TPHT 02

Chapter 02

When I opened the rotting, worm-eaten wooden door, the air—colder than the outdoors in the dead of winter—stung the tip of my nose.

‘This is supposed to be the imperial palace… Did they receive no budget for heating at all?’

The inside was even worse.

It was no different from a storage room cluttered with all kinds of odds and ends.

There wasn’t a single trace of anyone having managed the place.

‘Did I come to the right place?’

Just as I hesitated, wondering whether to go in or leave—

“Grrr… grrr… hooooo…”

I heard faint snoring.

Carefully stepping inside, I saw a worn-out, aging middle-aged man sleeping soundly beyond the piles of junk.

Director of the Child Protection Bureau, Samuel McGuffin.

That was the name on the nameplate sitting on his desk.

“…Director.”

The moment I spoke in a clear voice, Director McGuffin jolted awake in surprise.

“Who… Ah.”

A look of recognition crossed his face.

“You must be the new Deputy Director. Name’s Tessa, was it?”

“Yes, Tessa Harrington. But did you say I’m the Deputy Director?”

I immediately asked back.

Deputy Director?

With my years of experience, it would be normal to be just about making team leader. But Deputy Director, skipping over team leader and department head entirely?

“Yes, a little consideration so you can try on a fancy title before you leave.”

“…”

No further explanation was needed.

‘In other words, figure out your place and crawl out on your own.’

It was such a petty trick it almost made me laugh bitterly.

“For your information, it’s just you and me here. Once you leave, it’ll be just me.”

I glanced around the office.

So this place, crammed with junk like a storage room, was the office?

“You should be thankful. Until I managed to secure even this space, I had to work in a bathroom.”

“…How long did my predecessor last?”

McGuffin thought for a moment.

“It was last summer… hmm, a month? No, about three weeks. She lasted a long time. Usually people quit within a week.”

I understood perfectly.

I felt the urge to quit right then and there myself.

I had experience. I was smart.

Couldn’t I just find a job at some big trading company?

But the word “voluntary resignation” did not exist in my dictionary.

‘Let’s see who wins, me or them.’

If I gave up now, it would be admitting defeat. I wanted to hold out until the very end, somehow.

“What are my duties?”

“That.”

McGuffin pointed with his chin toward a pile of documents. They weren’t neatly organized—just a chaotic heap of paper stacks, making my stomach sink already.

“Just stamp them roughly and take it easy.”

McGuffin said with a yawn.

“Oh, and don’t go outside. If you’re caught taking a stroll, you’ll be disciplined for dereliction of duty.”

In other words, once you entered the Child Protection Bureau, you were bound to quit, whether voluntarily or not.

‘We’ll see about that.’

I moved the pile of documents straight to my desk, then began checking them one by one, rubbing my freezing hands together.

‘…There’s really nothing to them.’

True to the grandiose name “Child Protection Bureau,” I had thought it would be a department helping the empire’s children and youth, but it was the exact opposite.

Provincial festival budgets, imperial household staff clothing designs—just miscellaneous paperwork that anyone could stamp without consequence. Documents that everyone wanted to avoid eventually ended up here, where no one was in a position to refuse them.

So was I angry?

No.

‘Turn off my brain, stamp some papers, and leave on time? That’s a sweet deal!’

If you can’t avoid it, enjoy it.

I quickly skimmed through the documents and began stamping them with brisk, cheerful movements.

One week later.

The “angry Tessa Harrington submits her resignation” that my former colleagues at the Ministry of Finance had probably expected never happened.

Aside from the cold and the complete lack of any sense of fulfillment, it was actually a pretty decent position. Much better than getting constantly harassed at the Ministry of Finance.

Just as I was getting used to my new place—

“Work, Deputy Director.”

Director McGuffin held an invitation stamped with the crest of House Bayeretz between his middle and index fingers and waved it ostentatiously.

I stared blankly at the invitation. What did that have to do with me?

“Unfortunately, I’m busy that day. You’ll have to attend on my behalf.”

…What did I just hear?

“Are you talking to me?”

McGuffin narrowed his eyes at me.

“Is there anyone else here?”

“…No.”

“Then you’re going.”

“But I’ve never attended a ball in my life.”

Balls were playgrounds for nobles. There was nothing good about me going.

“Just go, fill a seat, and slip out at the right time. All that matters is that there’s a record of you attending.”

Did I look that reluctant?

McGuffin’s brow twitched.

“You don’t like it? Then quit.”

“….”

“That’s an order, Deputy Director.”

Right.

So my first official duty as a bureaucrat in the Child Protection Bureau was… attending a ducal ball, which had absolutely nothing to do with protecting suffering children.

Bayeretz Mansion was even larger and more luxurious than I had expected.

Even I, accustomed to the imperial palace, couldn’t help but marvel.

True to the reputation of a magical house that produced the next duke and the youngest-ever Head of the Magic Tower, Fabian Bayeretz, every space was decorated with delicate magic.

But there was no time to just stand in admiration.

‘Just as I thought.’

As expected, Director McGuffin wasn’t the only one invited. Various department heads had all been invited. Including the Minister of Finance, who was so eager to devour me alive.

We’d never had a proper conversation, but the chances he would recognize me were fairly high. I must have been quite a celebrity at the Ministry of Finance.

‘I’ll just kill time on the balcony.’

One attendant was continuously recording the entrance and exit of guests. If I left right after entering, I might be called out on it later.

Just as I was about to head toward the balcony—

A booming voice announced the arrival of a VIP.

“Presenting the Grand Duke of Karditsa, Achilles, and his younger sister, Lady Melissa!”

As the attendant’s voice rang throughout the ballroom, the crowd immediately began to stir.

I was no exception.

That Grand Duke of Karditsa had come to the capital?

The Grand Duke of Karditsa, who wielded power tantamount to a king in the autonomous northern region, was the second most powerful figure in the entire empire, after the emperor himself.

‘I heard he almost never leaves the North… To come to the capital with his younger sister…’

The moment I peeked out of curiosity—

‘…Insane.’

He had a presence that would overwhelm anyone with eyes.

His beauty was inhuman, like a coldly sharpened blade. Goosebumps rose on my skin as if a cold piece of metal had touched the back of my neck.

Beneath his silver hair, which spilled like moonlight, were flawlessly sculpted features… and violet eyes that seemed to pierce through a person, gleaming with a cold light.

Instinctively, I knew.

This person is dangerous. The best course of action is to avoid any kind of involvement with him.

‘Whatever kind of novel this is… he’s definitely a main character.’

His looks and aura were such that he could be the male lead, the second male lead, or the villain.

‘Well, none of my business.’

You’d need to be at least a minister to even offer a greeting to a grand duke. Meaning, to him, I was worth less than a stray dog.

My gaze shifted to the girl with the luxuriant silver hair, Lady Melissa.

‘There’s quite an age gap.’

The Grand Duke appeared to be in his mid-twenties, while the young lady seemed barely ten years old.

I heard murmuring from around me.

“Lady Melissa? That Lady Melissa? There’s a rumor she’s the illegitimate daughter of the late Grand Duchess…”

“Shh. It’s best not to say anything that might make an enemy of the Grand Duke.”

“Still, everyone who knows, knows.”

I swallowed a sigh.

Nobles’ conversations were the epitome of petty backbiting. As if they would dare utter a word in front of the Grand Duke himself.

Just then.

Crash!

A loud sound of shattering glass rang out.

“Melissa!”

At the same time, someone shouted the young lady’s name loudly.

Everyone’s heads instinctively turned toward the source of the commotion.

“Hn, hnng… huuuuh…”

Right in front of Lady Melissa, who was sobbing loudly, a massive glass craft, bearing the clear mark of a master artisan, lay shattered.

“I-I didn’t meeean to…”

“…Melissa.”

Grand Duke Achilles let out a sigh audible to everyone around him.

The Grand Duke’s chiseled face was filled with a worry that didn’t suit his youth and beauty.

It was, how to put it, the face of a parent exhausted by childcare.

“I don’t know what to do with you anymore. I truly don’t.”