The Male Lead Is Trying To Tame Me With Money - Chapter 152

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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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152.

As soon as I called the name, what appeared before me was the familiar and beloved figure of someone I cherished.

“…Rose!”

With a face full of worry, Casian tightly grasped my hand.

Like someone who had found a lost compass in the vast ocean, he pulled me into a tight embrace with his trembling body.

“I’m fine, Ian.”

I comforted him while turning my head to allow him to see his mother.

Maribel’s eyes, which had been feigning composure, widened.

She jumped up from her seat and looked at him standing beside me with disbelief written across her face.

“Rose…, what is this.”

Casian seemed equally confused.

“I was spending some pleasant time with Lady Maribel, and I thought you might want to see her too.”

At my words, Maribel covered her face with both hands.

“How, how….”

Even so, she soon removed the hands covering her eyes and looked at Casian.

As if even the brief moment when her eyes were covered and she couldn’t see him was too precious to waste.

Yet she couldn’t carelessly speak her son’s name.

As if something terrible would happen if she did.

So I pushed Casian’s back toward her instead.

He too couldn’t immediately speak the word he had never been able to properly say in his lifetime.

But when I showed him the withering scroll, he immediately realized there was no time and approached her.

“…Mother.”

It was a title filled with shyness and unfamiliarity.

Even more so than the title ‘Father’ that he rarely used when addressing the Emperor.

Because Casian had been constantly deprived of the opportunity to call her that.

Moisture gathered in Maribel’s eyes.

With a face that couldn’t believe whether the scene she was witnessing was real.

Toward such a woman, Casian carefully opened his mouth once more.

“Mother.”

His voice was much more stable than before.

Only after hearing those words did Maribel take a deep breath and move.

She very carefully reached out her hand and cupped Casian’s face with her palms.

“…Casian.”

“Yes, Mother.”

“Casian…!”

Maribel burst into tears.

Casian, who momentarily didn’t know what to do with his arms, soon calmed down and carefully embraced her as if comforting her.

“…I never thought I’d be able to see you this close. Just seeing you by Lady Rozelita’s side was enough for me.”

“Just seeing Mother’s past was enough for me too.”

Two people who had only been able to look in one direction within the past and future that could never intersect finally came face to face.

Maribel hurriedly wiped away her tears, trying to look straight at Casian.

“I’m sorry, Casian. I’m sorry for making you lonely by not being able to stay properly by your side.”

Maribel apologized to Casian for her death, which she had ultimately faced despite all her efforts.

“No. I know how hard Mother tried.”

Casian gently wiped her cheek and embraced her tenderly.

“So Mother, please don’t say such things. I’m happy enough right now.”

At those words delivered with a bright smile, Maribel seemed unable to contain her overwhelming emotions and couldn’t continue speaking.

Unlike what he showed the Emperor, the side Casian showed Maribel was truly like warm spring.

It was the appearance of a strong season that had overcome all the cold and hardships of winter and finally bloomed flowers.

*

Perhaps because I earnestly begged the scroll in my heart to be more considerate, the time between mother and son, which seemed like it would end at any moment, lasted unexpectedly long.

At least long enough for the three of us to enjoy a light tea time.

However, even with my will added to it, perhaps it was truly at its limit, as the scroll became rapidly cold.

We finally exchanged words of farewell.

“From now on, you can do everything remaining as you wish.”

Maribel said this while taking out a familiar half-orb from her bosom.

It was Gaia’s jewel.

“May I receive this?”

At Casian’s question, Maribel nodded.

“Because you are the child of Riedern, whom I chose and loved.”

With her resolute words, the half jewel was handed to him.

As soon as Casian received it, everything before our eyes became blurry.

It was time for farewell.

Maribel shouted while watching us fade away.

“Thank you so much for coming to me…!”

I held Casian tightly as he made an indescribable expression at those words.

When I opened my eyes again, unlike moments before, the scene of the Peony Palace bedroom in our time unfolded, where no human presence could be felt at all.

Unlike the scene that had been filled with Maribel’s tastes everywhere, now there were only white cloths draped over everything to prevent dust, but I didn’t feel only desolate emotions.

‘Casian’s presence must have grown larger in Lady Maribel’s heart.’

The same vitality as during her days as a young duchess had returned to her face as she saw us off.

I thought that at least in those final moments, she could have been more greatly covered by love for Casian rather than affection for the Emperor.

I looked at Casian while observing the scroll that had withered and wrinkled but hadn’t completely disappeared yet, and Gaia’s jewel that had returned to its complete spherical form.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well, Lady Maribel did seem to say I should do whatever I want.”

“Yes, if it’s you, Mother would certainly have said that.”

“You should hear what I’m trying to say first.”

“I’ve never seen Rose make a wrong choice so far.”

That’s not true, I think I’ve made many wrong choices in various ways.

It’s just that everything seemed to work out well in the end.

‘For example, rejecting Casian’s goodwill thinking it was a scam, or accepting Casian’s advisor position because I was blinded by money.’

Like Maribel, I too was a person with the heart of an ordinary citizen who wasn’t omniscient or omnipotent, so I often made incredibly flimsy choices.

In my childhood, I didn’t wear my mask properly and put on my wig carelessly, so Casian discovered my identity completely.

Even so, Casian, who showed me unconditional affection and trust, was truly lovable.

“Even though I’m thinking of taking revenge on His Majesty the Emperor?”

Even though what I’m thinking right now is exactly that kind of content.

“That sounds like an incredibly wise and righteous choice to me?”

And Casian immediately abandoned the spring flower-like purity he had shown in front of Maribel and generously displayed his usual fire-attribute filial son appearance.

*

If the original Rozelita and Casian had faced this situation, they wouldn’t have dared to think of screwing over the Emperor.

They might have tried to empathize with the process by which the Emperor had somehow stabilized the complex political situation and ended up sacrificing even the woman he loved.

Moreover, because he was the only parent Casian had left, and Rozelita knew how much Casian longed for a happy family.

But I wasn’t thoughtful enough to consider such things.

‘I’ll become Casian’s family, so it’s fine.’

And I was confident that my parents would definitely be much better adults than the Emperor.

Casian would certainly be happier this way than living lovingly with the Emperor.

And the Emperor’s anguish?

‘If he wasn’t confident he could handle all that, he should have given it up from the beginning and just ruled some small estate.’

How many titles are there in the Imperial family?

This was the result of taking on something without properly assessing his own capabilities.

He told Lady Maribel to use him as an opportunity to restore Riedern’s honor, acting as if they were equals, but in the end, it was all Lady Maribel who made the sacrifices.

You may think you’re showing great love and self-sacrifice by leaving the Empress position vacant, but that was truly selfish thinking.

Lady Maribel endured all those painful times while bringing in the possibility of me and even saved your life.

Yet she lost her life because of the Emperor, and then lost her honor and family as well.

If the Emperor had properly shown his will, he could have protected at least one of those.

No, if he was in the position of Emperor, he should have at least cherished and raised Casian, whom Lady Maribel left behind.

As an Emperor, he should have done at least that much.

Instead of making excuses about the Temple’s power or the aristocracy’s power, he should have protected them even by using more cunning methods than theirs.

I couldn’t understand why he acted so deceitfully toward Lady Maribel and other concubines, yet couldn’t do the same when it came to what he truly needed to protect.

Wasn’t it just because it was more convenient for him?

Just like how he pushes everything onto Casian when he does some work and irritatingly says it can’t be helped.

‘I can’t punish him since he’s the Emperor, but.’

I was planning to isolate His Majesty the Emperor in the way I do best.

For that purpose, first.

“Isn’t it right to give the Liarden Duchy to Casian?”

Casian needed to get back everything he should reclaim first.

The Emperor made a slightly displeased face at my words.

This was truly this man’s bad habit.

Trying to bargain, that is.

He should know well that the only outcome would be getting thoroughly beaten by me.

“I didn’t assign the investigation and inspection of Riedern territory with that intention in mind, but it seems Salice Advisor is also making assumptions.”

And he even came at me with a warning.

Saying that the Fourth Consort met her current end by acting in such a manner.

But that assumption failed miserably.

“I apologize, Your Majesty, but I’m not particularly making that suggestion based on the results of the inspection and investigation.”

Thud.

I spread out the organized documents I had brought before His Majesty the Emperor and opened my mouth.

“If you have punished all the wrongs that stemmed from Riedern territory last time, shouldn’t you now also reward the merits?”

Did you think I wouldn’t know that you were trying to quietly slip past this by burying it with the Fourth Consort and First Prince’s trip to Soremte?

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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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