The Former Empress Roughly Hides Her Abilities - Chapter 39

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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 39】

 

Rianel entered the Bureau Director’s office and took a seat.

 

“It probably doesn’t mean much, but… please accept this for now.”

 

Asil handed over the handover documents, saying the former team leader had left them behind.

 

Handover documents refer to documents that a predecessor leaves for their successor.

 

These are documents left to facilitate smooth handovers by organizing necessary work materials and progress status.

 

‘Really meaningless indeed.’

 

Most of the content was already known to Rianel, and even that only met the minimum formal requirements.

 

An ordinary person would have fled, saying it was impossible to grasp the practical work with this, but Rianel understood the Special Tax Bureau’s operations better than Torban himself.

 

Receiving somewhat shoddy handover documents wouldn’t cause any disruption to the work.

 

‘There will be fourth quarter performance deadlines soon, and there will be internal audits as the year-end approaches. Plus we’ll need to organize next year’s budget proposal.’

 

“Since this bureau operates on a small scale, even as team leader you won’t be able to completely step away from practical work. However, now that you’re in a management position, I hope you’ll focus more on encouraging team members and coordinating work. And…”

 

The handover documents were predictable, but Asil’s words were even more formal than that. So Rianel just gave a perfunctory “Yes” response.

 

“Well, now that you’ve become team leader, we’ll see each other often.”

 

“Yes, please take care of me.”

 

Since she couldn’t refuse anyway, Rianel left a standard greeting.

 

And just as she was about to leave through the door.

 

“Previously.”

 

Asil’s words caught her ankle like a trap.

 

“I asked what kind of relationship you had with Master, didn’t I?”

 

“….”

 

“You didn’t answer then.”

 

Rianel wanted to immediately open the Bureau Director’s office door and leave.

 

The reason she didn’t scream or jump out the window was because a thread of reason was holding onto her judgment.

 

Rianel slowly turned her head.

 

Asil was resting both elbows on his desk with his chin propped on them, staring at Rianel.

 

“I think it’s about time I heard an answer.”

 

That faint smile felt strangely unfamiliar today.

 

Dry saliva went down on its own, and cold sweat formed on her palms.

 

There was no physical threat at all. They were just making eye contact, yet she wanted to turn her head away.

 

‘That’s probably because that persistent gaze is demanding some kind of ‘answer.”

 

“….”

 

Running away was indeed the move of an amateur.

 

But she couldn’t completely deny the suspicion either.

 

“We know each other… well.”

 

Rianel chose the middle ground.

 

“You won’t tell me how you came to be acquainted with Master, will you?”

 

“Yes.”

 

As Asil’s expression became displeased, Rianel hastily added,

 

“There are circumstances that justify—”

 

“That’s enough.”

 

Asil waved his hand dismissively.

 

“If you can’t speak of it, there must be a good reason.”

 

“….”

 

“You may go now.”

 

Rianel quietly bowed her head and left the Bureau Director’s office.

 

When the sound of the door closing subsided and even the footsteps heard in the corridor completely disappeared.

 

“Lying is.”

 

Asil chuckled softly while looking at the door.

 

His master had appeared in an unexpected form, but once he noticed, it didn’t take long to reach certainty.

 

Rianel and his master were similar in many ways, but.

 

‘You still can’t lie.’

 

This was the decisive part.

 

The touch that had stroked his head a few days ago was identical to when Master comforted him.

 

It was the same just now.

 

The moment he saw her struggling without even being able to meet his eyes, he almost burst out laughing.

 

A predator becomes relaxed when its belly is full.

 

Having obtained what he wanted, Asil became leisurely.

 

He placed his clasped hands on the crown of his head and leaned back against the chair.

 

Light slanted and brushed across his profile.

 

Now that he knew the answer.

 

“Should I let you escape?”

 

What should he do?

 

* * *

 

The next day.

 

Rianel didn’t come to work.

 

‘Because it’s a holiday.’

 

Thanks to this, she escaped from the attacks of the disciple who had audaciously tried to test his master, and had time to sort out her emotions.

 

So Rianel headed somewhere other than the government building.

 

“For these reasons, I came to visit you while you’re ill.”

 

“Oh, um… is that so?”

 

Torban greeted Rianel with a strange expression.

 

Seeing Rianel explain her reason for visiting without any flowery language, saying ‘it’s a holiday and I was bored, and I didn’t want to stay home, so I came,’ he couldn’t manage his expression.

 

“Well, I’m grateful anyway. But what’s that in your hand?”

 

“It’s soup.”

 

“For me to eat?”

 

“It does contain chicken, but I tore it into small pieces so a patient could swallow it, and I used minimal seasoning. I also made it as thin as possible for easy swallowing.”

 

“So it’s patient food?”

 

“? Isn’t this a sick visit?”

 

Torban, who had somehow become an unfilial son coveting patient food, closed his mouth with a complicated expression.

 

“Well, that leaves me speechless.”

 

Rianel requested a bowl to serve the soup, and Torban told her where the household items were located.

 

“Can you sit up?”

 

“Mmm…”

 

While Rianel ladled the soup and placed it on a tray with a spoon, Torban carefully helped his mother, who had been lying in bed, sit up and placed a pillow behind her lower back.

 

“Please try to eat a little, Mother.”

 

Rianel quietly watched from beside Torban as he spooned soup and brought it to his mother’s lips.

 

The skin of the woman, now well past fifty, was pale and her cheeks were sunken.

 

Fine wrinkles carved by time covered her face everywhere, but her features were still recognizable.

 

She definitely resembled Torban.

 

“Mm…”

 

“Can you really manage to eat?”

 

Torban hadn’t expected much, but when his mother swallowed the soup, his eyes widened with surprise and joy.

 

“Eat more. You need to fill your stomach at times like this.”

 

‘Late-stage brain tumor, they said.’

 

The information didn’t seem wrong, as she could see partial paralysis in the facial muscles.

 

Still, he retained enough cognitive ability to distinguish between strangers and his son, and his swallowing reflex was also clear.

 

He wasn’t in such a precarious state that the flame of life would be extinguished immediately.

 

“Mother… mother finished all the soup…”

 

Torban’s voice trembled thinly, dampened with moisture.

 

“Thank you so much, rookie. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen something like this…”

 

“It’s nothing.”

 

Since the patient wanted to rest after finishing the meal, Torban and Rianel came out of the hospital room.

 

“Actually, I didn’t expect you to come visit.”

 

“Is that so?”

 

“You’re the first person from our department to come visit.”

 

“Oh.”

 

Rianel was a little surprised.

 

‘I thought Wilbrin would come, even if no one else did.’

 

“It’s all karma.”

 

Torban looked down at the floor and smiled sadly.

 

“Still, considering the sins I’ve committed, isn’t this more treatment than I deserve? Especially from you, rookie.”

 

“You mean the chicken soup?”

 

“No, not that.”

 

In frustration, Torban momentarily showed irritation.

 

“Here. This is the medical center your family supports. Didn’t you pull strings to get me a medical fee reduction?”

 

“I never did such a thing.”

 

“You didn’t?”

 

Torban’s eyebrows twitched.

 

“Our main family selects medical fee reduction support recipients by income bracket. Team Leader, you were selected purely because your income was low enough to meet the criteria.”

 

“…Right, I’m poor. You brat.”

 

Torban glared at Rianel, then soon burst into laughter.

 

Even when she spoke like that, he didn’t find Rianel hateful because he knew she spoke without malice.

 

“Still, thank you for coming. Really.”

 

Whatever the case, comfort was comfort.

 

“Since you’re already here, wait until my son comes. He said he’s buying bread.”

 

“The patient won’t be able to eat bread though.”

 

“Not for mother, for me to eat. He’s worried his dad might starve to death, so he’s buying it.”

 

* * *

 

Rianel wasn’t impoverished enough to need free bread from the lower income class.

 

So naturally, she declined the offer.

 

As Rianel was leaving the medical center with her bag, she encountered Duke Vincenheim at the end of the corridor and stopped walking.

 

“Did you do it?”

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“I mean Torban Jansen’s medical fee support.”

 

“The medical center seems to have done its job. I know nothing about it.”

 

The Duke reacted with surprising composure.

 

Rianel studied his face for a moment and tilted her head.

 

If someone had intervened in Torban’s situation, she naturally thought this man might have pulled strings, so she asked.

 

‘Is it really not him?’

 

Just as Rianel was tilting her head in confusion.

 

“Sister! Sister, wait a moment!”

 

A boy carrying a basket came running hurriedly, failed to see the ledge at his feet, tripped and collided with Rianel.

 

In an instant, both of them tumbled to the floor.

 

“Sister, are you alri-”

 

Before the boy could finish speaking, the Duke approached and roughly grabbed the boy’s arm.

 

He let out an enraged shout.

 

“Without our family’s support, your grandmother wouldn’t even have been able to lie in a hospital bed! And yet you repay kindness with harm!”

 

Rianel stood up, dusting herself off, and said.

 

“You just said you didn’t help earlier.”

 

“….”

 

The Duke quietly released the boy’s arm.

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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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