Chapter 73
“Ugh…!”
Not knowing what was happening, Aslan stretched out her hand to grab the offered one.
However, the gap between branches was too wide, and Aslan’s short arm couldn’t reach Lloyd.
Rather, with one arm no longer supporting her body, her remaining limbs couldn’t bear the weight and she lost her grip on the branch.
“Ahhh!”
“Aslan!”
Lloyd instinctively jumped after Aslan.
Fortunately, due to the weight difference, Lloyd was able to snatch the child faster than she fell, and reached out for any branch he could grab.
“Ugh…!”
But with no branches within reach, he had no choice but to grab the trunk.
The rough tree surface scraped his palm painfully.
Enduring the pain, he had no time to find a foothold.
Just as his strength was about to give out and he was about to fall to the ground, Aslan spotted something and pointed.
“Mister! There! There!”
“…!”
What Aslan pointed to was the lowest branch of the tree.
It was far, but within reach if Lloyd stretched out his long legs.
Lloyd immediately extended his leg to the branch and, holding Aslan tightly with both arms, used the branch as a foothold to jump down from the tree.
Thud!
A loud sound shook the ground, and a tingling sensation shot up to his knees, but they had landed safely.
“Phew…”
Lloyd barely stood up, let out a sigh of relief, and gently set Aslan down on the ground.
There were no visible external injuries.
However, Aslan looked dazed for some reason, so Lloyd asked just in case.
“Are you alright?”
“Yeah…”
Aslan nodded with a stunned expression.
Then, sniffing slightly, she looked up at Lloyd and asked.
“But mister, who are you?”
“Uh, what?”
Lloyd’s lips curled up slightly despite his hesitation.
He had jumped in prepared to reveal his identity, but it seemed she didn’t recognize him thanks to the mask and wig.
“Sniff… You seem familiar…”
The more Lloyd stepped back, the closer Aslan came, sniffing.
There was definitely a familiar scent, but it wasn’t familiar.
What could it be?
Moreover, the build was familiar, but the hair color was unfamiliar.
‘The voice sounds just like Uncle Lloyd, but it doesn’t seem like him…’
Unaware that the scent was mixed because Pablo had been wearing the mask and wig, Aslan was confused.
At that moment, Pablo leaned out of the window and shouted.
“Your Highness! Are you alright?!”
At those words, Aslan’s round eyes grew even rounder as she asked.
“Are you the Grand Duke, mister?”
Pablo, that tactless fool.
“Aslan!”
In stark contrast to Pablo, Ayla, not knowing exactly what was going on, only called out for Aslan.
Aslan waved her hand as if to say she was fine, then suddenly remembering her manners, bowed slightly to Lloyd.
“Ah! I almost forgot! Thank you for saving me.”
With her arm raised and only her waist bent, it couldn’t be called a noble’s greeting, but it was all the more Aslan-like for that.
‘Thankfully, it seems she hasn’t recognized me.’
If she had known he was Lloyd, she wouldn’t have been this polite.
Relieved that the child didn’t seem too shocked, he smiled slightly, but a sharp question came from Aslan.
“But why was the Grand Duke with Ayla? Where’s Uncle Lloyd?”
“Uh… Lord Mente is busy, so I’m briefly looking after her in his place.”
“That’s not right! Ayla likes being with Uncle Lloyd more. Don’t bully Uncle Lloyd.”
“I-I’ll try not to.”
He ended up being scolded unexpectedly.
When it should have been Aslan who needed scolding.
Lloyd belatedly asked in a stern voice.
“But why were you climbing up to such a dangerous place?”
Aslan answered without any pretense.
“I wanted to secretly see if the Grand Duke was a bad person.”
The ‘secretly’ part had already failed at the point of being caught, and she had no intention of hiding her purpose for coming here.
That brazenness and boldness had a way of leaving people speechless.
While Lloyd was at a loss for words, wondering where to start scolding, Aslan suddenly gasped and jumped.
“Ah, right! I need to get back to Mom now! Before she finds out I sneaked out!”
Which way did I come from? Aslan looked around.
The blood stains on her fluttering light green dress were slightly bothersome, but changing her clothes before sending her back would be more suspicious.
Lloyd pointed towards the guest house and said to Aslan.
“That’s the way. Your mother will be worried, so hurry along.”
Aslan nodded with a bright smile, then pointed at her own palm.
“Mister, make sure to treat your palm too! Thanks for saving me!”
“Ah.”
Lloyd opened his palm.
Tree splinters were stuck in various places, and blood was oozing from the scrapes.
The pain he had forgotten started to rush back.
‘But at least the misconception about the Grand Duke being a bad person seems to have been cleared up, right?’
Aslan was a child with clear likes and dislikes, so if she had judged the Grand Duke to be truly bad, she wouldn’t have smiled like that.
Watching Aslan run off into the distance and looking back at his palm, Lloyd unconsciously let out a small laugh.
What a troublemaker, really.
Minerva must have her hands full.
* * *
“Aslaaan!”
Sure enough, as soon as Aslan returned, Minerva’s loud voice filled the guest house.
“Again! Again! Didn’t I tell you not to disappear without telling Mom!”
“But Mooom!”
“Eek! What’s with the blood on your clothes! Are you hurt somewhere?!”
Blood on my precious baby’s clothes!
Minerva turned Aslan this way and that, checking for any injuries.
Though dizzy, Aslan answered dutifully.
“Ugh, this is the Grand Duke mister’s blood. He got hurt saving meee.”
“What? Saved you?”
Minerva’s hands stopped abruptly.
Did she really meet the Grand Duke?
And that Grand Duke saved Aslan?
How dangerous of a situation was Aslan in?
Sensing the smell of anxiety emanating from Minerva, Aslan spilled out everything that had happened in great detail.
After hearing the whole story, Minerva sighed complexly and pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Well, I’m glad you’re safe at least… Haa…”
Where and how should I start scolding her?
It was frustrating because scolding wouldn’t make her listen anyway.
She was almost grateful it wasn’t because of the Mars couple that Aslan had been in danger.
As Minerva lowered her head, Aslan thrust her face close and grinned carefreely.
“Mom, I want to see the Grand Duke mister again.”
Minerva had a lot to say, but in the end, she threw up her hands at her daughter’s simplicity.
“Alright, there will probably be opportunities.”
Minerva couldn’t hide her complicated expression.
She couldn’t bring Aslan to the audience, but if the Grand Duke accepted her proposal, Aslan would see him again whether she liked it or not.
* * *
The day to meet the Grand Duke arrived in the blink of an eye.
I was now sitting in the reception room, waiting for the Grand Duke with a tense look.
My hands hadn’t stopped sweating for a while.
I smoothed my skirt several times, trying to calm my breathing.
‘Breathe. Don’t be nervous. Surely the Grand Duke will seize this opportunity.’
I had made thorough preparations for three days.
Recalling the original story and my own experiences in the imperial palace, I prepared what the Grand Duke would most desire.
This negotiation will surely succeed.
When the time came, there was a knock at the door.
“The Grand Duke has arrived.”
“Tell him to come in.”
As the door slowly opened, the Grand Duke revealed himself to me for the first time in five years.
The Grand Duke bowed his head in respect as soon as he saw me.
But somehow…
‘He looks a bit different from when I last saw him.’
The navy blue hair and white mask covering even his eyes were the same.
Was he always this tall? Even the atmosphere seems different somehow.
“Let’s sit down first, Grand Duke.”
I pointed to the large sofa, and the Grand Duke nodded slightly and sat down.
What could it be?
My eyes narrowed, trying to unravel the identity of this strange sense of dissonance.
But my idle thoughts were scattered by someone who followed behind the Grand Duke.
“…Lord Mente?”
“I greet you, Your Highness.”
Lloyd bowed more sincerely than the Grand Duke.
The problem was that Lloyd was now standing behind the Grand Duke.
Why isn’t he leaving?
Looking at him with such an expression, Lloyd, with a rather embarrassed face, carefully said.
“The Grand Duke has an acquired condition, so I may need to be his voice. I apologize for not asking for your understanding in advance, Your Highness.”
“What kind of acquired condition could possibly…?”
I asked with a hollow laugh, thinking these excuses were getting ridiculous.
Lloyd seemed to have trouble getting the words out, chewing his lips for a while before speaking.
“Involuntary hikikomori syndrome, social anxiety disorder, and panic disorder… Your Highness.”
After finishing, Lloyd couldn’t even raise his head.
‘So, in other words, he has every mental illness possible…’
