In This Life I Will Be The Lord Novel - Side Story, Chapter 49

“Excuse me? Gallahan?”

Shan lightly waved her hand in front of Gallahan, who was standing still.

Only then did his bright green eyes refocus.

“Ah, yes. I just arrived too.”

“Really? That’s good. Shall we go get something to eat then?”

“Not here?”

Gallahan tilted his head.

It was lunchtime, and they had met at a restaurant, so he didn’t quite understand why they would go somewhere else.

As far as he knew, ‘Blue Wave’ was a fairly well-known restaurant.

But Shan was firm.

“I have a good restaurant I’ve found. Let’s go there.”

“But…”

Gallahan still glanced nervously at the owner of ‘Blue Wave’, who was still bustling, and hesitated.

But only for a moment.

When Shan tugged lightly on his sleeve, Gallahan obediently began to follow her.

The place they arrived at was an alley quite far from the bustling main street.

In that alley, filled only with houses, a small restaurant stood open alone.

At a glance, it looked like a shabby eatery that had been there for a long time, but surprisingly, it was as crowded as ‘Blue Wave’.

“Ah, I’m hungry. Let’s go in quickly!”

Shan, who had released Gallahan’s sleeve, which she had been holding all the way there, said that and went inside first.

Gallahan, who had been staring blankly at the collar of his clothes where Shan had just held, finally looked around.

‘Was there such a place in Lombardi?’

Gallahan had roamed Lombardi City like his own backyard since he was old enough to go out of the mansion.

So he thought he knew most places in the city inside and out.

But this place, reached by winding through small alleys, was new even to him.

Perhaps because of the delicious smells wafting from inside, or because he had discovered a new side of Lombardi.

Gallahan also entered with a slightly fluttering heart.

“Here, Gallahan!”

Shan, who had already found a seat by the window, waved her hand wildly at him.

“I’ve already ordered the food. You absolutely have to eat the stew when you come here.”

It was hard to look directly at Shan’s beaming face, so Gallahan fixed his gaze somewhere on the table and just nodded.

“Have you ever been here before?”

“No. This alley is new to me too.”

Success!

Shan said, unable to hide her delight.

“I asked around a bit to find a really good restaurant. Honestly, the food at ‘Blue Wave’ is really good, but I don’t want to spend my day off at my workplace.”

“Your workplace…?”

“Oh, I didn’t tell you. I work at ‘Blue Wave’. I even sleep there! Actually, I haven’t been in Lombardi for long, so I don’t really have a proper place to stay.”

Even as she said that, her eyes sparkled beautifully as she looked at the food that had already arrived at the next table.

“And it’s our first meal together as friends, so I can’t just take you anywhere, can I?”

“Ah…”

Gallahan blinked his eyes at Shan’s playful words.

Then he quietly replied.

“I think Shan would quickly make friends who would eat with her like this. Even if it weren’t me.”

Although it was only their second time seeing each other, he could tell at a glance how bright and charming she was.

She might not know anyone in Lombardi now, but soon others would recognize Shan’s qualities.

It was clearly a good thing for her, but Gallahan couldn’t help but frown slightly without realizing it.

However, Shan, interpreting his expression differently, asked cautiously.

“Did I… bother you, Gallahan?”

“What? No! It’s not like that!”

He was so startled that the spoons and forks on the table clattered as he jumped up.

“I absolutely didn’t mean that. I just meant that Shan is a good person, so she’ll quickly make many friends…”

As Gallahan hastily explained, the warmth returned to Shan’s face, which had stiffened for a moment.

“That’s a relief…”

Shan patted her chest.

She didn’t show it outwardly, but she was honestly very nervous.

Wouldn’t anyone be?

It was a meeting arranged by half-begging him to be her friend, but Gallahan was not just any friend.

He was her future husband, no less.

Regardless of their distant future, Shan wanted to get to know Gallahan smoothly.

And from what she had seen so far, her future husband was by no means an easy target to win over.

The brief, inevitable silence ended as two steaming bowls of stew were placed on the table.

Gallahan carefully picked up a spoon and tasted it.

“How is it?”

“It’s delicious, truly.”

The stew, rich with meat, was exactly to Gallahan’s taste.

“Right? After we finish this, we have to have dessert too.”

“Do they sell dessert too?”

“Yes. And their apple pie is really delicious. It’s your favorite dessert, Gallahan. The moderately sour and moderately sweet apple pie.”

He knew she would like it, but confirming her reaction right in front of him was another story.

Just as a relieved Shan was about to take her first spoonful.

“How… did you know?”

“What?”

“That I like apple pie.”

Ah, a mistake.

And a fatal one at that.

She couldn’t say, ‘I saw you eat several slices of apple pie alone in a prophetic dream.’

A bead of cold sweat ran down her back.

She was so flustered that her mind seemed to have frozen.

Shan ended up babbling whatever came to mind.

“Well, you just look like it. Like you’re exactly the type to like apple pie?”

“A face that… likes apple pie?”

“P-pale, handsome, and cute people generally like apple pie.”

What on earth was she saying?

Even as she spoke, her vision blurred.

He would surely think she was talking utter nonsense.

Should she just laugh it off as a joke now?

As Shan was pondering this.

Pfft.

At the small sound from across the table, she looked up.

“…Gallahan?”

Gallahan was laughing.

His shoulders, covering his mouth with one hand and trying to suppress his laughter, were shaking slightly.

“A face that likes apple pie, where did you hear such a thing?”

His round eyes, which curved down slightly at the ends, crinkled beautifully, and his always somewhat pale complexion gained some color.

It was a smile that seemed to sparkle.

Shan watched his smiling face for a moment.

‘Now I feel a little relieved.’

While her heart fluttered because of her handsome future husband’s smiling face, a sense of relief came first.

In the brief glimpse of the future she had seen, Gallahan was a person who laughed a lot.

Especially in front of her.

Shan put down the spoon she was holding and grabbed Gallahan’s hand impulsively.

It was a purely impulsive action.

“…Shan?”

“I’ll make you laugh a lot from now on, Gallahan.”

So that later, a smiling face would suit him better than a gloomy one.

“Oops, the food’s getting cold. Let’s eat quickly.”

Shan patted the back of Gallahan’s hand one last time and then took a large spoonful of stew.

Cough.

She heard a small cough and looked up to see Gallahan’s face slightly flushed.

“The stew is… a little spicy.”

He added in a small voice, lowering his head.

Gallahan got into the carriage that was waiting for him at the appointed time.

It was a familiar ride home, but today was different.

Perhaps because he had spent the whole day laughing and chatting with Shan while roaming Lombardi, his heart felt unusually at ease.

After spending the entire day together, the two parted ways, promising to meet again tomorrow afternoon.

A smile spread across Gallahan’s face as he recalled Shan, who had waved widely at him in front of ‘Blue Wave’ just moments ago.

But that was only for a moment.

Soon, he fell into quite serious thought.

“We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“See you tomorrow, friend!”

“Friend…”

Every time Shan said that, he flinched several times.

He couldn’t help it.

“I guess I…”

He seemed to like Shan.

His heart was racing so fast, making his past, where good books and paintings excited him more than the opposite sex, seem meaningless.

It was as if he had plunged headfirst into the person named Shan.

“…Shan.”

In the quiet carriage, Gallahan called her name aloud.

Thump, thump.

His heart, which began to flutter again just from that, told him.

At least for him, she could not be just a friend.

Gallahan opened the window to cool his reddened face and carefully mumbled.

“Would it be wrong to be a little more greedy…?”

A light sigh followed his words.

Still, there was hope.

They had a pleasant time until sunset, and they had agreed to meet again tomorrow after Shan finished work.

Gallahan looked up at the sky, where stars were beginning to appear one by one, and let out a light sigh.

Tonight seemed like it would be very long.

“We’ve arrived.”

The carriage stopped in front of the mansion with the stableman’s announcement.

Gallahan, his legs a little stiff from walking all day, moved towards his room.

“Gallahan.”

Until he heard a low, stern voice calling his name.

“Where have you been all day?”

It was Gallahan’s father, Rulac Lombardi.