How I Ended Up Becoming the Imperial Princess While Trying to Pay Off an Illegal Loan - Chapter 12

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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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012.
“Come on, untie this chain for me. The priest bound it so tight my circulation’s cut off.”
“Oh! Right away.”
Tamia quickly seized Leon’s forearm and the moment she loosened the chain, he stepped back.
Finally free of Tamia’s scent, Leon exhaled without thinking.
‘Apricot? How much perfume did the servants douse her in?’
Tamia, meanwhile, looked as though she had something on her mind. She fidgeted with the chain in her hands, then suddenly began speaking.
“Husband, I’m curious about something.”
“Go ahead.”
“That promise you mentioned earlier. Well…….”
Tamia furrowed her brow in thought, then slowly opened her mouth.
“I think it’ll be difficult for us not to touch at all for a whole year. It’s the same during Sparring, and if I need to adjust your posture during training, I’ll have to put my hands on you…….”
Leon felt a quiet laugh bubble up inside him.
Tamia’s literal interpretation of not touching a single fingertip was endearing.
Though Tamia didn’t realize it, the Crown Prince and his consort would find themselves touching far more often than expected in public.
For one thing, Leon would routinely take Tamia’s hand to escort her. And whenever there was an Imperial ceremony, they would need to hold each other’s hands and waists while dancing.
But Leon cut short his internal musings and asked her directly.
“And?”
“But since we’re in a Contract Marriage, I want to be clear about this. What I mean is…….”
Tamia deliberated for a moment, then clapped her hands as though she’d struck upon a brilliant idea.
“We could just avoid touching each other only in the Bedchamber at night! How’s that?”
Tamia’s pride in her own suggestion was endearing and amusing.
“Don’t worry. I’m not so shameless as to lay hands on a Contract Marriage wife.”
“That’s exactly what I’d expect from a proper husband!”
Tamia turned back to face Leon, her expression noticeably brighter.
She reached to embrace him around the neck out of habit, then caught herself and stepped back.
“Right, we’re not touching at night, are we? That was close.”
“I have a request too.”
“Hmm? What is it? Tell me.”
“Do you plan to keep calling me ‘husband’ from now on? It feels too distant.”
“What else would I call my husband?”
“Isn’t it most natural to call someone by their name?”
“Leon…… is that what you want me to call you?”
To Tamia’s bewilderment, Leon added an unusually bold proposal.
“You can call me ‘you’ if you like. But only in private. As it turns out, we’re the same age.”
“Oh…….”
After a brief moment of consideration, Tamia nodded readily.
“All right, Leon! From now on I’ll be comfortable calling you by name.”
“That sounds much better.”
Leon nodded in satisfaction, and Tamia beamed in return.
“I’m so glad I’m going to be living in the Imperial Palace with you! I was worried because I don’t know much about Palace life.”
“Think of the Imperial Palace as just another wilderness. You should be comfortable with that.”
“Wilderness?”
Tamia considered for a moment, then broke into a broad smile and rattled off her thoughts.
“The Emperor is a fat hippopotamus, the Empress is a cunning desert fox, and the servants are meerkats scurrying about in packs! Right?”
“……Only say things like that when it’s just the two of us.”
“And you—you’re a dignified husky. You certainly look the part.”
Leon had no time to respond before Tamia abruptly changed the subject.
“Oh, it’s gotten so late. Leon, let’s go to sleep!”
Tamia surveyed the bed with newfound ease. Rose petals covered the bedding so thickly they hid the sheets beneath.
“Fine, I’ll be generous. I’ll sleep on the sofa, so you take the bed and rest easy.”
“What, what did you say?”
Leon’s words caught in his throat.
Wasn’t the conventional script for such situations that the man offers to yield, the woman protests apologetically, and then the woman ends up taking the bed?
“Red roses—I can’t imagine whose taste this is. The perfume is so heavily rose-scented. There must be someone among the servants who absolutely adores roses. Don’t you think?”
“Rose scent? But I thought it was apricot……?”
“Just brush the petals to the side and sleep. And next time, instead of these kinds of events, give the money for flowers as payment toward my debt. That way I can settle it faster.”
Before Leon could even finish speaking, Tamia flopped down onto the sofa.
“Ahh, so soft! Could you turn off the light now? I sleep better when everything around me is dark. Oh, and I don’t need a blanket—you can just use it for yourself.”
The Golden Chain that had been in her grip lay discarded on the floor.
“Sleep well, and don’t forget tomorrow—we’re going to find the Griffin Squad together…… Snore, wheeze…….”
They say you sleep better in darkness, yet Tamia had already begun snoring softly, nestled among the glittering pink lights.
Leon claimed the sofa and watched her sleeping form with an expression of utter disbelief.
Besides, something she’d said nagged at him.
‘Rose perfume?’
The scent the attendants had deliberately sprayed for the wedding night was so overwhelming it practically numbed the tip of his nose.
But was it really rose?
‘No matter how I smell it, it’s apricot.’
Rich and sweet—the kind that made you want to bury your nose in it without thinking.
Now that he thought about it, he had caught hints of something artificially floral in between, though it was so stifling he’d found himself pinching his nose shut.
But compared to that, the apricot scent rising from Tamia’s skin……
The sensation of her hair brushing his jaw still lingered vividly. Beneath the oppressive rose perfume that filled the room, it was her warmth-tinged breath that came through most clearly.
‘Something must be wrong with my nose.’
Leon rushed to the washroom and scrubbed his face repeatedly, yet the apricot scent suffusing the chamber only grew richer, deeper.
“……Your Majesty, if you think losing weight in just ten laps…… Hmm.”
From the bed came the occasional murmur of Tamia’s sleep-talk, serene as anything.
Leon grabbed his head in despair and collapsed onto the bed, where rose petals scattered weakly to the floor as if mirroring his own resignation.
It was clear that sleep would not come easily tonight, for more reasons than one.
* * *
Sunlight poured forcefully through a gap in the curtains.
Tamia sprang from the sofa with remarkable energy, refreshed and alive.
“Wow, I slept so well!”
Though she’d always fallen asleep quickly anywhere, this sofa was a rare treasure that offered a quality of rest entirely its own.
“I should buy one just like it and give it to Mother as a gift.”
Right—but first, she had to pay back her debts.
Tamia was busily calculating a repayment plan and plotting a surprise gift when her eyes suddenly met Leon’s, who was sitting on the edge of the bed.
All at once, she remembered the golden chain she’d abandoned last night.
“Oh, right! The chain!”
Tamia scrambled up from the sofa and retrieved the golden chain rolling across the floor.
“I have to get this on my wrist before the attendants show up…… Huh, Leon? Didn’t you sleep?”
Deep shadows pooled beneath Leon’s eyes.
The petals scattered across the bed had fallen to the floor in a circle around it—evidence of him thrashing about, trying desperately to find sleep.
“Was the bed uncomfortable? The sofa was amazingly comfy! Should we have switched? I’m sorry.”
“No, the bed was perfectly fine.”
“Then what’s wrong with your face?”
Tamia asked, her eyes wide with bewilderment.
“……You snored.”
“What? I’m always quiet when I sleep. That’s strange.”
Tilting her head, Tamia asked him again.
“If you’re really uncomfortable, should we sleep separately from now on?”
“Sleep separately? Where exactly would I sleep?”
Leon replied in exasperation, and Tamia answered with innocent simplicity.
“There are plenty of rooms in the Crown Prince’s Residence.”
“If the Crown Prince and his bride sleep in separate rooms right after the wedding, the gossip columns would have a field day.”
Suddenly, the reward money of 5,420 Derga flashed across Tamia’s mind.
“Oh no, that won’t do. I absolutely have to protect my reward money!”
But I can’t let Leon lose sleep because of me.
Watching Tamia furrow her brow in thought, Leon felt a weary smile steal across his face.
“I’ll ask the Imperial Physician to prescribe you a sleeping aid. Don’t worry about it. But shouldn’t we bind your wrist first?”
“Oh, that’s right!”
Tamia stepped closer to Leon and tied one end of the chain around his wrist.
She was just about to hand him the other end when——
“……!”
Leon’s loosely draped chest suddenly filled her entire field of vision.

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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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