CH 36

<CHAPTER 36

“Ow!”

Lucia let out a small scream as the needle pricked her hand, and she quickly brought her bloodied finger to her mouth.

It tasted fishy.

“Miss, are you all right, shall I call a doctor?”

“I’m fine, I just need to make this sooner rather than later…….”

Lucia smiled wryly and looked down at what she held in her hands. She was making a handkerchief for Herwin.

As her last confession, she wanted to give him something meaningful.

A week was a short time, and she had given him almost everything, so she thought for a while and came up with a handkerchief.

A handkerchief doesn’t take up a lot of space, and it’s quite practical as it can be used on the battlefield.

It’s usually a gift for a lover or fiance, but rarely for close friends, so he won’t feel pressured.

‘I don’t think Herwin would recognize it if I engraved my initials on it.’

Herwin is meticulous, but he also has a bit of a soft spot in his heart, so he’d probably pass on a handkerchief with Lucia’s initials on it.

Lucia stared at the handkerchief for a moment, then lowered her hand with a sigh.

“It’s no good if ……Herwin doesn’t accept it.”

Even if she put her initials on it, she realized, what good would it do if the other person didn’t accept her confession?

“What? What did you say?”

Sean, who was working on something else, looked up. Lucia shook her head.

Seeing Lucia suffering alone again, Sean looked worried.

“Miss, you have a date with Phoenaeus tomorrow, don’t you?”

Lucia’s hands trembled slightly. She knew she was agitated, but Sean pretended not to see it.

“With such a cute little lady like you embroidering a handkerchief… when will Mr. Phoenaeus recognize your heart?”

“……Yes. When will he recognize it?”

Lucia smirked at Sean’s attempt to make her feel better.

“Don’t be too hard on yourself if he doesn’t accept you, you’re as dear to him as anyone.”

“Haha, are you trying to comfort me, I haven’t even met him yet?”

“I apologize if I’m being presumptuous, but lately, you’ve been looking a bit down and out…….”

Sean lowered her head, and Lucia patted her on the shoulder.

“I’ve worried you, Sean. I’m sorry, I guess I’ve had a lot on my mind lately.”

Despite Lucia’s beaming smile, Sean’s worried expression didn’t lift. If anything, the furrow in her brow deepened.

“Miss, if you try to take on too much on your own, you’ll end up exhausted.”

Sean gently wrapped her hand around Lucia’s.

“Sometimes it helps to share that burden with someone else, and I’m always on your side. If you ever feel overwhelmed, you can always share it with me.”

Lucia smiled back. Sean still felt bad that she hadn’t opened up, but she sensed that now was not the time.

Sean laughed lightly and patted Lucia’s delicate hand.

“It was just a comment, I hope you don’t mind.”

“Yeah, but you said it for me, right? Thank you.”

“Thank you. Are you done with the numbers? If you get stuck, I can help you.”

“No, it’s okay, I’m almost done. Look, it’s pretty good, right?”

Lucia showed her roughly finished handkerchief. She wasn’t exactly dexterous, but the stitches looked pretty good.

“Mr. Phoenaeus should like it.”

“If it’s as good as this, Herwin will like it.”

Lucia carefully stroked Herwin’s initials.

The handkerchief took three days to complete. Finally, tomorrow was the big day.

As she worked the final stitches, Lucia made a prayer.

‘Please, may my heart reach you.’

* * *

Lucia paced in the same spot.

“Sean, I’m not weird, right?”

“Of course not, you look beautiful.”

“If I knew this would happen, I would have bought some clothes… Are you sure about this dress?”

“Yes, of course, it looks really good on my sweet girl.”

Sean soothed her, telling her not to worry too much, but Lucia couldn’t seem to calm down.

‘What is it that has you so nervous?’

She was always cute and beautiful, but today she was even more so.

No wonder she had gotten up at the crack of dawn to summon all the maids.

Lucia wore a yellow dress in keeping with her cute and dainty image, her flowing brown hair was tied into a small braid, and she accessorized with pearls.

She even wore makeup, something she doesn’t normally do, so there was nothing to make her feel insecure.

‘On the contrary, I’m afraid that this time Phoenaeus will be smitten with you.’

If he doesn’t fall in love with her, there must be something wrong with Herwin, she thought.

“Lady, Mr. Phoenaeus has arrived.”

Just then, the news of Herwin’s arrival was announced. Lucia strode stiffly toward him, her face stony, and she hurried to catch her.

“Miss, you forgot the most important thing.”

It wasn’t until Sean handed her a small gift box that Lucia snapped out of her daze.

“Oh, my God, look at me. Thank you, Sean.”

“You’re welcome, young lady, but don’t be nervous. It’s all going to be okay!”

Sean squeezed Lucia’s trembling hand, and her trembling eased a little. Lucia’s eyes shone with calm.

“Bye.”

“Okay. I hope you have a good time.”

Lucia took a step forward as she was waved goodbye and cheered on by Sean. A carriage bearing the emblem of the House of Phoenaeus stood before Countess Agnes.

As Lucia approached, the door opened to reveal Herwin.

“Good morning, Lucia.”

Lucia took one look at Herwin and froze.

He was dressed in an immaculate suit, not his usual uniform.

It was odd to see him dressed so differently from his usual style for a man who claimed that his sword and himself were one and that he never took it off.

It’s almost as if he’s dressed up for a date.

“Why aren’t you in uniform?”

She finally asked, unable to contain her curiosity, and Herwin scratched his head.

“I was going to wear a uniform…….”

Herwin paused in mid-sentence, and a puzzled Lucia asked.

“Did you?”

“I did, but then I suddenly realized I wanted to wear something different today.”

“Really? That’s interesting.”

As expected, he didn’t have a clue, but it didn’t hurt to think that this was going to be a more date-like date.

When he saw Lucia sitting across from him, he sighed softly.

‘Master, please don’t say anything useless to Lady Agnes, and you know that you mustn’t tell her that I encouraged you to wear this outfit.’

He remembered what Jerome, the servant, had said just before he left. He had forced him to change into these clothes after tearing himself away from his uniform.

He’s still not sure why he did it, but….…

Herwin stole a glance at Lucia. Lucia’s mood seemed better than the last time he’d seen her.

‘Is being good a good thing?’

As long as Lucia was in a good mood, it didn’t matter.

“So, since you wanted my day today, is there anything you’d like to do?”

“So you don’t mind being bossed around by me all day today, do you?”

Lucia playfully returned Herwin’s sneering question.

“What are you trying to get me to do, I’m going to need to relax a bit.”

“Haha, if anyone overhears, they’ll think I’m bullying you, I just want to hang out with you before you go back to the North, since I won’t see you for a while…”

“Well, it’s been a while since we’ve been alone. We’re always been with the others.”

Since they’ve been at the academy, they haven’t had many opportunities to be alone.

Even when they do, it’s only for a short time to chat. Other than that, they’ve been hanging out with at least three other people.

It was refreshing to feel like they were back to where they are before they entered the academy before she realized that this was her date with him.

“Master, we’ll be arriving in the downtown area soon. Where shall I take you?”

The window connected to the coachman’s seat opened and the coachman asked.

Herwin turned to Lucia, and she hurriedly replied.

“Alaine’s restaurant, please.”

“Yes, lady.”

The coachman immediately turned his horse around and headed for the restaurant Lucia had mentioned.

“Is the first stop a restaurant?”

“It’s lunchtime, and we need to fill our stomachs before we move on. I’ve made reservations.”

Herwin and Lucia talked nonstop until they reached their destination.

Even though Lucia had a crush on Herwin, there wasn’t an ounce of awkwardness between them after all these years together.

After arriving at the restaurant, the two settled down under the guidance of the waitress.

She asked the maid, who was very knowledgeable about the area, to make a reservation at a nice place, and she did an excellent job.

However, as the restaurant was mainly for couples, there were a few men and women around them, presumably couples.

“Hmm, nice atmosphere, nice food. I’ll have to come back later.”

Lucia was tempted to ask the admiring Herwin if he was coming back with someone, but she held her tongue.

“I’m glad you liked it. It’s my first time too, and they say it might be hard to get a reservation in the future since the place is so popular these days.”

“Well, that makes me even more excited for the main course. What did you order?”

“Well, I ordered the most popular one, which is what most people who come here order, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Soon enough, the main course arrived, and when Lucia saw it, she stopped dead in her tracks.

The waiter next to her was talking about the main dish, but Lucia couldn’t hear him.

“Well, if you need anything, just ask.”

The waitress retreated, Herwin picked up his fork and knife, and as he was about to slice the steak in front of him, he noticed that Lucia hadn’t moved her fork.

“What’s wrong?”

“Eh? Eh, it’s nothing, it’s delicious. Right?”

As Lucia hurriedly chopped away at the awkward words, Herwin watched suspiciously.

Then he realized something and grabbed Lucia’s hand.

“Why?”

“Why? You can’t eat the mushrooms.”

Herwin’s brow furrowed. In front of them were different dishes.

Herwin’s steak was topped with a wine-braised sauce, while Lucia’s was flavored with mushrooms.

The only difference was the sauce, but the problem was that Lucia couldn’t eat mushrooms.

“Give it to me. Let’s switch.”

“Oh, no, it’s okay, I can’t do that out of politeness…….”

“Forget it, come on.”

Herwin said firmly, and Lucia lowered her hand, which she had been holding out.

Herwin switched his plate with hers.

Satisfied, his frown lifted.

“I’m not allergic to ……, and I don’t mind eating it.”

“It’s not a simple diet. You said mushrooms make you sick, and you’ve been sick all day after eating them before.”

True to his words, Lucia had become so sick from eating mushrooms as a child that even the slightest bite of mushrooms would cause her to feel sick for the rest of the day.

Still, she didn’t expect him to change his plate.

It would have been highly impolite to change the plate that was already in front of them.

However, Herwin seemed to think nothing of it and began to savor the new food.

“What are you doing, eat up.”

“……Yes.”

Lucia’s ears perked up.

It was such a small gesture, but his consideration rekindled the tension she’d worked so hard to shake off.

Until dessert was finally served, Lucia could barely meet Herwin’s eyes, and he, who hadn’t noticed her change, continued the conversation happily to himself.

Lucia was grateful that Herwin was blind.