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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: The Lucky Whale
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Masera never left my side throughout the wedding reception. It seemed like it was all for the sake of appearing affectionate.
I couldn't hide my regret. I had wanted to chat freely with the other women.
And at receptions like this, people usually asked the bride for a dance, but strangely enough, there were tons of requests.
"They say dancing with her, who is blessed by the Goddess of Luck, guarantees a huge hit on your investments!"
It felt less like genuine popularity and more like I was a lucky piggy bank that brought good fortune.
And Masera broke his "must stay cool at parties" rule by absolutely refusing to allow it.
"That greedy jerk... Trying to hog all the luck for himself..."
He paid no mind to the resentful glares from the dance hopefuls.
Just like that, he stuck to me like glue until the reception ended.
'He inputs a goal and carries out the mission diligently, like the soldier he is.'
Complete with a side of stickler principles.
I, who had wanted to make some friends, shot him a resentful look as well.
The honeymoon destination was the capital of Media. Thanks to the influence of the Lecanosa matriarch, we were invited as royal guests to the palace.
Before leaving, I took the hand of Eugene, who had been moping throughout the wedding, and gave him a gentle smile.
"Are you sulking because your favorite uncle got married?"
"That's not it."
Unlike before, when he flinched at even a touch, Eugene didn't pull his hand away.
"I'll bring you a gift. When I get back, let's spend lots of time together."
"No."
"Saying no to everything is just like the Brigadier General."
Eugene, who had been staring at me like a haughty cat, hesitated and slipped his hand free.
"I didn't say no to the gift..."
"What do you want?"
Masera, who had been standing nearby listening to our conversation, tilted his head.
"That'll cost several hundred million."
His face was so expressionless that I couldn't tell if he was serious about a real train or just joking.
Anyway, after a long train ride, we boarded a cruise ship.
It was my first overseas trip, so I was pretty excited, but Masera—who had traveled between countries during the war in the past—looked a bit bored.
Sitting in the cruise ship cabin reading the newspaper, I said to Masera,
"They say if you're lucky, you might spot a massive king whale."
"The long years of naval battles have probably driven them all away."
"You never know. Plus, there's a party on deck with oysters and wine. Aren't you going? Fresh oysters are amazing."
He stared at me with an annoyed look, as if trying to figure out how to drag me up to the deck.
"You can go by yourself."
"No way. I'd be lonely."
I was the persistent type, and knowing he'd be hounded if he refused, he stood up with a weary expression.
"If there's no whale, we come right back. And leave me alone for the rest of the honeymoon after that."
"Deal. But if a whale shows up, you do whatever I say for the rest of the honeymoon."
I dragged the reluctant man up to the deck.
The first-class passengers in their fancy attire were enjoying oysters and wine while gazing out at the sea.
But the ocean was eerily calm and quiet, as if empty.
"It's such a shame how war destroys ecosystems. So many marine creatures died from torpedoes and shelling. Thinking about all those lives extinguished by human selfishness..."
I overheard a woman's words.
I covered my mouth and nodded with a sad face in sympathy.
"It makes you solemn. Humans are sorry..."
"When modern warfare with advanced killing machines arrives, it'll bring even greater tragedy."
Her words brought to mind the gray world of my previous life, stripped of greenery and vitality.
The land was polluted by human wars, killing squirrels, deer, foxes, trees, grass, and even moss on rocks.
"Sister, did the cute dolphins die too?"
A black-haired girl who had been staring at the sea tugged at my skirt and asked.
"They swam somewhere else. Whales signal each other, after all."
Masera, who had seemed uninterested in the conversation, surprisingly gave a humane answer.
"When will they come back?"
"By the time you're grown up."
"Hng. What's a whale's signal? I wanna send one telling them to come back."
"Ultrasonic waves. You can't do it."
At Masera's firm words, I saw the girl's face fall and quickly crouched down to pat her back.
"Just shout out to the sea for them to come back. A dolphin friend checking if it's safe will hear and tell the others."
The girl’s eyes went wide with surprise at my words.
"Really?"
"No, there's no such th..."
I pinched the back of Masera's hand just as he was about to shatter her innocence. Then I scooped the girl up in my arms.
"Shall we shout, 'Whales, come back!'?"
"Whales, come back! Scarlett's waiting!"
The girl—whose name seemed to be Scarlett—clenched her tiny fist and shouted with all her heart.
"They've already abandoned their home and left."
A gentleman with a similarly dry sensibility to Masera chuckled and lit a cigar.
"Even the Esat People can't return to their homeland, right? Just like whales whose habitats were destroyed."
He was a discriminator. That's when I looked down at my silver-white hair and sighed.
"Why don't you go back home and enjoy your local specialty sausages? Oh, wait—are you from a war-crime nation, so you had to abandon your homeland?"
Masera unexpectedly took my side.
To be precise, it felt less like defending me and more like publicly shaming the guy once he realized he was from a war-crime country.
The gentleman flinched at the prickling stares around him and panicked.
"What makes you so sure I'm from a war-crime country...?"
"You're decked out head to toe in their products. Hoping I wouldn't notice?"
"Hah, justice belongs to the victor, they say. How many countries didn't start wars?"
Masera glared coldly at the grumbling man.
"Then you should have won."
The people around shot hostile glares at the gentleman too.
"You look like one of those merciless slaughter squads! Get lost!"
"Riding the same ship as you is bad luck! Maybe we should dump you overboard!"
Unable to withstand the threats, the gentleman fled the scene.
"It seems your luck isn't holding today. No whale in sight, so I'm heading back."
Masera turned to return to the cabin with his icy expression.
At that moment, the girl who had been clutching my hand pointed out to sea.
"Sister, look! It's a rainbow, all colorful."
Beneath a rainbow over the water, a fountain-like spray shot up.
Woooong—
Soon, a mystical cry rang out, and high waves crashed across the previously still sea. A massive whale body rose above the waves, arced in a parabola, and slowly fell back into the ocean.
Keeeeeee—
The whale's cry spread far and wide. The ship rocked slightly from the waves it created, accompanied by a great splash.
It was an incredible sight you might see only once in a lifetime, and people screamed in a mix of awe and shock.
The whale vanished into the sea amid sparkling sprays like multicolored jewels.
"Is that a humpback? That's rare around here. Its habitat must have been destroyed, forcing it to flee this way by chance! What incredible luck...!"
Someone nearby helpfully explained about the whale.
"Humpbacks are kind whales. They even save other creatures sometimes. There are stories of them rescuing sailors from a ship sunk by bombing."
Hearing that, I poked Masera, who was staring out at the sea with an odd expression.
"See? I told you if you're lucky, you might spot one. And it's a kind, lucky whale too. Go on, shout 'Lucky whale, thank you!'"
Masera, whose face had been blank the whole time, let his lips twitch slightly into an "I surrender" expression.
"From now on, I'll call you Princess of Luck."
Eek!
Having lost the bet to the lucky whale's appearance, Masera had to follow Cynthia on her cruise ship tour.
What she mostly did was eat.
"Do you like eating that much?"
"Of course. Eating delicious things makes you happy."
The casino they passed was overflowing with people buzzing from the lucky whale buff, but Cynthia said,
"Wasting luck on a place like that means paying a steep price."
"Fireworks will start soon. It'll make for a great trip memory."
Masera thought she'd definitely want to rush over at the crew member's announcement.
But she looked at him with a smile wiped from her face.
"Brigadier General, let's head back to the room."
"No fireworks? I figured you'd be the first one there."
"I want to go rest. It's first class, so... the soundproofing should be good, right?"
What did she mean?
Masera pondered her words and realized too late, his face turning flustered.
Unlike the train compartment with two rooms, the cruise cabin had only one.
"You want to rest too, right, Brigadier General?"
"I'm going to watch the fireworks to make memories."
He blurted out something he didn't even mean in his panic, but she shook her head and tugged his sleeve.
"Just stay with me."
Cynthia made a pitiful, rabbit-like face.
