Chapter 54. The Administrator’s Oath (1/2)
Chapter 54. The Administrator’s Oath
“It seems that you are busy.”
“No, not really.”
Baek So Chun, the master of the Ruling Fire House. She calmly guided her surprise visitor to a seat. That visitor naturally sat down on the seat, and spoke.
“I had some free time, so I decided to drop by. Ahri’s doing fine, right?”
“Yes, Your Holiness.”
Gongson Chun Gi. He tucked his head and grinned.
“She doesn’t go crying to try see me every night, does she?”
“…….Thankfully, that age seems to have passed now.”
“That’s regrettable.”
Baek So Chun brought some fruits and sweets, and opened her mouth.
“To be honest, there was a little incident that happened a while back.”
“An incident?”
“Ahri seemed to have got outside without permission to pay a visit to the Garden. Nothing major had happened, but…….”
Baek So Chun paused a bit, then spoke.
“Due to my lacking talents, I almost let your precious daughter suffer from something terrible. I apologize.”
“Hm…….”
Gongson Chun Gi’s eyes got thinner. When Baek So Chun saw this, she let loose a cold sweat and bowed down.
“…….I am willing to take any punishment.”
“So nothing happened?”
“Yes. Thanks to her guards that found her in time, nothing big happened, but…….”
“But?”
“It seems that the Young Lady met the Lord Heir in the Garden. They even shared a conversation, but nothing eventful happened, thankfully.”
Gongson Chun Gi spoke as he began to tap his fingers restlessly.
“She met that child there?”
“Yes.”
“I’m getting quite interested. Call Ahri over.”
“Of course.”
Baek So Chun sent someone to bring Gongson Ahri. A few moments later, Gongson Ahri could be seen running towards them at full speed.
“Dad!”
“Oho! You’ve grown quite a bit, eh?”
Gongson Chun Gi hugged his daughter who had been running at him from his seat.
“Why didn’t you come over all this time? Were you busy?”
“Of course. Your daddy’s always busy, you know? By the way, it looks like you didn’t just grow tall during the time I haven’t seen you. Looks like you got a bit weightier, too.”
Gongson Ahri blushed a little, and lightly pushed Gongson Chun Gi away.
“Keke, you don’t have to feel so ashamed. You’re at the age where you start to grow up, after all.”
Nod nod. Gongson Ahri vigorously nodded in agreement.
“Actually, some things happened, so I just went out for a bit. That’s why I haven’t been able to visit.”
“Outside……. you mean the mainland?”
“Yeah. I went to the mainland.”
Gongson Chun Gi bitterly smiled when he saw her daughter’s gaze full of curiosity and reverence. That was because his daughter didn’t know much about the mainland.
“When everything that’s happening here blows over, let’s go on a trip to the mainland. I’ll show you some interesting stuff.”
“Waa!”
While Gongson Ahri clapped her hands in excitement, Gongson Chun Gi stroked his daughter’s hair and spoke.
“Ahri.”
“Yeah, dad?”
“There’s something that’s been bugging me since a while back, you know?”
“What is it?”
“You went to the Grass Shoe Garden, didn’t you?”
“…….!”
Gongson Ahri jumped up in surprise, then began to send small glances at Baek So Chun. Looking at that, Gongson Chun Gi smirked and spoke up.
“Don’t worry. I’m not here to punish you or anything. You went to the Garden, right?”
Gongson Ahri stared at Baek So Chun wordlessly for a moment, then nodded with an apologetic face.
“……..Yeah, I did.”
“That’s good. How was he, that boy? I was actually thinking of bringing him here. But you know, bringing him all the way here is a little troublesome……”
The Ruling Fire House was a forbidden land for all men. Anyone who would step inside without permission would be killed on sight. Of course, the Pope was an exception to this rule.
“Who…….?”
Gongson Ahri tried to pretend to be innocent, but in front of Gongson Chun Gi, such acts were useless.
“……..Eh? That’s kind of suspicious, you know?”
“What? No! What do you mean?”
Gongson Ahri backed away more and more under the gaze of her father.
When Gongson Chun Gi wouldn’t yield with his gaze, Gongson Ahri slowly looked away from her father completely.
“……..Fine, I won’t ask much more about that now. Looks like things would get awkward if I try to pry more……. It might be better for me to stay ignorant, right?”
“……..Yeah.”
Gongson Chun Gi let out a tired sigh, which was unusual in itself, and spoke.
“So, how was it? Just tell me how you felt.”
What did he want? When Gongson Ahri let out a confused expression, Gongson Chun Gi opened his mouth yet again.
“Was it good, or bad?”
This was, again, a very vague question. The situation was a little awkward to say that it was good, but then she couldn’t say it was bad, either. That’s why Gongson Ahri chose to say the safest thing she could think of at the moment.
“……..It wasn’t bad.”
“Hm……. To be specific?”
She didn’t know what her father was going for, but when this question arrived, she answered immediately.
“His eyes……. were pretty.”
Gongson Chun Gi’s eyes brightened.
‘Was, was I seen through?’
When Gongson Ahri flinched, her father spoke.
“How?”