Don’t Concern Yourself With That Book

Birds began chirping at dawn. The only reason why I was awake long before the bell rang was because the Central Palace was so far I had no choice but to wake up this early to travel there.

These days, I had been having a lot of thoughts about growth. So what if I was alive?

“There’s nothing to look forward to.”

The Aedile’s office was very large but it was not as large as Amor’s room. My job was to replenish his ink and parchment supplies.

Within the office, there was a large desk that Granius used with a smaller table and chair placed in the middle. This was where guests and subordinates would drink tea when they visited. Closer to the door, there was a small space where ink and parchment paper would be stocked up.

I slowly approached the large desk.

I was sure that I saw Granius open his desk drawer. To open the secret drawer, I had to turn the key to the left three times after turning it to the right once. I would often see him put some documents inside there.

Funnily enough, the key to his drawer was always on his desk.

I left the secret drawer for now and opened another drawer wide open and started searching there.

Sifting through the parchments that had words like ‘water supply facilities’, ‘market’, ‘meteorology’ and ‘public amenities’, I found a small knife that had been coated in gold.

‘It’s a razor.’

It looked like Granius used this razor. In the second drawer I was rummaging through, handkerchiefs and quills had been arranged neatly while in yet another drawer there were only notebooks and other junk.

No matter where I searched, the ‘necklace’ I was looking for was nowhere to be found.

I closed the drawer I had been searching through and this time, I grabbed the key on the desk before slotting it into the secret drawing. However, even when I put all my strength in turning it, the key did not budge. No way. I looked down at my hands.

“… Was this, customised?”

How humiliating. Now that I thought about it, Granius was not someone with the strength of a normal person.

‘He was someone who could break the door on the first day I worked here.’

I could not believe this was his divine power. Seriously, my face was turning red but I did not retreat. Resentment grew within me as I held the key and whispered to myself.

I could hear footsteps.

Since it was early in the morning, the silence was resounding and I could hear them clearly. After looking at the key in the hole, I quickly pulled it out and placed it on the desk. Hurriedly, I climbed out of the chair and corrected its position before picking up the mop I had thrown haphazardly on the floor. Just in time, the door swung open and someone entered.

“Oh? You’re early once again.”

My boss, whose build made him look as if he had never held a quill in his life and had a long beard, was someone who was unexpectedly kind. Though he was later than me, he was early to work too.

Seeing such an earnest politician was something that was uncommon in my previous life. (1) Whilst thinking as such, I greeted him brightly.

“Good morning to you, Sir Granius.”

Ah, I failed today as well.

“I would like for you to give me some information.”

About 15 days ago, when Hernandez asked me to be a spy in unexpected enemy territory, I wondered whether or not he had lost his mind for a moment.

‘Was he asking the moronic Princess to become a spy in such an important operation?’

He wanted to throw me in an enemy camp to get information? After being under Castor’s wings for so long and bearing witness to so many atrocities, he must not be normal as well.

That was why he was talking about doing such crazy things.

“What. What strange things are you asking me to do?”

“How could I ask?”

Hernadez smiled softly and shook his head. His white snowflake hair rustled gently.

“You’ll just have to continue what you’re doing now, Princess.”

Slowly raising his head, he spoke calmly.

“The reason why I brought this up today was because I wanted the Princess to tell me something.”

“Tell you something?”

When I asked him, he nodded his head lightly.

“Yes. What you’ve seen today, who had visited and what the Aedile did today. Anything is fine. You can record down what you’ve heard or just repeat it to me. You just have to be the ‘eyes’.”

In other words, he wanted me to note down all the information like a surveillance camera but he would be the one sorting it out himself.

So he wanted me to be his CCTV?

Maybe since he thought that I was a naive moron, I would thoughtlessly tell him everything I saw? Though I might have been slightly convinced, I wondered if I still had to continue to look at this situation through the eyes of a naive and stupid young girl.

“I understand what you’re saying. But why do I have to do this?”

He bowed his head.

As if he was apologising for making me uncomfortable. Looking at his polite attitude, I was confused. In fact, his mannerisms were strange in all sorts of ways. It was not necessary for a Duke who was the most powerful figure in the Empire following the Imperial Family to lesser himself in front of a powerless Imperial member.

“I don’t want to.”

Throughout my complaints, his bright blue eyes did not falter in their gaze towards me. After I finished complaining, he asked me gently.

“Would the Princess like to leave this place?”

“Of course. I don’t want to do this for too long.”

“His Highness has told me to relay this to you if you were to ever say that.”

“Brother did?”

For a moment, his clear blue eyes fell meaninglessly to the floor. After fidgeting around for a moment as I wondered what was going on, I was left frozen.

“[If you want to leave here, bring me the ‘Necklace of Skelos’.]”

The lips that were moving belonged to Hernan but the words that were spoken were Castor’s. I could only blink confusedly at the words I had heard for the first time.

“What’s the Necklace of Skelos? Is it some type of jewel?”

“No. It’s a type of seal that only the Aedile has. It acts both as a necklace and a seal.”

So the seal was like the badge to prove that one was a member of parliament? Why did he need this?

I was even more shocked to hear that it was somewhere in the Aedile’s office. Did he want me to get it right now? As I lowered my gaze, I could see the top of his head.

“I got it. Get up. What are you doing kneeling on the floor like that? Don’t your legs hurt?”

I thought that nothing bad was going to happen anyway.

Back to the Aedile’s office.

Granius was quiet when he worked so the office containing the two of us was filled with silence.

For about 15 days now, I had searched through his entire office and just managed to attack his desk today but it had failed miserably.

It must be here. I was not exactly sure where but I thought it would be placed in a very secretive place since it was an important item that represented the Aedile’s authority.

‘Somewhere like a secret drawer.’

By the way, it felt like I activated something. To be honest, it felt like a game quest. Ring ring! You found the treasure! But the game would not let me obtain it because I had to open the drawer first.

I did not know whether or not Hernandez’s intentions were for me to obtain information as quickly as possible and had no clue what kind he wanted. After I had escaped death, I was still stuck in a maze.

Pretending I was a naive girl who was a moron was a self-destructive plan. Honestly, even if I managed to find the item and stole it, who would they suspect first? The person who had been working here for five years, 10 years or the errand girl who had been working here for only two months.

They must have wanted to dispose of me first after letting me live for their own use. Even if I were to get caught, I did not think they would ever stand by me.

No, I was sure they would not. They would abandon me without hesitation.

What did they mean to bring the symbol of the Aedile? It did not even look nice. Was it normal for a prince to covet for the necklaces of others?

“Young one, get the parchment from the other room!”

“Yes!”

In the space next to the office, I picked up a stack of parchment made from sheepskin and walked into the room. But I lost my balance and spilled a stack of parchment on the floor. At that moment, in a blink of an eye, the parchments floated into the air and were arranged into neat stacks on the large desk.

When I turned around, I met eyes with a pretty brown-haired young man.

“Hello, child.”

“Oh, hello, Penne.”

The man who was holding onto me as if my weight was nothing to him then smiled.

“This cute child’s not even surprised anymore.”

Granius’ deputy-in-chief smiled and winked at me. The rest of the parchment papers floating in the air were neatly arranged on the desk. I looked at his face and smiled. I had been looking at his face for the past few months and now I no longer get flustered when I see his face like before.

“Has it already been 3 months since you’ve been causing me to fly? Even if you were the templar of clouds and feathers, aren’t I heavy?”

“Hmm, but it feels like I’m holding feathers?”

Whilst holding me, he walked slowly towards Granius. Penne was his name and he had the ability to support anyone and anything with air since he was the templar of clouds and feathers. He was also an official with excellent work ethics which helped him rise in rank as an aide despite his age and the fact that he was a commoner.

It was safe to say that I was able to live a comfortable life working in this place because of this man here who loved children very much. Except for the fact that he liked hugging as he was doing now, he was a good man.

“Stop playing with the girl. If you’re here, work. Work.”

“I mean, Aedile. Who’s the one helping you take care of the security department? If you have someone who cares more about his job than me in the solatorium, please bring him to me. Hold on, do I have to take care of my own break time too?”

“Huh?”

While still holding me in his arms, Penne grumbled and blew the documents away from Granius’ hands. Granius was not even a fax machine but all he was receiving was blank parchment. He looked incredulous.

“The break time thing was your idea in the first place and can you not tell that the child’s uncomfortable? You only became a templar because you could not get married. Now, you want to flirt with someone’s precious daughter?”

“What’s making her uncomfortable?”

When Penne complained further, Granius gave a smirk.

“You’ll have to think about your age.”

“Aedile, who are you treating as an old man? I’m not even 30 yet.”

“Can’t hear you. I don’t entertain those who molest young girls. Would you like to move your office into the dungeons? Would you like to continue to work for life?”

“Who’s molesting who? Don’t say such scary things? Where did the Aedile bring this feather like girl from? Who’s the one who’s making you carry those heavy stacks of parchment? Look at this child’s pretty eyes. She would have been treated well as a maid in other palaces.”

“What else can I use this child as other than an errand child?”

Honestly I was not very sure since I did not have anyone I could compare myself to but I thought I grew later than others my age. Ever since I arrived in this world, I had rarely seen anyone my age.

“Let her down and come here!”

“Yes, yes, yes. I could hear you from all the way at Solata.”

Once I stepped onto the floor, Penne brushed past me and floated all the parchment I had been holding. The 2nd Prince could be whomever but no one could ignore the Aedile considering how loud his voice was.

“To put it simply, they’re asking for more troops.”

“Again? The 2nd Prince is quite a greedy little thief too.”

“How can you blame him? His family is being shunned.” (2)

“Don’t they have their own hands? Why would they use my people for things they’re not even responsible for?”

“Well, that might be because our place has the most templars?”

“Funny. When in the senate, all you had to do was avoid 1, 2 and 3. We’re in charge of the administration of the capital. The administration!”

“I mean, I think the Aedile has forgotten that he could break a door all by himself.”

As I listened to their conversation, I became confused as to whether it was a discussion or an argument. As I continued my job of brewing tea, the pot which I had been using to boil water slipped out of my hands.

T/N:

fell asleep before uploading d chappie which is y this is vv late HAHHA

(1): Sister be throwing shadeee

(2): His maternal family by the way