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Translator: Kazumi
Editor: Silavin
Only a very limited number of people were allowed into Floria’s office, where she carries out her regular duties. Such people could be split into two groups: close aides who carry out work there, and visits from people from the upper echelons of the bureaucracy, such as Alec. Only such people were allowed to enter.
Nobles on the county level, all across the continent only have an audience with her in the audience chamber. If Nobles of this level were called to her office, it was usually due to dishonorable charges or when there was an urgent matter.
In both cases, nothing good was in store for the noble who got summoned to her office.
For this reason, it was rumored that being summoned to her office meant disgrace for nobles in the Central Continent.
Rufino Rosada was struggling to control his racing heart as he made his way to Queen Floria’s office. He had received the sudden summons this morning after going to the castle for business.
Originally, Rufino was a member of the aristocracy in a town on the Central Continent; not a town on the Fifth Floor.
However, even though he was a member of the aristocracy, he was not of a particularly high rank. In terms of his lifestyle, he was about the same as a merchant who made a small profit.
However, Rufino’s own abilities were recognized, and he was recruited as a bureaucrat for Razequa Amamiya.
Rufino decided that it would be better for him to live as a bureaucrat directly under the Royal Family than to remain a low ranking noble in one town, so he accepted the offer.
His decision was not wrong.
As expected of someone who had been recruited, Rufino demonstrated his abilities to his fullest extent and went on to make a great name for himself. There were even rumors that he might be given a title as a member of the Royal Family.
Queen Floria denied the rumors, of course. In fact, it was not just Rufino. There were several others like him who had such rumors, and Queen Floria denied them all.
Rufino was summoned to the office.
His colleagues looked at him with surprised expressions as he left.
To begin with, Rufino had no recollection of making any mistakes that would warrant him being called to the Queen’s office.
While he was wringing his hands, he hoped for the best. After all, there was still a possibility that he had done something even if he could not remember it. Him being summoned was evidence of it.
In this situation, even if he could not think of doing anything wrong, he was still anxious.
Not knowing what he might be told, Rufino, who could not escape from this situation, finally gave up and knocked on the office door.
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“Come in.”
Queen Floria heard a knock on the door and one of her aides went to invite the person in.
At this time, there was only one person who had been called to her office.
Of course, Floria was still inside, so conduct must be kept and the guest could not be careless.
Since it was the Queen’s office, it was large with many rooms. The entrance merely led to the lobby of the office. The guest would still need to wait until the Queen was ready to receive them.
“Rufino Rosada, present.”
“Ah, thank you for coming. Please sit down and wait.”
“…Huh!”
And so Rufino was told to wait.
Even though Queen Floria was only sorting through documents, she could not be distracted at the moment. It was a common sight for most of her days in the office.
Meanwhile, Rufino decided to ask the person who had brought him here about the situation.
“I’m sorry, but do you know why I’ve been called in?”
It was easy to ask this man because Rufino knew him.
However, the other person also seemed confused.
“No, I’m sorry. To be honest, we been told anything. The Queen suddenly gave us the order to summon you this morning.”
Because they both knew each other, their tones were informal.
At those words, Rufino could not help but look around.
Some of them were looking at him, It was apparent they could hear their conversation. However, they too had the same puzzled looks on their faces. Thus, it was clear they too did not know why Rufino was called here.
Those present were all Floria’s close aides. Typically, the closest aides to the Queen worked in a room further deeper inside the office. Nevertheless, all members here could go in and out of her room at any time.
In other words, they knew most of the details of Queen Floria’s work. Yet, they too did not know why Rufino was called in.
At this point, they realized that Rufino had been called for a reason that was something other than a reprimand or punishment. After all, even if Rufino does not work in this office, his reputation supersedes the confines of these walls. The aides did not believe he was called in for something negative.
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Not long after Rufino was shown into a room, another person arrived.
Rufino, who had not expected anyone to be sitting with him. He was dumbfounded when he saw who this person was.
He had passed her several times in the castle, and each time he had been captivated by her beauty. After all, the person in question was just that mesmerizing as a woman.
This was not just something that Rufino did. Most of the men who worked in the castle would most likely have the same impression.
That person was impeccably dressed in a shrine maiden’s outfit. She was Sylvia, the shrine maiden who oversaw all of Queen Floria’s religious ceremonies.
Rufino, who had been told that Sylvia would be joining them, stood up in a panic.
“Priestess Sylvia, I apologize.”
He had no idea why he had been called in, and now he was even more confused. He did not dare to ask Sylvia why he had been called in.
Furthermore, Queen Floria appeared less than a few minutes after Sylvia had arrived. And he simply did not have the time to ask.
Queen Floria first turned her gaze to Rufino.
“I’m sorry to have summoned you so suddenly.”
Rufino replied with a safe response, while internally tilting his head at her unexpectedly calm demeanor. It was an expression that showed a lack of anger, which meant that a reprimand was unlikely to happen. “No, not at all.”
“So, the reason I called you here is… it has something to do with Sylvia, who is here with me.”
After stating this, Floria began to discuss the events that had taken place at the academy the previous day.
After listening to what Floria had to say till the end, Rufino, despite being in the presence of the Queen, covered his head with his hands.
He managed to stop himself from saying it out loud, but he almost said, ‘What have you done?’
The actions of his own Son in the classroom were unforgivable. After all, he had openly mocked priestesses, who were training to become closer to God.
“I’m so sorry!” Rufino managed to squeeze this answer out, but Sylvia, who had been watching him, smiled.
“Rufino-dono, you mustn’t misunderstand. I didn’t call you here to reprimand you in any way.”
“Hmm, okay.” Those unexpected words left Rufino looking genuinely confused. After all, what his Son did could have involved the whole kingdom if the Gods were enraged by his actions.
“As soon as I found out the truth, I immediately checked with the Gods, but they didn’t seem particularly concerned about it. They merely stated that it was something that children do at times and they let the matter rest.”
Sylvia confessed that she had directly checked with the Gods.
“The problem seems to be with how you raised your child. But, overall, this might be a problem with the overall education policy of the country.”
Floria and Sylvia were not convinced that this incident was a problem that only affected Rufino’s Family. There were fundamental theology classes at the academy. However, more emphasis had been placed on other classes.
Rufino, who had become a party to this because of his Son’s actions, nodded in agreement.
“…I had already asked him to not treat the Gods, priests and priestesses lightly…”
“For children, priestesses are so close to them that they do not seem that different from them…”
The fact that Kokoro was a child of a similar age to his Son also contributed to his Son’s outburst.
When in the same classroom, with someone taking the same lessons, it was easy to perceive everyone was living the same kind of life.
In reality, Kokoro’s training was far from simple.
At this point, this was not that simple of a matter for the adults present to purely blame it on a child’s ignorance.
As listening to Floria and Sylvia, Rufino found himself wondering how he could go home and talk some sense into his Son.
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