CH 3

Translated by Lara

Edited by Lara

“Ouch.”

She flinched with surprise.

She was surprised enough to forget her tingly butt for a moment.

The dresses she wore to work were comfortable and practical. If she had attended the banquet, she would have worn whalebone corset underwear and inflated her skirt tremendously, but now she was at work.

Therefore, she was wearing a simple dress that wouldn’t become a hindrance even if she sat at her desk all day to work or bother her steps when in a hurry.

His hand was about to brush under the wrinkled waist.

The folds of her clothes were gently rustling, and she could feel the sense that he didn’t touch beyond.

The thick fingers showed off their masculine charm.

The wrists and elbows, where delicate muscles were hidden, were elongated as if they were stretched by holding a standard human figure. The most popular game character in the real world wasn’t as perfect as Clyde.

A faint sensation gradually grew more prominent.

He broke through her poor skirt and conveyed his presence. She felt as if Clyde was touching her through the flailing hem without being rude enough to grab her hips.

She could feel a faint warmth.

It was such a brief moment that his body temperature couldn’t actually be transmitted, but her scorching buttocks felt like a sensation of heat from him.

Their gazes intertwined in the air.

As if she had pressed the pause button on a video, neither he nor she moved.

Edith couldn’t look away as if forced to stare at his features.

She would die of awkwardness and at a loss for a touch that came under her waist, but she just stayed still.

There was only silence in the space between the two of them, allowing them to breathe in and out three or four times.

“Ah…. Excuse me.”

The silky smooth voice made it less realistic.

Clyde’s masculinity, which was praised and admired by all characters except for the main bottom, wasn’t just the appearance.

The soft yet dignified tone stimulated her hearing.

“Ah–”

She vehemently followed only the exclamation.

Edith was an honest person inside who saw appearance before personality when looking at the opposite gender, so she couldn’t speak with her eyes fixed on his face.

The man’s hand glided along the creases of her skirt.

The curves of his wrists were so graceful as he swayed flexibly. It was as natural as trying to soothe her by simply reaching out his hand rather than trying to touch her sore buttocks. It was a moment where Edith, who had stood still, looked rather absurd.

But they knew even if they didn’t show it.

The strange airflow lingered for a while.

Clyde openly covered his mouth with his fist and looked away whilst she straightened her posture and wiped the hem of her skirt.

“I’ve never seen you before.”

On the day she was commissioned three days ago, he greeted several people at once, but he didn’t seem to remember.

“I was appointed as a clerk the day before yesterday. Greetings to His Highness, Edith Ketzmorris from the Green Horns Estate, the third daughter of Duke Paddleton.”

When she revealed her full name, including the family and estate, his eyes widened as if he knew something.

“If it’s the Green Horns territory–”

Clyde’s expression was similar to what she occasionally saw from others.

People reacted in various ways to the ruined duke family, while some showed pity or tried to avoid it, others only showed signs of surprise.

The Green Horn Ketzmorris family had not even appeared at imperial events for a while. They had sold all their valuable things and couldn’t save the basics from attending the banquet.

Except for casual clothes, only the moldy dress that her grandmother used to wear remained, and her accessories were only counterfeit.

The bigger problem than just a few hours showing off at an outside event was that there was no way for the Ketzmorris family to reciprocate as much as they enjoyed the banquet.

After being treated well at the banquet, they had to send gifts or prepare dinner for themselves as a token of appreciation, but Edith’s family, who was broke, couldn’t do that.

There were many rumors that the Ketzmorris family had gone bankrupt in social circles.

As if it were a reflection of a past movie, the mansion, nestled on a hill where the great aristocracy was concentrated, had overgrown gardens with weeds and rusted iron gates. Some said the estate was still in scrapped condition, while others said it was sold to someone else.

With almost all the employees gone, the Duke was in the gambling house practically every day, and his daughter, Edith, was at the Academy, the bad rumors were circulating.

Nevertheless, Clyde didn’t bring up the rumors and treated her simply as the new clerk.

“I didn’t know you came in as my person. It’s been so long that I forgot your face.”

“It’s been a while since I’ve been to the Imperial Palace, so my memories are hazy. Everything seems unfamiliar.”

“Then you also don’t remember me, don’t you?”

“I’m afraid so.”

The left and right brains seemed to work separately in the possessed body.

What she learned and logical thinking were like Edith from the original story. Even simple events from the past were fully remembered. On the other hand, emotions were initialized and she had to redefine liked or disliked people, and there were no memories that contained emotions.

Therefore, there were two possible cases of having memories with Clyde, but nothing came to mind.

She couldn’t remember it because it had gone too far, or it was a memory with a special feeling.

“It’s unfortunate that I didn’t know you. We’ll have more opportunities to meet in the future.”

She pointed out a situation that could lead to misunderstanding and explained it.

“I’m just working here temporarily.”

“What do you mean temporary?”

“I originally applied to the Ministry of Government Affairs, but the personnel manager made a mistake in assigning me to the wrong department. It was said that I would be back in place soon.”

Clyde tilted his head when he was told that she wasn’t the Crown Prince Palace’s official servant.

“Really?”

The atmosphere was unusual. She wondered if he was in a bad mood.

It could be taken as a sign that she didn’t want to be in the Crown Prince’s palace. So she spoke carefully in her way, but it didn’t seem very effective.

The imperial family in the reigning position tends to have a habit of being reluctant to give out what is in their hands, so she thought Clyde would have a similar mentality.

She recalled the novel’s contents she had read, but she couldn’t find any reference to the fact that no one had escaped when they were arrested, so it wasn’t helpful.

As Edith endured the pain of her still throbbing hips while keeping the courtesy for the lord, Clyde gazed at her neatly arranged platinum blonde head.

She didn’t want to make eye contact.

She kept her gaze down and waited for the disposal.

The time was long and she was nervous, so she swallowed her dryness.

The Crown Prince’s office was spacious enough to resemble a large drawing room. On the front, there was a huge gold-plated desk and a fluffy chair, a sofa and a low table on the left, a tea table set by the window, and books and documents surrounding the wall.

Striding back with a great step, Clyde crossed the carpet of lion patterns symbolizing the imperial family.

He sat on the edge of his desk and folded his arms.

An ominous feeling flashed through Edith’s mind.

“Then, will you help me until you are reassigned?”

When her superior asked for help, it was the same as saying that she must obey their orders.

“I’ll do my best.”

“I need to prepare for a meeting, but I haven’t been able to figure out all the documents piled up here. I mean, there’s a lot of work. So please let me know a little bit, summarize it, and report them verbally.”

His tilted head pointed towards the desk.

Edith’s eyes widened instantly while following the direction of his head.

The papers piled up on the desk’s corner were almost as high as a tower.

Did she suppose to read and organize so many things right away? Surely he didn’t mean it, right?

Then, in a word, screw it.

She didn’t know what kind of remorse he had for her, so he put a servant, who has no memory of meeting him and barely knows his name, through this ordeal.

The fact that she didn’t want to work in the Crown Prince’s palace, though he was busy in the office, seemed to have twisted Clyde’s stomach.

“Hurry.”

The corners of his mouth that curved while urging her were ironically cool, but on the other hand, she didn’t feel good.

Reluctantly, with cold sweat on her back, she approached the edge of the desk.

If he told her to roll, she should roll.

The clerk, the lowest of all the servants, couldn’t defy His Highness the Crown Prince’s orders.

Fortunately, Edith was born with a clever brain.

Having a brilliant mind was a big advantage. Thanks to this, she was able to grasp the contents to some extent not long after she opened the document, and as she passed the second volume, I was able to look through it quickly.

However, something strange happened when she turned over the third report.

It was a plain paper with no features, and as soon as it was turned over, an unusual light was emitted as if a fluorescent substance had been applied.

The text that shouldn’t have been written in small letters was visible, and the readable Hangul was prominently displayed.

[Clyde always had Edith, his closest aide, by his side. She rose from difficult family background and showed excellent abilities and skills at the Crown Prince’s Palace.]

“Ah, this is–”

She had never seen a note like this after living for four years here.

Clyde, who was next to her, looked sideways at the report as she gasped in surprise. Judging from his puzzled look, it seemed to be a phenomenon that only Edith could see.

“What’s the matter?”

The hangul disappeared in an instant.

“N-nothing.”

This was a part of the novel, a completely unimportant part of the novel that she even skimmed through as a passage. But if it happened to be in Edith’s sight, it would mean that there was a special implication.

No way…. Did it mean don’t mess around and follow what was written here?

Or did it mean that no matter how hard she tried, she was destined to become the Crown Prince’s close aide?

She was confused, not knowing which way the future would flow.

She wondered if it would be possible for her to do anything with her own will.

No, there was no need to jump to conclusions based on just one paragraph.

She shook her head at a loss.

Meanwhile, Clyde stood with his arms folded and watched her. As Edith concentrated on her paperwork, she was horribly startled, then she mumbled as if filled with amusement.

Sometimes she made secret contemplations, and She sometimes nudged her eyes like a demon with her pointed tail.

Before long, the chief attendant appeared and told Clyde, “Your Highness, it’s time for your meeting.”

“Let everyone wait a minute, I’ll be right there.”

If he was just grumpy, it was too much.

Why on earth was he doing this?

He waited for Edith to read all the papers, making the high-ranking aristocrats and ministerial figures, who were crowded in the conference room next to the office, waiting.