Chapter 51
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Chapter 51
Within the Department Office, there was a separate Minister's Office partitioned by glass windows.
Though the department's landscape was visible through them, for now only Namia Loapi and Crown Prince Kiaros occupied that office.
And Crown Prince Kiaros found himself thinking.
'Is this hell?'
He had never experienced anything this grueling in his entire life.
"Again."
Namia Loapi picked up a red pen and spoke with gentle courtesy.
"Here, here, and here. These are all wrong. And for the day notation, it should be written as (Mon), not (Monday). And this should be 14:00, not 2 PM."
In truth, Crown Prince Kiaros had already reviewed these documents thoroughly.
The problem was that Namia Loapi had ordered him to check every single trivial detail that deviated from standard document formatting protocols.
"...I doubt those above would scrutinize such minor details."
Unable to restrain himself, Crown Prince Kiaros spoke, and Namia Loapi smiled knowingly.
"Kibon."
"Yes?"
"Are you the Crown Prince?"
"...."
"The Crown Prince would notice everything."
He wouldn't, he absolutely wouldn't notice such things!
Honestly, he wouldn't scrutinize this deeply!
It was precisely when Kibon was suffering internally over this unproductive task.
"Besides, we're not in ordinary circumstances right now," Namia Loapi said quietly.
Namia Loapi spoke quietly.
"What if these messy notations are actually a cipher between them?"
"Between them...?"
"The spies who infiltrated our department. The ones who attacked the Crown Prince and had Oson frame the Empress."
Crown Prince Kiaros furrowed his brow. Namia Loapi's expression darkened.
"They might have embedded ciphers in official documents. While it violates standard document formatting protocols, those above would still approve them. If I were them, I'd use such irregularities to exchange information."
Crown Prince Kiaros's quill, which had been merely irritated, trembled slightly.
Crown Prince Kiaros had always been in the position of merely reviewing documents that reached his desk.
He had never actually created documents himself. So he had never considered such a possibility.
"That's why we need to verify everything and correct it all. So that even if it were a cipher, they couldn't use it."
"What if it was just an error and not a cipher at all?"
"We still have to do it."
"But this is absolutely grueling?"
"That's exactly why I have to do it. I can't assign such thankless work to the other staff members."
"Then what about me?"
"You're my secretary, so you have to help. And your speech is too informal."
"...Yes?"
It seemed Namia Loapi had no connection to those behind the conspiracy.
A spy wouldn't go to such lengths.
'No, she genuinely seems like a civil servant loyal to the Imperial Family....'
Otherwise, she wouldn't work so diligently on tasks that left no trace and earned no recognition from others.
Meanwhile, she was also efficiently handling the basic duties that the Finance Minister himself should have been managing.
"Hmm...."
In fact, she was handling most of the department's work.
She was even rapidly drafting budget proposals to send to the Treasury Department herself—at an absolutely remarkable pace.
When Crown Prince Kiaros glanced at Namia's documents, she spoke.
"Pay close attention to the standard formats and writing methods."
"Pardon?"
"Because you'll need to help with this from now on."
"...A Secretary does this too?"
"It's my work, so you should assist with it."
"Does the Finance Minister handle such things personally?"
"Not exactly."
Namia spoke matter-of-factly.
"There's no one in this department who knows how to do this."
"...Excuse me?"
"There was no one to teach proper methods for drafting official documents and such."
"Then...."
Crown Prince Kiaros's eyes narrowed.
Yet the documents Namia was preparing were flawless.
As the final reviewer of numerous documents, Crown Prince Kiaros could see that only the Finance Minister himself could process paperwork with such precision and speed.
"How do you know this, Minister?"
To his knowledge, Namia had never transferred between departments.
In other words, there was no one who could have taught her this.
"You wouldn't have had a superior to teach you such things either, Minister."
"...."
"...."
Crown Prince Kiaros thought quickly while observing her face.
If she didn't answer, he'd likely need to return to her later with questions.
'She still looks thin. I wonder if she's eating properly.... I gave her plenty of meal vouchers. If I said thanks for helping me and suggested we eat together using those....'
That was when it happened.
The bell announcing lunch hour rang. The department staff vanished in an instant, flooding out like a tidal wave.
Namia stretched and spoke.
"You go grab lunch too."
Crown Prince Kiaros blinked.
"Then...what about you, Minister?"
At that, Namia looked startled.
"Did you just ask me how I'm going to have lunch?"
"Yes."
"That won't do. In standard Imperial, that phrase actually has a rather terrible meaning—something like 'Would you like to dine with the Minister?'"
"Pardon?"
Crown Prince Kiaros couldn't make sense of anything Namia Loapi was saying.
So he asked with genuine bewilderment.
"Setting aside the meaning, why would that be inappropriate to say?"
"Are you insane? Voluntarily sharing a meal with your superior? The proper thing is to slip away the moment they dismiss you."
Crown Prince Kiaros quietly decided to abandon the thought of suggesting they share a meal sometime later.
Namia Loapi observed him lost in contemplation.
Then she spoke slowly.
"...That would be normal, but since our Intern is on his first day, I should naturally look after him."
"Hmm?"
"Let's go."
Namia Loapi rose from her seat with a smirk.
And tilting her chin up, she spoke with confidence.
"To get expensive food with your older sister."
For Crown Prince Kiaros, who had always been the wealthiest and held the highest seat, these were words he'd never heard before.
And yet....
'...What is this.'
Thump.
...His heart pounded loudly.
* * *
I had been thoughtless.
No matter that I was his superior, and regardless of whether I found him disagreeable for no reason, it was practically his first day.
Strictly speaking, it wasn't his first day, but close enough.
'Still, on the first day I should have at least joined the department staff when they all went out for lunch.'
Now, having spent time with him in the Minister's Office, I'd missed the window to slip him in with the other staff.
I observed Kibon's bewildered expression for a moment.
'Right. He's already away from home—he probably doesn't want to eat lunch alone.'
I should have told the other employees to take Kibon with them before lunch.
But they'd all already scattered.
So in the end, I had no choice but to share a meal with Kibon.
From his perspective, it would naturally be uncomfortable and irritating, so I thought I'd at least treat him to something expensive.
'I have an enormous number of meal vouchers anyway.'
The meal vouchers I'd received from Crown Prince Kiaros were almost all for two people.
It seemed wasteful to use them alone, and I had no one to invite to share a meal with.
"Come on, let's go."
I selected one of my vouchers from a restaurant near the Imperial Palace and took Kibon with me.
When Kibon saw the course meal voucher I handed to the server, his expression became peculiar.
The moment the appetizer arrived, I picked up my spoon and spoke to the server.
"I apologize, but we only have an hour for lunch. Would it be possible to have the food prepared quickly?"
The server acknowledged and hurried into the kitchen.
Kibon tilted his head and spoke.
"This course meal is quite lengthy... Accounting for travel time, we'd need to finish and leave in barely thirty minutes."
"Exactly. Eat quickly."
Kibon's expression grew even more bewildered.
"If you're going to rush through it like this, why did you ask me to come along? Wouldn't it be better to go after work with someone else?"
"I can't really think of who that 'someone else' would be anyway. I don't have friends."
"Well, I mean..."
Kibon rolled his eyes before speaking.
"If you can't think of anyone, perhaps the person who gave you the meal voucher..."
Rumors had spread throughout the Imperial Palace that I'd knocked Crown Prince Kiaros down.
Amid all that, I had no desire to mention that the Crown Prince had given me this voucher, not even to an intern.
So I shrugged and spoke.
"Oh, my superior gave me this."
"..."
"Why would I deliberately have dinner with my superior after work? How inconvenient."
"..."
Crown Prince Kiaros was technically my superior, so it wasn't a lie.
Kibon drank his water in large gulps without a word. Then he suddenly spoke.
"I don't mind having meals with my superior, actually."
"Ah, okay."
"Aren't you curious about why?"
"Not really, since your mind will probably change on that soon enough anyway."
"..."
The appetizer arrived in the meantime.
I ate through the appetizer quickly and continued.
"Well, even if we end up eating in a rush... I wanted to treat you to something nice."
Then Kibon, who had been holding his spoon still, stared directly at me and asked.
"...Why?"
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org