Chapter 67

* * *
Translated by Sylph

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net.
* * *

“Hello!”

“…Hmm?”

The post office employee looked around to see who was speaking at the suddenly heard voice.

“I’m over here!”

Then, a small hand popped up from below.

“Sorry. I didn’t see you.”

The employee stood up with a smile. Evi was standing below the reception table.

“Hello, how can I help you?”

“I heard that I can send a package home once a month. But it didn’t say how much I can send, so I came to ask!”

“I see. Just wait a moment.”

The employee turned around and came out with a large paper box from inside. She handed it to Evi.

“You can send anything as long as it fits inside this box. For anything larger than this, you have to get separate permission.”

“Excuse me… by any chance, do I have to pay money to buy this box?”

“No. This is also free.”

At those words, Evi’s face brightened.

“Then can I take this?”

“Of course. Pack it well and bring it back. Then I’ll process it so it can be sent.”

“Yes!”

Evi walked out clutching the box.

Although it was called a small box, for Evi, it was of a size where it was hard to see ahead if she held it in front of her.

In the end, while holding the box up over her head, Evi headed to the professor’s office. Naturally, it was Professor Sian’s office.

Evi, who went up the quiet stairs to Room 408, knocked on the door.

After a moment of silence, Evi said as she opened the door.

“Excuse me!”

Even though she knew there was no one inside, Evi always knocked and greeted. It was the same when she left.

Evi, who went inside, put down the box she had received and walked around the professor’s office.

“He didn’t come today either…”

It was a voice lacking energy, unlike when she greeted at the post office a moment ago.

It had already been two weeks since she went to the seasonal festival events with Professor Sian.

After that, Evi stopped by here every day. However, as Director Seraphina said he had gone on a far business trip, there was no trace of Professor Sian having stopped by here.

However, as if he had ordered various things before leaving, new items were brought in every day.

A fluffy red sofa, large bear and rabbit dolls, and more books.

So Evi knocked with a pounding heart every day before entering.

They weren’t her belongings, but seeing the items increase one by one made her feel happy for some reason.

‘Although Irene couldn’t come with me.’

At first, she thought of coming together, but she remembered that she hadn’t received permission from Professor Sian yet.

So when she hesitated, Irene backed off more easily than expected.

“My older sister said that I try to know too much. I heard that’s not good… well, it’s not urgent, so I’ll meet your guardian slowly.”

Furthermore, because Irene was older than Evi, she had applied for more classes.

Because of that, she had to prepare for the midterm exam more diligently than Evi.

Naturally, the time Evi spent alone became longer.

So this place ended up becoming like a secret space that Evi visited alone.

Evi sat in front of the bookshelf. Since the books hadn’t all been filled yet, the bottom shelf of the bookshelf was empty.

Placing the box she brought in front of it, she took out the things in her bag and put them all in the box.

Evi shook the box she had covered with a lid.

She thought she had put in quite a lot, but a rattling sound was heard, perhaps because there were many empty spaces inside the box.

Once she filled the inside enough so that this sound wouldn’t be heard, she would send this whole box.

Evi smiled, imagining the things that would fill this.

After pushing the rattling box deep into the bottom shelf of the bookshelf, she took out a book from above and covered the front so that the box couldn’t be seen.

Evi, who thought she had perfectly hidden the box, approached the small table this time.

A notepad and a pen were placed there.

“To Professor Sian Roshen…”

Evi moved her small hand and wrote a letter to him.

If she delivered it to Director Seraphina on her way back, she would deliver it to Professor Sian.

* * *

The sound of paper fluttering over and the sound of a pen scratching echoed in the office.

Clois was sitting at his desk, moving his hand busily.

At that time, the sound of knocking was heard, and then the chief butler entered with tea.

“Your Majesty, why don’t you take a break.”

“Where is the time for that.”

Even though he knew it was said out of loyalty, blunt words burst out of his mouth.

He closed the documents he was looking at and then wiped his face with one hand.

“I’m sorry. I think I’ve become a bit irritated.”

“A chief butler receiving an apology from the Emperor. It is an honor.”

The chief butler smiled as if he understood him and quietly set down the tea.

A fragrant scent of tea spread through the room. He picked up the teacup and quietly took a sip.

As the tea, which was at a perfect temperature for drinking, went down his throat, its scent and taste spread slowly through his body.

Clois slowly closed and opened his eyes.

Was it because he had sat and worked all day? His stiff neck and shoulders felt like they were creaking like a broken machine.

Originally, work was not scheduled to pile up like this.

However, two weeks ago, when he returned to his quarters, an urgent contact arrived.

The border area with the Kingdom of Lombard in the south of the Empire.

It was a report that Siren, who was once the close associate of the first prince, had been discovered there.

Siren was the minister who had manipulated the first prince.

Although he was the son of a baronial family, with his good brains and skillful speech, he soon won the first prince’s trust and became his right hand.

He constantly incited the first prince.

Saying that as the eldest son, you are the legitimate successor of this Empire. That he must never lose the throne to Clois.

However, Clois eventually became the Crown Prince.

But as Clois lost interest in the throne and decided to go down to live in the territory where Lilian was, the position of Crown Prince passed to the first prince.

Since it had turned out as Siren wanted, Clois thought he would no longer have business with him.

That was a big mistake.

The first prince became the Crown Prince and became Emperor not long after.

However, he believed his younger brothers would continue to target his position. So, following Siren’s advice, he attacked and killed the second prince.

The remaining princes immediately fled and gathered forces that supported them to face their older brother, the Emperor.

Because otherwise, they themselves would die.

The war of killing each other continued, and the final victor was Clois.

Clois tried to capture those who brought about all these tragedies, but even though everyone was captured, only Siren succeeded in fleeing.

For the next seven years, Clois continued to order the tracking of Siren.

‘I must kill that fellow.’

The Empire has become peaceful, and even if Siren were alive, there is no one foolish enough to join him and plot a rebellion now.

However, Clois had a hunch.

That Siren would surely one day do something that could become a great threat to the Empire again.

So regarding matters concerning him, he used to check and handle them personally no matter what.

So this time too, he had personally been to the border area.

Normally, he would have thought about Siren the whole way. But this time was different.

‘Would the blue color that children like these days have been better for the sofa?’

‘She must have received the hairpins and toys I handed to Seraphina, right?’

Because he left the capital in a hurry, he came without being able to see her face again.

Until he arrived at the border area, he continued to think of Evi.

Without it being worth going all the way to the border area, he failed to capture Siren.

Instead, he found definite testimony that he was alive and traces from the place where he was said to have stayed.

He had found several papers written in the same handwriting as Siren’s past handwriting.

It wasn’t major content. However, one of them caught Clois’s attention.

[Imperial Crest]

Although it is said that only a tiny number of people know it, Siren was also someone who was a close associate of the first prince. He would naturally know of its existence.

However, he could not know why he went to the trouble of writing it several times on paper now.

Clois set down the teacup and grabbed the pen again.

There was much work piled up because he had gone to track Siren.

He must finish this quickly to go and see Evi…

While thinking so.

“Your Majesty!”

Seraphina’s voice was heard from outside. Clois put strength into the hand holding the pen.

“Your Majesty! It’s me!”

Today, he didn’t have time to listen to Seraphina’s whining. So tell her to leave immediately…

“I’ve brought Evi Alden’s letter!”

“Come in.”

Clois, wiping away his previous thoughts completely, welcomed her with a bright smile.