Lord Baby Runs A Romance Fantasy With Cash [EN]: Chapter 108

☆ 109 ☆

“Ruatisha!”

Klatier grasped my hands tightly, her eyes filled with tears.

“I’m sorry… I must have been out of my mind. How could I do such a thing? I’m so sorry.”

I was a little surprised.

I thought Klatier wouldn’t be able to withstand this atmosphere and would reveal her true colors,
like when she grabbed my hair earlier.

But she’s crying and begging for forgiveness?

‘It seems like Marquis Tarenka’s presence has brought her to her senses. She realizes she could really be ruined if she doesn’t play nice.’

Then I need to adjust my strategy a bit?

“I think I was momentarily blinded by greed. I did something I shouldn’t have.”

As Klatier tried to approach me, Dad hugged me tightly as if to protect me.

Klatier paused at the sight, then gave a pained smile.

“You have such a loving family, but my parents are divorced.”

“……”

“It felt like there was an emptiness in me that nothing could fill. So, I think I tried to fill it by winning the Dawn Festival.”

I felt truly disgusted.

Because in my past life, I was an orphan.

I only searched for my parents after I had grown up.

I figured it was unavoidable that she was a young, unwed mother and secretly gave birth to me.

It was more than twenty years ago, so things were different then; it must have been even harder.

That’s what I told myself.

But my heart just doesn’t feel that way.

My biological father told me that I wasn’t his child and cursed the woman he had impregnated a long time ago.

It always felt like there was an empty space.

Life was hard, and I couldn’t escape the basement room until I died.

I don’t think I lived a life that was worthy of being condemned, even if it wasn’t a great life.

I had to work hard to live that way.

Seeing Klatier lying without any sincerity, just to gain sympathy and get through this situation, made my heart sink coldly.

‘Even now, look. She’s glancing sideways at Marquis Tarenka.’

In the end, she’s not saying it to me, but to Marquis Tarenka.

If she were sincere, would she be doing that?

No, it’s a problem even if she’s sincere.

What’s the deal with committing a wrong and then saying to the victim, ‘Actually, I did it because I have these kinds of pains’?

Am I supposed to understand because I’m also a victim?

And if I don’t understand, I’m a bad person?

“Everyone likes you. Even now. This is a really thorny situation for me, but everyone ignores me and revolves around you. Maybe it’s because I live apart from my parents, but I always feel so alienated……”

Is she really trying to play the victim right now?

“It’s natural for people to care about the victim, Young Lady Tarenka.”

Klatier’s face hardened.

“The reason this situation has become thorny is because of the crime you committed, and the reason people are caring about me now is because I’m the victim.”

“……”

“Everyone likes me, but is that important now? Does that mean I can be harmed like this because I’m loved?”

“I think you’re misunderstanding me……”

“Don’t say it’s a misunderstanding. That’s what you mean, isn’t it? If the false accusation hadn’t been cleared, I would have been pointed at and ostracized from society for a crime I didn’t commit.”

“……”

“You commit such a thing and say that you’re having a hard time because you’re from a divorced family and I’m loved?”

“It’s true.”

Klatier’s eyes were stubborn.

“Is that something you should be saying, Young Lady, of all people? Leave my deceased mother out of this.”

“I just wanted to apologize!”

Klatier shouted as if to cut me off.

Seeing her face filled with embarrassment, I smirked inwardly.

What to do? Even her victim act isn’t working out as she planned.

I noticed that Marquis Tarenka was looking at Klatier with a stiff face.

“Accepting the apology is entirely up to the Duchess.”

The Emperor, who had been watching the situation, stepped in.

“Young Lady Tarenka, you dared to try to frame Duchess Paeraton at the Dawn Festival that I personally attended. This is not something that will end with seeking Paeraton’s forgiveness. It is also a crime of insulting the Imperial Family.”

“Yo, Your Majesty, I had no intention of doing that……”

“Didn’t you say it yourself? This is not a simple act of cheating, but an insult to the Imperial Family.”

Since it was what she had said, Klatier had nothing to say.

“I will respect Duchess Paeraton’s wishes first.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty. Then, may I have a conversation with Young Lady Tarenka alone? A heart-to-heart between peers.”

“Do as you wish.”

Dad and my brothers looked at me with worried expressions, but when I smiled brightly, they ended up just patting my head without saying anything.

Everyone left the inner room, leaving only me and Klatier.

Just before the servant closed the door, my eyes met Marquis Tarenka’s.

I nonchalantly turned my gaze away and tapped my ear with the end of my folded fan.

* * *

Once they were alone, Klatier glared at Ruatisha with fierce eyes.

“What are you plotting? Are you going to say that I acted violently when we talked alone and ask for a stronger punishment?”

The Emperor said he would respect Ruatisha’s wishes, so she was clearly trying to play tricks based on that.

But Ruatisha looked at Klatier as if she was absurd.

“Would it even work if I said that? The Emperor will be able to get a lot from Tarenka in exchange for letting you off the hook.”

“……”

“Do you think my one word will change His Majesty’s mind and make him give up that benefit?”

Listening to her, she was right.

It would be a bit of a burden for the Emperor to impose a strong punishment on a young lady who is still in her early teens.

So he would suggest a negotiation to her grandfather first.

‘Grandfather will then accept the Emperor’s conditions, pretending he can’t win.’

He wouldn’t ask to be excused from the crime, but he would definitely do that much.

This wasn’t just a problem limited to herself.

Klatier became more relaxed.

“Then why did you say you wanted to talk alone?”

“I don’t think I’ll be seeing you in society anymore, so I thought I should listen to your last words. You couldn’t say what you really wanted to say because you were watching my every move.”

The words ‘I don’t think I’ll be seeing you in society anymore’ stabbed Klatier’s heart.

“Why are you so confident? You trapped me!”

“If you hadn’t tried to frame me, none of this would have happened. Are you passing the blame for your mistakes onto me?”

“How can you not give in even one word?”

“Isn’t that because you’re not good at arguing due to your not-so-good head?”

Klatier’s eyes trembled.

After staring at Ruatisha for a moment, Klatier chuckled.

“Well, you’ve always been shameless.”

Seeing Ruatisha flinch, Klatier smiled more intensely.

‘As expected.’

She hasn’t escaped from that rat-like time at all.

“You don’t even know the grace of being taken in and raised, and you’re threatening my dad.”

“Grace?”

“Yeah, have you forgotten your place?”

“……What is my place?”

Ruatisha was trying to act confident, but her eyes were trembling with fear.

Look at that pale face.

She hit the weakness properly.

“You used to be the one polishing my shoes.”

Klatier smiled crookedly and crossed her legs.

The hem of her dress lifted, revealing her shiny shoes.

“Born because your mom cheated so dirty, how are you still acting like a Paeraton?”

Ruatisha couldn’t say anything and bit her lip tightly.

Klatier was even more excited at that reaction.

She was finally able to suppress her for acting so high and mighty throughout the Dawn Festival.

“A bastard like you should be grateful just for being fed and sheltered in our house.”

Seeing Ruatisha’s distorted face, a sense of exhilaration washed over her.

But it’s still not enough.

Considering the humiliation she had suffered, it was far from enough.

“Now, come here and polish my shoes like you used to.”

Klatier tilted her chin, flicking those shoes.

It was then.

Bang!

The door to the inner room burst open with a rough sound.

Marquis Tarenka stood tall at the doorway with a shadowed face.

He was silent.

However, his fiercely burning eyes showed how angry he was.

“……What, what’s going on?”

“G, Grandfather!”

Klatier was startled and didn’t know what to do.

“You told her to polish your shoes?”

Marquis Tarenka’s gaze swept over Klatier, who was crossing her legs and holding out her shoes.

Only then did Klatier straighten her posture and jump up.

“O, misunderstanding!”

“How did you treat that child in your house!”

“It’s, it’s a joke. We were just playing princess! We were taking turns being princesses and maids.”

“How can a child only tell lies when she opens her mouth! Are you insulting me!”

Klatier trembled like an aspen tree at the loud roar.

“I, I would never dare to do that. I’m just, just……”

At that moment, Ruatisha stood with her back to Marquis Tarenka.

Klatier’s gaze, which had been searching for an excuse with a pale face, naturally turned towards her.

Ruatisha was smiling brightly.

Slowly, her lips moved silently.

‘Are you being fooled again? You’re not just an idiot, you’re a super idiot.’

Sparks flew from Klatier’s green eyes.

“Y, you!”

Klatier, enraged, rushed towards Ruatisha.

But her arm couldn’t even reach Ruatisha.

Black magic parted the two, protecting and wrapping around Ruatisha.

“What are you doing?”

Duke Paeraton’s cold voice echoed clearly.

The Paeraton family and even the Emperor came back to the inner room at the sound of the door being opened violently.

“Wow, are you really crazy? You couldn’t stand it and tried to lay a hand on our cotton ball?”

“Your Majesty, it would be better to detain that person immediately. If Your Majesty doesn’t do it, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

Ares said to the Emperor with a bright smile like the spring sun.

“I think it would be better to just take care of it now.”

Klatier stopped breathing at Zeon’s sharp gaze.

She opened her mouth, gasping for air.

“No, I’m……. This is all Ruatisha deliberately…….”

“I didn’t know Klatier unnie [older sister] thought that way.”

Ruatisha cut off Klatier’s words and muttered with a sullen expression.

“She ignored me, saying I was a bastard with not a drop of Paeraton blood, but she got angry because it looked like I was going to win at the Dawn Festival.”

It was a quiet murmur as if she was upset.

However, the ripple effect that the words brought was enormous.

Klatier couldn’t understand Ruatisha, who was saying her weaknesses with her own mouth.

Wasn’t that the story she wanted to hide the most from her family?

But.

“Ba… bastard?”

The expressions disappeared from Duke and the sons of Paeraton.

Klatier realized that something was seriously wrong when she saw the four pairs of red eyes looking at her.

Marquis Tarenka closed his eyes.

He had a daughter whom he loved more than anyone.

When that child smiled, he wanted to give her the world, and when that child cried, he wanted to give her his life.

She was smart, bold, and had a lot of guts from a young age.

Naturally, he thought of her as his successor, and his daughter also knew and was happy about that.

He thought they would continue to be happy like that.

Until his daughter said she would marry the Paeraton Vice-Duke.

The shock and betrayal that Marquis Tarenka felt when she said she would become the Duchess of Paeraton was indescribable.

At first, he was angry, and then he coaxed and soothed her.

The son under his daughter was a troublemaker from a young age, and he didn’t know what he would do if he even seized power.

It would have been better if he was just a little lacking.

But his son had a history of killing a maid.

Thinking about it now, he should have kicked him out of the family back then, no matter how much he opposed it.

His daughter was worried about Nicholas inheriting the title, but she didn’t change her mind.

He was resentful, but what parent could oppose her saying that she wanted to find her own life?

However, he was concerned that the other party was the Paeraton Vice-Duke.

Marquis Tarenka knew him well.

He wasn’t a man who could make his daughter happy.

As expected, when he asked if he loved his daughter, he replied that he didn’t have such feelings for Paeraton.

It was natural that Marquis Tarenka, who had softened at his daughter’s stubbornness, opposed it again.

“You foolish thing, why are you going to marry that guy of all people? There are plenty of men in the world who will worship you. But that guy is…….

“I know. I’m okay, Father. I’m okay. And I’m happy.”

Seeing his daughter smiling brightly, he didn’t have the energy to oppose her anymore.

After sending his daughter off to get married, he lost his motivation for everything in the world.

He still didn’t like his son. He became even more reckless, thinking that he was the only successor.

Seeing that, he hated his daughter.

He felt that life was so futile.

Marquis Tarenka withdrew from the central political scene and spent his days half-confined in his marquisate [territory of a marquis].

He didn’t even go to see his daughter on purpose.

It was clear that he would only get frustrated if he went.

Then he heard the news that she had given birth to her first child.

He thought that she had been making her father’s heart rot, but she was still doing well, so he went to see her.

Expecting to see her living happily with her child.

But that expectation was shattered the moment he arrived at the Paeraton Duke’s residence.

The child, who looked exactly like the Paeraton Duke, never smiled once at his mother.

And he was extremely wary of people coming around.

He had rushed over at the news that she had given birth to a grandchild, but he couldn’t even hold that grandchild once.

He was speechless, and the people of the Duke’s residence told him.

That Paeraton didn’t really need such emotional exchanges.

That the child would grow up well, so don’t worry too much.

Blood spurted from his throat.

Wasn’t his daughter, who couldn’t even have emotional exchanges with her own child, visible?

“Let’s go back.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Listen to your father. Are you going to live the rest of your life in this withered place?!”

“It’s not withered. It may look like that on the outside. But it’s not. Father doesn’t know anything about my husband or my son.”

“What don’t I know! I came here and never saw your child smile at you once!”

“That’s not everything.”

“If you don’t come back, I will never see your face again in my life!”

“Then I can’t help it.”

“What?! Are you really not going to see this father?”

His daughter smiled bitterly at the face of her father, who was more shocked after saying it first.

“Father, I’m already the Duchess of Paeraton. And… don’t worry too much. I’m happy.”

Marquis Tarenka returned to his territory that way.

And he never set foot in the Paeraton territory again.

He wondered who would win.

After a few years, he resented, hated, and was resentful of his daughter.

She had another child, but why didn’t she ever come to visit.

If she came to visit under some excuse, he wouldn’t tell her to break up anymore.

He would click his tongue as if he was dissatisfied, but he would still hug her tightly.

If only she would show her face even once a year.

Was it because the old man’s stubbornness only increased?

He was about to go first, but he sat down again several times.

Then he heard the news of her death.

His daughter had died.