'When did I say that?'
Lucien blinked, unsure if he'd said that before. He had just received memories, and it took some time to recall certain things.
"You… you really forgot? Even Aunt Seraphine heard about it that day."
Liora's beautiful eyes widened in pure surprise and betrayal.
Her joyful mood quickly dropped when she realized she might not get money from him again.
"Hmm? Oh, I finally remember. Are you perhaps talking about the time when I went to your house with my mother?"
Lucien suddenly remembered some conversation he had when he went to Evergreen County.
In fact, the reason why the Goldveil family was able to become Viscount was also with the help of Count Alaric Evergreen, Liora's father.
So, Devan wasn't spouting nonsense when he said the Goldveil family bought their nobility.
"Yeah, you finally remembered? Didn't you say that I can use as much money as I want before?"
Liora visibly got elated after seeing him recall.
'Maybe he really forgot?' she thought unconsciously with a little smile. Her little hope was once again ignited.
"Yeah, it seems so…"
Lucien slowly nodded with a speechless look on his face as he finally remembered why he had the habit of hanging coin pouches instead of stuffing them into mana rings.
'So, I was smitten by this gold digger before?'
He thought while looking at Liora, whose emerald green eyes were still darting around his waist restlessly.
Now that he looked at her carefully, she was indeed charming. Moreover, with her lively personality, it was hard for anyone to hate her.
'No wonder my previous self didn't care about the money she spent.'
Lucien was quite speechless.
In his previous life, his girlfriend broke up with him because he had no money. And in this life, even with all the money in the world, his previous self was actually simping over a girl.
'How pathetic!' He almost had the urge to hide his face from the public.
"Umm… so, are you going to give me money now?"
Liora asked after seeing Lucien suddenly go silent, her big eyes glancing at him unblinkingly with that innocent look.
"Okay, I can give you money, but you have to promise me one thing."
Lucien finally decided to screw his morals and gather a little interest from the girl in front.
Say what you want, but he didn't like being used like this.
"Promise? W-What promise?"
However, to his surprise, Liora didn't show any excitement on her face. Instead, she asked as if to confirm. Her posture straightened a bit while her eyes looked at him nervously, as if guarding against his trick.
"Hmm?"
Lucien blinked his eyes in confusion, seeing her defensive stance.
'Is she… afraid of my promise?'
He thought, looking at her carefully, only to see her dodging his eyes.
'This girl… so she knows what I am after.'
Lucien suddenly realized after seeing a guilty look in her eyes.
'Then again, with my previous behavior, it's no surprise she could see that I'm interested in her.'
He thought that it made sense.
After all, unlike him, Liora's talent was Exceptional.
She could awaken her class anytime she wanted. It was just, for some reason, she decided to come to the Capital City for that.
So, although she appeared innocent on the outside, she wasn't that stupid.
'Still, it kinda leaves a bad taste.'
Lucien felt a little uncomfortable.
Maybe because he had just broken up with his girlfriend, he was quite sensitive emotionally.
Now, seeing a girl being defensive just because he talked about a promise, although he didn't care, undoubtedly managed to made him feel bad.
"Here!"
Suddenly, Lucien grabbed the pouch that he had given to Devan before throwing it to Liora.
"H-Hey… easy!"
Liora fumbled, barely managing to catch it.
"Total of 1000 gold coins. You can use it however you want. However, this time, you must return it to me, unlike before."
But Lucien didn't care, telling her the condition before slowly walking outside of the Golden Hearth Inn.
Now that he thought about it, maybe in this life, he should care less about morals and such.
To be honest, when he saw Alchemist Devan going mad after he extracted 2 points of intelligence, he thought he should be careful using his system.
After all, he didn't want to hurt a good person.
'But… I forgot that those who have no intention of paying the debt back aren't good in the first place.'
Lucien thought, feeling that not only his previous self but his current one was still equally pathetic.
He had just awakened an incredible system that could change his life completely, and here he was, morally constrained from using it against a girl who was only after his money.
"Hey… what happened?"
Liora, of course, saw the sudden change in Lucien and asked, only to see him already near his luxurious carriage.
She didn't know why, but he seemed to have changed somehow.
'But why do I feel like he is mad at me?' she thought while caressing the coin pouch in her tender hands.
'And he wants me to pay back this time? Is this the promise he was trying to ask?' She felt a little uncomfortable.
'No, maybe he is in a bad mood because the awakening ceremony is near.' She suddenly shook her head, denying her thought, and then cheered herself up again.
'Anyway, with this much gold, I should be able to buy that thing. Let's give him a nice surprise then. I don't believe he won't change his mood then.' She thought and quickly left the premises as if afraid that she would be late.
…
"Sir Lucien, you're here. The Lord has ordered you to return home immediately."
As Lucien approached the carriage, the coachman gave a hurried bow and delivered the message he received.
"Oh? Then let's not waste time. Let's leave."
Lucien arched an eyebrow, then gave a short nod before stepping into the carriage.
He recalled that tomorrow was the Class Awakening Ceremony; his parents were likely summoning him to discuss something related to it.
Now that he had decided to use his system to gain power, he should at least familiarize himself with this world first, not to mention his parents in this world.
*****
A/N:
Talent Rank: Poor, Mediocre, Adequate, Exceptional, Legendary, Godly