"Really? Thank god..." Akidia looked genuinely relieved upon hearing Lucia's answer, as if her daughter herself had been spared.
Lapis, watching from the side, had to tilt her head. 'Did I gain a big sister when I wasn't looking?' But then she shook her head.
That was just her mother's personality. It may look overly naive and innocent, but looking at it objectively... this was only a woman being relieved upon hearing that someone's life wasn't in danger.
Which was a normal reaction—if not for this era's current perception of what really constituted kindness.
In this age of indifference and selfishness, kindness to strangers was only folly and naivety. Sometimes it was even mocked and ridiculed.
Lapis shook her head and tuned back into the suspicious woman's words, curious to see how she planned on swaying that son-obsessed mother of hers.
"I'm Ashen's... secretary. Of sorts. My job is to monitor his health, whether mental or physical, take care of his needs, and keep him alive if he ever screws up."
'Not really, but going forward, I'll make sure of it...' Lucia thought, with no small amount of guilt brewing for unexpectedly having to lie to such a kind soul.
That seemed to get Akidia's full attention.
"Really? Then I must thank you, dear, for all the work you've done..."
Suddenly, Lucia felt this task had become much more unpleasant. But doing unpleasant things was the least of her worries in her line of work, and she had long since learned to roll with it.
"But Lucia, if you want to convince me to keep Ash on this job, then don't bother. I can only be sorry if this will cause you any inconvenience."
Akidia seemed to have caught on to Lucia's intent.
It seemed that a kind person didn't equate to a stupid one, and neither did it make them unable to draw the line.
And the line was drawn when it came to her family for Akidia.
Lucia's eyes conveyed her understanding. "No, you have every right to care for Ashen. I'm not stopping you—I just wanted to offer an opinion..."
"Yes...?" Akidia didn't know where this was going, so she just tilted her head.
What opinion could a stranger offer here? She wouldn't change her mind either way.
"Before that, let me tell you how I met your son, as it might offer a different perspective—my perspective..."
Lucia lingered for a beat.
"The first time I met Ashen, it was by a river; he was in such a despondent state that I couldn't help myself from approaching..." Her voice mellowed, and she glanced up as if reminiscing.
"The look in his eyes was completely dead... and no matter what I did to get his attention, his gaze was only set across the river... I thought he might even be contemplating throwing himself in there..."
The last remark drew a sharp inhale from Lapis, while Akidia just held on to his arm more tightly.
Hans's mood got even gloomier.
Ashen, whose face darkened, kept nudging her with his arms to no avail as she continued.
"There are many things that could bring a man down, and more than half of them aren't even physical... So I didn't judge him..."
She looked at Ashen with sympathy, as if she wasn't the one who conned him into signing his life away without a shred of mercy that day.
"I had a job opportunity at Atlas back then. I could have offered it to someone else, but I thought, doing so would make a normal man's life better, but it won't change it..." She let a moment pass. "For that man by the river, though, it might completely offer him a second chance."
She sighed sadly. "That was my mistake though... I was just a lowly recruiter, so I didn't know the job's specifics... If I had known, I would have never involved an innocent person."
'Which is true, since I don't consider lowlifes innocent by any means,' she added silently.
No one interrupted her, so she continued. "The window of opportunity was closing, so Ashen started working that very same day, and since I was overwhelmed with guilt for making him sign such an unfair contract, I volunteered for the job of his caretaker..."
She lifted her head, which had been hung low in 'guilt', and looked at everyone's eyes with her now puffy and teary ones, before finally stopping on Akidia's.
"I'm sorry for rambling on for so long, or if I reminded you of things that you'd rather not remember, but I wanted you to see the difference..."
Lucia leaned forward and put a hand on Ashen's shoulder. "I've seen it with my own eyes... How he went from being practically a corpse to such a powerful man..." She let her eyes roam the compact muscles under his shirt for a second too long.
Then, she added, her expression awed. It was as if she could still picture his transformation right this instant. "...It wasn't only a physical change... The indifference slowly turned to dedication... the depression gave way to courage... And he didn't stop there... wasn't satisfied... and kept going..."
She let a gentle smile, bordering on adoration, emerge on her face.
"...That was the thing that made me believe in him more than anything... It was the hunger to never be satisfied with his current state; Even when the supervisors noticed his excellence and promoted him, it didn't dull his drive to strive for more..."
Her look was the look of a woman completely crushing on a man, and she wasn't shy to show it.
Ashen, sitting beside her, didn't utter a single word as he was doing his damndest to keep his face blank, because any other expression would probably morph into complete bewilderment from the amount of bullshit he was hearing.
By now, everyone was speechless. Was this really the same Ashen they knew? Everyone doubted it... Even his own mother. What was ironic was that it actually wasn't far from the truth.
But the family couldn't hold onto their doubt for long. Lucia's expression was too convincing.
Coupled with the physical proof in his ripped frame, his neat appearance, and the renewed vitality in his demeanor—so absent just six months ago…
It was hard to maintain doubt against so much proof.
And more than that, why would such a respectable woman debase herself to lie for Ashen?
Not to mention the obvious look of infatuation, the lingering touches here and there... it was obvious that she was smitten with him. That couldn't have come out of nowhere.
Akidia, though, still didn't know how this related to her desire for Ashen to quit this dangerous job. "I... I only want him safe. You understand, don't you? A mother can't help herself."
Lucia's smile warmed again, sliding back into that approachable act as easily as flipping a switch. "Of course. I'd expect nothing less."
But then she leaned in, voice getting lower. "But have you thought about how this will affect Ashen himself...?"