The Sweet Alpha Crown Prince Loves Me So Much Chapter 138

Chapter 138

“Your Highneeeess!”

“Woof woof woof!”

Carl Lindbergh flopped backward, pinned down by Marco and Elizabeth.

“Marco! Elizabeth!”

Elizabeth whined with a strange, wailing sound and licked Carl Lindbergh all over.

Adrian, standing beside them, tried to pull the dog off, but Elizabeth bared her teeth, so Carl stopped him.

“You have no idea how worried I was! Look how thin Elizabeth’s sides have gotten!”

“You’re right. I’m sorry, guys.”

Half-lying on the floor, Carl patted Elizabeth and Marco, his own eyes welling up with tears.

Tsk, can’t he do something about that habit of skipping meals whenever something happens? Adrian muttered to himself, then became aware of the witch standing beside him.

She stood behind the three—no, the two people and one dog—who were catching up, clicking her tongue repeatedly.

She once seemed to wear her hair in two buns and only ever wore frilly dresses, but looking at her now, with her hair down and wearing a pantsuit, she had an image closer to Leia Lindbergh’s.

The thought that she was Carl’s sister from his past life was a little bewildering.

Taking advantage of the moment while Carl was dazed and crushed by Marco and Elizabeth, Adrian called out to her.

“Witch, a word.”

“Huh? Me?”

“Yes. I’ve heard the general situation from Carl. I have a great many things to ask you.”

With a feeling of ‘the time has finally come,’ Lulu followed Adrian to the reception room.

“Where are you going?” Carl asked, panting.

“Just to talk for a moment.”

Adrian replied, and Carl cast a brief, worried glance before turning away to hug Marco and Elizabeth.

It was because his loyal servant and Elizabeth, who, though a magical beast, would forever be Carl Lindbergh’s doggie, showed no intention of letting go.

Click.

The reception room door closed, and the two sat facing each other.

“I don’t know where to begin, but Carl has told me almost everything.”

“I was told in advance.”

Lulu disguised herself with a gentle tone.

There was a time when she had been arrogant, fixated on the fact that she was not from this world.

She had even thought there must be a grand mission for her, one of the many who had read this novel, to have been the one to be transmigrated.

Therefore, she thought it only natural to act as a guardian angel so that Adrian Heineken and Belfry Hendrick could achieve their love without great hardship.

But having realized that the original story had long since gone awry and there had been no such mission from the start, she too had decided to try and live her new life properly.

“He’s lived quite a turbulent life.”

“That’s right. It’s pitiful. But I’d appreciate it if you didn’t feel compassion for him. My brother… he lived his whole life struggling not to be pitied.”

Even without parents, even in poverty, even with a lack of education, a person can be happy enough for a myriad of other reasons.

That was Jeon Woo-young’s life motto, and she realized after her death that he had tried tirelessly to teach it to Jae-young as well.

Lulu placed her hands on her knees. In response to her words, Adrian raised an eyebrow.

“Am I in a position to dare pity him?”

Following the timeless law that the one who loves more loses, Adrian could not pity Carl Lindbergh.

“He told me himself. That his past self is dead, so I should just think of him as Carl Lindbergh. But my thoughts are a little different. I intend to embrace his past self and compensate him for it. Of course, he’ll probably say he’s already had enough.”

And that compensation, he said, included his sister, from whom he had been so futilely separated in his previous life.

“Are you saying you’ll acknowledge me as my brother’s sister as well?”

“Because that is the path to his complete happiness.”

Adrian, who was gazing at her intently, was still as handsome as ever.

She knew that her own dormant inferiority complex had played a part in why she had rooted for Adrian and Belfry’s love.

While watching them from a third-person perspective—objectively having everything but lacking only one thing, love, which made them go astray and suffer—she had hoped that the final piece of their puzzle would be filled, allowing them to enjoy complete happiness.

“Carl is a person who can be happy enough on his own, but it would be difficult to achieve without those around him, including you and me, being together with him.”

Because Carl Lindbergh was an altruistic person who couldn’t just eat well and live well by himself.

Even if he said he was selfish out of habit, his actual attitude towards life was not so.

Adrian Heineken would be happy for Carl Lindbergh’s sake, and he would willingly share his affection for the sake of the other people he cherished and loved.

Realizing this, Lulu smiled faintly.

She felt as if a certain wound deep in her heart was being covered with pink, new flesh.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

At Lulu’s words, Adrian gave a gentle smile.

He used to think she was a completely crazy woman but hearing that she was the sole pillar of support in Carl Lindbergh’s past life, she seemed rather cute, and at the same time, a surge of jealousy rose within him.

“Ah, but I can’t give up the number one spot in Carl Lindbergh’s heart.”

Adrian’s voice sank to a cool tone, and Lulu pressed a hand to her pounding chest.

“That’s good to hear.”

That’s how an obsessive top should be. Yes, indeed, Lulu muttered to herself and rose from her seat.

“Ah, there’s one thing I’d like to tell you.”

Adrian, who was rising from his seat at the same time, looked at her with a quizzical gaze.

“You might be a little mistaken because of my brother’s current appearance. But originally, he was a man among men who could carry a patient weighing nearly 100 kilograms and run.”

“A patient?”

“He was a paramedic. The first person to run to anyone who collapsed or got hurt. So…”

Ah, so that’s what he did.

At the unexpected profession, Adrian’s eyes widened, and then he froze on the spot at Lulu’s next words.

“So, what I mean is, you can handle him a little more as you please.”

Things like confinement or imprisonment.

Without a single change in her expression, Lulu listed a few words that made the heart of Adrian, the incarnation of jealousy and possessiveness, pound, and then she gave a small smile.

“He’ll probably like it, actually. Since my brother is a man too, he can fully understand the desire to be possessive of one’s partner.”

Even as she turned and re-entered Carl Lindbergh’s room, Adrian Heineken stood there dumbfounded, before belatedly a corner of his lip quirked up.

Later, recalling that day, Carl Lindbergh would click his tongue and say that thanks to Lulu’s unnecessary advice, he had been forced to spend a very, very persistent and grueling night.

At the evening banquet, the most senior elder, Grand Duke Balvenie, Leia Lindbergh, Carl Lindbergh, Adrian Heineken, and Belfry Hendrick, as well as their guest, Ayla Leva, were all gathered.

“The Heineken imperial family has decided to extend its support for Lindbergh for one year following your official coronation.”

In terms of rank, Balvenie Heineken could have sat at the head of the table, but considering Leia Lindbergh’s position, he declined the seat and sat next to his son.

“For that long? Won’t Heineken’s envoys protest? They are people who have already wasted several months here.”

To be able to borrow not just a cat’s paw but hundreds of tiger’s paws at a time when she would be grateful for any help was enough to overwhelm her with emotion.

However, Leia, who had a sense of shame, was worried that it might needlessly diminish the dignity of the imperial family.

“Do not worry. It’s not as if this place is a thousand or ten thousand miles away. They can take turns taking sabbaticals.”

More importantly, the monthly salary paid to them was higher than the imperial standard, so inquiries were coming in asking if additional support was needed, the Grand Duke said with a chuckle.

“You know that the history of the Empire is deep, but that it also hinders development, do you not? His current Majesty the Emperor is using various methods to break through that, but there are limits. At a time like this, being able to help with the reconstruction of a new country seems to have been seen as a new learning opportunity for the young sages. And there’s also the fact that they’ve grown fond of this place while settling in.”

There was no need to look far. James, who was on the outskirts of the Lindbergh Kingdom, had sent a messenger to the imperial palace as soon as his sabbatical was over, suggesting they discuss a plan to move his family here as well.

The reason was that even when he went home, the images of the young children on the frontier and the still-unstable movements of the magical beasts lingered in his mind.

As the second son of Count Hogarth, he did not yet have a fief, so the imperial family had granted him a provisional permit early on. They had waited for the permission of Leia, the ruler of Lindbergh, but she had delayed her answer, thinking it was premature.

“What is there to think about in such a difficult and complicated way? If you need help, reach out your hand, and if a hand is offered first, take it. For the time being, you can live like that. If you are worried about Lindbergh’s sovereignty being undermined, the imperial family said they could even create an official document stamped with the state seal.”

At the words that they would document the friendly relations between Lindbergh and the Empire so that her autonomy would not be affected, Leia pressed her lips together firmly.

It was because Glenn’s goodwill seemed a bit excessive.

She didn’t think he had any other ulterior motives at this point, but as the ruler of a country, she needed to look before she leaped.

Balvenie keenly noticed her distress.

“What His Majesty Glenn values most is not gold or time, but people. And he believes in the power of direct and indirect experiences passed down through those people. For that reason, he said that this cooperation with Lindbergh will be a window that opens a new era. There are many promising young people in Heineken, but His Majesty is very ambitious.”

Now, he wanted to have the young people of Lindbergh join in and strive for the prosperity of both countries together, Balvenie said, and Leia let out a short breath.

“What am I to do if you ask for the whole country later?”

In truth, even without all this support, I would have to hand it over if the Empire asked for it.

Oh dear, Balvenie chuckled.

Heineken prospered, and prospered. The only remaining task was to abandon greed so as not to decline.

His elder brother was a man who knew this better than anyone.

“He said he would settle everything with the right to reduce the passage tax of the Balvenie Merchant Guild and the transaction fees within Lindbergh. You can rest assured that the people of Lindbergh will not need to pay taxes to the Empire.”

When Balvenie laughed it off, saying he would even document that, Leia raised her glass instead of bowing her head in shame, and the Grand Duke willingly clinked glasses with her.

Ayla, who had no say in the affairs of Lindbergh and Heineken, remained silent in her seat, and Adrian and Carl Lindbergh, who were now strictly speaking people of the Empire, also kept their mouths shut.

The Grand Duke, who was in a good mood after a few glasses of wine, stared at his third son for a moment and then suddenly dropped a bombshell.

“After the coronation, you should also think about starting a new family, Princess. If you wish, would you like to choose one of my sons?”

The Grand Duke puffed out his chest, saying that like the Duke, all three were handsome and dominant, and carefully observed the ashen face of Ayla Leva.