Beguiling the Enemy’s Patriarch - Chapter 44

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 44
Until now, I’d been tossing pebbles to seduce this man. But from this moment forward, I would hurl boulders—massive, weighty stones that would shatter even the iron walls he so proudly maintained. It was time for a direct fastball that would obliterate his defenses entirely.
I gazed at Auredhian with an expression of grim determination.
Marry me.
The result was catastrophic. Auredhian asked in a deeply concerned tone.
“Princess, are you truly unwell?”
…
“You seem to be in considerable pain. I should have Bellirook Palace inspected once more.”
He wasn’t taking my proposal seriously at all. I blinked in bewilderment. So… I was just flatly rejected without a second thought…?
Stunned, I hastily opened my mouth.
“No, Your Majesty, I’m being serious right now…”
“You should rest. I’ll have you taken back to the palace, so rise now.”
Even that was completely shut down. His tone was so firm it left me speechless. It seemed oddly serious, but not about the right thing! That’s not what you should be taking seriously!
Yet his expression was so stern that I couldn’t press further. Besides, his dismissal of my confession as delirious rambling was… admittedly plausible, even to me.
When I came to my senses, I was already back at Bellirook Palace. Auredhian, who had actually escorted me all the way to the palace gates, left only a message to summon the imperial physician if my condition worsened—without even noticing my hand reaching out toward him.
I exhaled in exasperation.
“Wow, this is…”
It was worse than an outright rejection. He actually thought I was delirious from illness. What kind of image had I carved into that man’s mind? At this point, I really needed to find out.
A voice that had been quiet in my mind suddenly spoke.
[You’re more reckless than I thought?]
It was far from welcome. I glared up at the sky irritably. Beyond that distant Udeta, Raulus was laughing audibly, his voice tinged with amusement.
“Could you please be quiet? I’m dying from heartburn here.”
I grumbled irritably. Propriety was already the last thing on my mind.
[What can I do? You’re adorable.]
Raulus couldn’t contain his laughter as he spoke.
[You were so serious about it that I wondered if courtship customs had changed so much among you humans these days.]
That remark made me reconsider. I sat on the palace steps and pondered. Had I been too direct? Like a runaway locomotive…?
“…No.”
I shook my head firmly. I already knew from experience that this man wouldn’t even scoff at subtle hints. I’d spent so long circling around him, and it had gotten me nowhere. Direct aggression was far more effective with him than roundabout seduction.
So what if it was embarrassing and mortifying? In the original story, Decarve Belgot was conceived less than a year away. That meant Auredhian and Soleia Elad’s marriage was imminent.
With the timeline already so altered by my presence, what would actually happen to make them marry in the end?
I had no intention of sitting idle regardless of what came. So what if I got rejected a few times? When the fire was at my feet, what was there to fear?
I made my decision firmly. From now on, I would throw those boulders relentlessly…!
“I’ll show you what a direct charge looks like.”
As I burned with resolve alone, Raulus poured cold water on my determination.
[Will that even work on that boring fellow, little crumb?]
At those words, my solemn vow crumbled within three seconds. My surging confidence deflated completely.
“Will it not work…?”
[How should I know?]
I could almost picture what expression this faceless god wore. His voice, transmitted directly into my mind, was brimming with amusement.
[More precisely, it depends on what you want to do.]
“….”
[Child, do you wish to change what has been determined?]
What has been determined. I turned the phrase over in my mind. If Raulus meant the flow of the original story, the answer was undoubtedly yes.
Soleia Elad would teach dark magic to Decarve Belgot. And Decarve would eventually kill his father, Auredhian Belgot. That was the original setting assigned to Decarve Belgot’s fate.
Even if Decarve never met Brizni, would Soleia’s attempt to fulfill her grand ambitions through her son simply vanish? That was unknowable.
Even if Decarve never came to love Brizni, would that child refrain from killing his father? That too was unknowable.
In “Brizni Wants to Be Happy,” Decarve was the Emperor of Belgot. Already at the tender age of twelve.
Raulus continued speaking with a whirling tone. It sounded almost mocking.
[But foolish and adorable child, that is destiny. A fate woven by countless threads of karma that even I dare not touch.]
“Be quiet.”
At those words, my frustration finally erupted. I spoke harshly.
“Is that what the god of peace and prosperity should say? That even obvious tragedy is destiny, so I should simply accept it?”
[What will you do if you don’t accept it?]
Raulus asked in a tone that sounded almost innocently curious.
[Did I not say there are things even I do not know and cannot touch? How can you accomplish what even a god cannot? Especially you, who has not been granted permission to exist in this land.]
I did not answer. Not because I was at a loss for words, but because indignation choked me. What Raulus had just said sounded to me like this: An extra cannot change the original story.
Perhaps that was truly the case. I was merely a foreigner struggling to simply breathe and live in this world, and an extra among extras. It might be natural that I cannot alter the main thread of the original story. But that was the story when I was merely Yerenibovika.
“Don’t speak nonsense. I know more than you think.”
I let out a scoffing laugh. I was Yerenibovika, but I was also Seun-seo. The reader Seun-seo who had read the original work “Brizni Wants to Be Happy” until just before its conclusion, worn and tattered from repeated readings.
The only human who knew exactly how this world would unfold. And perhaps a human who understood that “destiny” and “karma” better than the gods beyond Udeta.
To know of the impending tragedy and ignore it is complicity. I had no intention whatsoever of leaving Auredhian Belgot to meet a tragic death. Besides, who knows? Perhaps my desperate fluttering wings might summon a typhoon.
Raulus asked as if genuinely curious.
[What are you planning to do?]
“I’m going to devour your distant successor entirely.”
It was an answer born from sincere resolve. I had to intercept Soleia before she could sink her fangs into Auredhian.
They say no tree falls without being struck ten times. Surely even the mightiest, thickest ancient tree would topple if struck a thousand times?
[….]
Raulus gave no answer. An awkward silence stretched on. But I had no intention of waiting for a response. I rose from the stairs. Brushing the hem of my dress, I spoke with indifference.
“If you have no intention of helping, don’t speak to me again. You’ll only be in the way.”
An intangible voice pounding in my head—how tiresome! I thought irritably as I climbed the stairs. I didn’t even understand why it kept trying to speak to me in the first place.
As I entered the room, Marienne, who had been tidying the tables, greeted me.
“Welcome back, Princess. Are you feeling well?”
[Child. Cute and insignificant child.]
“I’m really fine, Marienne. I was perfectly well earlier.”
[I cannot directly intervene in the affairs of the mortal realm. That is the taboo of Udeta and Remordi.]
“But your complexion still doesn’t look good….”
[But you’re not a child of this land anyway, are you? Would you like me to help you a little?]
“Really?”
At those words, my eyes widened instantly like lanterns. Marienne answered in bewilderment.
“Yes, Your Highness. Your face is far too pale.”
“Huh? No, not Marienne—”
“…?”
I deliberately averted my gaze from Marienne’s tilted head and dove straight into bed. I pulled the blanket over myself to muffle any sound from escaping the room.
“You’ll really help me?”
[I do not speak twice.]
I held my breath and asked, and the answer came immediately. I whispered with suspicion.
“Why all of a sudden?”
[Did I not tell you not to speak to me if you will not accept my aid?]
“…Is that the reason?”
[I find watching you quite entertaining. The way you scurry about like a tiny little crumb is rather endearing.]
It didn’t sound like a compliment, somehow. I frowned for a moment, then smoothed my expression.
Well, either way, wasn’t having something better than having nothing? After the Priesthood, I’d now enlisted the aid of a god beyond Udeta itself. I wasn’t sure when or how Raulus would prove useful, but it was better than nothing. A god, no less! I cheered silently within. Cancel what I said about not speaking. Cancel it!
Raulus’s voice struck my mind again.
[So. You mean to capture that child, yes?]
I nodded vigorously, my head bobbing with fervent agreement.
[Within the bounds of not interfering with the laws of the terrestrial realm, I can tell you where that child is and what they are doing. They are the one most similar to me on the surface, after all.]
“I revere you, Raulus. Please forgive my past discourtesy.”
[Little crumb, put at least a grain of sincerity into your words.]
“I’m s-serious.”
I was serious. My eyes gleamed with renewed determination. My confidence, which had been utterly crushed, began to bloom once more. My seduction strategy now had the blessing of a god, no less. What a windfall!
I smiled and threw off the blanket, rising to my feet. Marienne called out to me in a bewildered voice.
“Your Highness…?”
“Yes!”
I turned toward Marienne with a bright, beaming smile. I heard Raulus let out a short laugh.
[Yes. Go forth and seize it. The mightiest divine power on the terrestrial realm.]

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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