This Emperor Is Running a Marriage Scam - Chapter 200

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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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Episode 200

“…….”
The moment I finished reading the article, my chest ached and memories of everything I’d shared with Bloden flooded my mind.
‘When was the last time I saw him?’
I hadn’t seen Bloden since I had the observatory built in Frediki.
Tracing the timeline, it seemed Bloden had gone to the Imperial Palace after hearing that Nelloa had become a Saint.
‘Come to think of it, the original work itself was about Bloden and Nelloa’s romance, so a marriage ending does make sense…….’
But I couldn’t bring myself to accept it.
‘No, where did the plausibility go?’
Had the original’s narrative shifted?
Did it follow the villainess-repents-and-reformed arc—where the war criminal Nelloa atones, and Bloden gradually falls for her after initially despising her?
Yet no matter how I looked at it, the flow seemed wrong. And the Bloden I knew wasn’t that kind of man.
‘Not that it matters—political marriages don’t need emotion, do they?’
That was when it happened.
“Hailey, are you all right?”
“……Yes?”
As I lifted my head, my vision seemed blurred for some reason.
“Why—why are you crying?”
Kimarise offered me a handkerchief and wiped my eyes. Only after seeing the deep concern on his face did I realize tears had welled up in my own.
Good grief.
Heat flooded my cheeks.
“Oh, I was just overcome with emotion at His Majesty’s good fortune…….”
“……G-good fortune?”
I’d lied after all.
Kimarise looked utterly baffled, but I couldn’t stop the lie.
I was the one who refused, even when Bloden proposed.
Now, realizing I’d cared for him far more than I’d admitted, it was already too late.
“Yes, I was quite moved. My eyes just couldn’t help it.”
I accepted the handkerchief without meeting his gaze and quickly dabbed at my tears.
“Thank you for the handkerchief. I’ll have it washed and returned to you.”
I composed my expression and took a deep breath. My chest still burned with an unnamed ache, but I had to maintain an unbothered facade. That was when an unwelcome voice came from behind.
“Well now, Hailey. I didn’t expect to run into you here.”
Robinson Junior Snoril, the Baron.
Kimarise had already told me that Robinson, the Lord, kept pestering him to have me visit his manor after learning I was the owner of the Regalia. Kimarise had apparently handled it well by citing my business commitments.
I’d thought things had quieted down for a while, but here he was confronting me anyway.
I forced the corners of my mouth upward and turned around.
“Hello, my lord. I didn’t think we’d meet like this…….”
But then I noticed something unexpected and narrowed my eyes.
“Have you been well?”
Robinson, standing with his butler, had definitely been around 170 centimeters tall before, but now he looked to be pushing 180. His skin gleamed, his features were sharper. His hairstyle had improved, and his clothes looked far more refined.
Robinson squared his shoulders and raised his chin as if inviting me to take in his transformation.
A glance at his feet revealed reasonably tall heels on his shoes.
‘Ah, he’s been working on himself.’
He’d at least reached the level of the more ordinary young men from the neighborhood.
“It’s good to see you again. How have you been?”
“Very well, thank you.”
“Excellent. I’ve been paying attention to things lately—both my appearance and how to conduct myself toward beautiful ladies.”
“Ah, I see.”
“So much so that ladies these days flock to me, don’t they? Hah.”
Robinson swept back his bangs with one hand, flashing a bright smile.
“But you know as well as I do why a hundred ladies could line up and I wouldn’t move an inch.”
His offer to date in exchange for a toll seemed to remain very much on the table.
“Of course. I know quite well. Surely a woman of higher station would suit Your Lordship far better.”
“What?”
I forced a smile and clenched both fists tight.
“I look forward to paying respects to the Baroness when the day comes. But I do need to open my shop shortly, so if you’d excuse me?”
Robinson looked disappointed, but he permitted my departure.
“Thank you for your consideration.”
After bowing politely, she moved forward alongside Kimarise, and she could hear Robinson and the Butler speaking in hushed tones behind them.
“I mean, I went along with it, and now his pride is through the roof? Is this really how we should let them leave?”
“My Lord, the tutor said you shouldn’t try to force a woman to stay against her will.”
“Is that dating advice actually sound?”
Ah, so he’s receiving dating advice?
Then at the very least he should keep his voice down, or go somewhere out of earshot to discuss it.
Exhaustion washed over me, and a sigh escaped on its own.

* * *

After reviewing Frediki’s documents, Bloden—in Baron’s form—spent every moment except weekends with Hailey on covert surveillance along the border between the Ottics Kingdom and the Utra Territory.
The first week had seemed quiet enough, but recently military supplies from the Ottics Kingdom had been quietly gathering at the border. Since the documents had been lost more than three years ago and things remained quiet, it appeared they had judged there was nothing wrong with executing the plan.
In the meantime, troubling news came through Raven.
Nelloa had begun to rise on the lips of the Empire’s people as a Saint, backed by the High Priest’s favor. In the midst of this, a newspaper article also reported that Anna was actively pushing forward an Imperial Marriage.
“She’s lost her mind.”
The moment he heard the news, Bloden’s lips curled into a sneer, but at the same time, annoyance coursed through him entirely.
Yet rushing after her to openly refute or reject the Imperial Marriage had no good justification.
Bloden understood well what kind of hope a Special Ability that could pinpoint the exact location of Gates gave the Empire’s people.
Derivative Gates were already spawning at random. If the Emperor appeared to reject an ability that could ease the Empire’s anxiety, it would only give Anna grounds to attack him.
The moment Bloden openly refused Nelloa in the current situation, Anna would launch a political offensive, claiming the Emperor did not prioritize the Empire above all else.
Of course, there was a method. To reverse the flow of public opinion and reject the Political Marriage.
It would be easy if he made public the fact that Hailey’s Special Ability could nullify Nelloa’s.
But to present Hailey before the Empire’s people as a replacement for Nelloa?
That was unthinkable.
Because he had not obtained Hailey’s consent, nor received her acceptance to promise a lifetime together and become Empress alongside him.
Above all, Bloden did not want to prove Hailey’s usefulness to the Empire’s people for his own political advantage.
Hailey was Hailey.
She did have a Special Ability he himself was unaware of, but it would not have mattered if she had none at all.
She was the person who had shown him that even without conditions, warmth of heart could exist.
She was the only one who had ever thought of him as a person, not as a convenient tool to be used.
So only one path remained.
However frustrating it might be for now, he had to first cut away Duke Utra and Baron Aer—Anna’s hands and feet.
Fortunately, documents containing crucial information had come into his hands, and if successful, he could deal a considerable blow. Now Anna would have to take the lead in purging her own forces to avoid being bound together with the Duke as conspirators.
So today too, Bloden had sent Dantarion as his stand-in to the Academy, while he himself patrolled near the border with Crockel, predicting the strategies Duke Utra and the Ottics Kingdom would employ.
It was then that Crockel, who had been diligently tracking scents with his nose to the ground, tapped the earth with his front paw.
-My lord, I smell gunpowder here. And the same scent comes from a place a little further away.
“I’ll check this area. You dig over there.”
At Bloden’s command, Crockel leaped forward and began digging frantically.
Soon, Signal Flares wrapped in waterproof leather came into view. From what could be gleaned from the documents, they appeared to be for exchanging advance and retreat signals even during combat.
-What should we do?
“What indeed.”
Bloden called for Camen.
“See this gunpowder? Find it all and soak it thoroughly in water, then bury it again exactly as it was. Make it look intact on the outside, but render the gunpowder inside useless.”
Camen excavated all the gunpowder buried in the earth at once, just as Bloden instructed. Then he stripped away the waterproof leather, soaked it thoroughly in water, wrapped it again, and buried it in the earth just as it had been.
Watching Camen’s work, Bloden found himself sighing without realizing it.
‘Ah, I miss her.’
It was then that Kimarise’s voice reached him.
-My lord. This is an emergency. Please share your vision with me.
The moment he shared his vision, Bloden saw Hailey’s tears. His heart felt as though it would fall away, and he asked urgently.
-Why is she crying? What’s happened?
-The special capital edition published by the Roan Times was released in Snoril today. It appears she was startled upon seeing the article.
After receiving a detailed report of the situation, Bloden felt a flutter of hope.
‘Is she upset because she thinks I might enter into a Political Marriage? Could she actually be jealous?’
His heart, which had felt as though it would fall away, suddenly soared and began to pound frantically.

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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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