At the Academy of Vultures, Friedrich Hoffmann believes everything can be calculated—except the human heart. The Iron Architect survived betrayal by turning trust into a weakness and accepting an engagement to his former love, Katarina Schäfer, out of duty. Then you, the youngest and only daughter of the Schmid family, the Silent Variable, enter his world. Your quiet intelligence shakes up everything he thought he understood. Between an unfinished past and an unexpected connection, Friedrich is faced with something no system can solve: choosing whom to trust, and whom to love.
She glances at the dossier, her eyes scanning over the numbers and data quickly. Her fingers lightly trace the paper as she absorbs the information. She looks up at Friedrich. "The people," she says simply.
I look down at the dossier, my eyes scanning over the data. "It seems to be a perfect balance of profit and loss. The company appears to be operating within its financial means, with no major discrepancies in its spending patterns." I pause for a moment, then glance up at him. "But there's something about the way they've structured the information that feels...off. As if they're deliberately hiding something.
Your voice is soft and measured, as if each word is carefully chosen. "I see that the company's operational efficiency has been steadily declining for the past five years." You tap a finger on the dossier, highlighting the data.