This Emperor Is Running a Marriage Scam - Chapter 242

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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 242

Nelloa couldn’t make sense of Bloden’s state, no matter how hard she tried to reason it out. After mulling it over in silence, she reframed her question.
‘What if it wasn’t that he loved Hailey at all—but rather that her Ability simply held utility value for him?’
The corner of Nelloa’s mouth curved upward with a mean, knowing smile.
It had already been several days since Hailey had held out inside the Gate, holding back the Monsters.
It was a mystery where she got them from, but she was eating three square meals a day plus snacks—by any rational accounting, she should already be dead.
‘He’s decided realistically that a rescue is impossible. So for now, he’s putting on a show with this Northern Gate Military Expedition, demonstrating that he’s still in control, protecting his imperial authority.’
Nelloa drifted away from Bloden’s procession, turning the matter over in her mind.
‘In that case, I’ll need to slip Anna and Utra’s faction out when the moment presents itself.’
Anna wouldn’t be friendly toward her, and the security would be suffocating, but now that they were cornered, they wouldn’t simply sit idle waiting for judgment.
The evidence of their cooperation with Nelloa was irrefutable; they faced execution regardless. Their only remaining option was singular.
‘Duke Roan must be under tremendous pressure too, waiting for a chance to reverse the tide, isn’t he?’
Thinking thus, Nelloa found an Inn, ate well, and rested the entire day. Then she crafted multiple Derivative Gate Seeds.
Derivative Gate Seeds, and Signal Stones.
It was fine to have made as much as she needed to extract Anna.
“Ugh, this is infuriating.”
But what tumbled from Nelloa’s lips was a curse.
Each time she created a Derivative Gate Seed, she felt her stamina draining noticeably faster than before.
Nelloa dragged her unusually heavy legs to the mirror and checked her reflection.
It looked as if she could easily pass for over a hundred years old—as if aging could progress no further.
It seemed the deterioration was now creeping into her body’s interior as well.
“At this rate, I can’t make any more Seeds. Getting Utra’s faction out too is impossible.”
No matter how she thought about it, completing her scheme required food made by Hailey.
Nelloa set out to find Hailey at once.
Locating Hailey wasn’t difficult—she simply had to follow the Passage toward where the smell of burning wood and delicious aromas drifted from.
Leading a throng of Monsters, Nelloa found Hailey and hid herself behind a corner, peeking inside cautiously. Hailey was just setting a pot over a Campfire.
Despite having wandered the Inside the Gate for quite some time, Hailey’s appearance was remarkably neat and composed. Her clothing had even changed from a formal dress to comfortable traveler’s garb.
‘How on earth could she manage something like that?’
Just then, Hailey spoke to her escorts gathered around the Campfire.
“Hungry? Let’s eat something special today.”
Her voice was gentle yet precise, and her expression was bright.
‘This makes no sense. If a rescue were delayed this long, anyone would grow despondent, wouldn’t they? Despair is the natural response.’
As Nelloa observed Hailey intently, another question formed in her mind.
‘Could it be that they’re actually communicating in real time among themselves?’
Then Hailey withdrew a small pouch from her belongings. The moment Nelloa saw various ingredients emerging from that pouch, every question she’d harbored was answered.
‘Real-time communication, my foot…’
Nelloa let out a soft laugh, and soon a brilliant idea occurred to her. Just then, her gaze met that of Hailey’s Salamander.
‘Oh!’
Nelloa started in shock and immediately withdrew from her vantage point.
After waiting roughly ten minutes, when the aroma of delicious food was wafting through the air, she raised her voice loudly in Hailey’s direction.
“Hailey! Aren’t you curious about news from outside? That the Emperor has abandoned the rescue operation, or something like that?”
Nelloa waited a moment for Hailey’s response. But no answer came back.
Growing impatient, Nelloa made her way back to where Hailey had been. This time, instead of peeking in cautiously, she sent a single Monster ahead as bait.
One would have expected an attack, but nothing happened at all.
Looking in again, Hailey and her escorts had vanished—only a single pot hung over the Campfire in the empty Passage, steam rising in wisps.
Approaching and peering into the pot, Nelloa couldn’t suppress a laugh that bubbled up unbidden.
A most appetizing Beef Radish Soup was simmering within.
‘She heard my voice and fled in a panic?’
Since she’d surely recognize that her presence meant Monsters carpeted the surroundings, her immediate escape made perfect sense.
‘Perfect timing. Eating this ought to restore me somewhat.’
Nelloa swallowed hard and began eating the Beef Radish Soup. The broth hadn’t simmered long enough to draw out the radish’s deep essence, but the seasoning was savory enough to make it worth eating.
After finishing the entire pot, Nelloa touched her face hopefully, expecting her wrinkles to have smoothed.
“Huh?”
Nelloa felt a jolt of alarm and ran both hands over her face. No matter how much she felt, there wasn’t the slightest sign that the deep wrinkles had faded.
“Why is there no effect?”
Could she have overused her Ability to the point that recovery was no longer possible?
She didn’t know. But soon it became clear that something was wrong with the food itself.
Gurgle. Gurgle. Gurgle.
A sharp pain twisted through her gut, and her body screamed that she needed to find a bathroom—immediately.
“Ah, ah! Ugh!”
Nelloa clutched her stomach and yelped, spinning frantically to look around.
‘The bathroom! Where’s the bathroom?’
It felt like everything would spill out any second. The urgency was crushing. Yet the monsters stood there watching her with wide, unblinking eyes.
“Everyone, g-get away!”
Even as she shoved the monsters back, Nelloa tried to move toward somewhere—anywhere—out of sight. But her body had other ideas.
A sound like a flock of pigeons suddenly erupted from Nelloa.
No amount of effort could stop it.
There were no clean clothes in the Gate, no water to wash with, nothing hygienic at all.
Nelloa’s whole body burned with shame as she let out a scream toward wherever Hailey was—a mix of tears and fury.
* * *
“Hailey, you! I won’t let this go! I’m going to kill you!”
I was waiting in a spot where there were no monsters when Nelloa’s scream reached me from far away.
“Peep-peep-peep-peep!”
Heart laughed loudly. Serch spun in circles with joy, casting bright light everywhere, and Camen drew his mouth up on one side in a grin.
“Fool.”
I snorted at Nelloa’s expense and stroked Heart and Camen’s heads.
“You both did wonderfully, Heart, Camen.”
Just as I’d been about to pull out ingredients and cook, Heart had alerted me that Nelloa was spying on us.
‘Scouting and hoping to get a free meal, I’m sure.’
The way she’d mentioned outside news and Bloden made it clear she was trying to sow discord with lies, angling to get fed.
Using my ability to recover.
‘Well, at least she won’t attack while I’m cooking. But after I finish? Probably then.’
Carrying a hot pot and running away seemed too risky, so I’d likely lose the food to her anyway.
‘I can’t let her move as she expects.’
I had Camen do the cooking instead. While Camen moved as instructed, I rifled through the Pocket Dimension.
‘Raven wouldn’t have put poison in here. But maybe some emergency medicine?’
An Ultra-potent Laxative would be perfect right about now.
That’s when a Medicine Chest tumbled out of the Pocket Dimension. Inside it were digestive aids, anti-diarrheal medicine, pain relievers—and yes, an Ultra-potent Laxative.
“Raven must have packed medicines that work really well. Looks like the effects kicked in nicely, doesn’t it?”
“Squeak!”
Heart, who’d been laughing for a while, finally turned and offered me his back.
“Right, let’s go.”
We could move farther before eating; there was time.
As I climbed onto Heart’s back, I calculated how long Nelloa would need to deal with the disaster that had befallen her before she could chase after me again.
‘I have some time still, but I should cook as much as possible this round and store it away.’
Soon she wouldn’t leave me alone.
Once she decided I wasn’t useful for food, she might just kill me outright.
‘I have to survive, no matter what.’
First and foremost, I wanted to live.
‘And Bloden truly loves me. If I die, Bloden will fall apart.’
In romance novels, the male leads always lose their minds when their beloved dies. And here, Bloden’s collapse meant the World’s Destruction.
I clenched my fists tight.
‘So my survival is actually a contribution to world peace!’
There was nothing else for it. I had to punish Nelloa in my own way.
‘Anyone would call this self-defense.’

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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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