Chapter : 09
“For someone who graduated top of their academy, this should be a very easy task.”
“Ah. The academy.”
Jan’s expression became strange at her indifferent tone.
“Your Majesty, I’m asking this even though it’s truly, truly absurd, but just in case.”
“What?”
“Don’t tell me—well, I really, really hope I’m wrong—but where do you think the academy I graduated from is?”
Lete tried to think about what he was getting at.
The academy Jan had attended. Wasn’t it obvious?
‘It must be one of those common….’
“I’m a graduate of the Royal First Academy.”
“What?”
No matter how commonplace academies had become, the Royal First Academy, in particular, was still a place where only the elite of the elite gathered.
“His Majesty’s aide is the valedictorian of the eighty-first graduating class of the Royal First Academy!”
For a moment, she thought she had heard him wrong. She knew just how incompetent Jan was. He could not even organize documents properly, and he frequently made mistakes in basic spelling. Moreover, when she had once asked which academy he had graduated from, he had given the utterly unbelievable answer of, “There are different kinds of academies?”
‘Nothing irritates a superior more than being looked down on by a subordinate.’
She remembered what Jan had said just moments ago.
Lete let out a hollow laugh.
“So you were doing it on purpose.”
“Pardon?”
“Nothing. Now that I know how capable you really are, I suppose that’s what matters.”
With that, Lete handed the register of documents back to Jan. Jan accepted it reflexively.
“If you’re as capable as you say, you should be able to uncover the true identities of the people listed here, shouldn’t you?”
Jan’s expression turned blank with shock. Before he could say anything, Lete issued her command.
“I’ll give you a generous week.”
“No, wait, Your Majesty? You want me to find out the identities of all these people in just one week….”
Knock, knock.
Jan’s voice was cut off by a knock at the office door.
“Your Majesty, a letter has arrived from Duke Abihi.”
Naturally, Lete and Jan both turned their gazes toward the office door. Receiving the letter from the attendant, Lete smiled crookedly. To send a letter under the name of ‘Albern Abihi’ when they were both in the same royal palace…
“What on earth is he up to?”
Without delay, she broke the sealing wax and took out the contents. Contrary to what the attendant had said, the contents were not a letter from Albern Abihi.
“W-What does it say?”
Jan asked in a thoroughly nervous voice. Without a word, Lete handed the contents to him.
“This… isn’t this an invitation from Count Babelion?”
Just as Jan said, what Albern had sent was an invitation to a slave auction, dated for today.
“Apparently, the Duke of Abihi wants to invite me there.”
A small, secluded room located behind the king’s palace. Though it was called a private chamber, it was little more than a cramped room containing nothing but a desk and a bed.
Albern was sitting on a chair in front of the desk. The chair was too low for a tall man like him. It was a shabby place for a nobleman to stay, but for a slave, it was more than generous.
“How merciful of her.”
He muttered sarcastically. If Lete truly intended to treat him as a slave, she should have given him a filthy, damp basement storage room or perhaps a stable instead of this place. No, before even that, she should have killed him the moment she realized he was her political enemy. That was what he would have done. Unlike him, Her Majesty the Queen, who was simply merciful, had completely ruined his plan.
‘I’ll have to obtain the register of documents by another means.’
Considering all the humiliation he had endured, this was a painful setback. A familiar pain rose from his right leg after walking for so long. The injury had long since disappeared without a trace, yet the pain of the gunshot, remembered by his mind, did not easily fade. It was also proof that prevented him from dismissing this newly granted life as merely a dream. His eyes darkened as he thought of the queen.
Tap, tap, tap.
The sound of his fingertips tapping against the desk filled the room. Something had been bothering him ever since the moment he discovered the queen at the slave market. For more than ten years after the queen’s accession in his previous life, he had taken a keen interest in her and watched her through relentless surveillance. From what he had observed, she had never been one to insult people. She treated her political enemies and lowly slaves no differently in that regard. Yet she had raised her hand against him. She had not even tried to conceal her hostility. As though she was certain that he was her enemy.
“…The slave market.”
Come to think of it, this sense of irritation had been present even before that. When the queen attended the royal council. No, ever since he first heard the news that the queen had entered the capital with her face revealed and the national flag in hand. His thoughts followed one after another until they finally reached a conclusion. At the same time, the steady tapping of his fingers against the desk abruptly stopped. Albern’s gaze sharpened.
Jan did not accompany her to this invitation. He had been terrified from the moment he saw the invitation. Rather than rely on Jan, who could do nothing but tremble in fear, Lete felt far more secure relying on one of her treasured possessions that she had carefully kept hidden.
Lete raised her gaze toward the palace wall. Before her regression, this was the very wall she had climbed whenever she needed to leave the palace while avoiding Albern’s eyes.
“Who would have thought I’d have to climb over the wall again.”
The words escaped like a sigh. She approached the tree standing right beside the wall. The guards’ shift change at this hour was the only moment in the evening when security was lax. She skillfully climbed the tree and crossed over to the wall. Having fallen from trees so many times, she now knew even with her eyes closed how to land without leaving any trace. Lete jumped down without hesitation.
She had squeezed her eyes shut in anticipation of the pain that was sure to come, but someone quickly caught her as she fell. The situation felt strangely familiar.
When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was an unusually large and bright moon. Beneath its light, a man with clear, water-colored eyes that contrasted with the dark night was looking down at her. For a moment, she stopped breathing. She had suddenly remembered her first meeting with Albern before her regression.
“It’s been a long time, Your Majesty.”
“…Albern Abihi.”
Lete deliberately spoke the man’s name. It was almost like a spell that brought her back to her senses. She pulled herself free from Albern’s arms as though shaking him off and glared at him.
“Have you finally stopped pretending to be some ridiculous slave?”
“Thanks to Your Majesty.”
“Then, as a duke, you should take responsibility for disobeying the king’s command.”
“Disobeying a royal command? That’s strange. I believe I faithfully followed Your Majesty’s orders.”
Lete could only be dumbfounded by his shameless answer.
“If you had followed my orders, you should be in the Valtal Empire by now, not Arvei.”
“Your Majesty’s order was to successfully complete diplomatic relations.”
“Are you saying you have now established diplomatic relations with the Valtal Empire?”
“Of course, I became involved in an unfortunate incident, but I proved the innocence of the delegation and faithfully carried out Your Majesty’s orders.”
At his claim that he had proved their innocence, Lete’s brow furrowed. It was nothing less than an attempted assassination of the emperor, so proving their innocence would have been difficult without solid evidence. Even if the culprit surrendered, they would still have to prove that the culprit had no connection to the delegation.
‘And yet he proved their innocence and returned this quickly?’
It was impossible. Whether Albern knew of Lete’s suspicion or was merely pretending not to, he went straight to the point.
“Today’s auction will not be held. It should have taken place as scheduled, but the organizer became frightened and went into hiding.”
Apparently, it was because Jan had stirred up the guards. Regardless of the relief she felt upon hearing that the auction would not take place, irritation surged through her. It meant that the entire thing had been a trap to lure her out from the beginning.
“If you wanted to see me, you could have simply asked for a private audience.”
“There was something I wanted to know, so I had no choice but to be discourteous.”
“Your curiosity had better be something extraordinary. You dared deceive the king, after all.”
The moment she realized that, her mood plummeted. Whatever he had been so curious about, she certainly did not appreciate being used. Especially after going to the trouble of climbing over the wall.
“If the auction isn’t being held, then there’s no reason for me to keep standing here looking at you, Duke.”
“It’s dangerous, so you should stop climbing over walls.”
“It would be to your advantage if I were put in danger.”
“How could that possibly be?”
He even gave her a slight smile, as though the idea were absurd. That smile looked almost sincere.
“But that outfit is a problem.”
While she was distracted, he reached out. He easily untied the knot and calmly took her robe.
“As I have repeatedly told you, stay away from anything that could tarnish the dignity of the king.”
In place of the robe he had taken, Albern’s outer coat covered her.
“Even if that something happens to be a person.”
With those words, he approached the palace wall. It turned out he had not brought his cane with him because he had left it leaning against the wall. It was purely by chance that she noticed his cane at that moment. The moon was exceptionally bright, the shadows happened to be short, and Albern had not yet taken hold of the cane. Thanks to that, Lete was able to see the name of the workshop engraved on Albern’s cane.
[Maddler]
It was the name of the independent workshop she had created to protect Arvei. While holding the cane bearing the name of a workshop that should not yet exist in this country, Albern said,
“I’ll escort you home.”
