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Chapter 62
After Michael and Marquis Polster moved elsewhere to continue their serious conversation, Lucy finally relaxed and let out a long sigh.
“Did something happen while I was away?”
A sudden voice came from behind her. Turning, she saw Lucas frowning at her.
“Did he trouble you again, my lady?”
“Huh?”
Lucy tilted her head at him, confused.
“Why do you always… ah, never mind.”
Suppressing his frustration, Lucas glared at Shan, who was watching Lucy from a distance.
Seeing the dark circles under her eyes, Lucas worried that she had once again been distressed because of Shan.
That suspicious wandering mercenary. Lucas had investigated Shan, but nothing about him could be found in detail.
The more he thought about it, the more Lucas disliked him. After all, Shan was a man with no clear identity.
“Thank you for your help today.”
Lucy spoke shyly, glancing at Lucas.
“I know it was thanks to you that I was even invited to this party. Honestly… it feels like I’m always indebted to you.”
“Not at all. As I said before, since I invested in Pablo’s merchant group, its profits are my profits as well.”
Lucy wanted to sincerely express her gratitude, but seeing Lucas’s cold expression, she closed her mouth.
The next day, after the party—
Lucy, still weary, was walking somewhere with Shan at her side.
There was one last place she had to visit before returning to her homeland.
‘It’s lucky Shan is with me.’
Even if danger arose in the streets like before, she felt safe now.
The place Lucy intended to visit was Roche’s house. She had promised to stop by before leaving, and she meant to keep her word.
‘I hope she hasn’t run into debt collectors again… I really hope everything’s been fine.’
With that worry in mind, Lucy continued walking.
“But where exactly are we going now?”
As Roche’s house drew near, Shan—who had been quietly following behind her—suddenly asked.
“It’s someone I know. I wanted to say goodbye before I leave.”
“…May I ask how you came to know this person?”
His sudden curiosity was unlike him, and Lucy tilted her head.
“Just by chance.”
She didn’t want to explain in detail how she had met Roche.
‘If I go into it, I’ll end up exposing Roche’s personal circumstances too.’
“I see.”
Shan stared at her intently for a while before giving a short reply.
‘He seems… strange today. Or am I imagining things?’
Lucy shook her head slightly and quickened her pace toward Roche’s house.
But moments later—
When they arrived, Lucy noticed Shan stop dead in front of the shabby hut.
“Shan? What’s wrong?”
He stood silently, frozen in place.
“…Nothing.”
After a moment’s hesitation, he finally began walking again.
“This is the place. Roche, it’s me, Lucy! Are you inside?”
Lucy turned to Shan as she knocked on the door.
“Lucy?”
A voice answered from inside, and a moment later, Roche burst out, happily calling her name.
“Lucy! You’re finally here, come—”
Roche beamed at Lucy, but when her eyes shifted to the man standing behind her, her words cut off, and her eyes widened.
“…Brother?”
Lucy spun around.
Had someone else come? She looked about, but behind her stood only Shan.
“…”
“Brother! You swore you’d never come again, so why now? Wait—don’t tell me you two came here together?”
At her questioning, Shan averted his gaze instead of replying.
“Brother? Do you… know Shan?”
Lucy asked in bewilderment. Roche’s eyes widened even more, darting between her and Shan.
“She’s… my younger sister.”
Finally breaking his silence, Shan spoke while looking at Lucy.
“What? Y-your sister?”
Lucy’s eyes went round with shock. Shan gave a faint sigh.
“Let’s go inside first.”
“My goodness! What an incredible coincidence… no, fate! The man who saved me and my brother’s employer being the same person—who could have imagined?”
Roche laughed, amazed.
“Roche. Mind your voice, we have a guest.”
“Oh, what does it matter? We’re no longer royals… or even nobles, for that matter!”
“Roche.”
Shan’s brow furrowed slightly at his sister’s careless mention of their past.
“Our country is already gone. There’s nothing left to hide, right?”
She shrugged, then looked at Lucy.
“Roche told me a little. Your homeland was destroyed in the war…”
“Wiped out without a trace! The people scattered everywhere.”
“Roche.”
Shan scolded her again, his tone firm.
“When the kingdom fell, my brother and I were separated during our flight. I thought I’d never see him again. But just a few days ago, out of nowhere, he found me!”
Lucy turned to Shan.
“Then… when you said you had business here, you meant…?”
Shan gave a small nod.
He had wandered the continent for years searching for his long-lost sister. Recently, in the Kingdom of Colin, he finally found traces of her. And now, here she was before him.
“That’s wonderful!”
Lucy was truly glad, as though it were her own good news.
“But since you finally found her after so much effort… wouldn’t it be better for you to settle down here with Roche?”
She asked gently. She still needed Shan, but she couldn’t bear to separate him from his family now.
“That matter’s already settled between us. I’ll be staying here, waiting for my husband. My brother… has his own life to live.”
“Now that I know she’s safe and well, that’s enough for me.”
Sensing a faint chill between the siblings, Lucy held her tongue.
At last, the day came to return home from the Kingdom of Colin.
As they left the inn with their luggage, Shan’s gaze fell on the birdcage Lucy was carrying.
“Is the bird coming with us?”
He frowned at Rey inside the cage.
“Yes, this is Rey. Isn’t she pretty?”
Lucy smiled brightly, happy to introduce Rey to someone for the first time, and held the cage out a little.
But Shan’s expression only hardened.
He suggested that the bird might die from the stress of travel and that it might be better to release it.
“No! Absolutely not! Besides, Rey was just fine on the way here!”
Clutching the cage protectively, Lucy glared warily at him.
The journey back to the Fujis Empire was still long and tiresome, but Lucy’s heart was lighter than ever.
Shan remained taciturn during their travels, and there was little exchange between them.
But now that the contract had been sealed, she no longer felt any pressure to force conversation. His silence was, in fact, more comfortable.
‘Best of all, I don’t have to squash bugs anymore!’
She wondered briefly whether Shan and Roche had shared a private farewell before their departure, but she didn’t have the courage to ask.
‘Maybe someday, when we’re closer, I’ll ask. At least Roche’s debts are fully paid now—that’s such a relief.’
“Thanks to you, my brother and I never starved. Now all the debts are cleared, and there’s nothing left for you to worry about. So please, take good care of him for me.”
That was what Roche had said when she returned the money pouch Lucy had once given her.
Lucy looked forward to the day when she would meet Roche again.
