11. Gift.

11. Gift.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“How was yesterday? Did you have a good time?”

 

 

As I returned to my room, Hancock was standing right in front of the door, glaring daggers at me.

 

 

“…Huh?”

“Don’t play dumb with me! I know everything!”

 

 

She circled around Aran, sniffing.

 

 

“T-This is…! The scent that appears when you’ve had sex with more than two people!”

“There’s no way a scent could be that accurate!”

“One is a sultry beauty over 40, with a surname roughly ‘Yueun’… and the other is a beautiful woman around 20, also with the surname Yueun! A m-mother-daughter double?!”

 

 

Kkong!

 

 

Aran flicked her forehead.

 

 

“Ugh… why… why did you hit me?!”

“…How can you say something like that so loudly.”

“Ugh… it’s true, but why does it feel so unfair?”

“It’s just your imagination.”

 

 

Aran threw himself onto the bed.

He was extremely sleepy because he hadn’t slept a wink due to having sex.

 

‘Still, it was good….’

 

 

Moe was moe, but Seorae was truly fantastic.

Enough that I definitely wanted to hold her again.

 

 

‘I wanted to turn her into a Vamgnir if I could… but if I did, Duke Yuri might notice.’

 

 

It was a shame, but Aran’s power was still weak on a global scale, so he had to be careful.

There was no need to unnecessarily draw aggro. Especially if the target was a different race like a vampire.

 

 

“Are you going to sleep?”

“Yeah… I’m sleepy….”

“…So you were lost in the throes of sex. Having sex with the Emperor was really fun, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah….”

 

 

Aran fell asleep while answering.

 

“…Hmph.”

 

Hancock puffed out her cheeks.

 

 

To think he’d bring back the Emperor and Princess of the Mei Empire.

 

 

Although she was pretending to be human on the outside, she was a dragon. If she concentrated, she could catch things like that easily.

Of course, her lack of concentration was a flaw.

 

 

“If you’re going to bring women, bring some easier ones. You perverted Prince-nim.”

 

 

She poked his cheek as he slept.

 

 

 

 

.

.

.

 

 

 

 

Time passed, and it became noon.

 

 

Hancock woke Aran up.

 

“Your Highness~ It’s time for food. A delicious meal has arrived.”

“Ugh….”

 

 

Aran tossed and turned.

 

 

“Oh, come on. We have to proceed with the negotiations today, too.”

“Ugh… nego…tiations?”

“Yes. We have to rip them off in front of those Mei Empire bitches!”

 

 

Aran snapped awake.

 

 

“Negotiations!”

“That’s right. Your Highness. Get up and eat quickly.”

 

Hancock brought the food set on the table to the bed.

It was Samgyetang.

 

 

Hwakkun.

 

 

He blushed as Seorae’s seduction from last night suddenly came to mind.

 

 

“This is called Samgyetang, and it’s a suuuuuuper rare and expensive dish. Since they personally bestowed it upon you, it seems they like you quite a bit, Your Highness.”

“I…is that so?”

 

 

Aran could see some other intention in her eyes.

Could it be a message to come again tonight?

 

 

“It seems they bestowed this Samgyetang on everyone in the party. Muning and Lamias in the next room received it too.”

“I see. I’m grateful for this.”

 

 

Aran took the bowl and went to the table.

‘It’s super expensive… If the Count said that… would it be around 1 million meso?’

 

 

Even 1 million meso was a huge amount of money. The average annual income of a family of four commoners was 150,000 meso, so it was enough money to live on for almost 6 years.

 

 

“Because it’s a whopping ’20 million meso’ per bowl.”

“Hit…!”

 

 

He almost dropped the bowl for a moment.

 

Did I hear wrong?

 

 

 

 

“T-Twenty million meso, you said?”

“Yes.”

“…This?!!”

 

He pointed with his finger.

No matter how Western the food was and how precious it was, how could a bowl of food cost 20 million meso?

 

 

“Did they sprinkle it with mithril or something?”

“Oh my, you know it well.”

“….”

“Just kidding, the main ingredient, chicken, is cheap, but it’s expensive because it contains a lot of expensive medicinal ingredients classified as ‘Korean medicine’. Among them is Goryeo ginseng, a specialty of Goryeo. Goryeo ginseng alone would already be 5 million meso.”

“…Th…this kind of thing…”

 

 

Aran trembled.

 

Just one meal costing 20 million meso.

It was dumbfounding.

 

 

Of course, this was such a luxurious dish that even nobles didn’t eat it often.

 

 

For reference, Aran’s salary when he was a Srodia archer was 30,000 meso, and even that was because he was an elite soldier.

 

If Aran had continued as an archer instead of becoming a Prince, he would have had to save for about ’55 years’ to eat one bowl of Samgyetang.

 

 

“So it’s mainly a dish that comes out during banquets or occasionally. The Emperor of the Mei Empire is really generous.”

 

Aran’s face hardened.

 

 

‘Yesterday… I didn’t eat it and just had sex….’

 

 

A shuddering sense of regret washed over him.

 

 

“But, is it that delicious? Enough to pay that much money for it?”

“Not that much. But this….”

 

 

She laughed, hehe.

 

 

“It has excellent effects on male stamina.”

“S-Stamina?”

“Yes. It seems that some Korean medicine has that effect. So noblewomen tend to feed it to their gigolos on certain days.”

“…….”

 

 

This made it clear.

Seorae’s intention.

 

‘S-So that’s why the Samgyetang….’

 

 

She definitely meant to have another hot night tonight.

 

 

“Anyway, eat quickly. The negotiations are scheduled to start at 2 PM.”

“A-Alright.”

 

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

“Mother, I can’t walk well.”

“Of course, you just got broken in yesterday. You’ll be fine after a day or so.”

“Ugh… in the end, one of the lights illuminating the world has fallen.”

“….”

“The reason the sun was covered by clouds this morning must be because it was sad. It can’t bear to show its face. Because it couldn’t protect me!”

“….”

 

Seorae shook her head.

Even as her daughter, Moe’s self-admiration was hard to watch.

 

“More than that, negotiating just among ourselves… the nobles will be quite dissatisfied when they find out later.”

“From the start, those people were strongly opposed to taking O… no, Prince Aran as mother’s son-in-law, and now you’re sending her off to marry him… I predict that more than 90% will oppose it.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’ll just kill them all.”

“…Huh?”

 

An incredibly chilling remark popped out.

 

 

“How long has it been since I said I was going to directly control the Six Ministries (六曹直啓), and they’re still dragging their feet. All the incompetent bitches should be killed.”

“Um….”

“Why?”

“It’s just that when mother says things like that….”

“I’m just lazy, not incompetent.”

“Isn’t that worse?”

 

 

Originally, negotiations were usually centered around the nobles, but this time it was an important matter, and there was no one who met the Emperor’s standards, so the Imperial family stepped in directly.

Of course,

Moe’s beautiful appearance also played a part.

They would be putty in her hands.

 

 

Besides, Aran had become her husband.

They might not come out so strongly.

 

 

“Anyway, I’ll just watch, so do well. Honestly, it doesn’t really matter since you’ll be by his side, but try not to give him land exceeding the Hasado as much as possible.”

“Yes, Mother. I’ll try my best.”

“Ah, no, wait.”

 

 

She changed her mind.

 

 

“Let’s just give him a reasonable amount.”

“Huh?”

“Hehe. I forgot that Aran is an adopted son.”

“What suddenly….”

 

 

What was she thinking?

Seorae laughed, hehe.

 

 

“He was adopted as an heir and made the greatest contribution, winning the hearts of the people… Wouldn’t the original Princesses be pissed off?”

“Is that so?”

“…You’re too much of an idiot to understand, but to put it simply, it’s like mother picked up an orphan from the slums, and he’s a useless man, and that man accidentally becomes a war hero and solidifies his position as a Prince. From our perspective, we can’t be happy.”

“Yeah. So?”

“…It’s unlikely, but he might become an obstacle in the future when it comes to taking the throne.”

 

Moe tilted her head.

 

 

“Exactly. There’s no way Cornelia doesn’t know that. But she goes even further and builds a great kingdom? There’s something going on. There’s a reason why she has to send that guy abroad.”

“Hmm… Like he doesn’t get along with the Princesses? But rumors say he’s close to all of them except for the 2nd Princess?”

“That’s the problem. The 2nd Princess is the most likely to become the next Emperor, right? What does it matter if he’s close to the other three? He’s not close to the next Emperor. But from Cornelia’s perspective, that guy is still her son, so she has to protect him… So I think she’s doing this to give him the power to oppose the next Emperor.”

“Ehh… But if you think about it that way, the next Emperor is her own daughter?”

“So if she gives both of them similar power, they won’t fight unless something really big happens. And that guy is Tier 6. If he’s a king of a country and has Tier 6 skills, it’ll be hard to antagonize him.”

“I see… That makes sense. About 10%.”

“…Well, we’ll find out more as we go along since Moe is there.”

 

 

Seorae nodded, convincing herself.

 

The more she thought about it, the better it was for Aran’s great kingdom to have strong power.

After all, she was giving Moe as his wife, and the Emperor herself had a connection with him. Even if relations with Persia were to break down, there was a possibility that Aran would mediate, and more than anything,

 

 

‘Strong power tends to point upwards.’

 

 

There was also the possibility of a war between Aran’s great kingdom and the home country of Persia.

Considering that, it was advantageous for Aran to have great power as well.

 

“Let’s just give him about half. Instead, we have to make it clear that the territory taken from Srodia must belong to the great kingdom. That’s the only way it will have meaning.”

 

 

 

She smiled seductively.