Chapter 29: Marriage Blue (9)

His greeting was not particularly loud, but his articulation was precise and clearly audible.

A couple of investigators who had entered with him glanced at Adrian with puzzled eyes.

Adrian merely smiled.

“It seems you have mistaken me for someone else.”

His face was as gentle and calm as usual.

The professor didn’t care about Adrian’s correction in the slightest and continued rambling with what he had to say.

“Well, that doesn’t really matter, but it’s a regretful thing to meet under such unpleasant circumstances.

I’m quite concerned that my student has become a target for villains.”

Sena unconsciously held her forehead.

Just like a professor who stands on the podium and pushes forward with the curriculum without caring about the students at all, his way of speaking showed no consideration for others whatsoever.

He delivered the final blow.

“Besides, aren’t you a magnet that attracts villains?”

“If it’s about that, you’re not one to talk either.”

“In my case, it’s because of my research, but what sin has Han committed?

The sin of covering what the Federal Government hides?

Or the sin of being born to your liking?”

Adrian before answering glanced at Sena.

Although it was for just a split second, Sena felt as if he was checking her reaction.

However, before he could refute, an investigator who had been waiting like an awkward bystander intervened.

“Greetings to you both.”

In an instant, both of their eyes snapped toward the investigator.

But she didn’t care in the slightest and summed up the situation with a languid face while chewing on a blade of grass.

“First-Class Investigator Baek Lok from the Special Bureau’s Thaumaturgic Engineering Investigation Division.

We cannot delay any longer; do you have anything more to say?”

She had a menacing stance, looking as though she would immediately storm out of the place if they said yes.

When no one in the room raised an objection, she nodded with a satisfied expression like a full alligator.

Then, pointing the blade of grass in her mouth toward the three of them, she spoke:

“This is Professor Aleksandr Vlasikha, serving as an advisor for the Thaumaturgic Engineering Investigation Division.

And over here, well, as you likely know, are Lord Adrian and Sena Han.”

As the investigator finished her rough introduction, Adrian spoke as if he had been waiting for the moment.

“I will go upstairs with Professor Vlasikha to collect evidence.”

Sena stared at the backs of the two men as they walked away.

Though she felt strangely uneasy, she dismissed it as mere imagination and turned her body toward the investigator.

Baek Lok took out a notepad and spoke businesslike.

“Please state the circumstances before and after you were attacked.”

There were no questions that stood out particularly or were difficult to answer.

Since she knew the Special Bureau’s investigative methods well, Sena excluded personal feelings as much as possible and clearly stated the details of how the bridge of her nose was injured and her conjectures regarding the murder weapon.

However, the investigator furrowed her brows at the part where Adrian had used his specialized cybernetic mana technique.

“Lord Adrian avoided people and destroyed only the cameras and communication devices?”

“Yes, is that going to be a big problem?”

“No.

Well, it’ll be noisy for a while with talk of excessive force, but that’s something for the PR office and the finance team to handle.”

Baek Lok muttered, chewing on the end of her ballpoint pen.

“The reason to go that far…”

“Investigator?”

“Ah, yes.

I understand for now.

Do you have insurance?”

“Just basic medical insurance.”

“Very good.

Since you were attacked at a residence and have an affinity relation with an investigator, the Special Bureau will likely offer compensation first…”

Baek Lok listed various precedents in a fast, high-pitched voice as if possessed by an insurance agent.

Even as Sena answered each question, she couldn’t shake off the suspicion that the investigator had subtly changed the subject.

“…So, you’ll receive at least 250 million Cells.”

“Yes— wait, what?”

Sena, who had been thinking of other things, asked back in shock at the amount far beyond her imagination.

“Isn’t that amount equivalent to 2nd prize in the lottery?

I thought I would get a few thousand Cells at most.”

“Just take it; it’s a kind of hazard pay.”

When Sena reacted with utter shock, Baek Lok let out a laugh.

Then, subtly glancing toward the staircase the two men had ascended, she said,

“As you know, there’s no telling what might happen.”

Phrased that way, it was quick to understand.

This money was no different from a certain kind of secret gift that the Oscar Tribune, where Sena used to work, received every season from politicians.

“It’s a form of hush money, then.”

“Ah, I didn’t say who it was because of.”

Baek Lok crossed her hands into an ‘X’ shape and stepped aside toward the wall.

Unconsciously, Sena looked toward the direction the investigator had been gazing.

Adrian was watching her from there.

His face was as peaceful as could be, and although he stood in the middle of the stairs far away from here, given what Sena knew about him, he had undoubtedly overheard the entire conversation.

Sena returned a formal smile to him.

Apologies to the investigator who had kindly explained everything, but Sena planned to use this money as seed capital to cause an even bigger incident.

Roughly something like a divorce lawsuit should do.

As she drew up a rosy blueprint, a genuine smile spread across her face before she knew it.

Seeing her like that, Baek Lok spoke as if relieved,

“Usually, people refuse to give statements or struggle with it, but you seem to have quite strong mental fortitude.”

“Because I went through all sorts of things when I was young.”

Sena said bitterly.

Living as the only daughter of Cyrus Hale, the representative figure of the Parliamentary faction, meant having to endure numerous kidnappings and assassination attempts.

Those events had ended when Sena reclaimed her mother’s surname and became independent, but it was merely a temporary measure.

Someone would definitely find out who her parents were while investigating Adrian Blake’s wife.

If they paid compensation every time an incident occurred, the Special Bureau might go bankrupt.

“Ah, I misspoke.”

Baek Lok scratched her short-cropped hair at the back of her head awkwardly.

In the meantime, Professor Aleksandr, who had come down from the upper floor, chimed in.

“The villain who attacked this time is an unranked wanted criminal, and there is a high possibility that they were hired by someone higher up.”

He crumpled a pair of white latex gloves roughly into his pocket and shook a glass bottle.

The bullet inside the bottle, shimmering with a red light, looked dangerous even to Sena’s eyes.

“Then interrogating the suspect won’t be of any use.”

Baek Lok glared at the glass bottle with a sour expression, then asked Sena,

“Han, do you happen to have any personal grudges that might provoke something like this?”

At those words, countless faces flashed through her mind like a panorama.

Politicians who lost elections because of her articles, temporarily retired celebrities, and finally, followers of Adrian Blake, among others.

When Sena couldn’t continue her sentence, Baek Lok asked again,

“Is there no one you suspect?”

“No, it’s because there are too many.”

“…Then who is the person that weighs on your mind the most?”

“The former governor of Red County.”

“Wait, how on earth?”

Baek Lok asked back as if she couldn’t comprehend.

“Shouldn’t that side be out of their minds trying to wrap up the civil war?”

“In the past, I went to Red County for volunteer work.”

“Aha, I remember that as well.”

As Sena offered her explanation, the investigator acted as if she recognized the story.

“Through that connection, didn’t you later receive the Joseph Award and also work at the Special Bureau for a short while?”

“That became… a bit of a problem.”

The last words were close to a murmur.

Sena blinked several times, but doing so didn’t erase the horrors engraved in her mind.

It was a relief that she didn’t feel like throwing up like before.

If she had, she would have vomited her guts out.

“Isn’t this statement sufficient by now?”

Adrian subtly shielded Sena, whose face had turned pale.

Forgetting that she had been recalling the horrors of war just a moment ago, Sena simply blinked her eyes.

It was a sharp and authoritative tone she had never heard him use in official settings.

“Didn’t you say you were pressed for time?”

“Ah, yes.”

Baek Lok immediately patted the shoulder of Professor Aleksandr standing beside her.

“Professor, let’s quickly move on to the next point.”

Professor Aleksandr hesitated as if something was weighing on his mind, then followed the investigator.

However, before crossing the threshold, he asked Baek Lok for a moment’s excuse and ran back.

He gasped heavily, haah, haah, looking exhausted even from that short distance.

However, his green eyes fixated on Sena without the slightest wavering.

“Han.”

A warm hand reached out and held one of Sena’s hands.

Her fingertips were trembling slightly.

He quietly asked,

“Han, answer only with yes or no.”

“Yes.”

“Are you in a situation where you need help right now?”

It took a moment to answer that question.

Sena glanced to the side.

Adrian, who was listening to their conversation in full, had a strange expression.

He looked somewhat regretful, yet also relieved.

“Yes.”

At the unhesitating answer, Professor Aleksandr was rather taken aback.

When his eyes widened and returned to normal, Sena added reluctantly,

“But that’s not right now.”

“Right.

Let’s meet again later.”

Professor Aleksandr released Sena’s hand and stepped out the door.

A group of investigators and a van with heavily tinted windows were waiting for him.

The escort provided to him by the Special Bureau felt almost excessive.

He posed the question he had been harboring all along to Baek Lok, the investigator sharing the seat next to him:

“Is Han really fine without receiving personal protection measures like me?”

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