Puny Thieves

Arthur saw Julia return to the gathering after refusing his offer. It might have seemed like he was testing her, but he was not. Instead, his goal was to repay her for the risk she had to endure for his sake. If not for his earlier interference, she would have ruined her future in Runera.

An encryption was nothing to Arthur. The hardest thing about creating one was making an encryption that does not collapse, and Arthur would find it harder to make one that does. So when he offered the encryption to Julia, he meant it as a gift that would make her life easier, but she rejected it.

This was an unexpected ending. Arthur stood outside the grand hall while looking at Julia chatting away with the awed crowd. The show seemed to make her more popular than before and made Arthur see her in a new light.