Inside Richard's office, Lynette sat across from him. At the moment, they were discussing Furina's so-called "renewal" plan she had brought up the day before.
"There's no doubt about it, this is the stupidest decision I've ever seen. No contest," Richard said, putting down his fountain pen and looking at Lynette, who was stirring her tea with a spoon.
"Mhm. And?" Lynette replied.
"Do you know what would happen if Furina actually went ahead and implemented that policy?" Richard leaned forward, his eyes narrowing.
After thinking for a moment, Lynette answered, "We'll have a clean, transparent, and thoroughly renewed Ministry of Administration?"
"Impossible! First of all, the entire place would fall into chaos. Nobody would be able to work properly anymore."
"Second, there's a high chance it could spark a revolution. Do you even understand what 'revolution' means, Lynette?"
"Um… reform? Maybe appointing a new secretary general?" Lynette guessed after some thought.
Richard took a deep breath. He was only theorizing, but it seemed like she was actually considering replacing him.
"There won't be a new secretary general. At that point, there might not even be such a position anymore. Reform means reshuffling the deck—factions competing for power, public debates over the system, rumors running wild... It would be a field day for people with ill intentions!"
"Wow… isn't that exactly what you want to see?" Lynette softly blew on her tea and took a gentle sip.
"I— Lynette, whose secretary are you again?" Richard choked on his words, feeling like this cat-eared girl was being a little too sharp.
"Yours, Secretary General Richard," Lynette sighed, speaking in the tone one might use to comfort a child.
She clearly understood that what Richard needed right now wasn't advice—it was someone to vent to.
"I honestly don't know how Furina's private secretary arranges her schedule. How does she even have the free time to come up with this nonsense…" Richard frowned. If possible, he wanted to meet that secretary and give them a proper lesson in how to tightly organize a minister's schedule.
Then Richard noticed the complicated look on Lynette's face. He instinctively touched his own face and asked, "Is there something on my face?"
"Why are you looking at me like you're looking at Furina?"
"Richard, male, employed by City Hall, holding the position of Executive Secretary-General. After Hydro Archon Furina took office as Minister, due to the lack of a suitable candidate, you've also temporarily been acting as her private secretary."
Once Lynette finished this explanation, silence fell over the room.
After a long pause, Richard finally spoke. "So… I'm the secretary."
"Yes, Secretary General Richard."
"Then why don't I remember scheduling anything for her?"
"That's because you threw all that work at me on the first day," Lynette replied.
"I'm sorry, Lynette."
"Apology accepted, Richard."
Richard took a sip of his tea and picked up his pen again, only to set it down once more. He couldn't stop himself from looking at his secretary.
"But still, why didn't you pack her schedule tighter? At least it would've kept her from falling into traps set by journalists and dragging us down with her."
A vivid metaphor, to say the least. From Richard's perspective, he was just doing his job as usual, and then, out of nowhere, a few days later, Furina suddenly declared she was going to turn City Hall upside down.
Putting aside his personal bias, even from a professional standpoint, Furina's special operation was baseless, irrational, and completely unfeasible.
A clean and transparent government agency? Ha! If it weren't Furina saying it, Richard would've thought he was hearing some Fontaine bar joke.
Lynette furrowed her brow in thought. "Maybe I overestimated Lady Furina's capabilities."
Richard nodded in agreement. "Yes, we both did."
"So what do we do now?" Lynette asked.
"We ride out this sudden incident, let Lady Furina realize how foolish this is, and then help her find a proper secretary," Richard decided.
"Why don't you do it yourself?" Lynette asked curiously. In her view, if Richard wanted to keep Furina under control, the most effective way would be to handle it personally.
"Everything needs moderation. I'm already the Executive Secretary General. If I also hog the role of the Minister's private secretary, I'd have too much power. It would be overkill," Richard said clearly.
Furina might not care, but could he guarantee that others wouldn't? Could he be sure that Chief Justice Neuvillette wouldn't suspect anything?
If everything passed through his hands, who was the real Minister here, Furina, or Richard?
"Then how are you planning to make Lady Furina realize how serious the situation is?" Lynette asked, standing up to refill their tea.
Today, Secretary Lynette was as elegant as ever. Aside from her well-fitted blazer, her sheer black stockings under her pencil skirt seemed to be a new pair, slightly sheer this time, subtly revealing her skin tone beneath the black fabric.
As she walked, her cat tail swayed gently, and the tight skirt alternated between snug and loose as her thighs moved, perfectly outlining her shape.
While Lynette's curves weren't as voluptuous as Clorinde's or Yae Miko's, she had a youthful charm, petite and appealing in her own way.
Her graceful movements as she poured the tea brought a certain phrase to Richard's mind: a beauty adding fragrance to tea. With Lynette's natural allure, she could probably pull off Liyue-style attire as well.
Naturally, Lynette noticed Richard's gaze, but she didn't mind. In fact, she might have done it on purpose.
Why? Because a certain foxy lady had recently appeared, triggering a strong sense of rivalry in this catgirl. So she had to take some countermeasures.
But now wasn't the time to think about that. Their top priority was to make Furina give up her absurd idea.
It was best to kill this at the source. Richard thought of a certain buxom and well-endowed Duel Enforcer.
'Perhaps… she might actually be a good fit as Furina's private secretary?'
He could tell that this enforcer, who was trying to stop Furina from meddling in judicial affairs, was looking for an excuse to slack off. That lined up perfectly with his image of a single overworked career woman.
And Furina's private secretary would really only need to schedule her meetings—no extra work involved.
Handling documents and such? Forget it. Richard's team of civil servants at the Ministry could do all that for her.
There'd be no risk of overtime, burnout, or death from overwork. Plus, as her private secretary, she'd be well-positioned to protect Furina when needed.
Most importantly, if Clorinde became Furina's private secretary, she'd have to side with Richard in opposing Furina's new policy.
Because to implement it, they'd need to dig up all the documents previously tossed into the trash—er, archive—and re-read them, then write up evaluations.
Just thinking about that workload was exhausting.
'Miss Clorinde… you don't want your future to be one endless overtime shift, do you?'