The Male Lead Is Trying To Tame Me With Money - Chapter 178

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Side Story 02-8.

“You know I’m not Marion Dill, don’t you, Rozelita?”
Maribel stepped carefully into my room, hesitated for a moment, and spoke. I nodded in response.
“So… you’re the one who summoned me here? I could guess at other things, but this is the one answer I wanted to know for certain.”
When I paused briefly, Pea wagged her tail as if to say all was well.
“That’s right. Though it’s not my will alone.”
As I said this, my gaze drifted toward Casian’s room, and she exhaled a long breath as if relieved.
“I’m so glad. I really, truly had been hoping against hope that it might be.”
Maribel, who had been standing at the doorway until then, walked slowly toward me.
“The truth is, I haven’t even become a debutante yet, so I don’t feel any particular fondness for Casian. It’s oddly unsettling, and it frightens me a little.”
She seemed troubled, uncertain whether she had the right to feel such things.
I met her eyes and answered her.
“I understand. Affection is something that builds over time.”
Just because someone is a mother doesn’t mean she’ll instantly love a child without reason, does it?
I believed that love grew from the accumulated time spent becoming parents together, the time carrying a child in one’s womb, and the years after birth.
Just as I had not harbored special feelings for Casian from the start, even after reclaiming that “original” memory once I was born here.
At first, I had merely saved him in disguise because of some inexplicable unease, and sympathy bloomed first as I watched young Casian endure his illness so stoically.
Then, coming to the Capital and spending time with him, my emotions became tangled, and ultimately a great love was built.
Maribel smiled then, and opened her mouth with the gravity of a confession.
“But you know, the thought of becoming family makes me so happy and joyful—oddly so. From the moment we first met until now, I’ve felt this groundless doubt: is Casian really all right with Rozelita?”
Her tone was like a younger sister pouting, and I couldn’t help but laugh softly.
Maribel smiled along with me, then carefully withdrew a box from within her embrace and offered it to me.
When I opened it, I found a beautifully embroidered handkerchief and a small child’s bracelet.
“Mother made this bracelet when I was born, wishing for health and happiness. I’ve always kept it close, but… I’d like to give it to you as a gift.”
“Is it really all right for me to accept this?”
“Of course. It just feels like the happiest use for it would be to give it to you.”
Maribel seemed a little bashful as she said this.
One of the many thoughts behind offering the bracelet must have been that it was far too early a gesture from someone who hadn’t yet even become a debutante.
Though she was originally my senior in age, in this moment she seemed girlish and endearing.
Truthfully, the cuteness she displayed was similar to what Casian often showed, and it moved me all the more.
I let my honest feelings show through a smile as I met her gaze.
“I’ll treasure it always, Maribel.”
The moment I said this, surprise bloomed across her face, followed swiftly by joy.
She embraced me carefully so as not to disturb my dress, then hurried toward the doorway.
There, she grasped the door handle as if to hide her embarrassment and spoke to me quietly.
“Casian keeps one among his possessions—a handkerchief—so I wanted to give him mine as well.”
With that, she didn’t even finish her sentence properly before fleeing out through the door.
At just that moment, Casian, who had been waiting to escort me, entered uncertainly and with caution.
“What happened? Mother was being so strict with me just now.”
His eyes were brimming with happiness as he spoke.
Certainly, the moment he entered, his appearance was perfect in every way—his hair, his bearing, even his face—befitting a Prince on his wedding day.
But as he approached me, his expression softened, and by the time he drew near, he had lowered himself with such abandon that his gaze held a blissful tenderness that was almost embarrassing to witness.
“This is real, isn’t it?”
“Then remind yourself—think of how you suffered through cleaning up after His Majesty’s mess last night. That headache should make a comeback.”
“How could any headache survive when you’re so beautiful? I’m so happy to be escorting you that even that pain has flown far away.”
Not for a moment did Casian’s gaze part from me, as if every second were precious.
“Is it really true that I can be your husband? Is it really true that I can write only my name beside you officially?”
“Yes. That right belongs to you alone.”
He squeezed my hand tightly and exhaled a long breath.
He was so much like Maribel in the moment she’d released her tension, and I couldn’t help but smile warmly.
“You’re so beautiful. Even if I had prepared this day myself, I could never be as splendid as you are now. I owe such great gratitude to the three people who prepared your dress. Most of all—”
“Most of all?”
“Could I propose again? I feel like I need to, to make it feel real.”
He spoke shyly yet clung to me so earnestly with his gaze that I could barely contain my laughter.
It was our wedding day, yet he gazed at me as though he were proposing for the first time.
And so—
“Will you marry me, Count Riedern?”
I beat him to it.
Since I’d yielded one proposal to him, it was only right that I go first this time, wasn’t it?
“Rose.”
His hand squeezed mine tightly.
Not just his hand—I could feel the tension in his eyes as well.
He was a man whose tears came far too easily.
“So, what’s your answer?”
“I’m going to marry you, Clupea Margrave.”
“Don’t cry. If you’re going to cry, save it for when we’re alone. I’m greedy—I don’t want anyone else to see such a beautiful face.”
“Oh, I nearly cried too. Your words were so moving, Rose.”
He swallowed hard and whispered, restraining himself from kissing me.
I studied his face slowly with a smile.
The man I’d once thought detestable had never failed at being handsome, but today he was utterly lovely—in his hair, his complexion, and his formal attire.
‘He tried so hard to look beautiful for Rose.’
Recalling what he’d said yesterday, I felt my mouth tickle with joy.
I soon opened the box that Maribel had left and handed him the handkerchief.
Here, it was customary for men too to carry four blessed objects.
“It’s from Maribel. I thought it best to use something new.”
His gaze touched the embroidery, and then he withdrew another handkerchief from his breast and laid them side by side.
The older one he had chosen was also Maribel’s embroidered handkerchief.
The difference in the needlework spoke to years between them, and the feeling was strange.
He gazed at the handkerchief for a moment, then carefully folded it and tucked it back into his breast.
What he had borrowed was none other than our Father’s pocket watch.
‘It seemed like you were the one among those around me who had built the happiest home.’
‘You seem to have both good fortune in wives and good fortune in children.’
‘I agree.’
It was a lighthearted remark, but Casian nodded so seriously that I burst out laughing. And the blue one was…
“Have you met with First Prince?”
None other than his brother, Charli Artez.
Since the House of Artez bore the symbol of blue eyes, and Charli possessed them, Casian had decided that it was only fitting.
‘I couldn’t say we were close, but I knew that he never showed hostility toward me. So different from His Majesty, who felt a tumult of conflicting emotions. And, well… he subtly tried to look after me, like an older brother would.’
Before even knowing the circumstances of his own birth, Charli Artez had been Casian’s older brother.
At the question of whether he had seen him, Casian laughed softly.
“After the ceremony ends, Rose might be a little surprised. He looks so much healthier and brighter than when he was at the palace.”
He spoke gladly and slowly helped me to my feet.
As if on cue, a knock sounded from beyond the door—it was time to go.
*
The wedding went off as true to ourselves as could be.
Wesley Morel, who served as the officiant, intoned something about “the sacred aura of Dragons,” and the clerics who followed along turned pale.
Father wept openly, and even Paul’s eyes grew slightly red from catching the emotion beside him—all of it was a joy to behold.
Most of all, when reciting the vows—
“I swear, as Count Riedern and Clupea Margrave, to love and respect my wife and stand at her side for all our days.”
When Casian thus referred to himself, His Majesty seized him by the nape of the neck, which was its own small delight.
The King of Seolkuk chuckled rudely and earned sharp looks from Empress Trisha and her son.
And so the solemn ceremony concluded well, and the post-wedding reception began as we exchanged greetings with the many gathered.
“You were truly beautiful today. Whenever you find time, I do hope you’ll visit our kingdom for a honeymoon, and of course, coming to verify the efficacy of the documents I gave you is welcome at any time.”
It was as expected that Princess Alexis had come from the Kingdom of Anden to offer her congratulations.
“I must ask that the Princess refrain from attempting to seduce my wife.”
“How fierce with jealousy. I’m glad the Clupea Margrave seems to enjoy it, Count Riedern.”
The Princess laughed softly at Casian’s words and offered her congratulations to us.
She had pacified her brother’s rebellion and solidified her status as heir.
However, the one who accompanied her to today’s wedding was not her legitimate brother, the Second Prince, but rather, as expected, a secondary spouse from the aristocracy of the Kingdom of Anden.
Technically a secondary spouse, but there was open talk that when the Princess ascended to the throne, she would rise to a status similar to Empress Trisha’s.
We regarded this as entirely natural, and His Majesty, the father of the Second Prince, showed no reaction whatsoever, just as we had anticipated.
He was hardly a kind man to anyone but himself, after all.
And His Majesty proceeded to prove that our judgment was entirely without error—
“I do not wish for it, Your Majesty.”
He had apparently done something to Maribel, whom we happened to encounter at this reception.

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