Episode 24

“Your Majesty, the messenger has just left for the Grand Duchy of Theabrite.”

“I see.”

The Emperor of the Ignite Empire, Blixier, responded while squatting in the flower bed.

His aide, seeing the emperor like this, let out an unnoticeable sigh before returning to where he was supposed to be.

Blixier, looking fondly at his departing aide, resumed his task. He wore a straw hat on his head and work gloves on his hands, which were typically used by laborers. With a pickaxe in his right hand, he struck the lawn, mumbling to himself.

“It’s satisfying to pull them out.”

In his left hand, he held a handful of long-rooted weeds.

Whether it was truly satisfying or not, the weeds were pulled out cleanly without breaking or snapping their roots. It was almost as if he could hear the sobs of the weeds he had grabbed by the roots.

Blixier paused and stood up, then began stretching his back, moving it forward, backward, and side to side.

With his sudden movements, the sweat on his temple dripped to the ground, forming small spots where the weeds had been uprooted.

“Neat.”

A smile filled his lips as he looked at the neatly arranged flower bed.

At 28 years old, Emperor Blixier Ignite had only one hobby: gardening.

When he was in a good mood, he would transplant beautifully blooming flowers into the flower bed. When he was displeased, he would pull out all the weeds that hindered the flowers’ survival.

The reason he was pulling weeds now was exactly that. He had a temperament that needed to remove anything that bothered him.

However, the news the aide had brought him lifted his spirits, which had been down all day.

If this message could silence the noisy pests in the capital, he would be more than happy. And if Sonode Quentin wore a look of disgust, it would be even better.

“Oh, dung. Dung is such a good fertilizer.”

Reflecting on his insult to good fertilizer, he wiped his dirt-covered hands on his apron. Determined, he resolved to plant yellow flowers today.

“Go fetch some daffodil roots.”

Blixier commanded into the air, his eyes unfocused and staring into space.

Yet, his command without a subject quickly set the shadows into motion.

The emperor’s shadow guards, renowned for their unmatched martial prowess, moved swiftly and silently like shadows to fetch the daffodil roots.

* * *

On a night when the sun had completely set, I sat at my desk, holding a quill pen.

Though it was a bit cumbersome to dip it in ink every time I wrote, the unique charm of the quill still outweighed the inconvenience. It felt as though I had become Shakespeare himself.

I flipped through the ledger Wilson had brought and began scribbling on a new piece of paper.

My goal was to avoid work as much as possible until Mrs. Claire summoned me. Once Mrs. Claire’s handover began, I would undoubtedly be overwhelmed with tasks.

However, my days of leisure were fleeting.

Starting with the emperor’s letter a few days ago, I began to be swamped with new tasks.

It was as if tasks sprang up like mushrooms after rain, even if I stayed still in this mansion.

My first assigned task was to repair the mansion’s banquet hall.

Since a new mistress had joined the household, it was inevitable that a party would soon be held in the mansion.

But the banquet hall, which had been neglected for a long time, had no intact curtains or floors. It was natural since Apollion disliked gatherings of people.

However, the situation was different now.

Instead of a noblewoman exhausted from caring for her seriously ill son, a young noblewoman had become the mistress of the household.

As she now occupied the position of the grand duchess, she needed to make appearances at social events, both internally and externally.

There was nothing to gain from being criticized by gossip-loving nobles. It was crucial to start preparing now to complete the repairs in time for her debut in society.

This was why I held the quill in my hand.

Forced to be confined to the study, I was squinting at the documents concerning the banquet hall repairs.

Thinking that I could just handle the interior was a grave mistake.

The banquet hall and garden of the Pontus mansion were in far worse condition than I had anticipated.

The wooden floor was rotten from rodent droppings. One servant, entering the banquet hall to clean, stepped on a decayed part of the floor and got injured.

Furthermore, the heating didn’t work, and most of the candlesticks were rusted. There were many issues.

The garden was in a slightly better state, but it was barren and desolate without any ornamental trees or flowers. It looked eerie enough to seem like a ghost could appear at any moment.

And so, I was hastily handed the documents.

With my head in my hands, I scanned the documents before me.

The ledger listed materials, prices, and budget details, but it wasn’t very helpful.

The information in the ledger was too outdated.

The trends in noble society changed quickly, and the prices of luxury items fluctuated accordingly. Thus, even if there were records from 20 years ago, they were useless.

“Safety and interior work… You need to know something to make any adjustments.”

I sighed deeply and collapsed onto my desk.

Carpet thermal conductivity, crystal sculptures… The unexpected interior study was giving me a headache.

It seemed best to call in a professional trade company to handle the repairs, even if I ended up being taken advantage of.

“Your Grace.”

At the sudden knock, I sprang up.

“It’s Wilson.”

“Come in.”

I hastily straightened my posture and pretended to be engrossed in the documents. The nearly blank paper bothered me, so I scribbled a few meaningless words.

“I thought this might help you with your work.”

Wilson, who had entered the study, placed a tray of refreshments on the desk. His thoughtful gesture made me feel a bit guilty for slacking off.

“Thank you.”

I gave Wilson a slight smile and refocused on the documents. To be precise, I pretended to focus.

Wilson, watching me with a kindly expression, spoke up.

“If you ever need my help, please don’t hesitate to call. Though my knowledge is limited, I will do my best to assist Your Grace.”

“Thank you.”

After speaking, Wilson bowed and headed for the door. As I watched him place his hand on the doorknob, I pondered for a moment. However, my hesitation didn’t last long.

“Wilson,”

Wilson stopped opening the door and looked back at me.

“What is it?”

“Could you find a meticulous and skilled trade company?”

It’s not an exaggeration to say that the development of civilization owes a lot to human laziness. There must be people who want to resolve things quickly and conveniently, even if it costs them some money.

That meant there were surely businesses catering to the extravagant tendencies of the nobles, much like the popular ‘package’ services from my previous world.

“Yes. I will shortlist some discerning trade companies and call them to the mansion as soon as possible.”

Wilson quickly grasped the gist of my request and nodded.

“Thank you.”

“I will look for a company that can handle everything from interior design to construction.”

While I was impressed by Wilson’s intuitive understanding, I also felt a bit embarrassed. Leaving everything to him made me seem like an incompetent hostess.

“…Please do.”

But indeed, I was an incompetent hostess.

No one starts out good at something they’ve never done before.

The best I could do was meticulously examine and compare the samples that the trade companies would bring.

They say you learn new things through new opportunities. I decided to consider this as a chance to learn.

Acknowledging what I didn’t know and investing time and effort in experts for unnecessary tasks was the wisest course of action.

Having resolved the task easily, I stopped Wilson from leaving and asked him one more question.

“Where is the Grand Duke now?”

“He is in his office, working.”

“I see.”

I had thought of bothering Apollion since I was done with work, but it seemed that would be difficult today.

“Illegal gambling has been rampant in the territory recently. He seems very busy dealing with that issue.”

“Indeed, that’s a troublesome problem…”

I nodded in agreement with Wilson’s words.

After finishing his words, Wilson bowed politely and left the study. I sipped the tea Wilson had brought and fell into thought.

“Illegal gambling…”

The reason the original female protagonist, Sonia, took a job as a maid was that her father, Baron Iora, had squandered the family fortune on gambling.

Due to illegal gambling, the Iora family went bankrupt, and the eldest daughter, Sonia, had to work at the grand duke’s mansion to support the family.

“It seems this issue has been lingering for quite some time.”

The original story starts around March of the year after next. It’s August now, so there are about 1 year and 7 months left until the story begins.

This meant that even now, long before the story began, Sonia was probably suffering because of her father.

“Is there no way to help?”

I didn’t feel guilty about turning the original story upside down. Therefore, I didn’t feel like I had taken Sonia’s place.

Living my life according to my desires doesn’t involve taking anything from anyone. It’s not like Apollion and Sonia have already fallen for each other.

However, it was true that I was somewhat concerned that my choices might have made Sonia’s happy ending uncertain.

Having enjoyed the original story so much, I felt a strong sense of internal closeness to Sonia.

Of course, the problem was that this closeness was one-sided from my end, but I wasn’t selfish enough to just watch someone I’m (one-sidedly) close to suffer.

If I could help, I wanted to extend my hand as much as possible.

I scribbled random letters in my notebook to organize my thoughts and started to carefully recall the details of the original story.