120

Before I left the conference hall, I sent Vespera ahead to greet Aurelius the Marquess. The Marquess saw me and strode over, showing his pleasure. His green eyes naturally reminded me of Kiara.

“Cornelia!”

It was an unusually excited voice for the Marquess.

“It feels like only yesterday she was my daughter’s aide, and now you’re the Chancellor…! Truly astonishing.”

Honestly, even to me the promotion felt so sudden it seemed like yesterday.

“I never expected this either. Hoho. Have you been well all this time?”

His old-fashioned mustache twitched.

“As for me, I live to enjoy watching my clever daughter. It’s all thanks to you! Ah, pardon me, I’m the head of the Chancellery and spoke too casually. I committed a rudeness.”

“Not at all. We’re not on duty right now. Please be informal in private; I prefer it that way.”

He nodded contentedly.

“Indeed, my daughter has an eye for people. She recognized a future Chancellor from the start.”

Thanks to Miss Kiara I did come to the Imperial Palace, so it wasn’t entirely untrue.

“Of course. Kiara has excellent taste. She still looks after me a lot. Hoho.”

“You’re even humble. There is much talk everywhere, but having seen you myself, I have high expectations. Tell me if you need help.”

“Thank you. Actually, there’s one thing I’m curious about…”

“What are you talking about so cheerfully?”

At that moment, an elderly gentleman interjected in our conversation.

‘That person is definitely….’

A scene of throwing a punch at Marcus flashed through my mind.

‘Duke Seref!’

I hurriedly showed proper respect.

“Good day, Duke Seref. I am Cornelia Libertas.”

“Is there anyone here who does not know you?”

Duke Seref slowly looked me over as if sizing me up.

His scrutinizing gaze was sharp.

The Marquess bowed slightly to Duke Seref and then put on an obviously affected smile.

“I was just having a brief chat because of my daughter’s connection with yours.”

“Yes, I’m well aware. My daughter worked so hard to beat the cosmetics brand your daughter made. They say it all came from the Chancellor’s mind.”

Though the situation felt slightly awkward, I kept a poker face and smiled.

“I was lucky.”

“That’s true as well. If I hadn’t gotten rid of Marcus, would you be in that position now?”

In truth, it was almost as if I had gotten rid of him. I wanted to say that, but I held back for the elder’s sake.

I replied affably.

“I see. I should thank you every time I meet you, Duke.”

Duke Seref’s eyes widened a bit and he let out a small laugh.

“This place suits you more than the social scene. It doesn’t seem to be purely luck. I’ll be watching you.”

He glanced over me once more as if assessing me, then departed.

So, roughly, I passed the first impression.

As a high-ranking noble, he was by no means easy to deal with.

The Marquess let out a small sigh.

“You handled that well. I’ve always wondered where you learned such quick thinking. Even I admire it.”

“Haha, you could say it’s innate.”

Would you believe it’s the fruit of the trials of a chaotic K-office worker?

I’m glad it can be used for something like this.

My little joke loosened the Marquess’s stiff shoulders.

“By the way, what was that thing you said you were curious about earlier?”

Duke Seref’s appearance reminded me of my original purpose, which I had forgotten.

“At the meeting earlier you mentioned Prince Raven and I was curious. When I saw him at this delegation he hardly spoke and didn’t take an active role in work. He seemed like a completely different person than before…”

The Marquess stroked his mustache and fell into thought.

“That’s exactly it. Up until just three years ago he performed exceptionally. The clocktower construction was a success centered on Prince Raven. But at some point his work output visibly declined. Still, he was so capable that he remained at a competent level for an ordinary official. Then suddenly he began withdrawing from tasks one by one, and he wouldn’t step forward unless it was His Majesty’s order. His temperament seemed to darken as well. I don’t know the reason either.”

“That’s strange.”

I asked the Marquess a few more questions and then left the meeting room.

“You’ve been kind enough to listen to me every week lately. You must be busy with Chancellor duties; is it all right to do this?”

Prince Raven was lounging on the sofa and slowly sat up as he looked at me.

I sat opposite him feeling a suffocating unease caused by something I couldn’t name.

“Chancellor, is something the matter? The atmosphere feels different.”

“No, I’m fine. Prince, what would you like to talk about today?”

Raven stared at me and then bowed his head slightly.

“Chancellor, you don’t seem in the mood. Let’s do this another time.”

I truly wasn’t upset. I was simply lost in thought.

But Prince Raven didn’t accept that explanation.

“Come to think of it, I’ve taken up too much of your time. It must have been awkward since I’m royal and you couldn’t speak freely.”

“Eh? Not at all.”

He oddly insisted.

“I’m fine. I almost made another mistake. I shouldn’t have; I shouldn’t make the other person uncomfortable…”

The Prince’s condition was troubling.

Just moments before he had been carefree, so why was he suddenly so worried about my expression? It was an attitude I had never seen in prior consultations.

It’s true that I was cautious because of who he was.

But does a small change from usual normally make him so restless? It would be one thing if I scolded him for arrogance.

I had a hunch it was an important clue.

A momentary memory of something he said in our first consultation came back to me.

“…(omission)…At that time I had that thought. I was sure I heard it, but perhaps I imagined it?”

‘Imagined it?’

I tried to calm the anxious prince.

“You are not a burden at all, and you always drink such expensive tea, so don’t worry about that. Rather, I’m curious—when we first spoke here you told me about an episode where you thought you imagined something; have there been more incidents like that?”

Prince Raven’s eyes widened.

“How did you know? I’m a bit scatterbrained, so it happens a lot.”

“Really? You don’t seem that way at all.”

He shook his head with a bitter expression.

“Now I do nothing, so it’s fine. But when I was working it was chaos. I’d submit reports and they’d say they weren’t submitted. I’d organize materials and hand them to the person in charge and they’d say they never received them. It happened often. I didn’t know where my mind was. Even compulsively checking multiple times was useless.”

The more I heard, the more suspicious it became.

“So what did you do?”

Raven nervously fiddled with both hands.

“I asked my brother for help. He gladly helped. If I seemed to say something inappropriate in a meeting, he would silently mouth ‘don’t, do that’ and warn me, and he would tell me what to say before meetings. Whenever I was about to make a big mistake, he would rush in and stop me.”

“…!”

I was speechless and listened to Prince Raven’s story.

“My brother told me that I always miss one thing when I work. Hearing that honestly gave me an obsession. I became hypersensitive and anxious. I tried to somehow cover up my mistakes… I didn’t realize people were having a hard time because of me.”

“….”

“When I heard rumors about me and that some employees quit because of me, I honestly didn’t know what to do.”

As memories resurfaced, Raven grimaced and buried his face in his hands.

He looked deeply distressed.

“Did the Crown Prince inform you?”

He nodded with his head still buried.

“Who would dare talk like that to me as a prince? If it weren’t for my brother there would have been a huge problem. I would have unknowingly harmed others with such mistakes.”

“….”

“Now I have no confidence in anything I do. Even delivering very simple materials. Why this happened… I couldn’t do anything.”

“…So the Crown Prince…”

“Yes. My brother is truly a grateful person. Even though his workload would increase, he worried about me and said it would be best for me to take a break. Thanks to that I was able to recover like this.”

“…Recover.”

Pieces of a clue that didn’t know where to go were falling into place one by one.

I recalled the additional conversation with Aurelius the Marquess in the main conference room.

“Was Prince Raven really that outstanding?”

The Marquess lowered his voice and spoke carefully.

“Indeed. Had he been the Empress’s offspring, people openly said he would have been a Crown Prince candidate.”

“Is the relationship between the Prince and the Crown Prince good?”

“Of course. Prince Raven has followed the Crown Prince like an older brother since childhood, and the Crown Prince felt the same. It was famous that the Crown Prince carefully cared for the Prince when he fell into despair. Everyone wondered where such brotherly love could be found.”

“One last question: that incident where he imagined things during work—when did it first occur?”

Prince Raven narrowed his eyes, thought for a moment, and spoke.

“It was after the clocktower construction was completed.”

The final piece slid into place.

I unconsciously covered my mouth with my hand.

An intense revulsion surged up.

It was the worst case I’d ever seen in my life.

Psychological manipulation capable of completely shaking a person’s life.

‘Gaslighting.’