CH 68

Rupert followed her gaze to his wound, whispered a small “Ah,” and motioned for Chloe to leave.

“I’m sorry, but I entered the room first. I mistakenly forgot to lock the door, but–”

“It’s not that. I saw Sir Rupert enter here, so I followed you in.”

Chloe went to Rupert’s side with the basket and then knelt on the floor by the sofa to look at Rupert’s wound wrapped in a towel.

Rupert glanced at what was in the basket. It contained vials and bandages. “Are you going to give me treatment here? How did you know I was hurt?”

“I smelled blood.”

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Could an ordinary woman smell blood?

It was a little odd, but Rupert just let Chloe do it. He did seem like he needed some treatment. Still, she’s from a family of doctors, so he could probably do it.

But since then, his fever had risen, and he felt increasingly confused. He must be drunk.

‘Did I get drunk on just two glasses of champagne?’

Then Chloe’s slender neck, busy taking care of his wound, caught his eye. Her touch bothered him a lot.

‘She’s a pretty girl. Somehow now more than when we danced…’

Chloe had a sweet and gentle aura, much different from anyone he knew.

As he continued to stare at her, his heart fluttered more and more.

As she moved closer to bandage him, he smelled her sweet aroma. It smelled similar to the taste of champagne. But as soon as he smelled it, hot energy wriggled in his throat.

Then what happened?

When Rupert woke up, he was in bed, a naked Chloe sleeping next to him.

Upon waking up, Chloe cried bitterly and confessed that she had a crush on Rupert. She then went home after she told him he didn’t have to feel obligated.

But then, Rupert continued to see Chloe. After a few days of contemplation, Rupert eventually visited Chloe and began to date her.

The more Rupert met Chloe, the more he fell in love with her. He felt comfortable with Chloe, who didn’t want anything and didn’t ask.

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However, Erin’s presence continued to bother him as he dated Chloe.

Before that, Erin often came to Rupert’s place. But when he started seeing Chloe, he couldn’t see Erin at all. Rupert was strangely annoyed by the fact.

So he just let it go.

He knew that Count Spilet was deceived by a conman and had invested too much in a scam, but he just watched. In fact, when he met the Count, he encouraged him very slightly.

And he waited for the penniless Erin to finally look for him herself.

A few days later, I headed to the outer palace of the Imperial Palace to interview the investor responsible for the capital of the Magic Stone Mine development.

After the funeral, Rupert had to stay to clean up after the estate. At times like this, we had to proceed as much as possible.

The Imperial Palace was divided into inner and outer palaces, and the Crown Prince’s office was located on both sides.

It seemed really busy in the outer palace. People with darkened undereyes quickly passed by me, some of them women.

Unlike the women I’ve seen in society, they didn’t seem to care much about their makeup, but they looked really cool.

Fortunately, my attire wasn’t too flashy.

Slowly looking around the inside, I headed upstairs to the Crown Prince’s office, which Enoch had informed me of beforehand.

Then I ran into Enoch, who was just coming down to meet me. As soon as Enoch, slowly making his way down, found me, he quickened his pace.

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“Greetings, Your Highness, Crown Prince Enoch.” I lifted the hem of my skirt and bent my knees.

Enoch smiled ambiguously and shook his head. “Looks like I’m a little late.”

“It’s okay. You gave me the location.”

“Well then, let’s go.”

Enoch walked up ahead and glanced back at me.

As I followed him, I tilted my head in confusion, wondering why he was staring at me. Then I realized that he seemed worried about what I’d think about him not escorting me.

Certainly, when I looked around, everyone was busy walking, but there was no atmosphere for anyone to escort or be escorted.

I nodded to him as if to go, and he guided me, walking half a step ahead.

“You will be working here from today, Count,” Enoch said, leading me down the long hallway to the large double door.

Knights were posted by the doors, and when they saw the Prince, they opened the door right away.

The inside was more spacious than expected. And there were many people. Their heads were buried in piled of paper, not caring whether the Prince came or not.

They only looked up when Enoch clapped his hands.

“Gather over here.”

Among them, the person with the darkest under eyes came forward first, scratching his green hair that seemed to have not been washed for days.

“Count Spilet, this is Count Liam Stevens, my chief aide and chief of staff here.”

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“I’m Liam Stevens. Please feel free to call me Liam here,” he said, his purple eyes filled with sleep.

“Okay, Liam. Nice to meet you, please feel free to address me casually, too. My name is Erin Spilet.”

I was then introduced to the two officers who followed.

“This is Viscount Adam Johnston, and this is Viscount Flora Walsh.”

Among the two, Adam Johnston merely nodded his head and stared at me with unusual eyes.

Wasn’t this our first time seeing each other? I couldn’t tell if his gaze was friendly.

“My name is Flora Walsh, Erin. It is really nice to meet you.” On the other hand, Flora Walsh was kind to me.

Enoch was supposed to introduce two more assistant officers, but apparently, they went out and weren’t here.

After that, Enoch escorted me to my seat. The moment I saw my workplace, I glanced at him and my desk in disbelief.

“This… Is this my place?”

“Yes, that’s right. Count Spilet, you can sit here and review the nomination papers.”

“Wait, no, what is this?”

There were three reasons why the desk surprised me. First of all, the seat was right next to Enoch’s desk. My desk was closer to him than Liam, the chief of staff.

Second, the desk was much bigger and wider than that of other employees, and even at a glance, its wood was a high-quality material. So, it was similar in size and shape to the Crown Prince’s desk.

Having received such special treatment, I finally understood Adam Johnston’s unfriendly gaze.

The third was the amount of paperwork piled up on the desk, looking like two towers on the table.

“Are those all candidate documents?”

“It’s what we’ve already summarized–eok.” Liam was about to answer, but Enoch suddenly slapped his arm across his chest and pushed him away.

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“Yes, you must check all of it yourself.”

Liam and the secretary looked as if their eyes were trying to tell me something, but I couldn’t understand them.

They eventually went back to their respective seats with their mouths shut, and I sat down, too, unable to contain my bewilderment.

When I sat there, I almost became because my view was entirely covered by the tower of documents.

“Why are there so many?”

“The magic stone mine is an investment with a guaranteed return. Of course, many will want to invest.”

“By what standard should I look at it?”

“If you look at your credit rating or basic financial power, you will find your own standards.”

After saying that, Enoch sat down a little further away from me. As I stared blankly at him, there was a lot of work in his place as well.

So, the job of the Crown Prince wasn’t easy.

I looked around a bit more. The office at the end of this floor of the outer palace had a peculiar hexagonal structure. And there was a window on each side, and in front of them were their desks.

So, they were placed in a circle so that they could see each other like a conference room. It was simply an efficient but cruel arrangement, unable to do anything else.

Both Enoch and the other two officers were engaged in their work.

I sighed and brought the papers on the right in front of me. I could feel Enoch glance at me, but I tried not to let it get to me.

The document contained information such as name, identity, biography, property size, investment location, investment activities, and how to operate a magic stone mine efficiently.

I read the first few pages carefully, but soon realized I didn’t need to. In the first place, most of the people whose money came from the mountains, the land, or buildings could not invest immediately.

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Those who have already made large investments were excluded.

I needed someone with a lot of liquid assets, someone who could give me money now. However, even if I set such a standard, the amount we needed was too much in the first place.

Soon, I could feel my eyes darken like the people I saw earlier. Then, after working like that for several hours, I suddenly looked out the window to see that the sun had set and it was getting dark.

Amazing. I hadn’t even seen half of this document.

“Can I take these home and look at them?”

Enoch also shook his head resolutely. Today, Enoch was unrelenting. It felt like I was dealing with a boss at work whose memories were now fading.

“No, for security reasons, you can’t take it outside of the palace.”

“…Okay, then.”

It took a long time for me to come here and see everything for myself. Anyway, the sun had already set, but the others didn’t look like they even thought about going home.

“Come this way.”

Enoch, sitting next to me the entire time, got up and headed out of the office. I followed him without knowing what was happening.