Chapter 27

“Lucien?”

Finally, when Serenia’s voice reached him, Lucien nervously rubbed his palm on his pants and turned around. Serenia, dressed in a plain village-style dress just like Lucien, stared at him with wide eyes.

“Wow, so this is what it means.”

Lucien couldn’t help but gape in admiration. Serenia usually preferred neutral, practical clothes over anything flashy, but the calm-colored dress embroidered with wildflowers and an apron made her face shine even brighter. Of course, Lucien, blinded by love, would have praised her for being naturally beautiful even if she wore a sack.

“You said we had a covert mission today, but seeing you like this, you feel really different from usual.”

“Is it too strange?”

“No, not strange… I just realize that the face completes the outfit.”

Lucien thought, once again, that his face was perfectly Serenia’s taste and thanked his mother for passing it down to him. If only she had passed down her looks to Lucien alone not to Serion too, it would’ve been even better. Anyway, Lucien looked Serenia in the eyes and smiled as gently and kindly as he could.

“Oh, why?”

Startled by his sudden “face attack,” Serenia blushed and tried to back away, but Lucien’s waiting arm wrapped around her waist, preventing any escape.

“We’re a normal village couple out for a date in the busy town, so you can’t run away.”

“Do we have to start acting from here?”

“If you get used to it now, you won’t mess up later. Shall we go?”

With one hand firmly around Serenia’s waist, Lucien smiled brightly. Serenia, flustered by his unusually pretty and mischievous smile, could barely steady her pounding heart as she followed him.

Lately, Lucien had been acting strange. He’d suddenly started avoiding her, then just as suddenly switched to this new attitude. On the day she accidentally fell asleep at Lucien’s desk, she’d woken up at dawn to find herself in his arms—on his bed, in his room.

It seemed he hadn’t had any particular intentions, as she was dressed lightly and Lucien had hugged her tightly, like a beloved plush toy. When Serenia tried to slip out of bed after waking, Lucien, half-asleep, pulled her back into his arms. Thanks to that, she’d spent the whole night wide awake, and that had already been days ago.

“You seem happy today.”

“It’s more fun than I expected to be out of the office for once. And you’re here too. Please take care of me on our date today.”

“A… date. Uh…”

He said such embarrassing things so casually. He’d always said embarrassing things before, but they were more playful and suggestive. Recently, though, his words were so sweet and ticklish that sometimes they sent shivers down her spine.

Serenia felt like she was falling for him as if they were lovers, but determined not to get carried away. Yet every time Lucien smiled like an angel and gently coaxed her, all her resolve melted away and she found herself lost in his sweet delusions.

“Didn’t Sir Derkan say he’d come with us today?”

“It’s not Sir Derkan, it’s Major.”

“Oh, right. Major.”

“He’s following us somewhere. It’d look weird if the three of us walked together, so he’ll follow secretly and signal us if anything urgent comes up.”

It wasn’t a lie. Since Lucien had never dated a woman before, Derkan had agreed to secretly coach him from a distance. Serenia glanced toward where Derkan was hiding, and saw him nod and give a thumbs up.

Thus began the grand “Serenia Seduction Project.”

From Derkan’s perspective, there was a lot of frustration he couldn’t voice. He knew Serenia liked Lucien, and that Lucien had finally realized his feelings for Serenia. It sounded simple to just tell them and get them together, but it wasn’t that easy.

It felt wrong to tell Lucien about Serenia’s feelings without her permission, and if Derkan tried to reveal Lucien’s feelings to Serenia, she’d likely think it was just a kind lie meant to comfort her.

So, in the end, the only solution was to get Lucien to confess to Serenia himself.

But there was an unexpected twist…

<Confession isn’t just a notification, it’s confirmation. So I need to make Serenia fall for me first, but how?>

Lucien, for some reason, said something perfectly logical. Derkan wanted to smack him and tell him Serenia had liked him for ages and he should just confess, but he couldn’t say that. Gritting his teeth, Derkan asked Lucien if he knew what Serenia’s ideal type was.

Lucien, grinding his teeth, listed all the details about the person Serenia liked—so detailed it was obvious who he was talking about. Derkan stared at Lucien, who sighed as if he expected it.

<No matter how I listen, isn’t that you, Commander?>

<But she says he’s kind, reliable, and someone she can depend on.>

<Ah…>

Derkan finally understood why Lucien was convinced Serenia’s crush couldn’t possibly be him. Lucien was oddly objective about himself, believing Serenia’s rose-tinted assessment couldn’t possibly refer to him. Derkan didn’t know whether to applaud or pity him, so he just laughed.

After much thought, Derkan decided that since Serenia already liked Lucien, all he needed to do was make sure Serenia saw Lucien totally smitten with her, and the rest would fall into place. With a small festival happening in town, he decided to send them on a date.

The excuse was that Lucien needed to gather information about the ghost ship for his investigation, which was true enough not to be a complete lie.

“So, people have been seeing ghost ships on the coast lately?”

“Yes. The navy had been guarding the area because of pirates, but after the pirates were cleared out, the alert level returned to normal. At first, I thought it was just the usual rumors you hear near the sea, but there are some suspicious details.”

“Like what?”

“There are rumors that people bewitched by the ghost ship have disappeared.”

“No way…”

“It’s not certain yet, but I’m investigating in case it’s related to human trafficking.”

“That’s serious, isn’t it?”

Serenia, half nestled in Lucien’s arms, sat up straight, her eyes wide. As she slipped back into her work mode, Derkan, watching from afar, drew a big X over his head. No, seriously, what was she doing getting back to work now?

“Uh, but it’s not confirmed, just suspicion. No one’s officially reported any victims yet. With the festival, there’ll be lots of people out and security will be relaxed, so we’ll ask around for other rumors. That’s why we need to look like a couple to everyone else.”

Seeing Derkan’s desperate X sign, Lucien quickly tried to redirect Serenia’s attention from trafficking to the festival date, to acting like lovers. Serenia, still worried, nevertheless started to get into the role of a couple with surprising seriousness. She could be so simple at times.