The Male Lead Is Trying To Tame Me With Money - Chapter 58

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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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58.

 

“…Well, of course Your Majesty spoils me.”

 

“Hmm.”

 

He responded as if he didn’t know what I meant.

 

“You give me delicious food, pay me well, and when I try to leave work, you hold me back with overtime pay.”

 

So I began listing all the things Casian had done to me one by one.

 

“Is that all? You figure out what I want to do like a ghost.”

 

As I spoke, I felt wronged.

 

I’m someone who knows gratitude, so I remember all the ways Casian has been good to me.

 

Of course, I also remembered very clearly how Casian had worked me to the bone.

 

At my words, Casian pulled me close around the waist with his empty hands.

 

“Then, Rose.”

 

“Yes?”

 

Casian’s voice suddenly dropped low.

 

After taking a deep breath, he rested his forehead on my shoulder.

 

I felt like I should see what his expression looked like right now…

 

But I couldn’t because we were embracing and he was even hiding his face.

 

As if he was hiding something from me.

 

A moment of silence followed.

 

“…Your Majesty?”

 

I tried to move my body, thinking I wanted to see him properly, but Casian’s arms held me firmly and wouldn’t let go.

 

Soon a suppressed, shallow laugh spread near my shoulder, and he opened his mouth with a subtly lowered voice.

 

“For you…”

 

“F-for me?”

 

“I don’t need to give you the 23-year vintage wine I prepared separately?”

 

No, that’s a different story!

 

When I hurriedly turned around, his arms released me far too obediently, unlike just before.

 

And in that place was only his face, grinning annoyingly and cheerfully, no different from usual.

 

“…Were you teasing me again?”

 

When I asked Casian with a sense of injustice, he pulled my body close again and kissed my cheek.

 

“Rose should have been less lovable then.”

 

It came with irritatingly playful teasing as if nothing had happened.

 

*

 

It was already deep into the night.

 

Normally it would have been a ball she’d skip early, but with even the Emperor watching, Rozelita had to stay until the end dealing with the nobles.

 

Casian entered her bedroom carrying the soundly sleeping Rozelita, with a maid opening the door.

 

“I’ll handle it, so rest, Joan.”

 

At those words, Rozelita’s faithful maid looked at him with suspicious eyes before reluctantly leaving the room.

 

‘Really, everyone likes my little lady too much, it’s troublesome.’

 

He wanted to keep her in his arms a little longer, but it wasn’t going as he wished.

 

Of course, if she wasn’t in danger, Casian had neither the right nor the intention to stop her.

 

He carefully laid the soundly sleeping Rose on the bed so she wouldn’t wake, then firmly covered her with blankets up to her shoulders.

 

Though he knew he should stop being greedy and return to the palace quickly, Casian wanted to look a little longer at her face visible under the pale moonlight.

 

From the first time they met, only her face had been able to put him at ease.

 

Casian watched over her as he gently removed Rozelita’s hairpins with soft touches.

 

‘She used to wake up like a ghost when arriving home.’

 

Today she couldn’t open her eyes even when gently shaken, so Casian had to carry her here himself.

 

It should have been troublesome work, but far from that, he was rather pleased.

 

It seemed like proof that Rozelita was gradually unlocking her barriers and showing him openings.

 

‘This expedition was difficult though.’

 

It had been physically demanding.

 

Not just the expedition, but even after returning to the capital.

 

As soon as they entered the Winter Palace, she was led away by maids to bathe and dress properly, then the moment she saw him, that face wanting to go home immediately.

 

He felt sorry on one hand, yet also found it endearing.

 

‘I really shouldn’t be greedy…’

 

Even knowing this, his heart still wouldn’t flow according to his will.

 

Rozelita was quite perceptive, so she always noticed when he failed to control his desires several times.

 

Each time he managed to gloss over it somehow, but he knew well that this was gradually reaching its limit.

 

On the expedition, honestly speaking, he had been half-mad, so it was true that he had unnecessarily worried Rozelita.

 

So he shouldn’t let it grow any more, his desire.

 

By his side, there were far too many threats Rozelita had to endure. Just having put her through such crises so far was enough to drive Casian nearly insane.

 

Though as his fiancée she could have her bedroom prepared at the Winter Palace, bringing her all the way to her house was also an expression of self-restraint to bind himself.

 

Casian gently stroked the sleeping Rozelita’s cheek with his knuckles and spoke quietly.

 

“So don’t do dangerous things, Rose.”

 

Casian desperately hoped to keep all such things as his share.

 

*

 

Waking up late, I nearly lost my composure when maid Joan told me that Casian had brought me to my bedroom.

 

I felt like fainting even more at the state of my hair, which had been arranged for his comfort despite still being in my dress.

 

I really should have drunk at least a tall-sized americano with 4 shots instead of that lightly roasted americano…!

 

However, to my panic,

 

“Miss, considering how much you usually do for Prince Casian, I think that much is fine!”

 

Joan, a maid who had been at the Winter Palace since childhood, treated Casian’s efforts as nothing special and told me to be at ease.

 

“And I don’t think Prince Casian would be rude to you over something like that?”

 

W-well, that’s true too.

 

As I calmed down, my panic subsided and I also realized what a huge mistake I had almost made.

 

Trying to voluntarily go to the office on the first day of vacation.

 

‘No good, that won’t do.’

 

Francis Ashwood and the administrators who didn’t participate in the expedition would be busy working.

 

If I went to the Winter Palace now, I’d surely be caught and put to work.

 

Moreover, I’d definitely have to encounter many nobles while entering the palace.

 

I shuddered thinking of all the faces I’d encountered countless times at yesterday’s ball.

 

‘Oh my, isn’t that the prospective Second Princess! You look especially dignified today.’

 

‘Seeing the achievements you’ve made, I thought you and the Second Prince really suit each other well.’

 

‘To obtain the Lair of the Flare Dragon without any losses, it’s truly admirable.’

 

Until now, even being generous, it was like ‘Only Advisor Salice can handle the Second Prince.’

 

‘You two really suit each other well, love is a great thing.’

 

‘You moved even when your life was in danger to save Prince Casian!’

 

They hadn’t even reacted to the engagement articles I’d worked so hard on, but now they were acting as if Casian and I were a romantic union rather than a strategic one.

 

They’d believe us since we claimed it was so.

 

They were all just trying to get scraps falling from the lair.

 

As I grumbled and looked for the morning paper wondering what nonsense I might have written, Joan, who had finished organizing the sheets, shouted like she was nagging.

 

“Before reading the newspaper, wash up and change clothes first, Miss!”

 

*

 

After bathing, changing into comfortable indoor clothes, and eating the brunch Joan prepared, the mail carrier delivered letters with perfect timing.

 

Of course, the quantity was…

 

“Are all of these really for our Miss?”

 

It was such a pile that Joan was shocked.

 

“It seems like more than double what came when Miss first went on tax audits.”

 

The difference was that those were complaint letters, while these were invitations and flattering letters…

 

Having moved the letters to the reception room, I began sorting them by guessing their contents from the outer envelopes.

 

Joan looked at me pitifully as I had already pulled out my notebook and pen.

 

“…Our miss is working even on her day off.”

 

Our Joan really knows how to hit where it hurts…

 

But I couldn’t ignore it since there were people I needed to pay attention to for Casian’s future, and also…

 

‘I shouldn’t be caught off guard three times.’

 

The events from the original story were also somewhat concerning.

 

Though Casian and I had shared the burden, crisis situations similar to the original had occurred in Ilium and the Snowy Mountains.

 

So I thought the best I could do now was to weaken those situations a bit.

 

‘Living as an extra is really too difficult.’

 

Just as I finished grumbling and sorting through everything from party invitations to donation requests, the bell announcing a visitor rang.

 

Wondering if it might be Casian, I hastily threw on a shawl and went outside.

 

“I’m sorry for coming without contacting you first. I hope I’m not disturbing Rozelita’s rest?”

 

A much more welcome visitor was there.

 

“Wilma!”

 

“I’m not trying to steal your time, but since you said you’d be resting for three days starting today—”

 

“Would you like some tea?”

 

When I made the suggestion to Wilma, who was embarrassedly changing the subject, her eyes widened.

 

“Is that alright?”

 

“Of course, I’ve been wanting to see you so much too.”

 

We had continued exchanging letters after the Ilium incident, but we’d been so busy with settlements and expeditions that we’d only glimpsed each other in passing at the Imperial Palace.

 

Even at yesterday’s ball, we couldn’t talk for long because of the other aristocrats watching.

 

When I opened the door wide, Wilma entered, unable to hide her joy.

 

Behind her was Wilma’s lady-in-waiting who had also gone to Ilium with us, and she too smiled softly seeing Wilma’s excited state.

 

“What kind of tea would you like? Our Joan is actually better at making coffee than tea, but—”

 

I said this while guiding her into the reception room.

 

I also added that I was happy my first private time since returning to the Capital was with Wilma.

 

However, contrary to my happy mood, Wilma turned pale looking at the pile of letters stacked on the table.

 

“…Rozelita, don’t tell me.”

 

“Oh, no. This isn’t work that Prince Casian gave me—”

 

I hastily defended Casian, jumping to conclusions.

 

“…Did you become friends with Hanella?”

 

With a thud, an envelope that looked like an invitation fell from Wilma’s hand.

 

Her face was colored with shock.

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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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