Adelia pressed her lips together, finding it pathetic, and shook her head.

Though now Adelia had made it into a major guild by using much of her past life knowledge and even using white magic stones, in the original story, Conrad’s guild had been in this position.

‘Rather than a good person, he was closer to a villain who’s good at running his mouth. But looking at him now, he’s like a stupid puppy.’

Conrad, who hadn’t hesitated to do illegal things when it came to making money and growing the guild, eventually had his head cut off trying to swindle the Emperor.

Now it probably wouldn’t happen since Adelia gave him money regularly and strongly opposed illegal activities.

Adelia let out a sigh with a cold face.

Not knowing Adelia’s thoughts, Conrad wagged his tail vigorously like a happy puppy meeting her.

‘How unpleasant.’

Lucian, who was standing a step away, narrowed his brows and glared at Conrad.

Even Conrad, who had been fixated on Adelia, couldn’t help but feel his knees weaken at Lucian’s piercing gaze.

Finally, Lucian took a long stride forward and blocked between the two.

“Show me the ledger.”

“Pardon…?”

“The ledger.”

“Yes! Yes, I should give it to you! Here it is!”

Lucian reached out his hand while standing with one leg cocked.

Though he hadn’t raised his hand to hit or drawn his sword, Conrad was scared and took out the ledger. He bent his waist 90 degrees and presented the ledger with both hands. With his long hair almost touching the ground as he bowed deeply, Conrad nervously swallowed.

Lucian snatched the ledger with an expressionless face. When his hand touched the ledger, a blue magic circle appeared over the black cover.

“The key.”

“Ah! Yes! Here it is!”

Conrad quickly presented the key he had kept in his br*ast pocket.

When he placed the key on the ledger, the magic circle dissolved and the previously unopenable ledger spread open. At the same time, the firmly locked carriage door opened.

“I’ll check for a moment.”

Lucian asked politely as if seeking permission. Of course, Adelia nodded and let him go.

It was clearly different from his attitude when snatching the ledger and key from Conrad.

As Lucian entered the carriage, Conrad watched carefully and slowly straightened his waist.

Letting out a soft groan of ‘oh my,’ he subtly inched closer to Adelia’s side.

“Master, weren’t you coming alone? And the aide usually checks the ledger, so why is His Highness doing this work? And why is His Highness acting like he wants to eat me alive? Am I going to be arrested again?”

“Stop with all the questions. The aide in charge took leave so His Highness who happened to be free came instead, and His Highness not liking you isn’t news? He originally hates slick and frivolous people like you.”

“Where could you find someone as serious as me?”

Adelia and Conrad whispered quietly as they conversed.

Knowing there were many eyes watching, Conrad seized the opportunity to be cheeky since Adelia was being well-behaved.

Though she wanted to smack his head right then, it was sad that she couldn’t due to the many watching eyes.

“Stop talking nonsense. And did you do what I told you?”

“Of course. I’ve prepared it brilliantly. You’ll be surprised when you see it.”

“Stop with the nonsense. Did you get cooperation from the Duke’s household?”

“Naturally. They were happy saying they don’t even need venue fees. Since you two will attend, they said they’ll even lend their employees.”

“Well done. Let’s check the report upstairs.”

Adelia gave praise indifferently.

Though Conrad was known to love money, she needed to throw him praise like this occasionally.

Having received praise, Conrad twisted his body with a mushy face while lifting the corners of his mouth.

“Is there anyone as reliable as me? So don’t abandon me and stay stuck in the palace.”

“I think I’ll be leaving sooner than expected. I decided to move up the revenge a bit.”

“That’s good. Those shameless people have been causing trouble using our guild’s name. It seems they’re also spending all the money they got using Eileen and His Highness’s names. The lenders are getting anxious and letters are starting to arrive at the guild.”

Count Vita had borrowed hundreds of gold coins from people. Now he had abandoned his territory duties and was absorbed in gambling while spending money lavishly in the capital.

The Countess and Robelia also badmouthed Adelia but had no problem spending the money they got using her name.

Surprisingly, the young count was the quietest. Though he occasionally appeared in the commoner district, she received reports of him running away when spotted by guild guards. Other than that, there were no notable movements.

As Conrad now received reports alongside Adelia since she entered the palace, he too knew how petty her family members were.

“Did you reply?”

“As you said, I didn’t send replies but am collecting them separately.”

“Send uniform replies the day before our banquet. Say that the Eileen Merchant Guild neither received nor solicited any investment from Count Vita. And make sure to state that his using the guild’s name has nothing to do with the guild.”

“Of course. But will it be alright with the banquet hall being chaotic?”

“The banquet is just an excuse anyway. The invitation will say it’s a party celebrating the start of trade with the Holy Kingdom.”

A few days ago, word came from the saintess. Fortunately, she had succeeded in persuading the Holy Kingdom’s priests.

The development of the stained glass was also nearly complete, so the timing matched well.

‘The Founding Festival is the climax of the play. The guild banquet is the start of that play.’

Several months remained until the Founding Festival, and there were no notable banquets at the palace in between. Since they couldn’t cause trouble at someone else’s banquet, they planned a small banquet to announce guild news.

It was finally time to cut ties with Count Vita.

The corners of Adelia’s mouth lifted slightly. Just thinking about the start of this revenge play was thrilling.

While Adelia and Conrad were talking, Lucian finished his inspection and came down from the carriage.

“The inspection…… is complete.”

Lucian frowned as he leaped over the carriage steps in one bound.

The scene that greeted him as soon as he left the carriage was Adelia and Conrad talking closely. He felt displeased.

Lucian deliberately inserted himself between them and held out his hand to Adelia.

“Shall we go in now?”

“Ah, I have something to discuss with the Deputy Guild Master. Please go ahead. We’ll be going to my palace reception room.”

“Then I shall come along too. Though everyone knows you have a connection with that guy, meeting separately might cause strange rumors. Is this something I shouldn’t hear?”

Though Lucian would deal with anyone spreading such rumors before they could even open their mouths, he wanted to prevent her from being alone with another man even if he had to make such excuses.

Adelia placed her hand on top of Lucian’s.

“You have a point. You should know about this too, so let’s go together.”

“Then shall we, wife?”

At Adelia’s permission, Lucian smiled faintly. He lightly held the small hand placed on his and matched his steps to her pace.

Conrad, who had been watching them from right beside, shuddered once they were a bit away. He wrapped his arms around himself and grimaced.

“Ugh what’s this, why do I have such a bad feeling?”

* * *

“Alright. You can speak now.”

As soon as they arrived at the reception room, Adelia spread a barrier spell. Unlike the outside where sound scattered freely, rooms where sound could leak maintained security through barrier spells.

After tapping the firmly spread magic circle, Adelia returned to her seat.

Lucian sat on one side of the long facing sofas, with Conrad on the opposite side. Adelia’s place was beside Lucian.

‘Should sit a bit away.’

Adelia slid her body away from Lucian after sitting on the sofa. When there was more than a hand span of distance between them, Lucian frowned in displeasure.

His fierce expression, like a black panther growling after having its marked prey taken away, was chilling just to look at.

“Conrad, take out the documents you brought.”

Since Adelia turned her head away before wrinkles formed on Lucian’s nose bridge, she didn’t see his expression. But Conrad who was sitting across saw Lucian’s face directly.

“Eek!”

Conrad’s shoulders hunched like he’d seen a debt collector at his door as his eyes, now twice their normal size, blinked rapidly. His complexion changed to ash gray before turning completely pale.

Having gotten a slight taste of Lucian’s sticky emotions mixed with anger and jealousy, Conrad even started hiccuping.

“Hic! Hic!”

“What’s wrong with you?”

Adelia squinted one eye as if she’d seen something she shouldn’t.

When she hurriedly turned her head after noticing the movement of the green eyes under rapidly blinking eyelids, she could tell they were looking to her side though Conrad’s eyes were shaking.

But by the time Adelia turned her head, Lucian’s expression had already returned to normal. Feeling Adelia’s gaze, Lucian slowly turned his head.

“Wife, shall I call a physician if you’re worried about that guy?”

Lucian tilted his head toward Adelia. As the distance between them shortened, his body scent hit her strongly.

His eyes, calm as usual, stared directly at Adelia. That gaze, moving slowly while containing only her, was claiming innocence.

Meeting that gaze, Adelia felt her heart throb.

Adelia, who had momentarily thought Conrad was frightened by Lucian’s threats, shook her head.

“It’s fine. I don’t know why, but he’ll snap out of it soon.”