Lord Baby Runs A Romance Fantasy With Cash [EN]: Chapter 284

Shining golden hair.

Eyes of tender green, like new sprouts in early spring.

It had been so long since I saw her as a child that she felt unfamiliar, but I recognized her nonetheless.

Clatie.

My cousin, whom I never wanted to meet again.

Clatie stood close to Crown Prince Esteban, looking at me.

The moment our eyes met, a smile graced her face.

She had grown a lot, but that smile was exactly the same as when she was young.

It really was Clatie.

But—.

‘Why is Clatie here……?’

* * *

Let’s rewind time a bit.

I visited the temple, brought Crescentio, and entered the Emperor’s bedchamber.

The air inside was thick with the mingled scents of disinfectant and medicine.

“Princess.”

Behind the bowing servant, I saw the Emperor lying down.

It wasn’t that I particularly liked the Emperor.

But seeing him collapsed and lying down, so different from his usual hearty and confident self, gave me a strange feeling.

The Emperor’s complexion was strangely pale and bluish.

As if he would never wake up again.

‘His condition is worse than I thought…….’

I glanced at Crescentio, who was staring at the Emperor with a stiff expression.

“He doesn’t have much time left.”

“Crescentio.”

I was startled and gave him a warning look.

Besides us, there were the Emperor’s servants, Count Cheshia, and the palace doctors.

Crescentio looked at me as if to say, ‘What’s wrong with telling the truth?’ but he kept his mouth shut.

The gazes of the servants and palace doctors were sharp.

‘Did he only grow up in the temple or something?’

His social skills were truly the worst.

“It is said that High Priest Crescentio’s divine power is even greater than that of the priests of the ancient Holy Era. He and the Princess recently healed the sick……”

At Count Cheshia’s words, the servants and palace doctors averted their eyes.

They were reminded that, although Crescentio’s words and actions were impudent, he was the one who could resolve the current situation.

“Is there any way to help His Majesty the Emperor’s illness?”

“It’s useless.”

However, Crescentio shook his head firmly.

“Do you mean to end it with just saying it’s useless?!”

“This is His Majesty the Emperor we’re talking about!”

“Even if you pour out your divine power, it will be of no use, so I’m just saying it’s useless.”

“But I heard that you even healed the legs of a child who couldn’t use them before.”

“Even if he doesn’t fully recover, can’t you at least show some improvement?”

“Please, just try it……!”

“Please, High Priest Crescentio!”

The servants and palace doctors, who were initially angry, now begged and pleaded.

Crescentio clicked his tongue and approached the Emperor.

Soon, a sacred light began to form in his outstretched hands.

It was a truly beautiful and noble light, as always.

A feeling that your heart would be purified just by looking at it.

The divine power emitted by other priests was like a firefly in front of the sun compared to this.

The light surrounded his entire body, as if embracing and protecting the Emperor.

A faint blush began to return to the Emperor’s face.

“Look, look! His Majesty’s complexion!”

“As expected, there’s some improvement—.”

It was the moment the servants and palace doctors rejoiced.

Suddenly, the divine power twisted strangely, and the Emperor’s body bounced up.

And the light that had permeated the Emperor turned into a murky color and burst out.

Crescentio frowned and withdrew his hand.

“What is going on?!”

“Didn’t I say it was useless?”

“That…….”

“Please, just one more time. Didn’t you see that his complexion brightened up a bit earlier?”

“The same result will only come out. And divine power is not something you can use indefinitely.”

I watched the palace doctor quickly check the Emperor’s condition and asked Crescentio.

“Is His Majesty’s body rejecting divine power?”

“You saw it right.”

“…….”

Count Cheshia and I exchanged glances.

I held back my words.

There were too many eyes and ears watching and listening.

‘If he’s rejecting divine power, then it’s not just an incurable disease of unknown cause.’

The palace doctors concluded that he hadn’t been poisoned either.

‘Then…….’

It was then.

“His Highness Crown Prince Esteban is entering.”

With those words, the door to the bedchamber opened.

Esteban entered the room with a stiff expression.

And next to him—.

“Clatie?”

Clatie was standing close to him.

Clatie tilted her head at my words.

“Clatie…… you say?”

As if she were hearing the name for the first time in her life.

“Clatie, you mean that child who committed the crime of deceiving His Majesty the Emperor in the past and had her noble status stripped?”

Count Cheshia asked.

I didn’t react.

However, Count Cheshia, reading affirmation in my silence, gave a troubled smile.

“It seems the Princess has misunderstood. This is Princess Shuriel of Torencia.”

“……Princess Shuriel?”

“Yes.”

‘Did I mistake someone for another?’

I slowly examined the woman in front of me again.

From head to toe.

She had grown much taller than when I last saw her, and her face had become slender and more mature, but—.

It was still Clatie.

“Nice to meet you, Saintess.”

A bright, angelic smile.

“I don’t know how much I wanted to meet you.”

The look in her eyes as she looked at me.

‘……I didn’t see wrong.’

I didn’t take Clatie’s outstretched hand, but just stared at her and asked.

“Why are you here?”

“Ah……. Am I in a place where I shouldn’t be?”

Clatie withdrew her hand with a wounded expression. That pitiful appearance.

‘Her detestable nature is still the same.’

“Of course not.”

Esteban gently wrapped his arm around Clatie’s shoulders.

“Your attitude is too harsh, Princess.”

His blue-gray eyes stared at me as if displeased.

“To my lover.”

What?

* * *

Seeing the shocked look on Ruatisha’s face, Esteban smiled inwardly.

She pretended to be uninterested and disliked him so much, but that wasn’t the case after all.

Her reaction to the news that he had another woman proved it, didn’t it?

‘It’s already too late.’

He had given her many chances.

But it was Ruatisha who threw away and trampled on those opportunities.

‘Even if you abandon that noble pride and tell me you want me—.’

“Wow, you’re lovers!”

‘—Huh?’

“You two look so good together! How can you be so well-matched? Like a pair of wheels…… uh, um, like wheels!”

Esteban blankly stared at Ruatisha.

Ruatisha was smiling more brightly than ever.

“Wheels……?”

“I mean the wheels of a cart. Originally, a wheel is unstable if there’s only one. But how stable are they when there are two? More comfortable too.”

“…….”

“It means that the two of you look so stable and well-matched together. Like you’ve found your perfect match?”

“Are you serious?”

“Oh my! Would I ever lie?”

Ruatisha widened her eyes in surprise.

“I never, ever thought of cockroaches!”

“…….”

That wasn’t it, he was asking if she was sincerely congratulating him.

He only learned the meaning of ‘wheels’ that he didn’t want to know.

Shuriel’s expression stiffened.

Ruatisha smiled brightly and bowed her head towards the lying Emperor.

“I should get going now. His Majesty cherishes me like a daughter, so I just came to visit him.”

“…….”

“Then.”

Esteban watched Ruatisha pass by him without a care.

Her profile, not giving him a single glance, seemed truly indifferent.

‘……Is she really leaving like this?’

He turned around, but Ruatisha didn’t hesitate even once until she left the bedchamber.

Of course, she didn’t even turn back.

Instead.

‘……Crescentio—was it?’

The priest who was with Ruatisha glanced back at him.

The lips on his arrogantly handsome face moved as their eyes met.

A smirk.

‘……!’

A clear sneer.

Before Esteban could react, Crescentio left the bedchamber.

Clinging tightly to Ruatisha.

‘How dare he……!’

Clench.

Esteban’s fist tightened. Veins popped out on the back of his hand.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

Esteban regained his senses at the soft touch of a hand whispering and grasping his fist.

Large, verdant eyes were gazing at him.

Esteban nodded towards Shuriel.

‘Yes, this is just the beginning anyway.’

Even if she acts like that now, Ruatisha will eventually kneel before him.

* * *

“It’s not an illness?”

Count Cheshia asked me with a bewildered expression.

I nodded.

“If it were an illness, it wouldn’t have repelled divine power.”

“Hmm……. But it’s not like everyone gets better just by using divine power.”

“That’s only the case when the divine power is insufficient compared to the severity of the illness, or if it’s a type of illness that can’t be cured with divine power, like old age.”

Crescentio stared straight at Count Cheshia and continued.

“And make sure to engrave this in that head of yours: my divine power is not insufficient.”

“Well, putting that aside, if it’s simply a case of insufficient divine power, it would end with no improvement or a slight improvement in condition.”

That’s why they didn’t use the priests’ divine power like nutritional supplements when my grandfather collapsed.

“You mean it wouldn’t reject or repel divine power.”

“That’s right.”

Count Cheshia’s expression became serious.

“Then, considering everything, there’s only one conclusion.”

“Yes. Someone intentionally cast a curse or spell on His Majesty the Emperor.”

“…….”

A heavy silence fell in the room.

It would be much better to conclude that the Emperor had an incurable disease and was terminally ill.

“But His Majesty hasn’t been outside the Imperial Palace recently.”

“You can be targeted by a spell even inside the Imperial Palace.”

“It’s impossible to use magic in the Imperial Palace. How many defensive and barrier formations are laid out……. Especially His Majesty’s bedchamber.”

“But it’s already been breached once. You haven’t forgotten the Empress’s affair, have you?”

“……!”

Count Cheshia’s eyes wavered.

“That……. After that, we strengthened all the palace’s barriers and created a system to immediately detect abnormalities, but…….”

Count Cheshia muttered and rubbed his face wearily.

I didn’t bother adding anything.

“……It was all useless.”

What could I say to someone who was realizing that the results of his months of overtime work were all useless efforts?

I could only pat him on the shoulder.

“The important thing is this: who was the last person His Majesty met before he collapsed?”

“That is…….”

Count Cheshia hesitated for a moment before continuing.

“……It was Prince Sidrian.”

“……!”

Sidrian?

“……It can’t be Sid.”

“I know. But if it becomes known that His Majesty’s illness is not an ordinary illness—.”

Sid would be the first to be suspected.

Above all, Crown Prince Esteban is currently acting as regent.

What if Esteban, with the authority of the Emperor’s proxy, accuses Sid of assassinating the Emperor?

A chill ran down my spine.

“Keep the words about His Majesty’s illness to yourselves.”

“I understand.”

Count Cheshia nodded with a stiff face.

“And…….”

I hesitated for a moment before asking.

“That Princess Shuriel from earlier. Is she really a princess of Torencia?”

“Of course.”

Count Cheshia looked at me as if I were strange.

“Is there something bothering you? Come to think of it, you mentioned Clatie earlier.”

“…….”

“Well, I don’t know why you think that, but she is Princess Shuriel of Torencia. She came with the Torencia delegation.”

Count Cheshia, who was on the same boat as me, wouldn’t lie to me.

‘If there was even a slightly suspicious circumstance, he would have told me without me asking…….’

“……She just looked so much alike that I must have been mistaken.”

“Did she look that much alike? I only saw her briefly a long time ago, so I didn’t really get that impression.”

I nodded.

Count Cheshia had only seen Clatie around the time of the Dawn Festival, so I thought that might be the case.

“If anything happens to His Majesty, please contact me.”

“I understand.”

I got up from my seat.

As I came out of the room, Crescentio asked me.

“What are you going to do?”

“What else can I do?”

I had always trusted my judgment as a romance fantasy reader more than anyone else’s words.

That girl is definitely Clatie.

And she’s definitely involved in the spell that the Emperor was hit with.

Plus, a name ending in ‘-riel’.

‘I knew something felt a bit off.’

“I need to make some cider [a carbonated drink, metaphorically meaning ‘make a plan’].”

This time, without any lingering feelings.