Chapter 67
“Anna, this is Shan. He’s the mercenary who helped a lot in finding you.”
“Oh my, really! Thank you so much. My name is Anna, and I serve the young lady.”
With eyes brimming with emotion, Anna rushed toward Shan, grabbed both his hands tightly, and shook them up and down enthusiastically.
Shan, looking a little uncomfortable, furrowed his brows slightly and gently pulled his hands free from Anna’s grip.
“Ah! What am I doing—let’s go to my house, young lady. You haven’t decided where you’ll stay yet, right?”
Clapping her hands lightly, Anna smiled brightly.
“What about your shop?”
“There aren’t any customers anyway. Even if I close early, no one will notice.”
Anna beamed and began tidying up, ready to leave work.
“Meeting you again is more important than business. Tonight I’ll cook a proper feast for you!”
“Wait, Anna. At your house… would there happen to be a separate room for Shan? I don’t mind sharing with you and Han, but Shan probably…”
Lucy leaned in and asked quietly.
“Of course! There’s a room for you, young lady, and also a guest room!”
Even though Anna sounded confident, Lucy couldn’t help feeling suspicious after seeing the shabby little shop Anna ran. Still, knowing there was at least a spare room gave her some relief.
“Shan, let’s stay at Anna’s place tonight. It might be less comfortable than an inn, but…”
Fortunately, he only nodded silently.
“Ah, but young lady… it’s a bit of a walk to my house. Will you be okay?”
Anna asked cautiously, watching Lucy’s expression.
If it were really far, they could always hire a carriage, but since Anna said they’d walk, Lucy figured it must be close enough for Anna to commute on foot, so she nodded without worry.
“Of course, I’ll be fine!”
But after quite some time—
“Anna… isn’t your house still far away?”
They had already been walking for over an hour.
“We’re almost there, really!”
Anna’s cheerful voice made Lucy sigh quietly. It was already the third time she’d said “almost there.”
“If I’d known, we should’ve taken a carriage. Anna, do you walk this long distance every day?”
“Oh, don’t even mention it! The rent around here is so expensive. Unless you live this far out, you can’t get a place with the money I had!”
‘Well, taking a carriage to and from work every day would cost a fortune too…’
Lucy laughed at herself for instinctively assuming a carriage was the obvious solution. Without realizing it, she had grown accustomed to the life of a noble lady.
“It’s here. This is my home!”
“Huh?”
Finally stopping, Lucy looked around. There weren’t many houses nearby.
“Here, here!”
Anna ran ahead and swung open a large iron gate in front of a fairly big two-story house.
“Heavens…!”
Lucy had imagined a small, shabby place similar to Anna’s shop, but the house’s exterior was far nicer than expected.
Anna lived in a two-story brick house with a small garden.
“This is really your house?”
Lucy stood dumbfounded, staring up at it, and Anna burst into laughter.
“Of course! It’s the house where I’d be living with my lady. I wanted something bigger and nicer, but the money I got from Mr. Dino wasn’t enough to buy both a shop and a house.”
“For me? And… money from Dino?”
Lucy looked at her with a puzzled expression.
“I planned to make money and bring you here so we could live together. Things didn’t go as smoothly as I’d hoped, but… come on, let’s go inside and talk!”
Anna smiled brightly, beckoning them in.
As the heavy black gate opened, a little garden appeared, with small trees and flowers lining a stone path.
The reddish-brown brick house wasn’t exactly grand, but it gave off a quaint, stately air—like a miniature noble’s manor.
Compared to aristocratic estates, it was tiny, but for a commoner it looked far too spacious and luxurious.
Anna flung the front door open.
Inside, a large sitting room doubled as a reception area, with a fireplace, a small table, and sofas.
“The dining room is that way. There are two bedrooms on the first floor. On the second floor, there’s a small dressing room, a guest room, and, of course, a room prepared for you, young lady!”
In short—it had everything.
Anna led Lucy and Shan upstairs.
“Mr. Shan, you can use this room. Among the guest rooms, this one’s the biggest.”
There were several doors upstairs—so there were even more rooms.
Lucy’s mouth fell open again at the sheer size of the place.
“Young lady, let me show you your room!”
“My room?”
“Of course! I bought this house with you in mind. Imagining the day we’d meet again, I prepared the best room for you.”
She led Lucy to the room opposite Shan’s.
“Oh my…”
It was a large room decorated in soft pinks and whites, cozy and charming.
“Anna…”
Anna laughed sheepishly, sticking out her tongue.
“It’s not much compared to the room you stayed in at House Diallo, but I did my best with what little money I had.”
“This is more than just better—it’s amazing!”
Just how long had Anna been living here, stubbornly holding onto the hope of meeting Lucy again?
Lucy was at a loss for words, struck by the care and warmth in the beautifully arranged room.
That evening, Anna prepared a lavish dinner.
“Please, young lady, eat plenty! You too, Mr. Shan.”
Anna’s cooking hadn’t improved much—it still wasn’t very tasty.
Lucy silently thanked fate that Anna had opened a general store instead of a restaurant, as she forced down the overly abundant food.
“Anna, this is way too much food…”
“I went all out today, just this once. Feels like I used up a month’s worth of supplies in one go.”
Anna laughed awkwardly.
“I always believed you’d return safely. After you disappeared, Mr. Dino started desperately searching for you.”
As they ate, Anna began recounting what had happened.
After Lucy was attacked and went missing in the village, Anna had left Dino’s mountain hideout with him.
“The place we went was a huge mansion. Strangely enough, everyone there called Mr. Dino ‘Master.’”
Anna had stayed there for a while, waiting for Lucy.
But as time passed with no trace of Lucy, Dino grew increasingly irritable and short-tempered.
“To be honest… it was a bit scary there. Rough-looking men came and went all the time, and sometimes I’d hear screams from the basement begging for help…”
Anna said she simply couldn’t stay there any longer.
“Then I remembered a conversation we once had—you said you’d like to buy a little house and maybe start a business when we had money.”
Lucy thought back—it was true.
Back when she and Anna first fled House Diallo, they’d been full of dreams, naively imagining happy futures.
“I realized I couldn’t rely on Mr. Dino forever. I needed to earn money myself if I wanted to find you again.”
When Anna decided to leave, Dino gave her quite a lot of money.
“He said it was compensation, since it was because of him that we suffered and lost everything we had. Honestly, he wasn’t completely wrong.”
Anna shrugged.
“So I took it. Without money, I couldn’t search for you. That’s how I managed to buy this house, a place where we could live quietly once I found you.”
She smiled brightly, but her calm tone and firm expression showed how much stronger she’d grown.
‘Just like I’ve changed, Anna has too… she seems more mature now.’
Lucy’s heart ached, knowing Anna had endured so much because of her.
“When I first opened my shop here, business actually went pretty well.”
