Flower of Steel - Chapter 97

Even at his foolish joke, I couldn’t react like I used to. I felt bitter as I remembered the reason why I couldn’t sleep. That’s when Vice Directory Raymont called me over.

“Secretary Harrant, send this document to the Finance department.”

“Yes, sir,” I answered.

Just, as usual, it was an errand from my supervisors. I could let my subordinates do it, but they were busy because of the mundane tasks that I delegated to them. Because of that, I had no choice but to go myself. What’s fortunate was that the Crown Prince was out hunting and wasn’t in the palace. If he was there, then I would have had to go to the prince’s palace as well.

As I arrived at the Finance department, I realized there were many female officials there. Female officials were deemed more detail-oriented and nitpicky, so this department, which was at the top of all financial works, valued them more.

“Hello. I am Rosaine von Faularner, Chief of Budget Planning. How can I help you?”

A slightly cold-looking official came to me as I stood there with a document. I handed her the document and replied, “It’s an order from Operations of Internal Affairs. It’s asking to organize the ledger as it seems a bit disorderly.”

She checked the document with my words written on it and nodded. Then she looked up to see me and agreed, “Yes, this sure seems more efficient. I’ll bring this to our vice director who handles this.”

“Yes.”

“Yes,” I answered and felt weird at her looking at me for unknown reasons. Then, I clenched my fist. I was uncomfortable by such a look, probably because I was traumatized because I was bullied in the past. I asked, “Any questions?”

“N-no. I was just thinking of something. Please excuse me.”

“That’s fine. I’ll be going back then. Goodbye.”

She nodded, then looked at me for a while longer, and slowly turned around. I, too, began to head back to my office. On the way back, I had to walk past External Affairs. While I was worried that I might run into Kyles, someone pulled me. I almost screamed but saw a familiar face.

“Rave?” I said.

It was Rave. He grinned at me and said, “Marina, while we’re coincidentally out on an errand, why don’t we skip work and go play?”

I think it was Rave’s habit to say the word “coincidentally.” Anyway, I was so tired that skipping work sounded so appealing, so I hesitated and said, “But…”

“Don’t worry. Just follow me. You can’t even focus on your work today.”

I couldn’t deny him, so I just sighed. I couldn’t focus on my work at all today. However, I couldn’t just skip it, so I hesitated. Rave then grabbed my wrist and declared, “I’ll take the blame, so follow me.”

I felt a bit unpleasant and threw his hand off of me. Because of my cold reaction, Rave looked a bit hurt, looked at me, and commented, “Oh, my assistant is so cold! You didn’t need to do that!”

“It hurts. I can walk on my own, so don’t pull me.”

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry. Come this way!”

Rave looked excited. Was he that excited to skip work? I can understand that because I also wanted to rest right now. It’s best to take a break when you’re tired.

Not long after, I saw an empty garden with a bench. I was about to sit down when Rave quickly pulled out a handkerchief, placed it over the bench, and said, “A lady should always be treated with care!”

He winked with those words, which was a bit funny.