Kyle could utter no excuse for his superiorâs comment. Everything he had been investigating at the annex of the Bureau of Investigation and Security in Lendia had not yet been reported to the Secretary and Deputy Minister.
Since it was a publicly known fact that the Minister of Defense and Adrian Rossinell were quite close, Kyle deemed it was an inevitable choice to deal with them carefully.
âShow me that my trust in you is right. Go down to Central Edman for a while.â The Minister gave a firm order.
âBut Minister, the cases in charge are stillâ¦â
âThe Noviscosha case and the Lendia Security Force case have to be taken over. Iâve compiled and reported all the records about Yulem and Eleonora Asil.â The Minister closed his eyes tiredly and gave his final command, âDonât come back to the capital, for the time being, Sir Leonard.â
As soon as the Minister left his seat, Kyle fired fiercely at Penelope. âWhat do you think I mean when I say itâs confidential? Penelope, where do you sell all the information Iâve given to you so far-â
âI swear it was not me, Captain!â Penelope hastily excused, whose face was extremely pale. âThatâs what I thought was strange, but I was just going to ask the Captain laterâ¦â
ââ¦Get it. The recording chip I gave you.â Kyle didnât say much and ordered Penelope coldly. Penelope rushed to her office immediately, and within minutes she appeared with a much paler complexion than before.
âCaptain⦠Apparently, I saved a copy of the video, and locked the original in a safe butâ¦â
It was obvious; there was no need for them to check. The chip was stolen. Kyle pressed his fingers on his throbbing temple, listening to Penelope as she stuttered to recite the names of those who had been in and out of her office for the few prior days. There were only a few who had entered her office that the investigators use togetherâ¦
âOh, recently the Minister of Magic has been away for a while, and after that, Lollinne Birch has come to hand in his signatureâ¦.â
âSay that again.â
âWhat? Ah, a statement by Lollinâs own author-â
âNo!â Kyle interrupted her words irritably, tempted to grab Penelope by the collar of her uniform. Meanwhile, Penelope blinked blankly, confused and oblivious.
Her superiorâs violet eyes were gleaming familiarly. It was like discovering valuable evidence that they had missed.
âWho went there?â
*
âWhat are you doing?â
Flip. Whoosh. Thud. Adrian, who was playing with something as tiny as a nail on his palm, bouncing it into the air, looked to his side leisurely.
âYouâre here, Ellie?â
ââ¦Oh.â
Today was the seventh day of her unpleasant magic class with Adrian. Noah took her hat off, threw it on the table, and buried herself on the sofa. Kyle was probably getting ready to leave for Noviscosha by now, she thought.
It was only yesterday that the Investigation Security Bureau annex confirmed the identity of the scraps of metal, and judging from his absence in Eleonoraâs mansion this morning, there seemed to be a lot of work he had to complete before his departure.
Adrian glanced at Noahâs side, clicking his tongue. âWhere else did you leave the dragon alone? I told you weâre going to have a training session with the both of you to prevent mental unity.â
âHe wanted to play, so I left him in the Imperial Garden for a while.â
âIs todayâs target a garden? Itâs the place where the Empress Dowager of the preceding generation cherished, so if he breaks it down, itâll sting her eyes.â
âIâve already crossed the river that I canât return from the moment Mu broke the tallest tower in the Imperial Palace.â
ââ¦Ellie, you just donât want to take classes, do you?â
âThatâs right.â
Noah couldnât even deny it. It was hard to slip through Adrianâs eyes. Of course, he, a human being, and Muell, a dragon, meant he couldnât inflict a scratch on the child. But, she still couldnât ease her worries.
When he noticed her vigilance, Adrian shrugged his shoulders. âI know you donât believe me, but you canât avoid it forever. If you donât learn how to do it from me within this week, youâll have to live with a time bomb the whole week.â
âWhy. Where are you going, too?â
âA business trip.â
âOhâ¦â
âBut I donât want you to think that you can have a lot of fun. Youâre supposed to start your volunteer work next week.â
It was a golden opportunity for Noah if Adrian were to vacate the Imperial Palace. While he was away, she could search the lab and his study secretly. Besides, itâs only volunteer work. I can just skip it.
âYou are going to record each time youâve done your service faithfully. Youâd better not think of slacking.â
Itâs a record. It can be forged.
Noah came to a simple conclusion and rose from her seat. âWait. Iâll bring Mu.â
âIâll give you ten minutes.â
âDonât give me orders. I might never come back.â
Of course, Noah had no intention of returning at least today. She then left the office with his back against Adrian. As she was crossing the middle of the Imperial Palace in search of Muell, she encountered someone, who tapped on her temper as much as Adrian Rossinell.
Noah clenched her teeth and smiled brightly at the person in front of her. ââ¦Lenia.â