After the two finished discussing the expansion of the Melusine's employment scope, Yuto returned to his office to begin processing the day's official documents.
It is said that Palais Mermonia does not keep idlers; there is the famous saying, "Clorinde is a brick, used wherever needed," followed by Neuvillette, who is either in court or on his way to court every day.
Oh, right, Neuvillette also has another job: to help and support the Melusine.
And he, Yuto... is busy handling all matters except Judgment.
This includes, but is not limited to, external negotiations, public statements, processing foreign trade orders, and other tasks.
It's no exaggeration to say that Yuto's current identity is like those chief eunuchs in palace dramas from his previous life; in Fontaine, anything can be related to him.
This is precisely why his office, though spacious, also appears very cramped.
Yuto looked at the desk piled high with documents, wanting to tidy it but not knowing where to start. A thousand words ultimately turned into a sigh.
"I'd better work first... I still need to make an extra small cake for Ms. Furina for afternoon tea at noon..."
Yuto picked up the quill pen from the desk and began to effortlessly review the documents.
Are you kidding? He's been doing this job for over four hundred, almost five hundred years. Does he not know how to do things?
...
As time passed little by little, the documents in Yuto's hand became fewer and fewer. During this time, a Melusine from the Marechaussee Phantom also came to take away some of the documents.
About three or four hours later, it was almost noon. Yuto finally put down the quill pen in his hand, stretched gently, and then leaned back in his chair, contemplating life.
"Fortunately, the laws in Fontaine are quite complete. If it were as free as Mondstadt... I probably would have died from overwork by now, even with an immortal body."
After a brief rest, Yuto slowly got up and leisurely walked to the kitchen, beginning to prepare to "apologize" to his God.
He knew very well that Furina didn't actually care whether those laws were removed or not; she just wanted to use that as an excuse to get a small cake from him.
Of course, he could have also used the excuse of being too busy with work to refuse Furina's request.
But Yuto, who knew the inhuman responsibility borne by this seemingly optimistic, cheerful, and sometimes erratic young woman... simply couldn't say such a thing.
It's just a small cake, isn't it? It only takes an hour or two to bake, doesn't it? Yuto isn't incapable of making it.
Although Yuto really wanted to comfort Furina with words, it... truly might make everything that Focalors did go to waste.
Of course, that's not the point. The point is... it would make the years of loneliness and suffering Furina endured seem insignificant.
This is not what he wanted to see.
So, what he could do now was to arrange Furina's life and handle her political affairs, allowing this big star, whose schedule was packed every day, to have more time for herself.
This is what Yuto has been doing for over four hundred years.
As Yuto thought, he took off his luxurious formal attire, put on a simple apron, and began to cook the flavor that Furina had loved for nearly five hundred years.
Just as Yuto was concentrating on baking the small cake, Furina's small head suddenly appeared outside the kitchen.
Her beautiful heterochromatic eyes, deep blue and light blue, gazed intently at the busy figure in the kitchen, her heart feeling somewhat complex for a moment.
She knew very well what she was doing, and she also knew that Yuto was pampering her.
If the Hydro Archon Focalors were to look at her through the mirror again and ask her what allowed her to persevere for so long...
She would not hesitate to utter two words.
One is 'Responsibility,' and the other is 'Gentleness.'
Responsibility was entrusted to her by Focalors, and gentleness... was given by Yuto.
For over four hundred years, day in and day out, he had never shown the slightest resistance to her demands, even those she herself felt were a bit unreasonable.
Every time, he would agree with a smile and then quickly present the results to her.
And when she asked Yuto why he chose to do so... he would always say with a smile:
"This is what Hydro Archon Focalors, Ms. Furina, the well-known big star of Fontaine, deserves."
Just this simple sentence had controlled Furina for over four hundred years.
And now, he would still habitually stand before her, shielding her from things she wasn't good at.
Whether it was documents or external negotiations, as long as Yuto was there, Furina would never be troubled by things she disliked.
Thinking of this, Furina suddenly felt her cheeks flush.
Her past with Yuto reminded Furina of the Fontaine Opera associated with the word "love."
He was like the male protagonist who would never leave her, and she... was the female protagonist.
Furina reached out, gently rubbed her increasingly warm cheeks, and then tiptoed away from the vicinity of the kitchen.
"When that future, where I cry alone on the divine throne, completely ends... I can finally show my true self to him, right?"
Furina thought so.
...
Yuto didn't know that a certain little blue glutton had peeked at him twice while he was baking the small cake. He only knew now that the young woman who bore the weight of destiny needed a small cake for comfort.
Ding—
As the sound of the oven rang in the kitchen, Yuto skillfully picked up a cooking glove, took out the cake base, and began the final round of processing.
Over four hundred years had not only tempered Yuto's mind and document processing abilities but also honed his already excellent cooking skills from another world.
After meticulously decorating it with cream and cherries, Yuto clapped his hands with satisfaction, then picked up the plate and walked out of the kitchen, heading directly to Furina's room.
The distance from the kitchen to Furina's room was only two or three steps, and... at this time, it was lunchtime, so no one from any official agency in Fontaine would enter Palais Mermonia.
There was only one reason why Yuto was so certain...
As a corporate slave who had suffered greatly from overtime in his previous life, the first thing he did when he became the Assistant Administrator was...
Legislate, prohibiting overtime.
Overtime would not result in a raise, only a deduction in salary, unless there was a collective order.
And for private companies in Fontaine, each person's monthly overtime could not exceed one hundred hours. Violators would have their salaries deducted, and their companies would face increased taxes.
Initially, some employees didn't take this law seriously, but it wasn't until the first penalty was issued that they realized something.
This law... seemed to be serious.