My One-month Marriage With Mr. Hawkins

After a while, seeing the palaces and corridors passing by, Florence felt a drumming in her temples. She didn't think she should
keep walking by intuition.
If she kept doing so, she couldn't find Ernest and she was more likely to come across Princess Samantha.
That was an extreme danger.
After thinking for a while, she stopped going forward. Instead, she walked to a path, waiting for someone passing by.
Soon, she saw a group of women who held trays coming towards her in unison.
They wore unified standard of clothes and looked young and beautiful, like maids in the ancient palace.
Based on their unified wearing and look, by and large they were maids.
Florence came up to them immediately. She smiled to the leading maid, saying,
"Excuse me, could you please do me a favor?"
At the first sight of Florence, the leading maid reacted respectfully; however, seeing her ordinary wearing and strange face, the
leading maid frowned and felt puzzled.
Accordingly, her attitude was not that friendly. She asked alertly,
"Who are you? What are you doing here?"
Florence had no choice but to take out Duke Hector's token.
"I am..."
"Ms. Fraser!"
The leading maid cried in surprise, and then her expression changed. She made a deep bow, apologizing, "I'm terribly sorry that
I didn't recognize you in the first time and disrespected you. Please punish me."
Following her, the group of women all made a bow respectfully.
The corners of Florence's mouth twitched. Again she felt the good advantage brought by this Duke Hector's token.

It seemed that she didn't need to talk in the palace at all. As long as she had any request, Duke Hector's token was enough.
Until now did she understand why Hector was so sure that she would marry him.
This man was never refused by others, so he didn't know what "No" was.
He genuinely enjoyed wealth and honor.
"No worries."
Florence waved her hand, "Do you have time to do me a favor?"
"Sure, sure."
The leading maid immediately passed the tray in her hand to the maid behind her, behaving actively, "Ms. Fraser, please tell me.
I wouldn't hesitate to go through fire and water for you."
"Not that serious and you don't need to go through fire and water. I just wanna you to lead me to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs? It's not close."
The leading maid felt confused why Florence arrived here if her destination was the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but she didn't
keep asking. Instead, she answered sincerely,
"I can lead you there right now."
It would be more efficient if someone was willing to lead her there.
Florence was happy for this. She thanked the leading maid with a smile, "It's so nice of you."
The leading maid was shocked by her remarks. She stepped backward.
"It's my duty."
How could she accept such an honorable person's thanks?
Seeing her humble attitude, Florence was speechless.

In this country, females were inferior to males. In this palace, the rules were conventional as well. Working staff in the palace
were subservient and servile to persons of royal lineage, like slaves.
In such a country where there was advanced science and technology and life, there existed no harmony and democracy.
Besides, the country was located so far away that people could hardly find it. Therefore, the regime was very solid and stable.
Perhaps it was hard to have a revolution in a thousand years.
Nobody knew how long such life would last in Raflad.
Florence was a bit depressed and helpless. She could hardly protect herself and didn't know how politicians could change this
country.
It was ridiculous.
When she was lost in her thoughts, she followed the leading maid to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
With the maid's help, she felt at ease and wouldn't take a longer route.
However, as the maid's previous words, she was quite far away from the location of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They walked
for a long time.
At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was full of excitement.
In the wide and bright office, there were tens of desks with a staff sitting by.
Actually in Raflad, diplomats were usually in an embarrassing position.
Because of the country's geography and closed-door policy, the country didn't need foreign affairs at all. The only opportunity for
them to go abroad to learn about the world progress happened only once in a few years.
And only two or three people had the chance.
The rest stayed home.
Therefore, although they were diplomats, what they actually needed to do was to search or manage precious medicinal
materials, plants, minerals and animals in the mountain forests.

Their job responsibilities included geologist's, biologist's and mineralogists'.
But most of the time, they felt bored.
This boredom changed since their new co-worker, Ernest Hawkins joined them.
His participation added excitement to their boring life.
That was –
princess's daily visit.
How distinguished the princess was! These diplomats hardly had any chance to see her.
However, they could not only see the beautiful princess every day but also have meals, cookies and fruit brought by her.
Sometimes if they were lucky enough, they could even talk to her.
This made these men excited.
Now night fell, and it was time for princess to deliver her love bento.
They couldn't help being excited and stared eagerly at the pretty woman coming gracefully toward the door.
This was the prettiest woman in Raflad.
Even a glimpse of her was pleasant.
"Your Highness."
The men stood up and gave her a salute gently.
But only one man was an exception.
Ernest was sitting by the window and tapping the keyboard quickly. He was so attentive that he wasn't distracted by others and
he even ignored princess' arrival.
When it happened in the first time, these men reminded him to salute, but now they were used to it.
Only capable and handsome men like Ernest could be capricious enough to ignore the honorable princess.

However, the princess loved him and bore him.
That was the difference among humans.
When Princess Samantha arrived, she immediately cast her sight towards Ernest. Seeing his attentive and handsome face, she
couldn't control her love.
She smiled in a friendly way,
"I've told you many times we're friends and don't salute to me. Be yourselves and treat me as an ordinary person."
These men obsessively watched her, saying,
"Your Highness, you're so amiable and easy of approach. You're perfect."
They didn't dare to be rude while their admiration for princess increased more and more.