“I’m heading out.”

“Okay Miss. I’ll be rooting for you.”

Smiling brightly, Melissa squeezed Rowena’s hand.

“Be sure to give me a copy of your first book when you publish it.”

“Of course. I’ll give you two copies, three copies and more if you want.”

It wasn’t long before the joke died down. Rowena spine stiffened while she stood in front of the publishing company. She took a deep breath as she knocked on the door.

“Oh, you’re here.”

William greeted her with a smile.

“Have you thought about what I said the other day?”

“Yes, I have given it a lot of thought.”

It was a blow to her ego to revise a manuscript she had written for so long and make adjustments to match the publishing house standards, but she needed the money.

William gave her a determined look and lifted his mouth into a smile. He skimmed over the manuscript and gave his verdict.

“It’s very good. Can I publish it as soon as I finish checking for typos?”

“Are you sure?”

Rowena’s eyes lit up with hope. William laughed and glanced out the window. There was a shadow of a trail on her that hadn’t been there before.

Perhaps it a servant of that woman to spy the person in front of him. Last week a woman named Gertrude came to see him. Just before this woman who dressed up as a man came to meet him.

―You have to do a play.

― A play?

― Yes, it’s very simple.

The surprising thing was that the woman’s manuscript was better than he had expected, compared to what a country bumpkin could write so he even gave her some sincere advice.

But that was that, and this was this. Money was everything in this world, money always comes first, and writing was a waste of time.

The deposit he had already received was not small. Hiding his wicked smile, William opened the curtains and sat down in his chair.

“Shall we begin then?”

******

“From this way”

It was a dimly lit place even at midday. Killian frowned at the smell that hit him as soon as he stepped inside, following the staff’s polite directions. It was broad daylight, but the dimly lit entertainment district was full of giggling, gambling, and drunk men with women in revealing clothing.

“Right here.”

The attendant politely opened the door. A drunken man was fooling around with some women in the middle of the room.

“Okay, you can leave now.”

As the door closed behind him, Killian took off his hat and covered his nose with his hand. The smell of alcohol was so bad that it made his head ache. It was a filthy place that he normally wouldn’t even look at, let alone enter.

As he looked around at the trashy place, he found the man he was looking for.

When the man realized that Killian was there, he stood up quickly.

“Hey, what’s up? You don’t usually come to a place like this.”

“Felix.”

They were classmates at a private school. He was the illegitimate son of an Count, a wild, free-spirited and disorganized man.

He is the complete opposite of him, having been assigned the title of Duke from birth and following a path that has been set for him.

Though their relationship was limited to school, they shared many secrets together.

“Are you still living like a piece of trash?”

“What is it now?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Felix woke the two naked, sleeping women and sent them on their way. After a moment of silence, Killian sat down on the couch.

“The matter I told you to look into.”