Hello, everyone !

I'm back with the thirty-seventh chapter !

Enjoy reading this one~

Disclaimer: I only own this plot

P.S: Five chapters left until the finale !

Lucy didn't stop patting Loke's back and soothing him until his cries died down. Loke poured out all of the feelings buried deep inside of him and Lucy stayed there to share her strength with him. Loke now knows why Aries was so happy when she was talking about the friend she made back then. This must be something Aries also felt after her first meeting with Lucy. The feeling of relieved, so relieved it was as if they had been set free.

Loke cleared his throat a bit as he cupped the warm teacup. Lucy had brewed a new tea while he was regaining his composure back. Now that he had calmed down, he felt embarrassed for crying earlier.

"…I'm sorry, Princess." Loke said. "And thank you."

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "What are you sorry for?"

Loke shyly averted his gaze away. "…Crying."

Lucy smiled in understanding. "I don't see why guys can't cry. If crying makes you feeling better, then cry as much as you want, Loke."

Loke's breath a bit hitched.

She's so similar and yet so different to Aries., Loke muttered inwardly. So kind and understanding, and yet so strong.

Lucy then put down her teacup and stared straight into Loke's eyes. "Loke, just like what you've told me, don't let yourself be drowned in your past."

"What change will it make?" Loke asked back, his tone was a bit sarcastic. "Moving on from Aries will not make her come back alive, right?"

Lucy's gaze softened. "But moving on from her death means that you're finally accepting the fact that she's in a so much better place now."

Loke's hands unconsciously gripped his teacup tighter in pain. Could he really do that? It had been four years since Aries's death, but the emotional pain inflicted by it was still so apparent for him even until this day. Besides, Loke was unwilling to move on from Aries's death. If he moved on, wouldn't that mean he was actually forgetting her?

He didn't want to forget the woman he loved.

"Moving on from her death doesn't mean you're forgetting her, Loke." Lucy knew what was weighing Loke's mind. Because if she were on his position, she would exactly think the same thing. "It means that you're letting go of your hatred and wished for her eternal happiness."

"How can I let go of my hatred?!" Loke hissed. "They killed my fiancée!"

"Loke, letting go of your hatred doesn't mean you pardoned them for what they've done." Lucy said. "Instead, it means that you forgive yourself and unbound yourself from the chain of hatred."

Loke gritted his teeth in unwillingness.

"Besides," Lucy continued. "you and Aries are both free now, aren't you?"

Loke widened his eyes upon hearing it and slowly lifted his head to look at Lucy. "…Free?"

Lucy nodded. "Aries is in a better place now, and you're one of the people of the Sand Country. You're no longer Loke Lates from the Celestial Country, you're just Loke from the Sand Country. You're no longer have any connection to your family nor the Celestial Country."

Loke fell into a silence upon hearing it. Free, huh? He had never considered himself to be free…

"If Aries is here, I'm sure she will say the same thing." Lucy continued. "And I'm sure she wants you to be happy with the new life given to you in the Sand Country, Loke."

Loke's eyes twitched.

Happy…

Free…

Be happy, Loke., Aries's voice seemed to speak in Loke's mind. Be happy, like I am happy now. We are free.

Another tear trickled down from Loke's eyes again, but the hatred and the pain in his eyes seemed to have dissipated along with the tear. He closed his eyes and smiled, enjoying the remnants of Aries's voice in his mind. Lucy also smiled, knowing that Loke had finally decided to let go of his hatred and moved on from Aries's death.

Loke took a deep breath, then wiped his tear away and stared at Lucy with a smile. "Thank you, Your Highness. If there's anything I can help you with your plan of betraying Jude, just let me know and I will help you to the utmost of my abilities."

Lucy didn't immediately reply and took a minute of silence to think instead. She then looked back at Loke, her expression was serious. "Actually… There's something I would like for you to help me with."

Two years later…

It was another nice day and Natsu and Lucy were enjoying their morning flight on Sagittarius. After circling the sky for a while, Natsu reined Sagittarius to land on an empty field at the capital's border. He then helped Lucy to step down from Sagittarius. The dragon-horse then walked a bit farther to munch on the grass, while Lucy and Natsu sat down on the fluffy grass.

Lucy breathed in the fresh air. "This feels nice. But why did you suddenly bring me here, Natsu?"

"You need to get some rest, lady." Natsu grinned. "You have been working so hard for the past two years and barely have any time to rest properly. Handling two projects at the same time is exhausting, after all."

Lucy smiled upon hearing Natsu's attention on her. "I'm fine, I enjoy doing it."

Natsu also smiled and swiftly lifted Lucy up onto his lap. Lucy shyly giggled, but she sat comfortably on Natsu's lap. Her hands were around his neck and the two of them stared into each other's eyes. "Congratulations on the success of the glass-shard project, Lucy."

"Thank you, Natsu."

Lucy's glass-shard was a huge success. The nobles in the Sand Country absolutely loved the jewellery. In the past two years, the demand for the unique jewellery rocketed high and the Sand Country officially made it into its newest financial source. Although, the products weren't exported to the Celestial Country at all. Because even though it wasn't an imitation and more of a brand-new type of jewellery, the Celestial Country and its allies were known as countries who would not accept anything from the West. The railway project had been completed as well.

Two years had passed and there were so many things that had changed. Gray, Levy, and Erza were married already with their respective partner a year ago. Preparing for three noble weddings while making sure the success of the railway project's last phase made Lucy's and Natsu's schedules were tightly packed. They were so glad when the year passed, they were finally allowed to breathe a little from their busy schedules.

Natsu gently put his hand on the back of Lucy's head, as he leaned in to kiss her. Lucy closed her eyes the moment their lips met, savoring the sweet moment between them. Her fingers entangled itself in Natsu's spiky hair, allowing them to deepen their kiss.

They finally parted for air and Lucy leaned her head on Natsu's broad shoulder. It was this kind of sweet moment that she loved so much. They stayed like that in a comfortable silence for a while, enjoying nothing but the gentle breeze and each other's presence.

"Should we get married tomorrow?" Natsu suddenly asked.

Lucy giggled, thinking Natsu was just joking. But when he didn't say anything anymore, Lucy looked at him and was surprised to see him thinking. Well, turns out Natsu wasn't joking at all.

"Natsu!" she slapped Natsu's arm. "We are not going to get married tomorrow!"

"Why?" Natsu asked back. "It's only nine months away until the end of our agreement, anyway. Nine months and tomorrow, what's the difference?"

"That's a huge difference!" Lucy said. "Besides, we are still preparing for Wendy's debutante ball!"

"Surely that can wait until after the second prince's wedding." Natsu scoffed indifferently.

"You can't do that!" Lucy reprimanded. "It's just one month away, after all. Besides, it's only nine months away until the end of our agreement, Natsu. Hang in there for just a little bit more, okay?"

Natsu groaned and buried his face into Lucy's hair. "I shouldn't have proposed to postpone our wedding. I wish we can get married and spend the rest of our lives as soon as possible… I'm getting impatient."

Lucy giggled although pain flashed in her eyes. Nine months away… She had only nine months left to stay in this country and to stay beside Natsu.

I wish we can spend the rest of our lives together, Natsu., Lucy said inwardly. I love you so much…

Lucy closed her eyes as she sat there on Natsu's lap in his arms. She fought back the tears that started to fill her eyes, once again making up her mind to enjoy the rest of her time here as much as possible. She sighed contentedly as she enjoyed Natsu's warmth and his butterfly kisses on the top of her head.

It was another beautiful morning at the Fullbuster Ducal house. Sting Fullbuster—previously Heartfilia—had awoken up an hour before the sun rose to practice his sword swinging.

"You're up early as usual." Juvia Fullbuster appeared on the backyard's doorstep and watched her brother-in-law in delight.

"Good morning, Juvia-nee!" Sting greeted.

"Good morning, Sting." Juvia greeted back. "Gray-sama is coming soon."

The now 11 years old Sting lightly chuckled. "You've been married for almost a year and yet you still call him 'Gray-sama', Juvia-nee."

Juvia blushed. Of course she had tried calling Gray with other endearment terms, but it all ended with her fainting out of embarrassment before she could even mutter it. Gray finally gave up in asking Juvia to call him using other terms.

Just then, Gray appeared on the doorstep.

"Hey, buddy."

"Gray-nii!" Sting's eyes lit up.

Gray gave Juvia a sweet morning kiss on her forehead then stepped out onto the backyard with his usual training gear and a sword in his hand. As the heir of the Fullbuster Ducal family, Gray asked his parents to let him be directly in charge with his little brother's education. Gray arranged the best tutors for him and even personally teaching Sting swordsmanship.

Not long after that, Sting started his morning training with Gray. Juvia smiled upon seeing them and turned her body to leave. Those two could train for hours and Juvia wasn't going to stay there just to watch them.

Just then, Juvia saw Lucy—with Coco behind her—entering the ducal house from the main entrance. Her eyes instantly lit up and she ran to greet her.

"Lucy!"

"Juvia!" Lucy greeted back and hugged Juvia.

"I miss you so much!" Juvia smiled. If there was one thing changed from her after she married Gray, it was that she no longer referred to herself in the third-person view.

"I miss you too, Juvia!" Lucy said. "We've been too busy we hardly see each other."

"Tell me about that." Juvia lightly chuckled. "I'm getting overwhelmed with my new lessons as the next duchess too."

Lucy also chuckled. "By the way, where are Father and Mother?"

"Father is attending the nobles' meeting, while Mother is attending a tea party." Juvia answered. "Come inside, Sting and Gray-sama are practicing at the backyard. You're staying until dinner, right?"

Lucy nodded her head. "Mother is very insistent that I stayed until dinner this time."

"You should!" Juvia said. "Sting and Gray-sama are a pair and I'm all alone."

Lucy laughed a little. "He also prefers to stay with his brother than with me."

Juvia also laughed and took Lucy to the backyard. She regretfully couldn't stay for long though, because her lessons as the next duchess were awaiting her. Lucy promised her that they would have a private lunch today.

After Juvia went away, Lucy turned her head to look at her little brother. As if on cue, Sting's head was also turned to her at the same time. His blue eyes instantly sparkled.

"Lucy-nee!"

Sting dropped his sword onto the grass and ran to greet his sister. Sting had grown so tall in these last two years, Lucy no longer had to crouch down to hug him anymore. It proved how well Sting's life in the Fullbuster family was. Back in the Celestial Country, Sting's body was small and fragile due to the lack of nutrition. All of the nutritious and luxurious food were given to the rest of the Royal family, so Sting didn't properly get the nutrition like he was supposed to.

Lucy's decision of having Sting adopted into the Fullbuster family was truly the best decision for him.

"You're here, little sister." Gray hugged Lucy and affectionately ruffled her hair.

"We'll be done soon." Sting said. "Let's have breakfast together!"

Lucy nodded and Sting returned to his sword training with Gray. Lucy took a seat on a long bench there with Coco sitting beside her.

"I still can't believe he is the same young prince I saw running around chasing me and you back in the Celestial Country, Princess." Coco muttered.

Lucy chuckled. "Now, he's a fine second son of a ducal house." Lucy softly said as her eyes wouldn't leave Sting's figure who had resumed his sword training with Gray.

Lucy was so glad and happy Sting enjoyed his new life.

"He's so tall…" Coco was still amazed.

Lucy laughed a little. "Isn't Rogue the same, Coco? I think the two of them are having their growth spurt."

Coco sighed. "You're right, Princess. It feels like it's only yesterday the two of them were running around the palace. Now… The two of them are starting to get busy with their lessons."

Lucy smiled as she looked up to the blue sky, enjoying the soft breeze that blew. For a moment, a comfortable silence fell between the two.

"It has been two years already…" Lucy suddenly softly muttered.

But Coco heard it and instantly understood. She reached out her hand and gently squeezed Lucy's.

"Princess, you've done so well for the past two years… Don't you think it's time to tell the Royal family? Don't you think it will be better if you tell them the truth?" Coco said, anxiety and worry started to fill her eyes. Until when her princess would hide the espionage mission from the Royal family? "I'm sure they will understand your burden."

Lucy smiled bitterly upon hearing that and turned her head to stare back at Coco. "Coco, they may be really nice to me, but they are still the Royal family. They have their pride and dignity."

"Princess, it's not like you're actually doing the espionage mission given to you!" Coco said.

"Coco, do you know why I can't tell them the truth?"

"Because you are sent here on an espionage mission and the whole peace treaty offer is just a trap." Coco said.

Lucy shook her head. "It isn't because of that. It's because of my identity."

Coco blinked in confusion. "Your identity?"

Lucy smiled painfully. "I am an illegitimate child, Coco. Having an illegitimate daughter as their daughter-in-law? It will be an utter humiliation for them."

"But, Princess…! Being an illegitimate child is not your fault!"

"That doesn't change the fact that I am one, does it?" Lucy softly said. It wasn't exactly a question, it was a confirmation. "Illegitimate children are a normal thing in the Celestial Country, but not in here. For people of the Dragon Country, marriage is a lifetime commitment. Being disloyal to your marriage partner means that you have disrespected the holy dragon that created this country for you. Illegitimate children are unforgivable in this country, a taboo that should never be broken."

"But, Princess…"

"Besides, there's a reason why I agreed to postpone the marriage for three years." Lucy said.

"But you didn't know what Prince Natsu is truly like back then, Princess!" Coco said. "Isn't that why you agreed to postpone it?"

"That's just a camouflage, Coco." Lucy said. "If they didn't propose to postpone the marriage, I've thought of a reason to propose for it."

"What do you mean?" Coco asked in utter confusion.

Lucy softly smiled. "The Celestial Country is on the brink of bankruptcy, Coco."

Coco gasped in shock. "What?!"

"With their lavish lifestyle, you don't think their wealth will last for forever, right?" Lucy said.

"But how… How did you know that, Princess?"

Lucy chuckled a bit. "Because I got the chance to. Grandfather Crux taught me everything about the Celestial Country. From its long history to its political strength and financial condition. That's how we both predicted that the country would fall under the reign of King Jude."

Crux was the royal advisor and tutor for the Royal family of the Celestial Country. He was assigned to teach the Royal's heir and heiress, but both Jenny and Eve weren't interested in learning. Jude and Eileen didn't force their children to study as well, showing how much they spoiled them. Crux was deeply worried about the future of the country, but he couldn't do anything. That was when he met Princess Lucy and happily taught her everything he knew when she showed her interest. Teaching Lucy was the best thing that had ever happened in his elderly life and Crux secretly wished that Lucy would revive the country. Crux was aware of Lucy's identity as the abandoned illegitimate daughter of the king, but for him, there isn't anyone else more suitable than her to continue the throne.

"There's another reason as well as to why I'm not opposed to the idea of marrying into the Dragon Country." Lucy continued. "Yes, I cannot object the king's direct order, but it's not like I actually have any obligation to obey him. Using all of the knowledge I received from Grandfather Crux, I realized that the Celestial Country could only survive for another three years before being completely bankrupt."

"That's why I devised a plan." Lucy smiled. "From the beginning, I didn't want to do my espionage mission. But my decision to protect this country and its people was taken after I came here. If the Dragon Country is the same as the rumors we heard back in our country, I will risk my life and tell them the truth so that they can forcefully take the Celestial Country over. But this country turns out to be the exact opposite of the rumors. With Natsu and the others in it… I changed my plan and decided to never let them know the truth. This way, I can save them from waging war against the Celestial Country and from the humiliation for having an illegitimate child offered as the Royal's next daughter-in-law."

Coco widened her eyes in shock and amazement. She knew her princess was a very smart person, but she didn't know Lucy was this smart. She had elaborately planned out everything!

But…

"But, Princess…" Coco furrowed her eyebrows in deep worry. "Your plan is very risky. You're letting the Celestial Country falls into a bankruptcy, are you not?"

Lucy nodded. Guilt and pain flashed in her eyes, but her determination was unwavering as ever. "I don't have a choice. I don't have any right to take the throne and this is the only way I can put an end to the Celestial Country."

"But what about the people there?" Coco asked. "What about the Royal family? No matter what people say, they are still your family!"

"I can't save everyone, can I?" Lucy bitterly said. "About our people… I have discussed it with Brandish and Loke, and they have arranged to evacuate all of the people there to the neutral countries as well as to the Sand Country. They can start their lives anew in those countries."

"Brandish…?" Coco blinked. "You mean… Count August's adoptive granddaughter? And by Loke… Do you mean the royal advisor of the Sand Country?"

Lucy nodded and told Coco about her meeting with them. She also told her about their plan of doing a mass relocation for the people of the Celestial Country to the neutral countries and to the Sand Country. As the next Countess Spriggan in one of the neutral country and the royal advisor of the Sand Country, Brandish and Loke promised to do everything they could to realize the plan. They had made a thorough arrangement and all of the people whom previously lived in the cities near the borders had been relocated during these past two years.

They are now preparing to relocate those who lived in the cities near the capital. The capital would be the last since it could be monitored directly from the palace. Lucy prayed earnestly every day, hoping that she had enough time to fully realize her plan. Lucy knew how blinded the nobles and the Royals had been due to their greed which had been passed down through generations, but a part of her was still worried something might happen along the way which could jeopardize her plan.

With this plan, the only ones who would take the fall were the Royal family of the Celestial Country and Lucy herself. Regarding the allies and the nobles of the Celestial Country, Lucy decided that they had to decide for themselves what their future would be after the Celestial Country fell. All of this happened because of the Celestial Country's greed and Lucy decided to end it once and for all with her own hands.

"Princess!" Coco gasped in utter horror and placed her hands on Lucy's shoulders. "Then, after all of this ends, where will you go?!"

Once the Celestial Country fell, Lucy would be stamped as a traitor and could never return to that country. After that, it was only a matter of time before the Royal family of the Dragon Country knew of the truth about the peace treaty offer, which means Lucy could no longer stay in this country. She was also most likely not going to stay in any of the neutral countries because that would be the first place to look for her.

So… Where would she go?

Lucy didn't immediately reply. She put her own hands on top of Coco's and closed her eyes, staying silent for a while. Coco was getting more anxious and impatient as the seconds went by, but she couldn't find her voice to ask.

Just then, Lucy broke the silence.

"I'm going to disappear, Coco."

Coco felt like her body was washed over with coldness, numbing her senses all over her body. She unconsciously gripped Lucy's shoulders tighter, tears started to fill her eyes.

"I don't know where I'll go, but I'm going to disappear." Lucy softly said. "I'm going to stay away from your lives as far as I can."

"P—Princess…" Coco broke into a sob.

Lucy opened her eyes and smiled apologetically as she brought the crying Coco into her arms. She looked up to the blue sky as she quietly listened to Coco's soft sobs and the sound of Sting's and Gray's colliding swords. The soft breeze blew, and Lucy closed her eyes as tears started to trickle down as well along her face. Pain sharply stung her heart as Natsu's face came into her mind, along with all of the people she got to know for these past two years. All of these would come to an end.

Nine months left.

Done !

Wow, another emotional chapter ._.

My heart hurts so much while writing down Lucy and Coco's conversation T_T

What do you think about this chapter ?

Looking forward to your reviews and/or flames :D