Lucia stayed silent, mulling over his words, but Ashen didn't give her the time to think for long.
"Anyway, these are my conditions, take it or leave it. I'm not budging on them."
From her earlier expression, he knew how much her job meant to her, so he guessed that she would eventually accept.
Being the only one present at this contract signing wasn't lost on him either.
Just a glance around, and he could see that each recruiter had at least four to five people surrounding them.
He didn't know what happened to the other trainees that she recruited.
Whether they died or whether she didn't manage to trick anyone else aside from him didn't matter now.
What mattered was that this might give him the edge he needed to push for what he wanted since he was seemingly her only catch.
And he didn't even think that his conditions were that excessive. They worked both ways, after all.
"Very well…"
'Bingo.'
"...but this looks more like a partnership than a regular contract, so I also want to add my own conditions," she added, and Ashen nodded in understanding.
"As long as they are reasonable."
"Good, I want at least 10% of the resources you earn as my share. And let's change the clause of sharing info to me assisting you in my full capacity, not just knowledge."
Ashen blinked twice at that.
"What? Do you want me to work for free? Isn't that a bit unreasonable, Ashen?"
"...No, I just didn't think that you were the type to care that much about materialistic things, but what you said is reasonable and I'm okay with that."
She side-eyed him as she pulled another paper, which was clearly different from the regular ones with its yellow borders. 'Probably one of those magical contracts…'
"Well, we don't know much about each other yet, so that's normal. As for being materialistic..." Lucia gave a faint, almost self-mocking smile. "You could say I love money."
"Oh? I love money, too, but you said that like it was gospel. 'Is there a story behind it?" Ashen asked, genuinely curious.
Lucia didn't even glance up. She kept writing, her strokes clean and mechanical, as if she'd answered this question more times than she cared to remember.
"It's not a secret. If you want to know... I'll tell you."
Ashen leaned in slightly, curiosity getting the better of him. He really wanted to know what was brewing behind that ever-cool face.
"It's simply because money can replace almost everything."
He raised a brow at that. 'Debatable.'
Lucia's pen didn't stop moving, but her voice slipped out like a blade drawn in silence.
"Money… it isn't just numbers on a page. It buys things, sure. Clothes, food, comfort."
Her hand slowed, the scratch of ink louder in the pause.
"It buys safety."
"It buys loyalty."
"It buys silence."
A shadow flickered across her eyes as she finally looked up.
"It buys people, Ashen. Their trust. Their hearts. Their lies."
The last word hung heavy, her tone sharpening.
"And dreams," she added, almost spitting the word. "It even buys those."
Her grip on the pen tightened. The air around her felt colder, like something invisible was pressing down on the table.
"That's why I love money. Because it can be spent, wasted, replaced. Lose it today, earn it tomorrow. That cycle never ends."
Her smile came at last, but it was small, sharp, and far too bitter to be playful.
"But things that can't be traded? Things you can't put a price tag on?"
She leaned in,
"They're a curse. They cling. They rot. They make fools out of people and… they piss me off more than anything."
The pen hit the paper again with a sharp tap.
"That's also why I hate this job, no matter what people think."
"..."
Lucia's last words bled into the silence, her pen stabbing the page with sharp, deliberate strokes. The air felt heavier, like she'd wrapped the room in her own gravity.
Ashen didn't answer at first. He simply watched her.
When he finally spoke, his voice was calm.
"And yet… here you are."
Her pen stopped mid-stroke. She glanced up, irritation sparking behind her glassy stare.
"Here I am what?"
"Chasing something money can't buy." His tone didn't rise, but each word cut clean. "You call it a curse. You call it rot. But you're still clawing for it all the same."
Her lips pressed into a thin line, but Ashen leaned forward slightly, refusing to give her the satisfaction of looking away.
"Purpose." He intoned. "That's the one thing you can't trade. You can bury it, sell pieces of it, drown it in coin… but it doesn't disappear. It burns through."
Something flickered across her face… disdain, maybe, or the barest twitch of fear.
Ashen's mouth curved into the faintest ghost of a smile.
"You hate what can't be bought? No… maybe you're just afraid of how much it costs to keep."
Lucia's pen struck the table with a sharp clack.
"You're reading too deep."
"Perhaps." His eyes never strayed from her face—pretty in a way that clashed with the ice in her tone. "But I'd like to think I understand you just a little more."
The silence that followed wasn't empty. It was loaded, humming, like the moment before erupting.
Lucia clicked her tongue, stabbing the pen back down onto the paper like a dagger.
"Sign the damn contract."
He chuckled roughly, but sadly, there was no victory in it. Only quiet acceptance.
The pen scratched quickly across the paper. He slid both copies back, still holding her gaze.
Lucia's eyes flicked over them, and she let out a small, controlled breath; like a weight had been released off her shoulders.
She extended her hand across the table.
"To a successful partnership," she said, her tone perfectly even.
Ashen clasped her hand. Their fingers locked in a grip that was deliberately firm.
"To a lasting one," he replied.
Their hands lingered just a moment longer, pressure meeting pressure.
Each measured, each aware. They were like predators sizing each other up. Neither yielding, and beneath it all a subtle, magnetic pull neither admitted.
When they finally let go, the room felt lighter, though the air still held that quiet charge.
And for the first time that night, neither of them was pretending.
☽⟲✧⸸✧⟲☾