Forget My Husband, I’ll Go Make Money – Side Story 21

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Side Story 21: Forget My Husband, I’ll Make Money

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Tarkan gently combed his fingers through Aristine’s hair.

Aristine glanced up at Tarkan.

Her purple eyes gleamed with an intense heat that was impossible to hide.

Burning desire.

Tarkan swallowed hard.

It was rare for him to see his wife’s desire so clearly and whenever it happened, it made the back of his neck tingle.

His wife opened her red and succulent lips. And a low, secretive voice spilled out with her breath.

“Khan—”

“…Mn.”

Tarkan’s voice was a bit hoarse.

He leaned in to get a little closer to his wife.

Aristine’s breath tickled his ear.

“Chicken and beer…”

“…?”

Flinch.

Tarkan froze just as his lips touched his wife’s shoulder.

‘What did I just hear?’

Chicken and beer? He had to have heard wrong.

Surely.

“…is not possible, I knew that.”

Who knew how she interpreted Tarkan’s frozen visage, but Aristine shook her head. Then she started mumbling excuses.

“I just said it because I was craving chicken and beer my whole pregnancy. I wasn’t serious.”

Tarkan looked at his wife with dumbfoundment in his eyes.

He did not hear wrong.

That overflowing, burning desire that he saw moments ago…

‘It was burning desire for chicken and beer?!!’

He was so flabbergasted that he was speechless.

Aristine saw her husband’s expression and spoke sulkily.

“I know I can’t have it. I was just saying it, okay?”

Aristine glanced at him, gauging his reaction, then cautiously added,

“…I’m guessing tteokbokki with vodka is a no?”

“…”

“I know I can’t have it! I was just saying. Everyone keeps saying it’s an amazing combo, so I am curious…”

Nowadays, she couldn’t even eat tteokbokki at all.

《It is an ‘absolutely not’ while you are breastfeeding. You might think it’s mild but it is too much for the baby.》

Because of Umiru’s firm words.

“Hah…”

Tarkan finally recovered from his shock and let out a hollow laugh.

After giving birth, she started feeling better and her body recovered so obviously, her appetite had returned.

Fine, he understood that.

But right now, it was the late hours of night.

After taking a bath, shouldn’t this be the moment where they light candles to set up the mood?

‘I never thought she was so excited because of a late-night snack.’

Then again, Tarkan was the one who was always dying to feed Aristine more whenever he could.

Seeing the dejected cloud over his wife’s head, he felt both sad and amused.

Now he truly understood who Actsion took after.

Everyone said Actsion was a mini version of Tarkan, but to Tarkan, the boy was a spitting image of Aristine.

“Rineh.”

Aristine raised her head and looked at Tarkan. The corner of her eyes were downturned.

Tarkan loosened the edges of his robe, which covered his pecs a little more and opened his mouth.

He knew the perfect cure to cheer up his dejected wife.

“Do you want to feel my chest?”

“…!”

Aristine’s face went blank for a moment.

But the next moment, a bright light filled her purple eyes.

Now that she thought about it, she couldn’t eat late-night snacks like chicken and beer or tteokbokki with vodka but.

But she could eat something else.

Aristine’s hand flitted up Tarkan’s chest.

Slowly, very slowly.

Tarkan’s golden eyes immediately darkened.

Her slender arm wrapped tightly around Tarkan’s neck.

The heat and desire burning in Aristine’s eyes.

This time, there was absolutely no mistaking what she wanted.

“You trust me?”

A soft whisper tickled his ear, and a fierce grin spread over Tarkan’s face.

“Yes, I do. Very much.”

Their lips met.

Their breaths were hot enough to set each other ablaze.

Their impatient and thirsty hands roamed all over each other, as if they wanted to confirm over and over again.
But it was still not enough.

For them, the night was always too short.

* * *

“Hey, get back. This is our spot!”

“Since when? Do you pay rent? This is the street; nobody has spots!”

“We’ve been waiting here since last night! To get front spots!!”

“We’ve been here since last night too! If you didn’t mark your spot—.”

The grand plaza in front of the palace.

It was always crowded with people, but today, there wasn’t even room to take a step forward.

“Stop fighting! Why are you fighting on such a good day?”

“Right? You’re bringing negativity for no reason.”

There was only one reason.

Today marked the 100th day since the birth of the Empire’s second princess.

The large crowd had gathered in front of the plaza to catch a glimpse of the princess’s face.

“Ahem, right. We can’t bring negativity to our princess.”

“Oh no. We almost showed disrespect to our princess.”

The people who were fighting over spots needlessly cleared their throats and calmed down.

While people were doing that, some others were moving skillfully through the crowd.

“Come, come! Get your tteokbokki here! Yes, you heard right. The very tteokbokki the princess craved from her mother’s womb!”

If you thought people weaving through the crowd and selling tteokbokki in paper cups was ridiculous, then wait till you realize there were also people selling chicken and beer, screaming,

“Chicken and beer! Get your chicken and beer! Taste the chicken our prince craved right from his mother’s womb!!”

And that wasn’t all.

“It is Her Majesty Aristine’s favorite! We’ve got scones!”

“Get His Eminence, Emeritus Nephther’s favorite jiggle jelly that he ate with Her Majesty Aristine! Get you some Jiggle Jelly!!”

All sorts of food was being sold.

“K-hm, sorry for shouting earlier. Do you want to get some chicken and beer?”

“Ehem, I’ll get the tteokbokki.”

The once-argumentative crowd now sat together, sharing their chicken and beer and tteokbokki.

They were all people who camped out since last night, hoping to get a closer look at the princess’s face.

And they were all on the same page.

Once some beer was down their throat, the conversation flowed even better.

“I consider it fate that we met here so allow me to show you my treasure.”

A young woman said in a confident tone and pulled out something she had carefully wrapped in her bosom.

“This…!”

It was a picture of Aristine and Tarkan.

A photo of the two of them in casual clothes, sharing a skewer on the street.

“Oh my goodness, it’s such a casual photo! You can never see pictures like this in the papers!!”

“Let me see! I want to see too!”

“Heh heh! I took this picture myself!”

The girl proudly raised her chin.

“You were close enough to see Their Majesties so up close?!”

“I-I’m so jealous!!”

“They do say good things must be shared. Since you’ve shared your precious photo with me, I can’t just do nothing.”

Another woman cleared her throat and pulled out a photo from her pocket with fanfare.

“…!”

Everyone who saw the picture went wide-eyed in shock.

“I—Impossible!”

“How did you get a photo like this?!”

The reaction was explosive.

And understandably so, because—.

“A picture of the prince napping with Her Majesty Aristine?!”

“Did His Majesty Tarkan take it himself…?!”

How did she have such a limited-edition item….uh, photo?!

They all turned to the woman with eyes full of envy.

“How did you get this…”

“Hehe, I pulled some strings.”

The woman, Umiru, crossed her arms with pride.

Durante, who was watching from afar, was speechless.

He was here, wondering why Umiru, who should be in the VIP section, was out there in the chaotic crowd.

Turns out, it was just to show off!!

‘If Milord sees that, all hell will break loose.’

A few days prior—.

Umiru acted like she was giving Aristine a checkup, but actually went around the Emperor’s bedchambers.

Durante noticed her strange behavior from outside the bedchamber and questioned her sharply.

《I see you’ve become a rat instead of a doctor, Umiru. What did you steal from the His Majesty’s chambers?》

《What do you mean, steal? I’m just borrowing it for a bit.》

《An imperial treasure, perhaps. Or classified information? What have you stolen?》

《…》

《Say no more. For daring to betray your Lord, you will pay with your life!》

《 B-but! I couldn’t help it! I wanted this picture so bad!!》

《 …》

The moment he saw the stolen item, Durante was completely speechless.

《Hurry up and put it back.》

《I don’t want to.》

《Umiru.》

《I’ll give you this.》

《No matter what you give me, it will be usele…!》

Right before he could finish the word ‘useless’, Durante’s mouth flew shut.

Because the item in Umiru’s hand, was a photo of Tarkan with a bright smile.

A face that only Aristine got to see.

《Do you think I’ll be swayed by this?》

《 …Then why are you putting it in your pocket?》

In the end, Durante, the man with a Lord-complex, let Umiru go.

‘…Well, it wasn’t stealing; she borrowed it.’

If Aristine learned about this, she would be so flabbergasted, saying, “You searched the Emperor’s chamber and exchanged bribes for a photo, and it wasn’t even classified information?!”

Then again, the people around Aristine were always a little odd in some way.

Clearing his throat, Durante turned and spoke to the warriors.

“Line up. Their Majesties will be arriving soon.”

“Yessir!”

The warriors immediately stood in their positions.

Durante raised his head.

Soon, the two people he had given his all to, walked out onto the high platform.

Along with the two children that he would soon come to cherish the most.

“Woohooooo—!!”

Thunderous cheers engulfed the plaza.

* * *

The roar was so loud that Aristine froze, feeling like her ears were about to burst.

From a young princess who was imprisoned, and whose existence was erased, to becoming the Princess Consort of Irugo, and to then becoming the Emperor.

The common people had always supported and welcomed Aristine.

Suddenly, her mind flew back to the first time she had ever heard such cheers.

‘The wedding ceremony. With Tarkan.’

Aristine’s gaze flitted to Tarkan and his eyes immediately turned to her.

She didn’t know how he could react to her gaze so quickly despite the chaos and noise that filled their vicinity.

Her gaze held no sound, yet—

Tarkan smiled at her and whispered, “This reminds me of our wedding.”

Aristine looked up at her husband with surprise in her eyes.

He was thinking of the exact same thing she was.

“That day, I smiled in front of a cheering crowd for the first time. Because you asked me to.”

“…”

“Now, I end up smiling without you even saying anything.”

“…”

“Rineh, my marriage with you was the beginning of my life as a royal.”

It was the same for Aristine.

After all, that was her first time stepping into the world as a royal.

“And meeting you as a child was when my life truly began.”

“…Me too.”

That tiny memory she once thought to be a dream.

There were days where she clung to that tiny memory as she lived, trapped under a palm-sized sky.

But now, they had gone beyond that memory, and they were together.

Just as they were looking into each other’s eyes and smile began to appear on their face…

“Kyaa!”

The baby princess babbled in Aristine’s arms.

Aristine and Tarkan’s eyes turned toward their child.

“Impewial mother, Impewial father!”

Actsion waved his hand, as if telling them to come quickly.

Tarkan effortlessly picked up his son.

With their children in their arms, the couple looked down at the crowd from the balcony.

“Ahhhhhh!!!”

The cheers grew even louder.

“Long live Princess Ariella!!”

“Blessings and Prosperity for Her Highness Ariella!!”

Ariella.

The name, meaning eternity, echoed across the sky.

It was a name that Aristine and Tarkan had carefully chosen together.

Hoping that their child would be loved eternally, just the love between the two of them.

“Long live His Highness, Prince Actsion!!”

“Long live Their Majesties!!”

“Your Majesty Aristine!!”

“Your Majesty Tarkan!!”

People were smiling and waving as they chanted their name.

Just as Aristine was feeling moved by this sight…

“What about the third?!”

“We can’t wait for the third royal child, Your Majesty!!!”

“How about twins this time?! I’d love to see twins!!”

“Twins would be so adorable!!!!”

Her swelling emotion deflated in an instant.

‘..Greed truly is endless.’

Right at that moment, Tarkan whispered in her ear.

“Since they all want it so much, we can try?”

“What?”

“It’s the effort that counts, isn’t it, for anything?”

Aristine looked at her husband, dumbfounded.

Her husband didn’t want a third child.

He wanted the ‘act of trying’ for a third child.

Plus, is that something one should whisper in front of so many people?

“Pervert.”

“You hate it?”

“No, I like it.”

Aristine smiled.

Tarkan kissed his smiling wife on the lips.

“Uuck!”

Actsion covered his own eyes and his sister’s too.

Aristine thought to herself.

I wish this moment, this feeling, could last for eternity.

Just like Tarkan and their daughter.

《 Forget My Husband, I’ll Go Make Money》

《 Side Story: END》

 

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Miss Ruby’s Corner:

…At last, we have reached the end of the side story and the end of this wonderful novel!

These side stories have been so cute, and I really think the author really wanted to tell us how much Aristine loves Tarkan’s chest. If you didn’t get it by the end of the main story, you definitely do now ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Personally, I wish we had seen the end of that evil handmaid at the beginning. Where’s my catharsis?! (Dionna’s end kinda made up for it though XD)

Thank you for sticking with me through my shaky updates whenever my life got busy. I hope you all enjoyed this novel and if you’re looking for something new to read, I welcome you to try out my next project: [Emilone’s Temptation Labyrinth]. I must warn you, it’s a slightly different vibe from this novel so if you’re looking for a change of palate, this might be perfect for you.

Adios~

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