This Emperor Is Running a Marriage Scam - Chapter 202

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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 202

Four days after Dantarion returned from his reconnaissance of Duke Utra.
A tea table had been set up in the garden of Count Enox’s mansion.
Bloden sat before it with composed bearing, while Raven, a serving napkin draped over his arm, bowed respectfully.
“The Otix forces that crossed the border are now facing Duke Utra’s army. One of their detached units has separated from the main force and is heading this way—ten knights and a hundred soldiers.”
“They’ll arrive about the time I finish my tea.”
“That is so, but…….”
Even as Raven spoke, his eyes flickered toward Bloden’s face.
Bloden’s complexion had darkened, his gaze grown cold.
Raven was not unfamiliar with such an expression on Bloden—he had worn it constantly during their time at the Northern Gate.
The difference now, if any, was that Anna and Nelloa’s recent meddling had soured his mood somewhat deeper than before.
In the past, Raven had simply left it be.
Fundamentally, it was not a problem the commanders could solve, and Bloden was not the sort to let his temper interfere with what needed to be done.
But since meeting Hailey, everything had changed.
Now Raven despised that atmosphere in Bloden. And so he had prepared something in secret.
“Might it not be better to take some simple refreshment and restore your strength, rather than merely tea?”
Bloden gave a small laugh.
“Food? No appetite.”
“I believe your mind will change once you see what I have.”
Raven’s lips curved upward gently as he opened his spatial pocket and withdrew something.
It was a bento box that, even at a glance, looked substantial.
“What is this?”
“A special bento prepared by Hailey for you. I placed it in the spatial pocket the moment I received it, so it remains in perfect condition.”
As Raven lifted the lid, dishes Bloden had never seen before came into view.
“Do you remember what Dantarion mentioned? That Hailey had recently introduced a new menu using a sauce called soy sauce.”
“He did. Said it was particularly excellent for mana recovery.”
“Yes, and when I visited her this time, I asked if she might prepare a bento for you. Hailey was delighted to make one.”
Raven pointed to each side dish in turn, explaining them.
“This is marinated pork ribs. This is quick-pickled kimchi. And this is soy-sauce marinated crab. She said it pairs beautifully with these fried eggs.”
Bloden stared down at the bento with a stunned expression, then looked at Raven and asked.
“Hailey made this for me?”
“Yes.”
“You mean she made it for Baron, then?”
“My, Baron is away at the Academy.”
“……!”
Bloden pointed at himself with an expression of disbelief. Raven nodded firmly and gave him a certain answer.
“Yes.”
“For me—not Baron, but the Emperor? For Bloden?”
“Yes, this bento was made from the beginning for Emperor Bloden Ilpein. She said she hopes it pleases your palate.”
The wilted expression on Bloden’s face bloomed fresh as a flower beaded with morning dew.
Thump-thump-thump-thump.
The bento had worked exactly as Raven predicted—his mood would lift. But he had not anticipated hearing Bloden’s heart race with such fervor.
‘Your Majesty, if you behave this way, I feel far too rewarded.’
Raven suppressed a broad smile and checked his pocket watch.
“It would be best to eat before the Otix forces arrive and raise dust everywhere.”
Bloden placed a fried egg and soy-sauce crab into his mouth along with rice.
Moments later, his brow furrowed, and a single tear rolled down his cheek.
“Raven.”
“……Your Majesty? Is it truly so delicious?”
“It is. The taste is moving. And this pork rib Dantarion mentioned is excellent as well.”
Bloden savored the bento contentedly.
‘When I visit this weekend, I must not leave her side for a moment.’
He had nearly emptied the bento while thinking such thoughts.
“Not a single one alive—leave none of them breathing!”
Screech!
Following a roar from the mansion’s entrance, several arrows streaked toward the table where Bloden sat.
“Ah…….”
Raven brushed the arrows aside as though swatting at flies. But Bloden released a quiet sigh.
He finished eating every last grain, though one speck of rice clinging to the rim of the bento box tumbled onto the table.
Raven’s expression darkened the moment he witnessed it.
“Raven.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“When those dogs arrive, I want every last one of them on their knees. Give them each a taste of my fist.”
“I accept your command.”
Moments later, the thunder of hoofbeats erupted as soldiers stormed toward Bloden and Raven.
“Where is Count Enox…? Argh!”
The knight atop his mount had barely begun his question, staring down at Bloden, when a strangled cry tore from his throat. In a flash, Raven’s hand had seized him and dragged him clean from his saddle.
Crash!
Forced to his knees, the knight was followed by the others, yanked from their horses in quick succession with wails of agony.
Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash!
“Neigh!”
The horses bolted in terror, abandoning their riders, who lay dazed on the ground, stunned by the impact of their fall.
None of them could process what had just happened—reality felt distant, unreal.
Then Raven’s cold, terrible voice cut through the air.
“You dare look down on us, invaders?”
The moment the knights looked up, afterimages trailed behind Raven’s figure, and the soldiers’ screams erupted in a chorus.
“Aaah!”
“Argh!”
Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash!
Every last one was forced to his knees.
“All dealt with, Your Majesty.”
Raven’s words sent ripples of shock through the soldiers.
“Your… Your Majesty?”
“That’s… impossible!”
“The Emperor of Ilpein? Why is he here?”
Bloden wiped his mouth with a napkin and rose to his feet. “Because you bastards are trampling on someone else’s territory without permission.”
He had stood now, napkin still in hand.
“The Count and his wife you’re searching for—they’re inside the manor. But you won’t make it that far. You’ll all fall here.”
Bloden’s fist clenched tight.
Crack!
“Aaargh!”
The first knight he’d grabbed crashed backward, his head cradled in both hands as he tumbled across the ground.
Crimson light blazed in Bloden’s eyes.
“First, you’re going to pay for interrupting my meal.”

* * *

“Those cowardly dogs—no declaration of war, nothing!”
Duke Utra’s fury at news of the Otix Kingdom’s invasion was palpable as he barked orders to his subordinates while marching toward the border, dispatching soldiers to key strongholds linked to the Empire’s main territories to hold the strategic passages.
But he exempted the Mistril Territory.
Before long, a knight ignorant of his true intentions reported that the Mistril Territory had been omitted from the protected zones, but Duke Utra merely waved him off with an acknowledging nod.
Shortly after, word arrived that ten elite knights and a hundred soldiers from the Otix Kingdom were advancing toward the Mistril Territory.
Only then did Duke Utra’s face twist in chagrin, and he hastily dispatched a hundred and fifty soldiers to defend the Mistril Territory.
He then recalled all the soldiers he’d sent elsewhere and marched toward the border village where the Otix forces had pushed in and established their garrison.
On the journey, Duke Utra recalled the choreography he’d arranged with the Otix Kingdom.
‘By now, that village should be burning in scattered places, and there ought to be quite a few civilian corpses scattered about. The townspeople will rush toward me the moment they see me, begging for their lives, prostrating themselves in desperation.’
Then Duke Utra would order his soldiers to assist the civilians amid the chaos, while he and the knights privy to the plan would charge into the enemy lines.
Only soldiers from the Otix Kingdom who’d been briefed on the strategy would engage him.
The Otix Kingdom would feign retreat under the weight of his assault, then regroup and push forward again from a distance. Explosives would serve as the signal for advance and withdrawal.
When news of the war spread across the Empire through special bulletins, the Otix forces would withdraw, and he would return, having “defended” the Empire.
He planned to run this same scenario multiple times, just changing the village each time.
But as Duke Utra drew near the village, he realized the scene before him deviated somewhat from what he’d imagined.
True, buildings were ablaze. Yet the village lay eerily quiet.
Despite the Otix banners clearly visible beyond, not a single civilian corpse—not even a dead rat—was anywhere to be found.
“Where is everyone?”
At Duke Utra’s words, the Captain of the Knights dispatched a subordinate to quickly assess the situation.
“Word of the Otix advance spread first, Your Grace. The townspeople gathered their belongings and fled.”
“News traveled that quickly? How? And where did they evacuate to?”
“Well, that’s……”
The Captain of the Knights scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, then lowered his voice to address Duke Utra.
“What should we do?”
That was when it happened.
“Aaaahhh!”
A cry rang out from the Otix forces, and smoke began billowing upward.
‘Ah, so they’re giving us an opening to work with.’
Duke Utra’s eyes widened in a smile of satisfaction as he issued his command to the knights and soldiers he had brought with him.
“Soldiers, search the village thoroughly and find any imprisoned Imperial citizens! Knights, follow me—we drive the Otix forces from the Empire!”

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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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