“Excuse me, nice to meet you. I am Merara, a countess of the Riterin family. May I sit at the table?”

“I am Serdine, a countess of the Popin family. May I sit as well?”

Two women approached the table where she was sitting with the child and greeted her.

They seemed to be new nobles, unlike those who wouldn’t greet first if they didn’t know the other’s family.

But Lucia was awkward.

She was here for the child’s entrance ceremony, but she had never been to a party since adulthood, and she had no memory of exchanging pleasantries with the ladies.

Moreover, she had to hide the fact that she was the captain of the Black Knights.

She was more comfortable eavesdropping on the crowd at the venue rather than attending the event.

But in fact, she had a way not to do all this.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Lucia. You may sit.”

It was not to mention the family name.

After breaking ties with the count’s family, she had never included her family name in introductions.

Unless someone deliberately wanted to know Lucia, there was no one who knew the face of the Black Monster, who had just become a citizen of the empire and had been absent for 5 years due to training, among the new nobles.

And especially those women who contributed to the inner court didn’t even know the name of the fearsome captain.

So if they heard without knowing such a background, it meant something like, you’re a commoner without a family name, but would you still sit?

Now it was clear that they would go on their own, so Lucia didn’t even look at them.

However.

“Oh my, you haven’t received a family name yet! We were like that until recently too. Lucky it was decided before the entrance ceremony!”

“Hoho, we were too. Even though it was denied due to duplication, my husband insisted that it had to be the name of our hometown, insisted. Ah, don’t even mention it.”

“But Lady Lucia. Where did you move from? The North? I know, I know. The calm atmosphere is just like that!”

“Oh my, my husband is also from the northern region, and it seems the atmosphere is definitely like that. There he is, there, take a look.”

Their bursting chatter poured out incessantly, confusing Lucia.

Recalling, they were newly absorbed nobles to the empire, just starting to receive new noble titles.

Thanks to that, the atmosphere that could have been uncomfortable was warm, but their soliloquies were creating a profile for Lucia without her even answering once.

“Ah, but in fact, I saw you in the waiting room. I remember the blackhaired child as it was the first time, the child was very spirited. Hoho.”
“Right. I was actually there with you. But even then, I don’t think I saw your husband. Is he very busy? Hohoho.”

Indeed.

These were the women who had given courage and motivation to the timid Nia.

They looked at Nia with curious faces for a while, and smiled brightly.

But,

“I don’t have a husband.”

“What?”

“What?”

The two ladies simultaneously looked surprised, covering their laughing mouths and blinking their eyes.

Finally, their chatter stopped, and as Lucia had anticipated, they began to exchange glances.

Then, they slowly got up from their seats.

“…….”

In aristocratic society, an environment without a husband is not welcome.

Moreover, they too had come to expand their highend connections by sending their child here, and Lucia, who was still not recognized by the city, was undoubtedly a profitless relationship.

Though Lucia had anticipated from the beginning that they would avoid her like this, seeing their stern faces made her worry a little about how the child sitting next to her would be treated in the future, which was an unavoidable fact.

But suddenly, Lucia was startled by a warm energy she felt on her shoulder.

Someone had placed their hands on her shoulders.

“Indeed. I suspected it from the moment you entered… You went to war. It must have been hard.”

“We’d like to comfort you since we are alive thanks to that, but we don’t know what comfort would be appropriate. Madam.”

Lucia was at a loss for words, feeling the faint energy emanating from both sides.

It was true that she had gone to war and that it had been tough.

And perhaps it was thanks to Lucia’s contribution that the immigrants were alive.

That’s why she could only say one word.

“…Yes.”

Lucia, whose distant and unexpected situation was repeating, felt a strange guilt.

But when the situation passed because her children had come to greet Nia, she had become unable to intervene.

Lucia was troubled.

The woman who glanced at her, wiping away tears.

Men who sent her admiring glances.

Thanks to the talkative two ladies earlier, the story of Lucia in the party hall was getting exaggerated.

To put it bluntly, she was a courageous mother who mourned her war hero husband, did not succumb to her fate, and was brave enough to send her daughter to a prestigious kindergarten at a young age.

Completely unrelated to her intentions, the black monster was becoming the empire’s foremost exemplary mother.

If anyone found out the truth behind this gap, what would happen…?

Should she say it’s not true now?

But no one asks.

She couldn’t exactly announce in the air that she was an unmarried mother who conceived Nia in a stable.

She wished someone would come and cut off the momentum of this rumor.

“Mom, is it okay?”

“…No. It’s not okay…”

She wanted to leave this place so badly that she could even be honest in response to her child’s question.

But, was fate really on Lucia’s side?

Like a lie, the murmuring stopped, and someone appeared in the clear air.

Like others, she turned her head toward the light.

Then, one by one, those who recognized him started to gasp and gather around, mesmerized by the light.

‘…? Did he have a child?’

No matter how closely she looked, he was Leon Ruins.

And he was holding the hand of a child.

‘That child is surely…’

It was unmistakable.

Berl’s nephew, Caesar.

The child she had seen in the tailor shop not long ago.

Caesar, holding Leon’s hand, looked like his flushed face would explode at any moment, with the eyes and murmuring of the small hall full of people.

The unicorn of social circles.

The aristocratic couples, startled by the appearance of that highend connection, moved their feet to approach him right away.

That’s when it happened.

“Caesar!”
Familiar booming sounds echoed behind them.

“Huh? Who is this older brother?”

Straight away, Ivane pointed to Leon and spoke.

The couple who seemed to have followed Ivane scolded their child, then seemed at a loss for words upon seeing Leon.

“He’s……. not coming, instead, Sir Leon Luwins came.”

Cesar greeted Ivane’s parents politely and replied.

“Leon? The one who always plays knight with Cesar? The one with the magic of a hundred?”

“Uh, yes.”

Cesar blushed again as if embarrassed.

“I am Ivane Berna from the Berna family of Counts. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, young lady. I am the Commander of the Magicians of the Hundred, Leon Luwins. Take care of Cesar.”

As he stroked Cesar’s head with his characteristic shining smile, everyone, including Ivane, brightened up, savoring the warmth.

“……Wow. Older brother, you’re an angel.”

Ivane covered her face with her hands and looked endlessly at Leon.

Lucia did not doubt that she was witnessing the moment of falling in love as she looked at the unfamiliar Ivane.

And with his appearance preventing any misunderstanding from spreading, she breathed a sigh of relief.

‘……There are times when Commander Leon is helpful.’