Making the Anniversary Certain - 1
After the National Cemetery caretaker caught me using the sky as my blanket and the ground as my pillow, I all but sprinted for the Crown Prince’s Palace. I was ready to knock out anyone I ran into along the way.
In truth, what had happened only minutes earlier couldn’t possibly have spread yet. Even if no one else knew about that spectacular disgrace, I knew. I couldn’t bring myself to lift my head. Even an ordinary morning greeting like “How are you?” would, in my ears, turn into “You slept outside—how are you?”
So when I found the Crown Princess at the main gate of the Crown Prince’s Palace, I thought my blood had frozen solid.
Do I… have to knock her out?
The iron vow I’d made—if I meet anyone, I knock them out—flashed through my mind and set my hands trembling.
I never expected to run into the Crown Princess. Knocking out just anyone was one thing; knocking out the Crown Princess, and the Duke of Victory’s daughter at that, was out of the question.
“Audit Department Chief. Good morning.”
While I stood there entertaining deranged thoughts—probably still half-drunk—the Crown Princess, who had been lingering by the gate, greeted me with a smile that could warm anyone’s heart.
The moment I saw that smile, shame crashed over me. Forgive me, Your Highness. This ungrateful servant dared to think the unthinkable.
“Yes, Your Highness. Being able to see you makes it a truly good morning.”
“Heh. Is that so?”
I bowed as I answered, and she gave a soft little laugh. Thanks to that, the self-loathing in my chest eased just a fraction.
“But Your Highness, the wind is cold. Why are you outside?”
I raised my head again and asked carefully.
The weather was far too poor for a morning stroll. With winter drawing near, the mornings had grown properly chilly.
“I was waiting for the Audit Department Chief. You would have to stop by the palace before returning to the Academy, yet I heard you still hadn’t arrived.”
“I am most unworthy, Your Highness.”
At the words “I came out because you hadn’t shown up,” I hurriedly bowed again.
Damn it.
My teeth ached with regret. If I’d known it would come to this, I would’ve skipped the counseling and just gone home quietly. Instead I’d wandered around and made someone of her rank wait for me.
Fortunately the Crown Princess didn’t seem to take it to heart. She patted my shoulder and spoke gently.
“It’s all right. I only just came out; I haven’t been waiting long.”
“Even so, for me to dare make Your Highness wait—”
“It really is fine. In fact, I wanted to thank the Audit Department Chief. I would have been disappointed if I hadn’t seen you.”
At that I carefully lifted my head. Thanks? To me? What reason would the Crown Princess ever have to thank me?
Before I could even open my mouth to ask, she read the question on my face, offered a soft smile, and continued.
“Lady Erzebet is a junior I hold very dear.”
Ah.
I had a rough idea what this was about, and I nodded.
A little relief followed. So the 1st Division Chief hadn’t bitten her tongue and collapsed. Thank goodness—she really was a girl with extraordinary mental fortitude.
“Both I and His Highness the Crown Prince once found comfort from Lady Erzebet. She was almost the only child who sincerely celebrated our marriage.”
“She sounds like an excellent junior.”
“Yes. A truly excellent junior.”
Remembering those days, the Crown Princess’s smile refused to leave her lips.
“Now that junior has found her own path. How could I not be happy?”
Her voice carried pure relief and joy—anyone listening could tell she truly cared for the 1st Division Chief.
It still astonished me every time. That a refined lady like the Crown Princess and the 1st Division Chief could be close seniors and juniors… how on earth had that happened? Did the 1st Division Chief have some kind of brainwashing app?
No wonder she always got information so easily.
Interrogating people with a brainwashing app would naturally produce excellent results.
“Of course, Lady Erzebet’s path is one she will walk together with someone, not alone.”
That gentle voice left me unable to speak. It was the sort of remark that was awkward to affirm and awkward to deny.
Affirm it and it sounded like I’d accepted the 1st Division Chief’s confession; deny it and it sounded like I’d rejected her…
“And whether they can walk it together remains to be seen.”
As if she understood my dilemma, the Crown Princess patted my shoulder once more.
“Simply giving Lady Erzebet… Eri… the chance to dream. Promising that you would watch over her completely.”
For that alone, I am so very grateful to the former Audit Department Chief.
When she added those words, her face looked ready to attain enlightenment on the spot.
Your Highness… you must have suffered a great deal.
With the Crown Princess seeing me off, I returned to the Academy.
The Crown Prince was busy with work, so I didn’t see him. Lucky break—if I’d run into that bastard first thing in the morning, the whole day would have been ruined.
What a mess.
And because the setting had suddenly changed, a faint smell now hit me full force. The unfortunate part was that the smell was coming from me.
The reek of all-night drinking mixed with the wild scent I’d picked up rolling around on the ground. In the Academy—the very heart of learning—it was an utterly humiliating fragrance.
Damn it.
My head ached for reasons that had nothing to do with a hangover. The Audit Department Chief, dead drunk, sleeping rough at the National Cemetery. It would heat up high society for a while and remain a black mark remembered forever. A black history I had written with my own hands.
Still, at least it was a black history without witnesses. If someone had caught me throwing a drunken fit in real time, I might have submitted my resignation and gone into hiding. Yes—this was the better outcome.
…Of all things, alcohol.
I tried to console myself, but the mere word “alcohol” made even that consolation wobble dangerously.
Anything else would have been fine. If I’d made a scene after eating something else, I wouldn’t have been this mortified. But goddamn it—why did it have to be alcohol?
Joooooo—kaaaaaah!
The moment that ear-splitting voice from my nightmares rose in my mind, I squeezed my eyes shut.
Alcohol meant an automatic link to the Wise Duke. I could already hear the whispers: “His aunt is the Wise Duke, so of course the Audit Department Chief also…”
Fuck.
There was no stopping my reputation from being shredded now. Better for my mental health to ignore it and just go wash…
—Except even that plan collapsed before it could begin.
Oh, Chief. How’s your back? It’s been a while since you last slept outside, hasn’t it?
“Shut up.”
The second I stepped into the dormitory, a call came from the 2nd Division Chief. And the moment the call connected, the black-history assault hit me head-on.
I had expected him to find out quickly—he was the type who dug up every scrap of news in the Imperial Capital—but I never thought it would be this fast. Or maybe the rumor was spreading even faster than I feared.
Come on, Chief. Why the long face? It’s a subordinate’s sincere concern—accept it with a smile.
Listening to the 2nd Division Chief snicker, my grip on the communication orb tightened of its own accord.
Magical progress was desperately needed. We needed a spell that could punch someone through a communication orb. The Magic Lord could probably make it happen somehow.
After laughing for quite a while, the 2nd Division Chief glanced around and lowered his voice.
Still, I’m doing everything I can to suppress the rumors about the 1st Division Chief. Completely stopping them is impossible, but we have to do what we can.
“…Good work.”
The unexpected words left me a beat slow to respond.
I’d been so fixated on the sleeping-outside incident that I’d almost forgotten—the 1st Division Chief’s full-on sobbing was no small matter either.
Even if it had been late at night on a quiet street, this was still the Imperial Capital. A city that never slept; pedestrians could appear anywhere, anytime. There were bound to be witnesses.
Perfect setup for misunderstanding.
The 1st Division Chief weeping in front of the Audit Department Chief. Twist that the wrong way and rumors would fly that a rift had opened inside the Audit Department.
Even if people didn’t know the crying woman was the 1st Division Chief, it was still a problem. No—it was an even bigger problem. The Audit Department Chief who had received the Magic Lord’s confession, making a lady cry in the middle of the night. Wasn’t that an even funnier rumor than internal division?
Well, it was easier than expected. Chief, you created an even bigger incident, so all the attention got sucked over there.
“Is that so…”
I felt strange. Glad, yet shitty; shitty, yet glad.
Plus the 1st Division Chief was dressed completely ordinarily. People know someone cried, but almost no one knows it was her.
“That’s a relief.”
It got so bad some people were saying the white hair meant it was the Magic Lord.
“Those lunatics.”
A snort of laughter escaped me. Why would the Magic Lord suddenly appear in that story?
I tried for a second to picture the Magic Lord bursting into tears in front of me—and failed completely. The image was that absurd.
Apparently the 2nd Division Chief felt the same; his brief serious expression crumbled and he started snickering again.
Anyway, congratulations on your third wife.
“What?”
Isn’t that right? The 1st Division Chief just came into work and her smile’s practically reaching her ears.
Watching him laugh all over again made my mouth itch.
It’s five, you bastard.
I barely swallowed the words that had climbed all the way to my throat. If I told this guy anything, the rumor would blanket the entire Empire before the day was out.
“Stop worrying about my wives and look after your own.”
My counterattack clamped the 2nd Division Chief’s mouth shut.
He wasn’t the only one who knew my weak points. I knew a few killing blows that would land on him just as cleanly.
“I get the feeling you’ll be getting married before I do.”
I laced the words with a sneer, and his gaze slowly dropped. The sight filled me with pure, unmatched satisfaction.
I already knew the 2nd Division Chief was passionately courting the Minister’s wife’s niece. I saw her face every time I visited Gerhardt’s research lab, and I’d heard it straight from Christina herself.
I just hadn’t realized the news went even further than that.
His Excellency the Minister summoned the 2nd Division Chief. Said you’re both of age so get married immediately. And if you keep dragging your feet, he’ll take it as you toying with the girl—and he made that crystal clear.
The Deputy Chief’s calm report from not long ago; the content, however, had been anything but calm.
I’d laughed for a long time after hearing it. The 2nd Division Chief had wandered all over the place, yet in the end he’d messed with the wrong person and was about to be forced to settle down for good.
“You’ve had plenty of dating experience. Time for marriage experience too.”
How can you say the exact same thing as my father?
Hearing him sound so disgusted, I finally understood how the 2nd Division Chief’s father must have felt all these years.
He must have been an unfilial son who gave his father endless heartburn…
He gave me heartburn too.
At work, a subordinate who tormented his superior; at home, a son who tormented his father.
What a truly remarkable bastard.