Chapter 93
"Gosh. Why did I say that, really!!"
Even though a lot of time had passed, Theon, who left the office, showed no signs of returning.
He even let Ayla out and risked himself getting in danger.
Even though it was natural for Theon to be curious since she hadn't kept her promises with him twice, he did not ask why.
She blurted that out because she was angry with Theon's attitude, but if someone else saw her behavior, they would say that she was a wrongdoer blaming an innocent man.
A shadow fell over Ayla, who slammed her head on the table while she regretted the actions she did without realizing it.
As she slowly raised her head, feeling a presence, the expressionless Theon was looking at Ayla.
"Will you pay for it if it breaks?"
"Ah… Earlier, I…"
"Enough, let's talk about work now. We have to do our job as an employer and an employee, isn't that right?"
He interrupted Ayla and spoke in an unfriendly tone.
Ayla, who nodded her head at his words as if agreeing with him, straightened her back and fixed her posture.
‘What is he trying to say, being so serious like that.'
Ayla remained silent and bit her lips.
Soon after, something about the size of a palm appeared from Theon's chest.
Thump.
Theon, sitting cross-legged across from Ayla, handed her a sealed envelope.
"What is this?"
"You'll see once you open it."
Ayla let out a small sigh at Theon's blunt words and opened the envelope, which contained several documents.
Ayla's expression changed seriously as she saw the contents of the documents.
"Now that the banquet is over, we have some thieves to catch."
"Hm. This is a list of tributes to distinguished guests from other countries."
In the case of the Stellen Kingdom, after large and small banquets, tributes were delivered to express gratitude to the distinguished guests from other countries who attended.
The custom, which began with the previous generation of kings, has been maintained to this day.
Expensive items, such as jewelry, rare herbs, and fabrics, were offered as tributes, making them a fairly large part of the expenditure lists.
At a glance, the documents handed over by Theon showed that a lot of the national treasury was flowing towards offering tributes.
But she had no answer as to what Theon was thinking by handing her these documents.
"Why do you think I showed you this?"
"Hmm. To make me envious?"
"Pfft."
‘That bastard is laughing like that again.'
Theon's strange laughter, that he let out once in a while, gave the feeling as if an earthworm was crawling all over her body.
She wanted him to quickly say his next words and get rid of that stupid smile.
"Sometimes I'm really curious about what's in your head."
Ayla wanted to confront him, saying, ‘I'm curious about why you laugh like that.', but she smiled as if she didn't know anything to avoid making trouble.
"If you look at the guest list, there will be a Princess Zenia."
"Hm. Zenia… Zenia… Ah! Here it is. Princess Zenia. Ruit? Where is Ruit?"
At her question, Theon grinned and gestured as if telling her to look at the papers, giving no answer.
The documents stated that Zenia was a princess of a foreign country who had just reached adulthood.
Zenia's country, Ruit, was one of the first places that Ayla had never heard about; but that didn't seem to be the case for the Stellen Kingdom.
The amount of the tribute to be offered to her, who was still young, was more than twice that of the more intimate guests.
Ayla's gaze, which was looking at the papers, slowly turned towards Theon, and she carefully opened her mouth.
"What kind of connection does Princess Zenia have with us?"
"Connections… She has many."
‘Why did he pause like that, it's frustrating.'
Theon hesitated to answer Ayla's question.
She could feel the tension in his attitude.
"Ayla Serdian. Because you are Princess Zenia of Ruit."
After a long silence, Theon's mouth finally opened; and his words were so shocking that Ayla couldn't close her mouth.
The thought that crossed her mind was ‘What bullshit is this?'.
Because of Theon suddenly saying, ‘Ayla Serdian is Princess Zenia of Ruit', her open mouth had no intention of closing.
She wondered if perhaps there was a secret to her birth that she did not know of, but Ayla is extremely similar to Mrs. Catherine Serdian.
She wondered if it was a reincarnation, which is very popular these days, but she doesn't have any memory of the past.
If it wasn't all of this, she couldn't imagine at all what on earth it was.