Carlos, from a distance where he couldn’t hear the conversation, watched Valeria on her white horse disappear with a disappointed expression.
It was a cruel coincidence.
“Apologize.”
Cynthia’s cold voice pulled him from his thoughts.
Standing before Cynthia, who was glaring at him with an unpleasant look, Carlos rubbed his face as if trying to wash away his thoughts.
‘Why did I do that?’
He hadn’t thought it mattered how Cynthia felt all this time.
To Carlos, women were trivial. He could easily obtain them without much effort. That was why he hadn’t paid much attention to women’s games.
That’s why he was so relaxed about everything. Until Cynthia, whom he thought was the weaker party, suddenly changed.
‘Has she not only changed her mind, but also come to hate me?’
She had been acting distant even before marrying Brigadier General Vicente.
Her attitude suggested she wouldn’t miss him at all.
From some point on, that had started to bother him a lot.
“I said, apologize.”
Cynthia’s angry voice rang out.
Carlos, glimpsing the hatred filling her red eyes, let out a hollow laugh.
The woman who used to blush at his words, whose heartbeat he could hear as they grew closer, seemed to have vanished long ago.
“No.”
Carlos approached her horse and reached out his hand.
“Let’s go back.”
Cynthia resolutely turned her head away.
“Go alone.”
She flinched at the faint sound of gunfire in the distance.
‘When did Cynthia become afraid of guns?’
As Carlos was thinking to himself, Cynthia, who was tidying her disheveled hair, widened her eyes in surprise.
“Uh oh?”
She realized that the hairpin Masera had given her was gone.
Did she drop it while pushing Carlos away? Cynthia frantically looked around.
“I can’t lose it…”
“What?”
Carlos, who had been watching her quietly, asked.
Then he noticed that the opal hairpin that had been in her hair was missing.
“You lost the hairpin? I’ll buy you a new one…”
Carlos said, but Cynthia was still frantically searching the ground with a flustered expression.
“Is it precious?”
Cynthia still didn’t answer.
Her skin, sitting almost slumped in the sunlight, was gradually turning red.
“…Brigadier General gave it to me.”
At her belated reply, he felt a tightness in his chest.
She never wore the dress he sent her, yet she made such a face over a mere hairpin?
Anger welled up and his mood soured, but he managed to hold it back.
“I’ll help you look for it. We might find it if we go back slowly.”
Carlos said magnanimously, pulling on the horse’s reins, but Cynthia didn’t even pretend to listen.
“Whatever. I hope a squirrel eats it.”
She even muttered a strange curse.
* * *
Deep in the forest, while people were hunting birds, Masera sat on a tree stump, quietly watching the sky. As gunshots rang out from all directions, the dense trees shook and flocks of birds took flight.
“Esteemed Brigadier General, you were here.”
Then, women holding the pheasants they had hunted approached him.
It was Lady Valeria, who had attended as Carlos’s partner, and her friend.
Valeria asked Masera.
“Did you catch a lot?”
“I didn’t catch any.”
“It’s almost over, you should catch at least one. Wasn’t the reason you suggested coming to the deep forest to catch a hazel grouse?”
The reason Masera had specifically suggested that people come this far was because he was worried about Cynthia having a seizure from the gunshots.
“I don’t particularly feel like it.”
As Masera shook his head, Valeria smiled and showered him with flattery.
“I wanted to see the skills of an elite sniper in person, but it’s a shame. Everyone knows the stories of esteemed Brigadier General’s exploits.”
Then her friend covered her mouth and joked.
“Since you have such good eyesight, you must unintentionally witness many things. Especially secret meetings in the forest. Hunting grounds are a prime location, they say.”
“That’s right, the saying ‘be careful of falling leaves’ didn’t come about for no reason. If it sticks to your clothes, it could cause misunderstandings, right?”
The two women giggled, but Masera, who had been trained in Cynthia’s first-class jokes, didn’t laugh at all.
‘There are people who can talk about a rolling leaf for two hours.’
That was Cynthia.
Masera, carrying the hunting rifle he had never used on his back, rose from his seat.
Valeria asked.
“Are you leaving already? You don’t have to worry about your wife being alone. I saw her going for a walk with Prince Carlos.”
As soon as he heard the name ‘Carlos,’ Masera’s lips tightened into a straight line.
Even though he was Cynthia’s older brother, he was definitely an annoying presence. The way he looked at him was like looking at a rival.
“I’ll be going now.”
Lost in thought, Masera nodded in greeting and mounted his horse.
Soon, he arrived at the entrance of the forest and looked at the women chatting under the tent. Cynthia wasn’t there.
Helene, who was drinking champagne after returning early, recognized Masera and greeted him.
“Esteemed Brigadier General, did you have a pleasant hunt?”
“Duchess. Do you know where my wife is?”
At Masera’s question, Helene held up Cynthia’s parasol and replied.
“I wonder. Judging by the fact that she left her parasol behind, wouldn’t she be inside?”
Masera, conscious of the force in his brow, looked around the villa.
“I see.”
Afterward, he went inside the villa and asked about her whereabouts, but even the servants didn’t seem to know.
He felt strangely uneasy.
He couldn’t accurately distinguish whether it was because he didn’t trust her or because he was worried that she might be in danger.
“…What does trust have to do with anything?”
Masera muttered to himself as he looked out the window at the setting sun.
Then, as soon as he spotted Cynthia walking toward him, her white hair fluttering in the wind, he turned around.
He headed straight for Cynthia, wondering.
‘Why is she alone? I heard she went for a walk with her brother.’
Masera was soon able to meet Cynthia.
Cynthia looked up at Masera with disheveled hair and a flushed face.
She looked as if she had wandered through the forest alone and returned, her skirt and white gloves covered in dirt.
“What happened?”
Masera’s gaze went to the pieces of leaves stuck in her hair.
He couldn’t help but feel concerned, recalling the joke Valeria had made earlier.
“That’s… I lost the hairpin that esteemed Brigadier General gave me while taking a walk…”
Cynthia, who was always cheerful, lowered her head with a tired face.
“I tried hard to find it, but I couldn’t find it in the end. I’m sorry.”
She became a mess while trying to find the hairpin he had given her.
He felt pathetic for feeling relieved after dismissing his suspicions.
He had said that it didn’t matter who Cynthia liked or disliked, that her feelings didn’t matter at all.
Masera placed his hand on her forehead.
“It’s alright. You seem to have a fever.”
Her forehead was burning, and she looked obviously unwell.
“It would be best to go to your room and rest.”
“But there’s an evening party…”
This place was quite far from the capital, and they were planning to stay for the weekend, enjoying hunting and parties.
She was worried that skipping a party hosted by her superior would be difficult in many ways.
“I can go alone.”
Masera took Cynthia, who was breathing heavily, to her room.
After being examined by a doctor, Cynthia took medicine and quickly fell asleep.
“Huh? The ceiling is moving here? A state-of-the-art rotating ceiling…”
She was a little delirious, saying nonsense.
After confirming that she had fallen into a deep sleep, Masera left the room, intending to show his face at the banquet for a short while and return.
However.
“Brigadier General Vicente.”
Carlos’s characteristically arrogant voice came from behind him. Masera turned to face him with a hardened expression.
Carlos narrowed his eyes and smiled, taking something out of his coat pocket.
“Our Cindy must have been in such a hurry that she left this behind.”
On Carlos’s palm lay the opal hairpin, shining brilliantly.
Masera’s gaze turned cold as he noticed the deceitful smile.
