The growing December chill was driven away by the ample heating in the top-floor office of the Kingdom Security Company.
At eleven in the morning, Nico Robin pushed open the heavy solid-wood door and stepped inside, bringing a cool breeze with her.
She took off her long khaki trench coat, revealing a fitted, dark turtleneck dress underneath, and elegantly hung the coat on the brass coat rack to the left of the entrance.
She tossed her head and undid her hair tie with her right hand. Her long black hair cascaded down, setting off the graceful lines of her exposed neck.
As she walked, her skirt swayed, the occasional fleeting glimpse of her snow-white calves tracing alluring curves beneath the lights.
She casually set the thick document envelope in her hand on the broad mahogany desk, then "dropped" her somewhat tired body into the soft, high-backed office chair. Her delicate brows drew together slightly, and she sighed soundlessly.
An inefficient, shortsighted band of bureaucrats... She rubbed between her brows, delivering an accurate yet helpless assessment of the kingdom's Council, which was rife with buck-passing and compromise.
She opened the document envelope. The thick stack of papers inside was the result of days of painstaking work at Boer's direction:
"Preliminary Proposal for the Kingdom's Social Welfare System," "Planning Outline for the Royal Capital's Central Heating System," "Site Selection and Construction Plan for New Public Hospitals," "Preliminary Plan for Optimizing and Expanding the Kingdom's Education System"...
"Honestly..." she murmured, her fingertips brushing over the words that embodied so much thought and effort. "These are clearly all sound policies for the country's long-term development and the people's benefit, yet they argue themselves hoarse in the Council over their own petty gains."
It was not that she did not understand the kingdom's financial situation,