Gustav paused when he saw Ashley through the transparent glass wall of his office, walking back toward her own.

His brows furrowed.

He watched her figure, then instinctively looked behind her to see whether Lukas was still accompanying her.

When he didn’t see him, confusion crept into his mind.

"Did he ditch her?" he muttered, pushing himself out of his chair.

Gustav left his office to check on Lukas. Perhaps the man had already returned to his office instead of walking Ashley back.

However, when Gustav reached Lukas’s office, the latter wasn’t there.

"What’s going on?" he wondered aloud. "Did they fight again?"

As he stood there thinking about what could’ve happened during the time Ashley and Lukas were gone, another employee approached him.

"Sir Gustav, the madam is calling for you."

Gustav turned to the employee and nodded. "Alright."

Though curious, he headed to Ashley’s office. After a quiet knock, he stepped inside.

Ashley was standing beside the desk, organizing a stack of documents he was certain she hadn’t gone through yet.

"I didn’t see Lukas," he said as he stopped a few steps away. "Did he leave you?"

Ashley didn’t answer until she finished arranging the stack. "Clear his schedule and make sure no work goes to his office."

"Huh?"

"He’s taking a few days off," she replied, slapping the stack neatly into place. "These are all the papers he worked on since last night and this morning."

She pushed them toward him. "Throw them away."

Confused, Gustav glanced at the pile. When he looked back at Ashley, he was tempted to ask more questions.

If it had been Lucian, he wouldn’t have asked.

Orders were orders.

But Ashley somehow always made him want to ask.

"Lukas has been working nonstop since we came back from the High Chamber," Ashley explained when he remained silent. She sauntered back to her seat. "His output until yesterday wasn’t bad. But the more he drowns himself in work, the more his results are starting to suffer."

Once seated, she looked up at him. "Go through all of those today and send them back to me."

"Yes, ma’am." Gustav approached and picked up the stack.

As he did, he paused. "Did he really go home?"

"I don’t know." Ashley didn’t even look up from the document she had already begun reading. "He can sleep on the street for all I care. Just not here."

She flipped a page before finally lifting her gaze.

"Work, Gustav. I have other commitments today. We need to finish this paperwork before my next meeting."

The reminder of her packed schedule immediately shut down any further questions.

"Yes, ma’am."

With that, Gustav carried the stack back to his office. The moment he dropped it onto his desk, he stared down at it.

"He’s been working like a machine," he muttered. "But somehow, his output was still as good as ever."

At least, that was what Gustav had thought.

He had reviewed Lukas’s work yesterday and found nothing alarming, so he allowed the man to continue. After all, everyone coped differently.

But when Gustav opened the first file, he immediately spotted Ashley’s handwritten note in the margin.

BS.

His brows knitted.

The document was an important agreement concerning one of the company’s upcoming projects.

As he continued reading, following the clauses Ashley had circled, his expression darkened.

At first glance, the agreement appeared favorable to the company. But it wasn’t.

Ashley had specifically marked several vague clauses that could easily be twisted against them in court if problems arose later.

"How did he let this reach her office?" His frown deepened. "No matter what, Lukas would’ve never approved something like this."

Then he opened the next file.

And the next.

By the third one, Gustav felt his stomach sink.

One clause alone could’ve caused a disaster.

"If she hadn’t caught these..." he whispered, his breathing slowing. "Lukas... this can’t continue."

The problem wasn’t simply that Lukas had sent the documents to Ashley.

The problem was that he had sent them knowing full well she had only recently taken over. Regardless of her capability, she currently held the highest authority in the company.

Handing her documents filled with hidden landmines wasn’t just negligence.

It was handing her a grenade made of paper and hoping it wouldn’t explode.

Gustav exhaled deeply and rubbed his temples. Then he glanced at the stack again.

"She’s..." He paused. A strange look crossed his face. "...doing a surprisingly proper job as the master’s temporary replacement."

Otherwise, Lucian would’ve been forced to return and clean up the mess himself.

A sigh escaped him. "Lukas’s really going to hear from me."

*****

Meanwhile, inside Lucian’s office, Ashley had stopped working.

She stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window behind the desk, arms crossed, staring outside. Her index finger tapped slowly against her arm.

"How strange," she whispered, narrowing her eyes. "Am I overthinking this?"

Yesterday, while reviewing documents, she had already noticed several questionable deals within Black Dragon Corporation.

Nothing illegal.

Just negotiations involving suspicious companies and agreements that didn’t sit right with her.

She had asked Lucian about them.

Lucian had briefly explained that he hadn’t reviewed those deals personally yet. Which made sense. They hadn’t reached his desk.

Every document passed through multiple departments before reaching this office.

Department heads reviewed them.

Then Gustav and Lukas’s divisions reviewed them.

Then Gustav and Lukas themselves.

Only after that would they land on Lucian’s desk for final approval.

That process applied to everything.

Negotiations.

Operations.

Financial reports.

Stock movements.

Everything.

So Lucian only needed to determine whether something was worth pursuing.

But somehow, these questionable deals kept finding their way to her desk.

On the surface, Ashley assumed Lukas’s deteriorating condition was the cause. He was working himself into the ground. Mistakes happened. That was why she hadn’t thought much about it yesterday.

She simply told herself she would straighten him out if things got worse. But today felt different.

"Normally, these documents wouldn’t even make it to Lukas," she whispered.

Her eyes narrowed further. "Everyone knows how horrible he gets when something reaches him without being properly reviewed."

From what she had observed, employees feared Lukas far more than Gustav.

Honestly, she wasn’t surprised. Even she would fear Lukas if he were her superior. Which was precisely why his department operated so efficiently.

"Am I really overthinking this..." Her eyelids lowered slightly. "...or is someone taking advantage of his weakness and hoping I’ll be the one who screws up?"