Alaric slowly turned toward the officials gathered inside the room.
“Did none of you hear His Highness’s command?” His voice remained controlled, but the patience behind it had begun to disappear.
When no one responded immediately, his gaze hardened.
“Bring every document he requested. Now.”
“Y-Yes, Your Highness!” One of the officials hurried from the room at once, nearly colliding with another man as he rushed through the doorway.
Gardo quickly pointed toward a second official standing nearby.
“You. Help him.” The man bowed and followed without hesitation, leaving Gardo behind to wipe the sweat gathering across his forehead.
A short while later, hurried footsteps approached from the corridor.
A young woman entered carrying a heavy stack of documents against her chest, her breathing slightly uneven from the effort of bringing them so quickly.
A pair of glasses rested upon her face, and several loose strands of hair had fallen out of place as she crossed the room.
“Y-Your Highness…” She stopped before Javier and carefully handed the stack to Alaric.
“Here are the records you requested.”
The moment Gardo recognized her, the tension in his body changed.
His jaw tightened as he turned toward the young woman.
“Elena.” She immediately looked at him, though the way her fingers tightened around the remaining papers did not escape Javier’s Mana Detection.
“Why are you the one bringing those documents? Where is the man I sent?” Elena lowered her gaze and remained silent, but before Gardo could question her further, Javier turned his face toward him.
“There is no need to question her.” Gardo hesitated before reluctantly lowering his head.
“Of course, Your Highness.”
“Alaric.” Javier gestured toward the documents now resting in his attendant’s hands.
“Examine every document carefully. Do not overlook anything.” Alaric carried the records to the large wooden desk and placed the first set before him.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The room gradually fell silent as Alaric began his examination.
Only the quiet rustling of paper remained while his eyes moved carefully across every line, checking the figures, signatures and official seals before turning to the next page.
At first, nothing in his expression changed.
Then his brows slowly drew together.
He returned to the previous page and examined the figures again before reaching for another document, comparing the two records side by side.
Javier remained beside the desk without disturbing him.
He could hear every page being turned and every subtle movement Alaric made as the examination continued, but more importantly, he could sense the gradual change in the man’s mana.
What had begun as irritation was becoming something colder and far more controlled.
The mana leaking from Alaric was nothing like that of an ordinary royal attendant.
Years of military discipline still remained within it, a remnant of the man who had once served as a Special Commander of the Sylvaris Warriors.
Even as his anger grew, that power remained dense and refined, held firmly beneath the discipline carved into him through years of service.
The officials seemed to notice the change as well.
One quietly stepped backward, while another lowered his head and refused to look in Alaric’s direction.
Gardo’s breathing became increasingly shallow as more pages were turned, and the occasional sound of him swallowing nervously became impossible for Javier to ignore.
Elena, meanwhile, remained where she was with the remaining papers held against her chest, saying nothing as she watched Alaric work.
Eventually, the rustling stopped.
Alaric carefully placed the document in his hand onto the desk and looked toward Javier.
“Your Highness, these records have been falsified.” The words immediately drained what little sound remained from the room.
Alaric picked up another document and opened it beside the first.
“And not only these. There are discrepancies across several different records.” His voice remained steady, but the mana surrounding him had grown noticeably heavier.
“I strongly recommend that every official responsible for these records be detained until we determine who was involved.”
Several officials immediately paled, and Gardo took a small step backward before catching himself.
Javier reached out and placed a hand upon Alaric’s shoulder.
“Not yet.” Alaric turned toward him, clearly dissatisfied, but Javier continued before he could object.
“We still don’t know how far this goes. If we act before understanding the entire situation, the people truly responsible may disappear before we reach them.” For a moment, Alaric said nothing.
The pressure surrounding him gradually diminished as he forced his anger back under control.
“Understood, Your Highness.”
Javier withdrew his hand and turned toward the documents.
“Tell me everything you found.” Alaric immediately picked up the first set of records.
“There are signs of massive embezzlement. The amount of money entering and leaving Srivi’s accounts is far too large compared to the city’s recorded expenditure.” He opened another document and ran his finger down several entries before continuing.
“There are also suspicious transactions involving medicine. According to these records, large quantities were purchased for Srivi, but there are no corresponding records proving that those supplies ever reached the city’s medical facilities.”
Javier’s fingers slowly curled at his side as Alaric continued comparing the records.
“Several transactions are missing proper signatures, while others do not bear the government’s official seal. Some of these figures also contradict records from the same period. These aren’t isolated mistakes, Your Highness. Someone has been manipulating the records.”
Silence settled over the room once more.
Javier remained motionless beside the desk, but his breathing had changed.
Around him, frightened heartbeats seemed louder than before.
He heard Gardo swallow nervously, the faint rustling of Elena adjusting the papers in her arms, and the subtle movements of officials who were suddenly afraid to draw attention to themselves.
Yet Javier’s thoughts were no longer entirely inside Srome.
He remembered the streets he had travelled through only a short while earlier, the coughing that had drifted from neglected homes, the exhausted voices of people who barely had enough strength to speak, and the smell of sickness that seemed to cling to entire districts.
Most of all, he remembered Aslan kneeling before him with a trembling knife in his hand, apologizing for threatening him because his younger brothers and sisters had gone two days without food.
The memory caused Javier’s hand to tighten into a fist.
He had spent his entire life learning to endure a world he could never see, but his own hardships felt distant in that moment.
The people outside these walls had been starving while enormous amounts of money disappeared from the city’s accounts.
They had been falling sick while medicine purchased in their name vanished somewhere between these records and the streets where it was desperately needed.
“There may simply be some errors in the documents, Your Highness.” Gardo’s voice finally broke through the silence, trembling despite his attempt to sound composed.
“If you allow me, I can personally review them and explain what happened.”
“No.”
The single word stopped him.
Javier’s hand moved toward the sword at his side.
SHING!
The blade slid free from its sheath, and before Gardo could fully react, Javier stepped forward and brought its tip against his throat.
Gardo’s entire body went rigid.
His breath caught as the cold steel touched his skin, while every official in the room became completely still.
Javier’s expression had lost the gentleness it carried when he spoke to Aslan earlier that day.
“Guards.” The soldiers stationed outside immediately entered.
“Your Highness!” Javier did not move the blade from Gardo’s throat.
“Lock the doors.”
“Yes, Your Highness.” The heavy wooden doors slammed shut behind them, and a moment later, the unmistakable sound of the locks sliding into place echoed through the room.
No one moved after that.
No one dared to speak.
The officials who had been whispering about Javier when he first arrived now stood in complete silence, listening to the breathing of the Crown Prince they had mistaken for someone they could disrespect.
“No one leaves this room until I uncover the truth.” Javier’s voice remained quiet, but the restraint behind it only made the threat feel heavier.
For the first time since arriving in Srivi, the anger inside him had grown strong enough to strain against the composure he had spent years building.
He could endure insults directed at himself.
He could ignore drunken whispers and careless disrespect.
What he could not ignore were starving children, dying citizens and medicine that had vanished while those responsible sat comfortably behind the polished walls of Srome.
Javier had lived his entire life without sight, yet standing in that room, surrounded by records of stolen wealth and officials whose fear now filled the silence around him, he understood the truth before him with absolute clarity.
He did not need eyes to see the ugliness of the world.
He could feel every bit of it.