Chapter 99 (2/2)

“Princess!”

Seol Jihu's voice went up. Teresa shrugged her shoulders, while Seol Jihu ma.s.saged his temples and asked the king.

“You stayed silent, Your Majesty?”

“The man insisted his name was Prihi's Belly while his surname was King-Sized Belly. Once he got angry and asked if we were making fun of the name he received from his parents, there wasn't much we could say.”

“What a bunch of psychopaths.”

“I agree. They're a bunch of lunatics.”

Prihi agreed with dignity.

“But that's when I began to realize how the Earthlings thought of this world. A fun game. Nothing more, nothing less.”

He suddenly rubbed his beard.

“Well… We got to learn an important piece of info because of it.”

“By that, you mean…?”

Prihi continued.

“We found out they had a spy in the palace.”

Hearing this, Seol Jihu fell in thought. The king found out there was a spy because of the rude man making up such an absurd name? That was hard to understand.

“Why did you think so?”

“Think about it. If they didn't have a spy in the palace, they would not have known about our physical traits so clearly.”

Prihi said in a firm tone.

“He's right. Since they were able to acquire information about our private regions, the spy must have been fairly close to us.”

Teresa added bashfully.

Seol Jihu gave up on thinking.

“We were angry… but we laughed and let it slide. We refused to give in to such an obvious provocation.”

“I see…. That must have been tough.”

“It certainly wasn't easy. But this is quite a surprise. The Earthlings I've met so far giggled whenever I told them this story.”

“My apologies. I do not believe it's a laughing matter.”

Seol Jihu was straightforward. Prihi stared at him fixedly.

“…You don't need to apologize.”

Just when it was looking like the conversation was coming to an end….

“Oh, yes, I heard you slept with my daughter.”

The king's sudden question made Seol Jihu calmly spat out the water he was drinking. He thought that was certainly better than spraying it everywhere.

“…Your Majesty.”

“Hm? What's up with that sour look? From what Teresa told me….”

Seol Jihu quickly turned to Teresa. She was acting embarra.s.sed with her hands over her cheeks.

'Why is she blus.h.i.+ng…. No, why is she pretending to be coy all of a sudden?'

When he stared at her intently, Teresa shook her head.

“Geez, Father, say we shared a bed. Sleeping… that's too candid.”

“What are you talking about… I understand the phrasing was a bit explicit, but you're the one who told me to….”

Suddenly, the end of his speech blurred. Prihi dropped his head and groaned, but Teresa played with her steak knife as if nothing happened.

“That hurt.”

“Hoho, I'm not sure what you're talking about.”

“Hm, I should've known from when you put on a dress for the first time in eight years.”

“I told you to say it jokingly to help him relax. Who told you to say it so bluntly? Ah, how embarra.s.sing.”

Words Seol Jihu couldn't understand went back and forth.

'What did I expect….'

He smacked his lips. He experienced it when he met the Princess for the first time, but… they were quite an extraordinary father and daughter duo.

“I apologize for the unsightly behavior.”

Prihi sighed and brought a piece of cloth to wipe his mouth.

“Anyways… there's no need to be so tense. This isn't a place for punishment or arrest. Rather, it is a place to grant awards befitting one's achievements.”

The king spoke in somewhat of a heavy tone. Seol Jihu wanted to tell him it was too late to act dignified, but what actually came out of his mouth was “Thank you for your kindness.”

“At first, I thought the rumors were exaggerated.”

Prihi spoke as he put down his napkin.

“But since Teresa said the same thing, I had no choice but to believe it. I'm not so doubtful as to not trust the words of my own blood.”

“I'm humbled, Your Majesty.”

“…Can you stop with that way of talking, please?”

“Pardon?”

“I got used to the Earthling's culture after years of painstaking effort. Trying to match the proprieties of my position is only confusing me.”

In Paradise, the concept of n.o.bility was faint. Even if one looked to find one, they would only come up with a lord in charge of a large town. Even then, the lord would be close to a village head.

Furthermore, many Paradisians had either died in the long war or escaped their birthplace to survive.

'…So this is why.'

Seol Jihu began to understand why the Haramark Royal Family abandoned formalities. He spoke quietly.

“Got it.”

The dinner ended quietly. The maids cleaned up the table and brought out tea. After enjoying a sip, Prihi put his cup down before opening his mouth.

“The Haramark Royal Family is always fair when it comes to rewards and punishments.”

“Your achievements…. Yes, you saved the Ramman Village, came up with the plan for the rescue operation and helped greatly in the rescue and the subsequent destruction of the laboratory….'

Hearing Prihi's words, Seol Jihu felt an unknown sense of incongruity. The way he was listing out his achievements… how should he say this, rather than for praising him, it felt like it was for a clear payout.

Prihi ruined the mood by throwing in jokes here and there, but for some unknown reason, the king looked like someone who had 'given up' since the first time they met.

“After much deliberation on rewards befitting your achievements, I came to a conclusion.”

When talk of his reward came up, Seol Jihu's ears perked up.

“I truly hope you like it.”

Despite saying this, Prihi sounded confident that Seol Jihu would love it. He gestured at his maid, who promptly returned with a plate covered by a white cloth. Seol Jihu's eyes opened wide.

“This is….”

A quiet moan escaped his mouth. Sitting on the plate was a rectangular, s.h.i.+ning bar of pure gold that emitted a reddish light. Seol Jihu was entranced by its beauty, yet he couldn't keep his eyes open properly.

'A gold bar?'

Considering how jealous Chohong and Hugo were of a pinky-sized piece of gold, a whole gold bar was well beyond his imaginations.

Gulp. He swallowed hard, and his Adam's Apple twitched. On Earth, the power of money was absolute. Although Paradise was currently in a state of war, the value of gold shouldn't be any less.

'With this….'

It would be quicker to count the things he couldn't do rather than counting what he could do.

Greed slowly rose from the young man's eyes. At that moment, a thought crossed his mind.

“…Ah.”

Seol Jihu suddenly closed his mouth. His ecstatic expression disappeared, replaced by a frown. He stared at the gold bar with a complicated expression.

“This item is extremely easy to convert to Earth's currency. In terms of gold coins, I believe it should be… hm?”

Prihi stopped when he looked at the young man.

“Do you not like the reward?”

“…Pardon? Ah, no.”

Seol Jihu shook his head vigorously as if the notion was absurd.

“You don't look satisfied.”

“No, it's not that….”

“Hm, then what? If there is something you want, then speak without reserve.”

Hearing Prihi's benevolent voice, Seol Jihu stared at the gold bar conflictingly and nibbled on his lower lip.

[We don't have a place to go. We're not living outside the city because we like it.]

There was the village head who gave his precious rudium to make a foothold for the rescue mission's success. But… couldn't he be satisfied with buying food and sending it to the village?

[Come again.]

There was the ghost saintess who saved his life and became the Gift-Giving Tree. But… but….

After much internal conflict, he activated Nine Eyes instinctively. When he saw the gold bar, his face contorted and he went “Ah!”

Soon, Seol Jihu let out a deep sigh. He then opened his mouth, a bit calmer than before.

“There's something I need to tell you.”