The door didn't just open; it was pushed aside with the heavy, rhythmic thud of men who believed they had God on their side.
Four Temple Guards in white-and-gold surcoats filed into my bedroom. They smelled of incense and self-righteousness. At their head was a young Priest with a face so pinched he looked like he'd been sucking on lemons for a decade.
"Lady Seraphina von Astrea," the Priest intoned, holding up a scroll sealed with the sun-crest of the Great Temple. "By the authority of the Saintess, we are here to investigate claims of Malicious Accounting and the possession of Forbidden Ledger-mancy."
I stayed on my bed, one hand casually resting on the pillow where the Ghost Ledger lay hidden. My heart was thumping against my ribs—that annoying, human thud-thud-thud—but my face was a mask of bored indifference.
"Forbidden Ledger-mancy?" I repeated, letting out a short, sharp laugh. "Is that what we're calling 'Basic Math' these days? I suppose for some people, long division is a miracle."
The Priest's face flushed a blotchy red. "Blasphemy! You have been accused of using dark arts to manipulate the Royal Treasury's records. The Saintess herself felt a 'disturbance' in the divine flow of wealth."
A disturbance in the divine flow of wealth? I almost snorted. She means her kickbacks are late.
[ DING! ]
[ Target Identified: Priest Malachi ]
[ Financial Integrity: 28/100 ]
[ Current Thought: "If I find the 'Dark Book,' the Saintess will promote me to Bishop." ]
I stood up, moving with a slow, deliberate grace that made the guards twitch. I walked toward a small mahogany desk in the corner and pulled out a stack of mundane, dusty papers.
"If you want to find heresy, Malachi, you're looking in the wrong place," I said, my voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. I held up a sheet of paper. "This is the ledger for the Saintess's 'Orphanage Tithe.' Do you know what I found when I looked at it this morning?"
"Lies! Fabrications!" Malachi shouted, but he didn't move forward.
"I found that the Temple spent twelve thousand gold crowns on 'Blessed Bread' last month," I continued, stepping closer until I could see the sweat beading on his upper lip. "Twelve thousand. Do you know how much bread that is? Unless the orphans are the size of elephants, there is a massive discrepancy."
I reached back and grabbed the Ghost Ledger from under my pillow. To them, it looked like a plain, leather-bound notebook. To me, it was glowing with Malachi's sins.
"The System tells me... I mean, logic tells me," I corrected myself quickly, "that the money didn't go to bread. It went to a certain vacation villa in the Southern Isles. A villa currently registered in your name, Priest."
The room went deathly silent. The guards looked at each other, their grip on their halberds loosening.
"You... you couldn't know that," Malachi whispered, his voice cracking. "That document is sealed by the High Priest!"
"Seals don't hide the truth from an auditor," I snapped. I opened the Ghost Ledger and pretended to read. "On the fourteenth of last month, you accepted a bribe of five hundred crowns to look the other way while the Saintess moved 'Heresy Funds' through the grain tax. Would you like me to continue? Or should we talk about the 'Sacred Incense' that is actually just dried weeds from the backyard?"
[ DING! ]
[ Ego-Collapse in Progress... ]
[ Reward: 300 System Points for 'Exposing Hypocrisy' ]
Malachi looked like he was about to faint. "Search her!" he suddenly shrieked, pointing at me. "She's a witch! She's using forbidden knowledge!"
One guard stepped forward, but I didn't move. I didn't have to.
From the doorway, a shadow stretched across the floor.
"Is there a problem here?"
Grand Duke Cassian stood there, his arms crossed over his massive chest. He looked tired, and through my monocle, I could still see the glowing red "Value" of the wound on his side. He hadn't left the estate. He had been watching.
"Your Grace!" Malachi stammered. "This woman... she's accusing the Temple of—"
"I heard what she said," Cassian interrupted, his voice like grinding stones. He looked at me, his silver eyes unreadable. "And I find her 'accusations' to be remarkably specific. Priest, if I send my own men to the Southern Isles and find that villa, I will hang you from the Temple's own bell tower."
Malachi turned pale, then green. Without another word, he turned and bolted from the room, his guards scrambling after him.
I let out a breath I'd been holding since the door opened. My legs felt like jelly. I sank back onto the bed, the Ghost Ledger clutched to my chest.
"You're still here," I said, looking up at Cassian.
"I told you," he said, walking into the room and closing the door. "I'm interested in the auditor."
He leaned against the bedpost, looking down at the book in my hands. "That's not a standard ledger, Seraphina. It feels... cold. Like death."
"It's a tool," I said defensively. "In my hands, it's a tool for justice. In anyone else's, it's a weapon."
Cassian reached down, his fingers brushing mine as he took the book. He didn't pull it away, and I didn't let go. The air between us grew heavy, thick with the scent of cedarwood and the strange, metallic tang of his blood.
[ DING! ]
[ Warning: Romantic Tension Detected ]
[ Bonus Reward: 50 'Affection' Points with the Male Lead ]
"Justice," Cassian murmured, his eyes searching mine. "Is that what you call it when you bankrupt a kingdom to save your own life?"
"I'm not just saving my life, Cassian," I said, my voice steady despite the way my heart was racing. "I'm fixing the books. And I think you know as well as I do that this Empire is currently one bad audit away from a revolution."
Cassian let go of the book and straightened up. "Forty-seven hours left, Seraphina. Spend them wisely. Because if the Saintess is as dirty as you say, she won't send Priests next time. She'll send assassins."
As he walked out, the System pinged one last time.
[ NEW QUEST: THE STING OPERATION ]
[ Objective: Infiltrate the Saintess's Charity Ball. ]
[ Penalty for Failure: Final Liquidation. ]