“Call me Genesis. Sugar? Honey?”

“Sugar. Wow, asking about that too?”

Elija made an expression as if she would go crazy.

“You can’t help but ask in a rural town. There are so many nosy old folks who are curious about the shape of the garden and other people’s private lives.”

“Ahahaha. But why did you come to the countryside? Wouldn’t the city be better?”

Elija and Lusilla were living in the central region. About a three-hour drive from Shalea, and that’s in a rural village on the outskirts. Since she was a traitor and a rebel, she couldn’t go down to the south.

“Lusilla lived in a city slum all her life. She said she wanted to see the green meadows, streams, sheep, and, what else was it… Oh, yes, flowers. That’s what she wanted.”

Elija looked at Loo with a quick glance as she put down the milk jug.

“Already know this, but the hospital where I stayed when I was injured was in a place like this on the outskirts. She liked it.”

“You really love the child.”

There was no answer, but there was no denial either. Loo looked at the cookie jar placed in front of her and laughed.

“Did you make it yourself? It must be delicious. Thanks.”

“Why did you come? It’s not your taste.”

Elija knew that Rustica Genesis, the Empress of the Perseta Empire, had a hobby of enjoying more expensive drinks, coffee, other beverages, and desserts than most meals in places more expensive than this. It probably wasn’t to come and eat rustic cookies, but maybe she had other business.

However, she, the Empress Mama of the Perseta Empire, just nodded and chewed on the chocolate cookie, saying it was delicious.

“Is this really delicious? What’s the secret?”

“Love.”

When Elija replied gruffly, Loo just laughed it off. Then she took a sturdy but deep-flavored tea.

“What are you going to do from now on?”

“Just live like this.”

“All the way here?”

“Right now, Lusilla has to catch up on her lacking studies. She can barely read and count. There’s a lot to teach.”

“What do you want to do for her?”

Loo grabbed an almond cookie, looking nonchalant.

“Just let her find her own ordinary thing to do. As long as it’s not a servant.”

“What about you?”

Elija frowned.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I’m an assassin, and I’ve done a lot of dirty things. Especially with a child…”

“Leaving to lead a decent life, is that what you’re suggesting?”

She hesitated, and Loo casually continued.

“You can’t keep hiding with a child, right?”

“I haven’t been hiding.”

“There are fewer eyes in the countryside. There are people who watch closely, but if you separate a few of those people, it’s quite safe. I’ve lived here and I know.”
Wearing the attire of an ordinary lady, Loo sat very leisurely on a simple yet sturdy wooden chair, gazing out the window.

“But you can’t avoid attention forever. Honestly, Lusilla, are you considering sending her to university?”

For the impoverished, or children of farmers and fishermen in Kaletta, without talent in magic or swordsmanship, there was no hope for survival.

Therefore, there were those who were more fixated on education. If only one person, just one person, came out to lift the household, the family survived.

Of course, the compulsion to learn a lot was always one of the obsessions followed by successful peasants. Elija would be the same.

“If she wants to.”

“If she wants to, send her to university, teach her well, and she may have a good job. With a good job, she may even get married again.”

Loo looked at Elija carefully.

Roughly tied hair, a wide work hat casually placed on the chair, overalls, and muddy boots left in front of the door. And the sharp but softened gaze, there was nowhere to be found the appearance of an assassin.

But she would have to prepare for the moment to return to her former self for the sake of the child.

“In the long life ahead, you can’t separate Lusilla.”

They had decided to become a family. It was a promise to become a part of each other and not part until death.

“Think about the future.”

While crunching on a cookie, Loo spoke seriously with a strange tone.

“And, though it’s worldly.”

Determined to learn the cookie recipe, she looked up at the ceiling.

It was a characteristic low ceiling of the countryside, with exposed rafters, but it was clean with not a single cobweb. She was paying attention to every detail up there.

“It’s good for the child if the guardian’s status is clear, and if what they do is formal.”

“Lusilla is a maid’s daughter, and I’m not upright either. It could even cause harm to the child.”

“Rumors will come from anywhere, Barkova. Do you think staying quiet here will prevent gossip? You know how the world works. I hear that I’m a traitor who sold out the country, too.”

A woman who sold out the country to a man. In the South, they pointed fingers at Loo like that.

Carlos knew what he had done and cursed her. Loo, who didn’t want to know or understand that psyche, just left them alone. They weren’t worth dealing with.

“What are you asking me to do?”

“Let’s betray together.”

Loo said coldly.

“We need someone who knows about the South. But nobles won’t do. They are a privileged class that lived off Kaletta’s flesh.”

“So, I have to climb over them, born of humble origin, and endure all sorts of finger-pointing.”

Elija laughed as if it was ridiculous.

“It’s just a suggestion. You can refuse.”

“You know it’s hard for me to refuse because I have a big weakness. You deliberately do this knowing that.”

“I just don’t want to waste a valuable talent. And we also lack manpower.”

There was no one reliable and competent.

“Think about it. The conditions are sufficient, and the security will be more thorough.”

After just saying that, Loo did not bring up the topic any further and drank her tea with a clink when the teacup was half-empty.

“Uh…”

The door opened with a clatter. Lusilla’s eyes widened as she bounced in. A familiar face smiled slightly.

“Hello, Lusilla. It’s been a while.”

“H-hello…”

The child quickly hugged Elija with an anxious expression. Such natural physical contact had become common. Perhaps Elija wasn’t too strict with Lusilla.

“It’s okay. She just came to play.”

“Yeah, that’s right. I came to play.”

Really? Watching Lusilla who seemed to be agreeing with Elija’s words and receiving a large chocolate cookie, she said, “I’ll come play more.”

“Because I was curious…”

The hungry child acted unnaturally polite. Holding onto the cookie, she kept burying her face in Elija’s back.
“Is your leg okay?”

“Yes.”

“That’s a relief.”

Without asking further, Loo instead received a large package from Delote Kyeong, who had been waiting quietly outside.

Inside were books that Lusilla would find fascinating, a new coat, hair ribbons, notebooks, and stationery.

“Looks good.”

Loo, who had torn open a cookie recipe along with a cup of tea, put on gloves and said to Elija.

“More precisely, you look happy.”

Elija expressed surprise unexpectedly. She neither smiled nor seemed particularly pleased, so what could it be?

“Thanks to you, I’ve sorted out my thoughts a lot. Thank you.”

What thoughts? Elija was about to ask but refrained. If it was something important, she would have shared it. She didn’t want to delve deeper.

“…Take care.”

“Yeah. Think about what I said.”

Elija Barkova, three years later, took office as the Southern Administrator with a teenage girl in tow.