Chapter 19
“Wow.”
Seeing the brilliant golden light filling my vision, I covered my mouth with both hands in shock. The heavy pouch was filled to the brim with shining gold coins.
“It’s 100 gold. I came down from the capital in a hurry, so that’s all the money I had on hand.”
O-one hundred gold!
One gold was enough for a single household to live very comfortably for a whole month.
And there were a hundred of them! I was rich now.
It felt like saving a passing billionaire and having him thank you by handing over two hundred million in cash.
I was deeply moved.
Sir Lloyd! Thank you very much!
My heart began to pound at the sudden fortune.
Hah, what should I do with this money? As happy fantasies filled my head, I forced my rising smile down and bowed to Lloyd.
“Thank you, Sir Lloyd.”
I will gratefully accept it.
Just as I tucked the heavy pouch into my arms, the adjutant stepped forward and handed me a document and an elegant fountain pen.
“What is this?”
The document, wrapped in shining golden patterns, bore the seal of House Helderios. As I read it carefully, I froze in shock.
“House Helderios donates the above amount… ten, hundred, thousand… ten thousand?”
Written there was the huge number: 10,000 gold. My mouth fell open as I stared at Lloyd.
“Th-this is…?”
“I know it’s still not enough for the value of an arm, but my younger brother stopped me. He said it wouldn’t be good for a commoner to suddenly come into too much money.”
No… this is already more than enough.
Standing before such an enormous sum that had suddenly become mine, I felt short of breath.
“So for now, I’ll deposit this money in your name at the Imperial Bank. You can withdraw it anytime with this document.”
As Lloyd finished speaking, his adjutant pointed to the bottom of the document and smiled brightly.
“You just need to sign here.”
With trembling hands, I took the fountain pen and signed.
“There’s a risk of losing it, so I’ll have the document sent to your home once you return.”
As I looked at Lloyd’s face, a holy glow seemed to shine behind him.
Oh, Sir Lloyd! I worship you!
To give such an enormous sum just for saving one arm! If I could go back, I felt like I could even offer my life for Lloyd.
Yahoo! I’m rich now!
With this money, I could return to Zeronia and buy a mansion with a yard. Not only that—I could buy a private carriage, hire a maid and a coachman, and live in luxury.
Since possessing this world, I had started as a penniless orphan commoner and was even cast out by the temple. I had endured, holding back even my desires to eat and dress well. Those days flashed before my eyes.
Overwhelmed with emotion, tears streamed down my face.
“Are you… crying?”
Lloyd looked flustered at my sudden tears.
“They’re tears of joy! Sniff… I’ve lived rather poorly until now. Thank you, Young Duke. From now on, only good things will happen to you.”
After bowing to Lloyd again and again, I left his tent. The noisy festival atmosphere made my mood as a newly rich person burn even brighter.
Wiping away my tears, I shouted loudly,
“I’m riiiiich now!”
People passing by looked at me strangely, but I didn’t care. I was rich.
On a day like this, alcohol was a must.
“Drinks! Drinks!”
I squeezed into the crowd and drank wildly, losing all restraint. Maybe because I had suddenly come into a lot of money, no matter how much I drank, I didn’t feel drunk. That was… until I saw the strange-colored bottle of wine Mika was holding.
“Huh? What’s this?”
“Yes! It’s Mika-brand liquor, homemade! The one I treated you to before!”
A wicked aura seemed to radiate from Mika’s smiling face.
She was a very dangerous girl.
Well, even though drinking it led to the worst possible incident and brought me here, I still ended up earning 10,100 gold, didn’t I?
“All right!”
I snatched the bottle from Mika and gulped it down. Around me, people clapped and laughed, praising my drinking.
I must have already been drunk before that. Otherwise, there’s no way I would’ve swallowed that unknown mixed alcohol without hesitation.
As the thick alcoholic scent slid down my throat, the world began to spin dizzily.
“Kyahaha! This tastes amaaazing!”
That was as far as my memory went.
Th-then… and then…? What happened after that?
Hitting my head, I tried to recall again. Forcing my blurry eyes open, I saw that night had deepened and the drinking party was over. The people I had been drinking with were sprawled out like puppies, fast asleep.
As I staggered to my feet, I saw the wine bottle Mika had made. There was still some left, even though I thought we’d finished it. I didn’t know what was mixed in it, but the taste was incredible.
The moment I saw the remaining wine, my memory returned.
Lloyd, my benefactor who made me rich!
Even though he once tried to kill me and put on a slaughter show, such trivial memories had long been forgotten in the face of 10,100 gold.
Let my benefactor taste this amazing liquor!
Holding the wine bottle, I staggered to Lloyd’s tent.
And then… then?
My memory cut off briefly, and what came back was Lloyd’s handsome face as we drank together.
Long lashes shading his calm violet eyes, and a sharp, straight nose. I stared at that face—and fell asleep.
Yes, we just… drank and fell asleep. It just happened to be on top of Lloyd’s bare body.
Nothing happened. We just slept.
Coming back to my senses, I looked at Lloyd’s face. He was still sleeping soundly, unaware of the world.
Let’s quietly run away. If I run, he won’t know. I’ll just leave quietly.
Just as I made up my mind and slowly got up—
Rustle.
At the small sound of the blanket falling, Lloyd’s eyes flew open.
“Who’s there?!”
As he jumped up, he grabbed my arm and threw me back onto the bed—
“……!”
“……!”
In an instant, I was trapped in Lloyd’s arms, our eyes meeting.
The fierce glare quickly calmed, then shook violently. If there were ever an example of an “earthquake of the pupils,” this would be it.
After scanning his own body, then mine, his face filled with panic—exactly the same expression I’d had moments earlier.
Startled, he suddenly turned away and hurriedly covered his lower body with the blanket. His ears were bright red. Having lived thirty years before possession and ten after, I knew exactly what that meant.
Lloyd, it’s okay. It’s just a natural bodily reaction. Healthy men in their twenties get that every morning.
A heavy silence fell. Unable to endure it, I spoke.
“Sir Lloyd, we only slept!”
It was a ridiculous thing to say, given Lloyd was naked and I was barely covered by a slip, but seeing how flustered he was, I felt I had to explain.
He rubbed his face with both hands. When he carefully turned back and saw me, his face turned red again and he looked away.
“I understand. Please… put some clothes on.”
Ah! Lowering my head at his reaction, I saw my boldly exposed body. A full chest, slim waist, glossy skin. Perhaps thanks to this world’s top-tier beauty buff, it was attractive from every angle—even I was impressed.
It must be quite a trial for you. I’m sorry, Lloyd.
To ease his suffering, I looked around for my clothes. Then I spotted them shoved under the bed and silently cheered—only to fall into despair again.
I hadn’t expected them to be covered in vomit…
Lloyd Illia Helderios was a man far removed from reason and romance.
His interests were limited to physical training, swordsmanship, and increasing his strength.
Because of that, over more than forty years—before and after regression—the number of women he knew amounted to only three.
His mother, his twin sister, and his fiancée.
Among them, the only woman who could be called “the opposite sex” was his fiancée.
Ibeliana Rosevelier.
Lloyd’s parents had lived devoted only to each other, and raised in that tradition, Lloyd had focused solely on his politically arranged fiancée since the age of twelve, never meeting any other woman.
The problem was that the fiancée he was supposed to see as his partner was cruel and cunning—and after breaking off their engagement, she married the Crown Prince, who would later become his brother-in-law, and tore out Lloyd’s heart.
After vowing revenge following his regression, women became nothing more than the embodiment of that trauma—no more, no less.
On top of that, because he had devoted himself entirely to physical training and combat, his knowledge of sex was barely basic, and even that was incomplete. In short, Lloyd had absolutely no experience with women.
So the woman who appeared before him, wearing his former fiancée’s face, was a powerful shock.
She had the same face as the fiancée who had brutally killed his subordinates—yet she healed the dying.
The fragile woman who once trembled at the slightest killing intent had risked her life, jumping into deadly beams to retrieve Lloyd’s severed arm.
Around this time in his previous life, Lloyd had lost an arm due to his fiancée’s scheme, and had despaired that he would lose it again in this life.
But instead, Kae risked her life to bring it back and heal him.
That act was a tremendous shock.
‘She is not Ibeliana.’
