The Male Lead Is Trying To Tame Me With Money - Chapter 117

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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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117.

“…se, Rose!”

In my hazy consciousness, I heard a familiar voice.

I thought my eyelids would feel heavy, but they opened surprisingly refreshingly.

As I blinked drowsily to adjust my vision, an unreal scene filled my eyes.

‘…It’s so beautiful.’

Casian’s face, filled with worried eyes, looked even more beautiful than usual, perhaps due to the dragon’s constant praise of “beautiful, beautiful.”

Even the scenery behind him was excessively beautiful.

A cozy breeze and colorful flowers, a moderately wide stream starting from a spring that held iridescent light.

Above where we were, tree leaves and branches formed a natural arch that filtered sunlight to create just the right amount of shade.

Without realizing it, seeing all of this.

“…Are we perhaps dead?”

Is this heaven?

Did the dragon send us away in one blow because we were too bothersome?

Then she should have shown signs of being annoyed.

“No, but if it’s you and Ian, we should be going to hell, not heaven.”

Since we’re demons after all?

At my words, Casian’s face crumpled.

“Don’t say things like that, Rose.”

Even so, seeing Casian’s relieved expression, I couldn’t help but grin.

This was trouble.

Because teasing him was becoming more and more fun.

I felt like I understood why my superior used to tease me while watching my reactions.

When I tried to straighten my body, Casian carefully supported me.

“Hmm, but where is this place?”

Even after coming to my senses and looking around, it was filled with such beautiful things that I didn’t think I had mistaken it.

Even if an excellent gardener spent years planning and creating this, it would be difficult to make something this perfect.

Despite everything being harmonious, the natural beauty emanating from it was of a kind that humans couldn’t create.

“I don’t know exactly either, but it seems to be near the abandoned mine.”

Casian said this while pointing to a wall that was barely visible through the trees.

“That seems to be the entrance.”

“…I don’t see anything like a door, and it doesn’t look like a cave either?”

“It seems like there’s some kind of magic on it. Couldn’t you open it, Rose?”

Since you have the key?

To me, an ordinary person, it just looked like a plain wall, but I decided to trust Casian’s senses as a master.

Since Dragon Gaia had sent us here, I had a baseless confidence that it probably wouldn’t harm me.

‘Though I wonder if I’m trusting a dragon I just met too much.’

Both the Flare Dragon and Gaia hadn’t done anything harmful to me.

Rather, they had solved a lot of my curiosities.

I followed Casian, who was escorting me protectively, and stood in front of the door, but nothing happened.

“What should I do?”

I don’t even have magic power or anything.

“Try placing your hand on it.”

I could feel Casian’s pulse quicken slightly as he said this.

It seemed like he had drawn up his aura, ready to flee immediately if something happened.

Trusting in his reliability, I placed my hand on the wall without any worry.

Rumble—

The next moment, the wall actually moved.

“I feel like the protagonist of a fairy tale.”

Though I didn’t recite any spell to open the door.

At the same time, the side wall scattered magical effects and transformed into a wooden-framed glass window.

“Wow…”

From the time I called Casian beautiful, I thought our aesthetic sense might be somewhat compatible.

The scene beyond the door looked like a well-decorated cafe in the forest.

When I stepped inside, the scent of coffee wafted strongly, making me realize that dragons truly were transcendent beings.

With that thought, as I entered inside, perfectly timed.

The scroll Gaia had left appeared before my eyes.

Then the Flare Dragon Lair binding scroll unrolled, and text was added below.

It felt different from the Flare Dragon Lair.

Back then, I decided because I thought signing it would solve my realistic troubles.

But now…

‘It feels like she’s given me a space where I can truly rest.’

Beyond the counter, a grinder turning with slight wooden friction sounds, a pan roasting beans by itself, and a glass pot catching the dripping coffee.

Even without people, rather than being scary and eerie, it was just delightful, as if I’d been invited to a fairy’s cafe.

It was truly a gift like a kind mother would give.

Of course, my mother is probably living peacefully with father in the Salice Barony.

“Will you accept it?”

“Of course.”

“Even though there are entry restrictions here?”

“You really see people as materialistic.”

Of course, I realized from his face full of anticipation that he didn’t mean it only in that sense.

Though I wondered if it was okay to refer to people as ‘things.’

I supposed it was a dragon’s speech habit.

Even after I lightly signed, naturally Casian wasn’t banished anywhere and remained by my side.

“…I really feel somewhat grateful to my parents today.”

Casian hugged me tightly with a happy yet slightly subtle expression.

I knew why he said that, but I just smiled as usual.

And for good reason.

‘Lately, I’ve been feeling a bit ambiguous too.’

Do I really just think he’s beautiful?

I thought that if Gaia had been in front of us, she would have definitely burst into laughter.

*

Casian and I drank coffee together and thoroughly enjoyed the garden in front of the cafe that Gaia had created.

Enjoying scenery completely untouched by human footsteps wasn’t something you could do just anytime.

After enjoying such momentary leisure, we went beyond the cafe to find out where this place was.

After walking for quite a while, we were able to complete the map that Maribel hadn’t finished.

When we came out of the abandoned mine and added lines, we were momentarily speechless at the visible shape.

“…It looks like a dragon sleeping curled up.”

“Yeah.”

Very comfortably, in a form that seemed to protect this land, the languid atmosphere of Gaia kept coming to mind.

Perhaps invisible only to our eyes, she might be watching nearby, waving her empty pipe.

“It would be a bit troublesome to turn this into a tourist destination.”

“It would be annoying to deal with a different opponent than your lair.”

“Still, wouldn’t His Majesty help a little?”

After all, it’s a place with memories of the late Empress?

Of course, contrary to my inner thoughts, I had no expectations at all.

Casian seemed to feel the same way, shrugging his shoulders.

It was a gesture saying to trust those you can trust.

“Well, since the Temple would be furious, he’d probably back out.”

“Since he hates troublesome things.”

I didn’t really need to get involved, but.

I somehow felt it would be better to use this case as an excuse to clash with the Temple once.

The more incidents I experienced, the deeper my conviction grew that there was something in the Temple.

Besides, this had the form of a dragon.

‘Our dragon enthusiast will definitely cooperate, right?’

As I smiled brightly with that thought, Casian seemed to guess my intentions and drew a mischievous smile in agreement.

“Are you going to turn the Temple upside down this time?”

“Of course, while we’re at it, I’d like to see the Temple Archives they were hiding so carefully last time.”

Wesley had quietly told me that all the Temple’s dirty real secrets were kept there.

Given that, I was confident that Wesley, being both a dragon enthusiast and a virtuous saint, would definitely cooperate.

*

Though I had a slight urge to rush to the capital immediately and declare war on the Temple, I decided to focus more on what I needed to do right now.

Instead, I sent Wesley the abandoned mine map via messenger bird, which would surely interest him.

Imagining that the saint would thoroughly shake up the Temple in our absence made this trip even more enjoyable.

“Now we’re finally at the main village.”

The final destination of our leisurely Riorden trip was right ahead.

The Riorden Estate that we toured following Maribel’s recommendations was vibrant, as if it had strong self-sustaining power despite not being carefully tended by the Jamoti Family, which kept my mood good throughout.

It wasn’t difficult to find areas for improvement, and I was even more satisfied with the bonus discovery of the abandoned mine that had been Gaia’s lair.

The Jamoti Family didn’t relocate the estate manor’s position even after acquiring this duchy.

Thanks to that, unlike in the capital, the old Riorden Ducal Palace remained, they said.

Though the Jamoti Family supposedly didn’t maintain the ducal palace at all, as if letting it weather with time, its exterior appearance visible beyond the carriage didn’t look that way.

“I wonder who’s been maintaining it?”

“Who knows.”

We decided to continue pretending to be a married couple until we crossed into the Clupea Border Barony, just in case.

So we decided not to visit the ducal palace directly.

Since we were here to investigate, it wouldn’t be good to stand out too much.

When we arrived in front of the reserved inn, Casian got out first as usual and extended his arm to me.

“The walkways need some maintenance.”

“Indeed.”

I nodded at Casian’s quiet whisper telling me to be careful and grabbed his arm as I got down.

Since it was indeed an accommodation facility in a large village, a bellboy greeted us and immediately moved to gather our luggage.

It was when I entered the inn with Casian’s escort like that.

“Welcome-, huh?!”

The old man who was greeting us in the entrance hall looked startled, then shouted in a voice of disbelief.

“…Young master?!”

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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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