This Emperor Is Running a Marriage Scam - Chapter 14

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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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Chapter 14

It was a relief that we could just continue living here, but Raven’s question made my face burn with embarrassment.

“Ah, yes…”

Raven’s gaze turned toward Baron. Baron immediately crossed his arms and furrowed his brow.

“How about you stop worrying about useless things and just give the answers we need?”

Startled, I tried to restrain Baron.

“Eek, Baron. I told you not to talk like that!”

But Baron didn’t care.

“So is it better to leave this house? Or not?”

Raven immediately answered.

“As you live, there are times when notices come later. Demolition and relocation orders, or tax payment orders, things like that. If something like that happens, you can just act accordingly when the time comes. Either pay the taxes they demand and continue living, or go somewhere else. With demolition and relocation orders, unless you buy the usage rights, you have to go somewhere else.”

I sighed and covered my burning face with both hands.

“Ah, thank you for letting us know.”

“Not at all. Is there anything else you’re curious about?”

“That’s enough. And I’m sorry. I don’t know how to apologize for my younger brother’s rudeness.”

“It’s fine. In my eyes, he just seems spirited, so don’t worry about it.”

Raven smiled brightly, waved his hand slightly, and returned to his spot.

He really seemed completely unbothered.

I came to my own conclusion.

“He must be naturally kind and humble. Plus he’s handsome and rich, so his whole life must be comfortable, right? So a kind rich man came here to rest. Ah, now that I look at him, he’s quite a wonderful man.”

“…Huh?”

Baron’s eyes rolled around.

“W-wonderful? That man?”

Baron’s questioning made my heart feel lighter.

“Of course. If a man like that isn’t wonderful, what kind of man would be wonderful? He’s a man among men.”

I smiled brightly while patting Baron’s head.

“It seems like we’ve met a good neighbor, so I’m really relieved. Our Baron should grow up well and succeed like that too, right?”

For some reason Baron’s cheeks puffed up, but it didn’t seem very important so I pretended not to notice.

“Alright, now I need to cultivate the vegetable garden. Baron, you rest.”

I sent Baron inside the house.

After rolling up my sleeves, I put gloves on my hands and hung a towel around my neck. Then I picked up a wooden stick and drew the boundary lines of the field.

“This should be enough, right?”

About 20 meters wide and 20 meters long.

It was a bit wide to cultivate alone, but it seemed like it needed to be this big to have enough left to sell after we ate our share.

“Just in case, I need to work hard to earn money to buy the usage rights for this place later too.”

I absolutely don’t want a demolition order to come down when everything’s grown and ready for harvest.

I picked up tree branches and stuck them at each corner as markers, then started turning over the soil with the hoe I’d bought. Soon a stone so big I had to lift it with both hands came up.

It seemed there were quite a few stones.

‘Ah, so that’s why this land wasn’t being used.’

It looked like a long road ahead, but there wasn’t any other clever solution.

I picked up the stones and placed them along the field’s boundary line. While clearing the land, it seemed like I could build a stone wall to prevent animals from digging it up.

I worked hard digging up the ground for thirty minutes. I sorted out the rolling stones, moved them aside, and turned over the soil again. Moving constantly without rest made sweat drip naturally, and my arms and back ached too.

“Ughhhhh.”

I straightened my back and rubbed my aching arms.

I naturally thought of the tractors from the modern world I lived in before my transmigration.

If I asked Mr. Kim from next door with some payment for his trouble, he would plow our field along with his own field.

Just then, I heard Baron’s voice from behind.

“When are you coming in?”

“Huh?”

“It’s been a long time and you haven’t come in.”

I looked at the field. I had only plowed a very small portion.

“I have to plow all of this.”

Baron looked at the width of the field I had marked and frowned.

“All this much by yourself, Nuna?”

“Yeah, it needs to be this much to have enough to eat and sell.”

“You earn money from sea foraging though.”

“That’s true, but we can’t live on just seafood, and sea foraging depends on the weather too. We can’t just play around during times when it’s not the right tide.”

I smiled broadly while wiping the flowing sweat with my towel.

“I need to earn a lot to feed our Baron well with a balanced diet, raise you well, and send you to the academy too.”

Baron’s lips curved up in a way that didn’t suit a child.

“I told you I don’t need to go to the academy. I don’t need to learn. I know a lot already.”

I picked up the hoe again.

“You’re young, so you need to learn much more. Also, there’s no end to learning, you know?”

Clang!

The hoe I struck down with force rang out sharply.

“Ow, another big stone.”

I carefully dug around it and rolled the stone out.

“Phew. Good.”

I was wiping the flowing sweat with my towel again when.

“Nuna, wait a moment.”

Baron suddenly put his hand on the hoe I was holding.

“Let me try.”

“Huh?”

“I’m stronger than you, Nuna. Move aside for a moment.”

Caught off guard, I handed the hoe to Baron and stepped back hesitantly.

Baron lifted the hoe and struck down.

“Baron, stop!”

After watching a few hoe strikes, I came to my senses and quickly stopped Baron.

“Why? I think I’m better at it than you, Nuna.”

“Uh. That’s true, but.”

I took the hoe back.

Baron was definitely stronger than me. But seeing a child swinging a hoe longer than his height made my heart ache.

“Like I said before, children shouldn’t do this kind of work. Go inside and rest.”

“I can do it though.”

“Listen to Nuna.”

At my firm order to leave, Baron pouted his lips.

“Then… don’t overdo it.”

“I know. I’ll only do a little at a time too.”

After doing a bit more hoeing like that, the sun began to set. The sea still had water in it, so it seemed like the right time to eat dinner and then go out for sea foraging.

Dinner and sea foraging with Search went fine. Though by the time we returned, my body felt like it weighed a thousand pounds and I was completely exhausted.

And the problem was the next day.

I needed to get up, but my whole body ached, especially my arms.

Only then did I remember that when I first woke up after transmigrating into Hailey, my body condition had been on the verge of starvation.

‘I never thought muscle pain would be this severe…!’

I thought I had gained some strength since then, but plowing the field was apparently too much.

“Nuna, what’s wrong?”

When I couldn’t get up for a moment and was groaning, Baron placed his hand on my forehead.

“You don’t have a fever though.”

“It’s nothing. I plowed the field yesterday and my arm muscles seem a bit stiff.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, Baron. Just a moment. I need to make breakfast.”

I forced myself to get up.

“Huh? You seem to be in a lot of pain… yet you’re making my breakfast?”

“Of course. You need to eat well to grow well.”

I dragged my aching body to boil soup and warm up bread.

Baron followed me around restlessly, but I couldn’t bear to see our cute Baron go hungry or eat cold bread, even if it killed me.

I spread the strawberry jam I had bought before on the bread, arranged it nicely on the table, then lay back down on the bed.

“Hurry up and eat. Sorry, but I’m going to sleep a little more.”

I closed my eyes, leaving Baron staring at me with a dazed expression.

I’ll just sleep a little and then get up to move around again…

* * *

My heart was pounding. I could smell smoke and herbs mixed together somewhere, but the air was stuffy and hot, making it hard to breathe.

-Princess! Please open your eyes! You’ll die at this rate!

I was startled awake by someone’s urgent shouting. A luxurious interior was being devoured by flames, and I was crouched down, terrified.

I instinctively looked around frantically.

An escape route, where’s the escape route? There must be a secret passage…!

-Quickly! This way!

A woman in knight’s uniform pushed a burning cabinet with her bare hands. Even though flames clearly touched her face, she didn’t even let out a pained groan, making it feel unreal.

Soon a passage behind the cabinet was revealed. I forced my trembling legs to move toward it.

At that moment, I saw a mirror hanging on the wall.

A beautiful girl with platinum hair and blue eyes, wearing a pretty dress with pale cheeks, appeared to be in her mid-teens.

Following the woman who was pulling me along, I fumbled through the dark passage when I heard shouting in the distance.

-Everyone must retreat!

-What about the King and Queen?

-They’re all dead! We couldn’t find only the Princess!

-Then we must find her!

-We can’t search anymore! This place will collapse soon. We need to get out quickly! Aaah!

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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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