Chapter 75

“Interesting.”

That was Reyra the finance officer’s first remark when she heard the news. She wore a satisfied smile. She looked pleased.

“I’ll go take a look.”

The result was better than I expected, so I began to worry a little.

‘What if… later that guy confesses to Reyra and gets rejected later, and then things go back to how they were?’

I only imagined him lingering around, not actually confessing, but I started to feel uneasy. If things revert, do I have to create something that would make him fall in love again?

Reyra tapped my forehead with her index finger, as if my expression looked too serious.

“Stop worrying about pointless things and go do your work.”

Ah, right. After being promoted to 1st Grade Secretary, work had piled up. Most of it was related to the noble property registration law and the new tasks of standardizing report formats and streamlining the reporting system.

“Yes.”

I replied politely and left the Ministry of Finance.

Work is for working, but too much time had been taken by other things. Still, I couldn’t deny it was very important for the Chancellery’s operational efficiency.

At that moment I ran into the Duke walking toward the door holding some documents.

“Hello, Supreme Justice.”

“Secretary Cornelia. How have you been?”

“I’m fine, thank you. Are you going to see the Minister of Finance?”

“Yes. There are a few things to check regarding the fund-tracking law.”

The conversation felt much livelier than before.

I greeted him politely again.

“Then I’ll head off first. Take care!”

“Um.”

“Yes, Supreme Justice!”

I thought he might have something particular to say, but what he asked was quite unexpected.

“Um, what happened with that knight from the royal exchange gathering?”

“…Yes?”

I wondered if I had misheard him.

“Iliya told me that the knight who came first in the hunt offered his quarry to you. Everyone’s curious about how that turned out.”

‘Oh, now he’s even gathering information to get closer to the staff.’

His effort felt endearing.

“Well. We decided to have a meal together; maybe next week?”

“I see. What do you think of him, Secretary?”

“Me? Um… I don’t really know him, so I’ll meet him and ask various things first.”

“Understood.”

He nodded stiffly, said goodbye, and went into the Ministry of Finance.

‘To think he’d ask me about something like that. There’s a quietly amusing side to him.’

I remembered the tasks I had to handle and hurried back to the Chancellery.

“Coco.”

“Mr. Aidan, you’re here again?”

Aidan greeted me while sprawled over the kitchen table.

He had business at the Imperial Palace often enough, so I really didn’t know why he came to our house even more frequently. Still, he was being indulgent because he had helped with this matter a lot.

“But it’s more fun here. Coco’s great, Julie and Rio like me, and Marcella makes delicious food.”

“The Marquis’s residence family and servants also like Aidan. You can have even better meals there.”

Someone might think I’m the female lead of a web novel who’s been ostracized by her family.

“I don’t know, seeing Coco’s face alone is entertaining.”

“Unfortunately, only Mr. Aidan feels that way. I’m popular in my own way.”

“Popular?”

Aidan slowly sat up. Marcella, having finished the dishes, set down some tea and reacted.

“Coco, what happened at the banquet?”

“Banquet?”

Aidan echoed, and just then Julie and Rio came running down from the second floor.

“Wow! Popular, popular! Our sister is so popular!”

“Sis, awesome, awesome! The coolest in the world!”

They circled the table as I took a cake from the shelf, cut pieces onto plates, and set them at the two kids’ places. They stopped spinning and sat politely at the table.

“It’s actually nothing…”

I confidently recounted what happened at the royal exchange gathering based on what Mr. Bull had told me, and that the number of men showing interest had increased after attending the banquet.

I expected everyone to scoff, but the atmosphere was surprisingly serious.

“Oh-ho, really?”

Aidan was clearly smiling but there was something eerie about it, and Marcella sighed heavily while scooping mouthfuls of Rio’s cake.

“Why give me such reactions? Don’t you believe me? If your sister is popular, that’s a good thing.”

Marcella, who had been listening quietly, suddenly issued a warning.

“Coco, you can’t just go meeting anyone. Get my permission before you meet someone.”

“Why?”

“Why? Do you have any idea how many dangerous people there are in the world?”

“But isn’t the deputy commander of the Royal First Knights’ status fairly secure? I did a little checking; he’s secretly quite popular.”

“Is he handsome?”

Aidan suddenly asked that. He was still smiling.

“I think he’s handsome.”

“More than me?”

Maybe it was my imagination, but the questioning felt persistent. The gentle, delicate-looking young master suddenly felt a little scary.

“He’s of a different sort. He feels manly yet kind.”

“Am I not manly?”

“No, it’s just that he’s a knight…”

I started to say he was more developed physically but stopped. Somehow it felt like things were becoming irreversible.

“Is that your type, Coco?”

“Me?”

Hmm. I didn’t really think about romance, so I hadn’t considered a specific ideal type. I answered vaguely.

“Well. There’s no woman who dislikes handsome people, right?”

“That’s true.”

“Coco, this brother thinks it’s still too early for you to date.”

Marcella cut in again. Julie and Rio stood watching the situation with milk in both hands, looking intrigued.

“But at Lucius senior’s wedding, the seniors and superiors were saying it’s the right age to marry.”

“Times have changed. This brother of yours thinks it’s not good to be chased into marrying like that.”

“Oh, so it’s okay to date several men and then choose?”

Marcella’s flustered look amused me, so I made a teasing remark I didn’t mean.

“N-no! Be cautious! I mean, you need to be careful. It’s still too early!”

“Sister, so you won’t meet that knight?”

Julie asked with sparkling eyes. The word ‘knight’ seemed to spark some fantasy.

I glanced at the two men beside me and smiled.

“Maybe.”

It’s better not to say.

Busy days continued. Since the Chancellery coordinated various departments and handled administration, there were many requests from the Ministry of Finance, the Foreign Ministry, the War Ministry, and so on. Especially the previously hidden colleagues I had worked with often sought me out because they were comfortable with me.

“Cornelia, are you okay?”

When senior Lucius asked with a worried face, I shrugged to indicate I was fine. Fortunately, I was still leaving work on time.

“They’re not asking anything difficult. It’s just a lot of small things, so it’s fine.”

Because these were other departments’ matters, the communication artifact kept buzzing. There were meeting schedules, requests asking if they could visit now, arranging a meal with Deputy Commander Girion, choosing lunch menus with Lukan and Elysia, and more. For the record, Elysia had been very cooperative with me since the Tom Hank incident was resolved.

“But she said she recognized you since you rewrote the road construction contract.”

Lukan had told me that quietly.

He said she was convinced of both my duty as a bureaucrat and my work ability.

I don’t work for someone’s approval, but it felt good that my ability had prompted someone to change.

She formally apologized for her past behavior, and being one year apart in age made it easy to be informal with Elysia like with Lukan. She was quietly funny. As I had sensed when she proposed a contest, she was quiet but not timid. Introverted, but she said what she wanted plainly.

• Central Ministries Chancellery group chat -

Cornelia Libertas (Chancellery_Grade1): When Elysia left her seat, Leo the assistant scribe yawned a lot.

Lucan Fairburn (Chancellery_Scribe): hahahahahaha

Elysia Langford (Chancellery_Scribe): You gathered them, now’s the time

Cornelia Libertas (Chancellery_Grade1): kekekekekeke

“Secretary Cornelia, are you very busy?”

Just as I was about to type a message, I looked up and the Minister of Finance was standing there with a warm smile.

‘I have an uneasy feeling.’

Right, when a superior calls me, it usually means they’re going to give me work.

“A little. What is it?”

He opened his mouth as if slightly embarrassed. That in itself wasn’t a good sign.

“The Ministry of Justice has requested your cooperation on a task.”

The Ministry of Justice had not requested work before.

“That’s fine. How can I help?”

“But the thing is… it’s work that must be done after leaving work.”

“What?”

I stopped what I was doing at the thunderous news.

“Is there really a reason it has to be done after the working hours?”

“The Supreme Justice has many things to handle first at the Ministry of Justice, so he only has time after work.”

It’s hard to refuse a request from a Duke who practically eats overtime for breakfast. It might be connected to why he looked unhappy last time. Knowing he was a decent person, I was willing to help.

“It’s fine. I’ll go to the Ministry of Justice after work starting tomorrow.”

Then I’ll probably have to postpone the meal with Deputy Commander Girion that was scheduled for next week.