Some of the staff were Donovan's informants, who would grant favors as long as you catered to his whims. I had to act in secret.

Fortunately for me, the office was in disarray, and the desks were a mess.

The Minister of Finance, who had returned belatedly, ordered us to tidy up the office and go home, then quickly disappeared.

'He's probably going to plead with the influential figures around him to at least secure his own escape.'

If the charges were confirmed, the Minister would obviously be in trouble too. If the head of a department tried to claim ignorance, the Emperor was the type to behead him for incompetence.

The employees, sensing from the Minister's severely trembling voice that the situation was more serious than expected, grew restless.

Whispers between colleagues could be heard everywhere as they pretended to tidy up the chaotic office.

"What kind of nerve did Constantine have to pull off such a daring stunt?"

"I know, I wonder if it was really a solo job."

"Shh, someone might hear."

I sighed quietly at the employees who were openly whispering while looking in my direction.

According to Heather, the investigators interrogating the three arrested individuals had called in several Finance Ministry officials for cross-checking.

And several of those called had testified that they'd seen Donovan passing work to Connie.

Because of that, Connie seemed to be in even more trouble.

'How could Connie have predicted that Donovan would assign that task to her... If I at least knew who and how far were involved, it would be better.'

It was unclear whether I should treat those who testified that Connie had handled the strategic goods trade reports for the western territories as enemies or as gray-area figures.

'For now, let's do what I can.'

With a hollow expression, I blended in with the remaining employees cleaning up the ruined office.

While pretending to work hard, I secretly pocketed some of the western territory documents.

Under normal circumstances, due to security protocols, these were materials I wouldn't have been allowed to see since I wasn't in charge.

'Thankfully, the original accounting ledgers sent directly from the west are still here.'

It seemed only the documents compiled by the mid-level managers had been taken.

I had a rough idea of the western territory documents Andrew had prepared in my head.

I couldn't reproduce them exactly, but comparing the existing materials with my memory was more than sufficient.

Once the Minister left, people began slipping away discreetly, but I stayed until the very end.

To gather as much material as possible.

After the office was roughly tidied up, even the colleagues who had stayed out of a sense of duty left for the day.

I said I'd stay a little longer, pretending to be troubled, then hid the collected documents around my desk.

After all, a manager's desk was always piled high with paperwork, so it wasn't particularly noticeable.

'I can't take them out, so it's the "hide a tree in a forest" strategy.'

Since Andrew wasn't around, no one would be looking for them anyway, but even if someone did, I planned to make them think the inspection team had taken them.

'I'll just slip them in when returning documents unrelated to this case.'

Three days had passed since then.

'I heard Andrew and Donovan are under house arrest.'

I had been losing sleep worrying about whether Connie, who I heard was still alone in the temporary detention center undergoing investigation, was suffering.

'I can understand the no-visitation policy during the investigation, but not even allowing me to deliver items like blankets or a change of clothes...'

Perhaps thanks to my efforts—reducing sleep and working hard against my will—the investigation had made some progress.

'Even in my final semester at the academy, I studied while getting at least five hours of sleep.'

Taking advantage of the chaotic atmosphere, I analyzed the western territory documents while pretending to work, and found the points where the Duke of Camelot had manipulated things.

'He certainly did a lot.'

The holes were so large that once I laid out all the documents step by step, they were easy to spot.

'Now I understand why Donovan insisted on breaking the work into pieces and assigning them separately.'

And also why he had Andrew back off in the final stage.

'He must have been worried about backlash from Andrew's family.'

If Andrew had been in too deep, his main family would have stepped in.

With this, it seemed about 90% certain that Donovan was involved in this matter.

'They said he'd secured the Duke of Camelot's backing, but...'

Just as he was trying to use Connie and cut her loose, the Duke of Camelot would soon try to cut Donovan loose as well—how foolish.

'The Duke of Camelot's methods of cutting off loose ends would be far more brutal.'

I eventually managed to carefully hide the copied documents inside my clothes and successfully return the ones I'd taken.

'Now I need to deliver these.'

In principle, I should report to my superior first and let them handle it.

'But the question is whether they'd actually save Connie.'

According to my findings, someone from the Finance Ministry interfered with the accounting ledger manipulation, so someone has to take responsibility.

'They're more likely to cut Connie loose than to take down the higher-ranking Donovan.'

Ending it as Connie's personal deviation would cause less damage to the Finance Ministry.

'But did I go through all that trouble for the Minister's benefit?'

I pressed the documents hidden beneath my clothes as I pretended to fold my arms.

'My goal is to save Connie, not to create an escape route for corrupt officials.'

Donovan should be the one to pay for his crimes.

'To use the evidence I painstakingly found, I need connections that reach directly to the Emperor.'

For a commoner like me, this was, without a doubt, about twenty times harder than sneaking around the ledgers and finding discrepancies.

'I can think of two people, but...'

Both had equally low chances of success.

One would be difficult to get cooperation from, and the other would be hard to even contact.

'Then the one closer to the Emperor would be better.'

After intense deliberation, I chose one of the two.

The place I arrived at, after waiting for the weekend, was a café with impressive floor-to-ceiling glass windows.

After taking a deep breath and opening the door, the refreshing sound of the bell calmed my nerves somewhat.

'It's supposedly an information guild, but it really looks like a café.'

The subtle aroma of coffee and the soft music from a music box made it quite convincing.

'I hope I didn't come to the wrong place.'

I sat at the innermost table and worried for a moment.

But the empty interior seemed to tell me I had indeed come to the right place.

'Come on, it's the middle of a weekend afternoon and I'm the only customer—it has to be right.'

Though it was on the outskirts of the capital's commercial district, the fact that such a large café with no customers hadn't gone out of business was proof enough.

'I've passed by here many times when going to the grocery store nearby, and it's been around for quite a while.'

In the late afternoon hours when I frequented the grocery store, the windows reflected the street like mirrors, so I had no idea it was this empty.

'There's probably a perception-distorting spell cast on it, or they deliberately spread bad rumors to keep people away.'

If too many customers came and went, the guild's internal affairs would be more likely to be exposed.

I thought my deduction was quite plausible and pretended to observe the interior decor.

After a few minutes, a brown-haired man in an apron hurried over from the back.

"Oh my, I didn't realize we had a customer."

He scratched the back of his head and smiled with crinkled eyes—quite friendly.

"No, I haven't been waiting long."

I acted like a regular customer while observing the man.

'This man must be the guild master, right?'

According to the novel's content I'd recently recalled, the Emperor's only friend and the information guild master, Earl Caelus Seymour—nicknamed "Cale"—spent most of his time at this café.

'He does match the description of looking like a tear-jerker sub-male lead in a romance fantasy novel.'

His brown hair and green eyes looked exactly like the cliché of a sub-male lead pining unrequitedly for the heroine.

Though he looked that way, his personality was quite ruthless, fitting the stereotype of a mental-type mage.

"I'd like to order."

I recalled the code phrase needed for an information guild request and asked Cale for a menu.

"Did you just ask for a menu?"

Cale brightened at my request.

"Uh, yes."

For a moment, I grew suspicious that even asking for a menu might have some hidden meaning.

"You're not here to buy something or because you wandered in by mistake, are you?"

Cale asked me again, then disappeared before I could answer.

'I'm certain the novel described him as calm and intellectual.'

He seemed just a little, ever so slightly, frivolous. Within moments, Cale brought the menu and placed it in front of me.

"We really haven't had any customers lately."

His eyes, with their innocent look, drooped.

"Oh. I see."

It seemed true that he had no customers, but I couldn't tell if Cale's sulking was an act or genuine.

'Wasn't he deliberately not receiving customers?'

Or maybe he was the type to get overly absorbed in his role. While I was lost in trivial speculation, Cale soon regained the calm and intellectual demeanor described in the novel.

"Please take your time, and ring the bell on your table when you're ready to order."

"Ah, wait."

I hadn't come here to drink coffee anyway. I pointed vaguely at the first item on the menu.

"I'll have this."

Cale took the menu and quickly returned with the beverage.

I slowly sipped a drink similar to espresso from my previous life.

"Ugh."

I barely managed to swallow what I almost spat out.

'What is this? Poison?'

I instantly regretted swallowing it out of the sheer willpower not to spit out a drink in someone else's establishment.

I looked at Cale with trembling eyes.