TSTRP 07

Chapter 7

“It’s all written in detail in the documents, but to put it simply, things got a little complicated.”

“How do things get complicated enough for that woman to end up as the new secretary?”

From Lyenel’s perspective, Solana Albre was someone who should never have entered the Imperial Palace.

Solana didn’t know it, but Lyenel actually knew her quite well.

‘The Empress’s knight, Alcantara.’

Alcantara had been the knight who remained by the former Empress Louise’s side until her death. He had also been one of the most skilled warriors in the Empire.

After Empress Louise’s death, he was the one who protected Lyenel from the political enemies who had been constantly watching for an opportunity to kill him.

At the time, Lyenel had been nothing more than an innocent boy who cried and raged in the face of his mother’s death.

If it hadn’t been for Alcantara, Lyenel would probably no longer exist in this world.

That knight, Alcantara, belonged to the Viscount Albre family.

And Solana Albre was none other than his only daughter.

It had been ten years since Alcantara’s death.

A lot of time had passed, but Lyenel still harbored a faint sense of guilt toward Solana Albre.

‘The reason Alcantara and his wife died was…’

Their deaths had been reported as a carriage accident.

But there was no way someone skilled enough to become the Empress’s knight could have died in something as simple as a carriage accident.

They had died because they had investigated Empress Louise’s death.

Because of an order given by Lyenel himself.

As though trying to calm Lyenel, whose mood had turned sharp, Pedro spoke in a calm voice.

“Sir Alcantara’s younger brother, Viscount Torres Albre, has made contact with the Empress’s faction.”

His older brother Alcantara had been a man loyal to the late Empress.

And now his younger brother had reached out to the faction of Lyenel’s political enemy, the current Empress.

“He attempted to arrange a marriage between the Empress’s faction member Viscount Montrasche and his niece, Solana Albre, but…”

“What? Marriage? As far as I know, Viscount Montrasche is old enough to be nearing the end of his life.”

“Viscount Albre apparently owes Viscount Montrasche a considerable amount of money. It seems he intended to settle his debts while also securing a firm connection with the Empress’s faction through his niece’s marriage to Viscount Montrasche.”

People said that there was nothing one wouldn’t do when power was within reach.

Even so, selling off one’s niece to a man like Viscount Montrasche was outrageous.

“Lady Solana Albre apparently wanted to avoid the marriage, so she applied for a position as a secretary at the Imperial Palace. I accepted her application.”

“Does that mean you had to bring her in as a secretary?”

Bringing into the Imperial Palace a woman who had lost her parents because of its dark political struggles only aggravated Lyenel’s sense of guilt.

Even if she had entered the palace to escape a marriage, could life inside the Imperial Palace really be worse than that?

Solana Albre was simply a woman who should have lived an ordinary life filled with love, just as Alcantara had wished for her.

She was someone who should never have entered this tiresome place.

Whether Pedro understood his feelings or not, he paid no attention to Lyenel’s words and continued.

“Coincidentally, the previous secretary disappeared, leaving an opening.”

Secretaries disappearing was hardly a rare occurrence.

Hearing Pedro point out an opening that had existed for quite some time, Lyenel let out an incredulous laugh.

“Lady Albre gets to avoid the marriage, and we don’t have to bring in another new spy. Isn’t it a good arrangement for everyone?”

“You’ve become quite the Imperial Palace man, Pedro.”

Pedro had been with Lyenel for a long time, so a pointed remark like that did nothing to discourage him.

“For once, please don’t drive this secretary away. Why not try being a little kinder?”

Lyenel narrowed his eyes and thought.

I need to get Solana Albre out of the Imperial Palace as soon as possible.

What was the first thing you had to do on your first day at a new job?

It probably differed from workplace to workplace, but normally, the first thing was to greet your boss.

And my boss was the First Prince.

As soon as the attendant showed me to the secretary’s office, I put down my bag and set out to meet the First Prince.

The rumors about the First Prince were so dreadful that I was already extremely nervous before even meeting him.

Finally, when I arrived at the First Prince’s bedroom, the attendant who had guided me there exchanged a nod with the man standing outside the room.

“Good morning, Viscount Serga.”

To my surprise, the man standing there was the same person I had seen in the carriage that morning.

The black-clad man who had curtly cut off every attempt I made at conversation.

Without thinking, I pointed at him.

“Huh? You’re the person I met this morning…!”

The man who had coldly abandoned me in front of the forest of vines!

Unlike my thoroughly disheveled appearance, the man looked perfectly fine.

Exactly as immaculate as he had been in the carriage.

“Unlike me, you look perfectly fine. I suppose there was another entrance besides the place where you dropped me off?”

Come to think of it, the palace servants had to move in and out of the palace all the time.

There was no way they would have to pass through that horrible forest of vines every single time.

I didn’t know what grudge he had against me, but he had definitely deliberately dropped me off there.

Perhaps he had simply wanted to make my life difficult!

But despite the injustice and bewilderment written all over my face, the man didn’t care in the slightest.

He merely glanced at me with his usual indifferent expression.

“You’re the person I saw this morning.”

The person I saw this morning?

What an shameless man.

I desperately tried to cool down my rising blood pressure.

“Why did you drop me off there?”

“It was something of an initiation ceremony. His Highness wants every secretary who comes here to pass through that place.”

“…Why?”

“I don’t know. I’m afraid I don’t know His Highness’s intentions either.”

Is the First Prince really a psychopath?

Was a prince of the Empire really enjoying watching an innocent new secretary suffer?

Even if he wasn’t a psychopath, there was clearly something seriously twisted about his personality.

Otherwise, there would be no reason for him to torment a new secretary he hadn’t even met yet.

“All right. As you know, this is my first day, so I came to introduce myself to His Highness. May I go inside?”

“I already informed His Highness that the new secretary had arrived, but His Highness said there was no need for an introduction and ordered you to leave.”

“……”

Judging from what the First Prince had done to me since this morning, I could tell that Viscount Serga’s words were a very heavily softened version of what had actually been said.

And so, on my very first meeting with him, I was already kicked out by my boss.

Anyone who had ever been a new employee would know this, but the first day at a new job was extremely awkward.

I was sitting blankly in the office because I hadn’t found anything to do yet.

Wasn’t there anyone else in the office?

No.

All the other secretaries had been driven away long ago, so as the secretary on my first day, I was the First Prince’s only secretary.

In other words, there’s no one here to tell me what I’m supposed to do.

Since I was alone in the empty office, I didn’t have to worry about anyone watching me.

But the attendant who had promised to bring me the documents and materials left behind by the previous secretary showed no sign of coming, even as time passed.

Just when I was regretting not bringing a book to read, someone knocked on the door.

“It’s lunchtime. Would you like to eat in the dining hall?”

It sounded as though the servant was offering to let me eat alone in the office if I wanted.

But after spending the entire morning alone in the office, I wanted to get out and go somewhere—anywhere.

If I go to the dining hall, I might be able to hear something about the First Prince’s Palace from the other people.

With a small expectation in my heart, I headed toward the dining hall.

For a place used by servants, the dining hall was surprisingly nice.

It was unusually clean for an era when hygiene wasn’t exactly a priority, and perhaps because the attendants and maids who used it were mostly of noble birth, the quality of the food was good as well.

There was warm consommé, juicy steak, and even wine.

As expected, the Imperial Family was the Imperial Family.

Even though this was the palace of a First Prince who was treated like a hopeless troublemaker, they still provided food of this quality to an ordinary servant.

I looked around the dining hall and cautiously approached a table where several maids were sitting, putting on my best professional smile.

“Hello. I’m Solana Albre, the new secretary who just arrived….”

But before I could even finish speaking, they jumped up as if they had been burned and hurried away.

“Hehe… It’s nice to meet you…”

That was all the greeting they managed to give me, as though they were forcing themselves to be polite.

In the place where they had been sitting, there was nothing but half-eaten food left behind.

Confused, I looked around again.

The servants at the other tables who had been watching me flinched and quickly turned their heads away.

Just like students in a classroom pretending not to notice when a teacher is looking for someone to present.

I’m not a cockroach, you know. Why are they avoiding me like I’m disgusting?

I wasn’t shameless enough to force myself into a group of people who clearly wanted nothing to do with me.

With no other choice, I sat at a nearby table and began eating alone.

My plan to become friendly with the servants and ask them all sorts of questions had failed miserably the moment I started.

I sighed as I chewed my food listlessly.

This was definitely supposed to be an expensive steak.

So why did it feel like I was chewing on rubber?