On the way there, Luke thought about a lot of things, looking weighed down by worry.
Lux, walking ahead of him, was the complete opposite. Her steps were light, her arms swinging as she walked, and she looked like she was in an excellent mood.
She'd clearly already forgotten all about what happened on the street.
When Luke reached the base of the Citadel of Dawn, he couldn't help but tilt his head back and stare up at the knight statue standing by the entrance. It seemed fused into one whole with the castle behind it—draped in a white cloak, impossibly grand.
The Citadel of Dawn was also called the royal palace. It was the residence of King Jarvan III, and the most important place in the capital—where ministers and nobles gathered to debate and discuss affairs of state.
In the sunlight, the ground was paved in white stone. Walking across it, Luke felt as if even his mood grew heavier.
A patrol of soldiers marched past in neat, synchronized steps.
A small number of people also moved in and out through the citadel's entrance, and most of them clearly weren't ordinary.
All in all, this was not a place a commoner like Luke was supposed to be.
Lux, like a regular visitor, didn't care about the solemn atmosphere at all. She led Luke straight to the entrance at the base of the citadel.
Four guards stood watch there.
Lux put on a charming smile and greeted them warmly. "Good afternoon~!"
Her smile was so infectious that the stern, formal air around the guards seemed to melt away, and for once they looked relaxed.
One of them smiled back. "Good afternoon, Miss Crownguard. What brings you to the palace today?"
They clearly weren't surprised to see her.
Lux continued, "I'm here to see my aunt. Is she here?"
"If you mean Lady Tianna, she doesn't seem to have left since this morning," the guard said after thinking for a moment. Then he added, "Go on in. And the gentleman behind you is…?"
"My friend," Lux answered crisply, then asked a little cautiously, "Can I bring him in?"
"Normally, without a permit, entry isn't allowed." The guard stepped aside, still friendly. "But for you, it's not a problem. Please, go ahead."
"Thank you~!" Lux said happily, and she led Luke inside without any trouble.
In this place, her mere presence seemed to be a pass.
Luke noticed that everyone seemed unusually lenient toward the blonde girl. Considering her status, it wasn't hard to understand.
But there was probably another reason too: it was hard to dislike a girl who always wore a smile. No matter who she talked to, she gave off the same feeling—warm, approachable, and without any sense of distance.
At least, that was the impression Luke got during their short time together.
Looks like I really did find the right person this time.
"Don't worry. The palace isn't some place that bites. I'm here," Lux said, noticing Luke had been much quieter along the way. She assumed the palace atmosphere was making him nervous, so she tried to reassure him.
"No. It's just… I have a strange feeling," Luke said slowly, his expression a little odd.
Lux turned her head to look at him, curious. "What kind of feeling?"
Luke let out a quiet sigh. "It feels like I'm coming home."
"…" Lux went silent for a second, then forced out a couple of laughs. "Haha… That joke wasn't very funny."
She thought Luke was trying to show off his sense of humor—he just wasn't quite there yet.
Luke didn't respond. He simply studied the surroundings.
The Citadel of Dawn really was enormous. The two of them wandered around inside for more than ten minutes before they finally reached their destination.
This seemed to be Tianna's office.
Tianna was Lux's aunt—Tianna Crownguard. She was the current head of House Crownguard, and also Demacia's current High Marshal—truly the kind of person who stood above everyone except the king himself.
That alone said everything about how high her position was.
Lux placed her hand on the door and knocked three times in a steady rhythm—tap, tap, tap—while calling out, "Aunt, I came to see you."
She waited for a moment, but there was no response.
"Strange. She's not here?" Lux said.
She pushed the door open without hesitation and peeked inside. Sure enough, the room was empty.
"Let's look somewhere else."
Lux shut the door and headed off in another direction.
Luke could only follow. The two of them wandered around the palace aimlessly, occasionally drawing a few surprised looks along the way.
No one found Lux's presence strange, of course. What they were curious about was the man walking behind Miss Crownguard—who was he?
"Miss Lux, what are you doing here?"
A voice called from the side, sounding like someone who knew her.
They looked over. The one greeting them was a young man wearing a short gray-black robe made of simple cloth, around twenty-five or twenty-six years old.
He stood by an exit that led outside, as if he were waiting for something.
Lux recognized him and greeted him back. "Good afternoon, Calvin. Have you seen my aunt?"
Calvin gestured behind him. "Lady Tianna is taking a walk in the back garden with His Majesty. Lord Roy and the others are with them too. Looks like they're discussing something."
Lux glanced outside but didn't see anyone, so she asked, "When are they coming out?"
Calvin shook his head. "I don't know. But the lords have been in there for a while already."
"Alright, then." Lux looked at Luke. "We'll wait here for a bit."
Luke nodded. He wasn't in a hurry. If anything, being able to reach the palace on his first day in the capital was already incredible.
And on top of that, he'd gotten to ride Lux's coattails and possibly meet some of the biggest figures in Demacia.
If it were just Luke alone, who knew how long he would've had to struggle and scheme before he even got close?
How much trouble was he skipping by doing it this way?
Calvin sized Luke up once, said nothing, and continued standing there quietly.
Luke, a bit stiff, also stood in place without speaking.
Only Lux seemed unable to stay still. She wandered around, looking at everything—after a while she'd go poke at the portraits on the wall, then she'd start fiddling with the suit of armor standing near the wall, then she'd wander off to tease the flowers and plants.
Before long, her patience completely ran out. She really was someone who hated dull waiting, so she made a decision. "I can't wait anymore. I'm going in to take a look!"
Calvin smiled helplessly. "Is that really a good idea? If you interrupt those lords, I'll definitely get punished."
"Relax. If anything happens, I'll take responsibility!" Lux said, looking like she wasn't afraid of causing trouble at all. Then she told Luke, "You wait here for a bit. I'm just going in to take one look."
Luke nodded.
Seeing that, Calvin gave up on trying to stop her and let her pass as she headed into the garden.