TSTRP 08

Chapter 8

A little while later, when I had eaten enough to fill my stomach, several servants suddenly came rushing over and sat down at the table beside me.

They seemed quite close to one another, and as soon as they sat down, they began whispering among themselves.

“I heard a new secretary arrived today.”

I hadn’t intended to eavesdrop, but when that was the very first thing they said, I couldn’t help but listen.

“I saw her from behind earlier. She’s a woman, isn’t she?”

“A woman? A woman is working as a secretary?”

The Empire was still a society where it was difficult for women to enter the workforce.

The only paths available to women who wanted to work in the palace were, at best, becoming ladies-in-waiting or maids.

I was probably the first female secretary in the Empire.

That was why I had been so shocked when I heard that I had been accepted as a secretary in the first place.

What had happened to me really was a miracle.

“The maids from the Third Prince’s Palace were laughing at her so much. They were saying that apparently being a courtesan wasn’t enough, so now he even needed a woman as his secretary.”

“Isn’t that actually what’s happening? Why else would he have a woman as his secretary?”

“True, I suppose.”

The maids seemed to find their own explanation convincing, because they burst into laughter.

It was a good indication of what Prince Lyenel’s usual reputation was like.

Whether Prince Lyenel was cursed at or mocked was none of my business.

I had never even met him, and unlike me, he was a person who lived far above me in a completely different world. Why should I care?

Still, I really don’t want to be mocked along with him.

I had thought the only thing I needed to worry about after becoming a secretary was Prince Lyenel.

I hadn’t expected this unexpected obstacle.

A courtesan was a high-class prostitute who catered to royals and nobles.

In other words, they were treating me as a prostitute disguised as a secretary.

They were implying that the First Prince had hired me so that he could legally keep a woman around for his amusement.

Judging by how openly the maids, who were usually so sensitive to rumors, were talking about it, this must have been my current image in aristocratic society.

A courtesan?

For the first time, my pride—which even my uncle’s attempts to belittle me had failed to wound—was hurt.

Do you have any idea how competent I was in my previous life?!

I had been born an orphan and clawed my way into a good university through sheer determination.

I had even earned a scholarship by working so hard that I would get nosebleeds just to pay my tuition.

After graduating, I never stopped working hard.

When I had been employed, there had even been people trying to recruit me away!

In my previous life, I had been recognized for doing the work of two or three people by myself.

And now I had become the subject of this kind of gossip.

It was absurd.

The maids, still unaware that I was sitting nearby, continued talking.

“Well, either way, she’ll probably disappear after a month.”

“You never know. Maybe she came here with some other ulterior motive. Who knows if she’ll end up catching his eye—”

Bang!

I placed my utensils on the plate and abruptly stood up.

I glared sharply at them, causing the maids to blink in confusion.

The dining hall had somehow fallen silent.

Those who knew who I was and those who didn’t were now caught in a strange standoff.

The people who had already figured out my identity probably thought I was about to explode in anger.

But inside, my thoughts were completely different.

…What am I supposed to say now?

I had stood up in anger, but I was still someone who had only started working today.

How could a newcomer confront someone who had already been established here from the very first meeting?

And although I was technically a secretary, if you considered the maid’s social status, experience, and education, she probably had a better résumé than I did.

You’ll never get a better position because of that fiery temper of yours.

A comment I had heard countless times in my previous life suddenly came to mind.

That temper was the very reason I had remained stuck at a black company that forced me to work overtime every day despite recognizing my abilities.

I really need to get this temper of mine under control.

I quietly looked around at everyone watching me and cleared my throat.

“There was a bug on the table… Heh, hehe!”

Even I thought it was an incredibly pathetic excuse.

I approached the maids who were staring at me in disbelief and greeted them with a smile.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Solana Albre, the new secretary who was just assigned here.”

I’m the person you’ve been badmouthing this entire time. Have some shame.

That was what I was trying to communicate.

But judging by their expressions, they didn’t seem to understand the message at all.

Well, if they were the sort of people who felt ashamed about badmouthing others, they probably wouldn’t have been loudly gossiping in a public place like the dining hall in the first place.

I decided to end things there.

It wasn’t as though I had actually accomplished anything, but causing trouble on my very first day would only damage my own reputation.

So this is that famous hostility toward newcomers in the Imperial Palace.

I was able to have that thought simply because I didn’t know that maids in other palaces didn’t openly insult secretaries like this.

Who would dare publicly insult someone who was a close aide to a member of the Imperial Family?

It was only possible because this was the First Prince’s Palace.

Leaving the unpleasant situation behind, I returned to the secretary’s office.

The incident in the dining hall had drained me completely, but now that I was somewhere with no one around, I finally felt like I could breathe again.

But that lasted only a moment.

Knock, knock.

How long had I even been resting before someone knocked again?

I carefully opened the door, and a young attendant was standing there.

“Did you enjoy your meal, Secretary Albre?”

“Ah, yes. Thanks to you.”

“I look forward to working with you. My name is Damian Schmitz. Please feel free to call me Damian.”

Apparently unaware of what had happened in the dining hall, the attendant Damian smiled warmly and pushed the tray he had brought into the secretary’s office.

“What is all this?”

“These are the letters His Highness received this morning. You should deliver the important ones to His Highness. As for the rest, you will need to reply to or otherwise deal with them yourself.”

“All of these?”

The tray was piled high with letters.

There were so many that it looked as though one wrong move would send the entire stack tumbling to the floor.

“Surely there won’t be this many letters tomorrow too…?”

“Yes. This many letters arrive every day. When there was no secretary, I handled the urgent ones as best I could. But now that you’ve arrived, I’ve brought them all here.”

So I’m expected to finish all of this in a single day?

Is the main job of the First Prince’s secretary sorting letters?

It was shocking enough that so many letters were sent to Lyenel, who was known as a wastrel and a layabout.

But the thought that I had to go through all of them was despairing.

I didn’t think even an idol received this many letters.

“Where are all these letters coming from?”

“Haha. As you know, His Highness tends to stir the hearts of many young ladies.”

“What?”

Despite Lyenel’s reputation as a troublemaker, I had heard that there were women who admired him because of his exceptionally handsome appearance.

Even so, are they actually sending love letters directly to Prince Lyenel?

I quickly opened one of the letters.

And when I read it—

[Ah, my sun, Prince Lyenel!

Whenever the sun rises in the sky, I always feel as though Your Highness is watching over me. I wish I could repay that benevolent grace with a kiss, but we are too far apart. Your Highness, you are so cruel to me. But I know that someday you will call me to your side. When that day comes, I will hold Your Highness’s loneliness in my arms and soothe it.

When I gazed up at the sun, stretching out my hand even though I could never reach it, I felt as though I would be blinded by its dazzling beauty, just as I am whenever I see Your Highness… [omitted]…]

“……”

What is this? Is it a love letter? Or a fan letter?

I hadn’t actually seen Lyenel in person yet, but judging from the illustrations printed in the newspapers every day, he really was handsome.

Was that why he received all these love letters?

So I have to reply to these embarrassing letters?

As I stood there speechless, the attendant cheerfully explained,

“Ah, of course, for letters like this, it’s best to reply while pretending to be His Highness. In my experience, when we don’t, we receive letters covered in the tears of numerous young ladies.”

“Ah, no…”

“Then I’ll be off. Good luck.”

“Wait!”

Phew. Finally, I’m free from that mountain of letters.

At least, I thought I heard him say something like that under his breath.

Maybe I was imagining it.

Several hours later, I dropped my pen onto the desk as though throwing it away and collapsed forward onto the table.

The letter spread out before me read:

[Greetings, Lady.

I have received your letter safely. I sincerely understand your pain. Regarding the matter you inquired about, allow me to respond.

You wrote that you ‘gazed up at the sun for a long time, stretching out your hand even though you could not reach it.’

However, staring directly at the sun for an extended period can damage your eyesight and may cause other serious problems with your eyes, so I recommend that you refrain from doing so. Furthermore… [omitted]…]

I simply couldn’t bring myself to write a reply that sounded like a love letter, so I had written it as formally and objectively as possible.

I never imagined that the experience I had gained from briefly working in customer service in my previous life would come in handy like this.

It may not exactly be the kind of reply one sends to a love letter, but there’s still love in it—for the customer’s well-being. Isn’t that enough?

Even if the recipient cursed me after reading it, what did I care?

Lyenel was already cursed at all the time because of his reputation as a troublemaker.

Getting a little more abuse probably wouldn’t make much difference.

Fortunately, perhaps because someone understood that I was buried under a mountain of letters, no other work came my way that day.

I had done all kinds of jobs in my previous life, but being a secretary to royalty was a first.

Of course, even on Earth in the twenty-first century, being a royal secretary wasn’t exactly an ordinary occupation.

So I had secretly been looking forward to working directly for a member of the Imperial Family.

But…

“This is what being a royal secretary is…?”

Writing replies to love letters all day?

A deep sense of existential emptiness washed over me.

But regardless, I diligently kept moving my hand.

There was another mountain of letters on the desk, almost as large as the one I had started with.

Even though he has such a terrible reputation as a wastrel, he has this many fans?

I suppose this was why people said it was important to be born with a good face.

Or maybe bad boys were popular in this world too?

The letter I happened to be reading contained the following line:

[I know that although Your Highness is endlessly cold to everyone else, you are warm only to me.]

“Know what? Get a grip.”