A Handsome K*nky Gangster Reporter - Chapter 88

#88

Marry seemed to be obsessively fixated on the faces of men. She had a strange belief that, because she was capable, a man only needed to be handsome to marry her. This deeply worried Tom, who feared that Marry might bring home an unworthy partner.

‘Later, when the newspaper editor arrives at the office, I’ll have to beg him to take Mary along to the banquet coverage. After seeing the impressive men at the palace, maybe Mary will change her mind. It has to happen.’

Tom sighed as he thought about which type of man Marry might end up marrying. He worried that Mary could end up suffering due to choosing the wrong man. As a father, his anxiety was considerable.

Starting with Gillian, the owner of the general store, the number of visitors to the bakery steadily increased. 

“Hey! What’s the taste of the Crown Prince like? Haven’t you heard any news about it?”

The merchants in the alley closed their shops for the day and ended up crowding inside the bakery. Over time, even people who couldn’t get in were lingering outside. The common factor among these people was that they were all parents of unmarried daughters.

‘So many people with unrealistic dreams.’

How could a commoner possibly become the Crown Princess? Unlike Tom, who was realistic, the visitors to the bakery seemed full of hope, their eyes shining with the dream of changing their lives through their daughters.

Finally! The newspaper editor, Hailey, arrived. The crowd parted like the Red Sea, making way for Hailey, who carefully walked forward while observing the bakery patrons.

At that moment, a friendly restaurant owner approached Hailey and asked directly,

“Do you know the Crown Prince well?”

“No, I don’t.”

As Hailey quickly answered and took another step forward, the restaurant owner showed an open book and pointed to a picture inside.

“Look at this. There’s a photo of the Crown Prince here, right? But you say you don’t know him? You, who have been chatting with all the merchants around here, why are you avoiding talking about the Crown Prince?”

The picture the restaurant owner pointed to was Ciel, the blonde-haired man Hailey referred to. Ciel worked in the palace as a bodyguard for the Crown Prince. Since Ciel and the Crown Prince looked somewhat alike, it was easy for people to get confused. Hailey laughed and shook her head.

“He works for the Crown Prince, but he’s not Edmund, the Crown Prince.”

“Eh!? What are you talking about? This is clearly the Crown Prince!”

“No, really, it’s not. You might be mistaken.”

People around Hailey started to gather. They glanced at the book and each added their comments.

“Wow, if he’s the Crown Prince, he’s very handsome. My daughter would love him.”

“Ah, maybe you’re just mistaken.”

“Where? I want to see too.”

Frustrated by the people who didn’t believe him, the restaurant owner pounded his chest and shouted,

“Don’t you remember? Occasionally, to please the public, the Crown Prince dines at commoner’s establishments. Even three years ago, the Crown Prince came to our restaurant!”

Hearing this, people started recalling the past. The restaurant owner had added a lavish banner above his shop sign to attract attention. Although the attention quickly faded when the Crown Prince visited another café a few days later.

“Right! You saw the Crown Prince in person, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

The people who agreed with the restaurant owner then turned their attention to Hailey, the newspaper editor.

“Hey, you’re the newspaper editor, how come you don’t know the face of the Crown Prince? What’s going on?”

“Oh, maybe she’s just pretending not to know because we’re here. It wouldn’t be good to offend the royal family, right?”

The restaurant owner proudly lifted his chin, while Hailey’s face began to turn pale. 

“So Ciel is actually the Crown Prince?”

This was a disaster. If so, the person who had been developing a good relationship with Gloria and meeting with her repeatedly was Ciel, who worked as a bodyguard, not the Crown Prince himself. Hailey, as the original author, was stressed about how to fix this situation.

“Wow, I really can see the nobility in his demeanor. So he’s the Crown Prince, huh?”

As Hailey turned around, Marry approached and glared at the people blocking her way. Mary folded her arms and, casually shaking her legs, spoke.

“By the way, our boss is very busy. If you have any questions, ask me. The boss will be leaving soon. I’ll take only five questions, and only from our newspaper subscribers. After that, you all can go. Don’t you have any business to attend to?”

***

Thanks to Marry, I managed to get into the office on the second floor safely. She sent me up the stairs first and somehow managed to recruit about 15 new newspaper subscribers.

Holding my head and feeling distressed, one of my employees looked at me with concern.

“Boss, are you okay?”

“No, not at all.”

I only just realized that the idiot with the blond hair, Ciel, was a prince. How could I be okay?

“Marry, if I ever get arrested for insulting the royal family or something like that, can you take over as the temporary manager and run the office? I think I’ve messed up.”

I wanted to cry. Just think about it—Ciel… or rather, Prince Edmund, I had been so rude to him all this time. If I’d known he was a prince, I wouldn’t have used him as a model for my book.

‘Wait a minute! How much did I pay him as a model back then?’

A shiver ran down my spine, making me shiver. It wasn’t because of the early morning chill. I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t paid the prince for his modeling work. How dare I not pay a prince! I’m such a terrible boss!

“Marry, it’s your first time at the palace, right? How about you go alone to cover the royal ball next month?”

“Eh!? What about you, Boss?”

“I’ll vanish like dust. I can’t even imagine what charges I might face.”

“Suddenly, what are you talking about?”

“Think about it—if Ciel is a prince, just how arrogant I’ve been.”

Marry thought for a moment, then let out a small laugh.

“Oh, that’s no problem. A prince who likes a woman will surely forgive that.”

“Don’t say that. I don’t know if he likes anyone.”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t know. Anyone with clear eyes could see why Prince Edmund was frequently visiting this office. It was all to see you, Boss.”

Marry added with a soft tone, “You really didn’t know?” while looking at me and sitting down. She seemed to find the situation amusing.

‘Right, he probably won’t seek revenge even if I was rude to him. After all, he’s already kissed me.’

Anna rushed into the office, out of breath.

“Sorry, sorry! I’m late!”

“It’s okay.”

Anna, still panting, quickly sat down at her desk. Seeing the wall clock, she was only 20 minutes late. I asked her after she managed to catch her breath.

“Why were you late? You usually arrive earlier than I do. I’m not trying to scold you, I’m just curious if something happened.”

I worried my question might come across as scolding. Seeing Anna’s confused expression, I regretted asking. I was just concerned about her.

‘Could it be that Anna was chased by her ex-husband or had some family issue? That’s why I asked. I hope she doesn’t think I’m scolding her.’

Unfortunately, life isn’t a blank sketchbook. Things don’t always go well, and not everyone is given a variety of colorful crayons.

Given how much Anna had talked about the abuse she suffered from her ex-husband, it was natural for me to worry about her. Fortunately, Anna didn’t bring up any of my concerns.

“Oh, people kept stopping me and asking questions on my way to work. Since I’m still new here, I had to make excuses that I didn’t know. Hehe. Sorry about that.”

Hmm. After checking today’s newspapers, it seems like our paper was the first to break the news about the royal ball. I’m worried that if the palace denies the news and claims it’s wrong, it could cause me a lot of trouble.

‘We’re already seen as a trashy media outlet. What more could we lose?’

If the palace changes their statement, our subscriber count might drop drastically. Damn.

I tried hard not to think about Prince Edmund and focused on other tasks. Surely he wouldn’t charge me with insulting the royal family, right? If he did, he wouldn’t be a proper prince.

‘I’m going to be okay, right?’

By the time afternoon arrived, more and more people crowded into the office. They were convinced I had a close relationship with the prince after seeing the fashion magazine we published, “The Feronel Design.”

“I have no relationship whatsoever with Prince Edmund. Even at that time, I only hired him as a model because he looked like an ordinary person. After that, I haven’t met him again.”

I don’t know how many times I had to repeat this. I must have said it at least a hundred times. My lips were chapped and bleeding. I had to keep explaining to the visitors.

Of course, the new book had been a huge hit since the first week of publication, and our newspaper’s subscriber count skyrocketed. That part was good.

***

In her fourth life, the witch Bella bought a local noble title with money. The title of Baron, which wasn’t well-known in the capital, suited her just fine. Thus, she raised her daughter as the only child of the Baron’s family, doting on her. This time around, Bella only got involved in reasonably helping her daughter.

After having been overly involved in everything her daughter did in past lives, which had strained their relationship, Bella had learned the importance of maintaining a healthy distance between parents and children. 

“Mom, I’ve fallen in love with someone,” her daughter said with eyes shining dreamily, after coming back from a party celebrating the crown prince’s engagement that she had covered for her own newspaper.

‘So, you’re caught up in love again, even though it caused you so much trouble before,’ Bella thought, struggling to hide her bitterness. What is it about love that makes you act like this?

Bella set aside the newspaper she’d been reading, which featured an article about Claude Lischer, a young Duke who had been found after nine years of being missing and had just made a remarkable debut.

“So, who’s the lucky guy this time?” Bella asked.

“Claude Lischer, the young Duke,” her daughter replied. “He was recently found after being missing for a long time. He’s so handsome and impressive, I fell in love with him at first sight.”

Hah. The Baron’s daughter is in love with a young Duke. The social gap is so wide that a relationship seems impossible.

“Well, try your best,” Bella said. After all, the chances of this working out were slim. Her daughter, smitten with love, started sending love letters and attending every event that the young Duke was at. However, the result was a heartbreaking failure.