A Handsome K*nky Gangster Reporter - Chapter 58

#58

Edmund continued to stand still in his place, touching her hot lips. He had met many women and done worse than this. No one tasted sweet like Haley. He licked his upper lip slowly. Somehow, a hint of rose scent lingered in the air, it seemed to come from Haley’s red hair.

All that remained was the insatiable thirst, and somehow Edmund felt uncomfortable. His heart started beating fast, but he also thought it stopped for a moment.

The pain in his groin didn’t last long. This was also caused by Haley’s weak strength. Edmund laughed loudly when he suddenly recalled Haley’s dumbfounded expression when he kissed her.

‘She is so funny because she is not good at acting.’

She went around pretending to be strong on the outside, but in fact she was gentle like a typical woman. At the same time, Edmund felt slightly disappointed because Haley would be easy to beat if he was determined to pursue her. Easy women were no fun for him. Her resistance was felt below the waist at the moment he thought so. Her appearance was like a kitten possessing fearful-looking fur.

“I think I should stop here today.”

Returning to the palace without an escort after releasing seemingly frightened Haley, Edmund had a strange dream that day.

In the dream, he was mad at the woman whose face he could not see well but somehow felt similar to Haley.

“Then, why did you leave me?”

In his dream, Edmund ran vigorously while the woman was staring at him in sorrow. However, no matter how hard he ran and tried to catch her, he had no way to hold her back.

“Aaaaah!”

He got out of bed and was sweating. His heart was beating rapidly.

“Your Majesty! Are you alright?”

Hearing the shout, the maid entered hurriedly while keeping her head on the ground. The Crown Prince’s night attire was messy and his upper body was clearly visible. Since it was impolite to see the member of the imperial family’s body directly, the maid closed her eyes tightly and asked.

“If you’re not feeling well, may I call a doctor?”

Edmund, who was drinking water by tilting the teapot beside the table, turned his head at her direction.

“No need, I just had a nightmare because I recalled the past. Get out.”

Looking at the retreating servant, Edmund pondered over things he had said earlier. 

‘What did I mean by past? What the h*ll did I just say?’

Suddenly, an inexplicable anger arose within Edmund. But strangely, the anger continued to be directed at his mother. Edmund spoke harshly, closed his eyes tightly and lay down on the bed again. He couldn’t seem to remember anything. Nothing vivid came to his mind.

Edmund felt a strange premonition towards the woman in his dream.

“That’s strange.”

Although she resembled Haley, he was angry when he recalled the woman in his dream. At the same time, he also didn’t know why only his mother felt so annoying to him.

He thought he should pretend to be sick today and laze around in bed all day.

* * *

The Empress Garden was a beautiful place where red late-season roses and flying butterflies gathered. The sky was clear with no clouds in sight. On this beautiful day, there were people setting up tables in the garden and enjoying tea party. The ladies tried to impress the empress by telling her the rumors circulating in society.

Even after seeing their efforts, the insensitive servant came and brought bad news to the empress’ ears.

“The Crown Prince isn’t feeling well?”

“Yes. He’s lying in bed and unable to get up. I think e had a nightmare at dawn.”

Empress Fionia signaled to her maid that she got it. The empress thought she should put the crown prince’s troubles aside because she was currently having tea party with the noble ladies in the garden filled with flowers. The scent of the blooming roses instantly suffocated her. The empress quickly put on a sour face.

The ladies who noticed her mood helped one by one to cheer her up.

“I heard that lately Your Majesty has been studying state affairs with so much effort. It looks like you’re likely going to get sick. Is there any suitable medicine? Should I look for it tomorrow on your behalf?”

“Oh, it looks like traditional medicine will work. Your Majesty. The other day, my family members gave me a gift that they found a precious magic potion. I will visit the palace with the potion soon. They say it’s good for men. Ho ho ho-ho-ho.”

The Empress has been in a bad mood lately. Someone unleashed their magic to wake up Thomas Dunger and bring up Gateron Lischer’s son who disappeared eight years ago. Of course, there was no risk that the Duke of Gateron would ask for the throne to be handed to him after that. Since she already put the parliament under her control, there was now no risk that the emperor would be replaced. Everyone involved in the horse-drawn carriage accident had already been taken care of a long time ago.

In the midst of this, it was said that his calm son had been in bed all day.

‘Isn’t this kid pretending to be sick again and going out to look for women?’

The empress’s doubts were quite reasonable. There would be dozens of times in a month when her son, Edmund, constantly made excuses to go out. He had not brought a dangerous companion. Her son had always acted contrary to his words, just as a green frog.

It happened during the princess’s engagement ceremony. Regardless of the fact that they didn’t get along well, Edmund still had to attend the princess’ engagement because many people were watching him. Edmund didn’t return until that day after saying he had to go to the southern part of the empire, which was severely flooded. The Empress gave Edmund a scolding after he returned in the afternoon, but her son did not listen.

The Empress heaved out a sigh. Actually, the purpose of today’s tea party was to gather the ladies of the Morris Empire. She gracefully raised the teacup and took a sip of tea with a smiling expression on her face. 

“Our prince should also be getting married at any time now, so I would like to provide a worthy match. Could you introduce me to one of the noble children you know?”

The noble ladies shared brief glances. They had also reasonably anticipated that the Empress would issue such a statement before they arrived here. The ladies signaled at each other through their eyes to say that one of them should speak first, and in the end, the Countess who lost the eye battle, finally spoke up first.

“Yes, Your Majesty. My humble daughter is still young, so I don’t think he would be suitable as the Crown Prince’s match. However, there is a true lady who is the guarantee of our family…”

“Guarantee? Did you just try to place a dissident woman beside the crown prince?”

The empress’s eyes became sore. The countess immediately dropped her head while trembling wildly.

“I beg for your mercy. Your Majesty, the only single women I know are relatives who live in the western regions. I guess I was just spatting nonsense because I come from a humble background and don’t have any proper connections. Please spare me.”

It was true that the Count’s wife did not come from a well-off family, so the Empress concealed her anger with a nod. She looked one by one at the faces of the other noble ladies gathered here.

“There must be many proper single ladies in the capital. Is there anyone who can recommend one to me?”

Upon her words, the women who had daughters shut up and dropped their heads.

Actually, the position of crown princess was highly desired. Anyone could be greedy. However, it would be nice if the Crown Prince wasn’t Edmund.

Regardless of his social status, how could anyone want to hand over their daughter to Edmund, who was notorious for lifting the skirts of redheads? It was natural for parents to wish for their children’s happiness. Of course, not all parents have the same mindset. Among them, there were those who have a strong desire to succeed.

The Marchioness of Erke clicked her tongue. She said confidently while staring at the Empress in the eyes.

“What about my daughter? Although I don’t have any children, I have one daughter who was adopted in the late age, but she is not behind in terms of culture, etiquette, and embroidery skills.”

“Oh, really?”

The rumors regarding a woman of unknown origin was adopted and became the daughter of the noble family of Marchioness. The Marchioness of Erke, who adopted the talented red hair, had actually been watching over the position of Crown Princess for several years.

The Empress, who already knew this, mentally snorted, but she also thought if that was possible. If only her boisterous son could meet a young and sober girl from the Marquis’ family. The Empress thought it was not a bad deal. If he were left as he was, there would be many illegitimate children in the capital due to her son’s actions. Of course, the Marchioness of Erke’s ulterior motives were obvious to her. After they got married, it would be enough to tell him to distance himself from his wife.

“I heard that love marriages are very popular these days. In that case, take that girl and visit to the imperial palace again.”

“Alright, let’s encourage them to have a natural meeting. Hoho.”

The ladies gathered at the tea party secretly breathed a sigh of relief because they didn’t have to give up their daughter. At the same time, they regretted why they had not adopted a red-haired orphan like the Marchioness of Erke.

‘When I go home, I’ll start looking for orphanages.’

‘Do I have any red-haired relatives?’

The Crown Prince’s tastes were straightforward yet complicated. Everyone there believed that the daughter of the Erke family would never make Edmund satisfied. They laughed while sharing the same thought.

On the other hand, the empress laughed while thinking of dangerous things.

‘My son must have a child soon so that I can take over his body.’

The empress’ power as a witch was weakening. Perhaps, this was the last chance for her to make her eternal life lasted. Empress Fionia decided to push for the Crown Prince’s marriage as soon as possible.

*  *  *

Mary looked at Haley who was staring ahead blankly.

“President, is something the matter?”

“Huh? Nothing.”

“Surprisingly, you’ve been lost in thought a lot lately.”

“Me?”

“Yes, I guess you’re not in the mood to work because the weather is nice, and the pen is already typing loudly. I saw a glimmer of paper under your hand and you kept writing someone’s name over and over again. You seem strange today.”

Haley heard Mary’s words and dropped her gaze. On the paper under her hand was black-ink writing, ‘Claude, the crazy blond-haired man’ over and over again.

“Oh my God, what did I just do?”

Haley blushed and tore the paper, which received narrowed eyes from Mary.

“President, you have a boyfriend, right?”

“Ehem, ehem! What is a boyfriend for?! For someone who seems to be dying of busy work. What do you mean by saying that?”

“I’m suspicious because you just cleared your throat.”

Mary smiled as if she knew and teased her employer.

“Don’t say such ridiculous things. I’m heading to the funeral in a moment.”

“What should I do with the resume?”

“Do it properly and put it on my desk once you finish.”

When her employer said so, Mary put her hand on her chest and raised her voice.

“Huh?! So, what will you do if I only post the resumes of people close to me?”

“If you don’t have the skills, I’ll cut your salary, so you don’t have to worry any further. Furthermore, I will conduct interviews and select people that I favor.”

“Ouch, how can I conclude all this by myself? President, if you have to choose from their tappearance, would it be fine?”

“You’re playing around again.”

“Hehe.”

When Haley said that there was no status or gender discrimination in the newspaper reporter recruitment announcement, she received many resumes from commoner and even women. Although Mary said she was about to die, she felt excited at the thought of seeing her juniors around.

“Oh, oh! Seeing you gives me a premonition. He must be handsome. You passed!”

Since Mary was doing this while her president was still in the office, Mary must have been very happy with this job.

‘Yes, as long as you’re happy.’