The Male Lead Is Trying To Tame Me With Money - Chapter 136

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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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136.

At Prince Charley’s words, the surroundings were suddenly enveloped in silence.

Unbothered by such atmosphere, Prince Charley handed the dagger he had been carrying to Casian.

“This is…”

“It seems like you’d be better at giving instructions from here on out. The Royal Guards are getting anxious too.”

At Prince Charley’s words, Casian gave a bitter smile.

“I really don’t know what you’re thinking, Your Highness.”

“If you call me big brother, I’ll tell you?”

At his face that was the complete opposite of when he had threatened the Elder Priest, Casian shook his head.

Despite Prince Charley’s deliberately hurt expression, Casian seemed accustomed to it as he took the dagger and immediately gave orders to the Imperial Guard.

“Seal off the entire area around the abandoned mine immediately after we enter. Be careful not to involve the residents, and for the Temple people—”

Casian smiled obliquely.

A face that was all too familiar to me and the Imperial Guard, but would be chilling to the Temple people.

“Make sure to treat them well so they have no discomfort. You’re all familiar with camping.”

“Yes, understood, Your Highness!”

It meant that while we were confined in the sealed room, all Temple officials would also be kept here.

And being able to trust and give this order was also thanks to Prince Charley bringing the Imperial Guard from the Sun Palace rather than the Summer Palace.

Even if it was hard to trust the Emperor, these inflexible Royal Guards were different.

‘And the Royal Guards also hold 13% resentment.’

There was no way they would view the Temple favorably.

Prince Charley had also perfectly selected mostly such Royal Guards.

Naturally, the Temple side opposed Casian’s orders.

“Are you suspecting us now? You don’t seem to understand your own position!”

Especially the Attending Priest who had reported Wesley while mentioning excommunication was greatly agitated.

Casian was merely calm though.

“What kind of position are we in?”

“Aren’t you heretics who must receive the Lord’s judgment?”

At those words, Casian lightly tossed the dagger back to Prince Charley and responded with a smile.

“I’m not kind enough to believe baseless speculation.”

“What, what did you say…?”

“His Holiness the Saint also seems to believe in our innocence as you said.”

At Casian’s words, Wesley nodded accordingly.

“Those who aren’t properly prepared are being unreasonable, so I’m just going along to avoid making noise.”

Casian turned his head toward the Elder Priest.

“As my brother already said.”

“…Our Temple is innocent, truly.”

“We’ll have to see about that after a week passes. However, please keep this in mind.”

Then he spoke with a sharp expression.

“With this, the Temple has now slandered my innocent fiancée and future Crown Princess twice.”

*

The place where we would be confined was none other than inside the abandoned mine.

It was a conclusion reached after confirming that there was only one entrance on the map and thoroughly searching the surroundings to ensure there were no other escape routes.

“Since you called it an impure and wicked place, the Lord’s power will reach it even better. The Lord would never forgive such a place.”

Of course, Casian Artez didn’t stop being sarcastic until the end.

Not just Casian.

“That’s right, if it’s really such a place, it would be difficult for me, filled with holy power, to remain unharmed. I’d have no choice but to use my power to purify it to survive.”

Wesley Morel also threatened the priests not to say anything after a week passed.

And Prince Charley and I…

“Salice Advisor, this is my first time in a mine. I’m really excited. Father said this abandoned mine was quite pretty.”

“It’s probably even more so because His Majesty the Emperor renovated it once. It was a place where he often went on dates with the late Empress.”

“Ah, Mother would grumble quite a bit if she knew.”

We chatted about information that would make the Temple’s hearts sink, in our usual carefree tone.

We had only told Wesley that there was an abandoned mine shaped like a dragon, but hadn’t bothered to give him the information that this was a place the late Empress and Emperor frequently visited.

Indeed, the Elder Priest showed wavering eyes at our words.

It seemed he realized that from the moment they treated not only us but also the abandoned mine as impure, they had already made the Imperial Court their enemy.

Of course, the foolish Attending Priests were looking at us with satisfied faces.

“That confidence will disappear by tonight, Your Highness.”

“May you forever repent for siding with wicked people.”

Really, why did the Temple assign such people to Wesley’s side?

Was it because only by being so low-quality could they shamelessly make Wesley into a bad saint?

Anyway, we headed into the abandoned mine while showing only scenes the Temple truly didn’t want to see.

To the extent that even the civilian investigation team the Temple brought, those who didn’t enter the mine, looked puzzled.

“…Are they actually truly innocent?”

“Don’t say such things carelessly. Surely the Minister dispatched by His Holiness the Pope wouldn’t have acted that way…”

Having planted seeds of anxiety in the Temple like that, we entered the abandoned mine.

*

Crash—!

With a loud noise, the entrance to the abandoned mine was sealed with a large stone.

Still, thanks to the magic lamps attached to the walls, it wasn’t completely dark.

If it had been ‘according to plan’ originally, we would have brought out the Flare Dragon here to provide light, but Prince Charley’s presence made it somewhat ambiguous.

For now, we headed toward the rest area inside the mine according to the map.

Those petty people who had inspected for emergency rations and such before we entered might have sealed off the rest area too.

To check directly, Casian and I decided to lead the way while Prince Charley and Wesley followed behind.

Casian seemed to have memorized all the paths he had explored last time, as even in the space that had become darker with the entrance blocked, he escorted me with perfect timing when we reached the sloped areas.

“Did you memorize all of this too?”

“It got memorized. How could I be negligent in matters concerning Rose?”

When I looked at him with an exasperated expression at those words, Prince Charley chuckled softly from behind.

“You two still seem close. I got scolded though.”

“By Your Highness’s new advisor?”

“As expected of Salice Advisor, you know well. Not as strict as Salice Advisor, but quite stern.”

Even as Prince Charley said this, he couldn’t hide his happy mood.

While at the same time.

“Could you keep it secret from Mother?”

He added such words.

He was truly an incomprehensible person.

If it was such a matter, he didn’t need to mention it, yet he acted as if he were on our side.

‘…I want to trust him.’

No, rather, thinking about what Prince Charley had done so far, it seemed like continuing to harbor suspicion would be worse.

When I glanced at Casian, he also nodded with a somewhat embarrassed smile as if agreeing with my feelings.

Actually, if we only considered Prince Charley alone, we could easily make a decision, but behind him was the Fourth Consort.

Given her antagonistic relationship with us, even this behavior could be a long-term calculated move.

‘Of course, for that to be true… it’s also true that Prince Charley has ruined too many of the Fourth Consort’s plans.’

Even this current situation would have ended with only us being branded as heretics if Prince Charley hadn’t stepped forward.

Naturally, even without him, we had already prepared countermeasures to resolve it.

‘There was the trial notification, and seeing the attitude toward Wesley, this was one of several things I had anticipated.’

But it was undeniable that thanks to Prince Charley, we could bring down the Temple more easily.

Conversely, there were also parts that became more difficult because of that.

“—As expected, they sealed off the rest area.”

Casian clicked his tongue while looking at the location marked on the map.

“Indeed, it was a place His Majesty the Emperor put special effort into decorating.”

“They really don’t value anything outside the Temple, these people. They were scared, calling this abandoned mine full of impure energy and wicked aura, yet they had the courage to do something like this.”

Wesley Morel spoke indignantly in response to my agreement.

Then Charley, who had been watching from the side, scratched his cheek and asked.

“Hmm, with the resting room like this, how are we going to endure?”

So I asked him back instead.

“I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to ask at a time like this, but Prince Charley. Why did you volunteer?”

“Hm?”

“I think you must have known that this trial would really be a matter of life and death.”

I needed a reason to show him my cards.

Of course, they were cards with an expiration date, and things I would reveal anyway as soon as the trial ended.

Then Charley answered readily with a gentle smile.

“What I told the Minister really was everything.”

“Because we’re family?”

“Yeah.”

He answered so readily that it felt unsettling instead.

No, the reason it felt unsettling might have just been because of my own thoughts.

“It’s true, Salice Advisor knows too, right?”

Charley said, looking back and forth between Casian and me.

“That I don’t really have much ambition.”

At those words, I felt my heart drop with a thud.

‘…When the world temporarily mixed with the original story, did he perhaps see something?’

But then again, Charli Artez had been acting strangely all along.

The reason I had been able to maintain a relatively neutral stance toward Charley until now.

‘Because in the original story, Charli Artez never stepped forward to do anything.’

To the point where this Charley was much more vibrant in comparison.

In the original, he was merely manipulated by his mother Scaletti’s hands, while now he actively disrupted her plans – that was about the only difference.

And neither of those involved him trying to get closer to the throne.

Even in the original ending, wasn’t he someone who willingly took on the sins of his mother and fiancée and confined himself?

‘That’s why I’m even more curious.’

What had changed him.

But what was important now wasn’t my questions, but not hesitating.

Even though I stared at him intently, Charley just quietly met my gaze.

If this really went wrong, it would all be Casian’s fault.

Because his eyes resembled Casian’s when he was in a disarmed state around me so much that I couldn’t help it.

“-Fine, I’ll try believing you.”

At my words, Prince Charley relaxed and looked ridiculously relieved.

*

“…It really will be fine, right.”

“Of course, didn’t we clearly see the traces of heresy ourselves…”

Wesley’s Priests, who had been confident at first, became increasingly anxious as the days passed.

“The Minister will also be relieved once the door opens.”

“Of course, there’s no way they could survive intact in there from the start-“

“Shh!”

The Priests covered each other’s mouths and glanced nervously toward the other side surrounded by the Royal Guard.

There, the Emperor’s Chamberlain was waiting.

Carrying the Emperor’s command to escort both the Minister and the Priests who made the accusation to the Capital if all four people who entered the heresy trial survived safely.

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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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