"Your Majesty, may I ask what my assignment is?"
Tawell stood before me with a soldier's rigid posture, but her face was filled with unease. Her voice lacked its usual fearless confidence and vigor. It was quite surprising to see this researcher, who was always brimming with energy and charging ahead with her head down, looking so embarrassed. I was briefly stunned before remembering that when Sandora had assigned the cleanup tasks for this incident, she had allocated every part of the work down to specific individuals—except Tawell. She had even handed several research departments that should have been Tawell's responsibility to other research teams.
No wonder the Glasses Girl before me was so uneasy. She probably thought this was punishment for having messed things up, so naturally she was under tremendous pressure.
Of course, as a Shilin Apostle, Tawell would not resent any punishment imposed upon her. Orders from higher-ranking individuals would be carried out without fail. That was the mission of the Shilin Apostles. Yet as a "person" with emotions, Tawell could not help feeling dejected, especially when this "punishment" meant suspending her research projects. For a scientist, there was nothing more terrifying than that. Still, while Tawell's unease was understandable, she was somewhat different from ordinary Shilin Apostles. Simply put, she was more human. That was because Tawell counted as half a new-generation Apostle. Although she had come to Earth alongside Pandora and was one of the previous generation of Apostles born in the Old Empire, she had grown independently as a high-ranking individual after the New Empire was established. As a result, Tawell had learned richer personal emotions through her interactions with our family. I didn't know what others thought, but personally, I considered that a very good change.
"You should take a break for now."