Chapter 21

The officer clenched his teeth and glared at Cynthia’s back.

He was Captain Gale Declan, a comrade who had shared life and death with Massera.

‘How do people think the Brigadier General climbed this far? The country that nearly fell to ruin because of the foolish royal family recovered so quickly thanks to us, the lowborn who were ignored but shed blood on the battlefield.’

In the past, this country was the first to fall due to the royal family’s failed policies, which became the spark for a long world war.

For a long time, countless young men had to sacrifice themselves for their country.

Back then, Massera roamed the battlefield as a boy soldier.

With his sharp eyes and genius marksmanship, the tale of how he single-handedly wiped out an entire unit struck terror into enemy nations.

Thus, Massera became one of the main heroes who ended the world war.

Although he was notorious for his cruelty—killing indiscriminately rather than accepting prisoners of war and driving soldiers to their deaths to save nobles—no one cared because the praise he received as a “war hero” overshadowed it all.

On top of that, with his young and handsome looks, marriage proposals poured in from all over, as if competing for him.

‘But imagine my surprise when I heard that he was engaged to a ghost-like remnant of the Variessa royal family. There must have been pressure from a major federal power.’

He couldn’t stand the injustice.

At that moment, someone spoke to him.

“I find that white hair of hers awful. Do you feel the same, Captain?”

It was Hayden, Eugene’s tutor.

When Captain Declan didn’t respond, Hayden gave an awkward smile and walked away.

He felt something suspicious, but chose not to report it. He thought it’d be better if that man handled it instead, whether it was a scheme or just simple slander.

***

A dinner gathering with the officers who had returned from the operation.

Feeling out of place in the awkward atmosphere, Cynthia took a seat in the corner.

The officers, all with stern faces, discussed internal military matters.

After a long exchange of difficult topics incomprehensible to anyone without military knowledge, someone finally spoke up.

“The marriage hasn’t even gone through yet, so should she really be sitting in on this?”

Though they said it with a smile, they were clearly treating Cynthia like an outsider.

At that moment, Captain Declan let out a laugh.

“You probably don’t understand most of what we’re saying. After all, you’ve lived in the peaceful countryside far from the war, haven’t you?”

Though spoken jokingly, the words carried a hidden thorn.

In response, Cynthia showed her signature innocent smile.

“You’re right. It is difficult for me. So please, feel free to just talk among yourselves.”

Cynthia, accustomed to being disliked, wasn’t fazed at all. She thought, compared to what the royal family had done in the past, this was nothing.

‘What’s more painful than being hated…’

Cynthia let out a small sigh.

“What luck? You’re just an unlucky wench who takes other people’s lives!”

“You survived at the cost of my daughter’s life!”

She recalled those who had pointed fingers at her in her past life for miraculously surviving alone.

‘...is being left all alone, even by the people who hated and blamed me. That’s why I need to get along with everyone.’

First and foremost, she had to win over Massera’s heart. And for that, she needed to get along with his colleagues too.

‘Yeah, I’ll win them over with bribes.’

As Cynthia steeled her resolve and nodded, Captain Declan spoke.

“The General is a war hero known across the world, and with his perfect looks, I hear marriage proposals still flood in. I’m worried that having such a popular fiancé might be burdensome for you.”

In fact, there were people who sent proposals despite knowing he was engaged, or who didn’t care if they became his mistress.

The officers continued to speak provocatively in a roundabout way, but Cynthia, their target, was too busy trying to figure out what bribe to offer to listen.

‘We’re not close enough for her to feel jealous, but how can she be so unfazed?’

Massera pondered to himself as he looked over at Cynthia, whose expression remained unchanged.

***

That night, Cynthia went straight to find Massera.

“I’m thinking of going out to the shopping district tomorrow morning. It’d be nice you could come with me, General.”

“No.”

Massera, dressed in a shirt and sweater, spoke without looking up from his book.

“Go with Dahlia or Die—”

“‘Go with Dahlia or Diego.’ I knew you’d say that.”

Cynthia, having already memorized his usual responses, gave a little shrug.

“I’ll buy you a really delicious parfait. I heard it’s filled with tasty sweets and fruits.”

“I’m not a child.”

He swept a hand through his platinum-blond hair and frowned slightly.

Cynthia gave him a look of utter disbelief. She had thought this was the ultimate strategy he could not refuse.

Seeing her attire, Massera raised an eyebrow.

“And why do you keep wearing those strange clothes?”

She was wearing a strange dress roughly patched together with checkered fabric.

“Strange? What’s wrong with a handmade and eco-friendly dress?”

“I’ll say it again—I’m not poor. Please just buy new clothes.”

Thinking it a waste of time to argue further, Massera waved his hand to signal her to leave.

“Well, you don’t want the parfait either… so I guess there’s no helping it.”

Massera, watching her give up unusually quickly, suddenly recalled a conversation he’d had with Dahlia.

“The other servants say she wears ridiculous clothes. Why is she doing that?”

“It’s not that she’s trying to act frugal or down-to-earth on purpose… That dress is actually one I mended for her after I accidentally made a hole in it.”

He thought she was protesting against his indifference, but that wasn’t it.

“I explained the truth to the other servants, but they said she was wearing it to embarrass me for my mistake, but it’s not like that at all. Everyone sees everything she does in a negative light, so I guess it can’t be helped… but I think she’s wearing it on purpose so I won’t feel ashamed.”

‘Dahlia’s completely fallen for her.’

Feeling sorry for her, Massera pulled out a check, signed it, and handed it to her.

“Don’t worry about money and spend as much as you want.”

A person’s true nature comes out when in the face of money. How she spent this money would reveal her character.

And part of him didn’t want to be treated like someone poor anymore.

Cynthia’s red eyes widened as she looked back and forth between the amount on the check and Massera.

“Are you sure you won’t regret this? Because I’m really going to buy everything I want. I can totally clean you out, you know?”

As expected of people when they’re in front of money.

Massera scoffed silently to himself and Cynthia, who was about to leave with what appeared to be an excited gait, turned back to look at him.

“Oh, right. When you were discussing with the officers earlier about drilling operations, you were talking about Nox, right?”

The Nox region, inherited by the Queensguard family, was being prepared for drilling operations because of the possibility of oil reserves and thus, investors were being gathered.

With some of the officers being investors, the topic had come up naturally.

‘How did she know when we didn’t even mention that it was Nox?’

It was news that would soon reach Count Queensguard anyway, but who knew what kind of trouble she might stir up.

After all, the servants he’d dealt with just before had more than a few dirty tricks up their sleeves.

‘Of course, even if he schemes to break off the engagement and reclaim the land, it’ll be useless. The Count wouldn’t be able to cover the enormous cost of the operation anyway.’

It was a project that could take well over ten years, so gathering investors was impossible without considerable trust.

He had already accounted for the various moves the Count might try.

“General, start with the rabbit-shaped mountain range to the west. I’m sure you’ll find treasure there.”

This was one variable he hadn’t anticipated though.

At Cynthia’s unexpected words, Massera’s eyes widened slightly, then narrowed again.

“On what basis?”

“My luck. You’ve seen it more than once, haven’t you?”

Smiling brightly, Cynthia spun around and left the room.

Without thinking, Massera opened the drawer and looked at the “jeweled ring that brings wealth” she had made for him out of a bread bag’s twist tie.

‘I forgot to throw it away.’

He left the ring where it was and closed the drawer again.

***

Leaving the room, Cynthia walked happily down the corridor with the check in hand.

‘I should buy everything I want. He’s going to make a lot of money anyway.’

She had felt a sense of déjà vu since her journey to the capital.

After researching Medeia and looking into the barren land of Nox…

…she discovered that this world’s geography matched perfectly with the one she had lived in during her past life.

And the Nox region was where an enormous oil reserve would one day be discovered.