Chapter 240
Chapter 240: Lee Chae-Rin’s Confession
“Grandma, Arsh.e.l.ly thinks . . . ”
Arsh.e.l.ly was good with words .
Kwak Jung had taught her what to say, but even without them, her efforts would have been incredible .
Why?
It was because she didn’t want her beloved father, Kang Chul-In, to be an unmarried and lonely man .
In addition,
“Imperial Princess . ”
“Yes?”
“Don’t you want a younger sibling?”
“S-sibling?!”
“That’s right . A cute little sibling!”
“ . . . !”
“When his Majesty and his spouses get married, they can make your younger siblings via ovulation, fertilization, implanta… no, not that! I meant by holding hands!”
“Gasp…!”
Arsh.e.l.ly had been coaxed into doing as Kwak Jung had told her .
That’s right; let’s get a younger sibling!
With that goal in mind, Arsh.e.l.ly continued her persuasion .
“I wish for daddy to get married . ”
“But!”
Park Sun-Ja gave her a stern expression .
“He can’t have two wives! That’s bad!”
“No, it’s ok~!”
“H-huh?! What did you say…?”
Park Sun-Ja was puzzled . She could not comprehend why this innocent little girl was supporting Kang Chul-In in polygamy .
“Grandma . ”
Arsh.e.l.ly spoke .
“Daddy, no, Royal Father is . . . ”
“R-Royal Father?”
“That’s right!”
“What… do you mean?”
“Well, Royal Father is a ruler of a nation . ”
“R-Ruler?”
“Yes!”
“You mean… over in the ‘other world’?”
“Yes! That’s right . ”
“ . . . !”
“Royal Father will soon be a king!”
“What in the world…!”
Park Sun-Ja did not even know that lords existed . The information was too much for her to handle .
A king?
Her son was a king over in the ‘other world’? Ruling over an entire nation?
“What do you mean? Explain to your grandma, now!”
Park Sun-Ja coerced Arsh.e.l.ly .
“Alright, grandma . ”
Arsh.e.l.ly maintained her composure and explained everything from the start to finish, as Kwak Jung had told her to .
She mentioned Pangaea, lords, and what kind of character Kang Chul-In was in the ‘other world’ .
“I-I see . ”
Park Sun-Ja mumbled to herself, as if she was lost in her thoughts .
“Daddy would never have an affair!”
“I didn’t know that… so, it was just a difference in culture . . . ”
“Yes, grandma!”
“It’s still difficult to swallow… that he has two different families . . . ”
Park Sun-Ja muttered in confusion .
Strictly speaking, Kang Chul-In only had one family with multiple wives . Park Sun-Ja, however, saw it differently from her perspective .
“Mrs . Park?”
At that moment, Lee Chae-Rin gently opened the door and peeked her head in .
“M-Ms . Chae-Rin?”
“May I enter?”
“S-Sure . I also have something to talk to you about . ”
Park Sun-Ja gave her the permission .
“I’ll be leaving, grandma! Have a pleasant talk!”
Arsh.e.l.ly was sensible enough to leave immediately .
“You may sit here . ”
“Thank you . ”
“What are you thinking, Ms . Chae-Rin?”
Park Sun-Ja went straight to the question .
“Are you really planning to marry my son? As his second wife?”
“Yes, I am . ”
Lee Chae-Rin replied firmly .
“How . . . Is that possible? You can appreciate this situation, Ms . Chae-Rin?”
“Yes . I’m also an Overlord, after all . ”
“ . . . !”
“This is more than just a marriage between a guy and a girl . It signifies a unification between Laputa and Dorado . ”
“H-However, there is no love . . . ”
“No, Mrs . Park . ”
Lee Chae-Rin spoke with a slight blush on his face .
“I-I . . . ”
She finally leaked her true rationale .
“I love Mr . Chul-In!”
“ . . . !”
“Mrs . Park, I can handle it!”
“No,”
Park Sun-Ja shook her head .
“Ms . Chae-Rin is such a good lady . It doesn’t have to be my son . . . ”
“No!”
“ . . . !”
“I-I… don’t think any other guy can be my husband . Ever since I got to know Mr . Chul-In, I couldn’t find anyone as supreme as him . ”
“Ms . Chae-Rin . . . ”
“Furthermore… I myself am no ordinary woman . I’m some sort of a queen . Who other than Mr . Chul-In could handle me? Mr Chul-In’s the only man for me . ”
“I-Is that right? Ms . Chae-Rin may end up unfortunate . . . ”
“Nope . ”
Lee Chae-Rin shook her head .
“I’m confident . I will definitely be a beloved wife and a great daughter-in-law . ”
“But the jealousy . . . ”
“I tossed that emotion out of the window . ”
“ . . . !
“The moment Mr . Chul-In decided to become the ruler of Pangaea, he was destined to have more than one woman around him . ”
It was strange logic, but not false . It was just a bit difficult for a normal Korean to comprehend .
“Mrs . Park, please permit our marriage . ”
“ . . . ”
“Please!”
Lee Chae-Rin pushed on with a headstrong resolve .
Phew… I guess having a talented son is not always a good thing . . .
Park Sun-Ja, thanks to Kang Chul-In’s superiority, had to face dilemmas that no other layman could ever encounter .
***
“Huu . . . ”
Kang Chul-In let out a long sigh on the rooftop .
“This is driving me nuts . ”
The fact that he couldn’t just go headstrong on this matter made him extremely frustrated .
Even a hundred thousand enemy soldiers didn’t scare him, but his mother Park Sun-Ja was so hard to deal with .
“Son! You should not be a playboy just because you have it good! I’ve never seen a playboy who was actually decent! That’s not good at all!”
Kang Chul-In suddenly remembered Park Sun-Ja’s words .
“Mother, that’s not . . . ”
He tried to explain, but,
“I have nothing more to say . ”
Park Sun-Ja had already turned her back against him . Kang Chul-In was caught in a dilemma .
“Mr . Chul-In . ”
At that instant, he heard Lee Chae-Rin’s voice from his back .
“You came . ”
Kang Chul-In replied, with his gaze fixed on Seoul’s night scenery .
“Yes . ”
“You’ve done… well . ”
“No problem . Don’t we all have to strive to get what we want?”
“ . . . !”
“I learned that from you, Mr . Chul-In . I’m just doing what I usually do, so don’t mind me . ”
“You . . . ”
As Kang Chul-In was replying, Lee Chae-Rin suddenly embraced him from the back without notice .
“I love you . ”
“ . . . !”
“I really, really love you . ”
Her confession was as sudden as her back hug .
Thump, thump, thump!
Kang Chul-In could feel Lee Chae-Rin’s heart racing, almost as if it was going to explode .
“When I first… met you, Mr . Chul-In… you were a newbie whom I wanted to protect . ”
“ . . . ”
“It was amazing to see you struggle to survive in this dog-eat-dog society . ”
The Kang Chul-In Lee Chae-Rin mentioned was an average employee before the Great Summoning happened .
“Hence, I tried my best to take care of you . You did seem burdened by it, though . ”
“ . . . ”
“And I began to like you since then . ”
“ . . . !”
“Even before the Great Summoning… for the longest time . ”
Honest, heartfelt words .
Thanks to them, Kang Chul-In could recall his past memories and feelings which he had forgotten .
A newbie .
He always had that someone who was friendly to even a lowly intern like him .
“Aren’t you tired, Mr . Chul-In? Drink this . ”
“Hang in there!”
“The boss is always like that . He is r.e.t.a.r.ded . So don’t pay too much attention to it . ”
“What’s your plan for… this weekend?”
Lee Chae-Rin had always been displaying her feelings subtly, and Kang Chul-In had started to appreciate her caring and cheerful behavior .
“When the Great Summoning happened… I was honestly scared . It’s true that I relied on you the most, and that I ranted a lot to you . ”
“ . . . ”
“But not now!”
Lee Chae-Rin embraced Kang Chul-In tighter .
“I no longer depend on you . Instead, I wish to be your trustworthy supporter and wife . ”
“ . . . ”
“I love you! Even if I can’t have you all for myself . . . ”
At that moment .
“ . . . !”
Lee Chae-Rin’s body was swept around .
“Are you really fine with this?”
Kang Chul-In faced and asked Lee Chae-Rin, who was now in his arms .
“Of course!”
“You sure you won’t regret it?”
“Certainly!”
“If you happen to regret it, then I will let you off . . . ”
He was about to finish the sentence with ‘anytime you want’, but he couldn’t continue .
“Heub!”
It was because Lee Chae-Rin’s moist lips had sealed his lips tight in a blink of an eye!
***
While Kang Chul-In was focusing his attention on domestic affairs, a coalition had gradually formed in the north, with Albrecht Vilhelm in the center .
In the land of Bifrost, the Lord’s Hall . . .
“From this moment onwards,”
Albrecht Vilhelm, wearing a luxurious cape, raised his Epic-ranked sword Balisada high up in the air .
“We, as one, will fight against the evil Overlord Kang Chul-In, and achieve peace in this continent!”
Immediately, all the lords gave him a standing ovation .
“My brothers!”
Vilhelm shouted at the audience .
“I, Vilhelm, have respected your wishes and became the chairman of the North Coalition! I will, however, never abuse my authority, and I promise to listen to every ruler intently! With that, let me open up the first topic for discussion!”
He spoke in a grandiose tone, but in reality, he had already grasped the whole of the North Coalition under his control .
Overlord rank 2 .
An enormous amount of land, a robust economy and an endless talent pool .
A concrete alliance with Overlord Ao Xin .
In fact, Vilhelm was the one who created the North Coalition . All of his speeches were nothing but a façade .
“As the chairman of the North Coalition, I propose to position our army to the west!”
That was the only sentence which he actually meant .
The west .
By advancing the allied troops towards the Deathwin territory, Vilhelm aimed to pressure Kang Chul-In and prevent his move in the next spring .
“I agree!”
“Vilhelm, I’m with you!”
“Let’s destroy Kang Chul-In!”
“We can’t let that demon advance to the heart of Pangaea now can we?!”
All the lords in the North Coalition supported Vilhelm .
“Wait . ”
At that moment, a man with pale skin and white hair stepped forward . It was Andrei Ivanovic, the vampiric Overlord .
“Overlord Andrei Ivanovic… any suggestions?”
Vilhelm questioned him with a slight hint of skepticism .
“Is pressuring alone enough?”
Andrei’s red eyes gleamed .
“It seems like an overly timid move to me . ”
“Timid you say . . . ”
“What if we conquer Deathwin? Won’t that be more beneficial to our coalition’s safety?”
“Hmm… but isn’t it winter, soon?”
Vilhelm opposed .
“Our coalition is still in the midst of formation . If we start a war at this point . . . ”
“We are an alliance . ”
“ . . . !”
“The enemy may be strong, but he is alone . Why stop at pressuring? Even a simple war of attrition will be burdensome for Kang Chul-In . ”
Andrei glanced sharply at his audiences and continued .
“I agree wholeheartedly with the chairman’s opinion, but to merely pressure Kang Chul-In is equivalent to giving him time to stabilize . I believe that conquering Deathwin right now is a better move, even if costly . ”
He had a point .
However,
This sly vampire b.a.s.t.a.r.d…!
The problem was that Andrei intended to stand back and watch while Vilhelm and Ao Xin did the work .
A war of attrition?
As Vilhelm mentioned, an imminent war would undoubtedly cost Vilhelm and Ao Xin . The other lords didn’t have the ability to partic.i.p.ate in the war, after all .
Even if they did, they would give a myriad of excuses to contribute as little as they could .
In other words, Andrei manipulated his words cleverly to place the burden solely on Vilhelm and Ao Xin’s shoulders . The other lords were bound to agree to his suggestion as well .
“Hmm… that makes sense, too . ”
“As Overlord Andrei had mentioned, our coalition is strong enough to strike now . . . ”
“I agree with him . ”
“Chairman Vilhelm, what do you think?”
The response was immediate .
The cunning lords of the North Coalition were leaning towards Andrei’s opinion .
… Touché .
Vilhelm gritted his teeth .
He had a.s.sumed that he had control over the North Coalition, but that d.a.m.n Andrei was tackling his influence .
Of course, it would be great if they could conquer Deathwin . However, that was not all .
Vilhelm also needed time .
He had to amplify his influence and power to ‘perfectly’ gain control over the North Coalition .
His final goal was to conquer Pangaea, after all .
“What’s your view on this, chairman Vilhelm?”
Andrei inquired .
“I . . . ”
Vilhelm replied .
“I respect your opinion . ”
“Is that so?”
“Immediately after this meeting, we will form the first allied troop to conquer Deathwin . ”
Vilhelm didn’t have a choice .
Andrei Ivanovic had valid logic and Vilhelm didn’t have any excuses . He had to send an army to at least ‘pretend’ to conquer Deathwin .
You will pay for this, you sly blood-sucking b.a.s.t.a.r.d .
Vilhelm glared at Andrei .
Well then, have fun .
Andrei responded with a relaxed expression .
***
W-What is this…!?
Lee Chae-Rin was surprised .
So hard… to compose myself… Heuk…!”
Kang Chul-In’s kiss was akin to a thousand-year-old snake’s movements .
How could a man’s tongue move so flamboyantly? And how could someone’s kiss be so soft and delicate? Lee Chae-Rin’s mind was blanking out .
She was the one who initiated the kiss, but she succ.u.mbed to Kang Chul-In’s kissing technique within ten seconds .
Thump,
Thump, thump!
Lee Chae-Rin’s heart raced uncontrollably .
The kiss was short and succinct .
“Lee Chae-Rin . ”
Kang Chul-In spoke .
“Yes, Mr . Chul-In . ”
“No matter what happens . . . ”
“I’m listening . ”
“I will never let you starve to death . I promise to feed you . ”
“Pfft!”
Lee Chae-Rin broke into laughter .