Chapter 38

Evans came to the capital alone. He was living as an apprentice in the home of a certain old man.

At first, he tried to enter a school to learn architecture, but he was at a loss when the school did not allow an interpreter to accompany him. The school staff, who repeatedly said, "I am very sorry," showed a discriminatory attitude toward Evans, who was from the south. Evans did not notice, but his interpreter, Hermann, did.

Hermann was disappointed that Evans, who had been happy about a good job, lost it on the first day, and felt sorry for the kind-looking large man who was hanging his head. So Hermann appealed to the president of the chamber of commerce to which he belonged about Evans' predicament.

"President, can't you do something for him?"

Upon hearing this, the president of the chamber of commerce called Evans to talk to him that day.

"You are here because of Miss Bertine's recommendation, so I cannot ignore you. Lord Juan, who has been very kind to me since the early days of the chamber of commerce, deserves my gratitude, and I must do something for you."

Hope appeared on Evans' face.

"Mr. Evans, I will introduce you to a famous architect I worked with as an interpreter. I will give you a letter of introduction, so go and ask him with the mindset that if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. Even though he has retired, he is a very famous architect not only in the empire but also in other countries."

"President of the Chamber of Commerce, thank you! I will sincerely ask him."

Thus, Evans visited Eckart Beck's home. With the help of an interpreter, he said to Eckart:

"I want to study to build my ideal house. But the architecture school did not accept me with an interpreter. Please, sir, will you teach me?"

Eckart was a small old man, over sixty years old. He put on his reading glasses and looked up at the large man, Evans, sitting in the chair opposite him.

"Hmm. What kind of house do you want to build?"

"Like this. Please take a look."

Evans placed his sketchbook on the table and showed his favorite page. Eckart Beck took it and flipped through it. All the houses were bizarre and peculiar. Houses that looked like eggs standing on a plate, houses that looked like mushrooms, houses that made you wonder if fairies lived in them.

Eckart couldn't help but laugh, "Hehehe." But he flipped through all of Evans' sketches and looked at them carefully.

"You're lucky you didn't get into the architecture school. If you had studied there, your creativity would have been stifled. That school is for training practical skills. Houses like these would be completely rejected."

"Is that so?"

"Listen. Buildings are used by people. The most important thing is whether they are safe. Your ideas lack this. You need to consider the strength of the building to withstand strong winds and heavy rain. The appearance comes after that. First, come and live with me and learn the basics of building a safe house."

Evans couldn't help but stand up.

"Will you teach me?"

"Yes. Your ideas are interesting. I have retired from teaching, but it would be interesting to see your ideas become reality. It would be a fitting final project. No, it's really interesting. I envy you for coming up with such ideas."

Thus, Evans became an apprentice to the old professor, which was a very fortunate thing. Meeting someone with a lot of practical experience and still passionate about architecture was a great help to Evans' future life.

From the next day, he and the interpreter attended Eckart's lectures. In between, he also received lessons in the imperial language from the interpreter. After that, he did odd jobs around Eckart's house. For Evans, who had lived as a servant to the chief of his tribe, it was not an easy life, but he never complained or whined. He was willing to do anything to meet the expectations of Bertine, who had believed in his talent and handed over a large sum of money without hesitation.

"Bert, wait for me. I will definitely be of use to you."

Thus, Evans lived a busy life while studying architecture.

Meanwhile, Bertine was in Ibit, the capital of the United Nations. She had finally completed the necklace she had been carefully making for months. She connected fine silver parts and generously used small pink sapphires and garnets. She thought it would look beautiful on Lady Diana, who had reddish-blonde hair.

While large gemstones were popular among the nobles of the empire, Bertine thought large gemstones did not suit the design of this necklace.

"Finally, it's done!"

"Finally, it's complete, Miss."

"It took a long time, but it's finally done. Now, I want to deliver this to Lady Diana through Lady Dalila."

Since it was a valuable item, she couldn't just send it. She had to deliver it in person. Bertine immediately wrote a letter to Lady Dalila.

- She had made a necklace with a design she had never made before.

- She wanted Lady Diana to use it.

- She wanted to know a convenient day.

She entrusted the letter to a fast carriage and waited for a reply from Lady Dalila. Soon, she received a reply from Lady Dalila saying, "How about this day? I look forward to seeing you if it's convenient for you."

"Then let's start packing. This day doesn't leave much room for preparation. We should head to the capital as soon as the preparations are done. By the way, a lot of canned goods have arrived, so we need to hurry."

While she was packing, a messenger from the hall rushed in.

"I have a letter from Mr. Cilvio!"

"Thank you for your hard work. I will write a reply immediately, so please wait a moment."

She hurriedly opened the letter and read it. It said, "I also have a matter to attend to in the empire, so let's meet there. I want to greet Lady Dalila and maintain a good relationship, so I would like to join you."

"As a representative of the United Nations, it's not easy to visit the empire. It might be impolite to say it's convenient, but you probably want to meet Lady Dalila, right?"

"Yes, it would be reassuring if Mr. Cilvio joins me, Miss."

"Yes. I want to meet Lady Diana, but as a concubine of the emperor, she can't leave the palace easily. I would like to meet Prince Claudius, but it's probably impossible."

The next morning, she entrusted the management of Ursula's store to Isabella and set off for the capital.

"Your recent travels are quite extensive, Miss."

"Yes. North to the capital, south to the Calisto region. Very busy."

Bertine smiled wryly, and Dorothea laughed. Compared to the small Kingdom of Sanlouan, her recent travels were like the difference between heaven and earth.

"But I will go wherever I am needed. Dorothea, I never thought I would have such enjoyable days. The day I left Sanlouan, feeling crushed, seems like it was decades ago."

Dorothea nodded in agreement.

"Truly. I am happiest to see you so lively. I'm sure the lady of the Garden of the Gods would be pleased too."

"I wonder what my father would think of my current situation. Should I send a letter through Luca? If I send a letter in my name, it might be discarded before it reaches him."

Dorothea felt sorry for Bertine, who was even nervous about sending a letter to her family. So she deliberately spoke in a bright voice.

"That would be best. If it's a letter between Mr. Luca and Mr. Cilvio, it won't be suspected."

"Miss?"

Diego hesitantly spoke up.

"I was told to play in the empire for two months, but I have been here for several months. Is it okay to stay in the United Nations?"

"Yes, your stepmother must be wondering why Diego is taking so long to return. I will discuss this with your father. I'm sure he will handle it well."

"Thank you. I feel relieved."

That day, when she stepped into the southern United Nations without a clear future.

But before she knew it, Bertine had a wide network of people around her, including Dorothea, store manager Isabella, Cilvio, Ignacio, Chief Bruno, his wife Cassandra, his son Evans, Chief Kurt, Cilvio's father Delio, and manager Luca.