Wrong Genre! - Chapter 6.2
To be honest, until Rueg actually tried working as an aide himself, he thought at least some of the things Versha said about the palace were exaggerated.
“That crazy Crown Prince bastard! Hey, do you know what he said? He told me to just sweep everything away if it annoyed him. Maybe I’ll just push him off a cliff myself.”
Whenever she had a moment, Versha would fume and threaten to kill the Crown Prince.
“Listen, Rueg. The Crown Prince said to me, ‘Hey, Verdic. The refugees are causing trouble, so should I just kill them all?’ Is that something someone who’s going to be a ruler of a country should say?”
“Come on, sis. Didn’t you say, ‘Your Imperial Highness, the refugees are causing trouble, should I just kill them all?’ instead? Ow, ow! …That hurts, aaah!”
But once he experienced it for himself, Rueg understood why Versha had said she couldn’t serve Felix anymore.
Even after Rueg started going to work in Versha’s place, Felix said similar things to him.
“Verdic?”
Lost in thoughts that had nothing to do with his current task, Rueg spaced out until Felix called his name.
“…If staying at the palace is too difficult, I can withdraw the offer.”
“……”
“Work is important, yes, but isn’t your sibling the only family you have left?”
With that gentle voice, Rueg blinked several times. With his head bowed and his mind wandering, it must have looked to Felix like he was swallowing his sorrow.
“No, it’s fine.”
“…It’s fine?”
“Ahem, ahem. Yes. It’s fine. Rueg is healthy.”
But the moment Rueg answered, Felix pulled up the corners of his mouth in a smile.
It was a very different smile from usual, and Rueg instinctively took a step back.
“In that case, you should have had no reason to make mistakes.”
His voice was gentle to an unbelievable degree, but those red eyes glinted sharply, as if he could kill someone with a look.
“If your family isn’t sick, but you’re still making mistakes like this, then paperwork must really be difficult for you.”
“Th-that’s…”
“In that case, I’ll give you work more suited to your abilities.”
In an instant, Felix’s attitude flipped, and he turned to the window.
He opened it wide and pointed to the fountain right outside the office.
“Clean it.”
“……”
“Don’t even think about leaving work until you’re done.”
Leaving those words behind, Felix walked out of the office.
Rueg stood rooted to the spot, then hung his head with a sigh. After a long moment of dejection, he looked at the documents Felix had left behind.
“I was sure I signed my sister’s name properly…”
He hadn’t even dozed off today, and he’d finished the paperwork neatly. He’d even caught and corrected mistakes left from other departments in the past.
“…Sorry, Sister.”
Maybe I’m just not as good at this as I thought.
* * *
Shivering in the cold wind, Rueg stared at the fountain before him.
Because it had been left running all summer, the bottom was coated in grime, and now that the weather was turning colder, fallen leaves made it look even messier.
“I’ll need to drain the water first if I want to clean this…”
After inspecting the grimy fountain, Rueg spotted a button at the base of the statue in the center, something that would drain the water.
‘To press that… I’ll have to go in, right…?’
Rueg swallowed dryly and hesitantly stuck his hand into the fountain.
Instantly, a terrible chill shot up from his fingertips, spreading through his whole body. Shivering at the cold, Rueg stared at the rippling water with wavering eyes.
“No, I can do this.”
It’s all in how you think, they say. If you think it’s cold, it’s cold. If you think it’s warm, it’s warm.
Resolving himself, Rueg quickly slipped off his shoes and stepped into the fountain without hesitation.
“Huuaaagh!”
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