The First Move
I gave my permission without much thought.
“Sure, of course.”
“Thank you. Would you call me Kyle as well, Lina?”
“I will, Kyle.”
While we readjusted how we addressed each other, Kyle smiled the entire time like a boy plotting a mischievous prank.
I did wonder why he was acting that way, but his good mood was preferable to a bad one, so I left it alone.
Kyle, whose spirits had improved dramatically, remarked that he seemed to have taken longer than expected and hurried off.
As if passing a baton, Lucy returned.
“Luckily, some agents finished their missions a little earlier than planned.”
Lucy shared the updates with a bright smile, saying things seemed to be falling into place nicely.
“That’s good news.”
I smiled back at her.
It’ll probably take around two weeks.
Until we had any results, we planned to pause the investigation into other routes for the time being.
Thanks to that, we suddenly found ourselves with quite a bit of free time.
The Camelot estate matter was so time-consuming that our overall workload had decreased.
The staff who had been performing the impressive feat of flipping through documents with their left hand while writing with their right now had room for tea breaks or short vacations.
Since I still didn’t have a clearly defined role, I was even more at leisure.
This kind of free time is nice, but…
Having lived a life ruled by weekly deadlines, monthly deadlines, quarterly deadlines, and every other kind of deadline imaginable, this sort of rest felt completely foreign.
When I started fidgeting because I felt like I should be doing something, Nadan offered some advice.
“Lina, rest while you can. This is the calm before the storm.”
He warned that once the field teams began sending in their findings, we wouldn’t even have time to straighten our backs.
But if I just play around because it’s relaxed, work always seems to come crashing down all at once.
His words weren’t particularly effective on me.
When the anxiety refused to leave my face, Nadan shook his head and handed me a task.
“If you’re truly bored, look over this at least. It’s a report on the usage of relief funds from a temple in the western region. We received a tip that they’re being diverted for personal use.”
Having something to fill the time made me feel much more at ease.
“It’s neither urgent nor important, so take your time. To be specific, it should take about a week?”
“Understood.”
With my camouflage busywork now sitting on my desk, I finally began to enjoy my precious taxpayer-funded downtime.
When I grew tired of pretending to work, I would occasionally look into the evidence loss incident.
There wasn’t anything I could pinpoint since the timing still seemed far off.
In that manner, I bribed Connie with limited-edition desserts instead of dinner, visited home once, and went to Grizel Park to see the cats.
I also picked up my long-neglected hobbies, and roughly ten days passed.
Of course, I met Everett, too.
I secretly pressed down on my cheeks, which kept rising without any regard for how high the sky was.
After the kiss on the back of my hand that I had fled from, Everett kept sending notes through the errand boy.
It got to the point where it was embarrassing to even look at the boy’s face as he shuttled back and forth between the Imperial Guard building and the Inspectorate several times a day.
At first I refused a few times, using the excuse that I was busy because it was too mortifying to face him.
Eventually, Everett’s patience ran out.
When he said he would simply wait until I came out, I finally accepted his suggestion.
After sending the reply, I immediately regretted not playing a little harder to get.
It was only a bit embarrassing—nothing bad was going to happen.
I slapped on my thickest face and headed to the meeting place.
Once again, he had somehow found a suitably atmospheric and secluded location.
As I approached hesitantly, Everett looked at me with an unusually sullen expression and asked,
“Was it very burdensome? If you disliked it at all…”
Straight to the point.
Not quite mentally prepared, I flinched.
“No!”
Almost as if entranced by his golden eyes, I hurriedly denied it.
Seeing how obviously startled I was, Everett’s expression grew even more forlorn.
When he lowered his gaze as though gauging my reaction, his long black lashes gave him an air of pure innocence.
The problem is that I don’t dislike it.
Still, I was someone who understood shame well enough not to be completely honest.
“I was just a little busy.”
My fumbling, not-very-convincing excuse made Everett narrow his eyes and smile as if he would let it slide this once.
But that mature smile didn’t last long.
Looking like it was difficult to keep smiling, he crafted a light tone and asked,
“Were we not at that kind of stage?”
He was returning the words I had said one night, slightly altered.
Though he pretended to be playful, Everett looked slightly anxious as he waited for my answer.
As if he feared I might give a reply different from what he hoped for.
Seeing the usually confident Everett grow nervous filled me with a wicked sense of satisfaction.
Thanks to that, I grew much calmer.
If we weren’t at that kind of stage, I wouldn’t have run away just from a kiss on the back of the hand.
The inside of my ribcage tickled.
I couldn’t perfectly define my feelings yet, but this man definitely looked lovable to me.
Instead of giving him a reassuring answer, I turned the question back on him.
“What exactly is ‘that kind of stage’?”
When I charged forward so directly, Everett—who lacked boldness in this area, as expected—couldn’t speak properly and his face flushed red.
Seeing a man much larger and older than me acting shy strangely gave me courage.
I think we’ve come far enough for this much progress.
“I didn’t dislike it.”
I carefully delivered the belated answer.
My mind was made up.
Looking into Everett’s relieved smile, I wrapped my arms around his neck.
The height difference was so great that I had to rise onto my tiptoes.
With barely a finger’s width between us, the warmth of our bodies touching went beyond hot—it was burning.
Like holding a ball of fire.
Or like anticipating something.
My heart felt like it would explode.
Yet that violent pounding felt like the ecstasy of being alive.
I squeezed my eyes shut and leaned toward Everett.
Then I kissed him.
Lightly, like a bird pecking.
Chuu.
The kiss meant for his cheek missed its target and landed near his jaw, but I was so dazed I didn’t even notice.
“Th-this kind of stage?”
I only managed to stammer out the words I had barely prepared.
My voice trembled, but I believed the message got across.
I was defining this relationship.
Oh no.
Only after doing it did I realize what I had just done.
The courage that had swelled up like over-fermented bread dough deflated with a hiss.
I couldn’t even meet Everett’s eyes properly as I lowered my arms from around his neck.
I also returned my raised tiptoes to the ground.
Then, like someone who had stepped too close to a brazier, I hurriedly backed away—only to be stopped by Everett.
His arm wrapped around my waist as if he had no intention of letting go, and his eyes burned with an unfamiliar heat.
The focus in his golden eyes gradually blurred.
Everett tightened the arm around my waist, pulling us even closer.
Our eyes met, and the surrounding scenery disappeared.
Everett’s lips slowly drew nearer.
I was certain this would not end with the childish prank of a kiss I had given.
I’m not mentally prepared to go that far.
I turned my head to avoid his approaching face.
When I placed my hand over the arm around my waist, Everett slowly withdrew.
It was a gentlemanly gesture, yet the gaze he fixed on me carried a boiling heat.
I felt like I was standing in front of a beast restrained by a leash that only allowed him one step closer.
In a deeply lowered voice, Everett said,
“It’s a shame, but for now let’s keep it at this stage.”
It seemed today’s events had become the spark that awakened something long dormant inside him.
The usually innocent golden eyes now gleamed like those of a predator.
After that day, our relationship saw a little progress.
Well, not drastic—just a little.
Everett had been diligently seducing me.
When he actually began pressing forward aggressively, I found myself unable to keep my composure.
“Miss Diaz.”
Still, I grew accustomed to receiving kisses on the back of my hand from him.
They were light, greeting-like kisses that touched and then withdrew.
Little by little, I adapted to Everett as he drew closer.
We met in the gaps between work, avoiding others’ eyes.
It was a proper office romance.
Everett was a sincere and affectionate partner, and somehow he seemed to grow even more handsome with each passing day.
As I fell for him a little more every day, a week went by.
And finally, the investigation report from Camelot Castle arrived.