Chapter 41

***

A desperate familiar voice could be heard through the half-closed door.

“Please wait a minute!”

This voice…

Kalian, who was about to go back, stopped on the spot. His head turned on its own.

Ver, who confirmed Kalian’s reaction, gestured.

“Open the door again.”

The huge half-closed stone door opened again.

After a while, a woman in a slightly messy dress rushed into the stone door.

Her hair, which was not properly groomed, was a mess, and her dress was also shabby.

“Haa haa.”

Perhaps the woman had run in a hurry, she stood still and caught her breath for a moment.

“Thank, you.”

In the meantime, it was funny seeing her not forget to say thank you to the servants.

Everyone in the test hall, including Kalian, looked at the woman.

Except for Kalian and Ver, most of them thought she was just a woman who came here for a business.

They didn’t think she was an examinee for the official test like they were.

That’s because there’s no precedent for a woman to become an official of the empire.

Besides, it’s not a short-term job, but an aide to the emperor.

A woman in such an important position?

It was ridiculous. It couldn’t have happened.

In the midst of everyone’s murmuring, Kalian glanced at Ver.

Ver, who knew what Kalian wanted, sighed quietly and approached the woman.

The woman, who was catching her breath with her upper body bent slightly, straightened her back as Ver approached.

Her outfit was a bit shabby and messy, but the dignity that couldn’t be hidden flowed out from the woman.

It was just eye contact, but he thought that he shouldn’t dare to treat her recklessly.

As expected, a noble is a noble.

Ver placed his hand on his chest and greeted her politely.

“My name is Ver Delrond. You are Lady Leila Thebesa, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

When the woman, Leila, answered, the people murmured once again.

Philen Williot’s fiancée.

The woman who will soon become Duchess Williot.

The daughter of Count Thebesa.

…and the illegitimate child of Count Thebesa.

BANG-

“…!”

The people, who were murmuring as they looked at Leila, turned to look at Kalian in surprise when he slammed the table hard.

“Noisy.”

Kalian, who was seated on the highest seat, looked at the people as sharp as a well-forged blade.

The people hurriedly lowered their eyes for fear of making eye contact with Kalian.

“It’s already past the test time, so everyone shut up.”

Everyone shut their mouths at once as if cold water had been poured by Kalian’s words.

Even the supervisors stood still with their mouths shut, but there were only two people moving.

“Umm, is it too late for me to take the test?”

One was Leila.

“No way.”

The other was Ver.

“Number 172.”

He smiled brightly and handed the test identification slip to Leila Thebesa.

“The test has to begin now. So please take a seat, Lady Leila Thebesa.”

*****

The fact that Leila took the official test spread through the people’s mouths even before the test was over.

Each person said different things, but the context was the same.

They thought it was ridiculous for Leila to take the official test.

And wouldn’t that lady soon become a Duchess?

Why would she take the official test?

She wouldn’t be able to pass it anyway.

Without proper education, it was impossible for a lady to pass the official test.

Moreover, they said that this test had the highest difficulty ever.

Even Raymond Logan, who was known for being a genius, shook his head when he saw the test questions.

That’s why people were convinced that Leila wouldn’t be able to pass the test.

No one expected Leila to pass the test as the top.

Even Kalian.

*****

“The top?”

Kalian asked Ver, in a daze.

“Lady Thebesa as the top?”

Ver expressed his affirmation in silence. He, too, was very perplexed.

From the moment he heard that Raymond Logan was taking the official test, Ver knew he would be on the top.

It was the same with Kalian.

The official test was held to officially recruit Leila, but Raymond Logan’s application was unexpected.

He never expected Logan to apply for the official test when he gave his resignation letter.

So, he was worried about what to do, but Leila took the top spot, beating Raymond Logan.

“Isn’t something wrong?”

“This is the Lady’s answer sheet.”

It’s better to show it directly than to explain it verbally.

Ver showed Kalian the answer sheet, which scholars praised so much that made their mouths dry.

How on earth did she write her answer so well that scholars scored her higher than Raymond Logan?

He was very curious. Kalian perused the answer sheet silently.

After a while,

“…well written.”

After reading it carefully, Kalian briefly expressed what he thought.

If other people heard it, they would say it was an indifferent evaluation, but this was the highest compliment that Kalian could give.

Even Ver, who had been working with him for a long time, had rarely heard compliments with ‘well’.

Most of them ended with ‘good job’.

“Very well written.”

However, he gave that compliment not once, but twice, even to the point of ‘very’, but Ver wasn’t surprised at all and nodded calmly.

Leila’s answer was perfect, even in his eyes.

If you write a long sentence in a short period of time, the second half usually falls apart because of your urgency, but Leila’s answer was all neat.

All 7 answers.

The answer sheet was so perfectly written, she would be good at filling out the documents.

Ver’s eyes twinkled like there’s stars on them.

Ver put his hand on Kalian’s desk and leaned his upper body toward him.

“Please give her to me.”

“What?”

Kalian’s eyebrow tilted obliquely at the words that came out of nowhere.

“Lady Thebesa is not a thing.”

“I didn’t mean it that way. I meant to ask you to recruit her as an aide as soon as possible. I want to see Lady Thebesa’s work quickly.”

“That’s not it. You want to hand over your work quickly.”

Kalian smiled and pinched his true intention. Then Ver replied with a nonchalant smile.

“That too as well. After all, Your Majesty is going to recruit Lady Thebesa.”

“I am, but… will it be okay?”

“What?”

“The recruited one is Lady Thebesa.”

That’s why, what’s wrong with that?

Ver blinked as he couldn’t understand what Kalian meant and looked at him.

Kalian said in more detail with a subtle face.

“Lady Thebesa is a woman.”

Ver replied indifferently.

“Well, she doesn’t look like a man.”

“Until now, women have never been officials of the empire.”

Ah, it was because of that.

Only then did Ver realize what Kalian was trying to say and replied with a small smile.

“I know, right? It’s not prohibited by law, so why hasn’t there been one yet?”

His answer was that he didn’t care at all for Leila to become an aide.

As expected, it’s good to have him by my side.

Kalian stood up, smiling happily.

“Where is Lady Thebesa?”

“She is waiting outside the palace.”

Of course, Leila wasn’t waiting of her own accord.

Seeing her answer sheet, Ver knew this would happen and immediately held her back.

“His Majesty said that he wanted to see the Lady separately. Please wait for a moment, Lady Thebesa.”

To that end, he didn’t hesitate to use Kalian’s name.

Well, how is it? It will be true soon anyway.

“I want to see her separately.”

See? It is true.

Ver smiled and bowed his head.

“Yes.”

*****

My body trembled slightly as the cold air touched my exposed shoulders and neck.

At the hem of the skirt was densely studded with expensive jewels.

Don’t tell me, it’s not going to fall, right?

I looked at the jewels with anxious eyes.

If it was my dress, I would only feel sorry if I lost the jewels, but I couldn’t help but feel worried because the dress was borrowed from the emperor.

According to the maids’ opinion, my original dress was inappropriate for an audience with the emperor, so I had to change into this dress.

And before that, my messy hair was washed thoroughly and groomed.

I walked carefully with the skirt up in case something dirty got on the dress.

“Welcome, Lady Thebesa.”

The person who came to meet me was the man I had met at the test hall.

His name had to be Ver Delrond. His title was baron.

Even a three-year-old child knew that he was the emperor’s aide.

The emperor’s only aide, Ver Delrond, was famous in many ways.

Whether in a good sense or in a bad sense.

The most famous thing was ‘his job’.

“His Majesty is waiting. Come this way.”

At the emperor’s palace, Ver himself, not Sylvia, guided me.

After passing through the long corridor decorated with splendor and elegance, we entered the drawing-room.

Kalian was sitting on a red velvet sofa.

“Leila Thebesa, I greet the sun of the Empire.”

“Come here and sit down.”

As I sat across from Kalian, the maid set refreshments on the table.

When the maid left, Kalian opened his mouth.

“Your appearance has cleaned up.”

“Ah.”

My ears blushed and I bowed my head.

“I apologize. I didn’t intend to come to the test hall like that, but somehow…”

“Well, it doesn’t matter if you smell or not.”

Kalian smiled mischievously.

“Seeing that appearance, I can see something must have happened.”

I expressed my affirmation in silence.

Kalian leaned leisurely on the sofa and asked.

“May I ask what happened?”

What should I do? Should I tell him?

I thought about it because it wasn’t a very pleasant story, but I slowly opened my mouth.