“They are all gathered in the reception room working together.”

“May I ask for guidance?”

“I shall do so.”

⁕⁕⁕

The reception room of Count Kent’s residence was located on the first floor of the main building where the emperor’s words had stopped. The reception room door, reached so quickly that guidance seemed pointless, was slightly open.

While observing the three people who were concentrating on their work through the space opened about a hand’s width, Lilias spoke to Casiel.

“Your Majesty. I shall announce your arrival……”

Casiel quickly raised his hand to stop Lilias’s words.

Lilias, whose mouth was stopped by a single gesture, reflexively raised her head to look up at Casiel’s profile.

His face, which she had to look up at considerably due to his great height, was rigid like a statue.

However, his gaze was different from his seemingly emotionless expression.

Lilias unconsciously turned her eyes following his gaze.

Naturally, at the end of his gaze was Elia. More precisely, Elia who was passionately arguing with Terence with a serious face.

Though her complexion was haggard and pale, Elia’s eyes as she concentrated on work were bright and clear.

She was engaging in discussion with Terence while pointing at documents one by one with her left hand, and writing something down so quickly it was barely visible with her right hand.

Casiel, who quietly watched that scene, remained expressionless throughout. But Lilias could read many things from that expressionless face.

The emperor very much liked the sight of Elia working. He felt bad even about her making eye contact with another man for conversation. Yet he still couldn’t hide his impure thoughts in the midst of it all, and so on.

Lilias bit her lower lip slightly, then made a big decision and opened her lips.

“Your Majesty.”

The pupils that had contained dense emotions withdrew all emotion like inorganic gems the moment they turned toward her at Lilias’s call.

Lilias carefully closed the reception room door so no sound could be heard and spoke to Casiel.

“Though it may be presumptuous, I dare wish to say something to Your Majesty. Please do not consider what I say as wicked scheming. I—Elia Weiss is as precious to me as my husband.”

As she carefully began, his masculine eyebrows rose ominously.

“Stories with long preambles are usually unpleasant to hear.”

“If the long preamble displeased you, I apologize. However, I find Elia so pitiful……”

Casiel’s head tilted sideways.

His gaze toward the bold woman who dared to speak about his most sensitive area to his face was cold.

“Do you want to lecture me now?”

“Absolutely not. How could that be? What I want to say is, well……”

Even under the pressure that seemed capable of strangling someone to death with just a look, Lilias tried to remain steadfast.

Elia’s thin wrist that she had briefly grasped earlier gave Lilias courage.

At her story delivered with such desperate courage, Casiel’s eyes widened.

⁕⁕⁕

The most urgent matter could barely be handled before passing midnight.

Elia, who had wrestled with papers all day, collapsed right onto the wide table of the reception room the moment she filled in the last document’s section.

Relief that it was finally over and fatigue that she couldn’t handle such urgent work twice settled on her shoulders at once. Her eyelids became heavy like her drooping body.

Terence’s condition, who had been dragged here with a patient’s body and suddenly burdened with urgent heavy work, wasn’t much different either.

Count Kent clicked his tongue at the sight of the two people, who were far from physical labor, collapsing limply.

“Financial Administrator Elia Weiss, why don’t you go up to a room and lie down comfortably to get some sleep?”

Elia, with one cheek pressed against the table, only raised her fingers and waved them back and forth horizontally. It was a gesture saying she had no energy to speak or move, so just leave her alone.

“Good grief…… Then what about you, Financial Administrator Morris? Are you going to stay like that? If you fall asleep in that position, you’ll obviously suffer from muscle pain tomorrow.”

Terence, who was lying face down, groaned like a ghost returned from the grave. Count Kent eventually burst out laughing.

“Alright. I won’t say anything more.”

Count Kent shrugged his shoulders and left the reception room, leaving the two sprawled civil officials as they were.

Elia closed her heavy eyelids while listening to the sound of his footsteps brushing past her ears, the sound of the door opening, and the voice that let out an exclamation of surprise before quickly closing its mouth.

‘Is he getting scolded by Sister Lily? Heh.’

…… with such rather childish thoughts.

Elia, who had fallen asleep using documents as a pillow and the table as a bed, opened her eyes when the morning sunlight tapped her forehead.

“Ah……”

As soon as she raised her body, the aftereffects of sleeping face down, just as Count Kent had said, struck Elia.

Elia, who raised her heavy body while massaging her stiff neck and shoulders, tilted her head at the empty seat beside her.

Hadn’t Terence also fallen asleep here?

“Did Senior go to the guest room while I was sleeping?”

Casually dismissing the absence of the person who had fallen asleep beside her, Elia gathered the completed documents and held them in her arms.

“Let’s see…… Right now it’s…… 7 o’clock?”

Looking at the large grandfather clock placed on one wall of the reception room, Elia estimated the time in her mind.

If she took a carriage to the port right now, it would take about an hour and a half, and if she confirmed the ships docking this morning and their cargo, it would be around noon. Once she arrived, she could immediately hand over the documents to the on-site manager…….

Elia, who had roughly planned today’s schedule in her head while tidying her disheveled clothes, discovered Count Kent as soon as she left the reception room and exited the count’s residence.

Count Kent, who had been having a serious conversation with the butler who was also familiar to Elia, showed signs of being startled when Elia approached.

“Elia. Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah. Were you waiting with the carriage prepared until I woke up? You could have woken me up earlier. You’re coming with me too, right?”

“…… No.”

At the answer that felt somewhat suppressed, Elia asked back with a puzzled expression.

“Then I’m going alone?”

The documents were all prepared, but they hadn’t received the emperor’s approval yet. In such cases, it was procedure for a representative to accompany and confirm, and Count Kent, as the emperor’s aide, was the most suitable person as a representative.

“Ah, or do you mean I’m not going and only you are going?”

“It’s not that…… Well…… Just get in first.”

What was that momentary hesitation that absolutely couldn’t be overlooked?

Suspicious feelings rose like clouds, and her brow naturally furrowed.

Count Kent, who had been hesitating under Elia’s suspicious gaze, let out a short sigh and placed his hand on Elia’s shoulder.

“Elia.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m saying this with all sincerity, but I want you to be happy.”

“What’s this all of a sudden?”

“I really cherish you.”

“What incomprehensible thing are you saying right now?”

“…… Have a safe trip.”

Count Kent spun Elia around like a pancake on a frying pan and pushed her toward the carriage.

Being pushed along and stuffed into the door that the butler had hurriedly run over to open happened in the blink of an eye.

Bang!

“What the heck is this…… Gasp!”

Her senses returned a beat late at the sound of the door slamming shut violently in front of her nose. Elia, who had been about to shout angrily at Count Kent belatedly, covered her mouth with the hand not holding documents the moment she realized she wasn’t alone in the carriage.

“Sit down. We’ll depart immediately.”

She got goosebumps at the cool, low voice.

Elia turned her head awkwardly like an unoiled hinge. However, even before turning her head, she already knew who the owner of the voice was.

How could she not recognize the presence that her skin felt first even when just passing by from afar?

“I deliberately told them not to wake you until you woke up naturally, but you still look tired. Try to sleep a bit more on the way.”

Casiel, who had been carelessly flipping through documents with his long legs crossed, glanced over and gestured with his eyes for her to sit down.

“How is Your Maj…… esty here……”

As she stammered while standing awkwardly, cracks appeared in his expression that had been like a frozen winter lake.

Casiel, who had been staring intently at Elia as she was on guard with her whole body, threw down the documents he was holding and grabbed Elia’s hand.

“Ah……!”

Her body, which had been hesitating at the sudden attack, tilted and nearly fell.

However, Casiel didn’t pull Elia into his chest as usual. The place he guided her to by pulling her hand was the seat next to him.

When Elia awkwardly perched her bottom on the smooth velvet carriage seat, Casiel knocked on the carriage door to signal departure.

“We’re going straight to Burnett Port, so rest while we’re traveling.”

Casiel’s gaze, as he said this while firmly holding Elia’s hand, was fixed outside the carriage window. As if he was deliberately trying not to look at Elia’s face.

⁕⁕⁕