Chapter 44 (1/2)

Translator: Wyvern

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Chapter 44

Originally, this room was a library, and I wouldn’t have been so surprised if it had been given to me for that exact reason. Knowing the accommodations were made for my needs, the gesture was breathtakingly moving.

I gently touched the spines of the leather-bound books with my hand. It felt good to touch the engraved title of the books. There were so many books that when the windows were closed and the curtains were pulled down, the smell of paper filled up the suite.

These were large books that were difficult to obtain even if you paid a lot of money. There were books related to politics, economy, culture, history, folktales, and novels of the Burg Empire, and Golddina’s magic books and storybooks were also placed at one end.

Without realizing it, I pulled out one of them and held it in my hand. It was a familiar book that I first read in Golddina’s back alley. Having lived so poorly that I couldn’t even think of buying books, I would always read in a secondhand bookstore, gobbling the words hastily. I’d never thought I’d have something like that in my room.

“Do you like it?”

“Ahh!”

A familiar hand came from behind and grabbed the book I had dropped in my surprise. I grumbled when I felt the emperor’s chest against the back of my head, as he returned the book back on the shelf.

“…You were surprised.” He stepped back, a smile in his low voice.

I turned to face him.

“I definitely knocked.”

“Usually when you knock, the other person has to hear it.”

“If I knock, you have to listen.”

I pouted in annoyance, but when I saw the bookshelf again, my mouth curved into a smile without my knowing.

“I’m glad you like it.”

“That’s… who wouldn’t like it? However… it’s too much.”

He grinned at me. “You haven’t realized that I put it there for you, have you?”

“What?”

“I’ve brought these to you so that you can look into anything immediately if I ask you to. I don’t have a hobby of having incompetent subordinates.”

Yeah, he probably didn’t decorate the bookshelf for my viewing pleasure. But it was true that I needed these to fulfill my duties. Being a secretary to the emperor didn’t seem too bad. Not at all.

I looked up at him, trying to hide my happy face as much as I could, full of daydreams about my future. “What brings you here, Your Majesty?”

“I was wondering how the year-end party outfit was going.”

“Is it really okay for you to go there yourself?”

“Am I in the way? It’s really no big deal on my part.”

“No, it’s not like that…”

Honestly, I would be embarrassed if he had been the one to ask me to put my safety first with such sincerity. But it was just so ridiculous that the most important and at-risk person in all of the empire was so brazen so as to attend an academy party.

“How are you going to get a bodyguard into the masquerade?”

“My people know what to do, so there is no concern.”

“You know the academy is protected by magic.” The emperor laughed and sat on the sofa. “Who do you think created that magic?”

I took a step closer to him and covered my mouth. “No way…”

“Yeah, you don’t think it’s just a prop, do you?”

“I see.”

“Then you won’t have any complaints anymore, will you?”

“No, my lord.”

He waved my words away tiredly. “The day I went to the National Assembly, I was faced with deafening opposition. I don’t want to hear anything like ‘you can’t do it’ from my secretary.”

“Yes, sir…” I answered without realizing it.

“You really don’t listen.”

“I’m sorry.”

The emperor, who was lolling around on the sofa, tossed and turned uncomfortably. He looked tired, so why wasn’t he going back to his room? Wasn’t his back uncomfortable?

His eyes roved across my face and glanced at my clothes and badge. “How’s the dress you were wearing last time coming along? I’m pretty sure you’ll need it for the party.”

“Yes, Serena… is helping.”

“What about the others? Do they all fit?”

What do you mean?

“…What?”

“I guess you haven’t checked your closet yet.”

I was mesmerized by the library and hadn’t yet checked out the closet next to him, but I heard him stand abruptly and open the door to the next room. The antique, giant canopy bed, apparently moved from the old room, was now well-matched with other furniture of the same type. A beautifully patterned dressing table and drawers were placed to the side, and a large wardrobe stood on the opposite end.

The closet was so huge that I couldn’t reach the edges even if I spread my arms horizontally. Inside were light pants and dresses hanging in a row, already pressed and laundered, suitable for daily wear.

“Oh…”

As long as it was my job to carry out the emperor’s will right next to him, my clothes represented him. I had to look the part.