"Miss Starling, it’s time to leave."

Clara appeared at the garden’s entrance and spoke in the usual calm tone.

"Yes."

Evelyn nodded, she then looked at Lucian and—

"Thank you for walking with me."

Lucian gave her a small, dramatic bow.

"As my jealous employer commands."

"Professional jealousy."

Evelyn corrected with a light smile.

"Of course."

Evelyn then turned towards the entrance, her eyes fell on Sarah again, then she looked back at Lucian and—

"Still, do not get too close to her."

"I thought this was professional."

Lucian’s smile widened.

"It is."

"Very professional."

"Extremely."

The two laughed as they walked towards the entrance, Sarah couldn’t hear them but the moment she saw that shit-eating grin on Lucian’s face as he looked at her, she frowned.

"What?"

She questioned when they came closer.

"Nothing. Miss Starling was threatening me professionally."

Evelyn just smiled at those words, not even denying them.

Sarah stared at both of them for a while, then—

"I do not want to know."

She turned away.

Lucian laughed, Evelyn laughed with him and with that, everyone moved.

The next few days were similar.

Evelyn had appearances, interviews, charity meetings, private rehearsals, short recordings, and controlled movements from one place to another. Clara handled the schedules and routes, Lila watched Evelyn’s condition. Sarah and Elise looked around for suspicious people and kept an eye on them. The ordinary guards handled the visible security around her and Alaric commanded the entire operation.

As for Lucian—

He stayed beside Evelyn, all the time.

At first, it still felt a little strange.

After all, his entire life, Evelyn was one of the people he never even expected to see. Lucian wasn’t exactly one of those creepy fans who would spend days looking at her pictures or talking about her, heck, he didn’t even follow her on any of the social media, however, he still listened to her music, he still knew how different their worlds were.

But now...

Now the same Evelyn Starling looked for him every time she stepped out of her room, sat in the car only after making sure he would sit beside her, and took a small step behind him whenever the crowd outside a studio became too loud.

It was... strange indeed...

But Lucian was getting used to it and so was Evelyn.

Looking for Lucian and relying on him every single day became more natural to her, their conversations became easier, they now had more inside jokes, Evelyn even began teasing Lucian every time she saw him working on University assignments.

At night, when Evelyn returned to the hotel and finally entered her suite, Lucian’s own routine began.

He trained at night, pushing his body beyond limits, doing things so horrifying that let alone a normal person, even people from the Enclave would find it revolting.

Whenever he trained, Sarah came to check on him from time to time, making sure he didn’t die. They got closer as well, Lucian teased her for worrying about him, Sarah just snorted, in her mind however, she began respecting him.

And together with respect, she also began fearing him.

Because...

This monster was growing at a horrifying pace.

The training... as crazy as it was...

It was working effectively.

So effectively that Sarah actually considered joining him for a second, of course, she quickly came back to her senses when she saw him again.

Marcus and Hannah had made a habit of dragging him into morning firearm practice whenever his schedule allowed it.

Lucian was getting better at handling guns, his reloads became cleaner, his stance became steadier, his recoil calculations were now more accurate, so was his aim. In just a few days, he was already at the level of professional guards.

In fact, he was even better since he began experimenting and using his superior physical abilities and senses to use guns more effectively, essentially adding guns into his arsenal.

Of course, he did most of it behind the ordinary guards’ backs.

As for the ordinary guards, they still misunderstood his role completely.

They were convinced Evelyn kept him close because of his face and some mysterious personal preference and Lucian—

He only made it worse.

"So what exactly are your talents?"

One of the guards questioned.

"Client satisfaction."

Lucian smiled.

Hannah nearly threw a towel at him.

And between all this, Lucian rested in short pieces, waiting for Evelyn as she did her things, before training with the guards, travelling—

Anytime he could find, he rested.

It was a hectic schedule, especially since he was pushing himself to the limits every single day and he...

He could see it working against him.

Consuming Incubus Blood did lower his need to rest, but it did not eliminate it, Lucian still needed proper rest to function properly.

One evening, after Evelyn finished her last appearance of the day, she came out of the dressing room and saw him leaning against the opposite wall with his eyes closed.

The moment she got closer, Lucian opened his eyes and looked at her with a smile.

"You look ridiculous."

Evelyn commented.

"Ridiculous in what way? Too powerful? Too mysterious? Intellectually threatening?"

"Overworked."

"That was not one of the options."

"You need proper sleep."

"I have been told I look better when exhausted."

"By whom?"

"My fans."

"Your... fans?"

"Don’t you know? They have my fan pages now?"

"Your... fan pages?"

"Yes? I didn’t tell you? There are many.

The mysterious man my holes thank.

Purple-eyed bodyguard please step on me.

Nameless purple-eyed I’d suck dry."

"What...?"

Evelyn blinked in disbelief.

Lucian shrugged.

"They are quite unhinged with the names, honestly. I can’t even say some of them because I am so ashamed."

"You are ashamed...?"

Evelyn couldn’t believe it.

That however, didn’t matter right now, her focus had already shifted to the fan pages Lucian mentioned. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

She needed to check them and...

Have them closed if that was needed.

Evelyn’s eyes turned different, her mind completely forgot about what she actually wanted to talk about. Lucian looked at her and he smiled.

His mind however, was still thinking about what Evelyn just said.

Rest huh...

If even Evelyn could see he needed rest, then perhaps...

Lucian completed that thought in his mind, then, after midnight, after Evelyn went to sleep, this time, instead of training, he went to Alaric.