After carefully taking inventory of the chest’s contents, Lara set several gold bars and pieces of jewelry aside into three separate piles.

"You three," she said, glancing at Liam, Logan, and the third man, "these are your shares."

The gold gleamed brilliantly beneath the dim light, enough wealth to change an ordinary person’s life forever.

But Liam immediately frowned.

"There’s no need for that," he said firmly. "Just make us shareholders in your startup company instead."

Logan nodded in agreement, his gaze barely lingering on the treasure. "We helped because of you, not because we wanted a share of the gold."

The third man also silently pushed his portion back toward Lara.

Compared to the mountain of treasure before them, the trust Lara had given them felt far more valuable.

...

Earlier, Lara had assumed they would be forced to spend another night deep within the jungle, especially with the sun already beginning to sink below the horizon. The dense forest had grown darker by the minute, and traveling through unfamiliar terrain at night would have been far too dangerous.

But to her surprise, the distant roar of helicopter blades soon echoed across the mountains, cutting through the heavy silence of the wilderness.

Relief washed over her as the helicopter emerged above the trees and hovered above them like salvation itself.

Yet an even greater surprise awaited her.

Ares had come personally...

Now, as Lara finished organizing and cataloging the contents of the treasure chest, she decided to set aside a portion for each of them.

They were currently inside Ares’ private study within the mansion—a heavily guarded room lined with towering bookshelves, dark mahogany walls, and dim golden lighting.

The thick doors remained tightly shut, ensuring no prying eyes or wandering ears could discover what lay scattered across the massive table before them.

Gold bars. Ancient jewelry.

Rare relics dating back to Alaric’s three-decade reign.

Even the air inside the room felt heavier because of the immense wealth gathered there.

Lara calmly pushed several gold bars and carefully selected relics toward Liam and Logan.

"These are for you."

Both men stiffened immediately.

"Lara, that’s too much," Logan said first, clearly reluctant.

Liam also frowned deeply. "You don’t owe us anything."

To them, helping Lara had never been about profit.

But Lara simply crossed her arms and looked at them firmly.

"You risked your lives for me," she said. "So stop refusing. If not for you, I wouldn’t have been able to retrieve any of this safely."

After several minutes of persuasion, the brothers finally relented and accepted the gold bars along with a few priceless relics from Alaric’s era.

Even then, their expressions remained complicated.

Because the historical value alone of the artifacts Lara had casually handed them was enough to cause a frenzy among collectors and museums.

Meanwhile, Lara continued sorting through documents and valuables with surprising composure.

"So," Liam asked after a while, leaning back slightly, "how exactly do you intend to convert all this into cash?"

"Sell the gold to the central bank," Lara replied casually, as though discussing something utterly ordinary. "And hold private auctions for the jewelry. The relics will go to the Kromwel Museum."

Silence filled the study.

Ares, Liam, and Logan exchanged glances almost simultaneously.

None of them could hide the faint disbelief in their eyes.

They simply could not understand how Lara—a woman who had only recently graduated from college and had even spent an entire year in a coma—could think this far ahead so calmly.

There was no panic in her. No confusion. No greed-clouded excitement.

She handled the matter with a frightening level of clarity, as if she had long anticipated this situation.

Ares narrowed his eyes slightly while studying her.

The more he observed Lara, the more impossible she became to understand.

"I can help you with the auction," Ares offered in his usual calm, unreadable tone.

On the surface, he appeared indifferent. But inwardly, his mind was already calculating several steps ahead.

If he helped Lara handle the treasure discreetly and safely, she would owe him another favor.

And the more indebted she felt toward him...

...the harder it would become for her to reject him the next time he proposed.

"By the way," Ares added smoothly, "if your Grandpa Persius ever realizes that the map he casually handed you actually led to hidden treasure, I’m fairly certain he’ll regret it for the rest of his life."

A faint amusement flickered across Logan’s face before it quickly disappeared.

Logan brows furrowed.

"Actually... something still doesn’t make sense," he muttered.

Everyone looked toward him.

"If we strictly followed the map’s route," Logan continued slowly, "we should’ve ended up somewhere near Roca."

His expression darkened with confusion.

"But the location we found was completely off-course. So the map is wrong," Logan completed.

...

The atmosphere inside Ares’ study gradually relaxed after the discussion about the treasure ended.

For the first time since leaving the mountains, the tension pressing on everyone’s shoulders had eased slightly.

Logan lazily stretched himself across one of the leather couches while studying a metal puzzle that looked like a rubik’s cube recovered from the chest.

"Honestly," he muttered, "I still feel like we’re dreaming."

Lara laughed softly at that.

The sound immediately drew the attention of the three men in the room.

It was not loud.

Not elegant or restrained the way noble ladies usually laughed during social gatherings.

It was genuine and warm.

And strangely capable of softening the heavy atmosphere inside the study.

Logan blinked before grinning helplessly. "See? She’s even laughing now like this whole thing is normal."

"It’s not normal," Lara admitted, her eyes curving slightly with amusement. "I’m just trying not to panic."

"That makes it worse somehow," Logan replied dramatically.

Even Liam’s lips twitched faintly.

Ares, seated behind his desk, silently observed the interaction.

His gaze lingered on Lara longer than necessary.

There was exhaustion in her face now that the adrenaline had faded. Strands of hair clung loosely near her cheeks, and despite changing clothes after returning from the jungle, traces of fatigue still remained in her posture.

Yet she was still trying to reassure everyone else instead of herself.

Ares narrowed his eyes slightly.

She really was terrible at relying on others.

"You should rest," he suddenly said.

Lara looked up. "I’m fine."

"You nearly spent two days in the jungle, discovered a hidden treasure, and almost transported enough wealth to start a war." Ares’ tone remained calm and unreadable. "You are not fine."

Logan snorted loudly while Liam silently agreed inwardly.

Only Lara would claim she was "fine" after surviving something like this.

"I already had the guest rooms prepared," Ares continued while looking at the two brothers. "You’re all staying here tonight."

There was no room for refusal in his voice.

Lara opened her mouth to voice her agreement, but Liam spoke before she could.

"He’s right."

Lara looked toward him in surprise.

Liam’s expression remained serious as he added, "Until the treasure is secured properly, staying here is safer."

The moment those words fell, the room quieted slightly again.

Because everyone understood what remained unspoken.

Now that the treasure existed—

danger would inevitably follow.