This Emperor Is Running a Marriage Scam - Chapter 192

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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 192

“Caring for the common people is really Your Majesty’s responsibility, after all.”
It was something I had to say.
But I regretted it the moment the words left my mouth. Bloden’s face flushed crimson, and his lips pressed together as tightly as a clamshell.
Silence hung over us for the entire journey that followed. I kept stealing glances at Bloden’s expression as he stared out the window.
‘Did I just hit him with something too blunt?’
The atmosphere had grown so cold. I began to worry whether I’d overstepped terribly.
‘It was meant as sincere counsel, but… he won’t start to dislike me over this, will he?’
When I’d learned the village’s situation, prioritizing my own interests over the survival of many wasn’t something a virtuous ruler would do.
Of course, I thought I understood why he’d reacted that way.
Rather, I couldn’t help but understand.
‘He manages his expression well enough, but Your Majesty’s true feelings show clearly in his eyes.’
The frequency with which our gazes met was so surprisingly consistent that it could no longer be dismissed as mere coincidence.
Yet Bloden was no longer crossing emotional boundaries. Even if his feelings remained, he seemed to be letting them go, putting them in order.
And as he’d said, since our goals aligned, there was no reason to refuse his company. If anything, having the Emperor himself accompany me felt even better.
‘It’s reassuring and safe.’
Besides, he was using his supernatural ability to solve problems in ways that others couldn’t even attempt.
‘When he had Camen carve out a passage in Snorril Domain, and just now when he sent commanders to help us escape with the Duchess of Borderland—’
Since Bloden had broken his curse, he’d been wielding his ability not just for slaying monsters, but for the sake of his people as well.
Soon the carriage came to a halt. We’d arrived at the Beast Feeding Grounds.
As Raven opened the door, Bloden stepped down first and offered me his hand as naturally as breathing. I descended from the carriage beneath his escort like one entranced, then came to my senses at the firm pressure of his grip.
“Thank you. And… I’m sorry.”
“Hmm?”
“I think I spoke out of turn.”
“Why would it be presumptuous to say that caring for the common people is the Emperor’s duty?”
“Wasn’t it disrespectful?”
“Not at all. It was something I needed to hear.”
Bloden raised my hand to his lips and kissed it courteously.
“I was simply reflecting on it for a moment.”
In that instant, relief washed over me.
With a faint smile, he took a step back and surveyed the condition of the Beast Feeding Grounds.
Raven, having examined the remnants of yesterday’s feed scattered across the site, soon returned and pointed toward the mountain.
“There are still wolves.”
As he said, several gray wolves clustered among the trees. They lay sprawled or sat alert, their eyes fixed on us with wary intensity.
One wolf’s build towered above the others—easily twice their size.
Noticing our attention had fallen upon them, the massive wolf turned and unhurriedly walked up into the mountain. The other wolves followed in its wake, making it clear this creature was the alpha.
At that moment, I revised my calculations silently.
“If the alpha wolf is that large, we’ll need to build the watchtower even higher.”
Bloden surveyed the perimeter we’d already marked out, then nodded.
“So you’re saying we should build the watchtower based on this rope line. The watchtower construction is the longest job, after all.”
“Exactly.”
“Have you found workers to install it?”
“Not yet.”
I glanced at the cargo wagon waiting behind us.
“Today we’re planning to leave some wolf feed, then roast meat together with the villagers and discuss the details.”
“Things would move faster if we skip the watchtower installation discussion, wouldn’t they?”
“Pardon?”
“It’ll be finished by tomorrow morning.”
For a moment, I doubted my own ears, but I quickly grasped his meaning.
“Are you planning to have Camen do it?”
“Just explain to me what kind of watchtower you have in mind right now. Leave the rest to me and proceed with the other matters yourself.”

* * *

After finishing her conversation with Bloden, Hailey departed to meet the villagers.
Left alone, Bloden watched the carriage recede into the distance, remembering the time he’d spent in reflection, his gaze turned out the window during the journey here.
In truth, his purpose in all of this had been to help Hailey’s plan come to completion more swiftly.
Hailey had a tendency to shoulder everything herself, even matters she needn’t concern herself with.
Moreover, the scale of this project was far larger than he’d anticipated. A viewing tower to create a tourist attraction, investment recruitment—the ambitions were staggering.
He’d pointed this out coldly, knowing such work could take months, but her answer caught him off guard.

“Looking after the people’s lives is really Your Majesty’s duty, after all.”

In that moment, Bloden snapped awake as if plunged into ice water.
The work he was undertaking would indeed result in improving the people’s lives.
But his true motive had nothing to do with them—it was all for Hailey.
Realizing he was acting only because he hated seeing her busy and exhausted, he felt a stab of shame.
‘I need to start thinking about the people too.’
Yet as he turned this over in his mind, Hailey began to appear in an entirely different light.
She was bold enough to speak sharply to the Emperor himself when necessary, and yet she naturally carried concern for the people’s welfare.
As a mere citizen, Hailey’s conduct might have seemed unremarkable. But when he imagined her in the position of Empress, everything shifted.
A woman who possessed a supernatural ability capable of healing even the Emperor and his commanders—and who possessed as a birthright a compassion worthy of being remembered throughout history.
His heart trembled at the realization.
Just a year ago, he’d thought himself cursed to eternal isolation in the Northern Region because of his overwhelming power.
Then Hailey had extended her hand, and his entire life had transformed. Now it felt as though every blessing and fortune in the world converged upon him alone.
‘At this point, she’s nothing short of an Empress sent by heaven itself.’
The moment that thought crossed his mind, he noticed Hailey was watching his expression.
The realization that she cared about him filled him with such joy that he nearly abandoned his composure and laughed foolishly. Instead, he clamped his jaw tighter, suppressed the urge to meet her gaze, and fixed his eyes firmly on the window.
From the moment they descended from the carriage until he brushed his lips against her fingertips, Bloden could not bring himself to meet her eyes.
He feared that the instant their gazes locked, she would perceive his obsession immediately.
That she would feel the weight of it and withdraw.
And now, in this moment, his thoughts had turned to the marriage registration he had yet to submit.
Someday Hailey would discover that Baron was Bloden. As Raven had warned, she might then demand an annulment or divorce.
He had no way of knowing when that day would come, or how he might convince her to stay.
But one thing was certain.
‘Death itself before I let her go.’
Bloden exhaled a long breath and pushed the thoughts aside.
“Camen.”
The ground surged upward and Camen materialized. As Bloden watched the spirit bow, he tilted his head slightly.
Above Camen’s head, a tender shoot was protruding through the swaying sprouts. It was a phenomenon he’d never witnessed before.
“Don’t tell me you’ve grown?”
He’d never once considered that Camen might actually be growing.

‘Look, those eyes are so pure. And cute too, with those little sprouts on his head.’
‘As he gets bigger, wouldn’t those sprouts grow into a full tree?’

Hailey’s words from when she’d lavished Camen with a full table of food came back to him. Camen’s expression had suggested uncertainty about whether she was right, but now it seemed there might be some merit to her theory.
‘If Camen really is a young spirit still in the process of growing… could his power as a spirit become even stronger?’
After considering this briefly, Bloden explained the viewing tower to Camen and then gave him an instruction that, by his knowledge, should be impossible to execute.
“Reshape the terrain to build a viewing tower. But do it without my magical power.”
Camen immediately pulled out chalk and drew several vertical lines beside his eyes, along with droplets of sweat.
It was a gesture of distress.
‘His expressiveness has improved. This means his intellect has developed.’
Though Bloden had observed Camen for a long time, he’d never sensed the spirit growing. To his eye, Camen had always been a finished form.
‘Could it be that her cooking doesn’t just restore magical power—it actually causes spirits to develop?’
This definitely warranted investigation.
“You don’t have to finish it. Just do as much as you can manage.”
At those words, Camen hesitated for a moment before beginning to exert himself.
Thump-thump-thump—
The ground surged upward with a modest tremor.
A wall took shape, and a stone pillar rose to roughly the height and width he’d described for the viewing tower.
Before details like stairs and finishing touches could form, the tremor subsided.
Observing this, Bloden looked down at Camen.
“You really have grown.”
Then Camen, who had stood vacant, pulled out chalk again and drew a wide-open mouth on his body.
It was his way of expressing surprise at his own accomplishment.

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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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