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Chapter 56
No words reached his ears anymore. Lucas stood in the hallway, frozen, unable to leave, consumed by shock and anger.
“Why… of all people… someone like him!”
He didn’t care if Lucy’s feelings weren’t directed at him. But he couldn’t bear to see her hurt by a man who wouldn’t even look at her.
As Lucas was caught in a whirlpool of confused rage, Shan’s door slowly opened.
Lucy stood behind Shan, clearly drunk, barely able to maintain her balance.
Lucas’s gaze hardened as he glared at Shan upon seeing her state.
“What is going on? I think there must be some misunderstanding.”
Shan’s eyes briefly flicked toward Lucy.
“Ugh… dizzy… Shan, what’s going on?”
Lucy peeked out from behind Shan with eyes half-closed.
Seeing her face, Lucas’s expression stiffened.
“You….”
Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes swollen. There was no doubt she had been crying moments ago.
Feeling the intense killing intent emanating from Lucas, Shan instinctively reached for his sword.
‘Such a strong aura… this isn’t ordinary!’
It had been a long time since he had felt such tension.
The corridor was narrow, and if either drew their sword first, serious harm could ensue.
In the tense moment, Lucy squinted, trying to focus her blurred vision, tilting her head slightly.
“Huh? Lucas… sir? Hic!”
Despite her dizzy vision, she opened her eyes wide. What she saw was unmistakably Lucas’s face.
“That can’t be….” Lucy blinked slowly.
“Do you know him?”
“Well… yes, but… I must have drunk too much last night. Hic! Everything looks like an illusion.”
Lucy laughed at Shan’s question.
Why did Lucas appear in her vision at a moment like this?
She couldn’t help but giggle weakly at herself.
Lucas watched her, his expression a complicated mix of emotions.
“I’ll escort you to your room.”
Lucas said to Shan, intending to watch Lucy safely return to her room before leaving.
Shan, however, stood there with an indifferent expression, as if it were none of his concern.
Lucas frowned at Lucy’s reddened eyes again, forcing down his anger.
“Lucy, I’ll escort you to your room. Could you tell me which room you’re staying in?”
Lucy struggled to open her eyes but smiled faintly at him.
“Upstairs…”
She pointed shakily to the upper floor, and Lucas quickly supported her as she wobbled.
Shan watched quietly, then turned and entered his room, closing the door as if nothing had happened.
Lucas’s worried look had convinced him that Shan posed no danger to Lucy.
Of course, Lucas had no way of knowing this, and Shan’s calmness only fueled his anger.
‘Seems like Lucy is suffering from unrequited love… and of all people, it’s for someone like him.’
Lucas glared briefly at Shan’s closed door, then went upstairs with Lucy in his arms.
Lucy woke up with a severe headache.
“Ugh… my head hurts.”
As she recalled the last memories of the previous night, the pounding in her head made her give up on thinking and she got out of bed.
It seemed she had slept late; Ringo’s bed, which she had shared the room with, was already neatly made.
‘Come to think of it, I think I saw Lucas in my dream last night…’
She couldn’t remember the details of the dream.
But in it, Lucas had looked at her with a mixture of sadness and anger.
‘I thought I had forgotten him… why did he appear in my dream all of a sudden?’
Lucy approached the birdcage in her room. It contained Rey, Lucas’s pigeon.
One of Lucy’s small joys during her stay here was taking care of Rey.
“Rey, did you sleep well? I dreamed of your master for the first time in a while. You must miss him too. But he’s far away right now.”
According to what she had read in a book, carrier pigeons could be sent one-way if the destination was too far from where they were trained, but returning was difficult.
‘…I guess there won’t be a need to send Rey to Lucas again.’
Though Rey had lost his function as a messenger pigeon, he was now her only companion.
“Rey, it must feel cramped in here. I’ll let you fly freely when the time comes. Just hang in there a little longer.”
Lucy suddenly thought it would be nice if Rey were a parrot.
‘It would be nice to have someone to talk to in my loneliness.’
Even though she had found her family and regained her status, a hollow feeling still lingered in her heart.
And dreaming of Lucas only made her feel more restless.
At that moment, the door opened, and the aroma of food reached her nose.
Lucy turned to see Ringo entering the room, carrying a tray with a bowl of food.
“You’re awake. You drank too much yesterday, so I brought a simple breakfast.”
“Oh… thank you. You didn’t have to go through the trouble of bringing me breakfast…”
Lucy trailed off apologetically at Ringo’s kindness.
She hadn’t intended to make such a fuss.
But she couldn’t refuse the man who had brought her, heavily drunk, back to her room last night.
‘Please ask the kitchen to prepare food that’s good for a hangover tomorrow morning. It’s bothersome, but make sure Lady Lucy can eat it.’
It wasn’t easy to refuse a man who politely requested and even offered a reward.
‘No reward necessary. It’s not a difficult task anyway.’
Ringo responded cheerfully, then paused for a moment before adding:
‘Also… please keep it a secret from Lucy that you met me today.’
Recalling the man she had encountered last night, Ringo looked at Lucy.
“Eat before it gets cold. Also, since we need to arrive in Hynellium by evening, you should rest until we leave around noon.”
Hynellium was the capital of the Collin Kingdom and the final destination of the Pablo caravan.
‘Oh, we’re leaving today. But I haven’t even finalized the contract with Shan yet… what should I do?’
The soup Ringo brought was warm and comforting. As she ate, Lucy recalled the events of the previous night.
‘How did I even get back to my room yesterday? I can’t remember… I hope I didn’t make any mistakes with Shan.’
What if she had misbehaved while drunk? If she had caused Shan to change his mind about the contract, it would be a disaster.
“Um, Ringo… I can’t really remember last night… do you know how I got back to my room?”
Lucy asked cautiously.
“Even though you were drunk, you found your way back to the room just fine.”
Ringo answered after a brief pause.
‘Thank goodness… I should still go see Shan.’
She was nervous about what mistakes she might have made before returning to her room, and her contract with Shan hadn’t been finalized yet.
After finishing her meal, Lucy hurried to Shan’s room.
“Shan, are you in your room? It’s me, Lucy.”
But no matter how much she knocked, there was no response.
Lucy began to worry that he might have left.
She went down to the first floor, intending to ask at the inn counter if Shan had checked out.
And there, at the bottom of the stairs, she ran straight into Shan.
“Shan!”
Calling his name brightly, she saw him looking up at her as he climbed the stairs.
“You look better than I expected.”
“Oh… that drink was stronger than I thought… Did I happen to do anything wrong yesterday?”
Lucy asked awkwardly.
“No.”
Shan stared at her silently for a moment before replying briefly.
“About… our contract. You may not know, but we’re leaving for Hynellium today… What will you do, Shan?”
Lucy asked cautiously, gauging his expression.
“Don’t worry about the contract. I also have business in the capital, so after my tasks are finished there, I will visit the Pablo caravan. We can finalize the contract then.”
Hearing Shan’s answer, Lucy’s expression finally brightened.
