Lord Baby Runs A Romance Fantasy With Cash [EN]: Chapter 176

☆ Chapter 176 ☆

* * *

“I didn’t expect you to come looking for me first, Lady Chavonne,” the Empress said, reclining languidly on the sofa and smiling at Muriel Chavonne as she entered the room.

“Or would you prefer I call you Madam Sara, as usual?” Her gaze was sharp.

But Muriel simply smiled and bowed her head.

“Call me whatever pleases Your Majesty.”

“Ha! You don’t even deny it.”

Muriel glanced at Lady Aizel, who was standing beside the Empress, and frowned.

“Your Majesty still has no eye for people. To still keep Lady Aizel by your side.”

“She seems far more trustworthy than you, who approached me in disguise and stabbed me in the back.”

“How can you be so sure who stabbed you in the back, Your Majesty? You don’t have eyes in the back of your head.”

“But I have those who can be my eyes and ears.”

The air in the room froze with the intense confrontation.

“Hmph, very well. I didn’t come here to raise my voice.”

“Let me tell you now, if you’ve come to make useless excuses, they won’t work.”

“First, send Lady Aizel out.”

The Empress scoffed at those words.

“Lady Aizel is the most loyal of my subjects, and my closest aide, like my own hands and feet. I have nothing to say behind Lady Aizel’s back.”

“Do you truly mean those words?”

“No matter what honeyed words you use to try and drive a wedge between me and Lady Aizel, it will be of no use.”

Muriel smiled mockingly.

“Very well. Then I shall speak in front of Lady Aizel. About ten years ago from now.”

The Empress’s eyes wavered at those words.

Muriel Chavonne smiled seductively as she looked at Lady Aizel.

“I suppose I should start with that story.”

The Empress’s face was filled with anger.

But at the same time, her heart sank.

Regardless of how much she trusted Lady Aizel, everyone wanted to hide their sins.

But she had just said, ‘No matter what happens, I trust you, I plan to use you greatly, and so on.’

There was no way she could tell her to leave now.

Sensing the Empress’s unease, Lady Aizel bowed her head.

“I will step aside so that the two of you can talk comfortably, Your Majesty.”

“You? No, there’s no need for that,” the Empress said, even as her face brightened.

Lady Aizel smiled inwardly as she lowered her head.

“No, Your Majesty. If I am here, Lady Chavonne might beat around the bush and not say what is truly important. There’s no need to waste time.”

“…Since you say so. Hmph, I understand.”

Lady Aizel bowed her head and turned around.

As she walked towards the door, she met Muriel Chavonne’s eyes.

Her hands were cold.

The painful memories of that day did not easily disappear.

But.

‘In the end, it turned out as the Princess and I wanted.’

The memory of victory was greater.

Looking at Chavonne’s face, which seemed ready to kill her, Lady Aizel felt confidence rather than fear.

‘And it will be the same this time.’

Lady Aizel calmly walked past Lady Chavonne.

* * *

Outside the room, Lady Aizel moved quickly.

She left the drawing-room, turned right, passed the first room, and entered the next.

Without hesitation, Lady Aizel moved the vase and slowly turned the hands of the grandfather clock.

Click.

Hearing the small sound, she quickly removed her hand from the clock hands.

Then, the wall next to it began to move silently.

‘A hidden room.’

Thanks to her keen observation, she had noticed that the room right next to the drawing-room was subtly smaller.

In such cases, there was usually only one reason: a hidden space.

Creating a hidden room next to the drawing-room was almost certainly for eavesdropping.

She had investigated the room whenever she had time, but she couldn’t find the door to the hidden room.

“Well, then investigate the room next to it. It’s likely they made it so you can enter from another room. If you went straight into the room next door, it would be too obvious, so they might have deliberately made the entrance in the room after that,” Ruatisha’s words echoed in her mind.

Ruatisha’s words were correct.

There was a subtle ledge under the vase.

When she lifted the vase, the clock that had been running normally stopped.

How her heart had pounded the day she discovered the hidden room.

Her heart was pounding now as well.

Lady Aizel looked into the space illuminated by a faint light.

The moment she was about to take a step—

—You promised.

A youthful voice echoed in her ear like a hallucination.

—You promised me you wouldn’t do anything dangerous.

“……”

After her body had fully recovered, Lady Aizel made a promise with Ruatisha.

“Thanks to Lady Aizel, we were able to stop the Empress and Chavonne’s plot. Thank you so much.”

“How many times are you going to say thank you? Still, it’s nice to hear一.”

“But.”

Ruatisha looked at Lady Aizel with a firm face.

“From now on, you don’t need to give me any information.”

“……Yes?”

“Thank you for everything, Lady Aizel.”

Lady Aizel blankly stared at Ruatisha, who was bowing her head, and hurriedly said.

“Why, why? Did I make a mistake? I……”

*I feel like I’ve finally found something I’m good at, something I want to do.*

*I have someone I want to be with.*

*Why are you, who showed me that to me, doing this?*

“I never expected this to happen to Lady Aizel. I just thought it would be enough for you to be by the Empress’s side and tell me information when I asked. So I thought there would be no chance of you getting hurt.”

“……”

“But Lady Aizel did better than I thought. No, I knew you would do well, but I didn’t know you would do things that I didn’t even ask you to do.”

“……”

“You’ve already paid the price. I’ll let you go now. I’ll destroy all information about you and the Aizel family.”

“Yes?”

“You were forced to follow me because you were threatened, Lady Aizel.”

*What?*

*What are you talking about?*

*We’re not like that一.*

“I’ll let you go.”

一That’s not it.

Ruatisha smiled.

A smile that clearly drew a line.

*I want you to be safe, so you can stop helping me now.*

*Because I know you won’t listen if I say that.*

Lady Aizel gritted her teeth.

“You didn’t threaten me.”

“No. I threatened Lady Aizel.”

“I didn’t have any information that was disadvantageous to me from the beginning.”

“……Are your memories wrong? I was there then一.”

“Lies.”

“……”

“I did it of my own will.”

Lady Aizel’s eyes gleamed as if she would never yield.

Ruatisha closed her lips, which had been parted.

“Even the Princess can’t say anything about this. I wasn’t pushed into it, I didn’t do it because I had no choice. I decided on my own, thinking for myself.”

“……”

“To help the Princess.”

The two glared at each other with the determination not to back down.

It was as if they were fighting.

“Then promise me,” Ruatisha said, grinding her teeth.

“That you won’t push ahead knowing it’s dangerous like this time.”

“……”

“That you will always prioritize your safety.”

“……”

“Promise me that.”

Ruatisha’s voice trembled slightly at the end.

Only then did Lady Aizel realize what kind of wound the danger to her had caused this kind and gentle child.

How much this little child had blamed herself.

Something welled up from within.

Lady Aizel smiled brightly.

“Don’t worry. I don’t like that kind of thing either. I didn’t particularly want to die before, but now I want to live longer than ever.”

Unable to hold back the surging affection, she hugged her, and the child smiled brightly in her arms.

“It’s a promise.”

The little finger she held out as she said that.

“……”

That face still vividly filled her eyes.

‘……I’m just going to eavesdrop.’

There’s no danger.

It’s not like I’m tailing Muriel Chavonne, what could happen?

Having made up her mind, Lady Aizel stepped into the room.

* * *

“You haven’t even offered me refreshments, even though it’s been a while since we’ve met?”

“Refreshments? Hah! You are truly shameless. I am already showing you mercy by not punishing you!”

Muriel chuckled at the Empress’s words.

She elegantly took a seat on the sofa without being given permission to sit.

The enraged Empress was about to speak when Muriel preempted her.

“What reason do you have to punish me?”

“What?”

“For imprisoning and torturing Lady Aizel?”

“……”

“Then you would have to say how I tortured her. The Imperial Palace restricts the use of any power, so you would also have to explain why I was able to use my power.”

The Empress’s eyes twitched.

“Only that warehouse has the power restriction lifted. Wouldn’t people—especially His Majesty the Emperor and Her Highness the Empress—find that very strange?”

“Muriel Chavonne!”

“Hmph, isn’t the Empress the one who would be in the most trouble anyway?”

Muriel leaned forward.

“Or perhaps you intend to punish me for something else?”

“……I wonder what would happen if it were known that you brought suspicious potions into the Imperial Palace.”

“Ah, right. While being investigated, I would have to explain what effects that suspicious potion has. I can’t lie to His Majesty the Emperor.”

Muriel grinned.

“It’s a potion that makes Sidrian go crazy, and I joined hands with the Empress to get rid of him.”

“You wench!”

The Empress rose to her feet in excitement, but Muriel simply leaned back on the sofa with ease.

“Ah, right. To talk about the berserk state, I would have to start with the story of Sidrian. I would have to explain why that potion only makes Sidrian crazy.”

The Empress’s face trembled with anger.

Seeing that, Muriel smiled mockingly.

*‘Why, did you think I would beg for forgiveness? Or would I make a tearful plea, saying that I would never betray you?’*

Hmph, that’s what humans are like.

If you don’t make them understand their place once in a while, they will constantly try to climb over you.

“An Empress of the Empire who wanted to kill the child between the Emperor and Empress, and joined hands with a woman whose identity is unknown……”

Muriel trailed off, giving a bitter smile.

“Wouldn’t that be a very appropriate reason for impeachment?”

“You……! Do you think you’ll be safe if that’s revealed?!”

“Hmm, if you reveal that the woman whose identity is unknown was actually me, I would be in quite a bit of trouble.”

Muriel shrugged.

“If you want to get me in trouble, try saying it.”

“……”

“I wonder what kind of expression Her Highness the Empress will make.”

Muriel smiled softly.

“The Princess she thought was her own daughter is a fake born to a concubine who didn’t even receive a title, and what will happen when she finds out that Sidrian is her own son.”

The Empress trembled and glared at Muriel.

“How will His Majesty the Emperor react? Unlike his cold attitude during her lifetime, he was terribly saddened after the Princess died.”

The Empress, who would normally have screamed and acted violently, could not say anything.

She could only glare with a breathy sigh, ready to tear her apart.

Seeing that, Muriel chuckled.

“Isn’t that why Your Majesty the Empress can’t do anything even though you want to grind your teeth at me?”

Muriel stood up and gently took the Empress’s hand.

The Empress’s trembling hand was as cold as a corpse.

But the Empress could not bring herself to shake off Muriel’s hand.

Muriel met the Empress’s eyes and smiled brightly.

“Your Majesty, we are in the same boat.”

“Does someone in the same boat betray?”