“Yes. Nice to meet you. But today’s situation is a bit uncomfortable, so let’s formally greet each other next time.”

Lucia greeted since their eyes met, but in fact, this was not the time to be so relaxed.

She was going to look for the back door to return to the kindergarten, so as she was about to leave, Nia suddenly let go of her hand and ran off.

“Why have……! Sorry! Ivana……!!”

The child who ran off in an instant hugged Ivana tightly.

“Don’t cry, Nia, it’s not your fault. It’s okay. The bad one is that guy.”

Ivana looked somewhat complacent.

“Shush! Again, again! Didn’t I tell you not to talk like that in front of adults?! I apologize, Lucia. Ugh, this one’s just like a parrot.”

“Heh. Ivana’s the parrot, not me. Mom doesn’t know! That kid was jealous of Nia. Said he couldn’t even dream.”

“What? I only heard that a fight broke out earlier… Why are you only telling me now!?”

Lucia’s face hardened at Ivana’s words, and Julie noticed the atmosphere and felt awkward.

However, Ivana, as if it were no big deal, shrugged her small shoulders,

“Don’t think I have to apologize because I have money? That’s what he said? I’m out of allowance now. Don’t have money.”

The adults’ faces hardened once again at Ivana’s impudent words.

“Heavens, to think he said that to the children?! All dressed up in jewelry, but his face looks like it was rolled in mud. What is he teaching the children?! Hey! Don’t stand there!”

“Hey, darling. Stop. Stop. For now, it’s true that our child hit him……”

Julie tried to chase after them even as her husband tried to stop her.

But it was not Julie that needed to be stopped now, it was Lucia.

‘So that’s why she looked so down earlier.’

The fact that her status was low or that she had no money was nothing new.

In the royal palace, where Lucia was the only one of her status to face her directly, everyone knew she deliberately did not receive the status, so neither the speaker nor the listener was affected.

But when it happened to Nia, for the first time, she felt an uncomfortable emotion.

And that emotion was the urge to catch them and hang them upside down on the kindergarten rooftop right away.

If it had been before her regression, famous for its ruthlessness, she might have already done it.

But it was at that moment.

“Commander?!”

It was the voice of Berl, who recognized Lucia’s back.

“Gasp. It’s really the Commander? Vernon! Hiss! Shut your mouth! Quickly!”

“Let go! Let me go! Why is it okay for you but not for me? I also want to congratulate the Commander on her achievement!”
“Have you gone mad! The leader is hiding his identity! How much more do I have to beat around the bush?!”

“What are you talking about! Why would the leader of the proud knight order need to hide the fact that he’s the leader?”

“Captain! Do you really not know?! What the leader is called?”

“……That, the Black Mon……”

Vladis seemed to finally understand, his face once again withered like rotten tree roots.

He was really nice, but his excessive loyalty was sometimes a problem.

“I clearly called him the leader in front of that lady. Could it be, that lady is… the Black Monster?”

Someone mentioned the uproar among the members.

Then, one by one, eyes were drawn to the woman Vladis pointed at in the quieted square.

Lucia, whose eyes were fixed, rolled her pupils quietly.

If the members hadn’t stopped her, Lucia would have come in uniform.

The fact that the Black Monster was a fearsome existence was something everyone in the world knew, and she wasn’t someone who acted looking at the world’s response, so there was really no worry.

However,

“……Could it be, today’s the entrance ceremony. So here, the child of the Black Monster attends?”

“It seems so. That child also has black hair. What if she’s in the same class as our child?”

‘Monster….’

Lucia, who heard their trembling whispers, felt the sensation of discomfort grow stronger than earlier.

Perhaps it was the sensation of her, who had always been confident, noticing others’ feelings for the first time because of a child.

Of course, it’s not that the infamy of being called a monster was something to be proud of.

However, it was just that no matter what she was called, the outside world had no impact on Lucia’s life, so there was no problem.

But at this very moment, thinking about the looks her child would receive because of herself, it was a completely different world’s sensation.

Maybe this was the moment her small world, trapped by her father’s cursed words calling her a monster, shook for the first time.

It was then.

Someone caught her confused eyes.

It was Leon Luwins, holding the shy Cesar’s hand.

All of a sudden, Leon, whose eyes met Lucia’s, greeted her with an especially weary smile.

Apparently, he recalled her words not to act as if he knew her.

Leon, passing by so wistfully, suddenly turned his head to something catching his sleeve.

Then, what met his eyes again were Lucia’s sparkling clear blue eyes.

Leon felt a sudden stop in his breath.

“Leon, Lead. Er. Is that offer from earlier still valid?”

“……The, escort?”

She nodded her head with twinkling eyes.

It was unbelievable.

This was the first time she had ever called out to him in such a crowded place, and the first time she had grabbed his sleeve.

He reached out the arm opposite the one holding Cesar, barely ignoring his heart that felt like it would burst from her beautiful eyes.

Then, unbelievably, her arm landed lightly like a bird.

‘……Is this a dream.’

He couldn’t take his eyes off the touch of her hand on his arm.

As if, the blood stopped, a numb sensation.

However, the delight was momentary.

“……?”

His steps, which were supposed to go to his carriage, were moved in the opposite direction.

Despite him being the escort, he was being dragged by her powerful grip.

Ah, the blood really hadn’t circulated.

Leon looked at his hand turning pale as it was caught by her.

He glanced at her with trembling eyes, but Lucia’s expression, only looking forward, showed no change.

Thus, Lucia forcefully led Leon, squeezing into the midst of the members.

As the leader appeared, the perceptive members densely filled the surroundings, making it impossible for anyone to see inside the group.
Vernon, Gilianna, and Hiss, taken aback, were waving their hands, insisting that it was not them, while Bert had his mouth open with a stunned face.

“Le, Leader…! I have committed a sin worthy of death! Without knowing it was so…!”

When Bert, who had come to his senses, knelt before Lucia,

“No, you did well. I won’t say much. 1 o’clock direction. The justopened red carriage. The target is the smuggled goods leader. Smuggled items 187, lantern with a gourd stone, and other gems of 1 carat or more. Capture everything else and investigate thoroughly.”

It was so. The rare gourd stone that had been in the lady’s hair was smuggled goods.

Even the diamonds adorned on the Baron’s sleeve were not items that could be easily obtained.

At the unexpected praise from the leader, Bert’s face, which had looked like a rotten branch, brightened up.

And at the leader’s command, the members began to rush toward the red carriage like a pack of dogs.

In the midst of their swift movements, the people in the square were in total chaos, while Lucia, who had caught both the fallen Getherin family and the two hiding rabbits, was satisfied.

Yet, even in this satisfying situation, she couldn’t easily forget the feeling of isolation under people’s gaze earlier.