The Problem Is, My Ex-Boyfriend and I Are Both Dating Other People - Chapter 64

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 64

Only as I set foot on the final step did I realize my heart was hammering wildly. I blinked rapidly, pressing a hand to my chest. Was it alright for it to race like this? While I stood there lost in that thought, I caught sight of the others moving through the Wine Cellar, taking in their surroundings.
Love was already explaining the space to Noah and Asta—apparently she’d been here before. Richard had drifted toward Love’s side, where an enormous Oak Barrel stood displayed at the end of the wall lined with bottles of wine.
I made my way over to it.
“The second-to-last Oak Barrel. Yes. Quite something, isn’t it? When I first saw it, I thought the Crown Prince must be an alcoholic, I’m not joking. I even tried to move it once—goodness, I thought I’d throw out my back just attempting it.”
I tilted my head. The Oak Barrel was indeed the sort of size you’d expect to see in a brewery. While there were many ways to conceal a secret passage, this one seemed rather obvious.
As I reached out to examine it, Richard caught my wrist midway.
“Magic Stones.”
!
“The finest grade. Look closely.”
Richard pointed slowly across the barrels from left to right. Only then did I notice the fragments of Magic Stones embedded in neat rows along the seams.
“Something’s definitely being hidden here.”
“The problem is, it’s difficult to do anything further from this position.”
I spoke carefully, suppressing my excitement. Here. Daemon had hidden something crucially important here.
Once we withdrew and found a way to dispel the Magic, we could return and—
While my thoughts raced, a deep blue light flashed in my vision. I looked up to see a small Dagger in Richard’s hand.
The blade was wrapped in a surprisingly warm blue luminescence. It was something I’d seen once before.
A weapon forged from Aura.
As our eyes met, Richard spoke as if reading my thoughts.
“Now might be our only chance. Daemon’s carriage is waiting outside.”
“You knew?”
“It was rather obvious.”
I suddenly recalled how Richard had hurried inside at the estate entrance, tapping his ear as if listening to something. What if that sound hadn’t come from inside the house at all, but from the carriage? If Richard was right, we might lose this opportunity forever if we didn’t act now.
The thought sent a chill through me.
“Is there a way to dispel it?”
“Aura and Mana share certain principles. What’s superior in rank can neutralize what’s inferior.”
“Neutralize it?”
Richard nodded lightly. I knew that Magic Stones had grades—the higher the grade of Magic Stone, the higher the level of Magic you could cast. But Aura too had grades?
I found that revelation startling.
Love, who’d been listening quietly beside us, suddenly interjected.
“I’ve heard rumors about it, but it’s impressive.”
Rumors? Why hadn’t I known about this?
Love seemed embarrassed as he noticed my gaze.
“Ah. I’ve picked this up because I take some interest in blades, you understand. Apparently, the higher the grade of Aura, the brighter and purer the blue light it emits. It’s supposed to be as difficult as maintaining perfect balance while walking a tightrope without once wobbling.”
Richard seemed to find the comparison between a tightrope walker and himself absurd, but the explanation made immediate sense to me.
“So you’re saying it can be neutralized?”
“There’s no restoring it once it’s dispelled. What do you want to do?”
I was momentarily taken aback by the way he posed the question—as if placing the choice entirely in my hands. We were under an Imperial Order. The Emperor’s command was simple and unambiguous: find proof that the Crown Prince orchestrated all of this.
Given that Richard had sworn an oath of loyalty to the Emperor, he should naturally have dispelled the Magic. Yet he was looking at me as though everything depended on my decision alone.
In that moment, I felt the thoughts swirling in my mind scatter like vapor.
The calculations about withdrawing from here and using a higher-grade Magic Stone to check for ledgers, or the plans to search the Crown Prince’s residence if we found nothing—all of it dissolved. In its place surfaced a memory I’d thought long forgotten.
“Remember? When we were children, at that crossroads with the wild dogs blocking the way, you asked me the same thing.”
It was from before my father knew anything of the truth.
I had demanded an Escort Knight with such certainty, insisting that the Young Lady of Bella’s Estate deserved the most handsome knight available. That Richard, fresh from his apprenticeship, became my guard seemed almost inevitable in hindsight.
“Go forward, or turn back?”
I’d been deeply infatuated then, doing whatever it took to carve out moments alone with him away from prying eyes—even lying about needing exercise. That day too, we’d dismissed the carriage and walked to the bookshop before heading home. Richard seemed to recall the same memory; he let out a soft laugh.
“And you were terrified of being late.”
“Richard, Bella does not succumb to fear.”
I repeated solemnly what I’d once told him all those years ago.
“Right, right. The Bella Estate is the Empire’s only ducal house and must always conduct itself with dignity. Yet you were frightened that day, Bella. Of the wild dogs.”
This Richard—who no longer simply agreed with everything I said—felt oddly unfamiliar to me now. He shrugged lightly, as if apologizing but standing firm in the truth.
“In any case, you chose to pass the dogs that day, didn’t you?”
“Yes. That took courage. Though putting me behind you was more recklessness than bravery, if I’m being honest.”
Love burst out laughing. Only then did I realize that the others had been hanging on every word of our conversation. I wasn’t alone here with Richard after all.
Noah’s gaze met mine as he crossed his arms, his expression grave and disapproving—the look of someone watching you dig your own grave, lie down in it, and then bury yourself with dirt.
This was a disaster.
I could already see tomorrow’s tabloid headlines as I nodded.
“Dispel it.”

Heat crept up from her chest to the nape of her neck.

* * *

To state the conclusion first: my suspicion had proven correct.
“I’d say we only got half of what we were looking for.”
“But we did find the ledger.”
“Did we find it, though? More importantly, why did the previous holder keep only that one thing? This place looks like someone tried to build a mountain out of documents.”
Noah was right. There had been another reason why Daemon hadn’t kept the ledger in the Imperial Palace.
“He simply piled everything up without organizing any of it.”
“Roughly… five years’ worth. Which means I now have to sort through all of it myself.”
Secret ledgers typically require far more supporting documents than official ones. Since most of what’s recorded is fabricated, whoever maintains the records needs some form of proof to back it up.
Normally, one processes these supporting documents regularly and eventually retains only the ledger itself.
My father had not been careless with this process and carried only a few ledgers in hand. Daemon, on the other hand—
“Daemon didn’t even have close associates to manage the ledger for him? Good heavens, the paper’s all degraded. What is this? The dates are completely mixed up? The handwriting here is smudged to the point of illegibility. And this year’s transaction records—there’s only six months’ worth. What is all this?”
In other words, he’d buried everything without so much as sorting it properly.
“He probably had no intention of using it later, so he just stored it away.”
“If that’s the case, it would’ve been better for security to destroy it altogether.”
“He couldn’t bring himself to destroy it entirely because he didn’t fully trust my father. If an unforeseen circumstance arose, it would’ve been problematic.”
Noah’s eyes swept across the study, taking in the mountains of documents that filled every corner. It was plain to see that he was wondering how any of this would be useful even if such a circumstance did arise.
But Daemon would not have shared such concerns. When documents became necessary, he simply had to throw an accountant into the secret room packed with papers and let them sort things out to suit his needs. The unfortunate specialist would then organize everything according to Daemon’s specifications.
“This is truly a headache.”
When the Imperial Treasury Funds had been diverted, by what means, in what amounts—how the money had been laundered, and ultimately where it had been spent. Given the scale and duration involved, these documents were hardly excessive.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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