Chapter 40
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40.
"Not a demon, but a witch?"
I chuckled darkly, turning his words over in my mind.
A demon, I could at least find some small extenuating circumstances for.
But a witch?
"What brings me here? I've come to return these tasks to you."
"I beg your pardon...?"
"From what I just heard, it seems the advisors of the Summer Palace Administration work with remarkable efficiency."
I gestured to the knights.
Without a moment's hesitation, they set down the mountain of documents.
Thud—!
So voluminous were they that even the soft grass of the garden trembled beneath their weight.
"After reviewing these matters with generous consideration, even sacrificing my own time, I've concluded that the Summer Palace Administration is entirely capable of handling all of this independently."
"Th-that's absurd! You're trying to dump work on us—"
"Should the Summer Palace find itself lacking in capacity, I was prepared, as a colleague handling similar duties, to share the burden willingly."
I smiled sweetly.
"But from what I heard earlier, it appears the Summer Palace has more than enough capacity to spare."
"Why should we handle the Winter Palace's work just because we work efficiently and have spare capacity? Stop being unreasonable, Roselita Salice."
Well, that was certainly a fair point.
"Precisely—why should we handle the Summer Palace's work?"
A perfectly valid argument to turn against them.
"All of these documents are originally the Summer Palace's responsibility. Did First Prince Charlie allow this knowing full well?"
"Roselita Salice!"
"If you continue this unreasonableness, the Winter Palace intends to forward all tasks the Summer Palace has been foisting upon us to the Sun Palace for a complete review."
And while we're at it, we can make it known just how incompetent First Prince Charlie truly is.
"We'll attach your own testimony that First Prince Charlie personally instructed his advisors and administrators to operate this way."
That would certainly overturn the First Empress's composure, wouldn't it?
And that's precisely what you, belonging to the First Prince's household, would least desire?
Moreover, the Sun Palace, centered on the Emperor himself, also relies on the Winter Palace for certain duties, and we handle the second-largest workload.
'If we suddenly spike our workload with such trivial matters during settlement season, the Emperor himself would be absolutely furious.'
Well, some of that fury would fall on Cassian Artez too, but ultimately it's the Summer Palace that suffers most.
I was confident in the court of public opinion. I'd already drafted the opening of the report I'd release in my mind.
Exhausted from successive late nights and overwork, my mind was consumed with the thought that I couldn't suffer alone.
I'd gladly do it—this mutual destruction.
Watching my eyes gleam with malice, the mouths of the Summer Palace officials fell silent.
Realizing I was someone capable of such things, the advisors could only alternate their gaze between the towering pile of documents and me.
"Ah, well... it's work the Winter Palace Administration has been handling continuously until now."
"Handling?"
I seized upon the administrator's hesitant words in an instant.
"That's quite the revealing statement—admitting you've only been processing this as a favor until now."
Go ahead, keep talking. The more you speak, the more your true colors will show.
Unlike you, the Winter Palace Administration settles matters with irrefutable facts and integrity.
"Is there anything else you wish to say?"
"Well, there is precedent—"
"Can you write your name on the report we're sending to the Sun Palace, explaining why the Winter Palace should assume duties that clearly belong to the Summer Palace Administration?"
The assistant's mouth snapped shut.
They weren't incompetent enough to be unaware that taking the documents as they were would mean spending nights at the Summer Palace instead of enjoying leisurely afternoon strolls after lunch.
You'd think at least one of them might act rashly, but they all remained silent.
There was no point wasting more time here.
"So, we've returned the lost items to you in good condition, yes?"
I threw them a victorious smile and turned away, leaving them speechless and bewildered.
*
The day I returned the work to its proper place, I managed to leave before midnight for the first time in ages.
Not that I'd returned everything the Summer Palace Administration had passed to us, and regular hours were still a distant dream.
'Getting home before the day changes—I'll take it.'
Cassian seemed pleased that his workload had decreased, even ordering particularly thoughtful refreshments for the overworked administrators.
That night, I managed to sleep a full six hours beneath the quilts that Joan had cheerfully dried in the sunlight.
But the next day, my brief, modest happiness developed a small crack.
Specifically—
"I'd like to have a word with you."
The First Prince's office at the Summer Palace Administration, the First Assistant.
"Regarding this settlement work—you can spare some time, can't you, Assistant Roselita?"
Francis Ashwood had come to see me.
"...You're saying this even after seeing the situation?"
The problem was the timing of his visit.
"Assistant Roselita, please, this document needs urgent handling. The Emperor himself is waiting, they say."
"Assistant, I need this too—just take a look at mine, please."
It was 10:30 in the morning, when the Winter Palace Administration was in full swing.
I couldn't pretend not to notice.
The administrators had just finished their morning meeting after arriving and were rushing about trying to process their tasks.
"When would be convenient for you, then?"
Honestly, no time is convenient these days.
I wanted to answer truthfully, but I had to at least hear the Summer Palace Administration's excuse.
Considering Francis Ashwood's usual character, he wouldn't be trying to postpone work like those incompetent fools yesterday.
While handing off tasks to the other administrators pressing for completion, I glanced sideways at today's work list, calculating when I might carve out a moment.
"Around 4 PM should work. Would that be acceptable?"
Cassian Artez would finish Knight Order training around 3 PM and return, so I figured I could manage to slip away briefly by then.
To carve out meeting time by fragmenting my schedule during this hectic period!
I was being remarkably considerate toward him, truly.
"...I apologize, but my work hours end at noon, Miss Roselita Salice."
"And?"
"It would be more appropriate if you could make time before then—"
Crack.
In that instant, the fountain pen in my hand snapped.
Fortunately, it wasn't the beautiful pen Cassian Artez had given me, but rather one another administrator had thrust at me moments earlier for swift processing.
A heavy silence fell over the office.
Even the administrators who had been pressured by their superiors to rush me, and the assistants themselves, seemed to gauge my mood.
"Appropriate? Are you perhaps misunderstanding something, Assistant Ashwood?"
"But my hours—"
"Is only your time considered time, while mine isn't? Or am I a subordinate who must make time whenever you demand it?"
Cassian Artez, my superior, was the one who paid my salary and allowances.
"Why are you speaking like that—"
"I'm the one wondering how you can speak that way. Really, the more I see it, the more I question how the Summer Palace Administration can be so understaffed that its First Assistant, Assistant Ashwood, manages to leave on time."
I roughly opened a drawer, retrieved a finer fountain pen than the one I'd just broken, processed the documents, and handed them to the responsible administrator.
"Can't you see that even while speaking with you, my eyes are on the documents?"
"I've actually thought that quite rude, but since you seemed busy, I was being considerate—"
"Considerate?! How sheltered must your work experience be to say something like that?"
Even as I spoke, I steadily processed the documents the administrators had marked as urgent.
Multitasking was essential to surviving in the Winter Palace Office.
"I'm not sure why the conversation is heading this direction. I came to politely request the Winter Palace's cooperation on Summer Palace Administration matters—"
"So which side is actually in a rush!"
I raised my voice and glared at Francis Ashwood once, sharply.
Was he really mocking me right now, saying such things to my face?
Too irritated to bicker further, I cut him off.
"4 PM, exactly fifteen minutes. Remember that well, Assistant Ashwood."
I flipped through the next document and informed him as though delivering an edict.
"Those matters are ones the Winter Palace has neither reason nor cause to involve itself in."
I pulled out an organized file folder and set it down before him as though throwing it.
"And those Summer Palace matters that cannot be handled without the Winter Palace's power—I haven't even returned those."
"...This is—"
"I hope you'll show some discretion. Once you've reviewed it all, set it down and leave."
With that, I refocused on the documents.
He seemed to want to say something to me as he slowly turned the pages beside me, but the perceptive administrators appeared to have stopped him.
After that, consumed by fury, I processed my work in a state of complete absorption.
*
I'm not sure how much time had passed, but just as my concentration began to wane, someone gently tapped on my desk.
"Why are you so upset?"
It was Cassian Artez, his hair still damp from washing.
"I even cut my training short and came back early."
His tone was tender, as if he were coaxing me.
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