🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 41
Glen did not return until early October.
Sir Tombel, who had left with him, rode ahead to the castle to announce the young lord’s return. Glen passed through the castle gates half a day later.
“Let’s go welcome him, my child.”
Ariletti held the count’s hand and hurried along.
In the front courtyard, Glen had just stepped down from his horse when he spotted them and smiled brightly.
“Have you been well, Teacher Aril?”
“…Mm.”
Glen strode over and easily lifted Ariletti into his arms. He looked much the same as when he had left.
“Let’s see, have your cheeks gotten chubbier?”
His thumb and forefinger pinched both her cheeks.
Ariletti’s lips puffed out like a fish, but she only twitched her eyebrows without much reaction. Glen looked a little disappointed.
“It’s been a while, but you don’t seem that happy to see me.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” the count said. “For the past few days she’s been glued to the window, staring at the castle gates and waiting.”
‘I’m just relieved you came back safely.’
Ariletti had been secretly thinking that when she was caught.
“Is that so? I almost felt hurt, Teacher.”
Glen bounced her lightly in his arms. She had been carried by many people, but his arms felt the most stable. Her tailbone didn’t hurt.
“Was decorating the territory fun? On my way here I saw the square. It’s completely changed. It was so shiny I barely recognized our home.”
“It’s not finished yet.”
“Oh really? There’s plenty of time. Do everything you want.”
“I will. …But what about your friend?”
Just what kind of friend took two whole months to bring back?
She had been curious the entire time.
Glen turned his body slightly to the side.
Ariletti stretched her neck and looked past the open doors.
Between the knights stood a small figure. A young boy, perhaps three or four years older than her.
His hair was tinted red by the sunset, but as he stepped into the banquet hall, it returned to its original color.
Bright, clean blond hair. Slightly curly.
—What? Him?
The rabbit doll made a strange sound.
Ariletti reacted almost the same way.
“Y-Young Lord, what’s that?”
“What do you mean, ‘that,’ Aril?”
Glen smiled awkwardly.
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that, so you won’t be charged with insulting royalty.”
He’s not joking!
No way. No way.
Ariletti waited nervously for the boy to come closer.
“You already know who he is, but this is your first time meeting him in person, right, Aril?”
No, it wasn’t the first time.
The boy had both charm and sharpness. His slightly raised eyes made him seem hard to approach, but he was smaller and thinner than other boys his age. He looked more like a kitten than a wildcat.
In contrast to his bright golden curls, his cheeks were pale without a trace of color. His eyes were red—the proof of imperial blood.
‘Lasian Federka.’
The youngest prince of the Verdel Empire, last in the line of succession.
In the future, he would be stripped of his title and die a lonely death in the Cold Palace… but this was his childhood.
‘He was incredibly cute when he was young…’
In truth, Ariletti didn’t know much about Lasian Federka.
When she had served as strategist to the First Prince, her main enemy had been the Second Prince. When she later worked as the Second Prince’s right hand, she ran around trying to bring down the First Prince.
During all that, the Third Prince Lasian had not been much of a threat.
He did have a powerful supporter named Hezeit, but after Glen Hezeit died and Lasian was accused of killing the border marquis and was stripped of his title, he was no longer worth worrying about.
‘Though he did suddenly slap me when we crossed paths in the imperial palace once.’
That must have been after Glen died…
Other than that, she knew that he had been poisoned for a long time, which stunted his growth. Around the age of twelve, he was stabbed in the chest by an assassin, and his already poisoned lungs were permanently damaged.
Glen had taken the Third Prince out of the imperial palace and openly supported him after that assassination attempt—three years from now.
But Glen had already brought Lasian here.
Ariletti was quite flustered.
‘Why did he bring him this early? I never thought the future would change like this.’
Glen placed a hand on Lasian’s shoulder and guided him forward.
“First, let’s greet each other simply. You’ll be living together in the castle from now on.”
“…”
“This is the lord I serve, Teacher Aril.”
Ariletti’s eyes moved quickly over the boy.
There was no stab wound on his chest yet.
He seemed able to move normally, and most importantly, he wasn’t coughing badly. This was before the assassination attempt.
Even so, his condition didn’t look good. His face was pale as paper.
‘His day must still start with drinking poisoned tea under the watch of his guards.’
An antidote. I need to give him an antidote.
Ariletti hurriedly searched her pockets and bag.
Fortunately, she still had plenty of mandrake potion left. There was even an emergency bottle in the small bag she was carrying now.
“Um, this…”
At that moment, the boy slowly lifted his tired eyelids.
Ariletti flinched.
His eyes burned like a blazing sun. The red eyes of royalty.
It was unexpected. Unlike the First Prince’s dull eyes or the Second Prince’s greedy gaze, these bright red eyes held a fierce will to live.
The eyes of an emperor.
Lasian’s red gaze reflected Ariletti’s face.
A doll-like little girl holding something out to him.
Her expression was calm, but she looked slightly flustered.
He stared at her deep pink hair and teal eyes, then clenched his teeth.
The moment Ariletti sensed the intense distortion in his pupils, something flashed through her mind.
What had the Third Prince’s nickname been in her previous life?
‘Mad dog…’
A pretty mad dog.
As she realized that, Lasian asked sharply,
“Why is that here, hyung?”
After giving up one bottle of potion to Lasian, Ariletti ended up groaning in pain that night.
‘My head hurts.’
Tears and snot kept flowing against her will. She had once been ready to die, yet now she felt so miserable over a mere headache.
“Is this the contradiction of being human…?”
“What are you even saying?”
An unfamiliar voice interrupted her thoughts. His voice was hoarse, but his pronunciation was much clearer.
“Just shut up and sleep. I can’t stand that sniffling anymore.”
“You’ve gotten sharper.”
“What?”
“Still a mad dog…”
She didn’t even need to roll her eyes to check his face. Just hearing his rude tone was enough to know who it was.
There was only one nine-year-old in this place with that level of bad manners.
“Cough. Why did they put me in the same room as this? It’s unsettling.”
Ariletti pushed her eyes out from under the blanket and glared at the fluffy blond back of his head.
“You’re one to talk… I’d like to know the reason too.”
After Lasian’s “Why is that here?” comment, Ariletti’s image of the Third Prince had plummeted to rock bottom.
He hadn’t even touched the potion she had kindly offered. She couldn’t help but feel hurt.
Meanwhile, Glen had said, “I hope you two become friends,” and pushed Lasian into Ariletti’s room.
And so now they were trying to sleep in the same space.
“I don’t need friends…”
Lasian scoffed.
“Says the one who can’t even put on her socks by herself.”
“…!”
Ariletti felt deeply insulted.
