Chapter 59

Walking in front of Jacob were a young child and the child’s mother. He must have been about five years old, and the child held his mother’s hand tightly and walked hard with his short legs.

Without whining that his leg hurts, very bravely.

The mother smiled softly at her child. However, she caught a glimpse of something flying quickly over her gaze when she turned to check if the child was walking.

Something the size of an adult woman’s fist…

Tak.

The woman turned her head back to see though she couldn’t see what it was. First of all, she had to see something to confirm its identity. Although a big back of the hand was right in front of her, so she couldn’t help but close her eyes because it came so suddenly.

She tightened her grip on her child’s hand before slowly turning her eyes to confirm the owner of the back of her hand.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes…”

The woman stretched her words a little and answered.

It was because she checked his face and got a little ecstatic. Nonetheless, it was also short-lived. As she pondered where she should put her eyes on the face of a man who was so handsome, she lowered her gaze to his hand.

The very hand that was right in front of her.

A large stone was held in the man’s hand. As she saw earlier, it was a stone the size of a woman’s fist.

“Oh.”

Taking a deep breath, she grabbed her child.

The boy, who had been walking hard, seemed to whine that he was suddenly lifted, and he began to whimper at his mother. Still, she looked at the stone hidden in his fingers and then gave thanks to the man.

It made no sense to run from afar to pick up a thrown stone because this handsome man in front of her seemed to have saved her and her child from the danger of being struck by the stone. At the same time, the woman kept her head down while thinking in her head.

‘How did he catch the flying stone with one hand—?’

The man who was being thanked smiled kindly and replied that it was okay. The eyes gazing at the bewildered child were unbearably warm. She kept the unimportant questions engulfed inside her and gave her thanks until the very end, and she moved away from the man.

“Oh my, he was gone in no time.”

Lucas mumbled, waving his hand to the child who was looking this way, hanging from the arms of the woman. With a leisurely hand, he threw the stone and glanced around repeatedly. He could feel the people on the street looking at him and gossiping.

Well, they’d like to take a look at someone who stopped on the street and is being thanked.

Keeping a friendly face, he then glanced at the stone kicked by Jacob before walking back to the carriage station. Meanwhile, Jacob walked quickly to the carriage station. He watched the stone fly, but honestly, he didn’t really care.

Even if there were a problem, he would have given them some money.

Would commoners dare to sue nobles?

He was just having bad luck today, that was just how he felt. However, the moment when someone grabbed the stone he kicked, and that someone’s face looked at him and smiled. He felt he couldn’t finish the day just by saying, ‘having bad luck today.’

While Lucas was held by the mother, who thanked him, Jacob hurriedly left the scene.

“Why…”

A lamentable annoyance flowed from Jacob’s mouth as he walked, biting his lip.

Why the hell was that person here?

Seeing that the mad princess or servant was not around, he seemed to have come out alone and followed Jacob.

‘I thought it would be something that didn’t exist, but it must have blown away quickly.’

He felt like he had to go home first.

If he went home first and thought about it, he might come up with a way. And soon, he could see the carriage station in the distance. A little bit of relief flashed across his face, which had been wrinkled with irritation.

No way, Lucas would get on a carriage and follow Jacob home. He could come later, not today, though once Jacob had come up with some excuses, it was clear that it would be much easier to deal with.

Still, there was one thing Jacob didn’t know. That was, once he had bad luck, most of the day, he would be unlucky.

GULP.

Jacob paused and swallowed the saliva down his throat. The sound of his neck moving was almost audible to my ears.

“What a coincidence, I see you again. Sir Jacob.”

Obviously, Jacob started walking first. How did Lucas get to him first?

Despite his confusion, Lucas greeted him with a smirk as if he knew nothing. It was so calm that anyone would think that the two of them had met by chance.

“…Sir Lucas.”

“Where are you going in such a hurry? We met again by chance, why don’t we talk together?”

Jacob glanced at the carriage station in front of his nose.

“What to do? I have some busy work to do…”

Glancing around him, Jacob slowly moved his body… No, he was about to move until a stone flew out of Lucas’s hand, who was smiling brightly as he faced Jacob. The stone flew through the air in a curve, just like when he kicked it.

Then, it fell right in front of Jacob’s feet.

If he had taken one more step, it must have hit him in the head. Because of that, he stiffened in surprise. The only thing that could move was his eyes. He stared down at the fallen stone, clouded with dust, and then moved his eyes to look at Lucas.

At the same time, Lucas’s face still had a friendly smile, as if nothing had happened even when he just tried to break Jacob’s head with that stone…!

Even though he was angry, Jacob couldn’t do anything. He felt like a mouse in front of a cat or a mouse in front of a lion.

Then, Lucas leaned back and walked slowly toward Jacob.

“What to do, I think you need to cancel your busy work?”

Between the two narrowly curved eyes, purple eyes flashed. The two moved. They didn’t go to…a good cafe to talk between nobles, it was just an empty field on the outskirts of the square.

Jacob, who almost forced himself to follow Lucas, swallowed a gulp and faced Lucas.

“Why… Are we talking here?”

“Ah, I’m a bit of a nature-friendly person.”

Lucas, who smiled naturally, answered, fiddling with the tip of his long hair.

He continued to smile deliberately. It wasn’t meant to confuse the opponent. After all, Jacob wasn’t even the kind of person he needed to put that much effort into. However, he was afraid that if he didn’t keep smiling like this, he wouldn’t be able to control himself.

Selina’s contract was very enjoyable and satisfying, but if it gets into the ears of other people, it becomes a headache.

At the most, they would be holding parties and erasing bad rumors from the past and present… Reluctantly, he went to follow behind Jacob to keep his mouth shut. To get some reassurance that he won’t divulge about today’s affairs anywhere else.

Nonetheless, by the time he got behind Jacob’s back, Lucas heard a very interesting story.

‘Sh*t! They said she wouldn’t be difficult to seduce, but what… I almost got caught by a crazy b*tch I don’t even get paid, what’s this?’

There was a lot of self-talk that came out in that angry voice. When Lucas heard the story, he was so angry that he couldn’t stand it. Anger enough to want to twist that pathetic human’s neck. He couldn’t understand himself at the strangely boiling anger.

Slowly raising his hand toward Jacob’s neck, he struggled to contain his anger.

It would only be trouble for the Duchy if he dealt with this in a place like this. If he was going to do the job, it was right to do it behind the scenes without leaving any evidence that he did it.

Lucas shrugged his shoulders and said, as Selina often does.

“What does the place matter? What matters is the content of the story.”

As he took a step closer, saying that, Jacob took a step back.

The smile on Lucas’s face gradually disappeared as the situation repeated one step further as he approached him like playing a subtle tag.

It wasn’t a very pleasant experience to see the smile disappear from the face of a person who had always had a gentle smile… No, beyond the level of ‘not a pleasant experience,’ it came as a kind of fear.

“I… I have nothing to say!”

Jacob, whose legs were trembling and repeating his backward steps, shouted and started running back. It was an instinctive run away. Unlike what he felt for the Princess, the fear that he would be killed immediately moved his body.

Lucas’s face was as cold as a cold winter as he looked at Jacob’s distant back.

“If you want to run away… You will have to leave the Empire.”

Muttering a small whisper, he then took his steps towards the man. It wasn’t a run for life like Jacob, it was a step that seemed only leisurely.

However, the pace was not at all relaxed.

Frightened at the sight of Lucas approaching quickly behind his back, Jacob stumbled and tripped over his feet. To be precise, he was about to fall. Then Lucas, who arrived next to Jacob, grabbed his back before his face was hit to the ground.

Jacob, who was exhaling harshly at the pile of dirt right in front of him, turned his eyes around to glance at Lucas, then plunged his gaze into the pile of dirt again. It was because he was so scared that he couldn’t see his face.

“You have to be careful.”

Lucas smiled as before and put him upright. He even brushed off Jacob’s hair, which had become dirty from the dust that had arisen. How delicate his touch was — if it had been someone else, their cheeks would have been blushing.

Nevertheless, Jacob twitched and trembled every time Lucas touched his body, like a scared dog.

“I heard that there are some cases where you fall and break your head.”

Then, he gave a slight smirk at the sight of Jacob, who wiggled his body and couldn’t even look at him. How dare he do such a daring thing…

It was ridiculously ridiculous.

“If that happens, won’t it be a useless death?”

Jacob’s body, which had been trembling at the word ‘death’ that came out in a gentle voice, hardened even more. Although he lived a vain life, he wasn’t stupid enough not to know of threats.

The smile on Lucas’ clean face was like a devil, Jacob thought so and closed his eyes.