The Empire's First Rose

Kilmainham Prison lay two districts away from Marne District, with Val-d'Oise District in between.

The carriage was not moving quickly. Charlotte dozed lightly inside until the coachman cautiously reminded him, "Sir, we have arrived at Kilmainham Prison."

Charlotte stepped down from the carriage, smiling as he bid the coachman farewell, then hurried toward Kilmainham Prison. He presented his letter of introduction to the prison guard and said with a smile, "This is proof of identity issued by the Central Government Office. I am Charlotte Mecklen, a full-time clerk, here to assist with some work."

The prison guard carefully examined the letter before returning it to Charlotte. With a respectful expression, he said, "Mr. Mecklen, please proceed straight to the First Office Building and ask for the reception secretary, Madame Pascal. She will take you to see Miss Menilman."

Charlotte's smile stiffened slightly as he asked, "I am here to assist Miss Menilman? That Miss?"

The prison guard smiled as though honored by the association and replied, "That is right. Miss Menilman, the Empire's First Rose."

Charlotte did not dare ask any more questions. He hurried into Kilmainham Prison, easily found the First Office Building, and, under the guidance of the reception secretary Madame Pascal, entered a separate office and met the legendary Empire's First Rose.

Menilman was a legend of the Empire.

Her beauty was unmatched, but her status as the Empire's most outstanding female representative had nothing to do with her appearance. She was a High-Order Transcendent, exceedingly rare even across the entire Empire, and her battle aura had reached profound heights.

She wore an Imperial military uniform, like a rose in full bloom. Anger rippled in her watery eyes, while the battle aura around her had condensed almost into substance, so intense it seemed ready to ignite.

Several clerks in the room looked terrified. Dozens of documents lay scattered across the office floor, leaving the room somewhat disorderly.

Charlotte had no time to sneak a look at the Empire's First Rose's beauty. He gave his colleagues in the room a slight nod, hurriedly picked up the documents from the floor, and began working.

He had been tempered by internet beauties in his previous life. Although Miss Menilman's looks were flawlessly perfect from every angle, they were still not enough to stun a Central Government Office clerk who had lived two lives.

On the way here, Charlotte had taken the time to read the letter. Besides serving as proof of identity, it briefly described his duties: assisting the Kilmainham Prison warden's office in organizing case files.

As everyone knew, the best way to ease the awkwardness in an office was to pretend to be busy. Of course, one could also actually be busy.

Although Charlotte had studied mathematics education at university and had only shallow knowledge of statistics, archival science, and library science, he could still display his talents in this ancient nation. He worked briskly and soon sorted every document on the floor and desk.

After Charlotte entered, Menilman had kept suppressing her anger as she coldly observed this unflappable clerk.

Only after Charlotte finished organizing the documents did she ask, "I need to know what happened on March eighteenth."

Charlotte calmly replied, "There are twenty-eight documents related to March eighteenth, spanning four different years. Does Miss Menilman require all the information, or only that of a particular year?"

"Era of the Black Moon Lady, Year Thirty-One."

"There are twenty-one in total."

"Find them all."

Charlotte's expression did not change, but inwardly he was nearly unable to hold it together. While organizing the files just now, he had seen things he should not have seen.

When he found the twenty-one documents, Menilman snatched them up, bright flames rising from her hand.

The flames of battle aura surged forth, reducing every document to ashes in an instant. She clapped her hands and said, "Now find me the documents concerning the Night Window Incident."

Without a word, Charlotte easily found the seven documents as ordered.

Menilman swept her gaze over the other clerks in the room and said, "You can all get out."

The clerks looked as if they had received a pardon. They gave Charlotte grateful looks and filed out of the room.

Menilman said, "Organize every document in this room. I need all files concerning Zimmerman Axel Robin."

Charlotte glanced at the several enormous filing cabinets in the office and answered flatly, "All right."

At the same time, he grumbled inwardly, There really are so few documents in this era. As a high school mathematics teacher, the test papers he accumulated in a single semester had exceeded all the documents in this room.

Menilman kept issuing orders.

Charlotte completed each one perfectly. Before long, the files in the room had been reorganized, and he had also learned many secrets he should not have known, such as...

Forget it. Better not have such thoughts in front of Miss Menilman.

They were too... obscene.

Menilman destroyed dozens of documents. Glancing outside at the sunset, she asked, "Which institution sent you?"

Charlotte answered neither humbly nor arrogantly, "The Central Government Office."

"What is your name?"

"Charlotte Mecklen."

"Which academy did you graduate from?"

Charlotte raised his head. His tone was calm, yet the pride in his bones was impossible to conceal. "Sheffield University!"

Menilman finally showed a slight reaction and asked, "Sheffield University?"

Charlotte answered briefly, "Yes."

For the first time since Charlotte had entered the office, the woman known as the Empire's First Rose smiled. "I am your senior."

Charlotte returned her smile. "Charlotte, a Sheffield University graduate of Black Moon Year 33, greets his senior."

The Empire's education system was divided into six tiers: elementary education, secondary education, higher education, public schools, National Academy, and Imperial University.

Completing higher education already made one a rare talent in society. If a poor family raised a child who completed higher education, they could proudly declare that their family had ascended the social ladder.

Public schools were generally funded and established by nobles. Their graduates had already been set apart from commoners.

The National Academy was even known as—serving the royal family!

It mainly trained grassroots talent for every level of government, and its graduates received benefits so generous as to be unimaginable.

They were roughly equivalent to university students in the world Charlotte had come from before transmigrating, during the fifties and sixties.

As for Imperial University, it was an entirely different concept from universities on Earth.

There was a saying in the Empire's educational circles: National Academy served the royal family and the Empire; Imperial University served the gods. Every university represented the favor of a god, and its graduates possessed incomparably noble status.

That was also why Charlotte could work at the Central Government Office, receive the Empire's high salary, and enjoy annual leave.

Because he had graduated from Sheffield University.

One of the Empire of Fars's only four universities.

Menilman nodded with a smile and extended her right hand, palm down.

Charlotte gently raised that hand with both of his and lightly touched his forehead to her slender fingertips.

In the Empire, this was an important etiquette, signifying that a man and woman had henceforth formed a pure friendship.