“Ugh.”
Arriving at the office early and working on reports all morning, I stretched my aching wrist.
As my deliberately chosen long sleeves slid up a bit, I glanced at my wrist.
‘At least it’s much better now.’
The bruise, once a deep blue in the shape of a hand, had faded to a yellowish hue.
‘I’m glad I didn’t go to the temple.’
It was my right wrist, making things inconvenient for a while, but time had been the best healer.
‘The ointment was enough.’
I lowered my sleeve again and picked up my pen.
‘Going to the temple for this minor injury.’
The man really seemed out of touch.
Shaking my head, I inwardly mocked ‘Everett Roxas.’
Even though it wouldn’t have cost me, it felt like a waste.
‘The temple charges the same donation for minor and major injuries.’
This was to prevent people who could be treated by herbalists or doctors from using the temple’s services.
Or perhaps to empty the pockets of nobles seeking the temple for minor injuries.
‘I couldn’t spend half my annual salary just to heal a wrist bruise.’
A 4-silver ointment over a few days would suffice, while 200 golds was too much.
I shook my head, refocusing on my pen.
In fact, I didn’t have the luxury of such idle thoughts.
I had to finish organizing eight years of tax records from seven territories by today.
‘It’s well past quitting time, and I’ve got two more to go.’
Even after this, there would be more work piling up, and the workload would continue for some time.
The Emperor, who had left for the battlefield right after his coronation, was returning after eight years.
Orders were given to prepare reports for him immediately upon his return.
‘How many days until the Emperor’s return?’
I guessed around three or four days, but my brain was too exhausted to calculate precisely.
‘What a mess.’
Even though the Emperor was known to be a war-crazed tyrant who valued human lives as little as flies, there was no way his wrath would reach this far.
As a low-level official, I just had to keep my head down and survive until the situation blew over. But for those who had to face the Emperor, things were definitely different.
‘Everyone is tense, passing the pressure down the chain.’
Due to the higher-ups’ anxiety, all officials in the Imperial Palace were on high alert.
The Treasury, where I worked, was no exception.
‘Important matters must have been reported from the battlefield as well.’
Reports to the Emperor were refined and edited, often omitting some details. With the master away, the subordinates inevitably relaxed a bit.
The current Emperor, who had purged the previous Emperor and rival royals to seize the throne, had his reputation fade over eight years.
Moreover, many officials who joined during the Emperor’s absence had never even seen his face.
‘There were rumors about him wiping out entire countries or eliminating royal families swiftly.’
People tend not to fear what they cannot see, so these stories were treated as gossip.
‘But now he will be visible.’
The Emperor planned to scrutinize everything that happened during his absence, which made everyone anxious.
‘Even I, who prided myself on integrity, felt a twinge of fear when I reviewed my actions.’
Imagine how they felt.
I glanced at Donovan, who was snapping at Connie, and sighed.
He had been like this since the Emperor’s return was announced.
All the officials with any rank were on edge, but Donovan was particularly bad.
‘Has he done something wrong?’
I shrugged my shoulders to relieve my stiff muscles.
Even though he looked like a corrupt official, I tried not to suspect people without evidence.
But his increasingly hysterical behavior made me wonder.
‘He’s too timid to commit major corruption.’
Acting out like this would only draw more suspicion.
‘Then again, the Emperor wouldn’t distinguish between minor and major corruption.’
At least according to the original story.
Before being influenced by the sunshine heroine, the Emperor was a typical efficient yet tyrannical ruler in romance fantasy novels.
‘Brutal to both commoners and nobles alike.’
Donovan, who had been at the Treasury before the Emperor’s ascension, would know the Emperor’s character.
‘Hence, this hysteria.’
I was now convinced that Donovan had something to hide.
His voice was so loud that distracted employees were casting displeased glances his way.
“I told you this was urgent! Why isn’t it done yet?”
‘You assigned it yesterday, knowing it would take a week.’
No matter how fast one works, there’s a limit to how much time can be saved.
“It’s almost finished.”
Connie replied with a restrained tone.
At first, she had handled Donovan with a business smile, but her patience had reached its limit.
Donovan’s hourly check-ins had only slowed her down.
“How many times do I have to hear ‘almost’?”
He grumbled at Connie one last time before leaving.
As soon as Donovan left the office, Connie collapsed into her chair.
Her lips moved silently in a way that any native speaker would understand was filled with profanities, including Donovan’s name.
Everyone in the office tolerated Connie’s venting.
Over the past few days, Donovan’s primary target had been Connie.
I approached and placed a hand on her shoulder.
Gesturing towards the exit, Connie followed with a sullen face.
I led her to the back of the Treasury building, giving her some time to cool down.
Once she felt a bit better, she started to grumble.
Her muttered complaints from earlier now became audible.
I listened, occasionally responding.
After a while, Connie, whose face had turned almost the same color as her auburn hair, sighed and leaned her head on my shoulder.
“Donovan has always been nasty, but he’s gotten worse lately.”
“Yeah, he’s been like this since the news of the Emperor’s return.”
Connie, looking itchy to share more, whispered, “Remember how Donovan boasted about getting in with Duke Camelot?”
Duke Camelot was the leader of the noble faction.
One of Donovan’s distant relatives was a vassal of Duke Camelot, and he had boasted about meeting the Duke a few times through that connection.
‘Everyone knows about that.’
“But it seems the Emperor plans to take down Duke Camelot as soon as he returns.”
‘Oh.’
I pursed my lips slightly.
“People say the Emperor and Duke Camelot have never gotten along since before the ascension. Not sure why he let it slide eight years ago, though.”
Connie speculated that maybe the Emperor had forgotten about Duke Camelot due to the numerous names on his purge list and laughed.
For some reason, Duke Camelot had survived the initial wave of purges after the Emperor’s ascension and had worked to expand his influence in the Emperor’s absence.
But with the war over, the Emperor was moving to tighten control again.
“Everyone knows about it. It’s not something to talk about openly, though.”
Connie, who had been leaning on my shoulder, straightened up and winked.
“The wyvern playing king while the dragon was away is over.”
She hoped the Emperor would also get rid of an ‘orc’ in the process.
For the Emperor’s overt actions against Duke Camelot to reach even a low-level official like Connie, it was clear.
“But is Duke Camelot just watching this happen?”
Connie gave an ambiguous answer, saying we’d have to wait and see.
We chatted lightly for a while.
Once Connie’s mood improved, she reluctantly said, “We should probably go back in now.”
“Yeah, I guess we should.”
Knowing we were losing precious sleep time standing here, it was still painful to return to the pile of work in the office.
We walked back very slowly.
Donovan didn’t return while we handled our backlog.
Around midnight, employees with zombie-like faces began to leave one by one.
I finished organizing the tax records from the last territory about that time.
I approached Connie, who still seemed swamped with work.
“Need some help?”
Connie, overwhelmed by the seemingly endless tasks, brightened up at my offer.
After a brief moment of wrestling with her conscience, she cautiously asked for help.
“Could you handle this? Thanks a lot.”
I took the stack of work Connie handed me.
As I habitually glanced at the front of the documents, I noticed something.
‘Huh?’
Even after blinking my tired eyes, the words didn’t change.
A question slipped out unconsciously.
“Connie, what are you doing?”
