The Male Lead Is Trying To Tame Me With Money - Chapter 88

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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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88.

A moment of silence lingered.

Even though every minute and second was precious for Casian, he willingly waited for my quiet contemplation.

Because of that, it didn’t take much time to sweep away the remaining uncomfortable dust particles.

I looked into his trustworthy violet eyes as if seeking support and opened my mouth.

“…The Palace Physicians should be able to figure it out.”

“Then the problem is how to cleverly deliver this information to the Palace Physicians. I hope they figure out what poison he was affected by before we have to tell them.”

I trusted that the ever-cunning Casian would handle that part well, as always.

“Once we know the name of the poisonous plant, we should be able to figure out the antidote formula too. It would have been better if they had told us that much.”

“If it had been such a kind instruction manual, Rose wouldn’t have gotten annoyed every time she looked at it.”

At those words Casian casually threw out, I truly felt a sense of relief.

It seemed like I finally understood the cause of what had been bothering me all along.

It was because all the well-intentioned information I knew was half-baked.

I wasn’t the original author, and even if this was some kind of divine revelation applied in the form of the original work, the fact that it was only half-complete didn’t change.

For someone like me who pursued clarity, this was truly an incompatible attribute.

“Well then, next is the hand signals?”

“And one more thing – the Second Empress whispered something to me alone.”

She had deliberately talked about the concubine who died in a riding accident and the evidence at that moment.

And she gave me information that it was probably the Empress who destroyed that evidence.

“I think the Second Empress probably only had circumstantial evidence.”

“You can’t ignore the intuition of someone who’s lived in the Imperial Palace for a long time, especially since she’s of royal birth.”

“Right?”

Casian nodded in agreement with my words and also pointed to the scroll.

He was saying that it probably didn’t appear for no reason.

“So first we need to decode the hand signals, since they seem to be pointing to a location.”

Casian said this and told me that the hand signals the Second Empress had made were similar to those frequently used by Seolkuk knights on the battlefield.

He said he had memorized them before and hurriedly found and pulled out a notebook with hand signals written in it, then left the Winter Palace.

It was to directly convey information about the poisonous plant to the Palace Physicians.

And I immediately began checking the hand signal notebook.

Once again clearly recalling the Second Empress’s hand signals in my mind.

As a result, I was able to find the combined words.

“Queen of May, between the rainbow-colored ceiling…?”

After carefully examining the keywords, I eventually moved my feet quickly.

‘…You’re really bold, Your Majesty the Second Empress.’

It wasn’t for nothing that the updated data said ‘royal-born personality doesn’t go anywhere.’

The Queen of May meant roses, and what rainbow-colored signified was one thing.

The pavilion with distinctive crystal pillars at the end of the garden where roses bloomed abundantly.

The ceiling probably didn’t mean the pavilion’s ceiling, but rather between the pillars and the ceiling.

So wouldn’t the evidence she wanted to convey to me be there?

I recalled the Second Empress’s personality that I had observed briefly and tried to picture that situation.

‘She probably lost one of the pieces of evidence she had collected directly, but since she was of royal birth and Seolkuk’s interior wasn’t entirely peaceful either.’

She wouldn’t have made just one copy of the evidence document.

The problem was that the location was in the Rose Palace.

Should I bribe one of the Rose Palace maids with money? While I was pondering and walking, a wind suddenly blew and the surroundings became warm.

‘Huh?’

At the same time, the path I was walking changed.

Just like when I had traveled with Casian to the time when the late Empress was alive.

I, who had just been about to leave the Winter Palace, was startled and quickly hid in the lush bushes first.

‘Hey, isn’t this cheating? How am I supposed to handle being thrown out here as an ordinary person who only does basic survival exercises…!’

I don’t have the ability to dodge knights by jumping around on rooftops like Casian.

Please give me some warning at least, you crazy original work!

To make matters worse, I heard signs of people approaching, making my pounding heart beat even louder.

Wasn’t the Winter Palace supposed to be a place where people usually don’t go?

Why was it organized last time but this time there are even people passing by…!

I desperately hoped not to be discovered, but I wasn’t a master like Casian, just an ordinary person…

“…A maid newly assigned to the Winter Palace, perhaps?”

The person who had entered spoke to me.

Though I was flustered by being suddenly called while facing away, I soon realized that the voice was quite familiar.

The moment I slowly turned around to check the face, I hurriedly bowed to her in a manner similar to the palace maids.

“Yes, that’s right. Your Highness the Imperial Concubine.”

“How do you know that I’m an Imperial Concubine…”

“Pardon?”

I call an Imperial Concubine an Imperial Concubine, so what else would I call her…

When I looked puzzled, she spoke as if it was fine.

“…Never mind, you don’t need to be so frightened of me, just a Fourth Imperial Concubine.”

Trisha, who was now the Second Empress, clicked her tongue briefly and muttered that it wouldn’t last more than a few weeks.

“Still, it seems you’re not entirely without concern for your master.”

“…Pardon?”

“Seeing you searching through the bushes until this late hour, you must be looking for some helpful medicinal herbs.”

“…It’s my duty.”

At my appropriately evasive answer, Trisha’s stern face softened somewhat.

Then she threw me a pouch.

“When a strange cook comes to the kitchen, make sure to give him one every night. You keep it safe. Don’t let it be noticed.”

“Understood, Your Highness the Imperial Concubine.”

“No, it seems you and I don’t have much difference in time.”

“Pardon?”

Though I asked back in confusion, Trisha didn’t answer and immediately turned around, leaving only one remark.

“If you want to get out safely, pretend you don’t know about my coming here or your receiving that. …Don’t let His Highness the Prince know either.”

Though her tone was blunt to the extreme, I could feel her kind intentions.

Without saying anything more, she began walking away quickly.

I stood there for a moment, watching where she was heading.

It wasn’t toward the Lilac Palace where she resided.

‘…In the direction of the Rose Palace.’

At the same time, I clumsily speculated.

‘Could today be the day Empress Trisha hid that document?’

Come to think of it, her reaction when she recognized that I was an Imperial Concubine had been strange.

I fumbled around wondering what I had missed in the dead of night, then realized.

‘At first, when she asked if I was a maid, she used formal speech.’

And since it was quite dim, plus it was a uniform I wasn’t familiar with, it took me a while to recall.

‘…She was wearing the maid uniform that was changed 5 years ago.’

When I came to the Imperial Palace, the maids only wore the old version uniforms when cleaning places so dirty that they had to throw away their clothes.

So she had asked me why I recognized her as an Imperial Concubine when she was dressed as a maid.

‘If I follow Empress Trisha now and secure the document from the past, will I still have it in my hands when I return to the present?’

It might mean that the system would provide that level of kindness.

Considering that just when I was wondering how to extract the document from the Rose Palace, it sent me to the past.

It was even late at night so I wouldn’t be easily noticed by people.

But I couldn’t move.

Because in my hand was the medicine that Empress Trisha had given me.

‘…If I go looking for the document like this, probably.’

Casian would be in danger because he couldn’t take this medicine.

He said that in his childhood, he was frequently poisoned, and each time he saw Empress Trisha helping him.

Ah, really.

‘I was testing His Majesty the Emperor.’

Whether there had ever been an insolent but incredibly strong person who appeared in the past.

If so, I could have known whether what happened when I was dragged to the past would affect the present or not.

I gripped the medicine pouch tightly.

Because I must not let the cart come before the horse.

‘…His Highness will somehow obtain the documents, since I know the location!’

So I decided to save the current Casian first and see what happens.

Even if this was merely a replay of a fixed past, I had no intention of stepping into dangerous gambling.

*

The year of the imperial concubine’s riding accident was 1743, when Casian was around seven years old.

So it was the same age as the adorable Prince Joel who had guided me to the Lilac Palace.

I hoped that Casian at this time didn’t possess monster-like intuition as I stealthily entered the Winter Palace bedroom.

‘…Come to think of it, in reality I’ve never entered His Highness’s bedroom or any other bedroom in the Winter Palace.’

Yet here I am in the past, breaking in like this.

I’m sorry, but since I’m trying to save you, please overlook this invasion of privacy.

Though I tried to keep my thoughts light as I approached, my heart only grew heavier the closer I got.

Because the groaning sounds of the young child only grew louder.

And the moment I saw the bed, I nearly collapsed right there.

It was too shabby to be called a prince’s bed.

To the extent that I could understand all too well what being treated like a non-existent child meant, he was groaning while clutching old, thin blankets.

‘Really, why to this extent.’

Is your life so difficult?

I hurriedly took out the medicine and put it in the child’s mouth, then poured water to help him swallow.

Though he seemed unfamiliar with it for a moment, the child seemed glad for the water itself and quickly swallowed it along with the medicine.

‘…I’ll disappear soon.’

That’s what Casian had said. That he returned to the present not long after having a conversation with His Majesty the Emperor.

Empress Trisha had told me to keep it hidden, but that was impossible in this situation.

As I pondered and decided I didn’t know what to do, I pushed the medicine pouch under the child’s pillow for now.

Young Casian suddenly opened his eyes.

Looking into those clear violet eyes, I felt as if my thoughts had stopped.

But the next moment, young Casian smiled lovingly with that pretty and adorable face, even in his pain.

“-Am I, today, going to… die?”

While my heart felt like it was crumbling.

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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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