“His Majesty is extremely reluctant to be seen undressed by others, so be aware that even a servant or maid is not allowed to attend.”
“Yes.”
“You’ll need to arrange your schedule around His Majesty’s needs, so just go out and eat comfortably when you need to so that you don’t feel too tired.”
“Yes.”
“If you serve the emperor, you will naturally suffer countless solicitations. But you must keep in mind that they won’t give you favors or give you riches just because. You have to keep in mind that if you accept someone’s favor even once, it opens up a road to an endless abyss.”
“I will keep that in mind.”
“Memorizing faces gets bothersome, so there are times when you are greeted at a banquet and you need to pretend that you know them. In that case, it would be good to have friends who know the names and titles of the people by your side. Just like what happened the other day…”
The other day?
‘Do you mean when you’re short-handed at a banquet?’
I nodded, feeling wry that my career at the time was helpful to the secretary’s work. I didn’t think I was ashamed of what I was doing then, but now that I thought about it, my position had risen to the point where the empress had taken a strange notice of me.
The secretary had done a number of things since then, the work up to his neck. After coughing for quite a long time in a row, he barely managed to check his watch once more and raise himself from his seat.
It was time to attend the meeting.
I was nervous, so I followed him slowly.
Even when he was tired, he had not disappointed His Majesty even once. I looked at his neat clothes from behind. Finally, he took off the badge on his chest.
The secretary grinned. “It’s going to make a lot of noise when you first get into Parliament, so I’m warning you now. Don’t be too surprised.”
What did he mean?
There was no more time for questions so I just sucked in a breath and followed the secretary into the hall.
Not only had I been alone with the emperor for quite a long time, but I had also served him as an acting secretary several times, so I might have once mistakenly thought that I knew the affairs of the imperial palace intimately. But the thought of attending Parliament was intimidating.
I took a deep breath as I entered the huge hall, which I had only seen from the outside. The high-ceilinged hall with a red pedestal stretching out in several directions had an imposing aura.
The secretary clapped me on the shoulder when we got to the entrance. “Relax, it’s only a bunch of idiots in there.”
After hearing that, I noticed that there were several long tables in the majestic hall. The cries of the people sitting around there rang in my ears. I could see why he said it would be noisy if I came here.
The seat decorated in purple and gold was probably the seat of the emperor, and it seemed that different forces were seated to his left and right. The Duke of Thiaheb was there, and another table had the dukes, marquises, and counts whom I had often seen with the empress.
Surely, there was a difference between learning through a book and actually seeing it with the eyes. I had heard that there was a conflict between the emperor and Parliament in the Burg Empire, which adopted a constitutional monarchy. I never thought it would be a meeting place where such a crowd of opinions and disorderly people gathered. It was almost like a marketplace.
“Come on, be quiet!” A servant, who seemed to be tasked to maintain order, shouted again and again, but those who shouted, criticizing each other’s opinions and rapping their hands on the table, acted like they could not hear.
There was a big fuss, the room full of rising blood pressure and heightened voices.
The servant kept his mouth shut as if he had given up, and when the front door opened, he straightened himself up again and shouted. “His Majesty is arriving!”
At those words, the commotion subsided like magic. The atmosphere was just as rife with tension, people staring at each other resentfully, but everyone managed to get their butts off their chairs.
Emperor Van looked around slowly, nodded, and signaled that they could take a seat as he himself went to the central seat. His gaze stopped at a piece of paper as he flicked through the agendas that his servants had been diligently handed over to him. “Right. We have a new appointment today.”
His eyes turned towards me, sitting at a separate table that was hard to see, and I stood up as if compelled.
“Let me introduce you to my new secretary.”
The eyes of the empress dowager’s camp were not very friendly.
Burtin, a handsome man with long hair, was one of the closest aides to the empress dowager. He was the first to open his mouth. “Secretary Candidate Celestia… Are you not a commoner, seeing how you are not of any noble family…?”
The emperor looked in my direction. Did he want me to answer?
“Yes, I am.”
“I see. There’s a rumor that you were a slave…?”
Murmurs erupted across the room. Even high-ranking officials couldn’t help it.
Now, not only the people on the side of the empress dowager’s camp, but also the people under the emperor didn’t look very happy.
The Minister of Interior Affairs and the Minister of Industry were already familiar with me. So, they were puzzled that I became the emperor’s secretary, as someone who had come in as a slave, but they were not opposed to it. However, the advisors, prime ministers, and ministers who were in charge of working under the emperor looked at my face and remembered that they had seen me as a student of the academy in the banquet hall, nodded their heads at first, but hardened their expressions once they heard of my origins.
‘Do you think I will become the emperor’s weakness?’
I laughed bitterly. It was comforting to know that the emperor still had a relaxed face. “Not anymore.”
“Right. What country are you from?”
“I came from Golddina.”
“Which academy did you graduate from?”
They probably expected that I had not completed or that I had completed at an academy from a foreign country. I answered Burtin, looking straight into his gleaming eyes. “My early graduation from the Central Academy of the Burg Empire has been approved as of today.”
He bit his lip in protest. I could feel the gaze around me changing a little in favor.
However, the atmosphere still wasn’t very approving because the idea of me being a ‘slave’ was still in their heads.
At that moment, a familiar and clear voice called out to me through the voices that were getting louder and louder. “Come closer.”
I snapped out of it, inhaling deeply and straightening my posture. As if it were nothing special, the emperor was languishing in his chair and beckoning to me, ignoring the dozens of eyes staring at us. I walked slowly down the long path between the two huge tables and drew closer.
The emperor reached out. Everyone else would think that the emperor was offering the badge to me, but in fact, he only handed me the badge that I had already kept.
I’ve always had it in my possession. It showed me the direction I was going to take, where I should be. If not for this, how could I have tried so hard? How could I have worked so hard to graduate early?
The silver, lion-shaped badge was turned over in the palm of my hand, revealing the half painted yellow and the other purple. He personally put it on my chest. The raised hand symbolized a secretary.
Finally, I was officially able to serve him.
“Will you serve me?” His red eyes crinkled into a smile as he looked at me, his eyes shimmering with amusement.
As I had pictured in my head over and over again, I put my right hand to my heart and recited the oath. “I will serve you in the lowest position from the nearest place.”
“Good.”
I wasn’t just saying it because it was a procedure. I didn’t care if no one here welcomed me. For as much as he had given me, I’d be sincere to him. From now on, I would do it so well that no one would be able to complain.
I would protect my lord.
11. Academy Banquet
Taking advantage of the occasion, the emperor seemed to have decided to make his wish come true.
I had to move from my quarters. For once, there was no plausible justification for me to refuse. He didn’t just want me to move my room for his convenience, I knew he was worried that the one who broke into my room would show up again.
After the meeting, I tried to go back to my old room and get some stuff to move, but everything was already gone. The original room was already empty, and the blanket and bed that I loved were gone.
I hurried to find the new assigned room.
A short maid met me at the door, bowing and laughing softly. She was a maid who had worked with me in the laundry.
“This way, Miss Celestia.”
“Please, there’s no need to fuss.”
“You’re a secretary now.”
“Don’t mind that, by the way.”
“And now your quarters are so close to the emperor. You really aren’t informed about these things, are you? That’s what Luana always said.”
Standing at the entrance to the room she showed me, I waved my hand quickly. “Let’s put an end to that misunderstanding. Right now, His Majesty is not married, so it’s fine, but it’s going to happen sooner or later.”
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Then the maid laughed and stuck out her tongue at me, making me sigh.
The emperor had always jokingly asked me to move into the next room, but I really didn’t expect him to make good on it. The room used by the former secretary was farther away. No, this was why even the empress dowager misunderstood me…
I opened the door, silently complaining all the while, but even my internal monologue sputtered silent.
The window was as tall as a person, right across the door. Two pale yellow curtains adorned it, fluttering, and the wallpaper was a dark blue. Most importantly, bookshelves were packed into the room, much taller than me.