The Male Lead Is Trying To Tame Me With Money - Chapter 52
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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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52.
‘Lovely pink hair and sky-blue eyes that seemed to hold the clearest of days.
Though somewhat tall for a woman, her slender body was gracefully elegant, and her steps were so light that one could feel no weight at all.’
…That was definitely how the Saint was described in the original work.
As I watched the Saint’s party arrive just as the battle was winding down, I could only blink my eyes.
Certainly, um…
‘Though the Saint always wore a deep hood or veil so that no one had properly seen her face, the smile that graced her lips radiated benevolence.’
The smile visible beneath the hood did look pleasant… but benevolent?
While I was trying to grasp the situation, I heard the knights whispering behind me.
“…That’s the Saint, right?”
“Isn’t that a man?”
“Prejudice is wrong. How dare we judge someone who saved our lives!”
Indeed, the Saint(?) who had actually arrived before us boasted a very sturdy build and a height a full head taller than mine.
Even though my height wasn’t particularly tall, I thought it was taller than the average woman’s… probably?
But the Saint had almost the same height as Casian.
“Thank you for coming, Your Holiness.”
Casian greeted first.
Then a priest stepped forward, struggling to hide his bewilderment as he spoke.
“Not at all, how could the Temple be absent from dealing with magical beasts?”
But at that moment, the Saint stepped ahead of the priest and approached Casian directly.
Getting closer, it became even more apparent that she was just slightly shorter than Casian.
The Saint bowed slightly and looked Casian up and down thoroughly without removing her hood.
At this unexpected situation, the priests softly said “S-Saint…” as if trying to dissuade her, but she didn’t back down.
Rather, Casian, who had become the subject of observation, remained completely calm without moving.
“Hmmmm.”
And at the voice that escaped, I had to doubt my ears once more.
The voice wasn’t like that before, was it?
It was supposed to be like a clear nightingale…?
Of course, in the original work,
‘The Saint never opened her mouth. The Temple said that the Saint’s voice was similar to God’s voice, so it couldn’t be heard carelessly.’
They had made such an excuse—
“You’re my rival?”
“…Pardon?”
The voice I was hearing now was unmistakably a magnificent, cave-like bass tone.
“You’d have to be at least this good to be worth it.”
“Your Holiness?”
At this response, Casian showed a rare moment of confusion.
“I was very curious about you. Though I hope you won’t mistake my coming here as being just to see you.”
“Your Holiness…”
At the Saint’s words, the priests now looked ready to cry.
“Ugh, this is stuffy. I can take this off now, right?”
“N-no, you cannot!”
“What do you mean I can’t? I kept all my promises.”
The cave-like bass voice grumbled in a cute tone that didn’t match the voice and pulled off the hood with a swoosh.
“Whoa…”
The next moment, along with the knights’ surprised exclamations of admiration.
“I wanted to see you, Rozelita—!”
A beautiful face came rushing toward me.
*
“…Wait.”
However, the Saint’s(?) attempt to embrace me was stopped by Casian.
Instantly, the Saint—no, Wesley Morel—turned his beautiful face sulky as he looked at Casian.
“Jealous?”
“That’s right.”
Why are you giving such a direct answer again?
When I stared at him, Casian pulled me into a protective embrace with gentle, feather-like touches and spoke.
“Your Holiness must know that Rose is my fiancée.”
“Of course I know. I was so upset when I saw it in the newspaper. I never thought someone would snatch her away before I could fulfill my promise with Rozelita…!”
“Promise…?”
This time Casian stared directly at me.
“Wow, you haven’t even heard about that. Even though you’re her fiancé! Rozelita never told you about me, her childhood friend whom she cherished so dearly!”
Wesley laughed triumphantly at those words.
“Even as her fiancé, you two don’t seem very close?”
“That can’t be. I’ve been constantly by Rose’s side recently, and I know her closest friend is Lady Wilhelmina Lopez.”
Casian was telling Wesley that he was obviously lying since there was no trace of them ever meeting.
And at that characteristic sarcastic tone, I finally came to my senses.
“Wait a moment!”
First, I needed to understand facts I knew nothing about.
“Your Highness, please let me talk with His Holiness for a moment!”
“Alone with the Saint?”
Casian looked much more displeased than usual, but.
I nodded.
Then Casian’s arms around me tightened even more.
“Rose, you do realize I’m on the verge of going crazy right now?”
“Pardon…?”
Come on, you’re not really jealous anyway.
When I looked at him with indifferent eyes, Casian’s gaze became even sharper.
“Do you really think I simply stopped the Saint for no reason?”
Casian whispered quietly enough for only me to hear.
“Your cough hasn’t stopped, and the fever in your cheeks hasn’t gone down either.”
His violet eyes pierced through me as he stared.
“Do you think you can handle that giant when you can barely stand?”
That… would probably be a bit much.
“Do you think I wouldn’t know about the side effects of the magical tools you used today?”
Casian pressed his forehead against mine, whispering in an earnest voice as if he didn’t care about the surrounding gazes.
“I know you’re trying your best, but couldn’t you at least acknowledge how much I worry about Rose?”
A desperate voice I’d never heard before penetrated deep into my body.
“…Rozelita?”
Perhaps sensing the serious atmosphere between us, Wesley tilted his head and called to me.
Just as I was about to say something to resolve this situation.
“Your Holiness, the Temple party is tired from climbing the snowy mountains, and our Royal Guard is exhausted from battle. Would it be alright to postpone further discussions until dinner time?”
Casian stepped forward as if I didn’t need to handle it, wrapping me protectively as he took charge of the conversation.
Wesley hesitated for a moment but nodded after looking at me once.
“I’ll do that. With Rozelita—”
I wanted to hear what he was going to say.
But as if a string had snapped, a sudden wave of heat rose up, and I couldn’t hear Wesley’s next words.
What I remember was the solid feeling of Casian’s arms supporting me reassuringly, as if nothing was wrong.
*
‘…Is it really okay to do that?’
Young, adorable Wesley Morel had asked me.
Having known the information from the original story, I had gone to meet Wesley in his childhood.
Since I knew which region it was, I searched and searched for the orphanage, and found an absolutely adorable child.
In the original story, Wesley wasn’t happy.
He was bound tightly by the duties he had to fulfill as a Saint, and his childhood was also a series of misfortunes.
The orphanage, as was common in most places in tragic novels, was seasoned with embezzlement and violence, so I did things that could save Wesley.
Since it was an original story where the protagonist would go on strike anyway, I thought it would be fine to destroy it a bit more.
That way, Wesley was able to move to an orphanage with better conditions with the help of our parents.
Until Wesley entered the Temple at fourteen, I regularly visited and played with him.
Under the excuse of being a playmate, he would sometimes stay at the Baron’s Mansion with me.
This memory is probably a scene from around that time.
The day I prepared a gift that would suit Wesley’s hair, which had no decorations.
When I put a cute puppy-shaped hairpin on his fluffy pink hair that came down to his shoulders, Wesley’s face suddenly turned red as if embarrassed.
Come to think of it, what did I answer to his question about whether it was okay to do that…
Probably…
The moment I quietly moved my lips, my body that had seemed submerged in water gradually regained its sense of reality.
“…Rose.”
When I blinked my stiff eyes, first golden hair that sparkled even in the dim lighting came into view, then violet eyes darkened with worry.
“…My bones are throbbing.”
At my words, a shallow sigh mixed out from him.
However, soon a faint smile was drawn over his face that had been filled only with distress.
“That’s why I told you to stop.”
“Sometimes, I want to try not listening to Your Highness.”
When I spoke haltingly, Casian covered my mouth as if telling me to stop talking and picked up a water cup.
He carefully helped me sit up, then even carefully controlled it so I wouldn’t drink too much at once.
“It doesn’t seem like just sometimes.”
After letting me wet my throat with water, Casian, who laid me back down, said with a furrowed brow.
When I couldn’t help but smile sheepishly, he sighed once more.
“I thought my heart was going to stop.”
“Were you worried you’d lose five Administrators?”
“I was worried I’d lose Rose.”
I had said it playfully on purpose, but Casian gazed at me without withdrawing his concern.
He took my hand with a gentle touch as if handling delicate craftwork that seemed like it would break easily.
“Don’t abandon me, Rose.”
It was definitely words I had heard several times before.
But it had the deepest and most profound resonance than ever before.
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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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