Fortunately, having shown magical talent from a young age, she graduated from the academy at the top of her class and was scouted by a magic tower, which has helped delay the bankruptcy somewhat, but it’s beyond her ability alone to repay all the debts.

Marriage proposals flooded in from those coveting the count title she would inherit, but she firmly rejected them all.

She planned to captivate McClain Lindhart, who was the biggest investor in Count Pereira’s business, to clear the debt, and joined the expedition he leads.

Rolling her eyes to read the content written below her name, Natalie momentarily frowned.

“Huh?”

“What’s wrong? Can’t you see the status window?”

“No, I can see it. It’s just…, wait a moment. The content isn’t very clear……”

Not clear? It was perfectly clear. So explicit that it was embarrassing to the point of shame.

Seriously, I abandoned that plan ages ago, so why does it still describe me that way?

This status window or whatever needs a serious update—it’s so slow.

Natalie pretended to rub her eyes as if she couldn’t see well, and lowered her gaze.

Gender: Female

Race: Human

Level: 38

Class: Mage

〈Stats〉

〈Skills〉

〈?〉

〈?〉

〈?〉

“Well, I can see my name, race, level, and class, and below that are stats and skills, but the rest are all question marks.”

“Question marks…. Titles and traits must still be locked…. Then shall we check the stats window first? The method is the same as before.”

Strength: E⁻

Vitality: E⁺

Agility: D⁺

Magic Power: B⁺

Tenacity: B

Intelligence: B

Charm: A⁻

?: A⁺

Natalie read out each item and value that appeared before her eyes to McClain.

“Intelligence is B, Charm is A⁻, and there’s one question mark below that……”

At the mention of charm, McClain’s brow visibly contorted. He hurriedly interrupted Natalie.

“Wait, wait a moment. Charm? Did you just say charm?”

“Yes, Charm is A⁻……”

“Are you absolutely certain you’re not making this up?”

At his suspicious query, Natalie waved her hands in denial.

“I’m telling the truth. What would I gain by lying to you about something like that……”

“Nothing.”

“What?”

“My status window doesn’t have any charm attribute. The game I transmigrated into doesn’t have such stats either. A growth-oriented RPG game doesn’t really need a charm value anyway.”

“What? You don’t have it? But I clearly……”

Natalie momentarily wore a puzzled expression.

She couldn’t understand what he was talking about.

“With the locked items and everything else, the basic format seems similar, but it appears the system given to me and your system are somewhat different.”

“What? Then perhaps……”

Natalie was about to ask if he couldn’t see the affection notifications either, but changed her mind. If McClain’s guess was correct and different systems applied to her and him, it might be better if he didn’t know that she could monitor his affection increases and decreases in detail.

“That’s right. The system that appeared to you might be different from the system I see.”

“A different system? How is that possible……”

As Natalie stood there with a dazed expression, McClain urged her on.

“We’ll figure that out step by step later. For now, we should quickly move to a place where we can spend the night.”

“Ah, yes. First we need to deal with these vines stuck to the carriage wheels.”

By the time the two of them finished dealing with the vines, the surroundings had completely darkened.

Monsters become much more active at night than during the day. That alone would be dangerous, but the two hadn’t even completely left the corrupted area yet.

The lord’s castle, which they thought would take only a few hours to reach, remained out of sight no matter how far they traveled, as if the land itself was infinitely multiplying and expanding.

Eventually, McClain stopped driving the carriage and knocked on the door to ask for her opinion.

“This isn’t going to work.”

“It really feels like the land is infinitely multiplying and expanding.”

“It’s because they’ve noticed our presence. Could you check if the spatial barrier has definitely been broken?”

At McClain’s words, Natalie hastily raised her magical power to explore the surroundings.

Soon, a short gasp escaped her lips.

“Oh no, the barrier hasn’t been completely broken yet. It seems there were multiple spatial barriers layered on top of each other.”

“Can you break it right now?”

“Ah, I don’t have much magical power left…. It would be difficult to break the spatial barrier right away. Even if I perform magic cultivation, it would take at least three or four hours……”

When Natalie answered worriedly, McClain comforted her in a calm voice.

“You’ve used a lot of magical power today, so it can’t be helped. Ah, is magic cultivation similar to that energy circulation in martial arts novels?”

“Yes, I believe it’s a similar concept.”

“Since the presence of monsters seems to have thinned out around us, let’s stay nearby for a while. Can you manage a simple concealment barrier?”

“Yes. That much I can do.”

At Natalie’s affirmation, McClain moved aside slightly and replied.

“Alright, then I’ll wait outside the carriage.”

“I, I only have enough remaining magical power to put a barrier around the carriage……”

“Ah…, then would it be alright if I stay inside the carriage with you?”

“…That’s fine. Just don’t touch or disturb me while I’m doing my magic cultivation.”

“I understand that much.”

After placing a concealment barrier on the carriage, McClain entered with an awkward expression and sat in the seat opposite her.

Natalie closed her eyes with an embarrassed smile.

“Yes, then…, I’ll begin.”

Swoosh, swoosh—

Only the sound of dry branches swaying in the wind and faint monstrous cries from the distance filled the quiet surroundings.

McClain’s back, which had been ramrod straight when he first boarded the carriage, gradually relaxed as time passed.

Growing slightly bored, McClain leaned back slightly against the chair and observed Natalie.

“Hmm……”

She was, in a word, pretty and cute yet elegant and pure.

No, that’s more than one word.

Natalie’s clear face, sitting neatly as if in meditation, glowed white in the dim moonlight.

A few strands of hair that had escaped from her neatly tied hair covered the woman’s round forehead. When McClain noticed this, he found it extremely bothersome.

Using those hair strands as an excuse to touch her would be wrong, unnecessary, and absolutely something he shouldn’t do, yet he kept feeling the urge to tuck that hair behind the small, cute woman’s ear.

“Crazy……”

Eventually, McClain turned his head sharply toward the carriage window. The beauti—no, the bleak and desolate night landscape of the corrupted area came into view.

Every time the war—no, the chilly night breeze blew, the brown hair that had fallen over her forehead swayed cutely….

D*mn it. His head had turned back to Natalie again without him realizing.

Whether this woman had cast some spell on him or not, the more he tried not to think about her, the more strangely conscious of her he became.

It was disconcerting to realize that his gaze had become unconsciously fixed on her.

Moreover, wasn’t she the woman who had boldly rejected his proposal for a contract relationship?

He thought he had learned enough—that love shouldn’t be trusted—from his mother who claimed to love only one thing, her child, yet suddenly handed him over to his biological father and left, and from his ex-girlfriend who approached him claiming it was fate but left when she discovered he was an illegitimate child.

Since then, he had never shown affection or trust toward anyone.

Ironically, he had trusted anonymous party members wearing character skins in the game more.

In his real life, only definite numbers and results mattered to him. Only when he could hold something in his hand and verify it with his eyes could he finally believe and trust it.

Hadn’t some renowned psychologist said:

There is no time when one is more vulnerable to pain than when in love, and no time when one is more helplessly unhappy than when losing the object of love or that object’s love.

Whether fortunate or unfortunate, after his mother and ex-girlfriend left, he felt neither pain nor powerlessness nor unhappiness.

With the thought that yet another misfortune had merely brushed past him, his already dull emotions only dried up further. His realization that love was truly not to be trusted only solidified.

Perhaps it was because he had unconsciously never believed in the love of those two women, never giving his heart completely.

Yet strangely, this woman was different. In front of her, all sorts of emotions he thought had long disappeared from him revealed their presence.

“Mmm……”

His gaze, which had drifted distantly to some point in the past, returned to reality at the woman’s weak m*an or murmur.

And once again, he found himself staring at the woman’s face as if entranced. Her hair, her forehead, the eyelashes hanging below her eyelids, her small and upturned nose and….

“Haah……”

A sigh escaped him involuntarily.