Chapter 123
***
“Did you sleep well, Miss lody?”
“……?”
As lody lifted her head, she saw Claude Baldwin sitting across the desk, elegantly sipping on black tea.
Leisurely flipping through a newspaper.
lody was so surprised that she inadvertently pointed a finger at him.
“What exactly are you reading!”
Despite her shocked reaction, he responded with a peaceful smile.
“A gentleman never relinquishes his morning tea and newspaper.”
He tapped the edge of the newspaper with the tips of his long fingers, where today’s date was clearly written.
aning, it was a newspaper published this morning.
“Young master.”
With her hands trembling, lody clenched her fists and confird the most important fact first.
“You didn’t bring that from outside the archive, did you?”
“Why not?”
“Are you out of your mind?!”
Naturally, it was strictly forbidden for an examinee or their associates to leave the designated examination site and bring in items from outside.
If this fact were to be revealed, lody’s examination would be completely ruined. Moreover, with a newspaper as perfect physical evidence, there was no denying it.
‘I need to do sothing, sohow…!’
But just then.
A heavy knocking sound ca from the direction of the entrance.
“……!”
It was undoubtedly the signal for the end of the examination. lody grabbed her head with both hands.
‘I’m dood! Completely dood!’
Perhaps sensing her distress, Claude montarily lifted his head from the newspaper.
“Miss lody.”
His call was calm, and lody could only glare at him furiously.
“Don’t make such a worried face.”
His voice was incredibly calm, even as the knocking continued outside the door of the archive.
“The wrinkles on your brow really do resemble Mrs. Higgins. That face, it’s kind of scary.”
“…….”
If only I could punch that man just once.
lody harbored this impossible wish, but her thoughts were short-lived.
The knocking from outside had beco sowhat more urgent, this ti accompanied by a shout, “Miss Higgins!”
‘What should I do?’
lody pondered for a mont, but in reality, there was no proper answer.
She couldn’t just continue to hold out.
She sighed deeply and slowly approached the door.
The bookshelves around her sparkled in the sunlight, thanks to her diligent cleaning the night before.
‘…Is this the end?’
lody shook her head slowly.
“Sigh.”
After taking a deep breath, she unlocked the door.
Pulling open the heavy door revealed the female officer who had supervised yesterday’s exam, standing there with a knight fully ard from sword to helt behind her.
lody quickly bowed her head, sowhat frightened.
“Miss Higgins.”
“…Yes.”
The officer scanned her tired appearance and nodded.
“You’ve worked hard during the examination. You may now leave.”
lody cautiously looked up at her, worried that it might an “You’ve failed.”
“The examination has completely concluded. The grading will be done slowly after all the examinees have left. The officers will ticulously check all the archives in turn.”
“Then, may I.”
lody cautiously began, her face sowhat relieved.
“Go back in to get my keys and bag? I left them on the desk.”
She intended to remind Claude to make sure he took the newspaper out without getting caught.
“No.”
However, the officer firmly shook her head.
“Excuse ?”
“After this ti, you cannot return to the archive. It’s a rule.”
“But…”
lody trailed off, implying ‘My bag is in there.’
“Don’t worry.”
After saying that, the officer gestured towards the knight.
“Please go in and check. Bring Miss Higgins’s bag and keys, but if you find anything even slightly suspicious, do not touch it and report back to .”
“Suspicious?!”
As lody stumbled over her question regarding that part, the officer reassured her as if to say not to worry.
“It’s just a formal procedure. In reality, it’s unlikely there’s anything suspicious here.”
No, there is sothing.
lody wanted to confess.
Of course, her lips, frozen solid, didn’t move at all.
In the anti, the knight passed by lody’s side and entered the archive.
lody hoped Claude would cleverly hide the newspaper sowhere.
In reality, that was an unrealistic hope.
He was soone who acted confidently anywhere.
Even at the scene of an examination fraud being discovered, he would surely be flipping through today’s newspaper and sipping on black tea.
The sound of the knight’s footsteps walking deeper inside could be heard.
‘…I’m dood.’
lody bit her lip to suppress the desire to scream.
“There are no unusual findings.”
Then, the knight who had quickly searched the inside and returned, gave a surprising answer.
“……?”
lody’s mouth gaped open in surprise, and the knight approached her to hand over her bag.
“Please check if anything is missing. Miss… Higgins.”
“……Yes? Yes!”
lody hurriedly checked the inside of her bag. Despite not having organized it, everything she had brought was there.
“Everything’s here. Nothing’s missing….”
“That’s fortunate.”
The knight said, then handed the keys back to the officer.
“Well.”
The officer gestured for lody to co out quickly.
“You’ve worked hard, Miss lody Higgins. The person from your family may also leave now.”
“Yes.”
“We will contact you with the results of the examination by winter. So, please.”
She paused her words for a mont. Naturally, lody tensed up, waiting for what would co next.
“Make sure you do not get involved in any controversies in the anti.”
“Controversies?”
“Yes. We cannot employ soone involved in trouble to the royal archives, especially to the royal family.”
“Ah.”
Feeling the sincerity in the advice, lody bowed slightly to express her gratitude.
“Thank you for the advice.”
“I just don’t want to miss out on a capable person over trivial matters.”
Finally, the officer gave a faint smile and turned away.
lody watched her leave and then suddenly rembered sothing, quickly running to her side and calling out.
“Excuse .”
“What is it?”
“I, of course, trust the officers. But still.”
The officer stopped walking and nodded, and lody continued cautiously with her hands clasped together.
“I didn’t perform well enough in the exam to deserve being called ‘capable’.”
“Miss Higgins.”
“Yes?”
“Even if you say that, I won’t reveal the passing criteria.”
lody quickly waved her hands in response.
“That’s not what I was hoping for! I just…”
It was because getting a good evaluation despite ‘that’ kind of performance on the exam sohow weighed on her mind.
“I see.”
The officer nodded and then passed by lody again.
However, she paused as if sothing occurred to her.
“By the way, you’ll be leaving through the south gate, won’t you?”
That would naturally be the case, since it was the closest gate from here.
“Then, take care on your way back.”
The officer resud her path, followed closely by the knight who had checked the archive just before.
lody had sothing she wanted to ask the knight, but decided to return to the mansion for now.
‘And as for Young Master Claude… he’ll find his own way out, I guess.’
She hurried towards the south gate, unlike when she entered, it was quiet, allowing her to proceed without waiting.
The person verifying identities checked her belongings briefly and then struck up a friendly conversation.
“Staying till morning ans you took the exam till the last mont.”
“I was lucky.”
“Not at all. It must be your skill. I hope you pass.”
“Thank you. Oh, by the way.”
lody looked around for a mont and then asked him.
“Wasn’t there a falcon statue around here?”
“There was, about a decade ago.”
“…That ans.”
“That ans it’s not there anymore.”
He seed to know about the exam question, laughing as he said, “Of course, it wasn’t there yesterday either.” Likely, those who had failed and were returning yesterday had asked the sa question repeatedly.
‘That ans.’
lody recalled what the officer had said during yesterday’s exam.
“It was a gift from His Majesty the Emperor, a falcon statue made of granite. I believe you all must have seen it.”
“After all, it would be hard to miss such a large statue.”
It seems that was all a trap.
Moreover, several examinees had nodded in agreent with her statent.
They probably thought they had missed it in their hurry to enter.
They must have made up appropriate responses, imagining and describing the falcon statue, writing with a sense of unease.
The reason there were no special remarks when disqualification was announced was probably because they believed the lack of truthfulness in their records had been caught.
‘So, the correct answer to that question was.’
What lody had written, “I did not see it.”
‘I thought the second exam was just to check our ability to write.’
But that wasn’t it. What they wanted to evaluate was only one thing.
Whether a person could stay true to their own eyes and ears, not swayed by what others say.
That must have been it.
Sohow, she found herself smiling. Who would have thought that was the correct answer?
“lody!”
Just then, a lively voice ca from beyond the south gate.
It seed Loretta had co out to et her, accompanied by Mrs. Higgins.
lody bowed her head to thank the staff mber who had given her the answer and then started running towards them with quick steps.
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