The Readymade Queen

Chapter 9

Abigail, who was looking at Luderick here and there, immediately sighed and turned her head. There was nothing to be careful about because he would know all the facts anyway.

She trudged to the table. They were the books that Luderick put on the table. Instead of putting them down, it’s true that he actually piled them up. It was just a table above her hips, but the books were piled up to the bottom of her chin. It was more like a tower.

Abigail muttered the titles of the books with a stupid face. “‘Key Specialties and Geography of Each Region of the East and West Continents’, ‘Grantonia’s Local Products and Industrial Policies by Territories’, ‘The World is Now’, ‘The Forces behind the World’s Finances upper volume?lower volume’, ‘168 World Masterpieces’, ‘250 World Elucidations’, ‘ The Evolution of Lies’, ‘The Rebellion of the People’, ‘How do people die?’, ‘Irencia Find the Answer to Their Contradictions’, ‘The Theory of Strategy’, ‘The Theory of War’, ‘Persuasion’, ‘The History of Money’, ‘War and Man’, ‘From God to Man’,…”

“Oh, those are the books you should read every day of the week.”

“Two volumes of these specialties alone would be a thousand pages long. It’s not a novel. How can I read a book a day when each letter is memorized?”

“You can do it.” The man was strangely optimistic.

Abigail frowned. “Specialties, why do you read books like this?”

“Nothing is more useful than that at a banquet. It’s useful to meet someone.”

Abigail lost her words and turned away. “World, yes. These books are useful, of course. World masterpiece… This one is exactly 853 pages long. There are 168 works in one book, and it’s hard to believe that I have to read them all in my spare time.”

With an awkward and contrived smile, Abigail’s laugh came out of her mouth. “But it would be useful to pretend to know this too. Same goes for the elucidation, lies, yes. I have to find out who is lying in front of me. People, yes. How important people’s sentiment is. How do people die? Yes. Someday, everyone will die and rot, but it’s good to know how to die. I also need to know how Irencia did something contradictory. I’m looking forward to seeing how fun the war and strategy will be. You have to be good at persuading. And how important money is, wouldn’t the history of money be so important? From God to Man? Yes. There are several religions in the Empire, and I need to know about theology. Yes…”

Abigail smiled and murmured as if she had lost her mind, and then her eyes glared sharply. “You want me to read them all in just two weeks? What the hell do you think I am?”

“What?”

“No, Duke, I really only have an ordinary brain. You told me to speak three foreign languages. You told me to read four history books. I have to learn etiquette, and I have to play the piano and violin, but now… how the hell am i supposed to do everything in this short period of time?”

“When you shut up, you’re supposed to do everything.”

Abigail stared at Rakiel with blank eyes as if it were her own idea.

“At eight o’clock in the evening, come up to Elderdium with a book to read that day.”

“Why?”

“You’re going to sleep in Elderdium anyway.”

“Why?”

“If I leave you alone, you become self-indulgent.”

Abigail frowned at the words that seemed to imply she was 11 years old. Self-indulgence, am I a child? And just because I sleep in another place, how can I become self-indulgent?

“If you’re nervous, just say you’re nervous.”

“Yes, I’m nervous. What are you going to do?”

No, I have to be nervous about my own safety. Abigail looked at Rakiel with a wonderful face.

“Anyway, You’ll come up with that book and read it, and when you’re done, I’ll ask you a few questions.”

Now, Abigail’s schedule had been squeezed in until the test.

“If the answer is wrong, you can’t sleep until you get it right. And even if you can’t sleep, be aware that you always have to wake up at seven. From tonight.”

Abigail plunged into the chair with a hopeless face.

The next thing that was thrown was the sheet music.

It was better than letters, but she couldn’t figure out how crazy she had to play to achieve the level of those sheet music with her sturdy hand. The violin too. She barely remembered the pitch.

The back bone was pulled tight.

“The etiquette is from nine to eleven. From eleven to twelve, I will teach the official language, and from one to three, Kyle will teach history. You don’t need a teacher for the piano or violin, do you? For the time being, just relax your hands. Do it until dinner. After dinner, review what you learned on that day, and then do whatever you want. And at eight o’clock, come up to Elderdium with a book.”

“Wait… you are teaching the official language?”

“Is there a problem?”

“No, it’s not like that, but I think other professional language teachers would be better.” She didn’t want to think about how much she was going to learn from that man.

Rakiel, who interpreted Abigail’s careful words as doubts about his professionalism, wriggled his eyebrows and said arrogantly. “I do better than those professional teachers.”

Look at that shameless fellow. I will probably live my whole life with modesty. But unfortunately, that seems true.

“…of course you do.”

“There will be dessert soon, so eat it and play the piano until Kyle comes. History also starts today.”

Rakiel took off his gloves, put them back on, and checked them again, and there was a glow on Abigail’s gloomy face.

“Where’s Duke going?”

“My work has been messed up for a few days because of you.”

“Why is that because of me?”

“Then whose fault is it?”

“You must have been fooling around under my pretext!”

Rakiel turned around and went out as if it wasn’t worth dealing with. As soon as Rakiel left, Abigail leaned on the chair and stared blankly at the stacked books with a helpless face.

*****

She rummaged through the sheet music.

Music I know, music I know…

“Found it!”

The Moment of Molfenbach’s Woes. It was the music her mother loved. Her expression, which was brightened for a moment, sank gloomy again. The song wasn’t enough to relax her hand.

Abigail’s hand rummaged through the other sheet music. What she needed right now was a music that was passionate, fast, and hitting fortissimo from start to finish.

Abigail’s hand, which was quickly flipping the sheet music, stopped. “Murni’s <The Eye of the Storm…” was this.

1st movement? No need. 2nd movement? No need. A musical expression? She didn’t need it either. 3rd Movement, Fortissimo from start to finish, and Abigail took a step in combat. Abigail breathed deeply for a moment and then slammed the piano like an avant-garde artist on the street.

Luderick’s expressionless face hardened slightly awkwardly due to the unexpected loud and short sound, but when the melody flowed awkwardly within a certain time, it returned to its original expression.

For a long time, Abigail gained momentum with her hands moving quite well. And gradually, using that momentum as a stepping stone, she began to hit the piano. The hands that fell onto the piano and then fell again were somewhat combative.

The embarrassment was young at Luderick’s eyes, whose emotions were hard to show by nature. Are you mad at the piano? Luderick lived far away from art all his life, but one could be known. At least that’s not art.

Luderick picked up the pocket watch in his arms and checked the time. It’s 7:49. After her history class ended and Kyle left the room at 3 o’clock, Abigail played the piano like crazy.

Twenty-four-year-old Luderick never found it difficult to stand still all day after being ordained a knight at the age of 18. Today was the first time. It’s hard to stay still. Luderick was a knight to the bone and a man who even forgot about being free on duty. So, it meant that the hardship right now was the biggest enemy of the knights, not because of the ‘freeness of standing still’.

Why can’t I get out of here and why can’t I be free from that sound…

Although she played the piano well, she abused the piano as if she had met the enemy of her parents. It felt like she was taking out her anger. The songs kept changing, but consistently, only songs with the momentum of storm, tsunami, or overturning the world were selected.

She even skipped dinner.

Luderick picked up the pocket watch again and checked the time. As if the class ended in 50 minutes, he checked his watch every minute from 43 minutes. This had never happened before.

7:53. Luderick, who thought it had been 10 minutes, raised his head with a disappointed face.

It’s eight o’clock. It’s eight o’clock. Luderick memorized it over and over again. So that he could speak naturally as soon as 8 o’clock.

In the meantime, the tragic and loud piano sound continued. She had to go to Elderdium by eight o’clock. And now it’s 7:55.

It was a very good time to take the woman away from that damn piano chair.

“Your Highness, it’s almost eight o’clock. You have to go.”

Abigail’s hand, which moved like crazy, stopped like a lie. Abigail sat blankly on the piano chair for a moment and then stood up. Then she quickly walked to the table. Her cold eyes glared at the books on the table.

‘The History of Money’ won.

Abigail pushed the books above instead of moving them aside like a normal person to grab the book in the middle. The books that were placed on top of ‘The History of Money’ collapsed. Abigail looked pleased at the scene of the collapse. She felt like Luderick was looking at her with strange eyes, but Abigail didn’t care otherwise.

The hand holding the book shook a little. Suddenly, it was unreasonable. Still, she felt a little relieved because she played the piano all day long.

As she climbed the stairs and reached the fifth floor, Luderick politely saw her off in front of the enormous gate. The book she chose today looked relatively interesting among those disgusting books. The book was quite thin, had large letters, had large spacing between letters, and the margins were large. It was comforting in many ways.

Today is the first day, so read this as soon as possible, and sit down as soon as possible. Even if I see a special series, I will have to stay up all night with my eyes open.

She had to sleep an hour more today because she didn’t know what would happen tomorrow. When she opened the Duke’s office, she saw Rakiel sitting on a huge desk and moving his pen endlessly.

Abigail stared at Rakiel and made a pledge. ‘More relaxed than this man, I’ll read it all like a cow, lie down on the bed quickly, and stop doing it all.’ Abigail walked and stood in front of the Duke’s desk.

When the white muslin hem came into view over the edge of the desk, Rakiel raised his head.

Abigail raised her head toward the bookshelf. “Open it.”

Rakiel got up without replying, pulled out the book ‘Screaming at Their End’, and put his hand in its place. The heavy bookcase opened smoothly without a single noise.

It was amazing even if she saw it many times. Abigail entered the Elderdium, hugging the book tightly. However, she couldn’t hear the sound that should have been heard right away.

Abigail turned around. He was walking back to his desk.

“Can’t you close it?”

He didn’t answer again.

She was used to such neglect now, so Abigail passed it lightly. She walked to the table, threw the book down, and buried herself in the fluffy chair.

Abigail, who had been sitting blankly for a while, reached out to the book, wondering if things would start soon.

At that moment.

“….what are you doing, now?” Abigail, who looked at the thick pile of documents placed across the book with a thumping sound, looked a little higher with a ridiculous expression.

Rakiel sat down without replying.

“Why is the Duke here?”

“It’s originally my bedroom.”

“Who doesn’t know that? What are you doing here?”

“Review last year’s financial statements issued by the Duchy decree.”

“No, not that.”

“I watch you.”

“…”

When Abigail was silent for a moment, Rakiel quickly looked at his documents.

“You told me to read a book. Don’t you know that books need to be read comfortably in a comfortable environment in order to read well?”

“When I left you here alone and came back in, all I saw was sleeping. You sleep when you’re comfortable.”

“It’s been several days. If you look at them everyday, you’ll know it!”

“If you could do it every day, you would have done it.”

Abigail, who almost got caught up in sophistry at the moment, shook her head. “Duke said that I have to read it all to sleep. I want to read quickly and sleep quickly. I’m not really going anywhere.”

“Yeah, I understand, so don’t worry about it, read it.”

She couldn’t even communicate. Abigail picked up her book with a bulging look.

So, quite a bit of time had passed.

The documents Rakiel brought were certainly twice as thick as the book she had in her hand. The letters were much denser, and the letter spacing was tight. She thought he flipped without looking. Abigail stared suspiciously at the documents he had finished as if he had seen them all.

If I look at the checked traces on the documents, it doesn’t seem like it, but if I look down at the book in my hand, I only come a little over half of it.

For Abigail, this situation didn’t seem to make much sense.

“11 o’clock”

“…”

“I read quickly and sleep quickly. Still.”

“Is it true you’ve read it all?”

“It is a document that has no reason to read every single letter.”

–

Suddenly, the heat flared up. It was an unfavorable fight in the first place.

I’m never ignorant of myself. That man reviewed the documents, and I am reading, right? Besides, I am looking at the difficult content so that it would be understandable even if I chew the letters one by one.

That book was terribly difficult. Nevertheless, her conscience said that she couldn’t help it. That man saw twice as many documents as the pile of paper in her hand, and she saw less than half the amount he read, and she only saw half that while he saw it all.

Rakiel leaned a little deeper into the chair and loosened his Krabat. On the drowsy expression that was different from daytime, the shade was formed by the hair.

“You look tired.”

“I’m tired. Because of you.”

“I’m glad you are tired because of me.”

Rakiel laughed at the words that naturally raised his value.

“But, I really have to read all of this before going to bed…?”

“Yes.”

“But the Duke looks really tired.” Abigail said in a friendly gesture, ‘I really want to show you how I read all this before going to bed, but how do I dare to cause you such annoyance when you say you’re tired? Don’t worry about me, go to bed, I’ll take care of myself.’ She said in invisible brackets.

About a quarter of them were really sincere, but Rakiel smiled as if it was ridiculous. “In the first place, I usually sleep three or four hours a day. We still have plenty of time.”

“Is that what humans do?”

“It’s just something you don’t want to do.”

“Just go get some sleep. I’ll read everything and sleep!”

“Really? You?”

The disdainful look touched something in Abigail. Abigail clenched her teeth. So with perseverance and patience coming, Abigail read the book like crazy without raising her head even once.

Of course, his disdainful look played a part in her forced concentration. Actually, she didn’t need everything anymore, she just wanted to sleep.

And finally!

After reading the last chapter, Abigail raised her head, closing the hardcover with a happy and joyful touch.

Sitting still in front of her, he turned his head, which had been slightly tilted, made eye contact with her. His eyes, which were full of black thoughts, instantly returned to reality with a single blink.

Abigail, who witnessed the cold ripples, paused for a moment, and immediately lifted the book and smiled broadly as if she didn’t know.

Before she knew it, the night was already deep, and the time was a little past 2 am. Five hours of bedtime was her Maginot line. No matter how busy her life was and no matter how many things she had to do everyday, she had to sleep at least five hours.

Now, even if that man left this room in five seconds and she jumped into bed right now, it would be a little less than five hours. But it’s pretty much the same, so it’s still okay.

“Duke, can I sleep now?”

“What started the speculative craze in the Duchy of Beaker?”

“…”

“You can’t answer. Read it again.”

“…”

Abigail collapsed on the unexpected question. Abigail stiffly lowered her head and reopened the book helplessly.

It’s 3:30.

Still, it was a book that she had read once, so she would read it quickly this time. Abigail hurriedly closed the book and put it on the table, looking at Rakiel as if in a hurry. “Please ask me a question quickly.”

“What started the speculative craze in the Duchy of Beaker?” Rakiel kindly asked without changing the question. No one knew how carefully she saw that part.

“The blue tulip! The appearance of the blue mutant tulip gave us four months to try to cultivate rare species.”

“The result?”

“The great crash. Half of the Duchy was destroyed as people from nobles to commoners attacked. As a result, it was naturally absorbed by Pelobert.”

“What was the first bank?”

“Ancient Rodin’s money changer!”

“Why would an ancient money changer be considered the first bank?”

“…”

“You’re stuck. Read it again.”

I can’t do this. You can’t do this to me.

“It wasn’t in the book!”

“Isn’t it listed what the ancient money changer did?”

“That’s what it shows.”