A Heart Startled by the Audit Is Startled by the Chief - 2
The road to Boyar itself posed no problems at all. With hundreds of people moving as one, the Student Council had poured considerable effort into choosing the route, and the lords of every territory it crossed threw themselves into securing public order for fear of even a single blemish on the Academy procession.
If Academy students were injured within a lord’s domain, it would be a catastrophe no different from a natural disaster. These were not mere noble heirs, either—members of the imperial family, royalty, and even the next Saint were among them. Should so much as one of them remark, “That territory was rather unpleasant,” a path of fire would open for the rest of that lord’s life.
And I only learned this at the very end, but even that had not been enough; the Golden Duke had apparently leaned on the lords as well. If an accident occurred on the way to Boyar, people would remember not so much where it happened as the simple fact that it had happened on the road to Boyar. Of course they had kept watch with eyes wide open.
If I’d known, I wouldn’t have stepped in myself.
Sorry. I never imagined even the Golden Duke would go that far.
Worried that something as dull as falling rocks, landslides, or bandits might crop up on the road to Boyar, I had given the lords along the route a pointed look of my own. I can hardly picture the feelings of those lords suddenly sandwiched between the Golden Duke on one side and the Audit Department Chief on the other. Truly, I am sorry. Still, it was a heartening sight to see everyone united in their concern for safety.
“I’ll take a quick look around the area. We leave in thirty minutes, right?”
“Yes. Take care.”
And so we had raced on without incident until we stopped for a brief rest in a city that was, for all intents and purposes, the final rest stop before the toll gate. From here on we would be confined to the carriages all the way to Boyar. The thought of it already felt stifling, so I decided to stretch my legs while I still could.
Regrettably, the one child I least needed to meet had arrived at the exact same idea.
“Irina?”
“Ah—h-hello…?”
Irina creaked like a broken wind-up doll. I had run into the girl who had been wandering alone. Had we met while I was still heading out for a walk, I could have casually taken another path; as luck would have it, this was the road back to the carriages. There was only one way back, so there was nowhere to slip away.
I had deliberately returned early for this very reason, yet Irina had clearly thought the same. Our minds were strangely in sync… and this sort of unspoken understanding was not particularly welcome.
For a fleeting moment I seriously considered darting past her or pretending I had left something behind so I could turn around. But since we had already come face to face, an obvious attempt to avoid her would only make things more awkward.
Would awkwardness actually be better?
On second thought, our relationship could hardly grow more awkward than it already was. And anything was preferable to being alone with Irina.
The girl beside me was trembling so pitifully it was almost painful to watch. Tears welled at the corners of her eyes, and she bit her lip hard, clearly fighting back sobs.
This is driving me crazy.
The real culprit behind the entire mess—the Third Section Chief—had not even met House Yorun again after the apology, yet I, the one who had been chewed out by the minister without knowing a thing, was still stuck in this situation. If Irina had been a jaded noble, I could have simply pressed something into her hands and called it even; but she was still an innocent young lady.
The Audit Department’s karmic debt ran deep indeed.
I barely managed to swallow the scream that nearly tore free. Enen must truly hate me. I pray every morning and never miss a single offering. This is too cruel…
I should have just stayed in the carriage.
Belated regret made me weep inside. The crushing pressure of sharing a cramped space with the Audit Department Chief, the constant dread that he might suddenly change, the fear that even while he slept I might somehow disturb him and earn his displeasure—tormented by every emotion imaginable, I had fled under the pretext of a walk.
I had known he left the carriage before me, but what were the odds of running into him in a city this large? Still, just in case, I had hurried back—only to end up like this. I had come out to calm my racing heart, and now it was worse than ever.
At least inside the carriage there had been Luise and Erich, two people who would protect me if anything happened. And the Audit Department Chief had spent most of the time asleep, so I had never even had to meet his eyes. Yet here I was, face to face with him alone, after leaving of my own free will.
Should I run?
But how? We had met on a single path—where could I go? And would it even be all right to make my avoidance so blatant? What if that displeased the Audit Department Chief?
I knew our family’s innocence had been proven and that we had received the Audit Department’s apology. But that did not mean what had happened simply vanished. Just as disaster had fallen upon us without warning once before, there was no guarantee it would never happen again.
Perhaps they were already looking for some new pretext to erase their mistake by crushing our house entirely. There were even old cases of the Audit Department fabricating crimes that had never existed and wiping out entire lineages. If I gave them the slightest handle, they might come crashing down at any moment.
What do I do? What am I supposed to do?
“Irina.”
“Y-yes—yes!”
My body jerked at the sound of the Audit Department Chief’s voice. I had never stood in a courtroom, but I imagined this must be how it felt when a judge called your name.
“Go on ahead. I left something behind.”
“Ah—yes.”
I stared blankly at the Audit Department Chief’s retreating back as he turned and walked the way we had come. Left something? The only luggage he had brought was a small bag, and he had left that in the carriage when he got out.
But that was none of my business. Yes—he must have bought something in the city. Whatever it was, the fact that he had left it behind was a true blessing. Thanks to that, I could finally put distance between myself and the Audit Department Chief.
“Huuuh—”
The tension drained out of me all at once; my legs gave way and I sank to the ground. Tears even pricked my eyes at the wretched thought that I was still being tormented by the Audit Department. Yet I forced myself up and hurried back to the carriage. If the Audit Department Chief returned soon and we ended up walking side by side again, it would be a disaster.
“Ah, Irina. You’re back early?”
“Mm. I just got a little air.”
When I climbed into the carriage, Luise greeted me warmly. The moment I saw her, a nameless wave of sorrow surged up and I buried myself in her arms. Oh no—I think I’m going to cry again.
“Hee, that tickles.”
She said that, yet she did not push me away even when I suddenly clung to her; she only smiled and held me close, and I was so grateful. Warm… My heart seemed to settle, just a little…
Erich was watching us with an odd look from the side, but I ignored him for now. Please understand—someone’s family has made me very frightened.
“Good, we’re not late.”
And not long after, the Audit Department Chief arrived as well.
Empty-handed?
Contrary to his claim that he had left something behind, the Audit Department Chief returned looking exactly as he had when we met. Had it been a lie? On purpose? Why? Don’t tell me—so he could get away from me?
…Why?
My thoughts in confusion, I could only stare blankly at the Audit Department Chief’s hands. It felt like watching someone spit on the roadside while picking up litter—something that resembled consideration or a good deed, yet the person doing it seemed somehow strange.
As if there was anything I had left behind. It had been a hasty excuse so I could put some distance between us before Irina had a full-blown panic attack. In the end I took an unplanned extra walk and only just made it back to the carriage in time. I nearly missed the departure window.
When I opened the carriage door, Irina was nestled in Luise’s arms, sniffling. If that was enough to soothe her, then good. Stay like that as long as you like.
“So we’re heading straight to Boyar now? It really is far.”
“That it is.”
I gave Erich’s grumble a noncommittal answer. Boyar sat at the southernmost tip of an empire that was already vast; measured from the Imperial Capital, it was the farthest of the five duchies. Whenever I had business in the Duchy of Boyar, I had always brought a teleportation mage with me without fail.
Traveling to Boyar by carriage was, in pre-possession terms, like taking a business trip to Jeju Island by boat instead of plane. If it had been a pleasure trip, I might have enjoyed the leisurely journey. Doing it while on the clock, however, was the act of a complete lunatic.
Well, the important matter right now was neither Erich’s complaining nor the distance to Boyar.
What’s with her all of a sudden?
The same girl who had been trembling and desperate to get away from me on the road was now sneaking glances in my direction. She was not staring openly, of course, but in a space this narrow the gaze was impossible to miss. If I could not even sense the gaze of a single student after four years, those years would have been wasted.
Yet the moment I so much as turned my eyes toward Irina—or moved the hand she kept staring at—she would shrink and start shaking again, exactly like a child terrified of being struck by an adult. It did nothing for my peace of mind either.
She really did take a vicious beating.
No one had laid a hand on her personally, but her entire house had been thoroughly thrashed; if that counted as being hit, then she had been hit. The more I thought about it, the more I was certain the Third Section Chief was a bastard. To plant trauma like this in a young lady who should have been growing up bright and cheerful…
So I decided to endure Irina’s inexplicable staring in silence. Considering the mess the Audit Department had fed House Yorun, I could live with this minor discomfort.
Once we crossed the border of the Duchy of Boyar, reaching the central city took almost no time at all. The Golden Duke was the sort of man who applied the same obsessive craftsmanship to roads that an old master did to carving a club—all for the sake of smooth commerce.
“It’s magnificent…”
Luise’s murmur as she gazed out the window drew agreeing nods from both Erich and Irina. Magnificent it was. As one of the empire’s foremost economic hubs, its level of development was staggering.
The final destination of every road that laced the duchy, the colossal harbor where ships that plied not only the empire but the entire continent came to rest, the golden city where the Golden Duke who ruled gold itself made his home. One might wonder whether a grand title like “City of Gold” was quite appropriate for a place that was not the Imperial Capital…
In any case, we had arrived at the heart of the Duchy of Boyar—Pkophe, one of the empire’s ten great cities.
That took forever.
And at last I could escape the awkward silence with Irina.
When I glanced her way, she was pressed against the window like Luise, marveling at the scenery of Pkophe. She looked happy, which was a relief. For the duration of the school trip, at least, I would be careful never to appear before her eyes.