Chapter 95: What Was the Purpose of Prince William’s Visit?

Prince William was successfully escorted away with a "donadona" shuffle, and the only person left from the whole Prince William Intrusion Incident was Grace. I think she’s probably a victim in all this too, but I’m sure I’m the only one who feels that way. The looks everyone in the room was giving Grace were cold and harsh.

"Grace Slick! We will hear the full story of how this happened in another room!"

Cass spoke to Grace in a polite tone with a deep, intimidating voice. Her face was expressionless, and her eyes were fixed and sharp. The moment Grace saw that look, she let out a small "Hii!?" and scooted backward while still sitting on the floor.

"Come on, you two. Help Grace stand up and take her to my room!"

"Yes!!"

Following Cass’s orders, the maids who were usually close with Grace grabbed her by both arms, lifted her up, and silently dragged her out of the room. Even though they normally chatted noisily with her, right now they were in full "complete stranger" mode. The atmosphere made it very clear they wanted absolutely nothing to do with her.

Mother turned back toward me, her expression instantly switching to her usual gentle, fluffy smile.

"Hey, Robby. Why do you think Prince William came to your room?"

There was no way I would know. Still, Cass had been here from the beginning, and it seemed like she had gotten involved the moment the intrusion happened, so when Cass and I explained the situation, Mother seemed to accept it for now. But then she asked the fundamental question:

"I wonder what Prince William actually came here for?"

"Maybe he came to lecture me because my behavior at the ceremony was bad?" I offered.

Mother tilted her head.

"I don’t think so. If that were the case, the first person he would have warned would be me, your guardian. No one has said anything to me. I believe Prince William came here with some other purpose. Robby, does anything come to mind?"

"Nope."

Cass was also making a "?" face behind Mother.

"Does anyone know?" Mother asked the gathered maids, but everyone just shook their heads. Of course they did. Even if someone knew something, they wouldn’t want to get involved, so they’d all just play dumb.

After all this commotion, I no longer felt like going outside, so I decided to head to the Accounting Bureau early for work.

When I arrived at the Accounting Bureau, everyone was surprised.

"What happened? Was there some kind of problem?" the Bureau Chief asked.

I told them about everything that had happened that morning (I left out the previous night, because that would mean talking about my lovey-dovey time with Lily). The Bureau Chief nodded along with "Hmm, hmm," then said:

"Perhaps Prince William wanted to bring you into his own faction?"

Bring me in? Wait—bring me in? That sounds dangerous... Suddenly I remembered last night with Lily.

"His own faction?"

"Yes. Ever since the Crown Prince passed away and the position became vacant, there have been rumors that Prince William is aiming for the Crown Prince’s seat."

The Bureau Chief gave her opinion very straightforwardly. But that Prince William aiming for the Crown Prince’s position...?

"Lady Robby, all the other princes are also making various moves to become Crown Prince. Did you not know?"

"No, I had no idea at all."

The Bureau Chief made a very stunned face, and the older ladies who had been eavesdropping all around us let out a collective:

"Ehhhhh!?"

Hey, it’s not that surprising, is it?

"Lady Robby, do you not want to stand at the top of this country? You would be able to do whatever you want with the nation."

The Bureau Chief asked with a completely serious expression. Hmm... If I became king, would she become my consort if I asked? No, I would never actually do that.

"No, not at all. I don’t have that kind of ability, and I don’t want the responsibility of carrying an entire country on my shoulders. I just want to live a more relaxed life and do my work comfortably."

Just in case... the Bureau Chief wasn’t being sent by someone to try and get a statement out of me, right? I suddenly felt a little worried.

Anyway, I really don’t want a job where I have to manage and supervise people. Being in charge of the Accounting Bureau is already enough; being responsible for an entire country is absolutely not for me. The more responsible someone is, the less they would want such a job. The royal family and the nobles who handle national politics might only recognize people above the rank of nobility as proper humans, but even so, I still don’t want it.

However, my words didn’t seem to sit well with the older ladies in the Accounting Bureau.

"Lies."

"No way, I can’t believe it!"

"Too unambitious..."

I could hear them whispering. Like I said before, they probably don’t believe me. I’ll have to keep repeating this until they do, and I doubt it will reach the other princes either.

"Understood. Since this has nothing to do with work, let’s leave it at that. Now then, Lady Robby, MacVey is on duty today, so could you work with her?"

When I looked in the direction the Bureau Chief pointed, Christine was smiling and waving at me.

Ooooh! It’s been a while!

—-

"Lady Robby, you really have it rough, don’t you~?"

Christine said as she pulled her chair closer and pressed her knee against mine.

"Yeah... All that happened right from the morning, so I don’t feel like doing anything."

"You came here because you didn’t feel like doing anything?"

When she put it that way, it might sound like I came here just to vent my frustrations.

"Well, yeah. If I work here, I can stop thinking about everything."

"Ahhh, I see. Even when I’m working here, I sometimes suddenly start thinking about home stuff. Sigh~"

Christine let out a big sigh and rested her cheek on her hand. Her ample breasts were pressed against the desk and squishing nicely. Those bountiful mounds were quite distracting.

"What could possibly make you sigh like that?" I asked, shaking off my wild fantasies.

"Oh, you know, lots of things. Having a husband really brings all sorts of troubles. We don’t have children yet, so we have fewer worries than others, but there’s still money issues and husband issues. Lady Robby, when you grow up you’ll probably have several wives, but please try not to make them suffer financially, okay?"

She spoke earnestly while rubbing her knee against mine.

"I’ll probably cause my wives a lot of hardship. I think my salary will be pretty low, so both me and my wives will probably have to work to make ends meet."

When I thought about my future, even if I had several wives, I’d probably need all of them to work. I didn’t think I had enough financial leeway to support them as full-time housewives (though calling a prince’s wife a "housewife" feels weird).

"Huh? Lady Robby, you’re going to keep working? Even after this?"

Huh? She was surprised that I would keep working, not my wives? Did people generally think that a prince could just live idly for the rest of his life? Her knee pressed against mine even harder.

"Yes, that’s the plan. I’m already working here, aren’t I? If they’ll keep employing me, I’d like to stay here for a long time. But if you don’t like it, Christine, I can look for another place."

I leaned in a little to peek at her face as I said that. Christine panicked and waved her hand.

"N-not at all! If Lady Robby is going to work here, you’re very welcome!"

She was fanning her face rapidly with the desk pad in her hands.

"Geez, it’s so unfair to hear something like that from such a pretty boy..."

She grumbled in a small voice.

After that, we continued working in silence. Her knee stayed pressed against mine the whole time.

Knock, knock, knock. The door was rapped. Everyone looked up at once toward the sound. The door was already open, so the knock was probably just to get our attention.

"I heard that the Eleventh Prince, Lord Robin, is here. Is Lord Robin present?"

A man raised his voice at the entrance. He called me "Robin." This must be a messenger from Lord Richelieu.

All the older ladies looked at me. With no other choice, I raised my hand and stood up.

"Yes, I’m here. I am the Eleventh Prince, Robin!"

"Oh!! So you’re over there?"

The man wove his way through the desks from the entrance. The Bureau Chief was giving him a clear "Who the hell are you?" look. She immediately spoke up.

"Excuse me, you there—stop right now! Entering without giving your name, without obtaining permission from the department head, and trying to meet Lady Robin is a serious violation of the rules! It’s also extremely rude! You should be able to understand that much! What if you were someone intending to harm Lady Robin? What then?"

The Bureau Chief’s sharp rebuke made the man frown for a moment, but he quickly composed himself, bowed to her, and said:

"My apologies. I was in a hurry and forgot my manners. My name is Keith Relf. I serve as a secretary under Lord Richelieu. I have an urgent message for Lady Robin. Allow me to ask again—Bureau Chief, may I speak with Lady Robin?"

The man who introduced himself as Keith Relf took out something like an ID plate from his chest pocket and showed it to the Bureau Chief. She flinched at the name "Richelieu," but after seeing the plate, she nodded.

"Understood. You may speak with Lady Robin. If the matter is sensitive and you don’t want others to hear, please use the room over there."

She pointed to the side. Keith Relf shook his head.

"Thank you for your consideration, but it’s a very simple matter, so here is fine."

He walked over to me. I was still standing, but Christine was stroking my butt. For some reason she seemed tense—her hand was trembling. Hey, that’s not how you should be touching me.

Keith Relf addressed me directly.

"Lady Robin, I believe you remember that Lord Richelieu previously expressed his desire to speak with you. It’s sudden, but Lord Richelieu happens to have some free time after lunch today. He asks if you would be so kind as to visit his office at that time. If your work here is too busy, he is also willing to come here himself. How would you like to proceed?"

"After lunch?"

"Yes, that’s correct."

Behind him, the Bureau Chief was nodding vigorously. Was that really okay?

"Umm... I’m just a regular worker here, so as long as I have the Bureau Chief’s permission, I can go."

I turned the matter over to the Bureau Chief. Her face instantly lost all color. Keith Relf turned to her and said,

"Lady Robin has said as much. What do you think? We only need about an hour of her time in the afternoon."

The Bureau Chief, who had been so firm in scolding him earlier, suddenly became flustered the moment she heard Richelieu might come. Her usual composure had completely vanished.

"O-of course that’s fine! Even if Lady Robin is gone for an hour, it won’t affect our work at all. Ah, no—two hours is perfectly okay too. Since Lord Richelieu is calling her, it must be important, so please take as much time as you need. Oh, but Lady Robin is extremely capable, so her presence here greatly helps our productivity... but of course we can adjust for however long she needs to speak with Lord Richelieu. Please don’t worry about it."

She rambled on for quite a while, but the gist was that I could go. Keith Relf, upon hearing this, said:

"Then, could you please come to the office after lunch? Do you know the location?"

Unfortunately, I barely knew the layout of the royal palace. I was a member of the royal family, but a disappointing one.

"I’m sorry. I don’t know the room."

Relf looked surprised that I didn’t know, but he quickly recovered.

"In that case, I will come to escort you. Shall I meet you here?"

There was no way I could have him come to my room in the rear palace, so I answered,

"Yes, I’ll be here. Please come and get me."

"Understood. I will come for you after lunch."

He gave a neat bow and left the room. Christine’s hand was still stroking my butt, now positioned dangerously close to the cleft. It felt good as she kept rubbing.