This Emperor Is Running a Marriage Scam - Chapter 170

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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 170

Soon everyone gathered around the table at our house, where skewered rice cakes and barley tea—the very dishes Kyle had been craving—were laid out.
“Wow, nothing beats what you make, Nuna. I’ve been dying for these….”
Kyle devoured ten skewers in the blink of an eye and drained his barley tea in one gulp. Then he pulled four small, carefully wrapped gift boxes and several newspapers printed in foreign languages from his bag.
Kyle handed me the newspapers and spoke.
“Look at this, Nuna. These skewered rice cakes—they’ve become famous abroad too.”
“Really?”
“I can’t read the foreign language myself, but they told me this newspaper has an article about the skewered rice cakes.”
A small article appeared in the corner of the newspaper’s front page.

【The Empire’s Rising Dessert: Skewered Rice Cakes】

In that moment, I realized something.
‘Oh, so I can read foreign languages too.’
Now that I thought about it, the script of Ilpein was also a foreign language to Adeline, yet she had no trouble reading it. I suppose it was because Adeline was a Princess that she had learned foreign languages.
Raven glanced through the papers and laughed knowingly.
“It says ‘The Empire’s Rising Dessert: Skewered Rice Cakes.’ It seems Hailey’s reputation is spreading further than expected. Your name is written accurately too—Hailey of the Snoril Domain.”
“This newspaper has similar content. It’s about how the birthday celebration festival was a great success. There’s even a mention of kimbap here.”
Baron, who was flipping through another newspaper, furrowed his brow.
“But why did they publish such a long article about marriage proposals to you? Completely unnecessary.”
As Baron clicked his tongue and folded the newspaper, Kyle distributed the gift boxes to us one by one, as if he’d been waiting for this moment.
“Now that you’ve seen everything, take these. These are commemorative gifts.”
“Thank you, Kyle.”
“You have one more, Nuna.”
Kyle pulled another small gift box from his pocket and handed it to me. It was small in size but surprisingly heavy.
“If you’re giving gifts, you should give them equally. Are you discriminating?”
Baron pouted as he opened his gift, and Kyle giggled.
Inside Baron’s gift box was a small, soft cloth doll that was endearing and charming.
The doll, with black hair and the size of a child’s palm, had meticulous stitching as if it had been crafted with great care, and its eyes were set with purple beads that looked like gemstone fragments.
“It’s cute. It looks just like Baron.”
“Right? It was from a place that does custom orders.”
“Oh no, that must have been expensive?”
“I had more than enough money. I earned pocket money by running errands for other adults during my travels.”
Kyle added that he had combined the money Raven had given him for travel expenses with what he’d saved to purchase it.
“Wow, that’s impressive. You were already doing that?”
Kyle smiled with pride at my admiration.
From Raven’s box came a doll that looked exactly like Raven, and from Kimarise’s box came a doll that looked exactly like Kimarise.
So my box must contain a doll that looked just like me.
“Let me see.”
I happily untied the ribbon on the box.
“Oh my, how adorable!”
As expected, there was a female doll with long platinum blonde hair braided beautifully. The blue gemstone fragment for her eyes sparkled brilliantly.
But I also spotted a male doll with black hair and deep orange gemstone fragments for eyes. Both dolls were noticeably larger than the ones the other three had received.
‘This male doll really does look like Kyle.’
But what did it matter that they were dolls? In truth, all dolls had the same basic appearance—only the hair color, eye color, and clothing differed slightly.
“Thank you.”
My eyes turned to the fabric scraps the children from the Orphanage had embroidered themselves as a gift. I had connected the pieces with string to create a garland, which now hung beautifully on one wall.
With a shelf below it, these dolls would look perfect displayed there.
“I think they’d look just right arranged side by side on that shelf.”
“Nuna, wait.”
Baron grabbed my wrist. His eyes looking up at me were trembling.
“Nuna, are you a philanderer?”
“…What?”
What on earth was he talking about?
“These are obviously a couple doll set. This one is you and this one is Kyle.”
“They’re just dolls.”
At that, Baron’s brow furrowed deeply.
“They may be dolls, but the problem is that you and Kyle are a couple. You married me. How can you keep another man by your side when you’re married to me?”
Kyle was startled.
“What? What are you talking about? You married Nuna? When on earth did that happen?”
I can’t take this anymore, truly.
“Baron, people will misunderstand if they hear this. That was just signing a marriage certificate, not actually getting married.”
“Signing a marriage certificate is getting married.”
Ah, this explanation is bound to cause more misunderstandings.
“That’s not it, Kyle. Actually, Baron….”
Suddenly Baron cried out in panic.
“No! Nuna! You absolutely cannot tell him what I did!”
Baron’s face, ears, and the back of his neck flushed crimson—his embarrassment was unmistakable.
‘He clearly knows it’s a dark chapter of his past, doesn’t he? That’s why it’s a secret?’
As I barely suppressed the laughter bubbling up, Baron let out a heavy sigh.
“What if Kyle copies me?”
That was a fair point. Since it had no legal validity anyway, signing it wouldn’t cause any real problems.
But Baron, pressing his index fingers together, asked something I hadn’t even imagined, his eyes glistening with tears.
“Nuna, are you going to have multiple husbands?”
“Pfft!”
“Cough.”
At the same moment, Raven sprayed out the barley tea he was drinking, and Kimarise choked.
“Puhaha! What kind of nonsense is that!”
And despite my best efforts to hold it back, my laughter finally burst forth.
Baron’s face flushed even deeper.
You’re so serious it’s hilarious, Baron.
“Ugh, Nuna. This isn’t something to laugh about. I’m being serious.”
And Kyle quickly nodded in agreement.
“I think it’s great, Nuna. I saw a kingdom with polyandry while traveling. Baron can be the first husband and I can be the second.”
“Polyandry? You’ve only learned strange things.”
Baron, who had scolded Kyle, gathered the dolls resembling me, himself, and Kyle, then placed them all on the shelf I had mentioned.
“If you’re going to decorate, you have to do it like this.”
Baron positioned the dolls resembling me and himself right next to each other, then pushed Kyle’s doll to one end. At that sight, Kyle grumbled.
“That’s too much.”
“Too much? The Ilpein Empire practices monogamy, so don’t even dream of being a second husband.”
Baron dusted off his hands, returned to his seat, and asked.
“What’s the other gift you gave Nuna? It’s not a ring or anything, is it?”
“How would I afford a ring? Those are incredibly expensive.”
Kyle, breaking into a cold sweat, turned the question back on Baron.
“Did you give Nuna a ring?”
“Huh?”
“You said you’re her husband.”
Baron seemed at a loss for words, his mouth opening and closing silently. But the way his eyes darted around suggested he was genuinely considering finding one somewhere, so I quickly waved my hand to change the subject.
“Never mind the ring. Let’s open this gift quickly.”
I opened the small but weighty gift box. Five long, small metal pieces tumbled out.
“What is this?”
“On the way back, I stopped by an Antique Street Stall and found a bunch of these piled up. The patterns were varied and beautiful, so I picked a few. I thought if you liked any of them, they’d make a nice mark for your shop sign.”
“A shop sign mark?”
As I picked one up to examine it, I noticed a peculiar pattern on one end of the metal piece. Raven, watching from beside me, spoke.
“Those are bronze seal molds. You pour molten gold, silver, or other metal into them and let them harden.”
“Oh, so these are seal molds?”
I could already picture myself dripping melted wax onto envelopes for business documents and sealing them impressively with the proprietor’s seal.
‘This is actually pretty nice.’
Along with excitement came a question.
“But if these are already existing seals, shouldn’t I avoid using them?”
Raven smiled brightly.
“Seal molds that end up in antique shops are usually rejected designs that were commissioned but never adopted. Rarely, you’ll also find seal molds from extinct noble families.”
Since extinct families no longer needed to make seals, they simply sold the molds to antique shops at bargain prices.
I picked up one of the seal molds and examined it. The crest alone looked clean and attractive.
“So it’s safe to use?”
“For the most part, yes. In fact, many people opening shops obtain their sign marks this way. Having a designer create a new one is expensive, but getting one from an antique shop is essentially free.”
That was a relief.
‘A mark for our shop sign!’
I turned my head toward the metal scraps, my eyes gleaming with interest.
“Then, as Kyle suggested, shall I pick one of these that catches my fancy?”

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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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