My Childhood Friend Is An Archmage Chapter 117
Translated by d6y (ko-fi)
Chapter 117
* * *
After sending Aronia off, I go up to my room and bump into my mother.
"Mother, where is Father?"
"He's gone to a meeting at the Imperial Palace. Do you need anything?"
"No, it's just that it's been so long since I've seen Mother without Father."
My mother blushes slightly in embarrassment. "Well, I asked your dad if I could come with him, too, but he said that the meeting wouldn't go anywhere if he took me."
"You think Father will be distracted?"
"No, he's afraid that all the other male nobles at the meeting will fall under my spell and become my servants."
"...." I want to go back ten seconds before this conversation and cover my ears.
"By the way, Skyla, what is that thing in your hand?"
For the record, I'm carrying the sack of jewellery Aronia left me. The sack looks like it contains great value, so I carry it myself since I don't think it'll be a good idea to leave it in the hands of the servants.
I lift the sack. "I picked this up on the way."
"What, Skyla, I thought I told you not to pick up things!"
"Would you like to have one, Mother?"
At my mother's urging, I show her the jewellery in the sack. The sunlight streaming through the window makes the jewellery sparkle with a blinding brilliance.
"I can't," she said. "You've already picked them up. I can't pick up what you've picked up."
‘I'll make my duke a brooch with that blue sapphire, he'll love it for sure!’
I marvel at my mother's attitude which changes faster than fickle weather.
I put the sack on a dresser in the hallway and held out two sapphires of roughly the same size to her.
"Mother and Father can have a couple’s brooch."
"Oh, come on, Skyla, how can I wear a couple's brooch? What if everyone sees it?"
"It's not like everyone will."
"I mean, what if everyone sees me and the Duke wearing a couple's brooch and realises that we're in love with each other! That's embarrassing!"
"...." Mother, you've been married for twenty years and have a grown-up heir, so why are you acting like a teenage girl….
I half-force the sapphires into my mother's hands, who blushes profusely.
“What the hell…,” she mutters. But she accepts them. "By the way, Skyla. Are you doing anything tomorrow?"
She ask me as I look at the sapphires and think about what kind of brooch they could make.
"I don't know what I'm going to do, but I sure will be doing something."
"Okay. Then let's have lunch together tomorrow."
Lunch with my mother? I raise my eyebrows. "Mother… what's wrong with you all of a sudden?"
"Nothing, it's no big deal! It's been a while since we've had lunch together, so it's not a bad idea, right?"
‘Well, His Highness the Crown Prince is coming to visit tomorrow, and I don't want Skyla to go anywhere.’
Ah.
So that's it.
I recall Ryan telling my parents he'd be coming to tell them about the engagement.
So that's tomorrow, huh?
No wonder why there has been a lot of bustling in the mansion. I didn't think it would be tomorrow.
When my mother sees how silent I am, she takes my hand. "Skyla, this is an opportunity."
"What opportunity?"
"I think the Crown Prince really likes you, so you should take this opportunity to become a Crown Princess."
"What if I don't want to?" I blurt out as soon as her words about becoming the Crown Princess comes out.
It's clear my parents want me to marry the Crown Prince and continue the family name as it is.
But what if I said I didn't want to be the crown princess? Would they object? Would they ask, “What the hell does that mean?”
Or worse, would she ask me when the hell I was going to find a good match and get married?
Contrary to my prediction, my mother gives a completely different answer.
"If you don't want to, then so be it."
Huh? I blink. That easy? "Uh…. you're not going to object?"
She shakes her head in disbelief. "Do you want me to?"
Of course not, but…. "Didn't you want me to marry the Crown Prince?"
I thought she wanted me to marry him because she'd been suspicious about my relationship with him for a while.
My mother chuckles at my question. "That's what you say when you want to, and if you don't want to, then you don't. Who am I to force you to marry the Crown Prince?"
Mother…. I'll be lying if I say I'm not a little touched here.
All this time, I thought my parents wanted me to marry quickly and continue the family name. In fact, they urged me many times to find a boyfriend and get engaged or even get married.
But in the end, my mother respected my decision. I feel warm and fuzzy inside. Sometimes it was frustrating, but turms out she was always on my side….
"Instead, I want you to quickly find another man other than the Crown Prince. How about his brother, the Second Prince?"
"...." My feelings wash away like cotton candy in water. Give me back my emotions and parched tears.
"Oh, I met the Duchess of Solly yesterday." She says. I don't know if she's aware or not of the disapproving glance I've been sending her. "I heard Lancer did something wonderful at Princess Julia's birthday party?"
Mother, why are you bringing up something that happened a few days ago….
"I heard that Princess Julia rewarded him."
Oh. I remember the imperial family was so impressed with Lancer's accomplishment that they rewarded him. I wonder what kind of reward he got for drying Julia's hair in 30 seconds.
Curious, I ask my mother. "What was the reward?"
"They're sending him on a trip, paid for by the imperial treasury."
"Where is he going?"
"To the North."
"...?"
My jaw drops.
The North? The place where Lancer almost got exiled the other day?
For a moment, I doubt my ears are working properly.
"He's going on a trip to…. to the North?"
"Yes."
I'm stunned by my mother's confirmation. No, what kind of crazy person travels to their own exile!
And what's with travelling to the North in the winter? Unless you're a pervert who enjoys pain, why would you travel to a frozen place in the middle of freezing weather!
"Isn't that a punishment, not a reward?"
“No, it isn't. Lancer said he wanted to go there himself.”
"Because he ate something wrong again!" The harsh words come out of my mouth unbidden.
My mother is horrified. "Oh, Skyla, how can you say something as filthy as chewed and spit-out bread with lips as red and plump and fine as those of a cherry...!"
"I must go to Lancer at once!"
I must see him right now and have him explain to me why he should travel to the North in winter!
I summon Ticef and is about to head for the Soli Duchy when,
"My lady, Lancer has come to see you."
He's here! Just in time.
"Show him to my chambers!" I reply to the maid and begin to jog to my room.
"Skyla, what about this sack of jewels? I know you're rich and full of money, but how can you be so careless as to leave something so valuable behind!"
"You should just keep them all, Mother."
"Yes, no one is flawless. I'll take good care of these."
She takes the sack without any more words.
* * *
I turn to Lancer as soon as he enters my room.
"You're crazy, aren't you?"
"What? No, I'm sane. I'm not crazy."
As she served tea, the maid huffs at Lancer's bewildered and bumbling response. She quickly realises that she chuckled too loud and leaves the room.
I turn back to Lancer. "Lancer, I heard you were going on a trip as a reward for helping Princess Julia?"
"Yes, that's right. I was going to tell you today, but you already knew. You're so smart." Lancer gives me a round of applause with a smile Seeing his cheerful face lifts my spirits ever so slightly.
"Okay, I don't mind you travelling, but why the North?"
"Because I haven't been there yet."
"Well, there are plenty of other places you haven't been! You're heading to the North in the winter, don't you know how cold it would be there?"
"But it's winter in the North anyway, so if I go in the summer, it'll still be winter. Isn't that weird?"
This guy…. His response makes no logical sense at all, but somehow it makes sense to me, so I can't refute it easily.
"So, when are you going on the trip?" With a sigh, I flop down on the couch.
"I came to ask you that."
Huh? I blink at his reply. Why would he ask me if he's the one going on a trip?
"Would you like to go on a trip with me, Skyla?" Lancer asks me, casually sitting next to me.
"...." His question catches me off guard and leaves me speechless. I wasn't expecting it at all. I can't believe it. Us travelling together….
"...Just us?"
"Yes, just the two of us." He nods.
