Lord Baby Runs A Romance Fantasy With Cash [EN]: Chapter 313

What…?

Esteban’s eyes wavered.

“That’s… impossible.”

Wasn’t it an absolute truth that one would be cursed if they killed someone with a strong lineage of the Imperial Family?

Even Clatie, who was no different from a monster surpassing humans, couldn’t bring himself to kill the Emperor because he feared that.

Esteban, in any case, had a strong lineage of the Imperial Family.

‘That’s a bluff.’

Esteban repeated to himself.

It had to be a bluff.

But—

‘Why…?’

No sign of any curse appeared on Cidrian’s body.

A face so far from being unwell that it was almost arrogantly clean.

His skin didn’t rot, his limbs didn’t twist, and he didn’t even cough up blood.

In contrast, the rotten parts of his own body were crumbling more and more.

“Why…?”

A voice squeezed out from his parched lips.

He was facing such a miserable and painful end, yet Cidrian had evaded even the curse he risked his life on.

Why does that bastard always get everything so easily?

Why does the world only favor him?

“Uwaaaaaaa!”

The cheers of the people echoed through the heavens and the earth.

“Long live His Highness Cidrian!”

“As expected of His Highness Cidrian! He even overcame the curse!”

“Love that overcame the curse!”

Amidst the muffled cheers, Esteban shed tears of blood.

Cidrian was checking Ruatisha’s body to see if she was hurt, and Ruatisha, in turn, was anxiously examining Cidrian’s body.

They recognized each other and smiled.

Two lovers smiling affectionately.

Esteban tried to reach out to Ruatisha, who was smiling.

But his already paralyzed limbs did not move as he wished.

He couldn’t even lift a finger.

“Ru…”

Even a voice like scraping metal didn’t come out properly.

Esteban met his end without even closing his eyes until the last moment.

* * *

“Was that on purpose?”

At Ruatisha’s question, Cidrian, who was descending from the platform set up in the plaza, turned to look at her.

“You quickly poisoned him so that Father and your brothers’ attacks wouldn’t be the cause of Esteban’s death.”

Cidrian silently stared at Ruatisha before tightly grasping her hand.

“Because I knew you’d be sad if your family was hurt.”

Ruatisha’s eyes widened and then trembled like ripples.

“…Thank you.”

Cidrian was a little surprised by the emotion contained in her small voice.

It seemed that Ruatisha felt sorry for having made them kill her brother.

‘There’s no need to feel that way.’

He had never thought of Esteban as a brother.

Rather, whenever he saw him looking at Ruatisha with sinister eyes, he always wanted to wring his neck.

But Cidrian swallowed his words and smiled, as he felt he knew why Ruatisha didn’t bother mentioning brotherhood.

‘RuRu is too kind for her own good.’

“I’ve never seen anyone as considerate and kind as Cid.”

The words that popped out at the same time as his thoughts made Cidrian pause.

But the reaction to those words came not from Cidrian but from elsewhere.

“Kind…?”

“That guy?”

Iksion and Zeon, who had followed Ruatisha down, glared at Cidrian with cold eyes.

“Don’t try to seduce my innocent sister.”

Following that, Ares gave a dark smile.

Ruatisha frowned.

“Why are you guys like this? If it weren’t for Cid, you’d all be cursed by now.”

Ruatisha held Cidrian’s hand tightly.

“Even in that situation, he thought of me and our family. If that’s not considerate and kind, then what is it?”

“That’s—”

“You all owe Cid a debt. You should be grateful to Cid.”

Zeon and Ares closed their mouths.

Ruatisha’s words were true.

Cidrian’s intentions may have been somewhat impure, but as a result, they had avoided the Imperial Family’s curse thanks to him.

‘If I act up here, my sister will hate me.’

‘…Would she sigh if I asked her to stroke me?’

But Iksion was different.

“Who cares about a curse? I can overcome something like that even if I get it.”

Ruatisha frowned at Iksion’s grumbling.

Due to the characteristics of the Paeraton Duchy, they had much stronger resistance to curses than ordinary people.

But.

“The Imperial Family’s curse is different from other curses. You can’t easily break it.”

“Hmph, it wouldn’t be bad to be nursed by a cotton ball— Ouch!”

Thwack!

Ruatisha, standing on tiptoe, gave Iksion a flick on the forehead.

“That hurts!”

Iksion, who shouted with a scowl, paused.

Ruatisha was glaring at him with her lips tightly shut.

Only then did Iksion realize his mistake.

How would Ruatisha feel if he casually said it was okay even if she was in pain or cursed?

“…I was wrong.”

“…”

“I’m sorry. I won’t say that again.”

Iksion reached out to Ruatisha—

Swoosh.

Ruatisha moved her body to avoid his touch.

“Ruatisha…?”

Seeing Iksion’s shocked face, Ruatisha turned her head away with a sulky look.

“That’s your punishment for saying such a thing.”

“That’s too much!”

Cidrian came into Iksion’s view as he shouted, stamping his feet.

Cidrian smirked at Iksion.

It was a clear mockery.

‘That…!’

The moment Iksion tried to say something, Cidrian wrapped his arm around Ruatisha’s shoulder.

“I’m okay. It’s not like I did it because I particularly wanted to be recognized.”

“Cid…”

Ruatisha looked at Cidrian with a face that said, ‘How can there be such an angel in the world?’

Seeing that, Iksion had no choice but to shut his mouth.

No matter what he said here, it would only look like he was venting his anger.

“Fox.”

“And it has nine tails.”

Iksion clenched his fist tightly as he listened to Zeon and Ares muttering from both sides.

“…Annoying!”

The Paeraton Duke ignored his grumbling sons and approached his daughter.

“Ruru.”

Ruatisha lifted her head at the pleasant weight pressing down on her head.

“Father.”

“Rest now.”

Ruatisha’s eyes wavered at the quiet words.

‘…Come to think of it, I haven’t rested properly.’

Ruatisha looked around.

The figures of people stretching endlessly beyond the platform came into view.

Faces with various emotions intertwined.

But among them, the strongest emotion was the joy of ‘it’s over.’

The joy that such a tragedy would no longer occur because the masterminds had been identified and punished one by one.

Seeing that, Ruatisha also realized it anew.

‘…There are still many things to clean up, though.’

Unfortunately, unlike novels or movies, all of this was reality.

From the various disasters caused by Clatie and Kiyas Edel to the invasion on the wedding day.

Many people died and were injured.

The wards were overflowing, and the temples were busy with the sick.

‘It’s a relief that the Celestial Race is here.’

The Celestial Race demonstrated amazing power and healed people.

‘Their personalities are a bit strange, though.’

When they heal and protect, they are indeed the angels one usually thinks of, but still…

And the most unfortunate thing is that many orphans were created.

Thinking about why the mortality rate of adults is much higher than that of children made her nose tingle.

She had to gather strength, even thinking about the desire to save only the children.

‘The most important thing at times like this is administration.’

And Ruatisha had a responsibility as a Saintess to handle this situation.

‘…Somehow, I feel like I’ve been doing more administrative work than other activities since becoming a Saintess.’

Performing great miracles and healing the sick like the Saintess sisters in romance fantasy novels was not her role.

‘Well, still.’

Ruatisha looked up at the Paeraton Duke and smiled brightly.

She didn’t even know it was hard because she had a father who was so anxious and concerned about her condition.

“I’ll try a little harder.”

* * *

The Bertin Hall of the Imperial Palace.

A party was held in the hall, which had been opened for the first time in decades, more grand than ever before.

It was to commend those who had prevented the invasion of Kiyas Edel.

I took a glass of champagne and approached a stately old man standing upright in the corner.

“Thank you, Duke Chaimberk.”

Duke Chaimberk glanced at me at my words.

“I have only done what I should do for the sake of the Empire’s well-being.”

“But it wouldn’t have been easy.”

Duke Chaimberk acting as a spy. It was not an easy task in many ways.

“I wanted to smack Esteban’s head a few times, though.”

I was surprised and looked at him at Duke Chaimberk’s words.

He, of all people, was throwing such a joke?

Duke Chaimberk smirked at my gaze.

“On the day the monsters were rampaging, I really thought about just pretending not to know, hitting him once, knocking him out, and throwing him in jail.”

“You endured it well.”

“I have a duty to fulfill. If Esteban had any greater sins or secrets, they would have been revealed that day.”

He was trying to check if Esteban had a final move prepared in the moment of crisis.

“It was difficult to stand back without stepping forward in a situation where people were dying to monsters, but I believed that you would handle the price well.”

Duke Chaimberk’s gaze turned to me.

“Thank you for believing in me.”

“I am the one who is grateful.”

Even though it was a light bow, I felt a sense of weight. Is this what they call experience?

“Are you going back to your territory now?”

“I have to. I have fulfilled my duty here. Only because His Majesty asked me to stay until today’s party am I staying.”

Duke Chaimberk spoke casually, but I was inwardly impressed.

‘There are people like this.’

He was truly a knight drawn in a picture.

It was the same when I recruited him before.

He didn’t want anything from me.

He was just taking the stance that he would cooperate because the Emperor had arranged it, and I had the justification and reason to do so.

“It seems there is someone else who wants to meet you besides me.”

At those words, I turned around and saw Raphael standing at a distance.

I bent my knees towards Duke Chaimberk.

“May the clearest blessing always be with you.”

“I will engrave the Saintess’s blessing in my heart.”

He placed his hand on his chest and bowed his head.

A neat greeting without emotion.

However—

“…It was an honor to be with you in that moment until you grew up like this when you were young.”

I was surprised and turned around at the words he left at the last moment as he passed by.

“Ruatisha?”

Raphael, who had approached me, called me as if he was puzzled.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.”

I smiled and shook my head.

Just.

I felt like I had been recognized by the person who was the hardest to be recognized by.

Raphael raised one eyebrow as if he was puzzled, but he didn’t ask further.

“Oh, Raphael. You look kind of cool?”

Raphael will also naturally receive praise today.

Perhaps that’s why he was dressed up unusually, and it looked quite plausible.

I’m only used to seeing him with his front open and skipping out.

“Hmph. Are you just realizing that now?”

Raphael smirked and stared at me.

“Why?”

“You’re not bad either.”

He turned his head and muttered.

He’s really awkward at complimenting people.

I put my hand on my waist and confidently stuck out my chest.

“It’s not just not bad, it’s completely pretty.”

The dress that Yutra made with all her might for today shone brightly.

“Because the princess is the main character of today’s party! Of course, the princess has always been the main character to me!”

Yutra shouted that and fainted after giving the final touches.

“Yes, yes. As if you wouldn’t be.”

“You should also admit my beauty now. I’m pretty because I look like my mom.”

“If you keep asking strange men to acknowledge that you’re pretty, the gentleman over there will be jealous?”

When I turned around at the sudden, laughter-filled voice, Tiriel, Jasmine, and Claudia were looking at me with strange smiles.

“What strange men are you talking about, Raphael is not a strange man.”

“I don’t even see her as a woman?”

Raphael and I frowned at the same time and bickered.

“Really?”

“We know, but the gentleman over there might think differently?”

“Very differently.”

Gentleman over there?

When I turned around, I could see Cid’s figure in the distance among the people.

It’s a strange thing.

Even though there is such a distance and so many people, I can find Cid’s figure at once.

‘He’s handsome.’

He looked cool as he seriously exchanged stories with the nobles.

‘But he doesn’t seem to be jealous… He’s busy talking.’

The moment I thought so,

‘Huh?’

Our eyes met.