Chapter 53

Sitting in the glass greenhouse with Cynthia, Massera hesitated as he fidgeted with the small gift box in his coat pocket.

It was the opal hairpin he had bought at the shop, but he had missed the right timing to give it to her.

‘I'll give it to her the next time I have something to apologize for…’

Wait. Does that mean I’m going to make the same mistake again? Thinking it over, he felt he was acting cowardly.

In the end, he took out the gift box and placed it on the table.

Cynthia, who had been eating the cherries, blinked her red eyes rapidly.

“What’s this?”

“I bought it as a gift of reconciliation.”

“Just how badly did you want to apologize?”

Cynthia’s cheeks lit up. She quickly opened the box, examined the opal hairpin from every angle, and smiled happily.

“Wow, it’s so pretty. You picked one that matches my hair color. I’ll wear it every day. Thank you!”

Cynthia pinned it in her hair and showed him.

“Is it pretty? Does it suit me? Please answer with sincerity, effort, and only overflowing compliments.”

Massera, staring at her blankly, slowly opened his mouth.

“...It looks pretty.”

As he watched Cynthia light up like a child, a wave of disbelief washed over Massera.

“The start is always hard, but once you see your beloved’s happy smile, you’ll feel like you rule the world. There’s joy not just in receiving, but in giving, too.”

It was just as the chatty florist had said.

If you treat someone carelessly, guilt follows, and if you show kindness, you share in their joy. It was a natural part of human relationships.

‘But she’s not someone I love.’

That kind of thing would never happen.

Massera repeated this to himself, avoiding Cynthia’s beaming gaze.

“Eugene! Come quickly and have some cherry cake!”

At Cynthia’s call, Eugene—who had been playing ball in the garden—rushed over and sat beside her. He suddenly seemed more polite.

“Say ah—”

“Ah.”

In the past, he would’ve been prickly and refused, but now he obediently accepted the cake she offered him.

“Tasty, right? The General bought it.”

“Yeah. It’s good.”

With his cheeks flushed red, Eugene seemed less like a wary cat and more like a puppy wagging its tail.

Seeing Cynthia win over even Eugene, Massera let out a sigh and just then—

“You look like a family. It’s nice to see.”

The maid who brought Eugene’s fork and milk smiled warmly.

‘A family…’

Perhaps it was because she had grown up surrounded by familial love that Cynthia knew how to give it.

As he watched Cynthia and Eugene smiling at each other, Massera was seized by a strange feeling.

***

The next day, I was to attend the ducal family’s tea party at the invitation of the Dowager Duchess.

“As the General’s wife, you’ll now be interacting with many people. Think of it like serving as a staff member at headquarters.”

So basically, I’m the Minister of Foreign Affairs now?

Building connections, pleasing superiors, and aligning with the right people—life in society is the same everywhere.

As I sighed, Diego handed me a notebook that looked like a biographical dictionary.

“These are the people attending today.”

“Thank you, as always.”

“I’m just doing my job.”

I wore a modest dress and pinned my hair up with the hairpin Massera gave me.

I had asked for a bold makeup look, but my stylist maid advised me against it, saying it would make me look like a ghost.

‘I guess I’ll be seeing Helene regularly from now on. I don’t really want to.’

Still, there was no need to antagonize her over personal feelings. After all, I had to pretend we were close sisters.

I headed to the duke’s estate, imagining the kinds of things that might happen during the tea party.

The ducal family’s tea party was held in the central garden with an extravagant fountain. Is it seriously not cold? Are the people here immune to the cold?

I shivered as I walked into the tea party venue.

“My dear sister, welcome.”

Helene greeted me with a bright smile. For some reason, it actually felt like a genuine welcome today.

“Snow White is here. I heard you got hurt—are you all right?”

The Dowager Duchess, Madam Hills, and Madam Veraché looked concerned as they noticed the bandages wrapped around my hand.

“I’m perfectly fine. And thanks to the madams, I was able to enjoy a wonderful and blissful honeymoon.”

“Really? Come on, tell us all about it. I’ve been looking forward to it.”

I sat with them at the table and began telling stories from the honeymoon.

Like seeing a river that turned to muddy water, the ferris wheel breaking down, making pen pal friends with people we met on the pilgrimage trail, and befriending the priests at the cathedral who promised us a free exorcism if we were ever possessed by demons—stuff like that.

The women listening burst into laughter.

“Just listening to you is fun. Your life must be far from boring.”

As we continued chatting about this and that, Helene stood up, drawing everyone’s attention.

“The development project for the Nox region, owned by my sister, has begun. Since it’s a legacy of the Variessa royal family, there's a high possibility of rich resources being buried there, so General Vicente is leading the exploration.”

She smiled softly as she continued.

“At the next formal dinner, we plan to hold an investor briefing on my sister’s behalf. If you're interested in investing, please speak with either of us.”

Why is she suddenly acting like she wants to help me? I looked at her with suspicion.

Just then, a man who looked like an aide approached Helene and whispered something in her ear.

As she listened to him, Helene turned to me with a sympathetic expression.

“Cindy, did you know that a bad article about your business was released?”

“No, I didn’t.”

Before I knew it, word had spread and the murmuring around us grew louder.

Helene let out a deep sigh and patted my shoulder.

“A well-known explorer who visited the site claimed that Nox is nothing more than a barren wasteland, and that talk of it being valuable is baseless. Since then, critical articles have been pouring out.”

Soon, I overheard a conversation among the ladies at the next table.

“There was that string of bankruptcies recently from diamond mine investments. It turned out that there was nothing of value there.”

“I heard that a wealthy officer lost everything and died penniless because of that incident.”

“General Steve was smart to pull out his investment early. The real deal is supposed to be Diez, the land inherited by the Duchess, right?”

So, while exposing Nox as a fake, she had claimed her own land was real.

I don’t know what’s in Diez, but was all of this really necessary?

With this article coming out on top of the previous incident, it was enough to stir fear in people. They’d want to cut their losses quickly, even at a cost.

“Isn’t the biggest problem that all the money poured into the business has turned into a mountain of debt? Even wealthy people have gone bankrupt like never before.”

People murmured that even Massera del Vicente would be utterly ruined.

“See? This is why people say that if you marry the wrong person, your whole fate changes. If he’d married a wealthy family’s daughter, none of this would’ve happened. Even if there was an issue, he’d have the money to cover it up.”

Someone said it outright and laughed loudly.

“The war hero got tricked by the white rat princess. Aren’t they going to get a divorce at this rate?”

Thinking we’d become beggars overnight, they were crossing the line.

But after receiving sharp glares from the Dowager Duchess and the princesses, they shut their mouths.

Helene covered her mouth, looking unsure what to do, and then took my hand.

“Cindy, I’ll help you. If you accept my husband’s support, you can avoid bankruptcy…”

So that was her plan—to put me in debt and beneath her like this?

I shook my head.

“No, it’s fine. I’ll just accept your sweet gesture.”

Perhaps thinking I had given up on the business and planned to shut everything down, the ones who openly mocked me smiled even wider.

What demons they must be, to find someone else’s misfortune amusing. Should I call an exorcist?

“Princess, don’t worry too much—we’ll help you. After all, aren’t we family?”

I gave a gentle smile to the Dowager Duchess and the princesses who looked at me with concern.

“Thank you. But we’ve already secured funding. Queen Medeia herself arranged a large investment.”

At my words, everyone went silent as if cold water had been dumped on them.

Clang—!

Startled from hearing this, someone dropped their teacup.

I could see in real time the joy of those who mocked my misfortune draining from their faces.

Helene stared at me, stunned.

“…Queen Grace II invested? In a private business?”

“It’s no longer private. It’s now an international company—a joint venture.”

Coincidentally, a letter from the Queen had arrived that morning.

So now, instead of the cringeworthy title of “princess,” I’ve earned the title of “director”!