The Male Lead Is Trying To Tame Me With Money - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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10.

After putting on the dress Casian had prepared and a hat with a veil draped over it, I climbed into the carriage with him.

When I asked if I didn’t need to wear a wig since I was worried about my hair, Casian said something strange.

“I can’t hide Rose’s beautiful hair with something like that.”

I understood that the hat alone would be sufficient.

“By the way, Your Highness.”

“Your Highness is forbidden.”

“Then what should I call you, hey you?”

At my words, Casian burst into laughter as if he found it absurd.

“What relationship do you and I have today?”

“…Husband and wife.”

It was a setting I really didn’t like, but it was the most reasonable one.

A successful business couple from the kingdom had come to tour the Empire’s capital.

“But I can’t call Your Highness by name.”

“It would be perfectly fine if it’s Rose.”

“I don’t want to be arrested for insulting royalty, Your Highness.”

“…In the past… you know.”

At my refusal, Casian muttered in a barely audible voice.

“Ian.”

“Yes?”

“Call me Ian.”

I felt relieved at the name that was quite distant from Casian’s actual name.

No matter how shameless I was and how I lived half out of my mind, it still felt awkward to call a prince’s name out loud, not just in my thoughts.

Though I thought the sound felt somehow familiar.

“Anyway, Ian.”

“Yeah.”

…Why are you smiling so brightly again at that?

I held my breath for a moment under his facial attack before I could bring up the main topic again.

“Weren’t you originally planning to crack down on the gambling house in half a year?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Now that the Empress has gone into seclusion, if you target that side again…”

“It’ll become troublesome.”

Casian casually finished the words I was hesitating to say.

Of course, the Empress had multiple funding sources, and this gambling house wasn’t the largest among them.

But it would be enough to displease her.

“That’s why you decided to take more time with it.”

The Emperor might also blame Casian this time.

The Emperor wasn’t completely innocent regarding the Empress’s funding sources.

As Casian said, the Emperor wasn’t a foolish monarch, so he would sometimes turn a blind eye to somewhat illegal activities if they could fill the treasury.

The Empress’s gambling house was in a similar context.

A place where money from the emerging merchant class, like the businessmen Casian was disguised as, could be absorbed into the treasury and high nobility.

If he struck such a place, even if the Emperor outwardly blamed the Empress, inwardly he might only grow more hatred toward Casian.

“Are you that worried about me, Rose?”

“Of course, Your High— Ian, if you’re not around, who’s going to pay my salary?”

At my confident answer, Casian burst into loud laughter.

He reached out and fiddled with my hair hanging down under the hat as he spoke.

“Don’t worry, Rose. This crackdown is just a simple inspection, and the target isn’t the Empress.”

At those words, I felt greatly relieved.

I thought Casian had entered original story mode.

I prefer a male lead who suffers less damage through schemes rather than being straightforward.

“If it’s not the Empress… is it the businessmen?”

“Yeah.”

At his words, I frowned.

“Then you shouldn’t have called it a crackdown!”

This is intentional!

In other words, Casian was saying he would look around the gambling house for businessmen to recruit.

As long as the Empress held the aristocratic class, Casian absolutely had to capture the emerging merchant class.

“…I worried for nothing.”

When I grumbled, Casian let go of my hair and spoke gently.

“I’ll buy you one more thing at Saphire.”

Really, don’t think money solves everything.

This time.

But it does.

*

The gambling house was in the West District, but for some reason the carriage headed toward the Central Marketplace.

“Weren’t we going straight to the gambling house?”

“The sun hasn’t set yet.”

“But they’re open during the day too.”

More importantly, the decent businessmen Casian wanted to recruit would be coming and going during the day.

It was a place where the atmosphere changed between night and day.

A place that became dangerous as the night deepened, with illegal conversations and rising betting rates.

During the day it ended at the level of tourists having fun, but at night I heard there were even fistfights.

When I looked at him with a puzzled expression, Casian smiled nonchalantly and said,

“The sun hasn’t even reached its zenith yet, Rose.”

For some reason, everything he said today seemed like a bundle of contradictions.

“And I wanted to give you a gift first.”

Casian said this and personally opened the carriage door that had stopped at perfect timing.

Really, that prince was constantly stealing away tasks I should be doing as a subordinate.

He extended his hand to me as if it were natural.

Since the dress hem was longer than usual, I carefully stepped down from the carriage without refusing his hand.

“Your eyes sparkled the moment Saphire was mentioned, so I couldn’t bear to ignore it.”

“…I did?”

I couldn’t flatly deny it like usual.

That I was so full of material desire—it was all too true.

While I was pondering, I heard Casian’s low laughter from above my head.

He offered me his arm and spoke in a truly chilling manner.

“Shall we go then, my lady?”

*

The inside of Saphire was truly enchanting.

Unique and pretty and cute!

Lovely clocks carved from whole pieces of wood, beautiful pottery where the seam couldn’t be seen despite being made in halves.

Even crafts made from uniquely colored stone materials that only came from the kingdom.

Each item was so pretty that I couldn’t possibly choose.

“…That’s what you want?”

After much internal conflict, Casian looked at me with dissatisfaction at what I had chosen.

What’s wrong with this? It’s a really pretty fountain pen.

Even if I brought lovely decorations home, I could only see them briefly in the morning and at night.

I wanted to keep things I liked as close as possible. Of course, bringing decorations to the office would be fine too.

“I like this one.”

Most importantly, it was beautifully crafted while not hurting my hand when I held it.

Enough that I thought my bumpy fingers might finally find some peace.

“The material used here is said to never clot or harden the ink.”

It even has practicality—how could I just pass this by!

At my words, Casian let out an inexplicable sigh.

“I really don’t know what to make of Rose sometimes.”

“I wish Ian would know me a little less.”

What are you saying when you know all my preferences inside and out.

Instead of answering, Casian simply picked up the fountain pen and went straight to pay.

He handed me the warranty and fountain pen, then spoke leisurely.

“The fact that you only chose one thing…”

“Yes?”

“Means you’ll make time for me again next time, right Rose.”

Why, how does that work out that way!

I was just trying to have some conscience.

But somehow I couldn’t bring myself to speak.

Because Casian Artez was looking at me with such a joyful and expectant face.

*

Since our business at Saphire was finished, I thought we’d really go to the West District now.

But Casian said something to the coachman and sent the carriage away.

“…Ian, you do know it’s quite far to the West District, right?”

Even though the shoes he’d prepared were surprisingly comfortable for being brand new.

I didn’t want to walk there for over an hour.

“I know, but we’re not going to the West District right away, and it would be unfair to keep the coachman waiting.”

Saying that, Casian pulled my hand onto his arm and spoke.

“I think Rose told me to value my subordinates’ time.”

Since when have you listened to me so well?

Even now you’re doing whatever you want without properly explaining anything.

Casian looked at my completely unconcealed expression and grinned widely, finding something terribly amusing.

“Rose gets cranky when she’s hungry, and I brought you out, so I can’t let you skip a meal.”

“…I can endure that much.”

Really, what exactly don’t you know about me.

In just one year, you’ve figured out all my preferences and personality like this.

It was truly frightening. Casian’s thoroughness in never letting go of a subordinate he could work to death.

He simply brushed off my words and took me to the most popular restaurant in the capital these days.

They said the reservation wait was at least two months.

Living up to its reputation, the food was delicious.

“But I think the steak Ian prepares tastes better.”

At my words, Casian nodded as if taking note for future reference.

After that too, Casian showed no intention of going to the gambling house, instead taking me around to the most talked-about shops in the Central Marketplace.

“Shall we go browse some books that Rose likes.”

Saying that, he called for a carriage again, and by the time we arrived at the bookstore near home, the sun was setting.

Winter days are already short enough as it is?

“…You really did deceive me, didn’t you?”

At my words, Casian flipped through a romance novel that didn’t suit him at all and answered.

“Yes.”

So refreshingly.

“When I thought about Rose enjoying her day off without me, I became very.”

“Very?”

“Jealous.”

Jealous of what exactly?

You could just laze around by yourself too, you work demon!

When I looked exasperated, Casian grabbed all the novels I had glanced at and ran off saying he’d pay for them.

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