The Male Lead Is Trying To Tame Me With Money - Chapter 114

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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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114.

A laugh escaped at his tone that seemed both earnest and wheedling.

I felt my heart, which had been constricted with tension, finally beginning to loosen.

“What kind of reward do you want, Ian?”

Even as I said this, I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him into a tight embrace.

He often acted spoiled like this, after all.

I suppose it was an inevitable affection deficiency.

“If you could take me with you wherever you go while we’re in Riedern County.”

Casian lifted his head slightly from my shoulder and looked at me cautiously.

His eyes, which were always sharp in front of others, now looked like a gentle puppy’s, making him oddly endearing.

“Am I being too bothersome to you?”

“You’re always bothering me, so why are you being considerate now?”

At my words, tinged with reproach, color returned to his face.

As if he was incredibly happy from just my simple words.

“Thank you for taking me in, Rose.”

“That’s really scary to hear.”

Taking you in? What are you trying to dump on me, really.

When I patted his back, he burst into laughter.

The vibration transmitted through our touching bodies felt somehow good.

Because I truly felt that it was okay to relax a little now.

*

“The capital should be starting to get sweltering hot around now.”

Getting out of the carriage into the wind mixed with cool air, I stretched to loosen my stiff body.

Casian waited a moment, then draped a thin outer garment over my shoulders.

“That’s right, this really is northern territory.”

“It’s so cool that it really feels like I’m on vacation, even though we’re here for work.”

When I spoke, revealing my complicated feelings, Casian raised his arm as if to escort me.

I naturally placed my hand on his arm and continued the conversation.

“Thinking that he cared about us that much would be rather conceited, wouldn’t it?”

“Well.”

“You don’t think so?”

“I really don’t want to admit it, but.”

After telling the coachman to move our luggage to the inn where we’d be staying tonight, Casian slowly began walking toward the village marketplace.

“His Majesty.”

Casian lowered his voice.

As if conscious that I had just deliberately referred to the Emperor by a different title.

“It’s true that he’s taken a liking to you.”

“…I’m really realizing that I worked too enthusiastically.”

Having it confirmed by Casian made me naturally reflect on my own actions.

I hadn’t wanted to be recognized this clearly by His Majesty the Emperor.

How did it really come to this?

I just wanted to pay off our family’s debts and live comfortably.

Seeing my complicated expression, Casian patted my hand and smiled.

“So for now, take it easy, Rose.”

“…”

Looking at that unchangingly reliable face, I acknowledged one more honest feeling.

That I wanted to watch over this guy’s path to happiness a little longer too.

Perhaps because I’d met the original Casian, this annoying superior felt more reliable than usual.

It would be a lie to say I didn’t have feelings of caring for him.

“You too, Ian.”

Having saved him twice, it would be stranger not to feel this way.

Casian smiled softly at my answer.

“Don’t you know yet, Rose?”

“Know what?”

“That I can only relax when you’re at ease.”

Really.

Why does this person always have to.

Unable to express the bubbling feeling in my chest, I just leaned against him as we walked.

Thanks to the northern chill, the air was cool, and though the streets showed signs of needing maintenance, they were charmingly beautiful.

As if the Zamoti Duchy’s occupation of this land for over a decade couldn’t quite cover the long years the Riarden Ducal Family had managed it.

“I like pretty things, so I should be able to do that.”

I felt a gaze from above my head.

Even without turning to check, I could imagine what kind of eyes he was making.

They would surely be warm and satisfied eyes.

*

“Did you enjoy looking around the marketplace? Should I say it’s fortunate you came to travel at a time like this?”

After touring the marketplace with Casian and returning to the inn where we’d left our luggage, the owner greeted us with good humor.

Whatever the Emperor’s true intentions, an investigation was still an investigation, so we had changed both our carriage and attire partway through.

Anyone would see us as a merchant newlywed couple on a trip.

However, whether because this wasn’t a place outsiders often chose for travel, or because my superior’s exceptionally handsome appearance was the problem, we drew quite a lot of attention.

Even despite using magic to blur our features somewhat.

The result was the innkeeper’s overly delighted expression.

“There are rumors going around that our duchy’s owner is going to change. So when you two arrived, everyone came asking about it.”

“Asking what?”

“Whether the new owners had come to look around the estate.”

The innkeeper looked between us with subtly sharp eyes.

“Surely not, right?”

I don’t think there’s any inspector who would say yes to that.

Before I could respond, Casian pulled me by the waist into his arms and replied.

“How could that be? We’re just merchants who don’t even know what noble life is like.”

He spoke while ostentatiously kissing my temple.

“We just came here because my wife suffers from the heat and we were looking for somewhere cool. Work is important, but it’s meaningless if my beloved wife’s health suffers because of it.”

“Oh my, oh my.”

The innkeeper looked warmly at Casian as he spoke smoothly.

“You’re still young but you know what’s really important! Our husband realized that far too late, so now he regrets it, saying our daughter won’t pay attention to him.”

At those good-natured words, a short cough came from the kitchen area.

Being a city on the outskirts of Riedern County, the inn wasn’t very large, so our conversation seemed to carry all the way to the kitchen.

The innkeeper soon said she’d kept us too long and knocked on the kitchen door.

A burly man came out, grumbling quietly as he picked up our luggage from beside the counter.

The innkeeper’s wife skillfully managed her husband’s attitude as if used to it, then guided us to the second floor.

“We don’t have many rooms, so I’m embarrassed to make a big deal of it, but this is the best room in our inn.”

When the owner threw open the window, the scenery of the slowly setting sunset poured into the room.

“I deliberately made two windows facing different directions. The view you can see through the windows at this time is another pride of our inn.”

As the owner said, the modest natural scenery and the low-rise houses nestled together harmoniously created a beautiful view.

When I smiled naturally, the owner burst into cheerful laughter.

“I’m so glad the lady likes it, isn’t that right?”

At her words directed at Casian, he looked at me once and nodded.

The owner observed this, then laughed heartily while pushing her husband’s back and hurriedly left the room.

“Have a wonderful time!”

With those embarrassing words, the sound of the husband and wife’s affectionate bickering could be heard beyond the closed door before gradually fading away.

Eventually, Casian seated me on a sofa skillfully crafted from polished wood.

“It seems like a village with a nice atmosphere.”

“Yes, the shopping district atmosphere wasn’t bad either. Though it was a bit lacking in liveliness.”

As I sat on the sofa and leaned against the window, Casian carefully approached and looked outside in the same position.

People coming to buy dinner ingredients, children running around, chimneys already starting meal preparations with white smoke rising.

All of it was such a leisurely scene that would be hard to see in the Capital.

“Does it put you at ease?”

I asked him, who must have been secretly worried while heading to Riedern County.

Rather than answering immediately, he quietly took in the view outside the window.

To him, his mother Maribel was like a fantasy.

All he had were the thick diary she left behind and stories told through the wet nurse who cared for him as a child.

The only thing he could directly encounter were the brief past memories shown by the scroll, so I thought he would feel more by observing this village’s scenery.

When planning this travel route through Riedern County, referencing Maribel’s diary was also intentional.

I had suggested we do that.

Though Casian said the Emperor sent us here to give me leisure, I thought there must have been an intention to benefit Casian as well.

After being in silence for a while, he briefly opened and closed his mouth, then faced me and spoke.

“Yeah.”

I felt like I could read many meanings in that short answer.

Including that he was relieved to know the land under Zamoti Duchy was intact.

Casian Artez was that kind of person.

Even if he couldn’t reclaim Riedern County, he simply wished for the people of this land to be happy.

Though he had changed much from the original story after meeting me, it was because he had such a soft heart that I grew more fond of him.

With such contemplation, I watched for a long time as the sunset gradually colored Casian’s blonde hair.

Thinking that I could enjoy this kind of leisure as much as I wanted.

*

The Riedern County investigation was enjoyable enough to rank in the top three since I came to the Capital.

This was thanks to Maribel Reardon, Casian’s mother, who had recorded in detail in her diary where was beautiful, where needed more development, and even which restaurants were delicious.

Her diary was essentially a tourist spot & restaurant guide.

And today, we were scheduled to visit a place I had been quite curious about.

Even while guiding me, Casian made a subtle expression.

“I don’t know whether I should be glad that Rose and Mother have similar tastes or not.”

“Your Majesty was curious too.”

I lightly brushed off Casian’s grumbling and crossed the rough bushes while firmly holding his hand.

A cave entrance with an eerie landscape appeared in view.

It was the entrance to an abandoned mine that had been closed hundreds of years ago.

Of course, it wasn’t because I wanted to see a horror spot.

It was because I was curious about the topic of ‘Dragon’ among the content Maribel had written.

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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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