𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟗𝟕
Just a little while before the end of the second school year, I was working in the crown prince’s chamber as usual.
I felt something odd in the report I was reading and stopped flipping through it.
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Around the time after winter, my grandfather’s malaise became noticeable, and
I started to be fully entrusted with the queen’s duties.
What I was reading now was a report from a court lady.
I have been entrusted with the queen’s duties for the past two weeks, but
I became concerned and pulled out the previous report.
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Because I suddenly pulled out an already approved report,
David, who was doing other work, noticed and asked with curiosity.
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“Sofia-sama, is something wrong?”
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“Yeah. . .I’m a little concerned about the report.
Ah, here it is. Yes, this too. This as well.”
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“What happened?”
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I handed over about four reports from the court lady to David.
They are not reports written by the same person, but from different court ladies.
They are written in very beautiful handwriting, and the reports are easy to read and understand.
They are not just idealistic, but the actual numbers are properly researched and written.
It’s a report so well done that I want to use it as a model, but. . .
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“You don’t have to read this, can you just look at it?”
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“. . .?”
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“Look, don’t you notice anything?”
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“. . . . . .These, although the handwriting is the same, are reports from different people, aren’t they?”
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“It’s true, isn’t it. . .No matter how you look at it, the same person wrote these, right?
I noticed late because they were separate reports.
I wonder why reports written by the same person are being submitted under different names.”
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The queen’s work is diverse, and there is a court lady in charge of each area.
Civil officials are basically with the king and prince, while court ladies are with the queen and princess.
Originally, the chief court lady would work for the queen, but there is no queen in this country.
Therefore, the chief court lady had been working for the king, who is my grandfather.
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I started being entrusted with the queen’s duties, but,
Because the chief court lady brought back an elderly court lady who had retired once,
She can’t be given long hours of work.
Because the former chief court lady caused such an incident and was fired,
There was no trust in choosing a new chief court lady, so she had to call back the retired chief court lady.
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Grandfather, the king, oversees the work of the king and queen, so
He doesn’t have time to review everything.
The head of the civil officials and the chief court lady were supposed to fill that role, but
Both were reaching their limits due to old age.
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We need to find a new head of the office and chief court lady.
This was something I had to do before becoming queen.
David will take over as the head of the office if things continue as they are.
It’s fine to keep David and the civil officials as they are in the office.
The problem was the chief court lady.
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Having endured abuse for a long time from the previous chief court lady,
I apparently turned pale and trembled just at the sight of the court lady’s uniform.
I thought I had become mentally stronger by regaining memories of my previous life, but
My seven-year-old body hadn’t forgotten the pain.
Unconsciously, I seemed to be avoiding court ladies and appeared fearful to others.
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Because of this, a court lady couldn’t be assigned to the princess.
By the time I was twelve and began working as a crown prince’s representative,
The civil officials were assigned to me.
Thanks to that, I remember the names of the civil officials in the eastern palace, and
I also know what kind of work each of them has been doing.
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But with the court ladies, most were strangers to me.
I didn’t know their names or faces, nor what kind of work they had done.
I couldn’t select a chief court lady like this.
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To choose a trustworthy chief court lady,
I had to start by learning about the court ladies.
Reading the reports, confirming each name.
The reports weren’t just made by looking at the documents but checking whether they had actually visited the orphanages,
Talked to people in the church, or if the reports were not just superficial.
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Among those reports, one that I thought was particularly excellent.
It was being reported under different names.
What on earth is going on? Who is really writing this?
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“. . .This is something we should hear from the chief court lady first.”
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“That’s right. Can you call Milan?”
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“If it’s now, it will be lunch break, so I’ll contact her to come in the afternoon.”
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“Yes, please do.”
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