The Male Lead Is Trying To Tame Me With Money - Chapter 2

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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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02.

Today too, my boss was merciless, and just as he said, instead of a very~ delicious dinner, brutal overtime followed.

Thanks to that, I could only return to My Sweet Home, which was merely a 10-minute walk away, just before midnight.

‘Really, what a vicious and crazy bastard…’

I was scammed when I got this job.

Today too, with my body and mind exhausted from the excessive workload, I enjoyed the bath water and warm stew prepared by the maid, then quickly burrowed into my blankets.

The blankets I pulled over myself rustled pleasantly and carried a scent as if clear sunlight had melted into them.

‘…The weather was nice today.’

To realize today’s weather from inside my blankets, isn’t my life really too sad…?

What’s different from my previous life if it’s like this?

I became a little, no, quite bitter.

I finally possessed the protagonist, but the result is a salary slave no different from my previous life.

“Haaaaaam…”

A breath that could have been either a sigh or a yawn escaped my lips.

Still, on one hand, I thought it was really fortunate.

When I first came to the Capital, how much I trembled in fear that there might not be such ordinary times.

About a year ago, had there ever been a time in my life when I was as nervous as when I got off at the Capital Train Station?

It happened to be the same time as when Roselita in the original work came to the capital, and the purpose was to meet the Male Lead Casian Artez.

Just like the protagonist Roselita in the original work, I had nightmares and was scared that only all sorts of devastating events would await me.

‘What was waiting wasn’t devastating events, but a vicious boss who grinds my daily life with work.’

It wasn’t for nothing that I was the only applicant for those good conditions.

‘Miss Salice, if you just finish all these documents today, you can go home.’

If only he couldn’t speak, at least he wouldn’t be hateful.

You can go home if you just finish all these documents?

In the beginning, I didn’t realize it due to the generous salary and the same nightmares every day.

But humans are creatures of adaptation.

As I was ground down by work and became accustomed to reality, I started cursing at the vicious amount of work Casian gave me.

He began constantly dumping mountains of work on me as if he wouldn’t allow me to become a salary thief even for a few seconds.

‘This much should be simple for you, shouldn’t it, Miss Salice?’

Even when I desperately moved my hands with the single-minded determination to leave work on time and managed to create even a little breathing room, it wasn’t like some kind of step-by-step learning,

‘Good, Rose. Thanks to you, this work finished quickly. So please take care of this matter too, before you leave work.’

As if he had been waiting for me to adapt, he would give me even more work.

Still, the reason I can’t quit is.

‘The salary is too good.’

Just the base salary of 500 gold alone feels like about 5 million won from my previous life, and even this much was actually difficult money for an inexperienced newcomer to receive.

Just like in my previous life.

But Casian grinds people down mercilessly.

And he pays as much as he grinds.

Over the past year or so, my salary has even exceeded 1500 gold.

Although! That month had almost no holidays.

Since there were no meal expenses or rent on top of that, money accumulated intact, and it seemed like I could see the end of my family’s debt that I wondered if I could ever pay off in my lifetime.

In about…

20 years?

Isn’t this sufficiently less hopeless! In my previous life, I would have had to pay the bank for longer than that to buy a house.

‘And my parents are also working hard.’

Since we managed to protect the Estate, if there’s a good harvest, or hot springs spring up somewhere, or mana stones are suddenly discovered, it could be faster.

And if I keep earning money steadily like now, I could start a business with the accumulated money!

Then I’ll definitely enjoy the privileges of being a protagonist possessor without hesitation!

I can’t be ground down under Casian for 20 years.

If I do that, death from overwork will definitely come faster.

‘Still, it’s really peaceful.’

I continued my thoughts while struggling against my drowsy, nodding eyes.

I don’t even have a smartphone to hold, but feeling reluctant to sleep early must be an inevitable characteristic of office workers.

Soft chuckles escaped me.

Because I was fortunate to be able to voice such ordinary complaints, because I could curse Casian simply because he was just a workplace boss.

After becoming Roselita, I avoided getting involved with Casian, but I didn’t dislike him.

After all, he was the Male Lead from a novel I enjoyed reading, and he often showed warm sides to the female lead, not being a villainous boss.

There was also the aspect that I tried not to get more involved because it was obvious he would suffer, not just me.

Casian Artez, the Empire’s 2nd Prince.

Handsome appearance, supreme work ability, unmatched with a sword.

He truly had the high specs befitting a Male Lead.

And like a Male Lead in a devastating story, his life was equally difficult.

Not only did he lose his mother at birth, but he also lacked the blue eyes that Imperial direct descendants should naturally be born with.

Naturally, the Imperial Court was turned upside down. Not being born with blue eyes was already a big problem, but the prince’s eye color was purple.

‘He has earned the gods’ hatred!’

The Imperial Consort, who was the 1st Prince’s mother, shrieked as if horrified and denounced him as soon as she learned this fact.

The Emperor also found it difficult to embrace his son. Beautiful blonde hair and purple eyes. Neither of these was inherited from the Emperor.

‘Well, thanks to that, Casian had a really hard time. When he was young, he almost died from starvation, assassins, and poison. When he got a bit older, he was only sent to dangerous battlefields.’

His involvement with Roselita in the original work was also during one of those life-or-death crises.

Casian, who had always overcome everything alone, began living for Roselita after feeling preciousness and affection from the first touch of another person he ever received, something like that story.

‘I guess it’s because that Roselita ran away.’

The current Casian has largely escaped from threats but has become a truly cold-blooded person without compassion.

Should I say that he became work-obsessed and does so much that even the Emperor can’t carelessly touch him?

Thanks to that, I, his subordinate, am also being ground down, haha.

I cursed Casian thoroughly in my mind, then closed my eyes.

I need to sleep quickly.

If I want to survive tomorrow’s death from overwork that my boss will bestow upon me.

*

‘This isn’t something I should say from the position of wanting to hire you, but why does a noble young lady want to work?’

Casian, who had been very gentle and kind throughout the interview, asked me in a soft, downy tone near the end.

‘Moreover, normally you should have participated in the debutante ball.’

He looked very regretful.

Sympathy—that was too welcome to me at that time.

So I ended up answering far too honestly.

‘Our family situation isn’t at a point where we can take care of such things.’

I shouldn’t have mistaken the slight change of expression that appeared on his face as pity.

Why didn’t I know then that it was the joy of someone who had gained a subordinate who couldn’t easily escape?

*

“…You shouldn’t sign it…”

I opened my eyes wide with groaning sleep talk and let out a big sigh.

It was a dream.

‘I need regression…’

Not protagonist possession.

To see my boss’s face, which is painful just to look at for fourteen hours a day, even in my dreams…

This must be a prophetic dream that today will be tough and unlucky.

That intuition became certainty when I looked at the clock on the table.

‘My morning sleep… I lost 5 minutes…’

Really, this enemy-like Casian Artez who’s no help except for the salary.

I wanted to sleep a little more, but perhaps because I had such a painful dream, my sleepiness completely fled.

I grabbed my head and started preparing for work.

Today was going to be a very busy day, starting with field work from the first schedule. Year-end being busy was the same whether in my previous life or here.

After asking a maid to brew strong coffee and drinking it to fully wake myself up, I headed to the office and saw Casian looking not much different from yesterday when he told me to go in first.

‘Did he even go home, that work demon?’

Of course, he was dressed differently from yesterday, and judging by his impeccable appearance without a hair out of place, it seemed like he had been to his room.

“You seem leisurely, Rose? You even have time to observe me from the morning.”

The brief concern I had felt vanished instantly at his irritating voice.

“Not at all, Your Highness. Since we have external schedules today, I was just checking to see if your shirt collar might have flipped up.”

“As if I would make such a mistake, let alone you, Rose.”

Casian said this while chuckling lowly.

Normally when someone says this, they’d at least touch their shirt collar once, but he didn’t even look up and finished organizing the documents he was reading, as if he didn’t doubt it at all.

I too was able to remember to gather the materials needed for today’s field work before he finished what he was doing.

Because if I was even a little late, I’d have to listen to his annoying sarcastic remarks.

Carrying the bag with the precious materials, I opened the office door wide just as he was coming over.

I’m not trying to praise myself, but it really was perfect timing.

But then.

“Hmm.”

Instead of going straight out as usual, Casian Artez stopped for a moment and stared at me intently.

“What’s the matter, Your Highness.”

He lifted the corners of his mouth in an annoying smile and reached his hand toward my ear.

“Y-Your Highness?”

When I called out in confusion, the smile around his lips deepened even more.

He made a shushing sound as if soothing me, then traced his finger teasingly up between my earlobe and jaw.

“A strand of your hair was sticking out, you see. How pitiful.”

He spoke teasingly while tucking the strand of hair that had escaped above my ear.

“I’ll wait generously, so make sure to tidy yourself up properly before coming out. Of course, there won’t be any deduction from your salary.”

“…”

“I can’t bear to make my perfect aide miserable over anything other than hair losing its way like this.”

Saying this, Casian didn’t forget the courtesy of closing the office door with a sharp thud.

I stared blankly at that door filled with unnecessary consideration for a moment, then silently thrashed about inside.

‘Really annoying, Casian Artez!’

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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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