He twirled the feathered pen in his hand and look at the mountain of papers and smiled.

Seeing his actions, Moori didn't say anything else.

Maybe it would help him relax more if he had something to do.

Moori didn’t have a choice except to tolerate. So she let him do what he wants and only sat there calmly while drinking some tea.

But she didn’t know why, just the thought of staying in the same place as Lyle really made her feel like a restless monkey, and she couldn’t stand or sit peacefully to the point she wanted to hit her head and pull out her hair.

She didn't feel like this with him before as she only saw him as nothing but a cheeky, shameless brat.

However, when she saw him again today, he seemed different from the last time they've met.

Aside from his height and appearance, his demeanor and attitude seemed different. And because he said something like that a while ago, she couldn't help but feel somewhat strange.

No, no …… that’s certainly not the case, it’s normal for the heart to speed up after a confession, no reaction means that person is dead. If not she's a pig!

Moori struggles to convince herself, 'Right, right, right, that’s it, even if a pig confesses that it likes her, she’ll still be embarrassed, let alone this shameless prince, yes, that’s it.'

After repeatedly swearing to Lyle and after repeatedly telling herself she must not feel “anything else,” Moori finally calmed down, but she had been too shocked and could not calm down anymore.

Her body tense as if something inside her was running crazy and was going out of control.

Recently when Moori stopped a band of thieves and monsters in front of the Academy City, she fought fearlessly against them who held blades and magic.

But when she was faced with Lyle's smile, she was like a barrel of dynamite and she was ready to explode at the slightest provocation from him.

Recalling Lyle's smiling face, Moori suddenly realized that Lyle's smile was very fascinating.

It started at his eyes, and traveled gradually to the tip of his nose which moved slightly. Then it reached the edge of his mouth which stretched. And finally, it reached his cheeks.

His eyes brightened every time he smiled, and made others feel very happy.

In this moment, Lyle's smile does not carry any strange aura which were very different from what she had seen from those noblemen who tried courting her.

It is… umm… lovable! Yes!! Very lovable!!!

Strangely, this line of thought rose inside Moori, startling her. She continually reminded herself: Moori!… That is a

brat! A shameless brat…!!!

It was a dangerous situation to put herself in!

Especially when he squinted his eyes and he stared straight at her, it was like he was looking for her weak spots and he could see everything.

It made her heart felt strange.

Lyle didn’t pay any more attention to her, sitting down in the chair, he began checking the papers one by one.

Moori was truly speechless by these strange feelings that keep on popping up one after another.

She then stole a glanced at Lyle who was looking serious while reading from the corner of her eyes.

She noticed the posture of Lyle, and she could not help but feel attracted to it.

That graceful figure of him, unintentionally emitted a feminine air, with a hint of a majestic aura that befits a royalty, causing her to become mesmerized.

The outside air blew out cold air, sweeping away the dry heat they had let in from outside. In this comfortable and clean location, Moori held her cup of tea, but couldn’t focus on it.

This was the first time she felt uncomfortable inside her own office. This place was very quiet. But right now it was so quiet as to be disquieting.

Especially as Moori just realized, there were only the two of them here … … (*>﹏

At this moment, Lyle suddenly raised his head to look at her and said: “Darling, come over and take a look at this.”

Eh?

Moori put down the cup and biscuits she was holding and went over. She then look at the papers in Lyle's hands.

“I found this out when I was sorting out the documents, here look."

"What's this?"

"Compare these two documents and you will see the numbers doesn't match, right?"

Because of what Lyle said, Moori was suddenly confused.

“You're right!”

“Yeah, these were without a doubt Unaccounted-for-Expenditures. See these papers, this document is the Budgetary

Requisitions and this one is the Earnings and Expense Report.

Even though the demanded amount matches the expenses, there are still some strange expense entries that didn't match. I think these were useless investments made up to use up the budget, or possibly embezzlement using investment as cover-up.”

Moori scans through the report in Lyle's hand.

"...I, I see. So that is the reason."

Finished showing her the document, Lyle stood up and went to brew some tea and left her to think about it herself.

Moori looked at the papers. She entered a trance and unknowingly slid into Lyle's former seat.

Lyle returned with two cups of tea and saw this picture.

He stared and then smiled, placing the cup in his left hand back on the center table. He then leaned on the sofa and raised his cup to take a sip.

People are amazingly beautiful not because of how they look; they are beautiful because of who they are.

Moori didn’t realize that she had become an attraction.

After finely examining the documents once again, she raised her sparkling eyes at Lyle and said: “This really seemed an embezzlement of academic funds.”

Lyle laughed as he leaned more against the sofa: “Then why do you look so happy?”

Could anyone really feel happy like her if they found out that someone was embezzling their money ... ?

“Well, actually with this scandal I can asked them for it and if they won't compensate then I will present this documents to the council. With this, I can clean the filth inside the Academy City.” Moori thought for a while.

Even though this topic was a bit embarrassing, but she still wanted to tell her point of view.

"Filth huh..."

"Yeah, you might not know this but there are a lot of problems in Academy City right now. Some of these were the many corrupt officials inside the academy city and I really wanted to clean these problems. That's why thanks, with this I can somehow start somewhere"

Moori was strangely happy.

Lyle didn’t think she would say such things.

His heart jumped involuntarily. Looking at her spirited and clear face, he smelled the scent of tea. At the deepest part of his heart, there passed by a strand of satisfied happiness.

"Then I will help you~"

Eliminating all the corrupt officials? That's nothing but a fleeting dream.

As long as man exist; no matter what the species, they will always be honest to their desires. They are prone to temptations and greedy for wealth, power and women.

A society filled with men of words and not deeds, is like a garden full of weeds.

As they say, Weeds Never Die. They grow apace in the same way; pulls one and another grow on its place. Thus, are harder still to get rid of.

They just know where to grow, how to dupe you, and how to camouflage themselves among the perfectly respectable plants.

As Beryl Markham stated "Roots of the weed sucked first life from the genesis of earth and hold the essence of it still. Always the weed returns; the cultured plant retreats before it."

In the society, corrupt officials are like cancer. It would slowly suck its life but even if you tried to eliminate them, they will return, still filled with life.

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This was the famous quote from John Acton. Thus, even if you successfully pulled out these weeds, not long later, new ones will sprout again and again.....and again.

Thus, you can say that Moori's dream was nothing but a naive dream. She will never make it come true.

But these things he naturally wouldn’t say to Moori.

Paragraphs that came to Lyle's mind would be deconstructed and simplified and come out as mere words.

His dark gaze held affection, reflecting on the figure in front of him. He smiled faintly: “No matter how hard and difficult it is, if that's what you want then I wouldn't say anything else but support you from behind.”