My Mom Entered a Contract Marriage - Chapter 17

When Lilica returned to the White Dragon Chamber, Atil was sitting there proudly like he was its owner. Brann was next to him, attending to him with a teapot in hand.

“You’re back?”

“You’ve returned.”

At their words, Lilica asked flusteredly.

“For some reason, I look like a guest. Where did all my maids go?”

“I kicked them out because they were hanging around.”

“Atil.”

Lilica frowned. When she found out that Brann was the only servant in the Black Dragon Chamber, Lilica felt sorry for Brann.

Lilica alone had four maidservants, and they were led by Brynn.

There were also numerous maids that changed the bedsheets or did the chores.

However, Brann had to do what those four maidservants did by himself, which made Lilica feel sorry for him.

She was once a worker too, wasn’t she?

Since they’d come to the White Dragon Chamber as a guest, Brann should also be entertained, but Atil kicked out the maidservants and made Brann serve him.

Lilica quickly ran up to the footstool and reached out and pulled the rope.

“Brann, please sit back comfortably. Atil, don’t bother my maidservants from now onwards.”

“I didn’t bother them. Didn’t I let them take a break?”

What are you going on about, Lilica frowned. Brynn’s eyes narrowed.

“Please excuse me for a moment, Princess.”

“Oh, mm.”

Lilica nodded. Brann smiled bitterly when the hem of Brynn’s skirt disappeared.

“The maidservants are going to be rebuked.”

“The maidservants?”

“The Princess is the master of the White Dragon Chamber, but they were kicked out because of His Highness.”

“Isn’t that because compared to me, Atil is…”

Because he was someone with a higher ranking.

“But that’s not right.”

Brann spoke rather leisurely and filled Atil’s empty teacup. Lilica narrowed her eyes.

Pitter-patter, she ran over and stood right in front of Atil resolutely.

“So you came in as you pleased and pretended to be the master of White Dragon Chamber, right?”

Atil raised his teacup and nodded.

“That’s right.”

“Then it’s a matter of my dignity.”

“What? Aren’t we a family?”

Is that so?

As Lilica tilted, Atil set down his teacup and pulled Lilica into his lap with a yank of her arm.

“Your Highness!”

She screamed out of shock, he pressed her cheeks and said.

“Atil.”

Lilica corrected how she addressed him and called him again.

“Atil.”

Lilica frowned. The same kind of thing happened before.

Lilica said.

“Atil really resembles His Majesty.”

Atil’s expression became strange.

“We look alike?”

“Yes, you look very much alike.”

Lilica nodded vehemently. They behaved in the exact same manner.

Atil fell into deep thought as he stroked Lilica’s cheek. He blurted out.

“I’ve never thought that before.”

An emperor with unknown origins.

Was he really his uncle? He’d occasionally have such thoughts.

His appearance, which seemed to indicate the presence of a foreigners’ bloodline and not purely Takar, also played a role.

That was also why there were rumours that Altheos’ mother was from the desert.

Come to think of it, that was probably the only thing that he and his uncle had in common.

The status of their mothers.

The mothers of him and Altheos weren’t from the imperial family’s collateral lines.

—Half breed

He was also aware that the Duke of Barat called him that. Just then, Lilica grabbed Atil’s cheeks.

Atil looked up in astonishment. Lilica spoke with a sour expression.

“I don’t think it’s fair that only you are touching my cheeks.”

“Did you do this to His Majesty, too?”

“What?”

“Did His Majesty also do this?”

“His Majesty didn’t touch my cheeks like this.”

“Is that so?”

I see, Atil said as his face turned satisfied, and he pulled Lilica’s cheek one more time before letting go. Lilica got off the sofa with a disgruntled expression and stood up properly.

Atil leaned against the sofa languidly and lifted his teacup, and Brann, who was standing at a side, quickly filled the cup.

Soon after, a group of stiff maidservants came in one after another.

One of the maidservants stepped up and received the teapot from Brann.

The other maidservants quickly set refreshments on the table and examined Lilica’s mood. Atil spoke sarcastically at that sight.

“What’s the point of being quick-witted now? Get lost.”

The terrified maids looked at Lilica and obeyed Atil’s command. Lilica spoke to Atil.

“Please let my maidservants attend to me.”

“If you say so.”

As Atil said that, he looked at the maids like he was going to remember each and every one of them. His gaze finally stopped at Brynn.

“You’re not too bad for a Sol.”

Brynn smiled at his words, and Lilica nodded.

“I also rely a lot on Brynn.”

“You shouldn’t say that you’re relying on someone lower than you.”

At Atil’s whispered words, Lilica replied with a disconcerted expression.

“I believe that trust goes both ways.”

Besides, Brynn wasn’t ‘someone lower’. She was a dear friend of hers.

Atil raised an eyebrow lightly.

Lilica quickly changed the subject before Atil could say anything about Brynn, who she liked.

“Come to think of it, Mother told me to pick an escort.”

Atil went along with the obvious change of topic readily.

“You are in need of one.”

“I heard that Atil needs to choose an escort too. Why don’t we go to the Imperial Guards together?”

“I’m good. Pick one for yourself.”

“What? But—”

“Enough.”

He waved his hand dismissively. Lilica’s expression became filled with worry. She sat beside him and raised her teacup.

Lilica looked at the small teacup that fits the size of her hand perfectly, before turning to Atil.

“But it’s necessary.”

“But the guy that has been my escort for eight years tried to kill me?”

“That’s all the more reason why you need one.”

Atil shook his head at Lilica’s words. He ruffled her hair.

His touch was rough enough to push away a pin that was fixed, but Lilica didn’t avoid it.

“I’m worried.”

Atil paused at Lilica’s words. Never in his life had he heard such a straightforward ‘I’m worried’, which he hasn’t heard ever since his father’s death.

His vassals didn’t dare to say something like that to him, and Altheos’s personality wasn’t the kind that would say such a thing.

“I had a nightmare about that day and can’t sleep properly. But what if something like that happens again? What if Atil doesn’t have an escort then? The thought of it makes me especially anxious, and I can’t even sleep.”

“What if the one that’s chosen was the same kind as that guy?”

Lilica answered his words unhesitatingly.

“Pick it with me.”

“With you?”

“Yes, I have good intuition!”

Lilica quickly appealed with her speciality. Atil made a strange face.

“Intuition?”

“Yeah, oh-hoh, don’t make that expression. Intuition? What are you talking about? You’re thinking like that, aren’t you? But I’m very good at detecting bad things. Actually, I had a bad feeling when the escort knight appeared.”

Lilica raised her head triumphantly and continued.

“That’s not all. When I was young, there was an old lady that was very kind and gave out snacks to the children. All the kids liked her. But I was the only one who didn’t like that old lady. So I wouldn’t go over when asked, and didn’t take anything from her, and later on, she turned out to be a human trafficker.”

Atil’s expression hardened. The expressions of Brynn and Brann, who were listening at a side, also became peculiar.

Lilica continued to brag about her performance, sticking out her chest.

“Also, there was a Mister that would give pocket money to the children that helped him carry his luggage. He would give a huge copper coin whenever his light luggage was moved, and all the kids liked him. But I didn’t like that Mister. And as expected. He was a bad guy, what was it?”

Lilica spoke in a low voice.

“Apparently, he did something bad to the children and sold them.”

“Something bad?”

Lilica replied to Atil’s question with a grave look.

“I’m not too sure, but he might have starved or hit them? And also—”

Lilica folded her fingers and narrated the events that she was lucky enough to avoid.

“There are owners that don’t pay wages. I’ve never been caught by people like that. Well, except for when I’d ignored my intuition.”

Lilica shrugged.

There were times when she had to do it, even though she could tell that something bad would happen with her intuition.

At that time, she was mentally prepared, and something bad would definitely happen.

Lilica let out a soft sigh and said.

“I can only avoid very bad things, though I can’t choose something good. But isn’t this alright?”

How is it?

Please trust my intuition.

Lilica looked at Atil with that sort of expression.

Atil bit his lip and ruffled her hair with both hands.

“Kyaah? Ugh?”

She couldn’t endure no matter how hard she tried. Her body rocked back and forth.

“Atil!”

Eventually, he let go as Lilica struggled, and gave her a tight hug.

“Guack!”

It was such a tight embrace that she couldn’t help but make a strange sound due to her crushed lungs. Atil laughed.

He asked back teasingly.

“Guack?”

“I—it’s because Atil is hugging me so tightly!”

Lilica rebuked him and he spoke in a languid voice.

“Deduct a raspberry.”

He was using his previous words as it was, to replace the individual apologies with raspberries.

Lilica cried indignantly.

“I want to deduct two raspberries!”

“Alright, alright.”

Atil loosened the arms that were tightened around Lilica. She was still surprisingly small and soft.

He felt her high body temperature and fast heartbeat.

He didn’t feel the slightest bit threatened when she got angry, but found it rather cute instead.

However.

‘She lived amidst such danger. Human trafficking.’

The serf system had long since disappeared from the Empire.

It was because oppressing and exploiting the peasants rather than the serfs was found to be more efficient.

Slavery had also disappeared officially, but it still exists unofficially.

‘I should look into the capital’s Guard Corps.’

Atil’s eyes narrowed and he gently pushed her hair aside and looked at her face.

Lilica looked back at his face and spoke hesitantly.

“It’s alright if I don’t deduct two raspberries, so why don’t you go and select them with me?”

“I’ll go.”

“Really?”

Lilica jumped up from her seat. Atil laughed.

“Yes, really. But not today, but at a later date.”

He had to go through the reports from the capital’s Guard Corps today.

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

He rose from his seat and tried and failed to untangle her dishevelled hair.

“Please allow me to take care of the hair.”

Brynn quickly came to the side and stopped Atil. She had to stop her hair from being further tangled in the hairpin.

Atil removed his hand and nodded.

“Then, I’ll see you later.”

“Yes, please take care!”

The dishevelled-haired Lilica saw Atil off at the entrance.

Brann smiled, gave his deepest regards to her and followed his master.

Brynn quickly sat Lilica in front of the mirror and picked up the comb. As Brynn removed the hairpin and brushed her hair again, she spoke.

“I didn’t know the Princess had good intuition.”

“I have good intuition when it comes to bad things. The problem is, I can’t do anything about it.”

All she could do was avoid it, without being able to do anything. Even so, it was such a great help to have when running away and avoiding the worst-case scenario, so Lilica was grateful.

Brynn moved the silver comb meticulously and nodded.

“Being able to avoid or prepare was sufficient.”

Lilica’s hair, which Brynn had tamed smoothly, fell down with a shimmer, like a tree that’s polished by a craftsman.

Brynn stepped back after neatly retying Lilica’s walnut-coloured hair, which pearl-like sunlight descended upon.

Lilica stood in front of the mirror and scanned her reflection from side to side.

It wasn’t as much as my mother, but when she looked at herself like this, she felt proud that she was ‘pretty cute’.

After turning in a circle before the mirror, Lilica spoke in a bright voice.

“I want to go to the library now. I have to figure out what plants were planted in the secret garden.”

She was going to turn the garden into a beauty and stun Atil, before returning the key.

* * *

The library was as quiet as ever. Lilica was currently looking through books in her study to find one that was related to gardening.

Brynn was looking through the bookshelf on the other side.

‘Seedling… Acidity… Soil…?’

Words that she didn’t understand began popping out.

Lilica knew nothing about farming.

After replacing a large book back and taking the next one out, a small booklet dropped onto the floor with a thud.

‘What’s this?’

The palm-sized booklet had the gold letters, ‘A heart-thumping magic book for girls’ on its black binding.

Lilica was astonished.

‘A magic book!’

She grabbed the book and looked around. Brynn was still searching the opposite bookshelf. Lilica opened the book gingerly.

[Methods to make an amulet for the person you love.]

[In order to appear in the dreams of the person you like?]

[To keep a secret]

She felt even more alarmed when she scanned through the table of contents. She quickly stuffed the book into her pocket.

‘I’ll borrow it secretly. I’ll read and return it secretly.’

A magic book, of all things.

Lilica found the presence of this book peculiar, and turned her gaze towards the other books.

“Princess.”

“Oh? Yes!”

Startled, Lilica looked back at Brynn, who smiled and held out a book.

“I think this book would be good. It has detailed illustrations, and explanations are also included.”

“Oh, that’s true! Thank you, Brynn. I think this will do!”

“Then shall we head straight to the garden with the book? I think it would be better to compare directly with the illustrations.”

“That would be nice.”

Lilica nodded eagerly, quickly forgetting about the magic book in her pocket.

* * *