Sitting at the small desk beside Julia, Livyat was somewhat dazed, not only because she might soon become one of the long-lived, but also because of something else Julia had told her.
Just yesterday, the council held a vote on the budget proposal, which finally passed.
This meant that the heavily-laden merchant ships from the Elven Kingdom of Erindria would be anchored in dense rows at Landingset Port.
But this also brought another problem: the Frostweave Kingdom in the north also produced silk and sold it in large quantities to Hobrick.
When she tentatively asked Julia for her opinion on this matter, Julia expressed her helplessness.
Once Elven silk became both high quality and affordable (relatively speaking), the Frostweave Kingdom would inevitably suffer—that was beyond doubt.
But for Julia, the Navy’s repeated work requests to the current Shipbuilding Office, which made the chief administrator there constantly urge her to get promoted and transfer over as soon as possible, or the fact that her own father had drunk too much at last night’s celebratory ball and scolded a few opposition members, were all far more troublesome than this.
She simply comforted Livyat, saying, “If the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up.”
What does that mean?
Livyat looked at the tall Julia, who was a whole head higher than herself, and then thought of her own gradually shrinking height.
She pouted: Yes, yesterday Tesvelan measured me, and in fact, getting an accurate measurement of one’s height was unimaginable for most Hobrick people, unless you were ordering a custom silk dress from head to toe—why else would you need to know your height so precisely?
But not for me; I have to know exactly how much I’ve shrunk.
The final measurement was four piedi and seven uncia.
Uh, after my own recalculation, that’s a bit over 1.6 meters in my previous life.
That also explained why she had gradually gone from simply pouncing onto the big bed mother to needing to brace her legs against the edge before toppling onto the big bed mother.
That also explained why she could no longer reach the four-corner underwear in the upper partition of the wardrobe—though Tesvelan saw this and threw them all out for her.
That also explained why Julia and Tesvelan could so easily pat her head.
Fine, go ahead and pat me.
Pat me all you want until I can’t grow taller—so what if I’m just a shorty.
Livyat looked at Julia, who was intently working on a form, and awkwardly touched her own earlobe.
Why did it feel like her earlobes had gotten smaller?
“This weekend there’s a party. If you can, you and Her Highness Tesvelan should come together. But it might take up your rest time.”
Julia seemed to sense that Livyat wasn’t focusing on her work, so she said this without looking up.
Tesvelan, as a young noble lady from the Elven Kingdom of Erindria, was of course used to attending such occasions.
But could I also attend?
Livyat made no attempt to hide her curiosity, looking at Julia with wide, questioning eyes.
“It’s not some kind of social ball. Rather, how to put it, at these events, the gentlemen gather on one side to discuss matters, and the staff serve a dinner with heavy oil and rich sauces along with strong grain liquor.”
“The ladies, meanwhile, are on the other side, discussing their own matters, served with desserts and snacks, mainly fruit wine and sparkling wine. But to be honest, I don’t like it—those ladies, some of them rich wives or noble girls, are not easy to deal with.”
“There are actually noble ladies and rich wives that even Sister Julia is afraid of?” said Livyat.
After two days of getting along, she had smoothly changed her way of addressing Julia from ‘Lady Julia’ to ‘Sister Julia.’
“What do you think? Their topics always circle back to which luxury item or custom silk dress they just bought. I’m not saying I can’t afford it, but I still can’t explain the difference between the two sets of dresses I bought this year, what fashion trends they represent, or what little details they were intentionally designed with to distinguish them. But they can talk about it endlessly.”
“Fashion? I remember when chatting over coffee with Tesvelan, she said: ‘I think fashion is the simple long dress that washes away all ostentation—no excessive tassels, patterns, or ribbon decorations, and no designer’s anti-counterfeiting signature. But it must use the best Elven silk, light blue or moonlight white, and must highlight the natural beauty of the human body.'”
“Oh, that? That was the trend thirty years ago.”
Tesvelan, you old fossil!
“By the way, bring the official seal from the first department and stamp this announcement. It requires all restaurants to disclose their vegetarian ingredient sources—where they purchase from, or which merchant ship brought them in. It’s said that some unclean ingredients have appeared in the Southern Islands Colonies, possibly due to crop disease, which can make people sick after eating them.”
Julia quickly shifted the topic back to work.
“But the southern colonies have always been our most important source of vegetables and grains…” Livyat, who knew these things well, asked.
“Yes, so the public may blame us for this… That’s why I want to use Loren Green’s seal. After all, those on the payroll who do nothing are never punished.”
Julia answered without hesitation.
After a while, she was surprised to find that Livyat hadn’t responded.
She looked up to see the delicate figure bowed, not reacting, her dainty red lips seeming to mutter something.
Julia understood.
She walked over and patted Livyat’s head, her silky hair sliding through her fingers like flowing water.
She said, “Sorry about that. Sister Julia apologizes. I’ll go ask the director of the second department to bring the seal.”
At that moment, Livyat raised her head, her red eyes sparkling, a slight flush of grievance on her cheeks.
She forced a smile and replied cheerily, “It’s alright, Sister Julia. I guess I’m just a little sentimental lately—been happening these past few days, not sure why. Go ahead and use Loren Green’s seal. The director of the second department has done so well, and he’s about to get promoted—can’t make things hard for him at a time like this.”
After work, Tesvelan actually came to the entrance of the Civil Affairs Office to pick up Livyat, bringing a bag of fried dough balls with her.
She ignored the guards at the door and walked straight into the Civil Affairs Office.
It wasn’t her first time there anyway.
She pushed open the office door directly.
Julia, showing no sign of being off work, frowned.
“You! Stop barging into the Civil Affairs Office and my office without notice.”
Tesvelan walked straight over to Livyat, brusquely grabbed her hand, and pulled her up.
“Oh? I’m just here to pick up our lovely Livyat after work. Or are you planning to make her stay and work overtime with you?”
Julia rubbed her forehead and waved her hand, letting them go.
Don’t get in the way of my work.
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