When that news reached Crown Prince GENT, he was utterly shocked.

“Liana quit her clerk position?”

“Y-yes.

She completed the resignation process three days ago and vacated the dormitory she lived in…”

The thin-mustached man, Liana’s superior, shrank back as he reported to the crown prince.

The day after returning from leave, the thin-mustached supervisor found it suspicious that Liana, who had never once been late or absent, failed to show up for work.

When he went to check the dormitory where Liana had lived, he was stunned to discover that she had already moved out.

Puzzled, he confirmed the situation with the personnel department and learned that a resignation letter had been submitted.

Ordinarily, the resignation should have required the thin-mustached supervisor’s signature.

Sure enough, the resignation letter bore a proper signature.

He had absolutely no memory of signing it, but it must have been mixed in with other documents and signed inadvertently.

Because Liana’s paperwork was always flawless, unlike other subordinates’ documents, he had not bothered to scrutinize it closely, and that oversight came back to bite him.

“Why so suddenly?

KARLA, did Liana say anything to you?”

When Gent asked his fiancée Karla beside him, Karla tilted her head in apparent confusion.

“No, I heard nothing at all…”

“Nothing?

You were close to Liana, and you’re still in the same department, aren’t you?”

Liana had been working as a clerk for the mage corps, the same organization Karla belonged to.

They should have had plenty of contact.

Sensing an accusatory tone in Gent’s words, Karla pursed her lips slightly.

“We may have been in the same department, but I am a mage, and she was merely a clerk.

Our duties were different, and we didn’t spend much time together.

Besides, she seemed intimidated by me, so we hardly spoke.”

Karla would rather avoid fraternizing with commoners, but she hid that sentiment completely and instead placed a troubled hand against her cheek.

Gent found her explanation reasonable.

“You are the daughter of a marquis, while Liana was a commoner.

It’s true your worlds were far too different, and it must have been difficult for her to even hold a conversation.”

Most people serving at the royal palace were high-ranking nobles.

There were commoners among the menial workers, but someone like Liana, serving as a clerk, was extremely rare.

“Perhaps it was simply beyond her station for a commoner to become a clerk in the first place.

She couldn’t do much real work and was always complaining, which was quite troublesome.”

Karla gracefully hid her sigh behind her fan.

Her expression, tinged with melancholy allure, caused both Gent and the thin-mustached supervisor to stare in fascination.

“I-I see.

Then I owe you an apology, Karla.

It seems the clerk’s position was too heavy a burden for a commoner after all.”

Come to think of it, he had heard that before quitting, the girl had resented taking over Karla’s work while Karla was injured and had shown a defiant attitude toward both her superiors and Karla.

Gent himself had reprimanded her, and she must have held a grudge and quit because of it.

She had been fairly capable for a commoner and somewhat pretty, so Gent had idly thought it might be interesting to add a girl with a different flavor to his harem.

However, a woman with such a rebellious disposition was not to his taste.

An orphan with no backing would surely struggle to survive in this country after quitting her clerk job, but since she left of her own accord, there was no need to show her any further mercy.

Gent’s interest in Liana ended there.

“Then it’s a good thing the nuisance quit on her own, isn’t it?

So why did you bother reporting such a trivial matter to me?”

Gent questioned him pointedly, a warning in his tone, as the thin-mustached supervisor’s gaze had wandered indecently toward his precious fiancée.

Snapping back to his senses, the supervisor turned pale.

Karla was a beautiful woman, so he had only looked for a moment.

If it were misunderstood as harboring feelings for the crown prince’s fiancée, it would not only affect his career advancement but could very well cost him his head.

Gent’s devotion to Karla was that well known.

“N-no.

We wished to request the assignment of one additional mage to fill the vacancy left by Liana—

I mean, that commoner clerk.”

“Hm?

Why would the departure of a single clerk require the assignment of a mage?

And you said she didn’t do much real work, didn’t you?”

Gent’s voice turned cold.

Mages were valuable assets.

Replacing a clerk with a mage was unheard of.

The thin-mustached supervisor broke out in a sweat and continued his explanation haltingly.

“Y-yes, that is true, Your Highness.

However, our mage corps has been quite busy, and we had that commoner perform trivial subjugations and miscellaneous tasks in addition to her clerk duties.

With one fewer person, it will interfere with future operations…”

“Even so, does that truly necessitate assigning a mage?

If you need to fill the numbers, another clerk should suffice.”

At Gent’s words, the thin-mustached supervisor clenched his fist tightly.

It was true that the vacancy was that of a clerk.

However, all of his subordinates, starting with Karla, were of exalted status.

No one would obediently listen to the instructions of a superior of lower rank like him.

They balked not only at troublesome or dangerous subjugations but even at simple tasks.

In that regard, Liana had been convenient.

Despite being a commoner of the lowest status, her ability rivaled that of first-rate mages.

She never refused work, completed any task with ease, and never complained even when her achievements were stolen.

In truth, more than ninety percent of the department’s workload had been handled by Liana.

Replacing her with a single clerk would never cover the same volume of work.

“We do not require someone particularly capable.

It will merely be for assorted tasks that would be unbecoming to ask a noble mage like Lady Karla to perform.”

As Gent hesitated, the thin-mustached supervisor bowed deeply in supplication.

Ideally, he wanted two or three capable mages added.

However, requesting that many to replace a clerk who had supposedly produced no achievements would be inconsistent.

If he could get a mage of low status and mediocre ability assigned, he could simply use that person as a scapegoat and make them work in Liana’s stead.

That was the supervisor’s shallow plan.

“Gent.

The queen has instructed me to devote myself even more diligently to my bride training.

Our wedding draws near…

If even I am unable to perform my duties as a mage, it would cause trouble for everyone.”

Karla blushed and gently wrapped her arm around Gent’s.

Moved by the unexpected support, the thin-mustached supervisor cast a grateful look her way.

Karla accepted it with a deepened smile.

“Hm.

I see.

Since our wedding is near, it can’t be helped.

The loss of a commoner is one thing, but the absence of a mage as exceptional as Karla would be significant.

Very well.

I will assign a mage.”

Feeling Karla’s soft body against his arm, Gent agreed readily, his expression softening.

To others, Karla showed only a dignified face, but to Gent she would cling to him like this, and he found it irresistibly charming.

It felt like being adored by a noble, capricious cat.

Whenever Karla coaxed him, he found himself wanting to grant her every wish.

“This is the department my future queen belongs to.

We cannot allow even the slightest hindrance, lest unnecessary interference arise from elsewhere.

We will put a perfect system in place.”

With Gent promising as much for the sake of a smooth marriage with Karla, the thin-mustached supervisor felt a wave of relief.

Yet a lingering unease remained.

Could the newly assigned mage truly perform as well as Liana had?

Later, that concern would prove well founded.

The noble mages who had looked down on Liana as nothing more than a commoner clerk found themselves unable to keep up with the flood of monster subjugation requests.

As the work fell increasingly behind, the entire Karjin Kingdom would be driven toward the brink of destruction.

But at this moment, there was not a single person who realized it.

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