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“AW, man! I lost the chance to join forces with Lady Meucci, and my date with Ophie was ruined! Nothing goes to plan when Claudio’s involved. I’m going home!”
In the end, Gian left in a huff. Stella apologized profusely to Ophelia again, then headed home herself, accompanied by a maid and a guard who’d been waiting for her just outside the café.
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“OPHELIA, I’m so glad you came with me. Oh, is that too heavy? I’ll carry it for you.”
“No! It’s fine. A-And, besides, your hands are already full, Mr. Angelo.”
“I always end up carrying much more than this when I come with the director.”
Ophelia and Angelo had gone to a used book shop in the downtown area of the Royal City to gather reference materials. While Ophelia was listening to the friendly old shopkeeper prattle away, Angelo picked out the books, and they ended up making a very large purchase.
“That old man loves to talk, but his shop doesn’t get much business, so he’s a bit lonely. I always have a hard time getting out of there because he talks my ear off, but he has the best books in town. I’m really glad you came along today to keep him company for me!”
For some reason, Ophelia still hadn’t been transferred back to the Architectural Institute. It was fun spending her days doing little errands like this, surrounded by coworkers she felt comfortable with, so honestly, she wasn’t in a huge hurry to leave.
Bernard, who’d been down for a while after she was first transferred to the Ministry of Justice, also finally adjusted to working by himself and had stopped complaining. From what she heard, he still maintained the top spot in the rankings for number of repairs, so in a way, Ophelia felt that there wasn’t really a place for her to return to.
“I’ll bring the books to my office, so you can go ahead and return to the Director’s Office on your own. Put those books all on top of this stack.”
“Wh-Wh-Whoa! It looks like they’re going to fall! Are you sure you’re okay carrying them all by yourself?!”
From somewhere behind the stack of books obscuring his face, Angelo’s muffled voice could be heard calling out “I’m fine!” as he tottered down a long dark hallway toward his office. As a scholar, Angelo had been assigned a small private office for his studies, where he stored most of his reference materials. It seemed he planned to go through the books they’d purchased today and bring only those with relevant content over to the Director’s Office later. Bruno had strongly advised Ophelia that she was better off not seeing the inside of Angelo’s office. Ophelia had a feeling she knew what he meant by that and was content to comply.
“Oh, Ophelia. You’re back already?”
Ophelia turned and found Claudio walking down the hallway toward her. Judging by his overcoat, it seemed he’d gone out as well.
“Yes, I just got back from visiting the used bookstore with Angelo.”
“Oh, the one run by that chatty old man?”
Had the shopkeeper even tried his luck with the king sourpuss himself?! Claudio had an unexpectedly kind side to him, so he’d probably listened to the shopkeeper’s stories patiently.
After the encounter at the café, news of the dissolution of Claudio and Stella’s engagement was publicly announced. Although the king had permitted the dissolution, apparently, he’d been quite disappointed. He seemed to be worried about his younger brother, who was still single long past the age most noblemen married.
Although by all appearances the dissolution of their engagement had been fairly harmonious, a rumor was going around that Stella had thrown in the towel because she couldn’t bear Claudio’s tyranny any longer. Even now, those they passed by as they walked down the hall, side-by-side like this, cast Ophelia worried glances, as if expecting Claudio to start shouting at her at any moment.
However, Claudio didn’t make any attempt to refute these rumors. His face may be perpetually frowning, but to Ophelia, his shoulders, upon which he silently bore all the consequences by himself, seemed sturdy and reliable.
“Ophelia.”
“Yes?”
Claudio, walking along at her side, suddenly called Ophelia’s name. However, the rest of the sentence did not seem to be forthcoming.
“Director?”
“…”
“Hm?”
“All of the servants in my home have been stringently vetted, and I was very careful only to hire people who don’t lie or use flattery,” Claudio said.
“…I see. That’s nice.”
“Yeah. They might not seem like the friendliest bunch, but I’m sure you could be around all of them without having to worry about shaking.”
“Hm? …You might be right about that. We can’t keep many servants around because of my condition, so I do most of the cleaning and washing myself on my days off. I’m jealous you found so many servants who don’t lie.”
“…I am right about that. So, then, you’d like to live like that?”
“Yes! The life of a duke really is different from us lower nobility!”
“…Seriously? You really don’t get what I’m trying to say, do you?”
“…? No, I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.”
“I see! Hahaha!”
“Yes! Hahaha!”
Of course, she won’t realize you’re trying to propose if you phrase it like that! Hidden behind a pillar that Claudio and Ophelia had walked past while laughing strangely, Bruno clutched his head in frustration at the conversation he’d just overheard.