BECAUSE of the soiree that evening, Cesia’s lessons the following morning were called off. So, for a change of pace, she visited the Second Financial Audit Division for the first time in a while to bring them some goodies. She knocked on the door and entered. It looked hectic inside, with piles of documents on every desk, but no one was there.
“Who is it?” Keith asked, coming in through the large sliding glass doors that led out to the garden. When he saw Cesia, he smiled broadly and welcomed her. “Hey, Cesia! Long time no see!”
“It’s been a while, Keith.”
“Wow, you’ve become quite a beauty since I saw you last. His Royal Highness must be treating you well.”
Cesia felt the tension in her shoulders seep away upon seeing the smiling Keith.
He affectionately tousled her hair, then hurriedly removed his hand. “Oh, crap, will His Royal Highness get angry at me?” he asked.
“What are you saying? He won’t get angry over something so trivial. If anything, please apologize to me for messing up my hair.”
She didn’t think Marcus would actually get angry, but Keith said, “A man in love is delicate,” quickly fixed Cesia’s hair, and took a step back.
Cesia pouted, then, remembering why she had come, held out the basket she was carrying. “I have some goodies. Sorry I haven’t been able to come here in a while.”
“Oh, thanks. Don’t worry about it. We got some new employees in the spring, and besides, we don’t do those undercover investigations and mass arrests every day,” Keith said. He quickly stuffed his cheeks full of sweets from the basket. He loved to drink and had a big sweet tooth.
“That’s right, new employees! Are there any girls?” Cesia asked.
“Yeah, one. She’s super strong-willed. You two might get along.”
At that, Cesia felt her mood brighten. As the princess consort, she might have had to quit the Second Division, but she was glad to hear that there was a younger girl to take her place. “I’d love to meet her!”
“Hmm, today might not work. We dispatched her to help the First Division. Spring is a season with a bunch of financial transactions.”
“Oh…that’s right.” When Cesia joined the previous year, this period had been busy. She felt nostalgic, remembering when she had thought that that was everything there was to the job. She never would’ve imagined what the job of enforcer really entailed. “I guess I won’t be able to meet her today, then.”
Keith finished off his first cupcake. “She should be here tomorrow.”
Cesia smiled awkwardly. “Today is my only day off.”
“Ahh… I see. That’s—”
Suddenly, the door flung open loudly, interrupting whatever Keith had been about to say, and Layne entered. Seeing Cesia, he squinted harshly at her. “What are you doing, Cesia?”
“Layne. It’s been a while.”
“We can skip the greetings. What are you thinking, being alone with a man like this? Assume someone is always watching you,” he scolded her. He headed to his desk, looking irritated.
Cesia paled. Layne was strict, but he was always gentle, and she had hardly ever seen him act that way before. Still, he might’ve been right, especially considering her failure the day before. She felt ashamed of her carelessness. She had thought of it as just returning to an old haunt, and she had assumed that there would be others besides Keith.
“What did you come here for?” Layne asked.
“My apologies… It’s been a while, and I wanted to see everyone. I also brought some goodies…”
Layne looked at the basket Keith was holding, then shook his head. “Then your business is done here. You don’t belong here anymore, so go.”
Cesia slightly trembled, affected by his harsh words. Just over a year’s worth of time might not have been much, but in that period, she had come to think of the other employees in the Second Division as friends with whom she had made it through various troubles. To be told so clearly that this wasn’t her place made her feel a tight squeezing in her chest.
“Hey, don’t say it like that. Cesia’s still one of us,” Keith said.
“‘Still’ is the important word there. When she marries His Royal Highness, she’ll be the princess consort. There’s no way we can let her work as a civil servant anymore, let alone in the dangerous job of an enforcer,” Layne said.
He was right. Cesia had chosen to be Marcus’s wife. She had only now realized that that meant giving up the part of her that was an enforcer in the Second Division. She hadn’t ever considered the possibility that there might be something she would lose by marrying Marcus. The ground under her feet felt like it was collapsing, and she felt dizzy. She had been a nobody and thought of the Second Division as the foundation she had finally found for herself. By obtaining one thing, did she really have to let go of another?
“There are other ways to say it, Layne,” Keith said, a vein visibly bulging on his forehead.
Cesia hurriedly stopped him. “It’s fine, Keith,” she said. She didn’t want the two seniors she trusted to fight because of her. “Layne is quite right. I… I was acting spoiled.”
“Cesia… Don’t worry so much about it.”
“No. I’m going to be the princess consort. I should have known the price I would pay,” she said, biting her lip and holding back tears. “My apol—”
That instant, the door once again swung open with a bang, and another person entered the room. She had soft, fiery red hair and was wearing a plain dress—it was Maria.
“Cesia.”
Cesia widened her eyes in surprise. “Maria!”
Maria smiled. She grabbed Cesia’s hand and pulled. “C’mon and hurry, we’re going out!”
“Huh? Huh?” Cesia exclaimed as she was pulled to the door. “Um, Keith, Layne, sorry for the interruption!” she managed to say before Maria pushed her out of the office.
Maria grabbed the doorknob, too, but spun around as if she had remembered something. She smiled at the shocked Keith and the stern-looking Layne. “Don’t pick on Cesia too much, okay Layne?”
“I didn’t say anything wrong,” Layne said.
Maria tilted her head slightly, puzzled. “I wonder if it might be a mistake to judge her based on just one side of her.”
“I’m aware that Cesia has good sides to her, too. However, it’s a vital time right now, and those around her will only look at that side of her when they make their conclusions about her, so she ought to make sure every aspect of her is flawless.”
Keith paled. Layne was completely and utterly right. However, the graceful lady named Maria was only a disguise for their boss: the one and only Prince Marcus. Keith and Layne knew that Marcus had a side of him that fiercely protected those important to him.
Indifferent to Keith’s worries, Maria just cutely worked herself into a huff. Keith felt like he was having a nightmare—to think that she was actually that good-looking prince.
“Gosh! What an obstinate man… I chose her, and I’m certain she’ll be a wonderful princess consort. It’ll be too late to apologize after that happens,” Maria said, sticking out a finger at Layne.
Layne nodded. “I also hope that it ends up that way.”
Maria seemed fed up with Layne’s stubbornness, but further argument was pointless. She gracefully bowed in a ladylike fashion, then left as she came, jauntily exiting the room.
Cesia was awkwardly standing on one side of the corridor. “Maria,” she said, looking like a lost kitten.
Maria smiled at her, trying to reassure her. “All right, let’s head out, Cesia!”
“You were serious about that.”
“Of course I was.”
Cesia couldn’t do anything except smile, looking embarrassed and confused. Maria gently held her hand.