My Engagement was Cancelled so I will stop Pretending to be a Fool

Alan kicked his deck in frustration.

In front of him is a mountain of piled up documents that are waiting for his approval.

“Oi, why are there so many?”

Being glared at by Alan, Alan’s aide, Bucks strokes his bald head and nervously replies.

“But Your Highness, there were always this many documents though……?”

“Don’t be stupid! It should have been one tenth of this before right!”

“That’s……”

Bucks mumbled his words at first but he decided to continue it anyway.

“Most of the documents, Umm……they were originally processed by Miss Atoir before they reached you, Your Highness……..”

The reason Bucks finds it hard to tell Alan is that it was him who reached out to Olivia when Alan’s progress was too slow and paperwork started to pile up. She sorted the documents and took care of the ones that her status as the Crown Princess appropriately allowed to handle. All that was left to Alan were the small amount of paperworks  which was not particularly complicated. How can he tell that to Alan who normally took a considerable amount of time just to process a few documents? He can’t possibly say that he went crying for the Crown Princess’s help when the Crown Prince was too slow with his work. His head would be parted from his shoulders if he hurt Alan’s pride by telling him that.

“Olivia did!?”

He must have been very surprised as Alan got up from his desk when he said that.

He stood up so fast that he also knocked down the piled up documents in the process.

“Don’t spout nonsense! That woman can’t possibly help with something like this! She’s incompetent enough the she neglected the princess education you know!”

“Well…….”

Bucks was troubled. He wanted to say that the incompetent one was you but naturally, he can’t say that. 

For some reason, Alan as well as most of the servants at the castle think of Olivia as a fool. But that is ridiculous. Including Bucks, the people who were troubled by Alan’s efficiency revered Olivia like a goddess. Because she was there for them, they managed to handle their work until now.

When Bucks was pondering how he should explain this to his master, Alan suddenly claps his hands.

“That’s right! That Olivia, she must have hired some smart guys to help her! That must be it!”

How did he come to that conclusion?

Bucks wanted to hold his head. For what reason would Olivia go out of her way to hire someone to help with Alan’s work in secret? If that was an option then he would have suggested Alan to hire more help in the first place. First of all, only a limited number of people can approve the documents that were sent to Alan. It’s not something that just anyone can do. Even if he hires a random person to help him, that person wouldn’t have the authority to approve the documents. Rather, it would be a problem in and of itself if a random person laid their eyes on those documents.

“Bucks! Bring the person that Olivia hired to me right now!”

Since there’s no such person, what Alan is ordering him to do is impossible.

Drenched in sweat, Bucks nervously answers Alan in a roundabout way.

“Your Highness, I’m afraid that these documents can only be approved by Your Highness, Your Highness’s fiancee, His Majesty, or Her Majesty……..

“…….that’s true.”

It seems that he does have some [Common Sense]. Bucks stroked his chest in relief but his eyes opened wide at what Alan said next.

“I got it! I will have Tiana help me.”

Please no! Bucks was about to scream but he desperately held his mouth to prevent his voice from escaping.

—————–

Count Lemone froze.

The place is a meeting room with an oval desk placed at its center.

The King seated himself at the top most seat and Duke Atoir, the Prime Minister, is sitting next to him.

Count Lemone is today’s meeting’s facilitator. He is the only one who’s standing and is currently in the middle of reading today’s agenda.

The meeting is going smoothly and except for the fact that Prime Minister Atoir was glaring at him the whole time, this meeting is about to come to an end without any problems. 

However, at that moment.

“Your Majesty!”

With a scream-like voice, the heavy door of the meeting room swung open.

Count Lemone tried to rebuke the intruder for interrupting the meeting but his mouth hung open the moment he realized the intruder’s identity. The person who rudely barged into the meeting room was his own daughter.

The daughter of Count Lemone, and the current fiancee of Prince Alan, Tiana Lemone entered the meeting room with her face bright red as though she’s agitated by something.

Count Lemone’s mind stopped working for a moment and who knows what Tiana was thinking, she ran up to the King’s seat.

“Ti, Tia—”

Unable to understand what his daughter is trying to do, the Count tried to call his daughter in a quivering voice but he couldn’t finish his word.

While all the ministers in the meeting were stunned at Tiana’s action, the King alone remained smiling. With the King still smiling, no one dared to speak and the room was wrapped in an awkward silence.

“Your Majesty! Please grant me a request!”

Perhaps she didn’t understand what she had done, Tiana continued rushing toward the King.

“What is it?”

With the smile still on his face, the King asked in return.

Seeing that the King was not offended, Count Lemone was relieved for the time being.

Then, Tiana vigorously continues.

“His Highness Alan told me to help with his paperwork!”

“Hmm, with your status as the Crown Prince’s fiancee, assisting him in his work is only natural. Is something wrong with that?”

“Yes. Of course, I understand that. However, I am currently busy with my princess education. I do not have enough time to assist His Highness at the moment.”

“I see.”

“However, His Highness seems to be very busy so it would be difficult for him to finish his work alone!”

“And?”

The King nods with a smile on his face. Next to him, Duke Atoir’s expression has turned into one that looks like he is suppressing his urge to click his tongue. Not only the Prime Minister but all the aristocrats in the meeting room except for Count Lemon consider Tiana’s actions to be very rude. She barged into the room in the middle of the meeting and addressed the King without permission. Not only that, she also started saying something that would bring questions to the Crown Prince’s ability. Or rather, what were the guards outside doing, letting her barge in like this? Why did they not stop her before she intruded their meeting?

No one rebuked her because the King was still smiling but everyone else’s expression was one that conveyed anger.

Unaware of the cold atmosphere inside the meeting room, Tiana continued with her request.

“That’s why, please give all the work that His Highness placed on me to Olivia-sama instead!”

“Quit it already!”

Finally, Duke Atoir snapped. The woman in front of him is asking for his daughter to do her job when she just deprived his daughter of the status of the Crown Princess.

Tiana turned her gaze to Duke Atoir and cocked her head to the side, unable to understand why the Duke was angry with her.

“Why are you angry? If it’s a job that Olivia-sama has been doing until now then it must be that it’s a job that [Even Olivia Can Do] right?”

“You little—–”

“Prime Minister.”

When Duke Atoir was so angry that he was about to drag Tiana out of the meeting room himself, the King stopped him with a quiet but compelling voice.

He then speaks to Tiana with the same smile he has since she came in.

“So be it. It is indeed true that such a job is suitable for [Olivia]. However, Olivia can’t be the one who does that job forever. That’s why for one month—–for one month only, I will personally ask Olivia for her help. But once this one month is over, the job will be yours. Is this good enough for you?”

“Of course. In a month, I will surely grow [accustomed] to the princess education. A work that even Olivia can do, I will master it in no time.”

“How reliable.”

The king smiled in a good mood before turning his eyes to the ministers at the table..

“You all should send the documents that need the Crown Prince’s approval to Olivia as well. However, do write down what kind of document as well as how many that you send her way and report to me.”

The ministers looked at each other and then nodded at the King’s order with a doubtful look.

Finally, the King turned to face Duke Atoir and spoke to him with a smile.

“I’m sorry, Duke. I will borrow your Olivia for a while.”

After the Duke glared at Tiana with annoyance, he shrugged and accepted the King’s words.