I Bought the Villains With Money - Chapter 34

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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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Episode 34.
The meal resumed, indifferent to Julia’s mood.
“Your Majesty, we haven’t yet raised a toast.”
Julia felt the need to shift the atmosphere. Kolkos picked up on her words immediately.
“Quite right, Your Majesty. Isn’t this Prince Dayson’s birthday?”
As Kolkos finished speaking, he nudged the nobleman sitting beside him.
“A joyful day indeed, absolutely. Prince Dayson will soon come of age. Surely the kingdom is blessed to have such a robust prince.”
As several nobles spoke up, Karman raised his glass in silence. Everyone followed suit.
The empty glasses of Diana and Casion were now filled with Non-Alcoholic Champagne.
Julia breathed an inward sigh of relief. The matter of Casion’s private funds had been smoothly buried, and Dayson now held everyone’s attention.
“Congratulations, Dayson. What gift would you like?”
Dayson broke into a wide grin, as if he’d been waiting to hear exactly those words.
He caught himself—it wouldn’t do to blurt out his desires here—and forced his eager smile down.
“What I have already received is sufficient, Your Majesty.”
“True enough. Whenever you’ve wanted something, you’ve never lacked for it.”
He’d expected praise, but something in Karman’s tone felt off. And it wasn’t only Dayson who noticed.
Julia leaned toward Karman, ready to press him on what he meant.
She intended to whisper, if not say it outright—that today was Dayson’s birthday, after all.
But Julia missed her moment. Diana cut in.
“Your Majesty, Prince Casion’s birthday has also passed. As you know, the Prince has been ill and was unable to hold a birthday celebration. I believe he has never received a gift directly from Your Majesty.”
You’re a failing father.
Diana had delivered a backhanded reproach, and Karman tilted his head with a wry smile.
“It seems Princess Diana has much to say to me. Do speak.”
He brought the Champagne glass to his lips as he spoke, his mouth curving into a graceful arc.
Karman appeared pleased by Diana’s boldness.
‘This is my chance.’
Diana judged the moment ripe to broach the main matter.
“Though his last birthday regrettably passed, since another will come, might you ask Prince Casion what he wishes for?”
Karman let out a thoughtful hum, stroked his chin, and swept his eyes across the assembled company.
“What do the rest of you think?”
He sought the counsel of others. Diana quickly grasped his intention.
‘He’s identifying Casion’s enemies. But why is he doing this?’
She understood what his action signified, but his true motive eluded her.
Throughout the meal, Karman had subtly shifted every decision to favor Casion and Diana. Not overtly, but unmistakably.
‘Why reveal himself now after pretending not to notice all this time?’
Diana burned with curiosity about Karman’s real intentions. But the urgent matter was securing his agreement to give the gift.
She hoped someone would step forward and voice support, but silence held.
“An excellent thought, Your Majesty.”
Then Robert spoke—he who rarely opened his mouth except when directly questioned by the King.
“Does no one else have an opinion?”
Silence.
Karman was a king who could wait, yet in trivial matters he decided swiftly. He knew well the difference between decisions demanding caution and those requiring speed.
“Since my trusted aide deems it fitting, so it shall be. As you all know, a king has nothing he can do alone—everything requires someone’s consent, even in the smallest matters.”
He judged this a moment calling for swift decision and did not ask twice.
Yet hidden within his reply was a hidden blade. No one in that room could escape the point he had drawn.
“Yes, I too believe that is the right course, Your Majesty.”
As the nobles offered their agreement, sensing Karman’s mood, he turned to Casion.
“What is it that you desire?”
“Before that, Your Majesty, will you give me your firm word that you will grant it unconditionally?”
Casion swallowed hard. His mind was verging on confusion from tension.
A mere breakfast, yet he had learned something crucial and seized a great opportunity.
“How grand must your wish be, to demand such certainty?”
Karman laughed, plainly pleased by Casion’s audacious request.
“Then your answer—cough.”
Casion’s bold words gave way to coughing. He hastily pushed his chair back and hunched forward.
“Cough, cough, cough.”
His shoulders heaved violently. Diana, moving with practiced ease, rubbed his back and held a handkerchief to his mouth.
“Your—cough, cough—Your Majesty, answer, please answer me.”
Even as the coughing wracked his frame, Casion pressed Karman for a commitment.
“Yes. Very well then. Speak. But first, compose yourself.”
Karman accepted without thinking. Seeing this, Casion promptly collapsed into Diana’s arms as if fainting.
Chaos erupted in the Banquet Hall.
“Summon the royal physician at once!”
Karman’s eyes flew wide as he shouted. Diana caught Casion as he fell and spoke urgently.
“Your Majesty, it would be best to lay His Highness down somewhere.”
Diana felt a flutter of anxiety—would Karman order him laid in a Guest Room attached to the Banquet Hall? This palace belonged to Julia, after all.
“Yes, Your Majesty. I think it best to return him to the Third Prince’s Palace. Send the physician there.”
Julia spoke. Diana found herself genuinely grateful for Julia’s words—a first.
Karman narrowed his brows, trying to divine Julia’s intent. But the noise around them was too thick to read beneath her performance.
“Your Majesty, the Queen speaks wisely. A quiet place will serve him far better than this tumult,” Diana added.
She kept her voice steady.
Julia raised one eyebrow, as if surprised. Karman’s jaw tightened visibly.
“Very well, Your Majesty.”
It was only after Kal stepped close and whispered that Karman slowly nodded his assent.
“Take Casion to the Third Prince’s Palace.”
Kal approached and hoisted Casion effortlessly. The prince’s arms and legs swung limp in the empty air.
“With your leave, Your Majesty.”
Karman waved a dismissive hand without looking at Diana. As Kal and the prince disappeared, Julia’s voice rose, calling to resume the festivities.
***
So what happened to the banquet after that?
Not my concern.
I sat at the edge of Casion’s bed, swinging my legs back and forth.
Kal took in the state of the Third Prince’s Palace, set his jaw, and left without a word.
The moment he was gone, Casion sprang up from the bed.
“Brilliant!”
At my praise, Casion smiled sheepishly.
Casion’s fainting spell had been pure theater.
Here’s how it worked:
“Once the subject of gifts comes up, His Highness will demand a gift of his own. He’ll insist on it.”
“And then?”
“He’ll ask what you desire. You must extract a firm promise: anything at all.”
“What should I ask for as a gift?”
“Our marriage.”
“If I say that there, won’t it cause an uproar?”
“Exactly. So we don’t say it there. We create a situation where we can discuss it later—somewhere private, where we can speak alone.”
That collapse had been choreographed to achieve precisely this.
Without removing ourselves from the Banquet Hall, Julia would undoubtedly have pressed and pried at every turn. So we orchestrated an excuse to leave entirely.
“I worry I looked too fragile.”
“After executing a flawless performance and securing everything you aimed for, you fret over trifles, Your Highness.”
“It’s not a trifle. These are all people I’ll need to command, aren’t they?”
I blinked, my eyes widening in surprise.
Casion had transformed. The pessimist was showing signs of vitality.
Once he’d found a purpose, Casion carried himself like an entirely different person.
‘So that composure and dignity I sensed earlier—it wasn’t something he’d developed. It was always there.’
The confidence in his bearing and speech hadn’t come from recent health. This was his true nature.
Casion’s essential character—long suppressed by circumstance—was finally emerging.
‘That’s… rather impressive.’
And charming, too.
It was like watching a child who couldn’t walk suddenly begin to run. I reached toward Casion, then hesitated.
He looked at me with a questioning gaze. I clenched my fist and spoke.
“You made a good point, Your Highness, but it’s wrong.”
“Wrong how?”
“Why command them at all? They’re garbage you can’t recycle.”
“That’s rather… harsh language.”
I know how it sounds, but hear me out.
Everyone gathered at Dayson’s Birthday breakfast banquet today was Julia’s inner circle.
From Count Kolkos down to the man in the furthest corner with barely a whisker to his name—every last one of them.
They’d built their fortunes on Julia’s backing, committing every species of Corruption imaginable.
Favoring particular merchants was standard fare; they’d manipulated the Nobility Assembly to rewrite laws to suit their whims.
And always, Julia stood behind them.
‘How did Julia, a woman with no distinguished house behind her, gain such power? By giving birth to Dayson alone.’
The position of First Prince’s mother—the woman who would bear the future king—was a terrifying thing.
Her family was obscure, and no one knew the true details of Julia’s past, yet in a brief time she had brought the nobility to heel and built her faction within the Royal Palace.
Separate from disliking her, I had to acknowledge that much, at least.
Of course, that rise came with its costs. Around her swarmed those of no real merit, merely fawning and flattering.
‘And there’s no one worth salvaging from that lot.’
“Whatever those people at the Banquet Hall said about Your Highness—you needn’t concern yourself. Once you become king, these are people you’ll never need see again.”
Casion offered no proper reply. When I turned to look, he was nodding off against the headboard, his eyes growing heavy.
I checked the time. It was precisely when Robert said the medicine’s effects would wear thin.
I caught Plac’s eye, and the shadow-like figure stepped forward, easing Casion down onto the bed.
“Mmm… but Diana…….”
Casion murmured in his sleep.
“What on earth is Father…… thinking…… what could it be…….”
“Yes. I’m curious about that myself.”
But Casion heard none of my reply, already sinking fully into sleep. Plac melted into the shadows and was gone; soon after, the royal physician entered.
The physician looked startled to see me, then went about his examination of Casion with practiced efficiency.
As expected, he offered an unnecessary prescription for rest and departed.
I gazed at the sleeping Casion and fell into thought.
What could Karman possibly be thinking?
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 │ 11th Floor, Unit 1101, Ace Techno Tower 8, 11 Digital-ro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul (Guro-dong)
Email │ [email protected]
Website │ http://blog.naver.com/jayplemedia1
© Lee In-hye 2021
※ This work is published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. pursuant to contract with the copyright holder,
and may not be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission of the publisher and author.
Violation of this restriction may result in criminal and civil 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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