Lord Baby Runs A Romance Fantasy With Cash [EN]: Chapter 101

Gently stroking Dad’s dark, silken hair, I saw a faint smile appear on his face.

‘……Whose dad is this handsome?’

It might be a bit much, but if Dad’s happy, that’s all that matters.

Just then, my brothers subtly inquired,

“But who were you practicing dancing with?”

“We’re just curious, really curious.”

“We just want to know. We won’t do anything, okay?”

“…….”

Why does ‘we won’t do anything’ sound more unsettling?

I narrowed my eyes, looked at my brothers, and said,

“I don’t know. It was someone I didn’t even know the name of. But if you guys show interest, I might get interested too.”

“We’re not interested in guys like that.”

“We’re definitely not curious.”

“Don’t even remember who it is. We’re not interested either.”

Good.

Afraid the conversation might continue, I quickly changed the subject.

“By the way, Dad, have you heard any news about a prince returning to the Imperial Palace?”

Dad’s eyes narrowed.

“Are you talking about the slave we released a long time ago?”

“Yes, that’s right. Actually, I saw Sid in the Imperial Palace today.”

“……If that’s the case, then he must have returned. But there were no rumors about it at all. The Emperor must be suppressing it.”

“Is that the kind of rumor that can be suppressed? Well, hiding Sid’s return might be possible. But they won’t be able to hide it for long.”

They say the walls have ears in the Imperial Palace, after all.

“But what I don’t understand is how there were no rumors at all when a prince disappeared and was even sold as a slave.”

A prince disappeared, no less. And it was quiet?

How much did Viscount Dier and Count Kandor laugh when I said I might be a prince from another country?

Thinking about that makes even less sense.

Dad looked at me for a moment before opening his mouth.

“Other people probably didn’t even know there was a prince.”

“What?”

“Lulu, who do you know as the Emperor’s children?”

“There’s Prince Esteban, born to the Empress, and Sid. The princess born to the Imperial Concubine didn’t even live past a hundred days.”

“Wasn’t Sid the name you gave him? What’s his real name?”

At those words, I closed my mouth.

Come to think of it, there was no mention of any prince other than Prince Esteban in any book or official record.

“The Imperial Family has many secrets. Especially the concubine’s quarters, which are forbidden to outsiders. Furthermore, concubines who haven’t been officially appointed don’t even appear in public.”

In other words, there’s no way for outsiders to contact the concubines.

“Currently, Emperor’s only child is Prince Esteban. It’s said that he has no children born from concubines.”

“But Sid exists.”

“Yes. That means there could be more like Sid.”

“The current Emperor hasn’t officially acknowledged children born from concubines.”

“There’s no telling how many were born there.”

“Conversely… we can also say we don’t know how many died.”

At my words, Dad pressed down on my head with a stern expression.

“Sometimes, your brilliance seems to make you realize the dark side of the world too early, and it breaks my heart.”

“It’s okay! I know many, many warm sides of the world too! Dad and my brothers taught me.”

“You’re the one who taught us.”

Dad chuckled.

Looking around, my brothers also had soft expressions on their faces.

They were so prickly when we first met.

I was also huddled up before I met my family.

A lot has changed.

In my family’s arms, I smiled brightly.

* * *

Two days later.

I was disguising myself for negotiations with the Echesis Mercenary Captain.

Azl wrapped the polymorph magic tool bracelet with spirit water and said,

“At this rate, it’ll be fine for half a day. Mana won’t leak out.”

“That’s a relief. Still, I can’t understand it at all. Why is Echen only asking me to come?”

A private meeting between the captain and the head of the trading company.

That was what Echen requested for this negotiation.

It didn’t match his previous actions to say he was trying to find out my identity.

After the last meeting with Echen, I expected Echesis to investigate my identity more actively.

Wasn’t that why he wanted to see my face directly?

But starting with stopping the tailing midway, all movements to extract information disappeared.

As if he was no longer interested in my identity.

“I’m worried about you, Miss.”

“You really don’t need to worry about that. The negotiations went well last time we met, and he didn’t seem like the type to stab me in the back. More than anything…”

I touched my neck.

It’s not visible now because my appearance has been changed with polymorph magic [magic that alters one’s physical form].

“Dad put a barrier on me himself.”

Azl smiled.

“Should I still give you the blessing of water?”

“As much as you want.”

Azl carefully kissed my forehead.

A cool and refreshing energy spread through my body, starting from where his lips touched.

“Thank you, Azl.”

“It’s my pleasure to be of help to you, Miss. Please be careful.”

“Yeah.”

I put on a robe, pulled down the hood, and tore the teleport scroll [a magical item used for instant transportation].

* * *

Opening the door to that mercenary guild’s hideout, Echen smiled as he poured tea.

As he said it would be a private meeting, Echen was the only one in the room.

I skipped the greetings and asked.

“Why did you insist on meeting just the two of us?”

“Because I wanted to.”

Ha.

That was a reply that left me speechless.

“What’s the problem? I have full authority over my mercenary guild, and you have full authority over your trading company.”

“That doesn’t mean we usually meet alone.”

“But the more that’s at stake in a meeting, the more likely it is to be just the two of us.”

“That’s a valid point.”

I nodded and crossed my arms.

“So, shall we see how much is at stake?”

“I’ve been thinking this for a while, but you’re always in a hurry. Why don’t you sit down and have some refreshments first?”

“I’m not that free—”

Echen held out a plate of soft, fluffy soufflé pancakes.

The soufflé pancakes wobbled gently, following the movement of the plate.

“—But! Since you’re an important client, I’ll make an exception and have refreshments first.”

At my words, Echen chuckled and sprinkled maple syrup.

“Here, there’s ice cream and fruit too.”

I didn’t refuse and picked up a knife and fork.

It felt like cutting through clouds from the moment I cut it.

As soon as I put it in my mouth with the ice cream, it melted away in an instant.

“Delicious…….”

My facial muscles relaxed on their own.

I frantically dismantled the pancake.

Leaving this as it is would be an insult to this wonderful pancake.

I devoured the second one in an instant.

When I looked up, Echen was staring at me without blinking.

“Why, why?”

Embarrassment washed over me.

“You have something on your face.”

“Huh?”

I touched the corner of my mouth, but Echen shook his head and reached out to me.

“Here.”

Thick maple syrup smeared on his long fingers.

He sucked the syrup off his finger with a ‘chup’ sound and frowned.

“You were eating so deliciously that I wondered how good it could be, but it’s just sweet.”

“Just sweet! Your palate is wrong if you can’t recognize the deep flavor of maple syrup. And its true value is revealed when you eat it with pancakes?!”

I couldn’t stand the insult to this delicious soufflé pancake.

He propped his chin up with a crooked expression and raised one eyebrow.

“Really?”

“Really!”

I quickly cut the soufflé pancake and put ice cream on top.

“Here, try it.”

I held it out, and he opened his mouth and bit the fork.

At that moment, our eyes met.

Echen’s brown eyes had a very deep and dark color.

‘Oh?’

Only then did I realize something was wrong.

I’ve been living like this with my family, so I didn’t really notice.

It wouldn’t have mattered if I was still a ten-year-old baby.

It would feel like a baby showing off frozen yogurt to her uncle and sharing it.

But I was in the form of an adult woman right now.

“…….”

I pulled out the fork as quickly as possible, making a ‘sashak’ sound. My ears were hot.

“Certainly.”

Echen licked the ice cream from his lips with his thumb and continued.

“I guess so.”

I quietly put down the fork.

The delicious pancake was crying, but I couldn’t eat anymore.

“These kinds of tricks don’t work on me, you know?”

“Because there are a lot of handsome men around you?”

“Yeah.”

He smiled as I nodded.

“Come to think of it, haven’t you met a very handsome man recently? On the day you met your destiny.”

I frowned.

“Why did you send such useless letters? I was so surprised because I thought it was urgent.”

“Useless? Isn’t meeting your destiny a very important thing?”

He smiled innocently.

“So, how was it, your destiny?”

The moment I heard those words, Sid’s figure flashed before my eyes.

The boy who appeared, stepping on the sentence that he would meet his destiny.

Radiant blonde hair, mysterious colored

Purple eyes.

The voice that whispered, ‘Master’.

“……Well, there were so many people I met that day. One of them might be my destiny.”

Echen frowned as if he didn’t like my words.

I shrugged.

“And you don’t know what kind of destiny that is, do you? It could be a destiny to become enemies.”

Like a destiny to be avenged by Sid.

“The destiny the fortune teller talked about was literally a destined partner.”

“Well, that might be the case. But there were several men I met that day.”

“Playboy.”

“What?”

I was dumbfounded.

Echen turned his head with a slightly sulky expression for some reason.

Why is he like that?

“Are you doing this because you want to get something to eat when I get married later? Why are you so concerned about my destined partner?”

Echen didn’t answer.

“Okay. If I marry someone I met that day later, I won’t forget to treat you. Okay?”

Echen frowned and then sighed, “Haa.”

“Let’s negotiate the next request.”

I feel like I’ve become a very clueless person for some reason.

Must be my imagination?

‘If Echen was among the people I met that day, I’d think he was hitting on me, but he’s not.’

“I checked the condition of the Shireen flowers. They were excellent. And I also found out that you really didn’t have any contact with the spirit Actisheraken. Honestly, I was impressed.”

“I’m glad you were satisfied with my gift. Then there shouldn’t be any problem setting the next request price.”

“If I expect this kind of skill next time, I’ll have to give you a good price.”

It’s a natural principle that the more you rip off a client, the lower the quality becomes.

“I’ll request 100,000 flowers. The request price is… the amount of black gold Echesis bought last time. I’ll add an additional 20% to that.”

“Hmm? Aren’t you going to narrow down the price? You’re calling a generous price from the start.”

“I received a wonderful gift, so I’m calling it a reward for that.”

“Since the head of the trading company has shown this much sincerity, I should nod right away.”

As expected, Echen is reasonable.

There are plenty of people who are greedy and try to take more when you call a generous price from this side.

‘He makes incomprehensible requests sometimes, but he’s still a good partner.’

I smiled and held out my hand.

Echen smiled back and took my hand.

Such a cool deal.

I wish all deals were like this.

I wrote the amount of Shireen flowers and black gold on the prepared request form, and then we each signed it.

With this, everything was finished.

Once I leave this door, I’ll only meet Echen again at the next request.

I hesitated for a moment and opened my mouth.

“……Hey, is that fortune teller really that good?”

“He’s never been wrong about anything I’ve said so far. You met your destiny that day.”

“Then could I possibly meet that fortune teller?”

Echen stared at me intently.

“No, I just want to hear about that destiny… I want to hear exactly what kind of destiny it is.”

“I told you, it’s a destined partner.”

“You never know.”

I know because I look at the free New Year’s fortune telling on the internet every year, and you have to open it to know what that destiny is!

Usually they say love, they don’t express it vaguely like destiny!

But Echen didn’t seem to have any intention of letting me meet him.

It wasn’t that I didn’t understand.

Since he’s a fortune teller he believes in so much, there’s a high possibility that he’s shared a lot with Echen.

“It doesn’t seem like you particularly want to meet a man right now, so why are you so concerned about destiny?”

At Echen’s words, I closed my mouth for a moment.

“I was just curious. It’s okay if I can’t meet him.”

Even as I said that, I didn’t get up from my seat and just stared at Echen.

He’s the one who created an unknown mercenary guild and raised it to the top in an instant.

It’s not something one genius can do.

There are all kinds of people among the mercenaries. Echen must have understood and handled those people well, which is why the current Echesis Mercenary Guild exists.

“……This is a story about my friend.”

“Ah, a friend’s story.”

“She’s not a bad kid… but she treated a slave a little harshly because of circumstances?”

“She’s not a bad kid, but she treated a slave harshly?”

“No, she didn’t hit or torture him. Just, her words were a little harsh…”

“Hmm.”

“It’s not like she hated or disliked the slave. The harsh words she said weren’t exactly sincere either.”

“…….”

“The slave was injured, but she secretly treated him from behind. Honestly, she cared about him. But the slave doesn’t know that.”

I frowned after saying that much.

“Why…… why are you smiling like that?”

Echen had been smiling brightly enough to make me feel bad since a while ago.