Marcus, who had his back to the door, couldn’t even raise his head, so he just bowed and stepped aside. No one could raise their head without the Emperor’s permission.
Ines also moved her body to be polite. However, Carson walked slowly and stood in front of her in just three steps. He tried to hold her face with both hands, but he couldn’t hold it when he saw the small wounds all over her cheeks and grimaced.
“What the hell is going on?”
As he spoke, Carson looked at the clothes that had fallen down her shoulders for treatment. Then he glanced at the doctor standing next to him.
“You go out.”
At his words, Marcus couldn’t even raise his head and stepped back outside. Feeling that he shouldn’t let Marcus see, Ines quickly continued.
“As you can see, it’s just a little wound.”
“A little wound?”
The crowd that had been following the Emperor also quietly left. Soon, only the two of them were left in the treatment room.
Carson looked at Ines’ face and body, then carefully pulled up the clothes hanging on her arms.
“Are you thinking I’m a troublemaker again?”
The voice he heard was so cheerful that he stopped dead in his tracks. Every time he heard the unfamiliar voice, Carson’s heart loudly announced its presence. His golden eyes looked straight at Ines.
“No, I’m thinking you’re a very bold subject who disobeyed the order to come to the palace.”
Ines laughed.
“Now there’s another crime.”
“What crime?”
“Since you surprised the emperor like this and even laughed, I think something like disrespect would be better.”
“Don’t scold me too much. I’m in a really good mood right now.”
“Why?”
“Didn’t you hear about that merit?”
Ines shrugged her shoulders and lifted her head slightly. Carson chuckled at her appearance. Shouldn’t you change moderately to keep up?
“I asked her briefly, and she said that with this level of achievement, I would be more than enough to be a maid.”
“Who?”
“A low-ranking official in charge of finances. Well, I’m not sure yet.”
“Are you worried about that? With the Emperor right in front of you?”
“Is that so?”
Carson eventually closed his eyes tightly and smiled. He reached out and grabbed Ines’ waist as she sat on the chair, and pulled her up into his arms. As if they were one person, the two leaned on each other’s warmth.
“But I want everyone to acknowledge that.”
“...I know.”
Although he hadn’t told Ines yet, her room was already set up within a stone’s throw of his bedroom, not only in Granzaim Castle but also in the Imperial Palace.
Even the Empress couldn’t use the room right next to the Emperor’s bedroom. So naturally, there was no such servant.
However, he held back his words. He didn’t want to let her efforts go to waste.
He found her so cute, moving so busily to come to him, and he didn’t want to break her spirits.
“You know?”
“Yes, you worked hard. For making achievements.”
Of course, Ines’ achievements were greater than he had thought. This incident would also be good for rectifying the order in the palace that had been completely destroyed.
It was all he heard on the way here, but it was definitely a very good idea to use politically. The former Crown Princess’s secretary maid went around the palaces and made holes in the imperial finances. At first, it was just a small piece of jewelry, but the crimes became more and more daring.
There were many maids involved in the incident.
So this incident would also be an opportunity to clean up the remnants of the Empress hiding here and there.
If Ines hadn’t intervened, Casey would have had a hard time avoiding the crime.
“Thanks to you, you’ll feel a lot better about living in someone else’s house, right?”
Ines raised her head slightly and asked. What do you mean? He shook his head, feeling somewhat exhausted by the sparkling green eyes in his arms.
“Let’s go now.”
“Yes.”
He hugged Ines a little tighter, who answered quietly without asking where she was, and let out a deep sigh.
Now, she had finally succeeded in entering his castle. How much longer do I have to wait before you can come into your room, the closest place to me?
“Are you uncomfortable?”
“Yeah.”
“Where?”
She asked in surprise, but Carson buried his face in the nape of her neck and didn’t answer. There was no way of knowing what kind of expression he would make if he said his blood was boiling.
“Where else? Are you really not hurt anywhere else?”
“Except my back hurts a little. That boot. It was really strong. My butt hurts because I threw it on the floor.”
“No way. I can’t massage it.”
“Yes?”
Ines’ face turned red up to her ears.
In fact, she had been out of her mind since a while ago. To be exact, since he had pulled her up and held her in his arms. She had learned for the first time that when she pretended not to care, many unexpected words would come out. She had never imagined that being held by him and smelling his manly body would make her heart flutter so much.
The warmth was familiar, but on the other hand, it was hard to bear.
Carson slowly pulled her away and held her hand. As the two of them stepped outside, the people who had been guarding the door lowered their heads as if it were natural.
It was quite a distance from the guard post to Granzaim Castle, but the two of them began to walk together as if they had made a promise.
The garden at night always had a slightly sad atmosphere.
Ines looked at the face of the man crossing the middle of it for the first time. He still smelled a little unfamiliar.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“The moon... It is.”
Even at this moment, Ines thought that the moonlight suited him perfectly. When he smiled, he was infinitely affectionate, but when he closed his mouth, his cold expression felt just like the moon.
Whenever she looked at such a beautiful face, Ines always wanted to put her hands together in front of him and pray.
When they almost reached Granzaim Castle, Carson stopped for a moment in a place where flowers were in full bloom.
“It’s a zinnia.”
“A zinnia...”
“Do you know that you’ve just made me a poor wife?”
Ines tilted her head to one side and looked up at him at the unknown voice. Then he reached out and brushed back her slightly messy hair.
“But don’t worry, I can be a zinnia too. My husband came back alive without dying.”
Carson smiled playfully and led Ines. Her hesitation, her remaining hesitation, briefly held her feet together, but Ines soon walked with him to the main gate. She was about to become a maid, so she thought it would be okay to show this much flexibility.
***
The very next day, Ines was appointed as the Emperor’s maid.
Casey was also recognized for her achievements and remained in the palace. However, she was not in the Chandera Castle or the position of the closest maid to the royal family. She was assigned to the empty Empress’s castle.
Since the previous Empress had run away, there were many remaining problems.
Casey smiled innocently like a girl who had found her dream, saying that it was a good opportunity to prove her usefulness.
As soon as Ines arrived at Granzaim Castle, she became the Emperor’s secretary maid. It was a very unconventional appointment, but no one objected. It didn’t make sense that the Emperor couldn’t appoint a maid as he pleased.
She was embarrassed by the sudden situation, but since she had declared that she would do whatever Carson wanted if she became his maid, she couldn’t rebel much and was assigned the task.
Time passed quickly after that, and Carson’s coronation was held without a hitch.
Today, Ines was with Carson in his imperial palace office. It was hard to believe that the position of the secretary maid had originally been in the Emperor’s office, but Ines had no particular reason to refuse.
“When on earth do you rest?”
The problem was that she had too much work to do. And the Emperor was looking at Ines with disapproving eyes.
“Are you the only one who looks after the finances in this castle?”
“That’s not true, but the imperial family is in turmoil right now.”
The reason Carson had put Ines in the position of secretary maid was for the future. After all, once she became Empress, all the internal affairs of the imperial family would be left to her. And Count Henrique, the chief chamberlain, was supposed to teach her some of those things.
So there was absolutely nothing wrong with learning about them in advance.
Of course, Count Henrique was reluctant at first.
It was true that he had no expectations of her since the maid who would help him with his work had fallen from the sky by the Emperor’s hand.
However, as Ines, who he had thought was like that, handled the work, Count Henrique began to like her more and more. It wasn’t long before his eyes lit up at Ines’s intelligence.
“Can’t you see that I, the imperial family itself, am confused right now?”
It was a good thing that the number of high-ranking nobles supporting Ines was increasing, but a maid who was busier than the Emperor?
Carson was lying on the desk, resting his chin on his fist, watching Ines move busily. Ines noticed his gaze and pretended not to notice and turned around.
“Aren’t you busy?”
“Busy.”
“Then why are you doing this?”
“It’s so strange.”
“What is it?”
“It’s hard to believe that I’m in the imperial family, and with you walking around in front of me, there’s no way things will get done.”
Ines smiled faintly, but couldn’t take her eyes off the documents. Carson’s brow furrowed at this.
“What are you looking at?”
“This is a big deal.”
“What?”
“The imperial finances.”
“And that’s not all.”
The Keynes Empire currently looked peaceful on the outside. This was because the imperial family was actively implementing relief measures. However, since the economy was not stable, the finances would soon hit rock bottom.
“The problem is the currency.”
“That’s right.”
The money, which the Empress had issued without permission and turned into trash, was continuing to cause problems. Ines was lost in thought.
Carson watched Ines, who was lost in thought. He had deliberately made her seat next to the window where the sun shined the most.
Winter was just around the corner.
Ines shone brightly in the sunlight. Her blond hair always had a way of making people’s hearts flutter. When a dazzlingly pretty woman walked slowly in front of the window, a completely different world unfolded before him.
“Currency is a problem, and I’m a bit like that right now.”
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