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After taking a sip of his tea, he smiled as usual.
“The Princess holds the thing I fear the most as a weapon and uses it.”
I didn’t want to use it. Rieta swallowed those words. Because they weren’t entirely true.
In fact, she was very concerned from the moment she heard that there were ‘gatherers who have been to the Kingdom’ from his mouth.
He just pushed Rieta to make her a little more at ease in intimidation.
“All right. I’ll let you meet them. No matter what.”
“. . . Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. It’s good to try something like this in advance.”
“Darrel did that too?”
“Ugh, I had to threaten Father. I was so scared that day that I couldn’t even sleep.”
Rieta had no idea what Darrel might have threatened his father with, but that feeling of fear was understandable.
Perhaps Darrel could now intimidate anyone in the world.
Because the scariest person was his very first opponent.
“Well, by the way . . .”
“Yes.”
“Will they talk to me?”
“I am not such a useless guardian.”
Rieta immediately nodded at his words.
Indeed, he was called the successor of the Duke.
It would be possible to force the matter to progress somewhat.
“I will trust you on that. So, where can I go to meet them?”
Darrel did not give an answer.
Instead, he began to glance at the neatly arranged papers on the desk.
The paper that was completed by the Imperial researchers at the Academy.
“. . . No way.”
Rieta muttered, forcing the ominous feeling down.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“No! Things are really going to get big if I go there.”
“Don’t worry.”
Darrel answered with a confident face.
“It’s fine as long as you don’t get caught.”
It was then that Rieta first thought that Darrel was a more dangerous person than she realized.
* * *
The next day.
Darrel had actually come up with several ways for Rieta to enter the Academy.
Among them, was using an identification card that looked like the real thing.
“Where the hell did you get this?”
“Well, I can’t tell you that no matter how much you threaten me.”
“It’s not a threat. I’m just worried.”
“It’ll be okay.”
“Darrel, be honest.”
Rieta stood close to him and whispered softly.
“Actually, you tend to do a lot of these things without the Duke’s knowledge, right?”
“Uh, why do you think so?”
“You are so talented. To do this in one day . . .”
She read some of Darrel’s suggestions.
First, a suggestion to transform into a genius lady of the Duchy who wanted to enter the Academy. The professor’s recommendation letter as well as a false academic certificate were thoroughly prepared.
The following suggestion was to be a job seeker who came to see the job announcement of the academy. It included a full-fledged resume, an interesting cover letter, and a career certificate that looked entirely real
And there was another suggestion to be a maid who followed Darrel. With the identification card provided by the Duchy.
It was very painful for Rieta to see the Duke’s signature on the false paperwork.
So she thought that she would never use this document, even if it was to infiltrate.
Until she discovered one problem.
“For positions other than the maid, the Princess must directly speak to the admission manager about your business and obtain permission for entry.”
“I should do that, right?”
“Princess. Can you say something like this? ‘Hello, I’m here to obtain permission.’”
Rieta did exactly what he said.
Of course, Rieta’s imperial language was now so good that she was able to converse freely with any native speaker.
However, the occasional foreign accent in certain pronunciations did not disappear no matter how much time passed.
Maybe it was because they had already solidified in her mouth.
“Well . . .”
“Is my Imperial language still that weird?”
Rieta tried to repeat the same words a little slowly.
“Hello, I’m here to get permission.”
“To be honest, it’s not unusual. But when you say ‘permission’, it’s a little . . .”
As he hesitated, Rieta took a deep breath and answered.
“Is it flat?”
“. . . Sorry. I couldn’t find a suitable replacement for that word.”
“It’s okay. It’s nice to hear such a word after a long time.”
Besides, it was Rieta who had to apologize.
She didn’t correct her pronunciation properly, so now there was only one choice.
She stared intently at the Duke’s signature on the identification card.
I’m sorry. Duke.
She has no choice but to make such a choice even with the Duke’s grace.