Finally, he’s saying something worth listening to. I leaned back on the sofa again and gestured to him with my chin. At my indifferent face, he took a deep breath, visibly tense, and began to speak.

“Originally, when contracting through our merchant group, the commission is 30% of the total amount. I’ll offer you a 10% discount, making it 20%. And currently, those items…”

“Make the commission 10%. And if the Helena merchant group and Epine Count’s family sell together, Helena will monopolize the market. I want to sell these items at a hundred times the price I bought them for.”

“What? 10%?”

“Why? Any complaints?”

“No…”

I raised my eyebrows, and Casto quickly cowered.

“Then let’s draw up a new contract. Bring it.”

“Rohan, bring the contract.”

“Yes.”

While his secretary was bringing the contract, I opened my mouth looking at him.

“I’ve agreed with Count Epine to take 30% from this deal. So, the 20% profit that falls to me when Helena merchant group sells should be larger than the 30% profit I would get if I sold directly. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Ah, that! Of course.”

He smiled confidently.

“Good, I hope that’s not just bravado. I’m thinking of including a clause in the contract that guarantees the original intended selling price.”

“……”

And so, we negotiated the contract terms until late into the night. He persistently tried to conclude a contract that was even slightly favorable to the Helena merchant group. But I shot down everything.

“Perfect. Let’s proceed with this.”

“It’s perfect only for you, my lady.”

“What did you say?”

“Nothing.”

Casto made a sour face and groaned, but this contract was absolutely not a loss for the Helena merchant group. Casto was probably just regretting that he couldn’t write the contract under even better conditions.

“Then I’ll notarize it.”

“Ah, wait a moment!”

“What else now……”

Just as Casto was about to take out the magic scroll for the contract, I stopped him. This time, he looked genuinely deflated.

“Let’s add one confidentiality clause.”

“Pardon?”

“I’m not the official person responsible for this. If word gets out that I was involved, it won’t be fun.”

“Yes. Let’s add whatever and finish this quickly.”

After meticulously adding the confidentiality clause until the very end, and even having dinner at the merchant group because I was hungry, I finally returned to the lodging. Casto, drained of all energy and as limp as a jellyfish, saw us off.

Returning to the lodging in such a refreshing mood, I turned to Damian and Dawson in front of the room door and asked.

“Can we return to the Count’s mansion through the earliest teleport gate tomorrow morning?”

“I made a reservation just in case.”

“Well done.”

“Then, please rest.”

As I nodded and praised him, he averted his gaze with an expressionless face. Then he gave a light bow and headed to his room.

“My lady, I’ll be retiring as well.”

“Okay.”

Tap-

Entering my room, I leaned against the window for a moment, looking outside. Below, I could see empty streets devoid of people, and beyond that, the dark, undulating night sea.

Swoosh-

As I reached out to open the window, a breeze gently blew. A faint scent of the sea tickled my nose. I closed my eyes and inhaled the air quietly.

“To think it would be resolved this easily.”

My life in Korea, where I was pushed around, overlapped with the current situation. It was the first time I had conducted a contract from a position of power, and the first time I had so easily resolved a problem when it arose.

Both the me then and the me now remained unchanged, but the situation and surrounding environment had made me a different person.

It should have been a sweet night enjoying the joy of solving the problem, but I felt strangely complicated.

Immersed in the mood given by the night sea, distracting thoughts kept coming, so I turned away from the window.

I closed the window and lay down on the bed.

“Let’s forget about it.”

My eyes slowly closed.

***

The next day. Perhaps because I slept well, my eyes opened very early. Indulging in my industriousness, I washed up diligently and finished preparing first. After rolling around alone in the room for a while, the departure time drew near.

As there was no news from Dawson and Damian until the time was almost up, I went out to wake them up.

“Sigh, these lazy bums.”

Knock knock-

“Damian, wake up.”

The first target, Damian, didn’t answer.

Bang bang bang bang-

“Damian! Wake up!”

Fling-

“My lady?”

As I knocked on the door vigorously, the door opened. Damian’s figure was visible inside. He was holding a towel with a very flustered face I had never seen before.

“Hmm?”

So he was in a half-n*ked state with just a towel wrapped around him, having just finished washing.

I felt it when I hugged him yesterday too, but his body, though seemingly thin at a glance, was made up of very dense muscles.

His hair, wet from having just washed, was a dark gray close to black. Water droplets that had fallen along his jawline slid down his body, and following the droplets with my gaze, his hipbone was…

“What is it?”

Damian fixed the towel with his hand and took a step back. He narrowed his eyes at my gaze, furrowing his already sharp features even more fiercely. He seemed slightly hurt.

“Aren’t you overreacting?”

“Why did you come?”

Brushing off my words lightly, he asked again with his hand gripping the doorknob tightly.

“Ahem, ahem, let me speak. If you’re up, wake Dawson and get him ready. I’m worried about how Irena is doing.”

“I understand, so please leave for now.”

“Alright, I won’t eat you up.”

“Go.”

Bang-!

He pushed me out the door with all his might and slammed it shut in my face.

“What on earth is this noise, my lady? What are you doing there?”

Dawson, seemingly startled by the loud noise, came out scratching his head and asked me as I stood there in bewilderment.

I had nothing else to say.

“… It’s nothing, get ready and come down.”

“Um, yes. Understood.”