Chapter 22

It was an accounting error that is hard to find unless you look carefully.

It wasn’t a large amount of money, but it wasn’t small either.

Clearly, there’s evidence of a partial advance payment before the banquet, but it was not subtracted from the total.

‘Well. The financiers will find it on their own. ‘

Ayla, who had been glancing sideways and concentrating on the documents for a while, heard Theon’s low voice.

“Why are you here?”

“As the maid in charge of serving Your Highness’ tea caught a severe cold, I am in charge of it for the time being.”

Theon got up from his desk and said, ‘I see.’, in a dull way.

Soon after, Theon, who had left his seat, opened another door in the office and went through it.

‘Why did you ask if you were going to do that?’

Looking at the place where Theon had left, Ayla made a sulky expression.

Right away, Ayla’s blue eyes rolled towards the documents piled up on the desk.

Just by looking at it, she could see similar accounting errors in several documents, in addition to the one Theon had been looking at.

Similarly, the amounts were not big, and the processing methods were complicated.

The fact that these were errors that are difficult to find for ordinary people who don’t know accounting lingered on her mind.

‘Don’t tell me it was intentional…’

Then, when the thought crossed her mind and she had turned around to look more closely at the documents.

Theon opened the door and came in, with documents in both hands.

The place where he had suddenly gone to seemed to be the archive room.

Theon, who had brought the documents, turned his wary eyes to Ayla.

“You haven’t left yet?”

“What? Ah… I’m taking back the plate and the cup after you’re finished.”

“If that’s the case, I think you can take it as it is.”

“That… What do you mean?”

Ayla looked at Theon with a strange expression.

Theon turned his eyes back to the document he was examining, without changing his expression.

He spoke in a dull voice, as if he were annoyed.

“Unfortunately, it seems you haven’t heard I have a peanut allergy. In other words, I can’t even touch the cookies you brought.”

‘I shouldn’t have trusted Lily’s words…’

Ayla grinded her teeth at Theon’s sarcastic words.

“T-Then, what about the milk tea? Even if you cannot eat the cookies, you can drink the tea.”

“Hmm, milk tea is Grand Duke Kyle Ermedi’s favorite. I don’t like it because it smells and tastes weird.”

“Ah…”

“Why would you put milk in black tea… I can’t take a liking to it.”

“I will prepare the tea again.”

“That is not necessary. I lost my appetite because of the peanut smell. I’m good, so get out. And take all these bizarre things.”

***

Ayla left Theon’s office, almost kicked out.

What was Theon so determined for, he didn’t give her a chance at all.

She wasn’t curious nor wanted to know about Grand Duke Kyle Ermedi’s preferences, whom she was afraid would appear in her dreams.

When I meet the person who gave this misinformation, I won’t let them go! Lily!

“You have no heart!! Being too honest is also bad!”

Ayla complained, looking at the closed office door. With both hands full, with the tea and dessert, she had brought.

‘Lily, I really won’t let you go.’

She made a promise to herself but, the truth is, she won’t be able to say anything harsh to Lily.

Thinking about the near future, Ayla kicked the innocent floor tiles.

“Phew…”

She felt a sense of remorse for not being able to fulfill her task.

Letting out a small sigh, Ayla trudged down the stairs.

“!”

She saw two men coming up from the bottom of the stairs.

She could not see their faces, but she could tell at once who the man on the right was.

Silver hair was not common in the Stellen Kingdom, so it was a powerful and distinctive color.

‘Don’t they say you will encounter your enemy at the worst time and place?’

Ayla quickly descended towards the man with silver hair.

Perhaps because she was in a hurry, she had no time to worry about who was next to him.

And then she realized it. He was with Grand Duke Ermedi, whom she must avoid at all costs.