“This is the only place where merchants like me with no money can barely scrape by. And the only market where people can eat cheaply. Look outside the window.”

“…Ah.”

As she tilted the clothcovered window, people, just as he said, were cautiously emerging.

“You don’t seem surprised, old man.”

As she pointed out, the old man was not surprised even when he saw the black uniform.

“When you’re my age, you can quickly tell if someone’s a foe or an ally.”

“…Is that so.”

Lucia had experienced what he said, but she couldn’t empathize.

Behind their conversation, Leon remained silent and observant, as if guilty.

‘…I must be insane.’

Regaining her senses, she was even frustrated at herself for arriving in disguise, even casting a spell on her hair, against the absurd persuasion of her colleagues.

However, she had no regrets about choosing black hair like hers.

Anyway, she never thought that people would be so terrified of a member of the Black Knights like him.

“But, continuing to wear that uniform seems like a bad idea. How about you wear a disguise? Wait just a moment!”

“…”

Frantically searching through his wardrobe, fearing that the precious knights from the palace might leave.

No one could stop him in his desperate state.

Thus, as he went to rummage through another drawer in a different room, the two were left alone in the kitchen.

The atmosphere grew heavy.

Lucia began to accurately identify the true culprit.

“Vernon, Gilliana, Hiss. Does this include the squad leader Berl as well?”

Leon flinched at her tightly packed words.

“It’s not related! I just didn’t exercise proper judgement and…”

“I found it!”

Fortunately, it was the old man who had been desperately searching for clothes.

In his wrinkled smiling hands were ordinary clothes that men and women would wear.

“Ha ha, these clothes were left over. My wife and I wore these when we got married. She’s now in the hospice, but back then, she was very beautiful.”

“…!”

The clothes, strangely similar in color, felt like something a couple would wear to match.

Seeing that, Leon’s gloomy mood lifted strangely.

Yes.

In Leon’s mind now,

‘…Is this the socalled couple undercover investigation?’

A situation he hadn’t expected unfolded.

If he’d known such an event existed, he wouldn’t have hesitated to come here when they discussed changing jobs.

“Both of you have the same hair color, and the ages look just right…”

The old man’s natural suggestion made Leon’s ears twitch.

And before that suggestion could be blocked, Leon picked it up.

“Well, in that case, there’s no choice but to…”

“…Siblings!”

“Yes, as siblings… What?”

“Go as brother and sister! It would be perfect, wouldn’t it!”

“… ”

Leon, who had been trying to escape, clung onto his chance.

And that decision was,

“We have no choice then. Alright.”
The decision was made without hesitation due to Lucia changing her clothes.

Watching her retreating figure, Leon muttered resentfully, masking his resentment toward his grandfather.

“…It seems that as one gets older, one only properly distinguishes between enemies and allies.”

.

.

.

The night market buzzed to life once again.

In it, Leon and Lucia began to walk leisurely, hiding their true intentions.

They had agreed to pretend to be siblings if anyone approached them, but no one did.

Despite wearing old linen clothes, many were intrigued by their striking appearance, precisely because their vibe really seemed like that of genuine siblings.

As if by chance, they wore similar clothes, regarded each other as pests, yet were stuck together—real, gritty siblings.

In reality, the atmosphere was awkward due to Lucia’s blunt demeanor and Leon’s tension.

Leon, recalling Vernon’s words after identifying the culprit, felt an odd chill towards her.

“You must tell the leader that we didn’t mean to do that on purpose! Absolutely!”

Wanting to keep the promise, Leon subtly approached Lucia.

“…Are you angry?”

“Well, if I’m angry about what happened, it’s not because of the leader.”

“I hope you’re not scolding.”

“…”

From the way she simply said not to say that, it was clear that the quickwitted Vernon had instructed her to say so.

Therefore, Lucia became even angrier.

Seeing this, Leon began to sweat as he earnestly explained himself.

“In fact, it’s Lucia’s men who have saved me, drained from attending to the emissary for several days…!”

“Until night?”

“Ah, no?! No way!”

“?”

Her question was merely whether he had been escorted.

Realizing this belatedly, Leon sighed softly.

“When I was younger, you were like a cute sister, but now it’s not easy being with a princess who has become a stranger.”

At his words, Lucia recalled the princess throwing herself at him.

“Indeed, such types are tough.”

Being someone who experienced similar things during her days escorting Prince Airen, she felt a momentary compassion.

From the way he said he had been ‘rescued,’ was he finding relief in helping others, just like when he took a subordinate’s child to kindergarten?

If that’s the case,

“If this cheers you up, it’s okay to help occasionally. But you’ll have to deal with it if you’re caught by higherups.”

If his men were willing to help him, the relationship couldn’t be bad, and it was a logical judgment that cost savings could also be expected.

However, Leon, ignorant of such circumstances, stopped and doubted his ears.

Is it okay to come along?

Her meaningful gaze confirmed it with a nod.

Leon was so pleased with the gain he had made during this unexpected time with her that words could not describe it.

Whether something like his imagination would happen was unknown, but…

“Woaaaah!”

“Look! Look! It’s a fire show!”

Holding back a bursting laugh, Leon made way for the running children.

Although the security outside the walls was likely worse, the children of the night market were quite free.

Watching the children, Leon seemed to recall something and spoke to Lucia.

“Do you know what Nia likes?”

“Nia?”

Having come to the night market, he thought it would be nice to send a gift.

It was awkward for Lucia to hear Nia’s name from his mouth.

“Yes, she is surprisingly clever and an extremely cute child. I had a conversation with her when I served as a guide for the sparrow group.”

“Clever, you say? That’s a first.”

These days, she seemed like a child who would be bored regardless of who picked her up.

However, thinking of what Nia might like…

“I don’t know what Nia likes…”

Food would be taken care of by others than me, and the same went for clothes and school supplies.

“…Ah.”

But there was one thing that she recalled the child saying she liked.

“Did you remember something?”

“…Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Nia likes me.”
“It’s a coincidence. I’m Rion.”

Rion almost blurted out his true feelings without much thought.

It was because his heart involuntarily raced at the sight of her unfamiliar blush.

Could this be what it’s like to fall for someone again?