Chapter 73
Chapter 73
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: The Administrative Assignment
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“What basis do you have for saying such nonsense?”
It was an utterly absurd claim, but Enoch was curious why Carion had come to suspect her. Since this was something he hadn’t experienced in previous rounds, he needed to find out.
“She seemed like an ignorant country bumpkin at our first meeting, but when I saw her briefly earlier, she was well-versed in etiquette. She’s no ordinary girl. She must be approaching you with some special agenda…”
It was a terribly trivial reason. Her etiquette, which had been clumsy in the previous round, was proficient this time.
And for that alone, Carion believed Rachel was hiding her identity to get close to Enoch.
Enoch pressed a hand to his forehead for a moment, rubbing his temples with his thumb and middle finger before opening his mouth.
“I guarantee her identity myself, so I’d appreciate it if you stopped spouting such drivel.”
He lowered his hand and stared straight at Carion.
“You say women are cunning and greedy? No, that’s not because they’re women—it’s because they’re people. And not everyone is like that. It’s just the people around you.”
Enoch rose from his seat. Carion flinched, hunching his body as if he thought Enoch might strike him.
But Enoch simply stood from the sofa and headed straight for the door.
“Leaving?”
“Yes. If I’d known I’d have to listen to this, I should’ve just gone to meet Rachel.”
“That’s exactly what it means to be bewitched by a woman!”
Enoch opened the door and left. The door slammed shut with a bang.
Carion scratched his cheek as he stared at the closed door.
“The little brother hates me now.”
“Yeah. Seems like you’ve really gotten under his skin.”
While Carion and Enoch had been talking, Louis—who had been quietly reading a book in the same room—closed it.
“So, Your Highness, did you learn anything from that kid named Rachel?”
“Not much. She’s not a poisoner or a spy. And even though she kissed me, she seemed utterly repulsed.”
Carion tilted his head in puzzlement.
“How could that be?”
His bewilderment was genuine.
Carion was handsome. Even knowing he would become king only because he was the crown prince, many women had pursued him despite having no claim to the throne themselves. To catch his eye, they didn’t hesitate to set their dresses ablaze or jump into lakes. Some noble ladies had even staged suicides.
After such experiences, Carion had lost faith in women. It wasn’t outright hatred, but he didn’t trust them.
This applied to most noblewomen of marriageable age.
He excluded those too young or too old—since they didn’t seem like women to him—and commoner women, as they had no chance of marrying him.
Rachel had escaped his suspicion at first: she showed no interest in him, she was young, and above all, not a noble.
That is, until Enoch had come asking for a favor.
“Don’t assume every woman will like you.”
“I don’t think that. But every woman I’ve met has been drawn to me. Well, except the Second Queen.”
“And now Rachel’s been added to the list today.”
“It’s weird. So weird.”
“What’s so weird about it for our prince?”
“Isn’t it natural to feel honored by a kiss from me? She should’ve blushed, pretended to be shy, or acted regretful—but instead, she went wide-eyed and called me shameless. Is it some new tactic to get my attention?”
Louis shook his head at his friend’s detailed recounting.
The Second Prince of Cudas was suffering from a severe case of prince syndrome. Separate from his distrust of women, he assumed it was only natural for all of them to be smitten with him.
“So? Granting access to the palace archives is basically the same as giving permission to wander the royal palace. And she’s just a guest making such a suspicious demand.”
“But she says she can handle paperwork.”
Louis’s face filled with doubt at the sudden remark.
“We’re short-staffed these days—begging to borrow even a cat’s paw—and now a capable worker just rolled in? One who’s definitely not a spy, at that.”
Carion flashed a refreshing smile.
“A girl? And a young one at that?”
“Let’s give it a try. I can keep her close and figure out her intentions.”
And so, unbeknownst to Rachel, her future was decided.
***
“Huh?”
Unthinkingly, Rachel let out a dumb sound.
Three days after their unpleasant parting with Carion, he showed up to see her again.
She had thought he’d come to apologize when he abruptly appeared and said they were going somewhere. But he dragged her down the palace corridors deep inside, leading her to a room piled high with documents, filled with people who looked like zombies.
And then he declared it proudly.
“You wanted to browse the palace archives, right? But no one can just enter there. Palace officials, maybe. So I’ve prepared a position for you.”
With a ta-da, Carion spread his arms wide to show her a desk. Rachel’s jaw dropped at the sight of his face.
“No, I don’t get it. What is this?”
“A reward! You’ll work under the Palace Bureau. Do you know how many people want this job? Consider it an honor.”
The honor had frozen to death. Deep inside, Rachel felt a surge of fury.
She had done everything to avoid paperwork, yet this exalted Second Prince had shoved her straight into a swamp of documents.
“No, what qualification do I have for this? Palace documents—surely they handle incredibly important matters. How could someone like me!”
Rachel tried to downplay herself as much as possible. Unlike the previous round, Carion was acting like a total jerk, and she felt she shouldn’t get involved.
In truth, the administrative office she’d just entered wasn’t a place just anyone could access.
In Cudas, there was a council of nobles, including the king, that handled state affairs. Under them were six departments executing the council’s decisions, one of which was the Administrative Bureau.
“It’s fine. You wanted a mansion near the palace, right? Even wealthy merchants can’t buy property around here. But you didn’t know—they permit it for those who work inside the palace.”
Carion dangled the rewards Rachel had casually mentioned, manipulating her.
“So, you’re not going to do it? I, the Second Prince, went out of my way to create this position for you.”
As Carion spoke, the zombies in the administrative office fixed their gazes on Rachel.
“Manpower!”
“A girl? At this point, anyone will do.”
“And she’s refusing?”
“Eek.”
Rachel raised her arms in a defensive posture. The zombies’ stares were overwhelming.
Normally, wouldn’t they get angry about bringing a little girl into a place handling important work?
Seeing these authoritative nobles act this way confirmed the work here was brutally demanding.
‘This guy deliberately dragged me here to dump me!’
In Rachel’s mind, Carion had sunk to Abyss’s level.
Just then, Carion crouched down, bringing his face close to hers.
Remembering their kiss a few days ago, she tensed up, but his lips stopped at her ear.
“The people here are like this because of you.”
At the whisper, Rachel whipped her head away. Carion smirked slyly.
‘Annoying prick.’
“What do you mean?”
“They were supposed to have proper handovers, but the previous staff resigned or retired to the countryside over this incident, so they were hastily appointed. So, doesn’t the little lady need to lend a hand?”
It was all their fault, yet Carion made it sound like Rachel was to blame.
In Rachel’s heart, Carion’s score hit rock bottom and started digging a tunnel.
“I see. I shouldn’t have stayed silent knowing about my uncle’s crimes.”
“Well, not exactly. But if you have the ability, shouldn’t you serve this country? I value talent, you know.”
He flashed the smile that enchanted women. But not even his handsome looks could win Rachel over.
‘Pretty-boy parasite.’
Her opinion of him had plummeted to the worst, seeing him as a scumbag wielding his good looks like a weapon.
“Fine, I’ll give it a shot. Don’t expect much—I’m new here today.”
Even Rachel lacked confidence in handling unfamiliar tasks. After warning him not to expect too much, she took a few documents from the person next to her.
“Good, good. It’s fine. The one next to you is the newbie here. They’re handling the easiest tasks.”
Carion grinned as he spoke, and Rachel glanced at the person who’d handed her the papers. They looked too old to be the newbie.
“Your Highness Carion…”
“Right?”
“Yes, that’s right. Since the last one came two days ago, they’re the newbie.”
The palace administrators had been largely replaced. Excluding the holdovers, everyone was new, but since they’d arrived over a few days, claiming the most recent as the newbie was ridiculous.
Yet Carion pinpointed the last arrival and nailed them as the rookie.
Rachel turned to the documents. And for a while, she said nothing.
“Why is the document format like this?”
After checking them, a complaint slipped from Rachel’s lips. The formats were a mess.
Rachel sighed at the fact that a kingdom with a thousand years of history couldn’t even standardize its document templates.
Even Abyss’s information guild—plagued by small size, diverse information, and excessive workload—had uniform templates.
The same went for Harpa Castle’s documents. Paris Emporus had omitted and muddled them for tax evasion, but templates still existed.
Yet the kingdom’s administrative documents were all over the place—Rachel was dumbfounded.
“Format?”
Carion asked quizzically.
“Yes. A standard template for documents. At least title, author, submission date, deadline, body, and priority level. Oh, and a number would be nice.”
Rachel listed them out, recalling the information guild’s style.
“Look at this. No idea who wrote it, and it just dumps the request without context. You need enough info to grasp the situation, right? I can’t respond to this.”
It barely qualified as a document.
‘It’s just whining: “There’s a problem, so you higher-ups fix it.”’
And the problem itself was absurd to Rachel. They had too many livestock but no grass on their land, so they wanted access to regulated royal territory.
Carion nodded as he looked over the document after hearing her.
“Hmm. Yeah. So, what do you think should be done?”
“Do I have to spoon-feed you this too? Create a template and make them follow it.”
Rachel grew excited. She couldn’t waste time on such trivialities and end up like those zombies.
“Keep it clear and concise. Easy to understand. In other words, straightforward and to the point.”
“Hoo.”
“And it should be complete on its own—fully understandable without other references. Just reverse-engineer this mess without knowing who the idiot writer was.”
Her example whine lacked substance but used difficult words and complex phrasing, making it hard to read. If there was anything well done, it was emphasizing the request itself.
In front of everyone, Rachel smiled her noblewoman’s smile—learned from maids—and ripped the paper to shreds.
“No idea how important it is, but if it’s that crucial, tell them to use the template.”
“Uh, uh.”
Even Carion was overwhelmed by her forcefulness. But the administrator next to her went pale as a ghost.
“What’s wrong?”
Carion noticed and asked. The man blinked, sweating coldly.
“No author, but judging by the territory name, it might be from Count Sabl.”
“So?”
“It’s from a count, not just anyone… Handling it so roughly…”
“Count Sabl. Oh, right—the one who dumped livestock waste into the river? He expanded his pastures so much the animals stripped the land bare, huh?”