The Male Lead Is Trying To Tame Me With Money - Chapter 131

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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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131.

As soon as Casian and I saw the contents of the mail, our faces hardened.

“The Temple, perhaps.”

I neither affirmed nor denied Casian’s words.

While it seemed likely to be the Temple, I couldn’t ignore the possibility of the Fourth Consort and the Jaemoti Marquis Family, who had been quiet until now.

Coincidentally, they were the main culprits behind the two remaining trials.

However, rather than speculating now,

“We’ll find out when we get there.”

It would be much better to face it directly.

*

“…Do I have to send her back safely?”

“Yeah.”

Mother was calm about our sudden trip to Riedern, while only Paul looked dejected.

It was because I had said I would take the lizard with me for a while.

“Pea, I’m sorry. I’m too weak to protect you from the witch…”

Paul Terodima made such a pitiful face that he carved a terrible scene into my retinas.

‘Pea, really. What a half-hearted name.’

Since we met her in the Clupea Border Barony, he just took the cute part and called her Pea.

Despite the ridiculous naming sense, this lizard seemed to like it quite well, tapping Paul’s palm with her tail in response.

Since I wasn’t particularly interested in that tearful farewell, I remained indifferent and finally,

“I’ve reviewed and organized all the ledgers and documents I gave you. Handle what I’ve checked and then newly-“

I began verbally conveying tasks to Paul and Mother in rapid succession.

Paul, who had initially just been nodding, visibly crumpled his face more and more as the content increased.

“You really work people too hard!”

Of course, thanks to long training, he perfectly noted down everything I rattled off.

As expected, Paul Terodima was truly a born worker.

After hearing everything, Mother immediately gave instructions to others about what needed to be done first, sending me a smile that said I could leave with peace of mind.

Thanks to that, I was able to leave the Clupea Border Barony with confidence despite the short stay.

‘I probably won’t be able to visit easily before everything is finished.’

I took in those always warm faces with my eyes and firmly pressed down my resolve.

*

-Do we need to hurry?

When we had gotten some distance from the lair, the Flare Dragon, Pea, asked.

“The faster the better, since we received contact like this.”

When I held out the mail, Pea nodded as if she understood.

She sniffed around as if examining something, so I hoped she might have discovered something, but she didn’t tell me anything in particular.

‘It would have been nice if a reply had come.’

I had naturally sent a mail requesting that if she knew anything more, please let me know.

But no answer came.

When I pouted slightly in disappointment, only then did Pea speak up.

-This seems to have been the best she could do.

“Pardon?”

-I can sense traces of desperate effort.

Even if she looked like that, she was still a dragon, so it must certainly be true.

‘So it wasn’t sent through prophecy after all.’

Instead, there must be some way to observe the capital or other regions.

If not, rather than sending something this urgently, she could have informed me in advance like when she displayed the trial list.

When I stared intently at Pea, the dragon who read my thoughts expressed affirmation by maintaining an uncomfortable silence.

Having put away the mail scroll, I recalled something else Pea had said and asked.

“But is there a way to get there quickly?”

If it wasn’t possible, you wouldn’t have brought it up in the first place, right?

When I looked at her with that sentiment, the small dragon gradually moved away from me, crawling up toward Casian’s hand and spoke.

-There is.

Then instead of answering leisurely, you should help.

At my thought, Pea let out a deep sigh, then exerted herself with her tiny body, making a straining sound.

“Whoa!”

Not long after, a short scream came from the coachman’s seat.

At the same time, I felt the carriage speed up.

“…The coachman is safe, right?”

At my words, Pea climbed up Casian’s arm stealthily while speaking as if making excuses.

-Of course, I properly cast dragon’s protection as well. Are you not viewing me as too incompetent?

“Besides material things, you haven’t really done anything for us.”

At my words, the lizard tilted her head.

-Isn’t that the most important thing to you?

“Pfft.”

At Pea’s words, which seemed genuinely curious, Casian burst out laughing as if suppressing it.

When I glanced at him in protest, Casian shamelessly put on a stiff expression as if he had never done such a thing.

It was absurd, but rather than arguing, I asked Pea the rest of what I was curious about.

“Is it okay to exert yourself even though we’ve left the lair? You said performance drops since it’s not your main body.”

It would be troublesome if she went berserk or something.

Of course, Casian would handle it somehow.

At my thought, the lizard shrank her body even more.

-Normally, it would have been quite difficult with a body like this.

Pea, who had crawled up to Casian’s shoulder, tapped toward his chest.

-Thanks to what’s inside there, it’s fine.

“Riedern’s treasure?”

-I suppose that’s what it’s called, to me it feels like something filled with Lady Gaia’s energy.

So it really was something like a dragon orb.

At my thought, Pea didn’t particularly deny it and nodded.

-Are you sure it’s alright for you to take me along like this?

Soon Pea curled her tail slightly as if something was bothering her.

“Because of the Temple?”

The lizard nodded her head cutely.

-Don’t they consistently treat dragons as magical beasts that must be eliminated here? Since we’re based on magic power, calling us magical beasts isn’t entirely wrong, but…

Even while saying that, she seemed worried about causing me trouble, so I decided to be a bit kinder to her.

“It’s fine, the Flare Dragon was officially announced as having disappeared. And um…”

Even if the dragon’s identity was discovered, there were ways to get around it.

No, in the first place, I-

-You’re really thinking dangerous thoughts.

At what I had slyly thought of, Pea openly displayed her discomfort.

I gently scratched the small lizard’s head with my fingertip and spoke.

“I’m just trying to make sure people receive the proper compensation they deserve.”

Whether that’s rightful reward or treatment.

Or karma that naturally needs to be repaid.

The moment I smiled gently, Pea looked slightly appalled and muttered.

-I can really understand why people call you a demon or a witch.

*

To be honest, I had only expected bad things during the journey to the capital city.

Whether it was the Zamoti Duchy or the Temple side, there couldn’t be anything good, right?

But when our carriage arrived at the capital city—the Royal Guard who had been at the coachman’s seat had a completely pale face—an unexpected person greeted us.

“Rozelita! I don’t know how you managed to arrive at such perfect timing.”

“Wesley?”

It was none other than Saint Wesley Morel.

I was so surprised that I called out to him familiarly without caring about the eyes around us.

“Ahem, it’s Your Holiness.”

Immediately, a cleric who had followed Wesley made his displeasure obvious with a sharp remark.

However, before I could correct my form of address.

“Don’t listen to that person. I told him not to follow me because I hate seeing him like that, but he insisted on coming anyway.”

“Your Holiness is a saint who deserves proper respect!”

“Then why don’t you also show respect to Rozelita, who saved me from that terrifying place? And.”

Wesley glared at the cleric with sharp eyes as he spoke.

“I hope you’ll also respect my wishes that I’ve granted her. Since when have the temple, clerics, and the role of saint been about ruling over others?”

“But, Your Holiness.”

“If you’re going to argue, should I recite again what I told you to prepare?”

Wesley pulled out a scripture from his robes with an exasperated look and thrust it in front of the cleric.

“God has spoken. You who have been granted power close to God, use that power beneficially to serve. Through this, you shall brighten the world.”

The cleric made a displeased face at Wesley’s words.

Of course, he continued speaking immediately without hesitation at the other’s expression.

“God said to serve, not to rule, as far as I know. If my learning is as lacking as you all say, would you show me proper scripture that can refute this?”

“…No. My respect for Your Holiness was so great that I was rude to the Clupea Margrave.”

The cleric who answered thus reluctantly nodded his head to me with a grudging expression to convey his apology.

Wesley looked like he wanted to say something about that behavior, but I stopped him since I didn’t want to get into a pointless argument.

“More importantly, what brings you here?”

“Well, Rozelita sent me something amazing, didn’t you? It’s such a wonderful gift for Wesley that I wanted to see it right away.”

Wesley came up beside me and linked arms like we did in childhood.

Casian sent an unfavorable look at that action, but Wesley Morel was far too strong-willed to be intimidated by that much.

“So as soon as His Holiness the Pope gave permission for the investigation, I rushed straight to Riedern.”

“To here instead of the abandoned mine?”

“I need to get permission, don’t I? When I asked the Imperial Court, they said Prince Casian is currently the person in charge of the Riedern region.”

At Wesley’s words, Casian and I looked at each other with surprised faces.

‘We were only assigned to inspect?’

I couldn’t understand what His Majesty the Emperor was thinking.

If I thought about it lightly, it could be seen as giving Casian his rightful share…

‘Why do I feel like I’m on a testing ground?’

A naked testing ground of power struggles with the temple, no less.

I couldn’t help but think that way.

Because there had been Maribel’s message.

‘If it had nothing to do with trials, or if it was just purely good news, she probably wouldn’t have told us so urgently to go to Riedern’s capital city.’

That worry turned into certainty with Wesley’s following words.

“That’s really why I’m so, so relieved that Rozelita arrived just in time like this.”

“Why?”

“If we don’t show up by the end of this evening, it was promised with His Holiness the Pope that it would be taken as God refusing to guide this land.”

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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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