My Mom Entered a Contract Marriage - Chapter 9

At dawn, the Crown Prince’s party rushed into the Imperial Palace like a flash of lightning. After opening the door of the Black Dragon Chamber roughly, Atil became rooted to the spot.

“……What is this?”

A boy with light beige hair and of a similar age, spoke while standing behind him.

“Wow, is this Your Highness’ taste? How cute.”

“Pi, shut up.”

[T/N: Pi is pronounced as Pai.]

Atil shoved him away roughly and opened the door in the waiting room and stopped there. The living room wasn’t dark.

Due to Lilica’s insistence that the lights should be on at night, candles were lit here and there, and the blazing fireplace drove out the chilly air of the dawn.

The decorations on the walls glistened, reflecting the light from the fireplace.

‘Welcome back.’

Atil looked at the letters that were cut and pasted on coloured paper.

“It smells good, too. There’s a lot of flowers too. I didn’t even know spring had arrived, as we came down from the North.”

The beige-haired boy that followed him in—Pi let out sighs of admiration.

“Who was behind these?”

“Wow, this is really cute.”

Pi lifted the teddy bear, which was wearing butler’s clothes, on the living room table and waved its arm.

“Welcome home, Your Highness the Crown Prince. From the letter’s handwriting, it seems to be your rumoured cousin that has newly appeared.”

“Give it to me.”

Atil snatched the invitation from him. He smiled coldly after reading the invitation.

“Say that I’ll attend.”

Pi looked up in surprise. Brann, who entered following him, looked around.

“It’s the first time that we’ve been received so welcomingly. Shall I ask for a meal to be prepared? Or would you like to wash up?”

“Both aren’t needed.”

Atil waved his hand.

“Are you accepting the invitation?”

Pi asked again.

“Yes.”

Atil threw the invitation at Pi and said.

“Tell her that I’ll attend. Let her play house as much as she wants alone. She should come to her senses if she stands under the hot sun for three or four hours.”

“Wow, you villain.”

Pi frowned. As a close confidant, he didn’t like that the other party was considered an enemy without even knowing what that person was like.

Even though he’s aware of why he’s that sharp.

Atil waved his hand before Pi could say anything.

“I’m going to sleep from now onwards. Don’t touch me until I wake up.”

As he went inside, Pi looked at the invitation and sighed, “Oh no.”

Brann tilted his head.

“He must be quite hungry.”

“Right, I’m so hungry that I could eat a horse. More importantly, Brann.”

“Yes.”

Pi grinned and looked back at Brann. Pi was a direct descendant to the Marquisate of Sandar, and a close confidant of Atil’s.

He pointed towards the decorations and the words of welcome, and asked.

“Did you know about this, Brann?”

“I’d only mentioned that he might arrive around this time. And that he has a preference for sweets. But that’s all.”

“Hmm.”

Pi picked up a snack from the table. It was crisp and crumbled in his mouth, and tasted excellent.

It felt like his exhaustion from a long period of horse-riding seemed to melt away with the sweets.

‘It didn’t turn soggy, so it’s a well-made snack.’

Brann also didn’t know when exactly they would arrive. It was solely up to Atil.

Nevertheless, the flowers were full of vitality, and the snacks were rather crisp.

Upon touching the teapot lightly, he discovered that it was still warm.

She must have changed the flowers, snacks, and tea from time to time. It was rather attentive of her.

‘I’m quite curious about what the princess is thinking. No, it’s more accurate to say that this was the empress’ influence, and not the princess. It seems like I need to gather some rumours. We’d left the Palace for too long.’

It was because of that that he wasn’t able to participate in the unprecedented event that was His Majesty the Emperor’s wedding.

Pi sampled all the snacks on the plate one by one.

There wasn’t any poison, neither was there a strange taste.

He looked at the teddy bear and placed the invitation on the teddy bear’s lap.

‘I’m also quite sleepy.’

He’d rode on his horse all night till dawn.

It wasn’t like he didn’t know about Atil’s paranoia and anxiety, but he hoped that he’d refrain from overworking his aides.

‘I’m not as sturdy as a wolf.’

As Pi grumbled like that, he headed towards his room.

* * *

Lilica opened her eyes at dawn. She climbed out of bed with a rustle.

‘Um, His Highness, has he arrived? Did the tea cool down? Should I change the cookies?’

These days, she’d been paying more attention to His Highness the Crown Prince, so the first thing that came to mind was worrying about the snacks.

Lilica got out of bed and put on a gown.

“Let’s go over and make sure whether the cookies or tea have become cold.”

Even though she made the maids do it, it was necessary for her to check on it from time to time personally.

Even if the master didn’t care, there’s no way that the subordinates wouldn’t care.

Lilica put on her slippers and paused for a moment, before opening the secret door. She didn’t want to wake Brynn up for nothing.

Lilica came out through the corridor that was used by the servants, and also entered the Black Dragon Chamber through the corridor that was used by the servants.

“!!”

After softly opening the door and entering the living room, Lilica froze on the spot.

It was because someone was sitting at the living room table and eagerly consuming the snacks and tea.

Their eyes met.

Lilica immediately recognized who the other person was.

It was because she’d asked Brynn several times and heard about His Highness the Crown Prince’s looks.

She couldn’t believe that she ran into the crown prince while in this outfit.

‘No!!’

Lilica bowed her head while screaming internally.

She had to come up with an excuse no matter what. Lilica spoke quietly.

“I’m here to ask if you need more tea or snacks.”

I’m a maid. I’m a maid.

Please.

She hoped that he wouldn’t recognise her.

Contrary to Lilica’s desperate wishes, Atil also recognized who the other person was at once.

If it wasn’t the princess that walked around the palace in that outfit, he could vomit out all the snacks that he’d eaten thus far.

Atil suppressed the desire to curse as he looked at the dark brown crown of her bowed head.

‘Why did she come out from there?’

He can’t believe that she witnessed him devouring the prepared snacks. He was hungry due to the night-long journey and the idea that something edible was in the living room attracted him over.

The snack he had was great, and though tea was lukewarm, it wasn’t too bad.

After consuming one, it was all too easy to continue eating another.

Atil felt even worse as it was like he was caught eating a feast that’s prepared by the enemy.

‘Are you sneaking around to watch a spectacle?’

He grabbed the plate of snacks, jumped up from his seat and approached Lilica.

He intended to pour the snacks on her head and say one thing to her.

When he stood in front of her and lifted the plate of snacks, he paused.

Only then did he notice that Lilica was trembling and her ears were reddened.

That she’s much, much smaller than him.

He bit his lip.

“Hah, seriously.”

Whether it was a sigh or a huff was unknown, but it flowed out and vanished.

He lost the interest to bully her at how she flinched at the slightest reaction from him. More than that, he wanted to look at her face.

If her ears were this red, how red would her face be?

He also wondered why had she come out of a hallway that servants frequently used while wearing a gown over her sleepwear.

He held out the plate to her.

“Eat.”

“What? N—no. I’m fine.”

His voice became even lower

“Eat it.”

When he repeated himself, he saw her picking up a cookie hesitantly and placing it into her mouth. But he still couldn’t see her face.

He could only see the munching cheeks.

“Woah, His Highness the Crown Prince is bullying a poor girl.”

Surprised, Lilica turned her head, and a boy with soft beige hair was standing there.

“I didn’t bully her.”

Atil spoke sharply. Pi came over with a soft smile and held out a piece of paper.

“Here, this is a reply to the invitation from the Princess. His Highness the Crown Prince said that he would attend.”

“!!”

Lilica jumped up and accepted the replying letter. She raised her head and looked up at him, before bowing her head in surprise.

Pi chuckled and looked at Atil. At the momentary glimpse of Lilica’s face, Atil lost his desire to be angry. Joy filled her face, and her face beamed.

He sighed and said.

“Now go.”

“Y, yes!”

Lilica hurried entered the secret hallway again and closed the door.

Pi suppressed his laughter, and Atil spoke bewilderedly.

“Why is she going out that way?”

“Isn’t it because she’s a cute maid?”

“Don’t tell me she thought she’d done a good job of fooling me?”

“Who knows. It’s bolder than that. How can she sneak in through the servants’ aisle without a servant?”

“If that was an infiltration, I would have lived without even knowing what a threat to life was.”

Atil answered unwillingly, and looked back at Pi.

“Reply?”

“Am I not a diligent aide of His Highness’? I’ve written a reply diligently. Ah, the princess was so cute that I hope she isn’t an enemy.”

The Empress.

Upon hearing Pi’s words, Atil held out the plate of cookies to him and said.

“She’s not cute at all.”

* * *

‘I—I was really surprised.’

Lilica pressed down on her pounding chest. Did she get caught?

‘What should I do? If he did, he’ll think that I’m a pathetic kid. No, maybe I wasn’t caught.’

She might not have been caught as she’d only raised her head for a very short time.

Just then, someone touched Lilica on the shoulder, causing her to jump. The reason she barely managed to endure the urge to scream was because His Highness was inside.

She looked back and found a tall man standing there. Lilica could spot the shiny brooch he was wearing, even when it was dark.

“B—”

The man placed his finger near his mouth, smiled, and pointed towards the way out. Lilica covered her mouth with both hands and nodded.

When Lilica stepped out of the hallway, she let out a loud sigh. The man went on to ask.

“Is there something wrong, Princess Lilica?”

Lilica’s shoulders dropped at the fact that he noticed she was the princess, but they soon returned to normal.

It was natural that he knew, since Brynn’s older brother would have heard about her.

“I didn’t know His Highness had returned. I was just going to check if the snack became soggy or the tea had cooled…”

“What about Brynn?”

“I didn’t want to wake her up because I’m just going to check on that for a short moment…”

Lilica sighed again at the look on his face.

“I shouldn’t have done that.”

“You shouldn’t have done that. Brynn would be very worried.”

“Did His Highness the Crown Prince recognise me? I hope that he thinks I’m a strange maid…”

“Um—”

Brann looked like he didn’t know what to say. That face was so similar to Brynn’s that Lilica felt a sense of closeness.

“His Highness might not know. For now, I’ll talk to him about it.”

“Really? Thank you!”

Lilica smiled broadly, the reply in her hand.

“Then I’ll go back now. Brynn will be worried.”

“Yes.”

Brann smiled and saw her off. Just as Brynn had mentioned, she was a type of princess that’s rarely seen in the palace.

‘If it’s just as Brynn had told me, that the empress doesn’t intend to use the princess.’

Even children shouldn’t let their guard down inside the palace. Behind every noble child was the support of their family.

It was more convenient to use them as children didn’t have malicious intentions.

All parents had to do was tell their young sons and daughters, “Ask to play hide-and-seek here”, or “Pass this snack to His Highness”, or “There’s a place in the forest where you can explore, why don’t you go and explore there with His Highness?”

Getting caught in a trap like that once was enough.

Brann greeted the princess, who looked in his direction and waved her hand before entering the room at the end of the hallway, pleasantly.

* * *

Lilica was scolded by Brynn.

“Even if you’re for a rendezvous, you have to take a lady-in-waiting with you.”

“Then it wouldn’t be a rendezvous, right?”

Lilica, who’d become accustomed to difficult words thanks to the dictionary, asked in response. Brynn shook her head.

“A noble lady is accompanied by a lady-in-waiting, even if she’s going for a rendezvous. That’s how important a trusted lady-in-waiting is.”

“Alright.”

Lilica nodded, thinking that being a princess was harder than she thought.

Truthfully, there was something that she wanted to quickly brag about to Brynn. She waved the reply and showed it to Brynn.

“His Highness the Crown Prince is going to attend the tea party.”

“Oh, my. That’s wonderful, Princess.”

“Yeah. And he ate a lot of snacks, too. My mother said that he’d only eat snacks that’s brought by his aides. It seems like he really likes the snacks.”

Brynn recalled the appearance of the boy saying that he wouldn’t eat the cookies, and asked about his reaction.

“Are you alright? Did you get in trouble?”

“Yes, I think he thought that I was a maid. Well, maybe.”

She added the last words quietly as she wasn’t confident.

“But Brann told me that he’ll talk to him about it.”

“Did you meet Brann?”

“Yes, he looked a lot like Brynn.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Of course, Brynn is prettier.”

“That’s right.”

Brynn smiled. While she may look like her brother, it wasn’t a compliment.

“Then I should prepare for the tea party.”

Lilica savoured those words in her heart repeatedly.

A tea party.

A tea party.

For some reason, these words were filled with a sweet and enchanting aspect.

It was her first time hosting personally. Although she was very tense, Brynn encouraged her from the side.

She had been practising several times, so it should work out well. The practice consisted of a rabbit doll inviting a teddy bear to sit with a graceful greeting, and recommending tea.

It was also the world’s most enjoyable game of playing house.

His Majesty said that there should still be ice left in the underground ice storage house, so she’d even gotten a large chunk of ice.

Although Lilica was surprised that ice was available given the current weather, she tried to appear composed like a princess.

A noble princess won’t be surprised by ice.

It was the end of May.

Colour filled the garden, with light green shoots and dark leaves.

The roses that bloomed early were on the verge of blooming, adding different shades to them.

The decorative tassels attached to the large parasol sparkled in the sun, and shook, the branches of the trees were bent and tied tightly with ribbons to create a shade.

A gust of wind blew gently, and the spring breeze was mild.

The fragments of sunlight that shone down through the branches scattered onto the ceramics like gold ornaments.

The weather and setting were perfect, as though it was extracted from an illustration.

After all the preparations were complete, Lilica waited for the crown prince. Time went by slowly.

When there was a rustling sound, Lilica’s ears would prick up and she’d turned her gaze in its direction.

Even when it was quite late, Atil didn’t show up. The faces of the waiting servants began to harden.

* * *