Chapter 70
‘With this, I won’t have to worry about renewing the contract for a while!’
Carefully tucking the contract away, Lucy looked at Anna.
‘If I asked Anna to come with me, would she follow?’
Somehow, she felt that Anna would gladly follow her anywhere.
But Lucy hesitated, worried it might be wrong to disrupt Anna, who had only just settled down here.
After a long hesitation, Lucy cautiously asked Anna,
“Isn’t it hard living here? Anna… why don’t you leave all this behind and come with me?”
Anna looked at her and smiled warmly.
“My lady, I’m so happy to hear you say that. But… if I just follow you like this, I’d feel far too pathetic.”
“Pathetic? What do you mean!”
“I wanted to succeed here, to show you proudly that I could serve you again. I can’t just depend on you all over again. I’ll succeed and come to your side with my head held high.”
Anna smiled shyly.
“So please wait for me until then.”
“Anna…”
Lucy pulled her into a tight hug.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinking. But I want you to live your life for yourself—not just for me!”
At Lucy’s words, Anna sniffled and nodded. Before long, both their cheeks were wet with tears.
Lucy had planned to meet Anna and leave right away, but she decided to stay a little longer.
It was too hard to part so soon, and seeing Anna struggling alone in this unfamiliar town made it impossible to just walk away.
Lucy quickly sent a letter to House Rayford, saying she had arrived at Urt Village, found Anna, and would be staying a little while longer.
Every day, Lucy went with Anna to her shop.
Though Anna enjoyed Lucy’s company, she was clearly displeased with Shawn, who constantly trailed behind them.
“Shawn is a very capable mercenary. And it’s safer to have him around than for just us two women to walk together, isn’t it?”
“I really don’t see how he’s capable. I haven’t seen him actually do anything.”
“Well, the fact that there’s been nothing to guard against is a good thing for us, isn’t it?”
Lucy tried to soothe her. And it was true—Shawn didn’t really do anything.
When they arrived at the shop, Shawn would stand stiffly at the entrance, watching the surroundings, until they dragged him inside.
“Mr. Shawn! How can you just stand out front like that? You’ll scare off every customer before they even step inside!”
After a long scolding from Anna, Shawn finally obeyed and spent his time sitting silently in a chair tucked in the corner.
“Honestly, it’s impressive in its own way… how can someone sit there all day without even going to the bathroom?”
Anna clicked her tongue, baffled at Shawn’s motionless presence, except during mealtimes.
It didn’t take long before the three of them naturally fell into their own roles.
Shawn, worn down by Anna’s nagging, eventually ended up at the counter, handling simple calculations for customers—thanks to her endless scolding and repetitive drills.
And strangely enough, sales began to noticeably rise.
“Excuse me…”
Lucy, wiping down the windows outside, turned at the voice behind her.
“I want to buy a birthday gift for my mother. Could you help me choose?”
The young man blushed as he approached her.
“Of course! Come inside, I’ll help you pick something nice.”
Smiling, Lucy opened the door for him.
But the moment the man stepped inside and saw Shawn, he flinched.
“This way, please!”
Lucy quickly moved to block the man’s view of Shawn and guided him to the shelves.
While she disappeared with the customer, Anna muttered in a low voice,
“I told you not to glare at the customers like that!”
“I didn’t glare. I only looked at him.”
“Then just don’t look at the customers at all!”
Hearing this exchange, Lucy bit back her laughter and shook her head.
“Thanks to you, my lady, we’ve been getting more male customers lately!”
Once the customer had left, Anna spoke brightly.
Over the next few days, Lucy repeatedly stood by the shop window, polishing the glass where passersby could see her.
As Anna had predicted, the more she was visible at the entrance, the more male customers came in.
The atmosphere had just started to feel cheerful again when—
“You thieves! Stealing away my regular customers!”
The door slammed open, and the owner of the general store—Anna’s rival—stormed in.
“You! How dare you! Who’s stealing customers? You’re the one who stole mine in the first place!”
Anna charged at her without backing down.
“I was wondering why things had been so quiet lately—today I’ll rip out every last strand of your hair!”
Before Lucy could react, Anna grabbed the woman’s hair.
“Ah, Anna! Stop! Shawn, help me break them up!”
“You! You’re the one flirting with my customers!”
As Lucy stepped in, the woman threw off Anna’s hand and grabbed Lucy’s hair instead.
“Ahhh! Shawn, help!”
Finally moving, Shawn strode over, pried the woman’s hand from Lucy’s hair with unyielding strength, and spoke calmly,
“Leave.”
The woman spat curses, struggling to free herself from his grip.
“If you won’t, I’ll remove you by force.”
“You—!”
Before she could finish, Shawn bent down, hoisted her over his shoulder like a sack, and carried her straight out the door.
“Put me down! Do you hear me?!”
Kicking and screaming, she was hauled outside without a word from him.
By then, a crowd had gathered to watch the commotion.
“Who’s that man?”
“Did you see him? Have we ever had someone that handsome in our town?”
“Look at those arms… is he the general store’s new worker?”
The women in the crowd whispered as they watched Shawn.
After depositing the store owner back at her shop, Shawn returned silently.
It seemed like the matter was over—but then…
“Welcome!”
“Oh, that’s over here.”
All the women who had been watching the fight outside suddenly “happened” to wander into Anna’s shop, pretending to browse.
Lucy and Anna didn’t understand why, but it was clear the women wanted to get close to Shawn, hovering around him and trying to strike up conversations.
Word about Shawn spread quickly through the village. Among the young noble ladies especially, his popularity exploded.
Sales skyrocketed in just a few days.
Watching wealthy noble daughters buy up expensive goods, Anna muttered,
“Honestly… what could those pampered girls possibly like about such a stone-faced, silent man?”
She shook her head, baffled, while Lucy just laughed, thinking it was good business either way.
‘Well, he is handsome, but still…’
The shop bustled with life. Lucy laughed over small things, but secretly, she began counting the days, knowing she would soon have to leave.
She hated the thought of leaving Anna behind, but she couldn’t stay here forever.
Lucy had decided to tell Anna it was nearly time to go.
‘If only I could leave Shawn here with her… but that’s impossible, isn’t it?’
She gave a faint smile as she glanced at Shawn manning the counter.
Just then—
Shawn suddenly grabbed the sword hidden beneath the register and bolted out the door.
“Shawn?”
