Lord Baby Runs A Romance Fantasy With Cash [EN]: Chapter 174

☆ 174 ☆

* * *

I swept my hair back.

I was now somewhat used to the hair that ended shorter than my shoulders.

The same went for my eye level, which was much higher than my original view.

‘I’ve been going around as Surah that many times.’

That also meant I had met Echen just as many times.

“Welcome.”

Echen, who was sitting, greeted me with a relaxed smile.

A man with an infinitely ordinary impression compared to the flamboyant men around me.

But seeing his relaxed smile, I felt a little awkward for some reason.

A strange tension.

It wasn’t for nothing that guys like Echen were actually popular with women.

I glanced around and asked, “I don’t see Varen?”

“…Why are you looking for that guy?”

There was a subtle edge to his words.

*Did they fight?*

Varen had an unpleasant way of speaking, but he didn’t seem the type to stand up to Echen.

Unlike his bandit-like physique, wasn’t he a surprisingly clever and affectionate guy?

“No, well… Varen said he hadn’t seen my face in a while.”

When Azul went to the mercenary group in my place, he chatted with Varen and told me he’d heard that.

“Do you miss him?”

*What kind of question is that?*

I nodded, puzzled, “Yeah.”

It’s not like I’d go out of my way to meet him, but I’d be happy to see him if we ran into each other.

“Why?”

“Why? Because it’s been a while? And it’s fun to talk to Varen.”

I sat down and looked at the table.

There was my favorite iced chocolate and a cookie filled with large chunks of chocolate.

It was the same cookie that Echen had given me as a service when I met Lord Kaishen—or rather, Echen.

The cookie I like.

“……”

For some reason, my heart fluttered.

The corners of my lips turned up on their own.

*Does Echen deliberately prepare things like this when he meets me?*

‘But Echen doesn’t know I’m the Paeraton Duchess.’

Seeing as he gave it to me, the Paeraton Duchess, it might just be a common cookie floating around in the mercenary group.

“……”

Thinking that, I suddenly felt down again.

Happy one moment, gloomy the next.

‘…Am I going through menopause?’

I counted my age from my past life and my current life, but even adding them all up, it wasn’t time for menopause yet.

More than anything, my body was that of a coltish eleven-year-old.

I glared at the cookie for no reason and then raised my head.

I met Echen’s eyes straight away.

He was looking at me with very deep eyes.

As if he had never taken his eyes off me.

I awkwardly tucked my hair behind my ear.

He smiled.

“I’ve handled your request perfectly. I delivered it to the Empress like this.”

Echen slid a report over to me.

“Thank you.”

I quickly reached out for the report—.

‘Ah.’

Echen’s fingers and my fingers accidentally touched.

I flinched.

Before I knew it, I curled my fingers, and the flimsy paper fluttered and was about to fall to the floor.

“Eua?”

As I fumbled, Echen caught the falling paper and handed it back to me.

As if telling me not to drop it this time, his large hand completely enveloped my hand.

Our fingers intertwined.

Echen’s hand lingered longer than I thought.

“Echen?”

“Hold it properly.”

“Okay.”

I nodded.

Only then did Echen withdraw his hand.

The sensation of his fingers brushing against the back of my hand as he pulled away was very unfamiliar.

I tapped the documents on the table to organize them and bowed my head.

‘It was firm.’

Well, his fingers would be firm rather than soft.

I stole a glance at Echen’s fingers.

*They’re long.*

When he held the glass, the veins stood out on the back of his smooth hand.

I quickly turned my gaze away as if I had seen something I shouldn’t have.

“Let’s see, the content is……”

I mumbled for no reason and turned the page—.

“……Huh?”

*What kind of novel is this?*

Inside the report, Felix Kaishen, a smooth-faced gigolo, was seducing Lady Chavonne, a wealthy widow.

Well, Lady Chavonne *is* indeed a wealthy widow, and Lord Kaishen’s face *is* indeed smooth.

“……Lady, you must be very tired. Because you’re running around in my head all day?”

Wow.

There were cheesy lines that seemed like they would only work in the 80s.

‘Uh… But when I think about it, it doesn’t feel that different from when I shower my family with cringe….’

Suddenly, a sense of self-disgust threatened to wash over me.

I hurriedly scattered my thoughts.

“You reported that Lord Kaishen said these things? Oh my, goodness. Lady Chavonne’s reaction is even more amazing.”

*You’ve completely turned the two of them into adulterous men and women?*

Even before her sick husband died…….

I frowned involuntarily.

‘But what is it? I can’t stop.’

I quickly turned the page to see the next chapter.

‘Wow, this is no joke. Wow. So the two of them even at the husband’s funeral? Oh my, goodness, goodness! Such an outrageous……!’

Isn’t the fun of watching scandalous affairs enjoying the drama while cursing at it?

I secretly chewed, tore, tasted, and enjoyed the adulterous couple’s exploits.

Then I felt a gaze.

“Ahem, ahem.”

I primly put down the documents.

“Who wrote this?”

“I did.”

*Huh? Echen?*

‘Wow, Echen. His writing skills are no joke.’

If he had been born on Earth, he would have become the king of K- 막장 [over-the-top, scandalous] dramas.

Wouldn’t the viewership rating be 70%?

No, that’s not it!

“Do you perhaps have a grudge against Lord Kaishen? You’ve completely… um, made him out to be like that.”

When I think about it, it was strange from the day Echen brought the cookies and beat up Lord Kaishen’s hand.

But Echen simply shrugged with a clean face.

“I have no feelings at all. I simply embellished it in a way that the Empress would believe. I had to give a plausible reason for the three people to meet.”

“Hmm……”

It seems like another script would have been enough, but.

In any case, it was a convincing statement.

Because all doubts disappear in the face of this incredible 막장 [scandalous] affair.

“…Thank you for accepting what must have been a rather unreasonable request.”

Echen chuckled.

“It *was* an unreasonable request. Because it was about deceiving another client.”

I pouted my lips.

“You could have refused.”

“I won’t refuse.”

It was a very firm statement.

“Huh?”

At the unexpected reaction, I raised my head and looked at Echen.

“Your requests.”

“……”

“I will never refuse.”

His eyes were so intense and inescapable, as if he would never let me go.

I stared blankly at him for a long time.

‘When I met his eyes, I couldn’t think of anything.’

A sentence I had read so often.

*Is that what it’s like?*

Is this what it feels like to have your heart so full?

Suffocating, anxious, nervous, and yet—.

*Thump, thump.*

The sound of my heart beating rang like thunder in my ears.

I couldn’t think of anything.

“……Surah.”

At his soft call, I snapped back to my senses.

Uh…….

So…….

‘Surah is…….’

I barely managed to take my eyes off him and bowed my head.

Only then, like someone released from a spell, could I breathe freely.

‘I’m not Surah.’

No, it’s true that I’m Surah, but.

The Surah that Echen knows is not me.

If he had met Echen in my real form, he would not have shown me this kind of interest.

‘More than anything, our ages are…….’

Echen is an adult, and I’m just an eleven-year-old.

*Thump, thump.*

No, but why is my heart beating like this?

I dropped my head.

“Surah?”

Echen was startled and came to me.

I raised my head weakly.

Echen’s face was right in front of me.

“I care about looks, you know. I like handsome men.”

Words I said to him a long time ago.

I must be crazy.

Echen *is* handsome.

“What, what should I do?”

“What’s wrong? Are you sick?”

He asked anxiously.

Oh my gosh, even his furrowed brow looks a little sexy.

‘…I think I’m sick. My mind, that is.’

I cupped my cheeks.

They were hot.

A sudden rise in body temperature.

This isn’t menopause.

‘This is…….”

I was now fluttered by Echen.

No, not just now, but from much earlier.

Echen put his hand on my forehead.

His big hand felt good.

“You’re hot. Do you have a summer cold?”

“No……”

I shook my head.

‘I’m really crazy.’

Is this that?

It’s like when you’re a student, you feel a little fluttered by your teacher for no reason.

Have I reached that age now?

‘No, but how many handsome men are there around me, and why Echen of all people.’

What’s wrong with Echen!

Good skin! Neat looking! Tall! Broad shoulders and a good body! Not to mention his abilities!

Do you think men like this are common?!

A voice deep inside me protested.

I worked hard to refute that voice.

‘Honestly, compared to my brothers…… No, even compared to Sid, who is still much younger.’

Sid.

“What are you guys doing? Are you dating?”

I shouted absolutely not at Kaishen, but.

Actually, I was secretly happy to hear those words.

I was happy that Sid came to save me then.

He hadn’t bothered with me since the dawn festival, but he still came, I thought.

I was secretly happy.

Second life, zero dating experience.

But I’ve read over thousands of romance fantasies.

As someone who has experienced countless vicarious thrills, I know what this feeling is.

I looked at Echen with a tearful face.

“What should I do……”

“What’s wrong? Are you very sick?”

“I, I think I’m a 바람둥이 [player/ flirtatious person].”

Echen’s face was filled with bewilderment at my words.

* * *

“Chief! You’ve com一 Heok!”

Varen raised his hand to Echen in greeting, but he was startled and stumbled backward.

A ferocious aura was overflowing and spreading from behind Echen.

His face was expressionless, but he was more murderous than ever.

“Why, why is he like that?”

Varen asked Nemis, stammering.

Nemis shook his head.

How would he know?

He was always like a satiated beast after meeting Surah, but.

Now he seemed like a beast that hadn’t eaten for days, no, months, and was about to bite everything around him.

‘Let’s not touch him, let’s not touch him.’

The moment Varen and Nemis, who had agreed with a glance, were about to leave their seats.

“Nemis.”

“Yes, yes. Chief!”

Even Nemis, who was always calm, answered with a tense expression.

“Do you have a lover?”

“Pardon?”

Echen didn’t ask again.

Nemis answered, hiccuping.

“N, no, I don’t.”

“You better tell me the truth.”

“……I do.”

“Sit down.”

Echen pointed to the sofa with his chin.

Nemis sat down in the seat with tears in his eyes, like a cow being dragged to the slaughterhouse.

Varen subtly watched and took a seat in the corner of the room.

If Nemis dies, he should at least collect the body.

He also had to inform Nemis’s lover of his death.

Echen sat across from him and remained silent for a while.

Just when Nemis and Varen were about to faint from the suffocating silence, his lips opened.

“……Jo, is a woman.”

“Yes?”

“Jo is a woman?”

Nemis and Varen tilted their heads at the same time.

Echen bit his lip.

“Joa…… woman.”

“Joa, a woman? You like women?”

“Haha, our Chief. You acted like you weren’t interested in women at all!”

Varen, who had immediately relaxed, approached, chuckling.

Echen’s face became more ferocious. He spat out as if chewing.

“Likes……!”

“Likes?”

“Joa, woman, likes?”

“You mean *likes* a woman?”

Nemis and Varen’s eyes widened.

Echen’s ears were bright red.

‘This, this?’

‘I think that’s right?’

The two exchanged glances.

Echen was actually giving relationship advice!

The two hurriedly shut their mouths.

Because it felt like their gums would show otherwise.

‘It must be about Surah?’

‘There’s no one but Surah.’

At first, they denied it, saying that there was no way a guy like Echen would like someone.

But it had been several months, and now they couldn’t help but notice.

And Varen and Nemis were secretly cheering for the two of them.

The two looked at Echen’s lips with pounding hearts.

Was he going to talk about what happened today?

*What on earth happened!*

“She says she’s a 바람둥이 [player/ flirtatious person].”

“Pardon?!”

“A, a 바람둥이 [player/ flirtatious person]?”

The two opened their mouths wide at the unexpected turn of events.

“What does that mean?”

“Uh, that’s…….”

*Was he rejected?*

Was our Chief dumped after confessing?