Duke, Please Let Go of My Ankle! - Chapter 7

“Hello! I’m Audrey Kevelson. Pleased to meet you!”

“…Hans Emilton.”

The eyes of the Finance Department staff turned to the two of them.

Claude also looked at them with a surprised expression.

“Haha, such good sibling harmony. The younger brother follows his older brother to the Finance Department!”

“Indeed. With these young talents, we’ll have great support.”

“How about having Claude take charge of educating these two?”

“I’d be happy to.”

Although he was suddenly assigned a new task, Claude smiled without showing any displeasure.

Seeing this, Hans frowned as if he had seen something unpleasant.

‘Damn it! Damn it!’

This wasn’t the original plan.

Unless he was crazy, why would he have entered the Finance Department wanting to see his brother’s face, which he saw every day until he was sick of it?

He just didn’t want to imagine those two flirting in his absence.

Who knows what might happen if they end up working overtime!

Everything seemed perfect until he intercepted Audrey’s turn.

But then…

“Oh my, I’m sorry. I made a mistake. Two people should be assigned to Finance, not Legal Affairs. My apologies.”

The moment the department assignment manager rubbed his bleary eyes and corrected the numbers, the two experienced contrasting emotions.

Hans felt like he wanted to die right then and there.

It was maddening to think he’d have to observe not only his insufferable brother’s face but also Audrey’s constant fawning.

His face, which had briefly brightened, was once again overshadowed.

***

─Crash.

Audrey finally caused an accident.

“Ack! S-s-sorry!”

Why did she have to stumble just as she was about to put down the box of documents?

And falling backward caused the stacked papers to scatter everywhere.

Hans shook his head as if he had expected this.

“I knew you’d do something like this.”

“Audrey, are you hurt anywhere?”

“…No.”

“Let me see.”

“I’m really fine…”

“Come on.”

What an unexpected benefit!

To unexpectedly receive Claude’s concern!

Even as she bent and stretched her arms and legs several times to demonstrate her well-being, she couldn’t hide her slowly rising smile.

‘Was he that worried about me? Oh, Claude Oppa.’

How gentle his eyes were as he looked her over with concern.

The dull pain rising from her bottom was nothing.

“You might slip again if you step on the papers, so it’s better if you stay out of the way for now. Hans, come help a bit.”

“Me?”

“It’ll only take a moment.”

“Seriously. I knew it from the moment she came in wearing those clothes. You accident-prone girl.”

“……

However, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she had caused trouble.

Just as she was about to become gloomy with guilt, a familiar voice warmly approached her.

“Audrey, could you guard those documents over there for a bit? We can’t let them disappear somewhere. And if you feel any pain, tell me right away. Understood?”

“…Yes.”

Look at his thoughtfulness, pretending it’s an important task while assigning such a trivial job.

‘Claude Oppa, it’s not like the documents have legs to run away.’

Although it was embarrassing and made her blush to be treated like a 3-year-old, she still smiled because she liked his consideration.

Well. If Claude Oppa says so, that must be how it is.

Maybe the documents in the Duke’s castle are special and might actually have legs.

Audrey responded to the task with a serious attitude, forgetting even to blink.

It was because of her desire to live up to his expectations.

‘…That fool. As if papers would run away.’

How ridiculous it looked. Hans shook his head with a sour expression.

However, unfortunately, Audrey’s mistakes didn’t end there.

“Miss Audrey, could you please shred these documents that have passed their retention period?”

“Yes!”

Audrey, answering energetically, moved with the heavy binder of documents.

─Rrrrrrrip.

Watching the documents being shredded with a lively sound, she felt an inexplicable sense of satisfaction.

Above all, it was a simple repetitive task with little risk of making mistakes, and she felt confident in her rare moment of usefulness.

As the last bundle of papers was about halfway through being shredded, Hans approached with a face like he was checking homework.

At the same time, Audrey became defensive.

“What now? Why?”

Having Hans rush over in alarm every time she turned her eyes all day, there was no way her words could be gentle.

She was already tense, and he was making her unnecessarily anxious…

“Where did those documents come from?”

“Huh? Mr. Miller told me to shred documents that have passed their retention period.”

“All of them?”

“Yeah. Why?”

─Rrrrrrrip.

This time, Audrey was sure there was nothing to worry about.

All she had to do was shred exactly what she received, and unless she was a complete idiot, how could she make a mistake?

But as Hans’s silence grew longer, a faint anxiety began to creep into her previously confident eyes.

“W-what is it? Why aren’t you saying anything? You’re making me nervous. What? What’s wrong?”

“……”

Hans silently rummaged through the empty binders. Audrey quietly watched her friend’s actions with wavering eyes.

Finally, what he found was a blue binder she didn’t even know existed.

Audrey, who had unknowingly placed a stack of documents right on top of it, blinked in confusion.

“This is the loan certificate binder. Were you told to shred this too?”

“W-why is that there… I don’t think I was given anything like that.”

“……”

Her heart began to race anxiously.

‘Did I make another mistake?’

At that moment, Claude, sensing something amiss with the two who were frozen like meerkats, approached.

“What’s wrong? Is there a problem?”

“……”

Audrey unconsciously looked at the shredder.

The document, with only about a finger’s width remaining, had just disappeared into the shredder’s belly with a lively rrrrrip sound.

“W-well…”

“Huh? Where did the loan certificate binder go? Has anyone seen the loan certificates?”

“…!”

Oh no.

Audrey’s face turned deathly pale.

It was obvious to anyone that she was admitting, ‘I’m the culprit who destroyed it.’

“I’m sure I left it on a desk somewhere.”

Just as Audrey was about to confess her mistake with trembling hands, a familiar warmth covered her hand.

“It’s okay, stay here. I’ll take care of it.”

“…Claude Oppa?”

Before Audrey could stop him, Claude, who had whispered softly, stepped forward.

“I apologize. It seems I made a mistake in classification.”

“Oh, Claude?”

“I was so busy this morning, working frantically, it must have gotten mixed in with other documents.”

“My goodness, even you make mistakes, Claude?”

“I’m human too. I’ll take responsibility and restore the loan certificates.”

“If Claude is on it, there’s no need to worry! There’s no rush, so please take your time.”

“……”

Contrary to Audrey’s concerns, the matter was smoothly resolved. This was only possible because it was Claude.

“Since I caused the delay, I’ll take charge of the western bridge repair project. Please hand over the documents to me today.”

“No, there’s no need for you to…”

“Don’t worry about the work, go on a date with Lady Langmore or something. You’ve been quite busy lately, haven’t you?”

“A-ahem! In that case, I’ll gratefully accept! Hahaha.”

The conclusion was perfect.

Claude returned, smiling as if it was no big deal.

However, Audrey’s deeply bowed head showed no signs of lifting.

“Were you very surprised?”

“Because of me, Claude Oppa… I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for? Who’s perfect on their first day?”

“……”

Audrey knows.

She knows that restoring the loan certificates is not a simple task.

Moreover, he’s taken on work he didn’t have to do, so he’ll be busier than anyone for the next few days.

Yet, Claude’s composure, not showing any sign of concern for Audrey’s sake, made her feel both grateful and sorry.

“Everyone’s like that at first. You become overly conscious of people around you, and then you unknowingly make mistakes, and blame yourself.”

“……”

“But I know you’re trying hard to do better. I’m sure you will.”

“Claude Oppa…”

“If it’s too hard, do you want to stay in the archives until you get used to it? There are no prying eyes there, so you can work comfortably.”

Audrey nodded slightly.

She didn’t want to cause any more trouble, and if there were no watching eyes, she could use magic relatively freely.

There was no one as useless as Audrey without her magic.

***

─Whoosh.

As the cabinet door opened, bundles of documents all sprang out.

The papers floating in the air suddenly aligned themselves as if magnetized.

“Why am I so useless?”

Meanwhile, Audrey sat in a corner, sighing.

In her 20 years of life, she had never felt so useless.

Wasn’t she acting like a broken cog in the midst of smoothly turning gears?

She couldn’t even make the excuse that it was because it was her first time.

Hans was handling everything skillfully as if he had years of experience.

“Can’t even do one simple thing properly… What on earth am I good at?”

As if to console her, the documents floating in the air hovered around her before suddenly being sucked into the cabinet.

The papers, classified according to retention periods and document types, were neatly arranged as if measured with a ruler.

Finally, the metal cabinet door closed, and silence fell.

“If I knew it would be like this, I shouldn’t have come…”

While others were busily finding their own tasks, for Audrey, time felt like an eternity.

There’s a limit to how long one can kill time boringly.

Unable to bear the boredom, Audrey swept the top of the cabinet with wind, whitened yellowed papers, and fixed broken items tucked away in corners.

They were such small and trivial changes that one wouldn’t notice unless they looked closely.

It seems that her much-anticipated first day at work would end like this in the empty archives.

Just as Audrey was feeling particularly dejected, the sound of an old wooden door creaking was heard.

“How’s it going?”

“C-Claude Oppa!”

“Huh? You’re already done?”

“Well…”

Claude, who appeared without warning, widened his eyes at the sight of the clean archives.

He had just dropped by because he was worried about her gloomy face.

The archive organization, which six strong men had struggled with for a week before giving up, was completed. And in just a few hours at that.