CH 19

Hermia was crying, but she let out everything she wanted to say.

“Is it such a big deal to ask you to just tell them? Am I only this much to you? He died that way! I can’t, but you can do it! Now I’m at my limit! The limit! I can’t stay like this anymore! Rather, just, just, all…….”

Words kept pouring out frantically, but eventually, her mouth shut.

Iris patted her trembling friend on the back and swallowed a sigh.

She couldn’t say ‘Why didn’t you listen to me when I told you to break up with a man like that.’

‘Why the hell are you putting up with him?’

‘Don’t say that… He’s also having a hard time.’

‘Hermia!’

‘Iris. I love him. So please. Stop it.’

Shaking her head and erasing fragments of a fairly old conversation, Iris opened her mouth, saying,

“I’ll look into it from various angles so that it can be resolved quickly. If you need anything, tell me.”

Despite her soothing words, Hermia never looked back at Iris.

Hermia’s eyes, which were buried in her palms, were lined with redness and tear stains.

Iris said something behind her, but Hermia didn’t hear her.

It was really… it was really the limit.

She wanted to meet him. The beloved man who willingly killed her fiancé for her sake…

She remembered the moment when blood spattered in front of her eyes, and suddenly, her heart raced.

Anxiety and fear, faint fluttering excitement and intense nervousness were mixed. She did not know what to do.

Hermia closed her eyes tightly and waited.

May this all be over soon, so that she could fly freely towards the one she loves.

.

Two days later, at noon.

Ophelia worked her pen hard to finish a bunch of papers, and staggered as she tried to get up.

It was because her field of vision narrowed by looking only at papers and black letters.

She then patted her on the cheek to regain her composure and proceeded through the mountains of papers towards Cooper.

No contact or whatever, the lack of news from Iris was also very concerning…

(TL/N: I shortened it so it’ll flow better but ‘함흥차사/Hamheungchasa’ is an idiom – a person sent away on an errand does not return without ever contacting the sender or responding to the sender’s messages.)

She swallowed the bubbling and gurgling anger as she looked at the papers next to her desk, which were more than double of yesterday’s.

Iris didn’t go to work, but the world goes on and there’s always work.

It’s been a few days since the vast amount of work she had been doing was shared between Cooper and Ophelia.

The dark shadows under Ophelia’s eyes spread over her eyelids, turning her into a panda. It reached a point where she could not stand it any longer.

‘Pandas are cute, I’m afraid to look in the mirror.’

‘If something isn’t done today, I’m going to storm into Richard’s office and hand over the papers, since in the end, his reviewed version is needed.’

There was a sense of crisis that if she spent a few more days in this state, she might become a dog running with documents in her mouth.

Ophelia shrugged and stopped in front of Cooper’s desk.

However, when she was about to tap his desk, she had to let out a long sigh.

She couldn’t even see a part of the desk to tap because every inch available was filled with papers.

“Ahem, hmmm!”

She made a very loud noise for a dry cough, but when Cooper barely raised his head, she had no choice but to clean up the documents.

Ophelia, who had managed to attract Cooper’s attention at once thanks to the strong tapping of her finger, got to the point at once.

“When is Aide Iris coming back?”

“I don’t know.”

Bearing as much dark shadows under his eyes as Ophelia, Cooper left only a short answer and was about to bury his face in the paperwork again.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, sorry.”

Ophelia took back the hand that supported Cooper’s chin that was lowering and apologized sincerely.

“Aide Iris. She’s been sick for so long, shouldn’t you go?”

“It’s not painful, so we don’t have to worry about that. That’s right. I don’t know what’s going on either.”

“You didn’t hear what’s going on?”

“Yes. I’m starting to lose weight too. It would have been a little better if there was Sir Gryu… No, I said something useless.”

Ophelia sympathized deeply as Cooper smiled blankly and glanced at the documents.

The two of them made eye contact and nodded their heads without saying a word, strengthening their deep comradeship.

“I was going to find out about Iris by the end of the day.”

“Me!”

Ophelia raised her hand.

“You want to go?”

“Yes!”

“It doesn’t matter, but the documents remain the same…”

“I know.”

She quickly shut Cooper’s mouth, which once again hitting the bone with the truth.

“Where can I go to get information about Aide Iris? I probably have to go to Count Fillite…”

“No.”

This time, Cooper cut Ophelia’s words.

He tapped his chin with a friendly smile and said,

“If it’s something that made Iris take a few days off like this, it must be about a friend. Look for her friend, not the Fillite family.”

.

Ophelia escaped from the aide’s office and met Richard shortly thereafter.

Rather than meeting him, it would be more accurate to say that Richard appeared anyway, as if he fell from the sky or rose from the ground.

Ophelia scanned Richard up and down, giving him a very cheeky look.

“Your Highness.”

“Is there nothing to do?”

“Yes. Do I really have no work to do? As an aide, I know how much paperwork goes up to Your Highness, but there are other things to do besides that.”

Richard didn’t answer. He simply smiled faintly.

“Indeed, the main…”

Ophelia swallowed the words ‘the main character’ and shifted her eyes away.

She was so tired that she almost spit out the words, ‘Indeed, you’re the main character of a novel, so your abilities are amazing!’

“Main?”

“Lord… you’re the lord.”

Richard stared at her, who avoided his gaze, then let her absurd words pass..

“Where are you going?”

“I’m looking for Iris.”

“Is Cooper at his limit?”

“I’m at my limit too.”

A short smile crossed Richard’s lips at Ophelia’s assertion, then disappeared.

“I can understand without hearing more. Let’s go.”

As Richard blinked, the eyes of Ophelia widened.

“Your Highness is coming along with me to find Iris?”

“Yes.”

Ophelia quickly erased the thoughts that had flashed into her mind.

—That either Richard loves Iris, or has a slight crush, else he wouldn’t go looking for her without news.

“Your Highness, I’m really curious, so…”

“Ophelia.”

“Yes?”

“Didn’t you just feel something?”

At Richard’s sudden question, Ophelia scanned the surroundings blankly and shook her head.

“Not at all. Why?”

“I felt a vibration from the ground.”

At that, Ophelia looked down at her feet, but she still couldn’t feel anything.

“Is it still…?”

“No. Intermittently.”

Richard, who had stood still for a while, took a step back before saying,

“Going back to the previous story, we’re going to find Iris because of work.”

“What?”

This time, Ophelia stood tall and tense In response to Richard. Then she flinched, grabbing his sleeve and pulling him.

“Maybe that’s an infinite…”

“Well. I don’t see any signs of that yet, but maybe there’s a connection.”

“Then what’s going on?”

When Ophelia, still unable to let go of her tension, asked again, Richard took her hand that was holding onto his sleeve.

“You don’t need to be so nervous already, You’ll just get tired unnecessarily.”

“Yes.”

Ophelia took a deep breath and exhaled.

As she paused and raised her head, Richard continued speaking as if she had read her thoughts.

“I heard that Iris is involved in the festival.”

“Iris is involved in…”

Ophelia blinked quickly without speaking.

‘I think I had just read about a ‘festival’ in the documents and heard the word ‘hell’.’

Her eyes met Richard’s. He nodded his head as if reading her thoughts again.

“It’s a festival.”

“If it’s a festival… Is it going to be held in two months?”

“Yes.”

“No wonder every document that comes in is related to a festival, so it’s just around the corner. There will be more documents to process in the near future, right? It’s the biggest festival in the empire. People from all over the empire, as well as outsiders, will pour in like the tide.”

In despair, Ophelia buried her face into both hands, then proceeded to pull her hair as if to rip it off her head.

Again, Richard took her hands, lowering them. He took a step forward while holding soft hands that were much smaller than his own.

“We must find Iris quickly.”

Like this, Richard and Ophelia held hands and walked side by side.

.

Around the time Ophelia struggled with anguish as she recalled the documents that would be poured over her head due to the festival.

Iris was alone with the head of the family to which the man, who was Hermia’s dead fiancé, belonged.

The count, who lost his one and only heir, looked more tired than sad.

“The crown prince’s aide… what happened…”