Sylus slid out of bed and pulled his trousers back on and buckled his belt with a sharp snap then turned around to survey the absolute disaster zone that was the master bedchamber.
The silk sheets were tangled and soaked and wrinkled beyond any recognizable form of their former existence.
A wicked amused smirk twitched on his lips.
’Damn... it’s Valessia’s personal bed.’ He looked around at the carnage with genuine appreciation. ’If she ever found out her newly trusted butler spent the night turning her silk sheets into something lewd with her own maid... she would kill me for sure.’
"Get yourself dressed," he said and tossed Rina’s maid outfit onto her lap. "And strip those bedsheets and replace them with fresh ones before Valessia gets back."
Rina, her pride thoroughly crushed and every escape route evaporated, clutched the fabric to her chest and hung her head. "Y-Yes, sir..."
"One more thing," Sylus’s tone shifted and his crimson eyes locked onto hers with unmistakable weight. "Put every single coin and diamond back into the vault exactly where you found them. Once you’re done come straight to my quarters. We have a lot to talk about."
Her jaw tightened in defeat for just a fraction of a second. "...I understand."
______
A short while later Sylus was leaning back in the leather chair in his private room staring at the ceiling with a deeply satisfied grin on his face.
’Damn. I actually just lost my virginity.’
He let that sit there for a moment and reflected on every mind-melting detail with the quiet reverence of a man paying respects to a truly historic occasion.
’Back in my old life I was just an overworked student who could only witness this stuff through a pixelated screen. Having a real insanely busty girl completely wrapped around me like that...’ He shook his head slowly. ’The sensation was way beyond anything my imagination ever produced. Solid ten out of ten.’ You are reading on novelping(.)com, the official source.
He stretched both arms above his head and let out the longest most contented sigh of either of his lives.
Knock knock.
"Sir? May I come in?" Rina’s voice came through the door soft and uncertain and she peeked her head through the narrow opening like someone checking whether a wild animal was still in the room.
Sylus sat up and crossed his arms. "Yeah. Get in here."
She stepped inside and quietly shut the door and without waiting to be told dropped straight down onto her knees on the floor with her head bowed and her rose-pink hair falling forward around her face.
"Alright, Rina. Let me hear it," Sylus said and leaned forward on his elbows. "Who are you really, what was your connection to Corvus and why were you ransacking the Baroness’s room?"
Rina kept her eyes fixed on the floorboards and her voice came out slightly unsteady. "My name is Rina... I was planted inside the Astria household as Corvus’s inside contact acting under direct orders from Madame."
Sylus’s eyes narrowed. "That Madame again. Who is she and what exactly is she after?"
"Madame Helena. She operates publicly as a high-society merchant and trade broker."
The name hit him like a bolt straight through the chest.
’Helena?!’ This story is hosted at g.com.
His mind instantly snapped back to everything he’d absorbed across thirty-seven episodes of dedicated viewing. Helena was one of the underground figures the show had only ever hinted at in the background lore, a ruthless shadow-dealing smuggler who had quietly built an illegal empire on black-market narcotics, stolen artifacts and military intelligence while presenting a completely respectable public face to the world above.
The whole picture assembled itself in his head in about three seconds.
’So that’s the play.’ A cold smirk formed on his lips as the pieces locked together. ’When Valessia’s parents died Helena saw an opening — young inexperienced Baroness, massive debt, zero political backing, completely alone. She positioned Corvus to poison the crops from the inside and bleed the estate dry until the Astria house collapsed completely. Then Helena steps in as the gracious savior, buys up the land for almost nothing and turns this entire territory into her personal lawless smuggling operation. Almost untraceable. Brilliant play honestly... if I hadn’t walked into this body by complete accident.’
Still, something didn’t add up.
Helena was drowning in black-market gold. She had absolutely no reason to send a maid after a handful of loose jewels and pocket change.
Sylus leaned forward over his desk and looked down at the kneeling girl. "Alright I get Helena’s game plan. But that doesn’t explain why you were stuffing gold coins into your chest like a common petty thief. Helena didn’t order you to steal pocket change did she. What’s your real angle, Rina?"
Rina’s lips trembled.
Her shoulders shook softly and the sharp greedy facade she’d been wearing since the moment he caught her just quietly fell away and left behind something completely different underneath it, a young woman who looked exhausted and frightened and like she had been holding something very heavy for a very long time.
"I grew up in the slums," she whispered and her voice cracked clean down the middle. A single tear dropped and hit the floorboards. "I never had parents or a proper home or anyone to lean on except my little brother. He’s my absolute everything." She took a shaky breath. "Six months ago he suddenly fell ill. I thought it was a common fever that would pass in a few days but it never stopped. His breathing got weaker and his fever burned hotter and when I finally managed to bring a real doctor to see him I was told he’d contracted a rare deadly blood disease."
She wiped her eyes fast with the back of her sleeve and let out a small shuddering sob.
"The doctor said there was an antidote that could cure him completely but it costs a fortune. The kind of amount only high nobles throw around. I was so terrified of losing him that when Madame Helena approached me and offered high-paying work to infiltrate the estate I took it without thinking twice. Between her payment and my maid salary I was so close, I was almost there... but I was still short. When Corvus got dragged away I panicked. I knew my time here was running out so I decided to just take the rest from the vault." Her voice dropped to almost nothing. "I know it was wrong. I know. But I can’t let him die. I can’t."