His Highness’ Secret Accountant

With a quick movement, Louis gently grabbed the tip of Ayla's chin, who was turning her head.

"This… What happened?"

Louis' sharp gaze reached Ayla's neck.

‘I felt something was missing for some reason…'

It seems that Theon removed the scarf she had wrapped around the wounds during the night.

"Ah… This? This is nothing! I must have been itchy while sleeping and scratched it. Hahaha."

"My Young Lady is telling an obvious lie."

"No, I really scratched it…"

As expected, she wasn't good at lying.

She tried telling a white lie so that he wouldn't worry, but he didn't believe her at all.

Louis' long fingers carefully touched the wounds on Ayla's neck.

As if he had become her skin, Louis grimaced with one eye and pressed his lips firmly.

"Ugh, did you apply some ointment? It must sting."

Ayla, who hesitated for a moment, shook her head from side to side without saying a word.

As if scolding her for her behavior, Louis flicked Ayla's nose.

Then, Louis' sweet voice rang in Ayla's ears.

"Gosh, I have more to bring. I should get going. Make sure you apply ointment, understand?"

"Yes, yes, don't worry about me and go on your way. I also must get going. It's almost time for His Highness', that bastard, teatime…"

"His Highness… That bastard?"

Louis must have thought he heard it wrong.

With a doubtful look, Louis recited Ayla's words one more time.

"Ah, I meant to say His Highness the Prince! Anyway, be careful not to get caught by the guards when you go! I'm leaving!"

Louis smiled reluctantly towards Ayla, who was moving away saying only what she wanted and waving her hands, as if she was embarrassed.

***

Ayla's appearance in front of Theon was quite gallant.

After pouring the tea into a transparent teacup, she stood in front of the desk, with her hands behind her back, staring silently at Theon.

Theon, looking at her as if she were weird, took a sip of the tea and opened his mouth.

"What are you doing?"

"We still haven't finished talking."

"Talking about what? I have nothing to talk about."

Theon answered dryly at Ayla's words, which seemed like she was interrogating him, while keeping his eyes fixed on the documents.

"Shall I repeat it so that you remember? Terr, Goddess' Tears, donations, a secret fund. And most importantly, a thief!!"

Ayla's tone of voice grew higher and higher, and it reached its peak.

As she said the last word, she showed boldness by pointing her finger at Theon.

Ayla's bold and impudent attitude made Theon look dumbfounded.

As expected, she is a woman with no middle ground. What is she going to say next? He was curious.

Soon after, Theon's low voice echoed inside the office.

"So, what do you want?"

"What do I want? Hm… There's nothing in particular…"

"Then I have nothing more to say."

"Come on, not that again. I, well… I just want the truth. I'm simply curious about why you did this."

Ayla's gaze, that was mischievous all the time, turned colder than anyone else.

It meant to hurry up and say the truth.

***

The sudden death of Grand Duke Todd Ermedi, who had been striving to strengthen the kingdom with strong policies, was enough to bring chaos to the Stellen Kingdom.

Since Theon's ascension to the throne, big and small changes have been quickly happening within the Stellen Kingdom.

The nobles in the kingdom were each granted a fief according to their status.

In principle, the land granted was not transferable unless it was inherited, but the transfer of fiefs was secretly happening.

Most of the people who received the fiefs were high-ranking officials from Pella, and they enticed the low-ranking nobles with large sums of money in order to get possession of the land in the Stellen Kingdom.

Shortly afterwards, rumors circulated within the Stellen Kingdom that one could get large amounts of money by transferring fiefs.

The lower the rank, the higher the number of aristocrats trying to sell land; and the number of foreigners from Pella owning territory in the Stellen Kingdom also grew bigger.

The high-ranking nobles, who had gotten a relatively large number of fiefs, rented land to the commoners.

The aristocrats, who collected exponentially growing amounts of rent, increased their self-confidence and threatened the royal power.

In addition, there were rumors that the big and small organizations that had been in power were united to steal the national treasury and individually train the military.