Lord Baby Runs A Romance Fantasy With Cash [EN]: Chapter 209

“Since Your Majesty is so curious, let’s cut to the chase and get straight to the point.”

“That’s why I like the Princess. These days, nobles all have such long tongues.”

“Isn’t it because the news I bring with few words pleases Your Majesty more than the nobles flattering with their long tongues?”

The Emperor wore a dumbfounded expression before laughing as if he’d been caught off guard, “Haha!”

The Emperor was a calculating and shrewd monarch.

He valued practical benefits far more than pleasant flattery.

‘……So, how about this.’

In terms of benefits—I don’t know.

This is information that varies depending on what scale the receiver has.

‘But it’s a story about his own flesh and blood.’

Isn’t a parent’s heart one that puts aside weighing pros and cons when it comes to their child?

“The Princess catches me off guard. To be honest, that’s right. But.”

The Emperor looked at me with amusement and continued.

“It’s also true that I enjoy talking with the Princess herself.”

I smiled.

“Then I can tell today’s story with a much more relaxed heart.”

“Hmm?”

“I was a little worried because the story I brought today isn’t very pleasant for His Majesty.”

The Emperor’s expression became subtle.

The expression of someone caught in their own trap.

I smiled brightly, not caring.

“Since you enjoy talking to me, you’ll listen happily, right?”

As I took out the video stone [a magical device for recording and playing videos] from my bosom, the Emperor frowned.

“Isn’t that a video stone? To show me the Princess’s video that only circulates within the Paeraton Duchy—”

Hey, there’s no way that’s it.

“It wouldn’t be.”

The Emperor glanced at my face and said, “Just kidding, just kidding,” laughing.

“Even if you try to probe me with such jokes, it’s no use. It seems better for Your Majesty to see it directly than for me to mention it first.”

The Emperor clicked his tongue.

“The Princess, who has never been like this before, is threatening me with bad news, so I’m anxious about what’s going on.”

The Emperor grumbled and then nodded.

“Alright. Let’s play the video.”

At those words, I activated the video stone.

Soon, the video began to emerge within the clear crystal.

* * *

The video finished playing.

The Emperor’s face was stiff and showed no signs of relaxing.

When even the video operating sound completely stopped, a heavy silence fell in the inner chamber.

“……Sidrian is the Empress’s child.”

“That is correct, Your Majesty.”

A deep sigh escaped from the Emperor’s lips.

He was silent again for a while.

I didn’t urge him and waited quietly.

“I, I have chosen practical benefits over my emotions since becoming the Emperor of this Empire.”

“……”

“I loved the Empress, Leila.

I felt like I could spend my whole life with this woman. No, I thought I couldn’t do it without this woman.”

“……”

“But I joined hands with the Marquis of Marvel to ascend the throne.”

“You joined hands with the Marquis of Marvel, married the Marquis of Marvel’s daughter, and placed her on the Empress’s seat.”

“Yes. I don’t regret my choice.”

I tried hard to fix the expression that was about to become twisted.

‘What’s with acting like you’re confessing your wounds.’

It was absurd.

Then you should have let the Empress go.

How embarrassed must the Empress have been, who was the Emperor’s former fiancée at the time?

The person you loved broke off the engagement with you and married someone else.

Okay, let’s concede a hundred times that this could happen because of the fight for the throne.

You should have considered the Empress, who was adrift in society with the label of the Emperor’s former fiancée, unable to do anything?

Because you couldn’t let go of your lingering feelings and kept clinging, other families couldn’t properly propose marriage, and when you made a fuss about bringing her in as the Empress, even the marriage proposals that existed disappeared.

Thinking about it again, the Empress was a saint.

She didn’t seem to have forgiven the Emperor, but she was enduring it anyway.

That alone is amazing.

‘At this point, I understand why the Empress is pissed off.’

You marry me because you need my family’s power, and then you appoint your true love, your former fiancée, as the Empress, so it’s understandable that you’d lose your mind.

‘It’s absurd that the anger is directed not at the Emperor, but at the Empress and her child, Sidrian.’

No matter how out of her mind she was, the Empress committed acts that she shouldn’t have.

Aside from the things about Sidrian, she committed numerous crimes, starting with murder.

‘Ah, thinking about it again makes me angry. Why are you grabbing our Sid, who is innocent, instead of catching your own husband?’

For a moment, my blood pressure rose, and I almost lost control of my expression.

Fortunately, the Emperor, engrossed in his own story, didn’t notice and continued to ramble.

“But Leila’s child……. Losing that child remains a deep wound for me as well.”

Oh, is that so?

You can say that because you don’t know that Sid is under a curse.

‘Annoying.’

Does he think I came here to listen to his self-pitying confession?

“The one thing I regret is not being able to protect that child.”

“You can protect him now.”

At my words, the Emperor raised his head and looked at me.

“Luatisha.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“The fact that Leila’s child, who I thought was dead, is actually Sidrian, and that he has returned to my arms alive…… is an unspeakably joyful thing for me.”

“……”

“But let’s bury this.”

“Your Majesty!”

Squeak!

The chair I roughly pushed back as I stood up scraped against the marble floor, making an unpleasant noise.

“What on earth are you saying!”

“It’s the best course of action to judge it from a grand perspective.”

Ha.

A dumbfounded breath burst out.

“Everything else is fine, okay. Even if Sid suffered because of this, even if he lived such a terrible life that he thought it would be better to die…… let’s just move on.”

An act that someone can never forgive, but for the father, the Emperor, it’s something that can be buried and moved on from.

My heart felt like it was tearing apart.

How can you do that, it’s not someone else, but your son who was switched and came back to life after almost dying.

He could have lived enjoying everything that a prince born to the Empress of the main palace should have, doesn’t it break your heart that he couldn’t?

I wanted to shout that, but it would shatter like a wave as soon as it reached the Emperor’s ears.

I calmed my emotions and said the words that could persuade the Emperor as much as possible.

“But the Empress switched Your Majesty’s child, and to make matters worse, she sent him out of the palace. Do you think she just sent him out? She sold him as a slave!”

“……”

“Even if everything else is overlooked, isn’t this a grave crime of deceiving the Emperor and harming the prince? How can you straighten out the empire without punishing this?”

A slight annoyance began to settle on the Emperor’s face. But I didn’t stop.

“Furthermore, the criminal is Her Majesty the Empress of the Empire. It is said that criminals who are not punished do not know how to regret. What other crimes will she commit?”

A heavy sigh flowed from the Emperor’s mouth.

“If I had known about this at the time, I would have immediately deposed the Empress and corrected the order.”

“……”

“But it’s been too long. And if this incident resurfaces now, the state affairs will be shaken.”

If you don’t reveal it, it won’t be shaken?

“Esteban has ascended to the position of Crown Prince, and many factions have contacted Esteban. But you’re going to depose the Empress? Do you think they’ll stand still?”

“……”

“In the end, even if it’s revealed, it won’t be anything and will only consume national power and increase confusion.”

“I still think it should be corrected.”

“Luatisha, I also wanted to make Sidrian the Crown Prince. Even when I didn’t know he was the Empress’s child, I did. You know that, don’t you? Six years ago, I gave him strength.”

“……”

“But Sidrian suddenly disappeared one day. And he came back after too long. It’s already too late.”

“Your Majesty.”

“I know what you want to say. Sidrian is a precious child to me too. He’s Leila’s child, so of course he is. Even if I bury this, I will do my best as that child’s father.”

Do your best?

You’re saying you’ll bury this and do your best?

‘No. I definitely don’t think you will?’

Thinking as an Emperor before being a father.

This may be a necessary attitude as a monarch.

But then what about Sid?

Does that child have to have someone as a father who calculates benefits before his son’s life?

‘No, it would be better if it were just that.’

This person isn’t saying he’ll bury this because he’s thinking about the state affairs as an Emperor.

“There will be immediate confusion. But what if Prince Esteban ascends the throne later?”

“Ahem…….”

“There’s a reason why Your Majesty tried to push Sid, who suddenly appeared six years ago. You didn’t even know he was the Empress’s child back then.”

“…….”

“That’s because the skills are so different.”

The Emperor closed his eyes.

“In the future, it may not end with just increasing confusion. At that time, it may be presumptuous, but…… there will be no one to sort things out.”

Who will suppress the conflict between brothers when the Emperor is dead and gone?

“If Your Majesty really thinks about the state affairs, if you think about the empire, now is the right time. The later it gets, the situation will be immeasurable.”

“Luatisha.”

The Emperor, who opened his eyes, looked at me with cold eyes.

“This is my family matter. It’s not something you should interfere in.”

Ha.

Since when could the Emperor’s family affairs be a private matter?

I thought I shouldn’t say these words, but my mouth opened.

“As expected. The reason why Your Majesty wants to just let this go is—”

“Family matter? Then I can interfere.”

With those words, the door burst open, and the Empress came in.

“Empress.”

“Ruining my life…… yes, I endured it. I gained a lot by becoming the Empress. I just accepted it even if my insides were burning.”

The Empress’s gaze, which was always calm, burned fiercely as if it would emit flames.

“But you’re going to sacrifice even my child for your great achievements? What, confusion in state affairs? Be a little more honest.”

“…….”

“If this huge incident is revealed late, the prestige of the imperial family will fall to the ground, and you will be ridiculed from behind. Isn’t it because you hate that ridicule?”

“That’s not it!”

The Emperor denied it, but the Empress just sneered.

“I’m going to give my child everything he should have enjoyed. And.”

The fiercely burning gaze glared at the Emperor.

“Not only did you dare to put a curse on my child, but you also sold him as a slave. I won’t let those who ruined my child’s life live.”

“Empress, I understand that you’re upset. I was going to tell the Empress separately…….”

Thud!

The Empress roughly shook off the Emperor’s hand.

“You’ve always been like this. When I thought my child was dead, even when you married the Empress.”

“…….”

“I don’t want your help. So don’t interfere.”

The Empress, who turned coldly, left the room as it was.

I blankly watched that figure.

‘It’s refreshing that you said what I wanted to say.’

I think she intervened because she was worried that I would cause an accident if I kept listening and got angry.

‘If I had said those words, it would have been irreversible.’

Anyway, now that the Emperor has come out like this, there was no need for me to stay here any longer.

It was the moment when I bent my knees to greet him and was about to leave the inner chamber.

“Wait.”

The Emperor called me.

“Leave the video stone.”

I slowly turned around.

“Your Majesty.”

“……The Empress is right. The imperial family’s prestige falling to the ground and me being ridiculed. Both were objects of my concern along with the confusion of state affairs.”

“……”

“It’s not that I’m doing this just to save my pride. How can an Emperor who is ridiculed lead the central officials?”

“……”

“Luatisha, you said that now is the easiest time to fix things rather than later, so detonate it now, but I don’t think that’s the case.”

“You’re saying that if you don’t detonate it at all, there’s nothing to fix? That’s why you’re telling me to leave the video stone?”

“……”

“Your Majesty, we have always made deals. Thanks to that, I was able to be Your Majesty’s ‘lovely lark who only brings pleasant news’.”

The Emperor showed an uncomfortable expression, but he didn’t particularly deny my words.

“But it’s a little difficult if you ask me for the video stone without giving me anything.”

“……What do you want?”

“I’ll create a situation where it’s easy for me to detonate this.”

“What—”

“You know that it’s not going to work if I stay quiet, right? Her Majesty the Empress won’t do that. Even if you confine her to the Empress’s palace, she won’t stop.”

“…….”

“Well, it would be different if Your Majesty is thinking of deposing and killing Her Majesty the Empress.”

“How dare you!”

“It seems you don’t have that intention.”

I took the video stone out of my bosom again and placed it on the table.

“It won’t be a bad story for Your Majesty either. Since you can’t stop Her Majesty the Empress anyway, it would be more beneficial for Your Majesty to create a plate that’s easier to detonate. I’m saying I’ll minimize the confusion of state affairs, right?”

The Emperor crossed his arms and glared at me before eventually letting out a hollow laugh.

“Huh, Luatisha, you really don’t know fear.”

“Because I have a reliable backer.”

“Your father is indeed great. Still, such courage and calculation at just sixteen…….”

The Emperor, who chuckled, shook his head.

“There has never been a time when granting your request was bad for me. Alright, what do you want this time?”

I grinned and told him a few things.

Seeing the Emperor nodding, I slid the video stone that I had placed on the table towards the Emperor.

“Then I’ll step down.”

I bent my knees and was about to leave the room when a low voice called me.

“Luatisha.”

“…….”

“You must think I’m heartless. Seeing how Duke Paeraton cherishes you…… you must think so even more.”

“…….”

“But I really love that child. He’s my most precious son and the son I want to pass on everything to.”

“Your Majesty.”

I turned around and looked at the Emperor.

“Never, ever say those words to Sid.”

“…….”

“Words that don’t follow actions only cause pain.”

I know.

Because it was like that in my past life.

You said you thought of me, that you even missed me.

‘In the end, you locked the door and didn’t accept me. You were so anxious that my existence would be revealed to my new family.’

I regretted it so many times, wishing I hadn’t heard those words, and then those words became hope.

That’s how I got hurt again and again.

The Emperor moved his lips a few times but eventually nodded.

“……I understand.”

I bowed my head and completely left the inner chamber.

The Empress was waiting outside.

“Lulu.”

As soon as the Empress saw me, she raised her eyebrows. And she dragged me to a place where no one was and began to scold me.

“No matter how close you are to His Majesty the Emperor, there are words you shouldn’t say. You almost caused a big problem, didn’t you?”

“I know.”

“Why are you smiling when you know?”

“Because I’m happy. Seeing you scolding me like this.”

It feels just like a real mom.