This Emperor Is Running a Marriage Scam - Chapter 236

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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 236

“Hey! You hardheaded fool!”
My indignation came out sharp and clean, but only for a moment—I was forced to falter.
Behind Nelloa, a half-dozen human-sized monsters had filed into the Lobby.
‘What? I didn’t anticipate her having the ability to command monsters like that. She has a power like this?’
“Aaaah!”
“Kyaaaah, honey!”
“Good heavens!”
King Otix and his Queen, clinging to each other, pressed against my side along with Stanley.
The moment the monsters surrounded us in an instant, everyone except me was seized by fear.
Stanley spoke to me urgently.
“H-Hailey! Do you have reinforcements? That black thing that sends reports directly to His Majesty—you have it, don’t you?”
I’d heard that Kimarise’s Clone was watching Stanley.
“You know your way around, don’t you.”
But that wasn’t all.
“Peep!”
The moment I finished speaking, Heart’s cry rang out.
“Heart.”
Kimarise’s Clone emerged from Heart, who had been hiding in Camouflage, and materialized.
The Clone immediately took form and stood guard to prevent the monsters from approaching us. At once, Kimarise’s other Clone, which had been attached to Stanley, also revealed itself and moved to block the other side.
This meant that everything happening now was being conveyed to both Kimarise and Bloden. Bloden would arrive soon.
In other words, Nelloa and Anna were finished.
“Though I suppose Bloden wouldn’t just leave you alone.”
Nelloa pulled a pouch from her breast and suddenly scattered Derivative Gate Seeds toward us. Kimarise’s Clone blocked the seeds flying at me, but dozens had already been scattered across the Lobby in all directions.
“Hailey, do you know why I’ve reached this age?”
Nelloa laughed shrilly while continuing to scatter seeds.
“Because I’ve kept making these to give someone like you a proper beating!”
Black holes opened simultaneously across the floor. The small Derivative Gates swallowed each other’s boundaries in an instant and merged into one.
“Aaaah!”
“Screeeeeam!”
“Kyaaaaaaah!”
The entire Lobby floor had become a massive Gate entrance.
Stanley and King Otix and his Queen sank into the earth, and my feet were no exception.
Serch quickly leaped into the Gate after me and illuminated the surroundings.
Thanks to that, even as I fell through the Gate, I could see the situation clearly. Stanley was barely holding on, clutching the edge of the entrance’s floor, and from King Otix’s body, as he held his Queen, a deep green light blazed.
And Nelloa leaped down after me.
“Cackle-cackle-cackle!”
Nelloa laughed in that grating voice and kept throwing multiple Derivative Gate Seeds at me while the Gate continued to deepen without end.
My head spun at how quickly everything had unfolded, but I kept my wits sharp and assessed the situation.
The deeper the Gate went, the more enormous passages appeared along its walls, and the monsters within began climbing upward to the surface as if they’d been waiting.
The Imperial Palace was in danger.
Realizing this, I roared at Nelloa.
“What in the world are you doing!”
“You’ve still got spirit? Haven’t you grasped the situation?”
Nelloa shouted back, laughing.
“Without you, Bloden’s Ability has limits! I’m the one who’ll rule this world!”
“Ha, that’s ridiculous! His Majesty’s Ability has no limits!”
“What?”
“Did you think I’d just sit idle? You’re all finished!”
Even if those monsters’ attacks damage the Imperial Palace, the Ilpein Empire will be safe. I’d already given Bloden plenty of recovery food.
‘The problem is me, though.’
At this rate, death by falling was certain.
Yet as I kept plummeting, the fall almost didn’t feel real. Instead, what bothered me more was the sheer scale of the internal passages visible on either side as the Gate deepened, and the enormous monsters that appeared to be waiting within them.
‘Ah, if I end up caught by those monsters, I’ll be done in one bite.’
Heart was clinging to me, but the number of monsters in sight was overwhelmingly vast. It seemed impossible for Heart alone to handle so many.
“Heart, you escape too. You can hide yourself in Camouflage, can’t you.”
Then suddenly the space around me opened wide. The seeds stopped falling, and a monster descending from the passage above caught Nelloa.
“Peep!”
In that moment, Heart also rushed toward my back and swelled to an enormous size. I quickly turned my body and clung as tightly as I could to Heart’s back. The next instant, Heart’s feet touched ground and the impact sent a shockwave through us.
“Kyaaaah!”
Since Heart’s back offered nothing to grip, I was flung backward and crashed into the wall. But instead of hitting hard stone, it felt as though I’d plunged into a murky swamp and emerged on the other side.
Only when my backside struck solid ground could I open my eyes.
Thanks to Serch hovering above my head, I could see everything around me clearly.
“Growwwwl.”
Heart, transformed into an enormous Salamander, had positioned me near his tail while keeping watch ahead. And Camen, who had appeared without warning, now blocked my path forward.
Nelloa, who had descended to the ground astride a flying monster, began to laugh down at us mockingly.
“Your guards seem more capable than I expected.”
Before long, enormous monsters began flooding in behind Nelloa.
“But can you really handle so many monsters all at once?”
Nelloa laughed with supreme confidence and raised her hand. As if receiving orders from their commander, the monsters halted in formation—there had to be more than a hundred of them. My skin crawled.
Serch, Heart, and Camen might fight well, but compared to that horde, weren’t they impossibly small?
No matter how I looked at it, there was no chance of victory. And nowhere to run.
As I was racking my brain for options, Nelloa spoke to me.
“Hailey, is there really a need for two Possessors to fight each other?”
“What?”
“You’re incredibly irritating, but you’re useful, so hear me out.”
“…….”
“Cook food for me to eat. If you do that, I’ll let you live.”
“…….”
Her intentions were transparent. She clearly wanted to recover her Mana and regain her original appearance.
‘You said you kept creating Derivative Gate Seeds to beat me into submission, and now you’ve already forgotten that? Surely you don’t think I’d fall for this?’
Too absurd for words, I stayed silent. Nelloa shrugged.
“There’s a saying—yesterday’s enemy is today’s friend. You swear loyalty to me, and you’ll have a place at my side.”
Nelloa began laying out her plans in tedious detail.

* * *

Bloden had just begun to discuss the matter of the Utra Rebellion Forces in his study.
—My lord! An emergency situation involving Miss Hailey!
Kimarise, who had set out with Dantarion to suppress the Utra rebels first, reported in urgent tones.
—The Regent and Nelloa, now an old woman, have surrounded Miss Hailey and the foreign royalty with several monsters!
—What?
He had already stationed one of Kimarise’s clones with Salamander to guard Hailey. A handful of visible monsters could easily be handled by Kimarise’s clone alone.
Though Hailey’s immediate safety didn’t seem to be in danger, Bloden couldn’t shake a terrible sense of foreboding.
“Crockel!”
Bloden leaped from his seat, threw open the window, and called to Crockel. Raven, who had been spreading a large map across the desk, tensed and asked with concern.
“What is it, Your Majesty?”
The ominous premonition proved correct. Moments later, Kimarise’s voice came through, nearly a scream.
—My lord! Nelloa has created a Derivative Gate beneath Miss Hailey’s feet!
“Sister!”
“What has happened to Miss Hailey?”
Bloden, seized by terror, climbed onto Crockel’s back.
“No time to explain—follow me, Raven!”
Raven, startled, rushed after Bloden.
—My lord! Please grant permission to return immediately to the Imperial Palace!
—Kimarise, return and report the details as you come back. Dantarion, you go suppress the rebels!
The moment Bloden’s order fell, Kimarise wheeled toward the Imperial Palace, breathlessly relaying further developments about Hailey.
As Bloden listened to the report, he tried to think of a countermeasure, but nothing came to mind.
He could say with certainty that he had never once imagined such a situation could unfold in the heart of the Imperial Palace.
“Sister! Sister!”
In a blind panic, Bloden reached the Guest Palace from his study in merely thirty seconds. Anna had already escaped to safety, and Nelloa had vanished into the Derivative Gate by the narrowest of margins.
The lobby, with its gaping Derivative Gate, held not a soul. Kimarise’s clones, too, had leaped into the Derivative Gate in pursuit of Hailey and were no longer visible.
—My lord! You must not enter under any circumstances!
Just as Bloden, heedless of all caution, was about to throw himself into the gate, Kimarise stopped him.
—The clones I sent in were overwhelmed in an instant! Monsters of every description are swarming up from within right now!
“Help! Someone help!”
At that moment, Stanley’s scream rang out. Raven, spotting two hands barely gripping the edge of the Derivative Gate, hauled Stanley out. Ashen-faced and trembling violently, he cried out.
“Nelloa—she had become an old woman! She brought monsters and opened a Derivative Gate, and she—she trapped Miss Hailey and all of us!”
Bloden ignored Stanley and peered into the Gate.
The Gate’s aperture was far larger than the one Nelloa had created and fled through before. And he could see that the Gate’s walls were riddled with holes, like Swiss cheese.
Even he, who kept the Gate so carefully sealed, had never witnessed such a phenomenon.
“P-please! Save me!”
A woman’s scream echoed from within the holes.
The woman Raven had brought out was the Queen of Ortix. She was weeping as she pointed into the Gate.
“Sob, sob! His Majesty created a narrow passage! He pushed only me inside it and then… fell.”
The Queen clung to Bloden, begging him to save her husband.
But Bloden could offer no response. Just as Kimarise had reported, he could see a swarm of monsters crawling up from within the pitch-black Gate.
—Kimarise, what happened to Nuna and King Otix?

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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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