Chapter 183. Father’s waiting (3)
It was snowing.
At first it flutters like a feather.
As the night deepens, more modestly.
It was piling up under the moonlight that lit up midnight.
Engraving the first footprints in the open white snow field.
The sound of footsteps whispering softly.
Among them, Count Frontera turned his head.
“Isn’t it cold?”
“yes. not so much.”
son’s reply.
Seeing the profile of Lloyd walking side by side, the count smiled.
I was proud just by looking at him next to him.
It was just heartwarming and heartbreaking.
“I don’t know if this father is bothering you for nothing.”
“What are you saying? it’s okay.”
“Aren’t you sleepy?”
“Yes, not yet.”
“Then let’s walk a little longer.”
“Even so, I wanted to tell you first.”
“haha. The guy wants it too.”
laughs again
It’s nice to see and see again.
It was to the point of regret that his face was covered even for a moment because of his breath from laughing.
I really like this moment when we walk through the night together.
‘For the time being, I’ll have to send him again.’
He was the guy who returned after spending a while in Namaran.
But I haven’t been able to stay for a few days, and I have to leave again.
Join the special envoys and go to the Sultanate.
If I go this time, when will I come back?
Will we be able to see each other again next year when the flowers bloom?
Maybe it was because of that regret.
Lloyd came to his study at night.
The idea of suggesting an unexpected night walk to the guy.
“Tell me if you feel cold or sleepy. I will have to leave again tomorrow morning.”
“Do not worry. I don’t get much sleep.”
“so.”
“yes.”
walk without speaking again
side by side. Sometimes you go ahead or you go behind.
If there is a slippery place, reach out your hand.
That’s how I slowly walk around the hills and stone wall forest roads around the mansion.
As a result, old memories suddenly come to life.
Watching the snowflakes pile up on his son’s shoulders.
Unknowingly, I put the memories in my mouth.
“When this father was young.”
Lloyd listens quietly and keeps pace.
They walked side by side, breathing and talking.
“I really hated this Youngji. It was frustrating, boring, and disgusting.”
Count Prontera smiled faintly.
It really was.
when he was seventeen.
Because in his eyes at that time, this territory felt like a huge fence.
“I thought it was just rural. I hated and was dissatisfied with living without a name as a small nobility in a rural corner like this.”
“Did you have any ambitions?”
“Ambition. well It must have been a hit.”
The Count laughed soundlessly.
“I wanted to do something. He said he wanted to achieve something much grander and brighter than living in the countryside without curves. Would it be a little funny to say that I wanted to play in the big water? Anyway, I wanted to make a name for myself like that. So it was. That I had to leave the house.”
“Could it be that he ran away from home?”
“Mmm.”
Lloyd looked this way with one eyebrow raised as if unexpectedly.
He returned a wry smile to that guy.
“Runaway. It’s a direct expression, so it stings a little, but I can’t see any corner to make an excuse around it. yes that’s right that’s a runaway If it was the act of riding your favorite horse and leaving the manor at night without mentioning anything to your grandfather. It should be called that enough.”
“Yes, it certainly is.”
“Is that so? Or have you been punished? This father has suffered a lot since then.”
“If you are in trouble?”
“I joined the mercenary army. I want to succeed on my own. With a heart full of heartache, wanting to prove my abilities. And I regret it.”
The Count’s bitter smile deepened.
“Think about it. Who would trust and use a 17-year-old kid who only practiced wielding a sword with his close guards? That must have been the case. The mercenary commander didn’t use me properly. For about three months, I just did chores to my heart’s content.”
“I’m sure you weren’t the only one disappointed.”
“It was at first. I want to be only this. I’ve been patient though that someday the opportunity will come But the opportunity really came.”
“What if it’s a chance?”
“I met a girl there.”
“oh.”
Lloyd’s eyes sparkled.
The Count laughed soundlessly.
“It must have been a snowy day like now. The mercenary commander called me. But a girl my age was caught there. I was arrested for committing a great crime. A child to be sold as a slave. They asked me to keep an eye on them so they don’t run away.”
“So?”
“I asked the girl without the mercenary captain knowing. Really? Then the girl answered. that’s a lie That mercenary captain and his gang plundered the village. Thanks to you, I realized the truth.”
“When the mercenaries had no work, they were stealing or looting private houses.”
“That’s right. So he only made me do chores.”
“So what did you do after you found out about that?”
“He ran away. with that girl.”
“Are you safe?”
“no.”
The Count grinned.
“I ran away at midnight, but the pursuit team caught up before the sun rose in the morning. I was talking mindlessly. By carrying the girl.”
The Count’s eyes turned to the falling snowflakes.
He said with a look of reminiscence.
“I ran away hard. Yet, how tenacious they were. No matter how much I ran, I couldn’t shake off the pursuit. Eventually, on the sixth day, they surrounded them.”
“By the way, seeing that he is alive and well, I guess the end of the chase wasn’t a sad ending?”
“It did. Because your grandfather was there then.”
The Count’s words continued.
“It’s a fact I didn’t know because I was frantically running away, but the place that was under siege at that time was near the western border of our territory. Thanks to you, your grandfather was able to find me. After I ran away from home, he patrolled the outskirts of the estate all day every day without missing a day.”
“Did you mean that your son might come back?”
“You must have. Anyway, thanks to you, your grandfather found it right when he was born and kicked out the mercenaries with the guards of the territory.”
“Is that how the runaway ended?”
“yes. The greatest adventure of my life had come to an end.”
“Then what about the girl you ran away with?”
“I became your mother.”
“omg.”
Lloyd stuck out his tongue.
I thought I especially liked the golden hair of the count couple.
I didn’t know that the two of them had such a story.
“Anyway, it was because of what happened back then. This father said I finally realized how much your grandfather cared for me. Just like how this father is looking at you right now.”
“….”
“Are you embarrassed?”
“Ummm, it’s not like that.”
“then?”
“Can I be honest with you?”
“of course.”
“I instantly got a little goosebumps.”
“hmm? ha ha ha!”
“sorry.”
“No, no. Even if this father thought of it, it would be so.”
The Count chuckled and patted Lloyd on the shoulder.
In fact, it didn’t matter if the chicken meat sprouted.
I wanted to tell you more if I could.
i really love you
The greatest masterpiece of my life is you.
So please come back in good health this time.
If that’s the case, this father will have nothing more to ask for.
Even if you stay up all night.
Even if you walk until dawn.
I wanted to tell you that.
However, the count suppressed such a feeling.
I didn’t want to burden my son.
And I wanted to give it time.
‘Until one day you call me father again.’
The son who changed from one day.
A son who abandoned his dissolute past and became sincere.
But instead, the son erased the words father and mother from his mouth.
I was glad and happy to see such a change in my son, but on the other hand, I felt bitter and sad.
But the count promised not to show it.
It’s something you have to open up to yourself.
It’s a name you should call yourself.
So what you can do as a parent is to wait.
No matter how long it takes
It’s okay even if it takes a long time.
I hope one day my son’s heart will be completely open.
With such a waiting heart, the Count walked slowly.
Lloyd also carved footprints next to it.
‘Whoa.’
The count secretly sighed.
In fact, Lloyd felt it too.
He never called the count couple father and mother.
The fact that the count and his wife care about his attitude.
I had to know with my eyes.
What they are bitter about.
On the one hand, it’s also sad.
I know, but it wasn’t easy to do as the couple wished.
‘sorry. I don’t want to be pretentious.’
The count couple were good people.
I knew the heart that always cared for myself.
That’s why I didn’t want to tremble with pretense towards them.
I didn’t want to use the title of father and mother just to make it sound good.
It would rather insult that good couple.
It would be to use their pure hearts.
he never wanted to
So it was.
‘sorry. Please wait a minute.’
Until you are ready by heart.
Until he can calmly accept the apology and guilt of having secretly replaced Lloyd, who was an idiot but was his real son.
So until I can honestly reveal my apologetic heart.
Only when the day comes when we will accept each other as family.
honestly.
Sincerely.
You will have the right to call them both your parents.
“I will try too.”
I don’t have the confidence to bring it out of my mouth.
He said it in a muffled voice.
Among the snowflakes falling silently.
I couldn’t see the reaction of the count walking alongside.
I didn’t have the courage to look back.
I could just feel it.
Quietly fluttering like a feather.
Cozyly through the deepening night.
Because the moonlight illuminated the spreading breath of the count.
That was clearly the mark left by a silent smile.
♣
The morning was bright.
Lloyd joined the envoy as scheduled.
Of course, Xaviel was also with him.
“Hehehe.”
“…Why are you laughing so sinisterly?”
“Are you embarrassed?”
“yes. very.”
Xaviel frowned at Lloyd’s question.
His hands as he loaded the horse’s back became very slightly rough.
“Are you happy to take me with you?”
“huh.”
“Why are you happy about that?”
“Because I won’t have to suffer alone.”
“Are you happy with the hardships we’re going through together?”
“no.”
“then?”
“I’m glad you’re struggling as well.”
“….”
“It’s unfair. If only I go and suffer. So, at least one more should be brought in. We have to roll together next to each other. So, oh, I’m not the only one in the world experiencing this. At least one guy is rolling as much as I am. Wouldn’t that sense of relief bloom again and again?”
“…this demon.”
“huh? what?”
“I cursed at you as a devil.”
“Yeah thanks.”
“….”
“At least it’s better than Hogu.”
Lloyd smiled rather grinning at this side.
At that shamelessness, Xaviel stopped laughing.
And I regretted it in my heart.
‘I’d rather say it’s like a pup.’
That would have been a more effective accusation than the devil.
The silver-haired knight vowed to do so next time.
In the meantime, preparations for the departure of the special delegation were completed.
The start wasn’t great.
“I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Count Frontera for his generous support so that the special envoy could stay. Enough then.”
With the greetings of the special envoy, Count Ventura, the special delegation left the territory.
Lloyd and Xaviel also greeted the count couple and left the estate together.
The journey to the east continued.
crossed the Eastern Mountains.
crossed the wilderness
We have reached the borders of the Eastern Sultanate.
The purpose of the special envoy’s diplomatic visit was revealed to the commander of the military corps guarding the border.
From then on, the journey became safer and faster.
The party was literally diplomatic envoys officially dispatched by King Alicia.
In other words, he was an agent who conveyed the will of the king and represented his position.
Receiving the same treatment and respect, he crossed the territory of the Sultanate.
Finally, we arrived at the capital ‘Ahinsha’.
It was exactly the 24th day since they left the Prontera estate.
“wow.”
Lloyd passed through the gates of the capital, Ahinsha, and involuntarily exclaimed.
‘This is a truly exotic landscape.’
It’s a long way east of the Prontera estate.
A long way south from there.
It was hot and dry because of its location.
It was the same even though the season was midwinter.
‘If I were a director filming the classic Arabian Nights, I would definitely choose this place as a filming location.’
Arabian Nights.
The atmosphere of the city was just like that.
There are also pagodas with domes soaring everywhere.
The mud-made and dried walls decorated everywhere.
Without exception, they radiated an exotic flavor.
“Eat it this way.”
An official who seemed to have been sent by the Sultan came out to meet him.
Everyone followed the official into the palace.
In the meantime, Lloyd was busy looking at the structure of the Sultan’s Palace.
‘Yeah. I’m studying this.’
Lots of exotic-style architecture everywhere.
Of course, architecture was not his major.
Architecture and civil engineering were distinctly different fields.
However, since it is a study with the same roots, it was natural for his eyes to shine in front of exotic architecture.
How long did you have to be guided inside the palace?
Finally, the door to the reception room opened.
But the view inside….
“Isn’t this a mistake?”
The bewildered voice of the special envoy, Count Ventura.
At the sound, Lloyd looked into the audience room.
There was nothing there.
It was a very simple interior.
It was a cramped space unsuitable for a palace.
Even the tables and chairs placed seemed out of place.
It looked simple rather than simple, and it felt crude to say it was simple.
i.e. this….
“There seems to be a mistake. We are the only special envoys who have come a long way to honor the will of the great King Alicia Terrmina Magentano. But for us, such a reception hall does not fit our status. Could it be that the Sultan is welcoming us here?”
The embarrassing question from the special envoy, Count Ventura, was addressed to the Sultanate’s court official.
The entourage of the special envoys also sent a puzzled look.
In the meantime, only Lloyd smiled faintly.
‘Heh heh. Look at these.’
he just laughed
error?
I don’t think so.
There’s no way the Sultan would do things so sloppy.
So, this is blatant neglect.
Among the group, only Lloyd, who was the first to realize this fact, kept a smile on his lips.
At that moment, the door to the inside of the waiting room opened.
