CH 1.15

CHAPTER 1: THE SUPPORTING ROLE IS ALSO QUITE DIFFICULT (XV)

Part 016

After the banquet, that had a late start, she was wondering whether to lie down from fatigue. Jenny, who was sorting through the incoming gifts, came to her room with a small box.

“My lady, you must be tired. I’m sorry. I brought this because you might want to see it.”

“Jenny, I’ll check the present tomorrow.”

“Even though your friend sent it?”

“Give me this.”

When she jumped up and opened the gift box, it was a lace handkerchief embroidered with two fresh roses. The roses embroidered by Ailene, who had a talent for embroidery, were vividly beautiful, but what caught her eye was the letter embroidered like a long pattern at the bottom.

A letter that no one in this world will know except them.

[I-_-A-M-_-A-L-R-I-G-H-T]

It’s a lover’s escape. Right, she was worried for nothing. What the Duke said earlier was true. Damn bitch, she could have contacted her. Anyway, Ailene’s personality was super strong. It’s a runaway. It seems that she disliked the Crown Prince quite a bit or liked Dozern quite a bit. After some time passed and another young lady was selected as the crown princess, she would come back, right? With the prince looking after her, she wouldn’t be having a rough time. Well, why was she worried about her? There would be something going on with the overflowing power of love, but there were less than 30 days left

How about her test? It would be hot again next day.

* * *

The final 30 days that filled the entire mansion with astonishment had passed. Adol was very interested in the fact that the notes on the history of the kingdom and the geography of the kingdom that she had made and the hole-piercing method she used to memorize them were new. She was very surprised by the effect.

The day of the test, the first day of fresh summer, she lowered the dark circles of her eyes, and she entered the test room with the knowledge that would disappear if she poured out her head in the test papers. Rootvan, who deliberately took the time to cheer her on, didn’t have the courage to greet her, so he shook his hand from afar and went back.

Kingdom Geography and Kingdom History consisted of 14 subjective questions to memorize and write answers to, and one descriptive question to express an opinion. There were several crises, but fortunately, the descriptive questions that she was worried about were easily passed because they were questions whose answers she had written in the past. After successfully passing the test in the kingdom language, the next step was mathematics. After quickly solving 15 math problems at the upper grade level of elementary school, the tension was relieved.

Now it’s lunch time, so she was about to hand in her test papers to leave early, but the examiner with a hard-faced face scolded her for not accepting the test papers.

“Young lady, shouldn’t you do your best regardless of the outcome?”

“I did my best to solve everything?”

Full of disbelief for her answer, the eyes of the face looking at her were filled with contempt, the examiner spoke in a hard voice and handed her out the exam paper again.

“Young lady, you know that if you fail in even one subject, you fail at all, right? I’m giving you another chance, so take it and try again.”

What was that, she was already tired, but she was also sarcastically hurt by her absurd argument.

“Even if I don’t know about other subjects, there will be no wrong problems in math. I wish I could just get out.”

“You mean you solved this exam in 15 minutes? Do you think the administrative exam is a joke, young lady?”

“You’re kidding? If you don’t believe me, check it out.”

“Okay. If you want to be humiliated like that, I will help you.”

She had her assistant supervisor bring her math answer sheet. He could hear the murmur of those who were engrossed in the test behind them. The examiner looked down at each and every one of the young ladies who were taking the test, including Damian. What was she going to do? Didn’t she like young girls taking tests? Being a woman too.

“If my math answers are perfect, then you should apologize for disrespecting my seriousness and rudeness for disturbing other test takers.”

“There’s no way that would be the case, but if the young lady solved everything, I’d be happy to do so.”

She checked the answer sheet she had brought with Damian’s test papers one by one. That world was a place where mathematics had not developed. She saw advanced mathematics books at the academy, but they were only about functions and equations. As expected, the question on the test was the degree of multiplication of fractions and decimals. Among them, the problem of finding the volume of a polyhedron was one of the most difficult. Damian was a person with a high degree of education in Korea, so when she was in elementary school, she was the one who ate the King of Amsan for 3 consecutive years at our school. Damian finished the calculation, but there could be a wrong problem.

As Damian waited, looking down at the crown of the examiner whose face was rotting, the examiner, who was chewing shit, raised her head.

“Young Lady is very well versed in mathematics. All answers are correct.”

“Okay. So?”

“I received the test paper, so you can leave.”

“Before that, there must be something you have to tell.”

“…I misunderstood, young lady, I apologize.”

“What about others who have been affected by this disturbance?”

The examiner glared at her with an angry face. Seeing no reason to understand her anger, Damian put on the most determined expression she could make of her and stared at her.

“Sorry for causing a fuss, everyone. Please focus on the exam again.”

After she finished speaking, she turned her head away from Damian, and she turned around and left the exam room.

The exam was held at the Ministry of Home Affairs. A total of about 100 students took the test that time. Among them, a lot must be selected to select about 30 people. That was also a war that exploded in its own way.

During the two-hour lunch break, one could go home or go out to the street to eat, but in the summer when the weather was nice, one usually ate lunch in the garden of the official residence. There was fierce competition among family members from aristocratic families to secure good seats. There was even a place where the table was set.

She left the building and followed Jenny, who was waiting for her. Ruby was waiting for her with a thick carpet spread out in a fairly spacious and quiet place. That was a deal that has been taken care of again.

Thick carpets, soft cushions, awnings that block the sun, and still pleasant breezes. It would be nice if it came out to play, but in two hours it’s the liberal arts test in question. She was nervous because she didn’t know what assignments would be given.

‘Please, don’t come out with art, not art.’

It was the time when she was praying inwardly as she watched Jenny and Ruby prepare lunch. A welcome voice greeted her.

“Lady Damian, you are here.”

“Oh, Lady Laurel.”

“It was refreshing earlier, young lady.”

Laurel laughed softly. She was a little embarrassed, but she laughed along.

“I didn’t expect to see you here, young lady. If you don’t mind, let’s have lunch together.”

“Really? Thank you.”

When Laurel’s ladies-in-waiting joined in, it turned into an out-of-the-ordinary picnic. As if she wasn’t the only one who was exhausted from taking the test, they laughed gracefully and enjoyed an inelegant amount of lunch. She heard that the heir of Count Madeira was Laurel’s youngest brother. She was surprised but convinced that the eldest daughter, Lady Laurel, had come to take the test.

“Are you also targeting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?”

“Yes, young lady. Is the young lady a supporter of the Ministry of Home Affairs, where Count Lootvan is?”

“No. I want to work for the Treasury Department.”

“You want to work… As expected, you are an interesting young lady. You will do well. That examiner was also famous for being fussy at the Ministry of Finance, but you overpowered it nicely, didn’t you?”

“Eh, is she a senior from the Ministry of Finance?”

“She is from a commoner family, and she is a person who has been attracting attention for the first time in a very long time that she might become a 5th grade administrator. They said she really hates young girls who gave up quickly after taking a test to find a groom, but today the rumors are simple. I didn’t know you would openly quarrel with her.”

“That’s right. It’s like I’ve already been taken by my chief.”

“Young lady will do well.”

When she trembled, Lady Laurel smiled kindly. She had thought about it before, but it feels good.

“Lady Laurel. If you’ll excuse me, let’s be friends. I would like to be closer to the young lady and we will be able to see each other more often in the future.”

“I was about to ask, but you were faster. Yes, call me Laurel. Can we talk comfortably?”

“Sure. Call me Damian, too. Thanks again for coming to my coming-of-age, Laurel.”

“It was a wonderful time. Congratulations on coming of age.”

“Thank you so much for the gift. It was pretty. A hairpin.”

“It’s nothing special. Oh, Damian. What is your relationship with Duke Bigor? I’ve been curious about it, but I couldn’t ask because we hadn’t met in the meantime.”

“Huh? What kind of relationship? No, relationship?”

“How come you don’t know? Rumors are spreading now. About Duke Bigor and you.”

“What rumors? Well, half of the Midok aristocrats must have come to your coming-of-age that day, so what are the rumors about?”

“The only noble family banquet he had attended since coming to Midok last winter is the lady’s coming-of-age ceremony.”

“Is that so?”

Laurel gave her a coy look and urged her to speak, but there was nothing to say or add. He came to the party, they danced, talked for a while, and then said goodbye? If he really had a different mind, wouldn’t there have been some feedback? She also spent a lot of time studying for the exam, but there was no other reaction from the Duke. She was rather surprised by the brooch she received as a gift and she liked it so much. It was a small brooch, neither too much nor too little, with a jewel the same color as her eyes in the center and decorated with a blue ribbon. It was blue, but the color was dull, and it was difficult to find gems that were the same color as the light pupil of her eyes because they were not well processed.

Shouldn’t she have written a polite letter instead of just a return gift? As expected, she would like to apply for a pen pal… next time they meet maybe.

Two hours flew by as she chatted happily with Laurel.

When she entered the liberal arts test, the first question was playing the piano. Since they were playing an acceptable song, they finished the performance safely without any major mistakes. After passing the first checkpoint, the next questions would be taken in the order in which the ballroom dance exams were passed, so she waited for a while and took the second test safely with a young gentleman standing behind her, whose cheeks were terribly red.

There was only one test left. For male candidates, basic swordsmanship. And the female students…

Was it embroidery or not? Was it fortunate that it was not art? However, embroidery was not simply a matter of sewing skills. The young ladies who had settled down were drawing pictures one by one with colored thread on a white cloth, but her hair went gray.

What, what to embroider? No, once she had decided on something to embroider, she would have the skills to embody it. Since she got passed in piano playing and ballroom dance, it wasn’t too much of a burden, but she’d still have to embroider something.

Ooh, an eagle. Chicks were tough too. Hey, was that a royal palace? Did she have a light and dark cycle with embroidery? She looked sideways at the works of the ladies around her, but even if she tried to refer to them, she had to be competent.

She didn’t know. Now that this had happened, she would go with what she did best. What she did best was embroidering straight lines that were not crooked!

After whining about the time it was called tartan check, a rather sophisticated check pattern in blue, white, and pink was completed. The tartan check didn’t come out as intended, but the small handkerchief was quite colorful and pretty. It’s sophisticated in her eyes, but how would it look in the eyes of the supervisors?

The supervisors were three middle-aged women sitting picturesquely with their backs to the window. They had a boring waiting time, but they told her to draw it as a picture, so it was a work that no one thought she could draw…

After finishing first, they chatted quietly and evaluated the work, but seeing that they were creating works that could not be met while being children, her false expectations disappeared. After tidying up, she trudged out and handed out the embroidered cloth, and the first supervisor was startled.

“This is a very unique pattern.”

“It doesn’t seem like it’s there, but it has a sense of balance.”

“But wouldn’t it be unreasonable to see it as a normal embroidery work?”

“Even so, we cannot ignore the value of this work. I’ve never seen such an understated structure before.”

The three wives entered a short meeting with her in front of them. The conclusion that came after a while was withheld from the judgment. That was the decision she made after they asked her about the results of the previous two tests. She had nothing to say even if she had trouble, but she went home satisfied.

She arrived home after a week and a day. And the result was that she passed her exam