IDKML 09

Chapter 9

“Even if the beans are infused with divine power, their weight doesn’t change, right?”

Ophelia asked with utmost seriousness. She had never actually seen divine power before, and the thought had only just occurred to her.

However, Richard didn’t answer. He simply turned his head away, prompting Ophelia to thump his arm with her soft, harmless little fists.

Her thought process—from Psyche to Archimedes—was strange, but somehow, she came up with an idea. She quickly opened the door and called over a servant passing by.

“Could you bring me a large container to fill with water?”

Iris looked at Ophelia with suspicion when she returned earlier than expected—far earlier than Iris had anticipated.

“You’re saying you’re done already?”

“Yes!”

The reply was brimming with confidence, but Iris looked unconvinced.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Still smiling brightly, Ophelia didn’t waver in her answer.

“I know I already said this, but you did sort out the beans perfectly, without a single scratch, right? These are infused with divine power and are important items for the hunting festival. They can easily prevent injuries or even death among our best candidates.”

“Yes, I sorted them all and dried them completely.”

“Dried… them? What do you mean by that—”

“Now, now, how long are you going to keep a hard worker standing here?”

Appearing behind Iris, Cooper patted her on the shoulder and stepped forward.

“You’ve done well. This was a task with heavy responsibility, and you handled it admirably. Keep it up.”

Smiling warmly, Cooper’s tone was kind.

“Yes, I’ll do my best,” Ophelia replied energetically.

“Best or not, just make sure to produce proper results.”

Even at his blunt words, which contrasted with his pleasant smile, Ophelia didn’t falter.

“Yes.”

“Good. Then now—”

As Cooper nodded and started to speak, Iris cut in first.

“Wait. Just one more question.”

“Yes?”

“Did you do it alone?”

Without a hint of hesitation, Ophelia immediately answered,

“Yes, I did it alone.”

Of course, Richard had technically helped her when she was pouring the sand-mixed beans into a huge water barrel.

“Are you seriously going to lift that whole thing?”

Before she could even react to his absurdity, Ophelia had watched Richard casually pick up the enormous container filled with sand and beans—something that would normally take several people grunting together to move.

Remembering that moment, Ophelia shivered slightly, her eyes distant.

He may be human, but there’s nothing human about that man.

Still, there was no need to worry about anyone finding out that Richard had helped her.

“No one will know I was ever there,” he’d said.

And Ophelia believed him completely.

He could move through shadows, or perhaps burrow through the ground—there was no need for him to avoid people’s eyes if he could simply make anyone who saw him forget they had.

“Unexpectedly…” Iris muttered, her expression souring.

“You do seem capable of finishing a task one way or another. Of course, we’ll check to confirm—but I doubt you’d tell a lie that could be exposed so quickly.”

Even without hearing the unspoken words “for someone who got in through connections,” Ophelia understood perfectly.

But she didn’t get angry or offended. After all, it was true—she was a parachute hire.

The Crown Prince’s aide wasn’t a position one could simply stumble into. It was reserved for the best of the best—those carefully chosen through countless recommendations and even stricter verification. Among them, only those whose loyalty to Richard was unmatched were appointed.

Ophelia was none of those things. So she could understand Iris and Cooper being territorial or prickly.

Of course, understanding and tolerating were two very different things.

Still, for a parachute hire, she’d managed to start off decently. Maybe she could breathe for a moment.

As she let out a slow sigh, her brown eyes met Cooper’s.

“Oh, right,” she said. “You mentioned earlier that those beans will be used for the hunting festival, right?”

“Yes.”

“This document is about that.”

Still smiling, Cooper pointed toward a mountain of paperwork.

“Ah… yes.”

Blinking in disbelief at the sheer volume, Ophelia barely had time to react before Cooper, still smiling pleasantly, jabbed her in the solar plexus with his words.

“Please finish this section today. As I said before, make sure the results are solid.”

Pointing to half the pile, Cooper turned and walked away before Ophelia could say a word.

Iris had also disappeared somewhere, so Ophelia glanced over the papers.

Was this… workplace bullying?

The earlier bean-sorting task was just a cute initiation. This must be the real hazing, right?

But her suspicion melted away almost instantly.

Both Iris and Cooper had mountains of paperwork far larger than hers.

Letting out a hollow laugh, Ophelia straightened her posture.

So it wasn’t hazing—it was just that there was too much damn work.

After all, she was the aide to the Crown Prince—the man who moved not just the Empire, but the entire continent. It would be strange if there weren’t mountains of paperwork.

Rolling up her sleeves, she picked up the first document from the top of the pile.

Several days passed peacefully—without assassination attempts on Richard, and without the curse of endless regression.

And during those days, Ophelia found herself wishing she were trapped in an infinite loop again, because the sheer hell of paperwork was worse than death.

Knock, knock.

With her nose practically buried in a document, Ophelia looked up when she heard the sound.

It was Iris, her expression as frosty and businesslike as ever.

“Could you check this one more time?” Iris asked. “Just make sure the numbers and context match.”

To an outsider, it would sound like an easy favor—just skim and confirm. But…

Ophelia’s chapped lips parted as she looked between the growing mountain of papers and Iris.

“When do you need it done?”

“By today.”

“To… today. Right. Today.”

Muttering “today” like a prayer, Ophelia glanced sideways at the stack she still hadn’t finished. The sight made her vision blur.

But she couldn’t bring herself to say she couldn’t do it. So, with her head down, she buried herself back in the paperwork.

Iris, after watching her for a moment, returned to her seat.

“The tents come in three thicknesses… It’s just a tent, who cares as long as it doesn’t blow away or leak, but why so many kinds…”

Grinding her teeth as she reviewed documents about the hunting festival’s tents, Ophelia’s neck stiffened painfully.

She stretched it left and right, only to pause mid-movement.

Beyond the paper mountains, she could see Iris and Cooper.

Iris was flipping through her documents at a near-impossible speed—so fast that it was doubtful she was actually reading—and Cooper was stamping ‘Rejected’ like a man possessed.

Considering that both had started before her, Ophelia thought maybe they had it easier now. But that was far from true.

Because Iris, being the fastest worker, got even more work—and the same went for Cooper.

Sensing her gaze, Cooper suddenly looked up.

“I… I need tea.”

The look in his eyes reminded her of a tired office worker who injected coffee instead of drinking it every morning. She almost teared up out of sympathy.

“Agreed,” said Iris flatly.

“Me too,” Ophelia chimed in.

Cooper reached for the bell to call a servant, but Ophelia shot up from her seat.

“I’ll go! I’ll get it!”

“Huh?”

“I’ll be back before you know it!”

If she stayed sitting any longer, she felt like she’d grow thorns—or worse.

Though puzzled, neither Iris nor Cooper stopped her.

While Ophelia was gone, however, an unwelcome guest entered the aides’ office.

Knock.

A perfunctory tap that even a monkey could tell lacked sincerity sounded, and the door opened.

Click-clack.

Through the narrow opening stepped a pointed shoe—so dazzlingly encrusted with jewels that it hurt to look at.

Along with it came a powerful, almost suffocating scent of perfume, cutting through the familiar air of paper and ink.

Iris’s brow twitched in irritation, and Cooper rubbed his nose hard.

“I heard the new aide has arrived,” said the intruder—the young lady of Marquis Sheffield’s house.

“Looks like there’s only a desk here, not a person.”

Her voice was loud enough for everyone to hear, but no one answered.

Unbothered, clearly used to being ignored, she walked further in, spotting Iris and Cooper behind the stacks of documents.

“Ahem, ahem!”

Click, click, click, click!

If it had just been the fake coughs, they could have ignored her. But the sharp sound of her jeweled heels tapping the floor was impossible to endure.

Simultaneously, Iris and Cooper raised their heads with grimaces.

“What is it this time?” Iris asked, her tone dripping with irritation.

She didn’t even bother to look at the young lady, her annoyance plain in her voice.

But the Marquis’s daughter showed no sign of intimidation.

If she were the type to be cowed by Iris’s cold demeanor, she wouldn’t have dared come here “again.”

“I heard a new aide has arrived,” she said.