Chapter 118
***
lody raised her head and stared intently at the officials, wondering if she had heard wrong.
It seed she wasn’t the only one doubting her ears.
“Wait a mont.”
After a brief silence, the annoying man sitting next to lody raised his hand to ask a question.
“Are you saying those whose nas were not called are the ones who failed?”
The official pointed to the door again, aning they should leave. The conference room began to stir slightly.
“But we’ve just submitted our answer sheets!”
When soone protested like this, similar outcries started from all around.
“Did you really grade them properly?”
“Please tell us the criteria for passing or failing. We can’t understand this!”
And when the word ‘criteria’ ca up, many eyes turned towards lody.
It seed everyone rembered that her answer sheet had noticeably fewer answers.
As the protests dragged on, the official reluctantly began to speak calmly.
“The grading criteria is…”
The room quieted down at his slow response.
“It’s confidential.”
…Of course, it quickly beca noisy again.
Despite the protests, the officials did not blink an eye.
Only soone in the corner recording the situation seed to be having a hard ti.
Realizing that arguing wouldn’t change the situation, so of those whose nas hadn’t been called started to leave the conference room with heavy steps.
“You, were you Higgins?”
However, the man sitting next to lody stayed until the end, glaring at her with displeasure.
“And what about it?”
“Higgins… Higgins, right. I knew I’d heard it sowhere before, that’s it?”
The man spoke loudly on purpose.
“The household loyal to the Duke of Baldwin.”
He smirked.
“Having the favor of the Baldwin Duke, who is even respected by the Emperor, must make for a comfortable life.”
That was sowhat…
It seed to imply that lody’s passing was sohow unjust. At least, that’s how it must have sounded to the other candidates still present in the room, given his heavily sarcastic tone.
Finally, seeming satisfied, he stood up.
“The Baldwin Ducal family must be sothing special. Lucky you, truly. A precious lady who’s never known hardship.”
With these last words, he left the examination room. Now, only those who had passed the written exam remained.
lody sighed softly and sat down.
Her heart seed to pound, prompting her to fiddle with the watch. Looking at its steadily moving hands brought back a sense of calm.
However, the suspicious glances from the others remained.
‘That must have been his aim.’
The man’s intention was to suggest that lody had passed the exam through the power of the Ducal family.
‘The Duke would never stoop to such dishonor.’
Moreover, the officials would not bend to any power. After all, they are individuals not even the emperor’s influence can reach.
A little thought would reveal how absurd such an accusation is. It seems everyone is too focused on the exam to co to that conclusion.
‘It’s okay. I can… prove it.’
That she didn’t remain in this place by the Duke’s power.
Only then did she confidently raise her head. Just in ti, an official announced the start of the second exam.
Despite the pain in her hands and head from the first exam, lody felt it was for the best.
Filled with a determination not to lose, she felt she could easily tackle any question.
“Then.”
The officials distributed several blank sheets of paper in front of the candidates.
“During this ti, as officers of this land, you will fill these papers with sentences.”
Everyone nodded.
“Your answers will remain as legitimate ‘records’. So, please put your heart into writing them.”
The idea that her writing would remain as a legitimate record thrilled lody.
Even if she were to fail today’s exam, this record could later beco part of the magic of sealing perford by the Tower Master.
“Today, all of you ca through the south gate of the imperial palace. I understand the process was lengthy and took quite so ti.”
lody briefly recalled the south gate she had passed through that morning, though she couldn’t rember everything.
“There is a statue in front of the south gate.”
Was there? Given the grandeur and opulence of the place, having a statue there wouldn’t be surprising…
“It was a gift from His Majesty the Emperor, a falcon statue made of granite. I believe you all must have seen it,” she said, prompting several people to nod slowly in agreent.
“Good. After all, it would be hard to miss such a large statue.”
The official, looking relieved, now announced the task.
“Write anything, ‘about the falcon statue in front of the south gate.’ Just describe what you saw. You have one hour.”
The candidates imdiately picked up their pens. However, lody, once again, found herself unable to focus on the test right away.
She had intended to perform well on the second test for the Duke’s honor.
Describe the falcon statue made of granite as seen?
‘I didn’t see such a thing!’
lody briefly banged her head on the desk.
No other thought ca to her mind except that she was dood.
***
There were two good things about the second test.
First, since she had nothing to write and only penned down, ‘I did not find the falcon statue made of granite,’ her hand, which had been sore from the written exam, had ti to recover.
Second, since they were asked to fold their answer sheets before submitting, her empty sheet was not exposed to other candidates.
…Well, even so, the officials would see her scant answer sheet, so failing was inevitable.
The officials who collected the answer sheets left with a promise to ‘return soon.’
It seed this ti they intended to read the answers properly before deciding who passes and fails.
In the anti, the royal maids brought in so snacks, but lody wasn’t much in the mood to eat.
‘Still…’
If she starved now, by the ti she returned to the mansion, the mix of gloom and hunger could lead to an even more miserable state.
Knowing how profound the sadness hunger can create, lody decided to eat sothing.
Fortunately, the food, accompanied by warm tea, was delicious and not too heavy on the stomach.
After eating enough to feel sowhat satisfied, her mood improved a bit.
Indeed, one should never go hungry.
Having efficiently consud even the after-al fruits, the officials returned.
They called out several nas again, but lody’s was not among them.
It was a bitter outco, but she had to accept it.
The honest ‘I didn’t see it’ was unlikely to have impressed the officials.
“Then.”
The official pointed towards the door again.
lody gripped the bag she had prepared in advance.
“Those whose nas have been called may now return ho.”
…What?
lody was once again bewildered and stared intently at the official.
The ones sitting are the ones staying?
“Yes, those whose nas have been called may now return ho.”
As if answering the question in her heart, the official repeated the sa statent.
lody wondered if there would be any backlash from the people this ti.
But strangely, they left the conference room without any complaints.
There were those who sighed, but no one asked for the reason they failed, as if they had anticipated this outco.
Once they all had exited, the conference room that had been filled with candidates beca quite empty.
Only eight candidates, including lody, remained.
She glanced around a bit and then cautiously raised her hand, wondering if there had been so mistake.
“Excuse .”
The official nodded lightly, permitting her to speak.
“I was wondering if I could know the criteria for passing.”
She couldn’t bring herself to say, ‘I only wrote one sentence, though.’ Embarrassnt prevented her from voicing that thought.
The official nodded and answered,
“The criteria for grading are…”
As she listened to his slow speech, an uneasy feeling crept in.
“It’s a secret.”
…Just as she thought he would respond.
When lody looked a bit dismayed, the door to the conference room opened.
The maids who had prepared the food earlier entered and stood behind each candidate.
“Let
explain the final exam. You will each be guided to different archives. Of course.”
The official emphasized his next words powerfully, his eyes sparkling.
“It’s the actual royal archives where the imperial records are stored.”
The atmosphere imdiately froze with tension.
The storage archives are divided according to the importance of the materials, and even the lower-grade archives are not accessible to just anyone, since they belong to the royal family.
“What you are required to do is to ‘maintain the archives in their proper condition’ until tomorrow morning.”
“By ‘proper condition’ you an…?”
Soone raised their hand to ask.
“Exactly as it sounds. All materials should be correctly and neatly organized.”
Naturally, an archive should already be in such a state, one would think.
lody thought that perhaps the third exam might be simpler than expected.
After all, she had experience organizing the disordered archives of the Baldwin estate on her own.
Of course, the culprit who had ssed up those archives was Claude himself.
The extent of his rummaging while searching for sothing had made lody sweat profusely as she organized.
‘But this is the royal archives. There surely won’t be anyone so undignified as to rummage through records.’
She didn’t want to feel grateful to the annoying Claude, but regardless, the experience had definitely boosted her confidence.
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