How I Ended Up Becoming the Imperial Princess While Trying to Pay Off an Illegal Loan - Chapter 27

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

027.
The masked group remained silent.
The raccoon monster moved faster and faster, and as the masked intruders joined the fray, Brant and his knights found themselves increasingly on the defensive.
Eventually, Brant had no choice but to resort to his hidden trump card.
“This won’t do, Kyle! Release it at once!”
“R-release, sir? You mean that?”
“Yes! The Arderin Family’s ultimate weapon! Our final method against monsters!”
“Understood. Hah—here we go!”
The knight called Kyle gripped something from the pouch at his waist and hurled it toward the beasts.
“Here, have a taste of this!”
Sweet-smelling strips of meat flew through the air. The monsters that had been bounding toward the study window froze mid-stride, their heads turning.
“How do you like the aroma! This is special beef jerky made by a secret method passed down through generations of the Arderin line! Hehehehe!”
Kyle laughed and scattered another handful of jerky.
“Kee-kee-kee-kee!”
“Gwaaaahhh!”
The monsters, as though bewitched, charged toward the jerky.
“What—what are you doing?! Attack now!”
The masked leader’s frantic gestures and commands were useless.
Seizing the moment when the monsters’ attention was diverted, Brant and his knights cut them down in an instant.
“You lot could try a hundred more times, and the Arderin Family would still remain safe.”
As their bloodied blades turned toward the masked intruders, they hesitated before spinning around and fleeing.
“Don’t let them escape!”
The Arderin knights eagerly gave chase.
The masked group fled desperately, but several were caught by the knights’ grasping hands.
“Got them—!”
The captured intruders suddenly went limp.
“They appear to have ingested poison, sir!”
“This one’s dead too!”
“……Tough lot, aren’t they.”
Brant gazed at those who had departed this world and clicked his tongue.
“We should report this to the Earl at once.”
He left the cleanup to his knights and hurriedly sent a messenger hawk toward the Capital.
[A masked group accompanied by monsters assaulted the Earl’s residence. ……]
* * *
“My dad is a fan club member of the Crown Princess?”
“Really?”
“Yeah! See, I borrowed this from Dad. It’s proof he’s in the fan club!”
Seven-year-old Tommy gazed longingly at the “Tamia Fan Club Member” badge his friend was holding out.
“I really, really want one……. Can’t I just touch it once?”
“No! I had to beg Dad for ages to borrow it.”
His friend quickly tucked the badge away and suddenly departed as if something urgent had come up.
“I have to get home. Tommy, see you later!”
Left alone, Tommy gazed after his departing friend and murmured to himself.
“I wish I could join a fan club too…….”
“Whose fan club do you want to join?”
Tommy spun around reflexively, then jumped straight up in surprise.
“Whoa! The Crown Princess?!”
“Do you want to join my fan club?”
“Yes, yes, yes! Your Highness, I want to join your fan club!”
“Then take this.”
Tamia held out a badge to Tommy—an “Honorary Fan Club Member” badge that the Griffin Unit had been busily producing lately.
Tommy looked back and forth between the badge and Tamia before carefully extending both hands to accept it.
“Thank you so much! I’ll work hard at it. And I’ll brag about it to all my friends!”
Tamia gently patted Tommy’s head before asking again.
“You’re such a cute little thing. What’s your name?”
“My name is Tommy! I live with my grandfather.”
“What does your grandfather do?”
“My grandfather owns a flower garden. There are so many pretty flowers there.”
“Oh really? Summer’s coming soon, so there must be plenty of roses in the garden?”
“Um…….”
Tommy paused for a moment, then shook his head.
“There used to be plenty, but there aren’t any now. These days the Flower Garden only has strange flowers everywhere, and oh! Grandfather told me not to talk about it to people I don’t know!”
“Hmm? If you say that, Tommy, I’ll feel hurt. You’re a member of my fan club now, after all.”
“Oh, that’s right. Now you’re someone I know.”
Tommy broke into a bashful grin. Tamia pressed a handful of candies into his palm.
“I should get going now. We’ll have a fan club signing event later, all right?”
“Yes, Your Highness! See you next time!”
Tamia left Tommy to his cheerful farewell and made her way back to Leon, who had been watching from inside the carriage.
“Leon, I told him everything you wanted me to say. That little guy answered exactly the way you predicted!”
“Well done, Tamia.”
Tamia’s expression brightened at Leon’s praise.
Leon’s own expression, meanwhile, darkened further. His voice dropped to something cold and measured.
“So the monsters that descended on the Capital really were Dupont’s doing.”
“But I still don’t understand. What are those strange flowers they’re growing in the Flower Garden? What does that have to do with Duke Dupont?”
“Tamia, you know what a Bellar Flower is, don’t you?”
“Of course. It heightens a monster’s nature, doesn’t it?”
“You’ll remember how, on our way back after defeating that large-class monster, smaller ones swarmed near the Capital.”
“Right, and there were Bellar Flowers scattered everywhere, which I thought was strange, and—oh!”
Tamia clapped her hands as understanding dawned.
“Those were the flowers that little boy’s Flower Garden was growing!”
“Exactly. Quick deduction. Duke Dupont must have commissioned that garden. He may have even used threats.”
“He deliberately lured monsters to the Capital? That’s despicable! We should arrest Duke Dupont right now and throw him in prison!”
“But there won’t be any evidence. The garden owner will likely try to cover his own tracks and cut ties.”
“But that means Tommy is in danger too…?”
“That’s right.”
Tamia’s eyes widened. She didn’t want to see the cute child who’d just become a member of her fan club put in harm’s way.
“Leon, isn’t there a way to save Tommy and his grandfather?”
“Of course there is.”
Leon smiled slightly.
“We’ll turn the garden owner to our side.”
“How?”
“First, we’ll shut down the garden. Then we’ll hire the owner as a private gardener for your household.”
Whether your house actually had grounds expansive enough to employ a full-time gardener was another matter altogether.
Leon barely swallowed the rest of that thought.
“But we don’t have room at our house for a gardener!”
“I’ll buy the other town house next to yours, and give it to the boy and him to live in.”
Leon’s plan flowed smoothly from his lips, as if he’d already worked it all out.
“You’re buying another town house? Wow…”
“That’s what I said at the start—I’d pay off your debt.”
“I don’t want that, remember.”
Tamia shook her head firmly.
“But Leon, that means Duke Dupont is a really bad person, doesn’t he?”
“He is.”
“Wow, pretending to be such a good person. That really gets under my skin.”
Tamia, who’d first met Duke Dupont as a child, felt an odd sense of betrayal.
“And his son! I never liked him either!”
As Tamia fumed, the carriage continued steadily toward the Arderin Earl’s Town House.
Leon was already making up his mind to purchase the neighboring property while they were on the subject.
“By the way, Tamia—how much debt do you have left?”
“Debt?”
Tamia’s eyes lit up suddenly.
“Not much. I’ve paid most of it off.”
“Really?”
“The original debt was 30,000 Derl, and I paid 5,000 Derl with the prize money from the monster hunting tournament. Then from the 20,000 Derl wedding budget, I used 18,000 Derl toward the debt, so…”
Tamia’s fingers flew as she calculated, and then she let out a delighted cry.
“I only have 7,000 Derl left!”
“What about interest? Do you know what the interest rate was?”
Tamia shook her head at Leon’s question.
“No, I don’t know that. But it shouldn’t be more than a few hundred Derl, right?”
“Hmm, I think you’re underestimating illegal loan sharks a bit too much…”
“We’re heading home anyway, so let’s stop by and ask Father about it.”
At that moment, Tamia had no idea how utterly depraved moneylenders truly were.

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