Chapter 71
Aden, who had been gently stroking Sierra’s cheek, snapped back to reality when a soft voice reached his ears.
Sierra, who had woken up without him noticing, was now gazing at him with half-open eyes.
Despite his sudden appearance, Sierra remained calm, not startled at all. Aden slowly pressed his lips.
“Why… are you here…?”
Sierra’s voice was tired, as if she hadn’t fully shaken off her sleep yet.
Even while she spoke, Aden’s hand continued to gently stroke her cheek.
In the stillness, Sierra’s eyelids fluttered open and closed slowly, as though lulled by the soft sounds at her ear, like a lullaby.
After a few moments of silence, as their eyes met several times and Sierra became habituated to the feel of Aden’s hand, Aden finally spoke.
“You seemed tired, so you fell asleep.”
“…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to doze off…”
“I’m the one who should apologize. I dragged you into this mess.”
Aden’s gentle hand patted Sierra’s shoulder as she tried to sit up.
Exhausted, she gave in to the drowsiness and leaned back against the bed.
Aden smiled softly at her movements and spoke slowly.
“I remember the first time I met you here.”
“The first time…”
“Those clear eyes that looked straight at me, that confident voice, your composed expression. It was like God was telling me with that face—’Make this person mine.'”
Sierra’s slowly closing eyes opened again to look at Aden.
Aden quietly smiled at her hazy brown eyes, now tinted red.
But her eyes, still heavy with sleep, remained unfocused.
“At first, those words meant nothing to me. I thought it simply meant to make a contract with you. But now, I’m starting to question myself, even though I never used to waver.”
“What… are you questioning?”
“I…”
Sierra, her eyes slowly closing, waited for Aden to continue, after he stopped mid-sentence.
After a brief silence, Aden placed his palm against her cheek.
“Is it okay for me to stay by your side? Is it okay for me to protect you? Is it right for me to want your eyes to only look at me? And…”
Sierra opened her eyes to meet Aden’s gaze as his words trailed off.
Her eyes slowly regained focus.
Aden smiled at the sight.
“And… am I allowed to like you?”
“…”
“Is it really okay for me to do that? Just because you told me that one thing… am I allowed to stay by your side, protect you, and like you?”
Sierra, fully awake now, looked at Aden with wide eyes.
“That misunderstanding…”
Sierra’s eyes trembled.
* * *
As the number of people increased, the speed of organizing the materials noticeably improved.
The divided tasks were quickly completed, and the key problematic information surfaced.
After two days of organizing and analyzing data that was updated every hour, they were able to narrow down the most important information.
While deeply pondering over the documents on the desk, Aden’s lieutenant, Baran, returned with more papers.
“Is this all of it?”
“This is it for today. After two days of working nonstop, everyone’s complaining, so I sent them off to rest for now.”
“Really? Thanks for your hard work.”
As I flipped through the papers Baran handed me, I felt a familiar gaze fixed on me and lifted my head.
“Do you have something to say?”
“No, nothing.”
Baran shook his head and responded with a straight face.
Then what is it?
I lowered my gaze back to the documents, but I could feel the same familiar stare on the top of my head again.
The gaze was too blatant to ignore, so I had no choice but to close the papers.
“You seem like you have something to say, so go ahead.”
I gestured lightly for him to speak, indicating that it was fine. Baran hesitated for a moment, coughed awkwardly, and then finally opened his mouth.
“Did something happen yesterday?”
“What do you mean?”
“Ever since you saw Miss Sierra yesterday, His Grace has been locked up in the training hall all day. In the 15 years I’ve served as his lieutenant, I’ve never seen him shut himself away in the training hall like this, unless he’s deeply troubled.”
“So, what are you trying to say?”
“Well, it’s not like there’s a specific point I’m trying to make but…”
Baran trailed off and avoided my gaze before casually tossing out his next words.
“Did you two fight?”
“How many people in this world are bold enough to pick a fight with the Duke of Rippleton? There’s no way.”
“Then… maybe just an argument…?”
“Isn’t that the same thing as a fight? No, we didn’t argue or fight.”
“Really? That’s strange.”
Baran looked incredibly serious, lost in thought for a moment, and then tilted his head.
“If it’s not that, then he’s acting like someone who’s just been rejected. So maybe…”
“I didn’t reject him. Don’t get the wrong idea.”
Baran, who had been about to speak, cleared his throat awkwardly and swallowed his words.
I tilted my head slightly, signaling that he could leave now.
Baran seemed in a hurry to go, quickly turning to leave the room.
I watched him go for a moment, then sighed and rested my forehead in my hand.
“Better to be dead than suffer like this.”
I quickly pushed away the chaotic thoughts swirling in my head and turned my attention back to the documents.
I was nearing the end of sorting things out, and I could see how money had been laundered and embezzled.
There was an unexpected gap, which was precisely targeted like a sharp wedge.
However, even if I knew this, as long as the perpetrator wasn’t caught, liability still lay with thirty-two companies and Rippleton.
Nothing could be resolved with just this information.
While reviewing the data, I realized I was reaching my limit sitting at the desk, so I stood up.
I grabbed my coat and stepped out the door.
Jin and Rippert followed me as I walked out.
As I passed through the hallway toward Aden’s training hall, I spotted Baran coming out just as I reached the door.
Did he report to Aden right after me?
When Baran noticed me, he approached with a vague smile and said, “His Grace is inside.”
“Is that so?”
“Please take good care of him.”
“Stop with the useless chatter at the door and just leave, Baron Nemir.”
“Ahem…”
Just as Baran was about to say something, the door opened, and a sweaty Aden appeared.
At Aden’s sharp remark, Baran shrugged his shoulders and casually stepped back.
“Seems like that guy has been talking more nonsense lately.”
Aden muttered slowly, then nodded his head toward the open door, inviting me in.
After telling Rippert and Jin to wait, I entered the training hall.
Aden sat on the table with a towel in his hand.
I stared at him as he casually dried his hair with a somewhat blank expression. When our eyes met, it seemed like he recalled what happened yesterday.
I cleared my throat, feeling Aden’s voice echo in my head, and spoke up.
“Is something going on? Baron Nemir said you’ve been holed up in here because of some big issue.”
As I walked around the training hall, I averted my gaze.
I stopped as I felt Aden’s eyes on me.
“Is it because of yesterday?”
“If I said no, that’d be a lie.”
He’s being honest.
I looked at Aden’s face, which remained impassive as he dried his hair.
Throwing the towel on the table, Aden said, “You look troubled.”
Though he didn’t bother to respond, he lifted the towel again as if that was his answer.
I quietly watched him for a moment before moving closer and sitting beside him.
He must have just been swinging his sword, as he radiated a faint warmth.
There was a mix of a fresh scent with a subtle musk.
I smiled faintly at the pleasant smell and spoke up.
“Do you know?”
I crossed my arms while meeting Aden’s gaze as he turned his head.
“Surprisingly, it’s me who’s shocked.”
“…”
“You suddenly showed up while I was sleeping and threw out some vague words, then disappeared like you were embarrassed.”
I recalled Aden’s voice from last night and chuckled softly.
“Do you know you disappeared before I could give you an answer?”
“…You were going to respond?”
“Are you curious? Should I tell you now?”
Aden turned his head away instead of answering my question.
Is it just me, or does he look kind of cute right now?
I looked at the sweat trickling down his cheek and raised my hand.
I bent my finger and wiped away the sweat from his sharp jawline.
Even though he flinched when my hand touched him, Aden didn’t pull away.
His head turned back to me, still frozen until I wiped away the sweat.
Looking into his bright golden eyes, I lowered my hand.
“To be honest, I’m grateful that you gave me some space and didn’t press me to answer. It was so sudden that I was genuinely flustered. If you hadn’t held back, we probably wouldn’t be sitting here, having this conversation right now.”
I lifted the documents I had been holding.
Aden looked at them disinterestedly as if to ask what they were.
“So, since you bought us a little time, why don’t we use it to deal with something that’ll help us forget about yesterday?”
“Did you figure out who the culprit is?”
“I don’t know who it is, but I have an idea of how the embezzlement was done.”
There are certain expenses that don’t pay taxes under imperial law, and one of those is donations.
In fact, donations can actually lead to tax reductions, so Brilloxen donates a large amount as well.
“And the other one is this.”
“Gambling.”
“The empire’s laws are outdated and old-fashioned. Back in the day, they didn’t tax gambling to encourage more spending. More accurately, gambling houses weren’t taxed. In the past, gambling halls often doubled as inns and restaurants, so it wasn’t even illegal.”
“Does that law still exist?”
I nodded and unfolded the papers.
One was a donation receipt, and the other was a flow of money that went to gambling houses.
“He’s quite clever. By combining donations and gambling, no matter how much you sift through the accounts and financial statements, it’s impossible to see. When you donate to one organization, that organization launders the money they received from the gambling house. It’s a double laundering scheme, and the money just slips away.”
“So the first place we need to check is where the donations are going?”
