Chapter 90
Minerva rushed to the Grand Duke’s castle, but the situation seemed to have already been resolved. Priscilla calmly greeted her.
“Welcome, Your Highness.”
“Duchess Priscilla, I heard Aslan was kidnapped…”
Where is Aslan? As Minerva looked around anxiously, Priscilla calmly explained the situation.
“Lady Aslan is resting in her room. The kidnapper has already been imprisoned.”
“Ah…”
Only then did Minerva’s tension release, her body going limp as if a taut string had been cut. Thanks to Lloyd’s support, she barely managed not to collapse.
“I am truly indebted to you.”
“It was Ayla’s quick response rather than this old woman’s.”
To hear praise for another person from Priscilla’s mouth—Minerva and Lloyd thought for a moment they had misheard.
“Lady Aslan’s safety is thanks to Ayla quickly ordering a lockdown and search.”
Ayla fidgeted beside Priscilla.
Minerva’s surprised gaze turned to Ayla. She knew Ayla was intelligent, but she didn’t realize she possessed such judgment.
Minerva approached Ayla and knelt to meet her eye level. Then she embraced her tightly.
Ayla was greatly startled by the sudden hug.
“…!”
“Ayla, thank you so much. If it weren’t for you, Aslan would have…”
Minerva’s body was trembling slightly.
Thinking that Minerva must have been very scared too, Ayla carefully hugged her back.
“It’s nothing. It was my responsibility to begin with…”
Her responsibility? Minerva separated Ayla from her embrace with a questioning look.
Ayla bowed her head deeply, trying to hide her guilty expression.
“Aslan wanted to go to the annex. Even though Mom and Dad said no, Aslan looked so dejected that I joined her in insisting to the knights.”
It was hard to imagine Ayla being insistent with the knights. However, if the two children had made up their minds to be stubborn, there would have been no way to stop them.
Minerva’s mistake was greater for not telling them there might be intruders in the house, fearing the children might be scared.
Minerva shook her head with a troubled expression.
“It’s not your fault, Ayla. Don’t dwell on it. Rather, thank you for protecting Aslan.”
Minerva hugged Ayla tightly once more.
And just as she was about to stand up, Ayla’s small hand grasped Minerva’s sleeve.
“Um, but Aslan seems to be in a lot of pain.”
“Aslan?”
Worry returned to Minerva’s face.
With an anxious heart wondering if that bastard Archibald had given her some suspicious drug, she waited for Ayla’s words.
“Yes. She had a fever. The doctor said Aslan only inhaled a sleeping agent, but surely…”
Minerva fiddled with her earring.
The strange power manifested in the Millennium Tree Forest must have originated from Aslan.
Could it be because of that?
Minerva stood up hurriedly to go to Aslan.
“I see. Mommy will go check on her. Ayla, you must be shocked too. Go and rest now.”
“Yes.”
Minerva turned her head towards Priscilla.
“Thank you too, Duchess Priscilla. I’ll go see Aslan now.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Grand Duke, please take Ayla upstairs with you.”
“Yes. Please go ahead, Your Highness.”
After making sure Ayla was safely with Lloyd, Minerva left immediately.
The lobby, with only Lloyd and Priscilla remaining, suddenly became silent.
Lloyd, finding this atmosphere burdensome, tried to leave as well.
“Ayla, let’s go too.”
“Yes, Dad.”
Just as Ayla took Lloyd’s outstretched hand, it happened.
“Lloyd. You and I need to talk.”
Priscilla’s calm voice stopped him in his tracks.
Moreover, she had such an excited look in her eyes that Lloyd became uneasy.
Priscilla’s gaze was fixed on Ayla, unwavering.
Ayla and Lloyd tensed simultaneously.
“Ayla turns out to be a very exceptional child. It’s time for me to leave as planned, but I’ve changed my mind.”
No way.
As Lloyd’s Adam’s apple bobbed noticeably, Priscilla smiled deeply.
“I’d like to stay in this castle for a while and teach Ayla.”
“Mother!”
Lloyd shouted angrily.
“Me aside, Ayla is off-limits. I believe I’ve told you this before.”
Lloyd’s fists clenched, veins popping.
But he was consciously careful not to squeeze the hand holding Ayla’s.
Priscilla scanned Lloyd and Ayla, who was clinging tightly to him, with interested eyes.
It’s good to have something you desperately want.
But if it goes against your will, you should nip it in the bud.
Priscilla gave a scornful look.
Just when it seemed no one could dare intervene between the cowering Lloyd and the overbearing Priscilla.
“Wait a moment, please!”
Unable to stand by any longer, Ayla slipped out of Lloyd’s hand and stood between them.
The two adults’ gazes fell on Ayla below, loosening the taut atmosphere.
Ayla looked straight at the two adults and pointed out one thing they were mistaken about.
“Mom said I can take lessons if I want to, and I don’t have to if I don’t want to. Since Mom is the highest-ranking person here, I’ll listen to what she says.”
“What?”
Joy and sorrow crossed the faces of Priscilla and Lloyd.
But Ayla’s words didn’t end there.
“I want to study. But before that, there’s something I want to talk about with Lady Priscilla. I’ll decide after hearing that.”
Ayla’s sky-blue eyes looked straight into Priscilla’s glacier-like eyes.
Priscilla’s mouth corners hardened with displeasure.
“My teachings are not something easily obtained. Yet you say you’ll decide?”
“My time is not something easily given either. I’m the Grand Duke’s daughter, and now the Imperial Princess’s daughter too.”
She had always been curious.
News that the former Grand Duke had come to the castle spread quietly among the employees.
Yet Minerva and Lloyd didn’t even mention Priscilla’s presence in front of her.
If she was the former Grand Duke, she would be Ayla’s grandmother, but it was as if they wished Ayla wouldn’t meet her grandmother.
Ayla’s intuition told her there was something between Lloyd and Priscilla.
She would talk to her, and if Priscilla turned out to be a villain tormenting Lloyd, she would drive her away herself.
Priscilla scrutinized Ayla carefully.
Despite daring to confront her, Ayla’s gaze was steadfast and her clenched fists didn’t tremble.
Priscilla’s mouth corners rose with interest.
‘She’s indeed much better than Lloyd.’
Thinking this, her unpleasant mood from earlier quickly dissipated.
As expected, she liked her.
“Then let’s talk privately for a moment and decide.”
“Yes.”
Priscilla turned around, and just as Ayla was about to follow her, Lloyd snapped back to his senses and shouted.
“Ayla!”
At the urgent call, Ayla stopped and turned to look at Lloyd.
Ayla doesn’t know what kind of person Priscilla is.
She doesn’t know what she did to him, her own son, in the name of education, nor that she was the one who instigated the tutor who tormented Ayla.
But how much of this story is okay to tell Ayla?
As he struggled to speak properly, at that moment.
“It’s okay, Dad.”
Ayla said this to Lloyd with eyes that seemed to understand everything.
“Dad, I’ll come see you soon. Please rest.”
Ayla followed after Priscilla.
Lloyd could do nothing.
Pathetically so.
As he hung his head, the blood-red carpet on the floor triggered some trauma in Lloyd.
The scene from that day vividly replayed.
But when he substituted Ayla for himself on that day, his head snapped up.
The two had already completely disappeared from view.
‘Ah, no. Not Ayla.’
He hadn’t brought Ayla here to make her like himself.
Lloyd, belatedly coming to his senses, began running somewhere.
