The Male Lead Is Trying To Tame Me With Money - Chapter 12

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

12.

My engagement with Casian was announced in a very simple and definitive way.

[His Highness Second Prince Casian Artez Announces Engagement to Miss Rozelita Salice!]

By tipping off first the publication that maintained good relations with the Imperial Court and typically ran articles with respectful tones.

Therefore, this article was quite official and moderate, while newspapers that pursued even a bit of sensationalism wrote:

[Winter Palace Demons Unite?! Is it Love, or Pursuit of Work Efficiency!]

[Birth of the Strongest, Worst Couple: Second Prince Casian and Assistant Salice Announce Engagement!]

They ran articles as if Casian and I were some unprecedented lunatics.

Even among the sensationalist publications:

[Check Your Ledgers and Systems! What Are the Countermeasures for the Winter Palace Demon Union?!]

[Capital’s Major Businesses on High Alert! Emergency Response Methods Revealed!]

They were running such ridiculous articles.

I mean, it’s an engagement – isn’t this going too far?

Usually for scandals, shouldn’t there be modifiers like ‘rosy’ or ‘happy’ attached?

Reality was just gloomy and pitch black.

And besides, I’m a baron’s daughter. There wasn’t even the phrase ‘social climbing’ that appeared so often in the original novel.

The original Rozelita got heavily criticized for exactly that…

Even the maid who brought me the morning newspaper reacted with:

‘Did His Highness threaten you or something, Miss?!’

That was her reaction.

At least it was somewhat comforting that she asked out of genuine concern.

At least my maid doesn’t lump Casian and me together as Winter Palace demons.

Thanks to this, I had to deal with a commotion in front of my house on the way to work.

“Miss Salice, what is the truth behind this engagement! Is this a declaration of war against the Empire’s businesses?”

“It’s presumed to be for political reasons – is announcing it as romance a smokescreen?”

“Could you tell us where the next audit target will be, Miss Salice!”

These damn reporters really…

I felt truly wronged by the questions that assaulted my ears.

Even while writing the engagement press release myself, I thought no one would believe it, but I didn’t expect them to disbelieve it to this extent…

I guess Plan B really is the answer, Your Highness.

*

At 11 AM, before the full state council meeting, a gathering of Imperial family members was held to decide on a marriage partner for the Kingdom’s princess.

When Casian and I appeared, the Empress shouted in great anger.

“…What kind of improper behavior is this, Prince Casian!”

“I’m not sure what you mean by improper, Your Majesty the Empress.”

“To announce an engagement through newspaper articles like this! Where are the procedures that Your Highness valued so highly!”

The Empress spoke while even banging on the armrests.

She did the same in the original.

‘Though there, she refused even when engagement permission was consistently requested before the marriage talks with the Kingdom’s princess came up.’

She absolutely wouldn’t allow it because Rozelita was from a humble baron family.

In the original, the Empress usually treated Casian like an abandoned prince, yet only brought up Imperial authority at times like this.

“And a baron’s daughter at that! What do you think the Imperial Court is, Prince Casian!”

How perfectly predictable she is.

The Empress even raised her voice as if she were from the Kingdom herself.

“It’s not just the Imperial Court – this is disrespecting the Kingdom as well! How dare you, at this time when good talks with the Kingdom are happening-“

“Empress, that’s enough.”

It was actually the Emperor who cut off the Empress’s words.

“What do you mean, enough? What are you saying?”

“We cannot send Casian for the marriage with the Kingdom anyway.”

“…What?”

When the Emperor shook his head with an ashen expression, the Empress looked stunned.

“Why, why is that? Your Majesty, surely you don’t misunderstand that I’m suggesting something bad for Prince Casian? I did everything thinking of Prince Casian.”

Then she raised her handkerchief to her eyes as if feeling wronged.

“It’s the position of consort to the Kingdom’s heir princess. It’s absolutely not a bad position-“

“I’m not misunderstanding the Empress’s heart! I simply cannot send Casian, and Casian isn’t the only prince in the Imperial family.”

“…What do you mean by that, Your Majesty?”

The Emperor sighed deeply, then spoke to Casian and me with a bitter expression.

“Casian, Rozelita. I sincerely congratulate you both on your engagement.”

“Your Majesty!”

“We’ll send the Third Prince to the Kingdom.”

“Your Majesty!!”

“It’s already decided, Empress. Don’t discuss it further.”

Even at the Emperor’s words, when the Empress looked at him as if it made no sense, his face turned menacing.

“Empress, have you forgotten my words to exercise restraint? Compared to you proceeding with the Kingdom marriage on your own, Casian is rather better!”

Then he stormed out as if annoyed.

Soon Casian politely and plausibly offered congratulations to the Empress, who was dumbfounded and couldn’t grasp the situation.

“Congratulations, Your Majesty the Empress. How delighted you must be that the Third Prince gets such a good position.”

“Prince Casian…!”

The Third Prince was the Empress’s son.

As she glared while gritting her teeth, Casian opened his mouth with a smooth expression.

“Well then, since we’ve received His Majesty the Emperor’s blessing, I must spend romantic time with my ‘beloved’ Rose, so I’ll take my leave now, Your Majesty the Empress.”

As if mocking her, he pulled my waist close and even kissed my ring finger.

The Empress’s beautiful face became like a demon’s.

*

The Empress’s downfall was not properly considering Casian’s cunning and sinister side.

Well, it would be hard for most people to imagine.

Who would think he’d threaten the Emperor.

But some of Casian’s words were far from reality.

Romantic, my foot!

After signing the engagement contract, only the dark circles under my eyes got deeper.

“Isn’t it a bit disappointing, Rose? Eloping with you would have been fun too.”

“Don’t say things you don’t mean.”

“How sad, I’m being sincere.”

Your eyes are completely joking though.

When I sighed deeply for him to hear and stepped away from Casian, his laughter only deepened.

Unlike the soft Casian in the original, he wasn’t an idealist.

‘Then shall we go for the head, Rose.’

After signing the engagement contract, Casian and I spent all night meticulously writing handover documents.

Then we went before the Emperor and boldly declared:

‘I love Rose. I desire a life with her above all else. But preparing to follow Your Majesty’s command is also my duty.’

And he thrust hundreds of pages of handover documents before the Emperor.

‘Minimizing the void left by my departure is also my duty – these are my handover documents, Your Majesty.’

At that point, the Emperor already looked somewhat fed up. Still, his expression suggested he’d try to handle it up to that point.

Up to that point.

‘And my beloved Rose says she has no reason to remain in the capital without me.’

The Emperor surrendered to ‘my’ handover documents presented next.

They were 1.5 times thicker than Casian’s handover documents.

‘Thank you, Professor. I put to good use the skills from writing dozens of pages of reports every two weeks.’

Casian also referenced that to pad his handover documents a bit more.

How much care we took to ensure they couldn’t find fault even with thorough review!

This was exactly Plan B between Casian and me.

“But, Your Highness.”

“What is it, Rose?”

“If we were going to use this method anyway, didn’t we not need to get engaged in the first place?”

“Are you rejecting my love after we’ve already gotten engaged?”

When I put on a serious expression, Casian chuckled softly and placed my hand on his arm as if to escort me.

“Wilma.”

“…Yes?”

Casian looked at me with leisurely eyes.

Under that gaze, I felt a chill run down my spine.

Why is he saying that name while looking at me?

As if I should feel guilty about that name?!

“Why do you look like that, Rose?”

“This is how my expression always is, Your Highness.”

I answered him as calmly as possible.

When I tried to pull away, he wouldn’t let go of my hand that was placed on his arm.

“Hmm, I see. So Rose has been deliberately not showing me such cute expressions.”

“Your Highness!”

“Why are you so surprised?”

Casian explained to me again with a smile.

“I was just trying to tell you that Wilhelmina Lopez, the young lady of the Lopez Ducal House, will be returning to the country soon.”

At those words, I finally calmed my stiff neck and nodded.

“That’s reason enough for the engagement, isn’t it?”

And I nodded at that question as well.

Wilhelmina Lopez. The villainess of the original story, one of the characters who tormented Roselita like catching a mouse.

In her teens, she was captivated by Casian’s improved appearance and chased after him wanting to marry him, but naturally both the ducal house and the Empress strongly opposed it.

They said they couldn’t give a duke’s daughter to Prince Casian. So the duke sent her to Kingdom Academy hoping her feelings would change, but…

At least in the original story, that much wasn’t enough to stop Lady Wilhelmina.

‘There’s a high chance it’ll be the same this time.’

However, the reason I was nervous wasn’t because I was afraid of Lady Wilhelmina.

At most it would be getting slapped a bit, having juice poured on me, and being cursed at in the Social Circle, but that much doesn’t matter to me.

Rather, more than that…

I looked up at Casian quietly.

“What is it, Rose? Are you hungry?”

It was his usual tone, but it felt somewhat chilling.

‘…No way.’

Even as I denied it in my head, suspicion kept raising its head stubbornly.

Wilma.

It was the fake name I had given Casian in my childhood.

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