Lord Baby Runs A Romance Fantasy With Cash [EN]: Chapter 8

Baby Runs the Romance Fantasy with Cash – Episode 8

☆ Episode 8 ☆

‘What to do?’

Isn’t it a bit strange for a baby to figure this out?

“U, Uncle said so!”

I shouted quickly.

“…Are you referring to Marquis Tarenka?”

“Yes! I saw Uncle telling a very, very well-dressed man that Dad invested!”

It wasn’t a lie.

At the time, I didn’t know the word ‘investment’ in this world, so I didn’t understand it exactly.

But after that situation repeated several times, I naturally realized it.

“Uncle showed the man something as proof…”

I chattered on, worried that they might not believe me or dismiss it because I’m a baby.

Even a child’s words become more credible if they are specific.

“Proof?”

“It was a very, very pretty card! It was all black and shiny… Ah, something like that!”

A card on the assistant’s desk caught my eye.

“This is…”

The assistant picked up the card.

“Did Marquis Tarenka really show this and say that?”

“Yes, that’s it!”

I nodded, looking at the card the assistant held out.

It was my first time seeing it this close, but I was sure.

The black card shimmered with strange patterns depending on the light, and a red, stylized crest was drawn on it.

‘Let’s see. Issuer… Duke Paeraton. Huh?’

I widened my eyes as I read the words on the card.

‘This is like a check?!’

The amount wasn’t written yet because it hadn’t been issued, but it was definitely a check in the Duke’s name.

‘So, the Duke gave money to Marquis Tarenka? Or is it a forged check?’

While I was surprised, the retainers also began to buzz.

“To call this investment proof!”

“How dare he do such a thing unless he’s crazy!”

“It won’t matter if real mana stones [magical energy-infused stones] come out of the mine, but if not, it will be a big problem.”

“Yes, there will be talk that the Paeraton Dukedom is involved in fraud!”

While the office became noisy in an instant, Duke Paeraton was strangely quiet.

‘……?’

A little puzzled, I quietly raised my head.

As soon as I did, I made eye contact with the Duke.

He was looking down at me, still resting his chin on his hand.

‘Has he been watching me all this time?’

The Duke’s red eyes flickered darkly.

I couldn’t turn my head and shrank back.

His lips opened.

“How did you hear such a thing?”

A low, cool question.

It was more like an interrogation.

Oh, an interrogation?

‘Gasp!’

A flash of realization made me gasp.

‘Is this the common situation where a tyrant father questions and suspects his daughter?!’

My romance fantasy senses are telling me this is a very important moment.

Usually, the heroines of romance fantasies survive by navigating this situation well.

But what about those who aren’t the heroine?

‘I must dispel suspicion. Otherwise—’

The original character before the heroine possessed her.

Or the heroine before her regression.

They didn’t deal well with the tyrant’s suspicion, and as a result, *thwack*—

‘—their head will be cut off……!’

A chill ran down my spine.

‘I must never be misunderstood. I have to prove my innocence! The moment I’m suspected of being strange, I’ll die!’

Cruel and merciless tyrants in novels.

My body trembled. I hurriedly opened my mouth.

“W, when Uncle was meeting the man, I was polishing Uncle’s shoes. So, that’s why I heard it.”

I only did chores at the Tarenka Marquisate, so all the visitors knew me as a slave.

The majority of the employees were the same.

Only a very small number of close aides knew that I was the Paeraton Duchess.

“You heard it while polishing shoes……?”

I clenched my fist at one of the retainers’ questions.

‘Right, they wouldn’t believe it. That he would commit such fraud in front of someone else.’

The Marquis enjoyed seeing me, the Duke’s daughter, groveling like a slave in front of others.

So, he often called me when he met someone at the mansion.

‘He must have thought that I wouldn’t know anything even if I heard it because I hadn’t received any education and was young.’

“Huh! That Marquis Tarenka did that……!”

“As far as I know, all the checks issued by Paeraton to Marquis Tarenka in recent years are……”

“Yes, it’s child support.”

My eyes widened at those words.

“Child support?”

“Yes, I’m talking about the youngest lady’s child support.”

I blankly opened my mouth and then shouted hastily.

“No, no! I’ve never heard of any child support!”

Then the retainers frowned.

“What do you mean? The Dukedom sent an astronomical amount of money every month!”

“Didn’t Marquis Tarenka tell you? That Your Excellency’s money was invested in the Marquis’s mine—”

“T, that’s right!”

My lips trembled because I was so embarrassed.

“I didn’t have any money, so I ate little food, worked hard washing dishes and cleaning, and did everything Uncle told me to do. That’s why Uncle let me sleep and gave me food.”

The retainers were dumbfounded at my words and frowned even more.

“No, even so, to make a baby do such a thing……? I can’t believe it.”

“Marquis Tarenka is especially famous as a daughter-fool [someone excessively devoted to their daughter].”

Why don’t they believe me!

“Uncle said every day that Dad didn’t give me money and left me. That I was… abandoned……”

I felt sad as I spoke. My eyes were getting blurry, so I glared at them.

You were abandoned even by your parents.

It was the first thing I heard after I became able to understand what people were saying.

Maybe they had been saying that before I could properly understand.

After being reborn, my whole life has been like that.

Even so, saying with my own mouth how I was treated is……

Saying myself that I was abandoned is really—.

“But when I received the report from the Marquisate, it was clear… that the child support expenditure details were sent regularly.”

“No! I only ate two meals because I couldn’t work very much. There were many times when I only ate one meal because I couldn’t finish all the work. There were days when I didn’t eat at all……”

I was frustrated with the retainers who kept saying that couldn’t be true.

I couldn’t dare to face the Duke.

What if this is really a situation where I’m being suspected by a tyrant father?

‘I spoke too much like an adult earlier! And I even cut off the Duke’s words……!’

I don’t think he would suspect a child, but if it’s a romance fantasy world, it’s definitely possible.

‘I have to speak as harmlessly as possible, in a way that suits my age.’

I clasped my hands tightly.

“Uncle told me to be grateful to him. Even if I woke up before the sun rose every day and did everything he told me to do until the moon was on the highest roof, it was a debt I could never repay.”

I glanced at the Duke.

His red eyes were shining more intensely than ever, glaring at me.

Oh, crap.

I feel like crying.

‘I don’t want to die……’

How did I survive!

Just by saying one wrong word!

“T, that’s right!”

I hurriedly went down and started wiping the Duke’s shoes with my sleeve. His foot, encased in the shoe, flinched.

“When I was wiping, wiping the shoes like this, Uncle, sob, told the man that the card was proof of investment. He said that to other grandfathers and, sniff, red-haired men too! Sniff, it’s true……”

Tears burst out from the overwhelming sorrow. I was startled and covered my mouth with my remaining hand and lowered my head.

No one likes a crying child.

The surroundings were as quiet as a mouse.

Plop.

Water droplets spread over the Duke’s black, shiny shoes.

My chin trembled. I bit my lip tightly and clenched my hand so that even a faint sob wouldn’t escape.

I couldn’t bring myself to raise my head and just scrubbed the innocent shoes. As if it were a lifeline.

No matter how much I wiped away the water droplets, new water droplets kept appearing and wouldn’t disappear.

Then, a low, deep voice fell quietly over my head.

“Stop.”

It was a voice that chilled my spine. I blankly raised my head.

Duke Paeraton was looking at me with indescribable eyes.

“Who dares to interrogate her?”

Those words weren’t directed at me.

It was directed at the retainers.

I couldn’t understand it for a moment.

Didn’t the Duke interrogate me first?

He asked me how I knew.

“Yes? We’re not interrogating, we’re just……”

The retainers’ words couldn’t continue.

A dark, dense energy, so dark that not a single ray of light could penetrate, was violently, yet infinitely quietly, stirring inside the office.

‘What is that……’

It was the same as the black energy that wrapped the sealed book, but it wasn’t the same.

I didn’t feel this overwhelmed back then.

Thud.

I unknowingly fell on my butt.

At that moment, the black energy disappeared like a lie.

The retainers, who were pale and unable to breathe properly, finally exhaled.

“There’s no need to say more.”

The Duke said to me.

When I looked up, he reached out his hand to me. But he hesitated for a moment and then withdrew his hand.

I unknowingly grabbed his hand.

Flinch.

The Duke stiffened slightly, then lifted me up to his eye level with a firm hand.

“You recalled unnecessary memories.”

The Duke clicked his tongue lowly.

For some reason, those dissatisfied words sounded like he was telling me not to recall bad memories.

Perhaps, the Duke wasn’t interrogating me from the beginning—.

‘Was he worried……?’

The Duke’s eyes went down my face to my wrist.

The Duke frowned when he saw my crumpled sleeve.

“Call a tailor.”

While everyone was flustered by the unexpected order, the head butler professionally bowed his head.

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

The Duke put me down on his lap.

When I raised my head, the Duke’s hand pressed down on my head.

‘Ugh, it’s heavy when you press down like that!’

It was a very rough and clumsy touch, not really a caress. To the point where I, a child, couldn’t properly hold my head up.

But it was warm.

* * *

“Woong……”

I tossed and turned and opened my eyes.

Oh, did I fall asleep?

I clearly remember being in the Duke’s office, but I was lying on my bed in my room.

Even with the blanket neatly covered.

‘Did Anna move me?’

I tilted my head and got up.

The maids, who usually noticed and came in like ghosts when I woke up, were nowhere to be seen. It seems they have other things to do.

If so……

‘It’s a chance!’

I pulled back the canopy and jumped out of bed.

‘My book!’

Looking around, the sealed book was neatly placed on the bedside table next to the bed.

I quickly picked up the book and looked at it carefully.

Indeed, a book that has been with the Paeraton Dukedom throughout its history.

It’s antique and looks like an unusual object at first glance—but……

‘It’s too old!’

Honestly, it just looked like trash. The pages would fall out if I tried to open it.

‘I’m a little worried, but I should look at this quickly.’

The quest window, which kept talking about fast progress and fast development, said something, but I’m a romance fantasy reader.

Of course, I love fast development.

I opened the book without hesitation.

And.

Faaaah—!

The pages turned on their own, and starlight poured out.

“Wow……”

I couldn’t help but exclaim.

The Milky Way flowing from the book spread out and enveloped me.

My hair fluttered in the air in the wind that had already begun to blow. The starlight rose higher and became clearer.

Just as I was about to reach out and touch the starlight as if possessed—

Hwaaaak!

A burst of light erupted from the stars, turning the world white.

Unable to withstand the intensity, I tightly closed my eyes.

The book I was holding shook constantly, and the pages kept turning.

Paralak, paralak— Eventually, to the last page.

Tak.

At the same time as the book closed, the light and wind disappeared.

I carefully opened my closed eyes. And in front of me……

“T, this is……”

The book, which was so shiny that I couldn’t imagine it was the old book from before, was in my hand.

Soft leather that fit snugly in my hand and gold decorations that protected the corners of the book.

Sparkling star fragments embedded in the cover and delicately heart-cut gems.

The old, crumbling book had completely changed as if it had been molted.

It was said to be a summoning medium, a sealed book, and the treasure of the first Duke Paeraton, and it was truly an unusual book.

‘……It’s not broken, it’s just cleaner, so it’ll be okay, right?’

I flinched, recalling the Duke’s cold face.

‘Eek! It’s already happened. Let’s think about it later!’

What kind of content is written inside?

Forbidden magic or a way to borrow the power of God?

Since it’s a sealed book, it might contain content about sealing demons.

‘……It’s not a way to summon demons, is it?’

I stroked the cover, swallowed hard, and opened the book.

And.

Nothing was written.

I frowned at the rising disappointment as I looked at the blank white paper.

“What is this!”

At that moment, an alarm popped up.

[The seal of 〈Summoning Medium〉 has been released.]

[The usage restriction of the trait 〈Rush and Cash〉 has been lifted.]

At the same time as the alarm, the trait window popped up.

The previously seen unavailable mark and precautions had disappeared.

‘Wow! I can use it now! My ability! Finally!’

[A new quest has arrived.]

〈The Path of a Good Reader (1)〉

Congratulations, Reader.

Reader! You have finally obtained the 〈Summoning Medium: Book〉!

Please uphold the duty of a reader and read books diligently in the future.

A reader is only a reader when they read books. A reader who does not read books is a bad reader.

Become a good reader.

– Condition: Use cash to summon a novel and extract and use abilities.

– Reward: 1000 Cash

‘Oh, for once, it’s giving me the quest I want?’

Of course, the words written are still annoying.

‘Anyway, accept.’

[You have accepted the quest.]

“Um, but how do I summon it? Come out, be summoned, yap, yap?! Or something more fantastical……”

I rolled my eyes around.

Hmm, cleared my throat.

‘It’s a little embarrassing, but no one’s here.’

I checked the firmly closed door and took a stance.

And I started chanting as if I had possessed a wizard heroine.

“One with the blood of cold cider [a refreshing and satisfying quality], I wish that you appear before me now and defeat the sweet potatoes [frustrating or stifling situations]—”

[Please tell us the 〈Novel〉 you want to summon.]

The alarm popped up as if to block my words.

Oh, why do I feel emotions from the letters? It feels like it’s looking down on me……

‘Embarrassing.’

I pressed my red cheeks and checked the next alarm that popped up.

[Currently, with the 〈Rush and Cash〉 grade, you can only summon romance fantasy novels that you have read.]

“Um, then……! 〈I’m a Gold Spoon, But I’m Going to Run Away〉.”

I’ll get that heroine’s taming skills and take over this Dukedom!

With this one skill, I’ll no longer tremble, wondering when I’ll die or be kicked out!

I confidently looked ahead.

But.

[Insufficient cash.]