Lord Baby Runs A Romance Fantasy With Cash [EN]: Chapter 236

The unexpected declaration silenced the vast Diluculum Hall in an instant.

And then, the next moment.

“Oh, the head of the Anseur Merchant Guild is here?!”

“Where are they?!”

People buzzed and began to look around.

Liriel was equally taken aback by the completely unexpected turn of events.

But soon, a deep smile formed on her lips.

‘This is even better.’

Where else could she find a more definitive performance?

Just having an investment relationship with the Anseur Merchant Guild would cause a stir.

To think that the mysterious head of the Anseur Merchant Guild would make their first public appearance at such a major event!

This event would be talked about throughout the entire social season this year—no, even while the water management project was underway.

Even after the water management project is completed, it will be mentioned when people look at the dam and waterways.

Starting tomorrow, her image would be plastered on the front pages of major newspapers alongside the head of the Anseur Merchant Guild.

Where else could she find a better opportunity to increase her influence?

Liriel looked at Ruatisha.

Unlike her usual self, Ruatisha was just standing still.

Well, what kind of reaction could she have?

‘I almost feel sorry for her.’

Liriel smiled brightly and asked Azul in a loud voice, as if wanting everyone to hear.

“The fact that the head of the Merchant Guild is here in person must mean they are very interested in the water management project, right?”

“That’s right. As you know, the Anseur Merchant Guild has been making social contributions in various fields. This water management project is directly related to the welfare of the people, so our representative is very interested.”

“That’s very kind.”

It was as good as winning.

Liriel wore a confident smile.

“So, where is the head of the Merchant Guild? We need to decide on the spot. Without a confirmed investment, we cannot evaluate the competition.”

At the Emperor’s words, urging him to stop stalling and show the head of the Merchant Guild, Azul turned around.

He bent one knee and moved the other foot back.

The outstretched arm moved gracefully and precisely.

The elegant and courteous gesture.

Even though it was a simple movement, it captivated people’s attention like a dance.

“Representative.”

Azul called out to his lord in a soft voice and bowed his head.

The gazes of the people, which had been directed at Azul, moved all at once to the front of him.

What was there was—.

‘Ruatisha……?’

Liriel’s eyes trembled precariously, like a small boat in a stormy sea.

No one could react immediately.

Silence born of shock, doubt, and denial.

In that silence, Ruatisha smiled brightly, like a flower blooming in the spring rain.

“Good job, Azul.”

“It is my pleasure.”

Azul replied with a shy smile.

Only then did reactions erupt from the people, as if they had been holding their breath.

“W-What is going on…….”

“The Paeraton Princess is the owner of the Anseur Merchant Guild?!”

“That’s impossible……!”

“The Paeraton Princess and the head of the Anseur Merchant Guild are the same person. How many bodies does she have?”

“Wait a minute. Then, Liriel Young Lady receiving investment from Anseur for the water management project is—.”

The gazes of the murmuring people turned to Liriel.

Liriel was pale and stiff, frozen in place.

Her tightly clenched hands trembled slightly.

“Oh my, was she so confident?”

“What did she say to the Paeraton Princess earlier?”

“She said she would let her take charge of the water management project even if she won.”

The young ladies who had disliked Liriel giggled and laughed.

Ruatisha brushed past Liriel and stepped forward to the Emperor and Empress.

“Lulu? Is it really you…….”

At the Empress’s gaze, as if she still couldn’t believe it, Ruatisha smiled and placed her hand on her chest.

“I greet Your Majesty and Your Imperial Highness not as the Paeraton Princess, but as the head of the Anseur Merchant Guild.”

“Hoo……. Ha!”

A dumbfounded laugh burst from the Emperor’s lips.

“You tricked Us in such a cute way.”

“Tricked you, Your Majesty? How could I, your loyal subject, dare to do such a thing?”

At Ruatisha’s nonchalance, the Emperor chuckled.

“We never asked you if you were the head of the Anseur Merchant Guild, so that must be it. If We had asked, would you have told the truth then?”

“Of course.”

‘Of course, that’s a lie.’

Ruatisha thought so, but she didn’t bat an eye as she answered.

The Emperor shook his head.

Anyway, he had known about her never wanting to lose since she was a little girl.

“But isn’t this quite a pleasant surprise?”

Ruatisha tilted her head and asked.

“……It’s not bad news. But it still gives Me a headache.”

“Oh my, if it gives you a headache, I should have a tonic made and sent to you.”

“You’re good with words.”

In the end, the Emperor chuckled.

Ruatisha turned her head and looked at Liriel.

“Liri.”

Unlike the relaxed Ruatisha, Liriel’s face was still stiff.

“I’m sorry, but the Anseur Merchant Guild will decline this investment. Thank you for the good proposal. I hope we have another good opportunity to connect in the future.”

“…….”

“It seems like you can announce another investment source besides the Anseur Merchant Guild. You have other investment sources, right?”

“There will be. Anseur has never given a definite answer to invest even once. So, you must have prepared multiple options.”

“Even if you had a definite answer, it’s basic to consider a Plan B. Life is a series of variables.”

Ruatisha turned her gaze from Azul to Liriel.

“Isn’t that right?”

Liriel smiled brightly.

“Wow, I was really surprised! To think that Lulu would be the head of the Anseur Merchant Guild!”

Ruatisha smiled at the sight.

‘As expected, unlike Sheila Prussian, she doesn’t die right away.’

“You’re really amazing, Lulu! Awesome! But…….”

Liriel looked at Ruatisha with a slightly weakened face.

“I wish you had given me a heads up beforehand. Or at least rejected me sooner…….”

Liriel, who had been muttering with her head bowed, looked at Ruatisha and forced a smile.

“I believe you didn’t do that on purpose to embarrass me. Right?”

At those words, people could be heard murmuring.

In this situation, it seemed as if Ruatisha had hidden the fact that she was the head of the Merchant Guild and revealed it at a dramatic moment to deliberately mess with Liriel.

‘Actually, that’s exactly why I did it.’

But she couldn’t admit that as it was.

‘She hasn’t been in high society for long, and this is her first time coming out this year. She’s amazing.’

Despite being caught off guard unexpectedly, Liriel immediately regained her composure, assessed the situation, and was counterattacking.

Normally, even if she won the competition, her image would be tarnished because her mean-spirited actions would be exposed.

‘But what to do? That’s exactly what I wanted to say.’

The problem was that Ruatisha was a romance fantasy novel reader who had seen thousands of social battles.

“Liri.”

Ruatisha diverted people’s attention and continued.

“Investigating investment sources is essential. It’s very basic. This isn’t a charity project where a faceless angel secretly helps.”

“…….”

“Receiving investment for a national project with enormous responsibility without knowing who the representative is or what kind of person they are? I can’t understand it at all.”

“The Anseur Merchant Guild isn’t a strange place, and considering its reputation, it’s enough—.”

“No. Absolutely not. The Anseur Merchant Guild may be able to do charity work. But it was too secretive to invest in the Empire’s national project.”

Since Ruatisha, the head of the Anseur Merchant Guild, was pointing out the problems of her own guild, it sounded much more objective.

“What if the Anseur Merchant Guild was a foreign merchant guild? And among them, a national merchant guild from a hostile country?”

“That would have been a big problem.”

Ruatisha nodded at the Emperor’s words.

“If information about the dam or waterway design had been leaked under the guise of investment, it would have caused a serious problem for national security.”

“That’s right. It’s a very important issue.”

In fact, there had to be several assumptions in the problem situation that Ruatisha raised, but all of that was overlooked with the Emperor’s agreement.

From the beginning, there was almost no possibility that the Anseur Merchant Guild was a foreign merchant guild.

Most of its projects were first implemented within the Empire.

Ruatisha winked at the Emperor and smiled at Liriel.

“It seems that Liri has been focusing on helping people, so she hasn’t thought that far.”

Ruatisha cut in before Liriel could say anything.

“Oh, I hope you don’t misunderstand. I’m not ignoring what Liri has been doing, but I really think it’s amazing. I heard that people in the South follow Liri like a god, so I think I know how devotedly she has been helping people. But.”

Ruatisha reached out and tapped Liriel’s shoulder.

As if encouraging her.

“Let’s broaden our horizons from now on?”

Flutter.

Liriel’s shoulder trembled.

In the golden eyes glaring at Ruatisha, a bright red rage seemed to surge like a flame.

“Above all, the Anseur Merchant Guild had no intention of investing in the water management project from the beginning. It’s ridiculous to cooperate with Liri, who is a competitor, and there’s a collusion problem if I make Anseur an investment source.”

Ruatisha would soon be the head of the Anseur Merchant Guild, creating a strange situation where the investment source would be given full authority.

“Then why didn’t you reject it right away?”

At the sharp question, Ruatisha gave a troubled smile.

“Well, actually, I didn’t know Liri was trying to make an investment agreement with Anseur.”

“How can that be?”

“As I said, I have delegated full authority over the Merchant Guild to Azul. Still, Azul would usually report such matters to me. But I’ve been a bit out of it lately.”

Ruatisha paused for a moment and then spoke in an even clearer voice.

“Someone cast sorcery on Zeon.”

“……!”

The meaning contained in those words caused a stir in the Diluculum Hall once again.

“Sorcery? If it’s sorcery, could it be that?”

“That’s right. A technique using Sa’gi [a forbidden and dangerous magical power].”

“Ha, but that was already a long time ago…….”

People’s faces began to be filled with shock and horror.

Sa’gi.

A force that had massacred hundreds of thousands of people in the past, put the Spirit Beasts to sleep, and even pierced the heart of God.

A sinister, wicked, and treacherous force.

The origin of the Demon Realm, which was said to make people sick just by its existence.

It was believed that not even a trace of that power remained.

The Emperor roughly grabbed Ruatisha’s shoulders.

“Ruatisha, tell Me straight. Zeon has been affected by Sa’gi? You’re not mistaken, are you?”

“Would I act rashly on such a matter, Your Majesty?”

The Emperor squeezed his eyes shut as if he wished she had acted rashly.

“There is evidence in this place.”

“Evidence?”

Everyone held their breath and focused on Ruatisha’s statement.

Instead of opening her mouth, Ruatisha pointed to one person.

As if manipulating them, people’s gazes turned to that side all at once.

“W-Why, why me…….”

Sheila Prussian trembled with a pale face at the numerous sharp gazes fixed on her.

* * *

“Sheila Prussian.”

At the Emperor’s stern call, the Imperial Knights almost forcibly dragged Sheila out.

Sheila, who had come up onto the platform, looked around in confusion.

She had always wanted attention and wanted to stand above others, but she never wanted to come up onto the platform in this way.

Nor did she want to be looked at with those eyes.

Sheila, who had been shrinking back in a fluster, clung to the Emperor.

“Y-Your Majesty, I really don’t know anything. Really. Sa’gi? How could I have such a heinous power? I’m not a magician, not a knight, just an ordinary person…….”

“We will soon find out.”

At Ruatisha’s words, Sheila turned her head sharply and glared at her.

But there was someone who stepped forward even faster than Sheila.

“Paeraton Princess!”

It was the Empress Dowager, who had been watching quietly without intervening until then.

“The Princess knows very well how much I cherish and adore my Princess.”

“Of course, Your Imperial Majesty, the Empress Dowager.”

“Sheila is my niece, one way or another. That child doesn’t know how to handle such a sinister power.”

If something happened to Sheila, even the Empress Dowager herself would be involved, so she meant to tell her to restrain herself for the sake of their past relationship and her own dignity.

“Your Imperial Majesty, the Empress Dowager, do you perhaps know anything about this matter?”

“Th-That’s…….”

The Empress Dowager hesitated, unable to answer right away.

The moment she nodded here, she would become a community of fate with Sheila.

Because it was a question of whether she would take responsibility together.

In the end, the Empress Dowager turned her head.

“I don’t know.”

In fact, there was something bothering her inside.

‘Could it be……. No way. No matter what. It can’t be.’

The Empress Dowager looked at Sheila with uneasy eyes.

After being rejected for marriage by Zeon, she cried and begged, and then suddenly the next day, Zeon said he liked her.

‘……No matter how I think about it, it was strange.’

But it would be a good thing if Sheila became a member of the Paeraton family, so she just brushed it off, saying that things between men and women are unpredictable.

“If no evidence is found on the Prussian Young Lady, I will apologize, take responsibility, and compensate.”