CYSWTF - Chapter 61

Episode 61. Unexpected Library Friend


“What is it? What is that?”

When Her Highness looks so focused, she looks just like a child. I felt complicated.

“Keeping your mouth shut. No older brother feels comfortable losing to his younger sister. So, Your Highness, you should show that you are as humble as possible and that you are not very interested in the competition. The ladies of the Tea Party should also keep their mouths shut.”

“Hmm. I guess so? Got it. You should watch your mouth, too. Even the walls in the palace have ears.” 

Yesterday afternoon, the walls were probably so noisy that they went deaf.

I left Her Highness’s bedroom before my forced smile dried up. And I headed to the imperial library feeling extremely tired.

***

As I was heading to the imperial library, I suddenly discovered that this road led to the imperial library.

My heart suddenly started pounding.

Now that I was a maid of the royal family, entering and exiting the royal library was no problem!

I turned and went there. The officer guarding the door looked at me and made a face, asking who I was.

I nodded at the medal on my chest and said,

“I’m from the Princess’s palace. I’m here to use the library for a while as an errand for Her Highness the Princess.”

Then he looked at my medal again and smiled.

“Are you the new maid? Only the royal family can enter the royal library. Even a maid cannot enter.”

“Really? Do you really think so?”

“I’m really serious, maid.”

“Prince Kydel can!”

Was it because Her Highness Milliora was weak and discriminated against me, or was it because I was an illegitimate child?

I felt a sense of victimization and was about to cry.

However, I couldn’t even say the ‘Ka’ in ‘Prince Kydel’.

I turned back to the imperial library and grumbled.

The biggest reason I decided to enter the palace was because of my dream of becoming a tutor. But the temptation to enter the royal library was strong.

But I misunderstood. Because of that man!

Just how far did Prince Locard Kydel’s secret privileges reach?

For the first time in my life, I felt a burning emotion.

I thought I was angry, but when I thought about it, it was jealousy. Even though I knew that there was nothing more meaningless than being jealous of him.

Besides, it was ungrateful to do that to the person who saved my life.

‘Recover your conscience, Lorisha. That’s not how my mother raised me.’

I steeled myself and headed to the library.

‘Come up with a plan to distribute the newly subjugated Amata’s iron ore most efficiently.’

This was the problem I had to fight for now.

I went to the library and looked through all the books on the iron industry and diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Agael.

The Empire had been in frequent conflict with Agael over the Tunbar Mountains. However, the huge obstacle called Tunbar had always ended in a war of attrition.

But now that the land of the Amata tribe had become the Empire’s, the Empire had new concerns.

‘Where and how should this iron ore be distributed in the Empire?’

‘Should the Empire use all of the production, or should it also be used for trade with foreign countries?’

His Majesty the Emperor had been pondering this issue since his victory in the Battle of Amata, so he might have asked it in the contest.

Like the birthday gift last time, a problem with a high degree of freedom could be adjusted to the extent that it saved Her Highness the Princess’s face, but this problem was not like that.

I couldn’t do too well and provoke Our Highness the Princes, nor could I do too poorly and become a laughing stock.

“It’s difficult, it’s difficult.”

I sighed and pulled out the latest edition of the [Tagar Empire Diplomatic White Paper] from the bookshelf. At that moment, the man’s hand grabbed my hand.

“Uh...!”

I turned my head to him, and he turned his head to me, and our eyes met.

‘Of course, it must be you. Prince Kaydel!’

Prince Kydel smiled, so I thought he would let go. So I tried to pull out the book, but it didn’t budge.

He was still holding on.

I became very sensitive and glared at him. He was still smiling, but the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.

“This is the book I was looking for, Miss Loire.”

“This is the book I took, Prince Kydel.”

I shouted to myself,

“You should go to the royal library!”

I was a mean person after all. And I hated him for making me feel so mean.

Because I am mean.

But then I realized that he was also a fatal person.

He held the book tightly, covering my hand. He waited for me to take my hand away first.

Considering the difference in our physical strength and height, it was an absolutely disadvantageous fight for me, who had my arms stretched out.

I said with a very stiff smile,

“Prince Kydel, my arms hurt?”

“You can put your arms down.”

“Are you going to take the book?”

“Yes. I really need it for the competition.”

“Oh, you’re the same as me. I really need this book for the competition.”

“Then your arms shouldn’t hurt. By the way, I’m really comfortable.”

Hey, you smart bastard! You’d be great if you were tall! You’d conquer the Amata tribe, take down pirates, be strong, and be good at archery!

I screamed inwardly and realized that I had no chance of winning in a fight of physical strength.

I stared into his eyes. He had been focusing on me for a while, so it wasn’t hard to meet his gaze.

His purple eyes sparkled through his slightly flowing bangs as he looked down at me.

I stared at those eyes as if I was possessed, and then stomped on his instep.

“Ugh.”

I pulled out the latest edition of the Tagar Empire Diplomatic White Paper and ran to the reading desk.

If you ask me why I take my life so lightly, I have nothing to say. I don’t know the answer either.

Isn’t it wrong to ask a crazy woman for a rational answer?

I sat down at my desk and slowly realized what I had just done. Then I laughed out loud.

Hehe.

Mom, I just hit the foot of the first lion’s son and the future first lion, bang. I’m talking about your daughter.

Misha had stolen my notebooks and burned them more than once, and what did that book say?

“...”

While I was thinking absentmindedly, he sat down in the seat across from me. He had an elegant smile on his face, as if he owned all the dignity in the world.

However, I couldn’t possibly say something like, “Is your foot okay?” or apologize for my momentary madness.

I thought I was pretty shameless, but it seemed I wasn’t that shameless.

They say a true friend is someone who helps you realize your limits, and if that’s the case, then Prince Locard Kydel was my best friend.

“Lorisha, come to your senses.”

Looking at the pile of books he had brought, I saw that they were the ones I had planned to read later.

Prince Kydel smiled and reached out to my pile of books, taking a book on diplomatic history.

“Just read them together. We’re studying the same thing anyway.”

“...”

How could I possibly refute him?

I kept my mouth shut and pretended not to know.

If I wanted to cover up the atrocity I had just committed, it would have been better to read this book quickly and hand it over to Prince Kydel.

However, no matter what I did, I couldn’t concentrate on the book. It was because of my lack of shamelessness.

I raised my head slightly and saw his face, slightly bent down to read the book.

He looked like he was reading a book of poetry. His sharp eyes and his neat chin and neck caught my eye.

I wondered.

That man was a fierce man who commanded ships crossing the high seas.

Who on earth was putting on a play?

Or is it that a true nobleman has such a variety of faces?

At that moment, I understood the true nature of my jealousy.

It was admiration.

When I realized that I wanted to be like him, my emotions surprisingly subsided. It was a little depressing.

Unfortunately, I had the eyes to recognize his virtues and charms, but what good would it do if I learned them by imitating him?

The virtues that a tutor needs are not diverse competences, but skills. Miss Julia was living proof of this.

Of course, this is all about when I survive and leave this palace.

'Still, he's a bad person.'

I concluded that momentarily, I slightly hated the man who had brought out so many thoughts and emotions in me.

I tore off a page of my notebook, wrote something, and handed it to him.

"I'm sorry for stepping on your foot. I won't do it again, Prince Kydel."

Then he started writing something underneath. I stared at it, shut my mouth, and snatched the page away.

"You confess to that."

Then that's right!

When I glared at him, he smiled. But his shoulders were shaking silently with laughter.

When I saw that, my negative emotions melted away like snow.

'What a strange person.'

From then on, I was able to concentrate on the 'Tagar Empire Diplomatic White Paper'.

When I finished looking at it and pushed it in front of him, he also returned the diplomatic history book to my pile.

Smiling brightly.

I took the material on the history of the commercial development of the empire that I had not found in his pile and opened it.

We studied until almost midnight. There was not a single word of conversation.

When I stretched my eyes and felt dizzy, he closed the book.

“Should we stop for today?”

It was funny. As if we were studying together.

However, I had no reason to lose my temper, so I greeted him neatly.

“Then, you too, young master, have a good day.”

But he followed me to the stairs to the library garden.

Was he seeing me off?

I was a little flustered, thinking that there was no need for this.

Sometimes he is more vicious than a pirate who catches pirates, and other times he is such a gentleman.

I was about to tell him not to follow me any further, but he stopped and smiled brightly.

“And Miss Loire.”

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