I Bought the Villains With Money - Chapter 33

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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 33.
“Cassion, His Majesty asked you a question.”
Julia pressed for Cassion’s answer. It was the first thing she had said to him when he arrived at the Banquet Hall.
The nobles exchanged glances and opinions among themselves.
‘So he really is the abandoned prince. Completely different from how he’d be treated if he were Prince Dayson.’
‘Different? He didn’t even speak to anyone until His Majesty asked. I’m not even sure he looked at anyone.’
‘Look at those clothes. They look mass-produced, don’t they? Coming dressed like that without proper attire—do you think he didn’t even know what was happening today?’
‘Tsk. One must know which lines to stand in.’
‘That one has no line at all. He’s not even worth considering.’
Seeing the nobles’ barbed glances exchanged, Julia’s mood improved considerably. And so she decided to offer a touch of magnanimity.
“I heard you weren’t feeling well.”
She offered an excuse on Cassion’s behalf,
“Attending an occasion like this is still too much for you, isn’t it?”
and created a reason for him to leave.
It was a kind of encouragement to depart when she was showing favor. For Cassion and Diana, it was a threat.
But Cassion did not leave. He remained seated stubbornly, weathering the scrutiny.
“While it’s true my health isn’t perfect, it’s not so poor that I can’t attend my only brother’s birthday banquet. Congratulations, brother.”
“What? Congratulations?”
Suddenly a loud voice erupted. Dayson’s face flushed crimson as he seized the tablecloth with both hands.
Karman frowned at the crude display, though Dayson didn’t notice.
Dayson felt profoundly betrayed by Cassion.
When he’d visited him, Cassion had whimpered that he couldn’t take a single step—yet here he was, standing boldly in his own banquet hall.
Whether for good or ill, Cassion had stolen the attention that should have been his. Worse still, he’d brought a pretty little girl along.
The pretty, adorable girl charmed Dayson instantly.
But the girl never once looked at Dayson—only at Cassion.
‘And isn’t she the daughter of House Irenber, no less?’
He was far more impressive. He would be king.
Whenever their eyes happened to meet, the girl would jerk her head away.
Dayson’s status as a prince and his handsome face usually made him well-liked by everyone.
But Diana’s open hostility must have come from Cassion speaking ill of him.
Dayson was angry with Cassion for all these reasons and raised his voice in a sudden outburst.
“Dayson, it’s your special day.”
Julia chided him with a gentle tone. Karman was watching Dayson closely.
“You didn’t need to come in person with your health like that. Still, thank you.”
Dayson offered his thanks reluctantly.
“But where’s the gift?”
Dayson’s eyes fell on Cassion’s empty hands. A flash of panic crossed Cassion’s face. Dayson’s lips curled in derision.
‘A wretch like him couldn’t possibly have prepared a gift. But the nobles, unaware of the fact, will find it suspicious that Cassion came without a birthday present for me.’
Dayson thought he’d landed a solid blow. But it was a grave miscalculation on his part.
“I did look for something appropriate to give.”
It was Diana who answered Dayson’s question. As the silent girl finally spoke, Karman turned his attention toward her with interest.
“Unfortunately, though.”
Diana’s eyebrows drooped as she continued with a genuinely sorrowful expression.
“Cassion has no Royal Stipend.”
The nobles inhaled sharply.
“No Royal Stipend?”
“Did I hear that right?”
The nobles lowered their voices, but the silence was such that anyone paying attention could hear.
Those who’d belatedly grasped the implication pressed their lips shut.
‘That’s shock enough, certainly.’
Diana thought to herself.
The children of the king receive a Royal Stipend from the moment of their birth. Distributed monthly in fixed amounts, the stipend is used to build their political foundations.
One might overlook Cassion’s not receiving it while at the Secondary Residence, but his continued exclusion even after returning to the Royal Palace was clearly a problem.
“Since I cannot recklessly spend the estate my parents left me, I was unable to procure a gift befitting Your Highness Dayson. Your Majesty, might you forgive our disloyalty?”
Diana gazed at Karman with a pitiful expression.
The nobles stirred, moved by the drooping eyebrows and the round eyes glistening with gathering tears.
‘My goodness, how pitiful. Is the matter of House Irenber’s succession still unresolved?’
‘Didn’t they say Count Kolkos would become her guardian?’
‘They said he would become her guardian. But looking at this, it seems Count Kolkos isn’t going to after all.’
From Diana’s brief words, the nobles swiftly grasped the situation.
Julia and Count Kolkos’s mouths twitched. They looked ready to explode at any moment.
Yet it was Diana who had hurled the bombshell and now stood calm under their piercing stares.
Diana’s expression was utterly serene.
‘Julia won’t be able to make trouble out of this.’
Diana had stated only facts—neutral language. If Julia tried to weaponize it against her, Diana would actually welcome it.
‘Then I’d have grounds to be angry at her for harassing me over something absurd.’
Julia would likely resort to subtler tactics instead. That would be far more troublesome.
Diana waited for the others to speak, anticipating Julia’s next move.
The Banquet Hall fell into suffocating silence. No one dared step forward to defuse the situation.
Dayson, who ought to have answered first, half-raised his hand and murmured something about it being fine—a meaningless gesture.
“Kal.”
It was Karman who broke the silence.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Kal, the advisor who had long served Karman, stepped forward.
“The young lady of Irenber seems to have a misunderstanding. Clear it up for her.”
Kal left briefly and returned with thick documents in hand.
“The Royal Stipend allocated to His Highness Cassion is…”
Kal straightened and recited the details of Cassion’s Royal Stipend allocation.
Though it was far less than what Dayson or Umire received, Cassion had indeed been granted a proper Royal Stipend, and it had been disbursed regularly.
‘Cassion has been living like a pauper, but he’s been receiving a Royal Stipend? Did someone pocket it along the way?’
This was unexpected. Diana had naturally assumed the stipend had never been granted in the first place.
She had thought it was a detail that could easily be overlooked since Cassion had come from the Secondary Residence and no one was paying special attention to him.
‘But that wasn’t it! Could it be Julia?’
Diana forced herself not to let her gaze drift toward Julia.
If she looked at Julia now, it would be obvious that she suspected her.
She couldn’t afford to show favoritism toward Julia, but openly declaring her an enemy was premature.
“Has the misunderstanding been cleared up, Lady Diana?”
“The misunderstanding should be cleared up with His Highness Cassion, I believe.”
Diana had composed herself and spoke with perfect composure.
“Quite right. You’re correct, Lady Diana. Cassion—has the misunderstanding been resolved?”
Cassion did not answer. When Diana turned to look, she saw him with his head bowed low, his clenched fists trembling.
Cassion was in turmoil.
‘I had a Royal Stipend? I thought he deliberately withheld it?’
Until now, Cassion had resented Karman.
For casting aside his mother because she couldn’t bear children, for ignoring him even after his mother’s Deposition, for summoning him after his mother’s death only to disregard him—all of it…
‘I thought he’d abandoned me entirely.’
Did Karman possess even a shred of a father’s conscience?
‘Perhaps the worst wasn’t inevitable after all.’
Cassion hadn’t wanted Karman’s love. He had only wished to stand on equal footing with Dayson.
‘Even behind Dayson would be fine.’
As long as Karman hadn’t cast him out from the nest.
Then there would be a chance to fight back.
The reason Cassion had lived in such apathy until now was because he believed he’d already been cast out from Karman’s nest.
He had thought that no matter how hard he struggled, he could never raise a blade against Dayson or Julia.
‘If I was mistaken…’
Cassion bit his lower lip without showing it.
‘I’ll set things right.’
Cassion turned to look at Diana. Diana nodded as if she could read his resolve.
“Yes, Your Majesty. I was remiss in not grasping the full situation.”
Cassion barely managed the reply. The suffocating tension eased. Since the concerned party wasn’t pressing the matter, no one could raise it further.
Diana raised her eyebrows.
This couldn’t be allowed to pass like this.
The nobles were watching to see if they could finally eat; Diana smiled brightly and looked at Karman.
“However, Your Majesty.”
Count Kolkos felt like weeping.
Every time Diana opened her mouth, Julia’s mood darkened.
Count Kolkos watched Julia’s lips twitch more and more intensely.
But what did it matter what Count Kolkos worried about or felt? What did it matter if this banquet fell apart?
Diana wanted it to fall apart.
Diana, who didn’t spare so much as a glance at Count Kolkos, let her crimson lips move ceaselessly.
“Who manages the Royal Stipend for His Highness the Prince and Her Highness the Princess?”
The Royal Stipend is managed by the Minister of Finance, and that minister is Julia’s appointee.
‘The current Finance Minister is Neruda, so he’s the man Julia recommended, as Dayson mentioned before.’
Before the return, Dayson had grown frustrated with how the Finance Minister handled his duties. At that time, when Diana advised Dayson to inform His Majesty of the minister’s mistake and have him dismissed, Dayson had said something.
‘This is getting interesting.’
Cassion had chosen strategic retreat given the circumstances, but Diana was the sort who planted explosives in enemy territory even as she withdrew.
Diana smiled to herself.
“The Irenber Princess—the Finance Minister, then.”
Karman seemed to think Diana was genuinely asking and answered her kindly.
“Indeed.”
Diana ended the conversation. This was enough. If Karman wasn’t a fool, he’d investigate the Finance Minister, and then he’d discover Julia’s hand behind it.
To continue talking here would be the same as Diana declaring war on Julia.
‘He’ll know I dislike Julia, but I need to keep him guessing.’
A retreat felt bitter. Diana swallowed her frustration and picked up her fork.
Julia, who had been watching Diana’s every move, felt her lips twist downward. She closed her eyes very slowly, then opened them again.
The situation was turning against her.
She’d been about to broach the topic of Dayson’s birthday, perhaps suggesting it was time to appoint him Crown Prince—
‘I’ve ruined everything. Because of them.’
Julia clenched her fists.
I Bought the Villains with Money (Serialized)
Author │ Lee In-hye
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyung
Published by │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd. – Tiramisu
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyuk
Address │ 1101, 11 Digital-ro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul. (Guro-dong, Ace Techno Tower 8th, 11F)
Email │ [email protected]
Homepage │ http://blog.naver.com/jayplemedia1
ⓒ Lee In-hye 2021
※ This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder,
and the contents may not be used in any form or by any means without permission from the company and author.
Violation of this may result in criminal and civil legal liability.

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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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