After watching the fluttering flag for a while, I saw a familiar pattern. It was the eagle emblem holding a laurel leaf, the same as the seal stamped on the engagement certificate from the city hall.

“Didn’t Jenald say he got the engagement certificate from the city hall?”

I turned around and looked around. I harbored a small hope that the disappeared Jenald might have returned, but he was nowhere to be seen.

I was too exhausted from running to chase after him now. It was time to catch my breath, but I couldn’t just stand here wasting time either. I felt like Edan would catch up any moment and grab Jenald by the scruff of his neck.

“I was planning to stop by here anyway, so this works out. Since I’ve come this far, I should learn more details about citizenship.”

I entered the city hall building. Back then, my leg wasn’t healed so I had asked Jenald, but I thought it would be better for me to know these things myself for when I go to another country in the future.

But then.

“…Pardon?”

My heart sank.

The female clerk with her hair neatly braided back handed me back the engagement certificate I had shown her from behind the counter.

“Who gave you this? I’ll say it again, but this is a forged document.”

My hands trembled.

A forged document? This is fake?

I slowly looked down at the engagement certificate she had returned to me. For months, I had cherished it as much as my salary… no, even more preciously. I had kept it folded away in a drawer, barely taking it out for fear of damaging it.

“Are, are you sure you checked correctly?”

“Yes. I’ve checked several times, and just the fact that it’s missing the important guarantor section alone…”

“Please look at it one more time carefully. See, there’s the red imperial seal stamp here. And…”

“It’s a forgery. The city hall doesn’t issue engagement certificates like this in the first place.”

I couldn’t find any more words to say. A single piece of paper with Jenald’s and my names written on it, stating that our engagement was recognized. Jenald had clearly said he got it issued from the city hall…

I could tell from the clerk’s gaze, calmly staring at me as the blood drained from my face.

‘Jenald lied.’

Jenald deceived me? I had been fooled not just for a day or two, but for months?

Gritting my teeth at the betrayal that made my blood boil, I clenched my fists tightly. The fake engagement certificate I had been tremblingly holding with both hands crumpled pathetically.

My vision blurred and I couldn’t move, as if my body had frozen.

“The signing date seems quite old. Have you known the man listed there since then?”

“…Yes.”

“Did he give this to you directly?”

“…”

I answered in a small voice without lifting my head, but eventually fell silent. The clerk sighed deeply.

“You’re not the first to bring in such forged documents. You seem unaware of the news, but there have been several cases of marriage fraud recently. I thought the culprit was caught, but it seems there were other scammers. Did you give him any money?”

I was about to shake my head reflexively to say I hadn’t given any money, but I froze again.

No. There was.

To receive this engagement certificate I now held, I had given a not insignificant sum that I had saved up for 2 months, though it wasn’t an enormous amount.

The clerk let out a small sigh and spoke carefully, but firmly and decisively, as if she found me pitiful:

“I understand you must be shocked, but keep that as evidence and go report it to the security officer. There’s nothing we can do here except confirm that it’s a forged fake document.”

Only then did I remember what the postman had said.

He had mentioned that the fruit shop owner’s daughter was scammed by marriage fraud in the capital. That she had lost all her savings.

But when I met Jenald, he didn’t have any money. If he was a scammer, shouldn’t he have targeted someone with money?

I’m confused.

What was Jenald thinking when he deceived me? Which parts were lies?

My hands trembled with anger. I folded the engagement certificate tightly and put it in my bag.

As I was about to turn away, I asked the clerk:

“Um… could you tell me what conditions are needed to obtain citizenship in another country?”

“Excuse me? Citizenship?”

“Yes.”

The clerk’s eyes widened, seemingly taken aback by the sudden change of topic, but she soon explained.

“Currently, the only foreign citizenship you can obtain in the empire is from the Western Kingdom. Simple travel is possible to any country for up to 6 months, but if you’re thinking of permanently moving, the only way is to buy citizenship from the Western Kingdom. Or you can marry a man from that country.”

“Is, is that all?”

“There’s a basic condition that you must not have a criminal record, but you don’t seem like you’d have such a past… Other than that, there are no other conditions.”

Then the claim that an engagement was necessary to receive citizenship was a lie too!

“I see… Thank you.”

To hide the trembling in my voice, I took a deep breath, bowed my head to the clerk, then ran out as if escaping. Once outside the building, I looked left and right.

‘Jenald, you bastard! You’re running a scam? I won’t let you off if I catch you!’

I started running aimlessly in search of Jenald.

I had been unlucky even before I died.

Since becoming an adult and starting to earn money, my family was busy extorting money from me, and at work, all the annoying tasks and accident handling were always left to me.

Still, I had to endure. Even if life was bland, I had small pleasures like reading novels on the subway during my commute or in bed before sleep. I thought that someday, if I kept living, good days would come.

I didn’t know my last moment would be a car accident.

Moreover, I certainly didn’t expect to become Latieana Merigold, an extra character so insignificant she could hardly be more worthless.

Luckily, I jumped out of the carriage and saved my life, but when I was hiding under a tree with an injured leg, I really felt like I had been left alone in the world.

I thought many times that I might have died then if it weren’t for Jenald.

Jenald, who approached me at just the right timing, when I was at my weakest, was the first person to be kind to me without reason. Had there ever been someone who treated me so well without expecting anything in return? Jenald was so nice that I looked back on it. So it was a natural progression. That I opened my heart to Jenald and came to expect many things.

If I were to sum up my feelings, it would be: favorable impression, a good person. Just that much.

Although it wasn’t love, I thought we would remain good friends for life, even if we hadn’t gotten engaged. That’s how much I trusted him.

That’s how it was.

But… it turns out it was all a scam.

“…Damn it.”

After running for a long time searching for Jenald, whose whereabouts I didn’t even know, I stood up straight, letting out a big breath that had risen to my chin.

There was no way I could find Jenald like this in the middle of the wide and complex capital.

As I stood in front of the clock tower where I had arrived again after going around in circles, the wind swept over my body once. It felt like my mind was cooling down, and I came to my senses.

I slowly turned and headed towards the inn where Jenald had told me to wait.

“Latieana!”

Jenald arrived when I had been waiting outside the inn for about two hours, unable to bring myself to go inside.

It was when the sun was setting between the buildings, dyeing the whole city in sunset colors.

I was crouching in front of the inn and slowly raised my head to face Jenald.

“Where did you go?”

“I’m sorry! Were you surprised? But why are you out here? You should have gone inside. I’m friends with the innkeeper!”

Jenald smiled brightly at me, as if he had completely forgotten about pushing me away earlier.

I stared at Jenald with cold eyes without answering.

“Are you very angry? Your expression is really scary. It’s okay. You’re still pretty.”

“…”

As I remained silent, Jenald reached out and grabbed my wrist.

“This is the first time I’ve seen you this angry. I’m really sorry, truly! Don’t be like this. It’s almost my birthday, you know? Hm? Let’s calm down first…”

He grinned with eyes like a gentle puppy, intertwining his fingers with mine, then releasing them, then stroking my hand, then grabbing it again, making a fuss.

Birthday, he says.

I violently shook off Jenald’s arm with all my strength. Unlike Edan’s arm, Jenald’s fell away easily.

“Latieana…?”

Jenald’s eyes widened in surprise at my attitude that had clearly changed in just a few hours. He seemed quite shocked.

It’s understandable. I had always pretended to be a gentle lady in front of Jenald.

“Hey.”

I tilted my head crookedly and lowered my voice, as if imitating Edan.

“‘Hey’…?”

Jenald frowned in confusion. But soon he seemed to come to his senses and smiled, narrowing his eyes.

“What’s wrong, Latieana? Is it because of what happened earlier?”

I spoke to Jenald in a cold tone, word by word, while trying to hide the trembling in my voice caused by the feeling of betrayal that enveloped my entire body.

“Whatever the reason, the fact that you saved my life that day is true, so I’ll give you one chance.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Don’t you have anything to say to me?”

“Hm?”

Jenald’s eyebrows twitched slightly, as if sensing something was off.

“Speak now while I’m giving you the chance.”

I said this as if I were doing him a great favor. No, in fact, I was holding back the urge to grab this guy by the scruff of his neck right now and showing him great leniency. Seemingly quite perplexed by my attitude, Jenald stroked his nape and asked in an innocent tone:

“What are you talking about? Really, what’s wrong?”

You’re going to pretend not to know till the end, huh.

“I went to the city hall earlier.”

“…Huh?”

I stared at Jenald’s face with cold eyes and continued speaking.

“They say the engagement certificate is forged. What’s going on?”

Jenald, who had been unnaturally stroking his nape, froze in that position.