Chapter 100: Chapter 100 Glimpse Of Her Credential

After quietly observing the office for a while, Ashley finally set the large lunch box down on the coffee table and slowly began untying the cloth wrapped around it. One by one, she carefully arranged the containers neatly across the table until the meal was fully laid out before them.

And just as she feared, the food was no longer as warm as it should have been.

A thin layer of moisture clung beneath the lids from the trapped steam, while some of the dishes had slightly shriveled in appearance after sitting too long inside the thermal containers. The moment Ashley saw it clearly, guilt instantly crept deeper into her chest.

She didn’t even need to taste it to know the texture had probably already changed, perhaps even the flavor itself.

And Apollo... 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

As the eldest son of such an influential and wealthy family, his standards were undoubtedly refined. The more Ashley thought about it, the more she worried that serving him food in this condition might only seem disrespectful instead.

For a moment, she genuinely hesitated whether she should still let him eat it or not.

Meanwhile, behind her, Apollo had already finished reviewing the document in his hands. After signing it neatly, he placed the gold paperweight over the pages to keep them flat while the ink dried. Only then did he finally rise from behind his desk and walk toward the coffee table.

Since Ashley was slightly bent over while arranging the food, Apollo couldn’t see the conflicted expression on her face. So as he approached, he finally asked the question he had been wanting to ask ever since earlier.

"What happened?" Apollo asked immediately the moment he reached the coffee table.

"Huh?" Ashley looked up in surprise, momentarily startled. Thinking he was referring to the now less-than-perfect state of the lunch, she instinctively became nervous.

Seeing her reaction, Apollo quickly realized she had misunderstood him.

"What was the issue you mentioned earlier that delayed you?" he clarified, his voice gentler this time. "Are you okay?"

There was genuine concern in his eyes as he looked at her.

Apollo had truly been worried ever since receiving her message earlier, especially considering Ashley still suffered from amnesia and remained unfamiliar with both the city and the company. The last thing he wanted was for her to think he was upset simply because she had made him wait.

And perhaps he had already sensed the guilt and nervousness she had been quietly carrying this entire time, which was why he deliberately explained himself more clearly, making sure she understood that his concern was directed toward her, not the delayed lunch or the interrupted schedule.

"Oh..."

The moment Ashley understood what Apollo truly meant, the guilt inside her instantly shifted from merely feeling bad for making him wait to feeling even guiltier over the misunderstanding that had happened downstairs.

At the same time, thoughts rapidly spun through her mind.

Since Lily and the others already believed she was a new intern, perhaps... starting from that position really wasn’t such a bad idea after all. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more practical it seemed.

The Sales and Marketing department would allow her to quietly observe the company from the ground up while naturally integrating herself into the environment.

Because of that, Ashley suddenly found herself seriously considering discussing the matter with Apollo.

But uncertainty still lingered.

Would he even allow her to work in the company?

After all, she was currently pretending to suffer from amnesia. Entering a corporation of this scale required credentials, experience, and background verification. Could she really tell him that, despite only being eighteen years old, she had already completed dual Master’s degrees in Economics and Business Management by the age of sixteen?

Growing up in werewolf society had never allowed for ordinary childhoods.

Competition there was ruthless, and the environment she had been raised in forced her to mature far earlier than most people her age.

And her former parents constantly sent her to various training camps, balancing combat training, leadership education, and business management all at once. Compared to those things, remaining inside a classroom for years had simply felt inefficient and restrictive to her schedule.

So instead, Ashley pushed herself harder than others, compressing years of study into a shorter period so she could finish school early and focus on managing the Pack’s company.

Otherwise, how could she possibly have led such a massive enterprise to success at such a young age?

Without the credentials, knowledge, and results to back her up, those old stubborn executives in the company would never have listened to her in the first place. To them, she would have been nothing more than a young mutt who still had milk at the corner of her mouth.

But despite having already graduated years ago, Ashley couldn’t exactly reveal that fact now, not while she was still pretending to suffer from amnesia.

Which meant she suddenly faced a new problem.

Would Apollo even agree to let her work in the company as an intern?

The more she thought about it, the more worried she became. Knowing her brothers’ overly protective nature, there was a very real possibility Apollo might reject the idea entirely and instead insist on sending her back to school like a normal eighteen-year-old girl.

And honestly...

Just imagining that made Ashley feel a headache coming on.

Other people often praised her as talented, gifted, or an overachiever, but in truth, Ashley had never viewed herself that way. She simply found staying in school unbearably tedious. Most of the students around her had always seemed childish and immature in her eyes, concerned over trivial things she could never fully relate to.

Perhaps it was because she attended a university where ordinary humans studied while supernaturals quietly blended into society unnoticed.

Compared to the brutal competitiveness and harsh upbringing within werewolf society, human university life had often felt strangely slow and sheltered to her.

"Um... Brother, actually..." Ashley began cautiously.

She knew overthinking things endlessly wouldn’t give her an answer. No matter how nervous she felt, she still needed to speak with Apollo directly if she truly wanted to stay in the company. Even so, deep inside, she was silently praying this would somehow work in her favor.

"When I arrived earlier, the HR department seemed to have mistaken me for a new intern," she explained slowly. "So instead of bringing me to your office, they brought me to the Sales and Marketing Department."

As she spoke, she subtly observed Apollo’s expression, trying to gauge his reaction before continuing carefully.

"And after I got there... I saw everyone working really hard because of the quarterly closing, and honestly..." A faint hesitation appeared in her voice. "I found it really interesting."

Ashley lightly clasped her hands together before adding in a softer tone, "Instead of staying inside the palace all the time, I was thinking... maybe working there as an intern would be better?"

Though she had already made up her mind internally, she deliberately phrased it like a question, leaving room for negotiation instead of sounding demanding. After all, she was still trying to understand Apollo better — his temperament, boundaries, and how much freedom he was willing to give her.