Chapter 195
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 195
The next morning.
I finished a light grooming session under the care of Adel and the maids, my eyes looking quite hollow.
Even though I had told them I had no appetite, breakfast was anything but meager.
There were fresh rolls made of white flour, straight from the oven and encrusted with walnuts and peanuts, served alongside fresh cheese. There were six different types of jam alone to spread on them.
Unable to resist Adel’s nagging, I also had a few pieces of moist, steamed chicken before finishing the meal with orange juice and peppermint tea to cleanse my palate.
Grandfather and Father had already left the mansion. In truth, the two of them were far busier than I was. Since it had been a while since they’d visited the Imperial Capital, they likely had a mountain of work to attend to.
Instead, they both left word through Adel that they wished to have dinner with me this evening.
I headed to the White Tulip Salon, listened to the managers discuss the negotiations with the mages, and once again stared at that staggering figure: 100 billion.
Sigh…
I almost wish I didn’t know…
“Aaaaagh!”
As I clutched my head and roared, the managers came running in a panic.
“M-Master! What is wrong?!”
“The Master is having a fit!”
“A doctor! Fetch a doctor at once!”
“What do you mean, a fit?!”
To think they’d call a doctor just because I grabbed my head and shouted! It was such excessive fawning that I felt embarrassed for anyone who might have overheard.
“I don’t need a doctor! Everyone, get back to work!”
“Yes…!”
They all backed away hesitantly, their eyes filled with a mix of concern and disbelief.
I simply stood up and retreated into my private study.
Sigh. I shouldn’t have called Schuls Schmidt…
I should have just pretended to know nothing, acting as if my intelligence were lower than a cat’s, and simply rejoiced that I’d found a massive client…
But I knew better.
“If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be ‘aware’ of the situation; I would have just ‘collided’ with it, wouldn’t I?”
There was a world of difference between the two.
Benjamin in The Milk Bread was… well…
Because of the extreme abuse he suffered as a child, he grew into a prince filled with venom.
The most important thing in his life was gold.
From being the son of a discarded concubine to eventually becoming the Crown Prince, what supported Benjamin was the vast amount of gold he had earned by crawling through the dirt.
Would it have been any different when such a man proposed to the heroine, Corico?
In the original game, you could receive a proposal from him even when his favorability was merely at a high level, but it wasn't out of love. Benjamin was a man who would propose a ‘political marriage’ because he knew that Corico, who had established a massive foothold in the Brillant Empire, would be useful for his future ascension to the throne.
Such were the cold-hearted actions of that scheming man with the face of an angel…
However, he was still a male lead.
The moment his favorability hit the maximum—the moment you chose Benjamin as the ‘True Male Lead’—everything changed.
You would receive a completely different proposal.
It was the kind of proposal where a man, truly in love and blinded to money and ambition, would stake everything he owned to win her over.
In other words, I had never seen such a classic method of proposal—offering 100 billion gold—even in The Milk Bread.
Why? I saw almost every ending over those two years.
What changed?
Is it simply because I am Tulia and not Corico?
Is that it?
Then, a realization struck me like a bolt of lightning.
“That’s right…”
During my countless playthroughs of The Milk Bread as Han Ina, I had encountered a character this time that I had never met even once!
The Hidden Male Lead!
“Klaus!”
Something is definitely up with this guy!
Well, maybe not a ‘problem’ per se, but regardless!
Klaus is a special ‘Hidden Male Lead,’ and on top of that, he’s from the mysterious Summer Continent!
There has to be something!
He even vaguely sensed the curse that was placed on me.
I didn’t appreciate this situation where I had to grope around in the vague darkness. To put it more bluntly, it was starting to get annoying.
What exactly is playing with me?
The System window? Jjapddongbyeol?
Or some curse of this world that I don’t know about?
Whatever it is.
One month.
I’ll see this through to the end within a month.
I would somehow raise all my stats and hit A-Rank within the allotted time.
I was sick to death of this situation where new variables kept popping up, leaving me tossed about and constantly anxious.
Just as I was grinding my teeth in frustration—
“Why’d you call?”
“Waaah!”
Startled by the sudden voice, I nearly toppled over backward, only to be rescued by a pair of swift arms.
It was that guy again.
“Klaus!”
I stared at him with an absurd expression, still tilted back at an angle.
“Why do you keep popping up out of nowhere?”
“You called me, didn’t you?”
“No, I mean, this is ridiculous…”
“I’m the one who finds this ridiculous. Honestly, you look perfectly fine, but you’re always jumping around and nearly falling over…”
Klaus clicked his tongue as he helped me stand upright.
“And why are your bones so thin? You need to eat properly to live. The chefs at your mansion are quite skilled, so just how picky is your palate? Should I have some special delicacies from the Lupinus Kingdom made for you?”
Klaus was nagging me as usual, but to be honest, I felt strangely uncomfortable.
“I don’t care if you don’t break the oath.”
“…I’d like things to stay just as they are.”
Because those words I heard just last night seemed to still be ringing in my ears.
I couldn't see Klaus's face clearly with the moonlight at his back, but he had been staring at me as intensely as an arrow piercing a target…
I tried to ignore the awkwardness bubbling up and replied as if nothing were wrong.
“I just haven’t been eating well lately because I’ve had a lot of work.”
Klaus, who had been staring at me, asked, “What work? Ah, the business at this salon?”
“Well… yeah. That too.”
I gave a vague answer and asked back.
“But why are you popping up here? If it were the mansion, I’d understand since you’re staying there.”
I furrowed my brows.
“Are you tailing me?”
“Ha.”
Klaus scoffed. He suddenly took a couple of steps back from me and tilted his chin up.
“What? Why?”
“Take a good look at me.”
Only then did I scan Klaus from head to toe.
His face really is a masterpiece.
After he was first rescued, he had been walking around Frezier Castle in reasonably high-quality clothes. Since it was the Grand Duke’s castle, even the guest attire was top-tier.
When he appeared as an official envoy on the Imperial Palace dais, he had been wearing the unique formal wear of the Lupinus Kingdom.
But now, Klaus looked every bit the young nobleman of the Spring Continent.
My eye for fashion, which had naturally improved since I started running the White Tulip Salon, told me exactly how expensive the dark gray suit Klaus was wearing was.
And there was no need to mention how well it suited him.
He looked like a piece of unreleased official art.
As if reading my expression, Klaus’s lips curled into a smirk.
“I’m here as a customer at the White Tulip Salon. Show me some of your wares. The rarer the color, the better.”
“I’m sorry, but as you can see, I am a very important person. An employee will show you around, so if you could kindly get lo—”
“Save it. Didn’t I tell you? Your Emperor plans to open trade with the Summer Continent through me.”
Klaus crossed his arms with an arrogant expression.
“I’m thinking of loading White Tulip dye onto the merchant ships, so why don’t you give me a detailed tour? My dear Salon Owner.”
I immediately channeled my inner sycophant and began to wait on Klaus.
* * *
That evening.
“I rushed back so I wouldn’t be late, only to find my granddaughter is the latest of all.”
“I’m sorry, Grandfather. Dad.”
I sat down at the table with a sheepish grin. I didn’t forget to give Luc a thankful nod as he pulled out my chair.
“You seem to be in a good mood today.”
“A massive deal came into the White Tulip Salon.”
Of course, one person says it’s a marriage proposal, and the other says it involves a ship that might sink and lose everything!
Regardless, it was true that the payment for the deal was astronomical.
But at that moment, Grandfather and Father suddenly exchanged glances. Their expressions were far from good.