This Emperor Is Running a Marriage Scam - Chapter 250

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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 250

After that, Bloden changed.
He drove everyone away, and the sight of the white hawk in the sky ceased altogether.
He either skipped meals entirely or made do with simple fare. When monsters descended, he faced them alone.
He was strong enough that solitude sufficed, but I found myself deeply worried about him.
Something was broken inside him.

It was a day when monsters poured down in overwhelming numbers.
Raven and Dantarion, Kimarise and Crockel—three spirits emerged from somewhere and came to his aid. Though they had withdrawn under the Banishment Order, they had not truly departed.
The battle ended in victory.
But rather than praise them, Bloden revealed his fury. His reason was their defiance of their master’s command.
“If I see your faces one more time, I’ll cut you all down.”
Watching the commanders shuffle down the mountain in the wake of his threat, Bloden’s jaw tightened.
“Damn it. I gave them freedom—why do they keep coming back?”
He grumbled that they had cost him his own chance at freedom, yet whenever monsters descended, his sword rose to meet them.
“I have to. I’m the Emperor. If I don’t…”
Bloden cut them down, again and again, endless.
In fairy tales, the transparent hero slayed the monster and raised his sword with laughter. But in reality, Bloden planted his blood-stained blade in the earth, barely holding himself upright.
One of his knees touched the ground.
“I really want to stop…”
Whiiiing!
A bitter northern wind thrashed violently through Bloden’s hair and cloak.
“But if I stay here alone… everyone else can live.”
He leaned his forehead against the sword’s hilt and closed his eyes.
‘No—why do you have to sacrifice yourself alone? I don’t understand.’
I pounded his back desperately. There was no sensation, no contact, but I couldn’t stop.
“If I’m alone, then everyone can be happy…”
‘Wake up! Bloden Ilpein! This is an illusion!’
Even knowing my voice couldn’t reach him, I raised it louder.
‘Your Majesty’s people are all here. I’m here too!’
At the same time, I wished desperately.
That this was a lie. That this wasn’t Bloden’s past.
If this really was his past, then he was far too pitiful.
In the end, I wept and pulled him close, embracing him.
‘Please open your eyes! Don’t leave. I’m saying I love you.’
“…Hailey?”
I held my breath.
Bloden lifted his head, but he wasn’t seeing me.
His face wore confusion as he looked around, then he murmured.
“Hailey? Who is that? Why did that name suddenly come to mind?”
Then the Gate trembled. More monsters were descending.
But as Bloden rose to his feet, he didn’t pull the sword from the earth.
“Ha, a strange feeling… Is this the day I’ve been waiting for?”
The moment I saw that faint smile, my heart lurched.
‘No! Grab the sword!’
I tried to seize his blade and pull it free, but it was futile.
Was he going to die like this?
Suddenly, I resented the gods.
Bloden was born with an ability granted by the divine and had merely fulfilled his calling. And this was the price?
‘So this is how it is—even the gods are thick-headed!’
Fury welled up in me, and I hurled my rage toward the heavens.
‘If you exist, do something! He’s being slaughtered by nothing but a jellyfish!’
As I screamed my indignation, Iturn began laughing aloud.
-If any gods remain, it would be the Spirit King, but what good is that? He’s trapped inside my stomach too.
‘What?’
-Hundreds of years ago, he did wake from the illusion, but he couldn’t escape. He’s been imprisoned there without dying or being digested. Every so often he struggles and thrashes about, thinking he still has power—hehehehe—but his Mana is completely depleted. With what little strength remains, he can barely move a pebble.
That was when it happened.
A small light kindled at the hilt of the sword planted in the earth.
And the moment the light disappeared, I gasped and covered my mouth with both hands.
Bloden cracked his eyes open, drew his sword, and examined the end of the hilt.
“What on earth is this?”
A sapphire-blue ribbon hung from the end of the sword’s hilt.
As Bloden fingered the initials embroidered in platinum thread, his expression came alive. His eyes widened as if he’d suddenly awakened from a deep sleep.
“This is what Nuna gave me!”
Bloden spun around, looking frantically in all directions.
“I’ve been hearing a strange voice since just before. I couldn’t tell who it was, but it was Nuna all along!”
“Screeeech!”
At that moment, monsters pouring from the Gate lunged at Bloden.
His crimson eyes blazed with fierce light.
Crash!
As he gripped his sword tighter and swung with all his strength, a sound like thunder split the air, and the world began to shatter.

* * *

“Nuna! Nuna! Wake up!”
Bloden’s voice pierced through to me. I opened my eyes and saw his face right above mine.
“Your Majesty?”
“Yes, it’s me. Can you sit up?”
I slowly pushed myself upright and looked around. We were inside Iturn’s stomach.
Understanding the situation, I pulled Bloden into a tight embrace.
“Your Majesty! Thank goodness you’ve awakened! I thought you were—that you weren’t going to make it!”
Bloden held me close and kissed my cheek.
“I’m sorry. I was completely trapped in the illusion, but at some point I began to hear your voice. I saw the ribbon you gave me. You saved me.”
His voice was calm, his eyes exactly as I knew them.
So I found myself able to ask.
“What kind of past have you lived through to experience such a harrowing illusion? And your age seemed strange too—it was all a false vision, wasn’t it?”
Bloden’s expression became strange—something between a smile and a grimace.
“Have I stepped into difficult territory?”
“Not exactly. It’s just that I couldn’t believe it myself. But seeing it now, I understand. All of it was real.”
“What? How is that possible? It’s not as though you’ve lived two lives. Wait—surely not?”
Bloden brushed his bangs back awkwardly, looking sheepish.
“You’re right to suspect it, Nuna. It seems this life isn’t my first. The memories all came back. For now, though—”
Bloden pulled out his Pocket Dimension and dumped its contents, covering the area where digestive juices pooled.
“Let it digest that instead.”
He muttered it almost to himself, then produced a Sand Bag and flattened the ground around us. Then he built a long line of small fires across the leveled surface.
“This should buy us some time.”
“…Your Majesty?”
“I tried summoning a Commander, but it won’t work. This space is peculiar.”
It was unwelcome news, but I didn’t believe we were truly trapped.
As I considered why, my gaze fell on Bloden’s face again, and I understood.
The Bloden in the illusion had worn the face of someone too weak to take his own life, only waiting for the end to come.
But this Bloden—his eyes burned with determination. He didn’t even entertain the thought that we might be stuck here.
“I’m truly sorry to ask this of you while you’re already exhausted, but Nuna…”
Sitting before the small fires, he laid out cooking tools and ingredients, then looked at me with the expression of a rain-soaked puppy and wheedled.
“I’m starving right now. I want the egg soup and rice cakes you make. I really do.”
“Pardon?”
“We don’t have red chili paste, but we have everything else.”
I rolled up my sleeves and pulled out an earthenware jar of red chili paste from my Pocket Dimension.
“Of course! Well-fed warriors fight well!”
At the same moment, I understood why Bloden had built the fires in such a long line. He’d arranged them so I could prepare multiple dishes at once.
I quickly made egg soup and rice cakes, and we ate together.
“Whew, ha.”
Though the heat made him wince, Bloden finished an entire bowl of rice cakes with relish and drained the egg soup completely.
“That was delicious. Thank you, Nuna. Now let’s get out of here.”
“Right!”
I jumped to my feet.
Out of habit, I began to clean up, but Bloden stopped me.
“Nuna, there’s no need to tidy up here. Just leave it.”
“Right, of course.”
I sidestepped the pile of sand bags and dumped the food scraps—bowl and all—onto the stomach lining. I watched the crimson broth from the tteokbokki slide down the wall of Iturn’s stomach and disappear beneath the heap of accumulated junk.
‘Just need to grab the earthenware jar and get out.’
As I turned back toward Bloden, the whole space lurched violently.
“Whoa!”
I stumbled, but Bloden caught me before I fell.
My jar, however, wasn’t so fortunate. The earthenware container I’d set aside in some corner after cooking tumbled away and shattered.
“No! My jar!”
As the red chili paste spilled out and splattered across Iturn’s stomach wall, everything trembled.
A horrific roar erupted from outside.
The deafening sound echoed all around us, and the violent shaking intensified.

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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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