After lunch, everyone headed outside to enjoy the post-rain scenery.
The dark clouds had mostly scattered by now, but the sky still wasn't bright. After a rainfall like that, the air couldn't work up any heat even if it tried.
Instead, it felt cool and refreshing. After a huge downpour, watermarks were everywhere—like the whole world had been rinsed clean.
The vibe was perfect. And strangely quiet, too. As everyone took in the view, nobody hated rainy days.
It was just a shame they couldn't practice with the bicycle.
Puddles covered the ground, everything was slick, and if you wiped out during practice, your clothes would be filthy for sure.
So the practice plan got pushed back, and for a moment they didn't know what to do.
Luke thought for a bit. "Alright—tidy up. We're heading into town."
In reality, it was already past three-thirty in the afternoon.
Because Mah Jongg was the kind of thing that made you forget time existed. The girls refused to accept defeat, so they dragged Luke into a few more rounds.
That naturally delayed lunch.
Then making lunch took time too—by the time they finished eating, midday was long gone.
Luke wanted to go shopping. Lately there were more mouths at home, ingredients vanished fast, and it was time to restock.
He also planned to buy some medicinal herbs, including silver needles for acupuncture.
There was a lot to pick up, and he also wanted to swing by Navis's place to check in.
Once the decision was made, they got ready to move.
Sona didn't really want to go somewhere crowded, so she decided to stay home.
Fiora thought it over and chose to stay with her.
So the group heading out was only Luke, Lux, Kahina, and Yurna.
But it was just some shopping—there was no need for everyone to go.
"Let's roll!"
After a bit of preparation, the carriage set off at Luke's command.
On the road, Luke lifted the carriage curtain and looked outside.
The capital's drainage system was pretty solid. The streets were wet, but even after that morning's downpour, it hadn't really caused traffic problems.
Part of that was also because the capital sat high—built almost up against the mountainside, with buildings rising higher and higher as you went.
It was hard to notice in daily life because the city was so large, but the palace itself was built on higher ground.
And along the streets, every few blocks you could see an entrance to the underground sewers. Those sewers fed into a large river, and that river ran all the way out to the sea.
Even though it had just rained, the streets were still busy with people coming and going.
Luke even spotted newspapers—at a small stall by the roadside, a customer sat there with a paper clearly in hand, reading.
He turned and asked Kahina, "How are newspaper sales lately?"
The paper had started distribution near the Illuminators' Church. For the first three days it had been free, and yesterday they'd switched to paid sales.
Today was the second day.
Kahina answered, "During the free period, we had a ton of people. Every morning it was basically sold out immediately. We didn't even have to go hand them out—people who lived nearby just came on their own."
"But after switching to paid sales, I can tell the urge to buy dropped a lot. We still sell out every day, but it's much slower."
There was worry in her voice.
Like something might be going wrong.
If this kept up and they printed a lot every day, then couldn't sell them… that would be a huge loss.
Luke smiled. "It's fine. That's normal."
Nobody's money comes out of thin air. The moment something costs money, people naturally hesitate and weigh it more carefully.
And there was another obvious reason people's desire to buy had dropped.
Content.
The early free issues had mostly been little odds-and-ends the Illuminators collected from around town.
If it stayed like that, people might buy at first for the novelty.
But later? Nobody would want to spend two copper coins just to bring home a sheet of paper full of meaningless chatter.
So at that point, you needed hot topics to carry it.
Back in his previous life, celebrities were this unreachable presence for ordinary people, so if anything happened to them—big or small—the entire world couldn't wait to watch.
Same logic here.
It was just that "celebrities" were replaced by nobles. To commoners, nobles were just as untouchable.
And major nobles even more so. For a commoner, even exchanging a single sentence with a great noble was a massive honor.
So the moment nobles became the hook, you had your hot topic right there.
Then there was official information—which was never a problem. Luke only needed to mention it to his aunt.
But that would wait until the day the newspaper officially launched.
Next came marketing.
For any product, setting quality aside, the most important thing was marketing.
Like perfume: once you made "owning a bottle" the symbol of being refined, women would compete to buy it.
The newspaper was the same. Once "reading the paper in the morning" became the trend of the era, then if you didn't buy a paper, you'd feel like you didn't fit in.
That was the bandwagon effect.
Of course, that was marketing aimed at the general public. There were other approaches too, but there was no need to list them all right now.
So Kahina's worry was unnecessary.
Nothing was wrong—it was just that Luke hadn't started executing the next steps yet.
Luke glanced at Lux beside him, happily holding a candy-apple skewer, and chuckled.
But it was about time to start.
Lux noticed his look and tilted her head in confusion.
She still hadn't realized what kind of cruelty was waiting for her next.
After a while, the carriage slowed to a stop, and Yurna said from the front, "Your Highness, we're at the Illuminators' Church."
The three of them got down.
Luke hadn't been here in a while. With the newspaper's official launch day getting closer, he needed to check in.
And the kids here would be the main delivery force later.
The moment they stepped out, they could see the area around the church was lively, with a lot of people gathered.
The kids were off to one side, practicing on bicycles in pairs. They didn't care if the ground was dirty. Falling didn't scare them—if they wiped out, they got up and kept learning.
Playing while learning, laughing the whole time.
They'd made more than one bicycle. Only one had been delivered to Luke's place.
The others had been distributed to the three Illuminators' Churches, plus a few adults who'd been selected in advance—people willing to deliver papers.
Most of those adults were folks the churches had helped—people with injuries or missing limbs, who weren't suited for most jobs.
But learning to ride a bicycle wasn't that hard, so it was within their abilities.
"Your Highness!"
As Luke and the others got down, a few kids ran over.
It was Moff and his group—dirty all over, but clearly thrilled to see Luke.
"Good afternoon!"
Then Moff spotted Lux and greeted her with a grin. "And good afternoon to the goofball too!"
Lux immediately bristled. "Who are you calling a goofball?!"
She raised the candy-apple skewer in her hand like it was treasure.
That bright, glossy candy coating instantly captured the kids' attention.
Their eyes tracked it up and down.
Even Moff swallowed hard.
Seeing that, Lux gave a smug smile. "Want some?"
Moff and the others nodded honestly.
So Lux flashed a pretty smile. "Then say what you really feel."
Smart as he was, Moff immediately understood what she meant.
He hesitated for a long moment—but in the face of the candy apple's overwhelming temptation, he decided to betray his conscience.
"Miss Crownguard is clever and sharp. Just one look and you can tell she's gentle, graceful, and kindhearted."
"Miss Crownguard is so pretty!"
"Miss Crownguard is the most beautiful woman in the world!"
The kids piled on, one line each. They were little kids—limited vocabulary—so every sentence was squeezed out with all their brainpower.
Lux actually looked a bit proud. She glanced at their hopeful faces, sniffed, and then took a big bite.
"Too bad. You don't get any!"
Moff and the others froze.
In that instant, they understood what "the world is cruel" really meant.
Lux saw their stunned expressions, planted a hand on her hip, and laughed triumphantly. "Hahahaha!"
The laughter was pure revenge, like she was a kid herself.
The kids' eyes turned resentful.
"Alright, that's enough. Stop messing with them." Luke gave Lux a helpless look, then said to Moff, "Go call everyone over."
Moff nodded, shot Lux a glare, and ran off.
Lux kept smugly eating her candy apple and said to Luke, "You heard them, right? That's what these kids truly think of me."
"Yeah, yeah," Luke said with a dry chuckle. "Gentle and graceful, kindhearted, definitely the type who'd never trick kids."
Lux huffed. "That's what he gets for calling me a goofball."
Kahina watched from the side with a resigned smile, looking between Lux and Luke a couple times.
For some reason, she couldn't shake the feeling Lux was becoming more and more like His Highness—sticking with him all day was corrupting her.
Before long, Moff had gathered all the church kids. As the "boss," he only had to call once and everyone showed up.
They stood scattered around, staring at Luke with wide eyes, not sure what this was about.
Luke glanced at Yurna and smiled. "Alright—bring them out."
Yurna took a box down from the carriage. When she opened it, it was filled with candy-apple skewers, one after another.
Because it was summer, if you didn't finish them the same day, they'd start to melt. And putting them in cold storage messed with the taste.
So they were usually made and eaten the same day.
They weren't hard to make, so Luke often made some along with everything else.
Knowing he'd come to the church today, he'd prepared a lot in advance.
Lux had seen this and that was why she'd teased Moff earlier.
In reality, Luke had prepared enough for every child—and even for the Illuminators at the church.
"Whoa…"
The kids stared at the full box, their eyes lighting up like lanterns, practically drooling.
No kid could refuse candy apples.
Soon, the candy apples were handed out.
As the sweet-tart flavor spread through their mouths, every child's face filled with smiles, and the area outside the church turned into pure cheerful noise.
As they ate, they slowed down more and more, reluctant to finish.
Even after they finished—and even though they could see there were extras—none of them asked for more.
They were far more sensible than kids their age were expected to be. They knew nobody would indulge their selfishness.
Luke then told them, "Whoever learns to ride a bicycle first can come get another one."
The remaining candy apples were extras. Giving them to any one person wouldn't be fair, so it was better to let the kids earn them.
The moment they heard that, they ran off impatiently to practice.
Naturally, things got chaotic—there weren't enough bicycles for one per kid.
Some didn't want to stay in pairs anymore, and that was when Moff stepped in to keep order.
He was young, but he had a real air of authority. The moment he stood there, the kids stopped messing around.
He was also the first one to claim an extra candy apple.
Apparently he'd learned not long after the bicycles were handed out.
When he got his candy apple, he gave more than half of it to a little girl who always stayed by his side, and he only ate a couple pieces himself.
Luke had heard the little girl had been through something similar to Moff, so Moff treated her like a little sister.
Luke thought that was a good thing. At least they had each other.
Candy apples were only "precious" right now because Luke was the only one making them.
But before long, just like bicycles, they would show up all over Demacia's streets.
Once the remaining candy apples were all handed out, Luke and the others climbed back into the carriage and prepared to leave.
As the carriage started moving, the kids noticed and waved hard in farewell.
Even at their age, they understood that the man sitting in that carriage had done something that meant a great deal to them.
The carriage's second stop was the workshop.
The workshop had moved to a new address, found by the head of the Research Institute. It was bigger now, enough to fit a lot more people.
Both the bicycles and the improved printing press had come out of this place.
When the carriage stopped, the Institute staff came out to greet them.
The fastest by far were Maylee and Korsen, that brother-and-sister pair, practically sprinting.
They flashed into Luke's face like hounds catching the scent of hot dogs, wearing flattering, deeply moved smiles.
"Your Highness! A day without seeing you feels like forever!"
"Your Highness! When you weren't here, I survived by crying into my pillow every night!"
Watching the two of them get more ridiculous by the day, Luke waved a hand. "Go on. Get out of here."
"Yes, sir!"
They immediately scampered off, hovering at a distance that wouldn't annoy Luke, following along like loyal shadows.
The reason was simple. Besides the fact that Luke himself was "a big deal"—
Lately, thanks to him, the two of them had successfully gotten their names officially listed at the Research Institute.
You had to understand: even their eldest brother Jared, at this age, might not necessarily get listed there.
But they had.
For the two of House Menck, being listed at the Research Institute was like winning the lottery.
And with Navis backing them, they could even hold their heads high in front of Jared.
Even in front of their elders in House Menck, they finally had some backbone.
All of it was thanks to Luke.
You could honestly say that day—those fifteen laps at House Menck—had changed their fate.
At that moment, Navis heard Luke had arrived and hurried out to greet him.
"Your Highness…"
Standing in front of Luke, Navis lowered her head shyly, looking embarrassed.
Even Luke paused for a split second when he saw her, though he quickly recovered.
Lux, meanwhile, froze—she almost thought she'd mistaken the person.
Navis had changed so dramatically it was hard to believe.
The oversized round glasses that covered ninety percent of her looks were gone, revealing a small, delicate face.
She wore light, fresh makeup—clean and soft. Her big eyes were bright and lively, her long lashes fluttering, and with her cheeks slightly pink, she looked even cuter.
Her hair had been restyled too. Instead of those country-girl braids, it fell naturally on both sides, with a faint curl.
And paired with the ill-fitting white research coat she wore, it gave a strange impression: like she was a tiny little genius who looked incredibly competent despite her small frame.
Luke glanced back at Maylee.
Maylee wore a proud grin. "Your Highness—well? This is my masterpiece!"
She'd always thought Navis walking around in those stiff giant glasses and that plain hairstyle was just… wrong. How was she supposed to catch Your Highness's attention like that?
So, on a whim, Maylee had come up with a bold idea.
She'd quietly launched the "Navis makeover plan," intending to surprise Luke.
And once she actually did it, even Maylee herself was shocked.
She hadn't realized her "little sister" could be this refined.
Now, it looked like Luke wasn't the one most surprised.
Miss Crownguard was.
Looking at Navis with her head lowered and her shy expression, Luke gave Lux a little chuckle. "See? This is what I meant by a twist. The twist I told you about."
Lux snapped out of it, staring at Navis, remembering Luke really had said that back then.
That he wanted "a twist."
Thinking back to how Navis usually dressed, Lux finally understood what he meant.
When Luke had removed Navis's oversized glasses before, Lux had already noticed Navis was actually a very cute girl.
Now that she'd been polished up, "stunning" was the only word for it.
Kahina came here often and had known Navis for a long time, so she wasn't surprised.
Luke noticed something else and asked, confused, "So you don't need glasses?"
Navis finally taking off those painfully unfashionable big glasses was absolutely a good thing.
And if Luke had ordered her to, with Navis's personality, she would have obeyed.
But he hadn't forced it—he'd assumed she might be very nearsighted.
Now he saw Navis without the big glasses, and she wasn't wearing any other pair either. She didn't seem affected at all.
Hearing Luke's question, Navis nodded and admitted in a small voice, embarrassed, "I don't."
"Then why did you wear those huge glasses every day before?"
"Because when I wore them, I didn't have to make eye contact with people. It felt comfortable."
"…"
Luke went quiet.
He'd almost forgotten there was a word for that.
Social anxiety.
And clearly, Navis now… had at least a little less of it.
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