The Former Empress Roughly Hides Her Abilities - Chapter 116

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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【Chapter 116】

‘Does this make any sense?’

The Emperor blinked while standing.

Even though he had confirmed it with his own eyes, he couldn’t believe it, so despite knowing there was nothing in front of him, he felt around the chair. However, he couldn’t even sense a trace of body heat.

“What time did the Princess leave work?”

Upon learning that Rianel had left work at exactly 6 o’clock, the Emperor thought of another possibility.

‘Did she just leave on time?’

There were civil servants who took advantage of the characteristic of positions that were hard to get fired from, leaving work promptly when their time was up.

It wasn’t unreasonable for the Emperor to think this way.

‘I said it was absolutely impossible to finish in one day.’

This schedule had been calculated after putting heads together with his aide.

‘I said it would take a full week of dedication to complete?’

Since his aide was also quite capable, it was even more incomprehensible.

Moreover, Rianel had been given only 3 days as a deadline.

The Emperor had given Rianel a separate office space within the Main Palace, preventing other civil servants from helping with her work.

Rianel should have been working overtime to finish the work within the deadline.

‘Maybe she handled the work carelessly?’

Perhaps she had roughly finished it under time pressure and left.

“Where is the Princess’s seat?”

Determined to hold her accountable if she hadn’t done the work properly, the Emperor headed to Rianel’s seat with the servant’s guidance.

The seat the servant pointed to was neatly organized, with reports related to the event arranged orderly.

‘Let me take a look.’

He picked up a report without any expectations.

“What the…?”

He almost dropped the documents.

Contrary to his expectation that it would be sloppy since it was hastily written under tight time constraints, the result was flawlessly perfect.

The event proposal clearly stated the purpose and expected effects of the event.

The budget allocation details had the expected expenditures and item-by-item unit price comparison tables organized clearly.

Among the documents was even a security maintenance and order management plan to be delivered to the Imperial Knight Order.

‘Does this make any sense?’

The seating arrangement was the same.

The reason nobles were more difficult to deal with than commoners was because they hid their emotions behind culture and etiquette.

Even if they were assigned seats at the same table as their enemies, they wouldn’t openly show their displeasure.

Instead, they expressed their dissatisfaction by badmouthing the person who arranged the seating.

Therefore, the host had to arrange seats considering all these complex relationships.

Since Rianel had never hosted a social event, he naturally thought she would be inexperienced.

But she showed perfection in this area as well.

“Did someone else come by?”

“No. The Princess was alone the entire time.”

The servant was certain, but that made it even more incomprehensible.

The Emperor’s strategy was nothing special.

He didn’t have the ability to help write reports, but he had power instead.

When Rianel was struggling with the workload, he would casually appear and say:

“I didn’t know you were bearing such a heavy burden.”

He would comfort her appropriately, then shift all responsibility to the aide who hadn’t properly distributed the work.

“I will relieve your unfair burden.”

He planned to reveal himself as both a wise monarch who understood his subordinates’ hardships and a savior on a white horse appearing in a moment of crisis.

“…Ha.”

He felt like an idiot on a white horse.

The full story was revealed the next day when Rianel came to work.

“There was a similar event held during the Former Empress’s reign, so I referenced that.”

This wasn’t the first time the Imperial Family had held a charity event.

Having existing cases meant not having to start from scratch, which was less burdensome from a working perspective.

“So the Princess intends to follow the existing event exactly?”

“No. I confirmed the complaints raised during that event and wrote an improvement plan to address them.”

Rianel also submitted a report summarizing the improvements.

While the previous event simply invited a well-known singer as a figurehead, this time they invited someone famous for large donations to create a positive image about giving.

The event venue’s flow was also neatly organized to prevent safety accidents.

“The donations will be fully disclosed transparently, and after the event ends, we plan to publicize how the donations will be used.”

They needed to gain donors’ trust for the next event to be successful as well.

“…”

The Emperor couldn’t say anything.

Even if he wanted to find fault, it was such perfect work that he couldn’t even think of the first syllable of criticism.

‘To be this flawless?’

Then the Emperor noticed a pen outside her field of vision that was about to roll off the edge of the desk.

“The pen-“

Snap.

Before he could finish speaking, a hand shot out and caught the pen.

“???”

It was Rianel.

‘What was that?’

That speed?

It was such precise and fast movement that he wondered if she had learned martial arts.

Then the Emperor noticed Rianel swaying as she lost her center of gravity from leaning sharply to catch the pen.

“Care-“

The Emperor immediately leaned forward.

He was supporting Rianel while not missing the opportunity for natural physical contact.

‘She’s not… falling!’

Rianel, who didn’t want to rely on such a useless, pathetic human, put strength in her toes and somehow regained her balance.

“???”

Rianel sat properly in her seat.

Cleanly, as if nothing had happened.

Only the Emperor stood there dumbfounded, blinking slowly without understanding what had just occurred.

‘What was that just now?’

However, he soon steeled his resolve.

‘There’s no choice.’

If the situation wasn’t favorable, he had no choice but to create one.

The Emperor, deciding to show his emotionally vulnerable side, deliberately pushed out his lips and let his eyebrows droop loosely.

Making an expression good for inducing sympathy, he also let his shoulders sag.

“Last night when I went to bed, I thought it felt terribly lonely.”

Usually when starting like this, people would ask for the reason or at least formally inquire about his well-being.

“If you have such symptoms in midsummer, there’s a high possibility that your temperature regulation function is malfunctioning. I recommend receiving a diagnosis from the Imperial physician.”

Rianel, who was not usual, responded with a blunt answer.

Don’t get close to me, you trash.

A brief contempt crossed Rianel’s face, but the Emperor failed to read the subtle current.

“I suspect this might be a heart ailment.”

The Emperor deliberately lowered his gaze and let out a deep breath.

“Since losing the Empress, I have been living alone all this time. Yesterday, thinking that I no longer had an ally who would take good care of me, I felt alone in the world and couldn’t fall asleep.”

“Gar…”

Even Rianel, who didn’t show emotions over most things, almost let an inner voice slip out at those words.

“To summarize, are you saying that the symptoms that worsened when you were alone led to sleep disorders?”

“That’s right. I’m so anxious that I can’t even close my eyes.”

The Emperor smiled with relief, as if they were finally communicating properly.

“As expected, the Princess understands my feelings too. You must feel the same way since you also lack a partner.”

Rianel cleanly ignored the Emperor’s attempt to forcibly establish common ground.

“I will prepare measures to improve this situation so that the problem can be resolved promptly.”

The Emperor didn’t properly understand the meaning of those words. He was mistaken in thinking the situation was rolling along as he desired.

Then when night came and he visited his bedroom.

His anticipation reached its peak when he discovered a bulky figure crouched in the darkness.

“Princess…?”

He called out to the person with hopeful expectation, then.

“I received orders to deploy personnel to secure His Majesty’s nighttime safety, and have been standing by.”

The Emperor discovered the Team Leader prostrating in full armor.

This crazy.

“No!”

He let out a scream-like shout.

* * *

“What is this commotion about.”

The Empress Dowager appeared at the loud noise. Since it was a time when preparations for an event honoring the mother were underway, it was natural for her to show interest in the untimely disturbance.

“…It’s nothing.”

After sending away both the Team Leader and the Empress Dowager, the Emperor remained alone and disheveled his hair.

‘How can I live with such embarrassment.’

Since he was the one who hadn’t given clear instructions, he couldn’t blame Rianel.

If things went wrong, he had planned to draw the line by saying he never gave such orders and that the Princess had misunderstood.

‘I fell for my own scheme.’

It had been a long time since he felt such absurdity.

Though the situation was resolved, his mental turmoil remained, so the Emperor spent the night with sleepless eyes.

Then after dozing briefly upon seeing the dawn break and waking up.

“…?”

In the distance, he saw Rianel and Duke Novantium heading to work.

The Duke was holding and examining her hand. Though they weren’t even publicly engaged, the two were affectionate.

Since the Emperor couldn’t reveal that he was secretly watching the two people due to his dignity, he could only seethe internally.

He looked down at Rianel’s report again.

Her characteristically neat handwriting and concise sentences caught his eye.

[I’m not sure about that. Don’t all civil servants write in similar handwriting anyway?]

As the Saint said, civil servants are supposed to use somewhat businesslike handwriting for uniformity. It would be foolish to estimate someone’s identity based on handwriting alone.

Moreover, the composition of this report.

‘It’s different from the Empress’s.’

Ensilen was a meticulous and thorough person who would take care of even minor details.

In contrast, this report wasn’t quite like that. Only the key points were concisely organized, making it easy to read.

Nevertheless, the Emperor was watching Rianel.

Because the expression she made while dealing with the Duke was all too familiar.

[Did you really read my research paper?]

The moment when a scholar’s face overlapped with the expression she made when her knowledge was recognized by others.

‘Could it be.’

The Emperor voiced the suspicion that had risen to his throat.

“Empress?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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