-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: The Worn-Out Male Lead Picked the Wrong Opponent
-----------------------------------------------------------------
‘To think I’d get found out.’
Masera sighed inwardly.
But thanks to his skill at controlling his expressions, he managed to keep a straight face without any hint of agitation.
In the meantime, Cynthia covered her mouth with both hands as she stared at Masera. She recalled that every dress she had tried on had been adorned with pearls and jewels.
“No way, were all the dresses custom-made? How many years per dress…… Then when exactly did you start preparing them…… For me……”
Just as a backstory of ‘We actually met when we were kids’ was about to form in Cynthia’s mind, Masera denied it.
“No, the designer at Meriseiren’s atelier owed me a favor, so she made them quickly to repay it.”
Cynthia’s感動 vanished in an instant.
Instead, she heard someone nearby exclaim in surprise.
“No wonder someone swept up all the top-grade Mediterranean pearls and high-purity diamonds recently. So it was Brigadier General Vicente.”
“Even the heart of a gruff soldier melts for a sweet princess. How enviable.”
Before he knew it, Masera was being treated like a doting husband who adored his wife to death.
Wishing they would stop with that nonsense, Masera rubbed his throbbing head and let out a sigh.
“Sorry for nagging you about going on a honeymoon. I had no idea……”
Cynthia said with a genuinely apologetic look.
She seemed to think the massive spending on dresses meant there was no money left for a honeymoon.
Masera looked at her with resigned eyes.
“It’s not that bad financially.”
“I know. Even rich people cut unnecessary expenses. I’ll live frugally too. I’ll paste newspaper on the windows and use less firewood.”
She had thoroughly misunderstood.
Either as the head of a struggling household due to tough finances, or a miser who hated spending money.
At that moment, someone nearby raised a question.
“But did the duke’s family buy the dresses that were canceled due to a change of heart, or did they intercept them midway……”
“I hear custom orders can’t be canceled. So they must have snatched them. The figures are similar too.”
“No way. Would a sister steal the dress her husband made for her little sister to wear herself? Knowing full well what a groom-prepared wedding dress means?”
No one could imagine the Lecanosa Duke had done it out of inferiority toward Masera.
They could only think of it as the older sister snatching her sibling’s dress.
“……Your Grace, an explanation seems necessary.”
“We’ll talk later.”
Helen demanded one with a pale face, but the duke brushed her off and went to greet the politicians.
The duke refusing to talk and leaving the scene was as good as admitting it was her doing.
“Really, what kind of sister is that?”
“Tsk tsk, how important is a wedding dress. How heartbroken the little sister must be.”
Scornful gazes poured onto her.
Helen writhed under the unbearable humiliation and anger.
‘Pinning it on me to save his honor? What kind of vile man is he?’
Helen swallowed the urge to scream that she had no reason to covet that lowly maid’s things.
She couldn’t very well explain that the duke had done it out of inferiority toward a war orphan turned Brigadier General Vicente.
She knew protecting her pride now would cost her dearly in the long run. She had that much reason and judgment.
Helen ground her teeth with venomous eyes.
‘I won’t let this slide. When I reclaim the royal authority, I’ll pay it back tenfold.’
Cynthia knew Helen’s fury but had no desire to defend her.
She simply observed with the detached demeanor Helen had always upheld.
“Brigadier General. I didn’t realize you put so much care into making them, and I spoke too lightly. I’m sorry. You must have been upset seeing them snatched.”
To Cynthia’s apology, Masera slowly shook his head.
“As you said, we can just make new ones. I can get finished products in a week anyway.”
“But why did you go to such lengths for the dresses?”
Masera’s brow twitched slightly at the question he absolutely hadn’t wanted to hear.
“The heart is like a box. Fill it with treasures, and it becomes a treasure chest. Fill it with trash, and it becomes a trash bin. Masera, fill your bride’s heart with treasures.”
“I was just following my late mother’s advice. A wedding lasts one day, but for a lifetime……”
It was a day important enough to become a treasure you could open and cherish forever, or a wound you’d never open again.
‘Even so, why did I go that far?’
Did he really need to follow his mother’s advice and give Cynthia such a good memory? He couldn’t be sure himself.
Irritated at himself for trying to say something so embarrassing, he stopped.
“Ah, I get it now.”
Cynthia nodded as if she understood. Then she suddenly grabbed Masera’s hand.
“I’ll try to make good memories for you too while we’re together. I can’t give much now since we’re short on money, but I’ll make sure you live well later.”
She spoke like a poor young man proposing, slipping something onto his finger.
Masera looked down at his ring finger.
A ring made from a golden bread bag tie had been slipped on. Even a bean-sized candy was attached like a gem.
“……What is this?”
“A gem ring that brings wealth.”
“I told you I’m not poor.”
Masera felt bewildered. No wonder something had been fidgeting under the table.
Cynthia said,
“Material things aren’t eternal. What lasts isn’t the material stuff, but the heart. Memories like smiling when you think of this ring.”
It was something only someone who had lost everything would say.
To be precise, it resembled his mother’s dying words—her having lost her husband and everything else in the war.
As Masera stared at Cynthia in a daze without realizing it and swept back his hair coming back to his senses,
“Brigadier General, what brand is that ring? It’s unique.”
The businessmen who had come to talk to him noticed the ring on his finger and asked.
Masera opened his mouth with a calm expression.
“A wealth-bringing……”
“Oh, an upcycling edition? Lately, luxury brands have been coming out with eco-friendly lines.”
Masera nodded as if that were the case.
Afterward, mingling with the politicians continued, but oddly, they all seemed to avoid Cynthia’s eyes.
“Is it my imagination that no one can look me in the eye?”
When Cynthia voiced her doubt, someone told her the truth.
“You didn’t know? You’ve become the talk of the town, Princess. Now they can’t meet your eyes. We didn’t take any bribes or anything guilty, haha!”
At some point, Cynthia had started being called ‘Princess,’ a title that embarrassed her greatly every time.
The awkward Cynthia widened her eyes upon seeing the newspaper article handed to her.
“Eek.”
Isn’t this just the plot of an SF action movie? Cynthia made a baffled face.
Meanwhile, Masera exchanged boring conversations with people while glancing down at the ‘wealth-bringing gem ring’ on his finger.
‘She really loves assigning meaning to things.’
As he wondered if that was the secret to living worry-free, the duke’s butler approached with a kind smile.
“It looks like heavy snow this afternoon. To give the princesses time to catch up, why not stay the night? We’ve prepared rooms for the brigadier general and princess.”
Masera looked up at the cloudy sky and glanced at Cynthia for her opinion. She, holding a parasol, rubbed her unusually reddened eyes and said,
“I’ll head up and rest first. It’s cold, and being outside so long has worn me out.”
“I was planning to do the same.”
The two, shown to their rooms, were enveloped in an awkward atmosphere and silence.
“You’ll be married soon, so you’ll share a room anyway, right?”
Unable to answer the butler’s question, they ended up assigned the same room.
A large room, but with only one bed.
