Chapter 09

Tamia quietly stepped between the father and son, who were still pointing fingers at each other.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty. And sorry, Husband.”

“……?”

The two men’s argument stopped for a moment at the sudden interruption.

Then Tamia tucked the Emperor under one arm and Leon under the other and effortlessly lifted them both off the ground.

“Up you go. Now, why don’t you two make up?”

“W-What are you doing…?!”

“I’m not putting you down until you make up.”

The two members of the Imperial Family dangled helplessly from Tamia’s sides like sacks.

“Tamia! Put me down immediately!”

Leon shouted at her in bewilderment. The attendants standing inside the audience chamber also began running around in confusion, not knowing what to do.

“Tsk. Husband, hurry up and apologize to His Majesty. And Your Majesty, please stop getting angry, too!”

Just as Tamia began walking toward the entrance of the audience chamber with the two men tucked under her arms—

Crack! KABOOM—!

The marble floor directly in front of the throne where the Emperor had been standing suddenly collapsed, leaving behind a gigantic hole.

“Aaaah!”

The attendants screamed in terror.

The Emperor’s face turned pale. He had nearly fallen straight down into the hole.

Tamia, still holding both men under her arms, casually remarked,

“See? You two kept fighting, and now there’s a hole in the floor.”

It was an utterly ridiculous argument, but the Emperor couldn’t bring himself to say anything in response.

“I just saved Your Majesty’s life, so please be generous and apologize to your son first. Time for a reconciliation handshake! Clap, clap, clap!”

In the end, the two members of the Imperial Family, still dangling from Tamia’s arms, were forced to clasp each other’s hands.

“Hehehe, yu’ve got a vewy impwessive wife, haven’t you?”

“Since Your Majesty has extended the first hand of apology, I shall humbly accept it.”

“Very good. You two should stay close like this from now on, okay?!”

Tamia smiled with satisfaction and finally set the father and son back down.

The overweight Emperor stumbled as he struggled to regain his balance, and Tamia quickly caught him.

“Oh my, Your Majesty. You have quite a lot of body fat. You should reduce your food intake and exercise regularly.”

“What, what did you say?”

“If you have trouble exercising by yourself, feel free to ask me anytime. I can give you some really intense training!”

Tamia flexed her arm and clenched her sturdy fist.

The Emperor, realizing that he might end up being dragged into brutal training by his own daughter-in-law, instinctively took a frightened step backward.

“I-I’m a little tired. That is enough for today, so you may leave.”

“I’ll come visit you again next time. Rest well!”

Tamia spread the sides of her skirt and smiled brightly.

“What? Say that again.”

Duke DuPont slammed his hand down on the desk and shot to his feet.

“I’m telling you, Tamia got married to the Second Imperial Prince! I went to watch the Couple’s Bond Monster Hunting Competition, and the two of them won first place!”

“The Couple’s Bond Monster Hunting Competition?”

“Father, what am I supposed to do now? Does this mean I can’t marry Tamia?”

Chris, a young man with washed-out brown hair and dull brown eyes, pleaded with his father in a tearful voice.

“You have a way to fix this, right? I can still make things work with Tamia, can’t I?”

“Be quiet!”

Duke DuPont slammed his hand against the desk again, startling Chris into clamping his mouth shut.

They were close in age, so I intended to have them marry and keep her nearby…

And now his plan had gone awry like this.

The corners of Duke DuPont’s mouth twisted viciously. His eyes burned with fury.

Should I charge them an absurdly high interest rate and drive them into bankruptcy completely?

The Duke had been planning to bring Count Arderin to his knees, but he soon shook his head.

The person Tamia had supposedly married was the Second Imperial Prince, Leon.

He didn’t know what circumstances had led to the marriage, but there was no way the Imperial Prince would simply stand by and watch his wife’s family suffer.

Wait. Circumstances?

“Chris, tell me in detail exactly what you saw.”

“Well, Tamia apparently didn’t know that her husband was an Imperial Prince. Oh! Now that I think about it, she also said that she only wanted to win the prize money. So I guess it wasn’t really a fake marriage, but…”

This is it!

Duke DuPont immediately understood how the marriage had come about.

That stupid Tamia actually used her head for once.

She must have hurriedly gotten married, then planned to use the competition prize money to pay off the family’s debts.

He remembered hearing at a social gathering that new rules had been introduced for the Couple’s Bond Monster Hunting Competition this year.

The prize money was awarded on the condition that the marriage be maintained for one year, wasn’t it?

“Chris, just wait a little. After a year, you may get another chance.”

“One year?”

Chris looked at him in confusion.

Just then, a letter arrived from the Arderin family.

“Count Arderin asked me to make sure you knew how sorry he was.”

Duke DuPont unfolded the letter with an unhappy expression.

…I thought it best to inform you as quickly as possible, so I am writing this letter first. My daughter Tamia married without informing me, her father, which has made it difficult for us to accept the Duke’s proposal. I will visit you soon and offer my formal apology…

“Damn it!”

Unable to suppress his rising anger, Duke DuPont tore the letter to pieces.

“He thinks he’s so damn noble! A country bumpkin who barely makes a living hunting monsters!”

Terrified, Chris shrank into himself and retreated into a corner.

From experience, whenever his father became this angry, it was best to stay out of his way.

After some time passed—

“…I suppose I should write a reply.”

Duke DuPont picked up his pen and began writing a response on expensive stationery.

…I was already feeling apologetic for making such an unreasonable request in the first place. I sincerely congratulate you on your daughter’s marriage…

“Did you hear? His Highness the Second Imperial Prince suddenly got married and brought his wife to the palace!”

The Second Imperial Prince’s Palace was buzzing with excitement over its master’s sudden marriage.

“I heard Her Highness even saved His Majesty’s life as soon as she arrived at the Imperial Palace!”

“Oh my, how?”

“Well, you know how the underground waterway beneath the audience chamber had gotten rather old? Apparently, it suddenly collapsed. But Her Highness the Imperial Princess lifted His Majesty right up.”

“I heard she tossed him into the air like she was giving him a celebratory throw and then casually put him over her shoulder!”

“No way. Do you have any idea how big His Majesty is?!”

“It really happened! The servants who were working in the audience chamber are making a huge fuss about it!”

“Oh, look! His Highness and Her Highness are coming! Shh!”

The servants who had been gossiping hurriedly bowed their heads when they noticed their master approaching.

Anxious glances passed between them.

She lifted His Majesty right off the ground?

Impossible. She’s so slender she’s practically delicate!

“Wow, so this is the Second Imperial Prince’s Palace?”

Tamia looked around in amazement.

“It’s at least a hundred times bigger than our townhouse.”

Leon was about to point out that their townhouse was simply abnormally small, but soon realized there was no point.

“Yes. This is the Second Imperial Prince’s Palace, where you’ll be living from now on.”

“But… there’s nothing expensive-looking here.”

Compared to its enormous size, the Second Imperial Prince’s Palace was sparsely decorated, with hardly any extravagant ornaments.

“Husband. By any chance…”

Tamia looked around before leaning close to Leon’s ear and whispering,

“Is the Imperial Prince’s Palace… poor?”

“What?”

Leon let out an incredulous laugh.

But Tamia’s expression was completely serious.

“You said you’d give me a living allowance. Can you actually afford to give it to me?”

“Hah. What exactly do you think an Imperial Prince is?”

“No, but there’s no dragon-hide carpet here or golden lion statue. There isn’t even a shiny vase, let alone a teacup the size of my fist! How does that make sense?!”

“I simply have no interest in extravagant possessions.”

Leon gave a signal to one of the attendants, who soon returned carrying a booklet.

It was a comprehensive report on the Imperial budget.

Leon flipped through the pages before pointing to a particular section.

“The living allowance allocated to an Imperial Princess is 3,000 der per month. Additional funds are allocated separately for special events.”

“Three thousand der?!”

“You would normally spend it all on dresses, jewelry, and things like that…”

Leon continued in a low voice that only Tamia could hear.

“But you may use part of it as your living allowance and use the rest to repay your family’s debt. By the end of the year, you should be able to pay off about half of it.”

“What are you talking about? Are you underestimating me?”

Tamia glared at Leon with her eyes wide.

“Underestimating you?”

“Half in a year? I can pay off the whole thing in ten months. Three thousand multiplied by ten is thirty thousand.”

Do you think I can’t even do that much basic arithmetic?

Leon was the one left speechless by Tamia’s smug attitude.

“Don’t tell me you intend to spend your entire living allowance on repaying the debt?”

“Of course. I don’t need jewelry or dresses.”

“The Imperial Family attends countless events. If you stand beside me wearing the same dress every time, my reputation will be dragged through the mud along with yours.”

“Your reputation?”

Tamia, who had been stubbornly arguing, fell silent and pondered his words for a long while.

“…I can’t let my husband’s reputation suffer because of me. Fine. I’ll protect your reputation.”

“I’m grateful.”

Leon let out a quiet laugh.

He had absolutely no idea what kind of year awaited him with Tamia by his side.