I Bought the Villains With Money - Chapter 74

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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 74.
“Let’s finish that Dress. I’m going to wear it.”
“That one?”
It was Casion, not Bensi, who asked in surprise.
“Why? Is something wrong with it? It’s beautiful.”
“It’s too large. You’re too small.”
Casion spread both arms wide left and right, then set one hand lightly atop my head.
‘He said not to initiate physical contact with him, yet here he is doing it freely.’
I brushed his hand away and turned to Bensi.
“Can you make the same design in white and have it ready for me to wear in a month?”
Casion looked at me. His eyes were asking the question—was this the Dress I’d wear to the Betrothal Ceremony?
“It was my mother’s. She never got to wear it.”
Though the explanation was brief, Casion nodded and studied the Dress closely.
I smiled broadly at Bensi. Sensing she was about to refuse, I spoke first.
“It’s my Betrothal Ceremony Dress, Bensi.”
She could not refuse and accepted my proposal.
***
After taking measurements, I noticed Casion staring intently at the Dress hanging on the wall.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
As I thrust my head over his shoulder, Casion startled with a gasp and stepped forward quickly.
“Make some noise when you move around!”
“I haven’t been deliberately walking quietly.”
I stood beside Casion.
“I’ll buy the Dress for you.”
Casion suddenly blurted out the words.
“No, it’s my own clothing. I should pay for it.”
“I said I’ll buy it.”
“Then I’ll accept graciously. How much is the Dress, Bensi?”
At my question, Bensi called out from inside where she was searching for fabric. The price was considerable. Casion’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.
“You’ll buy it, won’t you?”
“W-well, of course.”
I stifled a laugh at Casion’s adorable bluffing. Casion receives substantial funding from the Royal Court. I knew perfectly well that my Dress would not burden him in the slightest.
Casion must know it too. He was simply shocked that a single Dress cost far more than he’d expected.
“Well then, now it’s time for me to receive my gift.”
I pushed Casion toward Bensi.
“Bensi, Casion also needs clothing.”
“W-what clothing? I have plenty.”
Uncomfortable with a stranger’s touch, Casion scampered behind me. I pushed him forward again.
“You’re not planning to wear everyday clothes to the Betrothal Ceremony, are you? That won’t do. This one I’ll buy myself. You’ll accept it, won’t you?”
I’d received a gift, so Casion should too.
Casion sighed, his shoulders sagging. He reluctantly shuffled behind the curtain with Bensi.
Taking Casion’s measurements was over quickly. Bensi rushed through it, knowing his discomfort.
“What about the clothing design?”
“Could you match it to that Dress? Ah! You don’t mind, do you? Making it to match that Dress?”
Casion nodded.
“And Bensi, I have one more favor to ask. From now on, since we’re already here, will you take charge of clothing for both Casion and me?”
“Miss, that is…….”
She’d readily agreed to my Betrothal Ceremony Dress, yet at the request to become our exclusive seamstress, she hesitated.
Bensi had been marked as unforgivable among the nobility. She was rumored to have betrayed her mistress and stolen a Dress—the very one who fed and employed her.
With the added stigma of theft, she’d been blacklisted in fashion circles.
Those who cared about reputation refused to wear her creations.
But Casion had no reputation to speak of, and held a station that prevented nobles from openly criticizing him.
As for me, I gave little thought to reputation.
Bensi was weighing the decision. She understood this was an opportunity for her.
Bensi was not in a position to demur now. She had dependents to support.
From anyone else, perhaps—but from an Irenber. If an Irenber protected Bensi, no one would dare speak ill of her openly, no matter what they said behind closed doors.
Bensi reached her conclusion and lifted her lowered head.
I smiled the moment I saw her face.
“I’ll do it, miss. Tell me—how many pieces do you need?”
The moment she decided, her artistic fire ignited.
“Not just a few. Use every bolt of fabric in this house for Casion.”
Bensi’s home was so crammed with cloth that there wasn’t a gap of empty wall to be seen. Since the house itself was quite spacious, the sheer quantity of fabric was staggering.
“All of it?”
Bensi echoed the question, and I nodded.
And then Casion,
“Diana!”
burst out loudly.
“I received something from you as well. This is just a gift in return.”
***
Throughout the carriage ride, Casion muttered about how he’d never dare give gifts again after this.
“Your Highness, gifts aren’t about price—they’re about sincerity.”
“But the difference is too much. I only gave you one dress, and you… you’ve practically filled my entire wardrobe and then some.”
This was the first person I’d ever met who complained about receiving too many gifts. If I went to have a ring fitted and pressed a handful of jewels into his arms, he’d have a fit.
‘Perhaps I should stop here for today.’
And yet, seeing Casion enter into a betrothal at such a young age for my sake, I wanted to give him everything.
“Where are we going next?”
“To prepare for the betrothal, as I said.”
“Yes, but prepare what for the betrothal?”
“A ring, of course!”
Why did he keep asking obvious questions?
A dress and a ring—that’s all that’s needed.
Casion’s expression darkened abruptly. He turned to me with unexpected seriousness.
“Do you actually know what a betrothal is?”
“Of course. A promise made before marriage.”
Casion began to lecture me. I couldn’t help but laugh silently before answering.
“Right, a promise made before marriage. So then, what is marriage?”
“When a man and a woman meet and decide to live together.”
Casion pressed his forehead.
“Does your head hurt, Your Highness?”
I asked reflexively. Casion let out a heavy sigh.
“A betrothal is sacred, Diana. When a man and a woman make a promise to share their lives, it’s not like promising to meet tomorrow. It’s different. During your absence, I looked into it, and a betrothal requires proper procedure.”
I was struck by two realizations: that Casion was taking his betrothal to me with the utmost seriousness—not merely as a matter of revenge—and that he had personally researched and studied what was needed for it.
“Yes, please continue.”
I was curious what this small boy had been thinking and what he’d studied.
I leaned forward with keen interest.
“When a man and woman meet, it’s a decision that will greatly affect each other’s futures. In other words, you take responsibility. I take responsibility for you, and you for me.”
I had no intention of asking Casion to be responsible for me, but I nodded anyway.
“So, in other words…”
Had I been staring too intently?
Casion’s voice grew quieter and quieter, while his face flushed deeper red.
“…and you’ll introduce me to your family.”
Casion spoke the words almost in a whisper.
“My family?”
“Yes. That’s what a betrothal is.”
Casion added, seeing I didn’t immediately understand.
“The betrothal ring, the dress—all of it matters. But before that, Diana, I want to know you properly. It’s not as simple as exchanging rings and wearing matching clothes and walking into a betrothal ceremony. That’s not all there is to it.”
Golden eyes looked directly into mine.
Only then did I grasp what Casion was saying.
A real betrothal. A real marriage.
Like people who marry for true love, truly becoming family.
I realized what I had been missing in my relationship with Casion, and suddenly I felt ashamed.
I watched him silently, then tapped on the carriage window.
“Take us to Irenber Mansion.”
It was time to show Casion who I truly was.
***
“Matthew, call Rumdracks and Cho, and summon Lebert and Jennis.”
I stepped into the mansion and handed my bonnet to the attendant following me. Matthew dispatched the servant on the errand and bowed respectfully before Casion.
“May you be the light that pierces the heavens, Your Highness Casion.”
Matthew greeted Casion with the utmost deference, even offering the formal salute once given to the royal bloodline that had vanished long ago.
“Matthew, prepare refreshments in the Reception Room.”
I tugged at Casion’s collar. He stumbled along obediently in my wake.
“Welcome back, miss. Where have you been? That ribbon suits you wonderfully today.”
“Miss, a heap of letters has arrived. Shall I bring them to the Reception Room or the Study?”
“Miss, the wax there was just applied, so it’s rather slippery.”
Every servant I passed on the way up to the Reception Room greeted me. Most were words of concern.
After my parents passed, I had fallen into despair for a time, but the servants changed once they saw me regain my spirit.
When Father and Mother died simultaneously in that terrible accident, the Irenber Mansion had descended into shadow—until my return brought it back to life.
And everyone in the house now moved and thought for my sake.
“Is it always like this?”
I finished my greetings with a servant I’d met at the Reception Room door, then turned to enter. Casion asked as we stepped inside.
“Like what?”
“Are servants really allowed to just talk freely to their master like that?”
“Freely talk? Did I somehow displease you, Your Highness?”
“They were speaking to you, not me—why would I be displeased? I was just curious.”
The Irenber Mansion was always bustling with life. That’s what happens when the bond between master and servant is something special.
Father had taken in children from difficult circumstances from an early age and given them work, so it couldn’t have been any other way.
It seemed that distinction caught Casion’s eye as well.
“I’m not asking because it’s strange, exactly. It’s just so different from my palace. My servants slip away the moment they see me.”
Whether the servants truly regarded Casion as their master and served him faithfully was separate from whether they treated him warmly, and one shouldn’t judge a servant’s character simply because they weren’t familiar—but Casion’s case was peculiar.
‘He was young, and he’d been so alone until now.’
So his servants, willing or not, had to make it their duty to offer him a warm smile, a greeting—anything at all.
“We really are so different, you and I.”
The self-deprecating words Casion let fall as he settled onto the Reception Room sofa pierced my heart.
“Different? There’s nothing different about us. You and I are exactly the same.”
I deliberately plopped down hard beside him, raising a small cloud of dust. Casion waved the particles away with his hand and glanced at me.
“How are we the same?”
I Became the Villain’s Sponsor (Serialized)
Author │ Lee In-hye
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyung
Published by │ J Plus Media Co., Ltd. – Tiramisu
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyuk
Address │ 1101, 11F Ace Techno Tower 8, 33 Digital-ro, Guro-gu, Seoul
Email │ [email protected]
Website │ http://blog.naver.com/jayplemedia1
ⓒ Lee In-hye 2021
※This work has been published by J Plus Media Co., Ltd. in accordance with a contract with the copyright holder,
and the content may not be used in any form or by any means without permission from the publisher and author.
Violation of this will 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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