side, and a large wardrobe stood on the opposite end.

The closet was so huge that I couldn’t reach the edges even if I spread my arms horizontally. Inside were light pants and dresses hanging in a row, already pressed and laundered, suitable for daily wear.

“Oh…”

As long as it was my job to carry out the emperor’s will right next to him, my clothes represented him. I had to look the part.

I was once again struck by the realization that I was really an official secretary now as I touched the imperial uniform. I changed into it and then I put on my badge again. I looked somewhat unfamiliar in the mirror, but I felt proud of how I looked, somewhat.

When I went outside, the emperor got up from the sofa. “You look good in uniform, too.”

“Really?”

“You’re smiling so widely that your mouth is going to rip.”

Was I? I pressed my fingers against the corners of my mouth.

He nodded. “Then shall we go over today’s routine?”

“Oh, the schedule isn’t done for today?”

“It’s just the beginning.”

The former secretary’s complaints of overwork rang in my ears.

As I had always seen the emperor relaxed in his bed, I had no idea how busy he had been.

The rest of the day has passed by meeting and talking to people, persuading and ordering, receiving reports of investigative data, and checking the status of the border.

The rumors of the change in secretary followed the emperor around and drew attention to him. I had to wrap up the day chasing him while receiving glares from either the imperialists or the empress.

*** 

It’d been such a hectic week. As secretary, I was not at all convinced that I was doing the right thing. The emperor had no intention of overloading himself, and I was getting tired of adapting to demands that were completely different from those required by the academy. I had to sleep less to learn new foreign languages, take care of the emperor’s body occasionally, find necessary materials, and greet the aristocrats around him.

I barely finished my work, greeted the guards, and left the emperor’s room. I yawned. As I was walking down the hallway, I nodded and almost fell asleep.

‘…I’m so tired.’

As I was heading to the library to pick up some books that weren’t in my room, I blinked slowly and bumped into the person in front of me. “I’m sorry.” When I looked at him again, I saw that it was Burtin, an adviser to the empress dowager.

“What, don’t you keep your eyes open?”

“I’m sorry,” I apologized again, but it didn’t seem enough for him.

He looked contemptuously at me as if he was about to curse, but someone stepped in between me and Burtin.

“Be in moderation, Advisor.”

“Mr. Maxi…”

My sense sharpened. The black-haired man standing right in front of him was, indeed, Maxi, the emperor’s half-brother.

Last time, I didn’t know who he was because I’d only seen him for a short time, but he had a very good reputation, unlike the empress dowager. However, when I saw him at the banquet, he felt relatively cold, so I didn’t expect him to cover for me.

Maxi continued while looking at him with puzzled eyes, “You know what, Brutin, I’m really tired because of people like you. Let us pass.”

“But she’s a slave.….”

“Don’t say that. Didn’t she say she graduated from the academy? Have you ever been in class A? You, who have never been out of class C, should you really be arguing with this young miss about qualifications?”

“Mr. Maxi!” Brutin was embarrassed to be scolded like this in front of me, his ears turning red.

I didn’t know that a human face could change that quickly.

Perhaps he didn’t contest it further because Maxi was royalty, and so he went on and let us pass without another word.

“Thank you, Maxi.”

“What, with this stuff?. It’s no problem, I think you’re on your way to the library, right?”

“Yes.”

“I’m coming with you. I was bored because I don’t have any reading buddies these days.”

Liked it or not, I couldn’t have had a choice in discouraging the emperor’s brother to walk with me. While walking alongside him, he began to talk about the book he was reading these days. I was busy thinking about what the hell he meant by telling me such a story, but he seemed nonchalant.

He kept asking me what books I read, so I added a few words about a book that I had read with great interest. Then he brought up another book.

“Did you say your name was Celestia?”

“Yes.”

“My brother’s secretary?”

“Yes.”

“Stop being suspicious. I’m not going to do anything bad to you.”

“I’ll try.”

He nudged me, laughing pleasantly, and a somewhat chilly look crossed his face. “So straightforward. It’ll be fun to keep you close.”

“You don’t seem to be keeping me close for fun.”

“In any case, I’m weaker than you, so you’re just wearing yourself out with your suspicions. And I don’t hate my brother. I respect you, that’s all.”

I tried figuring out what was hidden behind his soft smile, but royalty had notoriously good poker faces.

“And I look good with things that belong to my brother.”

“…What?”

“So I’m very interested in you too. Let’s talk about books often.”