Even Thinking About It Is Forbidden
Kyle, who had overheard Derek from outside the door, hurried into the office and carefully closed the door behind him once more.
With his back to the office’s only entrance, Kyle first scanned the room to see who was present.
“Nadan, Lucy, Sophia, and Derek.”
It matched the exact order of names from the sentence Derek had shouted at Nadan.
The thought ‘They heard everything’ seemed to send a cold sweat trickling down Derek’s spine.
Derek’s eyes flicked toward the window.
But Derek had zero athletic talent, and they were on the fourth floor, so he promptly abandoned any escape fantasies.
Kyle watched him with a smile before speaking.
“I believe I heard something outside along the lines of, ‘Can you forget that I, along with Lucy and Sophia, know His Majesty and Lina are lovers?’”
Kyle met each of the four people’s eyes in turn.
“You’ve learned something you shouldn’t know.”
His green eyes glittered with an ominous light.
“Would it be all right if I erased those memories for you?”
Kyle made the suggestion in a gentle voice.
As the leader of the Blue Hawk—the Emperor’s secret intelligence guild and special task force—Kyle was also a rather skilled mental magician.
Memory distortion magic, in particular, was his specialty.
At the offer to personally wipe the fact that the Emperor and Lina were dating from their memories, all four waved their hands frantically in refusal.
“No, no. We’re fine.”
“I don’t know anything.”
“We were just talking about this morning’s newspaper.”
“Exactly.”
Kyle observed with a smile as the four swore they would never speak of it again—and would not even think about it.
That was understandable. The success rate of mental magic was notoriously abysmal.
Tampering with the mind meant the slightest slip could easily leave someone an idiot.
Even in the Blue Hawk, where mental magic specialist Kyle served as leader, they usually relied on the truth serum Azela created.
Kyle only intervened when the target was someone who wouldn’t matter even if the magic failed and caused side effects.
His offer to erase their memories himself was a threat heavy with implication—it was never a genuine proposal.
In truth, Kyle had no intention of using mental magic on his precious subordinates. Once he confirmed the four had finished steeling their minds, he nodded.
The green eyes that had carried a subtle chill softened once more.
The tension in the group eased slightly.
But Kyle was an extremely cautious man.
He made every effort to keep their mouths sealed until the very end.
“Aside from the parties involved, only the five of us know that His Majesty and Lina are seeing each other.”
The four felt a little wronged.
Why us of all people? I didn’t want to be part of such a rare statistic!
Still, having just sworn not to even think about the Emperor and Lina dating, no complaints left their lips.
It was an admirably wise attitude.
After confirming that the four were listening attentively even if silent, Kyle drove the point home like a final nail.
“So if a rumor starts spreading, His Majesty will come looking for the four of you first—in order.”
The four looked even more desperate than when Kyle had mentioned mental magic.
It was a highly effective way to keep their lips sealed.
Thanks to various arrangements that were written as “the Emperor’s” but read as “Kyle’s,” Ivetta was adapting well to imperial palace life.
I occasionally dropped by the detached palace where she was staying, both to keep her company and to see how she was doing.
Today was one of those days.
“Ivetta, have you been well?”
When I greeted Ivetta as she came out to meet me, Beth—who appeared a moment later—pouted dramatically.
“What about me? Why don’t you ask if I’ve been well?”
“I was just about to greet you, Beth.”
As I soothed the sulking Beth, Ivetta laughed silently.
Though only a few months apart, she adored Beth like a precious younger sister.
Ivetta doting on Beth is cute too.
To me—with two younger siblings just like that at home—both of them were adorable.
“Shall we go inside instead of standing out here?”
Watching Beth and Ivetta bicker like this was entertaining, but it was rather warm.
“Yes!”
Their answers overlapped perfectly.
Beth and Ivetta each linked arms with me.
“Should we have cookies in the garden today?”
“Let’s! There’s a gazebo in the detached palace garden, so it’s nice and cool. Plus the chef here makes amazing chocolate chip cookies.”
With me sandwiched between them, Ivetta and Beth settled on today’s gossip spot and headed straight for the garden.
Once we took our seats, the maids brought out refreshingly chilled black tea and cookies.
Not used to being waited on, we only began talking after the maids had withdrawn.
“Ivetta, how are the lessons? Manageable?”
The temple that couldn’t even provide proper food or clothing for its children was unlikely to have cared about education.
Ivetta had learned to read by observing Bibles and shop signs, but she was still clumsy.
She had never been taught etiquette, history, foreign languages, or any other liberal arts.
In the original story, noble young ladies who disliked Ivetta would often nitpick her etiquette.
But that was simply because Ivetta had never had the chance to learn.
Now studying with carefully selected private tutors assigned by the Emperor, Ivetta was absorbing everything at an astonishing pace.
By the middle of the original story, she had become more knowledgeable than most noble daughters—to the point that she would point out their etiquette mistakes.
This time, Ivetta will manage just fine.
Even now, the first thing she had started after growing accustomed to palace life was learning to read and write.
Her teacher was Beth.
Half to accommodate the shy Ivetta, half in hopes that the two would grow closer.
Beth occasionally slips up when speaking, but she’s actually a good writer.
In fact, she was better with the pen than with words.
The reports Beth wrote were surprisingly readable.
Even though she claims she never learned anything from her family.
Fortunately, it seemed Beth and Ivetta were continuing their Imperial language lessons without any major trouble.
“Yes, it’s going well. I’ll write you a letter next time!”
Ivetta, munching on a cookie, smiled brightly and shyly suggested becoming pen pals.
She seemed to have gained some confidence in composition already.
“A letter from you, Ivetta? I’ll definitely reply.”
When I accepted Ivetta’s pen-pal request, Beth asked urgently.
“If I write one too, will you reply to me, Lina?”
“Of course.”
“You have to write me an even longer reply.”
Having been the much-younger youngest member of the Blue Hawk throughout her childhood, Beth was a little jealous.
But though she said that, if I really did write her a longer letter, she would obviously demand I do the same for Ivetta.
Jealous Beth was cute too.
“All right. But in exchange, Beth, you have to write letters to Ivetta.”
“I will! I’ll write her ten pages!”
Beth declared with determination, saying she would demonstrate the structured beginning-middle-end format she had perfected through writing reports.
Teaching Ivetta to read and write had also greatly improved Beth’s thinking and speaking skills.
It was an unexpected bonus.
I felt proud that I could communicate with Beth even without Nadan’s transcendent interpretation.
As we polished off every last cookie, Ivetta suddenly spoke as if she had just remembered something.
“Starting next week, I’m going to increase my classes.”
“Already?”
I asked in case someone was pressuring her, but Ivetta seemed to interpret my surprise as admiration.
She smiled brightly, looking proud.
“Yes. For now, just etiquette and ancient languages.”
Etiquette was essential when dealing with nobles, and since valuable scriptures were mostly written in ancient tongues, those subjects had naturally taken priority.
Her progress was remarkably fast.
And it’s because Ivetta herself wants to do it.
I showered her with praise until her ears turned red.
“Has the ancient language teacher been decided yet?”
“Not yet.”
“Then I’ll teach you. I’ll need to get permission first, of course.”
“That would be wonderful!”
Ivetta answered with an expression full of both excitement and anticipation.
“Hmm, has the etiquette teacher been chosen too?”
If not, I had been planning to subtly recommend the viscountess who had taught Ivetta etiquette in the original story.
But the position was already filled.
“Yes! The etiquette teacher stopped by the detached palace yesterday to introduce herself.”
“Who is it?”
Kyle would have chosen well, but I was still worried about shy Ivetta, so I asked.
Ivetta, who seemed to like her new teacher’s first impression, answered brightly.
“Countess Renkels.”
Renkels… Wait, isn’t that my aunt?