The Male Lead Is Trying To Tame Me With Money - Chapter 19

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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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19.

“…Cow, ardly!”

“I don’t agree with that statement either.”

Really now, it’s a perfectly rational method.

People like him always said things like that when they had nothing else to say.

“Being cowardly is at least better than causing damage to your own country, isn’t it?”

You made a deal with the Empress to become a concubine, didn’t you?

So I spoke to him even more businesslike.

So that he couldn’t find any opening in me at all.

“Let me return your words to you – you should be grateful. After all, I’m giving you advance notice of what I’m about to report to Prince Alexis immediately.”

Count Gash Yeongshik’s lips pressed tightly shut.

Then his face turned not just white but blue, and soon he declared his defeat.

“…No, no! Don’t let His Highness know, at least not His Highness!”

*

“So it wasn’t a bluff.”

After finishing one round of negotiations with Count Gash Yeongshik, Prince Alexis appeared from wherever he had been hiding and startled me.

“Hmm, even this reaction is so clean.”

“…You heard everything, didn’t you?”

At his teasing, I slightly shrugged my shoulders and turned around as naturally as possible.

“Yes, not batting an eye while deceiving your opponent – you’re truly the sole advisor to that Second Prince.”

What’s this? I’m sure I received a compliment, but why do I feel like I was insulted?

If this had been in front of Casian, I would have expressed my displeasure with my eyes, but this situation was different, so I quietly lowered my gaze.

I can’t cause diplomatic problems.

Especially after smoothly making a deal with Prince Alexis over the Count Gash Yeongshik matter.

Though it’s unfortunate for him, from the moment I noticed this situation, I never intended to exclude Prince Alexis.

Using our country’s nobles is one thing, but if I got caught secretly manipulating foreign nobles by exploiting their weaknesses, it would only complicate matters further.

“So next is the turn of the woman who will become my new mother?”

Alexis crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, looking at me leisurely.

His wine-colored eyes showed a subtle depth.

That gaze, which seemed to be pleading for me to satisfy his curiosity, felt strangely familiar.

‘It’s like….’

It was strangely similar to when Casian discovered new prey, no, corrupt nobles.

Thanks to that, my slightly tense heart calmed down.

“That’s right, Your Highness. The story only gets interesting when the protagonist’s hair shows even a little.”

The bait was none other than Count Gash Yeongshik.

Alexis pulled up the corners of his mouth with satisfaction.

“The weakness of the woman who will become my new mother, and the weakness of the Gash County that was acting above their station.”

With the face of a predator before its prey, she spoke.

“I’ll prepare a gift in return that won’t disappoint.”

*

The night air was cool.

Count Gash Yeongshik stood at the Outer City Temple with a terrified expression.

Since even the priests only came here when they had committed sins and were being punished, the desolate appearance was eerie.

Tick-tock, the sound of the clock that the beautiful-faced, devil-like woman had given him seemed particularly loud.

Count Yeongshik took a deep breath.

‘I have to do well today, that’s the only way I can escape from that devil-like woman.’

She had been so demanding, insisting that I absolutely must not make mistakes and making me memorize three different response plans for various situations.

Even until an hour before coming here today, Count Yeongshik had to sit upright in a chair answering test questions that Roselita posed.

Every time he got one wrong, those green eyes that should have felt warm became so cold.

‘Prince Casian must be insane. To take such a woman as his fiancée!’

While venting his frustration inwardly and repeating deep breaths several times, he heard the sound of someone gracefully stepping through the bushes.

“Calling me to such a place – what a very cultured thing to do.”

Though she wore a long veil to cover her face, her gait, manner of speaking, and distinctive posture clearly revealed her high status.

Count Gash Yeongshik recalled the lines he had repeated countless times with Roselita and spoke carefully.

“I apologize, but this was such an urgent matter that I had no choice.”

“Couldn’t you have sent a servant to deliver the message?”

“…Regrettably, I have no one I can trust. Your Majesty the Empress.”

He deliberately emphasized the words “Your Majesty the Empress.”

At that moment, the Empress turned her gaze to the bushes that moved slightly.

Seeing this, Count Gash Yeongshik hurriedly continued.

“Your Majesty and!”

Even though her face was covered by a veil, he could feel the Empress’s displeasure at his suddenly raised voice.

Facing that attitude that seemed to reproach him for being careless, he continued while feeling wronged.

“Our meeting…. And the task Your Majesty assigned me is about to be discovered by Prince Alexis.”

“So? Is there any evidence that I ordered you to do such a thing?”

However, the Empress maintained her leisurely attitude.

As the mother of the Second Prince, if she simply denied ordering such things, most people would believe her.

Wasn’t it a fact known to most nobles that the Empress had been heartbroken after her son was chosen as the marriage partner?

At her attitude, Count Gash Yeongshik couldn’t hide his burning anxiety, though Roselita had told him to expect this.

‘I was truly blind!’

With the power of the Gash County and his own beauty, he could have easily aimed for the position of Prince Alexis’s concubine.

So all the more reason he needed to secure evidence that the Empress had caused harm to a daughter of his own country’s nobility, as Roselita had said, and get a grip on her weakness.

That way, they could both keep each other’s mouths shut, and he could somehow make a deal with that wicked advisor.

He secretly activated the magic recording device Roselita had given him in advance and spoke.

“I said I have no one to trust. One of my servants witnessed everything and threatens to report it all to Prince Alexis. He….”

Count Gash Yeongshik couldn’t hide his trembling heart and took a deep breath.

“He knows that Your Majesty the Empress ordered the kidnapping of Advisor Salice, and that I met with Your Majesty. Even more!”

Count Gash Yeongshik slowly brought together his hands that had activated the recording device.

They were drenched in cold sweat, making him feel unpleasant.

“He says he recorded the conversations we had during our meetings. At this rate, Your Majesty won’t be able to escape either.”

After his words ended, silence settled.

There was a grinding sound as the Empress gritted her teeth, followed by a sigh and a murderous voice.

“So, what do you want from me?”

“I won’t fail a second time. I’ll cleanly handle Advisor Salice as Your Majesty the Empress ordered.”

“Hmm, and then?”

“Please take care of the servant.”

“Ha!”

The Empress let out a short laugh.

“Unable to handle one mere servant, you want to borrow my hand for this trivial matter?”

“I am someone who has failed once. Even if I take responsibility and handle everything, would you be able to trust me?”

Count Gash Yeongshik was careful with his tone.

That crazy woman had emphasized so much that he must not appear stupid in this part.

“…Yes, at least I acknowledge that you didn’t try to handle it alone and ruin everything.”

The Empress’s hands clenched and unclenched several times.

“Fine. Making one servant disappear without anyone knowing is not difficult for me.”

She moved slightly closer to Count Gash Yeongshik.

“Don’t forget that you owe me a debt for this.”

At her threatening words, Count Gash Yeongshik barely met her gaze and spoke firmly.

“No, Your Majesty the Empress owes me a debt. I could have let everything fall apart without telling you, couldn’t I? I’m giving you an opportunity.”

“….”

The Empress glared at him at his absurd words.

Even though she was veiled, I felt like her golden eyes would cut right through me.

‘Damn it, what kind of crazy thing did she make me say!’

She really was an insane woman.

Count Gash Yeongshik cursed Roselita inwardly while somehow trying to calm his trembling body.

Just endure this moment, just endure this moment!

“So don’t forget, Your Majesty the Empress, in exchange… for me disposing of the trash…! And your promise to give up the position of Prince Alexis’s concubine!!”

His voice rose, thinking this was the end.

Now Roselita’s instructed lines were practically finished, and he just needed to hear a positive answer from the Empress.

By handing over the recording device, Roselita said she would handle everything after that…

Seconds that felt like a thousand years passed.

The Empress broke the silence and slowly opened her mouth.

“Yes, I’ll keep my promise.”

It, it was over.

Count Gash Yeongshik told himself to somehow not collapse until the Empress left.

But at that moment.

“…What, what do you mean! Your Majesty!!”

From the bushes that had rustled earlier, it wasn’t the brown-haired wicked advisor who appeared…

“You want me to watch him take in a concubine when I should be enjoying our sweet newlywed life?!”

The Second Prince appeared with reddish-black hair, looking exactly like the Empress with remarkable beauty.

And he was arm-in-arm with Alexis.

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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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