Chapter 49
Rea Valenkroft.
The only daughter of the Valenkroft family and the head of Archeon Genetics.
In corporate social circles, her name was always accompanied by a few words.
Young.
Beautiful.
Capable.
And… ruthless.
Rea Valenkroft did not sleep.
Instead, she conducted research while others slept, and everyone knew that her results were what had brought her this far.
Someone once joked,
that the reason she did not date was not a lack of time, but that whenever she met someone, she only looked at whether they were capable.
Rea had virtually no private life.
At least, that was how she appeared to others.
That was why, even when she attended social gatherings, she was always alone, and rumors of a man staying by her side rarely lasted more than a week.
Countless men approached her, drawn by her appearance and resourcefulness, but the results were disastrous.
And stories like that circulated through high society for a long time.
So people wondered.
If Rea Valenkroft ever chose someone, who would it be?
No, in truth, everyone knew.
That she had no choice.
That only a man chosen by her family could become her partner.
And yet.
That same woman had stopped a security guard from checking her companion’s identity at the main entrance and said,
“He’s my lover.”
Amid the stir around them, the security guard cautiously began,
“Ms. Valenkroft, regulations require us to perform a basic identity check on your companion….”
Unlike moments earlier, Rea stared at him coldly, without a trace of a smile.
“Do I have to repeat myself?”
The security guard immediately lowered his head.
“…I apologize.”
He lowered his terminal and stepped aside.
“Please enter.”
Rea smiled again as though nothing had happened, applying just a little more pressure to the hand resting on Kael’s arm.
From the outside, it looked like natural contact between lovers, but Kael quickly understood its meaning.
Move.
Kael matched her pace.
***
Orelian Valenkroft.
The head of Archeon Holdings and patriarch of the Valenkroft family.
And Rea Valenkroft’s father.
Orelian was seated in a separate reception room prepared on the upper floor of the hall.
It overlooked the entire social hall below.
At that moment, the secretary standing beside him quietly approached.
“Mr. Orelian.”
He set down his glass.
“What is it?”
“There was a minor disturbance at the main entrance.”
“A disturbance?”
“Ms. Rea has arrived, but….”
Orelian showed no particular reaction.
“I never expected that child to enter quietly.”
The secretary paused to choose his words.
“The security guard requested an identity check for her companion, and Ms. Rea personally stopped him.”
A smile flickered across Orelian’s lips.
“Predictable.”
He looked down at the hall below, but the crowd beneath the railing still hid Rea from view.
However, he could see people beginning to direct their gazes in one direction.
“She must have chosen that way to express her dissatisfaction with the position the family prepared for her. She hasn’t changed, then or now.”
He was as calm as though an expected event had unfolded right on schedule.
Rea had always been that way, even as a child.
Orelian had known his daughter’s temperament for a long time.
She was capable.
That much could not be denied.
Raising Archeon Genetics to its current position had been an achievement that even he found astonishing.
However, being capable alone was not enough to succeed him as head of the family.
The headship had to be passed down strictly according to the established rules.
“So, is that all?”
The secretary answered his question.
“She introduced the man accompanying her as her lover.”
Orelian’s hand, holding the glass, slowly stopped.
“A lover.”
“Yes.”
“That statement itself isn’t surprising. If she wanted to avoid the marriage proposals, it would be a perfectly reasonable choice. I would have been disappointed if she’d brought some inept man instead.”
He set down his glass.
“The question is who she brought.”
The secretary bowed as though Orelian had already identified the heart of the matter.
“That’s right.”
“What’s his name?”
“Kael.”
Orelian’s gaze shifted to the secretary for the first time.
“Kael.”
“His registered name is Kael as well. His family background has not been confirmed.”
“She brought a man with no family as her lover?”
“On the surface, yes.”
Orelian laughed.
“I didn’t expect Rea to come looking for a fight so openly.”
“However, the man has recently been mentioned among several corporations.”
The secretary opened the panel in his hand, and several lines of information floated into the air.
[Name: Kael]
[Registration Category: Full Citizen]
[Freelancer Registration Rank: F]
[Recipient of Seraph Industries’ Special Endorsement]
[ACU: Tier 5]
[Recent Major Records: Participated in Seraph Transport Escort Operation, Captured Raul Kesk]
Orelian slowly read through the information.
“F-rank and Tier 5.”
“Yes.”
“And yet he captured Raul Kesk. Is this information accurate? As far as I know, Raul wasn’t someone who could be taken down so easily.”
“Officially, we have only confirmed the handover record to the Public Safety Bureau. However, it is almost certain that Kael was the one who captured him at the scene.”
“Cutwire was dragged away alive.”
Orelian shifted his gaze outside—or rather, toward the hall below.
“That would be enough to start rumors.”
“His unofficial reviews from the Seraph transport escort operation are also quite favorable. According to testimony from freelancers who were there, many said he was difficult to regard as possessing ordinary Tier 5 strength.”
….”
Recipient of Seraph Industries’ Special Endorsement.
Orelian lingered on that sentence for a moment.
Edrian Arclight.
That old wolf would never grant someone a special endorsement for no reason.
Edrian wasn’t the type to flaunt his cards.
If anything, he was more the type to keep anything that needed hiding concealed to the very end.
And yet Rea had brought that man as her lover.
Orelian slowly tapped the armrest with his fingers.
“Interesting.”
The secretary asked quietly,
“What will you do?”
Orelian did not answer immediately.
Downstairs, the commotion over Rea and Kael continued to grow.
“Leave them be for now.”
The secretary raised his head.
“Leave them as they are?”
“If this is a play Rea prepared, shouldn’t she at least be given a chance to take the stage? If we bring the curtain down midway, the audience will be disappointed.”
Orelian’s voice remained calm.
“And I want to see what role that man has taken on as well.”
“You mean Mr. Kael?”
“Yes.”
Orelian lifted his glass again.
“Bring me more information on him. Seraph’s records, the freelancer network, Raul Kesk’s handover records, and the transport escort incident data. If possible, collect every record made here today as well.”
“Yes.”
He slowly brought the glass to his lips.
“Good.”
he said quietly.
“Let’s see what he can do.”
***
Rea walked deeper into the hall with her hand on Kael’s arm.
The first person to approach was a director of an Archeon-affiliated research institute.
He greeted Rea while naturally looking Kael over.
“Ms. Rea. It’s been a while.”
“Indeed. You must still be busy, Director.”
“Not as busy as you, surely.”
He laughed and shifted his gaze toward Kael.
“And this gentleman is….”
Rea slightly tightened her grip on Kael’s arm, as though she had been waiting for the question.
“This is Kael, my companion for today.”
“Ah, I see. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Kael gave a brief nod.
“Kael.”
Rea swallowed a sigh inwardly.
He only gave his name and stopped.
It would have been nice if he had added a few polite words, but expecting that from Kael still seemed premature.
But it wasn’t entirely bad.
His dry manner would instead have left people with a different impression.
Rea smiled gently.
“He’s a man of few words.”
“So it seems.”
The director’s eyes quickly swept over Kael’s wrist, nape, and posture.
Rea moved on without giving him more time.
Next came a financial executive close to the Valenkroft family.
Then a broker who frequented companies that worked with the White Society.
Then legal counsel for an Archeon affiliate.
Rea showed Kael to all of them.
However, Kael mostly just stood there in silence,
only occasionally giving brief answers when someone asked him a direct question.
“What family are you from?”
“None.”
The other person’s smile faltered briefly.
Seeing that, Rea barely held back a laugh.
“I heard you’re a freelancer. What kind of commissions do you usually take?”
“Only the commissions I need.”
The other person was briefly at a loss for words again.
Rea brought her glass to her lips and looked away.
He’s good.
It wasn’t intentional, but he was doing a good job regardless.
With a hand on Kael’s arm, she moved naturally among the people.
Each time, the gazes around them gathered again.
She deliberately did not overdo it.
If she did, it would look like a performance.
Then Kael quietly said,
“Do we have to keep walking around like this?”
Rea smiled with her glass in hand.
“Yep.”
That was when it happened.
A small murmur arose near the main entrance, and people’s gazes turned one by one toward it.
Rea turned her head.
“Looks like someone has arrived.”
Kael naturally looked that way as well.
People near the main entrance gradually stepped aside.
And an old man appeared through the gap.
It was Edrian Arclight.
‘Oh.’
She had thought Seraph’s attendance unlikely.
Moreover, Edrian’s granddaughter, Lin Arclight, was beside him.
As Lin passed through the entrance, she quickly surveyed the hall.
And it did not take long for her to find Kael.
More precisely, Lin’s expression stiffened the moment she saw Rea with her hand on Kael’s arm.
A smile returned to Rea’s lips.
‘Interesting.’
The surrounding commotion grew louder.
Seraph’s representative had personally attended an Archeon social gathering.
That alone was significant enough.
The fact that the heir, Lin Arclight, had accompanied him was another matter entirely.
And their gazes turned toward Rea and Kael.
Edrian Arclight slowly approached.
He knew he had already drawn enough attention from the moment he entered the hall, so he did not bother to hurry.
Lin matched his pace beside him.
She was trying to look calm, but Rea noticed that her gaze kept lingering between Kael’s arm and Rea’s hand.
Just as Lin was about to speak,
“Kael….”
“Lin.”
Edrian stopped her in a low voice.
Lin’s lips froze.
Keeping his gaze on Rea, he spoke only loudly enough for his granddaughter to hear,
“Greetings have an order, you know.”
Lin looked like she had many things to say, but ultimately shut her mouth.
Rea laughed inwardly as she watched her.
‘She’s more obvious than I expected.’
Edrian stopped before Rea.
A dignified smile rested on his face.
“It’s been a while, Ms. Rea.”
Rea bowed elegantly.
“Welcome, Mr. Edrian. I didn’t expect you to attend today.”
“I had intended not to, but I heard something interesting.”
Edrian’s gaze naturally shifted toward Kael.
“I couldn’t help but verify it myself. Young Kael, you look a little unfamiliar like this. That suit suits you quite well.”
A smile flickered across Edrian’s lips.
Rea, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, deliberately adjusted the hand resting on Kael’s arm to make it look a little more natural.
Then she looked at Lin.
“You brought the ‘princess’ along today too, I see?”