NABC Chapter 190 : Chapter 190
Chapter 190 : Chapter 190
Chapter 190. Esmeralda: It Seems I Came at the Wrong Time
City Hall, top-floor office.
The first thin rays of morning sunlight pierced through the floor-to-ceiling windows and spilled lazily across the mountain of documents, while fine motes of dust drifted through the air.
Seated behind the broad desk, Logaris signed his name in one smooth, flowing stroke on the last document, the Proposal for the Spring Irrigation Repair Budget. The soft scratching of the pen across the paper came to an abrupt stop, like a rest note marking the end of a long and frantic movement.
“Hah…”
He tossed the steel pen aside and leaned heavily back into his chair, stretching lazily as a string of crackling pops burst from his joints like beans exploding in a pan.
At last, it was finished.
Over the past few days, he had not only been handling government affairs, but also moonlighting as a babysitter, all while staying constantly on guard against the “fierce-in-a-cute-way” attacks of a pint-sized governor. It had been more exhausting than fighting Ifreles head-on.
“You have worked hard, my Chief Advisor.”
A cool, mature voice suddenly drifted into his ear, touched with laziness, amusement, and the rich resonance of a grown woman. Warm breath even brushed lightly across the rim of his ear.
That voice…
The motion of Logaris’s stretch abruptly froze.
That soft, childish sweetness was gone. In its place was something mellow and refined, like wine aged by time.
Slowly, he turned his head.
The custom raised child’s chair that had once stood beside him was now empty.
In its place stood a young woman leaning casually against the edge of the desk.
The morning light traced the breathtaking curves of her figure. The small robe that had once served as a “blanket” now looked pitifully inadequate on her, the neckline slightly open to reveal a dazzling stretch of pale collarbone. Her silver hair, which had once been a hopeless little bird’s nest, now flowed like moonlight over her smooth shoulders.
Most arresting of all were the legs revealed beneath the hem of the robe. Long, straight, and fair, they crossed lightly at the ankle, carrying a natural air of nobility and temptation.
She tilted her head slightly. The childish confusion and innocence that had once filled those silver-gray eyes were gone, replaced by the depth, composure, and icy authority of the Governor of the Northern Territory—along with a smile that looked extremely dangerous.
The effects of the potion had passed. The little doll-like girl he had been free to rub and tease was gone.
“You changed back?”
Logaris raised a brow, his gaze sweeping unashamedly over her striking figure before he pushed up the glasses on his nose. His tone was full of regret.
“Tch. What a pity. I was rather fond of that obedient little brat who looked like a porcelain doll. The type who would stop crying if you gave her a piece of candy.”
“Obedient?”
Sylvia rolled the word slowly across her tongue, the corner of her lips lifting into a playful curve.
She ignored his teasing completely and instead took a few long strides forward, her bare feet sinking silently into the soft carpet. As she drew nearer, a faint, cool fragrance drifted toward him. It was her scent, distinct and unmistakable, like an icy lotus blooming atop a snowy peak—cold, elegant, and dangerously alluring.
She circled around the desk and did not stop until she stood directly before his chair.
“What are you trying to do? You do not have the protection of the minor-protection law anymore,” Logaris joked half-heartedly as he tried to roll his chair backward.
“Do not move.”
Sylvia let out a sharp command, planting both hands firmly on the chair’s armrests as she leaned forward, trapping Logaris between the back of the chair and herself.
It was a perfect chair pin.
That exquisitely beautiful, ice-cold face drew close to his, their noses no more than a few centimeters apart, their breaths intertwining. Logaris could even see his own reflection in her silver-gray pupils, along with the faint tremble of her long lashes.
“Shouldn’t we settle the score for the last three days properly?”
Sylvia’s red lips parted slightly. Her voice was soft enough to sound like a lover’s whisper, yet the slender, pale hand trailing down his collar seized his tie and gave it a sharp tug.
The distance between them shrank again, close enough to become distinctly intimate.
“For example… a certain someone patted my head forty-two times over the last three days, pinched my cheeks twenty-eight times, and forcibly stuffed those sickeningly sweet lollipops into my hands thirteen times.”
She narrowed her eyes, and the light within them gleamed with something called revenge. Her fingers traced slow circles over Logaris’s throat. “Chief Advisor, did you forget that I am a very vindictive person?”
“That was necessary emotional reassurance for a child. A legitimate psychological counseling method.” Logaris remained perfectly calm. He even took the opportunity to clasp the hand gripping his tie, his thumb slowly brushing over the back of it. “Besides, from a medical standpoint, sugar helps ease anxiety during developmental stages of brain growth. I was thinking of the future of the Northern Territory.”
“You are full of crooked logic.”
Sylvia gave a soft huff.
“I will let you off this time.” She released his tie, only to pinch his refined scoundrel’s face in passing. To her surprise, the feel of it was rather nice. “But as interest, you will make dinner tonight.”
“As you command, Your Highness.” Logaris smiled helplessly and let her do as she pleased with his face.
Seeing Sylvia restored to her old vitality—indeed, even more vividly alive than before—Logaris finally felt the taut string in his heart loosen.
Now that Sylvia had recovered, the internal purge of the Northern Territory was complete, and with a powerful ally like Alectos as well as Leonard’s secret support, the Northern Territory now truly bore the Australia name. Or rather, it was now entirely under Sylvia’s control.
Which also meant that his deal with Grand Duke Fenrir had been fulfilled.
A flicker passed through Logaris’s eyes.
Just what exactly was the “legacy of Mad King Maxim” that the old man held in his hands? Now that the promise had been fulfilled, it seemed it was finally time to find an opportunity to visit that room so heavy with the smell of medicine and collect the payment owed to him from that bedridden “Wolf of the Northern Territory.”
Just as Logaris was weighing when to “visit the sick” and collect his debt, and Sylvia was preparing to bully her Chief Advisor a little further in revenge for the last three days—
“Ahem! Ahem!”
Two pointedly exaggerated coughs exploded at the doorway, instantly shattering the warm, intimate atmosphere inside the office.
As if struck by lightning, Sylvia sprang upright and retreated two steps at once, both hands moving in slight disarray to smooth her collar and fix her hair. In the blink of an eye, she transformed from a woman bent on “revenge” with hints of private softness into the cold, imposing Governor of the Northern Territory once more.
The speed of that change was nothing short of astonishing.
Logaris, too, calmly pushed up his glasses, straightened the tie she had tugged crooked, and turned his gaze toward the door.
Creak—
The heavy oak door was pushed fully open, revealing a figure in purple leaning against the frame, arms folded, wearing that familiar teasing smile.
“Oh my, did I come at the wrong time?”
Esmeralda’s half-smiling gaze swept back and forth between the two of them. Her eyes paused briefly on Logaris’s slightly reddened cheek and Sylvia’s somewhat rumpled robe. “I assumed you two were discussing matters of state. Who knew you were ‘deeply exchanging feelings’ instead? Should I step out and come back in half an hour? Or perhaps an hour?”
“Esmeralda!”