Just seeing his face made me feel full.

Just the fact that the two MCs were in the same area made me feel relieved.

‘This must be why people don’t like MCs in movies and novels splitting up. This is why the extras say things like, ‘I knew you would come!’ Whenever the main characters show up.’

I snickered toward crown prince Cédric sitting on the other side of the table.

He put his coffee cup down and looked toward Vice Captain Élisabeth next to him.

“Has the Marquis been drinking?”
“Of course not…… He’s just happy that his friend is here.”

She had been shocked at her close friend’s sudden visit, but had quickly calmed down after speaking to David for a bit.

According to David, the Imperial Crown Prince had finished his duties and come down here to cool his head.

I felt an unexplainable sense of pride as I sipped on the sunflower tea.

‘Christelle is definitely a charming MC you want to see as much as possible. Even Eunseo bought all of the Christelle merch that came out.’

-♬♩♪……

The musicians that Chantal called played a magnificent serenade this time.

I opened up my notebook and inspected the things I needed to do as the sun started to set in the salon.

Having the main characters in one place got me fired up.

∙ Sérénité schedule:

– Greet the people of the Lord’s Castle ○

– Take care of all sorts of documents ○

– Territory inspection (Chantal is setting schedule)

– Holy stones stability testing △ (Continuously failing)

– Haas Merchant guild feast participation ○

– Visit the Haas Auction house!

I had no reason to go to the auction house alone, but it was different now.

Now that a man appeared to shake Christelle and the crown prince has shown up in Sérénité, I could not avoid the auction event anymore.

It was the largest and most representative event by the Haas Merchant guild, so the Duke’s family would obviously attend as well.

That means that I only had one mission. Come up with a decent excuse to take the crown prince there as well.

“Good.”

– Cruuu.

– Squeeeee.

Rhea and Perry reacted to my solemn mumbling.

The two of them, who came on the crown prince’s carriage, were more arrogant than usual as they demanded affection.

I chuckled and patted the two divine beasts on my knees.

Demy was fast asleep while wrapped around the young Countess’s shoulder like a piece of laundry and Percy was in the Imperial Prince’s hair, chirping loudly every so often.

– Second meeting with Joanne de Haas.

I stared at the new topic that was added to the end of the list.

Christelle would return before dinner.

I was certain of it because the Duke and his wife urgently sent a messenger to the city after seeing the crown prince arrive.

That meant that I needed to meet with Joanne before then to gather information on Emille and the merchant guild.

Benjamin and Ganael, who were seated on either side of me, filled my teacup and gave me a pile of meringue cookies as I nodded my head.

I was filled with energy.

‘I will continue to do my best to film < Jung Yeseo's Match Made in Heaven >.’

*

Christelle de Sarnez, no, Ham Ga-in, had never been in sales.

However, she did work part time in a café near the train station for all four years of college.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that she saw all sorts of people at that place.

She basically saw the full spectrum of the rainbow in terms of personalities.

She then worked seven or eight years after that in a company, so she was confident that she had experienced pretty much all kinds of crazy bastards that were out there.

However, it was her first time seeing someone like this. In some ways, it was a fresh experience.

“Oh my, to start studying business at the age of nine, you are amazing.”
“I had no choice because my sister rejected being an heir at that time. In some ways, my sister is the amazing one. She had chosen her own path when she was barely ten years old.”

Emille de Haas smiled as he responded.

Most people would be blanking out at his handsome face, but Christelle had no reaction to it.

In her opinion, Prince Jesse’s smile had much more impact, and, looking only at handsomeness, the crown prince had the merchant guild leader overwhelmingly beaten.

She didn’t want to admit that latter part, but it was the truth.

Seeing those two men so often made regular handsome people seem average to her.

Furthermore, while Emille was young and a smooth talker, it seemed increasingly obvious that something had been missing as he grew up.

“It must have been hard for you to have friends. You must have been very busy.”

Christelle warmly commented as they walked down the path in the merchant guild’s rear garden.

This place was pretty as well, but she very much preferred being with her close friends in the garden of Juliette Palace.

Now that she thought about it, she had yet to visit the Imperial Palace’s greenhouse with Prince Jesse.

“Books were my friends. They taught me so much about the world.”

That meant that he had no friends. The corners of Christelle’s eyes curled up.

“Have you read a lot of novels as well? I’m extremely addicted to < Reason, Sensibility, and Holiness > these days.”
“Yes ma’am, novels played a big role in expanding my imagination. Thanks to them, I dreamt of the world beyond the ocean and developed a curiosity for commerce……”

‘Hey, don’t overdo it. Why are you acting like a twenty year old at their first job interview?’

She could only grumble internally.

Emille was indeed in his twenties, and a young twenty three year old at that, but Christelle was annoyed by him.

Did he end up like this because he was so busy studying when he was younger that he only learned about relationships through books?

Is it that his brain is great at selling things but not at getting to people’s hearts?

Nonsense. Not all studious people grew up to wrongfully accuse others.

Especially doing it behind said person’s back like a lowly fox.

She had no idea how many romance novels he read while growing up, but Christelle had no reason to just go along with whatever Emille said.

She didn’t want to do that either. She was not Prince Jesse.

“But I don’t think there are many novels talking about the stories of commoners. Most are about romance between nobles or politics. The < Re-challenge of the special supporting character of the wealthy family > you just mentioned is an adventure story about a wealthy family as well.”

That was why she scoped him out with a gentle tone.

It was because she remembered what Vice Captain Élisabeth told her before she left the Sérénité Lord’s Castle.

‘I do not know if this is accurate, but… Based on our interrogation of Joanne de Haas, the Haas merchant guild leader has a goal of increasing his status. I just thought you should know.’

Based on what Christelle knew, a commoner in the Empire basically had two ways to get an increase in status.

First was to make some revolutionary achievement in any specialty to receive a title.

Maybe that was easy during wartime, but it was extremely rare for something like that to happen in a peaceful time like right now.

There was no guarantee that you would be bestowed a title and there was also a chance of an evil noble stealing the credit for a commoner’s achievement.

That left just one way to make it happen.

Marriage to a noble.

“That is true. That is something I have always been disappointed about. I’m glad that we agree.”

Emille responded in a sad voice.

‘Aigoo, it is that.’

Christelle clicked her tongue quietly.

“That’s right. It is not right for an extraordinary commoner to be rejected for their abilities or not considered for an important task due to their status.”

She made a glib comment before observing Emille’s expression.

She also didn’t forget to open her eyes wide and slightly tilt her head to the side so that she looked as lovely and harmless as possible.

Emille looked down at her with his lemon-colored eyes shaking, as if he heard something unbelievable.

She could see the reaction of a person who had seen his chance.

“Do you truly believe that, Dame Christelle? No…… Is it okay for me to call an esteemed individual as yourself by your name?”
“Of course. I’m happy because your voice is so wonderful.”

Christelle shyly commented. Prince Jesse was right.

The crown prince’s voice was much better than this kind of bastard’s voice.

That guy had a tendency to be excessive in everything, including his physique.

“Thank you very much. Please freely address me by my name as well.”
“I will, Emille.”

The merchant guild leader smiled brightly as Christelle easily agreed.

Christelle smiled back and finished her calculations.

She was certain that this bastard was greedy for status and choosing the route of marriage because that was easy.

The way he was flirting with her made it clear that the Duke’s House of Sarnez was his target.

‘It’s great to have big dreams but not impossible ones…… What bullshit.’

“Oh my!”

‘Ah, whatever!’

Christelle purposely pretended to trip on a rock.

She needed to confirm things first.

“Dame Christelle!”

Emille quickly held her by the waist. They instantly ended up in a romantic pose!

“Y, young lady! My goodness.”

The attendants of the Duke’s household, who were following about ten steps behind them, covered their eyes and turned around.

Christelle placed a hand on Emille’s chest and slowly raised her head.

The way his light brown cheeks were flushed red made it certain that he was looking at her in that manner.

Christelle acted like a weak little girl and covered her mouth.

‘No matter how much someone like you acts like a fox…’

“Thank you very much. The Marquis-nim has never helped me like this……”
“That makes no sense. How can you not extend a helping hand toward someone as beautiful as you?”

‘You dumbass, do you really think that a Holy Knight would fall like this?’

There was, however, a time when she caught the Prince when he was about to fall though.

“That sir…… Is the type to extend his hand for another reason.”

Christelle whispered to Emille in a pitiful voice.

She was talking about how he was struck by the Prince. Emille’s face quickly stiffened.

“As I expected. The terrible rumors were true. I heard that the Marquis has you, Dame Christelle, in one hand and his Royal Highness in the other and is toying with both of you.”
“It’s true.”

‘Who the hell is going around spewing such bullshit?’

Christelle seriously thought about the faces of those Bishop bastards she saw during the Annual Prayer Meeting.

She was basically certain it was those bastards who talked crap about the Prince at the meeting.

‘If they can’t say it to his face, they should keep their mouths shut.’

“My goodness. Dame Christelle, I truly……”

Emille was just about to wipe Christelle’s cheek with his large palm.

She had managed to tear up by holding back two yawns.

It was at that moment.

“Young miss! The Duke requests you to return immediately, oh!”

She heard the voice of a servant from the House of the Duke in the distance.

Christelle quickly moved away from Emille as if she was caught in an embarrassing moment.

The messenger, who was escorted by a staff of the merchant guild to come find her, became flushed as he lowered his head.

He then said the thing he needed to say extremely quickly, almost as if the words were water pouring down a waterfall.

“Y, young lady Christelle… His Royal Highness has arrived at the Lord’s Castle. Your parents request you return to greet him.”
“……ck.”

Christelle barely managed to keep the first part of that swear word silent.

She was dealing with a weasel pretending to be a fox and a true fire fox showed up.

She scowled and looked up at Emille. He probably thought she looked extremely sad.

“My feet hurt and it looks like I will have to make my leave now. My father hates it when I am late.”
“Please wait a moment, Dame Christelle!”

Emille grabbed her by the wrist.

‘Look at this jackass.’

She let her long hair flutter as she dramatically turned toward him.

“When will we be able to meet again? Please tell me that we will be able to meet again.”
“I’m not very sure. I do have the invitation to the auction you sent, but my parents do not like to bid on things they are not sure about. They probably will not attend. Although they did seem to have something they wanted……”

Christelle trailed off as if she was sorry.

“I can’t make you any promises. Goodbye now.”

She let her eyelashes flutter as she walked away.

Emille weakly let go of her arm.

Once she was turned around, there was a sparkle in Christelle’s eyes as she wiped her wrist on her clothes.

The net has been cast properly. All that was left was for him to get caught in it.

It was now time for her to return to the rabbit-like Prince and her friends.

*

“It is okay to rest in a room…… Are you not tired, your Royal Highness?”

I looked up at the crown prince, who was walking next to me, and asked.

It would be fine for him to get some rest after coming such a far way, so I didn’t understand why he wanted to come with me to the underground prison.

His eyebrow twitched once while looking down at me and he didn’t say anything.

‘There is no way he took ‘move together’ literally, is there?’

It seemed as if he just wanted to see the inside of the castle. Housewarming parties were fun after all.

– Claaaaang!

I flinched again. It was because Vice Captain Élisabeth kicked the bars of Joanne’s cell again.

The shocked red panda trio grumbled in my arms.

I patted their backs on behalf of the young Countess and apologized.

“Get up. Joanne de Haas. His Royal Highness and the Marquis wish to speak to you.”
“Ah, tell me these things in advance…… I’m tired after staying up all night doing art.”

Joanne pulled up the cloth covering her eyes and grumbled.

She seemed to be using the scarf on her head as an eye mask.

I tilted my head and stood in front of her after hearing some unexpected words.

‘Doing art?’

“Gasp!”
“Wow……”

Ganael and I both dropped our jaws at the same time.

There was a large portrait drawn on one side of her cell.

The face of the young boy she drew with white chalk was so delicate that it looked alive.

I looked back and forth at the wall and at Ganael. They looked exactly the same.

She was extremely talented. Ganael’s cheeks flushed red from shock and embarrassment.

“Ah, umm. Why……”

– Clang!

Vice Captain Élisabeth immediately pulled out her rapier.

Her grey eyes looked extremely cold. I gulped.

“……The March is beyond anything I expected.”

The crown prince calmly commented.

‘Don’t pour oil on the flame!’

—
Translator’s Comments

Oo la la~ Ganael~

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