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Chapter 16
If it became known that Vivian hadn’t come to steal something, but had been rummaging through the bookshelves in the governor’s office, no matter how much he tried to push the matter, she would not have kept her life.
“…That’s—”
Vivian lowered her voice.
Of course, attempting to steal the governor’s belongings was no light crime either, but it was nothing compared to the sin of secretly looking through the important documents kept on the shelves of the governor’s office.
If he had decided to knowingly downplay her charges and make use of them, then surely he shouldn’t be bringing up what happened back then like this.
“That’s—”
She searched for something to say in her defense, but there was nothing she could say. As he watched Vivian repeat the same word like a parrot, he let out a short laugh.
“That’s…?”
“That’s what?”
“….”
“It’s fine. It was an interesting event in its own way.”
Because several more people had joined the shouting match between Werner and Herald, the area beyond the partition was still noisy.
So even if they didn’t whisper, there was no chance this conversation would leak out.
Still, Vivian assumed the worst. She casually wiped the cold sweat seeping from her small hand onto the sofa.
“Your Excellency found it entertaining?”
At her cautious question, the smile that had been intermittently tugging at his face vanished.
She had hoped it would come across as polite and as little impertinent as possible, but it seemed the governor sensed the resistance hidden within.
“Of course. It was entertaining.”
His calm, unblinking reply instead left Vivian flustered.
“How could a woman who sneaks into the governor’s office and rummages through documents not be entertaining?”
“….”
“It was the boldest thing in my life. I was displeased at first, but the more I thought about it, the more amusing it became.”
“I…”
“Shh.”
As she tried to stand, he reached out, pulled her back down, and kept his arm extended toward her face. One straightened finger pressed firmly against her slightly parted lips. Her soft lips yielded helplessly under the pressure, sinking in deeply. The breath that slipped through the small gap between her lips tickled his finger.
“Lower your voice.”
When she nodded, Hemmel removed the finger that had been pressing against her lips.
The sight of her pale face flushing red at the cheeks pleased him. The way she bristled the moment she sensed a change in him was also quite to his liking.
“…Don’t touch my body.”
Like this, for instance.
A life that should have ended long ago if not for his mercy—yet she didn’t seem grateful or treat it as precious. It was insolent, and yet amusing.
“I’m not touching you right now, am I?”
Having already leaned back, he chuckled and shrugged his shoulders ostentatiously. Watching him, Vivian had nowhere to vent her irritation and deliberately rubbed her lips with the back of her hand.
“Not in the future either.”
She had done it hoping he would feel some of the indescribable annoyance she felt, but she regretted it almost immediately.
That infuriating man was the governor, and Vivian was a commoner—more than that, a citizen of the kingdom.
It meant that Vivian had to endure any and all filthy treatment, while that man could act however he pleased.
“Not touch you in the future either…”
He looked Vivian over like a predator inspecting its prey, rolling her words over in his mind. When she met his frost-colored eyes, a chill swept over her as if she were walking through biting cold. It made her hair stand on end.
Should she beg, even now?
As the silence dragged on, Vivian thought so.
“Is that an order?”
The words he finally spoke were shocking.
An order?
The retort that tried to leap out without passing through her brain was swallowed back down. Still, her widened eyes couldn’t hide it.
Bewilderment, disbelief, absurdity… emotions of a kind she couldn’t quite put into words all awoke at once. She hadn’t known a human could feel so many things at the same time.
Watching the speechless Vivian, he spoke again, utterly composed.
“Rozia. Answer me. Is it an order?”
“…Of course not. How could I dare put the word ‘order’ in my mouth?”
“For someone like that, your actions were rather sly.”
“I hear that a lot. That I’m sly.”
“You hear that often? From what I’ve found out, that doesn’t seem to be the case.”
So he had even had her background investigated. Vivian replied calmly.
“I tend to be sickly, so I often get medicine from the hospital. I’m always taking meds.”
She kept rambling on.
“I don’t know exactly what you mean by ‘sly,’ Your Excellency, but I do hear that word often. As in, ‘I went to get medicine’—that kind of meaning.”
The more she talked, the more it felt like she was sinking into a mire.
“Go on.”
His expression remained unreadable, and since she had already started, she had no choice but to try and salvage it. Vivian’s long-winded explanation went on for a while longer.
What had begun confidently grew vague, and her voice gradually shrank the further she went. The governor listened generously to her hollow excuses.
“So, what I mean is that the ‘sly’ I understand and the ‘sly’ you’re referring to may mean slightly different things. Even if that’s the case, I hope you’ll be generous in your understanding—”
“Governor, Your Excellency.”
Vivian’s excuse was cut off by a bureaucrat poking his head out from beyond the partition. Peter Chandalin called to the governor carefully.
The blue eyes that had been staring intently at Vivian finally left her.
Only then was Vivian able to breathe properly. The tightness in her chest, as if something had been blocking it without her noticing, suddenly cleared, and several short breaths escaped her.
The cold eyes that released Vivian turned toward the intruder who had interrupted his pleasant tête-à-tête—Peter Chandalin.
“What is it?”
He had clearly said to speak only once opinions were unified. Outside, Werner and Herald were still leading a heated discussion about the size of the inspection team, so why had Peter come looking for him?
“It’s just that… without Your Excellency present, we don’t seem to be able to reach an agreement.”
Peter bowed deeply, looking apologetic. As if to prove his words, the voices beyond the partition continued to rise.
“Are you out of your mind, Captain Werner? You won’t get anything you want that way!”
“What I want aligns with the path the Empire is taking. Are you saying, Minister Herald, that you dare curse the Empire’s future?”
“That’s what I should be saying. You’re the one cursing the Empire’s future, Captain Werner. Why can’t you see that each and every one of your actions is dimming the Empire’s light?”
“I’m sorry, but even His Majesty the Emperor is well aware of my loyalty to the Trahaput Empire.”
“That’s because it isn’t the kind of loyalty that bears good fruit. A foolish loyalist only gnaws away at the inside.”
“Hah! Won’t you regret what you just said?”
“What is there to regret? Even if telling the truth is a sin, I’ll continue to offer frank counsel to the end.”
At some point, the two men—who had shoved the discussion about the inspection team far aside and were now fixated on tearing into each other—finally stopped their incessantly moving mouths only after the partition was drawn back by Peter Chandalin, acting on the governor’s orders.
Scrape.
The gazes of the officials seated at the conference table wavered all at once.
“Quite the spectacle.”
The governor crossed his legs and took a sip of the tea he hadn’t touched until now. His demeanor was like someone watching a famous play at the theater.
At that single remark, silence settled over the governor’s office. With the constant voices gone, it felt as though even the sound of swallowing could be heard, and Vivian held her breath.
“Well? Go on.”
Setting the teacup down, he broke the silence. There was a trace of laughter in the voice that echoed chillingly through the room, but no one laughed.
“It’s entertaining enough to watch.”
“….”
“I’ve gone to the trouble of occupying the Kingdom of Roseatea, and seeing the state you’re in, I think I understand why terrorism never ceases.”
Given the icy look on his face, it was clear he wasn’t joking.
Vivian stared at him, frozen by a smile utterly different in kind from the one he had shown her earlier.
The gap between his eyes, devoid of mirth, and his curved lips swallowed her gaze.
“With the top brass stationed in the occupied territory in this sorry state, do you think the kingdom’s people would follow you?”
“….”
“Minister Herald.”
The governor, who had been smiling and gently reprimanding everyone, suddenly wiped the expression from his face. With even his smile gone, an even colder atmosphere radiated outward.
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
“You prepared this little event so I wouldn’t be bored, didn’t you?”
“….”
“Captain Werner.”
“Yes, Colonel.”
“You were in on the planning as well?”
“….”
Faced with the pointed questions, neither man could say a word.
“Since you went to the trouble of preparing an event, I should at least give you my review.”
His words, twisted and dripping with irritation, made Vivian bite her lip hard to suppress the ticklish laughter rising in her chest.
When he talks to me like that, I really want to…
She had wanted to hit him, but seeing him treat those who had tormented the kingdom’s people that way made her feel as if a weight she hadn’t even realized was there slid cleanly off her stomach.
“I enjoyed the surprise event. It was quite entertaining. I’d like you to prepare similar events from time to time.”
“….”
“Then I might feel inclined to bestow a gift upon you.”
It was obvious that the “gift” he spoke of would not be the kind of ordinary present people usually imagined when they heard the word.
