Inside the departnt office, there was a separate minister’s room partitioned off with glass walls.
You could see the rest of the departnt through the glass, but for now, only Namia and Kiaros were inside.
And Kiaros thought:
“Is this hell?”
There had never been a ti in his life that was harder than this.
“Again.”
Namia said sweetly, holding a red pen.
“Here, here, and here. These are wrong. And when you write the day of the week, it should be like (Mon), not (Monday). This part should say 14:00, not 2 PM.”
To be fair, Kiaros had already read this docunt.
The problem was, Namia had ordered him to check every single detail—even the most minor deviations from standard docuntation formatting.
“......I don’t think anyone up top is going to look at that closely.”
Kiaros couldn’t help but comnt, and Namia gave a bright little smile.
“Kibon.”
“Yes?”
“Are you the Crown Prince?”
“.......”
“The Crown Prince would look.”
He wouldn’t. He really wouldn’t!
Honestly, even he wouldn’t go that far!
While Kibon was internally writhing over this waste of productivity—
“And this isn’t just a normal situation.”
Namia said quietly.
“Even if it looks like a ss, what if this is so kind of code between them?”
“Them......?”
“The spies who infiltrated our departnt. The ones who attacked the Crown Prince and used Oson to fra Her Majesty the Empress.”
Kiaros furrowed his brows. Namia’s expression darkened.
“They could have inserted codes into official docunts. Things that aren't correct according to standard formatting, but still get signed off from higher up. If it were , I’d definitely use sothing like that to pass information.”
Kiaros’s quill, which had been dragging sluggishly, twitched.
He was always in a position where he reviewed the final versions of docunts.
He’d never actually created them himself. So it had never even occurred to him.
“That’s why everything has to be checked and fixed. Even if it was a code, we shouldn’t let it be used.”
“What if it’s not a code and just wrong?”
“Still has to be done.”
“But this is seriously backbreaking.”
“That’s why I have to do it. I can’t make the other employees do sothing this invisible.”
“Then what about ?”
“You’re my secretary, so obviously you’re doing it with . And by the way, watch your tone?”
“......Yes, ma’am?”
It was becoming clear that Namia had nothing to do with the people behind the scenes.
No spy would go this far.
No, she honestly seems like a civil servant who’s sincerely loyal to the Imperial Family.......
Otherwise, she wouldn’t be doing such thankless, invisible work so thoroughly.
And at the sa ti, she was also handling the core duties a minister had to take care of.
“Hmm......”
Actually, she was handling most of the departnt’s workload.
She even drafted the budget proposal to be sent to the Ministry of Finance herself—at incredible speed.
As Kiaros glanced over one of her docunts, Namia said,
“Make sure to study the basic formatting and writing thods.”
“Excuse ?”
“You’ll have to help with this too, starting next ti.”
“......A secretary does this too?”
“It’s my work, so you assist with it.”
“Should a minister be doing all this herself?”
“Well, no.”
Namia answered calmly.
“There’s no one else in this departnt who knows how to do this stuff.”
“......What?”
“There was no one to teach them how to properly draft official docunts or anything like that.”
“Then......”
Kiaros’s eyes narrowed.
Even so, the docunts Namia was drafting were perfect.
As soone who reviewed a lot of final paperwork, he knew—only the Minister of Finance could produce docunts this precisely and this quickly.
“How do you know all this?”
As far as he knew, Namia had never transferred to another departnt.
Which ant there was no one who could’ve taught her.
“No one could’ve taught you either, right?”
“.......”
“......Ma’am.”
Kiaros studied her face and thought quickly.
If she didn’t answer, he’d have to go ask her again later as Kiaros.
She’s still too thin. I wonder if she’s eating properly... I gave her all those al coupons. I should probably thank her for saving and invite her to use one together or sothing...
Just then—
The bell rang, signaling lunch break. The departnt staff imdiately flooded out of the office like a wave.
Namia stretched and said,
“Go grab lunch.”
Kiaros blinked.
“Then... what about you, Minister?”
Namia jumped slightly, startled.
“Did you just ask how I’m going to eat lunch?”
“Yes.”
“Then that’s no good. In the Imperial language, that kind of question can an sothing awful, like ‘Minister, would you like to eat together?’”
“Pardon?”
Kiaros had no idea what she was talking about.
Completely lost, he asked,
“Even if that’s what it can an, why is that a problem?”
“Are you crazy? Voluntarily eating with your boss? When it’s ti to leave, you just shut your eyes and run.”
Kiaros quietly decided to scrap the idea of inviting her to eat together later.
Namia watched him silently as he sunk into thought.
Then she spoke, slowly.
“......That is how it should go, but since it’s your first day on the job, of course I have to look after you.”
“Hmm?”
“Let’s go.”
Namia stood up with a grin.
And, lifting her chin confidently, she declared:
“We’re going to eat sothing expensive—with your big sis.”
For Kiaros, who was always the wealthiest person at the table and always seated at the head—
It was a sentence he had never heard in his life.
But...
‘......What the heck.’
Thump.
...His heart gave a huge lurch.
***
I was careless.
Even if I was her boss, and even if she found annoying for no reason, it was basically his first day.
Well, not technically his first day.
Still, on his first day, he at least got to go to lunch with the rest of the team when they all left together.
Now, we’d been in the minister’s office, and he’d missed the timing to tag along.
I glanced at Kibon, whose face still looked blank with confusion.
Yeah. He’s already far from ho, and no one wants to eat lunch alone.
I should’ve told the other employees to bring him along before lunch.
But they were all already gone.
In the end, I had no choice but to eat with Kibon.
From his perspective, it would obviously be awkward and annoying, so I figured I’d at least treat him to sothing nice.
I have tons of those al vouchers anyway.
The ones I got from Kiaros were mostly for two people.
It felt wasteful to go alone, and there was no one I wanted to invite, so I’d just been hoarding them.
“Alright, let’s go.”
I picked one that was near the palace and took Kibon with .
When I handed the voucher for the course al to the server, Kibon made a strange face.
As soon as the appetizer ca out, I picked up my spoon and asked the server,
“Sorry, we only have an hour for lunch. Could the food co out quickly, please?”
The server nodded and hurried into the kitchen.
Kibon tilted his head.
“This course al’s pretty long... If you count travel ti, we’ve got about thirty minutes to eat and get back.”
“Exactly. So eat fast.”
Kibon looked even more baffled.
“If we’re just going to wolf it down, why bring at all? Wouldn’t it be better to co after work with soone else?”
“I don’t really have a ‘soone else’ to ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) bring. I don’t have friends.”
“Hmm, well...”
Kibon rolled his eyes and said,
“If you’re not sure who to bring, maybe the person who gave you the voucher...”
Rumor had spread through the palace that I’d rejected Kiaros.
And even if this was just an intern, I really didn’t want to say that the Crown Prince gave it to .
So I shrugged and said,
“Oh, my boss gave this.”
“.......”
“You think I want to eat with my boss after work? That’s just uncomfortable.”
“.......”
Since Kiaros was technically my boss, it wasn’t a lie.
Kibon quietly drank a large gulp of water. Then, suddenly, he said:
“I don’t mind eating with my boss.”
“Oh, okay.”
“You’re not going to ask why?”
“Not really. I figure that thought will change soon enough anyway.”
“.......”
The appetizer arrived.
I quickly started eating and said,
“Well, even if it’s rushed and chaotic, I still wanted to treat you to sothing nice.”
Kibon, holding his spoon mid-air, stared at and asked:
“......Why?”
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