Chapter 92: Chief Accountant Lady, Alone

"Ah..."

Suddenly, the Chief Accountant Lady seemed to snap back to her senses. She looked around, then clapped her hands loudly—clap! clap! paaaan!—and called out,

"Alrighty, break time is over, everyone~! Get back to work, get back to work~!"

She urged the people around her to return to their tasks. She was the one who started asking me questions in the first place, yet she could flip her attitude so easily. A classic example of starting the fire herself and then putting it out—a real match-pump.

However, the Chief Accountant Lady walked around the desk and came to my side. She took my hand and whispered into my ear,

"Lord Robby, when you meet with Lord Richelieu, please don’t say anything bad about the Accounting Bureau, okay?"

Aaaah, I want to shove this hand right into her chest! But I kept a calm face and replied earnestly,

"Don’t worry. I’m being taken care of here, so I have no reason to speak ill of the place. I intend to continue working here as long as possible."

"Oh my! Thank you so much!"

She pressed my hand against her chest. Hmmm... I could barely feel any softness. If only Anisee-san had done this instead. Right, I should drive a nail in here while I can. I don’t want her stirring up the same topic again.

"Chief Accountant Lady, I’m sorry to ask, but could you please stop talking about or asking me questions regarding my future? I don’t want to say anything unnecessary and get criticized or targeted. I don’t want to make enemies by having my words taken the wrong way. I just want to live peacefully."

She looked serious for a moment, then immediately smiled.

"I understand. Statements from royalty can be quite sensitive, after all. I won’t ask such questions again."

She bowed politely and returned to her seat.

"It must be tough being a prince," Anisee-san said with a voice full of sympathy.

"It’s not particularly tough right now, but I wonder if it will become tough later? It worries me."

"Lord Robby, you’re still only 10 years old, right? Normal 10-year-olds don’t worry about their future like that."

Anisee-san laughed, but I replied,

"Noble 10-year-olds might dream about their future in various ways, but commoner 10-year-olds are probably too busy just trying to survive tomorrow and the day after. My livelihood is guaranteed for now, so that’s fine as it is."

Plus, I awakened to sexual desires at 10 and am living quite a fulfilling life in that regard.

"Lord Robby, you really are different. Normally, royalty wouldn’t worry about or even think about commoners. First of all, they almost never interact with them."

Anisee-san chuckled as she spoke.

After that, we worked silently until the end of the workday.

That night, the night-shift maid was an old lady I hadn’t seen before. I had hoped Lily would come, but I was out of luck. Still, it was what it was.

I waited for the old maid to fall asleep, but she wouldn’t doze off easily. Being diligent in one’s duties is normally praiseworthy, but for me it was nothing to be grateful for.

I lay in bed pretending to sleep, breathing softly and quietly while observing her. I waited... and waited... and waited. Finally, I heard her sleeping breaths. This was the first time I’d encountered a maid with such poor sleep onset. I was still worried she might not be fully asleep, so I sat up on the bed and watched her. It sure would be convenient if there was a spell like "Sleep" right about now. Even if there was, I wouldn’t use it for bad things, of course.

I imagined casting "Sleep" on Anisee, carrying her somewhere no one could see, stripping her completely naked, pushing my son deep inside her, and after she could no longer protest, casting "Awaken" so she would scream, "Lord Robby! What on earth is this?!" Then I’d start moving my hips, and gradually Anisee would begin moaning... My fantasies kept swelling. Yeah, this is a crime. This is bad. Whenever I let my imagination run wild, it always heads in that direction.

I snapped back to reality. The maid was still asleep. In fact, she was folded forward, her head resting on her knees. What a compact sleeping posture, I thought. It looked uncomfortable, so I princess-carried her and laid her down on the sofa. Tonight too, she mumbled "Thank you" in her sleep. Her position still looked a bit strained, so I placed a cushion under her head.

Now then. I went outside and jumped up onto the roof. It was already late, so most rooms had their lights off. I moved along the rooftops, but Michel and his wife were asleep, and so was Marin-sensei’s house. I didn’t feel like going out, so I sat on the roof alone, lost in thought.

"Lord Robby."

I turned toward the voice and saw Lily standing there.

"May I? Would it be alright if I sat next to you?"

"Sure. Though it’s on the roof."

"Then please excuse me."

Lily sat down beside me without making a sound.

"How’s Stevie doing?"

"He held himself together without shedding tears and attended the funeral by supporting his brother’s lover."

"I see. It must be hard for him."

"Yes. Thinking about his brother’s lover might be helping distract him."

"What will that lover do after this?"

"I don’t know, but she might return to her family home."

"Does she have a family home?"

"Yes. She comes from a Knight Baron’s house. I heard she has parents and a younger brother."

"That’s better than Stevie. Stevie is all alone."

"Oh? Don’t you have Lord Robby?"

"That’s only if Stevie comes to me, right?"

"That’s true, but..."

"I wonder if he’ll be my escort again?"

"Who knows? We’ll have to give it some time before we can tell."

"Yeah, I guess so."

We sat in silence for a while.

"Today’s funeral was quite grand."

"Yes. But I think Her Majesty the Empress Dowager’s was even larger."

"Empress Dowager?"

"My, don’t you remember? It was three years ago."

Three years ago...? That was when I was 7... back when I was a total idiot.

"I forgot about that."

I decided to play it off that way. Robby’s dark history really goes on and on.