Chapter 16
16.
“You bastard.”
But Lobelin, who had been feeling a bit floaty for a moment, felt her mood shatter at the words that immediately followed.
“See? Just call me a bastard. I’ll know the moment I hear it. If you really aren’t her, I’ll back off cleanly.”
“H-How could I! That’s an insult to the Imperial family!”
“Then I suppose I have no choice. I’ll just have to keep following you until you do it.”
After speaking, Ian stood up with a smirk.
A pair of green shoes was already fitted onto Lobelin’s small feet.
“Oh, my goodness! You have such exquisite taste! How did you pick such a perfectly fitting pair?”
In the meantime, a quick-witted employee approached and made a fuss.
Because of that, Lobelin could neither take off the shoes nor argue back at Ian.
“Your fiancé has such great sense and is so attentive. Ohoho.”
“You flatter me.”
Furthermore, Ian was accepting the employee’s misunderstanding without a care.
The billing for the items they had purchased proceeded as naturally as water flowing.
“Thank you! We will deliver the products you ordered to the address you provided! Please come again!”
Before she knew it, Ian and Lobelin were leaving the shop amidst the lavish hospitality of all the employees at Prom Sabina.
Lobelin was dumbfounded by how quickly everything had happened.
‘Good heavens. How much did we spend today?’
Six dresses and even shoes.
Considering the money she had let slip away at Daphne as well, it was a staggering fortune.
She realized that the scale of spending for the Crown Prince of a nation was indeed on a different level.
“Your Highness, where did you send the bill? Surely not to the Crown Prince’s Palace?”
“Of course not. Do I look like a fool who can’t even judge that much?”
“Yes, I mean… no.”
“……Anyway, don’t worry about it. I sent it to Paula, so there won’t be any problems.”
Baroness Paula Crawford, the Head Maid of the Crown Prince’s Palace, was Ian’s nanny and his closest confidante.
While Brian discussed the Crown Prince’s duties as his aide, Paula was in charge of managing the household of the Crown Prince’s Palace.
‘Well, then that’s a relief.’
Lobelin nodded at Ian’s words.
At the same time, she felt glad that the person receiving the bill wasn’t Brian.
He was already being worked to the bone by Ian; if he received a bill like that, he might actually faint.
‘Anyway, the dresses are sorted. Now let’s think of a way to prevent the fire.’
Since it was just a passing incident in the original novel, the cause of the fire hadn’t been mentioned.
Lobelin looked around, but nothing particularly caught her eye.
In a way, it was only natural. Who would imagine a fire breaking out on a street where everyone was peacefully enjoying their shopping?
“The goods have arrived at the Elden Merchant Guild! I heard they brought a lot of strange things from the New Continent!”
“Let’s go see!”
Meanwhile, young children ran past the two with bursts of laughter.
They seemed in a hurry to see the new items brought from the New Continent as soon as possible.
In that moment, the words of the maid who had spoken to Cornelia in the original novel flashed through Lobelin’s mind.
‘Of all things, there was flammable hay piled up in front of the guild’s warehouse. Apparently, it was items brought in from the New Continent five days prior. Anyway, that’s why the fire spread so quickly.’
The merchant guild, goods brought from the New Continent.
‘……Is it just me, or is everything starting to click into place?’
By the time she snapped out of it, the children’s backs were growing distant.
Somehow, she felt she had to follow them.
“Your Highness, let’s follow those kids. Hurry!”
“Huh?”
“Hurry up!”
Lobelin grabbed Ian’s hand and began to run after the children.
‘This is the place.’
Seeing the Elden Merchant Guild in person was the epitome of exotic splendor.
“Hey! Carry those carefully!”
“Hurry! If we delay even a little, the sun will set! Everything will have to be discarded then!”
Sailors of various skin tones were shouting as they moved cargo.
The items were diverse, ranging from exotic animals and tapestries to various potions and spices.
Foreign languages she couldn’t understand were heard here and there, adding to the atmosphere of this unfamiliar scene.
Flap!
“Whoa, you cursed bird!”
Startled by the noisy atmosphere, a bird in a cage suddenly fluttered its wings, and a surprised sailor fell on his backside and spat out a curse.
The laughter of the onlookers watching this was a bonus.
‘Wow, so a place like this existed.’
The Elden Merchant Guild’s goods only entered Centerfield once every year or two.
Since it was a rare opportunity, it was also Lobelin’s first time seeing this sight with her own eyes.
Lobelin momentarily forgot her original purpose and looked around with sparkling eyes.
“Ah, were you curious about foreign goods?”
However, Ian was indifferent.
It was understandable, as the most curious and precious of these items always made their way to the Imperial Palace first.
“Are you interested in this kind of thing? If you want to see rare treasures, just going to my palace storage will give you plenty—”
“Ah! It must be there!”
But Lobelin wasn’t listening to Ian’s words.
Her gaze was fixed on a pile of sacks being stacked in front of a warehouse.
Every time the sailors threw a sack, the sound of dry grass rustling came from within.
It was definitely the haystacks the maid had mentioned.
Just as Lobelin was about to move closer to get a better look.
“……Huh?”
She had clearly tried to step forward, but her body wouldn’t move.
Lobelin turned around in confusion, and her eyes met Ian’s, who was looking down at her reproachfully.
And his large hand was tightly gripping the hem of Lobelin’s clothes.
“Your Highness? What is it now?”
“Lobelin Dines, why do you keep moving on your own?”
“Pardon?”
“You haven’t told me anything about why we came here yet.”
He had asked twice, but she hadn’t given him an answer.
Ian muttered softly.
Despite his large stature, the way he slumped made him seem like a puppy.
‘What, is he a child?’
She was busy enough as it was, so why was he acting so pouty?
Regardless, since time was short, she chose to soothe him rather than argue.
Lobelin raised her right hand and gently stroked Ian’s hair.
“The surroundings were so noisy that I couldn’t hear you properly…… I’m sorry……”
“What on earth are you……!”
At the sudden touch, Ian’s ears turned bright red, and his hand that had been holding Lobelin fell away.
However, he soon cleared his throat.
“A-Ahem. I suppose you might not have heard. I can understand that much.”
“Yes, yes, I’m sure you can. Then shall we go?”
Lobelin hurried her steps.
This time, Ian followed obediently without saying much.
‘That’s it.’
The haystacks Cornelia’s maid had mentioned came into view.
Lobelin spoke with a somewhat solemn expression.
“Your Highness, this is just a hunch of mine, but a fire might or might not break out here within a week.”
“What kind of talk is that? I could say that much.”
“Still, it’s better to be prepared for these things. Since you’ve already spent money on me anyway, couldn’t you spend a bit on the security of this place for a week?”
At Lobelin’s sudden suggestion, Ian let out a small, disbelieving laugh.
She had said she couldn’t accept the shoes earlier, yet where was this brazenness coming from now?
“Are you telling me to station the Imperial Guard here? That requires His Majesty the Emperor’s approval and a budget allocation.”
“You can move the personnel of the Crown Prince’s Palace, Your Highness.”
“I cannot. They are there to protect my safety.”
“…….”
‘And yet here you are, wandering the streets in disguise without any protection?’
Lobelin scanned Ian with a dissatisfied gaze.
But she soon admitted to herself that she was being unreasonable.
As Ian said, it wasn’t an easy task to deploy Imperial personnel based on something uncertain.
It might be better to get help from Bri and Connie instead…….
“What will you do for me if I do that?”
“Pardon?”
But at the unexpected answer, Lobelin turned her head and looked up at Ian.
Ian tilted his head to the side and looked down at her with an expression that said, ‘Go on, tell me.’
“If I deploy my security personnel here. I asked what you will do for me.”
“Ummm…… I don’t have that much to my name……”
What could a mere daughter of a viscount do for the Crown Prince of the Empire?
The money he had spent today just for amusement was an astronomical amount that Lobelin couldn’t even imagine.
‘Wait, is he actually serious?’
He had thought her talk of a fire was just a joke.
Seeing her contemplate so seriously was cute, and the corners of Ian’s mouth curled up.
“Then I’ll make a proposal.”
Ian leaned down toward Lobelin, his lips still tilted in a smirk.
“I’ll do what you asked, so how about you go to the upcoming festival with me?”
