Lucia

Gigue's expression remained unchanged. Given his status, this was only to be expected.

The Golden Armor guard kneeling at the front slowly rose. Judging by the style of her armor, she was a woman—and the only woman among all the guards.

She slowly walked up to Gigue, raised a hand to remove the heavy golden helmet from her head, and a cascade of black hair spilled down. Looking at Gigue, she said softly,

"Saint Gigue, I am Lucia, captain of the Third Guard Squad of the Figarland Family. Do you still remember me?"

Gigue froze for a moment. He began searching through his old memories as he studied the woman before him named Lucia.

She looked quite young. Even the heavy armor could not conceal her graceful figure. The skin exposed above her neck was as smooth as white jade, and her delicate face held a pair of large amber eyes.

But upon closer inspection, there was a small scar beneath her left eye. It was that scar that made Gigue remember her.

That had happened before Gurando took Gigue away for the experiments.

Before the age of six, he had still lived a pampered life in the palace like the other Celestial Dragons. Lucia, meanwhile, had been a slave Garling bought at an auction during a trip to the Sabaody Archipelago.

Garling did not have any particular tastes. He had taken an interest in Lucia because the auctioneer had introduced her as a Princess.

Lucia's original country had been a non-member nation. Because it had been far too weak, it had actually been destroyed by a band of pirates.

Nearly all of the royal family, aside from Lucia, had been slaughtered by the pirates. After they found her hiding beneath a bed, they sold her, along with some treasures, to the auction house.

Born into royalty, she stood out among the slave children at the time. Garling took a liking to her at first glance and bought her as a gift for Gigue's fourth birthday.

The Figarland Family's household customs were much better than those of other Celestial Dragons. Besides, Gigue had only been four then. What evil intentions could a four-year-old child possibly have?

At first, Lucia had been terrified of the boy who was three years younger than her. Ever since childhood, she had heard from her parents about the Celestial Dragons' brutality. Even so-called Kings were nothing more than ants they could crush at will.

Yet Gigue had never treated her as a slave. Having been confined deep within the family grounds by Gurando since birth, he had finally met a child around his own age, so naturally he cherished her greatly.

At meals, he would have Lucia sit beside him and eat with him. He would also often clamour for Lucia to play childish games he had heard about from the nanny.

Gigue remembered that he had once played house with Lucia. Since there were only the two of them, they simply played the roles of husband and wife.

At first, Gigue often called Lucia his big sister. Lucia was more mature than Gigue, and she knew she could not let him keep calling her that.

If word of it got out, then no matter how good their relationship was, someone would make sure that she, a lowly slave, disappeared from Gigue's side forever.

The two spent two peaceful years together. Not only did Lucia avoid the inhuman torment she had imagined, but under Gigue's influence, she gradually opened her closed-off heart.

She had even thought that staying by Gigue's side as a slave for the rest of her life would not be so bad.

But things could not go as she wished. One day, when Gigue was six, Gurando suddenly brought a strange-looking man with an enormous head before him.

Gigue had been listening to Lucia read to him. When he saw Gurando, he had not even managed to call him Father before Gurando tucked him under his arm and carried him away, leaving him utterly bewildered.

For a long time after that, Lucia never saw Gigue again. Without Gigue, she was suddenly overwhelmed by fear.

Only then did she realize that the vast Figarland Family was a prison to her. She had become that little girl whose country and family had been destroyed once more.

Gigue had always been the light that illuminated her, but now that light had vanished.

In her dazed state, her only hope each day was that Gigue would suddenly return. Then she would hold him tightly in her arms and tell him of her fear and longing.

But she waited day after day, and Gigue never returned. Even news of Gigue seemed to have become a taboo within the Figarland Family.

Still, she did not give up. Until one day, two unfamiliar people in white lab coats passed by her while she was sweeping the courtyard.

Their attire was the same as that of the strange man who had stood beside Gurando back then. Lucia immediately approached them without drawing attention, vaguely hearing what they were discussing.

"Sigh, he looks like this after just one gene injection. I really wonder how much longer that child can hold on."

"Isn't this already a miracle? That child is a Celestial Dragon too. I really can't figure out what's going on!"

"Enough. This isn't our concern. We're only assistants. We just need to do as Doctor Vegapunk says."

Smack!

The broom in Lucia's hand fell to the ground. She ran over with all her strength, blocked the two men's path, and asked in a trembling voice,

"You... are you talking about Saint Gigue?"

Both men's expressions changed. One of them shot Lucia a fierce glare, then pulled the other away at a brisk pace.

Lucia stood there blankly until the female supervisor came over to urge her along, snapping her back to her senses.

She forcibly suppressed the fear in her heart and continued working amid the supervisor's scolding. When work ended that night, she did not return to the servants' quarters with the others. She made up an excuse and slipped away alone.

Normally, the only place she was allowed to go was where Gigue had lived before. She followed the direction the two men had come from that day until a pure white building appeared in her sight.

She hid behind a flower bed, not daring to move any closer, because two guards in Golden Armor stood there. But just as she turned to leave, a heart-rending shout suddenly came from the white building,

"Let me out! Father, why are you doing this to me?!"

The voice was terribly hoarse, but Lucia recognized it as Gigue's immediately.

The two guards at the entrance had long grown accustomed to it. One of them yawned and casually said,

"Our Saint Gigue has started again. From that voice, it seems today's dosage was a little high."

"Hah, it'll go quiet soon enough. For a child to hold out in that kind of experiment until now, should we say that's worthy of the Figarland Family's bloodline?"

"Wait, didn't something run past over there just now?"

By the time the two guards reached the flower bed where Lucia had been hiding, it was already empty. Only a few drops of water, nearly dry, remained on the ground.

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