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"That\'s all for today," she commanded, reaching for the towel draped across a nearby chair. "Make sure you\'re all on time for warm ups tomorrow."

"Yes, Miss Lucille!" the kids shouted in unison before rushing off.

Clap. Clap.

As the children\'s footsteps faded, a sarcastically applauding man stepped out from the edge of the area where he\'d been observing the training.

"Ah, the grand life of a combat instructor," he sneered. "All your years of hard work have really paid off, haven\'t they?"

"Good afternoon, Sir Jerrod," Lucy responded, shooting the man a glare.

The two had been trained alongside each other from the time they were young, though Jerrod was never able to compete with Lucy\'s extraordinary combat skills.

Now that they had grown up and he\'d been recruited as a squad leader in the army, however, he seemed to always spend his free time coming to pick on his former groupmate.

"I still don\'t know why you try so hard," Jerrod smirked. "You know the great Serin military will never allow women to sully its ranks."

"You never know," Lucy shrugged, indifferent to the man\'s taunting. "I have been summoned by the new emperor today, as a matter of fact."

"Even if that is true," Jerrod scoffed, "he\'s probably going to tell you to be a good girl and go make some pretty dresses or something."

Lucy ignored his comment. Instead, she reached her hand toward him, momentarily enjoying the satisfying look of fear that crossed his face, before grabbing the bag he was unknowingly blocking and turning to leave. She hadn\'t been lying about her meeting, and she didn\'t have time to waste arguing with this numbskull.

"You\'ll have to start acting like a lady sometime, Lucy!" the man called after her.

"Ha. Whatever." Lucy snorted to herself.

She freshened up in the facilities at the training ground, ditching her instructor\'s uniform for a leather jerkin, before heading straight to the palace. When she arrived, she was taken immediately to the emperor\'s audience hall.

Her heart pounded as she slowly stepped down the long carpet leading to the emperor\'s throne, head down as she\'d been instructed by her escort. She thought she would nearly die of anticipation by the time she heard a commanding voice order her to raise her head.

With a deep breath, Lucy slowly looked up.

"Your M-You! The twerp?!"

She stepped back, shocked by the person sitting before her. She\'d met him before while she was still training and had never forgotten him since. Back then, he was scrawny and young-looking even though he was older than her. She had assumed she\'d easily beat such a twerp in a spar but lost pitifully the one and only time they faced each other.

"T-to call the emperor such.." her escort stammered nervously at her side.

The emperor raised his hand to silence the nervous man shaking next to Lucy and smiled at her.

"I\'m glad you haven\'t forgotten," he remarked menacingly, "that you cannot beat me."

"Right.." Lucy mumbled, bowing her head again before the emperor could see her expression. She should be grateful to still have her head after such a remark but couldn\'t shake the bitter feeling of rivalry.

Who knew the twerp would end up on the throne?

"Anyway, I\'d like to offer you a position," the emperor continued, motioning for a document to be brought forward.

As she took the paper from the deliverer, Lucy instantly noticed the black dragon seal at the top. She\'d seen the same seal placed in the same position several times--deployment orders, always in the hands of others.

Was she finally receiving her own deployment order?

"The military?" she asked, excitement filling her chest.

The emperor grinned at her.

"Something better than that."

-END-

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"Alright, mister. I\'ll go with you."

Several minutes after accepting the man\'s offer, Indy found herself standing in the middle of the most lavish room she\'d ever seen. The furniture looked like it belonged in an expensive showroom and was never meant for actual use. The decorations and light fixtures could make an art museum seem tacky, and everything was bathed in a gold light.

Indy gulped as she looked around. Just one painting could probably finance an entire house for her.

"Does someone actually live here?" she wondered out loud.

"As a matter of fact, someone does," Chase startled Indy. "If our negotiations go as planned, you\'ll live here as well."

"Live here?" Indy said in disbelief.

"I\'m getting a bit ahead of myself. Shall we head to the study to talk about the offer?"

Indy followed Chase down an ornate hallway. Once they reached the study, he motioned for her to sit in a large arm chair.

"So from what I gather from your current situation, you currently have no job and no place to live. Is that correct?" the secretary asked, sitting down in a chair opposite of her.

"I mean, I guess that\'s correct," Indy muttered. Even if it was true, he didn\'t have to put it so bluntly. Aren\'t rich people supposed to have next-level manners or something?

"But you write books and want to continue writing books?" Chase continued.

"I used to write books. But I think it\'s impossible in my current situation," Indy said quietly. It was bad enough that he knew so much about her life, but did he really have to make it sound so pathetic?

"What if I told you that you can have a place to live, all the money you want, and continue writing?" Chase smiled, obviously amused by Indy\'s pouting.

"I\'d say you\'re wasting your time trying to scam me, as we\'ve already established that I have nothing to lose," Indy huffed.

"The fact you have nothing to lose is exactly why I chose you, India Graysen," the man grinned.

"Will you accept my marriage proposal?"

-Wife of the Faceless Billionaire, back from a long hiatus!-