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Chapter 15
“Your Excellency…”
Werner, Herald, and the other senior officials who reentered the governor’s office found him somehow different from before.
They had been told they would continue discussing the inspection tour and that everyone should take their seats, yet he looked strangely cheerful, as if in a good mood.
His upright posture, his usual expressionless face, even the neatness of his attire—nothing had changed. And yet, it was oddly noticeable.
“Please continue, Sir Herald.”
The officials were exhausted to the point of misery after barely getting any sleep, but their superior looked perfectly fine.
“Ahem. The next agenda item concerns the size of the inspection party.”
In truth, they had just come from arguing over the same issue in the reception room, which was too cramped to seat all dozen or so of the high-ranking officials.
Everyone had opposed assigning a native of the Kingdom to guide His Excellency the Governor, but on this issue, opinions were split exactly down the middle.
“Colonel, how about organizing the inspection party at roughly one platoon?”
“As I said earlier, that is far too many, Sir Werner.”
Naturally, the main contenders were Werner and Herald.
“I still don’t understand what, exactly, you find excessive.”
“The size of the inspection party must not be too large.”
“A single platoon is too large? That hardly befits the authority of the Empire.”
“Are you conducting this inspection to flaunt authority?”
As the argument between the two flared up once more, the officials cast pleading looks toward His Excellency the Governor. Among them, Peter Chandlin even clasped his hands together as if in prayer.
Strictly speaking, Peter Chandlin was on the side that believed about a platoon should accompany the inspection, but he had already heard Werner and Herald’s clashes so many times his ears felt worn thin.
Normally, Herald was the one who gave way more often, but lately he, too, refused to bend easily.
At times like this, no one but His Excellency the Governor could stop the two of them. Excluding the Governor, there was no one of higher rank than either man—naturally.
Your Excellency! Now’s the time! Please stop them!
But Hemel, receiving Peter Chandlin’s desperate gaze, mercilessly shattered that expectation. As he watched Werner and Herald with interest, the words he eventually spoke made Peter Chandlin want to cry.
“With opinions this divided…”
At that single remark, Werner and Herald, whose voices had been steadily rising, snapped their mouths shut.
If only he would glare and tell them to be quiet—just one word would do. For once, His Excellency’s refusal to mediate, as he usually did, felt unfair.
“It can’t be helped. You’ll need the experience of coordinating your opinions directly.”
Though he spoke as if it were regrettable that the ruling leadership of Roztea could not reach consensus, his tone was not particularly stern.
Hemel withdrew his gaze from Werner and Herald, then slowly scanned the inner conference room of the governor’s office. His eyes traveled down the long table before abruptly stopping.
Rosia.
As if they shared opposite poles of a magnet, his gaze clung to her and refused to let go.
“When you’ve reached a unified opinion, inform me.”
A sigh of utter despair escaped Peter Chandlin. Oh my God. Why today of all days? Today, when I barely slept before coming in… why… today?
He had unconsciously pressed his palms to his cheeks, mouth hanging open, and only straightened his posture after noticing the stares of the other officials.
“Miss Rosia.”
At the cool voice, the woman who had been sitting blankly at the end of the table like a doll flinched. She slowly raised her head, and just as Hemel had done, her gaze traveled a long way up the length of the table.
Hemel smiled faintly as he watched the golden eyes tremble while searching for the voice that had called her.
“It would be better if you stepped out from there and waited.”
“…Excuse me?”
“Until the healthy debate is over?”
As Hemel gestured beyond the partition, toward the governor’s space, her trembling intensified.
“You mean… to be alone with you, Your Excellency?”
“Yes.”
“I’m not sure I’m allowed to do that…”
She tried desperately to avoid it, even humbling herself, but Hemel had no intention of letting her go.
Even their brief exchange just moments ago had made it abundantly clear that she was no ordinary woman. She appeared polite, yet her gaze was insolent; prod her a little, and even her courteous tone vanished. That was likely her true nature.
Rosia. He had an instinctive sense that she, too, wore a mask as thick as his own.
A near-primal intuition he had felt the very first moment he saw her from afar beneath the platform.
“You’re not suggesting you intend to observe a meeting of the governorate’s senior officials, are you?”
“Huh?”
“Unless you’re His Majesty the Emperor, observing a meeting is impossible. So, come this way.”
Leaving behind her flustered voice, as if she had not anticipated those words at all, Hemel rose and drew back the partition.
Inside the partitioned space were the governor’s private desk and bookshelves, along with a sofa and a small table.
“In a time when terrorism is rampant, must we really draw so much attention by dragging soldiers along like that?”
The partition did not completely block the sound. It merely obscured the officials’ view, so words that sounded like neither quite a fight nor quite a meeting carried through clearly.
Sitting on the sofa, Vivian stared blankly at the teacup before her, steam curling upward.
For reasons unknown, the governor had instructed an attendant to bring refreshments. She had thought he intended to enjoy tea with lofty composure while listening to the argument—an oddly perverse hobby that seemed to suit his temperament—but he did not touch the refreshments the attendant brought.
If he wasn’t going to eat them, why order them at all?
“Eat.”
He slid the plate of pastries toward Vivian.
…They were for me?
Whether it was consideration or something else, she wasn’t grateful in the slightest.
“Is that an order?”
“More of a suggestion.”
His smiling face looked less kind than sly.
“If you don’t accept it, I’m willing to make it an order.”
“……”
“And if I have to issue orders for even something this trivial, I’m willing to do nothing but give you orders from now on.”
So, in the end, it was an order.
Vivian carefully composed her expression and picked up the nearest biscuit. Even as she took a bite and set it back on the plate, his gaze stubbornly followed her.
It tasted good, but that aside, she couldn’t eat any more.
In front of her, an excessively beautiful face stared intently; behind her, voices clashed viciously under the pretense of exchanging opinions.
“If you go out like that, even a passing dog will recognize you as His Excellency the Governor! You might as well advertise that you’re making an appearance!”
“Hah! If you fear insurgent terrorists, then bring a company—if that’s not enough, bring a battalion!”
“Captain Werner, perhaps because you’re a military officer, your thoughts only run in that direction. I’m curious, so let me ask: are you conducting an inspection, or are you going to wage a war?”
“What does it matter if it’s an inspection or a war? The Empire does as it pleases! And Minister Herald, don’t cross the line. His Excellency is, before anything else, a soldier who devoted himself to the Empire!”
Listening to the clash beyond the partition, Vivian fidgeted with her fingers.
“Didn’t you say that observing meetings was impossible unless one were His Majesty the Emperor…?”
“That’s right.”
She had meant to ask why, then, he was keeping her here while letting her hear everything, but after his curt reply, no further explanation followed.
The sight of the governor leaning back on the sofa with his eyelids lowered looked like a painting. Watching him open eyes he had closed slowly, even more slowly, gave her the illusion of gazing at the protagonist of a novel she had once read.
“Then please call me later. I’ll come back then.”
Vivian spoke while clutching the small bag resting neatly on her knees.
One would think she might grow used to it, but every time she saw his face, it felt new again—especially in this bright light, after looking at him for so long.
She learned one new fact: Vivian was not immune to excessively beautiful faces.
“By whose authority?”
“……”
“The governor’s office isn’t a place you can come and go as you please.”
Even as raised voices continued beyond the partition, his low voice lodged itself clearly in her ears.
“Why—having entered once without permission, do you think you can come and go as you like?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Then what did you mean?”
“I merely recalled that you said observing meetings was not allowed.”
In truth, she had been eager to escape this uncomfortable situation and had seized upon a convenient excuse, but she replied calmly.
“You seem to listen very well when told something isn’t allowed.”
However, Peron smiled as if he knew everything and gestured toward something.
“Then you must not have known that entering the governor’s office without permission wasn’t allowed either, right?”
His gaze pointed to the bookshelf. Among the shelves that covered one entire wall, it was the exact spot where Vivian had been standing on the night of the speech ceremony—the night she had secretly slipped inside.
