My Mom Got A Contract Marriage - Chapter 15

Lilica wasn’t able to see her mother and His Majesty’s face during the three days that followed.

When she went to the office, Lat said, “The meeting between them was extended, so they’re having meals and lodging together, and not coming to work.”

As Atil looked like he found out something he didn’t want to know, Lilica was rather worried.

“Is it alright if the meeting is extended this long? Wouldn’t it be better for Lat to join the meeting instead of Mother?”

Does her mother have something to discuss with His Majesty? Lilica thought that Lat would know it much better.

Lilica’s words caused a disgusted expression to appear on Lat’s face.

“I will never attend that meeting,” he replied, while Tan laughed boisterously by himself. Lat flung a wad of paper at the back of Tan’s head and said.

“So you can relax for a while. There’s no need to come to the office. The both of you.”

Tan turned around and grabbed the second ball of paper that was thrown by Lat. He spoke with a grin on his face.

“Don’t worry, we’ll let you know if something happens.”

After hearing the Chancellor’s and the Knight Commander’s words, the both of them were pushed out of the office. Lilica’s shoulders drooped and she spoke anxiously.

“Mother, will she be alright?”

“It might be taxing physically, but Uncle isn’t the kind to overdo it.”

Atil answered casually, paused, and looked at Lilica. Lilica shook her head at such an Atil, saying, “Argh.”

“Setting aside physical strength, it’s a little strange that he’s holding a meeting with Mother. Of course, I like Mother a lot, but…”

She didn’t understand why her mother needed to talk to His Majesty about the assassin for such a long period of time.

Atil cleared his throat.

“Worrying about it is useless.”

“I guess?”

“What are you talking about? The waiting person would be burning with anxiety.”

Pi, who had been waiting nearby, walked over to them. Before she knew it, Brynn and Brann quickly shadowed them.

Pi smiled and looked at Lilica.

“Greetings, Princess. I wasn’t able to give you my formal greetings.”

“This is Pi, this is Lilica.”

Atil’s introductions caused Pi to grimace.

“Do you have to do that?”

“Why? What?”

“You’re really similar to the Emperor in this aspect.”

At Pi’s words, Atil’s face stiffened slightly. Before he could say anything, Pi quickly gave Lilica a deep bow.

“I greet the exalted ‘Nara Takar’. May your name shine like the stars above. I’m Pi, from the Sandar family. Just Pi will do.”

Lilica’s eyes widened. She’d learned it, but it was her first time receiving a formal greeting.

She’d heard that it wasn’t typically used outside of ceremonies, as it was archaic.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. Pi of the Sandar family. My name is Lilica.”

Pi raised his head with a huge grin on his face.

“It’s an honour to be introduced to your first name, Princess.”

The Imperial family had a first name and a second name, and usually the second name is used at external activities. The mentality that ‘the first name is used by close people’ still existed hundred years ago, but now everyone uses the first name.

That was what Madam Gwendolyn told her.

She felt nervous as she felt like she’d really become a princess. Pi pulled over Brann, who was standing at a side, and said.

“This over here is Brann Sol. You’re already aware of that, aren’t you?”

“Mm, you’re Brynn’s older brother, aren’t you?”

Brann bowed his head.

“I greet the exalted ‘Nara Takar’.”

“Call me Lilica.”

Since the Sol family didn’t have a title, they couldn’t introduce themselves with their family name and name in front of the imperial family.

However, in Lilica’s opinion, it was interesting that there weren’t any bluebloods that were unaware of the ‘Sol family’.

Pi had shoulder length straight beige hair and his hair was pulled and tied to the right along with the direction of his parting.

Come to think of it, Lat also has long hair. Do the members of the Sandar family all grow out their hair?’

Thinking that she should ask at a later date, Lilica quickly grabbed Brynn.

“This is Brynn Sol, my trusted lady-in-waiting. She’s a very precious acquaintance of mine.”

“Oh my!” said Brynn with a hand on her chest like she was moved, lifting the hem of her skirt and giving a graceful greeting.

“I greet the illustrious ones.”

Pi admired Brynn’s boldness of giving her greetings at once, while Brann pressed down on a part of his stomach.

Atil gave Brynn a sideways glance.

He didn’t like how Lilica said that she was a ‘precious acquaintance’.

A Sol, like that?

He openly ignored Brynn’s greeting, grabbed Lilica’s hand and dragged her along.

“Huh? Your Highness?”

Surprised, Lilica began to follow along, and the remaining people began following them one after another.

Atil was thinking about what to say to Lilica, but ended up saying this out loud.

“I heard that you’ve invested in a swindler.”

“A swindler?”

“Yeah. Was it Uva? Someone that wants to do something. I heard that he’s definitely a swindler, but even the Empress invested in him. Did you do so too?”

Lilica stopped.

Atil stopped almost at the same time without pulling her forcefully.

He looked back at Lilica and she spoke seriously.

“He isn’t a swindler.”

“What?”

“Uva is not a swindler. He’s a good man.”

“That’s characteristic of swindlers.”

“He isn’t a swindler.”

“How would you know that?”

“I can tell when I’ve listened to his story. He isn’t a swindler.”

“It’s always a gamble to enter the Sea of Trees. How can he guarantee a 100% success rate? A guarantee like that would only be spoken by swindlers.”

“No, Uva has other experiences.”

When Lilica responded huffily, Atil’s expression also began to harden.

“What do you intend to do?”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s a swindler. Do you think that only good people exist in the world?”

“I’m the most aware about that! But Uva isn’t a fraud.”

“Then what do you plan on doing?”

“What do you mean, what I plan to do?”

“What are you going to do if he’s a swindler?”

As the conversation between them gradually became more heated, Pi was bewildered and intervened in between them.

“No, why are the both of you quarrelling over him?”

“That’s right. I don’t think it’s a story that’s worth having an argument over.”

Brann also agreed.

Atil looked down at Lilica with his folded arms, and Lilica also looked at him without admitting defeat.

“If he’s a swindler, before investing in anyone in the future, you’ll have to come to me and get permission.”

Lilica straightened her back.

“Fine. And if he isn’t a swindler…”

Lilica frowned.

“Please don’t call the people I trust a swindler.”

“Alright.”

“It’s fine with me, too.”

Both of them had satisfied expressions. Lilica quickly held Atil’s hand again.

Atil looked at Lilica in surprise. They’d just quarrelled, so he thought that they’d separate ways like this.

But to Lilica, this’s this and that’s that. She grabbed his hand with a smiling face.

‘I see.’

So Lilica was alright with a quarrel like that.

Atil held her hand. Lilica asked.

“I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“Do you really own a fief? What kind of fief is it?”

“I do own a fief, but the problem is, crops do not grow well as it is located in the North.”

“It’s because wheat is affected by the cold climate. We might have to change the type of crops. Well, even if the type of crops was changed, it wouldn’t be worth much.”

Pi shrugged. Lilica tilted her head.

“Is the land not good?”

Lilica had assumed that since it was the crown prince’s land, he would naturally have good land.

“Although it doesn’t suffer severe cold like the land of the Inro family, it’s not that good either.”

Atil added to Pi’s words.

“I can only become an emperor when I develop land like that properly.”

“I see.”

But she didn’t really like the cold ground.

Lilica didn’t really like snow. Whenever she stepped on snow barefoot, it felt like her feet were on fire.

Otherwise, she’d feel a sharp, cutting pain. She could endure the heat of summer, but the chill of the winter was quite dreadful.

What if her nose or her toes fell off?

She would always worry about that when night fell.

“But it’s quite beautiful in summer.”

Pi nodded at Atil’s words.

“The silver birch forest is really beautiful. Summer is really pretty. Blackberries, raspberries, blueberries—all kinds of berries are everywhere. During this period, a lot are picked and made into jams or syrups. It will still be everywhere, even after the buckets have been filled to the brim. The bears would devour them frantically. Oh, there’s honey too. There’s also a variety of nuts.”

Lilica’s eyes became large and round.

“It sounds really wonderful.”

“I’ll definitely invite you when I travel to the fief in summer. I’m probably staying in the capital this year.”

“Yes, you must invite me. No, please invite me.”

[T/N: first version without honorifics, second version with honorifics. It seems like Lilica was too excited and corrected herself to speak respectfully.]

Atil frowned anxiously upon hearing Lilica’s words and said.

“That is, if you have an escort.”

“Haha, you’re right. You’re aware that you also have to select an escort right, Your Highness?”

Pi added stealthily. Atil started walking again without responding.

Pi and Brann looked at each other and sighed.

Lilica spoke.

“I’ve tried raspberry jam before. It was very pretty. It glittered like jewels and tasted so sweet… You’re saying there’s a lot of that, right?”

Amazing. It was like a fief that came straight from her dreams.

Lilica kept muttering so much that Brann laughed. Atil tapped Lilica’s head and said.

“Jam is made by boiling it down with sugar. Real raspberries aren’t that sweet.”

“Even so, I want to pick a bucket full of them, too.”

Atil hesitated for a moment. He stopped, pondered for a while, tightened his grip on Lilica’s hand and began walking quickly.

In the meantime, the group left the Sun Palace and headed to the rear garden.

The rear garden was considerably vast, so they continued walking for a while. After seeing Lilica starting to get tired, Brann spoke.

“Imperial Princess, pardon me, but may I carry you?”

“Weakling.”

Atil clicked his tongue and lifted Lilica. Lilica was so surprised that she cried loudly.

“I’m really heavy!”

“Your Highness, please allow me.”

At Brann’s words, Atil began to walk, saying, “It’s fine.” He began moving two times faster than before.

Lilica stared at Atil dazedly and looked at the ground. She then looked at Atil again and asked.

“Aren’t I heavy?”

“You’re lighter than a foal.”

Lilica’s eyes swirled around. Are foals light? Or are they heavy?

She couldn’t tell, as she’d never seen a foal before.

As such, Lilica said again.

“Your Highness is so strong.”

Atil burst into laughter unconsciously.

She was rather amusing, how she didn’t know what Takar was, what Sandar was, what the bluebloods were.

Amusing yet loveable.

Atil quickly erased that last word from his mind.

“Here, we’ve arrived.”

Atil spoke while standing in front of an ivy-covered wall. Lilica looked up at the wall.

“Do we grab the vines and climb over?”

“No.”

Atil put Lilica down and pulled the ivy aside. An old wooden door appeared there.

Lilica’s eyes widened. Was that a door to the outside?

Atil took the key out of his pocket. The old wooden door creaked, but the lock opened without any problems.

“Here.”

Atil pointed inside the door, and Brynn caught Lilica, who was eager to enter the door quickly.

“Please allow me to go in first.”

“Ah, okay.”

After Brynn and Brann entered, they were followed by Atil and Lilica, and Pi closed the door behind them.

Lilica exclaimed after going through the door.

There was another garden inside.

The garden, which looks around 200 pyeong, looked like it hadn’t been tended to for a long time.

[T/N: pyeong (평): unit of measurement. 1평=3.3 square metres.]

However, it looked more like a field than a garden.

Small apple trees and grapevines were growing freely, and herbs and bushes were spread out all over the place.

The stone path was scattered all over the place, and the once erect pillars were laid on the ground.

She also spotted a small cabin. Was it a hut used by gardeners?

But Lilica’s gaze was mostly focused on the bushes. Numerous red fruits were amongst the green bushes.

Atil spoke.

“Pick the fully ripe ones only.”

“Where are we? What’s that?”

Lilica asked questions continuously, but Atil spoke bluntly instead of answering them.

“Don’t you want to pick raspberries?”

“I want to pick them!”

Lilica jumped excitedly. She looked back at Brynn flusteredly.

“But where should we put them?”

“Let’s put them into my apron. I’ll bring a bucket next time. Shall we pick as much as we can consume today?”

“Yes!”

Lilica ran towards the raspberry bushes.

She handpicked the ripe fruits one by one and kept tossing them into Brynn’s apron.

If it looks pretty, she’d put it in the apron, and if it’s not, she’ll put it in her mouth.

The flowers of the other bushes, other than the raspberry bushes, were blooming, while the herbs gave off a sweet and pungent scent.

Lilica also fed the fruit to Brynn.

This is because Brynn was holding out her apron with both hands, and so she wasn’t able to use her own hands.

She gathered some of the largest and most beautiful fruits and gave them to Atil, and also to Pi.

Brann spoke with a smile.

“Let us help you too.”

As many people picked the fruits, the raspberries soon piled up in the aprons. While they were on their way back, Atil gave Lilica the key.