My Boss is the Villainous Grand Duke - Chapter 11

Because no new aide had ever spoken their mind to their superior as much as Elena, she didn’t know how Commander Benata was looking at her.

“As expected, she’s not intimidated.”

Somehow, he felt that was just like the Elena he knew.

* * *

The place Grand Duke Rudfelix went was the library. Elena vaguely knew it was the palace library, but that was all. She had never used it before and only knew that different ranks could use different floors.

‘If I had known this would happen, should I have come with Father once?’

If there was a book she wanted, the Count would borrow it for her, so she had just comfortably received them.

But that thought changed as the Grand Duke climbed higher and higher.

At some point, the walls turned to gold. Seeing the red velvet rug on the floor, it felt like entering a completely different world.

When they reached the royal floor that only the imperial family could enter, Elena’s eyes widened. Naturally, her steps slowed.

As her steps involuntarily slowed, wondering if she could step on the rubies embedded in the floor, the Grand Duke audibly sighed above her head.

“Is this your first time here?”

Even though it wasn’t her first meeting with the commander.

“Yes.”

Because she didn’t have any close imperial friends.

“Follow closely so you don’t get lost. I don’t have the generous heart to come back for you.”

He said this and went ahead, faster than before.

Although the wide path wasn’t particularly complicated, Elena quickly followed him, concerned by his warning.

Rudfelix confirmed that Elena was following at a quick pace and slightly slowed his steps.

‘Her steps are slow and inconvenient.’

He had to worry about hitting Elena even if he just raised his arm without thinking. As this new concern was added, Rudfelix shook his head slightly.

He had a feeling that having her as an aide might bring more disadvantages than advantages.

When he showed a card to the knight waiting in front of the door, it opened.

The Grand Duke entered first, and Elena bowed to the knight and followed.

“I’ll give you a pass to enter and leave this place. You can find books, right?”

“Yes.”

Elena answered easily, as she could find books if she had the titles.

“Is that so? Then let’s check.”

So I can comfortably assign tasks later.

“Find out if there are any cases similar to Sir Brahms.”

‘How petty.’

Elena inwardly cursed the Grand Duke for deliberately instructing her to find books by content rather than title.

‘Can’t be helped.’

The order had already been given, and she was the aide who had to find it.

Rudfelix closely observed Elena as she walked along the bookshelves. She turned away from some shelves before even approaching them, while lingering at others for a long time.

He was curious if she would meet his desired standards.

He wasn’t expecting anything special. He considered it a primary success if she could bring related books while looking around the library. Considering the limited number of people allowed in and the large number of books to search through, and the fact that she couldn’t take unlimited time with her superior watching, it would be harder than usual for titles to catch her eye due to the pressing feeling.

In fact, Rudfelix was bored with having just brought in an aide and starting work. He had had numerous aides until now, but most couldn’t endure or their work abilities didn’t meet his standards.

After having countless aides in a short time, he was actually a bit tired.

If Elena were to disappear quickly as well, this time would become useless. He glanced at the sun rising outside the window to gauge the time.

“Now it’s time to wait for the new aide to…”

“Here they are.”

Elena, holding three books stacked in both hands, cut off Rudfelix’s thoughts.

“If you give me time, I’ll look for books that only deal with special cases. For now, I’ve brought a book on the history of the Imperial Knights, an epic about heroic Imperial Knights, and a book about the Imperial Guard.”

“What if Sir Brahms’ case isn’t in these?”

“I’ll search again.”

As if she was going to look for the content right away, Elena picked up one book and silently turned the pages.

“What was your criteria for choosing these books?”

After thinking about what Rudfelix’s question meant, Elena pointed to one side.

“Since each bookshelf has similar types of books, I looked around the whole area. I skipped over stories about pretty love.”

That’s why Elena stopped and changed direction as she went.

“To see if there were similar examples in the past, I looked at the shelves where historical books were gathered. And I thought if a knight had performed a special mission, it might have been made into a book, so I also looked at the shelves with heroic epics. Then I found out that everything about the Imperial Guard was organized separately, so I looked there.”

I met the Imperial Guard through documents.

Even if I don’t know their faces, I’ve memorized the names and appearances of some distinctive figures, including Sir Brahms.

It was an unremarkable tone, and in reality, it wasn’t a very difficult instruction.

However, even though the Grand Duke’s order was a bit vague, the whole process of calmly organizing her thoughts and going around the library to bring books was done in a short time. She added her own thoughts to whatever her superior ordered but didn’t exceed the scope of his instructions.

“Having to search everything to know if it’s there or not is a waste of time.”

Rudfelix pushed the books over with his fingertip, toppling them.

Despite his sarcasm, Elena neatly stacked the books again and stood up.

“Even if it’s not in these books, we might not be able to find it. The imperial family, where system and rules are important, probably won’t easily make exceptions.”

She states her opinion without being discouraged by her superior’s criticism.

Rudfelix stared at Elena, who hadn’t backed down a single word yesterday and today.

Though she flinched at his gaze, she didn’t avoid the eye contact.

‘This much is enough.’

A decent aide had come in.

‘Except for the fact that she fell for my face.’

She wasn’t a perfect aide. He had to take some risk, not knowing when she might call him seductive again.

‘That much is fine.’

Rudfelix turned and left the library without a word. Elena, who couldn’t follow him in time, raised bewildered eyes.

“He’s completely arbitrary.”

She was left alone because he went ahead so suddenly.

“Should I just go back after finding materials today?”

With no other instructions, she intended to stay and continue searching.

“What are you doing there?”

Grand Duke Rudfelix called from outside the door.

“I haven’t found it yet, so I was going to continue.”

“Those without permission can’t stay. It’s immediate execution.”

As he showed his card to the knight, Elena closed her eyes, dazzled.

It was because the sunlight reflected off the knight’s sword as he drew it from its scabbard, about to cut off Elena’s head.

‘Can I really endure this well?’

Frightened by the scary words that she couldn’t even stay alone without an entry pass, Elena hurriedly ran to the Grand Duke.

“Where are we going next?”

“Nowhere.”

He only came to check how capable Elena was, and there was nothing else she could help him with next.

“Then should I go back to yesterday’s place and continue what I was doing?”

“As you wish…”

Rudfelix, who was about to say there was nothing more to do, seemed to think of something and slightly furrowed his brow. Then he reached out his hand to Elena, who was looking at him with round eyes.

‘Why is he suddenly reaching out his hand?’

Even when he first saw her, he put his hand near her face.

Up close, his hand was large and threatening, like an animal’s front paw. As it approached, Elena reflexively closed her eyes and shrank back.

“Why did you close your eyes?”

When she slightly opened one eye, Rudfelix was looking at her with an unpleasant gaze.

“Ah…”

The red badge attached to the shirt collar. It seemed like she had seen it on Quiet’s clothes.

She didn’t know he would attach it himself.

‘You could have shown me the badge before attaching it.’

Then she wouldn’t have misunderstood, but it was entirely the Grand Duke’s whim, so she only felt wronged.

As if reading Elena’s thoughts, he snorted.

“Only I can attach the badge.”

It was meant to be attached by the superior as a sign of recognizing and appointing the aide.

Elena touched the badge and slightly turned her body.

“Then I’ll be going.”

Elena took a step back but looked at the Grand Duke once in case he called her.

‘Since he’s not saying anything, it means I can go, right?’

There was no time to be sad about her situation where she had to read even this much. She took another step back while glancing at the Grand Duke.

“If you look one more time…”

And Grand Duke Rudfelix’s irritated warning sounded softly.

“I’m really going now.”

‘I’m already tired.’

Since Elena had not yet fully grasped his personality, she took his warning as a threat and hastily disappeared.