How much time had passed?

“Miss Ael?”

“…!”

Ael opened her eyes in surprise at the voice in front of her. There stood Kalon with a stiff expression. More precisely, he was looking at her face while kneeling on one knee.

Before Ael could say anything, he spoke again.

“Who did this to you?”

For a moment, Ael couldn’t understand what he had said.

All she could tell was that Kalon’s expression was terrifyingly fierce and his voice was chillingly cold.

As Ael stared at him with a blank expression, Kalon’s face momentarily showed a look of regret, but he quickly composed himself.

In an instant, he had returned to the slightly smiling, amiable expression she had seen before.

Finally seeing the Kalon she knew, Ael exhaled. Only then did she realize that she had been holding her breath, shocked by Kalon’s appearance.

Seeing Ael like this, Kalon cleared his throat and said,

“I apologize. It looked like someone had hit your face…”

“My face? Ah…”

Ael noticed her hat fallen on the chair beside her.

How deeply had she fallen asleep to not even notice her hat falling off? Hurriedly putting on her hat, Ael bowed her head and looked around.

Perhaps because she had chosen a corner when she first came in to sit, fortunately, there was no one else in the waiting room except for one or two people far away.

“Let’s go upstairs for now.”

Ael nodded at Kalon’s words and immediately stood up.

* * *

It had been a busy day since morning. There were several meetings scheduled from the morning, and coupled with the issue of handling the warehouse accident that suddenly occurred yesterday, there was absolutely no time to spare.

Kalon held a position as an executive-level employee from the imperial headquarters, and he tended to check on the affairs of the trading company directly when he had the chance. So he had attended three consecutive meetings since morning.

After lunch time had passed a bit, Ino clung to him crying, “We’re doing this to make a living, let’s eat lunch first!” and they finally ended the meeting and came out.

Everyone, exhausted, returned to their respective offices with bread and tea prepared in the corridor outside the conference room in their mouths.

Kalon entered the branch manager’s office with Nisha and Ino.

“There’s a lot.”

Nisha sighed as she looked at the documents that had come up from various places after sitting down.

She flipped through the documents one by one with bread in her mouth. Then she saw a few notes placed next to the desk.

“What’s this… Huh? Ael?”

The moment Nisha muttered, Kalon, who had been quietly eating while seated, jumped up from his seat.

He then rushed over to Nisha and snatched the note from her hand. After looking at the note for a moment, he put down his bread and straightened his disheveled clothes. Then he immediately went downstairs.

The note said that a woman named Ael was asking if she could still get a position for the ancient language lecture and was waiting in the waiting room on the first floor.

Kalon looked at the time written on the note.

9:30 AM. It was now 1 PM.

If Ael was still waiting, she would have been waiting for over three hours.

‘Has she gone home?’

Wasn’t the lunch hour almost over?

But his steps going downstairs didn’t stop.

‘I have a feeling she’s still waiting.’

Though no one had told him, Kalon was certain.

He had told her to come anytime if she needed help, but Ael hadn’t come after that.

The fact that she came here now, after quite some time had passed, surely meant that something more serious had happened.

Kalon went downstairs and asked the staff at the entrance.

“Miss Ael? Is she still waiting?”

“Ah, that young lady went into the waiting room… I’m not sure if she’s still waiting.”

The staff member answered carefully while looking at Kalon, who had come instead of Nisha. Kalon headed towards the inner waiting room before the staff member finished speaking.

The waiting room was quiet. It was lunchtime, so most people had gone out to eat.

Thanks to that, Kalon was able to find Ael quickly.

In the back of the waiting room, Ael was sitting in a chair bathed in sunlight.

With her head slightly tilted to the side, sitting as if hunched over, her hat could be seen rolling around beside her.

‘Oh no.’

Just by looking at her, he could tell. The fact that she had fallen asleep here while waiting for a response.

Kalon approached, picked up the fallen hat, and placed it next to her. Until then, Ael didn’t move at all.

‘I’m sorry, but I’ll have to wake her up.’

Thinking this, he bent down slightly in front of her to look at her face, and at that moment, Kalon froze in place.

Her slightly bowed face was mottled. At first, he thought something was smeared on it, but upon closer inspection, they were bruises.

It wasn’t just bruises. There were also marks that looked like scratches. Kalon’s gaze sharpened.

Her wheat-colored hair, soft like well-ripened grain under the sunlight, sparkled. Her long eyelashes, the same color as her hair, trembled slightly with her breath.

Kalon’s gaze didn’t miss the moisture clinging to those eyelashes. And the labored breathing sound.

It was the breathing sound peculiar to someone in pain.

The moment he confirmed Ael’s condition, Kalon gritted his teeth. Why on earth was she in such a state?

“Miss Ael?”

Normally, he would have observed her more, but he called out to Ael immediately.

At his call, her eyelashes fluttered, and she slowly opened her eyes. Her eyes, the same color as her hair, blinked slowly, unable to focus.

Kalon felt a strange sense of regret, pity, and impatience at the eyes that couldn’t quite see him.

Due to the rush of emotions he rarely felt, Kalon unintentionally blurted out what he had been thinking.

“Who did this to you?”

* * *

Kalon immediately brought Ael to the branch manager’s office.

Nisha, who had been waiting for him, approached happily but sensed that something was wrong when she saw Kalon’s grim expression.

“We have a female doctor at the branch… right?”

Kalon, who was about to address Nisha casually forgetting Ael’s presence, quickly corrected himself.

Before Nisha could answer, Ino shouted, “I’ll go get her!” and ran out.

“It’s alright. These wounds have already healed…”

“Who would believe they’ve healed when you look like that?”

Kalon signaled to Nisha with his eyes. Nisha nodded and led Ael to the sofa.

Nisha’s eyes wavered as she saw Ael up close.

The wounds and bruise marks visible under Ael’s hat were quite old. That’s why it was more problematic.

If they looked like this after time had passed, they must have been quite severe when they first occurred. However, there were no signs of proper treatment anywhere.

“Miss Ael, excuse me for a moment.”

“Yes?”

Without waiting for an answer, Nisha rolled up Ael’s sleeve.

As the loose clothing easily rolled up over the skinny arm, the marks of wounds and burns on her arm were starkly revealed.

Surprised, Ael quickly pulled down her sleeve, but by then, both Nisha and Kalon had already seen the wounds.

Ael trembled, unable to raise her head due to embarrassment and sorrow.

She thought it would be difficult to hide, but she didn’t expect to be exposed like this as soon as she arrived.

“I’m here!”

At that moment, Ino brought the doctor working at the branch. Nisha signaled to Kalon and Ino with her eyes.

Get out.

Though she didn’t move her lips, it was as if they could hear Nisha’s voice.

* * *

A while later, the doctor came out of the room. Kalon immediately approached the doctor and asked.

“How is Miss Ael’s condition?”

“It’s serious.”

“I knew the wounds were…”

“Of course, the wounds are not good, but there’s another problem that’s more urgent.”

“What other problem?”

“Well…”

The doctor was reluctant to talk about a patient’s condition to others. After all, when that Miss Ael showed her wounds and received the examination, she couldn’t even raise her head out of shame.

The doctor felt even more pity seeing the patient ashamed of her own wounds.

Usually, people want to reveal their injuries. They can inform those around them of their problems and get help.

But it’s different for people who can’t receive any help from those around them.

They try to hide their wounds.

People in such situations are wary of their surroundings, knowing that their wounds will become weaknesses that others can easily attack.

So the doctor knew as soon as she saw Ael’s condition.

That this young lady’s surroundings were close to the worst, and she had been exposed to that environment for so long that far from trying to change the situation, she had become accustomed to it and resigned herself to it.