Abigail flipped through the parchment documents with a rustle, then let out a long sigh and tossed them aside with a thud.
“What a headache.”
“…….”
Though it was a mutter to himself, it was actually meant for Leonard to hear. But when there was no response from across the room, Abigail raised his voice.
“I said I’ve got a headache, Leonard! My head is pounding!”
“I don’t know what you expect me to do about it.”
“There’s too much work! Did I become Emperor for this? What do you think, Anderson?”
“Isn’t being busy just part of being Emperor?”
“Shut up!”
At Anderson’s valid point, Abigail snapped coldly. Honestly, he knew he was pretty arrogant himself, but not to the extent of Abigail.
To begin with, he was a lord, and Abigail was the Emperor. A lord being arrogant was one thing, but an Emperor acting recklessly could cause problems for the entire nation.
“Yellian, my cute friend. Come now, do you also think the Emperor should be swamped with work?”
“Well, um……. busy, always busy. Living in modern society, aren’t we all busy…….?”
The sparks flew to Yellian, who had been sitting quietly. Due to Abigail storming into the duke’s estate at the crack of dawn with a bundle of documents and Anderson in tow, Yellian was still half-asleep. Asking such a question to someone in that state, there was no way a proper answer would come out.
Unsatisfied with the answer that pleased no one, Abigail furrowed his brow. With a dissatisfied expression, he asked again.
“Are you saying it’s only natural for me to be busy, or something like that?”
“Ah, not exactly……. How about delegating some of the work to others?”
Regaining his senses a bit late, Yellian offered the best answer he could muster. At that, Abigail’s face brightened as if it had never been clouded.
“Good! That’s a great idea. Alright, everyone heard that? Dividing the work isn’t my personal idea; it’s Yellian’s suggestion. So, no complaints from anyone.”
Excited, Abigail began distributing the documents he’d brought, counting aloud-one for Anderson, one for Leonard, and one for himself-dividing them alternately. When the towering stack of papers was reduced to a third, Abigail let out a triumphant cheer.
“Are you insane?”
“I’m not doing this.”
Leonard and Anderson spoke at the same time. But of course, such words wouldn’t reach Abigail’s ears.
“Now, since you’ve all taken on this work, I hope you handle it with a glad heart. As you all know, the Festival of Fire is coming up soon. So, before that! We need to get as much done as possible to avoid any issues later. I’m counting on you, my friends.”
Whether he knew he’d get hit by Leonard if he lingered any longer, or simply wanted to leave quickly after offloading his work, Abigail hurriedly got up and left the room.
“……Hah, can’t be helped.”
Anderson sighed as he watched Abigail leave the room with noticeably lighter steps than when he’d arrived. He gathered his share of the documents and bid farewell to Leonard.
“Do your best. I wish you luck.”
“That Abigail, I swear I’ll kill him one day.”
“I’m rooting for you.”
Anderson patted Leonard’s shoulder twice before leaving the room wearily. As always, a pleasant fragrance lingered where he’d been. Yellian sniffed at the scent Anderson left behind while cautiously gauging Leonard’s mood, knowing the workload had increased because of him.
“I’m sorry……. I didn’t mean to…….”
“It’s fine, no need to apologize. Abigail would’ve found a way to dump his work on us no matter what.”
“Ah…….”
So this is the kind of character Abigail is. Yellian had only known him as the master in the novel, but he hadn’t realized Abigail had such a delinquent side, and inwardly, Yellian clicked his tongue.
Meanwhile, Leonard began reading through the documents one by one. Despite his earlier irritation, Leonard quickly became engrossed in the contents of the papers.
After reading for a while, Leonard narrowed his eyes, seeming lost in thought for a moment before speaking.
“Elton, didn’t you mention last time that stray cats have been disappearing?”
“Ah, yes! The cats I feed keep disappearing. Why do you ask?”
“There have already been several reports of the same issue.”
“Really?”
Elton asked urgently. Leonard quietly nodded.
Yellian watched the exchange with an uneasy gaze. The news of stray cats disappearing sounded ominously unsettling to him.
There’s no way cats that were doing fine would just vanish for no reason. Someone must be up to something, no doubt about it.
“Even excluding what you’ve mentioned, Elton, there have been eight similar reports over the past three months.”
“That many?”
“And there’s been no action taken until now?”
Yellian was angry. Even if he didn’t know the full extent, if eight cases had been reported to the imperial palace, the actual number of missing cats must be higher. He felt resentful that no significant measures had been taken despite the situation reaching this point.
“It’s probably because they’re cats. The imperial palace doesn’t view cats favorably. Most likely, the reports never even reached Abigail. Only now, with eight reports piling up, has it finally been formally brought to the imperial family’s attention.”
“That’s awful…….”
While he understood the reasoning, emotionally, he couldn’t help but think it was too harsh. The fact that so many innocent cats had disappeared without any response was utterly disheartening.
“I’ll make sure to catch the culprit.”
At Leonard’s words, Yellian nodded with a serious expression. Even if he didn’t know what he could do, he resolved to do his utmost to help Leonard catch the perpetrator.
* * *
A few days later, the capital was abuzz with the ‘Festival of Fire.’ As someone unfamiliar with what the Festival of Fire entailed, Yellian couldn’t understand why the duke’s estate was in such chaos.
“What’s the Festival of Fire?”
“Ah, Yellian, you wouldn’t know. In our Lapelsnia Empire, there are five festivals: the Festival of Wind, the Festival of Water, the Festival of Earth, the Festival of Wood, and the Festival of Fire. Each year, a different festival is held, and among them, the Festival of Fire is the largest. The imperial family takes the lead in organizing it, but since the Festival of Fire is so grand in scale, even the nobles of the capital help with the preparations.”
“Ah……. The biggest festival……. No wonder the duke’s estate is so noisy.”
“Everyone must be busy preparing for the Festival of Fire.”
At Elton’s words, Yellian nodded. With the largest festival in the empire approaching, it made sense that the duke’s estate had been in an uproar lately.
“Ah, so that’s why Leonard has been so busy.”
“Yes, that’s right. He’s probably been swamped reviewing and approving various documents related to the Festival of Fire.”
Yellian nodded in understanding. Now it made sense why Leonard had been so obsessed with work over the past few days, not even touching him. Not that he was upset about not being touched, of course. He was just…… curious.
Just then, Leonard opened the door and walked in. Though he was a lord, Yellian thought he wasn’t exactly refined, but he welcomed Leonard nonetheless. He ran over and threw himself into Leonard’s arms.
“Leonard, Leonard!”
“What is it?”
“It’s the Festival of Fire, right!”
Yellian peeked up from Leonard’s embrace, his eyes sparkling. Leonard looked at Yellian and let out a low chuckle.
“Let’s go on a date. It’s not an opportunity that comes every day. The Festival of Fire only happens once every five years. If we don’t go on a date on a day like this, when will we ever? Right?”
“I guess Elton told you about the Festival of Fire.”
“Yep, Elton told me.”
Leonard still felt uneasy and reluctant about taking Yellian out, but whenever Yellian brought up the idea of a date, his resolve weakened. So, Leonard lightly kissed Yellian’s round forehead.
“Alright, a date sounds good.”
“Yay!”
Finally receiving Leonard’s permission, Yellian was overjoyed, practically jumping with excitement.
The two hurriedly got ready to go out. Yellian put on a new robe. It was one Leonard had ordered for him in the meantime.
“There’ll be too many people to take a carriage into the streets. Let’s take the carriage only up to the gate of the duke’s estate.”
“Okay, sounds good.”
Yellian replied in a sing-song voice, chirping like a bird. Leonard smiled at the sight of him. Before long, a carriage arrived to take them to the gate of the duke’s estate.
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