"It feels so good to be free again!"
Lux looked at Luke gratefully, letting out a long breath. "You have no idea how miserable my day has been."
"I can kinda tell," Luke said, continuing to sip his tea, thinking back to what he'd just witnessed.
"Forget it! Let's eat cake!" Lux's bright, sparkling eyes locked onto the delicate cake box. She said happily, "This is my favorite place to buy from. I thought there was no chance today—thank you so much!"
"As long as it's to your liking," Luke said with a smile.
"As a thank-you gift, I'm willing to share half of this cake with you!" Lux declared generously. She opened the box—inside was a beautifully made strawberry cake, plus two little forks.
But when she saw the single lonely strawberry sitting on top, she hesitated.
One strawberry… how was she supposed to split that evenly?
Luke said politely, "No need. I'll just watch you eat."
Lux refused on the spot. "How is that acceptable? We have to split it! You can be the one to divide it!"
"No need to make it complicated. I'll just have a little," Luke said. As he spoke, he picked up the small fork, speared the strawberry with pinpoint precision, and popped it into his mouth in one bite.
Lux froze, staring as that vivid red strawberry disappeared into Luke's mouth.
"I'm not being greedy. Strawberries just happen to be my favorite fruit," Luke said with a satisfied sigh. "Miss Crownguard, you're truly a good person."
The moment he thought about how he'd already secretly eaten a whole cake on the way here, his conscience gave a faint, guilty twinge.
Lux really was such a kind girl.
"Y-you're happy, that's what matters," Lux said through a forced smile. At that moment, it felt like her heart was bleeding!
As if she wasn't the one who loved strawberries the most!
She lowered her head and stared blankly at the strawberry cake that no longer had a strawberry.
A cake without strawberries…
It had no soul!
But today, she had to take care of her guest first.
Lux, be strong!
Her sadness was painfully obvious, and Luke didn't have to look hard to notice. "You look pretty upset. Was that strawberry really that important to you?"
Hearing that, Lux—already feeling wronged—couldn't help but nod.
Of course, Luke was asking when he already knew the answer. He just couldn't resist teasing her, since Miss Crownguard always looked so cheerful.
So he casually added, "Actually, I already ate one on the way here."
Lux snapped her head up and stared at him in disbelief. "Why didn't you say so earlier?! Don't you know the strawberry is the soul of the cake?! You already ate one—and you still did that!"
"If I'd known it would turn out like this, I would've said so," Luke said innocently.
"Y-you—you're the worst!" Lux finally saw through that innocent face and recognized what kind of person he really was!
She couldn't take it anymore!
Two strawberry cakes, and this guy got two strawberries all to himself!
And he left her with a strawberry cake that didn't even have a strawberry!
He did it on purpose!
Shameless!
Lux had never met someone this nasty in her entire life!
"So are you eating it or not?" Luke's eyes were already on the cake as he reached out with his sinful hand.
"Stop!" Lux reacted instantly, grabbed the cake, and sprinted away.
Luke laughed. "Didn't you say the strawberry is the soul? You still want a cake with no soul?"
"The soul is important, sure—but a soul needs a body too! They're equally important!" Lux argued righteously. Soul and body—she had to get at least one!
Then she started eating. The way she ate was pretty adorable. Even though she was still mad, the sweetness of the cream gave Miss Crownguard a tiny bit of happiness.
After finishing the cake, Lux seemed to recover a lot of her mood.
She sat back down, poured herself a cup of tea, and said, "I almost forgot you're a guest. Since you helped me get my freedom back, I'll forgive you for the strawberry thing."
She'd gotten so angry at this guy just now that she'd almost lost her composure.
That wasn't ladylike!
"Thank you for your generosity, Miss Crownguard," Luke said, grinning.
"But!" Lux's tone abruptly shifted—there was more. "You have to do one thing for me!"
Luke asked curiously, "What is it?"
"It'll be easy for you," Lux said, glancing toward the living room entrance and lowering her voice without realizing it. "Go tell my mother and get her to agree to let me go out this afternoon."
"That's so simple. Why don't you say it yourself?" Luke took a leisurely sip of tea.
"If it were that simple, would I have been confined this morning?" Lux shot him a glare and urged, "Go on!"
"Alright," Luke said.
He finished his tea, stood up, and walked out of the living room.
Lux stood too, following behind carefully, whispering a reminder. "My mother should be in the second-to-last room down the hall."
Luke nodded. There weren't many rooms—he found it immediately.
He stopped at the door, knocked, and called out, "Lady Augatha, are you in?"
"I am. The door isn't locked—come in," Augatha's voice answered from inside.
Luke pushed the door open. Augatha was wearing round-framed glasses, stitching something with needle and thread—seemingly a classical painting.
So people here were into that too.
When Augatha saw Luke enter, she set her work aside and asked kindly, "What is it?"
"I want to look around other parts of Demacia City this afternoon," Luke said, coming up with a very solid excuse. "But I'm not familiar with a lot of places on my own, so I'd like Lux to come along and show me around."
Even so, Augatha asked suspiciously, "Lux was the one who told you to come, wasn't she?"
To be fair, as a mother, she really did know her daughter too well.
That intuition was terrifyingly sharp.
Luke shook his head. "Of course not. This is entirely my own idea."
"Is that so? Then you've found the right person," Augatha said with a smile, not overthinking it. "No one knows the capital better than that girl. She's the one who runs around having fun all day."
Luke asked, "So you're agreeing?"
"Why wouldn't I? Go on—just don't miss dinner," Augatha said warmly. She seemed extremely accommodating toward him.
"Thank you, Lady Augatha," Luke said.
He left the room and gently closed the door behind him.
Once outside, he spotted a small head peeking out from behind the far wall—Lux secretly watching.
Luke raised his hand and gave her a thumbs-up.
Lux immediately beamed, stepping out openly at last.
The instant she did, the door opened again—Augatha walked out from inside.
Lux jumped in fright and quickly retreated back.
"Why is that child hiding?" Augatha glanced at her strangely, then instructed, "Same as always—once you're out, don't just focus on having fun. Look after His Highness, the Second Prince. Understood?"
"Understood!" Lux straightened up on the spot, like a soldier receiving an important mission.