19. Euclid Longed for a Peaceful Life
My name is Euclid, I’m not yet 20, living in the noble district of the Great Ying Empire, and I have a fiancée. Every day, I passively work as a tool for Queen Louise IV of the Great Ying Empire, and sometimes I’m even seduced by the queen herself. I don’t smoke, and I only sip alcohol occasionally. Before bed, I must read my script once to confirm that there are no death scripts in existence, then I fall asleep immediately, sleeping soundly until dawn, never leaving fatigue and stress for the next day. Kephir says I’m quite normal.
I brought Kephir to the Rosia Empire with no intention of “causing trouble.” I wonder if this desire for a “peaceful life” has been conveyed to Miss Reyev, who always comes looking for a fight. However, during the following time, this so-called “villain” in the script, Reyev, seemed to have truly backed down, no longer using strange excuses to entangle us.
Thanks to this, Kephir and I could safely get through the real final exam period at Rublyanka Academy. If possible, I wouldn’t want to participate in any tests, but not only did Letty mean what she said, she had forcibly arranged for me to have the identity of a student at the academy, hoping I would graduate smoothly and then “become her servant.” Even Kephir particularly hoped I could achieve a good ranking in this prestigious academy, to use it as capital for her future bragging…
Miss Kephir, why do you want to use my ranking to show off…? But with such expectations, I could only grit my teeth and give it my all. Thus, in the absence of Reyev’s interference during our academy’s final exams, I passed a myriad of tedious assessments.
Then, on a day when all the final exams were over and everyone was waiting for the results to be announced, Kephir and I received a somewhat formal invitation from Letty, in her capacity as the Empress of the Rosia Empire.
At this moment, inside the Kremlin of the Rosia Empire.
The Rosia Empire has always said that Letty has the final say, so when Kephir and I arrived, even though there were servants bustling around for Letty, this little midget didn’t care at all and bounced over!
“Big brother! I have good news and bad news for you. Which do you want to hear first?”
At this moment, the expression on Letty’s face made me feel: she seemed even happier than I was…
I had already seen the content of these two pieces of news clearly from the script on the way invited by Letty, but…
Glancing at Letty’s excited demeanor, I wasn’t foolish enough to disturb the Empress of the Rosia Empire’s mood at such a time, risking her displeasure. Naturally, I had to play along.
“I’m an optimist, so let’s hear the good news first.”
In the next moment, Letty grabbed a firearm and shot at the ceiling with a bang, even extinguishing a lamp. The surrounding servants were already used to this scene, but Kephir was startled by Letty’s gun-drawing action, and happily exclaimed, “The final exam results for the third-year students of Rublyanka Academy are out! Big brother, you ranked at the top! But you’re fourth!”
Fourth place, which refers to the fourth rank, was one of the “good news” I had already known from the script earlier. Although I felt a bit strange about this ranking and it didn’t bring me the joy I had imagined, looking at Letty again, I could only respond to this little midget’s expectations.
“Really!?”
“This Empress doesn’t joke about such important matters!” Letty placed her hands on her hips, proudly lifting her chin.
Then, at the moment when I didn’t tell Kephir, who was unaware of everything, and she cast a surprised glance at me, Letty clicked her tongue, and her attitude turned sour.
This was probably the “bad news” that Letty had mentioned.
“By the way, the bad news is: the person next to you is the third… tsk, how did they even qualify? Shouldn’t they all have failed and dropped out…?”
Kefir blinked, surprised for a moment, but instead of getting lost in her own joy, she indeed turned to face Letty.
“This bad news really doesn’t seem to make you happy, does it, Emperor Ivan Letty?”
“Tch… what’s there to be proud of? Tsk, those idiots in the academy, I’ll make sure to teach them a lesson later, Brete, to think they could even lose to an exchange student…”
The rankings had no leniency, so for results like this, all Letty could do was sulk and grumble.
Kefir and I had actually achieved results at the Lubyanka Academy that were worthy of being on the “honor roll.” I was genuinely surprised when I saw the script earlier. Although both Kefir and I, to some extent, had not fully dominated due to our “exchange student” status, this was still a satisfactory conclusion for us, considering we were in enemy territory.
The minor hiccup before our goal was resolved safely, and now it was Letty’s turn…
Just as I was thinking this, Letty, who had finally finished “staring down” Kefir, huffed and stopped picking on her. It seemed she was quite pleased with my ranking; in a rare turn of events, she even decided to bring Kefir along.
“Hmph, today this Emperor won’t hold it against you. In any case, after the final tests for the third-year students at Lubyanka Academy, there will be rewards for the top four in overall scores. This is a consistent practice of Lubyanka Academy and the Rosian Empire to motivate students. So, big brother, of course, you have to participate. As for you…”
Letty shot a sideways glance, “Kefir, I don’t care what mood you’re in, but you’re not allowed to make excuses. Even if you’re unhappy, you still have to attend. Otherwise, don’t blame this Emperor for sending the wolf cavalry to drag you there!”
“Letty, didn’t I already tell you about this before…”
As soon as I heard “drag us to some ‘awards’ ceremony,” I couldn’t just pretend I hadn’t heard! From the very beginning, Kefir and I had only planned for a normal “graduation.” As for the benefits and rewards that came after graduating with high honors, we had no intention of claiming them. I didn’t want to stir up a second Reyef incident, given the previous experience.
But it seemed Letty completely disregarded my words…
“No way! You both have to go!”
Her domineering nature was as usual, and… Letty seemed to be fixated on that Reyef matter, “By the way, this Emperor is also giving that idiot Reyef a reminder. She’s too proud. Achieving excellent results is no problem at all, but she just had to challenge you two, and ended up losing too many points. This time, she might not even make it to the podium… Brete.”
She was clearly using me and Kefir as a cautionary tale. Just when we had finally gotten Reyef off our backs, now this was going to stir things up again?
Under normal circumstances, I would definitely find all sorts of excuses to decline, but… before I could finish my thought, the script appeared. Perhaps because Letty had just mentioned Reyef, some… strange content appeared in the script regarding Reyef, which left me silent after reading it. Not only did I not immediately refuse Letty’s unreasonable demands, but I even found myself needing to come up with another excuse.
“Kefir, can you go back first? I’ll discuss the participation matter with Letty and then come find you.”
“Eh? I guess… that’s fine.”
Kefir looked puzzled but didn’t think much of it and chose to take her leave. It seemed she didn’t want to get into a staring contest with Letty, “Then I’ll wait for you outside.”
Phew… it was really great not to have my fiancée suspecting me of having any “improper thoughts” about Letty.
Because of the script’s appearance, I had a few “warnings” about Letty that I had to mention.
“Letty.”
Once Kefir left, I lowered my voice and spoke, “…is there any way to cancel the awards?”