Chapter 27: Please Be a Teacher, Lady Sephine!

*Knock, knock, knock.*

Someone was knocking on the door.

Sephine climbed out of bed, heading to open the door in a daze.

“Wait, she wasn’t at her own home… who would be knocking on the door of the Inner Palace? Sephine snapped awake instantly. She glanced back; Vi had already left.”

It was all Vi’s fault for exhausting her yesterday.

Getting out of bed today was an absolute chore.

She felt like she ached everywhere, as if her very bones had turned soft.

When she opened the door, she saw a familiar face.

“Freya Chess, what are you doing here?”

Normally, the Demon King wouldn’t personally handle matters from the Ministry of Education.

Even if Freya came looking for her, the task would likely be pushed onto someone else.

Most likely, it would be pushed to Lanstin Trode, and Lanstin was not an easy person to deal with.

“I’m here to see you, Lady Sephine!”

“See me? I’m still on vacation.”

The Lord Demon King wouldn’t even let her leave.

If she strayed more than three meters from the Inner Palace, Astina would catch her and drag her back.

“No, no, no. I wanted to ask you for a small favor privately.”

“I’m still being confined right now… the Demon King is very scary, you know,” Sephine whispered into Freya’s ear.

Sephine knew Freya fairly well.

Back in the Rebel Army, she had been an Assistant Advisor.

Her overall rank was much lower than Sephine’s, but she had quite a bit of contact with the Demon King.

The Demon King rarely scolded Sephine, but war meant pent-up frustrations.

Miss Freya was the one who suffered for it.

The Demon King frequently lectured her, which resulted in Freya having a severe phobia of the Demon King.

Because of that, she had chosen a position as far away from the Demon King as possible.

However, the events of the past few days had forced her to face the Demon King once again, and she felt terrible about it.

“The Demon King hasn’t returned yet, has she? Stop teasing me, Lady Sephine. I have serious business!”

Sephine hadn’t expected that after all this time, the pink-haired girl who used to tremble with fear would become so serious.

It made sense; there were no freeloaders in the Rebel Army.

Freya had earned her promotions through her own merit.

“Sorry, sorry. Come in and talk.”

Sephine invited Freya to the sofa and signaled for her to sit.

Sephine naturally took her usual spot.

As for Freya… since the sofa was designed for the Demon King and Sephine to cuddle, she ended up sitting in the Demon King’s spot.

Of course, Sephine was kind enough not to tell her.

“It’s not exactly an emergency. I just wanted to ask if you’d be interested in becoming a teacher at the Magic Academy?”

“Eh? Me?”

“Yes. The Magic Academy is severely understaffed. It hasn’t been an issue yet because there are so few students, but once the academy gets on the right track, we might run into some problems.”

“If you’re short on teachers, go recruit some. I’m just one person; it won’t be enough anyway.”

Sephine found it strange.

No matter how you looked at it, the Magic Academy shouldn’t be recruiting her.

What kind of person asks someone who just started their vacation to take on another job?

Furthermore, Sephine hadn’t entirely set aside her current duties; it was just that the current situation was special, and Sephine was not allowed to go out on her own.

“Miss Freya, it’s not that I don’t want to go, but my body can hardly support me working right now. As you can see, I’m still in my pajamas.”

Sephine spread her arms, showing off her pajamas printed with a chibi version of the Demon King.

The little Demon King had been sewn on by the Demon King herself, and Sephine liked it quite a bit.

“It’s fine, it’s fine! The job isn’t tiring at all. It’s just one lesson a week, and each session is thirty minutes! We just need your name on the roster, Lady Sephine. You’ll still get paid the regular salary!”

“Isn’t that a waste of money? Don’t use funds from the National Treasury for something like this.”

“No, not at all! We’re only paying the standard wage: five silver coins per lesson!”

Freya explained hurriedly.

No one in the Council was unaware of what kind of person Sephine was.

Freya naturally knew that Sephine was very frugal.

In the entire Imperial Palace, Sephine was the only official who would eat nothing but black bread for lunch during work hours.

Of course, those days had been Sephine’s most difficult yet happiest times.

They were difficult and happy because she had bought the fireplace she had always dreamed of—though unfortunately, she couldn’t use it every day now.

The salaries for various officials within the palace’s administrative system were not high. The root cause was poverty; the National Treasury was empty.

They could only alleviate the economic pressure by cutting salaries and benefits.

Although things were slowly improving over the year, it was only a gradual process.

‘Five silver coins per lesson… that’s enough to feed me for a long time.

But it seems like a normal price. Once a week… that should be fine.’

Sephine muttered to herself, calculating whether the price met her standards for value conversion.

The fees for the Academy were notoriously high.

Even with ongoing reforms, money remained a major issue.

Without enough funds to stabilize the witches and mages, who would come to teach?

Those people had the skills to make money elsewhere.

Why would they humble themselves to be a teacher in a small place like this?

There had to be attractive conditions.

“So you agree, Lady Sephine?!”

“What could I possibly teach? I wouldn’t say I’m completely ignorant when it comes to magic, but I have absolutely no foundation.”

“That’s fine! What I want you to teach is Kingdom History! It’s only once a week. It’s really easy! The Demon King has already agreed; as long as your safety can be guaranteed, she’ll allow you to go to class.”

“Fine.”

It was still necessary to have some pocket money.

Five silver coins a week wasn’t an unreasonable price.

That witch named Catherine requested research funds in the thousands of gold coins at a time!

If it weren’t for the fact that her inventions were actually useful, Sephine would have replaced her long ago.

“Great! I knew you would be the most understanding, Lady Sephine. I’ll head out then!”

Freya bowed to Sephine and ran off, clutching her list.

It seemed over half of her recruitment goals were still unfinished.

The Education Minister was in a pitiful state, having to personally recruit teachers for the Academy.

Sometimes Sephine felt like their group was a bit too much of a ragtag bunch.

Could they really govern this kingdom better?

But the results spoke for themselves.

Although the pace wasn’t fast, the National Treasury was gradually filling up, and the people’s grievances were slowly fading.

All their hard work was finally yielding results.

If they could pass this winter peacefully, it would prove that their rule had already surpassed all previous Demon Kings.

Still in her pajamas, Sephine crawled back under the covers.

The weather was exceptionally cold today.