When the contract was signed, Orlando felt he had signed every signature he would ever sign in his life.
He tossed the pen onto the desk, leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, and wore a smug expression that seemed to say, “I’m finally done.”
Beside him, Hui collected the contract without expression, folding the paper square with corners so precise they could be measured with a ruler.
“Sir.”
Hui said.
“You could have sat up a little straighter while signing.”
“Signing is signing, does posture matter?”
“Your name on the contract looks like a worm crawling.”
Orlando popped up from his chair, shoved his hands into his pockets, and prepared to go back to his room to catch up on sleep.
The corridor was dim, with afternoon sunlight slanting in from the window at the end, casting an orange rectangle on the floor.
A faint smell of gunpowder hung in the air.
As he reached the staircase, a red head poked out from around the corner.
Two pigtails dangled on either side of the head.
Prunier.
Her red eyes fixed on Orlando’s face, her mouth slightly open, but nothing came out.
She shuffled one foot on the ground.
“…You.”
Orlando stopped and tilted his head.
They stared at each other from about three steps away.
Prunier’s mouth opened again, but still nothing came out.
She was clutching something in her hand, fingers clenched tight.
The air was silent for about five seconds.
“If the Captain has nothing else, I’ll be going now.”
Orlando decided to break the silence.
He took a step.
“Wait.”
Prunier’s voice caught up from behind.
Orlando stopped and turned.
Prunier was still standing there, red pigtails hanging over her shoulders, her fingers clenched even tighter.
Her expression was a little strange—not the usual carefree, gaming face, but something between “I’m hesitating whether to speak” and “I’ve started but don’t know what to say.”
Orlando tilted his head, hands still in his pockets.
“What business does the Captain have with me?”
He drawled lazily.
Prunier took a breath.
Then she held out her hand and opened it.
In her palm lay a strand of hair.
Silver-white.
Very long.
It caught the afternoon light in the corridor, shimmering with a faint silver halo.
Orlando’s gaze fell on the strand.
His expression didn’t change.
But his pupils contracted slightly—so slight it was almost imperceptible.
“This.”
Prunier’s voice lowered.
“I found it in your room.”
Orlando stared at the silver hair.
Silver-white.
Very long.
Exactly the kind that fell from his head when he transformed into Olivia.
‘Damn it, I was in a hurry this morning and didn’t even notice a hair fell out…’
When Hui had offered to fabricate his background, he only mentioned that Orlando had spent some time in Osteria.
They both remained silent for a while.
Prunier held the silver strand between them, her red eyes fixed on Orlando’s face over the hair.
The afternoon sunlight streamed in from the window at the end of the corridor, passing through the silver strand, casting a fine silver line across her face.
“What were you doing before you became a clerk?”
Orlando opened his mouth.
“Uh.”
His mind raced. He tried to come up with a reasonable excuse.
‘Dyed? Dyed hair would lose color after a few washes, and the texture of this silver hair clearly isn’t dyed. Found it? Where would I find it, on a silver dragon? Ordinary dragons aren’t common in human kingdoms, let alone a dragon that’s used to staying at home.’
“Don’t play tricks.”
Prunier took a step forward.
She stood at 1.5 meters tall in front of Orlando, needing to look up to see his face.
But when she looked up, there was a pressure in her red eyes that didn’t match her size at all.
Orlando looked at her.
“I…”
He paused.
“Was a dragon hunter.”
Prunier’s pupils widened briefly.
The corridor fell silent for about three breaths.
“Dragon hunter.”
She chewed on the three words.
“The Royal Dragon Slayer Corps of the Eldron Empire.”
Orlando didn’t deny it.
Prunier stared at him for two seconds.
Then her eyes narrowed, and a light flickered in her red pupils that Orlando couldn’t quite decipher.
“The Royal Dragon Slayer Corps failed two years ago in the hunt for the Silver Dragon Queen, and the entire unit was wiped out. Only one noble captain and a priest returned alive. The remaining members were all listed as killed in action.”
Her pace was steady.
“Among those names…”
She looked into Orlando’s eyes.
“Orlando Dellfort.”
Orlando’s mouth twitched.
“So the Captain does know me.”
“Orlando, who died two years ago.”
Prunier finished her sentence.
Orlando stood in the corridor, hands still in his pockets, still wearing that carefree expression.
But the lines of his shoulders tightened slightly—a tension only he could feel.
“The Captain flatters me.”
He said.
“I actually…”
He paused.
“Quit that line of work a long time ago.”
Prunier didn’t speak.
She just looked at him.
Her red eyes reflected Orlando’s stubbly face, as if searching for something in it.
The silence lasted about ten seconds.
Then Prunier closed her hand.
The silver strand disappeared into her palm, vanishing between her five fingers.
She put her hand back in her pocket, her shoulders relaxing.
“Forget it.”
She said.
Orlando blinked.
“…Forget it?”
“I won’t investigate your past.”
Prunier tilted her head, her red pigtails swaying.
“Now I know the situation.”
She turned and took two steps toward the Captain’s room.
Her fluffy slippers made a soft shuffling sound on the floor.
Then she stopped, turned her head, and looked at Orlando over her shoulder.
“I’ll assign you some tougher tasks every day.”
“Since you’re a former Dragon Slayer Corps member…”
“Hehe.”
“Of course you should pull more weight~”
Prunier turned her head back and walked away in her fluffy slippers.
Her two red pigtails bounced behind her, soon disappearing behind the door of the Captain’s room at the end of the corridor.
The door closed.
Orlando stood in the corridor, hands still in his pockets.
He looked down at his hands.
His palms were slightly sweaty.
“…”
He pulled his hands out of his pockets and wiped them on his pants.
‘Forget it, doing a bit more work is fine. At least it’s better than being caught on the spot and exposed as “I’m actually the Silver Dragon Princess Olivia.”‘