While the celebration continued, Glenn quietly left the feast behind and headed off to see her.
And where was Nadia? In her room, overthinking again. This time she was trying to come up with a believable way to reveal the location of the dragon's lair.
Option one: she had just happened to stumble across it during a walk. She was going to need a much better excuse than that. Option two: she had seen it in a dream. Absolutely not. Glenn might go right back to suspecting her, and possibly throw her out altogether.
Right on cue, there was a knock at Nadia's door. And speak of the devil, it was her husband.
At first she was genuinely confused. Why was he here? It was not as though he casually dropped by for friendly visits. If anything, this felt suspicious.
However, there was no bad news. Glenn simply invited her to join the knights' celebration, acknowledging that she had played a major role in their victory. Then, unexpectedly, he offered her his hand.
Now that caught her off guard. Nadia accepted, and the two walked side by side through the halls towards the feast.
Of course, he noticed that she seemed a little distracted, as though she was hiding something. Which, to be fair, she absolutely was.
Trying to play it off, Nadia started rambling about the newly acquired land, especially the iron mine, going on about production, resources and future plans. And then she slipped.
Glenn reacted fast and caught her before she hit the ground. The two ended up inches apart, faces close enough to make things very heart-fluttering.
There was no denying it now. That look on his face. He was definitely starting to fall.
Soon they entered the hall, and the knights erupted into cheers. They were already deep into their drinks, throwing praise and congratulations at Nadia from every direction.
Well, almost everyone. Giscard, still sober, stepped forward and formally apologised for doubting her earlier.
Nadia accepted gracefully. She admitted his suspicion had been understandable. After all, trusting someone from the Valajet family was not exactly easy. Even she would not trust one.
Then Nadia's tone shifted. She reminded him that she was now part of House Winterpel, which meant any disrespect towards her was the same as disrespecting the entire family. For that reason, she declared, there had to be a punishment.
The room tensed instantly. Even Glenn looked ready to step in, while the knights exchanged uneasy glances.
There was nothing to worry about. It was just a drink as punishment.
At first it sounded like a joke, until the maids rolled in massive barrels of alcohol, one for each person. Giscard understood immediately and, without complaint, lifted his barrel and started drinking.
And just like that, the celebration turned into a full-blown endurance test.
Later that night, while everyone else was likely passed out from the punishment, Nadia quietly slipped away. She sneaked into an office, moving carefully, and slid a document into a stack of papers, hidden in plain sight.
It seemed she had finally worked out a way to reveal the location of the dragon's lair without raising suspicion.
Four days later, Nadia made her move. She accidentally found a document buried among the count's correspondence, and dramatically announced her discovery to everyone in the room. A dragon's lair had been located.
At first the mood instantly dropped. Because really, who would want land that came with a flying disaster capable of wiping out an entire territory?
Then came the convenient part. According to the document, the lair had already been investigated, and the dragon was long dead. Suddenly the danger disappeared, and what was left behind was treasure. Mountains of it, practically begging to be claimed.
Nadia cleverly framed it as though Count Altio had begun exploring the lair himself after receiving this report. In other words, she made it seem as though they had simply stumbled upon something the count had failed to secure in time.
Even Glenn could not help but wonder if he was dreaming. After years of hardship, endless battles and constant financial struggles, how was it that everything had started turning around the moment Nadia entered his life?
It was starting to feel a little too perfect.
And there was the document itself. Apparently no one had brought it up earlier because they could not read it. Nadia's handwriting was so terrible that the others had initially thought it was just meaningless scribbles, and had ignored it for days. Four whole days.
Caught slightly off guard, Nadia laughed it off, joking that she was simply used to deciphering messy writing thanks to her father.
Glenn, however, was not fooled that easily. He definitely noticed something. But instead of questioning her, he stayed quiet and agreed to organise an expedition to investigate the lair.
He was starting to trust her. Or at least, he was choosing not to dig too deep for now.