SSS Ranked Merchant: Rebuilding a Broken Kingdom With Unlimited Wealth-Chapter 21: Who Is She?

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The night air was crisp as they left the village head's house, but to Lyrasia, it felt like the chilling breeze of impending doom.

She knew better than to mess with the village head. The man had power—a lot of it. Political, social, and probably magical. She wasn't about to get herself crushed like a helpless little grape in his mystical political juicer.

That didn't mean she liked what she just learned.

"You two!" Lilith scolded the moment they were a good distance away. She clutched Lyrasia in her arms while marching forward, voice laced with disappointment. "Sneaking around someone else's house? Do you know how embarrassing that was?!"

Felix sighed, rubbing his temples. "You could've been thrown out or worse. This is why you should just stay out of things that don't concern you."

"Ruan, I expected better from you," their mother added, narrowing her eyes at the girl.

Ruan stiffened."I—uh... Well, Lyrasia was going, and someone needed to keep an eye on her—"

'Betrayal.'

The walk back was tense, but when they finally arrived, their house felt like a warm sanctuary compared to the cold, suspicious air of the village head's domain.

The scent of freshly baked bread lingered in the air, mixing with the earthy smell of dried herbs hanging from the ceiling. The wooden floors creaked in a familiar way, and the dim candlelight flickered softly, casting cozy shadows on the walls.

Home. Safe. No scary village overlords.

Then, Felix cleared his throat.

"I accepted the offer."

Silence.

Ruan and Lyrasia exchanged glances.

'Shit.'

Doom.

That was the only thing echoing in Lyrasia's head as she sat in the dim candlelit room, her tiny baby hands clutching the blanket like it was a lifeline.

Her family was doomed.

Felix just willingly walked into a political battlefield as an agriculture overseer, no less! That meant dealing with food distribution, market prices, and, worst of all, people who played dirty.

Her heart hammered against her ribs.

She couldn't breathe.

Her fingers twitched. The room felt smaller.

History would repeat.

It always did.

In her past life, power and wealth didn't protect people, it only painted a target on their backs. She had watched businesses rise and fall. She had watched entire families disappear overnight. And now, her family was going right into the snake pit.

She was sweating. Her nightclothes clung to her skin, damp from cold sweat. The candle's flickering glow twisted the shadows on the walls into sinister shapes. It felt heavy, suffocating, like an invisible weight was pressing down on her chest.

She was rich now. Infinitely rich. That wasn't the problem.

The problem was—her money doesn't stop monsters.

A hand touched her shoulder.

She jolted.

"Lyrasia?"

Ruan's voice was soft, but it yanked her back hard.

Her breath came in sharp gasps, and she turned to see Ruan frowning at her.

"...You're shaking."

The room slowly stopped spinning. The shadows weren't moving. The walls weren't closing in.

"Do you... want me to stay with you?"

This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom.

She didn't trust her voice.

So she just nodded.

Lyrasia didn't realize how cold she was until Ruan pulled her close.

The girl's arms wrapped around her, firm yet gentle, like a shield against the unseen horrors clawing at Lyrasia's mind. She was soft, warm. Her steady heartbeat thrummed against Lyrasia's tiny body, a slow and rhythmic contrast to her own erratic pulse.

She felt small.

Not just because she was small, but because the weight pressing on her chest finally began to lift, like she was no longer the only one holding it up.

"Breathe," Ruan murmured, tucking Lyrasia's head under her chin. Her fingers combed through Lyrasia's hair, slow and careful, as if she knew, as if she remembered, too.

Familiar.

That was what Ruan felt like.

She didn't know why. She didn't know how.

But the way Ruan held her, like she had done this before, like she understood something unspoken, it made Lyrasia's heart squeeze in a way she didn't know how to describe.

"You're okay," Ruan whispered, rocking them slightly. "It's okay."

Who was she, really?

She had simply appeared, seamlessly slipping into Lyrasia's life like she had always been there. It had been so easy to accept her presence—too easy.

And yet... Lyrasia knew nothing about her.

She looked like the Administrator. That face—those eerily familiar eyes, like they had seen her before she was even born. But she wasn't the Administrator. She was someone else. Someone who shouldn't exist in this world, just like Lyrasia.

'Who are you?'

The question floated in her mind, heavy and unanswered.

Ruan's arms were still around her, warm and steady, but suddenly, that warmth felt unknowable.

Was she truly someone Lyrasia could trust? Or was she just another piece in this world's grand design—another mystery she had yet to unravel?

Her eyelids drooped.

She fought against it, but the weight of exhaustion was relentless.

The warmth, the gentle rise and fall of Ruan's breathing—it lulled her into submission.

The questions blurred at the edges of her mind, dissolving into the quiet hum of sleep.

For now, the answers could wait.