Chapter 23
Chaotic Entrance Ceremony (1)
The day of the Eldarion Academy kindergarten entrance ceremony.
Lucia sat in the running carriage, a headache coming on as she felt like she could still hear the nagging of the members who had been following her around and chattering since morning.
‘Captain. It’s not that the Black Knights are embarrassing. It’s just that the public image is the polar opposite of a kindergarten!’
‘Captain! Nia has to have a proper kindergarten life. It hasn't even been that long since the Black Knights swept through a poor slum alley, and the civilian gazettes are in an uproar…!’
‘Why can’t I say it?’
‘Heath!!’
‘Heath!!’
“……”
So, the gist of it was that she shouldn't mention being the captain of the Black Knights.
The fact that she couldn't deny the truth was one thing, but the fact that she couldn't lie was a painful truth that she herself knew all too well.
Why were these people, who hadn't been so fussy in her previous life, so different after her regression?
Lucia rubbed her throbbing temples with her fingers, the shouts of the members still ringing in her ears even though she had been in the carriage for quite some time.
Nia looked at her mother with concern.
“Hurts? Not all gone, here, here? Ung?”
“I’m okay. Nia, but I’ll say it again. Never use cotton candy.”
“Yes~!”
Cotton candy.
It was the code word they had decided on for Divine Power.
Lucia, wary after being caught by Mia, decided not to even teach the child the word Divine Power.
She thought that because the child was a child, if she taught her anything related to the Saintess now, she wouldn't be able to hide her reaction when the topic came up by chance.
But soon the Control Stone would be crafted, and she wouldn't be able to use her powers physically anyway…
“We have arrived.”
When the coachman opened the door, the view of the plaza came into view at a glance.
Blue autumn sky and cool weather.
As expected, due to the grand opening ceremony, countless colorful balloons were flying in the wind in the plaza, like a festival.
As they entered the building, animal-shaped stained glass shone colorfully on the floor, and many children holding their parents' hands were looking at it with curious expressions.
When she came for the interview, she was only looking at the child and didn't pay attention, but it was clear that this place was indeed for children, with quite a few interior decorations placed here and there to pique their interest.
As she walked with the child, looking at it, she suddenly saw the reflection of herself and Nia in the marble.
‘Is it just my imagination that the lace is getting more and more intense…?’
She had a good sense. But no tact.
It wasn't her imagination, and she was being thoroughly tamed by the members.
A soft, light blue blouse and a skirt with lots of lace trim, a pink ribbon adorning her neck.
Likewise, a light blue dress of the same material and pink shoes, a pretty mother and daughter with a strong matching feel.
It was clearly a plain outfit, but the expanding lace seemed to make the clothes evolve.
She arrived at a small hall while having strange imaginations of the final evolution being like a plump bird with puffed-up feathers and a plump baby bird.
The hall they entered was decorated with autumn cosmos and light purple ribbons, and the colorful desserts from the Gillianna family lined up in the center stood out in a charming way.
And unusually, the children were not wearing uniforms as if they had been guided.
Everyone was standing up and moving around, enjoying conversations with drinks, as if it were a banquet hall.
It was different from any other entrance ceremony, but it was a natural atmosphere because it was a kindergarten with the purpose of new nobles gathering and communicating.
However, there is no one who comes to a social party to really enjoy socializing.
Lucia couldn't avoid the gazes that poured out every time someone entered.
For some reason, the ladies who had already started gathering began to whisper towards Lucia.
However, she, who had received such gazes almost all her life, didn't pay any attention and took Nia's hand and headed to the table with the child's name on it.
There, a small gift basket was placed on a small chair where the child could sit.
Stationery in the shape of a chick that seemed to be usable at the kindergarten, notebooks, handkerchiefs, notebooks, cups, etc.
The items had very cute designs that would interest children.
As expected, Nia was making small gestures in the air with a dreamy expression, as if she couldn't even touch them as usual.
“I’m telling you, it’s yours. What is yours?”
“……Nia’s. So, must take care of it……!”
“Yes. Don’t forget. Definitely.”
Lucia had a very satisfied expression.
She couldn't go through the miserable incident of being accused of child abuse at the tailor shop again, so this time she had made her memorize it.
She realized that the simplest method was the best.
“Would have been nice if Mia unnie came too……”
“Mia will be more comfortable there. Let’s go see her after she adjusts.”
Nia nodded at Lucia's words.
Mia had been living as a preliminary maid in the Imperial Palace for several days.
Seeing that she had accepted the job, she must be willing to keep secrets, and she seemed to like the job she had recommended, so she was relieved.
“Hello, nice to meet you. I am Mera from the Literin Baron family. Excuse me, but may I sit at the table?”
“I am Serdin from the Poppin Baron family. May I sit as well?”
Two women approached the table where she was sitting with her child and greeted her.
As expected, they seemed different from those who didn't greet first unless they knew the other party's family, as if they were new nobles.
But Lucia was awkward.
It was true that she came here for her child's entrance ceremony, but she hadn't been to a party since her coming-of-age ceremony, and she didn't have any memories of exchanging polite greetings with noble ladies.
Besides, she had to hide that she was the captain of the Black Knights.
She would be more comfortable hiding in the venue and listening to the gossip of the group.
But in fact, she had a way to avoid doing all of this.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Lucia. You may sit.”
She didn't say her last name.
After severing ties with the Count family, she had never attached her last name to her introduction.
Unless someone was deliberately trying to find out about Lucia, the new nobles, who had just become imperial citizens and were absent for five years due to training, wouldn't know the face of the black monster.
And especially the women who were devoted to domestic affairs wouldn't even know the name of that scary captain.
So, if you heard it without knowing that background, it meant, ‘I’m a commoner without a last name, do you still want to sit?’
Lucia didn't even look at them because it was clear that they would leave on their own.
But.
“Oh my, you haven’t received your last name yet! We were like that until recently. It’s a relief that it was decided before the entrance ceremony!”
“Hehe, we are too. They said it couldn’t be duplicated, but my husband insisted! He insisted that it had to be the name of his hometown. Oh my, don’t even mention it.”
“But Lucia-nim. Where did you immigrate from? Up north? I know, I know. The atmosphere is calm, just like that area!”
“Oh my, my husband is also from the northern region, so I guess the atmosphere is definitely like that. He’s over there, over there, take a look.”
Their endless chatter poured out and made Lucia dizzy.
Looking back on her memories, it was when they, who were literally newly absorbed into the empire, began to apply for and receive new title names.
Thanks to this, the atmosphere, which could have become uncomfortable, was amicable, but their self-answering was creating a profile of Lucia, who hadn't answered even once.
“Ah, but actually, I saw you in the waiting room. I remember the black-haired child because it was the first time, and the child was very energetic. Hehe.”
“That’s right. I was actually there with you. But I don’t think I saw your husband then either, is he very busy? Hehehe.”
That's right.
These were the women who gave the timid Nia courage and motivation.
They smiled brightly, looking at Nia with curious faces for a while.
But,
“I don’t have a husband.”
“Yes?”
“Yes?”
The two ladies were startled at the same time, covering their smiling mouths and blinking their eyes.
Finally, their chatter stopped, and as Lucia expected, they began to exchange glances.
Then, they eventually slowly got up from their seats.
“……”
In noble society, an environment without a husband is not welcomed.
Besides, if they were sending their children here, they must have come to increase their high-end connections, and Lucia, who hadn't even had her last name recognized yet, was a relationship that no one would benefit from.
That's why Lucia had expected them to leave from the beginning, but seeing their stiff expressions, she couldn't help but worry a little about the treatment her child sitting next to her would receive in the future.
However, Lucia was startled by the sudden warm energy she felt on her shoulders.
Someone had placed their hands on both of her shoulders.
“I knew it. I suspected it from the moment you walked in… You went to war. It must have been very difficult for you.”
“Thanks to that, we who are alive want to comfort you, but I don’t know what kind of comfort would be good. Madam.”
Lucia was speechless at the mournful energy emanating from both sides.
It was true that she went to war and it was difficult.
And the fact that they, who immigrated, were alive was probably due to Lucia's contribution in paving the way.
That's why she could only say one thing.
"......Yes."
Lucia found herself in a situation that was repeatedly far from what she had expected.
She felt a strange sense of guilt, but when her children came over to greet Nia, the situation had already passed, and she couldn't do anything about it.
*
Lucia was at a loss.
A woman glancing at her and wiping away tears.
Men sending her respectful glances.
Thanks to the two talkative ladies she had brushed past earlier, the story of Lucia at the party was growing more and more exaggerated.
To put it simply, she was a courageous mother who missed her war hero husband and, undeterred by her own circumstances, remained chaste at a young age and sent her daughter to a prestigious kindergarten.
Completely against her will, the black monster was becoming the empire's most virtuous woman.
If they were to learn the truth of this gap, what on earth would happen...?
Should she say it's not true, even now?
But no one asks.
She couldn't just shout into the void that she was an unmarried mother who conceived Nia in the stables.
She hoped that someone would appear and put an end to these rumors.
"Mommy, are you okay?"
"...No. I'm not okay..."
She wanted to leave this place so badly that she was honest even with her child's question.
But, was God really on Lucia's side?
As if by a lie, the murmuring stopped, the air cleared, and someone appeared.
Like everyone else, she turned her head towards the light.
Then, one by one, those who recognized him gasped and began to flock to him as if possessed by the light.
'...Does he have a child?'
No matter how closely she looked, it was Leon Luwins.
And he was holding a child's hand.
'That child is definitely...'
There was no way she couldn't recognize him.
Berl's nephew, Cezar.
The child she had seen at the tailor shop not long ago.
Cezar, holding Leon's hand, looked as if his reddened face would explode at any moment from the gazes and murmurs of the people filling the small hall.
The unicorn of high society.
The bewildered noble couples, surprised by the appearance of such a high-class connection, moved to approach him immediately.
It was then.
"Cezar!!"
A familiar, booming voice rang out from behind them.
"Oh? Who is this brother?"
Ivanne, always straightforward, pointed at Leon as soon as she arrived.
The couple who seemed to have followed Ivanne were about to scold the child, but they seemed speechless when they saw Leon.
"That's... He couldn't come, so Leon Luwins came instead."
Cezar politely greeted Ivanne's parents and answered.
"Leon? The White Wizard Division that Cezar always pretends to be when he plays knights?"
"Y-yes."
Cezar blushed again, looking embarrassed.
"I am Ivanne Berna of the Baron Berna family. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you, young lady. I am Leon Luwins, the commander of the White Wizard Division. Please take good care of Cezar."
When he stroked Cezar's head with his signature radiant smile, it brightened up not only Cezar but also Ivanne, making them savor the warmth.
"......Wow. Brother is an angel."
Ivanne covered her face with her hands and stared endlessly at Leon.
Lucia, seeing Ivanne's unfamiliar appearance, had no doubt that she was witnessing the moment of falling in love.
And on the other hand, she breathed a sigh of relief as his appearance prevented the misunderstanding from spreading.
'......Commander Leon can be helpful sometimes.'
