🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 5
The Dream That Revealed the Lottery Numbers (5)
“I’ll hold on to this for now.”
At his words, I nearly dropped the revolver I’d been gripping so tightly. After giving me the fright of my life, the gentleman simply stepped away again as though nothing had happened and turned back to the outlaw.
I shoved the revolver into my handbag and could only brush my tingling fingers against the spot near my ear where his breath had touched.
“L-Look, you seem to be a man of high standing. Why don’t we settle this peacefully instead of making a big fuss?”
“Ah, so your name is Joe.”
The gentleman had caught the outlaw’s name when it slipped out during the argument among his companions.
“Joe, I imagine you and the town sheriff know each other quite well, judging by how familiar you are with one another. Am I right?”
The outlaw’s flushed red face was answer enough.
If the gentleman really was as high-ranking as he appeared, it seemed entirely possible that a single word from him could turn a local thug into a serious criminal. Judging by Joe’s reaction, it was almost certainly true.
“Now, you’re unarmed, and you don’t seem to have any companions willing to help you. Are you going to keep trying your luck against me by force? Or shall we start talking like civilized human beings?”
Joe hurriedly adopted a more obsequious tone.
“I was only planning to scare her a little from the beginning. As long as I got my money back, I was going to let her go without laying a finger on her.”
“That sounds more like nonsense than a civilized conversation.”
“I’m serious! I’m not the kind of man who’d go that far! You might not know this, but Lady Walton and I go way back. Why, how many nights have we spent playing cards together?”
At that, the gentleman turned to me with a piercing glare.
Until then, I’d been frozen in place, but I hurriedly found my voice.
“N-No, that’s not true!”
“Why do you deliberately put yourself in dangerous situations? Are you trying to get yourself killed like a stray dog?”
His icy tone made it clear that he didn’t believe a word I said.
Beneath his black silk top hat, his dark eyes seemed even more hostile toward me than they had been toward the outlaw.
I had no idea why he was acting this way, so I couldn’t think of anything to say in response. After a moment, he pressed his fingers against the space between his brows, and some of the tension in his eyes eased.
“I don’t understand. Why were you even arguing with a man like that over a mere fifty dollars in the first place? It’s not as though you have no money, is it?”
His gaze shifted toward the handbag behind my back.
That was right. It was only fifty dollars.
Finally snapping out of the daze I’d been in, I hurriedly moved my hands.
He was right. Whether I was Lady Walton or not, if I’d simply handed over the fifty dollars when the outlaw first demanded it, I could have avoided this entire humiliation.
“Just a moment. I think I might have that much money in here…”
As I pushed the revolver deeper into my handbag, I rummaged through the other items inside.
I’d been so startled by the gun earlier that I hadn’t properly checked what else was in my bag.
“……”
As it turned out, I didn’t have a single penny.
Everything I’d mistaken for banknotes turned out to be useless scraps of paper. The only other things inside were an old pocket watch, a small knife about the size of my palm, and a collection of miscellaneous junk.
Afraid that the gentleman might abandon me and leave, I spoke in a thoroughly dejected voice.
“Um… It seems I don’t have any money on me right now.”
Apparently, the sight was so ridiculous that even the outlaw snickered. The gentleman, meanwhile, looked even more incredulous.
“You don’t?”
“No… But—”
“Not even a little?”
His brows furrowed so deeply that they nearly met.
What? It was only fifty dollars, wasn’t it? Why couldn’t he just pay it for me?
I couldn’t bring myself to say that out loud, but I couldn’t understand why the gentleman, who had approached me as though he intended to solve everything, was suddenly being so stingy. He certainly looked wealthy enough.
Still, I needed to win his sympathy.
“But if you lend me fifty dollars, I’ll pay you back very soon. I promise! Once I get my hands on some money… I-I’ll pay you back double! No, ten times as much! So please, don’t leave me here!”
He let out a disbelieving laugh.
“How exactly does a penniless woman like you intend to do that? By gambling at cards?”
I swore I’d never even considered gambling. But his words made me realize that I needed something to offer as collateral if I wanted to persuade him.
“O-Or I have this watch.”
A gold watch was surely worth more than a knife with a wooden handle.
I reached into my handbag and pulled out the pocket watch.
“Here!”
Although the watch had looked gold on the outside, the moment I held it up in the sunlight, I could see how old and scratched it was. There was even a small inscription on the back that read, To My Son, Henry.
The gentleman’s expression grew even more unpleasant when he examined it.
“It’s real gold—well, gold-plated! I’m sure I could get at least fifty dollars for it if I sold it!”
“Are you making a fool of me?”
The gentleman suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Did you deliberately orchestrate this entire farce just to provoke me?”
He seemed to have forgotten the outlaw entirely. He glared at me as though I were the only person he wanted to kill.
I felt wronged and bewildered, but I was also terrified, and I instinctively took a step backward.
“B-But…”
Honestly, was this really something worth getting so angry about?
“Ellie!”
Just then, I heard someone calling my name desperately from a distance.
I never imagined I’d be so happy to hear that voice.
A man wearing a brown suit came galloping from the direction of town. Before his horse had even fully slowed down, he leaped off and landed beside me.
Of course, it was the young man named Ben.
He rushed straight to my side and immediately stepped in front of me protectively.
“What are you people doing to my fiancée?”
I’d completely forgotten that I’d been running away from him. Instinctively, I ducked behind his back.
“Ellie, are you all right?”
He wore a wide-brimmed brown cowboy hat. Beneath its brim, his sharp jawline and cleft chin looked as though they belonged to a movie star.
I nodded, almost entranced.
The gentleman, whose view of me was now blocked by Ben, looked him up and down with obvious displeasure before speaking.
“Your fiancée?”
“That’s right. This woman is my fiancée!”
Ben declared it once again with reassuring confidence.
For some reason, the gentleman looked as though he were gritting his teeth to keep his anger under control.
Meanwhile, the outlaw interrupted with a sly grin.
“Well, well. I heard things had gone sour between you and Mr. Cassel. Have you two made up already?”
He then extended his filthy hand toward Ben.
“Mr. Cassel, Lady Walton owes me money again. Fifty dollars this time.”
“I’ll pay it. I’ll pay you right now, so don’t ever threaten Ellie like this again.”
Ben spoke firmly, then immediately took several gold coins from his inner pocket and handed them over.
Unlike the gentleman, he didn’t hesitate, weigh his options, or ask for an explanation. He simply acted.
I’d only ever seen gold coins as chocolate wrappers, so watching actual gold coins change hands right in front of me was an unfamiliar experience. The outlaw, however, took them as though he did this every day. He bit each coin with his yellow teeth before finally breaking into a thoroughly satisfied grin.
“Well, look at that! You really can tell when a man’s a successful businessman! Carrying gold coins around in his pocket, jingling all the way!”
“I only brought them because Ellie told me about this in advance. Surely you didn’t expect Cassel’s fiancée to skip out on a mere fifty dollars?”
It wasn’t a mere fifty dollars.
The sum was equivalent to five gold coins.
Perhaps it was pocket change to the wealthy. Only then did I remember that if this really was the American frontier era, the dollar was worth more than twenty times what it was today.
I’d once read an article about an American who had dug up a sack full of gold coins from the floor of a farm. The gold alone would have been worth a fortune, but because the coins were rare, each one was supposedly worth more than one hundred million won.
So that one gold coin is worth a hundred million won…
Suddenly, I couldn’t take my eyes off the gold coin between the outlaw’s grimy fingers.
If only I could take just one of those coins back with me.
Then, instead of holding my breath and pretending I wasn’t home whenever the old landlord knocked on my door at night, I could face him boldly and pay off my overdue rent.
I’d still have enough left to pay off some of my debts, too. That would ease the burden of interest, and perhaps I could finally escape this suffocating life of working myself to the bone every month, only to pour everything I earned into a bottomless pit. Maybe someday, I could finally…
“Well, if that’s all it was, you should’ve told me from the beginning! There was no need for us to get on each other’s nerves. As long as the money’s settled, I’ve got no problem with Lady Walton. In fact, when she doesn’t show up, this whole table is filled with nothing but stinking, unpleasant men! Oh, can I have my revolver back now?”
The outlaw had apparently decided he no longer wanted to fight. He raised one hand to show he meant no trouble and cautiously retrieved his revolver from the gentleman.
Then he turned straight toward his companions in front of the tent and waved the gold coins triumphantly.
“Hey, you bunch of cowards! Drinks are on me today! And that means, as promised, I’m the gang leader starting today!”
Apparently no longer interested in what had happened here, the men chattered noisily among themselves and headed back toward town.
My gaze, which had foolishly followed the outlaw all the way, was interrupted by Ben’s gentle voice.
“Ellie, do you have any idea how worried I was when you suddenly disappeared?”
When I turned to look at him, his face showed no concern whatsoever about the money he’d just handed over to the outlaw on my behalf.
…He really does think I’m his fiancée.
“Well, well. So you do have a fiancé. And a very devoted one at that.”
Even after the outlaws had left, the gentleman continued to glare at me sarcastically.
I no longer had the slightest idea why he was behaving this way. He had been the one to step in and offer his help in the first place, so why was he acting like this now?
“Benjamin Cassel.”
Ben, who had been watching the gentleman closely, stepped forward and extended his hand as if offering a handshake. The gentleman completely ignored it.
“…Do you also have business with my fiancée?”
Ben withdrew his hand, his voice tinged with displeasure.
Only then did the gentleman turn his attention back to him.
Ben met his gaze with equal defiance.
I was still worried that things might turn ugly again, especially with the rifle gleaming over the gentleman’s shoulder.
“No, he simply happened to find me while passing by and rescued me.”
“Ha!”
The gentleman burst into loud laughter the moment I tugged lightly at Ben’s sleeve and spoke.
Then, for a moment, he stared at the watch in my hand with an unreadable expression before abruptly turning away.
“That’s enough. There’s no point in watching this any longer.”
With that, he strode back toward his carriage.
The luxurious black carriage set off as soon as he climbed aboard. Rather than heading into town, it swung around sharply and raced out into the wilderness, raising a cloud of dust behind it.
“What an incredibly rude bastard.”
Ben shrugged as he watched the carriage disappear.
“I wonder whether he really doesn’t remember me or is just pretending not to. Either way…”
But before he could finish, the tension that had been stretched taut inside me finally snapped, and my vision went dark.
My legs, which had been trembling dangerously as they struggled to keep me upright, finally gave way. The last thing I remembered was Ben’s hand swiftly catching me behind the waist.
