MTD 5

However, soon my heart began to pound, and as my stiff feet loosened, I occasionally stumbled and ran.

“Mas!”

Seeing the white mask illuminated by the moonlight, the overwhelming emotion was intense joy.

‘If it weren’t for ‘that friend’ I’ve made, who isn’t a villager, I might have cried every day because I was so lonely…….’

One day, when I was alone in the village after all the villagers had left, a boy with brown hair and dark eyes came to visit.

Slightly taller than me, the boy always wore a white mask and helped me with my work when he had nowhere else to go.

If it weren’t for the boy who lived in the empty village for a year, I might not have been able to endure the loneliness.

The moment we met again, a thick emotion surged up, overflowing.

“……uu…….”

I immediately embraced Mas, pulling him into my arms. I could feel his small but firm body trembling.

Feeling the tension that had wrapped around me all day release, I spoke to Mas.

“I missed you so, so much.”

When we first met, Mas didn’t seem to have a good personality. He didn’t even look at me when I greeted him.

He got on my nerves as a kid left behind in an empty village, and once threw a tantrum by putting my red beets up a tree.

But he continued to wear the mask, lingered in the empty village without anyone coming to find him…

Not being able to speak.

I thought there must be a reason why his personality is as bad as it is.

So, I decided to be understanding and embrace the boy with an open heart.

I occasionally called him to give him something to eat, applied ointment if he had any wounds, and named the boy who couldn’t or didn’t know how to speak.

‘Mas.’

The name “Mas” originated from the English term “mask,” but the name “Mars,” meaning the planet Mars, also seemed fitting.

I told him that he resembled a dry star, and that’s why I gave him the name.

At my words, the boy’s eyes seemed to light up like a sunset star for a moment.

Like ice melting on a spring day, our relationship gradually changed.

From some point on, we started spending time together, and as I tightly held Mas’s hand, I giggled and spoke.

“Now we’re friends, right?”

“Did you follow me?”

When I asked, holding hands like that day, Mas’s gaze briefly dropped to my held hand and then returned to my eyes.

His pupils seemed to widen as he stared at me in the stillness.

I quickly opened my mouth.

“I… I was kidnapped. But…”

How should I explain this situation?

“The truth is my dad was a Grand Elementalist and I come from a lineage of Grand Dukes. And the innocent boy from next door is an Emperor who hid his power…….”

“…….”

I stopped speaking.

For some reason, Mas’s expression is like watching an otaku spouting delusions.

Actually, I don’t believe it either!

I’ve gone from hunting rabbits in the countryside and making red beet slices to burying them in the ground to being the heir to a marquisate.

“Anyway, it feels like winning the lottery. Just out of the blue.”

Mas, who didn’t know the meaning of the word ‘lottery,’ squinted his eyes.

I can’t get used to this big room and its pristine surroundings without hearing a single grasshopper.

I wonder what will happen to me.

“…….”

I looked into Mas’s black eyes with my wide eyes.

Although I couldn’t see the expression behind the mask, Mas seemed to be saying the same thing to me, as always.

‘It’ll be okay.’

In his eyes, conveying trust, my confused heart seemed to settle.

I nodded my head.

Suddenly, Mas pulled something out from behind him.

“This is…”

It was a bundle containing several items.

My diary that I’ve been writing for a long time. The wooden toy that Mr. Zimmer made for me. Even the doll that had been with me since I was a child.

All of them were precious things I cherished in Galnem.

“You brought these for me?”

Mas responded with silence.

Holding the items containing my memories in my small hands, I looked at Mas for a moment before saying,

“Thank you.”

My heart swelled with emotion. I was grateful to the point where I wanted to hug him tightly if I hadn’t been holding the items.

But I couldn’t just leave him standing there.

“Why don’t you wait a minute, and I’ll see if I can find a room for you to stay in right now.”

I dropped my things and turned to leave.

That’s when Mas grabbed my thin wrist. He turned me around and shook his head.

“…….”

“But you… have nowhere to go, right? There are many rooms here. Well, I can even tell that I am the owner of this magnificent mansion!”

Pointing to myself with my thumb, I boasted as if showing off. However, Mas raised his head again.

Could it be that he has somewhere to go?

“Then… will you come back?”

I asked Mas.

The year I spent with Mas in Galnem was a precious memory for me.

So even though I came to the capital, I didn’t want to sever ties with Mas.

“Since you’re my only friend, you can come and play anytime. No, be sure to come and play often. Okay?”

Although I didn’t want to part ways like this… it seemed like Mas also had a place to return to.

Mas nodded his head once.

The window opened, and Mas, perched on the windowsill, looked at me. Even though only his eyes were visible behind the mask, somehow, it felt like Mas was lifting one corner of his mouth.

A moment later, he was gone.

I stared at the heavy diary in my hand and put it back in the drawer.

☁⊹₊┈ㆍ┈ ▫ ┈ㆍ🌱ㆍ┈ ▫ ┈ㆍ┈₊⊹☁

The next morning.

The maids dressed me in a nice silky dress and dressed me up as if I were a doll. With so many frills, I felt like a young lady from a noble family.

I nervously fiddled with the ribbons on my dress.

“Miss.”

At that moment, Adam, who knocked on the door and entered politely, spoke to me.

“The bank has come to see you, Miss.”

“The bank?”

“Yes. The Hugo Brint Bank says they need to speak to you about your inheritance.”

My ears perked up at the word inheritance.

The Hugo Brint Bank. Somehow, I don’t think I got a good feeling from the original.

Anyway, dealing with the duties of a noble right after entering this place, I felt a slight tension just a day after arriving.

“I have been informed that before Marquis  Mylar left with his wife, he entrusted his property to the Hugo Brint Bank.”

Shortly after, a well-dressed man who had been in the reception room stood up as I entered.

“Hello, Lady Mylar.”

I took a seat across from him. The maids brought tea for us.

The bespectacled man introduced himself.

“I am Rails Breck, an employee of Hugo Brent Bank in the western region.”

“Hello, I’m Arinel Mylar.”

When I greeted him in a playful voice, he smiled and looked around.

“Before we talk, I was wondering if we could speak in private, as it’s my policy to only discuss assets with clients.”

“Miss.”

“Don’t worry, Adam. I’ll call you if anything happens.”

Although Adam had an unsatisfied expression, I reassured him.

He wasn’t a suspicious person, and he was a bank employee, after all.

As Adam left, he reluctantly left a warning in my ear, ‘Be careful. They are obsessed with results.’

After watching Adam leave, Rails opened his mouth again.

“The late Marquess of Mylar used a trust product with our bank, and I’d like to show you the returns and receipts on that product.”

As he said this, the papers he handed over showed a surprising amount of money.

“T-t-ten million brin?”

I widened my eyes and looked at the number again.

In modern currency conversion, one brin here was about a thousand won.

So, ten million brin amounted to an enormous sum close to a hundred billion.

An unimaginable fortune left as an inheritance for me.

In reality, the reconstruction of the marquis’s mansion required more money than I had anticipated.

Firstly, materials and labor were needed to repair the mansion.

Hosting parties to gain recognition in high society was also essential.

With ten million brin, I could soon escape the impending cruel rule and famine in Albreon and move to another country, or even relocate.

Of course, it wasn’t a firm decision to do so.

“Yes, ten million brin.”

“Jackpot!”

Well, the secret of my birth and a vast inheritance are inevitable clichés in this kind of story.

Thinking that I had truly become the protagonist of a rich and famous romance, my eyes sparkled and asked.

“Sir, where should I sign?”

An inheritance plot twist. Thank you, Dad!

I’m sorry, God, for accusing you of possessing me of being an insignificant country bumpkin.

I found my pen and was ready to sign, but Rails, holding the documents, chuckled and shook his head.

Then he told me.

“Unfortunately, my Lady, you cannot claim the inheritance at the moment.”