The Strongest Villain Sets Out: Reincarnated into a Merit-Based Clan, I Become the World's Strongest Swordsman - Chapter 51.5: Interlude: Lucia Morgan's Aftermath ②

“…Luka Salvatore.”

In a dimly lit room, bathed in moonlight streaming through the window, a single girl gazed up at the sky.

Her name was Lucia Morgan.

A genius girl seated at the lowest position in the Morgan ducal family, one of the hero families.

Several years ago, she had been humiliated at a royal-hosted party.

Her opponent had been Luka from the Salvatore ducal family, another hero family that had mastered martial arts.

Luka was a genius. Until that time, she had believed without doubt that she was the greatest genius, but she had been easily defeated by Luka. Since then, Lucia had continued making efforts solely to defeat Luka, but… she had realized that it was all in vain.

That had been just recently. Even now, if she closed her eyes, she could vividly recall it.

When they had their reunion after so long, Luka had been the same cheeky brat she remembered.

His confident expression, unchanged from when he had defeated her, had irritated her. Before she knew it, she had challenged Luka to a fight, ignoring her original goal of dragon subjugation and firing magic at him.

As a result, Lucia had lost. The duel itself with Luka had been invalidated partway through due to the dragon’s intervention, but it was clear which of them was stronger.

Even the forbidden designation magic she had worked so hard to learn hadn’t worked, and her spirit had nearly broken. Finally, the wicked thought of at least defeating the dragon to humiliate Luka had crossed her mind—but that too had ended in failure.

The dragon had been stronger than Lucia had imagined. Her proud magic hadn’t worked, and if Luka hadn’t rescued her just before… just thinking about what would have happened made her spine tremble.

“It was warm.”

She looked down at her own palm. What she remembered was the memory of being lifted up by Luka.

She had certainly been dazed at that time, despite being in a dire situation. She never would have thought that the warmth of another person, felt after so long, would be burned so vividly into her memory.

More than anything, it was what happened after. Lucia had fallen into the hole the dragon had opened, but Luka had saved her. Without Luka, Lucia, who couldn’t use aura, would certainly have been seriously injured or died. However, Lucia had taken an arrogant attitude toward Luka, who could be called her lifesaver.

He was the enemy who had humiliated her. Someone she could never become friends with. That feeling had taken precedence, and she hadn’t tried to acknowledge Luka.

…But surprisingly, it had been Luka who had reached out first. Luka had extended his hand to Lucia and said something astonishing:

‘Lucia, I’ll protect you. I’ll kill the dragon for you. I’ll teach you how to become stronger too. So come with me. I need you.’

…Strictly speaking, Lucia thought it had been slightly different, but she didn’t think deeply about what was probably a minor difference. And every time she remembered Luka’s words, her face turned bright red.

“I-it can’t be helped. Yeah. It can’t be helped. If Luka wants me that much, I can’t not respond! I still want to become stronger, and learning from Luka is the best shortcut!”

Luka had mastered magic that Lucia didn’t know. The magic’s name was composite magic. From the sound of it, it was probably magic that combined multiple spells.

The powerful blast and the cold air that froze the ground that he had shown her. If she could learn those from Luka, she could become much stronger.  For that, even the feuding Morgan and Salvatore families should be able to join hands.

Interpreting it that way on her own, Lucia smiled.

“Fufu. Fufufu. Luka… if you’ll protect me, I’ll protect you too. Yes. If anyone speaks impertinently, I’ll kill them for you. I’ll eliminate troublesome enemies. I’ll lock you in a sweet, sweet cage, making you mine alone—Hah?! Wh-what am I…”

Lucia, who had been muttering to herself, was surprised at her unusually strange statements. She vigorously shook her head left and right, correcting her previous words.

“No good. Completely no good. I need to be protected by Luka too! Besides… rather, I want to be bound by Luka…”

Blush.

With her cheeks dyed red, she looked up at the night sky again. The color of the sky closely resembled Luka’s hair color. From today on, Lucia felt like she might come to love the night.

“My lady? May I enter?”

Knock knock—suddenly the door was knocked on.

The voice that could be heard was that of her personal maid.

“What is it?”

“Excuse me.”

Click—the female maid opened the door upon receiving a response. She saw Lucia floating a joyful smile and smiled in the same way.

“Lucia-sama, you’ve been in a good mood since yesterday. I heard you went out to the mine—did something good happen?”

“Yes. It became a good opportunity to examine myself.”

“At the mine?”

“At the mine.”

Lucia said no more than that.

After all, she knew perfectly well that if other people heard she was joining hands with the Salvatore ducal family, there would definitely be backlash.

Therefore, Lucia’s feelings belonged only to Lucia and Luka. That made Lucia’s heart even happier.

“More importantly, do you need something?”

“Ah, that’s right. The head of the family is calling for you. Please come to the dining room.”

“Understood. Tell her I’ll be there shortly.”

“Certainly.”

The maid closed the door. When the light streaming from the hallway disappeared, Lucia looked at the night sky three times. She no longer had any dissatisfaction or anxiety.