This Emperor Is Running a Marriage Scam - Chapter 29

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 29

A large basket had fallen on its side with conch shells scattered out, and an elderly ajumma was picking up the shells and putting them back in the basket.

I spoke to the ajumma.

“Hello.”

At my words, the ajumma looked up. It was the same ajumma who had come to buy conch shells at just the right timing when Ben first haggled down my conch prices.

“Is something wrong? Where did Ben ajusshi go?”

As I helped pick up the conch shells and asked, Baron also set down the container he’d brought and started gathering the scattered shells. The ajumma opened her mouth with a troubled expression.

“Oh. Well.”

I was truly shocked when I heard the ajumma’s explanation.

“What? Ben ajusshi’s son might have been kidnapped?”

“Someone witnessed a suspicious scene, I heard. They saw Peter talking with a man in worn overalls. Ben got a call from his wife a little while ago and ran off in a panic. That’s when he knocked all this over.”

The ajumma who had finished putting all the conch shells back in the basket sighed and dusted off her clothes.

“We picked up all the goods, but the stall is empty… I have to get back to my own shop so I can’t keep watching it… I’m worried someone might steal things with no owner around.”

Then the ajumma saw the container Baron had set down to one side and shook her head.

“Clams and conch shells, he must have worked hard to bring them to sell, but now it’s all for nothing.”

“It’s okay.”

I divided our clams and conch shells into two empty baskets that were at Ben’s stall.

Then I set the overturned wooden box back in place and sat down, also flipping our container upside down next to it. It was a makeshift chair for Baron to sit on.

“Since Ben ajusshi is in a difficult situation, let’s watch over things for him.”

Baron nodded without hesitation and sat on the container.

“We don’t have anything urgent to do anyway. I can watch the stall and help sell things.”

Relief appeared on the ajumma’s worried face.

“Oh my, you’d do that?”

“Yes, we’ve seen each other more than once or twice, and when something serious has happened, we should help however we can. Thank you for letting us know.”

“Thank you for doing this. I’ve been watching this place for a while now, so I felt bad about just leaving without caring.”

The ajumma thanked me and left.

Once the situation settled, the people who had been watching dispersed with clicking tongues.

“Why are those people acting like that?”

Baron, who was standing beside me, chuckled at my muttered question.

“They were probably planning to steal everything as soon as the stall was empty.”

“Ugh. How awful.”

I clicked my tongue involuntarily. At the same time, I was impressed.

“You heard that? You have good hearing.”

Baron giggled.

“I heard them plotting together earlier when nuna was busy talking with the ajumma.”

“I see. Good thing we’re watching over it.”

Since it hadn’t been long since the rain stopped, there were no customers yet.

I rested my chin on my hand and looked at the edge of the canopy where raindrops had gathered and were dripping down.

‘How did the kidnapping incident turn out in the original story?’

The two protagonists, Nelloa and Bloden, were connected from the very beginning.

Nelloa, who had come to travel to the Imperial Capital, was sightseeing in the city when she happened to brush past Bloden and was captivated by his masculinity, following him until he grabbed her wrist in a secluded alley.

Bloden’s appearance was described from Nelloa’s perspective as she was trapped between the wall and the strong man’s arms, her eyes wide.

[The handsome man with black hair that seemed to flow like the night sky, Bloden Ilpain, had an imposing build. Meeting his red eyes that glared at her with wariness, Nelloa thought of the god from the creation myth.

Though she was intimidated by his low, threatening voice that growled like a beast, Nelloa focused more on her heart’s pounding reaction. In her 23 years of life, she had never seen such an attractive man.

So she realized at first sight. This mysterious man was her destiny, the destiny of Princess Kelite.]

The sentences I remember probably don’t match the actual novel exactly. I’m just recalling the feeling from when I read it before.

So I can’t be sure whether my memory is accurate or not. Honestly, everything was vague except for the protagonists’ ages.

Bloden who came to Snoril was said to have just become an adult, and since there were repeated mentions of Nelloa being three years older, I at least remembered their ages.

Afterward, Nelloa became even more excited looking at the deep handprint Bloden’s large hand had left on her wrist.

A few days later, when Nelloa learned that the man she had encountered was Bloden and that he was the Emperor, she gathered information through her own channels and headed to Snoril, the port city that was his destination.

Later, she discovered a secret passage in a restaurant somewhat removed from the town’s harbor, and following that path, she found where the children were being held. She and Bloden worked together to solve the child kidnapping case that had been troubling the Empire for a long time, and this was how their full-fledged romance began.

‘Wait.’

Thinking this far, I remembered something else.

‘I read through that whole incident. I know the restaurant, how to open the secret passage, and even who’s behind it all, don’t I?’

The restaurant was called Gomchi Restaurant, and it was described as having a sign with sea anemones and moray eels painted on it. There was a mechanism on the stairs leading to the second floor of the tavern that opened the floor.

While it operated as a normal restaurant usually, if you entered through the secret passage, there was an underground tunnel leading to a chicken coop and several branching small tunnels.

The small tunnels connected to the basements of other private homes within the territory. Since they moved through underground passages, there were almost no witnesses.

And in the underground passages and the chicken coop where the children were kept, about a hundred armed men swarmed about.

The mastermind behind those who committed crimes with such meticulous preparation was Baron Aer, the lord of a neighboring estate. The one who took bribes and covered for them was the regent, so Anna was also an accomplice.

‘A mere commoner extra like me would only be in danger if I got involved in such a place.’

Besides, I thought it was an incident for the original male and female leads to be active in, so I didn’t think about solving it…

‘In the original story, this kidnapping case was said to be a long-standing problem.’

The protagonists who are active in the original story are twenty-three and twenty years old. But how old are they both now?

If Bloden is twenty years old, I can be relieved. The kidnapping case will be solved soon. So if the timing is right, Ben’s son will eventually return to his parents’ arms too.

But what if Bloden isn’t an adult yet? What if that long period isn’t a few months but several years?

“…”

When I changed the question, I got goosebumps.

‘What’s wrong with me, am I crazy!’

I don’t know when the protagonists from the novel will come, and I don’t know when or where the kidnapped children will suffer and die.

I could provide someone with hints about the heinous kidnappers, yet I was sitting here calmly.

An excuse did come to mind quickly though.

‘No, this is a novel and I was trying not to interfere with the protagonists’ story, right? I’m just extra number 1 who doesn’t appear in even one line of the novel.’

If extra number 1 provided key information, it would look too suspicious. I might even be misunderstood as an accomplice and interrogated.

‘Ah, how can I naturally reveal this to the world? Should I try sending an anonymous tip to the lord?’

Then Baron’s voice suddenly rang out.

“Nuna. A customer came.”

A customer who had arrived at some point was examining the clams we had brought.

Only then did I realize I had been too absorbed in thought and quickly said.

“Welcome. Please take some clams. The water quality is excellent and they’re perfectly purged of sand. The price is cheap too.”

The customer who had haggled over the price a bit bought all the clams.

And after a little while, another customer came and bought conch shells.

‘Huh? Business is going better than I thought?’

One chatty customer who bought conch shells casually dropped some information we didn’t know before leaving.

“Miss, didn’t you know? If you turn the corner over there, you can see this place right away. This is a good location for a street stall.”

There was a reason business was going better than expected.

By late afternoon, not only the original seafood but ours too had all been sold.

‘So this is why he said he’d buy from us as long as the quality was good.’

When I gained this small realization, Baron pointed to one side.

“Oh, here he comes.”

Ben was walking toward us with his head down, completely drained of energy.

Only when he came close and raised his head with a deep sigh did Ben see us and the state of the stall, his eyes widening.

“Huh? You guys?”

Ben’s eyes were red. He seemed to have been crying while searching for his son.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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