After Daniel left the office to meet with the head of the Security Bureau.
“…….”
Lucy set down the documents and stared blankly at the door through which Daniel had just exited.
Lucy shook her head after feeling an uneasy gaze linger on the door.
She reasoned it was better to set aside such strange thoughts and focus on her duties.
However, Lucy soon found herself unable to concentrate as she started reviewing the documents.
It wasn’t just a lack of focus; all she could think about was Daniel Steiner.
‘He must certainly be under suspicion by the head of the Security Bureau…’
Lucy had a vague awareness of this.
It wasn’t the Security Bureau that wiped out the Palencia Branch—it was Daniel.
In the past, Daniel Steiner had also attacked and dismantled the covert organization of the prince.
It was almost certain that this time around, Daniel similarly dismantled the Palencia Branch.
But why?
To Lucy’s eyes, Daniel’s attack on the Palencia Branch was akin to wielding a double-edged sword.
If he succeeded, he could cleanly eradicate the spies within the United Nations’ system. However, if he failed, Daniel would not only lose his covert organization but also become the top assassination target for the intelligence agents.
Why, then, would Daniel take such a risk to attack the Palencia Branch?
As Lucy thought deeper and deeper, she arrived at a possible conclusion.
‘…Could it be because of me?’
This wasn’t mere speculation.
Daniel knew Lucy was a test subject.
‘Whether he feels sympathy or compassion, I’m not entirely sure…’
To Lucy, Daniel was unusually kind to her.
He frequently took her to the dessert shop and bought her various foods.
What’s more, when the security officers came, Daniel stood up front and defended her.
‘Even though he knows I’m both a test subject and a spy for the United Nations, Daniel has always helped me…’
There was no apparent benefit for him, and he certainly knew such behavior could endanger himself.
‘If this is also because Daniel moved to protect me…’
All these events suddenly made sense.
From Daniel’s standpoint, eliminating the Palencia Branch must have seemed the easiest way to protect Lucy.
Although Daniel himself was merely dining in a tavern called “Beer Paradise” and knew nothing of Lucy’s suspicions, Lucy had no way of knowing this.
After all, Daniel wasn’t only adept at managing his covert organization but was also so skilled at gathering information that he was aware his aide-de-camp was a former test subject.
Moreover, recently, Daniel had turned a newspaper into his propaganda tool and formed a peculiar alliance with a religious group.
It was hard to imagine that such a person wouldn’t know about the Palencia Branch.
If he had investigated the Palencia Branch, he would also know about Lucy turning her back on it after her fight.
‘…That’s why he took action.’
To protect his underling.
When this realization hit Lucy, a sense of guilt washed over her.
She wasn’t comfortable feeling like she had accepted Daniel’s help again without offering anything in return.
‘I’ve done nothing for him…’
Despite this, Daniel had silently continued doing his part.
Even though he must know that assisting a United Nations spy, even as his aide, was not right, Daniel did so anyway.
Faced with Daniel’s almost self-sacrificing attitude, Lucy felt her heart constrict.
‘I want to repay his kindness. Somehow…’
She wanted to give Daniel Steiner more than what she had received from him thus far.
It wasn’t just about making desserts or beet soup for him—Lucy wanted to give him something tangible, meaningful.
However, she couldn’t figure out what her actions could do to help him under the current circumstances.
She thought of fleeing before causing Daniel any more trouble but quickly rejected the idea.
She believed that disappearing after receiving his kindness would undermine Daniel’s efforts.
So how could she help Daniel?
With her work abandoned, Lucy sighed softly.
‘I don’t know…’
She really had no idea.
The only thing Lucy knew about Daniel outside of work was that he liked desserts and was surprisingly playful for a man of his stature.
‘I don’t even know what else he wants…’
Lucy paused her thoughts.
Then she remembered something else she knew about Daniel.
‘Kelly.’
Daniel’s deceased wife.
If she could see what Kelly looked like, maybe she could style herself similarly.
As soon as she had this rather absurd thought, Lucy shook her head.
‘No. He might dislike that…’
Daniel might think it more beautiful to leave the past in the past.
Groaning softly, Lucy’s forehead furrowed.
Impatiently tapping her fingers on the table, her gaze turned toward Daniel’s seat.
‘The coat…’
There, on the chair, hung the officer’s coat Daniel always wore.
Thinking there was a photo of Kelly in the inner pocket of that coat made Lucy’s heart restless.
‘I want to see…’
She wanted to know what kind of woman had captured Daniel’s heart.
‘But…’
Considering that Daniel might disapprove, she hesitated to act on her impulse.
‘Let me not do it. It’s wrong.’
Repeating inwardly her determination to restrain herself, Lucy returned her hands to the documents.
Yet her attention kept drifting toward Daniel’s coat.
As if drawn by a magnet, her vision kept returning to it.
Even closing her eyes tightly to regain focus, the image of the photograph inside the coat lingered in her mind.
Thinking she could no longer resist, Lucy slowly rose to her feet.
‘I’ll just take a little look. It will be fine if I just see a little…’
With these irrational justifications, Lucy walked toward the coat Daniel had left behind.
She hesitated for a moment before finally plunging her hand into the inner pocket and retrieving a photograph.
But it wasn’t a picture of Kelly.
What Lucy pulled out was a photo of Daniel surrounded by children from an orphanage, smiling.
It was a picture she had seen before.
Staring at it blankly, her eyes half-closed as she absorbed an indescribable feeling.
The tightly-held rationality inside her loosened, allowing impulsive thoughts to surface.
Mixed emotions of sadness and warm indifference flooded her mind, all because of the kindness evident in Daniel’s expression from the photo.
In a paradoxical twist, Lucy was actually feeling jealous of Daniel’s kindness.
‘Daniel is a good person, so…’
Lucy realized that even if it weren’t her, Daniel would have helped his aide-de-camp.
What Daniel was risking his life for wasn’t “Lucy Emilia,” but rather “the unfortunate woman who was a test subject.”
If someone else had been in her position, Daniel would have likely shown the same reaction.
‘Even when I met him disguised in the park…’
Even though, to Daniel, she was just an unknown woman he had never met, he went out of his way to escort her.
Contrary to his usual demeanor, he spoke with familiarity and even confessed inner thoughts that he hadn’t shared with his own underling, Lucy.
Ironically, Daniel had more freely opened up to someone he met for the first time in the park than to Lucy, whom he had known for nearly a year.
Lucy didn’t like this.
She disliked the idea of Daniel being ‘kind to everyone.’
She didn’t want to accept the possibility that she was merely one person among many in Daniel’s eyes.
With a low sigh, Lucy returned the picture to the pocket.
Then she hesitated upon catching a faint scent from the coat.
Perhaps it was a mild soap fragrance mixed with a slight trace of sweat.
The clean yet soft smell was stirring faint feelings in her.
In a daze, Lucy leaned forward and sniffed the scent.
‘It smells nice…’
It reminded her of the faint musk she had noticed when she hugged Daniel at her quarters in the past.
With her eyes closed, savoring the scent, she suddenly opened them wide, startled.
She felt a subconscious wave of shame for her instinctive actions.
Her cheeks reddened, and after clearing her throat, she straightened her posture.
However, her gaze still lingered on Daniel’s coat.
It wasn’t based on an instinct to smell it again but rather the memory of the photos inside it that had lingered in her mind.
She found herself wishing for a photo of herself to be added among the ones Daniel always carried.
‘I don’t want to be remembered as just anyone…’
With her hand lightly tracing the shoulder of the coat, Lucy’s eyes softened.
‘But how can I…’
How could she make Daniel see her as someone special?
Moreover, she wanted to be someone truly precious to him.
Lost in these musings, Lucy eventually cracked a somewhat awkward smile.
‘Liking someone from afar…’
She realized that it wasn’t as joyful as she’d imagined.
