IIAES 01

Chapter 1

I had already been waiting for ten minutes.

Holding a stack of documents, I waited inside the office for someone to come out.

Clatter—

I was spacing out when I heard the sound of the imperial guard stepping out, so I looked up.

“Miss Rose Poi. I’m sorry, but today won’t be possible. His Majesty doesn’t want to meet.”

Just as I expected.

Ahaha. I see how it is. I bit my lip tightly.

“‘Today?’ Do you really think it’s just today you’ll refuse?”

The imperial guard looked a bit caught off guard by my words and cleared his throat awkwardly.

“W-well, I’ll be sure to tell His Majesty properly when you leave.”

The guard avoided my eyes. At this point, I was starting to suspect something.

“But, sir.”

“Yes, Miss Poi.”

“Do you know what His Majesty looks like?”

“…Huh?”

“I’ve never seen him.”

That enormous door to the Emperor’s office has never opened since the first day I became an aide.

I’m even starting to doubt whether anyone’s inside!

“Still, you’re the imperial guard. You must have met His Majesty, right?”

The guard’s eyes went wide as I looked at him suspiciously.

“Of course! How could I not know, as his close protection officer!”

He sounded a bit indignant and raised his voice.

“Then please ask His Majesty why he refuses to meet aides like us? This is just too much.”

I have a mountain of paperwork waiting! Can’t he see the weight of these documents shaking my arms?

“There must be a reason. His Majesty is always like this.”

But the guard seemed halfway to giving up.

If the weather’s good, it’s because it’s good. If it’s bad, it’s bad. Too hot, too cold, just right, or warm—our Emperor simply never wants to work.

“I envy him. I want to laze around whenever I want too.”

But as a salaried worker who even has to watch the timing of my vacation requests, I can’t.

“Hah. I might be born Emperor in my next life.”

Returning to my desk, I muttered to myself to calm my frustration. Just then, my senior quietly approached and placed a hand on my desk.

“Miss Poi. Another failure?”

“Mr. Smith!”

Brown hair and brown eyes—a very common combination. But if there was something uncommon about him, it was his face.

A sharp nose, a gentle voice. A cool face with a kind personality. When he approached, even the air around him seemed to change to something comfortable.

Maybe because of that, even common brown hair seemed to shimmer with silvery waves, and his brown eyes looked as if stars were embedded in them.

My handsome senior, John Smith, gave a bitter smile.

“Seeing how angry you are, it must be a failure.”

“Of course. His Majesty won’t meet me, so I can’t get any approvals!”

I clenched my fists. I didn’t want to get mad in front of my handsome senior, but inside I was boiling.

“Mr. Smith, look at this. What do you think all this piled-up paperwork is?”

“Hmm. Our daily bread?”

“The headache responsible for our overtime.”

It’s all work that was supposed to be handled by the Emperor but ended up falling on us.

“What kind of hardship do you and I go through every day? Isn’t this too much from His Majesty?”

Mr. Smith’s expression was grim too. No matter how kind he is, cleaning up after the Emperor’s mess isn’t something he would want to do.

“Do you know what people call His Majesty?”

John Smith raised his eyebrows—a clear sign of curiosity.

“A tyrant. A tyrant who ruins the country by not working at all.”

That was right. Other tyrants from other countries earned their notoriety by ordering reckless construction, overly taxing their people, or ruthlessly purging their officials.

“Our tyrant is just on strike.”

Our tyrant doesn’t even ask for anything.

Instead, he doesn’t even show his face!

“When did ‘tyrant’ become shorthand for ‘a resigned ruler’? Or is he a tyrant because he only makes you sigh deeply?”

When I became the Emperor’s aide last year, how happy I was.

I swore to become a great talent who would support the seemingly unmotivated Emperor and lead the country well.

“But from the day I became an aide, His Majesty hasn’t shown his face.”

That means the top decision-maker has been absent for 367 days.

Thanks to that, the piled paperwork grew taller than me and was nearly as tall as Mr. Smith.

After speaking out of frustration, I looked around cautiously. Fortunately, the other aides didn’t react much. Or maybe they agreed inwardly.

“What a terrible Emperor.”

Mr. Smith added jokingly. It was safe to say such things nearby the Emperor’s office because the Emperor wasn’t actually there to hear us.

“Making Miss Poi work so hard. The Emperor is really harsh.”

He smiled tenderly as he said that. His kindness made me want to cry.

“Only you, Mr. Smith.”

Unlike the irresponsible Emperor, whose whereabouts were unknown.

I took a healing moment looking at his face. I’d forget soon anyway, so I better memorize it.

Strangely, whenever I looked at John Smith’s face, other than thinking ‘he’s handsome,’ his features became blurry.

I figured the beauty of his face was so overwhelming that I was losing my memory.

Actually, I was originally shy and awkward around handsome men, but luckily, I had worked late nights with John Smith enough to become close.

“Oh. It’s already quitting time.”

John Smith snapped his fingers after a moment of thought.

“Good work today. You should head home now.”

“Huh? But there’s so much paperwork to process?”

“His Majesty isn’t working anyway, so do we really have to?”

Hmm. That’s a fair point.

“It’s not urgent, so handle it tomorrow. Have a nice evening, Miss Poi.”

John Smith smiled like a painting and waved to me. I smiled warmly back and hurried to pack my things.

I had to escape before anyone caught me. I tidied my desk roughly and ducked my head, running out like a fugitive.

“Freedom!”

The fresh air outside the palace at regular quitting time was refreshing.

I hurried out of the palace, got on the tram, and headed home. The ringing bell clanged as the tram crossed the city.

“This stop is Greenmeldy Park!”

Half-asleep, I shuffled off like a zombie. After the crowded rush hour, I wanted nothing more than to lie on my bed.

“Thanks to Mr. Smith, I survived today.”

How long had it been since I came home at dusk?

The early evening streets were surprisingly crowded.

The area near Greenmeldy Park was a residential neighborhood with lots of greenery and a moderate shopping district. Since middle-class families preferred quiet suburbs, this bustling area had relatively affordable rents and many single-person households or newlyweds.

I entered the street lined with two-story apartments, looked around, unlocked my door with a key, and went inside. My destination was my bed.

“Ahh!”

Lying and rolling around on my beloved bed washed away the fatigue of the day.

“Home. Were you lonely without me? Your owner is back.”

Even after reincarnating into a romantic fantasy world, I was still a salary worker.

“If only I weren’t the daughter of a fallen baron, I might have been throwing lavish social parties.”

Due to my grandfather’s gambling debts, my family fortune had declined since my birth, and I was closer to a commoner. That was a faraway world to me.

“Well, there’s no use longing for what I never had.”

The thought of the work I had to handle first thing tomorrow crept up stressfully. I consciously suppressed it and buried my face in my pillow.

I don’t know. I’ll deal with tomorrow’s work tomorrow!

Thus, my peaceful evening alone ended all too quickly…

The next day:

“His Majesty has something that must be handled personally.”

Going to work again. Getting refused again!

It was a dizzying, repetitive day.

“Miss Poi, I’m sorry but His Majesty—”

“Ahaha. Not today either. This is already the 368th day.”

The imperial guard looked at me with pity.

“Instead, the senior aide of your department, Mr. John Smith, is handling most of the work. Please delegate most tasks to him.”