Don’t Concern Yourself With That Book

Chapter 51

‘Well, I don’t know that.’

In fact, it would be quite funny if he already knew that I had no idea why I was sent here. The Crown Prince sent me here to be a spy and the boss of this place knew that I was working as a spy here. It felt as if I had become the main character of the truman show.

“This is not it. I’m taking her.”

“… Penne, get him out of here.”

“Oh, Aediles, is there anything here you cannot do without this child? We’re just asking you to give her one day off, you know?”

“I agree.”

Soricks raised his hand sharply as his deputy-in-chief gently encouraged him.

“Why on earth do you all care so much about the well-being of an errand girl? When did you all start babysitting?”

“That’s, uhm.”

Soricks turned his head for a moment. His eyes met with mine before letting out a soft smile.

“I’m just, getting attached?”

“RIght. Aediles, people don’t actively seek out reasons why they gravitate towards another. Because I’m also not sure why I’m following the Aediles.”

“Huh?”

“Sir Granius, I had no intentions of being as arrogant as Penne!”

Why were they so passionate about my leave? I did not understand them but it did not feel bad so I watched everything unfold silently. Granius rarely allowed leaves and looked at his men as if they were pathetic beings before asking me.

“Youngest, do you want to leave?”

The manager would always ask, ‘Is there anything you’re uncomfortable with, Mr Kim?’ And this is exactly what it felt like.

‘The thing about superiors is that the answer had been all predetermined.’

Either way, I had no right to decide whether I wanted to follow Soricks or stay in Granius’ office. Was it not most useless to ask me if I was the lowest in rank here?

Raising my head, I looked at Granius. Whatever the meaning behind his words were, the best thing to do was to be a well-informed subordinate.

“Well, I don’t know. If you ask me, I’m not sure. I have to help out here anyway, right?”

“This place is not the only one that needs help.”

“So is Sir Soricks asking me to follow you to help you?”

I tilted my head. Was this the answer he wanted? He might have been smiling behind the desk but his brown eyes were calm. Granius replied with a smile.

“I asked what you wanted.”

“I don’t know why you’re asking for the opinion of a lowly servant.”

“Your lowliness is of irrelevance the moment I asked you the question.”

In front of the sunlit window, the Aedile looked more like an upright tree rather than a human. I slowly removed my eyes from him. My eyes were stinging from staring at direct sunlight for too long just like the stinging in my heart.

“Isn’t the place that Sir Granius speaks of something I have to work in anyways?”

“So if I were to unfairly ask you to do something right now, would you do it?”

“Uh, I learnt that subordinates have no right to judge their superior’s orders.”

His voice boomed as if he was scolding a student who kept giving ambiguous answers. Then he asked again.

“You talk as if you have not met another person since the day you were born.’

I did not receive proper education because I had been rushed here. After four months living like this, I somehow just went along with it.

“Is it not tiring?”

“… It’s not.”

Even if it was hard and exhausting at times, it was still better than dying.

“Do you not have anything you want?”

This was like an extension of the conversation from two days ago.

I did not know why he kept asking me this question but I guess I could hear some sympathy and compassion in his voice. But what he was saying sounded quite hurtful at the same time. It sounded as if he was asking me why I was living like this when I was a princess. What should I say in response? I replied with a light nod.

“Well, I’m not sure what you’re referring to. Are you asking how I became who I am today?”

That was what he was asking. Why was I doing chores while being loved for acting younger than my actual self. I might be smiling like this but I was well aware that I could die at any time. They could not protect me.

Just once, I took a quick glance at him before looking down with a big smile. I then spat out my next words firmly.

“I had to become this.”

“You didn’t want to?”

“Well, I don’t think I had ever fought for what I wanted or what I don’t want… Uhm, Sir Granius, it’s like a huge natural disaster, a tsunami, is heading towards me, you know?”

I too had no idea why I was there. However, I knew I was alive because I wanted to be.

In both my previous life and this one, I had never acted before. But because I wanted to live, I acted like a girl who was empty in the head and threw my gold spoon away. If I wanted to step foot into the future, I had to endure this.

He would not understand even if I told him the times I spent to achieve this. Just like that, I raised my head.

“I was doing my best to face the tsunami.”

He burst out laughing. I did not know what he found funny but he slapped the desk and laughed loudly before raising his head to look at me. He placed his fist on his temple before rolling up the corners of his mouth and speaking loudly.

“A natural disaster…”

He muttered.

FInally, Granius spoke to Soricks.

“Instead of showing her the city, I want you to show our youngest the training grounds.”

Soricks who had been silent immediately looked up.

“The training grounds?”

“That’s right. The other troops would love to see our youngest.”

He smiled before tilting his head. He looked like a grandfather gazing at his granddaughter’s pranks and admiring her for the wit and creativity lovingly.

The most surprising thing was that though Soricks looked pretty young, he was in a pretty high position of his own. Not only was he talented as a templar, he was also a noble who had the lineage and the swordsmanship.

“I’ll bring you around the capital next time.”

With the refreshing blue sky as the backdrop, seeing him like this made me realise he was actually a sweet person. This person was showing kindness to a child he had only seen for half a month. How long had it been since I was comfortable enough to not have to worry about the intentions of others?

“Look out for any suspicious movements.”

Suspicious, he said. Was the suspicions based on Castor’s standards?

‘That’s probably it.’

This place was said to be a neutral zone where neither the Crown Prince nor the 2nd Prince was involved in its affairs. In other words, this was where battles of vested interests occur the most often. Now that I could not retrieve the necklace, I had to bring Hernandez some sort of information. What information do I need to provide to leave this place?

“Sir Soricks, His Majesty, the Emperor and His Highness, the Crown Prince are both in the Central Palace.”

“I see.”

I smiled brightly at Soricks whose face had been stained by the shadows of the foliage. Hiding my intentions, the refined words that I spoke sounded gentle and innocent.

“This was something I never expected back when I worked in the Western Palaces. The Administration Office is so fascinating. And I’m also very curious. I’ve heard a lot about the beautiful prince. Especially the Prince who lived in the Central Palace.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

Feeling his hand pat my head affectionately, I apologised to him inwardly. I felt sorry that I could not repay his kindness. In fact, the person who he was being nice to was a weak girl who had no choice but to use him. But he did not know that and he should never know. If I had a conscience like before, I would have felt some guilt but those feelings have already eroded away. Time had taken all the bright and sparkly things from me.

“What does Sir Soricks think about his Highness, the Crown Prince?”

He faltered and I could hear him stop in his footsteps.

When he turned around to look at me, he looked flustered.

“… It looks like no one told you how dangerous the person you just spoke of is.”

“Dangerous?”

“Yes, you cannot talk about him.”

Just then, I remembered the expression of an old frightened maid. I already knew that. But I was curious to know what he thought of him. Soricks, what could he tell me?

“Well, how should I put it… He’s a great man.”

As if he was talking to a child who knew nothing, Soricks laughed with a complicated expression before quickly sighing.

“Because for those of us who had inherited divine powers from our respective gods, his strength poses a painful presence. Like a heartbeat, even when we are more than 100 steps away from him, we can still feel his presence.”

“A heartbeat?”

“Yes. His ‘Power of the Lord’ is the root of all our power so we are drawn to it like instinct and due to the innate presence of our respective gods within us, we do not dare to look or talk about him. It makes us loyal to him and respect him. As long as you are a templar, you cannot disobey or refuse him. It’s an obligation. The moment we try to refuse him, we should suffer unbearable pain.”

At this point, was this not a cult? Soricks brought up the story of how the Lord of all the Gods met the First Emperor a long time ago. (1)

“The power of the templars prevented us from ever going against the Imperial Family because of the relationship between the First Emperor and the Gods.”

In other words, this could be the reason why there had been no rebellions in the Empire for the past 2000 years.

“Well, what if the person with such a strong power has bad intentions? You said that it hurts when you disobey. Will it hurt more?”

Wary, Soricks glanced left and right before squatting to talk to me seriously.

“… Maybe because you’re young that’s why I’m telling you but that’s how it’ll end.”

I thought that I was being treated too immature for my age. I did not know if it was my appearance itself or the act that I had been putting on.

“The templars have a chance to choose.”

At his serious tone, I stared straight at him.

“A chance to choose?”

“That’s right.”

He spoke firmly with great force as if he wanted to engrave every letter into my memory.

“The choice to follow the best successor.”

The green eyes I saw when we first met were gone and were replaced by a pair of yellow.

“There are seven under the Crown Prince.”

Soricks said, before adding a little joke.

“Shouldn’t we at least have the right to bow our head for what we believe in?”

He said playfully before drawing a smile on his face, sprinkled with fine freckles. His cheeks glowed with the sunlight.

He raised his index finger. Let us make this our secret. Then, he smiled like a naughty boy who just found a fun toy.

T/N:

Sorry this was late ;P

(1): I forgot what I tled it as I think it was ‘Power of Heirs’? Anws I changed it to the Power of the Lord yeet