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When she received a request asking if she could come over because he had something to discuss, Letticia visited that evening. Ezkhiel, who looked like he had just returned from work, was loosening his tie and handing it over to a servant.
"Ez, have you been waiting long?"
"No, I just got here. Work piled up a bit, so I even had dinner at the palace dining hall."
With a slightly tired expression, Ezkhiel sat down with Letticia on the sofa. On the table before them were tea and some unevenly shaped cookies that looked like Ezkhiel had baked them himself.
"Tea again, even in the evening? You should drink something else."
"Actually, I still have more work to do after you leave. I'll be working late again tonight."
"Are you that busy? Then you should rest. Why did you even ask me to come?"
"…Since I don't get many days off, I wanted to see you, even if just for a little while… You didn't dislike it, did you?"
"How could I possibly dislike it? I was only worried that you might be too tired."
Ezkhiel, who had looked somewhat dejected, relaxed his stiff shoulders at her words and broke into a smile.
Letticia, however, grew concerned as he looked more exhausted than usual.
"Ez, are you very tired? Nothing happened at work, right?"
"…I don't know if you've heard from Lenard or Lady Averil, but Lady Averil submitted her resignation. However, His Highness stopped it and even issued an order for her promotion."
Hearing the story, which she had already been told by Ariette earlier today, Letticia leaned in toward Ezkhiel. Seeing from her expression that she already knew the situation, Ezkhiel took a sip of tea and continued.
"The order itself was canceled today, so technically it's as if it never happened. But then His Highness gave me a new command."
"A new command?"
"…He told me to find out what Lady Averil plans to do after she resigns."
"Why?"
Letticia was genuinely puzzled. Why, of all things, did he need to know Ariette's plans after leaving her post? And why would he assign such a task to Ezkhiel? Was that really the work of the Chief Aide?
"According to His Highness, depending on what Lady Averil does, the Duke's household's next moves may change, so he wants to know in advance."
"So he's worried about what the Duke's family might do? Like using their grain supplies to pressure the Crown?"
"…I'm not sure. He didn't say anything beyond that."
Ezkhiel's expression also looked unsettled. Although he was following his superior's orders to ask, it seemed he himself couldn't understand the reason behind them.
"Still, since it's His Highness's command… if you happen to know anything, could you tell me?"
"…Ha."
No matter how unreasonable it seemed, following orders was the sad duty of a subordinate.
Letticia barely restrained herself from grabbing the back of her neck in frustration. Instead of blurting out the words 'that stalker bastard' that had risen to her throat, she forced out a calm response.
"For now, she's agreed to join a small social circle I started with my friends, Dayna and Lady Eskis. She's also planning to study business management."
"Business management?"
"Yes. Lady Averil is also participating in developing recipes using fruit cream. It looks like she wants to use that as a starting point to learn about business. Most likely, that's the field of study she intends to pursue after resigning."
At Letticia's explanation, Ezkhiel nodded as if it made sense.
"Lady Averil said herself that she wasn't suited to being a civil official. If she finds her path in business, that would be good for her."
"She's working hard, so I'm sure she'll achieve good results. But… does His Highness really need to know even this much detail?"
"…I suppose I'll have to report it anyway. The final judgment will be up to His Highness."
Ezkhiel spoke with a kind of forced composure, as if trying to convince himself. Letticia, feeling upset, squeezed his hand tightly and asked.
"Be honest with me, Ez. Do you really understand His Highness's behavior this time?"
"…It is unusual for him. This is the first time His Highness has ever prevented someone's resignation."
"And what about promising to resolve Lady Averil's grievances with her colleagues? Isn't that also a first?"
"She told you about that as well?"
Ezkhiel's eyes widened in surprise. Unsure if it was safe to speak the truth, his gaze darted about for a moment before he finally nodded. He must have decided there was no point in hiding something she already knew.
"They're planning to investigate whether there really were people whose behavior toward Lady Averil could be called bullying. As for how far the punishment should go, that hasn't been decided yet."
"Are there any precedents for punishing workplace bullying?"
"Only when it interfered with work. In those cases, they were punished under the charge of obstructing official duties. But that practice only began recently."
"Only recently?"
"Yes. High-ranking nobles bullying lower-ranking ones for amusement has always been common. But the reverse? That's practically impossible."
Only now, with the rise of new nobles and semi-nobles, had the rigid power of the class system weakened enough that high-ranking nobles could even be punished. In the past, such behavior wouldn't even have been considered a crime.
"If it didn't interfere with work, they'd probably just settle it with a warning for discipline's sake. I'm not sure whether it will have any real effect on other departments, though… especially since Lady Averil's status is higher."
"Didn't you face something similar back then, Ez? You said you dealt with strong backlash too."
"Like I mentioned earlier, those who interfered with my work were either dismissed or demoted. The justification was clear, so their families didn't protest. But for a while, it was awkward for me to directly visit other departments…"
It seemed Ezkhiel had endured considerable hardship while trying to secure his position.
When his expression darkened at the memory, Letticia grew angry.
"His Highness is the one who appointed you because of your abilities. Shouldn't he have cleaned things up more decisively? Like, cut off anyone who refused to listen to you?"
"If he had done that, not only those individuals but all the other nobles would have banded together to paralyze the government, Letty. And in that case, the one who would've been dismissed… would've been me."
No matter how much Matthias advocated meritocracy and appointed people based on skill rather than status, there were still limits.
Even though the proportion of lower nobles, new nobles, and semi-nobles among officials had grown, they still couldn't resist if all the high-ranking nobles staged a collective boycott.
That's why the Imperial Family strove never to hand the old nobility a justification strong enough to unite them. And in return, the old nobles tried to find excuses to protect their own interests without openly clashing with the Crown.
In such a delicate balance, if Matthias had imprisoned every single child of the high nobility just to defend Ezkhiel, who was still a newcomer at the time and of low-born origin, then the old nobles would have united and turned against him. The risk simply wasn't worth it.
Hearing that explanation only made Letticia more frustrated. In romance-fantasy novels, emperors and crown princes supposedly killed anyone who defied them, acting without a care for noble backlash. But reality wasn't nearly that simple. The realization gave her a headache.
'No… if Matthias really were that kind of tyrant, he'd have already destroyed my family just because he didn't like me.'
It was precisely because Matthias wasn't a tyrant that he tolerated Letticia even when she went against him. Complaining that he wasn't acting like a tyrant was unreasonable.
If a novel were written like that, it would be criticized for being convenient or hypocritical.
Letticia sighed, and Ezkhiel's weary voice reached her ears.
"More than that, what worries me is actually the Averil Ducal House. If it turns out someone did bully the lady, or even if they simply believe she was bullied, I can't imagine what they might do…"
"Oh, right! Those brothers! Ez, didn't they already cause a fuss with you?"
It wasn't hard to picture how Alexander and Achilles would have exploded once they learned that a man had contacted Ariette through her private communicator.
And since Ariette had only passed the message along to Matthias after receiving it, Ezkhiel must have dealt with those brothers himself in the meantime.
"Since it was her private communicator, not the shared one, they did react strongly. But during the call, Lady Averil stepped in and received it again, so it ended quietly…"
"During the call? Then what about afterward? Don't tell me, they actually came to see you?"
"…At lunchtime today, we spoke in the Knight Commander's office."
Letticia silently glanced back and forth between the flower vase and the teapot, debating which one would be better for smashing over someone's head. Sensing the murderous aura from her, Ezkhiel hastily added.
"It really wasn't a big deal! They just asked why His Highness contacted Lady Averil, and whether His Highness had any… other kind of interest in her. That's all."
"Well, of course they'd ask that. Those lunatics obsessed with their little sister, how could they not? But why would they ask you that? Why not go straight to His Highness himself?"
"Letty, even if they're sons of the Averil Duke's household, they can't just meet with His Highness for personal matters. That's why they came to me."
Ezkhiel's explanation was reasonable. In novels, the heroine might conveniently meet with the Crown Prince whenever the plot required it, but in reality, the Crown Prince wasn't some household pet whose name you could call and expect him to show up. The idea of nobles meeting him at will was absurd.
'So Ez is stuck in the middle like a sandwich… damn it.'
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