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42.

To be honest, if anyone other ‌‌‌than Ashwood had come as an advisor, I would never have helped them.
I'd already grasped each person's work competency through the documents they'd left piling up at the ‌‌‌Winter Palace. ‌
They would absolutely drive me to madness if I had to teach them.
'Let all that frustration fall on Ashwood instead.'
Someone as fragile as ‌‌‌‌‌me could never handle it.
So I was planning to implant some demon blood into Ashwood.
Teaching them everything would be a loss for the Winter Palace, but leaving things as they are would only push Cassian and me one step closer to death by overwork.
'Life becomes comfortable when you cut unnecessary expenses....'
Even if that expense happens to be labor.
"Advisor Roselita, the document organization you mentioned is complete."
I'd started by having the administrators organize raw data first, as ‌‌‌if I were training them when they'd ‌‌‌just arrived.
"Here, redo this part. If you don't understand, grab one of the other administrators and ask questions."
Truly fair to my nature, I treated them no differently than the other administrators. ‌
Ah, I'm really too kind. Truly.

*

Francis had accepted the absurd conditions out of concern that the Ashwood Ducal House's reputation would be tarnished otherwise.
Of course, the ‌‌other advisors had also caused quite a commotion.

'If this continues, the First Empress will issue a direct command.'
'We even asked the Rose Palace ‌‌‌advisors for help, but they treated us like garbage! As if only they're busy right now.'
'I even know someone from the Sun Palace advisors since childhood and brought it up with them... but they said there's ‌‌nowhere with the capacity to help others these days.'
'And that's not all—when I mentioned it, the Sun Palace advisor said that because of us, the Winter Palace keeps falling behind on tasks they need to handle, and told me to either take the Emperor's scolding in their place or get out immediately.'
'They're all so rude. Apparently nothing runs without the Winter Palace witch?'

When they were having that conversation, Francis also ‌‌distinctly heard a Sun Palace administrator who'd happened to come by to deliver work let out a derisive laugh.

'It doesn't run. The Emperor himself has made concessions, but only this place doesn't know. Tsk.'

The voice was so quiet that the other advisors apparently didn't hear it.
But in that moment, Francis Ashwood felt a profound sense of humiliation.
Born as the eldest son of a ducal house and raised with thorough heir education, he was being outshone by some baroness from a remote corner?
Because he'd received harsh reproach from his grandfather, Duke Ashwood, when he'd withdrawn at the First Empress's command during the Delight Cruise ‌‌‌Ship incident last time, he was even more unwilling to accept it.

'If things continue like this, it would be better for ‌‌‌the Second Prince to take over the Ducal House. Did you think I released you just to play puppet to the First Empress?'

I couldn't tell if Advisor Roselita had deliberately done this, but my grandfather would likely know of the situation and choose neither to protest nor intervene.
'He would probably call that a measure of my capabilities.'
Francis Ashwood released a deep sigh and took the materials that Roselita had rejected to the ‌‌administrative officials.
He wasn't blind or deaf, so he couldn't help but notice how overwhelmingly busy Roselita was.
Of ‌course, creating this time meant missing various successor training sessions, which made me anxious.
'Why does it feel like learning here and observing is more helpful?'
Despite the teachers being ones I had painstakingly sought out with utmost care.
Francis carefully presented the materials to the administrative official, wanting ‌‌‌to ask about ‌‌the sections Roselita had marked.
"Ah, this is certainly difficult ‌‌when you first start. At this level, well, if you think of it as a newcomer's work, it's not bad at all."
I paused for a moment at those words.
'Not bad if you think of it as a newcomer's work?'
I was rumored to be an exceptional talent, and I had even been appointed as the First Prince's First Advisor by the First Empress.
In fact, until Roselita arrived, I had never fallen out of the top rankings in quarterly performance.
It was only after ‌‌‌she came that I fell behind the Winter Palace Advisor and the administrative ‌‌officials.
Whether the administrative officials knew my feelings or not, they laughed and spoke. ‌‌‌‌
"Still, compared to when ‌‌‌we first arrived, Advisor Roselita has become much kinder."
"That's right. Back then she was so busy we couldn't even approach her, she wouldn't answer us, and just threw red check marks at us."
"If the interpretation was a bit slow, the Advisor would handle everything herself. We almost wished she would curse us out for being so slow."
"Oh, and I also have the next batch of materials from the work ‌‌entrusted to Ashwood. How fortunate."
Fortunate?
My pride cracked once more.
Even more so because she had handed off the latter ‌part to someone else, knowing I couldn't meet the deadline.
"Exactly, now the Advisor acknowledges that we're actually ‌‌‌doing our jobs."
The administrative officials laughed without a shred of pride in their words, and Francis became ‌‌‌even more bewildered.
"...Aren't you angry?"
Overcome with curiosity, I spoke words that would certainly have drawn criticism if I'd said them in front of Roselita.
The eyes of the administrative officials widened at those words.
"Angry? Isn't this good fortune?"
"Good fortune?"
"Don't you know, my lord? An administrative official's career path is essentially determined by which advisor they encounter."
"I understand that much."
It was usually the advisor's role to decide whether to give important work to administrative officials and to direct the work's direction.
"It's been three days now, and you've received confirmation from Advisor Roselita, so it's about time you understood."
One of the administrative officials with a somewhat sharp demeanor made a subtle jab.
Normally I would have called it disrespectful, but by now the atmosphere had become clear enough that Francis Ashwood suppressed his pride.
"First of all, our Advisor actually teaches us the work." ‌‌
"Moreover, Advisor Roselita doesn't get angry when teaching newcomers."
"...Pardon?"
"The other advisors don't even bother teaching me in the first place—they just hand over work and get angry whenever things don't go their way."
Francis found himself thinking of the ‌‌‌Summer Palace ‌‌‌Administration staff. ‌‌
Now that he thought about it, had he ever done anything for them besides issuing ‌‌‌work directives?
He'd assumed administrators should naturally know how to do their jobs, and while he'd inwardly bristled when they didn't keep pace with his expectations, he'd never shown it.
"Even when she's busy, she reviews everything. She doesn't complain about how slow things are. She keeps pushing until it's done right."
"And whenever she has a spare moment, she explains things in detail. It's just that we're swamped with the settlement period right now."
Thinking back on it, Roselita had indeed spoken at length yesterday.

'You don't need to classify everything so meticulously. For documents like these, what matters is the industry ‌‌‌type, ‌‌‌years of operation, and the proportion relative to the whole.'

And I couldn't deny ‌‌‌‌that her words had shifted how I viewed data.
When I adapted to that approach, I even noticed Roselita's serious expression ease somewhat.
"And Your Highness, isn't our report format convenient to use?"
Francis closed his mouth slightly.
Truth be told, at first he'd thought it was far too abbreviated.
Normally, reports always had courteous preambles and summaries expressed in formal language at both the beginning and end.
But the Winter Palace reports were essentially just ‌‌the necessary summary and main body—that was it.
Some documents were so stripped down to only essential content that they omitted even a table of contents.
It was common for them to end in just one or two pages.
"If you adjust the spacing a bit, it'll be easier to read. Delete this section here."
As the administrator continued, she kindly reviewed Francis's document and explained in detail which parts needed ‌‌correction and why.
At this, the administrator who'd been sarcastic moments before spoke up again.
"It's all in the manual, but since you can't find it, we have to waste our time ‌‌‌explaining it."
"Tsk, that's enough. Advisor ‌‌‌‌‌Roselita does excellent work, doesn't she?"
The rebuked administrator pouted but focused back on his work.
Francis had decided to simply accept the administrator's insolent attitude.
After all, the other party's work efficiency had silenced him. He'd realized he was more of a burden than a help, despite being called an assistant.
The Winter Palace's already-prepared manual—he certainly wanted to see that.

'Shameless, and without a conscience either?'

Now I could ‌‌‌even predict what Roselita would say next.
The kindness she'd shown was never something that needed to be repaid in the first place—a truth that cut deeply.
Observing the documents stacked throughout the ‌‌Winter Palace Office, I finally grasped just how shamefully I had conducted myself all ‌this time.
'We made ‌‌such a fuss over work that wasn't even half of this volume....'
Roselita was managing everything ‌‌‌‌by teaching even the administrative officials and ‌‌attendants alike.
Moreover, now that I understood the very reason she had no choice but to give me an attendant position, I couldn't even resent her for it.
'...There simply aren't enough assistant ‌‌advisors, so ‌‌‌‌we can't increase the administrative officials.'
As a scion of ‌‌the Ducal House, I was hardly ignorant ‌‌‌of the power struggles within the Palace.
Until now, knowing Roselita only through rumors, I had dismissed her as an overstepping assistant advisor—someone without manners or shame, meddling everywhere. The realization of my own disgrace was overwhelming.
Yet simultaneously, my thoughts began to ‌‌‌‌crystallize. I now understood precisely how I should conduct myself as the First Assistant Advisor of the Summer Palace.

*

"...You want me to stop coming to the Winter Palace?"
By the fifth day, around six o'clock, Francis's expression showed utter astonishment at what ‌‌‌I'd just said.
"Yes, you have Summer Palace duties to attend to, don't you?"
Five days spent on new employee training is already more than generous on our part.
Besides, I hadn't forgotten my original objective for a moment.
Though his thinking was rather rigid, his ‌‌‌‌work sense wasn't poor—he diligently checked every mistake and sought to improve, ‌‌which would have been ideal if he were my subordinate.
'Why would I hand over a weapon the Winter Palace possesses to someone else?'
I smiled brightly as I spoke to him.
"I hear First ‌‌‌‌Prince Charlie has been working late these days, so the First Assistant Advisor should really go check on him." ‌‌‌‌‌
Now that the raw data organization was flawless, the joy of finally being freed from the Summer Palace's miscellaneous tasks made my smile bloom naturally.
"That may be true, but I'm still...."
Still what—the next phase involves handling important matters, and I absolutely won't be teaching him ‌those. ‌‌
"Then best of luck with the first-half settlement, Assistant Advisor Ashwood."
I cut off his reluctant words without listening and dismissed him outright.
Now it's your turn to suffer!
Since our administrative officials have grown accustomed to me, imagine how suffocating it'll be for you.
Envisioning his future, I promptly sent the Winter Palace's unwanted guest packing.

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