Chapter 71: The Farewell. (3)
"Hahahaha! Of course I am!" Sköll exclaimed with pride, while laughing loudly.
Apparently she was in much better mood thanks to Hati and Lloyd’s comments.
The boy regretted having inflated the wolf-girl’s pride more, unlike Hati who seemed happy that Sköll was happy.
"Young Master Lloyd, the carriage is ready," a voice then announced.
Lloyd turned, seeing that old man with gray hair carefully combed back, dressed in an elegant tuxedo.
It was Sebastian, perhaps the best butler in history.
Who had come to get him.
"Well, it seems it’s time to depart," the boy commented calmly, looking at Hati.
The wolf-girl bowed forward respectfully.
"We’ll be awaiting your return."
It was time to depart.
Lloyd said goodbye to the beast-men, who had come expressly to say goodbye.
Still, to Lloyd’s luck, the goodbye process wasn’t so long, and soon they could head toward the carriage.
It was an elegant carriage, carved in black wood, with golden details.
The luxury was evident at first sight. Even the horses gave off a special aura, they projected pride and confidence.
Without doubt a vehicle worthy of him.
"Go ahead young master," Sebastian indicated, while opening the carriage door for Lloyd to enter.
The boy entered inside the vehicle carefully.
The interior was as elegant as the exterior. The walls were upholstered and the seats cushioned.
Lloyd noticed Alice was already inside the carriage. Sitting in one of the seats without moving a bit, like a statue.
When Lloyd entered, her static state broke, and she turned to look at the boy, seeing him with her large gray eyes.
Lloyd felt Alice had become happy to see him, though he wasn’t really sure about it.
After all, while Alice had an angelic face, she completely lacked any emotion.
Her face seemed to be sculpted in porcelain, more than anything because of her clear lack of human emotions reflected in it.
"Hello Alice, have you missed me?" the boy asked, while sitting carefully beside her.
Upon hearing that question, the girl nodded slowly.
Her movements were smooth and slow, a characteristic that didn’t come from training as someone might think.
It was common for noble girls to be trained from young to achieve graceful and smooth movements.
However, the reason behind Alice’s attitude was much more tragic.
She had sculpted a behavior forged in fear. She had suffered so many mistreatments that her body sought to stand out as little as possible, as if trying to become invisible.
It was sad, but at the same time convenient.
A quiet and obedient puppet, with great power.
Without doubt it was something Lloyd appreciated.
Seeing the girl nod, he stretched his arm toward her head, and caressed it.
"I see, sorry for making you wait," the boy commented with a kind smile.
Lloyd noticed Alice’s behavior had changed since they met.
The first time he caressed her head, the girl had had a slight reflex to pull back.
An insignificant gesture he could notice.
However, this time Alice made a similar gesture, equally insignificant, but not to pull away, but to get closer to Lloyd’s hand, as if desiring it.
That made Lloyd feel good.
Not only because the "training" was working, but also because apparently, Alice felt safe by his side.
"Well, I suppose we have to stay here during the whole trip, right? Ugh, how boring," Sköll commented while entering inside the carriage with an annoyed expression.
As was obvious, someone as energetic as Sköll wasn’t a lover of staying still for a long period of time.
Lloyd knew it, but smiled hearing that comment.
"Well, you can always stay in the village if you want, I don’t want to subject you to torture like this," Lloyd affirmed mischievously, if he could get rid of Sköll during the journey, it would be perfect without doubt.
However, Sköll was determined not to give up, and shook her head energetically while sitting in the seat in front of Lloyd.
"Nuh uh, I’m staying here, I’m not going to flee like a coward from this test," Sköll responded, as if that journey were very serious training to strengthen the mind and spirit.
Lloyd sighed somewhat dismayed, apparently he wasn’t going to be able to get rid of Sköll.
"Well alright, but don’t make noise, I want to sleep," Lloyd commented.
He had always liked sleeping on trips, moreover, the previous day he hadn’t slept too much, so he was lacking sleep.
Sköll only grumbled something Lloyd didn’t bother to decipher and nodded.
The boy closed his eyes, and waited for the trip to start.
The carriage’s rattling was quite relaxing, and Lloyd fell asleep quite quickly.
Sköll, who had been forced to keep silent, decided it was also a better idea to fall asleep than to be bored the whole journey.
During the trip, Lloyd didn’t have too pleasant dreams, his nightmares about Siegfried’s trial had returned, perhaps because he had thought about the subject recently.
However, those nightmares were interrupted by Sköll.
The boy woke up startled, with his forehead full of sweat, and pale face, as if he had seen a ghost.
"U-uh, Lloyd," Sköll commented, somewhat nervous while seeing the boy.
The young man began to catch his breath, while looking at Sköll, wondering if he should scold her for waking him or thank her for having pulled him out of his nightmares.
Finally, the boy decided it was better to say nothing, and ask what was wrong.
"Tell me Sköll, is something wrong?" Lloyd asked calmly, still trying to get rid of the drowsiness he had.
Seeing Lloyd wasn’t angry, the girl calmed down. However, remembering what she was going to ask, her cheeks tinged red.
"I, uh well..." she began to say, somewhat nervous.
Looking at her better, Lloyd discovered her behavior was strange.
Her legs were crossed and her hips moved restlessly.
The realization hit him fully, the boy understood, and also understood why she looked so nervous.
The boy looked through the window, seeing a village in the distance.
"There’s a village nearby, I’ll ask Sebastian to stop so you can go to a tavern, if there is one," the boy finally answered calmly.
Upon hearing those words, the girl felt relieved, feeling the weight of having to ask for something so embarrassing lift.
"Okay, thanks!" she exclaimed with genuine gratitude.
Lloyd settled into his seat, happy the matter had been resolved.
The truth is part of him wondered why he didn’t ask Sebastian to stop the carriage and Sköll simply do it in a bush.
However, Lloyd was more sensitive than he himself believed, and saying something so vulgar, especially to a girl didn’t seem most appropriate.
"Do you also need to go?" Lloyd asked, seeing Alice.
The boy feared the girl wouldn’t say anything and would end up peeing herself from staying silent.
Though on the other hand the boy wondered if Alice had even drunk that day, since it was very likely her ability allowed her to survive without even having to drink.
However, Alice didn’t respond.
Her gaze was lost... No, it was something else.
It was as if for some reason, she was feeling fear.
