The Reason for Marriage - Chapter 23.1

“We met again, Queen. Please take good care of me.”

Iveca smiled unknowingly when she saw a Bureau of Investigation staff member approaching her with twinkling green eyes and tall stature. The large ribbon tied in Reina’s short brown hair was surprisingly inconsistent with her black uniform.

“Reina, are you the staff member that was assigned to me?”

“There is one more. Sid, don’t be shy, come out.”

“Shut up!” Before Iveca knew it, a blue-haired boy walked up to Reina and stood next to her. Iveca stared at the boy, who seemed to be in his twenties, with curious eyes.

“Nice to meet you, my Queen. I’m Sid Setart. I have been assigned to escort the Queen for the time being.”

“Please take care of me,” Iveca said gently.

Reina grinned and spoke to Iveca first, “Queen. How old does Sid look?”

“Hmm… Twenty-three?” Although Iveca gave her the freshman age, after she finished studying him, Reina shook her head.

“No need to count, he is exactly what he looks like!”

“Oh, sixteen?”

Reina laughed her head off at Iveca’s response and standing by her side, Sid didn’t say anything and had no expression on his face. She was quite lively for an investigative agency employee, while Sid was the hardest-working investigative agency employee that anyone had ever seen. “He is twenty-nine! He is a young man with a lot of stress.”

“Oh. It’s, it’s a good thing?”

“Not at all. He was kicked by the girl he liked because he looked too young.”

“Reina, shut up,” Sid interjected.

“Queen, could you please order me to make more noise?” Reina giggled. Iveca unconsciously chuckled and smiled. Even though it was only their second meeting, Reina was friendly to her. Having never talked to her same-sex friends or sisters in a fun way, she felt somehow comfortable with her.

On the way to the Judicial Affair Bureau, Reina explained their escort plan, “One will be outside of the Bureau, and one will be inside.”

“Inside? The people of the Judicial Affair Bureau would be extremely uncomfortable.”

“I don’t know either. But the people of the Bureau of Investigation can completely hide their tracks without anyone knowing. Of course, it would be hard to do it all day long, but it is still possible to take turns half-day.”

“That is a pretty crucial point, isn’t it? If it is possible to secretly inspect the surroundings,” Iveca noted.

“It is one of the secrets that Queen Evena left to the Bureau of Investigation. Without these tricks, how could it be said that the Bureau of Investigation knew everything about Amenity? The Queen also did that when she was an employee.”

“Reina, you talk a lot,” Sid said, sounding irritated.

“Still, we have to let them know that we are in the Judicial Affair Bureau. You will be surprised if something pops up out of the blue. The secretariat of the Bureau of Investigation is a top-secret matter, but the situation is so special that it can’t be helped, right?” Reina replied with a smirk.

Iveca slowly nodded her head. Strangely, being with her made her feel at ease, and everything seemed to be okay. Perhaps Iveca and her were previously close colleagues in the Bureau of Investigation and watching as Reina talked with her comfortably, she had strange expectations. The hope was that she might have been loved by her colleagues, because she was wise and competent, although she didn’t know why she’d thrown away her memories. Maybe her past wasn’t as messy as she’d thought.

She had not visited the Count’s estate or even Anriq himself for the past four years, so she might not be that lonely among his colleagues and she may have been hiding her presence on various secret missions.

After talking with Reina, she thought that there was a good chance that she hadn’t struggled with loneliness during her time working in the Bureau of Investigation like she had done when she was eighteen. She glanced at Sid and spoke cautiously, “Excuse me, did I also know you when I was working in the Bureau of Investigation?”

“I do not know.” His answer was embarrassingly sharp and cut like a knife. But then, a more resolute voice followed, “Time has passed, and it was for a good reason. Do not be curious. Reina, do not say useless things anymore.” His words were so harsh that the conversation didn’t continue until they arrived at the Judicial Affair Bureau.

***

Iveca had gone to work at the Judicial Affair Bureau three days after the attack on her. There were a small number of employees at the law department and the majority of them were older people, so being there didn’t frustrate her in the least. However, one of the Judicial Affair Bureau’s employees, who walked with her on the way home from work, repeated the same story over and over as if he were telling a saga, which drained her immensely.

“Didn’t you know that a few officers from the Bureau of Investigation suddenly arrived close to the end of working hours and argued about article number ten of the constitution?”

“The Bureau of Investigation staff members were originally arrogant and they always said that they’d come, but they never came in person, but it seemed that they had been in a hurry that day. Well, it would be upsetting to remove their authority, though.”

“Besides, the Judicial Affair Bureau will become independent! Originally, the Bureau of Investigation was the most powerful department in the agency, but it would be difficult to accept a position to obey the law.” Iveca thought that Sid, who must be hiding somewhere, would be quite upset to hear all of this.

“But it was a good thing that because of that we worked until late and the Bureau of Investigation staff members witnessed the attack.”

“They didn’t have manners though. They worked until late and didn’t even consider our working hours, and then arrived at that time?”

“Originally, you knew, right, that most of the Bureau of Investigation staff members always thought that they were the best.”