This Emperor Is Running a Marriage Scam - Chapter 126

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 126

Meltears, the High Priest summoned by Regent Anna, waited for her to finish her administrative duties while speculating about her purpose. He found himself struck by how quickly time seemed to pass.
‘Ah, His Majesty’s birthday is about a month away.’
If the Northern Gate weren’t in such a dire situation, Bloden would have returned to the Imperial Palace by this season. Then Anna would proclaim a three-day festival throughout the Capital, and the Imperial Palace would host a grand birthday celebration.
While preparing for this, Meltears received information about Bloden from Anna and kept himself busy moving according to its contents.
‘I should start preparing my sermon soon.’
Around this time of year, Meltears’ sermon topics always centered on the Emperor’s divine abilities bestowed by the gods. While appearing grateful to Bloden, he propagated Anna’s ideology to the people of the Empire.
As Meltears was contemplating what direction his sermon should take this year, Anna finished her administrative duties and entered.
But the matter she brought up the moment she sat across from him was truly unexpected.
“Pardon? You want the Holy Knight Order of the Clergy to manage the Gate?”
He questioned his own ears and asked Anna to repeat herself.
Upon hearing Anna’s words, Meltears’ thoughts naturally turned to the Northern Gate.
Near the summit of the massive Northern Mountains stood a colossal Gate so overwhelming in size that one felt dwarfed merely looking at it from a distance.
‘The altitude of the flat terrain between the mountain’s base and the ridge where the Gate stands was said to be around 5,000 meters above sea level.’
Though blizzards struck without warning, it was the first checkpoint where monsters spread in all directions, making it the primary defensive line of the frontline forces.
In accordance with this, Bloden and his elite troops remained there, eliminating monsters. Whenever monster activity quieted, Bloden would descend to the secondary defensive line at the mountain’s base to monitor the Gate.
Even Meltears, before becoming High Priest, had visited the primary defensive line while fulfilling his military service under the Previous Emperor.
Altitude sickness showed no regard for status, so he suffered greatly adapting to the elevation. The endless battles against descending monsters were horrific, and the Previous Emperor commanding the Demon Lord’s Army seemed no different from a demon himself.
‘The Clergy to manage such a Gate? I heard only the Demon Lord’s Army guards it now?’
Thinking Anna was issuing an impossible order, Meltears spoke with a reluctant expression.
“The Northern Gate is not something the Clergy’s Knights can handle.”
Anna’s red lips curved upward in amusement.
“I’m not talking about the Northern Gate.”
“Ah.”
Only then did Meltears recall the Derivative Gate in Snoril. He didn’t know what happened afterward, but he remembered the Empire being abuzz with news that the Imperial Guard had been dispatched due to a Gate opening.
“Are you referring to reinforcements for the Snoril Gate? I believed the Imperial Guard was sufficient.”
“I said you were off base from the moment you mentioned the Northern Gate… Tsk.”
Anna shook her head and handed several documents to Meltears.
“Regardless of how you’re treated as a Knight, how can the High Priest of the Clergy be so slow with information?”
Startled, Meltears carefully examined the documents Anna gave him, and his eyes widened.
“This, this is?”
“The Roan Times dispatched a correspondent to Snorilo. The articles that correspondent sent are quite intriguing. The first page will soon be published as a major story, but the rest must remain confidential, so you’ll need to keep quiet about it.”
The High Priest’s hands began to tremble.
The first page of the documents stated that eight Gates had appeared in the Empire besides the one in Snoril, followed by details about the Snoril Gate’s current situation.
Meltears already knew the articles up to the point where a Gate opened in the forest near the Lord’s Wheat Field and the Imperial Guard was dispatched.
At that time, everyone who came to pray to the gods wished for the Empire’s safety.
Back then, he had praised Anna in every sermon for promptly dispatching the Imperial Guard to Snoril, and subtly emphasized Bloden’s indifference—who hadn’t shown his face since the great victory at the Northern Gate.
What happened to the Snoril Gate after that, he didn’t know. It never appeared in the newspapers, and people’s interest had waned.
‘Three Gates had appeared in Snoril in the meantime.’
That alone was unprecedented in history, but the truly shocking content came next.
Bloden had appeared in Snoril.
According to the documents, Bloden, appearing as a sturdy young man, had closed all the Gates together with the Deathknight, the Demon Lord’s commander.
Snoril cheered for the strong and dignified Emperor, and the Gate crisis came to an end. Naturally, there was no reason for the Imperial Guard to remain any longer.
The final page of the documents ended with the content that Bloden had returned all members of the Imperial Guard to the Capital along with the children of the Snoril Orphanage, who had suffered damage from the Gates.
Meltears, unable to believe it and staring at the documents for a long time, soon discovered something strange.
“Does not His Majesty become younger due to a fatal curse when expending considerable magical power? Yet he appeared in sound condition without any such circumstances, which is unbelievable.”
Meltears, who had been biting his lip, looked at Anna.
“I also couldn’t believe it. But you’ll understand once he returns.”
Anna spoke, recalling Bloden’s appearance.
“The last time I saw him, His Majesty appeared to be around thirteen or fourteen. Since the curse makes his appearance younger the more magical power he uses, if he had fought a large-scale annihilation battle, he should have become far younger than that.”
Anna’s brow furrowed as she fell into thought.
Whenever Bloden seemed to have grown slightly, Monsters would pour from the Gates, so Anna had concluded he would never be able to maintain an adult appearance for his entire life.
By making good use of this, she could serve as Regent for life, and perhaps one day become the true Emperor herself.
Anna had become certain of this fact when Bloden went into hiding without returning to the Imperial Palace immediately after achieving his great victory.
The fact that Bloden had not returned seemed to prove that the curse had worsened and he could not appear in the world.
But this news was of a nature that shattered Anna’s expectations.
If Bloden could now maintain an appearance befitting his actual age, then regardless of whether he possessed the capabilities of an Emperor, he would be pushed to the back rooms the moment he turned twenty.
‘Even so, the Emperor cannot properly handle state affairs.’
Anna’s plan had not been something carried out over just a year or two.
Anna recalled the time when she first sent the young Bloden to the Northern Region.
She had secretly cornered the newly ascended child Emperor, weeping daily about how the Empire would be torn to shreds by Monsters at this rate, lamenting how pitiful the people were.
Until the words came from the child’s own mouth that he would go to the North.
Until his departure, under the pretext of teaching him information about the North, she had cut off all other education necessary for the Emperor. Even after Bloden left for the North, she sent neither tutors nor books that could serve as guidance.
Bloden’s opportunities to encounter proper books came only when he stayed in the Imperial Palace. Even that period was less than two months out of the year, and most of his schedule was consumed by banquets or audiences with Nobles seeking to gauge shifts in power.
‘Even if the curse is lifted, it’s impossible for him to properly handle state affairs. He’ll come to feel his own incompetence and eventually entrust the Regency back to me, returning to the North. But….’
The problem was the vacuum that would form in the power that had been concentrated on me. If even the slightest opening appeared, there were countless demon-like creatures waiting to wedge themselves in and seize power.
To these people, Bloden’s sound condition would be a very useful target for exploitation. If Bloden were to fall for the sweet words of those around him, there was no guarantee that the delegation of state affairs would return to Anna.
‘To prevent this, the best course is to leave him no room to waver at all.’

* * *

“Ugh, the Lord’s son. I really hate this.”
Hailey eventually shoved the pen and paper aside and slumped onto the table.
“Three hundred tributes aren’t enough? Now he’s harassing a busy person like this. And honestly, this is just outright recipe theft.”
Baron, sitting across from her and eating the seasoned seaweed Hailey had made, glanced at the paper.
What Hailey had been writing was a “Tteokkkochi Production Schedule Report.”
It had to be submitted before the tribute was delivered, and while the format was standardized, Hailey just needed to fill in the relevant details. Yet even Baron could see the demands were excessive.
Materials, prices, purchase quantities, labor costs, delivery schedules.
Up to that point, it was reasonable.
But the report required extremely detailed entries about how to prepare the materials, the step-by-step production process of the tteokkkochi, storage methods, and more.
‘Even the Imperial Palace doesn’t ask for this. And they want the production process described down to the second?’
Rumors about Hailey’s substantial income from tteokkkochi and kimbap had long since spread throughout the Domain.
The Lord’s son couldn’t possibly have missed this, so his intention to steal the recipe was obvious, just as Hailey said.
‘I can’t just let this slide.’
But at this moment, Baron’s options were limited. He got up from his chair and took Hailey’s hand.
“Hang in there, Nuna.”
Hailey looked up at him, then hugged him tightly and let out a relieved breath.
“Thanks, Baron. Ahh, doing this makes me feel recharged somehow.”
“Yeah?”
Baron chuckled and hugged her back firmly. After holding her for a moment, Hailey’s eyes brightened again.
“Alright, I’ll give it my best shot!”
‘Nuna, you should just put that aside.’
Watching Hailey move her pen while clutching her head as if it ached, Baron reluctantly scratched his cheek and offered a hint.
“If it’s a hassle, don’t write it. Just burn it.”
“Huh? How can I do that?”
“Say you wrote it but lost it.”
“What if they make a fuss?”
“I’ve seen cases like that before. Since collecting the tribute is the priority, they’ll probably handle paperwork like this after the succession ceremony anyway. Once the tribute is properly delivered, most things just fade away, and they rarely ask for it again.”
“Oh, really?”
Hailey’s expression brightened. Yet she seemed unable to let it go so easily, and picked up her pen again.
‘Unnecessarily conscientious, I tell you.’
Baron shook his head and left Hailey to her work, heading to Raven’s House.
The moment he saw Raven and Kimarise greeting him respectfully, he dropped a statement.
“We need to remove Nuna from the mobilization list for the Young Lord’s succession ceremony.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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