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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: The Worn-Out Male Lead Picked the Wrong Opponent
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Karos watched from a distance too far to hear their conversation as Valeria, mounted on her white horse, disappeared with a disappointed expression.
It was a cruel coincidence.
"Apologize."
Cynthia's cool voice pulled him from his thoughts.
Facing Cynthia's glare of displeasure, Karos rubbed his face as if washing it dry.
'Why did I do that?'
He had thought it didn't matter much what Cynthia felt.
To Karos, women were trivial beings. He could have them without much effort, which was why he had little interest in playing around with them.
Everything had felt leisurely. Until Cynthia, whom he had considered a pushover, suddenly changed.
'Has her heart not just changed, but turned to hatred for me?'
She had been distant even before marrying Brigadier General Vicente.
Her attitude suggested there was nothing to regret at all.
At some point, it had begun to bother him immensely.
"I said, apologize."
Cynthia's anger-filled voice rang out.
Karos caught a glimpse of the hatred welling in her red eyes and let out a hollow laugh.
The woman who used to blush at mere words and whose heartbeat grew audible the closer they got seemed to have vanished long ago.
"No."
Karos approached her horse and extended his hand.
"Let's go back."
Cynthia firmly turned her head away.
"I'll go alone."
She shrugged at the faint sound of gunfire echoing from afar.
'Since when has Cynthia been afraid of guns?'
As Karos pondered inwardly, Cynthia, who had been fixing her disheveled hair, suddenly widened her eyes in surprise.
"Huh?"
She realized the hairpin Masera had gifted her was gone.
Had it fallen off when she pushed Karos away? Cynthia hurriedly looked around in a fluster.
"I can't lose it..."
"Lose what?"
Karos, who had been watching her quietly, asked.
Then he noticed the opal hairpin missing from her hair.
"You lost your hairpin? I'll buy you a new one..."
Karos said, but Cynthia was frantically scanning the ground with a panicked expression.
"Is it precious?"
There was still no reply from Cynthia.
Her skin, now sitting almost slumped under the sunlight, was flushing redder by the minute.
"...It's from the Brigadier General."
Her belated response made his chest tighten uncomfortably.
She had never worn any of the dresses I sent even once, yet for a mere hairpin, she makes that face?
Anger boiled and his mood twisted, but he forcibly held it back.
"I'll help you look for it. We'll find it if we go back slowly."
Karos spoke magnanimously as he led the horse by the reins, but Cynthia didn't even pretend to listen.
"What are you saying. Hope it turns into squirrel food."
She even muttered some bizarre curse.
Deep in the forest, while people hunted birds, Masera sat on a tree trunk, silently gazing at the sky. Gunshots rang out here and there, shaking the dense trees as flocks of birds took flight.
"Brigadier General, so this is where you were."
At that moment, women approached him carrying hunted pheasants.
It was Lady Valeria, who had come as Karos's partner, and her friends.
Valeria asked Masera.
"Did you catch many?"
"I didn't catch any."
"It's almost over now. You should catch at least one. Wasn't suggesting we come deep into the forest to hunt roe deer?"
Masera had suggested coming this far into the woods because he was concerned about Cynthia, who freaked out at the sound of gunfire.
"No particular reason."
As Masera shook his head, Valeria smiled and laid on flattery.
"I wanted to see an elite sniper's skills firsthand, what a shame. Everyone knows the tales of your exploits, Brigadier General."
Then one of her friends covered her mouth and tossed in a joke.
"With such keen eyesight, you must witness things unintentionally all the time. Especially secret trysts in the woods. Hunting grounds are prime spots for that."
"Right, that's why they say to beware even falling leaves. If one clings to your clothes, it could cause misunderstandings."
The two women giggled, but Masera, tempered by Cynthia's top-tier jokes, didn't laugh at all.
'Some people can talk for two hours about rolling leaves.'
That was Cynthia.
Masera slung the hunting rifle he hadn't used once over his back and stood.
Valeria asked.
"Leaving already? No need to worry about your wife being alone. I saw her heading out for a walk with Prince Karos."
The moment he heard 'Karos,' Masera's lips tightened into a straight line.
He was Cynthia's brother, yet undeniably irritating. The way he looked at Masera was like eyeing a rival.
"I'll be going now."
Masera, lost in thought, nodded in greeting and mounted his horse.
Soon arriving at the forest entrance, he looked at the women chatting under the tent. Cynthia wasn't there.
Helen, who had returned first and was sipping champagne, greeted Masera.
"Brigadier General, did you have a pleasant hunt?"
"Duchess. Do you know where my wife is?"
To Masera's question, Helen held up Cynthia's parasol and replied.
"Who knows. Since she left her parasol, maybe indoors?"
Masera felt his brow furrow as he glanced at the villa.
"I see."
After entering the villa and inquiring about her, the servants seemed clueless too.
For some reason, an uneasy feeling crept over him.
He couldn't tell if it was because he didn't trust her or if he was worried she might be in danger.
"...What does trust even matter."
Masera muttered alone, staring out the window at the evening dusk.
Spotting Cynthia approaching with her white hair fluttering, he turned immediately.
Heading straight to her, he wondered.
'Why is she alone? They said she went for a walk with her brother.'
Masera soon met Cynthia.
She looked up at him with tousled hair and a flushed face.
She looked like she'd wandered the forest alone and returned; her skirt hem and white gloves were covered in dirt.
"What happened?"
Masera's gaze went to the leaf fragment in her hair.
Valeria's earlier joke resurfaced, needlessly irritating him.
"Well... I lost the hairpin you gifted me while walking..."
The usually bright Cynthia bowed her head with a weary face.
"I searched hard but couldn't find it. I'm sorry."
She got into this state searching for the hairpin I gave her.
He felt pathetic for letting go of his suspicions and feeling relieved.
I'd said it didn't matter who she liked or hated. Her feelings were irrelevant.
Masera placed a hand on her forehead.
"It's fine. You have a fever."
Her forehead was scorching, and she clearly looked unwell.
"You should rest in your room."
"But there's the evening party..."
This place was quite far from the capital; they planned to stay the weekend enjoying hunts and parties.
Skipping a party hosted by a superior might be problematic in various ways. Cynthia looked worried.
"I'll go alone."
Masera led the heavily breathing Cynthia to their room.
After a doctor's examination and medicine, she fell asleep quickly.
"Huh? Is the ceiling moving here? State-of-the-art rotating ceiling..."
She muttered some delirium from dizziness, but that was it.
Confirming she was in deep sleep, Masera left the room intending to briefly show his face at the banquet and return.
But then.
"Vicente Brigadier General."
From behind came Karos's characteristically arrogant voice. Masera turned with a stiff expression.
Karos smiled with narrowed eyes and pulled something from his coat pocket.
"Our Cindy was in such a hurry she left this behind."
On Karos's palm lay the iridescent opal hairpin.
Recognizing the deceitful smile, Masera's gaze turned icy.
