I guess he would worry, seeing how Cezar pushes himself much too hard, never resting, whether he’s at home or abroad.
“Please, leave it to me,” I declared, hoping to comfort Janne. “I will ensure that Cezar relaxes tomorrow. And if you ever see him working too hard, and forgetting to rest in the future, I shall help you!”
Janne smiled, apparently delighted. The next thing I knew, we had arrived at the palace gates.
“Thank you very much. I’m counting on you to help Prince Cezar,” said Janne with a bow.
“Of course. Please leave the planning for tomorrow to me,” I said with a bow. Janne smiled as he watched me leave.
Considering I only came here to deliver some documents to Larna, I really ended up doing an awful lot.
Although it had only been half a day, I somehow felt quite tired. Larna—appearing as her alter ego, Susanna—had returned my tool of Dark Magic, which she now thought might have been created at the time of Sorcié’s founding. She had also warned me to watch my back. Pochi had run off again, bringing me to that forbidden place, and thus I had met Jeord’s uncle again. I ended up saying such puzzling things that I bewildered even myself. Then I had wandered into the area of the palace where Cezar was staying, and before I knew what was happening, I was having tea with him. I even ended up promising to show him around town the very next day.
Yep, even just looking at my rough recollection of these events, it really was quite a full morning. As for what was to come, I was going to return to the office, hand out some of the treats I’d received, then throw myself into my work for the afternoon. But I think I can allow myself to doze off until then. With some time left until my carriage brought me back to the Ministry, I let myself slip into a brief nap.
When I got back to the Magical Ministry, it seemed like quite a few people had already gone out on their lunch break. The first thing I did was to head to the Magical Tool Laboratory. After knocking on the door to the office, I entered to find my senior colleagues all enjoying their break, each in their own way. Raphael, however, still seemed to have his hands full. He was hard at work at his desk, reviewing some documents while nibbling a sandwich.
“It’s me, Katarina Claes. I’ve returned from my visit,” I called out to Raphael. His face instantly lit up.
“What a relief. You made it back in one piece. I was wondering what I’d do if you were whisked away to another country.”
I laughed. For him to have made that joke, Janne must have informed him that I was having tea with Cezar.
“That didn’t happen, but he did give me a lot of treats to take home with me. Please feel free to have some,” I said, taking out the Ethenell treats and offering them to Raphael.
“Wow, Miss Katarina, you really never miss opportunities like this. What an amazing selection. Very well, I’ll try one of these,” said Raphael, setting down his sandwich and taking one of the treats.
“I was told that, at the moment, these are made exclusively in Ethenell. They’re not quite like anything we have in Sorcié, but they’re really yummy.”
Encouraged by my words, Raphael popped the unfamiliar treat into his mouth.
“You’re right. This is delicious,” he said, his face breaking into a smile.
“Well then, how about you take a short snack break?” I suggested, thinking to myself that a lunch break spent staring at documents wouldn’t afford him much rest.
Raphael looked surprised.
“I suppose I could,” he replied after mulling over the idea. “Well then, I shall do just that.” He gave me a gentle smile.
I set off, intending to brew some tea and set a table for teatime, when Laura appeared holding a tray in one hand.
“Hello! I heard someone mention treats, so I brought some tea.”
She had prepared that tea a little too quickly for comfort, so for a moment I quaked in fear, but after carefully looking at her tray I saw there were already treats next to the tea, so I figured that she probably already intended to invite Raphael to rest, and thus had prepared her own refreshments.
“Thank you very much, Miss Laura,” I said.
“I should be thanking you,” she responded in a low voice. “I was just about to try and get this workaholic to take a break, so you came at the perfect time.”
My assumption turned out to be true.
“Though I really am glad to see you came back in one piece, Miss Katarina. When I noticed you were late, I really thought you might have been kidnapped, so I came to Raphael to check. Tea with the prince does sound lovely, but with how cute you are, I was worried you might be taken away,” continued Laura, making the same joke that Raphael had made.
“Ha ha ha, the deputy head of our department already told me that joke,” I replied.
Laura puffed out her cheeks.
“Really now, this is no laughing matter, Raphael.”
“That’s right,” he agreed without hesitation. “Please be more careful.”
“Sorry for making you worry,” I said apologetically.
I did consider the possibility that they were being overprotective, blinded by their love for their junior colleague—as parents might be blinded by love for their children—but then I recalled that Jeffrey and Susanna had given me much the same warning earlier this morning, so I decided to take their admonition seriously.
With that said, we had foreign treats and tea to enjoy, so we went around the office to gather the rest of my senior colleagues, who were each enjoying their break in their own way.
“Ooh, I’ve never seen snacks like these. Something tells me this one’s a winner.”
“What an odd shape.”
“This frilly, beautiful one seems to suit me best.”
Each of them had their own comment to make as they reached for one of the treats. These Ethenell sweets seemed to be well received by everyone, since they were all eaten in the blink of an eye. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t get to share them with Sora—who was working outside the office—or Mr. Hart, who had the day off.
A little while later, lunch break was over, so like always, I went with Maria to fight my urge to sleep as I worked on deciphering the Dark Covenant. I had learned that day that the tool of Dark Magic Susanna had returned to me had probably been made around the time of the kingdom’s founding, so I couldn’t help but wonder when the Dark Covenant had been written. Neither of them looked that old, but in both cases, that might have been due to the effects of Dark Magic.
I felt like the day’s events had only added to the mystery surrounding Dark Magic. Still, after I somehow managed to make a little progress in my work deciphering my covenant, I said goodbye to Maria and headed home.