His Highness’ Secret Accountant

In the dark palace, only the sound of Ayla's footsteps echoed.

Perhaps by coincidence, the guards who were guarding the front of the west palace were absent and she was able to enter the palace easily.

Phew.

When she saw the long structure connecting the west palace to the detached palace, she unconsciously let out a small sigh.

Soon, Ayla carefully stepped on the overpass.

Her hair, sticking out of her hood, fluttered in the gentle breeze.

At the nervousness that someone might be following her, Ayla hurried her steps and swallowed dry.

Holding her breath as if she had forgotten how to breathe, it wasn't until she reached the end of the bridge that Ayla panted quickly.

As it was night, the inside of the dark detached palace gave off an even more dreadful atmosphere.

‘Ugh… I'm getting goosebumps.'

They were the meaningful paintings of the previous kings, but in her terror, they were just an unpleasant decoration.

At the delusion that the eyes of the portraits on the wall might move along with her, Ayla shuddered and fled from the hallway in a hurry.

As she went up the stairs to the third floor, she saw Theon sitting in front of the fireplace, basking in the fire and reading leisurely.

All the tension in her body seemed to be released when she saw him, and she wondered, ‘Why on earth was I so scared?'

"You're late."

"The person who shares the room with me went to bed late…"

"Enough, let's go."

Looking at Ayla, who was out of breath, Theon closed the book he was reading and got up from his seat.

Tap, tap.

Ayla walked after Theon towards the lower floor.

As he turned the doorknob in one of the doors in front of the staircase, she could see a narrow staircase going down.

There was only pitch-black darkness at the bottom of the stairs.

Theon pointed at the stairs with his chin as if telling Ayla, who was looking at the bottom of the stairs without saying a word, to go down.

"When you go down, you will see an iron door. Open it and you can go outside."

"Am I… Going alone?"

"Then, shall I go with you? If I disappear, the palace will turn upside down."

"…"

"I heard you learned quite a bit of martial arts at Fencers? If it's necessary, you can take a guard. Even though our plan may pose a risk of being discovered, I can do that much for you."

"Ah… No. I will go alone. Haha."

Ayla quickly agreed with Theon's resolute attitude, as if she had asked the obvious.

‘If you don't want to give me a guard just say no.'

Ayla's lips twitched and she secretly gave Theon a scowl.

As Theon said, she learned martial arts at Fencers. Some very simple self-defense techniques?

But she can't guarantee that she will indeed be able to demonstrate the things she did to earn credits.

As she looked at the stairs full of darkness, without a single ray of light, she felt her legs trembling; but she tried to pretend she was fine. She didn't want to be weak like this.

When she was taking a steady step forward, Theon's big hand grabbed Ayla's shoulder.

‘Are we going together? That's right, there's no way he would send me alone to such a scary place.'

Ayla quietly let out a relieved sigh at Theon's touch.

Soon after, she turned her head around slowly, while keeping her eyes moist.

"No matter what you hear down there, never look back. Then, have a safe trip. I'm tired, so I'm going to go back now."

As Theon finished speaking, he pushed Ayla's shoulder downwards, turned around, and disappeared.

He'd rather not have said that… Ayla looked like she was about to cry.

‘That son of a… X!!!!!'

***

"What is this? I was scared for no reason."

Contrary to her concerns, the torches that were extinguished lit up whenever she took a step, and the interior was clearly visible.

Belatedly realizing that Theon had been joking on purpose, Ayla clenched her fist.

After going down the stairs for a while, she saw a large iron door.