Lucia

Gigue's expression remained unchanged; given his status, these things were only to be expected.

The golden guard kneeling at the head of the line slowly stood up. Judging by the uniform of her armor, she was a woman, and the only woman among all the guards.

She slowly walked up to Gigue, raised her hand, and removed the heavy golden helmet from her head. A cascade of black hair flowed down. She looked at Gigue and said softly, "Saint Gigue, I am Lucia, Captain of the Third Squad of the Figarland Family Guard. Do you remember me?"

Gigue was taken aback. He began to search his memories while scrutinizing the woman named Lucia before him.

She didn't look very old, and her slender figure was not hidden by the heavy armor. The skin exposed above her neck was as smooth as white jade, and her delicate face had a pair of large amber eyes.

However, upon closer inspection, there was a small scar below her left eye. It was this scar that made Gigue recall things about her.

This was before Gigue was taken by Gurando for experimentation.

Before the age of six, he lived a life of pampered luxury in the palace, just like other Celestial Dragons. Lucia, on the other hand, was a slave bought by Garling at an auction during one of his trips to Sabaody Archipelago.

Garling didn't have any particular fetishes; he took a liking to Lucia because the host introduced her as a princess.

Lucia's original country was not a member of the World Government. Due to its extreme weakness, it was destroyed by a group of pirates.

Except for Lucia, the royal family was almost wiped out by the pirates. When the pirates discovered her hiding under the bed, they sold her along with some treasures to the auction house.

Coming from a royal family, she stood out among the other slave children. Garling took a liking to her at first sight, bought her, and gave her to Gigue as a fourth birthday gift.

The Figarland Family's upbringing was much better than that of other Celestial Dragons, and Gigue was only four years old at the time. What bad intentions could a four-year-old child have?

Lucia was initially terrified of the boy who was three years younger than her, as she had heard about the cruelty of the Celestial Dragons from her parents since childhood. Even the so-called kings were like ants they could crush at will in their eyes.

However, Gigue never treated her as a slave. Confined deep within the family grounds by Gurando since birth, he finally had a child close to his age and naturally cherished her.

He would have Lucia sit beside him during meals and often clamored for Lucia to play childish games he heard from the nanny with him.

Gigue remembered playing house with Lucia back then. Since there were only two of them, they simply played the roles of a couple.

At first, Gigue often called Lucia "sister." Lucia was more mature than Gigue and knew she couldn't let Gigue call her that.

If such a thing got out, no matter how good their relationship was, someone would make this lowly slave disappear from Gigue's side forever.

They spent two years of peaceful time together. Not only did Lucia not suffer the inhuman torture she imagined, but under Gigue's influence, she gradually opened her closed heart.

She even thought it wouldn't be bad to stay by Gigue's side as a slave for life.

But things couldn't go as she wished. One day, when Gigue was six years old, Gurando suddenly brought a strange-looking fellow with a large head to Gigue.

Gigue was reading with Lucia at the time. Upon seeing Gurando, before he could even call out "Father," Gurando grabbed him by the waist and took him away, utterly bewildered.

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

She then realized that the vast Figarland Family was a prison to her, and she had returned to being that little girl whose country was destroyed and family annihilated.

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

In her daze, her only hope each day was to suddenly see Gigue return, so she could hold him tightly in her arms and pour out her fear and longing to him.

But she waited day after day, and Gigue never returned. News of him even seemed to become taboo within the Figarland Family.

However, she didn't give up until one day, two strangers in white lab coats walked past her as she was cleaning the courtyard.

Their attire was the same as the strange man who stood beside Gurando at the time. Lucia immediately and subtly moved closer to them, vaguely overhearing their conversation.

"Sigh, after injecting just one type of gene, it's already become like this. I don't know how much longer that child can last."

"This is already a miracle, okay? That child is still a Celestial Dragon. I really don't understand what's going on!"

"Stop talking. This isn't something we should concern ourselves with. We're just assistants. We just need to do as Doctor Vegapunk says."

Slam!

The broom in Lucia's hand fell to the ground. She ran up with all her might, blocking their path, and asked with a trembling voice, "Are... are you talking about Saint Gigue?"

The expressions of the two men changed. One of them glared fiercely at Lucia, then pulled the other and quickly left.

Lucia stood there blankly until the head female official ran over to urge her to get back to work.

She suppressed her fear and continued working under the scolding of the female official. When work ended in the evening, she didn't return to her quarters with the other servants. She found an excuse and ran off on her own.

Her usual area of activity was only the place where Gigue used to live. She followed the direction the two men had walked during the day, until a pure white building appeared in her sight.

She hid behind a flower bed, afraid to go further, because two guards in golden armor stood there. But as she turned to leave, a heart-wrenching cry suddenly came from the white building, "Let me out! Father, why are you doing this to me!!"

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

The two guards at the door were used to it. One of them chuckled and casually said, "Our Saint Gigue is at it again. Judging by the voice, it seems the dosage of the medicine injected today was a bit high."

"Yeah, we won't hear it for long. A child actually managed to last this long in such an experiment. Should we say it's worthy of the Figarland bloodline?"

"Wait a minute, did something just run past over there?"

When the two guards went to the flower bed where Lucia had been hiding, it was already empty. Only a few drops of nearly dried water stains were on the ground.