Chapter 43 (1/2)

Chapter 43

“His Majesty is extremely reluctant to be seen undressed by others, so be aware that even a servant or maid is not allowed to attend.”

“Yes.”

“You’ll need to arrange your schedule around His Majesty’s needs, so just go out and eat comfortably when you need to so that you don’t feel too tired.”

“Yes.”

“If you serve the emperor, you will naturally suffer countless solicitations. But you must keep in mind that they won’t give you favors or give you riches just because. You have to keep in mind that if you accept someone’s favor even once, it opens up a road to an endless abyss.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

“Memorizing faces gets bothersome, so there are times when you are greeted at a banquet and you need to pretend that you know them. In that case, it would be good to have friends who know the names and titles of the people by your side. Just like what happened the other day…”

The other day?

‘Do you mean when you’re short-handed at a banquet?’

I nodded, feeling wry that my career at the time was helpful to the secretary’s work. I didn’t think I was ashamed of what I was doing then, but now that I thought about it, my position had risen to the point where the empress had taken a strange notice of me.

The secretary had done a number of things since then, the work up to his neck. After coughing for quite a long time in a row, he barely managed to check his watch once more and raise himself from his seat.

It was time to attend the meeting.

I was nervous, so I followed him slowly.

Even when he was tired, he had not disappointed His Majesty even once. I looked at his neat clothes from behind. Finally, he took off the badge on his chest.

The secretary grinned. “It’s going to make a lot of noise when you first get into Parliament, so I’m warning you now. Don’t be too surprised.”

What did he mean?

There was no more time for questions so I just sucked in a breath and followed the secretary into the hall.

Not only had I been alone with the emperor for quite a long time, but I had also served him as an acting secretary several times, so I might have once mistakenly thought that I knew the affairs of the imperial palace intimately. But the thought of attending Parliament was intimidating.

I took a deep breath as I entered the huge hall, which I had only seen from the outside. The high-ceilinged hall with a red pedestal stretching out in several directions had an imposing aura.

The secretary clapped me on the shoulder when we got to the entrance. “Relax, it’s only a bunch of idiots in there.”

After hearing that, I noticed that there were several long tables in the majestic hall. The cries of the people sitting around there rang in my ears. I could see why he said it would be noisy if I came here.

The seat decorated in purple and gold was probably the seat of the emperor, and it seemed that different forces were seated to his left and right. The Duke of Thiaheb was there, and another table had the dukes, marquises, and counts whom I had often seen with the empress.

Surely, there was a difference between learning through a book and actually seeing it with the eyes. I had heard that there was a conflict between the emperor and Parliament in the Burg Empire, which adopted a constitutional monarchy. I never thought it would be a meeting place where such a crowd of opinions and disorderly people gathered. It was almost like a marketplace.

“Come on, be quiet!” A servant, who seemed to be tasked to maintain order, shouted again and again, but those who shouted, criticizing each other’s opinions and rapping their hands on the table, acted like they could not hear.

There was a big fuss, the room full of rising blood pressure and heightened voices.

The servant kept his mouth shut as if he had given up, and when the front door opened, he straightened himself up again and shouted. “His Majesty is arriving!”

At those words, the commotion subsided like magic. The atmosphere was just as rife with tension, people staring at each other resentfully, but everyone managed to get their butts off their chairs.

Emperor Van looked around slowly, nodded, and signaled that they could take a seat as he himself went to the central seat. His gaze stopped at a piece of paper as he flicked through the agendas that his servants had been diligently handed over to him. “Right. We have a new appointment today.”

His eyes turned towards me, sitting at a separate table that was hard to see, and I stood up as if compelled.

“Let me introduce you to my new secretary.”

The eyes of the empress dowager’s camp were not very friendly.

Burtin, a handsome man with long hair, was one of the closest aides to the empress dowager. He was the first to open his mouth. “Secretary Candidate Celestia… Are you not a commoner, seeing how you are not of any noble family…?”

The emperor looked in my direction. Did he want me to answer?

“Yes, I am.”

“I see. There’s a rumor that you were a slave…?”

Murmurs erupted across the room. Even high-ranking officials couldn’t help it.

Now, not only the people on the side of the empress dowager’s camp, but also the people under the emperor didn’t look very happy.