“It’s Aide Weiana!”

“Eek!”

“I haven’t even finished writing the official document and she’s already here to rush us!”

Ian was right.

I was strolling around the Imperial Palace to enjoy my leisure time, making it clear that I officially had two days of vacation left, when my mood started to deteriorate. Imperial administrators rushing busily around the vast Imperial Palace were terrified the moment they saw my face. I was starting to get angry.

‘What on earth did I do?’

Seeing people I encountered all hiding their documents behind their backs or hurriedly rushing past me to their departments, I could acutely feel how my image had transformed into that of a demon while working at Ian’s side.

Auditing each department. Budget review and decisions. Performance evaluations of Imperial administrators. With personnel authority, budget control, and departmental audit rights in my hands, I was essentially a grim reaper to the Imperial administrators.

Although I had no such intention, to others, me walking around with coffee in hand looked like a calamity searching for places to inspect. I just wanted to read books at the Imperial library!

‘I hope she goes somewhere else quickly.’

‘That demon……’

The stares pouring out so blatantly stung so much that I inwardly shed tears. But I gripped my coffee cup full of ice tightly and deliberately decided to walk around with flashing eyes.

“Tremble in fear, corrupt administrators……”

Trying to endure by muttering like that with a middle school syndrome¹T/N: (AKA chuunibyo) refers to a phase where adolescents, particularly in their second year of middle school, exhibit cringy, attention-seeking behavior rooted in fantasies of having special powers or being the chosen one concept as if I had a black flame dragon sealed in my right hand, I eventually had to turn my steps back to the Crown Prince’s palace dejectedly. I thought it would be better to visit the Crown Prince’s Knight Order first, which I had planned to visit after reading some books in the library and having lunch.

“Hyaap!”

The training ground of the Crown Prince’s Knight Order echoed with the shouts of knights in the midst of their morning training. I actually felt somewhat indebted to these knights.

For some reason, despite having so much work, Ian had been handling his duties alone without establishing any direct departments until I became his aide. But as soon as I became Ian’s aide, I shattered the iron rule Ian had established in just three days after starting work.

‘Either hire more aides, or administrative officers, or if you don’t plan to do that, at least assign people to attend to your needs!’

There were many documents to process, and the Imperial Palace was very large. Moreover, this was the Crown Prince’s palace. It had been three years since Ian took over almost all of the Empire’s political affairs on behalf of the Emperor, who was known to be in poor health.

In other words, the amount of work flooding into the Crown Prince’s palace was beyond imagination.

I had so much work to handle that I rarely had proper meals in the dining hall, often working even while eating.

Furthermore, unfortunately, there were many procedures required to process work, making it very cumbersome.

From small tasks like returning rejected documents to other departments one by one to procedures that were impossible without Ian’s seal.

Although I had obtained the enormous authority to use the Crown Prince’s seal by proxy as soon as I became his aide, I still couldn’t avoid having to go back and forth between all departments within the Imperial Palace.

So initially, I mobilized the servants of the Crown Prince’s palace for miscellaneous tasks. I thought the servants would be sufficient since the Crown Prince’s palace was large and had many employees, but my assumption was shattered before long.

In the end, after Ian’s order that “All employees and knights belonging to the Crown Prince’s palace should prioritize assisting Aide Weiana with her work,” I became a tyrannical aide giving orders not only to the knights of the Crown Prince’s palace but even to the Knight Commander.

“But if I didn’t do this…… I really felt like I would die!”

How must the knights have felt, being forced to take on miscellaneous tasks like document delivery and official dispatch that weren’t their duties, all because of one order from Ian? Even though I was busy, I should have properly thanked the servants and knights who had been helping me without complaint, but I hadn’t even once properly expressed my gratitude.

“I wonder if they’ll understand if I apologize.”

After checking the basket full of desserts borrowed from the Imperial café, I sighed and stepped onto the training ground where the knights were sweating through their training.

“Oh? It’s the aide!”

“Did someone say aide?”

As expected of knights. The knights who were far away immediately stopped their practice when they saw me hesitating at the entrance and began to line up in a rigid formation. The Knight Commander of the Crown Prince’s palace, who had somehow lined up at the front of the knights, shouted in a loud voice.

“Salute to the Aide!”

“Chung!”

I flinched at the knights’ salute, which seemed loud enough to shake the training ground. I had come because I felt sorry for all the miscellaneous tasks I had been asking them to do, but thinking about it, I wondered if I should have come at all since I was making them perform unnecessary ceremony during their training. I awkwardly bowed my head to the knights’ salute and said with an uncomfortable expression.

“Um…… knights.”

“……??”

My voice, which had come out hesitantly without my realizing it, began to shrink. It wasn’t an illusion that the expressions of dozens of knights staring at me seemed resigned, as if thinking, ‘What kind of work is she going to assign us this early in the morning that she came in person?’

“Actually, I’m on vacation until tomorrow, and I wanted to give something to the hardworking knights.”

“Pardon?”

“What could the Aide possibly want to give us……”

“Ah, it’s not work. Just…… I was really grateful, so I brought some desserts in case you get hungry during training.”

“……Desserts?”

“And, besides desserts, I’ve also ordered delicious drinks from the Imperial café, so they’ll be delivered soon. It was too heavy for me to carry everything alone……”

The knights’ expressions began to harden as they watched me make this absurd statement about suddenly showing up with food.

‘Oh my…… Come to think of it, isn’t this looking like I’m blatantly wasting their time after already disrupting their training all this time?’

Seeing the knights’ hardened expressions, I thought I should quickly leave. I ran quickly with the basket and shouted as I handed it to the Knight Commander, who was standing blankly at attention at the front.

“I don’t mean to disturb you! Thank you so much for everything!”

But the expression of the Knight Commander, who had inadvertently received the basket of desserts from me, was strange. As if trying to suppress a laugh, the Knight Commander, who was more than a head taller than me, looked down at me intently before breaking into a bright smile, grabbing my hand, and shouting.

“My goodness, thank you, Aide!”

“I’m sorry…… What?”

“Not only have you been looking after us all this time, but you’ve even come in person to commend us!”

You’ve been looking after the Knight Order? And this isn’t a disturbance but a commendation? Confused by these words, I was momentarily taken aback, and then thunderous cheers began to erupt from among the knights standing in formation.

“Thank you, Aide!”

“As expected, you’re the only one who cares about us!”

“The best aide whose heart is as beautiful as her looks!”

Among the knights who were clapping with genuine joy, there were even some who showed tears of emotion. Surprised by this unexpected warm welcome, I had to take a step back from the knights who looked like they might rush toward me at any moment.

“Stop shouting, you fools! You’ve startled the Aide!”

“Gasp! Are you startled? We’re sorry!”

“We’re sorry that dark-faced men suddenly shouted. It’s not a pleasant sight and has disturbed your peace of mind!”

“No! That’s not it. I just had no idea that the knights would welcome me like this.”

“Pardon? What do you mean?”

“I’ve only felt sorry toward you all this time. Asking for your cooperation every day with official documents when you must be busy, and, um…… requesting escorts when I go out. And even mobilizing you for the casino search late at night a few days ago.”

“Don’t say such things! Didn’t His Highness the Crown Prince issue a strict order to serve you wholeheartedly!”

“And wasn’t it you, Aide, who raised our allowances!”

“That’s right! And thanks to you ordering that quality weapons and armor be supplied to the Imperial Knight Order as a top priority, our training results have been steadily improving!”

“Thanks to you creating the concept of parental leave, our Knight Order has been able to implement a flexible working system. Thank you for preserving the peace of our families!”

I was truly surprised as the knights, whose faces had quickly softened as if they had never had stern expressions, gathered around me and began to express their gratitude. I could only shake my head, not understanding the knights who were expressing gratitude for welfare benefits that they should naturally receive as the Imperial Knight Order, when I had merely paid attention to their welfare within my authority.

“That’s welfare that should have been provided to you hardworking knights even without me.”

“Kya! As expected, you’re the only one who thinks about us!”

“Not just us in the Crown Prince’s palace, but all knights in the Imperial Palace are ready to gladly carry out whatever you ask!”

“Aide! Is this the dessert that ladies eat at tea parties? It looks so small and pretty that it seems like a work of art rather than food!”

Feeling the knights’ genuine goodwill pouring out with sincere smiles, I could breathe a sigh of relief, grateful that my image wasn’t that of a bad boss like Ian.

“But Aide, you said you were grateful all this time—is something happening?”

When the Knight Commander, who had pushed away the excited knights, said that, the knights who had been praising me until just a moment ago stopped what they were doing as if they had heard something they shouldn’t have, and looked at me.

“Ah…… Well, I am on vacation until tomorrow, but I’m actually considering resigning as aide.”

“What is this……!!”

Not noticing that the knights had all frozen as if lightning had struck from a clear sky, I lowered my head and said.

“There’s so much work that it’s difficult, and I’ve been thinking about it for a while, but I’m really grateful that you followed all the annoying tasks I assigned without any complaints.”

“Aide……”

“Thinking that this might be the last time, I realized I hadn’t even expressed my gratitude properly all this time. If I had known that the knights liked me this much, I would have organized a team-building event for the Crown Prince’s palace and spent time together.”

Just because the original story I knew and my situation were quite different didn’t guarantee that I wouldn’t be in danger. Having read countless romance fantasy novels in my previous life, I knew well that while some novels didn’t follow their original stories, many novels necessarily followed the main flow of the original plot.

So although I noticed that something was strange, I still had to be cautious. As I had told the knights, I might quit my job as aide, or I might not. After saying it, I felt awkward because it seemed like I had announced my resignation even though nothing had been properly decided yet. It was then that I raised my head.

“Absolutely not!”

“Aide, please don’t abandon us!”

“Inform the knights of the Sun Palace, the Moonlight Palace…… no, the Capital Defense knights immediately! We cannot allow the Aide to resign under any circumstances!”

Before I could say anything to stop them, the knights exchanged meaningful glances with each other, shouted like that, and hurriedly dispersed. I could only freeze in place. No, wait a moment, knights? I haven’t properly decided to resign yet?