Chapter 17 - A fiancée with a business addiction; will this marriage be okay? (8)

A fiancée with a business addiction; will this marriage be okay? (8)

Translator: Miss Ruby

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[His Highness Tarkan has distinguished himself in battle once again.]

[Hm.]

King Irugo stroked his chin after hearing his adviser’s report.

[You do not seem very happy about it.]

[Of course, I am happy. But I realize that this will invite assassins after Tarkan again.]

The assassins would not be from Silvanus, their enemy nation, but from Irugo, Tarkan’s home country.

[Do you plan to make a move?]

[For what? He can deal with this much himself.]

As he spoke, the King lifted the wine bottle and tried to pour it into the cup.

However.

Clatter—. The bottle slipped from the King’s hand, falling to the floor and as it rolled on the ground, the amber liquid inside drenched the expensive carpet.

The chamberlain was startled and hurriedly approached to clean up the mess.

[I shall have new wine brought out.]

When he heard the chamberlain say that, the King shook his head.

[No need. All of you, withdraw.]

Everyone in the King’s study, including the adviser, quietly withdrew from the room.

[His Majesty said His Highness can deal with it by himself, but it seems he is still worried about His Highness Tarkan.]

[I’m sure he is. That is his favorite child, after all…]

[If only His Highness was born from a noblewoman.]

–

The quivering water surface ended with the scene of the adviser and the chamberlain talking outside the room.

The vision that the Monarch’s Sight showed her was only up to there.

Aristine inwardly shook her head as she reflected on the scene in her memory.

‘They are wrong.’

All of them were people who had wholeheartedly served next to the king for several years, but their guesses were completely wrong.

That was not why the King dropped the wine bottle.

“Your Majesty, Yenika loves this Jiggle jelly so much so can Yenika have Your Majesty’s…”[1]

At that moment, when Yenika was whispering to the King with a cute smile.

“…?!”

Everyone in the room was stunned by Aristine’s sudden actions.

‘Wha, what is she…’

‘What in the world is going on?!’

Their two eyes were working fine but they couldn’t understand what was happening. They couldn’t believe the scene before them even though they were seeing it themselves.

Even Tarkan, who had been staying back with an attitude that said he would not intervene in the conversation, was obviously surprised this time.

“Princess?”

The first person to regain their senses was naturally the King.

Nephther looked at Jiggle jelly placed right in front of his lips. The jelly was incomparable to ordinary jelly; it looked plump and chewy and its light-yellow hue made it seem sweet and sour with an enticing glaze.

Since Nephther was not the one who picked up the jelly with the fork, naturally, someone else was holding the fork. And the person holding the fork was none other than Princess Aristine.

“Royal father, Your Majesty.”

Hearing the words ‘Royal father’ from Aristine’s mouth made not only Yenikarina freeze, but all the other royal family members in the room.

“D-Did you say Royal father?!”

To my father?!

Yenikarina screamed at Aristine.

“Yenika, you do not like that I called His Majesty, Royal Father?”

I thought you called me family?

When Aristine gazed at her with that sort of look in her eyes, Yenikarina’s mouth flew shut.

“When I marry Tarkan, I will also call His Majesty, Royal father. After all, His Majesty will be my family and my father as well.”[2]

“…Of course.”

“There shouldn’t be a problem with me calling His Majesty that a few days prior, right?”

Aristine’s attitude was calm but her eyes were trembling a little. The look in her eyes showed that she was a little worried that this might sour Nephther’s mood or he might reject her.

It was the eyes of someone who was used to getting thrown out.

But at this moment, she was mustering up her courage once again. To possibly change something and take the risk of being coldly rejected.

Nephther opened his mouth.

“It is not a problem.”

Once the King made that declaration, Yenikarina looked like she was about to faint.

Aristine’s eyes trembled.

Nephther felt like, for the first time, he was seeing sincerity from the young princess who had just stepped out into the world.

A tender sincerity under that hard shell.

Aristine’s cheeks reddened slightly.

“I’m happy…”

She suddenly mumbled.

Then the next moment, Aristine came to her senses and straightened her expression then tried to give an excuse.

“Ah, no. I mean. I’m sure Your Majesty knows my situation as well. I just…”

For some reason, she felt like she gained a real father and it made her happy. Even though he only allowed her to use the title in advance since she was going to use it in the future anyway.

She knew she shouldn’t give it too much meaning.

However, she recalled a scene she saw through her Monarch’s Sight when she was a child.

It was that of her younger sister sitting on the Emperor’s lap, feeding him a spoonful of Jiggle jelly. Aristine had also wanted to show off her manners to her father and feed him jelly while getting praised.

So she used her fork to pick up a clump of dirt.

“So, what is this? Are you giving this to me?”

Nephther said, cutting off Aristine’s incoherent speech.

Aristine’s eyes were a little swollen.

She nodded forcefully and held out the fork a little higher.

“Say ‘ah~’, Royal father.”

A stinging silence fell over the tea table and you could almost hear a needle drop.

‘No, wait, I thought she was quick-witted; did she not understand what royal father meant just now?’

Paellamien wanted to pull out her hair.

Her royal father’s question did not mean ‘if you’re going to give it to me, hurry it up.’

It meant something like ‘What is this? Don’t tell me you’re trying to give me this? Get it out of my face.’

At least, that is how it sounded to Paellamien, and even Martin and Starline heard the same thing.

After all, who was Nephther?

He was a great king who rules over this rough and vicious plain riddled with demonic beats.

It was already bad enough that she brought a fork of jelly to the iron-blooded King’s mouth, but then she even went ahead and said, ‘say ah~’.

Just watching it happen made their hearts shrivel.

Only Aristine was waiting for the King to open his mouth, as though she had no idea.

“Ah?”

Nephther’s tone was obviously that of someone speechless from disbelief.

He was certainly not opening his mouth as Aristine instructed; it felt like he was saying ‘Ah? Did you just tell me to say ‘ah’?’

No, it didn’t just feel like that, he was definitely saying that.

After all, Nephther’s blue eyes sank, looking icier than ever.

Paellamien hoped that Aristine would come to her senses now and apologize profusely for her rudeness. She came here at the Queen’s order with a light heart but now she was stuck in the middle of a mountain.

However, Aristine had never been one to fulfill Paellamien’s expectations. Even if she was good at grasping the situation around her thanks to the Monarch’s Sight, her experience in human relationships was pretty much close to zero.

Using the words from her past life, when it came to conversations with people, her experience was practically the same as learning from a television.

Moreover, rather than remembering her past life experience, it was more like she had ‘seen’ it with the Monarch’s Sight so…

So far, she had been nervous, so she considered things carefully before acting but once her mood turned happy, she accepted whatever was said at face value.

And so, as soon as Nephther opened his mouth, she stuffed the Jiggle jelly into his mouth.

And he closed his mouth reflexively.

“It’s delicious, right?”

Aristine flashed a bright smile and asked the King.

Translator’s Corner:

[1] The name of the jelly is Pulingpulang Jelly. I think the name is describing the way jellies wobble so I’m naming it the [Jiggle Jelly.] It’s either that or [Pringprang Jelly].

[2]  This is a cultural thing. In Korea, it is common to call the parents of your spouse, ‘mother’ and ‘father’. People do this too even when you’re just dating.