8.
Kaaaaang—!
A relentless barrage of explosive clashes echoed through the air, each strike threatening to suffocate those who heard it.
"Young Master..."
Before the battle began, the knights had been utterly confident in Adelhart's victory. After all, he was the one constantly attacking, while Lancel seemed to perpetually be on the defensive, parrying blows and retreating.
But as the first minute stretched into two, then five, the knights' expressions began to crumble.
"Ugh!"
A groan escaped Adelhart's lips. His entire body was inexplicably covered in wounds. With each desperate lunge, countless minor cuts accumulated on his body, soaking him in blood. Yet, Lancel remained purely defensive.
"You certainly are a genius, Adelhart," Lancel said, his voice cold. "But you still have a long way to go."
Lancel's eyes fixed on him with an icy intensity.
"Your sword isn't even an eighth complete yet."
To Adelhart's astonishment, Lancel seemed almost disappointed, as if the opponent's weakness bored him.
Adelhart was overwhelmed by a feeling he had never experienced before.
"Gyaaaaahhhh!"
A roar erupted from his throat—it was a desperate attempt to vent the frustration boiling within him. At that very moment, magical energy surged throughout his entire body, blazing like wildfire.
Adelhart's blade began to vibrate, emitting an eerie blue glow.
"Adelhart!"
Count Runter's urgent cry couldn't stop him. His mind was consumed by a single thought: to cut down the opponent before him.
Clang!
Their blades clashed once more.
That was the end of it. Adelhart's grip was torn, and the blade was shattered into three pieces. The hilt, now the only remaining part of the sword, clattered to the floor.
Adelhart's knees buckled, stained with sweat and blood. Count Runter belatedly rushed toward him.
"Adelhart."
The count's expression was filled with fury.
But it wasn't directed at Lancel.
Instead, it was aimed at his own son.
"Using magic in a knight's duel? It seems I have failed to teach you properly."
"...Forgive me, father. I couldn't control my emotions for a moment..."
"You fool! For a knight, passion is an invitation to death. How dare you, who have sworn by chivalry, harbor such hatred? Do you intend to tarnish my name? Does the great name of Runter still seem so trivial to you?"
"...I have no excuse."
"I will hold you strictly accountable for this. Prepare yourself."
"......"
The knights seemed deeply moved by the voice of the Runter family’s patriarch, their eyes bloodshot and reddened.
‘Ummm.’
Lancel could only watch in silence, unable to speak amidst the heavy, sullen atmosphere.
"Lancel Dante," Count Runter said, his gaze fixed on his son. "You have won. Take what you desire."
A surrender.
Count Runter had acknowledged his defeat.
He seemed more devastated by his son's mistake than by the loss itself. Lancel could now grasp the absolute significance of the term "chivalry" to the count.
Without a word, Lancel placed a hand over his heart and bowed respectfully.
‘To think such a man will become a traitor in the near future.’
The world truly works in mysterious ways.
Though none of it was his concern.
* * *
"Sir Lancel!"
"Congratulations on your release, Mary the archivist."
Some time later, Marigold, her eyes brimming with tears, was freed from the spire.
In her hands, she held the report that was returned to her by Count Runter and, for some reason, a bowl of oat porridge. Lancel wondered if it was meant as a packed lunch.
"Aaaah!"
"What are you doing?"
Lancel quickly caught Marigold as her legs gave way and she collapsed to the ground.
9.
As Lancel carried Marigold on his back out of Count Runter’s castle, dawn was already breaking on the distant horizon.
The two remained silent for a while, only the steady thud of Marigold's heartbeat against his back and the faint warmth of her arms around his neck were perceptible.
Marigold clung to him tightly.
"I must smell from all this sweat."
"It's alright."
She buried her face even deeper into his back.
"Why did Marigold the archivist decide to become an administrator?"
"Huh?"
"Someone who graduated at the top of the academy could have chosen a much easier path. Why did you specifically want to work at the Imperial Central Administration Bureau?"
It was a genuine question.
In just the previous iteration, she had been walking the path of a barbaric wild woman. Now, she had suddenly become an elite administrator, and he had never heard the reason for this transformation.
"I have a dream," Marigold said.
"Everyone has dreams."
"Not that kind of dream. It’s something... different."
Marigold paused for a moment, then continued, "Sometimes... I dream that this world is growing increasingly unhappy and heading toward destruction."
"That sounds more like a nightmare."
"Exactly! I don't dream it often, but every time, it's the same dream. The exact same dream."
Marigold tightened her arms around him, nodding as she spoke.
Lancel felt like his neck was about to be strangled.
"I just didn't want the world I lived in to turn out like this. But there's nothing I can do, right? Even if I joined the system, one person can't change anything."
"You probably just cleaned rooms at an inn. You're a commoner, after all."
"H-how did you know?"
"There are ways to find out everything."
"...Anyway, that's why I jumped at the chance to join the academy when I saw that they were recruiting. I figured being an administrator would be different."
"You became an administrator because you wanted to change the world? That's a ridiculously grand ambition."
Lancel chuckled.
"One administrator can't change the world, Marigold the archivist. It's best to abandon such lofty dreams early on."
"I know that. But I just want to do whatever I can."
If it hadn't been for Lancel this time, she would have been imprisoned for much longer. No, even before that, she would have gone astray when she was captured by the militia.
‘So why did you keep your distance from me at first?’
Just as Lancel was about to ask that question, Marigold's voice suddenly rang out, filled with determination.
"Just you wait, Sir Lancel."
"Wait for what?"
"Even though I'm in this state now, someday I'll rise so high that you'll be the one clinging to me—I’ll become someone worthy of your attention."
"...I doubt I'll ever need to cling to an archivist, Mary..."
"You never know. If I become the highest-ranking administrator in the Empire, such a situation might arise."
Was this a declaration of her ambition to become a high-ranking official?
"If that happens, I'll grant you one wish."
"Really?!"
"Yes. Anything."
"A-anything...!" Marigold's voice trembled.
"Really? Anything? Really?"
"That’s what I just said."
"You can’t back out later!"
"...Now that you're putting it that way, I kind of want to."
"Hic—! No! You have to keep your promise!"
Even though it was just an empty promise, Marigold seemed genuinely pleased.
And just like that, the events at Count Runter's castle were resolved in a single morning.
* * *
Soon after returning to the capital, Marigold successfully submitted her report. It was a detailed account of Count Runter's violations of the imperial law.
"Don't send it through the Bureau of Administration," Lancel advised. "Send it directly to the Imperial Court. It'll be faster that way."
Following Lancel's advice, Marigold's report bypassed all intermediate channels and was delivered at lightning speed to the Emperor—or rather, the imposter posing as the Emperor.
This was entirely due to Lancel's intervention.
Marigold's blunder—completely disrupting the established reporting hierarchy—caused a considerable uproar within the Imperial Central Administration Bureau. It was hardly surprising that the bureau was in turmoil; a newly appointed administrative officer had submitted a report directly to the Imperial Court without any prior verification from her superiors.
Of course, the chaos eventually subsided.
"His Majesty has bestowed an Imperial Order of merit upon the archivist, Marigold!"
As if he had been waiting for just such an opportunity to make an example of a provincial noble, the imposter Emperor immediately awarded Marigold a substantial cash prize and a prestigious medal.
"By order of His Majesty, Marigold, archives officer, is hereby promoted three ranks to Archives Manager of the Administrative Bureau. She shall also be awarded ten gold coins and the Imperial Court epaulette."
Shortly after, the Imperial Court formed an investigation team.
Over several months, they traveled to the county of Runter and confirmed that every detail in Marigold's report was true.
The punishment for Count Runter was a mere warning.
"His Majesty urges you to ensure that such incidents never recur, Count Runter."
Though seemingly minor, this carried significant weight. The count's honor had been tarnished, and nothing mattered more to a noble—especially to Count Runter.
Regardless, from that day forward, Marigold embarked on a path to success.
"Promoted from archives officer to archives manager in less than a year...?"
"What a meteoric rise!"
"It's no surprise, considering she caught Your Majesty's eye."
However, it was also the beginning of her trials.
After becoming archives manager, Marigold found herself buried under a mountain of work every day.
10.
"Baron Dirk insists my garden is his land! Can you believe this nonsense? Tell the Imperial Court to mediate this immediately! I can't tolerate this any longer!"
"P-please, calm down first...!"
"Is that all you have to say? Why would it be your garden? Our stewards have already surveyed the land! Are you still going to argue?"
"Now, now, let's try to resolve this through a peaceful discussion first..."
"Alright, you've finally met your match! Set the date immediately! Let's settle this with a duel!"
"Eek! You can't draw your sword here!"
"Just what I've been waiting for, old man! I've been counting the days until I could put a hole in your body! Perfect timing! Manager Mary, arrange a duel right now. No need for formalities—we'll settle this with our blades!"
"Stop! Stop! Both of you, stop!"
Whenever Lancel visited the Bureau of Administration, he noticed the dark circles under Marigold's eyes growing deeper and deeper.
The archives manager was officially tasked with overseeing administrative issues within the system... but in reality, her job was far more complicated.
She was an administrator caught between warring nobles, like a shrimp trapped between whales.
"Manager Mary, I think His Highness the Prince has feelings for me. The atmosphere at the last banquet was so promising. But for some reason, he hasn't approached me first."
"Ah, yes, I see."
"Manager Mary, could you send a signal to His Highness on my behalf? I’d like to let him know that I'm interested too."
"......"
"It wouldn't be proper for me to make the first move. If I seemed too easy, His Highness might lose interest. You understand, right? Please, manager Mary."
From trivial romantic matters…
"Adele's gone missing! Adele! Manager Mary! Quickly, summon the administrators and guards to search for Adele immediately! Hurry!"
"Adele? Who is Adele?"
"My family!"
"Your... child?"
"I raised her like my own child!"
"Like a child...?"
"She’s a mouse, Adele is a mouse!"
"Huh?"
From the smallest errands down to the most trivial tasks, Marigold had become the neighborhood punching bag, easily swayed by the malicious complaints of the nobles.
"Still alive?"
As night fell, Lancel found her sitting in her office with a blank expression on her face.
"Hey."
"......"
Marigold stared with dead, fish-like eyes, her consciousness half-gone. Even pinching her cheek and gently lifting the tip of her nose elicited no response.
Inwardly, Lancel struggled to suppress a smile as he watched her struggle.
‘Now you understand. The Bureau of Administration is an exploitative company.’
The Empire had no labor laws. In this system, where nobles treated the Bureau of Administration as little more than a servant's quarters or a thieves' guild, Marigold never had a single day off.
What else could she do? Her superiors were nobles and royalty. She had no choice but to obey.
Seven days a week, 120 hours of work. No holidays—just work, work, and more work.
"Waaah, Sir Lancel, I'm quitting!"
"Where did the 18-year-old administrator who vowed to change the world go?"
"Waaaaah!"
"My ears hurt."
"I need a break too, hngh...!"
"Then just take a vacation."
"My request for one was rejected."
"Oh, yikes..."
"Waaaaah!"
One year passed.
Then two years.
Three years.
By the time Marigold turned twenty-one…
"Sir Lancel, have you heard?!"
Baron Ibil Shen burst into Lancel's office, his face drenched in sweat.
11.
"War! It's war, war, war!"
"War?"
Baron Ibil Shen's face was flushed with excitement, as if he had just witnessed something extraordinary outside.
"It seems that something is happening in the county of Runter. Imperial troops are pouring in that way. Looks like we're finally going to have a proper war after all this time! That means the price of my horses will skyrocket! Hahaha!"
"......"
‘Has it already come to this?’ Lancel thought, but he was immediately snapped back to attention by the baron's next words.
"Oh, manager Mary is going too, you know?"
"......Huh?"
"I saw her earlier, marching with the reinforcements. She's close to you, isn't she, Sir Lancel? Or am I mistaken? I've often seen you two together."
"...That's true, but why would she suddenly join them?"
"That's the strange part," Baron Ibil Shen said, shrugging.
"The Fifth Prince is leading the expedition, and he specifically requested manager Mary. It seems she made quite an impression on him."
‘What is going on?’
"Come to think of it, manager Mary might be on the fast track to success. I should start currying favor with her now. Was there a reason Sir Lancel always made sure to stay on good terms with her?"
Lancel felt his mind freeze.
‘Why is the Fifth Prince suddenly involved? Why is he suddenly entangled with Marigold?’
For the past three years, Lancel had exchanged daily greetings with Marigold, yet he had never heard of any connection between them.
When Lancel visited the Bureau of Administration, he received the same news.
"Have you seen manager Mary?"
"The manager has urgently departed for the county of Runter on official business. She specifically asked me to deliver a message to you..."
‘What on earth is going on?’
It wasn't until that afternoon that Lancel finally pieced together the situation.
============
—Favorability event! The Fifth Prince Erwin Cole Freesia has shown interest in Marigold.
Current favorability level: Favorable
※ You've been assigned to accompany the Fifth Prince in suppressing the rebel forces. Isn't this the perfect opportunity to build your achievements?
============
"This bastard?"
‘The Empress Marigold route?
So suddenly?
I can't bear to witness that.’
Lancel would rather abandon this lifetime entirely than even consider making Marigold the Empress. Now that he knew it would only bring her misery, it was a way to ensure that this regression cycle would never end.
Having finished his preparations, Lancel left the mansion immediately.
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