The middle-aged man, who had been keeping his head down for a long time, continued speaking in a slightly cheeky manner.

“Gosh, I’m sorry. I made a big mistake. I will be careful next time. Since the mansion is so beautiful… Hohoho.”

“…”

“Come to think of it, I think it’s the first time I’m meeting you in the Stellen Kingdom. If you have a mansion of this size, you must have…”

A lot of money.

His eyes, which had been adjusted to nobles for many years, could not be deceived.

There wasn’t a single item that wasn’t expensive in the mansion.

Even the flower in the vase was an expensive item that was difficult to find in the Stellen Kingdom.

A fishy smile appeared on the lips of the middle-aged man, who was looking around saying that he was definitely one of the best financiers.

“We’re running a community of merchants. Very secretly.”

Orhan, who did not miss that, whispered carefully into the man’s ear.

The middle-aged man nodded as if he understood and raised the corners of his mouth.

“May I know what kind of items you deal with?”

“We are helping high-ranking people launder money. Since our customer base is confidential, there are many rare items. They are only distributed partially. Would an answer like this suffice?”

“Of course. Are you perhaps… the leader?”

“No. I am just a member of the staff helping with the community’s work. She’s coming over there. The leader of the Rumba community.”

At Orhan’s words, the middle-aged man’s eyes quickly turned.

A look of bewilderment was evident on the man’s face as Helena came down the stairs.

The top leader of the community is a woman, and she is also young and beautiful.

The middle-aged man tried to maintain his expression while struggling to close his open mouth.

Her pure white skin exposed underneath the gorgeous black dress was dizzying.

The properly harmonized exposure aroused even more curiosity about Helena.

Her slender shoulder line was exposed under her rolled-up black pearl hair.

In contrast to her white skin, the red lipstick applied over her lips was alluring.

A dark red butterfly mask that covers her face… The man’s mouth opened slightly at the mysterious figure of Helena. The middle-aged man, who was savoring the beautiful image of the community leader while being mesmerized, swallowed dry without realizing it.

“Who is this person? Orhan.”

“He brought the clothes from the boutique. It looks like he stopped by to say hello for a while.”

Helena, who was tilting her head, let out an ‘Ah’.

She put on a formal smile and turned to the middle-aged man.

“I am Helena, the leader of the Rumba Community of Merchants.”

“My name is Pierre. It’s an honor to meet you. Madam.”

Pierre, who was looking at Helena, was constantly wiping his hands on his crumpled pants.

Looking at him, Helena frowned and said in a dull voice.

“Then, take a look around.”

As if there was no further conversation, Helena passed the man with a solemn expression on her face.

Pierre, hurt by Helena’s rude attitude, looked at Orhan without saying a word, but no one in the mansion spoke up.

***

“Ugh. I had a hard time because I was so nervous.”

As soon as she opened the door and came inside, she felt like the tension surrounding her whole body was relieved.

She couldn’t even remember how she behaved in front of Pierre, the boutique employee.

At that moment, her mind had turned blank.

She just did her best to look arrogant and haughty.

She felt sorry for being rude to Pierre, who was around her father’s age, but she couldn’t help it. Ayla slowly put down the large butterfly mask that was covering her face.

Ah…

A familiar body temperature was felt behind Ayla’s back as she took a breath to calm her trembling heartbeat.

The familiar peppermint scent lingered on the tip of her nose.

Theon’s large hand was placed on Ayla’s white hand, which was placed over her chest.

She could feel Theon’s breath, who seemed a bit dissatisfied with her exposed shoulder line, and it tickled her.

“Pfft, what are you doing?”

Laughter burst out at Theon’s act of clasping her hands, like a child holding their mother’s hand.

“I’m sorry. I’m acting cute in my own way.”

“What are you sorry for?”

“Even if you care for me, I keep making you do these things when I’m short of time…”

At the sound of Theon’s low-spirited voice, Ayla slowly turned around to meet his eyes.

His gray eyes, deep and dark, flickered little by little as if he were anxious.

Ayla shook her head instead of saying that it was fine.

“If it’s not me, who else would do it? What if you leave it to someone else and get killed?”

Although she spoke cheekily, she couldn’t hide her slightly trembling fingers, as if the aftermath hadn’t subsided.

It was even more heartbreaking because Theon couldn’t miss that, and it was even more painful because those words were true.