The Male Lead Is Trying To Tame Me With Money - Chapter 32

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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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32.

Casian Artez was always sincere about feeding me, so I was looking forward to tonight’s dinner as well.

The place Casian and I headed to was somewhere I knew.

It was Ilium, a resort for the Empire’s nobles, about an hour by carriage from Wilhelmina Lopez’s Villa.

A stream extending from the forest near the villa formed a large river that flowed through the center of Ilium.

As we got off the carriage, the narrow river widened into a dock where boats of reasonable size could be moored.

“It was when Rose had just arrived in the Capital, wasn’t it?”

“Pardon?”

Casian naturally got off the carriage first and escorted me while speaking.

“Back when Rose spoke to me so politely and respectfully, never letting a single word slip carelessly.”

“Ah, yes.”

Having worked for nearly a year and a half now, I answered quite carelessly, completely different from back then.

Though it could have been unpleasant, Casian just burst into laughter, seemingly delighted.

“There was that time we went to crack down on illegal drug dealing happening on a cruise ship.”

“Ah, that’s right.”

The impression was so strong that I still remembered it clearly.

It was around my second month of work, when I was getting used to working at the Winter Palace and was so busy with many tasks that I was even forgetting my fear of the Empress.

My superior very suddenly told me to prepare for a business trip.

After traveling east from the Capital for two full days, we arrived at a place with a large inland lake rumored to look like the sea.

Nobles and businessmen with money and time to spare would float fairly large cruise ships on that lake for entertainment.

“We caught quite a string of mages, so it was quite a haul.”

And those mages, in exchange for partial suspension of fines and detention, were being put to good use in Casian’s official duties.

“To think of that place.”

“…There isn’t something happening on a cruise ship today too, is there?”

“I clearly said this was personal time.”

Casian looked at me while firmly grasping my hand.

“I remember very well how your eyes sparkled when you infiltrated that cruise ship.”

Back then, it hadn’t been long since I’d escaped from a life of contentment with poverty.

“To think you forgot, you’re not only uninterested in me but in yourself as well.”

Casian let out a noticeably deep sigh and guided me onto the cruise ship moored at the dock.

As if they had been waiting, an employee in a uniform with simple yet bold colors guided us.

“I thought back then, I should take Rose on a beautiful cruise ship.”

I was momentarily speechless at those tender eyes.

Rather than demanding an answer, Casian let me take in the cruise ship with its compact but well-appointed interior and the peaceful scenery outside.

“That spire rising over there is the Wilhelmina Lopez’s Villa building.”

“Wow…”

Though hidden by dense forest, the spire’s silhouette was distinctive enough to recognize.

Casian skillfully turned my body to explain the places visible from the cruise ship.

After watching the cruise ship glide smoothly along the calm waterway for a while, when I started feeling hungry, he guided me to the onboard restaurant.

Only then did I realize one fact.

“…Did you perhaps rent the entire cruise ship?”

“Yes, I didn’t want to be disturbed while spending time with Rose.”

“…There isn’t some important work discussion that others shouldn’t overhear, is there?”

Considering everything so far, this seemed much more reasonable.

Casian wasn’t usually the type to easily waste his private assets.

Moreover, wasn’t he the one who traveled with minimal guards, saying others would be inconvenienced?

Even at times like this, with only a few knights following invisibly behind, Casian didn’t like ostentatious displays.

‘It was the same in the original story…’

Even when romance progressed, the original Casian never reserved anything for Roselita.

Actually, to be precise, he couldn’t go to famous spots where many people gathered.

‘Since you never knew when or where assassins or kidnappers might appear.’

Even the temple interfered like crazy.

“My fiancée loves work too much, so am I allowed to feel a little lonely?”

Casian naturally instructed the employee to bring appetizers while resting his chin on one hand and meeting my gaze.

“That’s not it, it’s difficult to prepare something like this in just one day.”

“Why do you think it wouldn’t be possible, when it’s for my lovely fiancée?”

“…There’s no way Your Highness came all the way here just for me, is there?”

Especially when just a few days ago, Your Highness said you could give me a vacation because you could work alone?

“Why do you think there isn’t?”

“Pardon?”

“I might have pleaded to His Majesty the Emperor, saying I’d go on strike because I missed my fiancée so much I could die.”

You?

Even the original Casian wouldn’t do such a thing, would he?

Though I had doubts, somehow I felt this devilish Casian might actually do it, making me break out in a cold sweat.

“Did His Majesty the Emperor perhaps show too much leniency toward the Zamoti Duchy regarding the recent exhibition?”

So you got angry and rebelled against the Emperor – that would be something my superior would definitely do.

“Just how do you see me, Rose?”

“As a very capable, thorough superior who’s generous with bonuses.”

“Not as a demon who works terribly hard, pays well, and is only generous with money?”

Isn’t that also a compliment?

When I looked at him with a puzzled expression, Casian burst into quiet laughter.

“Either way, it seems I don’t have a bad image with Rose, so that’s fortunate.”

Casian gestured for me to start with the scallop dish garnished with caviar that came after the appetizers.

I carefully scooped some caviar and put it in my mouth along with a grilled scallop enhanced with flavor.

The moment it touched my tongue, the aroma wafted up to my palate, making me instantly happy.

“Is it delicious?”

“Very much so!”

Though I prefer meat a bit more, what does category matter when something is delicious?

At my face armed with honesty, Casian also leisurely picked up his fork, ate a scallop, then slowly opened his mouth.

“Coming here was actually a coincidence.”

“…I suppose so, since I didn’t know I’d be coming here either.”

“Yes, though I thought it was fortunate. Actually, when I suddenly had to come, I wanted to throw tea at my brother.”

“Prince Charley?”

Casian nodded with a bitter expression.

“My brother’s first aide, Ashwood, happened to be away from his post.”

Taking time off despite having that sweet three-days-a-week schedule?

Amazing, that Countess’s sense of responsibility!

Unlike him who manages to maintain work-life balance while working, I who am always being ground down couldn’t help but be consumed with envy and jealousy.

Casian tapped the table to redirect my attention.

“Anyway, famous resorts attract people, and when people gather, it’s easy for them to conspire in useless schemes.”

“That’s true.”

“After about a year, they seem to be missing me. The mages, that is.”

Ah, so those lunatics were manufacturing and distributing illegal drugs again.

“They’re extremely cunning, so Prince Charley would have had difficulty resolving it without Ashwood’s help, right?”

“Right, the Empress brought it up during dinner yesterday evening.”

Casian’s lips curved into a crooked arc.

“Since it’s something that requires discreet action, isn’t it just perfect that my fiancée happened to visit Wilhelmina Lopez’s Villa?”

Clang-

So shocked by Casian’s words, I dropped the fork I was holding.

The employee who had stepped back to avoid listening to our conversation quickly replaced the fork and retreated again.

“So it’s practically the same as coming because of Rose.”

To think that Her Majesty the crazy Empress dropped a big event on my vacation!

Even more…

Chills ran down my spine.

‘Wilma is being used.’

In the original story, Wilhelmina was also exploited starting from extremely trivial matters, and the damage gradually snowballed from there.

“…Your Highness, this is really similar to the cruise ship incident from before, isn’t it?”

“For now, at least?”

Casian looked at my tense face, then added reassuringly.

Rarely misreading the situation.

“So you should leisurely enjoy your vacation. This is something I can handle perfectly well on my own.”

And I’m truly enjoying being able to spend this kind of time with Rose.

Casian’s habitually added sweet words went in one ear and out the other.

I knew I was worrying unnecessarily.

‘This time, it’s just to avoid giving Prince Charley difficult tasks.’

Even though I knew the Empress didn’t have the resources to attack Casian or me due to the previous exhibition incident, and didn’t even have such intentions.

“Your Highness, please promise me something.”

“Hm?”

“If you think I should be there, don’t hesitate to call for me.”

I simply couldn’t ignore this premonition that made my entire body tremble.

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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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