A New Slave Has Been Added
Marriage, of all things.
This old man, the Minister of Finance, always finds the most useless things to talk about when I’m busy.
Still, it wasn't exactly a bolt from the blue. It was a topic that had been popping up every time I let my guard down for years.
“It is not my own opinion alone, Your Majesty. It is a matter of concern for most of the high-ranking officials, including the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry.”
“You lot need to stop concerning yourselves with my marriage.”
I waved my hand, feeling weary. Usually, they would back down at this point, but the Minister of Finance was persistent today.
“It is a seat that cannot be left empty forever, is it not?”
He wasn't wrong. If I didn't intend to pass the throne to Theodore, that is.
But I couldn't exactly tell him that I had no plans for marriage because I intended to retire soon.
“I will handle it myself. I have a plan, so you lot should focus on doing your own jobs.”
“But, Your Majesty.”
I furrowed my brow and raised a hand.
“You seem to have a lot of free time on your hands, given how you keep spouting such useless nonsense.”
“Heh, heh, heh, heh……”
With a smooth motion, the Minister of Finance secretly backed away and fled.
“Tsk.”
Sly as a fox. If he had said one more word, I would have found some way to keep him busy.
His instincts were annoyingly sharp.
As I was clicking my tongue, Lily popped out from the shadows.
“Your Majesty, do you truly have a plan?”
“Do you think I do?”
There is no such thing. As I said, my plan is to pass the throne to Theodore. And yet, I’m supposed to take in an Empress now? What fault would the Empress have if I were to step down as Emperor? Therefore, if I were to ever have a serious relationship, it would be after I retired. I had decided that from the very beginning.
“Is there perhaps a lady you already have in mind?”
“No.”
“None at all?”
“None.”
Lily’s ash-gray eyes stared straight at me. Even if she looked at me like that, well, there was nothing to be found.
“If one appears, you must tell me.”
“Fine. I promise.”
Satisfied with that, Lily nodded and came to stand by my side.
“Your Majesty, would it be alright if I offered you a lap pillow after such a long time?”
A lap pillow. I wasn't exactly physically exhausted, but…
“Yes? Your Majesty.”
Lily tapped her thigh lightly with her palm. Then, she even reached down to catch the hem of her skirt and pulled it up slightly. A flash of her fair, white leg was revealed.
…
For some reason, I suddenly felt as if my body were growing tired.
“I am a bit tired.”
“Fufu, yes.”
I naturally accepted the lap pillow from Lily. Today, Lily was in 'maid mode' rather than 'assassin mode,' so the soft apron of her maid outfit brushed against the back of my head. Lily reached out, and her slender fingers poked my cheek.
“Your Majesty, do you feel good?”
She let out a faint, chuckling laugh.
“It’s strange, in a way.”
“What is?”
“The fact that you are here with me.”
“……That is a natural thing.”
It wasn't. I remembered the Lily from the original work. In the original, she was an assassin who treated everyone in the Empire as an enemy, regardless of their moral alignment. There were even routes where, if you chose the wrong branching point, the main characters, including Serena, would have their throats slit by Lily. To think that the assassin who hated the Empire more than anyone else was now giving the Emperor a lap pillow.
“It is all thanks to your care, Your Majesty.”
Lily’s fingers tickled my bangs.
“That day, because you saved me, Lily is alive today.”
That wasn't true. Even if it hadn't been me, Lily would have survived and become the assassin who roamed the shadows.
“You have that look on your face again—the one that says you don't think so.”
“Because it’s true.”
“Sometimes you say such strange things, Your Majesty. Like… ‘if you weren’t you’…”
Lily tilted her head.
“That day, I swore an oath while held in your arms. So, other hypothetical scenarios don’t matter.”
I felt her lean in. The distance between us was close. Above all, my field of vision was blocked.
“If there is anything that gets in your way in the future, I will clear it all away, so……”
Whisper, whisper.
With my vision obscured, Lily’s soft, whispering voice sounded crystal clear.
“Please, continue to remain as Lily’s Emperor.”
“I cannot guarantee that.”
“Your Majesty.”
The eyes of Lily, who had straightened her back, turned cold.
I pondered for a moment before answering, having no other choice.
“……Very well.”
“Fufu, yes.”
I intend to pass the throne to Theodore, though. What should I explain to Lily then? Well. By that time, the Empire will have normalized. Lily will understand, surely.
The exam was approaching. With an unprecedented number of people flocking to the capital, the city was so full of life it was practically overflowing.
“Argh!”
“T-this is something we cannot handle on our own!”
“Heh heh. Heh, heh heh.”
It was to the point where the officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs weren't enough, and we had to drag in officials from other departments as well. The Ministry of Internal Affairs, which oversees the overall administration of the capital, originally had more subordinate agencies than other departments. This was especially true because there were many low-level clerks. If you added them all up, it reached thousands of people. And yet, even after mobilizing all of them, we were still short on manpower.
“Kyaaaaaa………….”
Literally, a certain noble daughter was screaming, buried under a wave of paperwork.
Nevertheless. The exam preparations proceeded steadily. Just as the proposition that 'work goes smoothly if you grind people down' is a universal truth, the result of grinding down not only the thousands of low-level staff under the Ministry of Internal Affairs but also the officials from other departments, including the Ministry of Finance, was clear.
Just before the exam.
“It’s done!”
“It’s over!!”
The officials, who had become half-corpses, hugged each other and rejoiced.
“I-it seems this somehow worked out.”
Looking at the perfectly renovated Grand Plaza, the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, who had been dragged into this by accident, said in a dazed voice. One might ask, 'Why the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry?' But the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry originally dealt with land surveys and harvest statistics, so they were good with numbers. In other words, they were perfectly capable of working as practical staff for this kind of task.
‘Do you want to die? Or will you help willingly?’
‘Proxy, even if you are joking, such ominous remarks—.’
‘Do I look like I’m joking right now?’
That remark meant that the Minister was already good prey for Elizabeth, who had become a witch. In the end, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry also became a group of people ground down under the Emperor’s excellent leadership. It could be said that almost all the practical staff in the Imperial Palace were ground down like crazy.
“Hmph, this much is nothing. If I put my mind to it, I can accomplish anything.”
Elizabeth, who had come out after tidying herself up for the first time in a while, puffed up with pride and swept her hair back with her hand. Unlike her words, her eyes were sparkling as she looked at the magnificent exam venue. Even though it had been built quite hastily, it could be called near-perfect.
Elizabeth’s shoulders rose with pride.
“Heh heh. Proxy, you have worked hard.”
The Minister of Finance, who had aged significantly, said.
“You have worked hard as well, Minister of Finance.”
“Heh heh heh…”
The Minister of Finance approached Elizabeth stealthily. While keeping a proper distance, he spoke in a voice just loud enough to be heard.
“By any chance, is there anything else His Majesty is preparing on such a large scale?”
“I don’t know about that either. Why do you ask?”
“I would prefer it if you did it after this old body retires, if possible.”
The Minister of Finance laughed awkwardly.
‘What are you talking about? That man, Khalid, would never let a capable slave like you retire.’
The capable slave, E, thought as she looked at the capable old slave.
“His Majesty is someone whose thoughts we dare not know, isn’t he?”
“That is true, but.”
In fact, Elizabeth was thinking this at the same time:
‘Well, I don’t know about others, but if it’s me, I can figure out what he’s thinking if I just think about it a little. Yes, of course.’
‘Heh heh. It is a good time.’
The Grand Chancellor, who strangely couldn't manage her expressions when it came to the Emperor, even though she was usually good at it. A satisfied smile hung on the lips of the Minister of Finance as he watched her. Since she was practically his granddaughter’s age, it wasn't strange at all.
Whatever the case, it was a common sentiment between the two that they hoped no more large-scale projects would arise for a while.
“Well, no matter how much it is His Majesty, would he do something else here?”
“That is true, but.”
What if his words became a curse? The Minister of Finance was deeply worried.
“His Majesty is always someone who looks much further into the future than we do, isn’t he?”
“Hmm. ……He wasn't originally that kind of person, though.”
“Heh heh.”
If the old fox’s way of life was to laugh off ominous talk that might get him punished later if he agreed, then that was his way of life.
Elizabeth’s brow furrowed. Among the high-ranking officials of the Imperial Palace, including the Minister of Finance, most of them revered the Emperor. This was because they knew he had stopped his extravagance, ceased his pursuit of women, and was working to set the Empire straight. However, there were still many who did not know that. In their eyes, the Emperor would still look like a fearsome tyrant.
“Sigh, it can’t be helped.”
“Hmm? What do you mean?”
“I just thought there would be a lot of work to do for His Majesty. If not me, who would do it?”
“Heh heh.”
The Minister of Finance, who was at an age where retirement was approaching, just laughed.
On the day of the exam, a huge crowd flocked to the site. Among them, I saw a familiar face. He was a man with a stiff, rigid expression who looked rather pedantic.
Daniel.
He was a sub-male lead who appeared in Theodore’s route and would later become the Prime Minister. And to me, he looked like a reserve slave.