22.
After rescheduling my meeting with Everett, I returned home and flopped onto my bed, burying my face in the pillow to muffle a scream. Only after letting out that pent-up tension did I finally calm down.
Careful not to let my shoes touch the covers, I stood and paced the narrow confines of my room.
*‘This is a green light, right?’*
I had already crossed the line, and now the anxiety was setting in. What if I was being thick-headed and throwing myself at him? My heart was swinging by the minute; I felt like a two-faced creature.
*‘Still, if we keep meeting, things will sort themselves out one way or another.’*
I sat on the edge of my old desk, tearing at my hair in a desperate attempt to soothe my nerves, and decided to turn in early.
*‘Let’s just sleep, for now.’*
It was a total act of escapism.
The next day, fueled by an unnatural surplus of dopamine, I woke up earlier than necessary. Even after finishing my morning preparations, I still had time to kill, so I decided to head to work.
*‘I’ll just get some pending tasks done.’*
I walked to the office on purpose instead of taking the shared carriage, but the building was completely empty. I brewed a cup of strong tea and settled at my desk. Just as I took a sip—as if it were a signal—the office door creaked open and Connie walked in.
“Ri-Na, you’re here early?”
Checking that I was the only one inside, Connie raised both hands and waved.
“Yeah, you too.”
As I timidly waved back, Connie strode straight toward me.
“Good.”
She smiled deviously, clearly plotting something. It was such a wicked expression that I involuntarily took a step back.
“What’s good?”
I asked, backing away, but Connie closed the distance in an instant and linked her arm through mine.
“I couldn’t sleep a wink last night because I was so curious.”
The start was already making me nervous.
“Who was that man you went to the restaurant near the fountain with yesterday?”
Connie gripped my arm tight, as if arresting me.
“Restaurant? Man?”
There was a 100% chance she was talking about Everett Rohas, but I denied it for the time being.
“Ri-Na, are you keeping secrets even from me?”
Connie let go of my arm, put her hands on her hips, and huffed dramatically.
“I have evidence. You know Heather, my childhood friend from back home, right? The person who lived next door to her when she was young saw you.”
“That’s you! You said Heather’s house was right next to the Temple.”
“Exactly. So, since I saw it all, start talking.”
I sighed deeply. *Of all people, why did it have to be Connie?*
“Is that man Sir Everett Rohas?”
Connie had a keen intuition; she had guessed his identity in one go.
“Are you two dating?”
She took our relationship as an established fact, as if she’d been waiting for the opportunity to spring it on me. I waited for her to calm down before carefully denying it.
“It’s not like that.”
“You go to a restaurant that’s a mecca for lovers on your day off together, and it’s not dating?”
It was as if she had learned interrogation techniques from the knights during the few days she spent detained at the Imperial Palace’s temporary holding cell. Connie’s questioning was sharp.
“If eating one meal together makes us lovers, would that mean I’m dating every single student at the Academy?”
I wasn’t going to give in so easily. *For starters, we aren’t actually dating.*
“You didn’t share a couple’s set menu with any of them at a mecca for lovers.”
For a moment, I thought Connie had followed us to watch our meal. She had pinpointed the exact order, making me flinch. Noticing my agitation, Connie smiled deviously again.
“So, you *did* have the couple’s set?”
I had been stung by my own careless words, handing Connie another card to play. *Did she go to the holding cell to be interrogated, or to learn how to do it herself?*
My resentment shifted toward Duke Camelot. *If he had lived a proper life, Connie wouldn’t have developed such leading interrogation skills, and I wouldn’t have been caught eating a couple’s set with Everett!*
However, my attempt at evasion was ultimately snared.
“Oh, oh, Ms. Carolina Diaz, your eyes are looking somewhere else entirely. Are you thinking about Sir Everett?”
“I told you, no!”
When I snapped back, Connie burst into laughter. After a moment, she lowered her voice.
“If you don’t tell me honestly…”
Connie paused to build tension.
“I’m going to make plans with you every single day off.”
With that perfectly evil expression, it seemed she wouldn’t back down. Noticing movement in the hallway, I whispered quickly to her.
“We’ve just met a few times. We aren’t dating.”
“So you’re not lovers, but you’re ‘going to be’?”
Connie kept teasing me until the last second, then whistled and headed back to her desk as the office door opened. I felt like I would have even welcomed Donovan, who should have been busy swinging a pickaxe in the mines right about now.
*‘But it’s Andrew Nopen.’*
The sense of welcome didn’t even last a second.
*･☪D✶༄ ‧₊˚a⋰˚☆m✶༄ ‧₊˚
As soon as lunchtime arrived, Connie returned after disappearing and pulled her chair close to whisper.
“I did some digging, Sir Everett Rohas.”
I quickly covered Connie’s mouth, fearing someone might overhear. She let out a muffled sound, struggling to break free.
“Excuse me, Ms. Constance.”
I whispered into her ear.
“We aren’t dating, really. What on earth have you been doing?”
I wanted to shake her by the shoulders. Connie raised both hands in a sign of surrender, and I finally released her. She gasped for air before lowering her voice.
“I have some sense, you know. Do you think I’d just go around asking what kind of person he is when he’s openly dating you? I just found out through work.”
She added, watching my reaction.
“I asked what kind of person he is by saying I was curious because he’s an aide to the Emperor. Like I was trying to network if there was any opening to exploit.”
Thankfully, it didn’t seem like a rumor would be circulating by tomorrow morning that I was marrying Everett next month.
*‘Damn civil service culture.’*
This was a place where if you looked for a reputable doctor because you weren’t feeling well, by the day after tomorrow, a rumor would be circulating that ‘she’s planning on quitting and re-enrolling in the Academy’s medical department.’
Connie, observing my face, whispered like a devil tempting a sacrificial offering.
“Aren’t you curious? About what I heard?”
Honestly, I was.
Connie promptly linked her arm through mine.
“Should we go outside and talk? Then.”
I followed her, pretending I had no choice. After dragging me to the most secluded part of the garden behind the Ministry Of Finance building, Connie checked our surroundings and opened her mouth.
“First off, Everett Rohas, 30 years old.”
“What?”
He was older than I had expected. *I’m twenty-two, so that’s an eight-year gap?*
Connie added, watching me as if she wanted to smooth things over.
“Ah, but he joined the military as soon as he became an adult, so I heard there’s no past to speak of.”
I pretended not to be interested while continuing to listen.
“He is from a serf background in the East, though.”
Most commoners in the Empire were free citizens, but the serf system still remained in regions where the influence of the feudal system persisted. Because they were subservient to the lord, the status of a serf was the lowest among the commoner class. However, knowing that I wasn’t particularly concerned with status, Connie brushed past this part.
“Still, he earned military merit, received a knighthood, and I heard he’ll be receiving a fiefdom soon. And this is something I heard from someone who knows Sir Rohas personally.”
Connie puffed out her chest.
“According to a subjective yet objective source, he’s warm and affectionate……”
*‘Warm and affectionate?’*
I saw an image of Everett sending a thug to the grave. *He has good manners, but he seemed like the prickly type?*
Regardless of my doubts, Connie continued.
“He’s an aide to the Emperor and, despite being quite handsome, his track record with women is very clean.”
I could let the ‘warm and affectionate’ part slide. Personalities can appear differently depending on the relationship. But there was one part I couldn’t just let slide.
“You’re calling that face ‘moderately handsome’?”
I reacted before I knew it, as if I had just heard someone say there were two moons in the sky. Connie scoffed.
“Why don’t you just say, ‘He looks like the most handsome person in the world to me,’ out loud?”
Connie rubbed her arm, saying she got goosebumps.
*‘It’s pretty much the truth, though.’*
But it was too late to argue. If that face was only moderately handsome, the Empire needed to change its name to ‘Face Welfare State’ or ‘Eye Candy Utopia.’
I felt quite aggrieved.