Chapter 203
Translator: Prime Works
Chapter: 203
Chapter Title: A Prison Called a Lullaby (3)
“Hoo.”
This was the reception room of the Frontera mansion.
A deep sigh echoed through the tidy interior.
But sighing like that didn’t lighten his chest in the slightest.
Feeling that truth keenly, the Frontera Count turned to the side.
He gave his wife a look.
‘Lloyd?’
‘He’s been summoned.’
His wife replied with her eyes.
Soon, the couple, who had been gazing at each other, turned their eyes straight ahead in unison.
Beyond the reception room table.
They looked at the foreign woman sitting there with a composed posture.
“Hoo.”
Seeing her like that made another sigh escape the count.
What on earth had Lloyd done.
What had happened in the Sultanate.
For such an embarrassing ‘remark’ to come from that woman’s mouth.
That was why.
The count sincerely hoped.
That Lloyd would come quickly.
That he would change this awkward atmosphere soon.
Fortunately(?), the count’s wish came true soon enough.
Knock knock knock.
Someone knocked on the reception room door.
Soon, Lloyd’s welcome voice rang out.
“You were looking for me?”
“Come in.”
The count shot to his feet.
He personally opened the reception room door.
While doing so, he closely observed his son’s reaction.
“Huh?”
Lloyd, entering the reception room, paused.
Lloyd spotted the foreign woman.
His eyes widened slightly.
Was he surprised? Or was there another reason?
Continuing to watch Lloyd’s reaction, the count soon noticed.
The faint smile rising on his son’s lips and his small mutter.
“So it’s this choice after all.”
“…….”
After all?
This choice?
What did his son’s words mean?
With a somewhat anxious heart, the count sat back down.
He offered Lloyd a seat as well.
“You sit too.”
“Yes.”
Lloyd sat on the sofa.
But his seat was peculiar.
Not next to them, nor next to the woman.
He sat at a spot forming a 90-degree angle to both sides, looking back and forth between them.
“You called me because of this woman?”
“Yes…… that’s right.”
His son, surprisingly not greatly shocked or flustered.
Seeing that, the count felt a slight sense of relief.
It seemed his son hadn’t caused any trouble in the Sultanate.
‘But it’s too early to relax completely.’
He knew nothing about what had happened.
So he had to be as cautious as possible.
To avoid hurting his son in any way.
Keeping that in mind, the count slowly opened his mouth.
“It’s nothing else, uhmm……. Lloyd, can you answer your father honestly?”
“Yes. Of course.”
“Then, do you know this lady?”
“Yes. We’re acquainted.”
“Then…… by any chance, uhmm, have you caused her any trouble?”
“Trouble. Well.”
Lloyd let out a smirk.
He had been suddenly called during breakfast.
Yet he wasn’t upset at all.
No, he was glad.
That Serazad had finally come all the way here.
That he could now keep the future swordmaster like this.
A sense of satisfaction welled up, like a farmer gazing at ripe grain.
But even amid that, there was something a bit puzzling.
“How did she describe the trouble I caused?”
What on earth had Serazad said to the count couple?
What had she said to make the count couple so fidgety since earlier?
‘She must have said something weird.’
Serazad sat calmly.
In contrast, the count couple fidgeted restlessly.
They seemed to have something they were very curious and worried about, but couldn’t ask outright.
That was why.
As if to reassure them.
As if to say nothing bad had happened.
Lloyd drew a dutiful son’s smile.
He spoke to the count couple in a steady, reassuring voice.
“It seems there’s some misunderstanding, so let me hear it and respond.”
“Uhmm.”
Hearing that, the count couple looked at each other.
They exchanged troubled glances.
The wife gave the count a look.
The count nodded reluctantly.
He looked exactly like someone forced to take on an unwelcome duty.
The moment Lloyd thought that.
The count, with a slightly flushed face, opened his mouth.
“Uhmm, how should I put this…… The thing is, uhmm, this lady said…….”
The count’s face turned bright red.
“That, uhmm, she’s become unable to sleep without you.”
He said it.
He had blurted it out.
‘Oh dear, how utterly embarrassing.’
The count bit his lip and picked up his teacup.
His wife gripped his hand tightly, giving him an approving look.
And Lloyd, hearing the count’s words……
“Ah, that’s true.”
“……Pfft!”
The count spat out his tea.
Lloyd shrugged.
“It’s exactly as it happened. She’s right that she can’t sleep properly without me. Of course, she skipped all the details, so the meaning got a bit twisted.”
“Cough! Koff, koff! Meaning? What do you mean?”
The count, who had choked on his tea, coughed repeatedly as he asked.
Lloyd handed his father a handkerchief and said.
“It means my lullaby. You know, the one I recite to Sir Asrahan.”
“…….”
He knew.
Lullaby.
The count couple knew roughly about it.
They even knew that Haviel had secretly suffered from severe insomnia.
And the mysterious story of how it had been cured by Lloyd reciting vast knowledge one day.
It was a fact only the count couple knew and kept quiet about.
Having barely calmed his coughing, the count hesitantly pointed at Serazad.
“Then, this lady too, surely?”
“Yes. It was similar to Sir Asrahan.”
“So you sang her a lullaby? Like you did for Sir Asrahan?”
“Yes. Thanks to that, she could sleep soundly. Well, then I came back here, so her insomnia flared up again. Right?”
Lloyd’s last question was directed at Serazad.
Serazad, who had been sitting calmly until then.
Her obsidian-like eyes gleamed as she nodded.
“Yes.”
A wry smile formed on Lloyd’s lips.
“Then that oddly phrased remark about becoming unable to sleep without me…… you did it on purpose.”
“Of course.”
Serazad nodded again.
She looked straight at Lloyd.
“I thought it was the fastest way to meet you face-to-face.”
It was true.
Serazad had already arrived in Frontera Territory a day earlier.
Her plan was extremely simple.
To meet Lloyd as quickly as possible.
Then record his lullaby into the expensive magic orb she had brought.
‘Once I achieved that goal, I planned to return to Ahinsha without regret.’
Of course, she still felt the same now.
Her sole purpose was the lullaby.
Once she got that, she was done.
It wasn’t hard.
An expensive magic orb that could buy an entire castle. A magical device that could record about 20 minutes of sound.
All she had to do was activate it and have Lloyd recite the lullaby.
Record the lullaby and take it back.
So she just needed to contact Lloyd secretly.
Without drawing others’ attention.
Keeping her visit itself a secret.
She thought she could approach Lloyd covertly and ask for the recording.
But no.
‘Reality was a bit different.’
Serazad shook her head, recalling yesterday’s events.
It had started right after she arrived here yesterday.
She realized there was a major snag in her plan.
‘Haviel Asrahan. It was because of him.’
The silver-haired knight stuck to Lloyd’s side all day.
She couldn’t approach Lloyd easily under that sharp vigilance.
No way to pierce a swordmaster’s senses came to mind.
No, even watching from afar was precarious.
That was why.
Serazad abandoned her plan to secretly approach Lloyd for the lullaby recording.
Instead, she chose a frontal assault.
After a sleepless night of worry, she came to the mansion early in the morning. She dropped a bombshell statement that instantly grabbed everyone’s attention.
And finally, she was face-to-face with Lloyd like this.
“Tsk, what a nasty temperament.”
Lloyd’s wry smile deepened.
He turned to the count couple.
They now seemed to realize their misunderstanding.
Their expressions much more relaxed as they watched the conversation.
Lloyd asked Serazad.
“So, you want my lullaby?”
“Yes.”
“You’re not thinking of dragging me back to the Sultanate, are you?”
“Of course not.”
Serazad’s face turned serious.
She took a plum-sized transparent orb from her bosom.
“It’s a magic recording device. It can hold about 20 minutes of sound.”
“You’ll put my lullaby in there and take it?”
“Yes.”
Serazad nodded.
She looked straight into Lloyd’s eyes and said.
“I want nothing more. Just 20 minutes. Record one lullaby here.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm, but here’s the problem.”
Lloyd grinned.
He tilted his head to one side.
And said cheekily.
“There’s no such thing as free in this world.”
“…….”
“Did you think I’d provide a lullaby for free? How naive.”
“But I came all this way…….”
“No, transportation costs are your problem, since I didn’t sing it here.”
“…….”
Serazad was at a loss for words.
Lloyd’s retort was logically sound.
But it was so infuriating she wanted to smack him.
Yet Lloyd, even more nonchalantly, grinned and took something from his bosom.
He spread it neatly on the table.
“What’s this.”
“An employment contract.”
“Pardon?”
Serazad doubted her ears.
At first, she thought she misheard.
An employment contract? Why bring this out?
But Lloyd’s following words were utterly casual.
“You want the lullaby, right? To sleep soundly with it? That’s why you came all this way? Right?”
“Yes, that’s true, but.”
Somehow suspicious.
Serazad nodded with wary eyes.
An ominous premonition crept up.
Right then, Lloyd smiled cheekily.
“Then you have to pay the appropriate price for the lullaby. So, sign here.”
“…….”
No way.
Serazad’s heart sank as she moved her gaze.
She examined the employment contract spread on the table.
Soon, a dazed mutter escaped her lips.
“……Joining the Engineering Corps? Participate in various construction projects in Frontera Territory, follow regulations, and engage in on-site labor? You’re telling me to do this?”
“Yes.”
Lloyd nodded as if it were the most natural thing.
He smiled as if asking what was odd about it.
“Just work for 5 years.”
“…….”
“Then I’ll gladly record the lullaby for you.”
“…….”
What the hell.
Serazad clenched her teeth.
Lloyd’s eyebrows rose slightly.
“I know who you are. But here’s the thing. So you think it’s forcing an unfit job on you because of your status? That’s a terribly wrong idea.”
“Wrong idea?”
“Surely you don’t think shoveling and pickaxing in the Engineering Corps is lowly?”
“Of course…….”
“You really think that?”
“…….”
Serazad, about to answer thoughtlessly, clamped her mouth shut.
Her heart sank.
She hadn’t even thought about it.
It wasn’t something she’d ever considered.
But looking back, yes, she had vaguely thought that way.
The Engineering Corps from the contract.
A unit that digs ground and does construction.
So assigning her to it meant?
Making her shovel and pickax on-site too.
To her, the princess of the Sultanate.
‘That’s ridiculous.’
Suggesting such work to her was a grave insult and rudeness in itself.
Yet she couldn’t say it outright.
Because of Lloyd’s subtle tone.
“Think about it. Is shoveling lowly? Is pickaxing work only for the lowly? You don’t think physical labor like that should all be dismissed as worthless, do you?”
“…….”
“All of it supports our lives. Without shoveling, there are no buildings. No straight roads, no bridges over rivers. And that’s not all. That sword you carry, your jewels, all your tools—they’re all made from minerals dug up by pickaxes and shovels.”
“…….”
“But you don’t look down on that, right? Surely not?”
“Of course…….”
“You don’t, right?”
“……Yes.”
In the end, Serazad conceded to Lloyd’s words.
Hearing it, it made perfect sense a hundred times over.
She couldn’t think of any rebuttal.
But she had no intention of signing Lloyd’s contract so easily.
She said to Lloyd.
“Then how about money.”
“Pardon?”
“Instead of signing the employment contract, I’ll give you money. A lot of it. How’s that?”
“No need.”
“…….”
“Our territory has plenty of money now. The Sultan paid properly. With silk and porcelain.”
“…….”
“So, sign the employment contract.”
“…….”
Serazad stared blankly at the contract.
In the end, her choices were two.
Give up and go back to sleepless nights.
Or throw away her pride and sign the 5-year labor contract.
But she couldn’t choose either easily.
She bit her lip.
Hesitated.
Lloyd smirked.
“Yes, fine. It’s a hard choice to make on the spot. I’ll give you time.”
“Time?”
“Yes. Stay as a guest for a few days and think it over.”
“…….”
That she welcomed.
Being forced to decide right here felt too harsh.
Serazad hurriedly nodded.
That day marked the beginning.
Days of deep deliberation unfolded before her.
While staying at the Frontera mansion, she spent every day wrapped in worry.
Even while eating the neatly prepared meals.
Even while lying on the cushions of the guest quarters.
Even while wandering on walks all day because she still couldn’t decide.
The furrow between her brows never faded.
Perhaps that was why.
On the fifth day of staying at the Frontera mansion.
Feeling suffocated, Serazad went on a walk farther than usual.
To the west, to the territory’s outskirts, beyond the border, walking endlessly along a forest path, sighing deeply over and over.
She ran into an unexpected person.
“……Huh?”
The second son of the Frontera Count family.
An unscheduled encounter with Julian Frontera, who was supposed to be returning home.