---------------
Brought to ‌‌‌you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------

Chapter 62
Inside the sparse Guard Post, a single table sat at the center, around which several men were gathered.
Cigarette smoke hung thick in the air around them, and empty bottles of alcohol littered the floor.
Blinking in disbelief at this surreal sight, I quietly stepped outside to check the sign.
The Empire's flag and the words "Guard Post" were displayed with ‌‌perfect clarity.
I returned inside and stared in astonishment at the men absorbed in their card game.
'So these people ‌‌‌are actually... Guard members?'
And they ‌‌‌had the audacity to request reinforcements, claiming they were understaffed?!
Dumbfounded, I was merely standing there catching my breath when one of them finally noticed our presence and turned around. ‌‌
"Hey, hey. Someone's here."
"Listen, miss. If you're having lover's quarrels, take it outside. This isn't the place to settle that sort of thing."
"...That's ‌‌‌‌not what ‌‌‌‌this is about."
"No? Then go to the Imperial Palace and call the Knight Order for other matters. They'll handle it."
The Guard members spoke without bothering to inquire about our situation or even glance at us properly.
The Knight Order of the Imperial Palace was the Emperor's personal guard, stationed within the palace where ordinary people could not simply meet them.
If an incident occurring in the Capital was deemed a serious matter, one of the ‌‌‌Guard's duties was to go ‌‌‌‌to the Imperial Palace and summon the Knights.
But telling a civilian to go to the Imperial Palace themselves...
'In other words, ‌‌they're just telling us to get lost.'
I let out a hollow laugh at the Guard's true nature.
Never mind that I'd made a wasted trip.
'The fact that my diligently paid taxes have been going toward these men's drinking expenses is rather infuriating.'
Whether we continued standing there or not, as I watched the Guard ‌‌members absorbed in their card game, I stepped ‌‌‌forward decisively.
Only then ‌‌did their gazes turn toward me.
"Hey, miss. What is ‌‌‌it?"
"I am an ‌Inspector sent by the Prime Minister."
The Guard members, who had been indifferent throughout, visibly flinched upon hearing the word "Inspector."
However, one man.
A single man watching the card game while holding a cigarette in his mouth scanned me with ‌‌eyes that ‌‌showed no reaction whatsoever.
"Ah, that new recruit the Duke planted in the Prime Minister's Office?"
The man, who appeared to be the ‌‌‌Guard captain, clearly ‌‌resented that ‌‌I had entered through connections.
'A young woman who got in through nepotism—no ‌‌wonder he's displeased.'
Even if ‌the Guard was lower than the Knight Order, they were still civil servants receiving the nation's salary.
Whether they entered through connections or ‌‌‌by examination, they must have struggled to get in.
'...Though admittedly, they're currently enjoying leisure activities during work hours.'
The first impression wasn't particularly good, but considering my position as the Marquis's representative, I decided to maintain courtesy.
"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Vivian Hessen. A request for personnel reinforcement came in, and the Prime Minister sent me as both an inspector and temporary staff."
"Personnel reinforcement? Hey, who reported this to headquarters?"
One of the Guard members looked around at the others and pressed the issue, but no one answered.
"And the one next to you? I heard the Duke only planted one new recruit."
He was referring to Lahedis. ‌‌‌
"He's my escort knight."
"An escort? You mean your lover, right?"
As I tried to introduce Lahedis, the guards began giggling and holding up their pinkies.
"Wow, you really lucked out with that boyfriend, huh? Both the Duke and the Prime Minister set you up."
I glanced sideways at Lahedis to see if his feelings were hurt by their teasing.
"A lover, huh.... That's nice."
...He was muttering something incomprehensible.
Meanwhile, the guards who had stopped their giggling asked again. ‌
"Anyway, what's your name?"
In truth, Lahedis wasn't an Inspector—he was merely my escort, so there was no reason ‌‌‌for him to give them his name.
It ‌‌‌was ‌‌‌clearly a mocking attitude toward him.
But before I could object, Lahedis responded calmly first.
"Lahedis."
"...That's a short answer?"
"Yours was short too."
"Ours? Ha, what is this." ‌‌‌‌
One of the guards, angered by Lahedis's insolent tone, suddenly stood up as if to grab him by the ‌‌collar.
Alarmed by the deteriorating atmosphere, I was about to step between them when—
"Wait, move aside."
The guard captain, who had ‌been observing the situation, pushed aside the guard blocking his view by striking his rear, then began studying me intently.
...I had an ominous feeling about this.
He stared like that for quite some time.
Finally, the guard captain opened his mouth as if remembering something.
"I wondered why the Duke suddenly appointed some commoner as the Prime Minister's aide.... You're that girl who ‌‌‌‌used to play with the Princess, aren't you?"
His eyes gleamed as he looked at me with a puzzled expression.
"The ‌baker's daughter."
At that, I ‌‌‌flinched.
Hearing that, while I couldn't recall their faces, there were indeed people who came to mind from the circumstances.
'Ten years ago, the knights who came to the bakery investigating ‌‌‌Rachel.'
He was probably one of them.
The guard captain drank straight from a bottle, then continued speaking while looking at me again.
"Life is truly unpredictable. The nobly-born Princess dies young, while our well-connected commoner girl rises to prominence by selling out her dead friend?"
Until just moments ago, I had tried to maintain proper decorum.
Until Rachel's name came from that mouth.
I stepped forward toward the guard captain.
Sensing my anger, Blackie, who had been in a suppressed summoning state, revealed itself on its own.
The guards who ‌‌saw Blackie began to stir in surprise.
"I-is that...a Dark Spirit or something?"
"Then you're a demon hybrid?"
Unlike the other guards who flinched at Blackie's appearance, the guard captain looked at me with contempt.
"Good grief, you're really something else."
"...."
"What? You keep staring like that—what are you going to do about it? ‌‌Want me to take a swing at you?"
"Vivian―"
I heard Lahedis's voice from behind, trying ‌‌to stop me, but my hand was already moving.
Toward the bottle of alcohol the Guard Captain was holding.
I deliberately slammed the bottle I'd snatched onto the table with a loud thud.
"Military Code, Article 11, Section 7. Drinking ‌‌‌while on duty is prohibited."
And then....
Crash!
I kicked over the entire table where the card game was happening.
"Military Code, Article 11, Section 9. Gambling and entertainment ‌‌while on duty are prohibited."
Cards scattered everywhere across the table.
The Guard members stared at the Prime Minister's representative—the Inspector—in utter bewilderment at this rudeness.
Even Lahedis seemed caught off ‌‌‌‌guard by my actions, ‌‌his eyes widening in surprise as he looked ‌‌‌at me.
Regardless, I now fixed my gaze directly on the Guard Captain, whose momentum had clearly faltered.
"Captain, you know what it means to have good connections?"
"...."
"It means being able ‌‌to report directly to the higher-ups, doesn't it?"
My lips curled into a wicked smile as I looked down at ‌‌the Guard Captain.
* * *
After the Inspector who had turned the Guard Post upside down disappeared somewhere.
Once peace returned, the Guard members quickly resumed ‌‌‌‌their card game with renewed enthusiasm.
But there ‌‌‌‌‌‌was one person who ‌couldn't seem to focus on the game.
"Hey, you're done for, right? Don't drag this out—hurry up and fold."
"No, that's not it...."
"Then what?"
"What ‌‌‌if that girl actually reports us to the higher-ups?"
When the ‌‌‌‌‌youngest Guard member brought up the concern with a terrified expression, everyone burst out laughing.
"Ha, this guy. You're ‌‌shaking like a squid on a ‌‌‌‌grill." ‌‌‌
The Guard Captain ‌‌placed an arm around the intimidated member's shoulder and spoke.
"You see, in society, you have to turn a blind eye to injustice and protect yourself—that's how you avoid making enemies."
"Y-yes, that's right."
"No matter how crazy that girl is, she wouldn't be stupid enough to deliberately make enemies, would she? We're still nobility. Even a kid would have that much sense―"
Just as he was about to wrap up the conversation.
A Guard member who ‌‌‌‌had gone to the restroom came rushing back in with a deathly pale face.
"S-she's here!"
"What? Did the alcohol arrive?"
"N-no!"
"Then what? Finish what you're saying."
But before the Guard Captain could answer, men in familiar uniforms appeared from behind him, calling out Curtis Rohan's name.
"Curtis Rohan."
The uniform bore the Imperial Family's crest.
It was the very same uniform Curtis had worn before his demotion to the Guard Post.
The man who had called his name was someone who had enlisted in the Knight Order alongside him, but who now stood as his superior.
"They say a gambler will bet with his feet if his hands are cut off... Did you forget why you were demoted here in the first place?"

---------------
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please ‌‌‌read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
---------------