Chapter 28

“What?”

Lady Kiara and the butler Penel were more flustered by my reaction. I checked the other party’s news first.

“‘White Veil’ you say?”

It was the brand name that Princess Lilis had launched.

‘Is it something like a veil? A name that sounds like you must be very modest.’

I already disliked the brand name.

Because it was made by a princess descended from a founding noble, it had caused a huge commotion from day one. I heard the popup shop was very similar to Black Dia—just the interior swapped out.

“I expected this to some extent, Lady.”

“What do you mean by that, Cornelia?”

I honestly told them what I had heard from Senior Yul, and it provoked more anger than understanding.

“What? That XX woman stole our merchant guild information? And my brand too?”

She was furious to the tips of her hair. Butler Penel was no less so.

“There is such a thing as business ethics… It’s a disgrace that someone of a founding noble’s blood would stoop to this. How shameless! Pathetic!”

I honestly found it a bit funny. Normally, a duke’s family wouldn’t plant spies this way.

‘At least they’d have copied the proposal and returned the original. But that’s not easy to do. Heh.’

You can’t easily copy a handmade PPT. They drew every illustration by hand. If you clumsily transcribed it, you’d make things worse when trying to understand the content.

Imagining some hack with a sour face copying it made me tremble with suppressed laughter.

‘So they probably took the whole thing. Without evidence, it’s hard to attack a duke’s household.’

But that gave me good bait, and I would use it actively.

If they copied it, it meant no deeper strategy could exist.

“Calm down, my Lady, Butler.”

I stopped them, worried they might harm their health.

“The princess has rolled out the carpet for us; we should be delighted.”

I whispered to them what was likely to happen next.

The sharpness drained from the Lady’s eyes and was replaced by surprise.

“Hey, tell me too!”

“You, shut up.”

Aidan’s disgruntled voice came from behind, but Lady Kiara very gently ignored him.

The quitter’s counselor was leisurely open for business today as well.

The Information Guild insisted the promotion had gone well, but there had been no customers since the Rabbit girl. I overheard the guild representative’s unconscious complaint…

“Who would pay just to have someone listen to their story?” they said.

I wanted to retort, how many office workers are bottling things up! but the workplace culture here is much more archaic than where I came from, so maybe they had a point.

But it wasn’t as if everyone was completely closed off, so it was hard to define.

“Should I change the business…”

I sighed unconsciously.

Ding-dong.

The bell rang. I straightened up quickly and prepared to receive a customer.

“Master Quokka!”

I recognized her immediately as the first and so far only customer. At the knock signal, I flung open the consultation partition.

“Rabbit girl? Huh.”

She wasn’t even wearing a mask. I stammered in surprise at the sight of her bare face.

“Y-you should wear a mask!”

But the Rabbit girl didn’t care at all. She was a bright woman with near-white silver hair and sparkling red eyes.

“You can’t thank someone while wearing a mask!”

“Yes?”

I was dumbfounded.

“Master Quokka, the method you told me really helped! Now my senior doesn’t hate me!”

The Rabbit girl hopped in her seat from excitement. I composed myself and tried to assess the situation.

“Calm down and explain it to me, please?”

Only then did the Rabbit girl sit quietly.

“I followed Master Quokka’s advice and prepared to be scolded exactly twice a day. Once before starting work, and once when they take a breather before leaving. I gathered all my questions and asked them at once.”

I thought it’s important not to bother your supervisor when they’re busy. They need to clear their immediate tasks quickly to have time for you.

Also, even if there’s no ill will, repeated irritation builds up, so I advised compiling work-related questions throughout the day and solving them all at once.

“At first my superior was a bit annoyed, but later they explained well. By writing down all my questions, I could see what I didn’t know and how to fix it.”

“It reduces how often you ask the same questions, right?”

“How did you know that?”

“It’s not bad to solve questions as they come, but if you jot them down and ask them together, you don’t need to repeat yourself. Seniors remember those things like the devil. It’s funny how they get annoyed forgetting their own rookie days. Anyway, that’s why they lose their temper less these days.”

“I see! Thanks to that, my relationship with my senior improved and I learn the job faster. Thank you.”

The Rabbit girl pushed a small paper box onto the table.

“It’s a famous strawberry fresh cream cake from Resera. I waited since morning to buy it! I really strongly recommend the place.”

I opened the box and my mouth watered at the sight of the delicious cake. I was touched by the effort she’d taken to buy it.

“Thank you. I’ll enjoy it.”

“I’m the one who’s grateful, Master Quokka! I’ll spread the word a lot!”

A difficult work life lay ahead, but I wished the Rabbit girl good luck.

“Justice that prevents resignation impulses has been achieved.”

I congratulated myself and took a bite of the cake the Rabbit girl had given me.

It was a pleasant sweetness.

The Rabbit girl’s promise was no lie. Word of mouth really spread and customers began to come one by one. Sometimes they overlapped enough to require separate appointment times. Most still came with a one-time trial ticket, but it was definitely a step forward.

‘I’m glad the problems so far are ones I can advise on.’

I knew it would be arrogant to solve everything, so I focused on listening. Some customers, feeling relieved, booked regular sessions. I quietly enjoyed it and felt almost no stress. Listening to worries often made me think life was much the same everywhere.

Ding-dong.

The bell rang and today’s last appointment came in. When the customer signaled, I opened the consultation door much more skillfully than before. He wore a bull mask.

“Feel free to talk about the resignation-inducing worries.”

The Bull simply sighed repeatedly with no answer. I waited patiently. After all, it all converts to money.

“That crazy… haa.”

He swallowed something he wanted to spit out. I instinctively sensed it.

“Conversations here never leave. We don’t even know each other’s faces, do you? Don’t worry, don’t be curious—vent away your worries. Whoever it is, I’ll protect you.”

“Really?”

I nodded firmly to instill confidence. Encouraged, the Bull hesitated a moment and then spoke.

“This, this crazy boss fucking bastard!!!!!”

At last, the expensive soundproof artifact paid off. Each time the Bull uttered filthy curses, I nodded with satisfaction.

‘Yes, that’s it.’

At first he couldn’t believe his own outburst, but then he swore more freely. Then he said:

“Excuse me, may I come here often?”

When I said it was fine, the Bull kept cursing his boss, left the money, and suddenly disappeared.

“What was that? So fun.”

I was bewildered but relieved; stressed office workers can act unpredictably.

The Bull came often wearing the bull mask as he announced, cursed his boss loudly, and left. I wondered if taking money without counseling was right, but he was happy to pay, so what could I do. It took five visits before we had a proper conversation.

“Seeing me alive proves this place reliably guarantees secrecy.”

It was almost strange to hear this resentful Bull choose proper words.

“Of course. Why else would we be anonymous?”

“I work in the royal palace.”

He bluntly stated his affiliation; he seemed to have gone through a private vetting to decide whether to speak.

“I see.”

“My boss is of noble blood and an ultra-elite. His face and manner can look a bit rough but he’s godlike handsome. He’s fit, excellent at swordsmanship, and brilliant. He makes no mistakes at work.”

“A perfect boss.”

I was about to think ‘it’s rare to meet such a work-ahead boss…’ when the Bull’s sudden roar vaporized the thought.

“Damn it! He’s so good at his job that he utterly fails to understand the mistakes of a clueless assistant like me! Every time he looks at me like ‘why can’t even this three-year-old do it?’ I feel like I’m going crazy! He refuses to admit he’s a special case! I graduated top of my academy class. But when I stand before that man my heart just shrinks. He won’t let me go home either! He has the worst mouth—do you know what he says? ‘You’re incompetent,’ ‘Where did you leave your brain?’ He only says things like that! Just because he’s the youngest Supreme Justice doesn’t mean anything! He’s the same age as me, that bastard!”

The Bull huffed and shouted. In my head flickered the gossip page Pinea had shown me.

“So your boss is…”

The Bull bellowed.

“Yes, he’s Duke Vespera Ariadne.”

Oh… I might need to procure another soundproof artifact just in case.