14 -Another Grueling Day for the Aristocratic Kindergarten Teacher
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"I’m sorry. I get motion sickness easily in carriages…”
“It’s alright, lean on me.”
Yohan Deisat wasn’t oblivious. Rather, he was excessively perceptive.
He didn’t know exactly, but he knew it wasn’t simple motion sickness.
But Yohan didn’t bother to argue with her words. Ephna joked with a pale face.
“I guess the driver is angry because I bargained down the carriage fare by 10 phir, huh?”
She just said it as a joke, but surprisingly, it was the correct answer. The coachman smiled with a nasty face and drove the carriage as if it were a seesaw. It was a somewhat petty revenge.
Soon after, the carriage became calm. Ephna staggered as she stood up.
“I’m sorry. I’m a little dizzy…”
Her hand touched Yohan’s chest. His Adam’s apple bobbed. His chest muscles twitched.
The holy captain of the royal guard, Yohan Deisat, denied the impure something that was creeping up as a delusion and opened his mouth.
“Teacher, are you alright now?”
“Ah, yes…! I’m sorry. Did I scare you? I’m like this sometimes.”
“I’m relieved if you’re alright.”
To be embraced by a parent. He should be keeping a proper distance, but he was embraced completely.
As expected, carriages are not helpful in his life. Ephna, holding her head that had become quite better, picked up a paper hanging inside the carriage.
Yohan tilted his head with a curious face. His hand still hovered around Ephna, just in case.
“Teacher, what is that?”
“It’s like a system to protect consumers. The Empire is very good at consumer protection.”
“This one piece of paper?”
His voice sounded quite amazed. She nodded.
[If there are any problems with the service, please write it on this paper and send it to the Imperial Carriage Association.]
That was written at the top of the paper. Her still slightly trembling hand wrote the letters below.
“The driving service is… terrible. I’m not a difficult customer at all…”
I’m really not a difficult customer. The driving was so rough that I almost died.
I should think about whether to send it or not. She folded the paper and put it in her pocket. Just in time, the coachman knocked loudly on the door.
“Hey! We’re at the Imperial Palace! Get off!”
He’s fast. If this guy was born in Korea, he would have at least ten tickets for violating traffic laws.
When she looked out the window, the entrance to the Imperial Palace was really close. Maylin’s brother had opened the carriage door when he woke up.
“Be careful getting off, Teacher. The land maintenance managed by the Imperial Family is quite sloppy.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
His appearance of criticizing the Imperial Family while smiling was quite natural. So much so that she almost didn’t notice.
Ephna jumped down onto a flat spot as Yohan said and bowed her waist.
“Then see you next time. Go in carefully!”
“You too, Teacher. I’ll see you next time.”
Next to Yohan and Ephna, who exchanged brief greetings, the coachman looked at the two of them askew.
“Go or don’t go, whatever.”
“Yes, thank you for the well wishes. You too, sir.”
It feels like the well wishes I hear from relatives on New Year’s Day, so it’s nice.
She turned her body, fiddling with the complaint paper in her pocket. Behind her, she heard the sound of Yohan getting into the carriage.
* * *
“Thank you.”
“Goodbye.”
Yohan, who smiled gently at the coachman, moved his steps across the street. Behind him, the coachman tilted his head.
He was a man who looked strangely dangerous even though he was smiling. His atmosphere was somehow different from when he was with the con artist lady.
‘I thought he was a kind and gullible young man.’
The coachman made his own objective evaluation and got back on the coachman’s seat.
Yohan was already standing in front of a dark alley. In the shaded alley between the tall buildings, a faint chill lingered.
He adjusted the cuffs of his uniform once and walked inside.
“Have you arrived?”
A man wearing the uniform of the Grand Temple royal guard bowed to him.
Yohan glanced at him and lowered his gaze. A man wearing a black mask was collapsed at his feet.
“You keep doing annoying things.”
Thud. A neat shoe carelessly touched the collapsed man.
The kind Yohan Deisat from earlier, when he was in the carriage with Ephna, was nowhere to be found.
In a voice that contained no emotion, Yohan’s subordinate, who had come to greet him, answered.
“Shall we track him?”
“No. As always, they probably sent someone who is okay to die if things go wrong.”
“This is the third time already. Who on earth…”
Right. Who keeps doing this? It was already bothering Yohan. It’s clear that they’re trying to probe the temple’s movements.
He swept up the silver hair that flowed down below his shoulders. He looked like a noble clergyman, but he also had a chilling feeling like a Sicilian mafia.
“I was feeling good for the first time in a while.”
His deep blue sanpaku eyes glanced over the collapsed spy. Slowly turning his gaze, he asked his subordinate.
“Where is the Saintess?”
“She has gone out.”
She must have gone to meet her lover again.
He didn’t care. Yohan passed by the collapsed spy and ordered.
“Clean up and come in.”
“Yes, Captain.”
Such a sense of ennui as soon as he arrived at the temple. It was something he had been familiar with for half his life, but it was somehow subtly… yes, empty.
* * *
“Hello, Viscount Schopen.”
“Ephna Windister, Teacher. Thank you for readily agreeing to the inspection schedule we mentioned.”
“It’s not a difficult task.”
Actually, it’s the most difficult task in the world.
“It’s not a working day, but you’re also working hard, Viscount Schopen.”
I’m letting it slide because we’re in the same situation.
“I can only be grateful that you’re understanding. First, let’s go inside.”
It was a really formal conversation. It felt like finding ‘business email greetings’ on the internet and copying and pasting them.
Viscount Schopen and Ephna. Both of them smiled their best business smiles and talked.
“Will I be doing the entire inspection with Viscount Schopen today?”
“No. You’ll only be doing the simple first inspection with me, and you can look around more if you want.”
It was their first meeting, but she could tell.
This man is one of my kind. He’s an office worker who’s extremely mired in reality. Look at that appearance of wanting to handle only the minimum amount of work neatly and go home.
She swallowed the strong sense of kinship she felt and nodded.
“Yes. Um, could we see the rest area first? There are a lot of young children, so it’s the most important.”
“Of course. This way, please.”
She looked around various places in the Imperial Palace following Viscount Schopen.
The palace that was to be rented out was a round, arched building. It was painted in light green in places, so it was very comfortable on the eyes.
The garden had no high ledges or sharp decorations, so it was good for children to run around in.
“Hmm, I just need to remove the pointy stones a little.”
And what about the greenhouse? It was full of plants imported from across the continent. Ephna gently stroked the petals and opened her mouth.
“It’s a very educationally excellent greenhouse.”
“Haha. I’m glad.”
By the time they reached the end of the greenhouse, a satisfied smile was on her lips.
“It’s perfect. Would it be alright if I looked around a little more by myself after this?”
“Yes. If you need any help, you can show the entrance confirmation I gave you earlier to the Imperial royal guard.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Yes.”
The chronic disease of office workers. It was called ‘Yes Disease’. It seemed that the two of them couldn’t avoid this disease either.
Viscount Schopen disappeared into the distance in an instant, as if he wanted to go home as soon as possible. Ephna turned her steps, hiding her desperate envy.
She carefully wrote down the plan, retracing the paths she had taken so far. By the time she was done, it was already afternoon.
“Oh my god, I worked for three hours on the weekend.”
Let’s go back quickly. You can’t be too diligent. She shuddered and put the documents in her bag.
The place decided as the spring field trip location was quite inside for the protection of the children. As she came out of there, nobles who were only allowed to enter the outer palace gradually began to appear.
‘I heard that nobles sometimes have social gatherings in the outer palace. I guess it’s true.’
She approached the fountain to lightly wash her hands. Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice from behind.
“Ephna…?”
Was there someone who knew her here? Ephna stopped putting her hands in the water and turned around.
And the moment she faced the person who called her name, she had no choice but to stop abruptly.
Her heart, which had been beating calmly and slowly, made a thumping sound and fell to her feet in an instant.
Her face hardened as if it were a lie.
The man took a step towards Ephna, who was standing still, and said.
“Ephna Windister. Is it really you? Is it really you?”
Ephna Windister. ‘Windister’. The name she abandoned five years ago. The man pronounced that name so naturally.
He was.
“…Hardness Bilchen.”
He was her former fiancé, Hardness Bilchen.
