After picking up the items, Lucy and Edward headed towards the village.
On the way, they encountered many villagers who were also heading in that direction, most likely to watch the commotion. Seeing Lucy and Edward, the villagers followed them closely, as if hungry wolves had spotted meat.
Edward was anxious and walked fast, so Lucy had to jog to keep up with him. But she was also worried, fearing that Samuel might be bullied, or that Samuel might beat up Albert.
With Albert's puny arms and legs, one punch from Samuel could make him depend on their family for the rest of his life.
So even though she was tired, she didn't complain.
About fifteen minutes later, Lucy finally arrived at the scene. She didn't see Samuel, but she saw villagers crowding the area three layers deep.
As she got closer, she heard Albert's angry voice, "Samuel, don't be stubborn! Hand over Lucy to me!"
"Do you know what you're doing is illegal? Be careful, or I'll send you to the police station!"
"Samuel, stop pretending to be dumb. If you hadn't used tricks to rape her, how could she end up marrying you? With your poor family, how can you afford to raise her? A toad trying to eat swan meat!"
Albert's voice kept reaching Lucy's ears, causing her waves of discomfort. She felt that Albert had some nerve, as if he thought everyone was stupid.
Lucy was indeed foolish, following him to the countryside despite his never having made any commitments, and even sacrificing her own comforts so as not to inconvenience him.
Village Secretary Ethan Thompson and his daughter, Eleanor, were also fools, which was why Albert dared to openly cause trouble for the other woman's husband without worrying about offending them.
Edward pushed his way through the crowd into the center. At first, the villagers were somewhat displeased. But when they saw Lucy behind him, they cleared a path for her.
As Lucy entered, she saw Albert with several "educated youths" and some of the villagers who were close to him.
They had Samuel surrounded.
While Albert was furious, Samuel leaned against a tree on the side of the road, appearing deaf to Albert's rants and not even bothering to raise an eyelid.
This scene was somewhat amusing, and Lucy couldn't help but laugh.
Hearing the laughter, both Samuel and Albert looked over. Albert's face lit up with joy as he approached Lucy and tried to grab her hand, only to be easily dodged by her.
Stepping around Albert, Lucy went to Samuel's side, looked him up and down to make sure he wasn't hurt, and sighed in relief that he hadn't been bullied.
"Albert, why are you stopping Samuel here?" Lucy still didn't want to fall out with Albert; after all, he was the Village Secretary's son-in-law-to-be. If she offended him too much, life would be difficult for her and Samuel in the future.
"Lucy, people in the village are saying you married Samuel, is it true?" Albert asked with furrowed brows, staring at Lucy with deep affection, as if it were her, not Eleanor, he was engaged to.
Lucy felt disgusted inside but kept smiling on the surface. "Yeah, didn't I tell you yesterday? Samuel and I love each other and are planning to get our marriage certificate."
She took out their bright red marriage certificate and held it up high for everyone to see, then turned to Albert, saying, "Here's our marriage certificate."
By doing this, she was telling everyone that she and Samuel got married without coercion or bribery. Even if there wasn't much love involved, it wasn't as dirty as they thought.
"Lucy, if he forced you into it, just tell me. I'm here to back you up. If he dares to mess around, I'll send him to jail!" Albert still tried to approach Lucy, but before he could get any closer, he felt a chill.
It was Samuel, standing next to her, staring at him coldly.
Albert kept telling himself in his heart, 'I'm an educated person. I can't bother with such a rude character.'
Lucy rolled her eyes internally but didn't show it on her face. Instead, she reached out and held Samuel's hand, "Albert, you must be joking. We're very much in love, and I'm more than willing. As for you, shouldn't you be spending time with Sister Eleanor today?"