Chapter 43
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43.
After Francis Ashwood departed, our palace managed to complete the accounting far earlier than usual.
That said, well....
"It's a miracle, Advisor Roselita."
"We didn't go past midnight before the accounting deadline!"
That's the extent of what we found remarkable.
The administrators, however, linked arms as if they were about to dance in celebration, and spoke while carelessly discarding—very cautiously, since the attendants were also comrades—just a few of the documents that needed to be destroyed.
"I have a colleague among the Summer Palace administrators, and those guys are always complaining these days!"
"They haven't been home for a week now, or so I hear!"
"We get to go home regularly!"
"They're sleeping with three chairs pushed together! Even a sofa isn't enough for them!"
"Well, I heard that even the advisors there just lay down paper on the floor to sleep on, let alone the administrators."
The Summer Palace was unavoidably different from ours because it had more people.
Though the Empress's Palace did send over some sofas, there would only be one or two at best.
"They even wouldn't let them mark overtime hours."
"Something about not wanting to look incompetent, or so they say."
"At least Ashwood worked here for a while, so only those administrators can be marked."
It was the sort of petty thinking you'd expect from the Summer Palace's lesser advisors.
But by now, the entire Imperial Palace knew. That the Summer Palace had been continuously pushing work onto the Winter Palace, and this time had finally taken on their proper share.
Remarkably, it was thanks to Advisor Ashwood not hiding this fact.
'Yes, they should at least show some return for the time I spent teaching them here.'
And handle miscellaneous tasks well going forward?
I was simply nodding along as I reviewed the reports they handed me, when the administrators grew increasingly excited and raised their voices.
"This is all thanks to Advisor Roselita!"
"You're so efficient, unlike anyone else!"
"We were fed up hearing them say we were inefficient and incompetent every day, without even looking at our performance records."
The way they spoke with such pent-up resentment suggested they'd received word from the knights about what I'd heard when I went to return work to the Summer Palace.
"Go ahead and leave now. We should be able to finish the rest tomorrow morning."
"Yes, Advisor!"
"See you tomorrow!"
No matter how I looked at it, they seemed giddy from excessive overwork, so I calmed them down and sent them home.
Once I send them off, I can leave comfortably too.
*
After organizing the final documents and rising from my seat, Cassian had also finished his work and stood waiting for me.
"Your Highness should rest as well."
"Mm."
Why are you approaching me while saying that? I want to go home right now.
Surely you're not about to subject me to the cruelty of overtime work here, are you?
As I regarded him with suspicious eyes, Cassian let out a small laugh.
"I'm going to take Roselita home. Do you dislike that?"
"No."
This was sincere.
There's no higher praise for a superior than this.
The fact that he would make time after work wasn't a burden at all.
"It's truly an honor to be escorted home by the hero of the Winter Palace."
Cassian embraced me tightly, like a puppy separated from its owner for days.
We'd been in the same office throughout our accounting period.
Though we'd had little time to talk.
"...You said you'd escort me home."
"Mm."
He gave his answer well enough, but Cassian held me close for several seconds.
Because of Francis Ashwood, our conversations had dwindled even more, so I too settled quietly into his embrace.
My desire to go home was intense, yet I found this clinging not unpleasant, making me wonder if I'd grown too soft for him.
Soon a shallow sigh escaped near my ear, and Cassian whispered in a languid voice.
"Everyone likes Roselita far too much."
"I seem to hear more often that I'm like a demon."
Because of a superior with an exceptionally handsome face?
"The words of the blind are no words at all from the start."
He rendered all those who'd called us demons utterly speechless in one breath.
"You didn't see the expression on Ashwood's face when he left the Winter Palace."
"There was no need to see it."
Me? Deliberately, why?
At my matter-of-fact response, Cassian laughed with evident delight.
"That's somewhat comforting."
"...What are you disheartened about?"
"That my lovely fiancée's charm is being recognized everywhere?"
That doesn't seem to be quite the case?
At my questioning gaze, Cassian pulled my hand and placed it on his arm, speaking playfully.
"You must think of this as the proper price one must pay to obtain a hero."
I couldn't fully understand his words.
But one thing was certain.
Cassian Artez was worrying about and concerning himself with me far more than usual.
'He even sent a letter ahead to Duke Ashwood for me.'
He rarely made contact with the dukes, uncertain of how the First Empress might react.
I leaned slightly against Cassian's shoulder and offered him my sincere gratitude.
"I'm here because you are Your Highness."
It was likely the greatest joy he could receive.
*
The accounting had concluded, and though the Winter Palace never truly grew quiet, a period of relative peace had settled in.
Meanwhile, the Summer Palace seemed to grow louder with each passing day.
"Do you know what his reasoning is? He says how can one possibly have any leisure time outside the designated break periods?"
"I've even heard him insist that there must be a tea time once a day without fail."
The administrators spoke with exasperation, clicking their tongues.
It appeared that since the accounting period, the Summer Palace had been undergoing administrative and advisory staff training under Francis Ashwood's direction.
'Remarkably, First Prince Charlie himself reportedly has no complaints whatsoever.'
He simply grumbled to Francis Ashwood as he always did, or so I was told.
In that characteristic drawling manner of his.
'Really now~ our Prospective Duke is just so boring, you know~.'
Nothing more than that.
As for the increased workload or the more rigorous work methods, whether he had accepted them or it was simply his nature, he said nothing further about it.
"Did you know this, Roselita?"
"Know what?"
Once the administrators finished their report and left, Cassian handed me a cup of tea he had brewed himself as he spoke.
Since I didn't particularly enjoy black tea, the tea he gave me was mostly herb-based.
"The First Empress has been pondering lately what sort of gift she should give you."
His lips were full of amusement.
"...Do I need to hide even more?"
Of course, I had anticipated that causing trouble this time would only stack more resentment with the First Empress...
"Perhaps."
"What did the Emperor say this morning?"
Having stirred up the Summer Palace in various ways, I had not attended the Imperial Family breakfast today.
While Cassian made excuses about my absence being due to busy work, I had actually been working, and as soon as breakfast ended, I sent documents to the Emperor's Palace.
"He praised you."
"Me? Why?"
"He said that thanks to you, the Summer Palace can finally fulfill its proper role, and he even praised his own discernment for having someone as clever as you by his side."
At Cassian's words, I let out a small sigh.
"Why does Your Highness always do such things?"
"It's a hobby of his."
Only Your Highness could describe the act of deliberately inciting competition for the throne in such a manner.
I truly believed that.
'It's certainly better than the original in that regard.'
In the original story, no matter how many military achievements Cassian Artez accumulated on the battlefield, the Emperor only sought to check his power.
The Emperor questioned whether Cassian Artez dared challenge imperial authority, and as he became a national hero, the Emperor's resentment only deepened.
For the original Cassian Artez, who merely struggled to survive, it was a cruel injustice.
But now things were different.
Cassian Artez not only accumulated military achievements on the battlefield—he proactively handled tasks the Emperor despised, deliberately cultivating a measure of infamy to maintain balance.
While the people of the Empire respected and followed him, he also took the lead in tax collection and similar unpopular measures, deliberately earning their resentment as well.
'Not to mention the nobility.'
So the current arrangement suited the Emperor perfectly.
He had no desire for the First Empress and House of Jamoti to accumulate excessive power.
By positioning Cassian Artez as a counterweight while leaving the Crown Prince position vacant, he kept both princes in hopeful torment.
That was the picture the Emperor currently enjoyed painting.
'Which is precisely why First Prince Charlie's abilities appearing excessively competent would never be the Emperor's wish.'
If public opinion formed around the idea that "the Crown Prince will inevitably be Cassian Artez," it would become troublesome.
Being an authoritarian man, he despised being pushed into decisions by anything or anyone.
Whether it was the woman he favored, the Temple as both competitor and collaborator, or even the people who were the very lifeblood of the Empire.
With this incident, First Prince Charlie's administrative competence would appear to have risen slightly, so from the Emperor's perspective, he needed to elevate Second Prince Cassian Artez's position once more.
And the target for that was me—the very cause of this situation.
"By the way, Roselita."
"Why do you look so frightening?"
Cassian Artez toyed with my hair, speaking with evident delight.
"It seems you and I are about to face some troublesome circumstances."
"Then why do you look so happy about it?"
"Because thinking of someone whose heart will shatter makes it unbearable not to smile."
So the First Empress was going to face some humiliation?
I suddenly suspected something in my mind, then immediately dismissed it.
Surely not.
*
Surely not—but surely it does.
"I wish to apply for the position of Second Assistant at the Winter Palace."
A month later, when news arrived that the education at the Summer Palace was nearly complete,
Francis Ashwood submitted his resignation from the Summer Palace and handed in his application to the Winter Palace.
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