TERMS 04

Chapter 04….

In This Princess Pulls Off a Marriage Scam, Bloden Ilpein—who had black hair and red eyes—was an incredibly handsome man and possessed a special supernatural power granted only to the emperor.

It was the ability to summon demons, spirits, ghosts, and the like and command them as subordinates.

However, this power came with a side effect known as a curse, and its symptoms and severity differed with each emperor.

Bloden’s mother, the previous emperor Riendha, was unlucky. The more she used her power, the more her lifespan shortened.

During her reign, magical beasts happened to run rampant, forcing her to use her power frequently, and as a result she died young. Afterward, young Bloden—the emperor’s only child—ascended the throne, ushering in the era of regency.

The first regent was his father and imperial consort, Grand Duke Beldenborough. However, he took Anna, daughter of Duke Roan, as his wife and then suddenly died a few years later.

Next, Anna Roan—Lady Beldenborough—began her regency.

Under the pretext of safeguarding the empire, she sent young Bloden to the Northern Mountain Gate, the source of the magical beasts.

Since he could not conduct state affairs until adulthood while a regent remained in power anyway, Bloden headed to the Northern Mountains without protest.

The side effect of his ability was that the more power he used, the younger his outward appearance and voice became—but Bloden did not care.

Even if he looked young, he was fully aware that he was the emperor. As long as the empire’s people were safe from the threat of magical beasts, that was enough for him.

Then one day, Princess Nelloa of the Kingdom of Kelite—who had transmigrated into the book—obtained intelligence that Bloden, now newly an adult, was in the port city of Snoril. After making a major contribution in solving a long-troubling child kidnapping case using information she knew, Nelloa made him an offer.

‘I know how to break the curse. I’ll remove it for you, so marry me.’

It was a lie she told to win the male lead’s love, but Bloden, who thought highly of her abilities, accepted the proposal.

Afterward, true to a romance novel, Nelloa overcame hardships and succeeded in the imperial marriage. She drove out Anna Beldenborough, who struggled to retain control of state affairs until the very end, and ruled the empire together with Bloden.

Her claim that she knew how to break the curse had been a lie—but it didn’t matter. Bloden had never believed her in the first place.

Even as the battle against magical beasts to protect the empire’s safety and peace continued, Bloden and Nelloa still achieved something of a happy ending.

That was what I was recalling when—

“Wow!”

An exclamation slipped out of me without realizing.

A conch shell twice the size of my fist!

I’d caught plenty of large conchs while shoreline foraging in my previous world, but I’d never seen one this heavy or this big.

“With this size, the meat must be insane.”

As soon as I dropped my once-in-a-lifetime conch into the bucket, it filled up completely.

This should be enough for Baron and me, right?

Forcing myself to ignore the other seafood in sight, I quickly headed home. It didn’t feel like I’d been out that long, but the surroundings had already grown dim.

“Next time I come out, I should light a fire on the beach beforehand.”

In this world, the sun set much faster than I’d expected. If I’d come back even a little later, I might have broken my promise to Baron to return before full nightfall.

“Oh, right. I still haven’t decided how to get proper foraging gear. At minimum, I need a search light…”

Most sea creatures were active at night, and to catch them, lighting equipment was essential above all else.

“It’s way too inconvenient to carry a torch around alone, and magic-stone lamps are insanely expensive. How am I supposed to solve this?”

I was muttering and sighing to myself when I suddenly looked up.

A sphere of white light was flickering near our house.

“What is that?”

Even after rubbing my eyes and looking again, the white light kept blinking—like a lighthouse telling me, this is where you return.

I stopped worrying and hurried my steps.

I didn’t know what the light was, but with darkness falling, I was grateful for anything that guided the way.

“…”

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a proper look at it. The moment I stepped onto the safe sandy flat, the light vanished.

It felt so strange it was almost like I’d been bewitched by a will-o’-the-wisp.

I stood there blankly for a moment when a dark figure moved in front of the house.

“Why are you so late?”

It was Baron.

“Come in already. I’ve been waiting.”

Baron opened the door. A warm orange glow spilled out from inside.

Did he not see that strange light?

I couldn’t help asking.

“Didn’t you see anything weird out here?”

“Weird?”

“Yeah. A white light was blinking and then disappeared.”

“Oh. That?”

Baron answered casually, as if it were nothing.

“It was a firefly.”

“What?”

“A firefly.”

No way—that light couldn’t possibly be a firefly.

“What kind of firefly looks like that?”

“They exist. They’re just really rare.”

Baron tilted his head as if wondering why I didn’t know.

“It was a flash firefly.”

“Th-there’s really something like that?”

I honestly doubted my ears, but Baron nodded calmly. He didn’t look like he was joking at all.

“Yeah. It’s a tiny bug that gives off a light about the size of an adult’s fist. It suddenly appears, sometimes flickers, sometimes shines steadily, then vanishes in a flash. They used to show up occasionally in the garden of my old house.”

Baron stroked his small chin with his little hand and nodded.

“If we’re lucky, we might even be able to tame one.”

“What? Really?”

“Yeah. They’re intelligent, so they follow their owner well.”

Then he gave a faint smirk with an arrogance unfitting for his age.

“Most people don’t know about them. A lot of people mistake them for ghost lights.”

I had nothing to say. Somehow, it even felt like he was subtly looking down on me, which was a bit annoying.

But the moment our eyes met, that feeling melted away like snow.

He was just too cute.

Then Baron said,

“Want me to catch one and tame it for you? I can do it.”

“That would be nice, but don’t push yourself. Anyway—”

This tiny kid was trying to do something for me.

That was ridiculously cute and sweet.

And if we really could tame one, I’d basically gain LED-level lighting.

“Well, it’s my first time seeing one. Pretty smart of you, squirt.”

Filled with gratitude, I playfully ruffled Baron’s hair.

“Gah! Who are you calling a squirt?!”

This time Baron was the one flustered. Even his shocked expression was cute.

“Hahaha, come on in. I’ll grill the conch for you.”

Laughing, I stepped inside—and was genuinely stunned.

The broken furniture pieces I hadn’t cleaned up yet were neatly stacked to one side like stored firewood, and although the floor was still old, it was clean and dust-free.

The furnace fire I’d barely kept alive with kindling was now burning fiercely.

No wonder that orange light had been leaking through the door.

“B-Baron… did you clean all this?”

No matter how I thought about it, Baron was the only one who could have done it. But could a kid really manage all this?

“Yeah.”

“How did you do all this by yourself? It must’ve been hard.”

Baron shrugged.

“Even if it’s hard, it has to be done. We decided to live together.”

“No. Don’t do this anymore. Come here first.”

I quickly washed my hands in the water I’d carried yesterday, then firmly took Baron’s hands and examined them closely.

“H-hey, what are you doing?”

Startled, Baron’s eyes went round as he tried to pull back.

I’m not going to eat you, you brat.

“Does anything hurt?”

“Huh?”

“Your hands. If you handle wood wrong, you can get splinters.”

Honestly, my heart ached.

Kids this age normally couldn’t work this much. But Baron had—and very quickly at that.

Which meant he’d spent a lot of time reading adults’ moods enough to handle heavy housework on his own.

The innkeeper the nanny had left him with must have made him work until kicking him out.

He’s still so young. Just how much has he suffered?

The more I thought about it, the more pitiful it felt, and I scrutinized Baron’s palms even more carefully.

Then the quiet Baron pointed to his left index finger.

“Now that I think about it, this part did sting a little.”

“Oh, really?”

I carefully examined his finger. But even looking closely, I couldn’t see anything, so I lightly pressed the center of his fingerprint.

“How about when I press here?”

From the way Baron tilted his head, that didn’t seem to be the spot. I gently rubbed the side.

“How about this?”

“I think it hurts. Feels like something’s there.”

I stared closely at his finger, but I still couldn’t see any splinter.

What should I do?

After thinking for a moment, I came up with a method.

It might be unhygienic, but it couldn’t be helped. If his delicate hand got infected because of a splinter, that would be serious.

We didn’t even have medicine at home.

“Then let’s do this. This seems like the best we can do right now.”

“Huh?”