My Mom Entered a Contract Marriage - Chapter 2

She’d cried so much that her ears buzzed and her head spun. It would have been nice if she could collapse just like that due to sadness and anguish, but she couldn’t just collapse like this.

It was because she didn’t have any money in her possession.

“Don’t cry. Stop crying, Lilica Barnes. You aren’t a child. An eight-year-old crying, aren’t you ashamed of yourself?”

After encouraging herself, Lilica took a deep breath and got up from her seat.

Perseverance is a requirement to live in the slums.

Additionally, ‘work is credibility’. She couldn’t take a break from work today just because she was sad and sick.

If she didn’t show up at work without a word, cracks will appear on her credibility.

Putting aside other factors, Lilica took pride in that. Lilica slapped her cheeks and stood up.

After washing her face with cold water, Lilica left the house.

She wasn’t working in the slums today, but at a decent bar located in the outskirts of the capital.

She wiped her hands, feet, and face beside the well and left the slums.

There were many expensive glasses in the bar, but an adult’s large hands couldn’t fit into narrow glasses.

However, the young Lilica’s hand could fit in, so Lilica’s work was to wash the glasses and wipe it until it didn’t have any stains.

Although this wasn’t work that should be entrusted to a careless child from the slums, Lilica proved her sincerity and had good evaluations

Additionally, this work would give her two large copper coins, so she couldn’t miss it.

If she accidentally broke a glass, she might not be able to pay for it even if she worked here for the rest of her life, so Lilica was very careful and prudent while working.

She was tired because it required her to be attentive, but she was able to get rid of thoughts about her mother thanks to that.

She was exhausted after she’d finished working. It was because she was too nervous.

The owner handed two large copper coins to Lilica, and she headed home after greeting them.

No, she was going to head back, but she didn’t want to go home today. Lilica wandered around the streets while gripping the two large copper coins.

But upon noticing her, the people on the streets avoided the dishevelled Lilica, who soon became ashamed and headed back to the alley towards the slums.

She only returned home when the sun was setting. Perhaps her mother has returned.

She might apologise, and she might bring back the money untouched.

Or, maybe, her father.

As she pondered about it, Lilica smiled bitterly. It was a smile that wasn’t like a child.

She sensed that something had changed as soon as she opened the door. It was a sign that only the owner of the house could sense.

Although there’s nothing worth stealing from the house, it wouldn’t be strange if something happens in this neighbourhood, so Lilica was rather nervous.

Lilica looked around, moving slowly like a bristing kitten.

“Miss Lilica Barnes.”

Lilica jumped at the voice that appeared through the darkness.

She whirled around at the voice, and spotted a man wearing a hood. Although he was wearing a shabby hoodie, Lilica could tell.

He’s someone of high standing.

No, he’s a rich person, at least.

The clothes that he was wearing underneath the shabby cloak looked expensive at first glance, and most importantly, she realised it when she saw his shoes.

He stood upright without a subservient posture, showing his confidence. He must be someone that doesn’t bow his head much.

“You’re quite late.”

“Who are you?”

When she found out that he didn’t have the intention to harm, and that he initiated a conversation first, Lilica responded.

“I’m here to pick you up.”

“What?”

Surprised, Lilica’s eyes widened. Her eyes soon narrowed with suspicion.

“Is it because of the rent? Or—”

“No, Miss Barnes’ mother asked me to bring Miss Barnes over.”

The unexpected words caused Lilica to ask back in surprise.

“Mother? Me?”

“Yes.”

“What happened? As expected, was she taken away? If not…”

“You’ll know the details after arriving. I’m just doing the legwork. Let’s leave from the back so that you won’t be discovered.”

At the man’s words, Lilica folded her arms and spoke resolutely.

“I’m not supposed to follow people that I don’t know.”

In an instant, the man seemed rather perplexed. After a moment of contemplation, he introduced himself.

“I’m Lauv Wolfe.”

And?

Lilica looked at him with an expression like so, and he spoke with a serious tone.

“Actually, Miss Barnes’ mother is quite ill.”

“What?”

“Due to various reasons, she asked me to bring you to her. She’s desperately looking for you, Miss.”

“How could that be?”

Lilica was at a loss.

Did something happen to her mother? What should she do? Did she get hurt trying to force her way into the Imperial Ball?

When she recalled the way her mother screamed and cried last night, her heart began to pound.

“L—let’s go. Let’s go quickly!”

“This way.”

Lauv hurriedly pulled open the back wall panel.

Although the properly intact wall panel was dismantled in an instant, it didn’t register in Lilica.

Lauv promptly led her out of the dark alley.

Once they entered a slightly larger alley, he whistled, and a hidden carriage came to a stop in front of him.

“Oh my God…”

It was Lilica’s first time seeing such a huge carriage in such a close distance. It was also her first time riding in a carriage.

Lauv opened the carriage door and helped Lilica into the carriage. The wheels were so large that she couldn’t climb the carriage by herself.

He gave the restless Lilica some advice.

“Miss Barnes, you shouldn’t trust people so easily.”

“?!”

The bewildered Lilica tried to say something, but the carriage door was closed.

* * *

When the carriage stopped, Lilica stuck tightly to a corner of the carriage like an exasperated kitten.

She thought that she had too much faith in her senses. Perhaps because she was always exposed to danger, Lilica had a very keen sense for anything dangerous.

She doesn’t know how many times she managed to avoid danger thanks to that.

The shoeshining mister also acknowledged this.

Her sense for danger didn’t tingle, so she’d let her guard down.

She held the handle and persisted, the words ‘I will never go outside’ blatantly obvious in her eyes.

Lauv, who’d just opened the carriage door, briefly pondered about what he should do.

It felt like she’d scratch him if he tried to force her out, but she couldn’t just leave her as it is.

“Miss Barnes.”

“G—go away!”

Even though Lilica desperately hollered and glared at him, he didn’t feel threatened at all.

He didn’t mind her scratching him, but he was afraid that she might hurt herself in the process. She looked so dainty, that she might break a bone when she bumped into him even though he didn’t do anything.

“Is it true that Mother is sick?”

Lauv replied to the worry filled question, which was hesitantly asked despite the situation.

“No. Your mother is healthy.”

Vulgarities uttered by residents of the slums, which any decent noble lady wouldn’t have even heard of before, flowed out from within the carriage.

Eventually, he folded his arms and decided to wait until she’d calmed down.

Lilica decided to kick him as hard as possible when he dragged her out, but after she’d calmed down, her body relaxed little by little.

She became captivated by the view outside the opened carriage door.

She saw beautiful gardens and grandiose buildings for the first time in her life.

Even the fountain, which had water bubbling up, made a cheery sound.

The surrounding area wasn’t noisy, and it didn’t look like a human trafficking site.

Lilica steadily crept towards the door, wanting to slowly examine her surroundings.

When she approached the door and looked at Lauv, he backed away at once, so that he was out of her reach.

Lilica stuck her head out of the door and looked around.

It seemed to be a garden from this direction, and that direction also appeared to be a garden. The well-maintained lawn and straight trees gave a mysterious air.

“Where am I?”

When Lilica asked timidly, Lauv replied simply.

“The detached palace.”

“Detached palace?”

“It’s one of the small palaces that belongs to the Imperial Palace. Are you ready to get off the carriage now?”

Those words caused Lilica to hold onto the carriage door. Lauv stared at her.

Lilica began to creep back into the carriage.

Lauv sighed softly, feeling like he’d let the kitten that came out of its nest slip, and a person came running from the palace.

“Lilica? Has Lilica arrived?”

“M, Mother?”

The familiar voice was her mother’s, but the outfit she’s wearing was so dazzling.

Lilica had to check several times to ascertain whether it was her mother.

When she spotted Ludia, who was practically running over, a hand clutching the hem of her loose dress, Lilica jumped out of the carriage.

“Mother!”

“Lilica! What a relief. I’m sorry. You were worried, weren’t you? Mm? I’m sorry. It’s all my fault.”

Her mother’s clothes made a soft, rustling sound.

Her mother’s arms were as warm as ever, and the cheeks that rubbed against her were soft, so Lilica spoke unknowingly.

“I’m really angry.”

In a very soft voice. Poured out her complaints. Nevertheless, her mother didn’t get angry or push her away, but held her even tighter instead.

“I know, it’s all Mom’s fault. I’d done something really wrong. But I couldn’t come up with anything else. I’m so sorry. Mm?”

Her mother apologised repeatedly in a tearful voice, making Lilica soften.

“Alright. But what happened? Where are we? What’s going on?”

“Yes, let’s go inside and I’ll tell you everything.”

The mother smiled, stood up and held her hand tightly. And she looked back at Lauv.

“Thank you.”

“Not at all, Lady Ludia.”

Lauv bowed deferentially. After a moment’s hesitation, Lilica waved, causing Lauv to bow his head slightly to her.

Surprised, Lilica clung to her mother. It was her first time seeing an adult man bowing in her direction.

“Come, let’s go in.”

Her mother seemed to find it natural and began leading her in. As Lilica went inside, she glanced back once more.

Lauv was still standing upright, but he was soon covered by the trees and became hidden from her line of sight.

Furthermore, the extravagance of the detached palace soon captured the young girl’s heart.

Among the various detached palaces that made up the Imperial Palace, the ‘Palace of Dawn’, as its name suggests, was built out of marble that had pink hues, and was decked in gold decorations. Although it was rather plain in comparison to the other separate palaces, it gave Lilica an overwhelming sense of intimidation.

With bated breath, she looked around the palace.

Ludia decided to bathe her daughter first. Her brown hair was oily and clumped together, and dirt was presented under her nails and ears.

There weren’t any maids in the palace, but hot water was prepared, so it wasn’t difficult.

The surprised Lilica asked, “Is this a bathtub?”, and was astonished to see that it’s filled to the brim with hot water, dumbfounded to see the water turning so dark, amazed that despite the nice scent that the soap gave off, it tasted bitter and caused her eyes to sting.

Only astounding things happened.

When a brush was used to scrub the dirt under her fingernails away, Lilica wondered if a piece of her skin was being peeled off.

Lilica put on new clothes after applying a perfumed oil with a warm and sweet scent. She wore a surprisingly soft and thick undergarment, and a lacy dress.

She’d never worn such a nice outfit before, so she was at a loss.

When she wore silk socks and soft lambskin boots, Lilica thought that she was dreaming.

As she caressed her soft clothes several times and savoured its texture, her mother came in with some simple food.

It was her first time tasting meltingly soft bread and jam that glittered like jewels.

When she said that it’s so pretty, her mother told her that it’s raspberry jam. As she was thirsty, she was given a yellow coloured drink, and it also had an amazing taste. Apparently it’s orange juice, and even though she doesn’t know what oranges are, the world is really wide and there are many things that are delicious. Her mother asked while she was busily eating bread.

“Lilica, you must have been quite scared, right? Are you feeling better now?”

Lilica nodded. She was so frightened that she became discouraged. She thought that she wouldn’t be surprised by anything anymore.

“What happened?”

When Lilica whispered quietly, her mother smiled and spoke in an even lower voice.

“Didn’t I say that I’ll attend the Imperial Ball?”

“Yes.”

“I attended the Imperial Ball.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really. So I met His Majesty the Emperor there.”

“His Majesty, you say?!”

Astonished, her voice rose and fell in volume again.

“I heard that His Majesty is a very scary person.”

Ludia laughed as her daughter whispered worriedly.

“It’s alright, His Majesty is a reasonable man.”

What’s the connection between being reasonable and being scary? Lilica continued asking.

“And then?”

“And so, Mom will be marrying His Majesty the Emperor the day after tomorrow.”

Lilica was so stunned that she didn’t even notice the bread falling from her hand. Surprisingly, the fluffy bread didn’t make a sound when it fell to the ground.

Lilica stared dazedly at her mother.

Lilica always took pride in her beautiful mother. Curly golden hair and blue eyes that seemed to shine in the dark.

Today, her mother was even more beautiful. To the point that for a moment, even Lilica couldn’t recognise her.

Unlike her mother, she had wavy hair that’s a plain brown colour.

If only she could have hair that’s as curly as clouds. But she was proud of her turquoise eyes, which were similar to her mother’s.

‘Oh, no. Lilica, don’t escape from reality.’

Lilica shook her head and picked up the bread that had fallen on the ground. Her mother said that it was dirty to put it in her mouth again. This place seemed to be even cleaner than her room though…

As she looked at the precious bread, Lilica said.

“His Majesty the Emperor?”

“Yeah. You were shocked, weren’t you?”

She grinned, and her expression was as mischievous as a child, so Lilica couldn’t tell if she was telling the truth or not.

“Is it real? His Majesty? With Mother? The day after tomorrow, at that?”

“Yes, of course, it isn’t a normal marriage. I’ll only tell you a little secret, Lilica.”

Mother looked around and leaned down.

Lilica leaned down with her.

“Actually, it’s a contract marriage.”

* * *