CH 22

A few days ago.

Crown prince Edmund left the palace again and went into a tavern in a back alley. Several guards who worked double jobs as surveillance of the empress tried to tail him, but he evaded them effortlessly.

“This is the bad one.”

I heard my mom worries too much. She complained about it for a while and headed out to the new bar, ‘Madame Arete’.

Beep.

When he opened the door of the bar and entered, he was greeted by beautifully dressed-up ladies.

“Give me the most expensive drink that can be offered by this bar. Bring all the red-haired women to accompany me during my stay here as well.”

When they tried to grab his arm and clung to him, he pushed them away before entering the room. After a moment, a young red-haired woman entered with alcohol and snacks in hands.

“My name is Emily.”

Emily felt perplexed with her newly dyed hair as she followed Haley’s style, so she ran her fingers through her hair and pushed it back. Then, Edmund laughed and patted the chair next to her.

“Sit here. I’m going to make you my drinking companion for today.”

Edmund held out a large-sized gold coin. Emily accepted the gold coin and she exclaimed out of surprise.

“Oh my! I’ve never seen a customer give a gold coin as a tip!”

Unfortunately, Emily’s exclamation was heard outside the room. The senior women bar workers who told Emily, the youngest amongst them, to find someone out there because they were the one who were supposed to serve the first guests, carelessly shoved their asses into the room and said that their hair were also red and quickly filled the empty seats in the room. Edmund chose the girls with red medium-colored hair to stay with him and kicked out the others.

“Gosh. I’m surprised our guests have this kind of taste.”

When one of the women giggled at the sight of her reddish-brown hair, he had quite a sympathy for her.

“Surprisingly, I’ve been obsessed with red hair since I was young. Perhaps, it has something to do with my previous life. Why? Isn’t there a saying that one is born with a red thread wrapped around their little finger?”

“Uh, sir. What do you mean red thread? That’s such a romantic statement.”

“You never know. Among the girls I met today, I wonder if there are any lovers from my previous life.”

Edmund smiled and looked at Emily who was beside him quietly. When the handsome man’s warm eyes fell on her, Emily was instantly mesmerized by them. These words flowed involuntarily from her parted lips.

“I hope I’m the destined one for you.”

He smiled widely upon hearing her words and raised his glass.

“Hahaha. I wish it could be. I wonder when the last time I heard about something fun these days. I’m going to give a reward of a few gold coins to whoever can tell me an interesting story at this table today.”

Sparkling gold coins piled up on the table. The bar workers raised their hands and said that they would talk to him first with sparkling eyes. Edmund signaled at the lady in the corner with his eyes to start speaking.

“Sir, have you heard the rumor that Baron Stephen has a new bride?”

“Baron Stephen?”

Baron Stephen owned a large part of the estate owned by the Empress Dowager. Edmund’s eyes lit up when the name of an acquaintance of his was mentioned. The woman who told the story went on as soon as she felt it was the right time to continue.

“The old baron must have been a pure-hearted man. He kept imagining about the girl he loved when he was poor, and then managed to become a merchant and got rich and visited her again.”

“Oh, is that real?”

“Yes, but he was too late. When he went to meet her again, his first love was already married to someone else. Despite that, the baron said he would wait for her. It’s said that at some point she left her husband and asked him to come to meet her again.”

The bar workers, who heard the story, raised their hands. They responded as if they were immersed in a love story.

“I thought the old man was a cheapskate person, but to my surprise he turned out to be pure-hearted.”

“I’ll have to give you a golden service tip when you come next time, sir.”

The bar workers continued to speak.

“However, the first love of the baron must have suffered a lot because her circumstances are so much different from the Baron. The man she left behind had become wealthy by now, and she was so poor that she even had to think hard about her meals. Therefore, it was the day she met the Baron! She stopped making bad choices. After that, Baron was disheartened and sympathized with her without even marrying her…. Oh, no, he was living his life by keeping his own chastity!”

The waitress stopped talking and smacked the table one time with her palm. After that, she directed her eyes towards the gold coins on the table. Edmund smiled slyly and flicked the gold coin with his finger and threw it towards the lady. The woman, who quickly picked up the gold coin with an open palm, spoke with satisfaction.

“Is there anyone who can come to the bank managed by Baron Stephen fearlessly to borrow a large sum of money? He even risked his daughter while trying to borrow money! The Baron must have done a background check on his gambling addict and thought about how confident he was in taking his daughter as collateral. In the process, he checked out the daughter from his father, who was a gambling addict. Oh, gosh! She seemed like his first love. The baron lent money to the man who was addicted to gambling and said that his first love must have been reborn as her daughter. After that, he must have offered to marry his daughter on the condition of paying off the debt owned by her father.”

“Hmm. So Baron Stephen is preparing to get married now, right?”

“Yes. I feel sorry for the gambling addict’s daughter.”

Edmund said as he twirled a gold coin with his fingers.

“That is an interesting story. It would be no fun to take all the prize money at once. Does anyone know a more interesting story than this? If the challenger doesn’t come out, I’ll give away all the prize money.”

Emily gulped when she saw the gold coins piled up on the table.

‘With that money, I can buy clothes made by famous designers which can only be accomplished after Theo starts to work in the imperial palace.’

Between the older women arguing about who would speak first, Emily quietly held Edmund’s hand as he sat next to her.Then, she brought her lips to his ear and whispered.

“The book that uses me as a model is selling well in the bookstore. Would you like me to show you?”

This guest was one of those people who came to enjoy the entertainment this place offers. Even if he died and became alive again, there was no way she would be destined to him. Emily quickly kept that reality in mind. As such, she revealed the part of herself that she wanted to hide from her guest.

If she could reveal his weakness, she could get his wealth and dress her brother, Theo in nice clothes. Even when the balance was quite out of place.

“Book? Ho. Bring it to me.”

The book that was filled with women in the bar. Edmund’s face was tinged with interest, as he leaned his back on the sofa. After a while, he felt embarrassed as he examined the contents of the book Emily had given him. He felt his face getting flushed.

Oh gosh!

At first, Edmund opened the book he received filled with curiosity and sipped on his drink calmly, but he was taken aback by the contents of the book and ended up spitting out what he had just drunk. Such a beautiful and voluptuous content of the book. Emily’s forehead creased slightly when seeing the book had turned quite wet because of the customer’s vomit.

‘Oh, that book is not mine. What should I do?’

Emily glanced at the original owner of the book, but the woman didn’t seem to realize that this book was hers. After looking at the situation, Emily thought she should buy a new one if she found a bookstore that was still open until late hours.

The other waiters glared at Emily as if asking why she could easily spill their secrets to customers.

“Emily, why do you want to show it to the guests?”

Once the rumor spread, they were worried that customers would come in droves. The older women complaints went on, but Emily, who desired for the gold coins, spoke up regardless of the stares directed on her.

“One of the models in this photo is me. The author of this book is one of my friends.”

Emily and Haley were not close enough to be considered friends. However, she lied a bit because she was confident that this customer wouldn’t find out about her lying.

“Do you want to guess which one I am among the models in this book? It might be hard to find since we’re all wearing masks.”

Emily placed her voluptuous breasts on Edmund’s arm and seduced him. With this beautiful appearance, a guest with enough wealth would tip a gold coin to her. Emily was willing to give her everything.

He asked while flipping Emily’s red hair behind her ear.

“What if I manage to guess it? Will you give me a reward?”

“The result will depend on your performance. Will a sweet night be given as a reward, or will it end as a dream full of disappointment?”

“Really?”

The bar girl gave a bit of a tease. Edmund was slightly intrigued. Although, up close he could smell the strong odor of hair dye wafting from her hair.

On the back of the book titled “The Red” in his hand was written the publisher’s name in small letters.

〈Golden Wild Goose Daily〉

And the author’s name was written as the initials H. Edmund asked whilst pointing his hand at it.

“This book. What is the author’s name?”

Emily looked down in shame.

“Well, my friend didn’t want to reveal their name, so…”

Emily thought she would take more money, so she tried to play hard to get. The older women excitedly raised their hands whilst saying that they would tell him. Then, an older woman hurriedly spit out the author’s name, which was probably because she was in a hurry.

“Her name is Haley Mertes. We all became models for her book.”

Edmund praised the book with admiration.

“Wow! Such a smart person. She is very brave to publish this kind of book. Even photographs are now considered trifling by the nobles and clergy. I’ve thought about using them. She must be a very talented person.”

Emily earned gold coins for the story ‘The Red’, but she thought it wasn’t enough. It was because Edmund said that this story was the story of all the employees who worked at the bar, and distributed the gold coins to them fairly.

However, about the small bet he had with Emily, he pointed Emily’s photo in the book correctly. It was for Emily, who was certain she wouldn’t be easily recognized because it was a photo prior to when she dyed her hair.

And the little ball Emily shot made Crown Prince Edmund take a particular interest in Haley Mertes.

The next day, after he got back at the palace, he asked his bodyguard, Ciel, to find out about Haley Mertes’ face, and the time when Baron Stephen would meet the newlyweds.

“Ciel, you have to find out about this without my mother’s acknowledgement. It will be a headache if this gets into her ears. Understood?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

This bodyguard named Ciel, was the only person Edmund could trust in the imperial palace. He was a blond-haired man, slightly darker skinned than Edmund, and sometimes substituted as Edmund in dangerous cases. Ciel had pink pupils and had a similar physique to Edmund, which made it difficult to distinguish him from the crown prince from a distance.

As per his master’s wishes, Ciel began to investigate the girl’s background beyond the empress’ radar.

Crown Prince Edmund was born as the most noble person in the empire, so he has no major regrets in his life. It had been that way since he was born. He had a motto, which was living while having everything was not fun.

“I don’t think this body belongs to me for some reason.”

He often jokes about these kinds of things and spends his time having fun with women, which leads to the appearance of rumors that he was a royal playboy. If his relationship with the woman he was with became a little complicated, the empress would take care of the rest. He was indolent and didn’t have a strong interest in anything as well as intense enthusiasm.

However, his preferences in women are settled. They must be red-haired women.